Unfinished posts -1

Writing doesn't come easy to me. I struggle for the right words, the right mood and the right composition every time I set out to write something. And I have a so many posts drafted that I actually don't remember now what I set out to write that day. And few posts though complete just didn't feel right hence never got published. Rather than them just sitting as drafts I'll publish those unfinished posts here, sometimes its good to not know how a story ends...

1. Is it only me. (12/3/05)

Do you ever get excited when you get a message on your mobile? You are tired of pressing the refresh button for the nth time, no new mails, suddenly you hear the message alert, your heart starts racing, you never get bored of seeing that '1 message received' icon, you try to make a guess, is it going to be that person you are thinking about? Is it a forwarded message? ....then of course you open the message to see its the service provider telling you about one of their promotional offers. But receiving sms's are so much more fun than getting calls, I mean where is the suspense when you see 'XYZ calling'?

2. Untitled (4/11/06)

I sometimes hate myself for not using this space to discuss important issues or things that might be interesting or useful to people. This blog has been about me, me and me. Its not that I don't care about the world around me, I most certainly do. Its not that I don't try, like today I really wanted to blog about the sorry state that Karnataka CET (entrance exam for proffesional courses) is in but I read this on my gmail tool bar "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."

3. Combating laziness (7/8/06)

I could have achieved so much more if I weren't this lazy. Erm.. let me rephrase that, I could have achieved something if I weren't this lazy. Yes, it is my biggest enemy and to this day it has ruled me. Several attempts to fight it resulted in nothing simply because I was too lazy to do anything more than just make an attempt. Starting Monday (Procrastination has got nothing to do with laziness, no?) I am going to put myself through a rigorous test for a week where I make the most of time and try to be as productive as possible. The rules are simple.

• Be disciplined : follow a fixed routine. (I have already completed 2 weeks of getting up at 5:45 in the morning and going for walks. Clap. Clap.)

• Do it now : No putting off things for tomorrow.

• Keep things in place :You think this is easy? I am a born klutz, the word 'order' doesn't figure in my dictionary (neither does simply because I don't know what they mean but that's not the point) This will also require me to designate a place for everything I own, right now everything is everywhere, the only rule I follow in keeping my things is 'Keep it out of Dog's reach'. I will do the designation part tomorrow after I clean the mess. (Boot camp starts Monday, I am allowed to put off things for now)
• If it doesn't build character or if it doesn't pay don't do it.
  

Oooh I am so excited.

4. Untitled (9/19/06)
When I got my new phone, I decided not to blog about it. Didn't want to be called a show off. The fact that i am a show off doesn't change but didn't want to be called one. My iPod got attention here but my cell wasn't supposed to. But there is a need to set somethings clear. I chose this baby after 4 months of careful research and consultations from different qualified people. And yet people have the nerve to tell me that it isn't a good choice. Are you kidding me? Yeah ok, maybe it isn't as sleek as your Motorola Vi3. But hello??? Does it have a 2MP camera?

5. Untitled (5/20/07)

So we did make it to the movie, dad insisted that we carry odomos, lest giant killer mosquitoes in the small theater attacked us and on reaching mom regretted not carrying kingfisher headphones because the sound was abnormally loud. Odomos smelling, red kingfisher headphones wearing freaks, ladies and gentlemen, thats my family for you. Anyhow, we didn't look like freaks and all of us quite enjoyed the movie. Very DDLJish, but its fresh and green and wet (what do you expect when the movie is called monsoon rains!). And theres a hot dimpled guy who turns up in the end who makes up for the Ganesh scenes in a vest (not baniyan, my sis corrects me). I am no authority to speak on Kannada movies the only movies I watched were Anant Nag movies (no surprise I liked Mungaru Male, Anant Nag is as good as ever) or few artsy movies by Girish Kasarvalli, but I think the movies coming out these days are much more matured than ever. They have done away with the 'cheap' image and are catering to a wider audience. Radio is playing a huge role. I only hope they make more original movies and stop copying from Bollywood.

Btw, dad paid for tickets and popcorn and pepsi, feel guilty now for not buying mom a gift :(

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.

One, Two, Threeeeeeee

Blog turns 3 and I feel like I am 103! Reading few of my older posts I ask myself, when did I stop being funny?

This old age I tell you.

2nd year birthday post
1st year birthday post
0th year birthday post

Travel blues and greens and yellows

So it takes 2hrs for me to get back home from work. On a bad day 2.5 hrs. About 1.5 hrs to reach work in the morning. Surprisingly I don't have as much problem with it as people (including me) thought I'd have. It doesn't bug me so much. Maybe because I was prepared, I knew it was only for a short duration and I am not really loaded at work. I also don't have to come home to screaming kids or a nagging husband and cook or do anything of that sort. So yeah, it turned out ok. What did surprise me though was that I didn't know the traveling would actually help me. For one it is a perfect ice breaker when talking to people. 'So how long did it take today?' , 'Were you stuck there?' I only have to start ranting about the traffic and next thing I know is I am discussing elections with a complete stranger. Second, I quite enjoy the sympathy I get from everybody. 'You come from so far? Really? Must be so tiring'. Third, I escape from work as early as 4:00 pm, only to shop at the factory outlets lined up near the place. No one objected, I live so far you see.

The only problem I have though is that at the end of the day I can't help feel that two precious hours of my day is lost doing nothing. I don't mind the travel in the morning, not being a morning person those hours don't count. I do exactly what I'd do otherwise: Sleep. Traveling back home, I've tried everything possible, I cant sleep, I cant read, I get bored of my playlist easily. With the crap that they play on radio, listening to it is not even an option. So all the two hours goes in daydreaming and introspection. Both of which are useless and unproductive.

I have one more month of traveling to do. I think I am going to miss the travel and the conversations after that. But I really hope in years to come traveling within the city becomes easy. Two hrs a day is not worth losing in commute.

Glue

Are you friends with someone because he/she is a good friend of your friend. You know, A knows B, and B knows C. So A knows C. A, B and C hang out together and have a good time though if B is not around A and C are just ok, not that great together. B is the glue.

I am glue to few small groups but most importantly I know many glues and hence know quite a few people through the glues. But off late I am been lying low. Not doing a good job as glue. And not keeping in touch with glues. My social circle is thinning rapidly and this is not good news. All this because I have not been blogging/gtalking/orkut-facebooking/phoning as much.

So why have I been lying low? No apparent reason. Just. The change that I was dreading turned out to be great. Excellent, in fact. I am now a firm believer of the age old saying change is good. More on it later.

Anyhoo are you glue? Or more of a glue-befriender?

Kyunki padosi bhi humans hai

Yesterday night as I prepared to turn to bed, I heard loud voices followed by sounds of wailing women. Curious and worried I looked out of the window only to see my neighbour's family fight right in the middle of the road. There was some yelling, name calling, scuffles and few tears. The girl was to get engaged the next day, an inter-cast wedding, a drunk father, a house full of relatives, the scene was set for a typical family drama except it wasn't happening behind close doors but in the open for all to see. I kept watching them for sometime guiltily, hiding behind the drapes. Trying to piece together what might be happening and guessing who was who. Soon I got bored, the voices drowned and the silence of the night took over.

The problem with Indian families is that we worry too much about others, what they think and this whole so called 'image'. We prefer pretending to be perfect and put up a show even if the pretending is causing more damage. When such a thing happens people sympathize but are secretly glad to know that they are not alone. That lives of others, green as it may seem is not always so.

I think we should all once in our lives come out in the open, scream/shout/fight and stop pretending to be perfect. Because no one is anyway.

Today, the girl's engagement party went on with pomp and show, no one in the family showing the slightest trace of what happened yesterday. Because thats one good thing about Indian families, we stick together no matter what, even if it is just to put up a face.

Scrubs

“The easiest way to lose something is to want it too badly.”

-JD in Scrubs.