Running

Running is good and all, no doubt. But look what havoc it wrecks! And all this muck still hasn't gone despite scrubbing away to glory.

Hound of the Baskervilles

Half way through this book, I was half scared, half jittery, half dying to know what would happen next. It is one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. Of course, when you are a kid of 12, silly things like hounds can scare you senseless. You can't get scared of all that when you are a mature responsible adult.

Mostly, anyway.

So here I am, a Modesty Blaise in flesh and blood, living in a swanking apartment in a quiet neighbourhood. All is well until midnight strikes. And then, the night silence is shattered by the ominous baying of a million dogs.

Owww...Oooo.....oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Let me tell you, when the confederation of mongrels decides to hold an olympic baying match in the wee hours, it takes all your willpower to not scramble in a mad dash to hide under the bed.

So I do what any mature responsible adult does - plug my ipod in at a really really loud volume, dunk my head in half a dozen pillows and pray.

And somewhere in the midst of all that chaos, blessed sleep washes over.

Lazy Lazy Lazy

In other words, LAZY! That's generally how I prefer my weekends. Nice and slow, late mornings and later nights, books, movies and shopping galore!

Monkeying around

I was out holidaying in the mountains. The crisp cold air, the misty roads, the bundles of warm clothing, the occassional hot cuppa - it was heavenly. Literally. That is, until I came to be swamped in a conspiracy.

Conspiracy in the mountains?

I stepped out of the cab to take some photographs. I was looking all dapper in my cooling glasses and muffler and all and thought a pic of me in the mountains was all that Vogue was looking for. I took off my James Bond shades to adjust the camera. All of a sudden, without warning, a huge - and I mean gigantic - monkey strode up to me, dragged me down by my muffler and snatched my glares out of my hand. Before I had time to blink, it scampered off to join its sniggering buddies.

I was non-plussed for a moment. Then my face turned varying shades of purple as my anger slowly escalated. Before I could utter a feral snarl and lunge at those creatures, my cabbie told me to sit back in the car and that he would retrieve my shades in a jiffy.

I watched interestedly as he grabbed a huge stick and started doing a rain dance around the monkeys. Within minutes, the offending creature dropped my shades and ran off. My cabbie picked them up and proudly presented them to me.

The earpiece was gone, they wouldn't fit properly and there were scratches on the lens. I sighed. Well, it was about time I got a new pair of shades anyway.

Twilight

I quite liked the Twilight series by Stephanie Mayer until I saw the movie. Ew...the Edward I was so in love with made me puke. Couldn't they have come up with a more suitable person to play that role? Gah!

Happy Diwali

May the lamps light up your life. Wish you a very happy and prosperous Diwali!

Doused in Ghee

Wining and Dining in five star hotels gets rather boring after a couple of times. You've seen one 5* hotel, you've seen them all. The trick to really enjoying local culture and blending into the real spirit of India is in doing things as locals do.

One of the things I discovered in one such gastronomic adventure was the freshly brewed coffee at the local Darshinis. Till date, I make a beeline to a tiffin house whenever I want some good coffee.

One day, a friend took me to Vidyarthi Bhavan in Jayanagar for ghee-dosa. I'm not a big fan of dosas, least of all one that's got ghee in it - what with my unsuccessful attempts at keeping the rapidly expanding waistline in check - but I tagged along anyway.

VB is a rather tiny place for one of the most popular dosa joints in Bangalore. They have strict timings too. Often, the place has a huge queue long before opening time (that's 6 a.m folks). I was rather amazed. What killed me though, came next.




A ghee dosa to end all ghee dosas! This dosa broke all traditional norms - it was small, it was crisp and brown, it was thick and it had ghee pouring out of it like sambhar. It was served with coconut chutney and some potato dish.

The mere sight of this plate was enough to fill my tummy. As my friend grinned at my deer-in-the-headlight stare, I gingerly poked a finger through the hot dish and pinched out a mouthful.

Once that morsel had passed my lips though, there was no turning back. It was about as tasty as it could ever get. I motioned to the waiter to keep them coming while I gobbled them up faster than you could blink.

After a mighty fruitful (or should I say dosa-ful) half hour, I was on my way out to the mall, fully tanked up to do some heavy duty shopping!

And the hell with the waistline!

Strange phenomena

Yesterday, when I had gone to the terrace to stroll in the cool breeze, there was neither coolness or any good breeze blowing. However, there was something I am not likely to forget for quite some time.

Millions and millions and zillions of crows.

I shook my head, polished my glasses, blinked my eyes and looked again.

Yep. Millions and millions and zillions of crows. Big, black and purposeful crows. Low flying, high flying and seated crows. Cawing, quiet and fighting crows. As far as the eye could see the sky was just buzzing with crows.

I tried to find some pattern to this horror scene, but there was none. The crows were flying all over buildings, in all the areas as far as the eye could see. This couldn't be good, I thought. What if they have sensed some natural disaster waiting to happen and are agitated? What if there's going to be lightning striking down on the earth? Or maybe an earthquake? Or perhaps an unseasonal downpour? What if there's a huge storm?

I shuddered and tried to get those nasty images out of my mind. One thing I agreed was true and that was these crows looked agitated. This was no wassup-dude-long-time-no-see flying match. This was an out and out oh-my-god flying style.

I kept observing the crows for about an hour and watching out for any change in signs. I was still troubled at this inexplicable phenomenon. Then suddenly, all the crows disappeared.

My cellphone chimed. It was my friend from a different country.
"Yeah?"
"Hey, you won't believe what I saw today"
"You won't believe what I saw today" I replied thinking I had a much better story to tell. "You go first though. Wassup?"
"There were a million crows flying about an hour ago....."


I gave up. There were somethings the mind shouldn't even attempt explaining.

Ten things I carry in my purse

1. Sleeping bag/blanket/pillow
2. Mousetrap
3. Dish antenna
4. Coconut
5. Cymbals
6. Pocket TV
7. Samurai sword
8. Ball of wool
9. Half a chopstick
10. Cooling glasses

Nine Yards of Trouble

So you think wearing a sari comes naturally to women? Hah! Not on your life. When 'normal' things are applied in my context, they cease to be normal anymore. The laws of physics can hold good only so much after all.

I had to attend my best friend's engagement and turn up in a sari. The mere thought of it gave me sleepless nights for a month. When the E-day finally arrived, I was probably more nervous than the bride-to-be. The parlour lady had to tie and retie my sari twice because I wouldn't stand still. Then she poked me with a million pins to keep my sari in place. All this time, I was undergoing torture with a big smile pasted on my face. At least my friend was going to go through worse, I thought sadistically when I saw her making faces in the mirror.

There, so now I was all decked up. But don't ask me to move!

Musing

Mmmm......mm..........MMMMMMMMMMMMM..........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....mmmmmMMM....M.....mmmmm.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Numerology

In college, I was facinated with the divine numbers - Phi, pi, i, Armstrong number, angstrom number, Plank's constant, Kelvin...the list was endless. I decided to add a few other definitions to this ever-increasing list.

1. Hugh Jackman number - the number that has the most perfect symmetry no matter how badly written. Often, among a bunch of numbers, this number stands out in all its glory.

2. Jay Leno number - the number that just can't stop talking.

3. Superman number - the number that reduces other numbers to zero upon performing a mathematical operation.

4. Tom and Jerry number - the numbers that always go in pairs.

5. Peter Sellers number - the number that takes different forms in different mathematical operations and is generally recognised for popping out in the most unexpected of results.

6. Rambo number - the number that when used effectively in a division operation, reduces all complex mathematical formalae to 1.

7. Sharon Stone number - the number that is generally used as a decoy in trick questions. It has the ability to distract the student from the right answer.

8. George Bush number - this is not a number really. Its another word for "question mark".

9. Pamela Anderson number - erm....46-24-36?

10. Kate Moss number - the number that remains the same no matter how much you add or multiply it. Also called "size zero".

Twitter

So I did what every other netizen is doing - create my own Twitter account. You can now follow me on http://twitter.com/rshivani also if you don't have anything better to do. I tweet about as frequently as I blog.

Q: What are people who use Twitter called?
A: Twits!

Baby's day out

I could barely sit still today. I had only 2 meetings and both of them got cancelled as the other party wasn't available. Being the quick and efficient worker that I am, I had already closed on most of the work for the day. Suddenly, a friend at office had a brainwave.

"Why don't we go outside for a late lunch?"
"Why?"
"Well, its good networking, we can get to know each other better and besides, my wife forgot to pack me lunch today."
"Aha...Hey a, b, c, you wanna come along?"
"Where?"
"Oh, anywhere, as long as its out of office. Its Friday after all!"
"Let's go!"

With considerable enthusiasm, the four of us made our way to the basement parking, while all the time furiously debating on where to go. We finally decided to go to the Forum Value mall that had recently opened at Hope Farm.

The outing was great! We had good food (burp!) and a nice trip to a new place. Besides, I sneaked in some super-fast shopping while the guys weren't looking! All in all a mighty successful prelude to the weekend!

Proverbs- what they REALLY mean

What they say...
A rolling stone gathers no moss
What they mean...
A rolling stone is too busy rolling to be able to pay attention to doing silly things like gathering moss (ugh)

What they say...
Too many cooks spoil the broth
What they mean...
Because they were concentrating on sauteed vegetables, broiled chicken and spaghetti instead of the broth

What they say...
All that glitters is not gold
What they mean...
Don't forget there are gorgeous diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds and the pope's shiny bald pate.

What they say...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
What they mean...
And the mind forget

Songs

And today, we talk about songs! I've been listening and re-listening to a lot of music these days, what with the 2 hour power cuts in the evening and all. Well then, here goes....

The songs that never fail to make me swing
Candy Shop, Disco Inferno, In da club (50 cent)
Engel, Kokain, Du hast (Rammstein)
My resurrection (Ill Nino)
What the hell, most heavy metal numbers! :-)

The songs that make me cry
Sometimes love just aint enough (Patty Smith)
If I never see you again (wet wet wet)

Radical song
Three little pigs (Green Jelly)

Slow and sexy
Voodoo Lady (Live)
Evidence (Faith no more)
Feel like makin' love (Bad Company)
The look of love (Burt Bacharach)

Soft and romantic
And I love her (Beatles)
If I fell in love with you (Beatles)
Something stupid (Frank and Nancy Sinatra)
You fill up my senses (John Denver)

Books

Which book am I reading now?
Twilight Vows (Maggie Shayne)

Last mind-blowing book I read
Twilight (Stephanie Mayer). The rest of the books in this series suck.

My all time favourite character
Dirk Pitt

My all time favourite comic series
Archies

What I would not mind reading
Faraway Tree (Enid Blyton)....yes!!

I absolutely hate
Self help books

I can't do without
Arthur Hailey, Clive Cussler, Alistair McLean, Tom Clancy, Jeffery Archer, Frederic Forsythe, John Mortimer

The book that made me think
Are you kidding? Nothing can make me do that!

If I write a book, it will be like
The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Michael Jackson

I grew up listening to MJ. I used to love those beats and his awesome dancing. In fact, I used to think Grammy Awards was all about him and nothing else!

His brand of music and dance will be sorely missed.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

I was really excited. I mean, really really excited. With a capital E-X-C-I-T-E-D. In other words, I was excited.

Why? Because Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince was releasing over the weekend. And I'm a great fan of Harry Potter. So I got a ticket and waited with bated breath and a tub of chilli popcorn and some coke and a cup of cappuccino and fries and a burger for the movie to begin.

Ten minutes later, I had finished all my food and was itching for the movie to end. Never in my life have I seen a worse movie. The characters were least interested in acting, the story line was skewed, all unimportant things were highlighted as the main story while the main story was nowhere to be seen. A lot of scenes were shown as they never happened in the book and the end result was a pain in the butt.

I may not be the gourmet connoiseur of movies but I can spot (or rather feel) a pain in the butt when I come across it. And this movie was definitely it.

At the end of those agonizing hours, all I could remember was how good the popcorn tasted and how refreshed I was feeling after a much needed sleep in the AC.

Roach Researches

Continuing on my research of the Denizen of the Ditch, the elusive cockroach, I searched far and wide for scientific experts who could help me with my PhD.

Luckily for me, while celebrating the treasure hunt win with my bunch of buddies, who should I come across but the famous Resident Roach Researcher of all time! I was very excited. Finally I was going to be able to ask questions the answers to which that had forever eluded me!

Over some delicious biryani, he began to explain while I furiously scribbled away on my notepad.

"It is the strongest creature you know"
"If the world were destroyed in a nuclear disaster, guess which is the only creature that can survive? Yes, the cockroach. But he will soon die within 8 days. Why? Lack of good food..."
"Very adaptable"
"Has amazing mimicing abilities"
"Exoskeletal structure makes it difficult to crush to death"
"Capacity to generate its own sustenance"

I looked up at the Researcher in wonder and amazement. Finally I was going to be able to complete my PhD.

My Pet Lizard

Well, so I'm a little different. Stop looking so scandalised. They make really good pets, once you get over your fear.

I was wondering how to solve the problem of boredom when I suddenly espied a huge shape moving over the wall. I looked carefully. It was the most massive, eerie-looking, tan coloured lizard I have ever seen. It was probably more muscular than I'll ever manage to be and I shrank away, dazed.

Then it slowly danced all over the place, eating up mosquitoes and cockroaches. Realisation dawned and I promptly fell in love with Sam. My pet lizard.

I won!

Finally!
I'm really big on extra curricular activities, especially when they eat into your work time. So I didn't hesitate for even a moment and jumped right into the 'Treasure Hunt' competition. We were given a bunch of photos clicked at various locations in the office and we had to find them within the allotted time of 20 minutes.

That sounded very easy till I saw the photos. They were miniscule bits of stuff, stretched out to form grainy, hardly recognisable shapes. So much so for being easy. Not to be put off though, we used our considerable brains and when that didn't work, we simply ran all over the place, looking.

And we wrapped the whole thing up in 9 minutes flat! We got a prize! And we are going celebrating this Friday. How's that for a great week?!

Hellsmoking Hot

Sigh, like a god he rose from the water - hot, gorgeous and downright delicious. His smoldering eyes shot flame darts at me while I simpered incoherently in a corner, mind benumbed by the sight of his powerful shoulders moving in slow grace even as the water dripped lazily down his washboard abs.

Then the power went off and my TV conked out. Hmph. So much so for my movie.

Sweet Surrender

I never thought dieting would be so difficult. Not only do I have to give up on all the delectable dishes I so love gorging on, I have to eat all sorts of disgusting junk (health food, my foot!).

So when I finally chanced upon a slab of chocolate cake, unwittingly of course, I decided to surrender myself to the temptation....aaahhh....that tasted so good!

Roach Battle Strategy

Back on popular demand.

We spoke about how to go about killing a cockroach. As you know, Planning is the most important task in any project. You first need to make sure you have thought through all alternatives, possibilities, scenarios and have prepared contingency plans to address them.

1. Know your enemy: This is an absolute must. How well you know your enemy directly translates into how efficiently you can execute him. Spend a few months studying all there is to know about cockroaches through books, internet and online discussion forums. Interview people who have encountered cockroaches and gain valuable insights from their experiences.

2. Understand his mind: You must know the mind of your enemy. What will his reaction be to a loud noise? What will he do when cornered? Which way does he run to throw you off-track? Where does he hide during the day? What does he like to eat?

3. Anticipate his moves: After you have studied for a sufficiently long time (time enough to earn you a PhD if it had been some mundane subject like Economics) you should have sharpened your skills to be able to anticipate his moves. You can't stand at the battleground with your laptop and feed in complex permutations and combinations when the cockroach is busy crawling up your bare leg.

4. Be prepared: Always. You never know when you will be attacked. Get to the state of unconscious competence. This comes with years of training and hard work. I wasn't kidding about the 2-hour, thrice a day workout regimen.

5. Revel in the sweet taste of revenge: Make sure to take adequate number of photographs with your dead enemy to show friends and well-wishers. This will give you unprecedented popularity and will boost your macho-image. You could even dedicate a website and give people tips on how to battle this menace.

To Kill a Mocking Roach

While most people squirm at the thought of fighting dragons and monsters, I bravely plunge into battle, slicing the enemy to pieces with my sledge hammer.

In my dreams, of course.

Facing the cockroach though, is an entirely different matter. It requires a certain precision, years of practice, talent, skill and a very cold calculating mind. Oh, and an asbestos stomach. This is serious stuff we are discussing. We want to decimate the Denizen of the Ditch with weapons, not vomit.

Now then, here's your step-by-step guide:
1. Weapons. This is the most important thing ever. You hardly want to master all tricks and then stand blubbering in front of the cockroach without a weapon in your hands. Get yourself a pair of military combat boots. If you can't, a pair of women's high heels does the trick just as efficiently.

2. Stealth. You can't go stomping around announcing your arrival to the whole roach kingdom of three lands. You gotta be smooth and sneaky about it. Approach roach with the weapon quietly, very quietly.

3. Precision. You gotta know where to aim. You gotta anticipate the roach's moves, its thoughts, its actions. Read my comprehensive guide to Roach Battle Strategy for more information on tactics.

4. Speed. You must, absolutely must be faster than the roach! Its quite no point mastering 1-3 if you can't keep pace with the creature, is there? Get your lazy butt off the couch and start working out at the gym for 2 hours, three times a day.

5. Smash. This is the final step. You sneak up on the roach with the weapon, aim for the heart and speedily execute the "Smash". There can be no room for error or you'll be smashing all over the floor while the roach and his teenage pals snigger at you from a safe distance.

Execute 1-5 with aplomb and you can be guaranteed a pest-free home.

Life goes on

It creaked, groaned and fluttered
Wailed, vibrated and shuddered
Constricted, grew cold, whimpered
Begged, pleaded then surrendered.

My heart, shattered,
Smashed to smithereens
While life goes on, unfeeling.

The Me

My brain just doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. On other days, I forget to bring it to office.

Sense and Sensibility

Did it ever occur to you that whatever is good for you, or practical, is almost always hideous-looking or awful tasting? All those times you were told to "eat your vegetables" when all you wanted to do was gorge on cookies and chips? Remember when you wanted so desperately to wear high heels even though you had to walk for 2 kilometers to get to the bus stop? Or how about all those disgusting books that had to be read and re-read and re-re-read for those awful "character building" examinations?

Sense and sensibility? hah, more like Nonsense and Nonsensitivity.

Renamed

Hello all,
I decided to rename my blog. Had got tired of the same title. The new URL is:

http://moi-musings.blogspot.com though of course if you are reading this, you already know!

Hehehe....just checking to see how many of you are really awake.

Cheers!

Check this out

http://shivanir.blogspot.com

This is my photo blog.

The Spacebar

I wonder why the spacebar key is so big. I mean, there is something like the aesthetic appeal of the keyboard too, dammit! No symmetry in anything at all. Now look at the alphabets. All in similar sizes neatly stacked. Then the numbers and special characters. So far so good. But when it comes to the spacebar...whoa! What were those guys thinking anyway? I bet the chief designer fell asleep at his desk and drew a rather longish key than he meant to (or would have if he had been awake) and suddenly some copier from somewhere got activated by the sleepy flick of his wrist and printed a million copies of the design. And then a gust of wind blew one of the designs into the printing press and another million copies of the same were printed. Our design-man, meanwhile was still happily sleeping. Then another gust of wind blew a copy of the design on the boss' desk and he had a look at it without his glasses on, decided his chief designer must have done a great job as always and approved it. What happened after that is history. Er, well actually it’s the present and future too as far as I can see.

Moral of the story - keep office windows shut to keep gusts of wind out.

Ban-galore

I was beginning to think they had spent considerable amount of thought while naming the city.
1. Pubs and discos are closed at 11:30PM, a time when most party-going mortals start to leave their homes.
2. Dancing is banned everywhere. If you so much as tap your foot standing on the bus-stop, you will be jailed for unethical behaviour.
3. There are no new movies showing. When they eventually manage to find their way to the city, the third sequels have already hit the TV channels.
4. Every other road is dug up for the metro. If it isn't dug up for the metro, it is dug up for civic work. If it isn't dug up at all, it is choked with traffic. Oh well.

Little wonder that they call this garden city Ban-Galore?

On The Warpath

Normally, I am quite chicken. One day though, I had to absolutely get to the refrigerator to put some goodies into my growling tummy, when what should I see but the hugest, most hideous and decidedly nasty cockroach perched guard outside the fridge door.

I nearly fainted with fright. However, my stomach didn't quite like the thought of starving just because some despicable creature from the insect kingdom decided to stake its claim on its share of food and let out a particularly loud growl.

I hesitantly approached the cockroach with a huge weapon (left shoe with pointy toes and big heel) for my protection and started muttering soothing adjectives in the hope of budging the creature from its perch.

Alas, but to no avail! He glared at me with murder in its eye and I hastily stepped back to re-strategize. Praying feverently, I decided I should imitate Jackie Chan and land a good one on the offending roach. I creeped up slowly and raised my weapon....

SMASH!!!!!

Praise be to Allah, it worked!!

My tummy is now rather snug and happy, thank you.

Out of time

My watch ran out of battery. And I ran out of time.

Airlift

I worried myself sick. I had to get to the airport and hadn't a clue as to how to do it in the cheapest possible way without too many hassles. I then decided upon taking a shared cab. Unfortunately, I had to drag all of my luggage for a full 10 minutes to get to my pick up point. At 1:45PM with the sun blistering down on me, my brains had all but evaporated and so had my patience.

I heaved a sigh of relief when I sat in the A/c comfort of the cab at 2. I assumed we would be taking the shortest possible route but the driver had a mind of his own. He went all the way to Kormangala for the last pick up and then all over MG Road and my other shopping destinations. By this time I was seriously wondering if I had flagged down the right cab, but then I espied a signboard indicating airport at another 33kms and settled down to enjoy the journey.

I plugged in my ipod and was enjoying myself immensely. Other than roaming all over Bangalore, everything else was perfect. Until it started raining.

It poured like there was no tomorrow. I got a little drenched in the little time I was out in it, running from the cab to the airport building. Yeah, but I did make it in time. Not a bad option for my next travel.

Vampire Bites

My latest craze are these vampire books where our hero is a suave, gadget toting, smoking hot, worldly wise vampire who puts Adonis and Bond to shame. These vampires are quite different from our Dracula series:
1. They have no issues with sunlight
2. They do cast reflections in mirrors and can be photographed
3. They are "vegetarian" - they drink animal blood only
4. They are handsomer than Adonis, Narcissus and Hugh Jackman all rolled into one
5. They can run like the wind, some can vanish at will
6. Some have special abilities like mind-reading

No wonder then that our average superheroes are no match!

Sleepy Sundays

Probably the thing I love most about Sundays is that I get to sleep as long as I want to without a care in the world. That it is also a holiday and a day away from work in no way dampens the charm of the day, but then, that bit is rather obvious.

My Sunday ritual is sacred to me. I wake up around 10 or 11, depending on how loudly my tummy growls. After a leisurely breakfast of tea, bread, biscuits (to the accompaniment of a juicy thriller novel that is glued to my eyes from the minute they open on Sunday), I stretch out on the bed and bury myself wholeheartedly and without interruptions into the aforementioned novel.

A few hours later, my tummy signals time for lunch and I go back to eating and yes, reading. Post lunch I read (surprise, surprise) and read till its time for dinner. By this time, I have finished my novel and am at the TV watching some six packs with relish.

Can you top this?

Soaked

My raincoats never lasted beyond a month. Its surprising how quickly I can manage to tear up holes in the most difficult of places. Some say its a knack. Me, I say its, well, me. My exasperated mom managed to get me through school without me getting drenched but when it was time for college, she gave up. My uncle got this bright idea to make me act like a responsible adult and bought me a shiny red umberella for my 16th birthday.

I was excited. Not only was it my favourite color, but it was dotted with beautiful yellow flowers and was the epitome of cheerfulness itself. I loved it.

However, it didn't quite solve the problem of preventing me from getting drenched. For one, I could never for the life of me remember to carry it until it was forced into my hands. Two, whenever I did manage to remember to carry it, it never rained. Three, I left it lying around half the time, making my friends about as exasperated as my mom. Oh, Well. Time to hire a nanny.

Bandage Bondage

There are two things I can't for the life of me master - one is directions, and one is getting down the stairs safely.

This weekend, I was going to put the garbage out when boom - I slipped down a flight of stairs without preamble. Did rather good for myself, only got a sprained ankle and a bruised hand. Cursing profusely as I slowly picked first myself and then the pieces of trash off me one by one, I hobbled to the dump to throw away the rubbish.

My slow climb back up the stairs was accompanied alternatively by unprintable expletives, painful grunts and the occassional shaking-of-the-fist-at-all-and-sundry. That I should have paid more attention to where I was planting my flat feet in the first place than getting agitated later had in no way dampened my murderous mutterings. Besides, I didn't let rational thoughts spoil my wonderful ill-humour. I cleaned up at home and proceeded to rub ointment and bandage my foot, vowing to be more careful the next time I ventured out.

A week later, as I was going out to get groceries, I promptly fell off the same staircase and added another couple of sprains to my collection.

Now, I am sitting at home cooling my heels with both legs swathed in bandages and both hands purple with bruises.

My Smiley Face

Always the restless and dissatisfied with things they way they are, I lose no time or trouble over turning things the way I want them to be.

You should really take a look at my office desk. The whiteboard is covered with cartoons of Judgead, Moose, Mr Weatherbee, Calvin and Hobbes and all other sorts of rubbish you expect to find in a kid's playroom than the cube of a Lead Project Manager.

But then again, by virtue of being me, these eccentricities are best forgotten. So, here's my latest addition to my world - I call him Pee-Ping Tom. He is Chinese. Well, second generation Chinese if you want to get picky about the big eyes. His job is to remind me all people are morons and to laugh at their stupidities instead of getting mad and all worked up in office.

Monday Morning Mauves

What could be better than spending a day outside office on a Monday morning? Spending the day outside office on 'official business'!

It so happened that one of my clients was visiting India. I lost no time in making detailed plans on how to get to spend some time with her.

So, on the fated Monday, I picked her up at Oberoi and took her to Ebony for a leisurely lunch. How time flew! Before I knew it, we had already spent 2.5 hours eating and gossiping in the glorious 13th floor terrace, surrounded by attentive waiters and cool breeze.

I then drove her around for a while so she could see India and get a feel of what we are like.

When I finally dropped her back to Oberoi and reached home, it was already 6 PM. A mighty satisfactory day I must say.

Purple Haze

Its infuriating when you long to go to a nice disco and they ban all forms of dancing. Worse still, there's no decent place that plays your kind of music. Never mind if your tastes are out of this world, we shan't let minor points like that ruin a perfectly good whining session. Little wonder that I just didn't feel like going to a disc for the last three years. Till now that is.

I met an old friend and we both decided to go out for dinner. He picked a place close to my house that I didn't even know existed - and it was this smashing pub Purple Haze! This was a branch fo the same chain that's in the city and I was thrilled to bits. They play hard rock here and ever since smoking has been banned in public places, these pubs and discs have become altogether more attractive to me.

So we hung out at this huge lounge bar and he sipped whiskey while I wolfed down huge slices of sandwich. And all the while we had Metallica, Hoobastank, Pink Floyd in the background. Bliss, what?

Mundane Mondays

Somehow, no matter what happens, I just can't bring myself to get to work on Monday mornings. Apart from the fact that I am just recovering from the activities of a most pleasurable weekend, the whole thought of getting back into the groove unnerves me. There are endless meetings, disgusting food, traffic jams and unfinished piles of laundry.

Monday blues? hah, blue at least is a color. Mondays are Mundane.

The Guns of Chikmagalur

When you book into a homestay on a vacation to the nearby hillstations, you envisage yourself being surrounded by greenery - birds chirping, cattle grazing, pretty butterflies fluttering around, fresh crisp breeze playing with your hair, refreshing aroma of freshly made coffee and what not.
Being the kind that attracts everything out of the ordinary, it would scarcely suprise you if I were to say that this wasn't quite what happened at the nice quiet homestay I had booked into.

I found a couple of guns. One was a normal fairly harmless airgun, and the other was a shotgun.

Sadly there was no ammunition. Darn.

Take a ride - Chikmagalur

We decided to dedicate a weekend to the joys of the hills. Thanks to the internet, we managed to find a hill station that wasn't at the other end of the world and that sounded like we wouldn't be required to climb up and down some dumb mountains to see sights all day. We settled on Chikmagalur and thus begun our journey into the wilderness...

As a seasoned traveller, I would like to share some nuggets of wisdom with you - if you have planned a trip at the last moment, some things are bound to go wrong. We didn't disappoint Mr Murphy. In fact, we did a lot better - we didn't let a single thing go right.

For starters, the so-called AC cab hadn't a patch of AC in it. Then we lost our way twice before we could reach the right town. When we did, the homestay we had booked turned out to be situatied in the farthermost regions of abandoned coffee plantations. To top it all off, it was hotter than the inside of a microwave popping pop-corn. Ah, well. At least it was a vacation.

Back Again!

I had almost forgotten I had a blog. It so happens, that these days I am working rather hard for a change. That I am working at all in the first place is in itself a mystery I have failed to fathom till now.
Must be Providence. Fate. Or Murphy's Law acting in reverse.
Anyway, I was browsing around on Orkut when I realised that a certain URL looked rather interesting. I clicked it and there I was!