patience!

Patience, they say is a virtue. It is easy to say that, for me to put it into practice is difficult. Be it in any situation, most times all i need is a little bit of patience and tolerance. That is the single most thing because of which i end up screwing up things. And that is the most common advice i get from K, my mom and sis!
For example, i ended up wasting more than an hour at work today for something to work, all because i didn't have the patience to wait for the machine to finish what it was doing. I kept restarting the damn thing only to come back to the same state.

It has been the same thing with the relocation thing at work. I get the same reply every time i ask them. They are working actively on it and don't want to let go of me. While it is good to know that they are considering helping me relocate to where K currently is, it is very frustrating to not have a plan or a timeline. sometimes i feel i should just quit my job and go.

I take inspiration from this wonderful couple i know. They are seeing each other for a while now and want to get married. But the usual hurdle of acceptance from the family is stopping them. They are SO patient, that they have been trying to convince their families for almost 2 and a half years now! They just grin and bear all the adversities.

So from today on i will be trying to practice getting a hold on this "virtue".
Take deep breathes and WAIT! Things will happen when they have to happen...

2010 Round up

Looking back at my blog entry for 2010, i only seem to have stuck with one resolution of staying healthy and fit. I am happy to note that i tried to get a fair share of exercise and i didn't fall sick at all. We even ran the marathon this year :) That was a first and I hope to do it every year.

Looking back it has been a good year for me. It started off with a trip to Canada. Even though it was an official trip, i was very excited as it was my first one ever to any place on my own. It was nice to experience solitude and be on my own although at the end of one month i wanted to be back with K. I also got to visit my sis in the US :)

We did a fair bit of travelling and socialising. Not to mention lots of friends got hitched this year.

Workwise it has not been a great year. I did nothing earth shattering. It was mostly the same stuff that i have been doing for a while now.

This year, K and I were together for roughly 8 months! I dont like living apart one bit and the whole long distance relationship sucks! God knows how some people manage to do that for years together. I really appreciate the effort it takes for them to stay apart from their spouses or GFs/BFs.

2010 has been kind to me but i am really looking forward to the new year. Lots of exciting things in store am sure :)

Bakery items!

One of those moments of hunger pangs and i was transported back to childhood days.
A walk to the nearest bakery and there are so many varieties to choose from.

This is not the high-end fancy place where you get pastries, croissants, quiche and other unpronounceable delicacies.
This is good old Mr L J Iyengar's bakery whipping out yummy stuff using his imagination. Such bakeries are common in the city where i live.
Slowly being replaced by high-end pastry shops and cafes. For some reason, most of these bakeries are named after L J Iyengar.(who is this guy anyway?)

The most common one was the vegetable puff with the palya* in it.
And who can forget the Alu bun. Back in school days i stopped eating it for a while when someone told me that they actually put all the potatoes in a sack and stomp on it to mash them! Then there is the "toast", so called because it is made of a slice of bread toasted and covered with the yummiest onion palya.

And then there is the dil khush, dil pasand, our own desi version of pizza with a filling :D The filling is a sickly sweet combination of tutti-fruity, coconut, raisins. Just thinking about is makes my mouth water.

It was a Saturday morning ritual in school for us to go the nearest Nilgiris(the slightly upscale version of an LJ Iyengar bakery!) and ask for apple cake. This black-brown round cake-thing was rumored to have been made from leftover of other cakes. And then there are the honey cake and sponge cake. Oh the sheer joy of biting into one of these :)

I haven't even gotten started on the biscuits** and rusks. Benne biscuit, khara biscuit , koppri biscuit.

My cousins born and raised abroad never miss an opportunity to eat the milk/sweet bread which is not available in their countries!

You won't get to see any of the multi-grain/ brown-bread/low cal/no trans fatty acid stuff here. There is only place for heavenly mouth-watering goodies made of maida/vanspathi. And yes, they are always called bakery "items".


* filling made of vegetables
** cookies

The social network

I spend quite a bit of time on social networking sites. It amuses me no end about various updates that people put down to the last detail! This is just a fun list that i am putting together...I may be guilty of some myself. :D

Cutsy pics posed with teddy bear and other soft toys if you are a grown up.

Kids having their own profiles. And adding all and sun dry to their friends list to get the numbers up. Seriously are 10 year olds allowed to have their own profiles created? Don't parents monitor a child's internet activities.

Updating country and city even if you are on a two day trip out of the country to show off your are abroad.

Using the word 'dear' to address someone. This usually happens most often between girls. Example : thanks dear, you too dear, nice dear..... gag!

Status messages like "I miss you honey, i miss you wifey blah blah"...if you are missing your husband/wife, please give them a call and let them know. The whole world doesn't need to know :P

Having chat conversations in the comments section. Please spare us the spam.

Students updating their status about bunking classes, bitching about their lecturers and teachers. Its so not cool.

Uploading all snaps that you ever clicked when you were on vacation. Sure i love looking pictures posted by others, but i don't want to know about every single moment of your vacation.

I knew this one guy who posted hourly updates about his journey while he was on vacation. "At the airport... boarding pass in hand...just landed...taking a taxi this city" etc etc...

Creating profiles for your pets and expecting other people to "like" them. OK, i did click "like" because everyone else did and these people are good friends.

Do you have any pet peeves?

golmaal hai bhai ..sab golmaal hai

Just this morning K and i were watching the news. The news channels were full of the latest in match fixing( something to do with Pak cricket players being accused for match fixing). Every morning without fail, what seems to hit the headlines these days is corruption, cheating, money laundering etc. And not to forget the various other tragedies like bombings, murder or natural calamity Its just to depressing to start your day off on such a note.

Corruption is the single biggest thing affecting the progress of our country. Can we as common people do something about it? Can just a handful of people who have no bureaucratic powers eradicate corruption by not giving bribes, paying up taxes and generally adhering to the rules laid down by the government? Admittedly, this is a beaten-to-death topic. But one thing that i always wonder, is there anything you or me as law-abiding citizens do to bring down corruption and accelerate development?

The few weeks that i was in Canada, i repeatedly heard the same from the immigrants there, that corruption is prevalent even there but it never affects the common man.
Given India's situation i am ok if we come to a level where common man is not affected by corruption.

Brand value...

I saw an ad in the newspaper for a herbal slimming product. A girl dressed in bridal finery with a big smile plastered on her face, while her parents look on lovingly. The groom looks like he will pounce on the bride any minute. The ad goes on with the father's narration : I was worried about my daughter being rejected by so many grooms because she was overweight. Someone then told me about "Blah" Herbal Slimming Product and I asked my daughter to try it. We could see the results in a few months! Within 4 months my daughter became beautiful and within 6 months of using the product she found a groom! We are very thankful for this product blah blah blah....

Now there are several things about this advert which had me worried.
First things was the whole shallow approach to marriage. Cliched as it may sound, physical appearance is not the only thing that matters!
Secondly how can anyone turn beautiful in a matter of months! You are how you are born and no one can change the way you look.
Next was the promise of weight loss using just some herbal concoction. What about eating right and getting adequate exercise? That matters more for a healthy lifestyle than consuming any amount of slimming products! So many things wrong about this ad!
When will Indian ad makers stop using age old cliches. Tonnes of ads out there depict women doing all the cooking, cleaning etc. The fairest and the most beauitful girl getting a groom after using a beauty product. Scoring highest marks making one the smartest in the class etc etc. I could go on!

I hope average Indian consumer is smarter that that to fall for such tacky shortcuts to fame, wealth or whatever it is that the ads want to convey.

I saw too many people crying or just plain sad this morning on my way to work...makes me want to count my blessings! :(

Quote..

My blog is beginning to resemble a collection of quotes, poems and other stuff that i read about. I am not too enthused to blog about other stuff these days!

Here goes one more from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.


True indeed!

If....

I had chanced upon this beautiful poem a couple of years back and had totally forgotten about it. Read it again in "Bridget Jones". So here it is, "If" by Rudyard Kipling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

to do or not to do....

The topics of conversation be it in the social, friends or family circle, seem to be drifting towards higher education, getting that coveted Master's degree. For some it has become essential to get a degree to change their line of work, MBA being the most common. For some others it is an MS degree preferably from a US university. And for people who cant move away from their homes/commitments, distance education seems to be the option.

I too had aspirations of having an MS degree from a US university. Even went as far as preparing for GRE exams and managed to get a decent score.
For me it was the experience of having studied in a different country, living independently which was the premise. The kind of course work, the radically different teaching approaches was what i wanted to experience. Of course i was also to gain from the "technical expertise" :)

Circumstances forced me to give this up and i can confidently say i am happy to have taken that decision.

Let me go on to enumerate the various options that i have and why it wouldn't suit me.

I don't see the point of distance education. I can never take it up full time i.e sitting at home and reading up pages of technical stuff. It isn't challenging enough for me. I can think of doing it part time. I cant handle the stress that would result from balancing deadlines at work, course work, projects and ofcourse domestic life. I would end up in a similar job in India that i now have, with only a slight increase in pay.

So what is the point of this rambling you ask? :) i see an increasing number of people around me doing their master's degree. And that leaves me wondering if i am missing out on something. Sheep mentality perhaps!

However i feel the reasons for me pursuing one now are not strong enough. It also feels like time is running out. But that nag of not doing anything about it keeps coming back.....

hmmm....

It was a dream i had last night. One of my friends was visiting me during Diwali at my place. Nothing strange about the dream. It was just that "my place" was really my parents place and not my in-laws place. Close to two years of marriage, my subconcious has difficulty calling the place where i live, home. Even though i saw it built brick by brick, was part of every decision that was made and decorated the place myself. I guess more than 25 years of calling something yours can't be changed. My parents house will always be MY home. :)

shopaholic?

At the new campus at work, there are splashes of motivational phrases and quotes every where!
One such was written on a curved wall when we were on a tour of the new office to check out the interiors. I could see only a part of the word which said "ALE!" written in bold uppercase letters .My brain immediately made a connection and i excitedly shouted out "SALE!".
On approaching the other side of the wall, I realized that word was "EXHALE!", much to the amusement of my colleagues.

Oh well! the point i am trying to make here is that its been ages and ages since i went on a shopping spree. And i am not even a person who waits for a sale to be put up. I hate shopping whenever there is a sale. It was quite sad to realize that I have been completely off the addiction because of lack of time :( :D

Old age bites back?

An after dinner stroll turned out to be quite eventful and saddening today.

Close by home there is a temple outside which sits a security guard every night.
As we approached the temple we saw of couple of people milling around an old man who seem to be fast asleep. Looking at this i thought maybe the old man had lost his way. Having lived all my life in the same locality i can recognize quite a few people in the neighborhood. Thinking that maybe i would help the old man reach home, we approached the people who were standing around him. Turned out that this person wasn't someone i know. The security then told us it looked like the old man had deliberately left home as he had some bottled water and bread with him. It was his way of preparation to fend for himself.
One of the neighbors had got a blanket for the old man and asked him who he was and if he had lost his way. The old man looked like he was from a respected and well to-do-family. Any question that was asked to the old man to place his whereabouts, met with the same answer "Gottilla" (I don't know).

This situation moved me to tears. We stood there for sometime looking at the old man sleeping on the cold stone slab. And we moved on. Apparently this was the second time in the week that such an incident happened by the temple.

I wonder why people are ill-treated as they get old. I agree that they become senile and child-like. All they ask is for food,shelter and some love and affection if you are generous enough. After all the sacrifices and hardships parents face to bring up their kids, is it too difficult to take care of them nicely during their old age? Isn't it every child's responsibility and every parent's right?

It also made me think, how selfish the society in general is. All we did was, show sympathy for the old man ,feel bad for him and just get on with our lives. But then, I am an average person, whose decisions are impacted by/impact others around me. Or maybe i am using it as an excuse.
I have new found respect for people who are into serving the society. It takes a lot of selflessness and compassion to reach out and help people and give them permanent solutions to their problems.
Maybe i will go back with some food tomorrow, if not help find a shelter for the old man, thats the least i can do, if he is still around.

Weekend Gateaway : Coonoor

After a 6 month hiatus we finally managed to getaway from Bangalore for the weekend.
After a lot of internet research by K, we chose Coonoor as that was the most easily accessible place by bus. Owing K's vision still not being clear, we chose not drive.

We took the overnight bus to Coonoor and landed there at 6 AM after a bumpy ride thanks to the last minute booking of the only remaining seats at the back. The place which we had booked is around 7 kms from the Coonoor town.
We were told to look for a place called "Bison Country" opposite the 7th milestone on the road. It was quite easy to locate contrary to some of the reviews that we read about people taking hours to locate the place.
It was the most amazing weekend in a long time that we had. There was no agenda...no places to visit and we were in no hurry to get anywhere!




Between eating sumptuous meals, catching naps we managed to go on long walks on roads that seem to lead nowhere or just sit at the balcony curled up with a book. We even threw darts and even played carrom. K managed to win every single time as my carron skills are rusty :D .




The silence was defeaning sometimes to us city dwellers. The only sounds we could hear were from the farms and the plant nurseries nearby. And ofcourse the incessant chirping of the birds. :)


The homestay itself is very pleasant. It has 2 suites called "hoofs" and "horns".
And 2 rooms called "Dens". The decor is tasteful, simple and sticks to the theme of wildlife :)






We also went on a 3 km walk through the Nilgiri forest to reach the Raliah dam. It was built in 1935 and supplies water to the town of Coonoor. We even managed to spot some Malabar Giant squirrels. I was only thankful we didnt encounter any bisons. Before we set out for the dam , the caretaker asked us not to worry about the bisons. He told us we could take pictures should we encounter bisons on our way!

Music for the soul!! :)

Pandit Ravishankar's Vedic Chants of India never fails to relax me when I am mentally exhausted.

Simple every day chants set to soothing music be it the Gayathri Mantra or Asathoma. Brings tranquility to mind in troubled times. :)

Here is Sarve Bhavanthu Sukhinaha :




Here is the entire set : http://www.rhapsody.com/ravi-shankar/chants-of-india

Maggi Maggi Maggi!!!

The other day i heard on radio that Maggi noodles is celebrating 25 years of its existence.25 years of comfort food for me :). It is almost as old as I am.
I am almost tempted to say that any child born in the Maggi era wouldn't have had a complete childhood without growing up on Maggi. Its almost like a cult.

I dont remember when i got hooked on to it. Even to this day, on the rare days that i come home early, Maggi has to be my evening snack.

There were so many variations that sis and me tried with Maggi. Adding vegetables would make it a "wholesome" meal. Mixing it with spoonfuls of tomato ketchup, am sure is a common practice. Or adding dollops of butter would make it yummmmmmy!!

Then there was the Indo-Chinese style Maggi, with veggies, soy sauce and chilli sauce. Perfect for a rainy day in Bangalore.

Maggi over the years tried to innovate with their product. They tried various flavours like chicken, tomato etc. They tried to sell it as health product with the atta noodles concept. Then came the rice mania concept ( Lemon, Pulao...yikes! ).
I guess its their original flavour that appeals to the masses!

Long live Maggi :D

Richard Bach

While i was blog hopping, i chanced upon this book review. Boy, i was glad i did that.

Richard back has been one of my favorite writers after having read Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and The bridge across forever. I discovered these wonderful books after digging through K's collections of books. Although he doesn't remember how he ended up with those books :).

Richard Bach's stories leave you astounded for the simplicity of the thoughts yet powerful living philosophies. Although I am never into reading philosophy, his books have had me wanting for more. Ordinary things which one wouldn't have thought about in daily life, get a new meaning. And reading them through Richard Bach's words is an experience in itself.

Illusions is about a Messiah, David Shimoda who is overwhelmed by people's demands for performing miracles, decides to quit being one. The very idea of Messiah quitting is something new and exciting. The book then talks about how he meets Richard, a barnstorming pilot and how he slowly makes him realise that everything is in the mind. One only has to think about it, for it come true. It is about how everyone of us is under an illusion regarding our abilities. We are only limited by our thoughts. He goes on to give Richard Bach,the "Hand book of Messiah" from which i leave behind some of my favourite quotes.

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true.
You may have to work for it however.

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else is not only impossible but the mark of a fake messiah.

There is no such things as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.Rarely do members of one family grow under the same roof.

Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.

Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is upto you.


190 pages of sheer brilliance!

The day after....

Its not worth spending time on people who bother you. It only saps all the energy out of .Not just that i wouldnt give people the satisfaction that the hurtful things they say is actually affecting me.
The previous post took away a lot of my time,energy and peace of mind. It just wasn't worth spoiling the nice things we have going on in our lives. :)
As the age-old saying goes "Dont worry be happy" is what i will be sticking to!!

RANT!!

I will probably laugh at this later...but right now I am very very mad.

The conversations with people in my family(?) revolves around the same topic all the time.Yes I married someone of my choice, WITH my parent's approval .So what????
You, yes the lady who is my mom's close pal and a relative, that doesn't give you the right to remind my parent's about it every time. They have accepted it and moved on. But what is your problem? Why do you deliberately bring up that topic every time and indirectly tell them that they failed to get me suitably married off to someone of the same caste! And stop gloating that your daughter is getting an arranged marriage. Its not like a trophy that you won in a race against my mother. That doesn't make you or your daughter saintly. And if you really have a problem, talk to me about it. It is me you have a problem with, don't bother my parents or hurt them. I am responsible for my life and not them.

And you, the cousin stop being miss-two-goody-shoes. There is no halo around your head simply because you chose to marry someone your parents picked for you. I am leading a happy life ,thank you very much. And please move on with your life. I can only wish you the very best ahead! :)

And you, the cousin No.2 . Dont give me a once over and tell me "you have lost weight after marriage". Are you trying to say they dont give me enough food? Stop trying to beat about the bush. I know you want to say it out loud :P I almost laugh at your stupidity.

And you, the aunt in the first circle of relatives, i dont care you if refuse to touch the food at my house. You and your holiness i care a damn about. We dont feed crap to our guests. I am almost tempted to not even offer you a drop of water the next time!

And all you people giving me condescending looks, how many more years before you stop that? How different am I form you except for a bunch of rituals that you cant explain about. I have never been mean to you guys, so why dont you treat me the same?
And why do you bother my parents about it. They are perfectly happy, why dont you just let them be!!

Thank god for this blog that i can speak my mind out. I would never say this to your faces , because i can never act mean like you guys. I am better mannered and cultured and i thank my parents for that. I have enough sense not to point fingers at others and mind my own business.

phew!!!

Up close and personal?

Conversation over the lunch table at office steered to job interviews. One of my colleagues wife attended an interview recently.In the HR round, after asking the usual set of questions, the HR asked her if she was married. When she answered in the affirmative, the HR wanted to know how long she had been married for. Later the interviewer wants to know if they plan to have kids any time soon. Thats none of his/her damn business if you ask me. My colleague's reasoning was they wouldnt want to hire someone who is likely to go away on maternity leave as soon as she joins the job.
But how far can one go when asking such personal questions? Are they even allowed to ask such questions?