half a year

The kiddo turns 6 months old today! Phew! I am now a little relieved, a little stress-free (maybe 0.0001%) than before for having achieved this milestone with no major issues. (says a little prayer quickly)

Sid now scouts around the room, looking at his parents/grandparents/others who are present, and voluntarily calls them by 'hoon'ing, if they don't see him instantly. He repeats this until he achieves his goal - the person in question looks at him and talks to him. Immediately his face radiates with a big toothless smile.

He loves tapping objects or someone's hand/legs, his own legs. Its like, he first tests the sturdiness of the object by tapping on it. If it passes his test, he continues to do so until something else amuses him.

With light objects and toys, paper, small plates, he has learnt to flip it. He also moves them from one hand to the other. This also keeps him occupied for quite sometime.

He turns and crawls pretty fast now and has started going towards anyone who extends their hands and says 'baa' (come).

As always he absolutely loves talking to the maid! The conversation could go on for hours if the maid didn't have to work.

He has started noticing the changes, if any, in the house. If there is anything extra kept on the bed, he rolls over and goes towards it. If it is something out of his reach, he keeps staring at it. It is very amusing to see him do that!

2 months have passed since I started working from home. It is now time to go to office. I don't know how Sid will react (doubts arise whether he will miss me or will be too busy playing to even notice that I am gone for half a day?) or how I will manage without seeing him for nearly 4 hrs.

As Josh says, interesting times ahead! Notice the word - interesting. It can be anything - happy, sad, exciting, disappointing, pleasing...the list goes on.

Life-u ishTene!

We all know change is inevitable, change is needed to grow, to be a better human being, to constantly re-invent etc etc.! But its not always that we accept this gracefully. Some deny it, some resist it and some, like me, remain silent. Not having words to express your sentiments is a tad disappointing, but at that moment, it feels like that's the right thing to do. But I find writing about it to be a lot easier. So here goes nothing!

Yesterday marked the end of a long run of a dear friend in our company! She was the first mentor. The first thought when I saw her was that she looked like my sister! curly hair and all that! :-D

With time, we became really close - a merry gang of 5-6 ppl who enjoyed working, laughing and even crying (Mr.A's meeting about the team breakup, B's junk bug, some of them sound really silly now) together!

So saying good-bye is tough, overwhelming, and sad! Yes, it is not like I won't see her again, or meet her for dinners/lunches, or go out on trips again (which i sincerely hope will resume sometime in the near future!) It's the thought of not having her in office, to turn to, for advice, for complaining, for gossiping, for just being there!!!

She will be missed greatly, by most of our team members. She is the rare optimistic person you find now-a-days at offices, who wouldn't nag about things being wrong often, passionate about her work (as said by her manager too), always ready and never afraid to try new things. Her command over sports, be it badminton, TT or cricket, is well-known and was appreciated by everyone. She would be someone to look up to for advices, like an agony aunt! :-) (her office 'kids' would agree here!)

Tea-time conversations, leg-pulling sessions, online chats, walking in the rain, admiring Mr.A, photo-sessions, the trips, planning on trips, complementing each other (I can see Pras nodding on this one), gossiping about anyone and everyone..sigh..the to-be-missed list seems endless!

But, as Mr.A puts it, change is good and I feel she deserves a much needed break, from everything. So here's wishing S a great new future, filled with happiness and fun! Be enthusiastic and spread joy as always!

Work and play

Team outing to Manipal County happened yesterday. The place is beautiful with lots of trees, plants and gardens. It was a fun day and on my way home, there was heavy rain too! Apt end to the day. :)
Some pics below.

The rabbits were in a fenced area and they were huddled up only where there was shade. Not one of them was found moving around.

Stairway to yonder skies

Against all odds

Retro mode pics begin!!
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Ek kachua..aur ek waterfall..

Shadow play

Reminds me of the chess sequence in HP - Philosopher's stone.

Life

Light..

and a bright happy pic to end the post.

Just like that!

picnic by the lake

On Dec 24th, the usual suspects went out on a 1-day trip. Some of them dropped out, but we were a merry gang of 6, so we continued with the plan. (In a 13-seaterTT, I must add!!)
After the UNO games, leg-pulling, and nausea-inducing ride, we arrived at the first destination - Melkote. After a short walk to the temple base (the temple of Challuva Narayana is in a fort on a small-hillock, Mel-koTe..get it?!), that included photo shoots of people, animals, trees, flowers, as always, we reached the steps. More pics followed.

For a change, D got busy with phone calls, and not K. :-) Refreshing change it sure was! After a short climb, we reached the fort. We arrived a little early for the puja, so we spent some time admiring the fort and the view it had to offer.


Then, after the darshan, we set off to thannur lake. It is quite huge and very nice. A little dirty, due to the mindless plastic-spewing humans! Seriously, what joy does carving names or a-loves-b on walls, roofs of public places?!? Anywaz, we had puliyogre and sweet pongal parceled from a shop in melkote and had that by the lake, picnic-style :-)

A closer look

We then headed to the other side of the lake. The place was very dirty and can be easily avoided. Sans, Sudks, josh and Dkoya went climbing a small hillock. Kartha and I played badminton to while away time.

After a brief stop at Mysore for dinner at 'Mane', dropped Sans at her place and we reached Bangalore and home at 12.00!! All in all, it was a pleasant, nice and fun-filled day with friends. Aah, life's small joys.. :-)
A few more pics.

I also went to Coorg with parents,sis and her family during the long weekend, and that will be another post by itself, well, at least the pics. Til then, ciao!!

chooDaaye hum woh galiyan

Moved to a new building today after 4 years at SA (Bannerghatta road). The new place is ok in terms of facilities but the cubicle design is pathetic, too much noise and disturbance! Hoping to get used to this new place and direction!

In other things, is there anyone out there who, like me, thought of Auzaar while watching New York???

...and then there was headphones!!

Listening to conversations around your cube is fun.
Sometimes..blocking all that out is much better!! ;-)

Of Bricks and Stones

The resort (Club cabana) had an open air theatre. Loved the architecture of it. It was pretty peaceful there, with a nice wind, lots of trees and birds chirping. Sandhya and I had a nice time chatting. :-)
Pics follow.







The water rides and attractions there were pretty good too. There was a jacuzzi, few rides and a wave pool. The best of the lot were the small huts in front of the pool. Ideal place to take a nap on a hot afternoon!

A few abstractions follow!

Yeh kaun chitrakaar hai

Our team from office went to Club Cabana yesterday to celebrate a successful release! As most of the badminton, TT etc. courts were occupied, Sandhya and I went around the gardens experimenting with the camera. Ended up discovering many options in the camera I never knew existed! :-)

As usual a lot of macros and flower/nature pictures followed. The best part - my first snap of a drongo! :-) Had seen loads of them on the electric wires by the road, during the drive to bagalkot/hampi, but could not photograph them. The resort had a lot of birds, but could capture only this.

Pics follow.

The drongo (not sure what the exact name is though)

Splash of colors follow




now for a white (read serene) break



Followed by shocking pink! The unmatched bougainvillea, of course!



More colors

hari hari vasundhara pe
neela neela ye gagan
ki jiske baadlon ki paalki
uda raha pawan

dishaye dekho rang bhari
dishaye dekho rang bhari
chamak rahi umang bhari
ye kisne phhol phool pe
ye kisne phhol phool pe
kiya singaar hai
ye kaun chitrakaar hai
ye kaun chitrakaar
ye kaun chitrakaar hai

Thus sang Mukesh. True isn't it?