WINTERS, are often welcomed by a running nose, cold and cough, getting cozy inside blankets and increased rounds of tea and coffee. Ever since I was a child, I have a tendency to not cover myself adequately as winter comes in because I want to enjoy the nip in the air and a certain freshness that winter brings in. There used to be a childhood pleasure in taking ice cubes out of fridge and rubbing it on hands and palm, and feel the frozen hands touching ones or other people’s faces. I guess I try to get the same pleasure as an adult when I let a chilled air chill some parts of my body when the winter comes. Resultantly, I always welcome winter with a running nose.
But that is not all. There is a false notion that I have too. I believe that if I cover my feet well, I do not stand a chance to catch a cold. That somehow immunes me, I believe to the vagaries of winter, and I am the first one, often, to start wearing stockings. Strong feet firmly rooted to the ground, help me in many other ways, but not do any good to my reddening nose, more often than not. I try to keep my woolens at bay and try to enjoy the changed weather as much as possible, a rather childish pleasure that is. No doubt I am considered a chilled out person even when I sport a running nose at the advent of winter and often be the first person to spread infection.
Its interesting always to read facebook reactions to the changing weather. These days they have been like this –
• I hate winters! :(
• I too hate winters.. just dnt like the all time cold, allergies with the weather... cn bear with summers but nt winters…
• wats wrong with winter??????? .......we glow during winters.....no need to apply sunscreen.......
• we get sweeeet sleep during winter aaaah!!!!!!
• I hate it in winters! Everythin gloomy! Esp. when maid takes an unannounced leave!
• I have to point out.....i like the rosy complexion that college girls get in the winter :)
• Wow! Winter Chai and mathari!!!
• .......for those who r healthy like me .....thick sweaters n jackets doesnot look good at all.....at dat moment i realise how overweight i'm......heheeee
• I hate winters coz there r many who don take a bath daily…yuck!
• ok i get it ....talkin about winters is controversial!! :P
Case in point !!! I can go on writing about good things that winter brings in terms of food, sunlight, complexion, coziness, lethargy, drinks…………….and so on. But I think I won't talk much. My last word would be – I LOVE THE SEASON. Hail Winters!!!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tinny
She is beautiful, bright, soft and cuddly. She makes my life too vivid and cheerful, alive and moving. She is always there for me, welcoming me, giving me joy and comfort. I still remember the day she came into my life. I touched her gently, felt her softness under my skin and that had given me so much of happiness, that first touch. Her round body had just come into my arms; she gave me an unbound joy and a feeling to soar high up in the sky, a feel of having attained a new liberation. She has always given me happiness since then, each and every day.
She is fair and possesses a natural glow. Her soft skin shines when she moves. Her move is rhythmic. She moves with an ease and is able to maintain a pace as she increases or decreases her speed. She slogs, she moves and she runs with a perfect natural beat. I control her moves and instruct her to change the speed, which she does without a hint of indignation. Oh! It’s such a pleasure to see and experience her graceful movements. I am completely in awe of her.
She always puts me before herself. She is by nature giving and selfless. These days when I am about to get back home, she is hot with anger. I have to really cajole her to let me in. But once she lets me in, she really takes care of my comfort. She makes sure that I am relaxed after a day’s work. She serves me keenly and gladly. She is always there for me when I need her.
It’s such a pleasure taking her for a drive when the weather is good. She gets into a joyful mood and wants to sing. Here again she puts my choice first and always sings a song that I like. It’s lovely to listen to her songs and drive around with her. When you have such a cute and reliable companion, obviously every journey becomes blissful. She often makes me realize that in the journey of life too, we need good companions; to look after us, to make us laugh, to share our sorrows and more importantly to keep us moving.
I call my ALTO RJ -14-CG-3681
She is fair and possesses a natural glow. Her soft skin shines when she moves. Her move is rhythmic. She moves with an ease and is able to maintain a pace as she increases or decreases her speed. She slogs, she moves and she runs with a perfect natural beat. I control her moves and instruct her to change the speed, which she does without a hint of indignation. Oh! It’s such a pleasure to see and experience her graceful movements. I am completely in awe of her.
She always puts me before herself. She is by nature giving and selfless. These days when I am about to get back home, she is hot with anger. I have to really cajole her to let me in. But once she lets me in, she really takes care of my comfort. She makes sure that I am relaxed after a day’s work. She serves me keenly and gladly. She is always there for me when I need her.
It’s such a pleasure taking her for a drive when the weather is good. She gets into a joyful mood and wants to sing. Here again she puts my choice first and always sings a song that I like. It’s lovely to listen to her songs and drive around with her. When you have such a cute and reliable companion, obviously every journey becomes blissful. She often makes me realize that in the journey of life too, we need good companions; to look after us, to make us laugh, to share our sorrows and more importantly to keep us moving.
I call my ALTO RJ -14-CG-3681
Tinny.I really love you Tinny!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Some Limericks!!!
Adam Smith went to an Indian wedding in Maharaja Hall,
A Smile is harmful for a make uped face done at parlor and all,
A parlor charges Rs. 10000 for an additional value,
A smile on the face people say increases a face value,
Adam Smith scoffed and said, “Doesn’t make economic sense at all.”
An age old ritual is that of Naming a Baby,
This January,Naveen and Vidya expected a Girl Baby,
Name had to be uniqueish,
Name had to be both Mommie n Daddyish,
The baby girl opened her eyes to a name called Nivea.
Marriage shopping requires huge amount of cash and concentration,
A bride has to make long trips to Malls and Jewelers destination,
A dress is not a dress which weighs less than 50 kilograms,
And five hours to ‘Make Up’ to make good the natural loss,
After such effort and time,the bride manages to have a calendarisation.
A pious lady went to a temple on a daily basis,
She hoped to please Lord Shiva with this practice,
The Lord one day decided to oblige her,
And appeared in the temple in his full attire,
Due to a sudden shock the lady died of a cardiac collapse.
This was a matter of serious concern and grave thought,
The students of MBA disappeared from class to sit on Orkut,
It was decided to effectively ban the site,
And to expel immediately the unrelenting trite,
A notice of the same notion was scrapped to all on Orkut.
I had a boss and her name was Dr. Sycophancy,
She had a weakness for a certain Mr. Diplomacy,
They went on a Honeymoon,
To a place called Blue Moon,
The company behind them yesterday passed away.
There was an old Lady who lived in a tree,
She lived there happily and peacefully,
Until one day when with an axe,
She crashed her own tree down to earth,
She had seen an Ekta Kapoor serial on Tv.
I happened to see photographs of high school friends yesterday.
Familiar eyes, under the chubbyish cheeks lay,
All of them had seemed to take,
Quite a similar round round shape,
Then I realized, World is suffering from an epidemic called obesity.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sukh!
Himalaya ki god me,
jamuni nili pahadiya,
unke beech, ek sunder si hari ghati,
aur usme basa kuch bhoore kale jhopdo ka,
ek sundar sa gaon.
Jaha nili kali nisha jate jate,
nishchint soye logo ko,
dheere se jaga de.
aur usha, apni lal lal kirno se,
unme oorja bhar de.
ve nirbhik ho, kyuki unka man nirmal ho,
ve parishram ka paudha rope,
jisme sundartam phal lage.
ve dukh bant le aur sukh bant de,
ve saundarya ka anand le,
aur srajan ka sukh bhoge,
ve tyag ka anand le,
aur prem ka ras le.
Yahi hai manav jeevan ki,
meri sabse sundar kalpana.
Friday, April 16, 2010
To Gautam
Ever since I joined my new job, my admiration for him has grown day by day. His enthusiasm for his work is something that is rarely seen. Few people would enjoy their work as much as he does. He has great energy levels and he never looks tired, in spite of the fact that he has long working hours. His Time Management is perfect and delays on his part are very very rare. When he has to stay back in office for work, he does not show any reluctance at all. On the contrary, he fulfills his duty with enthusiasm. He is a very positive person, who does not bother much about appraisals or promotions. ‘Work is worship’, he lives this adage everyday in his work life.
His kind of Emotional Intelligence is rare. He knows how to exactly handle changing moods, rising tempers, whims and fancies of people. He manages to keep everyone motivated. His presence in the Board Meetings is a must. He intuitively understands the environment in the Board Room and quickly develops his tactic to deliver according to the circumstantial needs. He has been applauded for this many a times.
He is near perfect in his work, but even then he listens very carefully if someone gives him some suggestion to improve himself. He is very polite and possesses impeccable good manners. How many people would have such continuous drive to perfect them? He always has a smile on his face and he meets everyone in the office with a lot of warmth. He has a great ability to connect with people and he perhaps has the maximum number of friends in office. When he went to his home town for a holiday, everybody in the office missed him. One colleague remarked, ‘The taste of the tea has changed without having Gautam around.’ Most of the people in the office agreed to this. Such good are his PR skills.
People like him are rare to find and thus his services are valued by the organization. He is very good at perfect utilization of resources. Wastage is minimum, when he controls things. He can be a source of inspiration for many others. He takes incredible interest in what he is doing and seems to have a high self-esteem. He is proud of his work.
Gautam brings us tea every morning with that ubiquitous smile on his face. He manages our mini ‘teashop’ plus pantry. He has no assistants to help him, but everyone in the office is served perfectly, throughout the day. He knows the choice of every person - Tea, Coffee, Black Tea, Black Coffee, with sugar, without sugar, various proportions of milk and sugar as per individual taste. He never fails to deliver what exactly we want. He never went to any Business School. But he is a live case study – In HR, Finance and Marketing. Gautam is our Tea-Boy.
His kind of Emotional Intelligence is rare. He knows how to exactly handle changing moods, rising tempers, whims and fancies of people. He manages to keep everyone motivated. His presence in the Board Meetings is a must. He intuitively understands the environment in the Board Room and quickly develops his tactic to deliver according to the circumstantial needs. He has been applauded for this many a times.
He is near perfect in his work, but even then he listens very carefully if someone gives him some suggestion to improve himself. He is very polite and possesses impeccable good manners. How many people would have such continuous drive to perfect them? He always has a smile on his face and he meets everyone in the office with a lot of warmth. He has a great ability to connect with people and he perhaps has the maximum number of friends in office. When he went to his home town for a holiday, everybody in the office missed him. One colleague remarked, ‘The taste of the tea has changed without having Gautam around.’ Most of the people in the office agreed to this. Such good are his PR skills.
People like him are rare to find and thus his services are valued by the organization. He is very good at perfect utilization of resources. Wastage is minimum, when he controls things. He can be a source of inspiration for many others. He takes incredible interest in what he is doing and seems to have a high self-esteem. He is proud of his work.
Gautam brings us tea every morning with that ubiquitous smile on his face. He manages our mini ‘teashop’ plus pantry. He has no assistants to help him, but everyone in the office is served perfectly, throughout the day. He knows the choice of every person - Tea, Coffee, Black Tea, Black Coffee, with sugar, without sugar, various proportions of milk and sugar as per individual taste. He never fails to deliver what exactly we want. He never went to any Business School. But he is a live case study – In HR, Finance and Marketing. Gautam is our Tea-Boy.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Bangalore - Of Life at the Road, Flyovers and Rachna.
After almost three and a half years I got a chance to go to Bangalore. During the journey, I was asleep till we landed in Bombay. From Bombay we took off at about 5.00 PM and as I looked outside the window, I witnessed a spectacular panorama. The rays of the Sun playing hide and seek with clouds, the vast expanse of the blue and azure sky, the reflection of the Sun in the blue ocean waters and the changing colors of the clouds from white to silver and then to golden, as we moved further. It was as if I was in heaven. How much I wished I had my camera with me? When we reached Bangalore at about 6.30 PM the Sun was set. I had witnessed a most beautiful sunset as we had flown over Arabian Sea.
A car was there to pick me up at the Bangalore airport. As we moved on to the highway, I asked the driver how much time it would take to reach the hotel. ‘One and a half hours Madam’, he replied in a thick South Indian Accent. ‘Put on some music’, I asked him. ‘No FM Madam and no CDs’. This was Dr. Murthy’s Car. I asked Dr. Murthy later how he managed to travel so much without even having some music in the car. He replied that he generally dozed off, or he attended to his phone calls. That is Bangalore for you. People spend a considerable time of their day on road, and there are various things to do, reading newspaper, chatting, catching up with friends, making important phone calls, thinking(may be mundane day to day issues or some serious thinking), listening to music or simply getting off to sleep.
During my four day stay in Bangalore whenever I was on road I could not resist looking inside cars and buses to find out what people were doing. I found an Infosys Official Bus, full of people and more than half of them asleep. ‘A nap in the bus’ and its potential to keep you going- Looks like an apt article title in a Bangalorian Lifestyle magazine!. I saw couples into deep arguments inside cars, I saw young strategists doing some lateral thinking inside buses, I saw tired working women thinking about house hold chores, I saw students engaged in lively banter and I saw people chuckling and laughing over official jokes……or so I imagined.
The next day at the Hotel it took them an hour to bring me my breakfast order, a Grilled Sandwich and Orange Juice and that too, after having made two calls to room service. When it finally arrived I enquired why it took so much of time. ‘Madam grill karne me time lagta hai’ was the answer I got. Next day I ordered a Dosa and it arrived in ten minutes. Lesson – If you want to reach for your class in time – Have a South Indian Breakfast.
On Wednesday, we fixed up a visit to Bharathi’s house. I looked forward to meet her. I also looked forward to meet her daughter Rachna. Heard so much about her since the time she was very young. We met after a long time and were really happy to see each other. At her home, I met her mother in law and her parents. Rachna had gone out to play. Bharathi and I were chatting about old colleagues and common friends, when she said, “This lady has arrived”. I suddenly heard an uproar in an otherwise very quiet Bharathi’s household and in came Rachna - jumping, laughing, shouting and completely self-possessed. Bharathi took a backseat as she came and I had to spend the entire evening talking to her, listening to her stories, her songs, watching her drawing books, her paintings, her dance, and her cartoons and so on.
It was a delightful evening for me and Rachna made sure that I was kept a company all through. It was delightful talking to Bharathi’s Mother-in-law and also her father. Aunty has eighty years of wisdom behind her and yet is so simple and endearing. Uncle, retired as a professor of English, told me about his times in academics, which I found extremely interesting to listen to. Bharathi took me to see his Library as well. I could spot Rachna’s wall paintings also in the house and admired them. She turned magnanimous at this gesture of mine and gifted me some nine ten of her paintings to hang them in my house. I had a delicious dinner, an authentic Tamil cuisine, served graciously and affectionately by Bharathi’s Mom and Mom-in-law. Lucky Bharathi! To have two Moms around her to pamper her. When it was time to leave, Rachna refused to say a Good Bye to me and started crying. I felt bad and quickly slipped into the car for I feared that I would feel like crying too. Children have such a great ability to connect. Why do we lose this skill when we grow up?
Next day in the evening I decided to visit the Forum Mall. But before I could enter into the Mall, an Art Gallery caught my attention. It was a gallery of Vases, Pots, Sculptures and Decanters. I loved the display and the light arrangement inside the gallery, enhancing the beauty of each piece. It was a huge collection- Pots and Vases in terracotta, wood, crystal, metal, glass and papier’-mache’. I roamed around, admiring the texture, painting and the carving on pots. I particularly liked some floral designs done in red and white. The collection of crystals was huge and also interesting to look at. While one part of my brain took note of the design, colour and the artistic detail, the other part of my brain assessed the number of footfalls in a day at a place like that and the amount of possible daily and monthly sales, estimated possible markup to be around 50% on cost and finally concluded that perhaps a gallery like that at a prime location in Jaipur, would not be a profitable venture. Do I suffer from a split personality disorder?
There was a huge book shop at Forum Mall but before I could discover it, I had wasted enough time at the Art Gallery and the Westside store. I could barely take a round of the book shop housed in two floors and could not explore much.
Colleagues told me that Bannerghatta National Park was just five kilometers away from the campus and one could possibly see the tiger there. I was tempted to go, primarily to see how tigers and other animals managed to live peacefully in a jungle, just 5 kms away from civilization, away from the biggest IT hub in Asia. Who is more fortunate, I wondered? The Tiger in Bannerghatta jungle or the IT geek in Bangalore jungle!
We drove across a ten Kilometer flyover every day to reach campus in Electronic City. The flyover made on the BOT model. To me it was a symbol of a Twenty First Century Indian urban life, reinforcing one’s belief in India Shining. I saw Reva, the electronic car on the roads of Bangalore. Bangalore is so full of young people everywhere – in malls, on the road. I heard the stories of M.G.Road getting barren as a result of cutting down of the trees. This is true for the whole of Bangalore. You do not see too many trees around. Also the city is undergoing a climatic change, getting hotter day by day.
And finally, the journey back, the breakfast at the airport, as we started off early in the morning at seven to catch a 10.15 flight. Bangalore’s airport is like a Railway Station, so much crowded. It is slightly cleaner than the latter though. So when the aircraft took off, and as I watched the city from the window, I thought that in spite of its inadequacies, Bangalore still had a charm of its own. I would love to go back to the city again.
A car was there to pick me up at the Bangalore airport. As we moved on to the highway, I asked the driver how much time it would take to reach the hotel. ‘One and a half hours Madam’, he replied in a thick South Indian Accent. ‘Put on some music’, I asked him. ‘No FM Madam and no CDs’. This was Dr. Murthy’s Car. I asked Dr. Murthy later how he managed to travel so much without even having some music in the car. He replied that he generally dozed off, or he attended to his phone calls. That is Bangalore for you. People spend a considerable time of their day on road, and there are various things to do, reading newspaper, chatting, catching up with friends, making important phone calls, thinking(may be mundane day to day issues or some serious thinking), listening to music or simply getting off to sleep.
During my four day stay in Bangalore whenever I was on road I could not resist looking inside cars and buses to find out what people were doing. I found an Infosys Official Bus, full of people and more than half of them asleep. ‘A nap in the bus’ and its potential to keep you going- Looks like an apt article title in a Bangalorian Lifestyle magazine!. I saw couples into deep arguments inside cars, I saw young strategists doing some lateral thinking inside buses, I saw tired working women thinking about house hold chores, I saw students engaged in lively banter and I saw people chuckling and laughing over official jokes……or so I imagined.
The next day at the Hotel it took them an hour to bring me my breakfast order, a Grilled Sandwich and Orange Juice and that too, after having made two calls to room service. When it finally arrived I enquired why it took so much of time. ‘Madam grill karne me time lagta hai’ was the answer I got. Next day I ordered a Dosa and it arrived in ten minutes. Lesson – If you want to reach for your class in time – Have a South Indian Breakfast.
On Wednesday, we fixed up a visit to Bharathi’s house. I looked forward to meet her. I also looked forward to meet her daughter Rachna. Heard so much about her since the time she was very young. We met after a long time and were really happy to see each other. At her home, I met her mother in law and her parents. Rachna had gone out to play. Bharathi and I were chatting about old colleagues and common friends, when she said, “This lady has arrived”. I suddenly heard an uproar in an otherwise very quiet Bharathi’s household and in came Rachna - jumping, laughing, shouting and completely self-possessed. Bharathi took a backseat as she came and I had to spend the entire evening talking to her, listening to her stories, her songs, watching her drawing books, her paintings, her dance, and her cartoons and so on.
It was a delightful evening for me and Rachna made sure that I was kept a company all through. It was delightful talking to Bharathi’s Mother-in-law and also her father. Aunty has eighty years of wisdom behind her and yet is so simple and endearing. Uncle, retired as a professor of English, told me about his times in academics, which I found extremely interesting to listen to. Bharathi took me to see his Library as well. I could spot Rachna’s wall paintings also in the house and admired them. She turned magnanimous at this gesture of mine and gifted me some nine ten of her paintings to hang them in my house. I had a delicious dinner, an authentic Tamil cuisine, served graciously and affectionately by Bharathi’s Mom and Mom-in-law. Lucky Bharathi! To have two Moms around her to pamper her. When it was time to leave, Rachna refused to say a Good Bye to me and started crying. I felt bad and quickly slipped into the car for I feared that I would feel like crying too. Children have such a great ability to connect. Why do we lose this skill when we grow up?
Next day in the evening I decided to visit the Forum Mall. But before I could enter into the Mall, an Art Gallery caught my attention. It was a gallery of Vases, Pots, Sculptures and Decanters. I loved the display and the light arrangement inside the gallery, enhancing the beauty of each piece. It was a huge collection- Pots and Vases in terracotta, wood, crystal, metal, glass and papier’-mache’. I roamed around, admiring the texture, painting and the carving on pots. I particularly liked some floral designs done in red and white. The collection of crystals was huge and also interesting to look at. While one part of my brain took note of the design, colour and the artistic detail, the other part of my brain assessed the number of footfalls in a day at a place like that and the amount of possible daily and monthly sales, estimated possible markup to be around 50% on cost and finally concluded that perhaps a gallery like that at a prime location in Jaipur, would not be a profitable venture. Do I suffer from a split personality disorder?
There was a huge book shop at Forum Mall but before I could discover it, I had wasted enough time at the Art Gallery and the Westside store. I could barely take a round of the book shop housed in two floors and could not explore much.
Colleagues told me that Bannerghatta National Park was just five kilometers away from the campus and one could possibly see the tiger there. I was tempted to go, primarily to see how tigers and other animals managed to live peacefully in a jungle, just 5 kms away from civilization, away from the biggest IT hub in Asia. Who is more fortunate, I wondered? The Tiger in Bannerghatta jungle or the IT geek in Bangalore jungle!
We drove across a ten Kilometer flyover every day to reach campus in Electronic City. The flyover made on the BOT model. To me it was a symbol of a Twenty First Century Indian urban life, reinforcing one’s belief in India Shining. I saw Reva, the electronic car on the roads of Bangalore. Bangalore is so full of young people everywhere – in malls, on the road. I heard the stories of M.G.Road getting barren as a result of cutting down of the trees. This is true for the whole of Bangalore. You do not see too many trees around. Also the city is undergoing a climatic change, getting hotter day by day.
And finally, the journey back, the breakfast at the airport, as we started off early in the morning at seven to catch a 10.15 flight. Bangalore’s airport is like a Railway Station, so much crowded. It is slightly cleaner than the latter though. So when the aircraft took off, and as I watched the city from the window, I thought that in spite of its inadequacies, Bangalore still had a charm of its own. I would love to go back to the city again.
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