It's the update season

The girls gave me a super duper hot pair of silver earrings. Parul gave three pairs too. Mansi bought me other stuff. My family took me out for dinner today. Cousins coming over tomorrow. I am being pampered like crazy. What is ironic is that I have not felt as 'alone' in a long long time as I did in the last two days. I don't know what is really happening to my mind.

Anyway, first check out the silver. Hot or what?!

Golf class hangover or managing a bad hair day? Digesting strange women-y gossip or pretending he didn't hear it?
Acting plain wannabe or actually pointing at the new earrings?
Go figure! :-)

Art in the blood, baby! Or water. Whatever. (Not mine. That's Priya at work!)

I have also been doing things that I never thought I'd do. Or rather, that I'd have to do. And then there are some that I did a second time. Felt just as sick as the first time. But it was due.

Another news update is that I won a photography contest. My first ever - supported by DFC on Flickr. Loadsa thanks to the people who voted for my photograph.



The new near-disastrous hairstyle has started looking much much better. It's 'cool and sassy' now. :D :P

Visited a fancy hotel today - Intercontinental at Nehru Place. These places cause too much of a discomfort for some reason.

And now about tonight's dinner. We went to The Great Kebab Factory at Punjabi Bagh. I have things to write about the restaurant AND the location. Firstly, I liked the different style of serving they had. Made me realise that I was tired of the same old stuff. And I never knew that a buffet could come to your table too. They serve you with starters, one by one, and keep serving till the time you tell them that you are ready for the main course. You get to taste all that there is on the menu. And then similarly the food is served. That is followed by dessert. You have options all along, and you can choose to try it all too. What I really appreciate is the fact that it is hard to be efficient with this kind of service. And they were very efficient. The food was good too.

And Punjabi Bagh! Do you remember that party scene in Sarfarosh (Aamir Khan one) where Sonali Bendre's brother talks to someone about Delhi and mentions Punjabi Bagh? I really hope you do. That tone in which he says it can't be missed. So, this is the real Delhi-Punj locality. The Punjus that are talked about all the time live here. The ones that wear bling and talk bling and drive bling and basically LIVE bling. The restaurant obviously had most such people there. And it was almost full. There was more than one family of 10 and more. I felt like a pseudo Punjabi between them. One man entered the restaurant doing a balle balle yelling to someone who was waiting for him that he finally wasn't late on this occasion. He did a balle balle ! With lots of loud OYEs ! All of it was just too amusing. And I wondered why people call ME loud. The lone south Indian family there looked like aliens. Seriously. :-)
By the way, I do belong to a loud Punjabi family, but we are neither bling nor go balle balle in public. More blended maybe. :D

On a more serious note, I would really like Butterfly to update her blog soon. Too much of a coincidence wrt name, age and location happened in the news. I know it wasn't her, but would still like to see her presence.

Oh, my point&shoot is still on the job. 50 more to go before it reaches 5K. Now I am sure the milestone will be reached. :-)

It's good to see double digits as this month's total posts. Happened after quite a bit, innit?

Will be back with more updates very soon. Till then, tada! :-)

Mindplay

It is raining outside. I am in a daze for a second night in a row. But today's is different from last night's. Last night everything around me was depressing and I could not think. Tonight I am calm. And alert. I spent the last hour reading something that had this effect on me.
Some people are good writers, and some people are better because they connect. I don't know the technicalities if there are any, but I know that there are very few things that can get me engrossed enough to read through them. Writing about nothing fancy. Rather, about the most mundane things in the world. Things one doesn't look at or think about twice. But things that are always there. Having a perspective and communicating it too - it's probably an art. And amidst all of it, it kindles a desire to be like it. And also making you realise that it is something unique. Something that you can never do because you are not what the writer is. You are someone else.

+++

A recent power failure in my locality got me out of my house to take a walk around. And I realised that the place where everybody knew me, and knew my parents as Richa's parents, has almost become alien. I don't know anyone here, and nobody knows me. I step out only to go out. The only ten minutes a month I spend within the locality are when I go to drop my phone bill's cheque. And today I didn't even do that. The trees have grown so tall that I can't see the houses on the other side. They have grown SO tall that I can't see the moon sitting on my doorstep. I don't sit on that doorstep now that none of my friends are here. I used to drive my ass sore sitting in and sharing that small space with them. And now I am leaving too. I wonder why the realisation of big changes never hits me till the time they are not stale news. But I am guessing this one is going to take a while before that happens.
I am going to miss these pink houses with blue and white doors. And I am going to miss being oblivious to the kids cycling around the block. I might not miss the maids gossiping in the afternoons, and the Mrs Sharmas gossiping in the evenings. But I will miss running to Pappu ki dukaan (which is actually Mohan ki dukaan) at odd hours to buy the oddest things. I might not miss ramming barefoot into furniture, but I will miss being scolded for sitting on the glass dining table. I might not miss the strange elements around the place, but I will miss seeing kids coming back from school with their bags hanging half way down. I won't miss the permanent chaos outside Dilli Haat, but I will miss having the same sick chaat every time I go there with Mansi. I won't miss the killer smell of masalas/fish/vegetables that inflicted the INA market, but I will miss the comfort of letting the same stranger take over my eyebrows every fortnight.
I will never walk the streets there hoping to run into someone I know. Or maybe I will do that even more. There won't be any doorbells being rung by people who want to see me, but I will probably wait for a call that will say that I have a visitor. Yoga will probably keep me healthier, but I might hope for mom to come press my shoulders when my spondylitis will hurt me to madness. Tarun, Neha, Mansi or Avan won't be a 50 paise phone call away, but I am hoping they will adopt GTalk for me. Sumit won't be a Gurgaon DTC away, but I am hoping that there be a few surprises for both of us. I might have to live on Maggi, and I am guessing I won't like it then. Mom will be the happiest for my intestines, she won't have to imagine them being clogged.

Oh what do you know. I opened the gates to realisation right here. This is going to be hard.

Don't ask why...

It is all a little too inconsequential but is still a little overpowering. Because when the poetry mode starts taking over, it almost acts as an indicator. An indicator that doesn't initiate any action, but more thinking. Not that then it means that it is of any help, but whatever.
I sit and give gyaan for hours, get questioned on how then I can't take care of my own mind, I laugh it off, and then next morning find myself in the dumps. Yes, the things that I am worrying about might turn my life around if they really happen. But there is an IF there. I hope it remains at that.
I give more gyaan after the thinking, and then turn to someone else to give me some of it too. It sounds bad when I call it gyaan. If I say it is help in getting a perspective and wiping the emotional sheet off, sounds better in my head.

There are two reasons why summers could pass as being better than winters for me. One of them is that the fan makes sure that the unnerving silence never takes over. Ever. But as I write, it somehow has. The song that I am addicted to is playing in my ears for about 30 minutes now. And these words are staring back. It is a strange kind of a silence. The one that transports you to another world. A world which is made of half numbness and half of I don't know what.
Not feeling physically well is not helping either. The bloody mind always does this - it won't work on the things that it needs to work on. But such thoughts never cease to bother. And why is this laptop's comma key placed in such a way that I reach it everytime my fingers go looking for the period?!
It doesn't end here. Now I have started bothering about the fact that I bother too much about everything. I don't want to. I really don't. And now when I have SO MUCH TO DO, dumb issues are getting developed to add to 'things to do'. For absolutely no reason at all. So there I go again!

+++

Cigarette smoke suffocates me. And not just my lungs. It suffocates my mind in a way that I can never describe. It pushes me into the 'shell' that I don't like going into. It's the people who call it a shell. I know it is the same state of half-numbness. Sumit's presence in my life has kept that shit thing away. I sometimes feel sad that a single person affects me and my life so much, but it does. And I have no qualms about admitting it. If I have made the choice of giving that level of importance to someone other than default family, then why not. It is all about people anyway.

Out of context from the original maybe, but...
That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight,
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough...

No, there's no time to go on. It's slowing down. Need to get back to what actually needs time. I think it's just the new keypad that is making me type so much. I have even started a new diary. Not sure how long that will last, but for now it has an entry almost everyday. Anyway, thanks for listening. Later!

A little bit more

Met half the college gang today. After the trademark contemplating, we decided (by chance) to go to this place called Spirit. It is above the less popular Zen outlet. The place had very few options in food, but had fancy (and good) mocktails. The ambience was nice, the service a little strange. Anyway, we had fun. The boys are doing well in their jobs - Jayant has a fancier business card now, and Vidur has a fancy designation (senior derivatives trader :O). Amiya's brand new hair straightener is making her look prettier. And me, well, I am the same old.

After two drinks (one I had because it was free and we didn't want to let it go) and some portion of a sad pizza, I did some speed shopping too. I am finally getting tired of it. There's still so much more of it to do that even the thought of it is making me drowsy.

Anyway, after the first pseudo lunch, I was supposed to have another lunch. Bhai and Megha had plans to take me out. So this time Piccadelhi. Yes, the same place that refused to serve me liquor last March. :-/
Again, the ambience was nice, the food average and overpriced.

We tried to shop a little more. And then uff ho gaya mera. Back home now!

And back to the project now. :-/

Had fun!

It was a Saturday that begun quite early for me.
First had some meeting for the project, then met Varun after almost one year, and then the good ol' Orkut gang after quite a gap too. The entire day in my now standard meeting point with EVERYONE - C.P. Almost every weekend is spent there. I'll be there tomorrow too. Anyway! I had a lot of fun. Some good food too.

And btw, guys, my non-alcoholic drink was quite nice. Didn't smell anything like Death either. :P

So Varun's become quite a pro at the markets. Giving my gyan, and acting all smart about IPOs and jazz. The best thing about him is that he's always been the same. Whether he's free or busy, whether he's in India or abroad, or whether he's talking sense or crap - sweetheart forever! :-)

Anku knows less about cameras than I thought she did. There was finally someone who was interested but knew less than me! Yayii!!! I was trying to explain. :P
But she got me pretty earrings, so she's nice-shice. All good! :D

I'm glad Smita could make it. Yeah, DK, you too! But I am sure you don't mind me giving her extra footage. And anyway, Jab We Wed ki private screening nahi dene ki kuch to price honi chahiye.

Akash drove us to Bengali Market for the golgappas that I insisted on. He's a sweet boy too!
But I am really hoping one day Michelle and Akash get rich enough for that Pink Ferrari vs Red Ferrari race. Really, that car looked pink. Actually, it was Fuchsia! :D

Bhaskar bhaiya ko padhai mode ke liye besht of luck! :)

And I think we should all contribute and gift the All Sports Bar jugs on Diwali. (They have pitchers on the menu but not in their kitchens)

Next set of friends tomorrow! So maybe you can wait for more pictures. :-)
Till then, tada!

It's all WTF!

With all due respect to Amiya and her love, GOOGLE IS AN ASS****!

I obviously believe that I am not entering dumb key words, but it surely is producing dumb results. I want to talk to that woman who rejected me in the third round of interviews at Google!

More WTF thoughts

4:00 a.m...
Oatmeal biscuits...
Smartass mistake biting in the back...
Not much progress...
Google vomiting out the shitiest results on the first page...
Irony - CRISIS management !

And smartass me was busy formatting every line that I wrote/CCPd in that case study I can't use. UGH!!

WTF thoughts

Even though I am still quite hyper about the things I was hyper about in the last post, I am taking this, and have been taking many such, moments to 'take a break'. It's been reeeaaaaally long since I worked on a deadline. Nothing new about being up past 3:00 a.m., but almost new working at this hour. Although, in the midst of my ascribed status of 'hyperventilation', I still think it's good that this is happening. Really need to get into the groove. And that is possibly why things seem to be harder than they actually are. Hmm...

WTF

It's one thing to have too much to do. And completely another to not know how to do any of that 'too much'!

*collapsing* :O

The Tag Thing

Butterfly tagged me, so here I am!

Name three most valuable assets.
My phone, camera, and maybe my smile.

Where is the place that you want to go the most?
The most? Well, since I don't travel at all, there are many places that I want to go to. No urge for any one particular place. Although the thought of London is still fascinating.

If you can have one dream to come true, what would it be?
A healthier body. Without a doubt!

What are you afraid to lose the most in yourself?
Cheerfulness.

What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?
Really depends on the situation and what my instincts say at that moment.

If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Totally!

Which type of person do you dislike the most?
:-) There are many. For now we could stick to my latest addition to this list - the over enthusiastic type.

If you were given the chance to have one super power, what would it be and why?
To become invisible at will and travel to any place in seconds. It'd be so cool! :-)

For you life is?
About living, not surviving.

If you could do one thing different in life, what would it be?
I think I'd like to kill the laziness.

Are you a shopaholic?
Give me the money, I totally will be!

Which actress do you find the prettiest?
I edited this question because for some time now I have not been able to get the Nandita Das breed of actresses out of my mind. I completely love the way her, Konkana Sen Sharma, Deepti Naval, Smita Patil, etc look. I think that's because TV is giving me an overdose of Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya Rai nowadays and their beauty is something that I never find appealing.

One song that gives you goosebumps?
I want to put Woodsmoke's answer alongwith "Ae mere watan ke logon" here because these are the only songs that give me goosebumps.

Do you have any plans for tomorrow? Oh yes! I desperately need to start working on the research project that I have got. Also go through the camera's manual and click something nice. AND go for some more shopping.

I tag you if you wanna do this.

Make Way!!!

My newest baby is here! The most expensive one ever, and the fanciest ever too. I am too scared to even handle it, it has still not sunken in that I OWN it, and I am again back to zero as far as clicking photographs is concerned.Will go through the manuals of course, but for now please just welcome warmly...

And here's the companion of the last ten months. The one above is the 4855th photograph that I clicked. Was kinda hoping to complete 5000 before moving on. :-) If I leave it behind, then I am sure it will be another ten months before the next 150 pictures get clicked.

Please please excuse the not-nice photo. I have absolutely no idea about how this new camera works.

And this is the sponsor of my new camera. My dear Poppy!! The first picture from my new Canon world.

Just not liking it!

I finally attained enlightenment on that superbly irritating IBIBO - don't be a balti campaign thanks to a friend. It is supposed to be competing with Photobucket.com ! My god! I am a user of photobucket, and still it never struck me. I wonder if ANYbody got it. :-/

I also watched the second half of Om Shanti Om today. Farah Khan should be shot in the head. It is not even brainless entertainment. It is plain brainless stuff. And yes, horrible horrible lighting. :-/

Rannvijay used to be cute five years ago. Whatever makes him dress so wannabe-ly now?! :-/

Why the f*** is it so humid here in June?! :-/

That perfume shop opposite Keventer's in CP now has all the perfumes I may like. Yes, Nike's there too. And several hundred bucks cheaper. As of now I want to hope that it's fake stuff. If not, then I am definitely shopping from there in future. :-/

+++

He's left. I cannot even say I don't know what to do because there is nothing I can do. For the nth time - change sucks! IT-JUST-SUCKS!!
Two reasons why I need to get out of here asap - 1. Otherwise I will go mad thinking about him. 2. Otherwise my already enough bloated-up body will explode.
But again, there is nothing I can do to leave earlier. Now I am just hoping I leave without further delay.

Tomorrow is Friday, the 13th. I have never really bothered about it in the past. I wonder why I'm itchy now.

+++

I love Radio Mirchi for the creep called Sud that they created. Not as much for his jokes as for the numerous wonderful moments he gave me.

.... .... ....


Why do deserts miss the rain?

My Memory

So here's an often talked about topic today. According to a lot of people, I am the Subodh of Dil Chahta Hai. The guy who remembered all dates and times. Before anything else, I have to clear out that I am not as creepy as him. Yes, I bug people, but not to that extreme - "5 baj ke 17 minute pe hum ne yahan ice cream khayi thi". No, I don't narrate details like that even if just in case I remember them like that. :P
So what needs to be understood is that I have a memory which keeps registering things in such a manner. But again, if we take a relative case, I had a neighbour who was the real Subodh. She would remember all my friends' parents' birthdays and anniversaries. You just needed to mention once in passing that there's some occasion in the family.
In the hope that I have diluted the measure of my weirdness, I can now start talking about the self.

I remember my 10th birthday scene by scene. I know what I wore, I know that a cheap neighbour of mine took my fountain Pepsi from me for his son, and what I had for lunch with two of my cousins.
I remember the date when I first talked to the first guy I liked. November 29, '99.
Also, the date when we started so-called dating. December 26, 2000.
The last time I talked to him too - April 4, '07.
The first, second, third and a couple more dates' dates with the last ex. Also the clothes that I wore on each one of them, and the places that we ate at.
The first time I talked to Harry, the one who introduced me to Shady. April 29, '04.
I was introduced to Shady on October 18, '07. Loads of dates registered post that one too. :)
The last day of college. Again, scene by scene. I'll come back to this one.
Earlier I remembered way too many birthdays too. Consciously decided to conveniently forget some of them.
Oh, the only time I bunked school as well. Since I was an amateur, I didn't know that you're supposed to not wear your tie and badges and so on. For the ones who are as uninitiated as I was, that is done so that no one can make out which school you are from. So my friends almost took my case when they found me waiting in our secret place dressed as if I was ready for the morning assembly.

Before carrying on further, I have to say that it is actually nothing weird. How can people not remember significant days and incidents? Whatever I have listed so far, I am glad I remember all of it. Yes, some more inconsequential things too. But so what? It's cool.

What brings more fun to this whole thing is people who get irritated by it. So all I need to do is reiterate the past if I have to get back at someone bugging me. God, those expressions are priceless! For instance, about that last day at college. Recently, Shady and I were at the McD's in Saket. Out of nowhere I told him that on the last day of college, Neha, Harry and I used the loo there, but none of us ate there. Also that it was extremely hot that day. Now I didn't realise for a while that he was checking to what extent I could go. So he asked me where we actually ate. Told him it was Subway. Then he asked me the date; told him it was the 24th of May. Then he asked what I was wearing; my red and blue tee. What earrings I was wearing; the standard hoops. Who all came; gave the names. Which movie we watched; wo bhi bata diya. With details - six of us wanted to sit together while there weren't enough seats, so they fit themselves in 4 or 5 seats. While the other 3 of us kept wondering till the interval where the rest of them were. Anyway. Then I was asked what Neha was wearing. I told him that she was wearing a pink and green salwar kameez. That is when I realised what had just happened. Because he asked me what Tarun was wearing and I could not remember. Not my fault - he wears boring clothes and he wasn't around for a good part of the outing.
So even though it was funny, I felt bad that I lost the game because of that stupid boy. :D

Anyway. The whole point to be taken home is that you should remember stuff. You're living a life that is several years old, and you barely remember a handful of days that you have lived. Isn't it sad? Yes, that is sad, and not my compulsive habit. Thank you very much. :-)


PS - If the title makes you feel that a IInd standard kid has written an essay, it's ok. I felt the same.

Lynn's send-off

Lynn's also going. What the hell!
But I am sure she will have a good time there. She better!

Hold on tight. I won't let go.

And now the world does seem lonely...
I am not used to this quiet world anymore...
I am not looking forward to end of day anymore...

I hate this feeling...
I hate this change...

I don't like living alone anymore...

Just hold on tight. I won't let go.

Ignorance

Yesterday, while surfing through channels on TV, I stopped at MTV for a moment to hear one of the most outrageous and disappointing things ever! They were questioning a few people on the streets about HIV/AIDS and a woman somewhere between 18-24, supposedly educated, said that the virus spreads through mosquito bites.

Yellow

Autos

DTCs
Paint contrasted with black on pavements
Traffic signal poles
The STD booths
Traffic police's barricades
My personality according to one of the applications on Facebook
The lights on my router
The background on my cellphone's screen and the alert light on it too
The colour of folders on the PC
My specs' case
The sacred colour
Yash Chopra's mustard fields
Myoril capsules
Summers
Friendship
Coldplay
Dirty fellow
Some people's hello
The kurta that I wear every second day

and of course, the sun!

Post inspiration:

I am just bored.