Silent Saturday

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I successfully got A mad at me and then got mad at A. Its a mad mad Saturday you see. Hopefully we both get out of it. I haven't been the best of me for weeks (months in fact?) now. Sigh. Every time I promise to be good to him, I flake. Now I don't even believe me when I say the word "promise". Hmm. Sad state of affairs. I need an intervention of sorts. Who is ready to take this herculean of a task? Anybody? I hear my own echo. So I take it as a NO. Sigh.

And since I have got into this baking fetish (since my hit Tiramisu last week, haha! Wait...I did get a lot of compliments! So I am not blowing my own trumpet, if that's what you thought x-(. So ya, since I have got this little spark for baking now, I am deciding between chocolate fudge squares and lava cake. See how I picked two easiest baking recipes? LOL. Its still an ordeal, coz I am not stocked up on baking supplies. Plus, am NOT EVEN a dessert person. Sigh sigh sigh. But I gotta learn. And doing is learning. So anyway, I think if I get a set of ramekins from Target or Bed Bath and Beyond for a decent price, I might be up for a lava cake. You can't go wrong with it because if you cook it precisely, you get a lava cake (duh!) but if you overcook it, you get a brownie. Its a win-win, ha!

Oh btw, I saw this baking cookbook at NYPL and got totally sold out. Man o man! I was right there, leafing through it after a late lunch, not ready to go back to my desk whatsoever, but the darn clock wouldn't stop ticking. Big sigh! But I will let it pass for now. I want to see how long I continue with my baking adventures to warrant a massive book that is better off left on the shelves for a deserving person to pick up. I am such a noble soul (have I told you that before?;)). And if you knew me as much as A does, you will know my small excitements don't last long. That is because of the inherent laziness in me. But I hope I prove myself (and transitively A) wrong and
pursue this thing. I also, in fact, in a fit of a moment declared today morning that I will bake my own wedding cake. Very very wishful. What the heck was I thinking? Was I on an adrenaline drive? (The sort of things that shoot my adrenaline..sigh)

On other news, I got this link on funny source code comments from an old colleague. Super hilarious. Check it out here. Totally made my day. My favorite is "options.BatchSize = 300; //Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!". Hmm, maybe I will use this line one of these days. HAHA.

Also, I have been still toying with the idea of which Kindle cover to buy. A naked kindle in NY/NJ subways is too much of a risk :O But I cant decide if it should be this one or this one (with a built-in light). The cool thing abt the cover with the light is, it works off the Kindle battery which is so super cool since I don't have to stock up on batteries and also dont have to carry around a book light with me. Plus I hate to get up from the bed to switch off the darn lights in the night. But 60$??? Really? So maybe I would want to settle for the simple cover for 35$. Beats me how I can still not decide :(

PS: I am reading The boy who harnessed the wind. So far its all abt witchcraft and things. Not liking it x-( I hope it picks up to the main theme of the story sooooooooooon. Running out of patience here, as always.

Kindle my man..

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Imagine my joy when I found this link to P G Wodehouse collection in Kindle format. Oh of course, the news being I got my Kindle 3 delivered. So so happy:) Now I need to find a good kindle converter software to get all of my favorite books on my baby. Yay!

What if I could actually get on-the-shelf books at home into my Kindle? Wishful thinking. So long..

Just saw this..

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...video on howitshouldhaveended.com (ya you can read that without the spaces, so tells me an old forwarded email from a friend, ha!). Totally made my day (or night?). Ok you slackers, you can catch the video here:

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi!!!

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There is something magical about a festival day! I woke up with a rotten mood today (I slept in a rotten mood actually). A tried to cheer me up and talk me out of it, didn't work. I slept in until late noon (huge pile of work, chores and all of it running at the back of my mind). I somehow dragged myself out of the bed and thought "Ok, lets jus make some payasam. That's easy right?". And then the magic started.

With the cardamom, butter, raisins and milk flavoring not just the dessert but also my kitchen my spirits lifted. (Food's always been a big bait for me, lol). I got some fruits together, cleaned the place and began to pray. Fat tears rolled down my cheeks. Overcome by so many emotions. In a flash, I could see the most cherished festival days I spent back home. I cribbed abt getting early in the morning then. Taking a bath and stringing flowers together to make garlands. My dad would throw a bait (I always had to be bribed to do something) - if you clean up, hang all those garlands at all the house doors and clean the porch and all the photos of God at home, you will get the highest marks in that toughest exam. That sealed the deal for me.

Of course, I would keep prancing in and out of the kitchen waiting for the vadas (spicy donuts?) to get done :) I was never a dessert fan (thankfully! given my huge appetite, that would have spelled disaster). And the same straight answer from my mom: "If you eat it before God was served, you will not get those highest marks in that toughest exam". Wicked! x-(

So after the prayers and after God and the crows were served, it would be my turn. Oh but the crows..lol. That is another funny story. I would keep pieces of vada, payasam, chakra pongal and sambar and rice on a piece of an empty milk packet and keep it on the terrace waiting for some crow to come eat. Sometimes they wouldnt and that made me mad because I wasnt supposed to eat until they ate. Hmmm. So just because I was such a gullible idiot and I would believe anything (when good food or education was guaranteed), my dad assured me that if I screamed "Kaaaa Kaaaa" into the sky as loud as possible the crows would come eat the prasadam (Kaakaa means crows in Tamil). I am SO embarrassed even telling you guys this story. But honest to God, I did it. Just for some good food and great scores in exams. Wicked wicked dad. Hmmm.

But the rest of the afternoon that followed would be heaven. A big fat meal. A great movie on TV. Afternoon siesta before heading out to the temple in new clothes. Then playing cricket, taking a walk, sipping piping hot chai, watching people and gossiping...FUN! Thats what I call a festivity! And when at school, you get an extra day off, didn't have to study or do homework or anything (that was a big deal then right?!). Everything about a festival spelled HAPPINESS.

I miss those small pleasures SOOOOO much. Even thinking about those moments makes me happy. Happy Vinayaka Chavithi to all!! God bless you all:) Pullayar appa will make all your dreams and wishes come true.

Book review: The Pragmatic Programmer - From Journeyman to Master

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I heard a lot about this book. If you are like me, you just heard about it and never read it. Sigh. In fact, it's a mandatory read in many of the software firms. I finally did manage to read it though:) So instead of giving a detailed review (which you can find here) I will mention what I liked in this book.

- The book draws parallels between real life situations and programming problems. It delivers excellent analogies on the way. Its a fun read.

- The book is crisp and to the point. This book is not meant to be a reference, its a collection of different design techniques, refactoring and testing nuggets, common programming and project management problems and recommended solutions. This appeals to me because I don't lose my train of thought as I read through it. If I need a reference on a particular topic I will pick a book on that than sit on a 1000 page heavy book that often deviates from the theme.

- The book has some good exercises at the end of the chapter that made me "think". I get bored by just having to read through verbose and not think. I retain very little if that's the case.

- Also has good number of references to useful resources, books and web links.

- It is by no means "read it in one sitting and then forget it" kind of book. You will want to refer some parts again and incorporate some of the techniques in your everyday programming. The book sticks to its title - honestly pragmatic.

All in all a great book. Better late than never, so grab a copy and read:)

Relational DB vs No SQL fanbois

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"..I suggest you pipe your data to /dev/null. It will be very fast..". LOL.

Sushi for life!

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So it turns out its Fri evening and labor day weekend and I am sitting down in my apartment with Sushi and cold water. And its not even dinner time. Like I care.

Its crazy how I never liked Sushi before and now I am absolutely devoted to it! I refuse to eat takeout, but Sushi is a rare exception my friends. All of you who don't love Sushi, shame on you. Of course I am NOT kidding. You gotta try this. It just grows on you. Spicy Salmon rolls in Wasabi and Ginger melting in my mouth. Divine.

The first time I tasted Sushi with all its accompaniments, I had a near-death experience. Its what I like to call - "Death by Wasabi". As naive as I could be I imagined that greenish thing to be guacamole (LOL, I know!). So of course after a passing thought on why they would give sooo little of that greenish paste (I was pissed abt the quantity until I found out the reason later of course..), I picked a liberal amount of the wasabi and put it in my mouth. 1 sec, 2 secs....and then the near death experience - fumes blazing out of my 3 senses. I underestimated the Japanese horseradish. After all, we Indians take pride in our spices and think we know it all. That no one could ever invent anything more spicy than our peppers. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Sorry to break it to you Indians, the Japs have caught up with us. LOL.

Anyway, so I thought I was this kickboxing champ or whatever (after 4 months at it) and walked straight into this Martial Arts class today. Result: sore kneecaps, aching arms and worse still..a deeply scarred ego. Tch tch. Little did I know the power punches and jabs and round house kicks are going to totally wipe me out. And going to the class on an empty stomach? BIG MISTAKE. I never even do that before a gym class on an average day! Conclusion: Martial Arts is THE MOST EFFECTIVE endurance training I have ever taken. Set in stone. Period. I come back to my desk only to be told I could leave as early as 4 pm as markets close early today. Oh the joys of a long weekend. Meanwhile I heard some desis murmur "potluck". It made my stomach churn. One more time someone even mentions that word, there will be blood. Damn it.

On happy thoughts, I have devoured half my sushi plate. *Grin*. And the rest half shall be duly eaten tomorrow by yours truly.

Btw, I am calling Amazon guys starting today, everyday, till they ship my Kindle 3. I am delirious with excitement and I am NOT even exaggerating.

Book Review: The Facebook Effect

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I have been reading The Facebook Effect for the last 2 days now and I am already tired of Kirkpatrick (author) repeating time and again that Zuck's (Mark Zuckerberg) intention was never to make money. OK, we get it, but does this have to be repeated like a ton of times!? It appears like Kirkpatrick is Facebook's fanboy.

Isn't describing Facebook as a tool to bring about "world peace" (how tacky?!) is stretching it a bit too far? Or may be I just lack the vision to see Facebook in that light? As I see it, Facebook's majority users are those who look to Facebook for FUN than anything serious. I love Facebook for making things around us more transparent but I am unable to concur it's larger role in society. (One million voices against FARC did put Facebook in that perspective but I have never heard since then of any other major movement. It's always Farmville or Mafia Wars on my news feed. Maybe I just need more serious friends on my network? haha.)

Despite some of these minor irritants, I have liked it so far (and that is probably why am continuing to read it). My only disappointment being I expected this book to be an objective view of Facebook than only painting the biased view. I wanted to know the mistakes, trials and tribulations and honest opinions of Facebook's foundation and growth as seen by both Facebook loyals and rivals. Isn't journalism all about that? Perhaps that would have made it more of an interesting read?

Ok, enough said. This book is definitely recommended despite my critique for the general perspective on startups, marketing/advertising and passion to build on your ideas. Like Kirkpatrick quotes the former Intel CEO - "Only the paranoid survive"

Things I learnt this week

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Do not worry. I wont make this a series or something. LOL.

But this is what I learnt this week. (This is more a journal entry than a blog..but then hey, this is MY blog :) I sometimes love the smell of narcissism)

- I can whip up satisfying tasty meals in under 20 mins (this includes prep time apart from cooking time and no this isn't your microwaveable ready to eat stuff!). I have only one thing to say to the guy who marries me - you are very lucky dude;)

- Testing on the toilet. LOL.

- This heaven of a fruit shake cart on the intersection of Water St. and Hanover. Dreadfully delicious smoothie combos I can die for. I actually got a berry mango and banana fruit smoothie that totally kept me in happy spirits for the rest of the afternoon. I am telling you, this stuff can change you as a person. Ok, I will stop now. The important takeaway is - Its THAT good.

- That I can rant SO much about people, but also I will be the first one to help them with anything. (You see the halo on my head right now?;))

- With great power comes great electricity bill. Amen.

- That each day I walk by this huge building guarded by cops and then realize after 2 months that its the Fed Reserve.

- Leader (telugu movie) is quite likable. I haven't seen it fully yet.

- That I still hate hate hate SODAS.

- Programming by contract

- I learnt to make Zapiekanka (Not rocket science, just a simple Polish street food)

Lots more but I dont think its worth the Sat afternoon time. YAWN.

Reading old mails and other boring stuff :)

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Oh yeah. Do any of you do that sort of thing? I don't. But my oh my..what a surprise. I did a random search for an old email and I see email threads running as long as 87 replies! Fun times! Miss that so so much. Wonder how it will be to sit and read emails when I am 70 yrs old. Ha!

There hasn't been so much of an update in my life. But I got my earphones today (cheap ones from buy.com) and I can tell you for a fact I don't find an effing difference between these and my old ipod earphones. LOL. So I resurrected my old ipod which had been lying cold and dusty and abandoned in an old box. And there's music in its life now. Yeah, I am such an angel. I know.

Also as much as I hate sitting through classes ALL DAY LONG, I took a moment today to appreciate all the new things I am getting to learn. Feels nice to appreciate for a change than curse. Haha. I should probably do this more often. Maybe it is time to go to that meditation class instead of dismissing those email reminders.

Btw, I got completely taken aback today morning when a colleague told me that I am probably one of the fastest walkers hes ever seen. Hmm ok, not to brag, but I thought I was taking my own sweet time today. You know smelling the flowers and the like. Haha. But now that I map my downtown Manhattan walking route on google maps, it looks like I do nearly a mile in 10 mins walk (not run). That's probably fast.

Hocus Focus

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These days (ok i confess, for a long time now..) I CANNOT focus. This is driving me up the wall. Like, REALLY! I just miss my pre-college days, right out of high school, when I was the epitome of everything that was focus. I was anal about making lists and revising and re-revising before an exam. I used to derive a kick out of watching a movie right before the supposedly most important entrance exam of my life (every damn exam was considered important then. LOL). I can't help but wonder when all that focus crap got wiped off me. Sigh sigh.

So now it gets so tough for me to even sit on my ass and concentrate on a small piece of problem I need to solve at work. The only thing that comes to my mind is "Maybe I will go grab that cup of espresso and then I will have the 'Aha!' moment". Needless to say, that sort of a caffeine trip ends up in more wastage of time and nothing remotely 'Aha!' seems to happen during the course of it. In the last 4 weeks of training, the only class I actually woken up to was the one I had yesterday on market making. And not because I learnt to do some genius yield curves but because the instructor actually told us the difference between Federal and State prison facilities in USA. (Ya tell me abt it. The things that seem to get my focus these days. Sigh:(

All said, life is STILL good. You know, when I see so many homeless people on the streets of New York city, I feel life's not all that unfair to me. Of course, the moment I get into a subway I am all about whining abt XYZ and the 'homeless thought' vanished off me in sub-second of time. HAHA. Such is the human mind. And if you read carefully, you can see how my train of though is not focussed right now. I started off on how I am unable to focus and ended up talking abt homeless guys and depressing subway commute! LOL.

Btw, if you happened to be in Manhattan or would want to someday and you heard about the Soup Nazi (I imagine everyone has watched Seinfeld atleast once), please don't just walk into the Soup Man place and order a soup. Because you will GO BROKE. A lobster soup costs 16$ here. No, I am not in a mood to kid you. I am not sure why still people flood this place. Even if the soup is SO heavenly I wouldn't pay so much for a soup. A soup is a soup. Period. Plus, if you are extremely hormonal like me, this is not the place for you specially since you have to abide by some "rules" here to order a soup. (Its not called Soup Nazi for no reason).

Oh whatever! My only time away from the Manhattan madness was at Niagara last week. I wasn't particularly excited abt the falls when I started on the trip. I thought waterfalls are after all waterfalls. But little did I think about how wrong I would be. It was WORTH the trip for those 15 mins of jaw-dropping sight. And if I wasn't too self-involved in clicking my pictures I might have enjoyed it more :D

And now I need to walk to Best Buy and analyze my bday gift. This is probably the only thing I love abt NYC. Staying at a stone's throw distance from anything and everything. LOL.

What NOT to do in New York City

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Since it is the summer season and the city is full of tourists, I thought I could contribute to some local wisdom to the city visitors. Here's my take:

- Please don't take the cabs. Subways anyone..Hello?? Subways are the cheapest, safest, quickest way through the city. Plus you get a lot of free entertainment, people gazing and subway performers:) And whoever didn't think of walking in NYC? One of the funnest things to do is exploring the city on feet.

- Please don't eat out of any food cart you find. Most of them are rip-offs. Ask the locals which cart offers the best. Like the halal cart off 57th and 6th. Yum!!

- Empire State Building...whyyyyyyy????? Gosh, please please skip this tourist rip off. Go to Rockefeller Center. If you haven't heard of Rockefeller, please google it right now and get onto the 'Top of the Rock' for the most splendid views of the city. Atleast you don't have the fences to cut off your view.

- Ok, what's with people heading to Magnolia for Cupcakes? That is by far the most hyped place and over the top prices for a teeny weeny cupcake. Blame it on the Sex and the City. DAMN. Check other pastry shops off Bleecker St. if you are a cupcake fan.

- Eat in Times Square. NO! AVOID! All the world's crappiest chains are at Times Square. And guess what - they are OVER EXPENSIVE. Savor the lights and energy of Times Sq instead and head else where for food.

- Best way to find your way around Central Park is no..NOT walking. Rent a bike on a Saturday morning and ride along..you will fall in love with Central Park, I can bet.

- I know everyone loves Starbucks (sigh). But the whole point of visiting a city is to TRY OUT a new cuisine, even if it is coffee. As I am not much of a coffee person, I wont be able to give you a horde of coffee places you can go to. But there is this charming little French cafe in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I found it after I lost my way after an apartment search on a biting cold afternoon. I even forgot its name. I just googled and its Athom Cafe. And their croissants are something to die for. PLEASE GO. Plus, if it means anything, I never really had a thing for croissants till I bumped into this place.

- A lot of places are Cash only. So...if you are like the old me, you need to carry couple of coins and notes. And the ATM's nearby will always have a line. This is NYC, what do you expect? lol. Plus, if you think all places have restrooms, umm think twice. haha. Even select Barnes & Nobles stores in NYC wont have restrooms. (Is that even legal? :O)

I would write more, but I am tired. It's a huge list. Sigh.

How to use aliens to solve your network problems

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My dad has this passion..to sue people. No he is not a lawyer. LOL.
I often tell him he should be in the Americas. He can do that sort of a thing here with more impact maybe?

So recently he completely switched off his mobile and started using my mom's.
I asked him what's up with that thing switched off? Knowing him I asked if he was trying to do some sort of cost cutting or if he was unhappy with the mobile network service? Alright it's Airtel. As if I have something to lose if I take their name. LOL. Anyway, what I least expected to learn was this:

Dad: I keep getting text messages from this website or service I am not subscribed to and each such message cuts down one rupee from my talktime.
Me: Whoa.
Dad: Ya I get these texts from some IleanaWorld or something
Me: LOL.
Dad: Things like Ileana is going to take a bath. Ileana wants to talk to you.
Me: Double LOL.
Me: Well..cant you just ask the Airtel guys to like block that?
Dad: I sorta liked it in the beginning.
Me: Why am I not surprised..
Dad: But it cuts my talktime balance and there are too many messages. If only it was a free service.
Me: Ya right. So did they block it?
Dad: I went twice to them. Its worser now. I get these messages on mom's mobile too.
Me: Uh oh.
Dad: I think its a virus..
Me: Sorry, what?
Dad: Virus, don't you think?
Me: Nice try. Tell that to someone else, not me. x-( You would have given your cellphone numbers on some crazy website. So you go and solve it now.
Dad: Sigh.

After couple of days..

Me: So whats up?
Dad: I am suing these guys..I have had it.
Me: What happened?
Dad: They are unable to block it.
Me: Really? :O
Dad: I went there and yelled at them..
Me: ..your style? "I will sue you and write to the local newspaper and take you to the consumer court" thing?
Dad: Ya, initially..
Me: What do you mean?
Dad: Well, I sort of went soft on them.
Me: (Oh my! Thats a first time). I dont believe that for a second! You would have gone ballistic..
Dad: I initially did. I said I am gona sue them all. And then I did the faux pas!
Me: ????
Dad: I said their service will die when aliens come down to earth.
Me: (By this time I got bored of his conversation and was chatting with A on the other end...jus when I heard the word aliens I jumped up). Did you say aliens???
Dad: (Eating a snack on the other end, in a muffled voice) Yes.
Me: LOL.
Dad: As a matter of fact, I said the day aliens come down they are gona destroy all of us. And they would take over. There would be no democracy, no sh*** mobile networks, nothing. They will take control. They didn't get it..
Me: Of course. LOL.
Dad: The customer service reps took a deep interest in this subject. One of them asked me: "aliens ante yovarandi?" (telugu for "who are aliens?")
Me: LOL
Dad: I said "They will be tiny. Green in color. And their blood would be brown in color with large ears and smarter brains"
Me: Was that necessary?
Dad: (Still eating..) I am surprised they didn't watch all those brilliant alien and space movies. Specially Spielberg's.
Me: Ya well, pride yourself. lol.
Dad: That blew up into a conversation abt aliens and unnecessary chatter. I lost my way thru it. But one of them got friendly with me and believed all I told abt aliens. She promised me she would block the damn ileana messages.
Me: Sure. So now you solve problems thru storytelling. Good for ya.
Dad: I guess I will talk Armageddon the next time..

Kalle F Blomkvist

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If you are like me, you would have laughed out loud at this piece I read in the New Yorker today by Nora Ephron (yep its her, the lady who made those all time fave rom coms...recently, Julie & Julia):
The Girl Who Fixed The Umlaut

Of course, I am assuming given the hype, you would have gone on a crusade to read Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Darn it, I always mix the i and e in his name :/

Of course I am not going to bid adieu without a not-so-funny-as-unusual conversation with a Doc today. (And no, its not the cast of Grey's Anatomy. In real life, docs don't look so mind-numbingly handsome)

Doc: So what do we have here?
Me: Cold
Doc: And?
Me: After the and, is for you to figure. (Smug smile)
Doc: (Unimpressed or maybe he didn't hear me?;)) I will need to take your vitals. But first, since when were you sick?
Me: Saturday
Doc: blah blah
Me: blah blah
Doc: Alright, lets look inside.
Me: What?????????
Doc: ..inside your nostrils and ears
Me: They do that?
Doc: How long has it been since you visited a doc?
Me: For common cold? Never.
Doc: I see. Lets look now..
(Pause)
Doc: Umm..
(The next question got my cheeks flushing out of embarrassment)
Doc: Do you ever clean your ears?
Me: (With a game face) Not as promptly as I brush my teeth. (Smile)
Doc: (Oblivious to the humor. Poor guy needs to learn to smile, I thought.) Looks like there is a ton of wax up there.
Me: (Wax. Is that the charming name they give it? I fought the urge to say "My dad said why clean when it will fall out of your ears, eventually). Is that bad?
Doc: I will give you some ear drops, should clear it out.
Me: (And there I thought he is going to give me medicine for the cold) What abt the cold?
Doc: (Slightly annoyed by the obviously untimely smart ass question) Ya that too. I will give you mucinex.
Me: (Nod my head excitedly like I knew what Mucinex was)
Doc: Also do you smoke, drink alcohol etc.?
Me: Smoke no. Alcohol 10%...comes with Nyquil.
Doc: (Smiles)

There you go. You just learnt to smile doc. Sweet.

I go back to my desk and my co-worker goes:
"Oh he gave you Mucinex? That works. Hell yeah."

Me: Ok..great.
Co-worker: Don't tell me you never heard of it?
Me: (Shrugs)
Co-worker: Oh you didn't?! Stop it. The famous commercial where the Mucus family settles down your system with all their luggage and they are splashing mucus like its wall paint?
Me: Haha, no.
Co-worker: I am the biggest baddest Mucus.
Me: LOL, will youtube it.

About Blank

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There is something incredibly therapeutic about writing.

As a kid, I enjoyed writing down even smallest of my muses, worries or joys in a book. As I grew, I also grew out of this habit. I wish now I had never grown out of it. Thanks to twitter, facebook and a million other distractions on the Internet.

Life has become phoniest ever. Log onto facebook and you see someone has got a car, or has a spouse or touts their new iphone. People call each other "hun" or go "awwww" over silliest of things. Not that any of it is my business. Just saying. (Hey its my blog remember?). All I am saying is people have lost the excitement in the simplest of joys and have a continuous need to advertise their concerns over the Internet. Why do I care if you are bored? Seriously, get an activity. And if you have so much time to spare, go out and do some good.

I am not sure what's even prompting me to write this note. I just feel like it tonight. I miss the charm of the 90's I guess (my favorite topic eh?). I miss all those silly things we used to love. That TV program or that cool "bicycle" the neighbor kid had or the love for collecting marbles (or WWF cards as the case may be:)). I miss being with elderly people and listening to their wisdom. I miss throwing a fit when mom made "healthy-but-not-appealing" meals. I miss taking those long walks in the morning without having to worry about the long day ahead. I miss that joy of getting lost in a book, imagining the characters come to life as I flipped through the pages. I miss climbing trees. I miss playing gully cricket for long hours with tennis balls and make shift bats. I miss sneaking in and out of the kitchen waiting for that favorite dish to get done. I miss wearing a b'day dress! B'days were so so special..

I miss those rainy days when I came back home to hot tea, snacks and the promise of a long cheerful talk with dad on the porch. I miss waiting for the Sunday newspaper and challenging myself to a crossword puzzle. I miss chasing the frogs from the backyard of my house to the dirty pond. I miss caressing those new born kittens (cats never seemed to stop reproducing. lol). I miss sleeping on the terrace on hot summer nights and counting the stars and singing songs till I fell asleep. I miss beating dad in chess, carroms, table tennis while he secretly gave in to only see me happy. I miss getting excited about watching a movie on the big screen. I miss sitting on the kitchen counter and cleaning and marinating meat.

I could go on forever. But since it is year 2010, I gotta stop.

Why is it..

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..that the moment we are happy abt something, we fear it will be jinxed by some horrible sad news?
..that when you don't have your dear ones around you miss them more?
..that you think God is targeting only you with troubles and you go 'Why God? Why me?'
..that there is no end to our wish list?
..that a word of appreciation or compliment gives you instant gratification as opposed to none?
..that I stopped doing work and started blogging this foolish post and you stopped doing what you were doing to read this post?;)

Unwanted egos

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As if you guys didn't have enough of my rant posts. Hmmm.

But seriously, the one thing that PISSES ME OFF (yes, in caps) is kids treating their parents like scumbags. I mean cmon, give me a freaking break. You don't have to move mountains for them. Just be HUMAN.

So I came across this old Indian lady accompanied by her daughter (assuming shes her daughter). She mistook a bread packet of mine to be hers and grabbed at it hard from the cashier's hands. Now you know how impatient and cranky these grocery store cashiers are. She just shot back a cold stare at the old lady. Ok, we all have our frustrations at work and all the drama that makes us go crazy. So I could comprehend her reaction. But the daughter here goes shooting around abuses at the lady for this one. I got so pissed off at this point that I was like Really? Next time get your own bread. Bitch.

I see SO many old Indian couples here in the US. Kids send them off to do the dirty laundry to grocery to dropping kids off at school. So really, is that why you morons bring your parents here? To do your chores?

In other news, (yes I am not done yet) what is with bloated egoistic IITians and Ivy League guys. I mean seriously give me a effing break. Are your egos a way to vent out the high tuition you paid at school? Save the attitude please. Good luck to your spouses though. I sympathize with them. The next time someone gives me shit, I have made up my mind to flaunt my credentials too..Some people just need a taste of their own medicine.

And please whoever the hell you are, treat your parents well. That's the least you can do in your already rotten lives.

Little things that make me happy

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So I cooked a bowl of oats over the stove top without burning any of the milk or the oats..how super achieving and satisfying is that..eh? LOL.

Or that whole grain bread I got off a sale for just 2$ got me to clap my hands and skirt up and down like a kid..haha.

Wait a sec. Just when you are about to go "here she goes talking abt food", I have some other little things to share..that aren't food. I signed up for a community service event that I badly want to get into. Of course, I wont tell you its centered around music, entertainment, ice cream and emcee-ing. Yay yay. Oh I just told you that now. What a showoff. Haha.

I also get to canoe in the Hudson this May for free!! If everything goes well that is..lol. Talk about counting the eggs before they hatch.

I also have that teeny-weeny marathon (or more like a race) to finish this June. And its but obvious that I haven't started training for it, as seriously. Sigh. No, actually strike that out of the list. Not happy about the training part. lol.

Btw me and a friend and friends of the friend and their friends (why do I get so exasperating!!) have embarked on what we would like to call a 50 book challenge. Not sure if that interests you. You might want to occasionally visit the blog to find titles that you never heard of?:) A bunch of us blog on what we are reading and whats up for future reading. A book club, sort of. Just makes it easy to look up recommended reads from each other's list.

So if you carefully read through my list (ya right!), you might have successfully analyzed by now that none of the above things have anything to do with my work life, relationships or any such thing. Ahem. That's what I call - Selfissssssssh!! And I am lovin' it.:)

I wanna be in the 90's

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This thought loomed large when I was dipping these sweet little things called Parle G biscuits into piping hot tea this afternoon. Oh damn I just lost the crunch I thought. Mental note to myself: Dip the biscuit for less than a sec than you can enjoy it with the crunch.

See now I am blabbing! Sigh..

So I sat down to do the old fashioned stuff today. Reading a fat book armed with tea and biscuits. Nice. I am at peace. Then my thoughts go back and forth on the 90's. Then I start cussing. (You know where this is going. Another bout of ranting...) Why did this Internet happen? Like for instance, online friends. Who would have thought of that in the 90's right? haha. Imagine a girl friend of mine in pig tails telling me...Hey met this totally awesome guy on Facebook. I cant imagine how badly that could have destroyed the 90's charm. Where we simply exchanged love letters (or messengered them in my case) as teens.

And what about those TV shows we would wait the entire week for. what was that detective thingy..Byomkesh Bakshi? Man, I was like addicted to it like people addicted to weed. If I didnt see it every Wed night (see, I even remember which weekday they used to play that thing!), I would go all upset. That would happen when the power would go out. Good old 90's. If the power went out during your favorite TV show time, you would swear and curse (Yes, I was into such things even in the 90's. Even kids like that stuff, all you parents..if you are reading my blog. haha).
But if the power went out when you are supposed to be doing homework, it gives you an excuse to play antakshari on the terrace with your siblings or friends or whoever you hanged out with. It didnt matter. It was antakshari time. Even among mosquito bites on a hot summer night on the terrace.

Just yesterday A was talking something about a cool business idea when I shoot at him out of the blue.

Me: Do you like a terrace?
A: Err..yes.
Me: Me too
A: (Not sure why I changed the topic. But he plays along. Good old A.) So you used to sleep on the terraces those days?
Me: Absolutely! We would pick up a bucket of water an hour before our sojourn and water the terrace.
After it cools down we would spread the sheets. Watch stars. Play antakshari.
A: Haha. Same here.
Me: (Going into 'rant' mode) But obviously stupid USA doesnt have that privilege. Hell, I dont even get a decent
ventilation in my apartment. I am all choking in this...
A: (Cuts me off. He sees where I am going with this. He has learnt the hard way. lol) Yeah yeah. But did you like the mosquito bites then?
Me: (Sigh! He just knows how to pull the plug. Doesnt he?) Yeah. Hmmm.
A: Haha. But it was so much fun.
Me: (springing back..) SO SO much!! (I clench my teeth with the delight of a kid who just got a free cookie)
A: And the hide and seek days??? Chor police?
Me: aaaah...blisss!!!
A: Now do you think we can install this on a Windows machine. VMware or virtual box? (Obviously continuining the conversation where we broke off.)
Me: Sigh...


Now you see what I mean? If we were still in the 90's we wouldnt have such a thing as Virtual Machines or installations or any such jazz. It would just be you, me and a hearty conversation or antakshari over tea. I need a time machine now..anyone?

PS: I am powerless when it comes to constant references to my ranting and being so overly judgemental about myself. But you should have understood by now that the blog always carries impressions of my self analysis. Although annoying, would you please be so much of a kind soul so as to ignore them for the purposes of your own sanity? Thank you :)

Truth be told..

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I don't really talk through the serious stuff on this blog. (You might have noticed that already). But when I see people ripping off a common man's money I simply got to spread the word against evil.

To cut the long story short, I attended one of the so-called free Rich Dad Poor Dad seminars. In the middle of a rain. Costing me a precious 3 hours and giving me a massive headache in the end. Now I wonder this: Why isn't common sense common? Every single person listening to the seminar bought the idea that one could make money by working for as less as 3 hours per week. REALLY?? Wow! Robert Kiyosaki, tell me if that worked for you. Now I leave for the people with common sense (which isn't as common I figured by now) to decide what's the answer to that. Plus, Mr. Kiyosaki and the mafia behind this whole Rich Dad academy, a message from the common man - We are living in a world powered by information sharing. Remember the power called GOOGLE? Yeah, that's right. We just look up for information there and believe in sharing it for free. We believe in making it viral. By free, we truly mean free. And not a free seminar where the speaker reminds you every 5 mins to sign up for the 500$ class that will teach me to become a millionaire. I wonder what Warren Buffett has to say about the 3 hour work week path to becoming a millionaire.