Reactions...

“First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial,” said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. “So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?”

Beautiful chartered accountants wanted...

I get these arbit mails based on some old cv of mine on some jobsite...The latest one took me by surprise...read on (With my comments in bold of course)

"An upcoming Chartered Accountant firm is looking for a Chartered Accountant on a fees-sharing basis. The selected candidate will have the opprotunity to grow as a Partner in the firm later, depending on the merit. They ae looking for a beautiful female Chartered Accountant (very fair colour) with excellent personality, communication skills etc.. She shall be operating from her home and the client places at their cities. The candidate may have to travel to nearby palces occassionaly {DUH - Is this a job ad or a matrimonial one}

She will be required to carry out the Accounting , Auditing and Company Secretarial Work of the client Companies and also liason with the Banks and Auditors of the Company. She shall be familiar with Talley Accounting package, a little bit of Taxation, and good computer skills. {I can see where the beauty can be useful...wonder wot liasoning is required}

The candidate may also have to handle various Finance onsulting related assignments for the client companies.

The candidate shall be extermely beautiful,very fair in colour and look, comfortable with modern dressing styles and broadminded with modern lifestyle, with excellent Communication skills and Computer skills. She shall be willing to work late hours as and when required. {Me thinks this advt was put up by one lecherous old man who wanted a babe to "partner" him...a la "Mona Darling" ishtyle}

Requirements
..............

• ...The candidate shall be extermely beautiful, with excellent Communication skills and Computer skills
  {while we are at that, why dont we define her features, bust size, hip size, waist size as well}

And in case you dont believe me...check it out urself...

http://in.jobstreet.com/jobs/2006/12/default/60/1254941.htm?fr=L

Do you think i can sue them for being sexist and asking for unrelated qualifications for a CA...besides a beautiful CA is a paradox:)

All hail google

First it was google the search engine
......then came desktop search
...then came gmail
...then came google talk
...then google talk on gmail
...Picassa...Orkut...U tube...the list is endless

...But what i like best today is my google homepage. I have every useful tool imaginable put on it...My google homepage is more organized than my office desk is, or my whole life is...Kinda sorta looks like this

I actually added stuff to "timepass" and for "useful tools" like time zone converter, currency converter and all the useful things u need but can never see in one page.

Jeez...does google have an openeing for a useless consult who knows nothing, but can project like she knows everything??? ill work for peanuts, if its google (not adwords though - i have to be a bit picky here)

:) Im lou-ing it!!!

The story of my life...

A new day dawns...All of 26 n counting...

SpiceJet flight delayed...835 AM flight delayed to 10 AM

BSNL , Tata Indicom and Kingfisher WIFI in airport dont work. Damn these tall claims and false promises. Kinda like the rest of the ppl in my life.

SpiceJet (new addition to My HAL - Hated Airline List) takes off. No cookies served this time. Useless ppl.

My neighbours on board: curly head and elbow-scratcher. Ever noticed how small things are irritating??? My neighbour # 2 scratched his elbow through out the flight. Gawd....

My Neighbour # 1 of the curly hair which probably was louse infested kept sleeping with his head drooping onto my shoulder.

And in the midst of this, i start pondering my life with three not so universal questions...

Question No 1: What is the HCF between Movies, Paani Puri and Egypt?
Answer: There are only two people in the whole world whom i can spontaenously ask to go out for these . And both would typically say yes...Sadly ones in Dilli and one is in Mumbai. And sadder is the fact that in 26 years, i have only 2 people who i dare ask this question to...

Question No 2: What is my career lifecycle...
Answer No 2: I can do this alphabetically...

• AAA:Always Amazingly Active
• BBB: Bored Bloody Brainlessly
• CCC: Checking Career Choices
• DDD: Desperate, Dejected delinquents
• EEE Employment escape exit

Question No 3: When would i ever be loyal to an airline

Answer No 3: When the TATAs start an airline company, as long as its customer service department has no one from Tata Indicom

The irony of this is...

What happened post Disembarkation from the airplane

Event 1: SMS from colleague "TATAs to pick up 10% in SpiceJet"

Event 2: Step into office to figure out that im definitely in stage BBB, considering CCC and mostly will graduate into DDD real quick

Event 3: Delhi pal is too away from me to ask for Pani puri, movie or egypt. Mumbai pal is ditto

Now i know why i hate my life on Day 1, Year 26 of this life called Mine....

What i did today

Trite n inane stuff

Pinned up all etickets on my desk
Pinned up a card that says "All good work is done the ants do things:little by little"-Lafcadio Hearn
Pinned up a client schedule
Pinned up the Indian flag
Bound some stuff
Tore my desk apart and threw a lot of papers...
Had apple juice
Ate rajma for lunch

All in all - quite a exciting day , wudnt u say???

If wishes were horses...

• ...i would be #1 on combat grounds
• ...i would have the entire james bond cd/ dvd collection and books and have time and patience to watch it
• ...i would know where and when i wanted to be next april for my vacation
• ...i would have the entire set of garfield books (come on - its only 50 bucks a book)
• ...i would pass all my exams easily
• ...i would get a perfect GMAT score (if i wrote it)
• ...my life would be a bed of roses
• ...i would find a spanish tutor
• ...i would play the guitar and dance the flamenco together
• ...my US trip would happen quickly
• ...id have all my best friends in the same city
• ...id have no leaks in my walls and no mice in the kitchen
• ...id love to wake up in the morning and face the godawful airport road traffic to go to work
• ...id manage to work 9 to 6 and actually put in 8 productive hours
• ...id have company for every movie i wanted to see.......

Miscellaneous posting

Some days just dont go your way...or shud i say my way.

Just becoz i didnt scrap back on orkut immediately, someone things im angry - DUH - Do you think i have nothing more but to chat using orkut? (There was a time in the not so recent past that i did have nothing else to do...but how things change!!!)

My performance manager wants me to detail how ill achieve my targets as part of my goal setting process. Last i checked it was a goal setting exercise, not a journey log...but then, i sent the goals, now the ball is in his court

I am plagued by worries from tata indicom customer service. They are dumb, impolite, uneducated and really really irritating. Courtesy seems to be a word that they dont understand. Let alone common sense. What a lousy excuse for service...

My house walls are leaking. Yet again

The mice in my kitchen are back. Eating rat poison (new brand - I switched from Mortein to Hit), but like the Terminator, they keep coming back. Wonder what kinda poison it actually is

Work woes. Or shud i say boredom woes. Im awfully bored with my work...

Studying woes. Have my exams on dec 2nd : DSP and SMR . Just figured out DSP means Detailed Scheduling and planning. Was thinking it was demand and supply planing....damn im woefully underprepped for this exam... SMR is gyaan - Strategic Management of Resources. I figure hopefully my earlier certifications will take me thru these

Social woes...I woke up one day and realized all my friends were too busy for me,and my social circle consists only of my first degree friends(Refer Six degrees of seperation). Need to get me a life..

On the bright side, i met a long lost (not exactly lost, but long missed) friend from NYC. Was a great surprise . Of course, it was spoilt by my other good long lost friend who called me and told me that this other guy was gonna be in the country this weekend...and i tried to act surprised when i got the call!!! Got some new perspectives on life...Aisa bhi ho sakta hai types!!!

2 unexpected calls happened which did wonders for my ego...Thanksgiving in the US means possible gifts:)


PS: Happy now, Vandy?

Website woes

Of late ive been facing website woes. Orkut tells me that im getting no cookies. Hotmail Beta delivers all mail unflinchingly into junk, not to mention popping up beta version errors. Harvard business review site is down. Gazzag is spamming my mailbox. Zorpia.com wants me join them for networking. Symphony services spams my mails with walkin job interview offers...

I cant remember which bank has which id and password. Which email has which password. what egroup mails get delivered into which mail id.

Sometimes, life may have been simpler without networking sites, with snail mail written on good old inland letters and job seekers cud look at the classifieds. Banks would still be crowded and we'd still be carrying huge cash at home for possible rainy days... And id not be spending sunday night writing this blog and flipping my tv across 70 channels to find a good one!!!

Some of my favourite quotes and poems - Updated

• Six feet now suffices for the man for whom once the world was not enough (Attributed to Alexander's epitaph)
  
• Just because you don't understand Japanese doesn't mean Japan doesnt exist (I said it- maybe one day someone will make it famous)
  
• Dont quit - Just because you hiccupped does'nt mean you need to stop breathing. (Only i could make such a statement)
  
• "Beniyaazii had se guzarii bandaa paravar kab talak;
  Hum kahenge haal-e-dil aur aap farmaayenge kyaa???" (Ghalib)
  
• "The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one:
  Yet the light of a whole life dies When love is done." (excerpted from Francis William Bourdillon)
  
• "Funeral Blues " by WH Auden - Loved this poem which was made popular also thru 4Weddings and a funeral. My fave. excerpt:
  "He was my North, my South, my East and West,
  My working week and my Sunday rest,
  My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
  I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong"
  
• "They also serve those who stand and wait" (Milton of course...or was it Keats)
  
• All of the walrus and the carpenter
  
• Arthur O'Shaughnessy's "We are the music makers"
  "We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams,
  Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
  World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams:
  Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems "
  
• "I Think i saw a putty catth...I deeeeed ... I deeeed" (Tuffy in Tom&Jerry)

And suggeted by KP ... In memorium of pirates of the carribean, circa 2006

• "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest... Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
  Drink and the devil have done for the rest...yo ho ho and a bottle of rum"

:)

.....thats just off the top of my head:)

A boring day- Or was it?

Jai Karnataka

I had a lackluster day. Cold intensified, worked a bit from home on (yet another) presentation and went to Brand Factory for a boring bout of browsing. Sounds like a boring day. Or so i thought. Then again, how often does one go through a day when their city is renamed. I went to sleep in Bangalore and woke up in Bengalooru!!! Aint that a funny thing. While i was whiling away my day, the city was renamed. Come to think of it, ive lived in a lot of renamed cities. In fact every city ive lived in has been renamed... Chennai, Mumbai, Kollam, Kalburgi, Bengalooru. Wonder if i shifted to Australia would they rename it Convictalia, or better still Rooland?

Top Ten reasons why people quit or want to quit their jobs.

A lot of my friends call me when they want to quit or are thinking of quitting their jobs. And this topic came up recently with a friend of mine who has nothing to complain about in terms of money of power, but he was thinkin of a shift anyway. Most often people quote promotions or money (or lack thereoff) or boss/peer issues as reasons. But i believe there are only two reasons why people quit. and all others are sub-sets of the two. These are:

• They got what they wanted (or needed)

or

• They didnt get what they wanted (or needed) from the job

Note - Want and need are completely two different things, and i shall not get into the semantics of that.

Now that the reasons for quitting are established, lets get into the top 10 excuses for quitting a job, which arise from the above mentioned 2 reasons. (In no particular order)

1. Hate the boss/peers/ team
2. Hate my work content - I think im not doing "value added stuff"
3. Work life imbalanced, heavily in favor of work
4. Too much bench-time (Idle mind is the devils workshop)
5. Didnt get promoted even though i deserved to
6. Dont get paid as much i deserve to
7. Office politics - People out to scuttle my career like its the Black Pearl (Refer Pirates of the carribean)
8. Have great work, decent peers, decent boss, but no career path ahead as it is top heavy already
9. Have great work, decent peers, decent boss, but my role is too stifling and has no scope for making independent decisions
10. The organization doesnt know where it is going nor where i am going with it...

Thats it. The great listing...But i think all material things being equal, its only 2 things tht really motivate a person to quit - Either your hatred towards your boss is stronger than your love for your work, or Your work content sucks so much that u are willing to give up good money, great boss and the bestest peers to move on.

Frankly there are more reasons why people dont quit than there are for people quitting. But thats another post on another day best written when im in a more optimistic frame of mind

A good quiz to take to check whether you shud be looking for a new job ...

http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/change/20050216-krantz.html

Sick songs...

Coldster's paradise

As I sneeze through the mountain of kleenex around me,
I take a look at my self and realize there's nothing left.
Cause I've been achooinng and coughin so long that
Even my mama thinks my brain is sneezed out
But I ain't never swatted a mosquito that didn't deserve it
.....

Trying to be inspired by Gangsta's paradise...

Written by me in a fit of self pity... and inability to sleep despite heavy doses of tylenol

Whats the point of a damn vacation if i fall sick everytime i finish it. Thought vacations were supposed to relax the nerves

Life, the universe and me...

There are times when i look around myself and realize that not everyone is a hurry to get somewhere. In fact i dont think people even think about where they want to get to, let alone hurry to it. Then there is me. Hurrying all the time. Would probably help if i knew where i wanted to go though.

I've been accused of several things all my life. One is not knowing what i want. Another is about windmills. First things first. I do know what i want. And knowing is the damned problem. Most people want to make boss by x , retire by y, start their own business by z, blah blah blah. I want to build a house. A house which i design. Which i furnish. Which i own. I want to travel the world. I want a phd. I want 30 visas on my passport by the time i am 30. I want to learn. So why do people say i dont know what i want??? Unfortunately i know the answer to that as well. Thats coz what i want doesnt really gel with the idea of "what is expected" of a 20-something professional. Add to it, the fact that the said professional is female; then any mention of home and hearth is percieved as the fact that i am ready to slow my career down for the sake of marriage. Guy gets engaged - reaction: Good for him. He is settling down. He will be stable. A long distance runner for the company. Girl gets engaged - reaction: Oh God. She will not travel. She will have "other priorities" ; she cannot concentrate on her work; blah blah

Probably the most cliched male-female in the corporate world thing. It is such blatant double standards which brings out the pessimist in me.

Then there is this thing about windmills and me. Recently i made a statement that just because some circumstances or events worked out favourable to me, doesnt mean i agree with the principle of the said event/ circumstance. I once argued with my english teacher in school because she had given me higher marks than my classmate despite both our answers being the same. She obviously didnt take kindly to the whole issue. And i was told to shut up as i was not affected. Today, im told much the same thing. But u know what, i think i need to keep fight those windmills. Else the windmills would keep churning our garbage and dust which will ultimately choke me of whatever ethics and integrity i possess.

Life is a bitch. Then you die
The universe started with a bang. It will end with one. Soon.
Im stuck between life and universe. And not smart enough to cut my losses and run.

Bah.

(If you read this hoping for some connection to the Arthur Dents and Fords and trillians of the fictional world, there is one. Didnt this post read like it was written by Marvin???)

Dedicated to ...

Post is dedicated to the only 2 known readers of my blog...vandy n mohan...u guys sure do have patience...

Landed in Spore today...Slept in fits and starts. Thanks to a sleepless night on IA , where the airhostess/steward wakes me up rudely and asks me veg or non-veg. My response was equally rude..."Given that i WAS sleeping, its was a irrelevant question to ask me. Does my answer really matter to you?"

Poor chap. was left in place for rest of flight

Its full of haze...through the day. The Indonesian forest fire +South eastern winds have caused smog throughout the day, and the picture isnt looking great for the future. Had an ordinary day...Wet to sentosa. Got stranded for 15 minutes on the open Skycar. With feet dangling in the air 15 feet above ground. They stopped allowing ppl on the skycar lifts after us. And after a slow move to the other side, the lift was closed for technical faults...
Took foto with albino python. Saw 4d film.

All in a days work indeed

TTD

Things to do... (in a 10-year span)

• learn swimming and guitar playing
• see greece and italy
• clean my desk (or quit without cleaning my desk)
• Drive 100km...ok 50 km... at a stretch
• Eat at Mamma Mia
• See Rajasthan
• Bungee Jump
• Volunteer with an NGO
• Cook a two course meal
• First cook a single course meal
• File tax returns
• Take insurance
• Wear a sari
• Travel to the andamans and / or lakshadweep
• Learn Spanish
• Pretend to like shoe.clothes.perfume. shopping
• Mail old friends
• Meet my teachers from school
• Cut my nails (ok...thats like a daily target)
• Watch three movies back to back
• Blog daily
• Work for a PE/ pureplay consulting firm
• Do a PhD in operations and decision sciences
• Jog in the morning
• Get a Jet platinum card
• Apply for a IA ff card
• Take a pic with a fully grown tiger
• Go to aussie land
• Do a houseboat trip in Kashmir
• Kenyan safari
• Work in a startup
• Make profits in F&O trading
• See Apu's Mumbai house
• Buy a flat

.......................... The list continues

Guess id best need to remember...

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
If turnips were watches, I would wear one by my side.
And if "ifs" and "ands"Were pots and pans,
There'd be no work for tinkers!"

- Courtesy "The Real Mother Goose" - http://trmg.designwest.com/index.html

Some weird tags- Amended: 10 april 07

Some (weird) tags i use on google:)

New additions: 10th april 2007

• Denial is not a river in Egypt
• Work is worship. Thank god im not pious
• Their's not to make reply,Their's not to reason why,Their's but to do and die
• For Yesterday is but a Dream, And To-morrow is only a Vision

==================================================

• Life is a bitch and then you die
• Back from lunch
• Breakfasting
• Orkutty
• Where have all the cowboys gone
• Bah!
• Bang Boom Bash
• Busy Reinventing the wheel
• Out of my mind! Back in five minutes
• Blah
• Miaow
• Confucious says - Be original
  

What i miss

Most of the fun moments in my life have been defined with food...am definitely a foodie...make that a veg foodie...so here goes...

I miss…

…eating chat at juhu
…strawberries and cream at Bachelors
…Pasta at Mamma Mia on French bridge
…eating curd rice with a view of the sea and honking geese
…Kanchan’s cooking in Landmark Apartments
…Wednesday / Thursday night pigathons at Ramnayaks in Matunga
…Hunting for Veg food in Batam, Indonesia
…Vanelli’s pasta in Deira city center
…Papa John’s pizza with the absolutely superb pepperoncinis
…Komala’s at Serangoon road
…the soup on MS Mirage, Aswan
…eating south indian food in a third class joint in Colombo
…Unlimited parathas on Juhu beach
…Pani puris in Gangothri in Cathedral road
…Puchkas in sector 15 market in Faridabad
…Mexican food in Latinos (May it rest in peace) in Lady Curzon road
…More Mexican food in Shiv Sagar in Churchgate
…Idlis on Ibrahim sahib street
…Ordering dinner from Vrindy’s when I was in SP
…Juice junction sandwiches ordered in our erstwhile office on Lavelle Road
…Eating at Amruth on St Marks Road
…Lunches at Daddy’s Deli, Something fishy and Langford Bistro
And most of all….
…Mom’s cooking from good old days in Kerala

Triple treat bonanza!!!

Few things make me happier than loafing around. One of those things is loafing around in a movie theatre. And this week past, ive logged in decent time in movie theatres, to keep me grinning for a week. Watched "Dor" on thursday night. Friday was a double bill of "Khosla ka Ghonsla" and "Pyaar ke side effects". Three different genres. Three different casts (with some overlap) but all pure VFM.

In order of my preference...here goes

#1 : Pyaar Ke side effects: Rahul Bose rocks.Ranvir rocks more. As Rahul-Sid takes you through Pyaar, engagement and break-up ke side effects, he evokes quite a few laughs. He isnt the most comfortable in hindi, but the dialogues are well written enough that you forget about that. Pretty well taken movie, some scenes which i remembered ...
Security guard stops Sid when he is running away with Trisha from her wedding to Vivek
Trish: Aap kaun hai humein rokne waaley? Police bhi nahin, military bhi nahi
Security guard: Hum security hain. Uniform pehenke rakha hai.
Trish: Uniform tho waiter aur watchman bhi pehenthe hain...

Sid to Trisha:"Tum ban jao us chadda ki chaddi.”

Nanu on the demerits of marriage: "Batman ne shaadi nahi ki. Superman ne shaadi nahi ki. Yaha tak Shaktiman ne shaadi nahi ki. Who to Indian hai, agar karta to uski maa bahut pakati usko"

# 2 Dor...

Saw this two nights back, and i have never had too much of a head for movie scenes. 24 hours is my retention. But its a very well taken movie, a bit slow at times. Shreyas Talpade rocks. Gul Panag doesnt quite fit in her role, though she tries. Ayesha Takia is a surprise. Except for a jarring note where the three suddenly decide to "live it up" by dancing to Kajrare in the desert, the movie is fairly smooth. But i do have a question. Why wud i run all around the place for a signature on a piece of paper from a woman in Rajastan, which then needs to be given to the Saudi government thru a Indian official.. Could nt Gul have just forged the signature???
Some memorable scenes

• Shreyas Talpade explaining why the camel doesnt move : "Yeh bada vichaarpoorn oonth hai"
• Shreyas Talpade's drunk scene
• Ayesha Takia as Meera , the widow dancing to "you are my sonia" and mouthing dialogues of Hero

What i didnt quite like was the last scene a-la DDLJ. Overkill for a movie which was pretty gritty

#3: Khosla ka Ghosla: Clean. wholesome. well made. My only complaint was that the movie upto the intermission could have been conveyed in 25 minutes. Bomman Irani steals the show. Also Ranvir and Parvin Dabbas as the useless first and stressed out second son are impressive. Navin Nischol is extremely convincing. Tara Sharma is the misfit in the cast. Bit loud with a tendency to shriek...worth a watch for sure!!!

Only thing left for me to watch is "Woh Lamhe"...hopefully next week

Of genesis of names...

I was going through my mail box and was looking at what weird names my various groups have...


There is "Gaonwaalon" my batch e-group...which has its origin in the days of a batch PG lab in Lonavala. In our first month at SP, we were taken for a Personality Guidance (PG) lab to a far remote place (HA!!!) called Lonavala. We were then split into three groups who named themselves various things . I ended up in a group called "Ahaaa" named so (not coz of pepsi - remember we were serious wannabe managers) coz we had heard so many times during our first few days our dean saying "the ahaaaa effect"...It was during a trek with this group in Lohagadh that our batch name was coined. When ever the whole team would slow down in the trek, one of my enterprising batchmates would scream "Gaonwaaaaaloooooooon...Aakraman" and the whole team would sprint 500 m without stopping, much to the bemusement of the facilitators, who gave up trying to analyze us for some time. So thats why i dont get mails from a group boringly called SPJPGP2003 or some such equally nauseus name, but from gaonwalon@......com :-) I love my global village!!!

Next is my own personal junta ka group who have kept in touch over mail and fone in the past three years. This was the gang which kept each other sane through boring autumn projects. Six non-delhi-ites stuck in NCR for two months on projects. Most of the said six were vela for most of the said 2 months!!! One in Faridabad (me), four in Noida (Abhi Sudhir Kau and Addy), Two in Gurgaon (God) ...We met everyweekend in one of the three happening places - Dilli, Sector 15 in F'bad or Sect 18 in Noida...We did the tourist thing by doing a trip to the Taj and Mussoorie and stacked spiritual points up by the dozen by visitin Mathura, Haridwar and rishikesh. I just realized that for a extremely irrelegious (to the point of irreverance) kinda person, i have probably seen more temples post this self confessed irreverance!!! Anyway, cutting a long story short, we came up with a name for our group on a phat-phati ride from Dilli border to F'bad at midnight, when we were foolish enuff to think Dilli was a safe place, and i was dropped at my guesthouse by my poor friends "en-route" to Noida!!!! Since none of us stayed in Dilli, we coined "Outskirters" as the term which we still use in all our mailing sprees. But a name like that obviously didnt escape my one track mind - i did point out that had we all stayed in dilli, we wud have been called inskirters which, well, kinda sucks...

Then my favourite and oldest group...my ethi days group. We use it for our egroup. We use it in our mails to collectively refer to a bunch of ppl who despite being spread across the diversity of the first, middle and last benches of the class still managed to get along well and still stay in touch. And today are geographically across two continents. Anu n Anu anand in the US...Deepa in chennai, hyd and soon to be germany...Anitha , Laks and Gil in Chennai...Lavanaay a.k.a. the daag in blore, soon in Philly...Me in blore, ocassionally in other third world countries. The group name was derived courtesy me n the daag (basically me coz the daag wouldnt have dared to do this) who traversed the same route on 19M for three years. This route took us through an now infamous theater called Pilot which started as a decent place (i actually saw baby's day out here) and now (donno if it still exists) screens films of dubious distinction (ok. it screens cheap porn)... We saw the theatre deteriorate in the three years. And it became good timepass for us to start observing the movie names...dont remember a lot of it now, but we began our day with movie names like "The huntress" "Thirsty for blood" etc. One such title towards the end of the third year eventually ended up being my egroup name ... Thats the genesis of Killergirls!!! As i told Anu, thank the lord i chose that for our group name...the next change in the theatre was "Virginhunters" - Wonder if we could have ever lived THAT down!!!

Speaking of names. Couple of my friends have had children recently. And the names chosen: A boy got named Saket and the girl Naeshaa. When i enquired, was told that the former means "Ayodhya" (remember Saket Ram of Hey Ram fame???) and the latter means "Pure" in Afro-american. But cant help wondering. If these kids ever get caught in any school with a south indian populace, Socket and Nai (dog in tamil) will probably have miserable childhoods. Unless they have inherited their respective parents' superb sense of humor!!! Makes you think life does come full circle. From naming kids atrociously unpronouncable names like "Abithakuchalambal" and "Pichaikani" and the like, we have graduated to shorter and sleeker names but with equally disastrous results. Heres wishing Saket and Naesha the very best in their lives!!!

Some good stuff on the net...

If you are pro-blore, anti-blore, wanna know abt blore...this the best blog ive seen to date on this subject...

http://thebangaloretorpedo.blogspot.com/2006/10/circus-comes-to-belgaum.html
(Links to the recent belgaum fiasco)

Well thats that... i wish i cud pen some deep and meaninful thoughts. But the only thing i can think of is

"abyss, beginning, bore, chasm, depression, derivation, fount, fountain, fountainhead, geyser, hole, inception, mine, mouth, origin, pit, pool, repository, reservoir, root, shaft, source, spa, spout, spring, springs, watering place, wellspring"

Chew on that...

Ramblings

Sometimes when your thoughts just wander, its best to spew them out on paper – cyber or real just so that someday u can look back at it and laugh... or maybe who knows those words may be worth gazillions...

My thoughts are today in a much trodden path...that hits every person annually (at least), the why am i doing what i am doing question.

I figure that each person has his/ her own motivation for working.

Some people work because they need the money- in a way i envy them, cos they rarely have moral dilemmas.
Some people work because they enjoy power. They see quick growth in the organization, and perceive that a position of power is not too far off.
Some people work because they like their teams. Their work may not be the most exiting in the world, but they'd rather work there than any where else, which may have a hostile boss. Often coz they have reached a comfort zone they are not prone to move away from...
Some people work because they like what they do. Because they enjoy it, and they revel in it. Most of us are at this stage for say, the first two months of our jobs...Some others are in this "honeymoon period" for maybe a year. if they are lucky, maybe two...
Some people work because the are learning something new. May not always be in an area they like, or enjoy. May not always be technical...maynot be relating to their industry, or subject matter. It may pertain to people. it may pertain to making useless powerpoint presentations, jazzy excel sheets or even how to create a good blog!!! Most of all they learn something about themselves each day...

Now that i have neatly segmented people based on their motivations, where do i fit in... I am a mixture of a lot of these. But i guess most people are the same. Its not a single motivation to work, but different forces that propel me at different points of time.

Yes, while i never had this drive to work purely for money, it does however make things difficult, as in todays economy, salary can be a constant.

I did work for the love of my team. That was when my team was small. But i guess im not the kind of person who is blindly loyal... I know that there are people who would take their peer/ boss's word or judgement as law and not question it. But im not one of those either. In a people-centric profession, subjectivity is rampant, and as long as one can recognize that as a fact of life and draw their own conclusions, things will be fine. Ive faced a scenario where a peer of mine had made a comment that i was a "veritable Hitler". I didnt take it seriously, but turns out the rest of the office did, and every interaction of mine with them was colored by this comment made harmlessly 2 years ago. Maybe i am a Hitler, maybe i was, maybe i always will be one, but i'd rather that people reach that conclusion after interacting with me, rather than take someones word for it. But thats like asking all people to have a rational mind of their own, which goes against the grain of human nature. My answer to this scenario, is what i hope is a mature one. While i have not gone out of my way to eradicate assumptions, i do make it a point not to make point blank comments about other people. Recently, i was asked what sort of a manager XYZ was by one of XYZ's new team members. The only thing i said, was that the equation between any two people is different, and that as long as XYZ's deadlines were met, he should not have issues with XYZ. I figure (based on office gossip and some first hand experience) i could have said that XYZ was a ruthless person to work with, or that XYZ was a control freak who didnt respect independence. But then that would not make the guy who asked me happy to start work...And of late ive found myself respecting people whatever be their position, who do not accept a judgement purely because i made it or my boss made it... Must have a soft spot for rebels.

All said and done, power does have its temptation, but i guess it also does corrupt absolutely...so in the long run its not too much of a kicker

Do i love my job? At this point of time no...and id love to do a job which i loved...(too much love:) in that statement)

So that leaves me with the my key motivation...learning. I do believe that an idle mind is a devils workshop...so the minute one stops learning, one should start looking for a new job. Never mind if its at the bottom of the food chain. never mind if its not the most glamorous. Never mind if it aint the easiest or the best paying. As long as u learn...

When i had the time, patience and time to write long mails...

Found this in my laptop. Written more than 18 months ago. In the interim, Addy is hitched, has had a baby. Kau is hitched. Scary is almost there...Abhi netted the KD...Me and God...Well me and God are just as we always were. Both in 4 letter-acronymed firms, me in Blore, God in Mumbai. So here is a throwback to the good old days when i used to write my famous (or not so famous) executive summaries!!!

The executive summary strikes back

Ashok "mere piya (ka female equivalent) gaye londonnn wahan se kiya hai telefoon ..." Kumar has been spotted singing nostalgic songs all over reddybad ...oops...hyderabad. Rumor has it that this new exitee (opp. of entrant) of the bachelors club is thronging every port and airport in search of a loophole to run away to the UK

Ramesh "Bhaiyya married, route clear" God has been spotted wearing green nowadays- green pants, shirt...etc...to signify - no not freshness or chlorophyll content, but his available status... It has been brought to this correspondent's notice that on hearing of this outskirters green status, women are going beserk...One in particular flew back from the US (IOwa to be precise) cutting short her US trip!!! Talk about going ga-ga-gaaaaad!!!

Kaushik "i will matchmake" Mukherjee has been offered a job by Nokia...or is it just that he is volunteering to "connect people" ? Last that this correspondent chatted with him, mr mukherjee offered his services as a nokia...says meet by feb, finish by sept... no points for guessing this one!!!

Abhilasha "i can chat on hours with u on yahoo but forget to tell u that i am returning to India" Sharma has been influenced by "green" signals to return to india. An interview granted to this lowly correspondent by the louly lady indicated tha her heart was torn between two tam-brams in boston and bombay...Will it be boston or bombay? Nagpur or trombay? wait and watch in the next episode of "kyunki abhi be kabhi outskirter thi"...

Sudhir "yahan thand lag rahi hai...its snowing ...its snowing...its snoooowing; Abhi vaapas jarahi hai, my heart is paining, its paining , its painiiiing" Schar has been gallivanting around the US of A. While agra policemen mistook mr schar for a foreigner, the US cops think he is sooo one of them, that they refuse to let him leave the USA. Word is that when mr schar applied for tickets to go back to india, (Home is where the heart is) he was told he couldnt travel coz he didnt have a valid american passport...

Smitha "War Correspondent - She causes wars!!!" Suryanarayanan has been leading a surprisingly sedate life revolving around work, cell fone and laptop. She is in danger of being classified as a fixed asset so as to avail tax benefit on depreciation, so non-moving is her life....hmmm interesting maybe this will make it to the record books!!!

-Smitha
PS -- lou u all in a particular order which is the random order of the names written above

PPS -- my brains are scrambled with 5 days of leave and looking forward to 10 days of bad hard work

PPSS -- nothing...just wanted to say "ppss"!!:))

Of pop-quizzes

Like im so less evil...duh...but ya the happiness index seems ok...

You Are 24% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

You Are 68% Happy

You are a very happy person. Generally, you feel content and that all is right with the world. Occasionally, you have a down day - but you have the ability to pick yourself right back up.

How Happy Are You?

Thailand - First impressions...nostalgia...

The things i find on my laptop...had drafted a mail to my friends on my first 1.5 days in thailand last year...doubt if it ever got sent out though!!! So here goes...

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Long time since I wrote a long mail… Somehow always meant to, but never did it… well here It is , so please don’t scream at me if you feel frustrated somewhere in the middle of the mail…Its about time I got back to the reporter mode…about time I used that journalism diploma of mine to good use (and if you didn’t know I had one, shame on you – haven’t you known me long enough???) … about time I took a chill pill in life… !!!

I haven’t written such long mails describing life the earth and everything else since circa 2002 – Faridabad and our good old trips to Agra/ mussoorie/ haridwar/ rishikesh and all that…So here goes…

Anyway, life is good , am in Bangkok for a week beginning yesterday. Work – of course…My holiday plans never seem to materialize. So its good I get to see these places on my “list” in the course of work.
Packing – simple, quick. So quick that I don’t check in anything!!! Last time I went to Singapore for 1 week, I had 3 pieces checked in!!! That’s coz I was carrying everything from rice to sambar for my aunt n uncle…
Flight was good. For once in my life I actually slept in the plane. But that was thanks to insomnia setting in big time in the last week, guess I was too pooped. Even then, I always have the weird luck. Next to me is grandpa whose only aim in life is to question everything.
“How should I put on the seatbelt” “How should I tighten it” “How tight should it be” “Beta, you seem to know all this, do you fly often” “Why did they give me earplugs” “ What do you do?” “Where are you from” “ Are you going to Thailand” blah blah blah…

Me patiently replying (I know I know…me and patience??? Who am I kidding right???) …After an hour of all this , I finally turn volume on to full blast on earphones and doze off…only to be woken up by airhostesses to say “maam-food, maam-dinner? Maam- coffee”. I rather think I screamed at one or two of them to leave me alone!!! (Naa- I did not …cant cause a scene for nuts)

Land in Bangkok…nice airport…Met by a “limousine” as promised. That turns out to be a black merc… figure lemme at least get a look at what class car it is and I can brag about it… Look around the back for the same. Nope…nothing found. Driver looking puzzled as to why im seriously looking at the boot at 430 AM . So I decide must be a Thai fake merc!!!
Reach hotel, check in and sleep, wake up, eat and go to office at 1015am. I enter, meet all relevant people and they look at me and say – lets have an early lunch…Man are these people after my own heart!!! Love them already.

Anyway that was day one of work, which ended with window shopping at a huge mall for cameras… think ill buy one with anti-shake or image stabilizer – means has to be a Panasonic, Kodak or a casio.



Today is a festival here in Thailand, and I have been invited to go celebrate. I believe it is like Diwali, and is the Lantern festival. People light lanterns and let it float away into the river. The lantern takes away all the bad things and luck in the past and paves the way for the new year and better luck. If one doesn’t take away his/ her eyes from the lantern till it floats completely, it is considered auspicious!!!

About Thailand, my impressions are not quite the usual. Guess people associate it with sleaze and the night life. I guess I wont see that side of it, more out of choice. Bangkok may be a huge place, but it is surprisingly friendly. People go out of the way to make you feel at home, and whoever said that Americans generally smile at you whether or not they know you had never seen Thai people!!! Extremely giggly by nature (Most of the time you think they are laughing at you, but I figured they don’t laugh at others, just generally giggle for everything!!!), and very open and outgoing… These guys also have a laid back attitude which works good for me as an third party , but would drive me nuts if I was part of the system…

People here are quite straightforward and simple and innocent, Maybe it is a naïve outlook given the kind of stuff Bangkok is known for! But there is something inherently “nice” and “feel good” here. I already have been told the nicknames of everyone I meet here, and the meaning of their names (which is because yesterday I pestered all of them to tell me what the name means), and I have also been told that I am very young and very tall in a very matter-of-fact way!!!
Surprisingly bad English, which is funny given the tourist industry here. Surprisingly good roads, given the size and population of Bangkok…Extremely pleasant is the fact that I found veg food easily , and I had been quite prepared to turn non-veg.

Phuket I hear is far away (“you have to fly out” my client tells me) and I don’t really feel like going alone to a beach resort this time… figure ill do Goa first and then come back to Phuket! Pattaya though I shall go if time permits, with this Chinese woman who is also here in the company on a visit. She hardly understands English, and that frankly makes me feel so good!!! In fact Indians seem to command respect here, and my host made a statement today that the future is India and China, and that India has something rest of Asia never will be able to acquire quickly and that is English and Software!!!

Well I think that’s about it, for now, that was my first impression of Thailand and the Thai-people!!! If you actually read the mail till here, you are great…tussi great ho!!!

Loads of Love
Smi

VOA...

Visa on Arrival...Three words that can change my travel plans in a minute...Unfortunately though with an indian passport, one can never do spontaenous overseas trips... I wish there was a ready reckoner for places where Indian passport holders are provided visas on arrival

For once google failed me: i did try the time tested and well proven solution to any question

So here goes for my own and any other hapless soul's reference...VOAs...what i know of are available for...

• Indonesia
• Malaysia - only by air
• Thailand (temporarily suspended)
• Srilanka
• Maldives
• Nepal (no passport)
• Mauritius
• Hongkong
• Macau
• Cambodia
• Bhutan
• Fiji
• Kenya
• Singapore transit (if onward travel is to US/ UK)

Say Aaahhhhh...

There are times of late i feel the advent of soooo many news channels hasnt done much for newsworthy news... especially when u realize that every so called news channel only sensationalizes the every day stuff, or worse, cooks up stories...for e.g. last week i was bored on a sunday afternoon, and was flipping channels...landed on Aaj Tak who was "Breaking news"...

So i go...hmmm maybe someone important: croaked, or is croaking; has quit or quitting; has been caught on camera doing unparliamentary stuff...blah blah blah

but guess what...the news (in a hinglish presentation) is "new delhi mein ek bina driver ke tata indica ko cell phone camera mein capture kiya gaya"... and as i watch it, there is a panel discussion with "auto experts" rendering studied opinions as to how the newspaper toting person in the passenger seat cannot be controlling the car remotely !!! And as far as Aajtak's scoop goes, wasnt it lucky that someone in the neighbouring car was actually carrying a cell fone which had a great enuff cell which captured with high quality, a 5 min (ot therabout) footage of the "haunted indica"...And this went on for like...4 hours!!!!

Worse still...yesterday, same channel, different "breaking news"something about a nagin in some rural town...i didnt bother to give it the time of day, but suffice it to say everytime i skimmed past that channel...i cud see only the bloody snake...

Hasnt anyone noticed that the instances of ganeshas drinking milk, water becoming milk...or sweet or salty has exponentially increased ever since the number of news channels hit double digits???

Im sure the man with the golden voice who at one point had me and half of india tuning in to hear "Yeh thi khabren aaj tak, intezaar kijiye kal tak"...must be turning in his grave.
SP Singh ,rest in peace...though it will be difficult, but try!!!

And meanwhile Aaj tak and the multitude of channels will cover everything newsworthy, but not tell the public what they want to know. Coz they think they are indefeatable dentists, they tell us to "say aaaaahhh" and we, the great indian public will gladly do so and swallow anything that they feed us...

How lousy is my blog...

...so lousy that the only visitor is me...
...so lousy that it took me so long to figure that the counter on the blog reflects every time i view a post which i publish (which aint much) ...
...so lousy that even i dont feel like posting nything...
...so lousy that if u were stuck in a jam between inner ring road and airport road at 830 in the morning with nothing to do and 45 mins to kill, and god appeared and offered u a choice that u cud browse the blog and then get outta the jam in 5 mins, or, u cud stay stuck in traffic, ud choose to stay stuck...
...so lousy that i have to publish a post like this...
...so lousy that i think i shud start posting comments myself...
...thats it...i give up

These are a few of my favorite things...

May not quite be raindrops on roses (hate flowers especially if they are in bouquets), or whiskers on kittens... (i think that'll keep for another time and list of "these are a few of my un-favorite things)...Here goes some of my fav. things [my bday is on dec 10th...;0)]

• Books...romance - so im a little soft in the head...sue me...
• Books- comics - asterix...tintin...C&H...archie...tinkle...ACK...shud start X-Men soon
• Books- travel related: picked up three on egypt and one on greece already!!! :)
• Books- Some arbit fiction...like gods, demons and other stories by RKNarayanan...but i cant seem to read his other books beyond page 20...
• Books - The H2G2 series...probably appeals to the kook in me...
• Movies - Sound of Music (I know the entire lyrics of this one...owned the Video tape, audio tape and audio cd...havent yet collected the CD)
• Movies- MMKR - "Neengalum Cooku...Gramamum Cooku"... Own the CD already
• Movies - Latest entrant - Munnabhai...II ...am waiting for the DVD
• Movies - Manichitrataazh...am not too fluent in mallu , but this movie rocks
• Movies - Hrishikesh Mukherjee ones...meaning to start up a library of this one...
• Movies - Rajini movies...not a collector or something, but i owe it to my family and blood to catch each of it at least once in the theatre...
• Other stuff - Cross words...(Hindu esp.)... Sudoku (Bought a handheld video game in duty free for this),Jigsaw puzzles
• Poetry - As long as there is reason (not necessarily a rhyme)...exceptions being Dr Seuss and Edward Lear...
• TV - Cartoons (even dexters lab...its better than watching the powerpuff girls)...esp. T&J, Looney Toons, Courage the cowardly dog...
• TV - Remington Steele (...drrooolllll...) - am searching for the cd/ dvd collection of this one
• TV - Takeshi's castle...(dont ask ...urs is not to question why, urs is to see and buy)
• TV - Biographies - did u know they play 4 hours of biographies on History channel each sunday???
• Places...thats another list altogether...