Escaping Reality

Is that even possible? Can one pause time, take a break from life and escape into a world unreal? Yet, many back home tell me that I am doing just that by being here. I am not escaping anything. The people I've met, the places I've seen, the lifetime of memories I've collected, those strong emotions, they are real. Unfortunately unless you have reached the milestones set by others for you, no matter what you do or achieve is as good as doing nothing at all. They mean nothing. I should learn to care less but it makes me sad. And in the process of convincing others I wonder if I am convincing myself. This is real. How can it be anything else?

Bangalore's Anthem

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a JAM  you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better now
You're stuck in a JAM and you can't get out of it

And if the night runs over
And if the day won't last
And if your way should falter
Along the stony pass
It's just a JAM
This time will pass 

Before you start protesting, translation to Kannada is in progress. Patience.

Fear Factor

Yesterday coming back from work there was this old guy (old compared to the otherwise young IT crowd) in the bus who mentioned there was some tension in the city. People got excited and there were frantic calls being made to learn more. The guy though wouldn't stop, I heard him make at least 15 calls calling different people warning them about the incident and with each call exaggerating a bit. So, he probably did a good thing by alerting people but I felt he was just creating panic. I called up a friend who works close by, he dismissed it saying the situation was under control and there was nothing to worry. This guy however, lets call him oldie, asked the driver to take a different route though the usual route hardly comes close to the affected area. He then made the driver switch on the radio to listen to the news, it wasn't even mentioned! After a lot of fidgeting and 'panic creating' he finally gave up realizing that the situation was probably under control. I heaved a sigh of relief and was about to go back to my music when oldie next made everyone in the bus close the windows. "Chinkungunya mosquitoes are coming in" he said. This after two giant mosquitoes had just bitten me. While his intentions were both good he was unnecessarily panicking and worse spreading the fear. And I could see he enjoyed it. Shows what an uninteresting life he otherwise has if this is how he derives joy. I spent the next one hour in the bus wondering how many days I'd have to take leave if I contracted the disease. Loser.

Team Lunch

Organizing lunch for a group of 30 is a stressful affair. There are people opposing the location, cuisine, the seating, the lighting and just about everything. But then they (the hungry ravenous souls ) eat like theres no tomorrow. Stress apart, I now have to explain the exceeded budget to the PTBs on Monday. Bah!

So its my mom's birthday (tomorrow). And I announced I wanted to do something nice for her. This statement alone caused a lot of excitement at home and the focus shifted from actually planning the birthday to discussing what in the devil's name had gotten in to me. Anyhoo, I say 'May be I will cook a full course meal'. It has been over a year since I last entered the kitchen, my confidence levels in the kitchen aren't exactly 'full course meal cooking' worthy. Idea no. 1 dropped. Anybody can bake a cake but I am not anybody. Idea no. 2 went down the drain. Dinner at a nice restaurant? We are just back from a holiday and I cant take anymore of the 'nice restaurant dinner table conversations'. Idea 3 not even consider worthy. And then of course someone else comes up with that one brilliant plan, you wished you had thought of yourself. Movie! We never go out for a movie together. The only movie I have watched with my parents is umm errr.... Dr.Do Little. Yeah. Don't ask why. Coming back to the plan, we aren't going to watch any movie, we are watching The movie. The movie that people still haven't stopped raving about 3 months after its release. The movie that has broken all records, the movie that is so amazing it will tug at your heart (considering it is a Kannada movie, some add), the movie whose songs are still played on the radio, 100 times a day. (I love them btw) And when your dad knows the actor's name of a Kannada movie, there must be something to it. Yes, we are going to watch 'Mungaru Male'. And we are going to watch it in PVR. Parents are not movie friendly people so the fact that I was taking them to a fancy multiplex is a bonus. Except there is one small problem. YOU DON'T GET TICKETS TO ANY FRIGGING MOVIE ON A WEEKEND. I mean its just a movie. 3 months since the movie released, surely everyone must have watched it by now! No, you need a month's planning just to watch a movie!! Sheesh!! Good news is the theatre in our neighbourhood still has tickets. Thank God for small stand alone theaters. Never watching a movie in a multiplex ever. They are for the jobless who have no better business than to book tickets in advance so that they can act smug and sneer at the last minute decision makers like us. Get a life is what I say!

La la...we are watching The movie. Ganesh is it possible that you could wear a shirt in the movie just for me? Multi colured baniyans doesnt go well with me. I am thinking my parents will not like it either. Nothing much we can do about that I guess. Ganesh, if you didn't guess is the actor in the lead role. Not some random guy who wears baniyans. Lets just hope the movie doesn't disappoint.

Mungaru Maleye, yenu ninna hanigala leele.....

Almost forgot, happy birthday Mom!