The Pink Ball

Getting to work on sustainability affairs for my present organisation.
Recently organised throwball matches for the girls of a government school adopted by us.

The experience was absolutely brilliant!

The 10th standard girls who won the first match

The Peanut Butter Weekend

This weekend came and went by in a snap. After ages I felt like my social self again. And it was great because unfortunately, like I've been telling everyone I know, in spite of an entire lifetime in this city, I hardly have any friends left here. So it was great meeting some of my people again.

On Saturday morning, my brother was kind enough to actually ask me to accompany him for some shopping. In the process I got myself the most beautiful pair of earrings I have ever bought. They beat the second most beautiful pair of earrings I own which I had bought just last week. :-)

I met Megha as well, and pleased her by showing interest in shiny clothes because according to her I wear extremely boring clothes.

The evening was spent in shopping with mom at another location. Even though mom paid for herself (obviously! I'm a student. What do you expect?), she was happy that one of her kids was nice to her for a change. Especially because we only shopped for her.

I came back with a brilliantly annoying headache, but Avan tried to meet my demand of wanting to talk to her for two hours on the phone. We didn't meet the two-hour goal, but we came close. We did a lot of pending 'catching up'. Only I know how much I miss our long phone conversations ever since she went to a B school!

Sunday afternoon was something I was looking forward to. I was meeting school friends after a really long gap. So much so that I saw my closest friend from school after about a year today. I was damn excited. Most of the people in that chain mail did turn up. Basketball kept the boys away for longer than expected, but it was still nice to meet the old gang! The old commerce gang (I used to hang out more with the science students in 11th and 12th)! We had a lot more to talk about, but other commitments kept it slightly shorter than we would have liked. Incidentally, we also ran into one of the most dedicated students of our batch from school. The conviction with which he used to say that he wants to be a doctor totally reflected in the fact that today he's at the Safdarjung Hospital. Highly impressive!

Among other fun things, I had a fruit salad sundae from Nirula's after really long. As in many other places, the quality is nothing like it used to be. Nonetheless, it remains one of my most favourite things ever!
This reminds me - last week when I had gone to Chandni Chowk, we'd gone to the parathe wali gali and to my disappointment, the size of the parathas has now been halved. Moreover, there was absolutely no difference between a khurchan and a rabdi paratha. Yes, I have progressed from the apprehensive days of aloo parathas, but let's not digress from the point. So much for a slowdown! :-/

Back to today: From CP I headed to Khan Market with Kulsum's truck driver skills. She turned out to be better than what I was told about her. She left, and I met Udit. We spent some time at Cafe Oz. A place where pasta was not well-cooked, none of the desserts were (thankfully) appealing, and the iced tea was just about ok. I also went through some of his photographs' prints. Quite liked a few!

He was nice enough to drop me home. Post dinner I sat with my family, and we talked for a good two hours. It hardly ever happens. I loved every single moment of it!

My tickets for going back to Pune are booked. A train that takes more than a day, and I don't have a window seat. I know how much sulking these facts involve!

And oh, I got to talk to the 'love of my life' Sahil properly after more than three weeks today. It was nice. :-)

Why peanut butter? Because back in the hostel I developed a liking for untimely slices of bread with peanut butter - something I never really had at home. So to add to my already excessive weight, I got a jar recently and have been having untimely slices of bread with peanut butter again! Who would have thought I would bring stupid habits from hostel to my home! But stupid things are the easiest and quickest to travel, aren't they?

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I could not make a post about the recently-discovered engineer hidden in me. For your reference, I am working with one of the engineering giants right now. Last week I was disappointed because a stupid reason led to me missing a photoshoot of our technology at a substation. On Friday, I highly enjoyed reading about all the physics I missed out on after 10th standard. I also visited our instrumentations factory. It did take all these weeks for me to begin enjoying it, but really, if it wasn't for nauseating chemistry, I would have been in a completely different world today!!

So this is it about my weekend. Now I'll go decide what I have to wear to work tomorrow. Tada!!

Head Girl and Vice Head Girl - Batch 2004

Best buds

Trained at Delhi School of Social Work and National Institute of Fashion Technology respectively - talking about and agreeing upon how to handle rishtedars with shaadi ka rishtas

Kulsum has a 'thing' for getting people's invisible feet in all pictures she clicks

And Parul ka dil! :D

Excitement Varieties

So I was out of action for the past couple of days thanks to a bitch of a virus that has infected my body. I bow to the gods for at least I am able to look at a computer screen for more than five minutes today. I still curse the virus which shoots the temperature to insane levels even after all these days, but whatever! At least I am not singing, 'I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes' (of course, pain, not love! :-|) anymore. So, Calpol rocks!

The pain had made me lose my mind to the extent that I was uttering stuff about cigarettes to my mom when she was talking to me about tea. At 4:00 a.m. This, when I do not smoke. And you thought I was exaggerating when I said I was sick!

I also shivered unto (almost) death in office today in spite of my sweater and shawl. No, the air-conditioning was just about fine. Only I was too sick and had to head home early. :-|

As of now I am using my Gmail for official work. There is obviously a new label in place. And how does it look? *raises right eyebrow with the tongue peeking from the right side* (and you thought I have standard expressions) It's a white background with red font. Wondering what's exciting about it? Those are our corporate colours, duh! You would know I am excited about this stuff if you're on my Gtalk. The Group logo has replaced my 'hot' display picture. Or you would also know I am excited about this stuff if you've known me for a bit. These things are always exciting, man!

I am not sure if I have mentioned this already, but I am coordinating the Delhi Half Marathon participation of my company. It's after really long that I am at the organising end of something. And for the first time for something as important as this (after all there is employee engagement and branding at stake :D). That too alone, because bosses are busy with other stuff. I am extremely excited about it. Hoping it goes smoothly.


So, there's work-related excitement, and there's recovery-related excitement. Happens.



I still remain a hypochondriac of sorts. Everybody still laughs about it for some reason. The doctors point to my lifestyle for all the diseases I have in my head. But I still remain a hypochondriac of sorts.

On This First Day

Day 1 at work today. I was unexpectedly anxious about it. So much so that I lost my digestion last night.

The day was slow but fair. The office smells really nice. Am I happy about it or what!

A drive just across the Badarpur border during so-called non-traffic hours took one hour both times. I am dreading leaving work around 7:00 p.m.

Few things feel as good as a crisp, white shirt.

We may talk of corporate communications, marketing communications, and brand communications as separate things in class; they may remain separate things too; but apparently at the end of the day we're all just communication specialists. I went expecting something because of what I was told. But what I got to know there was not what I was looking for. It might just play too big a role in my planned career graph. And therefore, this is why I have minimised on planning in life.
But technically I need not complain. And I really shouldn't. With this internship I get one of the biggest brands in the world on my resume. It doesn't happen everyday to everyone.

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Mansi is in town and I finally met her today! I still describe things like 'distorted graphic print' as 'bricks but not symmetric' to her. Some things never change. Some relationships never change. There are very very few that let the foundation be and just keep getting modified with time. She's one person with whom things are like that. Love her so so much!!

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A couple of minutes ago I heard that there is somebody called Naam Chakraborty in the Delhi region! Is it coincidence that today I also heard Rachel mention, 'kids will bully her in the school backyard then!'? Somebody please tell me that 'naam' means something else in Bengali or in another language because we have already scripted a gig on this 'topic'.

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Addictions are never nice! I think I will attain nirvana the day I manage to control my mind.

They Wanted Me!

I got over with my summer internship exactly two weeks back. And it's time to give preferences for the internship in fall already. This one is going to be the most crucial of them all. So while doing my research, I came across Canon's internship programme. And I swear they wanted me this past summer!! They accept profiles that are Just Like Mine!!! And they offer things that I Just So Want!!! I sooo hate my director for this. I will hold this against him for the rest of my life. I know I don't need reasons for anything against him, but if ever the concept of a dream company held true for me, it was for this internship that I cannot have. It's supposed to be a 10-week thing during summers in the US. Ruhi suggests I should do it next summer irrespective of everything else. I am even considering the option. The least I can do is write to them and ask if they would want me then.
Don't worry, it's not like I would take up the internship instead of a job, but would surely hope to have some sort of circumstances that would allow me this opportunity. Damn, I cannot express how much of a loss this feels like!