Tag and New Year

Laksh has tagged me to write about my new year resolutions. I have heard some people saying that resolutions are meant to be broken...But I will try my very best to live up to my resolutions.

1. To be a better human being, be more compassionate and helpful.
2. To control my anger.
3. To be more efficient and shed off laziness.
4. To lend a deaf ear to all sorts of politics that people do.

Wishing all readers a New Year sparkling with Joy, Success and Happiness.

Meet My Boss

No, I am not talking about the Mr. or even my mother or mother in law.

I am talking about the one person to whom I am answerable. She asks me questions and needs to know the answers from me asap. If my old car is parked outside the house, she starts off the conversation by asking " Looks like the old car was parked outside today??!!" How I wish to say "My dear lady, if the car is parked outside, it will be visible to not just you, but every passer by..." but I just end up saying "Yes". If the car is parked outside when she arrives, I have to answer to " Car is parked here, did he not go to work today/ Has he left by office cab today/ Is he not in town?".

If I have guests at home, I must submit the enquiry form she supplies me by generously parting with the bio-data of the guest. If relatives come to stay over and go out, they are sorely missed by her and she enquires about their whereabouts and wants to confirm if they have gone to visit others or left for their house! She demands to know whereabouts of immediate family and why they are not visiting me for festivals??

I cannot keep ranting about this as I also get access to the choicest and confidential information from her such as who ran away with whom, the winner of today's mil vs dil contest in every home, who got a new house/car, who gave how much dowry, the financial status of all neighbours, who is fighting with whom, why a particular well-educated and good girl is not getting alliances for marriage... the list is endless.. All this when I have not uttered a word or asked about anyone.. Guess its her way of making me open my mouth to part with my personal information ( in return for the information received from her).

I am talking about my maid who is actually a nice lady who does her job well but also loves to catch up on gossip like most ladies. Now, I am just not interested in information about others but get this for free.. I appreciate her concern about me and my family, but that's all I can do. I wish to keep personal information strictly personal and do not wish to share it with the world. I can only shut my mouth and close my ears, how can I shut her mouth???? So, I dare not fiddle with her because if she quits, I will have the troublesome job of finding another eligible candidate who is anyway going to gossip the same way! So I end this post by saying "Jai Ho Maid Servant Ki".

Bored

I am feeling so bored since the past few days. The reason is most bloggers are on vacation which means I do not have many blog posts to read.. However, yesterday was okay as I got to read couple of blogs. I myself have not blogged for some time, that is purely due to laziness. Hope to shed off this laziness soon..

Why I blog?

I wanted to become

a doctor but could not as I cannot bear to see people wincing in pain.

an engineer but could not as I thought I would mess up on the ratio of sand to cement while constructing a building.

a software engineer but could not as looking at the fat books itself makes me sleep.

a lawyer but could not as I cannot argue well enough to say that I am right even though i am wrong.

a compounder/pharmacist but could not as I cannot understand what doctors write in the prescriptions (apart from RX) and the doctor's letterhead.

an IAS officer but could not as I am not good in dealing with politicians.

a cookery expert but could not as I would mess up the masalas and salt/sugar.

an accountant but could not as I cannot do golmaal in the accounts if my boss wants me to.

a teacher but could not as I think what if my students ask me questions that I am unable to answer.

a banker but could not as I think what if I do not count currency correctly and/or credit money in the wrong account.

an investment advisor but could not as I think what if the schemes I suggest to clients flop and my clients lose money.

a businessman but could not as I cannot put maska to babus and get contracts and tenders sanctioned.

There are so many other professions I would love to take up but some reason or the other prevents me from doing so.

So I ended up blogging as I can very well mention why i did not become any of the above!But wait, I am unsure if I can blog well without any complaints??

Please Carry on...

We shifted to a new city when I was in the final year of college. Needless to say, I had to undergo the painful process of haggling around with the new university to approve me as a student and had to write extra exams in subjects that I studied till 12th to qualify as THEIR student. The fact that the teachers for that subject could not speak the language which they teach but wanted to guide me for that exam is altogether different. Finally, I got admission to a college and started attending classes.

I could manage to find friends but I did not let them know my secret..that I understand the local language. Once I overheard some girls sitting behind talking about me in the local language. I just did not bother about it and carried on with my work. The conversation heated up in a while and one girl said "Ssshhh, don't talk much about her (me), she might understand what we are saying" But her friend just replied loudly " What is she going to understand, as if she is born and brought up here ??" and some other blah blah. I was waiting for such a lovely chance. So I pounced upon this chance to smile back at her and say in the politest tone possible in the local language "Please carry on, it's okay you guys are talking about me, no problems. I am enjoying it too."

Imagine how she would have looked after I said this. I had to control my laughter with great difficulty. After this incident, madam would always exchange greetings whenever she sees me and talk in the politest tone possible!

(P.S: The name of the city is deliberately not mentioned)

Telemarketing

A recent phone call...

Timepass: Hello (who is spoiling my afternoon nap??)

Telemarketer: Hello Madam, Good Afternoon
I am XXX from ABC company. We help our customers to select suitable investment schemes in Mutual funds and Bonds.

Timepass: Sorry, I am not interested.

Immediately the phone gets cut. What a polite telemarketer....

(Another caller had the courtesy to say Ok Madam before putting down the phone. I strongly feel that the above caller requires some good training in telephone and general etiquette.)

Tag

I have been tagged by nm and AA_Mom to write about my quirks..


The rules for this tag are
1.Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2.Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3.Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4.Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog


So here they come


When I travel (local as well as out-station), I particularly watch out for STD codes and vehicle registration numbers.

I love browsing through Atlases and Railway Time-Tables for hours.


I have to read the newspaper every morning or atleast turn the pages of a newspaper else I feel incomplete. The day the newspaper does not come, I am very restless.

I always read India Today from back to front.


I swallow tablets with great difficulty and end up staring at the tablet for hours before swallowing the same.

I make only phulkas (without a drop of oil), no rotis.


When I am visiting people or happen to go to places such as a doctor's clinic, I first look out for newspapers and magazines.

I pass on this tag to ArtNavy, Deepthi, Aargee and Aditi's Mom.

(P.S- The laptop is still not working and this post comes from the Mr.'s laptop)

Where is Timepass?

Timepass is hale and hearty and piling on the pounds as usual. Except for the fact that the laptop wire has fused out. As a result, I am unable to spend the usual amount of time browsing the internet. I have to wait till the Mr generously agrees to offer his laptop for a few minutes. This is the reason why I am unable to read my fav blogs and leave comments. Hoping to bounce back soon..

How about you??

Have you been to a wedding reception where the salad is kept next to the rice instead of being the first item on the table?

YES I HAVE BEEN TO SUCH A RECEPTION!


Have you been to a wedding reception where the soup is kept next to the paan BEEDA?

YES I HAVE BEEN TO SUCH A RECEPTION!

I got to see this arrangement in one reception. No, I am not complaining about this arrangement. Only thing is my stomach is not programmed to eat salad after finishing the breads and gravies and soup after finishing dinner.. ( I don't eat paan Beedas so that does not come into the picture at all!). Its all my fault...I better train myself.

A Peep Into Two Lives..

I know a girl selling flowers for a living. Hers is a really tragic story.She lost her mother at a very young age and her father remarried. As generally noticed, her step-mother did not treat her well and so she came to stay with her maternal grandparents. Now these grandparents are not like any other grandparents in general. The poor girl was made to work very hard and was scolded if a particular quantity of flowers was not sold that day.Some good people used to offer her clothes and food and even sponsored her education in a municipal school. I remember her telling me once that her grandparents did not want her to study, she used to go on the morning round to sell flowers and had to come back with the empty basket else get spanked.The poor girl used to always be late to school because of this. She told me once in the last minute tension to get to school, she even wore the salwar ulta! She cleared her 10th and 12th with decent marks and joined a small degree college and is now in the final year of college thanks to help from good people who help out with college fees and books etc.

I can imagine how difficult it is for her to please her grandparents and study as well. They are very poor people and I know she does not have good facilities to study, but inspite of all this, she has managed to do so well. There were times when she would tell that her grandparents told her to get back to her step-mother since she was not making good sales of flowers.

Let me now write about the exact opposite of what I have said till now. My maid has two daughters, the elder being married and the younger one in 10th. Now, this younger daughter is a very stubborn and adamant girl from what I heard about her from her mother. She keeps demanding things from her parents knowing very well that they cannot afford it. Both the maid and her husband work, but they still live in a small room as they cannot afford to pay more rent.Once I was told that the girl threatened her mother to give her money for some expense, but as the mother did not have money on hand she could not do so. The girl immediately locked the main door and told her mother that she can go out only on giving the money! Not just this, the girl has told her mother that since she has given birth to her, she must fulfill all the demands. What goonda gardi this is. On top of this, she is a very poor student and skips tutions so that she can see TV the whole day. She is very fashionable and insists on matching accessories and shoes also for every dress. She does not seem to bother that her parents are working so hard to educate her and keep her happy. What a contrast from the girl who sells flowers.

My point is when our parents strain so much to give us luxuries in life, we must certainly do well in life and make a good career. When it is possible for a poor girl selling flowers to study under streetlights and almost be a graduate, then it is surely possible for people who have better facilities at home. The onus is on us to realise how hard our parents work to make our lives easy and stop making unreasonable demands.

Why Why Why?????

Why does the cable connection go off only when I switch on the TV? (I am not a regular TV viewer, so do i deserve this?)

Why does a courier guy knock my door only when I take a rare afternoon nap?

Why does another courier guy come just minutes after the first guy has gone off and I am trying to get back to sleep??

Why do people visiting my building just walk in and knock my door (ground floor)thinking that is the entrance to the first and second floors?? This inspite of a clear board in front of the gate indicating how to access the first and second floors?

Why do people as mentioned above smile and say "Sorry i did not see the board outside". By people I am referring to literates who are unable to understand the direction in which an arrow mark points to!

Why do motorists drive rashly but quickly blame other drivers if there is an accident?

Why do tele-marketing people single me out to market their products?

Still so many why(s) to be written but I save it for another day and stop ranting!

Sweet Shops or Slimming Clinics?

The festival season is always a challenge for dieters/people trying to lose and maintain weight. Newspapers carry advertisements of both sweet shops as well as of clinics guaranteeing weight loss side by side. It is in the hands of the individual to decide where to go to! As a sweet loving nation, we never say no to sweets and end up exchanging boxes and boxes of sweets and eating the sweets by giving the excuse of " They will get spoilt, so I better eat it".

I often wonder how come articles and advertisements guaranteeing the perfect body shape feature immediately after Diwali/similar festivals. So many clinics guarantee weight loss to gear up for the New Year, a good 2 months away. I guess many people pamper themselves during Diwali, then join a slimming clinic to be in shape for the new year and then pamper themselves again during the new year to start the process all over. The only people benefiting from this are the sweet shops and the slimming clinics!!( cause they get regular customers). Doctors always say that a combination of regular exercise and healthy diet always gives good results. So here I go to eat the sweets lying on the dining table! (oops, did I say something wrong?)

Happy Diwali

Restroom

I will narrate an incident that happened couple of months back when I was in Bangalore. One morning, the phone rang and I answered the call. The gentleman on the phone was my dad's colleague and wanted to talk to my dad. As my dad was away in the restroom, I politely told him that dad is in the restroom and he will call back soon. To my surprise, the gentleman asked me

"Is he sleeping?".. What does he mean.. sleeping and that too in the restroom of all the other places..

I realised that I should have used the most (decent!) word of toilet instead of restroom. As the gentleman is in a top position in a top organisation, I used the word restroom as I thought he would know the meaning of the same. So, that indicates that I should not boast too much of the little bit decent English that I know and use beginners' language itself!!

Back after a Backache

I know its a long time since I wrote a post on this blog. I was laid up with backache, something very usual. I wanted to shrug it off and started cleaning the house. In my over enthusiasm, I did some acrobatics to clean some corners of the ceiling only to end with up with a sprain. Now, I am fine and thus this post. Thanks Trishna, aargee, DDMom and Sahiti's Mom for ur kind enquiries. I am touched.

On a happier note, AA_Mom has bestowed me with the Power of Schmooze award coz I am cool according to her. Thanks a lot, dear.

P.S: More rants and complaints (as usual) coming up from the next post onwards!!

Please (Don't) Park In Front of the Gate...

Generally a "Please Don't Park In Front of the Gate" board is hung outside residential and commercial buildings. Nothing new in this, I know. I was passing through a building opposite a place of worship. And not one, but two gates in this building had these boards. The funny thing was a Santro and another vehicle were parked right in front of the gate and face to face with the board..(poor guys, may be the people driving the two vehicles are illiterate). All of a sudden a white POSH sedan stopped in between and managed to squeeze into the place between these two cars. The car driver was certainly the owner {well dressed you see..} He hardly bothered to see/read that board whereas it was clearly visible to him. He parked the car coolly and went off to the place of worship.

Well, I might be called a fool to blog about this, but even this issue is of concern to me. What if some critically ill patient in the building needs to be transported immediately to the hospital and these cars pose a barrier..Yamraj will not extend the life of a person just to wait till the car owner comes and removes his car and then the patient is transported to hospital..What if the guy who parked his vehicle in such a way had to face the same from the other side??

If people ignore such small things and then complain of heavy traffic and things,it is just not justified...There is no need to wait for a good day/time to follow traffic rules/parking rules..What is the harm if you park your car a few buildings away (and definitely not in front of another similar board) and walk down ten steps extra to the place of worship??

My Grandpa

In my last post, I mentioned about my paternal grandpa. His desire was to see all his grandchildren study well and get good marks (1st Rank). As a dutiful granddaughter, I was able to fulfill this wish of his. He used to alternate his stay with us and our uncle. We used to correspond regularly through letters.His letters would always contain the words "study well, get good marks"...I would write to him after every test result comes out and intimate the marks and would get a congratulatory letter back from him.

My school had the practice of intimating the first three rank holders through post a couple of days before the annual results came out. Needless to say, grandpa would be more tense/excited than me and we both would eagerly await the postman by looking out through the balcony. He would even schedule his evening and morning walk near my school so that if he sees any of my teachers, he would be able to get quality information. I would be rewarded with roasted groundnuts and sukha bhel puri frequently so that I study well and get him the first rank. And yes, the yearly subscription to a children's magazine would be his gift to me.

Here's one incident that I would like to share. I was expecting my 10th std results. Naturally he was more tense than me.. and on top of that he was not in town and scheduled to come home exactly around the time the results were to be announced in my school. The taxi came home and on seeing that he has arrived I ran to the taxi to receive him and help out with the luggage. He got out of the taxi and the first words he uttered was (obviously) " Have the results been announced? Why so late in announcing?"

I was both surprised and shocked..Oh god he is so obsessed with my results.. He did not wait till he got down, collected the luggage and come home..In a way it added to my tension cause I sensed that he has high expectations from me.. He dropped off the luggage at home and came with me to my school inspite of being tired after a long train journey. Thank god, I got good marks and topped my school..Even today when I think of this taxi incident, I laugh a lot and at the same time realise how much he cares for me..

Till a couple of years back, we used to write letters to each other, but the advent of e-mail and near-to-local charge STD rates has stopped the correspondence. Now he asks me to send photos so that he can be shown the same on the computer!!! He says email me to say you are fine, your parents will convey the message to me ! Tech savvy grandpa indeed!

My First (Blogging) Award

Itw has given me this award as according to her, my blog is a networking hub. I'm thrilled to bits..cause this is totally unexpected!!! Thks ITW...

Its my first award in the field of blogging and also the first award after college. I still have the certificates and prizes (Brain Vita, steel plates, Story Books, Pictionary etc) won by me since my pre-primary school days.. It feels great to add another one to the kitty. As is my usual practice, I will be conveying this news to my grandpa cause he is most happy when I get a prize!! (separate post on that later on ). After all, awards do not come my way everyday!

I pass on this award to Boo (Boo, yours was the first blog I chanced upon during some google search. Have been hooked on ever since..) DotMom, mnamma, Trishna, Moppet's Mom and Deepthi.

Ford Fiesta

I have great pleasure in announcing that we got our Fiesta yesterday. This is just a model picture, we have a platinum coloured Fiesta.

One Word Does It All

Guess what.. I am now getting more and more visitors to my blog with the help of one word.

TIMEPASS..

I had already mentioned in one of my earlier posts that many visitors to my blog come here by searching for TIMEPASS in Google search. I am happy to say that the number of such visitors is rising by the day. TOUCH WOOD..

I had not even dreamt while creating this blog that so many people will use the same word on Google search. Timepass is a typical Mumbai slang and I am glad to see that there are so many like me who use this word.

My heartfelt thanks to all readers, please keep the Google search for TIMEPASS going high!!

No "L" In Timepass

To the people who wonder at me being systematic...

All I want to say is that I am systematic only with respect to what I mentioned in the post.. As there is no "L" in the word Timepass, my readers did not get to know a special quality of mine.. and that is

L for Lazy

I proudly present herewith some instances to prove my point.. (note to self- don't divulge everything you fool, else the handful of readers to your blog will also stop visiting)

I used to leave for work at 7-7.30, so my mom used to pack me some tiffin for breakfast. The lazy person I am, I used to postpone eating the tiffin. But my cubicle mate used to be pretty hungry I suppose, so he would remind me " I think your mom has made some tiffin for you. Why don't u eat it? (and give it to me too)" . So think what would have happened when the cubicle mate was absent or did not remind me of this.

I used to just take enough money for the bus fare and auto fare cause the office was close by. Once I remember, I did not have enough change but I ignored it thinking anyways I am coming by bus, so what if there is no money for auto fare. I was too lazy to take that money from home or withdraw from the ATM inspite of kind reminders from family.

Once I left office a bit late in the evening and could not get a bus. I hired an auto and confidently sat in it when I realised that I was running a bit short of money. No probs, anyways the auto has to stop before my house and I can always run in to get the extra money is what an intelligent(lazy) me thought. I was greeted at the doorstep by my fuming grandpa and mom and I did not bother to look into their faces till I disposed off the auto guy. This has happened so many times..

Before I start rattling off more (and worse) stupid acts of mine, I have decided to keep my bacha kucha izzat intact and so I finish this post here..

Dream Come True!!

Remember this?

"Since blogging happened to me, my dreams are also related to blogging. Just yesterday night, I dreamt that i got a dozen comments for my latest post. Needless to say, as soon as I woke up, I logged on to blogger but only found just a single comment..Pooh.. (I found solace in thinking that atleast in my dream, my blog is popular)."

This is an extract from one of my earlier posts. Well friends, I have received 17 (yes 17) comments for my previous post on a Tag. So, its a dream come true for me. Thanks all for making this possible and making this dream come true.

Who says Dreams do not come true??, they do....(psst..atleast some dreams come true right??)

Tagged Again!!

I've been tagged by whatsinaname to list one fact related to my life for every letter of my middle name. I don't have a middle name, so I will take on the tag with my blogging name Timepass since I relate to it quite well.

The three rules to be followed are:
a) The rules must be mentioned in the beginning of the tag.
b) You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
c) At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

T- is for Talkative – I talk and laugh a lot. But I do take time to settle down with new acquaintances.

I- is for Innocent – No, I am not saying this myself. I get this title even now from many people..Along with innocent I also get this remark “Poor thing/Bechari/Paavam”
Dunno why??

M- is for Moody- At times, I do get moody and withdraw to my own shell. But, once I get over it, am back to normal.

E- is for Elephantine Memory- My family would be ready to vouch for that, am sure…If I visit a place once, its stored forever in my memory…grandma’s genes I suppose!!! (Family are u reading this, waiting for your comment)

P- is for Pacifier- Friends pour out their sob stories to me and get pacified by me..I am surprised though that I am able to do this job well.

A- is for Adaptability/Adjusting Nature - Proof of this lies in the “N” number of change of residences across different cities since my birth.

S- is for Sensitive- I am highly sensitive, sometimes a small talk can shatter me but sometimes even the biggest of issues will not bother me much…

S- is for Systematic- I HAVE to pay all the fixed monthly payments like Building Maintenance, Phone and Electricity Bills and taxes right on the first day else my head would explode….I hate to take loans from people but in the rare case of doing so, I HAVE to return it to get a peaceful night’s sleep. I hate it if fans/lights are running unused and hate it when water is wasted (people brushing your teeth with the tap left open, here I come!!)

I now pass on this tag to dame's diary,Dotmom, justlikethat, mnamma, Parul,pixie,Poppins and trishna.

Hawa Mein Udta Jaaye...

I happened to notice one girl driving a two-wheeler at a signal. Hmm she was dressed smart and Chic..She seemed to be well off and had fully equipped herself with safety equipments. She was wearing a helmet, white gloves upto her elbows, a big bandana around her head etc etc. But I just could not help noticing that her dupatta was royally flying in the air. The girl had not noticed this. What is the use of wearing gloves and helmets when the flying dupatta is very likely to get caught in the wheel of another vehicle and drag you??? I have noticed this even in the case of pillion riders on bikes. I request all two-wheeler lady drivers to kindly tie back the dupatta/saree pallu and ensure that it is not flying in the air..Who knows, it might save your life one day... We will compliment you for your dress even if it is not displayed in flying mode...

Why Me??? (All the time)

I was going on a small evening walk. At a distance, I noticed one beggar begging for alms. He seemed to be middle aged but was seriously handicapped and immobile. I could see that his legs were badly twisted and so was one hand. I started hunting for change to give that man. As I was walking towards him with the change in my hand, suddenly from nowhere, the man took a puff from a fat beedi in the only one limb (his hand) which seemed to be working for him. I was taken aback..and shocked. And then all I did was to put back the change in my purse and just ignore him and walk ahead. At some distance a very old lady was begging, I gave her the change that I was almost giving to this man. But as she did not smoke in front of me, I am not aware if she too is a smoker or not.. Who knows, everything is possible in this world!!!

Dear God, this is to remind you that I go for walks for fresh air and fresh and positive thoughts and not to become a passive smoker....

Root-Level Corruption

I noticed that some people were digging a ditch outside my main gate. On enquiry, I came to know that it is for putting some cables, which would be done tomorrow. I could see one worker digging deeper and I told him to leave some space untouched for our car to pass through and enter the parking area of the building. The guy had already dug up the area in front of the gate, so he initially said it is not possible to do what I asked for. I requested him to leave some space atleast since otherwise the car would have to be parked on the road itself. I then came back home.

After a few minutes, the doorbell rang and it was one of his co-workers (a lady). The lady said " Seems you have a car and have asked to fill the ditch in some areas so that your car can enter the parking area. We are three workers, we will do the job, but please pay us some money for tea" I was okay with it till I heard " Give us Rs 50 for tea, we will ensure that the work is done"

My first reaction was " What, Rs 50 for tea???" . But then i took two factors into account..
1. These are poor labourers toiling in the hot sun, what is the harm if they ask money for a small task which is for my own benefit.
2.When so many big level scams are being conducted successfully, what's wrong if these labourers ask for a small sum of money. They do not have any assets to fall back on in case of adverse times.

Finally, I agreed to pay them Rs 20 since they had to put some amount of sand back in to fill the ditches. I could have certainly afforded to pay the money she asked, but I did not want to comply with her demand since it will encourage her to ask some other thing after some time. Guess what, the lady agreed instantly. Maybe the amount is more than what she expected? She must have asked for 50 rs hoping that she would get atleast half of it..Good logic..

After some time, I noticed that the pit was still not filled up. So I went up to that lady and asked her to fill up the pit. She sent a man to do the job. He promptly did the job and guess what he asked "Madam, give me some money for tea"...

I could not help thinking about how we people look to earn money from all possible modes...A similar incident.. A temple watchman was collecting donation, I paid XX amount and got the receipt. Since I wanted to give X1 Rs and I did not have a 1 re coin, I gave a five rupee coin to get back the change. The watchman promptly said, "Madam, I shall take the remaining four rupees as my bakshish since I am the watchman here".. Is it his birthright to do this?? My dear man, Bakhsish is not asked or demanded, it is given happily by the person who wants to give it. Else, it is not a Bakhsish, its hafta (mamool). Way to go, India..

Sincere Request

Request to a co-passenger (a girl in her 20s) in a bus..

You have been blessed with lovely straight hair which I have always longed for. I agree you look fab when you let down your hair but not in a crowded bus.. as the bus picked up speed, your hair started flying not just eastwards and westwards but northwards and southwards too. For a second I thought I am in a film shoot. Your hair went into my nostrils and poked me..I'm okay with sneezing but why should your lovely hair get dirty??(Cause its the hair I never had) Not just that, your hair was poking others too..

Finally you get a seat to sit and I am most relieved. But your lovely bandhani dupatta attracts me to you because it is simply lying on the dirty bus floor and you are so engrossed in conversation with your friend in the next seat that you did not notice this. I am pained to see that lovely dupatta getting stamped by shoes but you are still busy conversing. And last of all, you get down in the very next stop after getting a seat. When you know you are getting down at the next stop, you could have surely had the strength to stand till your destination comes and offer the seat to the old lady standing in the bus..As a youngster, you must definitely be having more strength than that old lady dear.

Sincerely Yours,
Timepass

A Good Start....

It was a cool morning, the previous night had nice showers that resulted in a cool and pleasant morning. I was sitting on the steps of a temple and here's what I saw.. Lots and lots of cute pigeons hovering around for someone to feed them.. A cute kid had come with her parents and her father was carrying her and asking her to feed the pigeons like how he was doing. The kid took the food in her hand but instead of feeding the pigeons, she put it in her own mouth.. Child like innocence..Hmmm There were three calves nearby. An old man had got a bag full of very very ripe bananas. He started feeding the calves and it was a lovely sight to see the three calves pushing and nudging each other to get more bananas. Not many people will think of feeding bananas to the cow/calves, they prefer to put it in the dustbin instead due to lack of time. I appreciate the man's efforts to come to this place and feed the calves. A good start to the day indeed...

If wishes were horses

If wishes were horses, then

I would love to take my blog friends to a beach
I would love to take them on a horse ride
I would love to watch the sunset with them
I would love to share snacks and juice with them
I would love to give them gifts before saying bye to them





P.S: My blog welcomed the 2000th visitor today. I wish to celebrate this occasion with my friends from the blogging world, please do indulge yourselves.

Epitomes of Courtesy

Scene I

House Owner on the Phone with the Tenant, the tenant is late in paying rent most of the time.

Owner : Hi (Tenant)
Tenant: Hi
Owner: Looks like you have not paid the rent this month.
Tenant: Oh is it, today’s ….th (date) right
Oh I forgot…
I shall pay by tomorrow.

Forgot, kya word hai..Atleast when you leave or enter the house, you must realize that its a rented place...


Scene II

Hospital room of a patient who’s baby died in-utero at 5 months
Entry of a new trainee nurse. She has the patient's case history in hand but has not bothered to go through it.

Nurse: So, you had an abortion right?
Patient: Yes
Nurse: Why did u get this done?? U did not want the baby is it??

Oh, so this is what people say " Adding salt and chilli to a fresh wound".

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all..

Lalbaug cha raja, will miss seeing you. Have to find solace in seeing you here.

Taking up the Tag

I have been tagged by Swati to blog about my dreams.Hmmm where do I start?? I have always been a big dreamer and most of dreams end up being dreams. Sometimes, I forget what I dreamt the last night. By the way, I day dream a lot too.

I often get dreams of leaving things incomplete and then struggling to get them done while facing different obstacles. My favourite dreams are those of my school life where I see the bench where I used to sit on in 10th class and chat with my friends. My late maternal grandpa regularly comes in my dream. So many times, I have woken up not to find him by my side and am utterly disappointed when I realise its a dream. I sometimes dream of getting stuck up in traffic too.

Since blogging happened to me, my dreams are also related to blogging. Just yesterday night, I dreamt that i got a dozen comments for my latest post. Needless to say, as soon as I woke up, I logged on to blogger but only found just a single comment..Pooh.. (I found solace in thinking that atleast in my dream, my blog is popular).

All readers of this post are welcome to take the tag...pls do let me know so that I can have a peek at ur dreams too..

On (Off)Line

When I login into Yahoo messenger, my friends who are online get a message saying "Timepass is online now". But, not everyone initiates a chat with me. Okay, I understand many people are busy at work while they are shown as online, so they might not have noticed me online. I generally assume this is the case and ping online friends thus initiating contact from my side.

But there is a second category here my friend. Some contacts reply back immediately when I initiate contact..The person must have minimised the chat window or not have been in front of the computer and did not see me online before, so on seeing my message, has replied to me. This is a genuine case happening with everyone. The second type is that the person would have noticed me online but not bothered to ping me, but on seeing my message sends me a hi immediately and before I ask anything else tells me "Long time no see, how are u?? Guess what I was thinking of mailing u today and here u are online...blah blah blah" Half of this is what I wanted to ask this person i.e. how r u, hope doing well etc.

So many times it has happened that I login but hardly get Hi messages first from the opposite side. But the moment I initiated a conversation, the other side is very involved in the chat and behaves so well that I start blinking my eyes to believe is it the same person who did not initiate the conversation. I took all this in my stride knowing very well that I cannot change others, I just need to change my view of things.

The same goes for mails as well. Mails initiated by me are sometimes not replied at all..But I do get the acknowledgement that the receiver has read the mail... Come on when u have the time to read a mail, just click on the reply button and say ok, it hardly takes 10 seconds..My dozens of mails are not replied to, but your one mail if replied late is equal to a big crime committed by me, is it??

One particular incident I remember, I wished someone Happy Birthday through email. I got a reply from the person thanking me and adding that nowadays no one remembers his birthdays, he is happy that atleast I BOTHERED to wish him. Hey, is this the reply I deserve for being among the select few to wish him..He never reciprocated the wishes though. Hardly a few people possess the courtesy and etiquette to wish a person back on his birthday especially if the person has wished for yours. I know, everyone is busy and has no time for replying to mails, but when you have the time to chat for hours on the mobile phone, book movie tickets on the internet and go for team lunches running into hours, you definitely have a minute to reply back to someone who remembers your birthday after all these years.

Timepass

I noticed that many visitors to my site came by googling for "timepass". Out of curiosity, I too decided to try out the same. Wow, my blog was featured on the first page itself as the tenth result..I am overwhelmed.. Thanks readers, I will try to work on making my blog the first result when "timepass" is typed on google.

This or That....

If he eats a dish and says " Hmmmm Good "the very next moment, it is a signal that the dish has turned out well...
If he eats a dish and says " Hmmmm Good " only when asked his opinion about the dish, the meaning is quite obvious...
What say folks??

In the Name of Chaat….

All I get to eat is big chunks of onions, carrots and an overdose of curd, sweet and spicy chutneys..Not to forget the big chunks of raw mangoes…

God, please guide me to a good chaat shop where I will relish lip-smacking chaat

Such People Still Exist….

It was peak rush hour in the morning. I was walking along the road when I saw all traffic come to a standstill on a busy road. I was wondering as to why is the traffic still when there is no signal at that junction at all. On coming closer towards the junction, what do I see? A traffic policeman is holding the hand of an old lady and helping her cross the road. Wow, I thought. So there is still some humanity left in people. I appreciate the traffic policeman for this, it is not something which we get to see daily.

I know many people will say why to stop the traffic and get so many people late for work at the cost of one person crossing the road. But wait, it takes hardly 30 secs to cross an empty road and if an old lady is taking just 30 secs of your time, whats wrong in it? When we can afford to waste time on petty activities, why not spare 30 secs in helping someone out.

I hope to come across more PEOPLE such as the traffic policeman. This episode made my day today, I must say.

Comparisons..

We are always compared with others since birth. Society derives pleasure from adding salt and chilly powder on one’s wounds. There are hardly a handful of people out here who do not ask annoying personal questions to others which simply cannot be answered as the topic concerned is personal only and not for public disclosure.

Anyways, coming to comparisons, when a baby is born, it is compared with parents and relatives as to whom does it look like, what colour is it etc.. Comparing dresses and toys is to follow soon… then people compare the schools to which kids go followed by colleges… in between comparisons for dresses and coaching classes and two wheelers gifted by parents are also seen..then comes the comparison of who is in which college and who gets placed in which company. Comparisons are again made while finalising an alliance and later regarding the marriage hall where the wedding is conducted.. The cycle continues again with literally everything from purchasing a house, investing in shares/gold, foreign trip, promotion, pay package and what not.. Some people have everything on earth but still jealousy is their best friend.

The one thing people have not compared as of now is DEATH..Of course people do discuss a death and talk details about it as if the same has happened in their backyard. I am sure the day when we face questions such as “ ABC died like this at this age, what is your plan??” and “ In your family everyone lives for XXX years, how long are u going to live?” is not far off..

GRRR again....

This episode is fresh from the oven.. it happened yesterday evening.. As I got out of the car, a lad aged about 12-14 yrs started pestering me to buy flowers and make “boni” a.k.a. first sale for him. Taking pity on him, I bought flowers for 10 Rs and before I could make my way to where I was going, the boy asked me to give me more money as he had to buy a science book for school. Good marketing technique I thought. Now, I am unaware if he is really going to buy the book if I give the money or use it for another genuine household expense or just have fun with the money. Whatever, this technique of demanding money irritates me.. He could have straightaway come to the point instead of waiting for me to buy his wares…Another reason for me to say GRRRR.

Showing Off A Bit...

You're a Precision Processor!


The Classic IQ Test

Brought to you by Tickle

I saw this link in Yahoo and took up this test. I must admit that halfway through the test, I got bored.. couple of answers were just blind guesses. BTW, my score was 118, I don't know how good/bad it is..

Bannerghata Road and BTM Layout

During my recent visit to Bangalore, I went past BTM Layout and was literally surprised to see a new look BTM. Bannerghata Road leading to the Mico Layout Signal is now home to big techies such as Oracle and Accenture. All I remember about this stretch is the ICE exhibition held on an empty ground near the industrial estate. I could not find that place easily now. As I last visited BTM nearly a decade ago, I had a tough time figuring out the old landmarks. For e.g. Jayadeva Hospital was being built when I last came over that side and what do I see now?? A towering structure mentioning the hospital's name.. Plus the Flyover near the hospital...For a minute I thought I was somewhere abroad. The traffic snarls at this junction are avoided by use of the flyover.

The only familiar structure on Bannerghata Road that I recollect seeing a decade ago is the Ansals complex, near the flyover. Now, so many high rises have mushroomed that I find it difficult to believe that its the same Bannerghata Road.. So many eateries have also come up..I am told that the interior lanes of BTM Layout have also developed left and right though I did not get a chance to roam there much. But whatever I saw just erased my previous memory of BTM Layout!!! I now remember Bannerghata Road and BTM as high tech and swanky places...And yes, I passed through the lovely Raagi Gudda Temple too.

GRRRRR…

She was busy talking with her friends. They were meeting each other after a long time and were so excited. They were all about to board a train and go sight seeing together. As she was entering the train, she felt an earthquake…It was not really an earthquake, it was he calling out for her by shaking her so vigorously that it seemed like an earthquake. She opened her eyes to see him asking for a cup of hot coffee.. So, it was a dream after all, she gets to see her friends only in dreams…She got up, murmured and made the cup of coffee and went back to sleep with strict instructions to let her sleep in peace…She desperately wanted to put up a DO NOT DISTURB board over her head but knew it was of no use anyway…Once again when she was in deep slumber and about to continue the journey where it got cut, he shook (woke) her up again and asked “ What time are we leaving tonight for our weekend journey”. Heaven help, of all the things in the world, is it necessary to wake up a sleeping person and ask a petty question such as the above knowing very well that she does not like to be woken up and also that the weekend trip was planned and tickets booked a week back…Now after this, who will feel like going back to sleep...

GRRRRRRRRR…What a start to a Friday morning…

Overheard

I was passing through a temple. As usual, there was a line of beggars at the front gate. One young lady was begging " Give me 10 rs madam or atleast 5 rs to satisfy my hunger". An old man was sitting few steps away from this lady. He was begging " Give me 50 paise madam, I am hungry". What a difference in the amounts. Alms are now supposed to be given as per the demand from each beggar is it?? But wait, the old man still seems to be atleast a generation backwards. Obviously, he has not taken the rate of inflation into account while asking for 50 paise.. What say??

Life is TOTAL BLISS.…

When I get up in the morning only when sleep decides to part from me unlike being woken up by a fellow human being….

When I open the main door and pick up the newspaper immediately after waking up and stretch out on the sofa to read it without bothering about anything else and not being asked to make a cuppa tea/coffee for someone (instead of reading the newspaper)….

When I log on to the net and surf through my favourite blogs after reading the newspaper and still not being asked by somebody to do some chores….

When I brush my teeth (yes) only after reading the newspaper and surfing the net leisurely….

When I take up the tasks for the day after doing all of the above important tasks successfully without any foreign intrusion

I don’t know how it is for others but for me this is total bliss albeit for hardly 30 minutes or so….

My Inner Gender

You Inner Gender is Female

You're sensitive, caring, and willing to connect with anyone who's open to you.You make friends easily, and you enjoy all sorts of conversations.You understand most people you meet - better than they understand themselves. You're totally a woman... or at the very least, your soul is female.

What's" Your Inner Gender?

Pics taken on the Bangalore-Mysore Highway

Domestic Engineer

An article in a newspaper talks about a website that has featured the newest replacements for the words ugly, handicapped and housewife. The new replacements are visually challenging for ugly, handicapable for physically impaired and domestic engineer for housewife. Doesn’t domestic engineer sound somewhat weird and seem to be inspired by the software industry??

Train Journey

My journey to Bangalore was peaceful and uneventful except for the fact that the train was a bit late. I could view some nice scenery throughout the route. Some childhood memories I recounted included gazing at the goods train on the next platform to find out which railway it belongs to... i.e. SR (Southern Railway), CR (Central Railway) etc... and trying to catch a glimpse of the train arrival and departure chart at each station to find out how late is the train.

Bangalore, Here I Come!!

The title of this post conveys the message I suppose!!!!

Further posts from Bangalore....

Thanks A Lottt....

Today's date is special for me since my blog has reached the 1000th visitor mark. I wish to thank all readers for patronising this blog and request all to keep patronising(do i sound too formal??).

THANKS A LOT ONCE AGAIN...

Just for Laughs....

Love is holding hands in the street.
Marriage is holding arguments in the street.

Love is dinner for 2 in your favorite restaurant.
Marriage is a take home packet.

Love is talking about having children.
Marriage is talking about getting away from children.

Love is losing your appetite.
Marriage is losing your figure.

Love is sweet nothing in the ear.
Marriage is sweet nothing in the bank.

Tv has no place in love.
Marriage is a fight for remote control.

Love is 1 drink and 2 straws.
Marriage is "Don't you think you've had enough!".

Conclusion: "Love is blind , Marriage is an eye opener!"

Rare Breed...

In these days of sending parents/elders away to old-age homes, I am glad that I know someone who has not done that (inspite of every reason to do so).. Madame X is about 50 yrs old and a spinster. She lost her brother in an accident some 20 yrs back after which the sole responsibility of her parents and aged grandma fell on her. Here's how she is different from the others...

As long as her mom was healthy, X had a nice time going to office and coming back and relaxing at home. But once her mom fell sick, X had to manage the household tasks as well, sometimes assisted by her grandma. Any other person in her place would have preferred to get married and leave or at least send the three oldies to some old-age home. But not Madame X.. there was more to follow.. her grandma fell sick and X was told that grandma might pass away any time. So X got grandma home from the hospital, employed a nurse for grandma and tried to manage the situation. Grandma passed away after a month or so but X had ensured that all facilities/equipments at the hospital were available for grandma at home ( these equipments do not come any cheap, mind you). Any other person would have decided that anyway grandma will pass away soon, so why to spend a fortune on such equipments and why to keep a nurse, but not Madame X.

After grandma passed away, her mom fell really sick so much that she was bedridden for almost a year and fully dependent on someone for even relieving herself and eating food. At this stage too, X ensured that mom had the best facilities available and purchased medical equipments this time around too. Around the same time, her dad fell sick too and became bedridden. The way she managed such a situation at home is highly commendable. Finally her mom passed away, but dad managed to bounce back a bit. The octogenarian keeps telling her not to leave him alone and creates a fuss on literally every single thing, so much that X is literally fed up, but it not her but the attending doctor who has finally threatened the man that he will be sent to an old-age home if he troubles his daughter further!!! Despite facing all this, X has not even thought once of sending away her dad to an old-age house and enjoying her life. Not everyone is blessed with such an offspring.

I know very few people who sacrifice their own life to this extent to take care of their parents. Some unsung heroes are away from my sight, but wherever they are, I salute such people. Society needs such people and not the ones who have everything in life but their own parents are ill-treated and driven out of home to an old-age home.

True Incident…

I do not exactly recollect how many years back this happened, but I was in school when this incident happened. We along with our grandparents had been to our native village and visited the local temple. Grandpa seemed to know one of the temple staff and chatted with him before we left. We had to walk down to the bus stop to catch a bus to the nearest big town. As we were walking down the road (it was late evening), the power went off and as a result all street lights went off. I was very scared to walk since I knew that snakes and insects would run freely in the darkness in villages. My grandpa sensed my fear and asked me to keep repeating the lord’s name and that he will surely help me. After a few moments we heard someone calling out grandpa’s name, it turned out to be the same person with whom he chatted at the temple. He had a lantern in his hand and came up to us and said that he will accompany us to the bus stop since he thought the children (me included) would be frightened to walk in the dark. Grandpa immediately told me “ see I told u no, god will help u when u take his name with utmost devotion”. To this day, I can’t stop thinking of this incident; it has only help increase my faith in the lord. It was not necessary for that person to come out and help us, but still he came and helped us out. Grandpa always reminds me of this incident now also and tells me to follow the same advice he gave at that time…

How true this fact is...

I recently attended a bhajan recitation. In between bhajans, the speaker talked about many topics but one thought is still lingering in my mind. He was talking about utmost devotion to god; he said, “Do you know why a baby cries on entering the world?? The baby cries because it is sad that it is leaving the lord and coming to earth, but we mortals celebrate this by distributing sweets and laughing and being happy. At the same time, when a person dies, the atma is said to be happily going away since it is going to be with the lord, whereas we mortals cry on the death of the person. See how the whole situation reverses on birth and death” How true indeed...

Begging for a Beedi…

While walking on the road, one old man begged for alms in a feeble voice. I promptly gave him some change. After some time while coming back on the same road, what do I see?? The same old man is coolly puffing away a beedi.. So that’s what he was begging for… In another instance, a leper was begging outside a temple puffing away a beedi…Needless to say, I ignored him. If my money is going to be used for smoking, it is better off in my purse… What say??

Back with a Bang..

Yes friends, my dear lapy is back now. Just thought of updating readers with this info. Hopefully, I will start doing posts soon... see ya..

On Vacation.

No not me.. My constant companion and my soul mate is now away from me.. Just before u think who it might be, let me clarify that I am talking about my Laptop. Yes, my laptop knows me better than anyone else cause most of the time I am in front of it. My poor poor lapy is overloaded with lots of work from me and so it decided that its time to take a break. I have just dropped my lapy at the service center and I am sure if it could speak, it would have told the attending technician how I overload it with work (amidst pools of tears). As soon as I came back home, my hands reached for the power switch to plug on the lapy (aadat se majboor u see) and I realised that I am putting on a switch without any appliance connected to it. Needless to say, I am feeling handicapped without my lapy. Hopefully, my lapy should join me back soon cause it cannot afford to be away from me for long (again aadat se majboor but this time not me, the lapy) how much ever I burden it with work. Hmmm so that's the story for the day...On second thoughts has my lapy taken this break after being used to read many blogs where the writers wrote about vacations and holidays!!!

Vada Pav

Vada Pav is a popular food among Mumbaites. In simple words, Vada Pav comprises of a burger bun and Indian style burger i.e. Batata vada (Potato vada). It makes a ideal snack between mealtimes and at times can be a meal itself. My school canteen used to sell Vada Pav for just Re. 1 (about 15 yrs back). There would be a huge rush for the Vada Pav. Most of the roadside Vada Pav stalls sell excellent Vada Pav with chutneys. They are simply yummyy I tell you....

Yippeee I Did It...

I could never swallow a tablet fully i.e till a couple of hours back. Right from childhood, I hate taking medicines and swallowing tablets means a herculean task. My parents had a tough time making me eat medicines. I used to keep the tablets in my palm and keep staring at them hoping that they disappear cause i just could not swallow them. Even breaking a big tablet into two was of no use. On forcing myself to swallow the tablets, I would end up with the tablet still in my mouth and resulting in a bitter taste. So much that the family would make up some pretext to be around me when i swallow tablets to see the fun. I would feel like a road side juggler. Dad and mom will keep on asking "Have U taken the tablet" only to find me staring at it. To this day I never completed a full course of medicines due to my aversion for tablets. So much that inspite of strict instructions to complete a seven day course of medicines for hay fever, I stopped the course when the fever went away. A small pill or a capsule is fine but no big tablets.. So today is the the big day which will go down in history as the day I finally swallowed a big tablet. But unfortunately, there is no witness to this. The magic name is Sinarest...for your info..

Help

Yes, I badly need help. Blogfever has gripped me. Another victim has succumbed to this dangerous addiction. I keep thinking what to write in my blog while cooking/eating/watching TV/cleaning/going out etc and keep asking myself can I write a post on this or that or that...My addiction is not limited to just this, I am now addicted to surfing blogs and reading posts as well, so much that one day without the Internet made me feel crippled. God save me...

Amul Butter

Amul Butter is hugely popular in India, especially in the North. Amul ads are inspired from the daily happenings in the country. The latest ad being about the Taj Mahal and is named as Taaja Maal. The caption for the ads is humorous. I remember looking out of the window to see the Amul hoardings while nearing Dadar T.T Circle in Mumbai. The URL http://www.amul.com/hits.html has a record of all such ads. It takes one down memory lane. Have fun browsing through these ads.

Patience definetly pays Baby...

I am referring to the number of visitors on my blog. When I began the blog I was all enthusiastic that I will get lots and pots of visitors. Any project in the initial stages does not get a big response, I hope my blog is no different in this case. Hopefully I will pep up this blog a bit and gather more visitors. So here I am pepping up my blog and believing that patience pays off...

Check This Out..

Came across a soft toy site, so thought of sharing it with all readers. http://easycrafts-softtoys.blogspot.com.

What Do U Call This??

Early mornings in the house are marked by my family wandering around waiting for the newspaper to arrive. Grandparents keep looking from the windows and balconies to see if the newspaper boy is coming down the road (of course to catch hold of the paper first). Dad keeps opening the door every minute to check if the paper has come. On top of that each of us keep asking each other “Has the newspaper come”. I keep a watch on dad as well as grandparents and accordingly plan to grab the newspaper once it comes.

A small round table conference (Extraordinary General Meeting) gets underway to discuss possible reasons of delay and the alternative of getting a copy from the local shop. The tension prevailing is immense.

No visitor to the household is welcomed as nicely as the newspaper boy. Only he is entitled to a red carpet welcome with all family members waiting at the door before he comes. Finally his majesty comes with our Kohinoor... Of course, dad asks him why he is late but by that time the boy (who comes in jet speed) goes off to the next delivery and we competitors grab the paper. Then comes the actual fun of fighting it out.

Thankfully, newspapers come with loads of pages (for customers like us may be). So in a few minutes, dad settles down with the financial pages, me with General Knowledge section and grandparents with current affairs, astrological predictions (and obituaries of course). All are satisfied, but the next argument comes during the rotation of papers to each other.

The smartest is mom who gets to read the full paper though last in the line. This hobby of ours extends to magazines as well (let me tell you that the whole magazines is read one person at a time). Needless to say, a holiday for the newspaper spells a bad next day for us (since no newspaper the next day).

See What I Made..

Yup, yummy burgers is what I made yesterday. It was totally unplanned though. I had leftover boiled veggies (carrots, beans, white and red pumpkin, colacasia (Arbi in Hindi) and yam) which I mashed, added salt and masalas and shaped into cutlets and grilled the same on the tawa instead of frying. I use Brown Bread generally so that’s what is in the picture. Plus one literally unseen item is the chutney spread on the bread slice. Its skinned bengal gram (Dhuli Kala Channa) chutney. Some lettuce and a slice of tomato would have made it more delicious is what I feel now. Anyways, don't get misled by the date in the photo as in a hurry to show off, I forgot to set the date in the camera.

Aashiqui

In 1991, the film Aashiqui was a big hit. All roads were filled with posters of this movie depicting Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal behind a coat(!). The music was a big hit and cassette sales (no CDs and no online downloads in those days u see) broke previous records. We too got a cassette and I remember hearing the songs day in and out. So much that one day the poor cassette couldn’t take it any longer and I heard a GRRRR sound while a song was playing. The tape had got cut. So the cassette was no longer usable. Mom had already predicted this day long back looking at the way the poor cassette was being played (read tortured). Years later, I downloaded the songs from the Internet and listen to them often. Don’t know this time what’s going to happen (!), have to ask mom her prediction this time.

First Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of the serial train blasts in Mumbai. I was shocked to see train compartments ripped apart due to the blasts when I turned on the TV on the evening of 11th July 2006.

This reminds me of the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai. The blasts occurred in March 1993 just as scores of students (including me) were writing the SSC (10th std) exams. I remember we had come out of the exam hall and someone informed us about the blasts. I remember seeing on TV, people literally bathed in blood while helping out in transporting injured victims to the hospital. The geography exam scheduled for the next day was cancelled in Mumbai city and was held later on. Some students writing the SSC exam lost their parents in the blasts. It was the first horrific tragedy I recollect and remember till date.

Coming back to last year’s blasts, TV channels show that many of those victims are yet to lead a normal life as before the blasts. But no matter what happens, be it pouring rain and floods or blasts, Mumbai is still the top destination for thousands of migrants to earn a living or be a film star (yes that’s true).

In a Lighter Vein..

We had been to the UK on an assignment and returned back after 1.5 yrs after the project got over. When we returned back to India, we were welcomed with many questions from relatives, friends and acquaintances. Obvious questions included “Why did you come back” (cause I wanted to come back, what’s your problem?), “How much money did u save” (10 crores, do u want a share too?). We fielded all questions with great humour.

But the amusing part was most people didn’t know that UK and US are not the same!! My neighbour actually asked me “ People going to the US from India never come back to India, why did u come?? Hello Lady what’s your problem on earth?? I have come back to stay in my own country and my own house and I am the first to pay the monthly building maintenance fees (read unlike others). So my coming back should not pose any sort of problem to you. And first of all, for heavens sake, US and UK are not the same, they are separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

People who I didn’t know at all starting smiling after I became foreign returned.. and asked me how was the trip. The local grocer asked me how was foreign, I said good, then he said where did u go? Dubai or Singapore or Malaysia?? Oh God, are these the only countries we are supposed to go to?? I then realized that most labourers go to the Gulf Area or Malaysia for work, so that’s why this question.

People looking at us would scan us from head to toe and comment “ You look the same, how come?? People coming back from foreign usually look fairer and heavier..” Is it necessary that everyone satisfies this clause?? Will we be deported back abroad (from the Immigration counter) by any chance if this clause is not satisfied??

Another question arising in the minds of people included “ Now that u have come back, when are u going again??” What’s your problem, I am very happy here is what I want to retort back but just pass it off with a wide smile. No matter what economic progress we make, our citizens still feel going abroad (and not coming back hahaha) as a matter of status. What do my reader friends have to say about this??

Marlex Pressure Cooker

No No, I am not advertising on my blog. Ad-Sense is doing that now. In the late 80s till the mid 90s (If i am right) the ad for Marlex Pressure Cooker was relayed on television. I remember the lines " Marlex Pressure Cooker, Khaana Jaldi Pakaye, Jaldi Siti Bajaye..." We kids ( I was a kid then) used to hum this ad while playing. Just thought of sharing this with all readers and maybe this might make you go down memory lane too...Other hummable ads I recollect now are Gimme gimme gimme Vijaya butter, on my toast give me the most.. Hey does anyone remember Trinka once a stiff competitor for Rasna. And Teepol dish washing liquid.. Who can forget the Mile sur Mera Tumhara.. or Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiyan. oh god I am drifting down memory lane...

Boomerang..

I happen to forward one of the many forwarded mails I get to some people. The content of the mail was regarding people not being able to keep in touch with each other and the mail ended saying Hi from my side and asking the receiver to keep in touch. Look what reply I got from one such receiver. "X" replied to me saying "How are you? You have sent a mail after a long time. Howz things with u?". What does this mean? I have forwarded the mail to people saying hi, long time no mail from you and keep in touch and it bounces back on me?? The said person has not been in touch for a long time and whenever I mail, I get one line replies. See how cleverly the buck was passed on to me. But the generous person that I am, I will still be in touch with this person inspite of this. coz...thats me..

Mantralayam

I visited Mantralayam -the abode of Sri Raghavendra Swami recently. I had a wonderful trip. There was heavy rain and floods just a couple of days before our trip which made us reconsider the trip. By Rayaru's grace our trip was very good and I had an excellent darshan. The saying that Rayaru takes good care of his devotees was proved once again as we faced no problems whatsoever in our trip. So much that, only after reaching the Mantralayam Road station for our train journey back home, the rains started. There was no rain at all during our stay at Mantralayam. Couple of pictures are attached. The first picture is of the Panchamukhi Hanuman Temple and the next one is the entrance to the Brindavana.

Too Lazy to Type...

I know its a long time since my last post. The small amount of readers accessing this blog might be thinking that I am too busy to blog. I agree so but with a small correction.. too lazy to blog. Yes, I accept it.. I love reading blogs but find it bit boring to type my own posts. I have so much to blog about but my laziness overcomes me. Is there any software that can type dictations automatically? Please let me know so that I can use it.

Enjoying the Mango Season with Alphonso Mangoes...

Mango is the king of fruits and Alphonso (a) Hapus is the best type of mango. Anyone tasting these delicious mangoes will vouch for that.Alphonso mangoes are bred in Maharashtra and are world famous. I love the saffron (kesari) colour and the unique smell of these mangoes which seem to invite a person to eat them. Perhaps thats why I eat only Hapus mangoes and not any other variety. I am often teased at for this, but my loyalty towards hapus mangoes is still going on strong. The lazy person that I am, I prefer to simply cut the mango and eat the slices. But, if someone takes the time to make aamras (mango pulp), then I will be the first to attack it. A combination of rotis/puris with aamras is excellent.For the past few years I missed out on eating Alphonso mangoes due to non-availability in the south, but now all supermarkets down south are stocking this variety thanks to hot competition amongst them. So, this summer was spent eating delicious hapus mangoes and going back down memory lane. Ok folks, see you all in the next post,the mangoes in the fridge are waiting to be attacked by me.

Supermarkets and Queues

I visited a Supermarket for shopping for the regular quota of fruits and vegetables. Since I visited the place at off-peak time,thankfully, there were few people around.There was one lady standing ahead of me at the bill counter,so obviously my turn was next. Suddenly from nowhere, a plump middle aged man who seemed to be well off barged in. I noticed it but kept quiet thinking maybe he is not aware of the queue. He also looked at me but did not stand behind me in the queue. Instead,after the lady's turn was over, this man pushed himself and gave his basket to the billing guy. I told him very courteously (though i did not want to sound courteous at all )"Sir, I am the next in queue. Please follow the queue". Immediately he frowned and then went off.

Generally, when we break even small rules, we are advised to behave with sense and not like illiterate people. But what to do if a literate and middle aged person does such acts? This has become a common sight everywhere nowadays. If an educated person behaves this way, why should we always say illiterate people do not follow rules? Agreed its a small matter, but definitely not one to be ignored.

A big Hello

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my blog. I hope to write posts regularly about the daily happenings in my life. Thanks for stopping by and please do visit often.