An enchanted life

To New Beginnings

2012-01-26T21:39:00.000+05:30

And Remembering.

I have forgotten my first kiss. I remember who it was with. I think I remember when it was. But that’s it. I do not remember anything else. I do not remember how it felt. Most of all, I do not remember how my heart felt.

Yes. Everything fades over time. No matter how intense a memory... it still fades.

Years from now when us is just a memory locked away in the abandoned corners of the mind. I want to be able to look back at this pages and remember.
Remember the flip-flops of my heart everytime I see you smile.
Remember the song in my head everytime we held hands.
Remember how warm your hugs felt.
Remember the kisses.

I want to remember how it felt to be in love with you.

I want to remember every memory that we have created together.

-----

Shout out to my annoying cousin who pestered me every phone call to get back to blogging !

This blog is no more.

2011-06-25T17:57:00.003+05:30

1179 miles

2011-04-12T17:58:00.001+05:30

The distance between you and me.

I never knew I’d miss you so much even in unfamiliar lands. I thought it would be easy. After all, we have never walked the tree lined streets together or watched the sun set behind the hills…

The shores I walked with you are a thousand miles away.
And it is you who I have left behind to live with all the memories.

Everyday you see my empty desk, drive past streets we walked together… And yet every time I talk to you are so admirably calm. “Take your time girl”, you tell me in nonchalant tones.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder”, mused a Roman poet, “Out of sight, out of mind”, said the English one.

Paper Heart

2011-03-13T14:19:00.002+05:30

Sometimes the world seems so perfectly perfect, until your perfect world looks into your eyes and whispers, “I kept my life on hold for you. They were your your dreams not mine."
And then,
you look back at those smiles and see the reluctance in the depth of those brown eyes. The signs were always so clear you think. But you missed them
And now, its too late,
all you can do is watch...
watch as the wind blows away the million tiny pieces, that was once your heart.

Love

2011-01-29T23:39:00.003+05:30

When I was little, every time someone asked me who I wanted to marry, I would say, “An Englishman of course!”

And, for a long time I thought the words “I love you” did not sound as good in any other language... Perhaps that explains my obsession for Englishmen *wink*

But now I am older and ...atleast I like to think... wiser, I know,
Love needs no language.

I forgot.

2011-01-22T11:44:00.006+05:30

If forgetfulness is an art, I am THE master.

I have always been forgetful. I used to forget lunch boxes and home work assignments, sometimes even tests ... twice actually, and in both cases it was English tests. Phew! ...
and now I forget appointments and status meetings. I used to end up going for breaks at exactly 10:28 and miss the 10:30 daily status meetings INSPITE of outlook reminders! Go figure!! ... thankfully new Lead calls for Weekly meetings only, that too, she forgets!!

But what I did yesterday takes the cake.

I sent a status mail without the status... Non IT people read I made apple pie without the apples
Yeah, sure... people miss subjects, attachment. But your truely missed the body of the mail!

-------------------------
To: S; A (onsite coordinators)
CC: TL & Team

Hi S-
Please find below the status for P08-7987b.

[*The Status goes here.. but DID NOT*]

Thanks,
Tangy
[followed by fancy signature]
--------------------------

Yes, that’s it. I forgot to insert the colorful table I had prepared... yes colorful, I am after all me *wink*
My onsite coordinator had a gala time replying to the mail.

:) Blank Execution Status !!!!!! Zero Progress ??
- S

I am trying very hard to visualise what the execution status looks like. Or is this an innovative way of saying no progress ;)
- A

Thank God for cool OCs!

New Decade

2011-01-08T16:18:00.002+05:30

At the stroke of midnight, we watched the stars that lit the velvet skies float gently down to earth, like dandelion dusts... sparkling dandelion dusts...

My new year began beautifully. Hope yours did too.

Happy 2011 to you all!

Anything for you, my love.

2010-12-30T01:03:00.004+05:30

I would go that extra mile, just to see you smile. Where the roads are warped and haunted, and the path is laid in jagged stones, I will not dither. It is just an extra mile, and I am walking it for you. So what does it matter if I am a little unsteady on my feet; stumbling and clutching, falling and tripping? So what does it matter if my feet is soaked in blood and my soul is weary? For in the end, I will gently wash my hurt and put on my silken dress and my fancy boots to greet you in the foyer. And watch your smile twinkle in your eyes like a million fairy lights; like the fireworks in July.

But sometimes, just sometimes I wish you’d see the bruises my fancy boots hide or the weariness in my eyes. I wish you’d kiss my hurt and say, "Next time I will walk the mile with you".

Once upon a December morning.

2010-12-24T16:43:00.005+05:30

You smelt of winter, of the silvery mist at day break... of the bitter sweet hot chocolate in enormous white cups with snowflake patterns on them.
You walked in like molten sunshine over frozen window panes, lighting my gray December morning. I don’t remember what you wore or what we talked about or how long we just sat there.
But I remember... the warmth in your smiles, as the tinge of scarlet spread across the pale blue sky.
... the promises that were in your eyes, for the day that had just dawned.

And as I stood on tiptoes, with my head over your heart, I could not imagine a day that had a better beginning.

Perhaps Christmas just came early.

Turning point.

2010-12-04T12:00:00.002+05:30

You show me little dreams and warn me that they are but dreams. If only I had more head than heart, there would be so much less pain.

Serves me right.
Hope must DIE.

I am grateful

2010-12-03T00:44:00.004+05:30

Of late, life has been about pretending to be untouched when my heart is longing to to be loved...

But at this moment, I am sitting alone on the terrace with my laptop for company and for once I a part of my heart is feeling very very good. Life suddenly feels so beautiful, and I am grateful.

Today I am grateful ...

for velvet blue sky
for pink roses
for laptop & internet
for chilled orangeade
for hugs
for silliness
for hot showers
for dreams
for colors
for stilettos
for a 20 rupees in my jeans' pocket
for good friends
for cellphones
for the song in my head
for fairy tales & happily ever afters
for kisses
for hard work
for bamboo groves
for written words
for tinkling of windchimes
for waves at sea
for twilight
for miracles
for a heart to Love.

... for all these things I am grateful.

A song for life.

2010-11-20T16:52:00.007+05:30

I do not have a happily ever after.
I have traded it for a song.
A song of longings,
Of yearnings,
Of forbidden love,
Of broken hearts,
Of twilight dreams.
But the last verse
is drawing close.
Soon there will be no song
And you, who sings it,
will be forever gone.

Before the last notes fade,
I will say my goodbyes
and with one last look at you
I choose to close my eyes.

Pressed flowers in my notebook

2010-11-05T19:25:00.003+05:30

When everything is over, I’ll go back home. Back to where I came from.
Till then,
I will dance around in red shoes and from the corner of my eyes, watch you trying not to smile. I will pretend I don’t want my strawberry milkshake and let you have it. I will send you yellow roses and watch your eyes light up like the fireworks at night. I will kiss all your hurt away.

I will savour the warmth of your hugs.
I will memorise your body; every contour, every secret.

For in the end, all I will have are these memories, like flowers pressed in the pages of old notebooks.

So what does it matter now if we are not meant to be forever.

Rainbow in gray.

2010-10-31T00:09:00.001+05:30

I am scared of the solitude again. The voices are taking control once more. My mind is like a windowless dungeon in which rages a constant war. I think this time I am losing the battle, slipping more often. The darkness is seeping through the cracks and taking over reality. My eternal sunshine is fading away into nothingness. Perhaps the time has come for the shadows to claim what has always been their's. The weariness is creeping into my bones. I am so tired. I wish I could just close my eyes.

If you knew what went inside the head of mine you will want to run away to a land far-far away. To a place perhaps where the sky isn’t always in shades of gray.

I wish you’d understand how hard I am trying but I do not expect you to.

For all that its worth I wish for you to know that you deserve better... much better.

Last night

2010-09-26T22:23:00.003+05:30

I learnt...

... That sometimes I should let go and live in the moment without worrying about tomorrow.
... That sometimes, there is no right and no wrong.
... That sometimes wishes made upon a star comes true.
... That sometimes, temptation is hard to resist. Very, very hard.

It’s been an amazing night. For more reasons then I wish to mention.

Roomie and the Math Lecturer.

2010-06-12T12:39:00.007+05:30

WARNING: Post contain implications to indecent words .

My college roomie P- had this mad crush on our Math Lecturer. She dragged me every Teachers' Day so that she could wish him. I would tolerate him only till the extent of standing outside his office door, waiting for P- to finish her rendezvous ... i mean, come on, I see him enough in classes and I am so not going to waste one extra moment on him!...

P- would call him 'Puppy Panku' in a tone that was drenched in saccharine and would go all gooey. And I would go *groan*.

OK.. He was tall and fair and good looking ... though I still say he looked like a girl!
But he was also a royal pain in the you-know-where and thought he was God's answer to womankind and ... and... Oh! Don't get me started!
No way did I understand why P- would waste so much effort on him..
And to think he remotely resembled those adorable fur balls with eyes that melts the coldest of hearts!
Totally unthinkable!!
Until,
one beautiful afternoon, in our final year she told me, "Tang, try translating puppy in Hindi" !!!!

An afternoon with you.

2010-06-08T23:38:00.002+05:30

You danced barefooted across trial rooms; smiling at your reflection in each mirror... pausing every few minutes to squeeze my hand or run your fingers through my hair.
You made goofy faces just so that I would smile.
You sang those Hindi songs, even though you have no idea what the words mean, just because I like them.
You are so happy.
I can see the happiness shining in your smiles.
I can see the love twinkling in your eyes.

I don’t deserve your love, you know.

The week that was.

2010-05-17T22:30:00.001+05:30

Late nights in office.
Lazy evenings spent at the bamboo groove, with the slow, lazy wind in my hair.
Deadlines.
Pizza with extra cheese and melt-in-the-mouth kebabs.
Walking home on a Saturday evening.
Freshly laundered clothes.
Planning a perfect surprise. Watching his eyes light up like a five-year-old on Christmas morning.
My first Production Checkout, and the party afterwards.
Old Love and new.
And the realisation that in moments of utter chaoes you find peace.

Saturday morning

2010-05-05T23:45:00.002+05:30

I woke up today to find it raining outside. I stayed awake for a long time listening to the rain outside. The gentle pittar-patter of the rain soothing my troubled soul. There was a song playing in my head and pictures in my mind. Once again, my world seemed to make perfect sense. I was at peace.

I had forgotten I could feel that way.

[Blank]

2010-04-04T16:49:00.000+05:30

The late afternoon sunrays streaming past the canopy of golden green leaves.
Sitting on the edge of a rock,
by a clear hasty stream.
... Wrapped in your arms.

Everything was so painfully perfect.

Why did I have to make life so complicated now?

To amazing flatmates!

2010-03-07T20:53:00.001+05:30

The best conversations happen on the living room couch, on a lazy Sunday evening, over slices of pizza and bottles of fizzy drinks.

And the lamest movie playing on TV in mute.*grin*

I know, I have always cribed about being in Chennai but had I not come here I would have not met such amazing people!

:D

2010-02-27T11:58:00.002+05:30

R after a haircut.

R: Oh! Oh! Oh! Don't I look like Jennifer Aniston?

Me: *roll eyes*

K: Yeah, definitely! Except the fame... and the money

*whispers* ... and the figure... and the looks!

NB: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblane to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

Amazing what people can get away with if they have a proper footnote. *wink*

Working from Coimbatore

2010-02-14T16:11:00.006+05:30

The last three days have been immensely hectic. A sudden decision of the management found us in our Coimbatore office struggling to make up for the mounting backlogs. It was hard work but I am a closet workaholic. *shush*

The issues are resolved and hopefully it will be smooth sailing till our project sign off Saturday night.

We did not get to enjoy the beautiful city. All we did was work. And right now I am weary to the bone. But I am proud that I was chosen to be part of the deployment team, in spite of being the newest member of the team with an overwhelming lack of experience.

The Coimbatore trip is a blur. But there is one picture that I will carry forever.
Walking out of the office on the last day, dressed in business casuals with my company ID swinging around my neck, dragging my red suitcase behind me as I talked on my cell phone, set against the golden sunset background…
For once radiating the independence that I truly felt.

Btw,
For three days, I have been chanting "I want to go back to Chennai" .... Imagine!
*faints in mock horror*

Eight

2010-02-05T00:10:00.003+05:30

I have NOT been tagged! Nuts didn't tag me *pout* ...ok so he tagged me in a different one... one which I still haven't done... after all its the Chinese Lucky Tag!

And I need a lot of luck! *grin*

So, here goes:

8 TV shows/News Channels I like to watch

1. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
2. Gossip Girl
3. Discovery Travel and Living
4. Hannah Montana (what? why are you smirking?)
5. Roadies
6. Top Design
7. Zee Cafè
8. Duck Tales (as if you don't like Uncle Scrooge and the triplets!)

8 Places to eat and dine

1. Dzomlee Restaurant (Lots of happy memories, here)
2. Nahaz
3. The place next to Shree Shyam in Rangpo (I cannot remember its name, but it made the best momos ever)
4. Baker's Cafe (Gangtok)
5. Baskin Robbins
6. Highway Inn (Had many great birthday parties there)
7. KFC
8. Hotel Welcome (That's my current fav hotel here)

8 Things I Look Forward To

1. Pondicherry Getaway.
2. Going home *sigh*
3. Cousin's wedding
4. Getting a transfer
5. .. Or atleast a decent raise.
6. The promised picnic on the drive home
7. Going up in a hot air balloon
8. A trip on the 'Palace on Wheels'

8 Things That Happened Yesterday

1. Wore my new sandles to office.
2. Had breakfast (Since I do that once a month, its an event!).
3. Logged in eleven hours at office.
4. Started reading 'Blue is for Nightmares'
5. Talked to Ma.
6. Ate Aloo chat.
7. Skipped dinner.
8. Slept for 12 hours!!!

8 Things I love about Winter
I miss winter *sob*

1. My birthday!
2. Winter fashions.
3. Oranges.
4. Snuggling under the blanket.
5. Lazy winter evenings.
6. Snow.
7. Eating super sour pickles in the sun.
8. Holidays.

8 Things on my Wish-list

1. IPhone 3G S.
2. Get an appartment.
3. Sleep under the stars.
4. Get a tattoo.
5. Jimmy Choo's.
6. Open a restaurant.
7. Write a novel.
8. A million dollars.

8 Things I am Passionate about
I don't know about 'passionate' so I will edit it to
'8 things I love'

1. Tennè.
2. Writing.
3. Books.
4. Red Carnations.
5. Beaches.
6. Snow globes.
7. Autumn.
8. Icecream sundaes

8 Words/Phrases I often use

1. OK
2. By the way
3. Really?
4. Anyways
5. Arrey
6. I have absolutely no idea.
7. God only knows.
8. OMG!!!

8 Things I learnt from the past

1. Whatever happens, happens for the best.
2. Smile, and the world smiles with you.
3. Follow your heart.
4. Sometimes its ok to lie.
5. Think before you speak.
6. Life is beautiful.
7. Good deeds have a way of coming back.
8. Believe in yourself.

8 Places I would like to go /Visit

1. Home *sigh*
2. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
3. Leh.
4. Kashmir
5. Paris
6. Venice
7. Maldives
8. Egypt

8 Things I currently need/want.....

1. I really totally want to go home.
2. I need a raise.
3. I want to be with Tennè.
4. I need to study to pass my Dovetail exam next week.
5. I want to get a makeover.
6. I want to blog more often.
7. I need to get my eyes checked... and may be my head too *wink*
8. I need to stop obsessing about going home

8 Blogging Buddies I want to Tag

1. Nameera
2. Roshmi
3. Rohit Dassani
4. Viol
5. Sumit
6. Riya Das
7. The Ravan
8. Pratik Gupta

Randomness

2010-01-28T13:04:00.000+05:30

*The only time its cold in Chennai is when the AC is too high.

*Everyday I look at the barefooted pedestrians ... with cellphones in hand... and nod in disbelieve. But one fine day when my new heels threatens to draw blood I long to exchange places with those bare footed pedestrians!

*Water goes off just its time to do the laundry of the week.

*It took me one long year but I finally have a new laptop!

*Heading to the airport at 5 am to board a flight isn't too difficult a feat. But the particular journey should lead to home.

*Almost 10 years together and my heart still does a flip-flop every time I see him!

*I need a haircut.

*I'd trade a five star meal for home cooked food anyday ... It feels really strange that I wrote that! And it feels even stranger coz its true!

*Back in college ...after we had landed a job... I had joked that 95% of my pay check wouldn't see the light of a new week. Little did I know it wasn't a joke!!!

CST!!!!

2010-01-18T20:00:00.000+05:30

At some social gathering last year....

Papa: You know, my daughter got placed in CST

Me: *smile sheepishly*
My dad looked so proud, I did not have the heart to tell dad that its CTS not CST

Uncle X: Congratulations beta, very good company... very famous... !!!! I know a lot of people working there.

Me: *controlling my laughter*
Sure uncle, definitely!

New beginnings

2010-01-10T16:34:00.002+05:30

Sweet lime juice and brownie sundaes. Long walks by the sea. The lingering sense of pride that accompanies the first pay check. Designer bags and lost money wads. Solo flights and family gatherings. The tingly feeling that comes with unfamiliar surroundings. Old friends and new. Golden sunrise seen from the best seat in a train. Smiles. Tears. Love... Beautiful memories created and tucked away in dusty old cellars, like fine wine.

For the past few months my feelings were turning increasingly morbid. But the New Year makes me look back at the year gone by with incredible fondness.
I'm at peace with the world.

All I want for Christmas is Everything!

2009-12-25T20:31:00.001+05:30

Life has been busy... may be not sleepless nights busy, but busy enough... Between work, certification programs and G's visit I guess I have negleted my blog for a tad too long. And unfortunately this trend is gonna continue, not because I am busy ... but because of late my posts are laced with sarcasm and homesickness... last time I checked my blog had morphed into a rant blog and thats so not cool!

I mean ok, after almost five months in idly-land I still feel like an alien ... perhaps thats why even the smallest of quirkiness seems to irk me... and home seems a million light years away.... BUT I have a comfy flat, good working hours, a decent salary and to top it all wonderful friends!

I know I should be happy, but than I am human so you have me ranting all over the place.

And no better time like the present to take a little time off and bring things in prespective.
I will be back next year refreshed, recharged and revived and hopefully with happy stories to share.

Till then people...

Hope you have a Joyful Christmas and a Blissful New Year !!!

Miles of smiles,
Tangerine.

Murky waters

2009-12-11T00:53:00.000+05:30

I will never understand why people in Chennai waste so much time and money and resourses to pump rain water out from their compound into the road.

What's the point?

I mean...

Firstly, Chennai do NOT have drains. So since the water has no where to go, it simply accumulates on the road. Also not to mention, it is an immense discomfort to passerbys… but lets not go into that because people, now a days, do not care exactly about stepping on another’s toes. So what’s a little water?

Secondly, just imagine walking out of your door all clean and very smartly stepping outside the main gate, right into the pool of water which you have pumped out of your compound!

I am ranting!!!

I know.
*omg! omg! omg!*
I really really need to get out of here.

I want a transfer to Kolkata.
Help!!! Someone… Anyone?!?

Too good

2009-11-25T22:24:00.005+05:30

Two good news actually!

After wearing the flimy temporary company ID for four whole months I finally have a permanent company ID card!!
OK, my confirmation is still a year away and I cannot let myself in ... coz I still don't have a access card ... But who cares!
Oh la la! I finally feel so professional.
So, permanent ID card is good news number one.

*grin*

OK! and good news number two.
I have made it through Phase II of Indibloggies 2008!
Its time for public voting now.... So Please Please Please click here ... Scroll to the end of the page. Select the radio button before 'Enchanted' and vote for me!
Ok... So you need to confirm the link sent to your mail... but I know you so much want me to win.
*wink*

Wistful...

2009-11-21T23:33:00.010+05:30

My training is over and much to my Horror I m deployed in Chennai. Besides, its been so long since I went home...
*sigh*

Anyways, here is a list of ten things I miss about... H-... home

Life without AC!

The blue-green hills.

Steaming hot momos.

My bed!

Tree lined winding roads.

Having no routine at all.

Smell of fresh air.

No traffic.

Turning on the TV. Enough said!

Family.

The changing colors of the leaves.

Tamarind pickle.

Purple flowers in the garden.

And most of all…I miss... Tenné.

OK, yeah, thats more than ten. So sue me!

One Rainy monday

2009-11-11T22:29:00.003+05:30

Monday morning A- was walking to office in the weirdest ensemble imaginable. He had on a neatly pressed light blue shirt and the company tag was peeping out of his left pocket… so far so good… But he was also wearing a pair of shorts and was completely barefooted!!!

You guessed it! The recent rains have left behind ankle deep water on the lane outside A’s house. Poor A- was left to navigate the water-logged stretch with his trousers in one hand and shoes in the other.

On safely crossing the treacherous lane, A- quickly found a lonely corner and pulled his trousers over his shorts, dried his feet and wore his shoes. Feeling mightily pleased with himself, A- proceeded to office.

Once in office his phone started ringing, A- realized he his cell was in the pocket of his shorts!!

Rainwalking.

2009-11-07T12:45:00.002+05:30

The sky is the gloomiest shade of gray and the air is humid. The road is a constant stream of muddy water carrying the filth of the city to the sea. There is the sweat trickling down my forehead as if it’s the middle of a particularly hot summer noon.

I do not feel tempted to fling away my umbrella so that I’d feel the raindrops on my face… nor do I want to jump in the puddle like I was 4 again!

And even when it stops raining the trees don’t look freshly painted and the birds don’t sing. And the air isn’t dizzy with a deliciously earthy smell. There are no paper boats floating gently amidst the laughter of little children.

All we are left with is an overwhelming stench of decay and a swarm of filthy water with no where to go.

My pretty-shining purple umbrella with glossy laces is broken.

Rains are so different in Chennai, my heart aches for home.

60.11

2009-10-28T22:07:00.002+05:30

I have been sitting in front of the laptop for the past two hours willing myself to write. But I just can’t seem to put together two coherent sentences. And this is despite the fact that I have so many ideas doodled in my notepad.

Today I am just not meant to post a thing!

Just for that I am gonna post this thing I am typing out of sheer annoyance. *wink*

And also, there is this one thing that I’d like to share. I wrote my last module test for my training today. *Yipee!*

I got a 60.11 … that’s 0.11 more than the pass mark! And even though my average has taken a royal nose dive, I have never been happier… Go figure! … I am just so so happy.

It’s finally over. Yay!

But … yup! I always have a but … I still have two more presentations and an entire project to do before I am released from the academy… I still have my fingers crossed.

Tangerine, thy name is procrastination

2009-10-18T12:15:00.002+05:30

I am procrastinating on:

1. Studying for my P&Q test.
2. Reviewing the story that has been sitting in my inbox for a month now.
3. Coming up with a passably good blog post.

And you?

Fly away home.

2009-10-02T19:49:00.002+05:30

Sometimes Swine Flu is a blessing in disguise.
No, I don’t have the flu…And I have not lost my mind either… Just read on, ok?

Actually, a few of our colleagues had the misfortune of contracting the diseases a few weeks ago. Don’t worry, they are all up and running now. So the rest of us got leave for ten whole days!!! Most of the people took the opportunity and went home. And so did I.

The vacation was memorable… lots of laughter, tons of shopping and of course delicious home cooked food!

But it was the journey which was even more memorable.

Firstly, because it was the first time I have traveled alone. And I felt terribly grown up!! If you think it’s the stupidest thing for a 23 year old to say. Oh! Boy! You know nothing about me *grin*

And secondly because of the people I met! Hello! No romantic implications here… Just comedy ones !!
In Kolkata airport, I met an old man who owns a fire work factory in Delhi. We had a simulating conversation about fireworks, weddings and Chennai. Well! It was more of a monologue … All I did was look interested… Which I think I did very badly…. because soon, he switched to asking questions about me. Whats my name? Where I am from? What I do?... etc etc etc… ALSO, He wanted to know exactly what my parents farmed back in Assam!!! You should have seen the look in his face when I told him my parents are doctors. Poor old man! He was speechless!!!

Then, in Chennai airport, there was this French couple. They were so intrigued by the crows in the airport, they couldn’t keep their eyes off the birds, exclaiming delightfully whenever a crow swooped down to catch and insect or something. God! I swear even the crows were showing off for them.

Oh!
And one major reason why the journey was memorable -- it cost me eighteen thousand in flight fare. Actually, I missed my Kolkata-Chennai flight and so the totally is a pretty twenty five thousand. Yes, people… that’s more than I had earned so far!

Btw, that JCL VSAM exam… I passed.
But then again, I have Cobol coming Thursday. *Sigh*

An afternoon in Chennai

2009-09-13T21:17:00.003+05:30

Scene 1: An extremely hot Sunday afternoon, middle of a road to God-only-knows-where … I sort of got lost while shopping … ssshh!…
After walking for ages, I finally find an auto.

Me: T--?

Autowallah: Shakes head.

Me: J- Foundations?

Autowallah: Shakes head, again.

Me: How much?

Autowallah: A hundred fifty.

Me: No… Fifty.

Autowallah*looking at me like I am an alien* : Hundred.

Me: *too tired to argue* OK.
Got into the auto.

Scene 2: Highway near my flat.

Me: Uncle … No, I haven’t got around to calling them Anna yet! … Pliz take left.

Autowallah: *Tamil*

Me: Uncle, J- Foundations, left.

Autowallah: *More Tamil*
and stops auto

Me: *gesturing wildly* J- Foundations, left.

Autowallah: *Even more Tamil*
Aggravated, I got down from the auto and gave him a fifty rupee note.

Autowallah: *taking the note* Hundred.

Me: *give him my most confused look and start walking*

Autowallah: Madam, you said hundred

Me: And you said you will drop me to J- Foundations. *triumphantly*

Needless to say, he dropped me to my flat.

It's rainning in Chennai

2009-09-10T21:38:00.004+05:30

Last week I arrived back to my flat wet to the bone coz I was caught in a sudden downpour. There was no shelter nearby and when I found one, the rain had come down to a drizzle. By the time I was home I looked as though I had gonna swimming fully clothed! My clothes were ruined… my freshly shampooed hair was plastered to my skull… and I had to hang my notes to dry!
But guess what the worst part was!?!
As soon as I opened my handbag to pullout the door key, right on top lay my lovely silken purple umbrella merrily laughing at me!

Gosh! It feels fabulous to get back to Bloggerville.

I know my intermission has developed into a movie but I finally have an internet connection at home. So, hopefully I am gonna be around more often. After all I have a lot to right about… Chennai… the beaches… my office… my colleagues… the auto wallas… and the list is endless!
But right now, I am deep into JCL VSAM but I will get cracking on commenting this weekend.

Intermission

2009-07-20T17:06:00.000+05:30

This one I am writing from a cyber café near the bus depot. Thanks to ma’s star chart consultations we are here more than an hour early!

But for once I am not complaining. Coz at least it gives me time to write this post. I just didn’t have the time before… you know how it is, the last minute shopping, packing etc…

In an hour begins my journey to a completely alien chapter in my life. New place, new people, new customs, new everything!

Yay me! I can be anybody I wish to be!
What if I get lost.
The best way to describe my state of being right now is ‘enthusiastically frightened’. NOT fearfully enthusiastic.

Anyways, hope it will still be ‘an enchanted life’, even if it’s no longer a lazy one filled with silvery nothings.
And for now I am going to take a hiatus at least until I m settled.

So till our paths cross again, wishing you all a blissful life.
Happy Blogging.

PS: Keep your fingers crossed!

Tagged

2009-06-30T21:09:00.006+05:30

This time I m neither tag-jacking nor m I redoing a tag I had already done in facebook.
This time I m officially tagged, thanks to Roshmi.
Yay me!

So anyways, here goes the rule.
“Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag up to 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose”

1. Not a penny more not a penny less - J Archer.
Oh! What a fabulous book!! This had me rolling on the floor laughing for real.

2. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling.
Sorry, cannot single out any particular title. I love them all! Though I was slightly disappointed with the last book.

3. Archie Comics.
This one appeals to my inner child. *wink*

4. A thousand splendid suns - K Hossieni.
A beautifully written story representing the plight of the Afganistani women.

5. Windmills of the god- Sidney Sheldon.
I love this book. Its so gripping I read it from cover to cover in just one sitting much to the annoyance of ma!

6. The count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas .
I have been trying to read this one for ages. But somehow I never got around to reading it.

7. Malory Towers - Enid Blyton
Ever since I read the adventures of Darrell, Sally, Alicia and friends I had wished to study in a boarding school. And my wish did come true!

8. Angels and Demons - Dan Brown.
Another unputdownable. Can’t wait to catch the movie.

9. Nancy Drew and the mystery of the missing millionaires - Carolyn Keene.
The first novel I ever read.

10. The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh.
A contemporary story of adventure and unlikely love in a barely farmable land.

11. Little Women - L M Alcott.
The book shows vividly the joys of growing up in a loving family.

12. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain.
My favorite part is when Tom paints the fence!

13. Doctors - Erich Segal.
I like Love story. But this one, I like better.

14. The stories of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur C Doyle.
A book list can never be complete if I do not mention my favorite detective.

15. Gossip Girl: A novel - Cecily von Ziegesar.
I am currently reading this book. And no, it has nothing to do with my obsession with gossip girl, the series or my crush on Chase Crawford! *wink*

Now, I get to tag others.
Hmmm… I tag: Dazediva, Ajcl, Anil Sawan, Nutty, Nameera, Deepti, Kaddu, Viol, Riya Das, Karthik, Pratik Gupta, Vipul, Nitram, and Kokonad.
Oh! And I also tag the tagger (Roshmi) as per the rules.
And anyone else who cares to do the tag.

Life is (really) like that Mastercard ad.

2009-06-26T13:14:00.003+05:30

er… except that there is no background music.

* Ten stems of pink gladiolus
Cost: One hundred

* A heart-shaped chocolate cake from my favorite bakery
Cost: Two hundred and fifty

* A packed breakfast special supreme hamper from the most expensive restaurant in town
Cost: One thousand

* The look on his face when you turn up unannounced at his door before he even has a chance to brush his teeth…
Cost: Priceless!!

Playing Sherlock Holmes

2009-06-21T12:50:00.005+05:30

At least trying to.

Its a gripping tale but alas! I m no Arthur Conan Doyle and I have absolutely no idea how to write it up. So i will just give you the facts.

I carry four cards in my wallet.
Two ATM cum debit cards, one credit card and ... er... one Shoppers' Stop card.

I had made a combined cash withdrawal of 1 lakh using my debit cards in two days. But a balance enquiry four days later show a further withrawal of 52000! My cards are in my purse and I am almost sure that they never left my purse. So how can the ATM withdrawal be possible. Besides no one but me have the PINs.

Anyways, I have been playing detective since. And this are my discoveries.

1. The ATM incharge lady in UBIS- has absolutely no idea what she is doing. Not only does she not realise a A/C no when she sees it she argues with me that it is a machine generated no. Blah!

2. The rickshaw-wallas' rate differ for localites and non-localites. Tenné says that if I keep cleaning the seats everytime before I seat down in one, they will forever charge me double. Humph!

3. When you deal with officials dress like an adult or they hand you chocolates or worse, tell you fairy tales.

Useful eh?
But doesn't really help my case.

So right now I have just two probable theories based on my so-called investigation.

a) I am a victim of a international conspiracy which involves hackers.

b) I am the victim of a supernatural event caused due to my displeasing a certain ghost.

Bleh! Some detective I am.

PS: Ofcourse, I have enquired about video footage but 40000 went missing from an ATM where the camera was out of order. The rest 12000 bucks went missing from a ATM whose ID the bank official cannot seem to find! Hence, my two theories!!

Twenty Five

2009-06-10T00:07:00.003+05:30

There is nothing on tv. I have read and reread all my novels. It's raining outside... though it hardly matters coz i have no where to go anyways!
Yep! perfect time to blog.

Just one tiny problem.

I have absolutely zilch to share!!!

So i m gonna do the '25 random facts, things or goals' tag.
Yeah, i know you are thinking "not another 25 tag", but desperate times call for desperate measures!

Btw, I wasn't even tagged. M tag-jacking it. Is there such a word?

*Sob-nobody-tags-me-sob*

Anyways, here goes,

1. I love shopping.

2. I took dance classes for ten years yet I not only have two left feet I have two left hands too.

3. I am a good cook. I think.

4. I love black and white photographs.

5. I don't like fish.

6. I loved maths. Please note the use of the past tense

7. I love carnations especially the deep red ones. And orchids.

8. I wish I could fly Yes, I have heard about aircrafts but thats not what I meant

9. I believe in "happily-ever-afters"

10. Each time I come home for my semester breaks I read the entire HP series.

11. I want to be a pastry chef when I grow up. Yes, when I grow up *wink*

12. I don't drink tea or coffee. No, not milk either

13. I can live in jeans

14. I love arranging surprises.

15. I believed in Santa Claus till I was 10! It broke my heart when my cousin told me the truth

16. I am forever trying to tame my hair.

17. I love the tinkle of wind chimes.

18. KFC is my all time favorite fast food chain.

19. I miss Chiku, our pet rabbit.

20. I totally believe that MJ's nose is detechable.

21. I love painting my nails in two colors.

22. I dream of participating and winning The Amazing Race

23. I cannot remember lyrics. Not even of the most popular songs!

24. I religiously read my weekly horoscope. Though I believe in only the good predictions! *wink*

25. It took me three days to finish the post. Yep! There is not much to say about me

I tag anyone who hasn't done this tag yet. Though i doubt there is any such person

A farewell note

2009-05-31T17:50:00.002+05:30

Dear TM 4000NLCi,

You have been a wonderful companion along life’s long road. My college days would never have been the same if it weren’t for you. There were movie marathons, impromptu music sessions and the late night forays into the cyberspace. And ahem! Of course there were occasional academic pursuits too.

My friends envied that Office 2007 slowed down their 1 GB RAM systems but not your 256 MB system.
You did not slow down with half your system files corrupted and served me uncomplainingly even when your battery was almost dead and gone.

Oh! What I would have done without you dear laptop?

Truly, you have been a friend beyond compare.

But today with a heavy heart I say goodbye. You have aged and aged so well. But its time I leave you behind. Hope you serve your new owners as well as you served me… after all remember they too are family.

Today I may have to make way for a Sony VGN-C S24 GN and it may be something else. But remember dear one it will always be you who will always hold a special place in my heart – My first ever laptop.

Always,
Tangerine.

Finally.

2009-05-22T20:48:00.005+05:30

After months of waiting and twelve ‘Cognizant in Media’ emails CTS has finally given us our joining dates.
Yours truly is scheduled to join CTS Chennai on the 27th of July for a comprehensive 6 months training.

That’s good news, eh?

There is one tiny problem… Chennai… Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the place. In fact, I had seen my first beach at Chennai… and I am crazy about beaches… and so the place is totally special to me…

It’s just that, I am not prepared for the place. I mean, I had opted for Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune as my ‘preferred’ joining locations. And none of my many day dreams featured Chennai.

Besides, I had thoroughly researched those places: culture, weather, restaurants, tourist spots, shopping hotspots, almost everything. I had watched out for those places in TV, read guide books, googled them up and spent hours chatting with strangers from those places… What? I just like to be fully prepared.

And about Chennai I know zilch. Yup! Absolutely nothing.

*sigh*

But you know what my real problem is. None of my friends are gonna be there… I have lots of friends joining CTS but not a single one has the same joining as me… And I have heard that being completely alone in a workplace is tough… Oh boy! What am I gonna do?

Hey! Wait a minute. I know what I need. Now that my blog is attracting a fair amount of readers, could I request those of you from Chennai to give me a guided tour? Anyone?

But then again, that isn’t gonna work. I am anonymous … You didn’t think that my parents actually named me tangerine, did u?

*sigh*

Anyways, I guess I better start googling Chennai.

And before I end this post… one small request. Those of you with the know-hows could you drop me some useful hints about Chennai… Like where I might find a good AC/single seater PG or hostel nearest to the Madras Export Processing Zone... Should I travel by auto or take a bus?... etc etc etc.

Birthday cakes

2009-05-20T02:22:00.002+05:30

Or the lack of it.

Nopes… it isn’t my birthday… not even close. But my sister is home for her hols and she is baking a chocolate cake. And I don’t know about you, but for me cakes always remind me of birthdays.

But … yup! I always have a lot of buts butting in…. strangely enough my most memorable birthdays are ones which did not have a cake. And I guess no time like the present to blog about it.

Well! Well! I know I had said somewhere that I am so over writing from my walks down memory lane but its easier said than that. So why fight the inevitable?

And here we go … again!

18 is special. You are now officially an adult and can legally purchase liquor, drive, vote or get married… though I haven’t done any of it. Yet.

My 18th birthday coincided with my preparation for ISCs. During that time I was studying in a posh boarding school… you know, the ones whose campus looked like foreign movie locale and where every one spoke with a British accent… But mind you, it was a great school, I made some awesome friends and not for the world would I trade those schooldays for any other… And like all boarding schools had a whole bunch of strict rules. So, imagine being surprised by your friends with 18 candles stuck to a cardboard at midnight. May be there was no cake or fancy party or costly presents but that’s not what birthdays are all about.

Anyways, The next memorable birthday was at 21.

Time… middle of my semester exams… though the Director of the college honored my birthday by not scheduling any paper on that particular day… This time the cake was ordered but didn’t arrive coz our college was cut off due to heavy landslides. My dear friends improvised. They bought an assortment of pastries, removed the icing, coated it with bournvita and topped it with Cadbury gems. And just before the witching hour they remembered that they had forgotten the candles! More improvisation followed. A pack of fuljharis covertly removed from my own cupboard. And another memorable birthday.

And the rest of my birthday cakes… well! I had very expansive ones and ordinary ones and home-made ones. They were all special. Yes. But somehow the lack of birthday cakes marked the exceptional ones.

***

Btw, what do you think of my new dark look?
… after all that brightness and bling bling in the wedding and silver jubilee celebrations I think my eyes need a rest.

The Golden post

2009-05-17T13:48:00.010+05:30

As in my fiftieth one.

Hello, everyone.
I am back…
Hope you missed me. *wink, wink*

Anyways, I m first gonna make my excuses for being absent from the blogosphere for so long.

You see, I have been too busy. Really … I had no time to post anything new or comment or even lurk … yup! That’s how busy I have been! …

It was cousin TD’s wedding which took up an entire fortnight, which btw, is not over yet but since my parents couldn’t extend their leave any longer I decided to tag along… initially it was fun but then it gets a tad tiresome and boring especially if you are the non-fish-eating-kind stuck in a Syleti-Bengali wedding… what? its my blog! i can be honest, can't i?

It was closely followed by the 25th wedding anniversary of my parents… for which I masterminded a surprise party.

Right now I am too tired to get into all the details but one could hardly blog in the midst of all that fun fare, eh?

Oh, and I have one more cause for celebration. Sauron and Kaddu have presented me with the Blogger Friendship Award.

Thank you guys!!

I was actually gonna give my Booker winner speech here but can’t recall a thing now… too much mayhem can affect your memory, take that from me.

Anyways I would now like to nominate the following people for this prestigious honor.
Nameera, Deepti, Kaddu, Viol, Riya Das, Pratik Gupta, Nitram, Klodian, Kokonad.

*applause*

Like i said, it was a very busy moth of May so far... as far as April was concerned... how could i sit be couped indoors infront of the laptop when the air is dizzy with spring!

Coffee stained pages.

2009-04-12T11:15:00.004+05:30

I don’t like coffee and my pages aren’t stained. In fact my post has nothing to do with coffee or stains. Or pages. I m just plain bad at naming my posts. Period.

Anyways, I have been absent from blogosphere for sometime so this post is an update of sorts. But before I start, let me warn u I spent the last 72 hours sleeping so even though my body is awake right now I don’t think I can say the same for my brain… no, seriously.... Also, it’s a long post where I m mostly blabbering… but then that’s nothing new is it!?

I feel bad for neglecting my blog for such a long time but I really didn’t have anything to blog about. Alright, I agree, there is a lot happening in the world but I don’t blog about current affairs. And since my nothing exciting was happening to me… AND … I can’t write a poem to save my life... AND… I m so over picking out topics from my memory lane… AND also since… nobody even tagged me... seesh! I feel so neglected… I couldn’t come up with a post.

Life seriously was boring.

AND then ma was invited to G- for a two day conference and I decided to accompany her to the seminar.
Just kidding… now you seriously didn’t think I was going to attend boring gynecological blahs, did u?… I went shopping. I told you cousin TD’s wedding is next month. So I simply HAD to go shopping. Didn’t I?

So in two days it was fifteen hours of jeans… t-shirts… shirts… belts… purses… salwars… sarees not for me, I simply can’t walk in them… jewellery… shoes… cosmetics… and one simply hideous red and gold salwar mablackmailed me into buying which I swear I will never wear.

My favorite is the simply incredible pair of Pepe Jeans and Tenné bought me this gorgeous Gucci purse.

Tenné and I caught a movie in Cinemax. We had seats next to B, who I dated for approx 2 days 9 years ago and his gf… Awkward! Especially when the gf spent a good few minutes trying to see what I look like. But she stopped when Tenné gave her the evil eye *My-hero*

And staying true to traditions, indulged in sundaes from Baskin Robins… But the servers are so stingy with the whipped cream!! First there gave me none, then they gave me one tiny blob… Hello! Just because I m thin doesn’t mean I am on a eternal diet!… Then I was too piqued to ask for some more.

Anyways, I came home a few days back and spent the subsequent 72 hours attached to an IV. Dehydration, a temperature of 103.5° and something called Ionic imbalance … or was it electronic imbalance?! Or was it electrolytic something else?!… Whoever said that there is no such thing as too much shopping, please add a warning. *wink*

PS: I really wanted to write a minute by minute account of my shopping spree with a complete list of purchases. Looks like my sleeping brain saved you from being bored to death! And you thought this post was boring! Hah!

Weird rules from my school days

2009-03-28T21:37:00.005+05:30

I guess, most schools have at least one weird rule and my old school is no exception. I did my schooling in an all girl’s convent school and most of my high school days were plagued by this mad nun, Sister S, who was first our vice principal and was later promoted to principal.

Anyways,

Sister S, this post is to you and your weird rules.

Weird rule #1: No shushing allowed. (Applicable to class monitors)

We were allowed to say ‘keep quite’, ‘don’t talk’ and the likes but heavens forbid if we decided to shush the unruly class. According to Sister S, shushing represents extreme un-lady like behavior as the only people who shush are poultry farmers...
My friend M, kept chicken as pets and not a single one responds to shushing ... we checked!... and one fine day I was peeved enough to point it out. Consequently I got an extra thousand lines of ‘I will not chase murgis in the class’ … yup! murgis… not hen or poultry or chicken, but murgis.

Moving on…

Weird rule #2: No entering the classroom in the lunch hour.

It does not matter if it rains so hard that we drown or it is so hot outside that we get sun strokes a student must NOT enter the classroom during the lunch break. Rainy days were ok … actually, rainy days were fun … but it made summers rather difficult since we did not have a cafeteria.
One very hot June day we decided to break the rule and sure enough Sister S decided to come on her ‘surprise’ rounds that day. Everyone escaped through the back door but we forgot to switch off the fan. Hence all class monitors had to sweep the classroom after school for a month! … coz you know, leaders are supposed to set good example and all that jazz.

and I thought class monitors always got scot free.

Weird rule #3: Strict dress code and absolutely no makeup.

Ok, this is not a weird rule. I just wanted to share a funny story.

There was a pair in our school, couple of years senior I think, with a penchant for annoying Sister S. They decided red nail polish looked cool with our uniforms and decided that painting each other’s nails during class hours was the way to go. Needless to say, they got caught. And this time Sister S decided that it was time to meet their parents.
Not to be out done, the next morning they approached two random sets of parents who had come to drop their kids in kindergarten and requested them to pose as their parents and they agreed!!!

I don’t remember how this episode ended but it doesn’t really matter. No one… absolutely no one in the entire history of SA H- have arrived to meet Princi with a fake set of parents!

PS: I over reacted with the climatic conditions. I live in a hill station so no sun strokes and definitely no floods. I really don’t want you to think that the folks in my school were inhumane.
Weird… yes, but cruel … no.

PPS: Rule no 1 & 2 were retired after my batch left school. May be Sister S just loved bugging us!

SHTANGGG

2009-03-22T13:08:00.004+05:30

That, my dear friends, is the sound of a bullet going through a window pane.

And who told me that?

Well… I have first hand information. Yesterday 9.03 pm we were shot at.

I kid you not!

And no, the shooting did not involve a camera.

It was a gun shot.

Seriously!

For proof, we have a hole in the kitchen’s window pane the size of a … umm… bullet AND we also have the remnants of the bullet.

Let me start from the beginning.

Almost twenty three years ago, on a cold morning … er… wrong beginning… Better start again.

It all happened last night. Ma was working her way through a huge tome of medical journal, papa was trying to understand the mysteries of Microsoft Word and I was studying… er… pretending to study… we suddenly hear SHTANGGG.
Ma almost immediately rushed outside to investigate the source of noise. I rushed after her to tell her she was rushing in the wrong direction. And papa decided it was more important to discover how to underline texts and did not stir.
Anyways, the police guards outside confirmed my mother’s suspicion that it was a gunshot fired very close but outside the ‘hallowed’ walls of our campus. And for last night that was that.

Next morning, that is to say today, about 7 am ma discovered the bullet hole in our kitchen window… Didn’t I tell you she was rushing in the wrong direction? Our kitchen is at the back of our house and ma was investigating way in front…

And to cut a long story short(er), I will give you the aftermaths.

I have, happily taken a hiatus from the kitchen.

Ma is regaling all who cares to listen … namely, herself… with her outrageous theories of how if a shot was fired outside the campus we have a bullet hole in our window when there are two huge concrete walls between…
Dear Ma, I know you think I m being outrageous but nothe shot was not fired outside the campus.

And papa after the initial excitement is now delighting in center aligning all the titles in his document!

And our maid, is keeping a strict eye so that no one makes away with the bullet splinter people are ‘admiring’ in curious awe.

As for our kitchen’s window pane, so far 21 people have paid it a visit. I counted! … I told you I have too much free time.

And in the other news, a tree frog has jumped into our water reservoir. Perhaps the poor frog was jilted!

Windswept

2009-03-19T01:25:00.006+05:30

I love the time just before it rains, when the skies darken and the wind quickens its pace. And the trees engage in a cosmic dance to welcome the approaching rain. It is when you can almost smell the hint of chill in the air. And for once, the world is all various shades of gray.
I love the time before the rain. As the wind washes over me, my mind is blissfully void. It’s just me and the ice cold wind, which almost lifts me off my feet, breaking me free.

*sigh*

I think I can fly!

Aim in life.

2009-03-15T00:56:00.008+05:30

I am sure everyone must have written an essay on ‘aim in life’ at least once in their lifetime. It is like a must with English grammar teachers in this part of the world … That and my hobby. And cow.

Each time I had to write on the topic, I always turned in a piece which said ‘my aim in life is to be a doctor’. Not because I wanted to be one but coz I had an essay book whose writer wanted to be a one… Yes, I had perfected the art of cut+copy+paste (not literally, but you know what I mean) long before my engineering college days… And my teachers would go, “Awww! So sweet.” No. There was nothing endearing about my essay. In fact, I am sure, a few of my classmates who truly wanted to devote their lives to healing people turned in much more heartfelt essays. But it was always I who got those the oh-how-touching looks.

Any guesses why.

Well… my parents are doctors… not the PhD ones… and is there anything more lovable than a little girl trying to be like mommy and daddy!?

But funnily enough I have never wanted to be a doctor. Even when I did not know what I wanted to be, I knew I did not want to be a doctor. Don’t get me wrong. I do not have anything against doctors or medical science. In fact in our family of four we have three doctors… my sister is studying to be one anyway… It’s just that I don’t think it’s a good idea to trust me with anyone’s life.

Over the years, I have wanted to be a whole lot of things; an architect, a pastry chef, an artist, a volcano expert, a conspiriologist. But never a doctor… except for the one single time I thought I would look pretty chic in an apron, but i don't think that counts.
Currently I want to be a travel show host. Travel the world and get paid for it. Ah! Life could not get sweeter.

Just FYI, I have a B.Tech degree in Electronics & Communication and I am not sure what I am gonna do with it. Come to think of it I m not sure what an engineer is supposed to do anyway.

Btw, on the topic of essays, a college batch mate Z has this really funny story.

When Z’s mom was a student of standard 5, she stayed up all night learning by heart an essay on cow for her Hindi test the next morning. But the teacher set them an essay on the market place instead. But enterprising as ever Z’s mom improvised thus:
‘There are many shops in the market place. A cow was standing near the vegetable shop. A cow is a four footed domestic animal…..’ and she went on to write all that she had learnt on the cow!
Now, now, you can't waste an entire night's hard work can you!!

Sob...

2009-03-13T15:17:00.004+05:30

.thgiarts kniht t'nac I taht dab os struh eot gib yM

The Tale of Talc.

2009-03-10T20:37:00.006+05:30

Did you know that throwing out a bottle of talcum powder is an extremely difficult job?
Read on, and you will realize why.

My dressing table is so over crowded with cosmetics and knick knacks that I had almost forgotten what the color of its surface was.

The story begins three nights ago when I decided to give my dressing table a much required spring cleaning.
In an hour the job was done but I was left with this humungous pile of junk- a few empty bottles I had never got around throwing away and mostly ancient unopened bottles of concoction gathering dust at the back since, perhaps, the beginning of time.
Amongst all these was a pink bottle of talcum powder which I never got around to using. As I was throwing it all away ma decided she could use the talc to powder her surgical gloves, so she kept it along her stethoscope to take it to the clinic the next day.
Next morning papa happened to see the bottle there and thought ma had left it amongst her medical instruments by mistake. So he bought it in and kept it on their dresser.
Later in the day, the maid saw the bottle of talc in my parents’ dresser and very thoughtfully placed it back on my dressing table!

So once more the bottle of talcum powder adorns my dressing table.

I have decided to leave it there.
After all there are always a few things you cannot change!

Why I changed my blog title

2009-03-09T21:20:00.007+05:30

from ‘enchanted’ to an ‘imperfect life’.

It’s a sad painful story actually.
You see, of late, the magic in my life was sort of seeping away. It was as if I was slowly but surely sinking into a quagmire of blackness which sucked the happiness out of my soul. Nothing was going right. Everything I touched morphed into disaster.
So, few days back I consulted Baba Ramji Dev to find a solution to my ever mounting predicaments. He told me that the only way to set things right was to change my blog title to something completely different.

Ok I m just kidding!... Yes, I have an obscene amount of free time which I waste in writing the weirdest posts.

Actually, I just wanted to try a new look for my blog. That’s all. Changing my blog title was simply part of it. I did not even realize that my blog names have done a 180° until someone pointed it out to me.

So how did I miss the obvious?

Well… actually to me both the titles implied the same thing.

No, seriously!

I meant imperfections as in blemishes in the moon which makes it all the more enchanting… You know, like those old hindi movie dialogues!
It sort of reflects my surreal optimism.

Still not satisfied with my explanation?
OK, I will let you into a secret.
I sometimes name my blog thus simply because I like the combination of words. And unfortunately, each time I change my layout you will be subjected to more of the same.

I can sometimes be deep but... er .... mostly I am plain weird.

PS: Baba Ramji Dev is completely fictitious and bears no resemblance to anyone dead or alive.

Tête-à-tête

2009-03-07T17:44:00.004+05:30

Ma: How can you spend the whole day in front of the laptop?

Me: I don’t know. Dedication may be.

Ma: Why don’t you go out once in a while?

Me: Can’t.

Ma: Why not?

Me: Coz I can’t be seen in public without a haircut.

Ma: And you are not getting a haircut because?

Me: I will need to go out for that. Duh!

Ma: You are so not normal. I am getting you an appointment with a psychiatrist. Young lady I mean it!

Me: Eeewww! Papa, a little help here!

Papa: *looks up from his papers and solemnly tells ma*
Let her be. After all no sane shrink will see her unless he wants a day in therapy himself!

Y.I.K.E.S!!!

2009-03-06T23:41:00.007+05:30

One night’s sleep and I am jolted back to my senses! What a pathetically whiny post. I literally jumped out of bed the next morning to make amends… BUT… there is no net connectivity!

The internet gods were punishing me for being so incredibly pig-headed!

Er… those of you who have visited my blog could you pretend that you did not read the post? …
I mean, of course, I appreciate your feedbacks but the whole thing was… shall we say… a fiasco.
I will give you a candy if you forget it. Yeah?

Anyways, I finally have connectivity now and the post is over one day old. But at last I am gonna delete the offending post.
Muuuhaaahaaahaaahaaa…………
That’s my evil laugh, btw.

No no wait!

I think I will be mature and leave the post where it is! So that it reminds me not loose my head and pull such a stupid stunt yet again.
Ahem! But please excuse the string of hastily-written-and-sometimes-incoherent posts I m gonna put up in quick succession. I mean, yes, I am mature enough to not delete the post but not so much as to leave it on the home page for too long!

*grin*

Ok now let’s very quickly move on to brighter topics.

Did you people notice my new counter? I so love it… its just that methinks it has an expiry period and I don’t know what will happen then.

And on the home front, remember my eloped cousin B? His wife is this incredibly gorgeous Punjabi airhostess. There might be a social ceremony soon. AND it might collide with cousin TD’s wedding! If it so happens that we have to split up to attend both the ceremony… given that the venues are in opposite directions… I so hope that I get to attend the former… after all I like B better! … If, btw, you happen to know cousin TD please don’t tell her I said that.

*****

PS: All those visited my blog and commented on that last excuse-of-a-post, I love you. And those of you who did not… I love you too!

Ah! The remorse thing is making me melodramatic to say the least.

Is this blog really for the birds?

2009-03-05T20:06:00.005+05:30

According to “few people”, I am totally wasting my time blogging when I could easily utilize my time doing other fruitful activities.

Come to think of it, I do have a few things to do.

I do have a whole three month long module of online classes, courtesy CTS, I should be concentrating upon.

And my parents could use someone to supervise the renovation of their flat in S-- and construction of the one in G--… My parents are getting the flat in G-- coz they think, since we spend 1 week a year in G-- ,it would be cheaper if we have a flat there. Ridiculous I know! But try telling that to my parents.

Also perhaps I should be making myself useful in cousin TD’s wedding because that will be the right thing to do.

Besides, look at this blog! Almost 40 posts old and there are just two people who like it enough to comment.

Thanks Sauron and Nameera.
You guys are gems!

You know what … I am not gonna update till seven different people comment on this post!

I know what you are thinking…
stupid-blogger-who-does-she-think-she-is
or
god-look-at-the-size-of-her-head
or
who-cares

I care.

No. Seriously.

I mean if after all these days of blogging I do not even have seven readers who care if I update or not I must so totally suck.
And may be “they” are actually right.
And may be i should just stick to writing in my diary.

May be I am just being immature.

*brokenhearted*

Career calls

2009-03-04T12:29:00.000+05:30

I got a call from TCS Mumbai today. They said that their offer was still mine if I wanted it.

I refused.

After all I never wanted to join the company in the first place.
And I m sure CTS will be phoning in their joining dates soon enough. I hope.
Sure TCS is paying more… BUT I can’t put my feet in two boats now.
Can I?

So, yeah. I made the right decision.

NowifonlyIcouldgetridofthenaggingfeelingthatIhavemesseditallupyetAGAIN.

Tale of my Valentine's Day gifts

2009-03-03T23:07:00.000+05:30

I know its been quite sometime since valentine’s day but being in an LDR we had not gotten around exchanging gifts till today… Last time we met Tenné had forgotten my presents on his bedside table! MEN!!

Its quite strange but something or the other always seems to go wrong when we set out to exchange gifts for valentine’s day… last year since I was away at college and Tenné’s workload did not allow him to come meet me he sent me a special package via courier which got lost!... The year before that ma and G ate away the entire box of chocolate I had specially ordered for him… and the year before that…
Hem! Hem! I rather not delve so deep into history now… after all that’s a total of 8 valentine’s days… but I am sure you get the idea.

So how could something not happen this year? Besides the fact that he forgot them that is.

This year, a part of Tenné’s gifts for me consisted of books. He decided to leave them in their paper carrier rather than get them all gift wrapped. And somehow… and don’t ask me how!… Tenné’s elder bro ended up lending his friend one of the books!!! That too the one book he had to put quite a bit of effort to acquire.

Tenné is livid! But I think its simply hilarious!!!

Wonder what will happen next year.

The weird just got weirder

2009-03-02T12:56:00.000+05:30

Blogger has this random question (optional) section in its profile page. Back in college, one night, I could not sleep and I had absolutely nothing to do… nothing except studies, which does not count… So I got out of bed, logged in and collected a bunch of questions which I then answered just for fun. My recreational activities tend to lean towards the weird at times!

Anyways, this fruitful exercise in banishing boredom was done almost a year back. I am sure that I will definitely have more mature answers if I were to do them now.

What do you mean?
Of course I am more mature now!!
So what if I recently mixed body soap in her anti-aging cream? She is such a COW!
My maturity is not the point here.
And I so need to get out of this italics.

OK. Got rid of the italics.
Since I really have nothing to write about but this huge desire to update my post I m gonna use my five best Q&A as an excuse for a post!

#1. Is the glass half empty or half full?
Add a good measure of rose syrup, a few ice cubes and a dash of lime. Top it with a squiggly straw and a white umbrella.
Now, tell me does it matter how much sprite was in the glass?

#2. What magic can you do with magic markers?
Colored magic… duh!

#3. Why do we think blue when we think rasperry?
Blue?! And all this while I thought raspberries were red!

#4. You spilled milk. Does it look like the moon?
I can see two moons. And two pointy ears. And a tail. And what is that? Whiskers?
Yikes!! It’s a cat!
I hate cats.

#5. How do you peel an apple in one go?
Boil apple. Blanch it in cold water. Start at the top and viola!! The apple peeled in one go.
God! Am I smart or what.

PS: No it was not my mom’s anti aging cream I doctored. But that’s another story!

*****
PPS: This is an old post. I am reposting it coz it got left out while I was shifting my blog archive.

Letters

2009-02-28T00:22:00.000+05:30

A letter from David Phipps, 9, to his beloved Tracy.

Dear Tracy,

I am sending this letter to you to show all my love for you and care and respect.
This letter is not from Peter it is from someone in class two who cares and loves you very much. Perhaps one day I may not like you as much as I do now so while you've got some time to show your love for me just use it. Don't be shy to say it if you do I will be really glad to know that you love me. I have only one thing to say in nearly everything I do I always think of you my beautiful girl.

From David

Aww…! That’s so sweet!
I found it in an old English book.
Its inspired me to write a few letters of my own.
I, however do not have the afore mentioned David's flair when it comes to writing letters but there are still a few things I wish to address...

Dear blogger.com

I do appreciate your effort to integrate the follower widget with the google friends application but I’d rather that you did not if it makes the widget look so hideous.

Sincerely, A style conscious user.

Dear ma,

Please stop trying to bribe me by cooking my favorite meals. I figured out your strategy way back in 8th grade!

Your slightly amused daughter.

Dear G,

Girl you gotta be more careful if you don’t want people to find out your secrets! And please grow up! You are twenty not two!!

Your highly annoyed sister

Dear crazy girls who can’t-seem-to-take-their-eyes-off-my-boyfriend

BACK OFF!! He is taken.

Korean movies

2009-02-23T23:45:00.000+05:30

When I was in college I had an overwhelming obsession with Korean movies, specially the romantic ones. The romantic comedies were my favorite though. These movies appealed to me in an enigmatically convoluted sort of way. Even with the bad sub titles with its many typos… which I am sure gives a imprecise translation at most times… I simply could not get enough of them.

Once I had spent an entire weekday night watching ‘Gautmn in my Bert’ … Well that’s ‘Autumn in my heart’ but remember the typos I told you about? They even extended to the DVD covers… and stumbling to first period the next day without even having slept a wink. But luckily for me there was an ODI that day and all… Yes, ALL… my classes were cancelled! Lucky me!!

Btw, if you are wondering why one movie took me an entire night? Well I thought ‘Autumn in my heart’ was a DVD collection of 27 movies and I was planning on watching one that night. But it turned out to be 27 episodes of one series, and I somehow found myself unable to stop in between.

In Korean rom coms, the lovely but invariably gauche heroine always fell for this really hot chink she could never get her hands on…. and the stories did not always end in a ‘happily ever after’. Their profound simplicity and slight imperfection, I think, gives them a touch of reality.

200 pounds of beauty happens to be my all time favorite… Not only coz this has a happy ending but because… Nah! I m not gonna spoil it for you. So go check it out.

Anyways… it was a college thing and I haven’t watched a Korean flick in almost a year now.

Today as I was cleaning my CD holder, I came across a sealed Korean movie DVD collection I had never got around watching. So I finished my chores, popped it into my laptop and settled in for a movie marathon… the first of the year.… just like old times.
But… there is always a butting… my lappy does not even detect it! So I spent half an hour cursing, reloading, and cursing some more. Then some one told me to try it in a DVD player. So I did… and lo! Behold! It worked!!! But… yup! one more but… for the life of me I could not get the sub titles to work. Even though all system functions were set to English the subtitles appeared in Korean!... I m no shakes at languages or scripts so I am assuming it was Korean but it might be Chinese for all that matters

Anyways out of the window went my movie marathon, my walk down memory lane. Guess i should not have made fun of the subtitles.. eh?
So once again I am stuck with nothing to do. Hence the post.

--------

And before I sign out congratulations are in order…

Cheers! Rahman! Jai Ho!

Eloped...

2009-02-20T23:24:00.000+05:30

... cousin B with his nineteenth...or is it twenty-nineth... girlfriend.

Way to go bro!
Hope she is the one. finally!

It’s funny in a weirdly bizarre way.

2009-02-16T18:27:00.000+05:30

Feb 2001 [extract from my diary]

…There is a lot of silence in the house. Ma and I are not talking to each other. It’s a good thing coz I am not sure I can take much more of her going on and on and on about why I should not be dating…

*Fast forward eight years*

Feb 2009

There is a lot of silence in the house. Ma and I are not talking to each other. It’s a good thing coz I am not sure I can take much more of her going on and on and on about why I should be dating.

……

But of course I am dating, just not the guy you want me to.

The second parcel

2009-02-15T23:29:00.000+05:30

Grandpa BB is 90. Age has taken a toll on him... after all nine decades is a long time.
His skin is now criss-crossed with fine lines, creases left behind from his ever present smile. His eyes no longer twinkle; they are now vague and dreamy. The most ordinary activities leave him exhausted. But mostly, I think, he is lonely and, i don't know, lost.

Every year my parents send grandpa BB a few other knick knacks, a calendar and a diary… grandpa has chronicled his days for almost fifty year!
This year’s parcel went out 2 days back. Papa packed in a whole lot of medicines, a calendar and a few health drinks… all useful stuff. But NO diary. Ma reckons he is too frail to get on with his daily activities unaided let alone maintain a diary.

I slipped out yesterday and sent a second parcel.

And I did it more for me than for him.

I <3 u

2009-02-14T23:31:00.000+05:30

If my prayers could bring anything, I'd ask directly from the heart for a promise of tomorrow where we are together forever. For if there is one thing that my heart truely desires, its the days ahead which I will spend with you.
Of all the things in the world that i could ever hope for or even dream of, nothing, absolutely nothing compares to what we have together.

Happy Valentine's Day sweetheart.

Yours forever and a day
Tenné

PS: I love you.

......

And I love you more....

Tag in twos

2009-02-12T11:31:00.000+05:30

The blog where I chanced upon this tag warned explicitly that everyone who lays eyes on this, is supposed to do this too...otherwise, nightmares about five years of bad luck shall follow you!!!

Now, since you too have laid eyes on this tag… Beware!!

I have had enough bad luck to last me a lifetime, and I am not taking anymore chances. So here goes…

Two Names You Go By:
1. tintin, one of my nicknames
2. tangerine, my nom de plume

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. mauve and white stripped pullover
2. softest, most ragged pj

Two Things You Want in a Relationship:
1. love
2. trust/space

Two of Your Favourite Things to do:
1. Reading, all time favorite
2. blogging, current favorite

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. a new laptop
2. freedom

Two pets you had/have:
1. rabbit… yes, just one
2. fish(es)
and we also had several exotic birds…all family pets. My parents consider me too juvenile to be actually responsible for a real live creature

Two things you did last night:
1. tried studying... didn’t happen
2. got my eyebrows shaped

Two things you ate today:
1. veg Hakka noodles
2. egg curry

Two people you Last Talked To over the phone:
1. Papa
2. Tenné

Two Things You're doing today:
1. doing this tag
2. trying to be a part of the solution

Two favourite beverages:
1. chilled mazza
2. lassi with crushed ice.

I, comic

2009-02-10T23:33:00.000+05:30

I first laid my hands on a copy of Tinkle ma had gotten for T’s birthday and I was hooked… needless to say she had to make do with a different present that year.

Since then whenever I come across a comic I have this irrepressible urge to read it. Never ever had I put down a comic unfinished, it was sort of as if ‘my life depended on it’… ma’s words, not mine.

Exam times were the worst. My sister and I both had subscriptions and, invariably, one or the other magazine would arrive right in between our exams. No matter where my parents hid it, I found it … It was almost like a sort of sixth sense or something… AND I read it.
I hid it inside my textbooks and pretended to be engrossed studying.
I read it using a flashlight under the quilt.
I also smuggled them in the bathroom and pretended to have an upset stomach …gleep! too much information …er… anyways you get the idea?!

Oh yeah! I definitely got caught…and screamed at… but I never gave up.
And ultimately my parents gave up!! …no! really! … They let me finish the comic book before I went back to my books. Not only was it easier for everyone involved, but since I took breaks between my studies anyways, so what if I spent them reading comics?

And get this… I have also been late for two dates coz I was reading a new comic book!!
Sorry luv, you know how I get lost sometime.

But right now I have a brand new copy of my favorite comic book and I read two stories … only two stories… and toss it aside. And I don’t even feel like reading it anymore.

omg! omg! omg!
You know what it means!?
It means I m getting old!

*going around in circles doing the crazy dance chanting*
It can’t be happening… oh no.. oh no… oooohhhh…..nooooooo

Love is in the air

2009-02-09T23:35:00.000+05:30

February is here and Valentine’s Day is round the corner.

Last year Tenné and I had a lovely time. Brunch at kfc , movie, dinner, concert and coffee under the stars. An entire day spent together.
*bliss*

I like everything about this day. Heart shaped balloons, red roses, satin ribbons, box of chocolates, even the cheesy tacky marketing strategies! But most of all I like the extra dollop of love in the air.

sappy... sappy...sappy... but that's how I m feeling today...
oh! It must be the spring!

A lot of people do not advocate celebrating 14th Feb… lets not go into why, I think the topic is battered as it is… but I, for one, am looking forward to it.

----------

On a really serious note, I think the world is officially going mad!

Book stores

2009-02-05T23:36:00.000+05:30

I love books.

And I love book stores.
Huge ones, which take up entire floor of a shopping mall… small ones, tucked under the staircase… regular ones, you know, the usual kinds… even weird ones, in which you stand outside the actual shops where the shopkeeper hands you the book when you point them out and then browse its pages under his discerning eyes.
It’s like this whole new world where I can happily get lost amongst millions of books neatly stacked, leafing through pages of unknown volumes. I specially love gliding up and down the aisles, and spend hours reading, probing and deciding.

If you are not a fellow book lover, never NEVER accompany me to the book store if you don’t want your pants bored off you.

When I am older and hopefully richer ...if not wiser… I would like a room with a wall full of lacquered wood shelves. A home for all the books that I have. I could always pick up one, curl up on my favorite chair and lose myself in fantasy land.

Nah! Its not a library that I want. Its more of a study-cum-library-cum-studio, sort of my private niche.
Tenné are you listening?

Agony

2009-02-01T23:37:00.000+05:30

Agony

I close my eyes…
It’s you I see
smiling sweetly,
taunting me.

I close my ears…
It’s your voice again
lilting tones
enticing pain.

Like an apparition
with murky whims.
You irk my soul.
You haunt my dreams.

Muddle in paradise

2009-01-30T23:23:00.000+05:30

I never actually explained to my parents why I chose CTS over TCS to start my career. Frankly, I did not think they would buy my reasons anyway! So I simply gave them my oh-you-med-school-geeks-will-not-for-a-thousand-years-understand-my-hi-tech-reasons attitude.

Also, I think I might have “forgotten” to mention that the joining dates for TCS are long gone. I never got mine coz I had blown off their offer by not appearing for their medical examinations… I figured since I m not joining the company there is no point in wasting a perfectly good Sunday and not to mention I did not think it was worth an unnecessary jab of the needle… Hey! Those were good days and keeping my options open were kinda not required.

Anyways, (not)knowing on a need to know basis worked just fine for me till last night. Yup! Only till last night.

Coz last night JK told Papa that TCS has started mailing joining dates to their eastern zone recruits. So now my parents are hopefully awaiting mine.

Uh! Oh!

Come with me if you wanna live

2009-01-28T23:22:00.001+05:30

OK. This blog post has nothing to do with life threatening situations. I just could not come up with a title so I decided to have some fun with naming my post. It’s my blog after all. Hence the title… which btw happens to be a quote straight out of Sarah Conner Chronicles …

Actually this post doesn’t really discuss anything particular. It is more of an accumulation of random thoughts, personalized opinions and observations… which I think is a nice way of saying ‘this post consists of totally meaningless stuff’… So if you have better things to do, I think you should not linger here today.

Like for example, did you know there are such things as floral designers. Yup! They happen to even have a whole range of famous awards and celebrity designers. I knew floriculture is big of course, what with all the stupendous display we see in celebrity weddings and Oscars, but I thought that’s done by florists! Oh well! Now that I m enlightened I really wish I could do a course.

And speaking of Oscars, 10 nominations for Slumdog Millionaire. I have my fingers crossed!! …There is just a tiny detail that I m still to watch the movie but I did catch the songs, which have also made the nomination list.

I am trying to get Papa to trade in my regular pair of gold ear rings for a white gold set.
Please Papa! Pretty Please

Tenné, btw, thinks it would be marvelous if he gets the Golden Touch. But since he knows what happened to king Midas, it will be, like, anything he touches and follows it with an incantation repeated three times will turn to gold.

I totally adore the saree worn by Priyanka Chopra in Dostana’s Desi Girl number. May be someday I will have such a head turning piece in my wardrobe. Till then I guess I will concentrate on attaining that figure! Hah!

I think smileys are pretty cute but I have so far never used them in my blog. I fear they will make my blog look … er… unpolished or something... m I making sense?

I also think black nail color rocks!

JK Rowling is my absolute favorite author but I am scared that her new novels will not live up to Harry Potter.

Er… remember the poem I was writing? It now has four lines! I think I will call that a stanza.

Golly! ... Gee! That feels so old fashioned! I want to say/write that again. So here we go again

Golly!! I have rambled on and on and on and on…
I better stop but before that one last … seriously the last … bit of info.
Did you know Lalu Prasad Yadav has a blog?
Don’t believe me?
Check out my links below.

To choose what you wish to be

2009-01-27T23:20:00.000+05:30

Eugenio waved to his mother and with almost childlike glee pointed out to the young couple enjoying the many beauties of Venice on his gondola. “Mama will be so proud”, he thought, “So proud to see I have customers!”

Mrs. Gonzales waved back to his son. “My son was an accountant”, she told her friend, “Ah yes! My Eugenio was a good accountant but then he leaves it all and buys his boat.”
There was no sadness in her voice. Just happiness, plain and simple. And perhaps a hint of pride.

Sometimes you need to be lucky to be able to do what you love.
And sometimes,
you just need to be brave.

----------

And on a totally unrelated note. I know I said I normally draw the line when it comes to writing poetry but I have decided to give it a try… given that I have so much free time and I think its time I try something new. I figured why not … And at this very moment I have two lines. Yup, two lines. But that’s definitely a start.
I think.

Life is beautiful

2009-01-25T22:20:00.000+05:30

The first ray of sun on a cold winter morning. School uniform and seven carnations. Every time I close my eyes and see your smile. Sunday brunch and shopping sprees. 2 am baths on a hot summer night. Over dramatic stories to make a sad friend smile. Magical views at the end of a trek. The sound of the sea at high tide. Paper boats and ice cream sundaes. Silver anklets and tinkle of wind chimes. No matter how weird I act I know you will always be my friend. Letters on the window. Smelling like green apples and a hint of lemon. The hope of happily-ever-after. Movies I want to see a million times. My world stops spinning when you hold me close. Sweet nothings. Peacock feather and ink pens. Cold nose tips and burnt orange sky. Two missed calls. Infinite day dreams. And knowing that I will love you forever.

What was ma even thinking?

2009-01-17T13:16:00.000+05:30

A lady came in today and asked ma if she would be interested in marrying off her eldest daughter … that would be me … to a completely unknown never even heard off engineer who works in a complete different part of the country and gets a hefty pay check btw.
And you know what she said?

She said “may be.”
She said MAYBE!!!

Is she crazy? What makes her even think that I m planning to tie the knot at barely 23??

I was livid. And I still am.

Ma’s excuse… “Its not as if I m interested” … now why would I think that? Lets see… was it because she seemed so, I don’t know, EAGER… “I couldn’t say no right away”… and why not? … “It would seem so rude”…. Yakitty Yakitty Yak.

Oh Please… All she had to do was say my daughter is just not prepared to settle yet. End of story.

But NO…

She even has the pluck to let me know she has no problem if we choose to “interact”.
Besides, she has given a ok to the guy talking it over with me… hello! Its my life… don’t I get a say

Dear Ma,
I know what you are thinking.
But that ain’t happening.
Besides did you stop to think that i might actually be in love with someone else?

SMS

2009-01-14T23:17:00.000+05:30

If you own a cell phone I am sure you have had your fair share of forwards…
Some are sweet, some are funny, and some are plain weird. Mostly repetitive stuffs. But there are some which are beautiful. Like these…

A Sparrow was in love with a White Rose. One day the Sparrow proposed the White Rose. The White Rose replied that when she turns red she would love him back. Sparrow tears his body and slowly spreads his blood over the White Rose and she turns red. She falls in love with the Sparrow but he is no more. This is love.

A guy had cancer and had only a month to live. He loved a girl who worked in a book shop but did not express his feelings. Every day he would go to the book shop and buy a book just so that he could talk to her. After a month he stopped visiting the book shop. The girl was worried and went to visit him. His mother said he was no more and took the girl to his room. The girl went in and saw all the unopened books and cried. She cried because he was no more. She cried because she had slipped chits inside the books to tell him how much she loved him.

A thought from a broken heart- “She laughs at my dreams but I only dream of her laughs.”

PS: I ran these smses through spell check which are otherwise unchanged.

Rain

2009-01-07T01:15:00.000+05:30

RAIN

I had a fight with my best friend during recess, I could not find my brand new pen, I had spilt water over my homework, and then just before the last class it started pouring. Perfect! It’s just what I needed, a day to reflect my mood. I wanted to burst into tears. Now come on, I was only nine.

Last class, our teacher set us an essay and got busy grading our quiz papers. Oh well! I wasn’t in a mood to write anything. So I shut the book and turned my attention outside the class. I had the seat by the window, you see.

It had stopped raining. And I could smell the musty scent of the moistened earth. The air echoed with the joyous call of the birds returning to their work. The freshly washed leaves looked greener than I had seen them for quite some time. It’s amazing how everything looks so refreshing after a shower like being painted with a fresh coat of color. To me it seemed like a fresh new beginning. The magic tugged at my heart strings and I started to feel light again. I wanted to run outside and dance and sing. The horrors of the day lay forgotten. Just then as if to complete my happiness the bell rang.

I rushed outside but walked slowly to the gate, mesmerized, trying desperately to capture everything I could see. Suddenly, I saw my best friend waiting for me. She started to say something but before she could utter a word I gave her a big hug. All was forgiven and forgotten. It was a new beginning for us too.

The sun had finally come out from behind the clouds. And this time my heart soared.

Wish you a fine 2009

2009-01-01T19:12:00.000+05:30

I spent most of 2008 doing nothing... absolutely nothing... zilch!

I spent the first six months doing my major project in SINP n even got a perfect 10 for it. But actually, all I did was show my face in the institute and gave a confident presentation with almost zero contents.

I spent the next six months waiting for CTS to call. But given the IT scenario, nothing happened. Plus I threw in a two month course on a subject I m sure will do nothing for me or my career.

All in all I spent 2008 growing lazier and lazier still from doing absolutely nothing. So much that I have put on weight!! For the first time in six years a size 26 low waist jeans no longer fits me!!!

But I promise 2009 will be different.

I may still have nothing to do but I am gonna change my current lifestyle… which off late involve eat, sleep, watch tv, talk to Tenné and occasionally surf the net… s*** having put that in writing I feel so ashamed!

I am not gonna stop doing any of the things that I do… after all nothing wrong with them as long as that’s not the only things I do…But I m gonna add the following things to my schedule.

• Cook any one meal each day… [snacks inclusive]
• Study at least two hours per day … [computer and/or MBA related]
• Work on the quick stitch kit… [as long or as little I wish but daily]
• Take up a hobby … [painting, embroidery… whatever]

To all those who are smirking at this small list please remember that I have been in idle mode for soooo long, I am rusted! And besides I don’t want to spin long changes and do nothing.

So, good luck to me! And to everyone else…

ћăρPұ ηзW Ϋёāя

My Christmas story

2008-12-26T13:10:00.000+05:30

We had an invite to Miss B’s house for a Christmas lunch.
The cake I had taken to baking was a disaster. I got bitten by a gigantic red ant just as we were leaving. Once there, I spent a whole hour, alternately, pretending to be interested in the medical cases the guests were so avidly discussing and feeling guilty that I could not even remember the name of the dear old nun I met there, who according to ma always asked after me. And finally for lunch, I had to go vegan coz of the avian flu.

Tea was at the neighbor’s where everyone...yes everyone except me that is… traded Med school anatomy lab anecdotes, I could neither make a head nor tail out of.

And to top it all… I could not talk to Tenné coz the phone lines are down.

*gloom*
Not a merry Christmas huh!?!
But there is more…

Over dinner I asked ma who the dear old nun might be. She went, “Oh! That was Sister B. What! You don’t even remember her? How can you not? Each time she meets me she specifically asks after you… blah blah blah.”… the blahs are her usual tirades on my poor recall ability.
I still wasn’t sure I remembered Sister B but I decided to keep my mouth shut. But after a few minutes ma again went, “You don’t actually remember her, do you?” And I nodded feeling slightly foolish and annoyed coz I was almost sure I did not know her from SA H-. So, this is what ma told me….

Apparently one day, quite a few years ago, Sister B was trying to walk back to school with more luggage than she could manage. There were a lot of other people around but some how I had
stepped up to offer her a helping hand. She was very pleased and on being asked, I had introduced myself as a past pupil from SA H-. Soon afterwards she met ma and asked after the family etc., subsequently she got down to discussing her daughters… And this being a tiny hill station Sister B put two and two together and figured out it was me!

It’s really amazing how she always remembered me for this casual gesture of kindness. And its even more amazing that I… yes I… don’t remember it at all!!

To think, I have always wanted to be like those people who did a good deed and forgot all about it until one rainy day it came back to chase all the clouds away.
And I have!
Wow! I didn’t know I had that in me. It’s amazing!! It made me feel all warm inside.

Good deeds do have a way of coming back specially at this time of the year; so said Archie.
And it did!
A long forgotten good deed came back to brighten up my otherwise dismal day.

mERr¥ Ch®IsTMäs everyone!

A tangy rhyme

2008-12-23T23:10:00.000+05:30

When it comes to writing poetry i have always drawn the line. I mean ... i do definitely appreciate good poetry... but thats about it. Writing one is definitely not my cuppa.

But last night Jigs called up requesting a rhyme as part of their parent orientation program in DBS, i sort of agreed. I figured it was for my little niece so what the heck!

So, assignment: Write a poem with a subject starting with K.
It took me 40 minutes before i came with a decent four line about a kite... yup! 40 minutes! thats how much i suck at rhyming
But was it what they wanted?
No! No! No! It had to start with K.

So there it started again... Another 20 minutes and there was another poem about Katy... i was getting better, i made it in half the time

But OOPS!! the poem was to have a K-word in each line. The more the better.

At this point i was losing my patience. Could they even get their assignment straight? I was almost at the point of saying something rude when Jigs started telling me how i owed him for the 3:00 am scooter ride to the station!!
That did it!
How dare he!!!
Not only had i saved his skin twice earlier, it was he who insisted... yes! insisted... on taking me to the station ... i had to give up a totally comfy car-ride for his scooter-ride in a chilly winter night!
So how dARe he!

Anyways... i was so mad at being treated thus. This is what i came up with!!

K- was the King of idiots.
But he believed not.
He thought he was a Knight-in-arms,
A master of knowledge, karisma and charms.
He thought he could get away with anything in life.
And kissed a fair maiden infront of his wife.
So what did K-'s kind wife do?
She kicked him all the way to Timbaktoo!

There you have it. A tangerine original!
It might be an extremely bad rhyme.
But having writen this atrocious bit of extremelly silly poetry... did i feel good or what!

PS: If u are wondering ... K- ?... thats what we call our Jigs. and karisma ... well that's creative license.

Silhouettes of silence

2008-12-21T23:10:00.000+05:30

I have always wanted a photoblog.

Well... now i have one.
GO check it out.

Now all that remains is for me to take up photography and a ofcourse buy a camera ... one thats not attached to a cell phone.
jeez! talk abt doing things in complete reverse order!

Of wizards and vampires

2008-12-12T00:06:00.000+05:30

I have just finished reading Breaking Dawn

And for my verdict on the Twilight vs. Harry Potter contest … drum rolls please ...

Harry Potter it is!

The HP novels are … Nah! I am not gonna start why I love those books so much coz for me that’s a never finishing topic. After all much has been said about it in cyberspace and otherwise.
But then again the magic of the books did not fully translate into silver screen. At least not for me. I mean, the subtleties as well as the humor of the book was … well!... lost in translation shall we say. Don’t get me wrong. I did like the movies. But as I have always maintained slower novels make better screen adaptations I must add that given the sheer volume of the novels combined with the labyrinth of plots the movies were brilliantly crafted.

So all I am saying is I like the HP novels better. Much better.

As far as Twilight goes, the books were not ordinary but sometimes boring and definitely not unputdownable. Perhaps the movie will do the trick.

That reminds me…
Twilight has long since been released and so is Half Blood Prince
AND I still haven’t seen either.
Urg!!! What am I doing??

Good news

2008-12-02T21:59:00.000+05:30

I m going HOME tomorrow !!!

i think

Home is where the heart is

2008-12-02T10:58:00.000+05:30

I have been stuck in S- for almost 3 months now. Life is almost at a stand still. Its not as if I m stuck with nothing to do. There is a host of things I could be doing. The least of which would fulfilling my social obligations to my n- relatives. Besides I could be taking a hobby class or a computer course or even getting a job…albeit as a temp!

But my heart just isn’t in any of it.
I just want to go home.

But can I go?
Certainly not!
The roads are unsafe and the trains suspended.

s..i..g..h!

I know, I have a novel in me...

2008-11-07T20:55:00.000+05:30

But it simply wouldn’t come out.
Nah! Its not as if its coz of lack of trying. Being the lackadaisical dreamer that I am, I spend hours envisaging images and conjuring plots. But when it comes to putting them into words…
!!BOING!!
Imagine, I, the perpetually chatterbox at a loss for words!!
I loathe to think that my visions will remain in my head… I don’t actually aspire to be a bestselling author … though that would be nice… but it certainly seems its going to be that way.

Perhaps I need to change medium… from laptop to pen and paper… or what about photography?… or better still motion pictures. May be I need a bit of Feng Shui … my newest interest – but that’s another story… to get my creative juices flowing and turn my luck.
Now should I reinforce my fire element to bring in higher passion…the creative kind… or is it more clarity I need which means I need to utilize metal.

Yikes! I think my thoughts are simply running amok!...again!

Perhaps some things are just not meant to be. But I am not sure I want to give up… rather I am gonna kick it up a notch. Till then… keep your fingers crossed!!

Intoxicating plastic bubbles

2008-09-08T10:22:00.000+05:30

Papa brought me this beautiful table lamp and I spent a few happy minutes popping the bubble wrap that it came draped in… that is until ma took it away from me so she could put the lamp away.

The tiny air filled pockets all went… thup! … thup! … thup!
How delightful!!
Nopes!
I am not losing it.
This is just my normal acceptable behavior when I have absolutely nothing to do… when I tend to act a tad weirder than I normally am!

But not for long.

I am going to S-- tonight. In a moment of uncharacteristic sagacity I had signed up for an ASP .net course in NIIT. And that’s where I am heading

So, its good bye carefree-lazy days.
How I am gonna miss you!
But on the bright side… yup there is a dazzling bright side!
Tenné promised to be in Silchar to jazz up my stay!!!!! And btw, we are also going together!!!

*grin*

Imagine

2008-09-07T13:47:00.000+05:30

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

- J. Lennon

Monalisa smile

2008-09-06T21:47:00.000+05:30

In the past week I had four appointments with the dentist… yup! Right, four…and to think prior to this I had visited the dentist a total of three times!! Given my erratic dental checkups I knew I had it coming but when the dentist pronounced ten cavities even I was rendered momentarily speechless… of course, there is also the minor detail of a few pointy things sticking into my mouth which prevented me from speaking…Anyways, to cut a long story short suffice it is to say that I am currently cavity free and yeah even though it wasn’t a painful experience I rather not repeat it.

Nightmare interpreted

2008-08-30T01:52:00.000+05:30

Last night I dreamt of shielding my home from the living dead. Chalk-white pale and horrific yet strangely striking; she raged, tormented and cursed. But I held on till the sky was tinged with scarlet, when she suddenly took flight to escape the approaching dawn.

Strangely enough I woke up calm… not clammy and horrified like I usually feel after a nightmare.
And guess what I did?
I headed straight for my 10000 dreams interpreted…I don’t totally believe in it but since I have the book why not use it?… I could not find anything precise though. All I could gather was indirect reference foreboding deceit and bad luck.

But dreams, I know, are complicated. The fragments may foretell doom yet in its entirety it might mean something completely different.
Perhaps what I saw was a sign to be cautious or maybe just an aftermath of watching Ghost Whisperer last night!

Dreamer's lane

2008-08-28T11:41:00.001+05:30

Today I wish to share a dream... A dream house, actually.

It is a holiday home in the hills. Slightly off the road, hidden amongst the trees. A two storied house- a wood and glass wonder. There is a blue letter box at the beginning of the driveway and a flower filled basket on the porch. The living room is cozy and has an electric fireplace. A nice contemporary kitchen with a dining space. There are three bedrooms in the first floor with a balcony each. The windows are all huge bay french ones draped in the softest of silks. There are photographs lining the wall by the staircase. Perhaps there is also room for a chandelier and a floor lamp or two.

And there will be a garden- a roof top garden with bougainvilleas climbing the walls, ferns and azaleas spilling out of their dangling tubs and a host of carnations, gladiolus, lilies and narcissus. And a little rocky waterfall trickling away.

Beautiful isn’t it?

This is Tenné's vision. He had shared it with me a long time ago. Since then I have cherished a dream of my own. And I wish to share that too.

Seven o’ clock, one Saturday morning.

Breakfast in bed.

The tray laden with steaming cups of coffee, a covered dish and a vase with a single stem of rose.

A cheery “good morning” and a lingering kiss.

Light hearted moments over coffee.

Then,

he uncovers the dish to reveal the key to his dream.

*Sigh!*

The world is a stage

2008-08-23T14:36:00.000+05:30

My first brush with on stage acting was in standard eight.

My teachers had to coerce me into playing the role of Samata Behen… inspired, no doubt, by Mamta Banerjee… in a satirical play titled “Rajniti” written and directed by our very own teachers of SA H--. I had loads of apprehensions … hence the coercing part.

reason?

I have a strong dislike for politics, I detest memorizing lines, the politician I was to portray had a body type complete different from mine … I am slender to the point of being skinny and she is ummm… not… And lets face it- I had till then never ever even acted a cameo!

So initially, I cribbed a lot. But I soon started to enjoy myself. And the play, which was to be the grand finale of the parents’ day celebration, was a huge success!! The audiences were in splits… papa laughed so hard that all the pictures he took of me are blurry… and the performances flawless… umm… except for the part were having dramatically lowered my eyes I happened to be gazing down at Patalji’s … yes u guessed it, an Atal Bihari Vajpayee inspired character... feet to find him wearing pink kitten heeled pumps covered in strips of black chart paper… apparently DD had forgotten all about footwear and in the last moment her uncle had improvised!!... I had to pinch myself real hard to stay in character.
Hence began my love-affair with acting. I progressed on to write-direct-act “The wedding” a pseudo-mime for our tenth standard final class performance with hilarious results.
The last play I was a part of was The short divine comedy by Eric Ferguson which I co-directed and acted in for the AVS morning assembly. Our then DHM called it a superlative performance!

In college it was a different story though. The dramatics societies there are complete fiascos… four years and they never put up a play… no love for the art and too much politics.

Hence a sabbatical.

Acting is my hobby and not my calling and I have never wanted to be a professional actor… too much hard work!

But may be, just may be, one day when I am retired…which I will as soon as I have made first million dollars… I will be a drama class teacher in a nice hillside school.

Till then, to quote Shakespeare “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players”

Raindrops on roses

2008-08-22T21:32:00.000+05:30

I have always loved rain.

When I was five, I would stand on the sofa and look out through the window as the skies darkened and the clouds burst. It was one of my dearest wish to be out in the rain… but predictably ma never let me… And one lovely rainy day my wish came true. I was visiting my cousins and all the adults were away… probably visiting a relative or more likely shopping… KD and I snuck out to the terrace with a portable music player and had the time of our lives
Ever since there have been many rainy day trysts. One memorable rainy evening last year, on an impulse I had even lent my umbrella to a friend so I had an excuse to walk back from college in the drizzle!

But my favorite rainy day episode was almost eight years back, when I had looked out of the window to escape an exceptionally boring biology tutorial. I expected to give my attention to the drizzle outside. But instead it was Tenné I saw, smiling merrily … oblivious to the raindrops falling on him… waiting to take me out on our first date.

The beginning

2008-08-20T21:26:00.000+05:30

Ah hah! A new blog for a new beginning
Tangerine likes.

I had first thought of moving my old blog but on second thought I rather have a fresh one. And why not! Especially seeing that I have finally finished with my education. Ok! Ok! That’s stretching the truth a tad. I m not “done” with my studies I m just done with my B.Tech. Now that’s not bad, is it? But coming from a family of masters, double masters and doctorates if I even think of not pursuing higher studies I will be disowned before I can say BOO!
I guess I gotta get a master degree after all. Not that I don’t want to, coz I most certainly do. Its just that me being … well me… I rather do it on my own terms.

So, here I am sitting at home, waiting for my joining date. Besides, what better way to do an MBA than with a job experience. This way not only I have the cake I get to eat it too!!