Blame it on the curtains!

This pal of mine has been accusing me of being utterly lazy..and though i agree with this statement, i've clearly mentioned that I can't be blamed for being lazy.. Blame it on the curtains!

Wha????? is ur quick reaction...
Yes..u heard me right..blame it on the curtains! No kidding!

Me and my Flatmate have been thinkin of buyin another set of curtains for the apartment..she got the new set and i must admit those curtains are guilty of makin me lazy..I wanted to get a darker shade of curtains to block the sunlight that warms up and brightens the room every morning...its a real nuisance on weekends i must say....so now we've got these dark colored curtain adorning the windows...

And yeah, i'm pretty pleased with them..they are better at blockin the sunlight as compared to the older set...the room is nice and cozy and i've had a tough time gettin out of bed...earlier, the room used to warm up quickly with the sunlight and the power cuts only added to make matters worse...consequently my quota of sleep would be cut short...

But now, things are better than before...even though my pal complains about the new lazy me...i aint bothered much though ;-) After all, i deserve to have additional winks of sleep on days i'm not workin...on days i have to get to office,i 'm up when i need to be up..And yeah, it's not my fault that i'm lazy..by now u would agree, that i can safely 'blame it on the curtains'!

Spunky Saturday ...

Yeah! Spunky it was! For a major part....

Back from a late session at work on Friday, u'd definitely think an early saturday would be sickenin..but it turned out otherwise...of late i've hardly found time to have a meal with my flatmate and chat at ease.. thanks to my erratic schedule last week ..

So here we are early saturday morning chattin away with no cares...been a long time since that happened...and yeah, another good thing was that she had totally recovered by now..it was unfortunate that she got ill at the week start..the fever, cold and headache had mercilessly robbed her of her spirit..she usually lively, bubbly and runnin around the apartment when she's fine..and now i was shocked to see her when she was sick..i couldnt see her sitting so quite, lookin weak and feeble..wished she would bounce back to her normal self sooner..and so she did! it was such a respite to see her running aroun the apartment again...

Beats me as to how we actually managed to get up from bed so early this saturday..considering that both of us returned home late on friday nite, i was surprised that i actually was wide awake by 730am....or maybe it was the maid who always ends up wakin me early no matter what...i've hoped that she comes late on the weekend, but that's never gonna happen...my requests that she come later are in vain as her schedule is tight ...so invariably i'm woken up by that damn bell every day, and can only get back to sleep once the maid leaves the apartment in peace...dont even ask about the noise aroun when she's cleaning the apartment..

All the while the maid was completing her daily chores, me and my flatmate were updating each other and catchin up with the week that went by...we kept talkin for quite a long time until our stomach's started growling...we fixed a quick breakfast comprising of Egg, Milk and Fruit...i can't remember the last time we had breakfast together on a weekend...for the last few weekends, my breakfast had been a quick 'cereal with lotsa nuts and berries' .... and most often than not i've been havin it pretty late in the morning..almost close to noon time..

Breakfast done..we get a call from her friend who volunteers to cook chicken that afternoon..and after havin heard how good a cook he is, I'm in no mood of declining the offer...and so he gets to be the chef on that day....Thankfully my pal had not booked ticket's for 'Wall-E' that saturday..else i'd be losin out on a great lunch of chicken curry and rice..and trust me the lunch was simply great! Couldnt thank him enough for the amazin meal he made...

The evening was not so spunky, thanks to the staff at 'Landmark', who pissed me off..they refused to test the set of portable speakers I was buyin..i was surprised at how they expected me to buy the speakers without gettin them checked..they suggested that i get them back in case i faced any problem..in my mind - "are they freakin crazy to think that i'm gonna buy the speakers, get home and test em, and come back if there's any issue..i guess i could have, only if i could fly like 'Hawk Girl' or run at lightening speed, 'Flash' style " ..

I told the staff that it's not convenient for me to test the speakers at home and come back if there's a problem...but they paid no heed to my concern and i thought it sensible to walk out..what really ticked me off during the entire episode were the lame( pathetically lame) excuses they gave:
Lame excuse 1> The box is sealed and hence we cannot test it...
The box wasnt even sealed..it was already opened before we saw it.. and i actually can differentiate between a sealed and not-sealed box...PlanetM would agree with me...me and him would totally understand if it ere a set of headphones which cannot be tested, because the packing is different..once opened it cannot be sealed and kept for sale...but for goodness sake, this was a box which was already open and still kept for sale..and we were willing to buy it if it sounded fine after being tested.
Lame excuse 2> If we remove the contents of the pack, we can't assemble them back neatly...
I must say this is an amusing lame excuse....PlanetM insists that it's no difficult taks to neatly put the contents back into the box..there was nothing besides the 2 small speakers, the cable and the manual...and the staff made such a hue and cry about how difficult it was to place the contents back in place...

Strangely, some time back, PlanetM and me were at the same store checking the new Portable Philips Speakers..and the staff had allowed us to check the speakers before we could buy them..no one had refused then...I would have been perfectly ok, had they given me some sensible and genuine reason for not testing the speakers..but their indifferent behaviour only prompted us to leave the store....

A small bad episode unil now...but this saturday was still gonna resume being spunky..we walked past the Store where the staff gave us ridiculous reasons..walked until the 'Natural's IceCream' Shop...it's the season when the stock 'Sitaphal' Icecream...Sitaphal is the Indian name for Custard Apple..and i love this fruit..And the Custard Apple Ice cream at 'Natural's' is amazing....had a tub over the last weekend..another tub for this weekend...it's simply superb..wish they had a store close to where i live..anyway...

Back home, it's the remaining chicken curry and rice which i relish once more...past dinner it's time for a movie..so it's 'The Incredibles' on my laptop...and some Custard Apple Ice cream for dessert...great dinner, cartoon movie and fantastic dessert...a nice evenin in short...

All in all, except for the ugly 'Landmark' episode, its been a lovely Saturday

Another awesome movie...'The Dark Knight'

You may think it's no big deal if i say that 'The Dark knight' is an awesome movie..that's because, it was already anticipated that this batman movie from Christopher Nolan was gonna be big..and big it was..it didn't disappoint us and surely left us amazed....it's hogging the limelight..what with such a performance from Heath Ledger..And Christian Bale can't be missed..Aaron Eckhart did a good job too!....

No where along the movie would you get bored..and yeah joker truly keeps you guessing and surely surprises you with his tactics...Heath surely worked hard to come up with a portrayal so good..that evil grin or manic laughter, whatever u may want to label it best, fits his role to the tee...and Christian Bale, our caped crusader is great! Most of the actors perform wonderfully....can't say much, cos i wont be doing justice to the movie..am almost short of words describing this movie..i guess i need not re-iterate the fact that you cant miss this one...i hear most people singing praises about this movie..and if you've been unfortunate to have not watched the movie, believe me, u gotta watch it to understand all the hype that surrounds it ..waste no time, book your tickets for this weekend show!

Prepare for awesomeness..catch Kung Fu Panda at the theatre...

Have you gotten a chance to watch this animated movie? if not then ur surely missing an awesome cartoon movie.....if you love animated movies, then u better not miss this one...chances are that u'll leave the theater feelin happy that u didnt miss this one...

I've already seen this movie twice at the theatre..and i kip watching some of the best scenes, while i'm bored at work ;-)

You can't help but wonder and then laugh at seeing that Po has a Duck for a father..u'd have expected to see an equally roly-poly Panda for a father...and yes the father does have a funny way of speakin..and you can't miss his famous line....'We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins. '...

For some other awesome dialogues, Sample this:

How can we repay you?
Po:There no charge for awesomeness...and attractiveness....

Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.

It is said that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!

We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins.

Tigress: It is said that the Dragon Warrior can go for months without eating, surviving on the dew of a single ginko leaf and the energy of the universe.
Po: Then I guess my body doesn't know I'm the Dragon Warrior yet. It's gonna take a lot more than dew, and, uh, universe juice.

For more stuff, you gotta watch the movie....go on, catch it....

The big Mental Block.....

Yes...i've gotten to a stage where i honestly wish we humans could scoop our brains and keep them aside for a defined period time..No thinking..the brain is simply kept idle for that time period and can then be put back again, functioning as before..

Nuts i am, you may say..u bet!almost...i've been driven crazy by this problem i need to resolve..there's too many issues to be handled...a complex problem which needs me to take into consideration umpteen relevant issues.....and my lil brain is is the one bearing most of the burden..and i therefore think it could do with a lil break...absolutely no thinkin for a few minutes..but alas...that's not happenin...so i better get back to finding alternatives to avoid or better still, solve the problem..the uber-complicated problem!!!!

No! i aint thinkin of how to convince my parents to lemme marry the guy i want to nor am i figurin out a way to elope and get hitched if they disagree...m just tryin to assist in resolving a technical problem at work...And they guy with whom i need to work, happens works in another country..which makes things even more complicated...

All through the last 2 days, my attention was totally devoted to solving the problem...but alas, my brain is surely not too happy...the number of sub-problems involved, the fact that I am unable to get a clear picture of the process leading to the problem(thanks to the distance between us)..and the fact that my repeated, clear instructions to collect required information for problem solving is in vain, makes me wanna just barge away from my workstation, pull my brain out and let it sit idle for a few minutes...and i know for sure, my dear brain would love me for that..but too bad that it's not possible...so i have to continue workin even though i'm inchin closer to the saturation point...

One person who seems to be bearing the brunt of me in this state is surely PlanetM. Poor guy, he has to hear all i crib about...i tell him i wanna beat up someone and end up punching him a lot....Luckily i didnt beat him up as i said i wanted to....i had a better way to relax ..i took a short, well deserved break and got watching 'Kung Fu Panda'...that's the latest cartoon movie that has absolutley grabbed my attention ..I'm simply amazed at this movie's pure awesomeness ;-) ..the movie makers surely gave it an apt Tag line : 'Prepare for awesomeness' ....it's an awesome animated comedy and I've watched it twice at the theater...Now its time to watch it on my notebook...

Feel a lot better and revived after watching a few scenes of the movie..pity that i can't watch the entire movie..work needs to be completed you see...so there i go, back to my work..happy workin!

Simply delicious..the Prawn Gassi at Signature...

It's been a long time since i've had really good seafood....My friend Debug suggested that we have dinner at some restaurant. I agreed on the condition that he'd decide the place. Couldn't take that task that drains so much of my thinking power. Had quite some other things to bother about..and deciding the dining place wasn't something i wanted to add to the list..

Thankfully Debug is quick in giving me 2 options..Both sound good..We call Bad-Car to see if he wants to have dinner..but, Bad-Car has an upset stomach and so opts out...So we decide to go to Signature..I've been wanting to have seafood since long, so Signature was the best bet, being tried and tested by Debug and Bad-Car...

We order a chicken starter, something to drink and are just hopin we get our food sooner..both of us are pretty hungry, and the wait until the food arrives only seems increasing...the starter was good, though i'd have preferred it with lesser chilli...I'm not so much of a chiili/spice person..frankly speakin i'm prefer very lil spice in my food..i'd rather the chilli stay in the fridge than get into my food unnecessarily....

Main-course time..We decide on Prawn Gassi with Neer Dosa and Appam...Debug gives special instructions to the person takin our order .. the chef better make the Prawn Gassi with fresh prawns cooked well enough so that there's no raw prawn smell..esle Debug would rather give the Gassi a miss..

The food takes some time to reach our table..but once it on the table, i'm so relieved..finally i get my food..Prawn gassi with neer dosa/appam...i cringe a lil seeing the gravy color though..looks like it may be a lil spicy for my taste...but i'm being an optimist thinking the curry is gonna be just fine and the prawns are gonna be superb...and what do ya know??? I'm partially correct...though the gravy was a lil spicy for my tastebuds..the prawns were just so tender and tasty..besides the prawns my mom cooks at home, these come only a second...never had such fresh and well cooked tender prawns anywhere in Pune before...

You may think i'm just exaggerating a tad too much..but lemme tell ya...Even Debug who is a very finicky eater when it comes to fish/seafood couldnt stop sayin that the Gassi was awesome....he's one person who would skip the fish preparation if it smells of fish even a wee bit..so sensitive is he to fish smell...both of us were really happy that our dinner was simply delicious... Debug was very generous and let me have most of the Prawns....

We made sure we informed the Captain and our attendant , about how much we loved the Prawn Gassi...All in all, it was a wonderful dinner...Signature surely rocks!

The creepy creature...

What can make my Flatmate scream helplessly? A Lizard...and she's not the only one who is scared by this creature...None of the household pests creep me as much as the Lizard does..

Both of us are equally horrified of it...it so happens that she spotted one making it's way towards her room..she screamed so loud that it was enough to scare the Lizard away....That wasn't enough to calm her down, that's what i learnt the following day...

The following mornin she tells me that she's been up, the whole night, thanks to the lizard...
Lizards scare me so much, that my lil sister couldnt stop laughin when she saw me afraid of a tiny one...I had to request her to drive it outta the window...Big sister is so terrified of Lizards, that she can't even shoo away one!

Why dont these icky creatures just stop occupying space in my apartment..I know it might just be a single small Lizard, but that's fearful enough to handle....i'd like to avoid thinkin that the Lizard would multiply and get more babies to share my apartment along with me and my Flatmate...just hopin against hope that is Lizard is sterile and can't lay no eggs...

Just the other mornin my roommate had to request the maid, to see if the Lizard is hiding somewhere near the pile of newspaper sheets..the maid did as instructed, but the Lizard rushed behind the Cupboard....and me and my roommate were hopin so bad that it would find its way outta the window..but in vain....

All the while the maid tried to drive the creature away, me and my roommate locked the doors of our rooms and stayed inside. That is until the maid signaled that the Lizard was outta sight...She was laughing at how scared we were and asked us, how such a small creature could possibly scare us...she tried to convince us that the Lizard would do no harm..but we could only tell her how horrified we are, even at the sight of a Lizard who may be far away from us...

For now, me and my roommate are just prayin that the pesky creature finds a better home someplace else and leaves us in peace....

Desire is (not) the root cause of all sufferings...

This was a topic we were debating on, at office...

I know that ur first reaction to this would be ' pretty philosophical ha!'..but no, i ain't givin any philosophy here....am just gonna point out the stark reality, and tell u why I don't think that desire i the root cause of all suffering..my perspective would be something on the lines of 'Necessity is the mother of invention'. Or better put this way 'Desire is the road to success'.

Now most of you would say, desire = want, but desire is not equal to need...But i can so surely tell you , that today, its difficult to draw a line between needs and wants..we're almost clubbing our wants with our needs and labeling them as needs...
If you totally disagree with me, just look around you..just look at yourself..Why do you need a mobile phone? Can't you make do with the good ol telephone.. Do you need to have a laptop with you at all times??? If you say yes, I'd ask, weren't we able to live life with a desktop a few years ago? I think we did.. Do you need that car or mobike? There's public transport available..why the car/bike for personal use then???
For all these questions, I know most of you would have an answer...and to sum em all in one word, it would be 'convenience'..So the bottom line is we all yearn and earn for comfort and convenience...for our 'wants', which are no distinct than our 'needs'.

From time immemorial man has always been struggling to survive in hostile conditions....From finding shelter against the scorching sun and the pouring rain, to hunting or gathering food...from finding cures for ailments to preserving food for later use...from curing diseases to finding preventive methods for other ghastly ailments...and last but not the least, the quest for comfort and ease in life...all these things have sparked man's interest and led him to find solutions to the multitude of problems...and we haven't stopped there.. Man still works for his food, shelter and spends money on the doctor..but he hasn't stopped there...there's still ample research being done, lotsa money being spent on making lifestyle simpler and convenient...just count the number gadgets occupying shelf and carpet space in your house and you know just what i mean... Man would still work gratifying his never ending needs...And we should think it is good...else today we wouldn't be flashing mobiles and working on the go on our laptops....

So simply put, the desire to solve daily problems, the desire to keep diseases at bay, the desire to make food available(without going food gathering or hunting), the desire to protect you from the rain or storm, all of these have only helped man progress and reach the stage we are at...and it doesn't end here..man still works on improving the current situation....

So isn't it a good thing that the desire to improve conditions led man to improvise his life step by step..Do you still think desire was the root cause of suffering.. i for one would strongly be to disagree..if not for desire, today we'd still be like our ancestors'...truly at the mercy of nature's elements..worst case, maybe we would be an extinct species by now....or maybe keeping the worst case aside, if not for our desires, needs if you will, we'd never be seeing so much progress..so much improvements...of course, I wouldn't disagree, that with our life changed so much, we still have concerns/problems to deal with..but that's life..there's always goin to be problems we have to deal with..

Even in our personal lives, our desires, ambitions drive us to work hard and achieve what we want to...The desire to get good grades makes you study..if you want to get that job, you need to have done the groundwork...you want to get a good increment, work hard or work smart..simply put..our desires provide the much need impetus...take the desire out and without it, there's not much determination to do anything great, or to achieve anything extraordinary...

Though I'm not here to justify why there is suffering, i can only say that humans suffer when they don't get what they want or when they see the unwanted happening...
But for sure desire cannot be blamed to be the root cause of suffering!

Happy Bday 'not-so-hairy-monster'!!!

Today is Nikki's birthday..and all i wish him is not more years on planet earth..but more hair on his haed....bingo! i'm sure many of u guessed it right...he's one of those unfortunate people to be troubled due to a receding hairline...

So here's wishing u lotsa hair on u head..may they grow in abundance with every passing year..yes i reiterate just 'every passing year', not 'month' or 'week' or worst of all 'day'...i am avoiding being too liberal here..if i'd wish anything besides 'year',u'd be a scary hairy monster in a short span of time...

Also, hopin that u don't lose any of the precious hair on ur scalp..i understand how much u value each and every single strand..i guess all of our teammates would understand that as well...

And yeah, I'm very proud of the new social cause you've taken up today. All the best in your thoughtful endeavor of raising funds for Disco-Doggy. Well for those who do not know Disco-Doggy, he's a dog who has made our office campus his home. The sad part is that his leg is damaged/deformed, due to which he limps and shakes a tad too much while he moves, thus earning him the name Disco-Doggy.

Once again Happy Bday Nikki!!!

Missin my Pinch and Punch bags....

Well..i'm back after a long hiatus...
no..wasn't on vacation..infact very far from the word vacation..had enough work to keep me busy at office and back home too!
And then i thought it's been too long that i haven't posted a blog...
Dunno if anyone missed hearing from me, but i for one surely missed talkin about something..so here i go....

what do ya know? m writing this blog from my workstation...
yes...i am at work and i took the liberty of spending time, blogging away instead of doin what a software engineer is expected to do in my team...i've been running aroun like crazy to get certain things done, makin numerous phone calls, asking people to expediate, waiting for approvals to get thru..it's all a part of certain processes my company has put in place..this has driven me up the wall and i somehow feel like beating up someone...and i so much miss my 'pinchbag' and 'punchbag' right now..

anyone seen 'Hercules'??? if yes, then u'd know of 'Pain' and 'Panic' ...
i looooovvveee that movie...but i'm not Hades, and I don't have 'Pain' and 'Panic' who'd take my orders and execute them...but i do have 2 great pals who serve as my 'punch' and 'pinch' bags..
'Pinchbag' and 'Punchbag' is what i call em affectionately..
The 'Punchbag' is literally a bag of bones with some flesh...tall and thin..and when i punch him, it's better labeled a 'clash of bones' rather than a 'clash of titans'.
'Pinchbag' is shorter, burly...well i'd be good and say he is well built, with quite some flesh so that i can pinch him and yet not reach his bones...

And what do they do? Nothing,just be aroun when i need them the most..when i'm irritated to the core...when i feel like venting my frustration or just feel like hitting someone, i pinch my 'pinchbag' or punch my 'punchbag' ...but that's just the small part of the big story..well the bigger part of the story is that they should be grateful that they are my 'Pinchbag' and 'Punchbag'. They are so privileged to be showered with my affection..i mostly punch or pinch them more out of affection and very rarely due to irritation/frustration..

Very nice pals they are..but sadly, 'Punchbag' works with me no more... he's got a new job..so he's moved to a different place...
And 'Pinchbag' is out on one of those very rare occasions...a vacation...he hardly takes a vacation..and i do hope real earnestly, that he is indeed enjoyin his vacation...but even when he is back i guess i can't pinch him no more..why u ask? i have "resolved" never to....and i'm sure he's happy with my new resolution! Anyway i do miss them both right now, simply because i can't find no 'pinchbag' or 'punchbag' to vent out my frustration :(

I guess i'd have to be content punching the keys on my dear laptop..

Neel aka Jiggy aka Jignesh takes the competition to heart....

If u've been sincerely reading my blog, u'd know whom i'm talkin abt..Jignesh( or call him any of the names i specified above) appears to have taken the competition a lil too seriously...All i meant was that i'd try and update my blog regularly...the guy thought i meant i'd compete with him on the number of posts on our blogs..well..numbers do not count as long as the blog is maintained/updated and not left to rot...

Tell u wot..the other day @office, we'd been waitin in a queue to buy our lunch coupons...we were seriously talkin abt some issues that were a cause of concern and suddenly Jiggy goes "have u heard the story of the Rabbit and the Tortoise"?
I'm like "Ya" . He then tells me that I'm the Rabbit and he is the Tortoise..He went on to explain that he may be a slow blogger now, but he intend sto catch up with me n finally leave me way behind on blogger...
And i was jus wondering, what prompted him to suddenly leave the conversation we were havin mid-way and talk abt competition of blogs..he really left me bewildered...he took my words seriously and is hell bent on givin me tough competition..

Am thinkin he's been tryin hard to think of what to blog next..i had lotsa thoughts on my mind, but havent yet gotten the chance to pen all of them down..should do it sooner..maybe i'll let him post a few more posts and then i'll update mine..dat way he'll be happy that he is catchin up with me...never hurts to slow down if u can make people smile!!!!

But if your solely talkin abt competition buddy, all i'll say is 'Bring it on'!!!

Mama is makin croquettes :(

Was just talkin to my sis and in the course of the conversation, she mentioned that mom was busy makin croquettes....poor me, i love croquettes, but sad that i'm not at home...

I miss the food that mom makes :(
How much ever i try, i can't get close to what she makes...am not dat bad a cook.. i can cook up a decent meal, so that you won't starve..but just don't complain that the food is low on salt and spice...cos that's how i cook...and yeah, i take quite some time to cook...

It was dinner time when i spoke to my sis...Was pretty hungry and the thought of the croquettes made my stomach grumble even more...had a lousy lunch at office (that's the story almost everyday)...anyway, there's nothin much i could do, but stop thinkin about the croquettes, head to the kitchen, fix up a quick dinner and eat.

Meet the Orange's Mom!!!!

Happened to surf the net for some reason and stumbled across this funny image..thought i'd post it on my blog..



Funny indeed!!!

Of nosey neighbours ...

They really get me pissed off..it's good to be concerned about your neighbour..but it's not at all good to spy on 'em..and it's not difficult to find out if your neighbour is really concerned about you or is just really tryin to be nosey..

My work requires me to stay in another state..so i share a flat with a roomate or rather used to..she recently got married and my hunt for a new roomie is on..we used to stay in another society earlier, then moved to a current one..in both the places, we never really interacted with our neighbours..blame it on our jobs..5 days a week we're busy at work..saturday sunday is packed with weekend duties..cleanup, cooking, catching up with friends or the most important part of the weekend schedule---sleeping...as such, we hardly spoke to our neighbours...

But it so happened that one fine day, we spoke to the aunty next door and from then on, it's been a different story all together..i guess we could partly push the blame on the fact that women at home are free, once their done with their daily routine of cooking and cleaning..and most women have maids who come and help them or do most of the house work..that leaves ample time for our next door aunties to kill...and if at all it happens that aunty has no friends around or nothin better to do, she starts pryin on your activities..after all it keeps her busy enough..and she has juicy newsbits for her friends at the kitty party or when she meets up with the other women in the society..i don't know the extent to which the facts are modified just to make the gossip more interesting..but i very much loathe the idea of keeping a tab on what the neighbour does..i have my freedom and would choose to do what i wish and what i think is right...but no, aunty dear is very concerned if i come in late..she keeps wondering why the house is locked early morning and why she doesn't see me or my roomie at home until late evening..

Aunty dear it's simple...and the simple explanation is -- my work requires me to reach office early, and sometimes it does get late to get home, due to work or due to conveyance...and in the evening it's a trip to the supermarket to get fresh veggies or any groceries required to cook up the dinner.. But even if i was partyin and ended up late at night, how does it matter? and even if you spot me with a guy who actually comes to drop me home and ensure that i reach safely, why would you always assume it's my boyfriend?

It would be so much better if people would just stick to minding their own business...i'd stick to a hi, bye sort of relationship with my neighbour..and once in a while, it doesn't hurt to spend a few minutes just enquiring about general well-being..but that's it..it's good to know your neighbour and be good to each other..but it's no way good to let your inquisitive nature force you on to the spying business..puts me off totally..if you are genuinely concerned about me, i'd appreciate it..but i'd hate you tracking everything i do and recording the time i leave home and get back..lady, my life is not all about cooking for the day and ensuring that my house is spick and span..i have my job to go to....and i'd really appreciate you finding some other constructive activity, to keep you busy and away from the tracking business..that would surely do you and me an equal amount of good...

Feel like Alphabet Soup today...

For those who have never had alphabet soup, it's simply a soup with alphabet shaped pasta...

So just drop a few spoons(depending on how much pasta you like in your soup)of alphabets while cooking your favorite soup..

Tell you why i love the alphabet soup...back home, on any given Sunday(sometimes even on other days) mom would prepare soup..she made a hearty soup with lotsa veggies, vegetable stock and a generous helping of alphabet pasta..a spoon of oats would also be mixed along once in a while...sometimes the alphabet pasta would be replaced by spaghetti or macaroni..But when it was alphabet pasta i spent a lotta time relishing the soup...i'd kip picking alphabets that formed my name...i loved the soup as much as i loved picking up alphabets from the soup...I miss the soup...dunno how often my mom makes it now...been away from home for quite a long time now..she does make soup when i'm home, but i can't remember the last time i had alphabet pasta in my soup...maybe it's just that she ends up buying spaghetti or macaroni rather than alphabet pasta..

I really feel like havin alphabet soup today evening...i think there's enough vegetables stocked in the refrigerator..all i need is a vegetable stock cube and the pasta..And i'm hopin i got a packet of pasta on the kitchen shelf..if i'm lucky to find a alphabet pasta packet, i'll stir up the soup and get back to picking up alphabets to form my name or any other word that strikes my fancy while i sip the soup.

Heard of Chocolatica???

I know u wouldn't have..Coz there's no such place..it's just a figment of my imagination...How i wish there was some place where chocolates would grow on trees...I'd name that place 'Chocolatica'..
yeah, I love chocolates..I am what you can aptly call 'Chocoholic'...ask any of my good friends, n they'd tell u how much i dig chocs...and if they don't know abt my love for chocolates, they don't jus know me well enough!!!!

As my friend DD puts it 'Ana was born in a garden of chocolates and fruits' . Yes, dats how much i love chocs..n what inspired me to jus scribble about chocs right now???? the 'Toblerone' m njoyin now!!!


I thought--- why not spend some time writin about one of the things i love so much...Chocolates!!!

I remember chattin to my friend Ric from Australia. He told me that the Koko Blacks they get in Australia are just superb..Simply put by him "you cannot get better fresh belgium chocolate than koko blacks"..Says he "you need to come to Australia just for the koko blacks!" After hearing that,I haven't stopped thinkin about a vacation to Australia...jus hopin that i save up enough of money to make that trip and that I get the required leave to plan a vacation at the right time!!! I'm sure there are many people who are as delighted by chocolates as i am..So much are people in love with chocolates, that there are chocoholic tours organized in Australia..if you don't believe me, check what i stumbled upon on the net --> Melbourne's Chocoholic Tours
Yet another reason i can't miss a trip to Australia...

People generally think that chocolates are the best solution for depression..they say, chocs can just lift your spirits and pop u out of gloom..But frankly speakin, i never ever need a reason to indulge in chocolates...i just eat them cos i love them..a sinful addiction it is...but of course i make sure it don't lead to 'death by chocolate' ;-) ..if i crave for chocolates and have any with me i wouldn't think twice about eating them..I remember my roommate, who abstained from eating chocolate cause she was gaining a lot of weight...Lucky for me, chocolates have never made me fat...Although i'd like to avoid sharing my chocolate,i do end up sharing it...and one person who is ever so lucky is PlanetM...lucky chap he is..

Visiting the claim that 'chocolate is the best prescription for depression' once again..I happened to read the following on the net :
http://mental-health.families.com/blog/chocolate-may-make-your-depression-worse
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1603927.htm
Both these articles say that choc may not be the best food to alter your bad mood. It may in fact, make your depression worse...Not sure how right this may be.. we've long heard about chocolates being a well loved fix for depression..But the articles above talk otherwise..anyway, no worries..I've never eaten chocs hopin they'd drive depression away..I'll still keep eating chocolates...its a love that would last till eternity ;-)

I could go on and on about chocolates..but i'll save the rest of my thoughts on chocolates for another day..right now it's time to get another 'Toblerone' !!!

Fantastic Friday @ Soul ....

Fantastic Friday @ Soul....

After a hiatus, we finally resumed our friday evening clubbing..I should say it had almost turned into a tradition that most of our office gang go out to a club or a good restaurant on a friday evening...well, not everyone from our team joins in, but it's gonna be atleast PlanetM, Neel(i sometimes call him Jignesh,at other times it is Jiggy Boy), Nikki and Me....The last time we went out was ages ago and that was to 'High Spirits'..And yeah, it was a very eventful evening..tell ya about it sometime else...

Getting back to the original topic...it was finally decided that we are goin out that evenin..but next, we got the big question staring into our faces---- where do we go? You ask my party team and they will definitely be able to tell ya how biased i am towards 'High Spirits'..and y not..dats one place there's good music, a good DJ, good seating etc...and best of all, it's closer than most other places... but it's not the only place i love..there's more good places i love..but, we'll talk abt 'em later...

I had been insisting that we go to 'High Spirits'..But PlanetM reminded me that if we decide to visit 'High Spirits' we need to have more gals...its unfortunate that our team has less gals than guys..and among the gals,it's mostly me who parties..sometimes our friend Pretty(not from my workplace) joins us...Today it was jus me, and 4 guys..PlanetM, Neel, Nikki and YT, and 'High Spirits' had a couple entry that day...if we had another gal they'd have still let us in ..but alas...So PlanetM and YT decided that it's gonna be 'Soul'..n i wasn't too happy to hear that..not that 'Soul' is a bad place..it's good...but the last few times we went there, there was just Indian food ..we were told that the chef who cooks Italian was away...In addition,the music has not been upto the mark the last time we visited...n Ana needs music and Indian food was not what she wanted to eat for dinner that evenin...You see, I kip havin Indian food at my workplace...

YT had earlier suggested another place, but i crossed out that option cos the place is just too noisy(no music, just people talkin out loud)..so we decided on 'Soul'..n i was prayin that their chef is back...and what do you know? their chef was back!!! We could now get Italian food, and without delay i ordered 'Garlic Lemon Prawns'...To our pleasant surprise,we see that 'Soul' has a band who'd be playin for the crowd that evening..

I had been irritable that evening..thanks to PlanetM who pissed me off a lil bit in office that day...if u were present that evening, he'd surely complain that i was actin up ... But i was only makin sure i stick to the resolution i'd just made at the lunch table in office that afternoon....the band played some cool numbers,and thanks to the good music,I was irritable no more...The crowd certainly liked the band very much..their guitarist surely strummed his way into the crowd's hearts..He played amazingly well!!!..and their drummer did an awesome job too....I must admit we all had fun..at the end of it all the crowd was pleadin for more...

All through that evenin, PlanetM tested our knowledge about Music...I can't believe i took a lotta time to recognise songs..i generally guess songs pretty quickly..but I seemed to have a mental block that evenin...it was so bad a mental block, that i almost forgot i love a band called Linkin Park...No,i wasnt high on drinks..i drank no cocktails that day..jus good ol orange juice...it was jus the mental block to blame....

All in all twas a lovely friday evenin..time to head back..we ensured that YT got an auto-rickshaw to drive him home...Neel n Nikki dropped me n PlanetM home...well, i shouldn't forget to mention that PlanetM did give us some cool gyan that night..the beer surely made him think wisely dat day :) ..hey,i ain't pokin fun at PlanetM..he wasn't blabberin...he actually told us stuff that made perfect sense and surely made us think..he gave us enough food for thought for this weekend!!!

And finally.......

Yeah!!! Finally,I have a blog where I'd scribble randomly...I've been meaning to blog since a long time, but ended up being the biggest procrastinator times would have seen...And then I was inspired by my pal, who told me to delay no more...reading his blog, I missed havin one of my own...

So here I am finally writing my first post...
Well before I begin posting more stuff, just to let ya know, u'd find in this blog:
-> quite some shortened words(thanks to the sms bug that's bitten evry1)
-> some amount of colloquial/slang words
-> my thoughtz. And they may seem pretty unconvential at times...or probably a lil weird ...but that's me..my thoughtz
-> my opinion. In case u totally disagree with it, no worries..as my buddy would simply put it "to each his own!!!"...
-> anythin i jus wanna speak about

Guess I'm done writin for today..getting started with the blog has been an achievement of sorts..n if u almost laughed at that, it's fine...but let me tell ya, there's one person who'd surely consider it an achievement and it's Jignesh..oops, i meant Nilesh(a pal @ my workplace) ..We both had been thinkin about bloggin..but he's still thinkin...gotta tell him I've stopped thinkin, and finally started bloggin ....

Signing off...