Wishing Well

I don't know the reason, but the blogging rate seems to have dropped here in the past two weeks. Maybe I'll just claim my usual - work is getting to me. Keep that raised eyebrow away, one CAN have employers who expect you to work. And one can be good at mismanaging time too. Both together lead to an awfully busy life. To add to it, thoughts about boyfriends 24x7 do not help. The extra 's' was just for kicks.

So the new year is almost here. Until end of 2007, every new year's eve I sat at home and sulked about my unadventurous life because of unadventurous parents. This year I am sulking about a research paper. Yes, sulking is the key word. You got it right.

Anyway. It's all in the name of a subtly romantic boyfriend. So it should be ok. (Don't try too hard to find the link. I'm writing like this just for fun.)

I'm wondering what 'special' thing can be done on the blog. The new year post was done three weeks ago. :-/

I wrote a nice senti piece about Dilli Haat, but somehow never got to posting it. I almost wrote about the superbly fun and the best ever Christmas I had. AND I really wanted to write about how it feels like to be in a normal relationship. But stupid Footprints, and submissions, and reports, and research, and projects fucked my head a little too much. :-/

I seem to derive some strange pleasure out of cribbing. Therefore, please note that I AM extremely thankful to the world that conspired the delay in my departure from Delhi, but I don't know what to do with all my luggage and the bloody 20 kg baggage limit! I would not have brought all the clothes for laundry, and all the shoes I have ever owned. If you're still wondering what the issue is - I was supposed to take a train back to Pune.

Joke of the day -
Guy to a waitress: "how do you serve this dish?"
Waitress: "How do we serve this dish. In a plate (with gestures suggesting what a plate looks like)".
I was there. At the same table.

Let's hope the new year is happy and peaceful. Enjoy it. Live it! :-)

Uh oh

I watched Ghajini today. Feel like writing my opinion here, but I'm adding a disclaimer: most people around me feel that I have no taste in movies.

It is a 3.5 hour experience in the hall, so choose wisely where you sit. That is if you get a ticket.
If you think violent scenes don't make you happy, skip it.
If you want to appreciate good lighting and smart shots with precision, you should really keep the violence as second priority.

And once you watch it, please come back and tell me why in almost 2009 we need a story on ugly looking villain (thick gold chains and gold tooth) with uglier men by his side killing the hero's heroine and the hero taking up revenge as his sole motive in life? Did we not get enough of those through the '90s? Or is it that my assumption that Aamir Khan tries to make intelligent movies is incorrect? No doubt he acted very well, especially in the second last scene where he does complete justice to the expression of 'revenge'. But what happened? A police officer just walks into the criminal's home alone, hits him with a baseball bat, ties him up and starts reading his personal diary? A medical student can really be as stupid as they showed? Actually yes, I watched the last episode of Roadies on MTV. There was a dumb BDS student there too.

One of the main problems I had with the movie is that it does not have a good flow. Things have been done just to keep it going. The inter-linkaging between past and present is bad.

A lot of people will not agree with me because most of the audience today applauded in the end. I'm guessing they liked it. Yes, it's not as crude and gross as the '90s movies that I referred to, and it's not as if you feel that you wasted your money on it, but I expected better stuff.


PS - I thought we were done with bloopers like different handwritings of the same person in two scenes. The funny thing was that it was not even two different bad handwritings. One was pretty and the other a mess. :O

December 22, 2008

Some things are too personal to blog about, but sometimes those things start moving from the periphery and into the middle of the brain and leave no space for the stuff that would let peace prevail. This is where writing takes over the rescue operation. But what if you are deriving pleasure out of the unrest? The conflict in the head and the resultant speed in work are another conflict if you really look at it. Because the same conflict hampers efficiency at some level too. Madness. Maybe people are right about the psycho stuff.

Nothing: 6 months, 11 days - 1 day - and the cycle begins again. Did I mention earlier that there are some things that I do not like? And that there are some people that I love? Ok.




IBM had said, 'you must be beyond excited'. I was, as usual, unsure of the extent of that particular feeling. And when I saw the face, I wanted time to freeze. That rush was probably worth the wait. I can't believe the day is over.

Bombarding with information or educating?

I visited a CGHS (Central Government Health Scheme) dispensary today. And it got me thinking. There were posters and notices all over the walls. Each giving details about various diseases, their symptoms, cure, treatment, and so on. A good thing insofar as it simplifies things for people and the awareness levels rise. My problem with the initiative is that there was no space left empty. And there were details of EVERY possible disease that is a problem in the country today - HIV, polio, TB, breast cancer, cataract, and the list goes on. I am wondering - how much can a person absorb in a 15-20 minute visit? Can there be a better way of doing the same? All issues are surely important, but is it possible to slow down this process of dissemination of information? Or does it work well the way it is right now?
What do you think?

Doing the jig alone

It had been quite a sucky day so far. Just one of those sad days. But I am thrilled right now! The third set of assessment marks for the first semester just came in. Still remember the first set of marks - I was in the bottom 20% or so of the class. Even though everyone said it does not matter, psychologically I could not come to terms with 'low' marks. The score gradually improved, and now I am out of the 'likely to be detained' list. Anything below 50 falls in that. I am perfectly fine with the marks that I have now. Not looking at topping or anything close to that. There is no concept of first division or anything here. As long as you are on the other side of 50, life is good. And so mine is. Friends on campus have all been this side from the beginning. I took time. But these are just internal marks. End sems' result still awaited. I am just hoping it gets space on the blog. 5 out of the 13 papers are kinda dicey. :P

AS (the deputy director) sent the mail with 'enjoy' in the subject line. We're usually not in a condition to appreciate his sarcasm. Today, I don't mind. :)

I know the world

It moved from being a funny morning to an uncomfortable one pretty quick. Today, while coming to work, I could put a name to every single face that I saw on the road. Stranger faces, known names. 'Uncanny resemblance' surely cannot be that common. I cannot possibly be missing so many people that I see everybody's face in strangers on the streets.
The mind has anyway been in a state of unrest since last evening. There is a new question that I am stuck with - why should I be forced to believe that what I am doing is wrong? In the same vein, I should not be doing that (directly or indirectly) to anyone else. But is it really as simple as it sounds? Who draws the line, and where do you draw the line? At times I feel this drawing lines business is such a petty one. Why can't we just let things flow?

I have never been a secrets person. I don't keep secrets. Rather, I cannot keep secrets. But I've still managed to keep one. It is my biggest weakness till date. Some people would be aware of it, but I have never acknowledged it in front of anyone but me. It's sad though that I have been made to believe that it is a weakness. No, not self pity, just an observation. I am sure there are many people like me - with the same 'weakness'. I am still unsure whether I want to change it or not, but (if) the day I do it, life will change. I will probably be a whole new person. As of today, I don't want to be her.

Another Round of Bullets

Here we go again!!

# Wrote more entrance exams, got more rejections too.

# Underwent physiotherapy for the back; crazy electronic stuff – MRI scans as well as the shock-like stuff that I was subjected to.

# Travelled by air for the first time.

# Interviewed and got selected at Businessworld. I did not join, but just the fact that they accepted me made me super happy because they’d rejected me after the written test during college placements.

# Went to the IIML, NOIDA campus with Shady for his interview there. Nothing achievement-like for me, but somehow it’s just a memorable day.

# I read a lot of fiction during my superbly lazy and useless days at home in the first half of the year.

# I also made my calendar which I keep mentioning all the time anyway. Received such a lot of appreciation that I am thinking of making another one for next year. But where is the time?

# I HAD to begin my PG this year itself, and so took up whatever was available.

# To kill time, I also did some freelance editing work. Earned a fairly decent amount of money too.

# Got my laptop and camera - Dell rocks, and so does Canon!

# Did a very very scary thing before leaving Delhi. Was just glad that Avan was with me in it.

# The biggest step of the year – moving away from home!

# Experienced (and still doing) the hostel way of life. It’s got its ups and downs, but I settled in pretty quickly.

# The same Businessworld also published a write-up of mine in its online version. Thanks, Jayant. :-)

# At the freshers’, I drank a little alcohol. Still bearing its consequences!

# I also went trekking on campus. No big deal for the residents of the place, but it’s got its due on the blog earlier.

# One of the major defects of the year – mouth ulcers! They drove me nuts for two entire weeks as I had to live on flavoured milk, idli and sugar.

# Something that made me super-duper happy was buying a plant. It was a very significant step because it gave me a sense of independence that is hard to explain.

# This year’s birthday was, well, insane! The video that friends made for me and the crazy time we had at McD’s was quite an unforgettable experience.

# I tried to play TT, hoped I’d learn, but gave up ‘coz I could not stop playing badminton with those rackets.

# Got madly addicted to Grey’s Anatomy and now dying to watch the rest of the seasons.

# Art of Living is another something that somebody tried to teach me. I should have figured that if it was so simple, I would have learnt it by now anyway. The way I live life is an art in itself.
But the sudarshan kriya (system cleansing exercise) was an extremely strange and unsettling exercise. I still don’t know whether I liked it or not.

# Went to Moradabad for a week and lived a completely different life there. It was a very pleasant and heartening trip.

# Helped organise the herculean Footprints (figure the sad typo). Still entangled in post-event work. :-/

# I voted. Sheila aunty won as well. :-)

# Completed a year of commitment, no crushes and no flirting. :P

# I recently mentioned the latest late-night party.

# Gray has defined a completely new way of life.

# I have the capacity to absorb a lot more than I could last year. I still bother about the tiniest of things, but on a relative level, I find it easier to let go.

# Unfortunately, have lost control on my temper. I lose it more frequently, and I react too wildly.

# I slept through such a lot of movie screenings that even when I paid for a movie at a theatre I was falling asleep.

# The new places that I visited with my camera - Humayun’s Tomb, Jantar Mantar, Old Fort.

# Made lots of new friends.

# Have been mean to some old friends, not on purpose, but I realise I did it.

Most of December is still to go. But I thought of writing this today, so am posting it as well. It's been a bloody long post, but it was an equally eventful year as well.
As always, it's been a mixed bag of lots of happiness and lots of pain. But as long as I am smiling at the end of it, I'd like to believe I'm perfectly fine. :-)

Happy to You!!

Since all the updates came in last night, what is new today is that it’s my dearest Fuchsia’s happy birthday!!! It’s been two whole years. :D :D

So please be nice and leave warm wishes. Get out of the Reader and come to my page today. :D

The following define (more or less) what the blog has been all this while. And what life has been so far.

Mom, Dad, Bhaiya, Sumit, Tarun, Rohit, Neha, Ruhi, Mansi, Prashant, Subhadip, Avantika, Lynn, Amiya, Samridhi, Buji, Papaji, Nidhi Trehan, Priyam, Akash, Michelle, Sayantani, Deepak, Smita, Jayant, Ishani, Vidur, Saumya, Varun, Nidhi, Amrah, Vrinda, Sahil, Ridhima, Swetha, Priya, Ranjan, Venky, Akshay,Ruhi Jhunjhunwala, Daksh, Karan, Parul, Gopika, Robin,Sinjini, Megha, Anku, Bhaskar, Harpreet, Harry, Shadan, Satinder, Mati, Mrs Shourie, M Srihari, S Madhok, Rajiv Jha, Molly, Daman, Agneesh, Poonam, Patrick Dempsey, Abhishek Bachchan, John Stamos, RJ Nitin, Zakir Hussain, Indian Ocean, Kunal Kapoor, Rakhi Sawant, Vinay Pathak, Strings, Menwhopause,Amit Paul...

All the latest updates

I wonder why people think it is 'cool' to not do the work they should/are expected to do. How does evading work become 'working smartly'? Or is it that I fall in the category of 'idiots' who actually take on the responsibility of getting the work done? I really wonder. What I think is being professional and responsible, people think is stupid. So I also wonder how stupid opinions can be.

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Something new - I was out till 12:45 at night in Delhi. For a party. With dad at home. A very scary and exciting thing that I managed to pull off. It was an alumni meet (dinner and dance) some of my batchmates had organised for the alumni based in Delhi. It was sad that very few people from my own batch turned up for it. But I had to begin with the 'networking' business. I suck at conversations if they are for the sake of it. But no excuses for PR professionals. So I did manage to talk to a couple of people at the meet. A good conversation with a couple of them too. Overall, a fairly decent experience.

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A long conversation with Avantika made me realise that there are very few things that excite me today. And it was certainly not a very exciting thing to find out.
Or maybe it is only small inconsequential things that excite me. Isn't that much better?! :D

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It's been too long since I wrote about Shady here. I don't know if it is unhealthy or something to be so obsessive and madly in love with someone... but I enjoy it and it is one of the best feelings in the world. There still isn't anything that beats how his laughter makes me feel, and the comfort that a conversation with him provides. 'Dying to see him' is just an inappropriate phrase to express how I feel today. It's been six months. The countdown is going to be too darn long.

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The temperature is quickly dropping, and the back is losing its little strength too. Some things plain suck.

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I slept like a log today. That is one experience that beats all else. :D

LOL!

Who would believe that I am actually lifting a concept taught in class and putting it to use at my NGO?! SOSTAC in MBA parlance, is used for developing business plans. The only difference here is that it is not used for business. But I am really doing it!!! Hee hee... it is so funny. Thank Madhok, people. He is not a bad teacher. And this brings back the memories (already) of the group with whom I worked on selling and getting Swiss chocolates to compete with Cadbury's in India. A much more serious issue at hand here though. Shhhh....