rainy thoughts

The rains are creating havoc in Bangalore city. Power outages, uprooted trees and traffic jams seem to have caused a lot of pain and traveling back in time, I wonder why we were applying petitions to the Almighty for even a lil bit of rain to save us from that terrible, terrible heat. That was necessary and hopefully this too.

Getting caught in the rain, reminded me of my college days (or even after I started working) when I had to go home late (intentionally or unintentionally). I would have to call home and give an update to mom. A typical conversation would be:
Me: Mom, I'll be late for so-and-so reason.
Ma: Why didn't you call earlier? Where are you? Who is with you? How are you coming back? Will someone be dropping you?
..and a barrage of other 'important' questions.
But what I specifically remember is my father asking on the other side of the call(addressing my mom, shouting loudly): "Ask her where she is. I will go and pick her up now only. or give me the phone, I'll ask her.."
This was more out of concern than anything else.

And that little assurance was very important and would make a whole lot of difference to me...

No matter where I was caught, I was sure I would be picked up! No matter where I was, or how far he had to go in search of an auto (neither does he drive not did we have any vehicle at home). Knowing my terrible direction sense, am sure some will agree that, indeed, this was a blessing! :-D
No wonder, that I would expect, no..wish, that I would marry someone who would do the same too. That would be every single time I was caught somewhere or needed a ride. Simple isn't it? I will whole heartedly blame my father, brother(in-law) and friends, who did just that for me. And now, from 2 years, it is someone else's turn to carry on with this tradition. :-) I must add, he does a good job of it too.

But its surprising how quickly one would take such things for granted. No explanations given, no logic prevails. Nothing.. it just happens.

Hmm..that brings me to another related topic. It probably is true that, sub-consciously or knowingly, a girl would want to see a part of her father in the guy she likes. The same way a guy would say 'My mom doesn't do it this way.." or "Let's ask mom, she knows better".

Because that's what parents are, better experienced, all knowing, and most importantly, a great benchmark. :-) The only thing we need to do is know where and when to draw a line. And oh boy, that is definitely not easy!

Ok, I digressed a lot of times throughout this post, and I'll let it be. One more digression is allowed right? Here it goes.

I changed the date of a small friendship-quotes-filled calender, and I saw this quote for 22nd:

Friendship is an inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.

How nice would it be if this was extended to most of our relationships. What say?

What's in a game?

What's in a game?
Some may answer 'Oh, nothing much, it is just a game', while others exclaim: 'Everything!!'

I have basically seen people falling into these 2 categories often. And that is when I came up with this theory:

One of the sure-shot methods of finding out how a person is, that too real-quick, is to involve him/her in a game.

Any game would do. Be it Pictionary or Badminton, Cricket or Monopoly. It esp. helps if you are in the same team.

We get to know a lot about the person - how he (generalizing, replace it with she if you want to) reacts to failure, how he draws up strategies, how he treats his team members, does he dominate or just lurk in the shadows, do your wavelengths match? And much much more!

It can be applied in so many scenarios you know - like finding that special someone or just another team member! Yeah, yeah asking someone to play a game at the first meeting/interview sounds really odd. And it doesn't work that way. But at least make it a point to involve him in some game at some point of time. You will be surprised!

Common knowledge or enlightenment? Let me know!

What shall I call thee..

a limmerick? - no, it doesn't 'count'.
a poem? - no, its too short.
Ah! I know! a pensieve it is!!


Routers to writers,
Sigh! my mind drifts.
Mousse to musings,
how quickly it shifts.

Oh, wandering mind,
What did you find?
No reason, no rhyme,
Do you need a chime?

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!!

Abhimaan

True to it's name, the movie Abhimaan was all about ego and how it mars relationships.

This Hirishikesh Mukherjee movie was brilliant in all aspects.

It had wonderful performances by the lead actors and the character artists - the mellow Jaya Bachchan with her all-expressive-eyes (gosh! just watch piya bina, looTe koi man ka nagar, tere mere milan..and you'll know what I am telling), and Amitabh Bachchan's perfect MCP act! (how I hated him in the movie ;-))

What makes it even more special are the songs. I just love the way the songs transition with the tone of the movie. Romantic (teri bindiya re), peaceful (nadiya kinare), melancholic (ab to hain tumse, tere mere milan), sad (piya bina) and fun (meet na mila re, looTe koi man ka nagar) too! SD Burman's melody and Lata Mangeshkar's rendition creates the magic that makes Hindi cinema (no, not bollywood) what it is.

Go ahead, listen to the songs. You will not be disappointed. Oh! Watch the movie too! :-)

Nanha sa gul khilega angna

Within the matter of a day, a new relation got added. I am now a maami of a cute little baby boy. :-) and it feels wonderful!! (pauses to do a small raise-the-hands-and-sway-from-right-to-left routine) Eagerly awaiting the pics now.

Congrats ka and anna!! Here's wishing the kid and you guys a lifetime of happiness!! Have fun.

Baby's first

Gosh! Time sure flies..my second nephew is growing up so fast! He even sent out a mail to me last week!

This is what it says:

G3XF7ZSAASEeSAZSZAQS


Oh, did I mention that he is all of 7 months now!!! ;-) Where is a baby-language dictionary when you need one.!

to be or not to be?!

With the uncertainty that life is, you never know how much of 'life' one gets to live! You might be the center of the universe one moment and the next moment..poof! You are gone. With that will be gone your thoughts, dreams, relationships..

Keeping this in mind, is it really ok to live the way we want to?

Do what you want to do, be what you want to be. Make your own decisions without considering external factors or people, no matter who they are.. parents, siblings, spouse, children? Even though such decisions end up hurting them. If you live this way, then, when you die, people might not shed a tear, might not remember you for long...? But do we really go through this life to be remembered 'nicely' when we are gone?!? To hear people say - 'Oh! He/She was such a good person' 'Rest in peace' blah blah, and the worst part.. you wouldn't even be alive to hear it!!! ;-)

On the other hand, we get a weird (couldn't find a better word) satisfaction giving away a few things/ambitions/dreams for the people who mean a lot to us. Not to forget, if others too act selfishly, where would we stand??! That thought is scary.

Uff..I can go on and on re-visiting both sides of the coin. Maybe the trick is to find a fine, delicate balance.

That's it!! a fine balance!!! (Few people, 2 actually, would rather say that the halo has made its official re-entry!)
Hmm..where should I start looking?

Mausam ka haal

N: No mails today, wassup?
M: Blue sky :)
N(taking a whole min to understand!!): Soon you'll see thunderstorms and lightning!! ;-)