General Mumbo Jumbo!

Foo bar

2010-03-18T20:46:00.001+05:30

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My new world of 140 characters

2009-05-03T02:02:00.002+05:30

The web’s been full of Twitter buzz for a while now. Some love it, some hate it, some call it shallow and silly, while some come up with weird theories and banal research deeming it dangerous. Reams of online/print media, hours of phone/telly/web time on interviews/talks/tweetups, scores of blog and other portals have been going tizzy over the Twitter idea, over what can one do with Twitter, over speculation on take over bids, over it’s almost non-existent business model now, over it’s next possible business model, and over it’s been touted the next Google.

Naysayers may dismiss the 140 characters long “What are you doing?” as trivial rubbish, but this seemingly innocuous 140 characters (or less) is enough to get you a job offered, fired, fined, sued, married, freed after being arrested, cause professional embarrassment and transmit groundbreaking announcement.

I registered my Twitter account some 2 yrs back while it was still a shiny new toy (out here), managed to grab my rather common name as Twitter handle, but abandoned it since. Towards the end sometime last year, I finally gave it a jumpstart. I did look out for “Tia” and close-ups, but they were all signed up. Shoving @generalmumbojumbo down, as a handle, would have been too much of a challenge with the already strenuously tough 140 characters limit for tweets, so sticked to my short name instead (so sorry, not flaunting my Twitter handle as yet).

Simple as it is, it wasn’t very difficult to catch on. Its micro-blog styled messaging grows on you. The 140 limit, more than being infuriating, forced discipline in me. In an attempt to fit in a more concise thought, I had to re-read re-think re-write quite a bit. In the process, I often caught all kinds of typos — misspellings, repetitive words, wrong prepositions etcetera. Spelling errors weren't really a surprise, it happens. Redundant words definitely were; like saying, "re-reading the book again". “In” “on” preposition mix-ups are pretty common. But realised how using “of” instead of “for” changed what I actually meant, seconds too late. For instance, just mull over “menu of the day” and “menu for the day”. Ok, I'm about digressing.

While brevity’s indeed proven to be the soul of the wit for most of my over 140 character tweets; for the ones off the 140 radar, I have more than once called "don't! wait!" as I pulled my finger that tapped the return key. Wish there was an edit for 15 seconds, much like how Basecamp allows comment editing on messages for 15 minutes or the more recent undo send of Gmail. Of course there is always a delete, but I’d rather not use that if I could.

I love its concept of followers and following. Unlike most social networking sites out there, I can follow someone in a single click. I decide whom I want to follow — friends, great brands, interesting folks, possibly-interesting-random-folks-following-me and celebrities. Not everyone’s interested in my yapping, and the cool thing is, they don’t have to follow me back for me to get updates of what they say. But let’s say some tweets later, someone started tweet-spamming with streams of inconsequential RTs (retweets, like a mail forward) and #followfriday's, someone said something that just pissed me off, someone turned out to be a fake celebrity, someone’s interestingness took a big nosedive, or I was just going nuts following hundreds and keeping up with my cramped timeline. What now? First off, don't panic. Just hit remove. Unfollowing someone is as simple as following them, again, just a click away.

I use their search a lot, looking for tweet-mentions of company brand, competitors and general trends. What got me really hooked, though, was the endless stream of instant aggregated news in the twitosphere, during the Mumbai terrorist attack last November. It proved its awesomeness in a time of great need; people all over the world were tweeting and setting up aggregators to read these tweets. There were so many updates on it that it was refreshing furiously at a pace faster than I could catch up! Their search deserves a place on the fixed sidebar, and they just did that two days back.

When I started out, I was wondering why they don’t track all mentions of @name instead of just tracking replies beginning with @name under /replies. And they added that soon enough too. My only two gripes now are its mostly non-functional advance search and the somewhat buggy replies. Most of the advance search (with additional operators) gives no result or serves a page with “The page you were looking for doesn't exist” message. And although it’s a 404 page implying I mistyped or the page moved etc, it doesn’t serve its standard 404 page either. Bollocks, you say? Go ahead and try one like “twitter from:ev since:2009-04-01 until:2009-05-01”. And well, if it does work, just thank me for driving your attention there :) Now about the mentions or @name page, the first page load gets you the data right. But just do a “more” and scroll, you’re gonna find your timeline there and not mentions!

Ok, I'm very nearly done with the Twitter banter. Hush that sigh now!

For the uninitiated, try it once before you judge it. I can faintly hear some shout outs for Facebook, Orkut and the kinds. But it's no toss-up really. You got to use it to get it. And once you do get it, you’ll love it. There are of course, the Maureen Dowds who are never gonna get it or perhaps don’t want to get it. In case you’re wondering, she’s the nutcase who was ridiculed for her absurd and unintentionally hilarious Twitter interview. Don’t worry, she’s one of a kind.

Looking for more to do here? There are hoards of Twitter clients and twitter-specific apps floating around to help you manage your updates on windows, mac and mobile; and do a buncha other cool stuffs.

Twitter is gradually evolving as an incredible insta news search engine. Over a period of time, with millions of active users; an enhanced search and data packed to the gills, bulging at the seams; it could emerge to be a real-time Google. Who knows, some predict so...

Love is...

2009-02-14T19:22:00.003+05:30

Love is... being silly together

Love is... my MacBook Pro!

Let's talk!

2008-11-11T10:58:00.007+05:30

It's been over two years since I started this blog, over two years since I've been going on.. nameless...

Being anonymous, trust me, is not all fun. Besides lurking on boredom, with all the word plays you start to lose the gist of the matter camouflaging it in an envelope of randomness. And sometimes, just sometimes, you get this irresistible urge to move out of the shadows and be known for who you really are...

I'll perhaps regret being so impulsive later. But what the heck, you get to live just once. I'm new to this, so we'll take it one step at a time. Here goes... 93712 72497.

Yep, just like that. It's not like I got a lot of readers and it's not like I expect all of them to bombard me with calls or something, but just got this new number so it doesn't mix up with work. Besides, you already have an edge having read me and all that, so I just wanted to answer the "Hello" with the informed knowledge of that.

Let's get talking!

Update: Guys, pardon the hiccups on the line. It went down the morning after I posted this, but is now back up! Hurrah!

Miss you already

2008-11-03T00:43:00.008+05:30

Tum ho toh gaata hai dil, tum nahi toh geet kahaan
tum ho toh hai sab haasil, tum nahi toh kya hai yahaan
tum ho toh hai sapnon ke jaisa haseen, ek samaa…
jo tum ho toh, yeh lagta hai, ke mil gayee har khushi
jo tum na ho, yeh lagta hai, ke har khushi mein hai kamee
tum ko hai maangati, yeh zindagi…

Tum ho toh raahein bhi hai, tum nahi toh rastey kahaan
tum ho toh yahaan sab hi hai, tum nahi toh kaun yahaan
tum ho toh hai har ek pal meherbaan, ye jahaan
jo tum ho toh, hawa main bhi, mohabbaton ka rang hai
jo tum na ho, toh phir koi, na josh na umanq hai
tum mille toh milli, ye zindagi…

Soon after I came back from my holiday, I got a call. Without so much as a “Hello”, the caller started singing this song. It felt wonderful that my absence didn’t go unnoticed. I guess we all like being told “I miss you already” however clichéd it be, especially after a date or a great holiday. I was totally gushing.

It was a chilled out vacation. We had a good time generally lazying around. Frolicked on the almost unoccupied beaches. Climbed up a lighthouse for the first time. Had to run up a heady flight of stairs, but it was a small concession for the amazing view on top. Feasted on sea food, had prawns for almost all 3 meals a day! No wonder m feeling so fat these days. Went on a safari, we couldn’t have picked a more bad time though. It was, I guess, siesta time for those animals, just saw some deers, three lioness's (no lions) sprawled on lion grass under the shades, a mother hyena running behind a jackal chasing the baby hyena for prey and cheetals (or maybe it was again a deer). Got all touristy visiting over 400 year old churches with most exquisitely carved rosewood pulpits and temple by the sea (located in the midst of a seemingly ordinary town) that has risen like a phoenix each of the 6 (or is it 7?) times it was destroyed over centuries; shopping in the local market; going click-click over just about anything.

On the way back we even lost our way once and played the mind-game I bought for him, he lost the match both as a code-maker and as a code-breaker. Next time I meet him though, I know he’ll beat both his sis and me; he picks up pretty quick for a third grader. After he and his sis, my niece, sing-songed “tum ho toh…” till the very end on phone, he hung up asking me to call back on 98##### (my sis’s number). Dialed it to listen to the “tum ho toh” track again, they only picked up the call after two lines of the caller tune were being played. Asked me which version I liked more (theirs on my phone or the original one on their mom’s) and quickly added doing some free PRgiri for their current fav song-list, “If you like the song, buy the Rock on CD” before dashing off with “talk to mommy.” So much for missing-you-already.

[While on nephews, my other nephew sent me a text today (yesterday now) saying “Today is shahrukh khan’s birthday.” He went around showing my “Will wish him in his b’day party tonight :)” reply to everyone believing I had an invite!]

Need a push? Hop in!

2008-08-08T17:20:00.003+05:30

Hop in for the Chinese joy ride, maximum push guaranteed!

And to think I was fretting over sweaty arms brushing past me in the crowded (or so I thought) station and was glowering down upon the guy behind with immeasurable annoyance for stepping on my shoes the second time (mind you, I don't chafe at the first, I am quite considerate that way!). Chinese sure know how to "fit" in.

From the blogroll: some love-lorned guy's sappy tale about his girl, it's the same ol' clichéd story of online love and all that goes with it, you get the picture. But you got to read the complete thing. And while you are there, dig out some posts from the archives too, good read.

Faces

2008-04-06T22:10:00.004+05:30

My nephew, exceedingly bored of being dragged from one apparel store to another... trying to make sad faces to catch our attention, divert it towards the kiddy store next door and accommodate his shopping needs. And there's just one thing he wants, Ben-10, his current craze. The morning after I reached their place, my phone wallpaper was already set to one of the Ben-10 avatars and considerate that he is, there were many more saved to choose from!

Btw, besides him, there isn't just one, but shades of five more people in this shot.

Smoking ain't cool

2008-02-05T13:05:00.004+05:30

Caution: Our smoker friends may not want to scroll through this.

Couple of years back Indian government announced plans of passing a law for a healthier nation. A law enforcing all cigarette, bidi and other tobacco products to bear pictorial warnings on the packet depicting the grave dangers of its consumption, and then another to ban smoking at public places.

Research done time and again point to staggering number of smokers around the world, millions of who succumb to various complications like mouth and lung cancer, skin damages, asthma etc. The smoke carries thousands of toxic chemicals including nicotine, various carcinogens, carbon monoxide, acetone and formaldehyde, so much so that quitting smoking is reported to improve health by 80%. Smoking is the only vicious habit (I know of) that doesn’t kill just the guilty but also innocent passive smokers around. It’s especially disheartening to see young children breathe polluted smoked air and suffer asthmatic conditions because of someone taking that careless puff.

The new law would have been a welcome move. Apparently, people are so used to the skull and crossbones danger-warning symbols, they aren’t really effective in grabbing attention and popping eyeballs. Repulsive pictures of diseased mouth and lung tumor should however do the trick. If not in converting the chain-smokers, atleast in discouraging those who puff away their life just to look cool and in controlling upsurge of the adolescent fascination for that smoky high experience.

Muddled in controversies, this law has been hanging there for years now. Maybe its just red tape, maybe its concern over the plight of tobacco industry workers or maybe it’s pressure from the tobacco industry lobbyists. Our ministers and babus haven’t done much to push this legislation aggressively, instead they have been inexcusably busy hogging screen space, and reams of newspaper have been wasted on on-screen and off-screen smoking habits of some stars and the rejoinder thereof. The way it's going, it would either not see light of the day or would take ages to shed that light unless driven with herculean exertions.

But why wait for some law to be passed and get adopted? Why wait for an attack or stroke to do a Saif Ali Khan and quit smoking? Unlike some deadly virus we have no control of, this can easily be prevented by us, the choice is with us. I don’t mean to police around or condemn in haste, but with each drag we take we are marching towards this giant rhino asking for a hard thunderous blow and throwing ourselves off the cliff. We are no lemmings, are we? So pray why are we plunging into this cancerous world of nicotine when the baton is in our hand? I know it’s awfully difficult to quit smoking, but there are options galore, and with will power it’s not insanely tough to get there. Some turn to detox programs, hypnotism sessions (one of the reasons why I want to learn hypnotism, and not to entice people :-) ), counseling, chewing gums, de-addiction centers and varied other means. It’s time we take stock of our health and lifestyle before it gets terribly difficult to explain to kids why you got to smoke when it’s going to blow your lungs off to impairity and suffocate them to early demise.

While our country is dilly-dallying over their decision to print (or not to print) pictorial warnings on cigarette cases, here’s some graphic that may perhaps help curb the urge to reach out and flip open that pack of cig..

[photos from here]

Hope it helped.

Before the clock ticks further away and it’s too late to raise that toast, here’s to a smoke-free leap year, cheers!

Pissed off meitei bride

2007-11-24T23:21:00.000+05:30

Atypical meitei wedding. Just too funny...

Next time my mom talks about some eligible meitei dude, maybe I should just show her this video.

Sleepless in Slumberland

2007-11-20T01:46:00.000+05:30

Its been a real long day (two days actually), just want to go and pass out some place and not have to hit these keypads or hop on to another shopping expedition. Ask for pardon from all I snapped at while I was in a black mood (I know I act rather silly at times) and get my share of sound sleep.

PS: Just so I am clear, I wasn't taking a dig at some friend who wanted to apologise to all concerned for his arrocasm nor was it meant to be a declaration of any kind.

PPS: Missed ningol chakouba, but its winter at home after ten years. I am so looking forward to slurping on hangam thongba, cosying up to hao phee and doing nothing for two whole weeks!

Perils of losing the mask of anonymity

2007-11-05T19:16:00.001+05:30

I almost abandoned my not-so-anonymous-anymore blog. Why fret over anonymity, you may ask. It's not like I am hiding behind the mask of a pseudo name to wash some dirty linen in public; nor have some malicious or provocative things I want to write about people; nor am hatching a conspiracy against some regulatory body; nor have some strong opinions to voice which may hurt the sentiments of some religious or other fanatic groups; nor am some minor celebrity burdened with having to be politically correct (all the time) to maintain an image and all that jazz. It's partly because as a rule, I do not always (actually, almost never) ask for permission before writing about someone or something, and people may not really be keen on being quoted or written all over a blog. And mainly because, sometimes, just sometimes, it's nice to talk to a wall which do not reply back, it feels good (calling it therapeutic would be stretching it a tad too far) to write my heart out anonymously without having to edit myself, tend to whatever narcissistic and other propensities I may develop and not have to worry about the consequences.

That about explains the long gaps the blog had between the posts… Sometime then, I was still recovering from feeling all embarrassed and little chuffed up (thanks to a friend’s aunt and some others) and now, I am just finding it utterly impossible to cough up something that interests me enough to write while not disrupting impressions of anyone and any kind. I don’t want to have to run a disclaimer for every other piece of writing I happen to post. It’s a predicament I didn’t fathom I may have to confront so soon…

Even so, if I really do put my head together, I know deep down that all that the unknownness provided then was just an imaginary cocoon; I was perhaps taking warm comfort under the blanket of false anonymity. Using a nom de plume has its definite charms, but in this age of compromised security and dog watching establishments, anonymity is but a delusion.

You are cordially invited

2007-11-05T18:54:00.000+05:30

From an old college friend, inviting us for his November wedding:

Priya bandhu,

Jaisa ki aapko pataa hi hoga, hum vivaah rachaane jaa rahe hain. Antatahh ek kanya apne paao mein kulhaadi maarne ko raazi ho gayi hai.
Kripaya shaadi mein upasthit ho aur humaara aur uss kanya ka utsaah vardhan karein. Apne parivaar ko bhi apne saath jaroor laayein.
I am attaching the scanned invitation card with this mail. There are several pages in the card but please be assured that girl is just one.

Hoping to see you around while we marry.

Still alive!

2007-07-13T15:54:00.001+05:30

For the oddly curious, yes, I am still alive and blogging (nay, I haven't started blogging some place else though I did get myself a Wordpress account months back, just been attacked by the proverbial writer's block). And well, have just been busy acting busy checking out hotels around for a holiday long overdue.

List of hotels in my current wishlist of cities goes something like this: Imphal (of course, I don't need a hotel to go home), Shillong, Munnar, Goa, Kumarakom, Gangtok, Bangalore, Manali and Darjeeling. Will update as soon as I start striking these cities off my must-visit list!

Update 1: Unplanned, but good ol' Bangy it is today. As expected, weather is just fab and road traffic, absolute pain in the wrong place.

Buncha Weirdos

2007-03-29T18:43:00.000+05:30

Resisted blogging about new happenings at work, about my once closest neighbor on the left who now has moved some place else but comes over near our workstation to exercise his mouth (when he is dying to talk to someone) - spiky streaked hair dude who breaks his saturday fast with beer (some manager, complexion as dark as can be but has a white German girlfriend); or about the new desk occupant (some other manager) who admits on being a nasty guy and warns me almost to the point of making me all anxious just to ask if I or any of my parents are Japanese, not even a week old (here) and his frequent tea-biscuit routine has already made him the pantry boys' pet peeve; or about the girl who is the missing bulletin board of the office (you just have to get her on iChat for any office update!); or about the Mr Bean look-alike, talk-alike chap (some VP); or about the new sardar (some manager) who has a funny way of talking (funnier yet when more serious!); or about the chap who always look disheveled (like he is straight out of bed) and sports a tee saying "I wanted to change the world, but I didn't have the source code"; or about the long hair dude who some say would marry unix/linux if it was a woman; or about the otherwise harmless IIT dudes (some developers) who throw attitude at each other with "Dude, I heard you the first time!", but simply couldn't resist anymore, not after today's hilarious incident. If you happen to skim through some travel company blog (~~its coming as a post soon~~) where one of the owners (some nerdy dude, who plants himself at the desk right of me whenever its empty just to annoy the actual desk holder) boarded a wrong flight (today), some weird coincidence landing him at the correct destination, some weirder luck still landing him an hour earlier, you know where I am working!

PS: And thus continues my fixation with parenthetical comments and ever long sentences...

Update: Pardon the delay, the post never came through in the intended blog for whatever reason unknown. Now over to my intent for this update. Having said all that above... If you were to ask a Hard Rock Cafe employee whats the best thing they like about their job, they would perhaps talk about the YMCA jig they get to do live (well, I would). Likewise, if I was asked about mine, I most definitely would have to admit its the bevy of wackos around. Someone once accurately observed that the company attracts crazy people like a magnet, but we have no qualms whatsoever about that as these crazy people are absolutely fun to work with and are smart-asses at whatever they do, they are the USP of the company!

Bikini Babe!

2007-03-21T10:12:00.000+05:30

She will soon be in 4th standard now.

Fortune Cookie

2007-03-16T19:27:00.000+05:30

Today's fortune on orkut:

"The luck that is ordained for you will be coveted by others"

If only it were true. My sorrow today has nothing to do with the bouts of cough all say I must do something about (I always get more than my fair share everytime), but has everything to do with the fussy no-good streak in me. There isn't a single house I liked of the odd 20 I have seen in a month or so. Only having a fortune cookie for dinner tonight can save my case, not just reading about it.

Someone help!

The Tortoise and the Hare Story Revisited

2007-03-10T14:25:00.001+05:30

A story written by my nephew when in his second standard, highly inspired by the well heard of bed time story of the tortoise and hare.

There were two cocks in a farm. One was the most fastest and other was very slow. Poor cock he should be fast in running. Once the two cocks had to run a race. They get ready to start the fastest cock think that “How can he win with his slowest legs although I will have nap.” When the fastest cock was sleeping the slowest cock wins the race. When the fastest cock awake he found the slowest cock had already wins the race.
The fastest cock think that “How foolish of me not to run the race and this clumsy cock wins the race.” They had dinner at night. And they lived happily ever after.

Moral – Don’t be so proud

Copied from his original writing to the t. I resisted adding an aside in the form of some parenthetical comment up there for the moral. Mission accomplished, hurray!! He revised the moral for whatever reason unknown, it was “Don’t be so silly” before. I am so proud of him because unlike my earlier mentioned younger cousin of his, he doesn’t speak English at home nor has anyone around to practice and expedite his learning in Imphal.

Mac Convert Inc.

2007-02-27T16:34:00.000+05:30

I have finally upgraded myself from using my regular IBM ThinkPad to a Mac iBook. Courtesy, my new job. Yeah baby! I am the newest joinee to the Mac Convert Inc. club. I haven’t previously worked on a Mac per se although some 3 yrs back I briefly referred a Mac desktop to check some settings and was totally fida on it. If you have the money to splash and want a good looking and reliable laptop, forget the HP wide screens and the Sony Vaio’s, try a Mac instead. Go for the iBook (12" or 14") or the wide screen MacBook Pro, you will be happily surprised.

Past few days, I have had just about enough time for a quickshower-work-home-longbath-eat-sleep routine. No time for my daily dose of Seinfeld followed by Friends, no time to spend with sis who is visiting (so glad she’s here and serves me yum hot meal else I would have been living on wai-wai noodles), none at all to check the blog stats (yes dear, I am watching you!) or read newspaper. Not that I am an avid news fanatic, I belong to the category who read the funnies first. I leave for work around 8ish in the morning and come back at half past 9 or 10. I am not a morning person at all, so waking up has been a real pain. I am a walking zombie from the time I wake up till I take a quick shower. I have managed to stay just half an hr or 10 minutes away from work place before, but now I spend a lot of time and money just commuting around (well 600-700 bucks/week is a lot of money for me).

I am just a 3 day old Mac user. So I am still at the show-off stage. Not that I have had any chances, for the lack of a laptop bag. Eleven+ hrs of work everyday (we are close to a release) has kept me away from exploring my Mac, and I can’t complain as they warned me before joining. The first thing I did, when they handed me the Mac on my second day, was to install Firefox and all the extensions I wanted, I just don’t like that IE thingy. I absolutely love Adium (Mac equivalent of my windows’ Trillian, and it is open source unlike Trillian!) and Smultron (open source editor, like it better than the Notepad++ I use in windows). I haven’t explored the available feed readers I can use with Entourage (I don’t like Bloglines and firefox based feed readers as I have to remain online to read them) and I still got to find a secure encrypter like Blowfish we have for Windows. I like Keychain which comes with the Mac, my windows KeePass is as good for password management if not better.

PS: Why you may ask, why, oh why, do you write with so many annoying parenthetical comments, I share your anxiety but am helpless with this terminal handicap. Poa for my next post is to have none, no parenthetical comments; resisting using one is going to be one challenging assignment.

Interviews, Strengths, Weakness blah blah blah…

2007-02-26T13:21:00.000+05:30

I can't think of anyone as fickle minded as me among my friends where making a career move is concerned. Most part of my post college life, I invested time and money doing things some good people thought I should do. But, because I hate to fight a losing battle, especially when the one battling me is my own difficult unrelenting self, I gave in to make yet another career move couple of months back. Some may argue that I was positively demented to make such a rash decision. I at times am worried myself about my lack of apprehension for the risks involved and unconcern for the exponential drop in my earnings.

Have interview methods really changed (for good) or someone's just humoring me? I wasn't in the job-hunting scene and missed all the action in the last couple of years while I was safely tucked in my job(s). I ain't complaining though. I actually enjoyed being interviewed this time round, it was refreshing. No predictable oft-repeated questions on strength, weakness yaadi yaadi yaada. Seriously, don't interviewers know that most of the candidates are educated about this line of questioning and come prepared (there are even ready made answers available online). We all know that we are not to admit a weakness; we are to disguise a strength as a weakness or admit the most irrelevant, weakest strength we have. Now that doesn't take a genius to figure, does that? Where do I see myself 5 years from now? I really don't know, like I said before, I am rather fickle minded. I of course would turn it around before presenting this fact to the interviewer. And which duffer is going to say 'No' to 'Can you work under pressure?' Really!

This time round, it was different. We actually talked and discussed the job I was interviewed for and my role in my previous employments in detail without wasting time on general mumbo jumbo. Though I did not have all the technical skills they were looking for, I was ready with my “I have learnt from experience that we should hire attitude rather than skills. At this age of constant change, any skill that we hire today will become technologically obsolete in couple of years. So we should hire people who are ready to learn new technologies and who have the aptitude to do so.” I was a tad disappointed at the lack of opportunity to rattle this prepared speech, but I have no complains. I atleast got to tell them that I loved their blog idea and liked their simple and clutter-free no-need-to-scroll homepage on the web. They were interestingly surprised that I noticed the blog.

And yes, just in case you are wondering, I got the job*.

*More on this in my next post.

SeeBee Deelite

2007-02-19T19:00:00.000+05:30

Excerpts from the cover letter and résumé I actually received in mail while in my last employment. Sender’s name withheld for obvious reasons. Some modifications done by me to conceal personal details and is thus highlighted in grey. A good entry for resume hell post. It must have be an effort to conjure up a résumé with such delightful English.

“Respected sir /madam

Hello,

i am rahul trivedi. i send my resume in word formate. i have done B.Sc.(electronics) & M.Sc.(IT) or M.I.T.(Master of Information Technology) . Please give me suitably chance in software programming.

your sincerely
rahul trivedi”

“Worked as a with computer faculty J J Collage of IT bihar [2 YEAR]

“Frist I am join as Jr. Software Eng. in B D Software Ltd. Timbaktu, Rajiyabad.After some time they gave me promotion on Team Leader. I am worked as a Team Leader in B D Software Ltd. Timbaktu, Rajiyabad from april 2003 to oct. 2004 for HHOK-Project of Labour Department Government of India. During this project of data capturing for ECST at Haryana Industrial Teretory. I have made a National Record on 15.6.2003 for which I was appreciated and ownered in a party by Regional P. F. Commissioner (II) of central Govt. Haryana Copy of appreciations letter is enclosed herewith.”

“I have worked this organization (25april2003-till now)”

The Many Colours of Love

2007-02-14T10:09:00.001+05:30

Dress Code for V-Day (from a forwarded mail)

Blue - I am free

            Green - I’m waiting
            Orange - going to propose
            Pink - accepted just now!
            Black - proposal rejected
            White - already booked
            Yellow - broke up!
            Gray - not interested
            Red - leave me

I don’t think I can carry off a red outfit without looking like a wannabe-sexy, but not quite there dame. In case I overlooked mentioning before, on if-looks-could-kill scale, I could barely manage a decent assault! I am not brave enough for the bold reds and adventurous enough for the bright yellows, so grey it is for me today.

This Valentine’s day, I ought to commemorate some of my friends’ romantic liaisons. They have woken me enough at odd hours to justify a mention. Yeah, besides my day job, I counsel friends on love, career etcetera etcetera. Need a shrink, just dial me*!

Tee’s never been single, not even for a single day since she first started dating guys at the age of 19, though she has dated atleast 3 guys in my knowledge. That’s a feat only she can accomplish; she never ceases to amaze me. She once gave an affirmative nod to a persistent pursuer the very day she broke up with her old chap, dated this new guy for a single day and broke up with him to go back to her old man! So, as can be easily guessed, her constant cause of distress is love and all cousins of love, as she calls it.

Her namesake is the female character’s companion (a horse) in a famous hindi flick. Coincidentally, she has a cousin who is as talkative as her namesake and talkathon Basanti of the same film. She falls as easily in love as she falls out of it, but has never actually dated one and these days has become a regular target of attention from committed-elsewhere young 'uns. Yet she is one love guru you can carry your sappy tales to. She is a self confessed “need to be in love” kind. You can catch her lost in thought under two circumstances only, in normal circumstances and not-so-normal ones!

And the most lady like of all, she is in a not-really-serious relationship and is exploring other eligible candidates. Couple of day’s back, she went on a blind date with a Chinese guy a Goan aunt had set her up on. It was quite a date, they should have called it a quiet-date though, considering they hardly uttered more than the customary “hellos”. She’s a bindaas babe and keeps shuttling her thoughts between settling in London and being an entrepreneur here in India.

The love-fussy girl. Most of them in college did not believe the simple fact that she didn’t have a boyfriend, nor ever had one. So she got herself boyfriend number one as soon as she managed wrapping up her books. Yet, most found it hard to digest that she had only dated one guy in her life, she yielded and finally dated boyfriend number two, so as not to elicit anymore “c’mon, don’t tell me!” looks. People changed, so did she and made all that a thing of the past. Some may believe and now tell her “third time is the charm”, but not my lady, not my lady anymore.

On keeping with the V-Day mood, something I read somewhere for the love birds:

“When it comes to love,

communication is the fuel that fans its flame.”

*Conditions Apply. [if and only if you are a friend with a lullaby ready to put me back to sleep. zzz..]

Dare!

2007-01-27T10:47:00.000+05:30

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;

it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."

- Lucius Seneca

Life, As We Like It

2006-12-31T18:56:00.001+05:30

Immuno gyan

Steady rise in HIV cases over the years has made India an AIDS pandemic infecting millions and killing the spirit of billions. India is not listed as one of the three nations with highest HIV prevalence rates for two simple reasons. First being our bloated population which took the tremendous pressure off, covering up the figures in national percentile. Secondly, India is known to hide the real numbers. Africa is a disaster; they realized this and gave up fighting a losing battle, cried for global help and handed over the reigns to setups across the world. In Thailand, after a decade and more of successful anti-AIDS programs the epidemic is on a declining slope. While in India, we are still waking up from a deep slumber of denial.

Atrocious though it is, the social stigma attached to an HIV-infected person in a country like ours is immense; his morality is questioned no matter how saintly his conducts have been. Many may not disclose for fear of being ostracized. So what can we do to protect ourselves? Nothing much, other than to treat every person we meet as a possible HIV carrier, be cautious and understand the dynamics of HIV transmission. It is even recommended to deposit our blood in the blood bank beforehand if we are going to need it for some surgery we may undergo. Blood from a generous donator may test negative at the time of transfusion, but it may be because of the window period. It’s been said that “A person can carry and transmit the HIV virus for many years before any symptoms show themselves. A person can be contagious for a decade or more before any visible signs of disease become apparent.”

The virus on an infected person does not die in external environment as generally believed, it just becomes inactive. The heat and humidity of our country is too virus friendly for our comfort, it unfortunately is just the place for such a virus to thrive. Towards the later stages of AIDS, the virus breaks down the immune system and the person becomes a godown of the HIV virus shedding it all over the place. Even the doctor treating such a patient may be at risk if not taken proper care.

I scanned the internet searching for something substantial to refute these claims, but only managed to highlight other possibilities. HIV transmission between family members in a household setting or co-workers in a work group; by touching, kissing, biting etc; or through skin, saliva, tears, sweat, insects and other media may be rare and not raise an alarm. But they are not improbable developments we can shirk off from either. Advancement in technology and research efforts can now boast about drugs that can delay the onset of AIDS by many years, but it still remains an incurable disease and records high on mortality scale.

yaadi yaadi yaada…

I celebrated Christmas at a friend’s sister’s place who was imparting all this gyan on HIV and other hazards; she is a doc by profession and a paranoiac health freak by disposition. I remember a friend once telling me (and reading in Erich Segal's Doctors) about a form of hypochondria prevalent in medical school she and her white coat friends once suffered from; as they learnt more about an illness or disease they began self diagnosing and believing that they were suffering from the same symptoms. No points for guessing the more popular name of this condition. Medical Student Syndrome, silly! I am glad I wasn’t bright enough to pursue medicine as a career my parents so wanted, I would have been a case of prolonged medical student syndrome. Ignorance is indeed bliss!

Add to all the gyan talk above, my friend’s recent acquired knowledge from her two weeks training on Food Technology. Hours on into the discussion and I was mentally discarding numerous sundry items from food to cleaning agents out of my house, giving up my favourite snacks and finger foods, chucking away my pedicure plans at a nice salon all in the name of a healthy lifestyle. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy anything without apprehension surfacing and guilt creeping in for taking a giant baby step towards obsolescence. But most of all, I realized that the very idea of bringing a new life into such a constricted world of fun-less cautions almost made me hear my fallopian tubes clamp doing the flip flops. If such a life of no joy construe a good life for you, then its all for you to claim. I want the luxury of inhaling my quota of air without the fear of asthma striking, fry my pakodas without the worry of some carcinogenic free radicals being produced by oil, get a brand new haircut (like I did this x-mas eve) without agonizing over some dreaded virus infection (through scissors et al). I want to infuse, not sap out, a little more life into my life. I am not asking for candy in the sky, confetti in the air life of gay abandon, but what’s life without some risks? As the song goes ‘you can run, but you can never hide’, it will find you in the form of a deadly worm in carelessly picked and otherwise healthy spinach you are stuffing your mouth with if it’s your time. Let’s not forget to enjoy and live life while we are busy sanitizing every move we make. On that health(y) note, here’s wishing all the beautiful people out there a happy and eventful 2007. Adiós amigos!

Wedding Bells Ringing, Where are You?

2006-12-23T18:22:00.000+05:30

Out of blue, I felt like talking to this friend of mine I haven’t met in seven months and gave her a buzz. I reached her sis instead, she was dating this chap we all knew about so news about her impending marriage this month end (or was it early next month?) came as no surprise. What, however, was shocking was her younger sis, my friend’s marriage this month end (two weeks before her elder sister’s).

Some seven months back, we were living in the same colony and I was her almost neighbor before I moved some place else. The last time we met those months back, she was at my place for dinner and because she was staying alone (her sis was on a short vacation to Manipur) we persuaded her to stay overnight. Her family, though meitei, have settled in a city couple of hours away from here, not very close to our home state Manipur. She is a sweet girl, but her meiteilon would have anyone guess easily that she and her siblings have only been to Manipur for short trips a total of 6/7 times in all their life. Once on one such trip, she had been to dance in the local thabal chongba during yaosang (Holi). She was holding this guy’s hand and dancing merrily when her aunt cheered on “Makok chingo” (lead the dance). She looked at the guy and then her aunt and said, “Maa saorakaniye” (he will get angry)! My ignorant friend thought that her aunt was telling her to pull the guy’s head or hair, makok chingo literally translates to ‘pull his head’. I shouldn’t be poking fun here when I myself cannot boast of possessing extraordinary prowess in this category. I wouldn’t need to refresh my memory too hard to jog up this fine example years back. Shortly before starting college, I met my cousin’s gran-in-law at his place. She conversationally asked “kayyum no?” inquiring my family name/surname, and I, in all my vain lingual ingenuity, told her about the place in Imphal I lived in! My overtly fertile brain thought she was asking me where I lived since ‘yum’ in meiteilon means ‘home’.

Coming back to my marriage (the subject, not my personal event) or rather hers and our last meeting, we talked through the night before sleep finally caught up on us. For most part, we were discussing her parent’s desire to see their three daughters marry meitei guys, their lack of meitei male friends or likelihood of meeting one and the subsequent bleak possibility of ever marrying one. We dwelled on everything but her crush on this mayang chap that night. She was swinging single and ready to mingle then, so learning about her forthcoming festive nuptial after seven months, now, was anything but expected. And no, this mayang dude she’s about to take the saat pheras with is not her then crush either. It is all a very recent development and rush rush affair, his parents want them to marry soon and hence the hurry. Her eldest sister just got married recently in US, though the family was not there to witness the ceremony, its still three marriages (all love and inter-regional/cultural) in the family in a span of six months! Can anyone beat that? Her parents now have to pin all their hopes on their only son for that addition of a meitei to their family.

The marriage season is not just running in her family it appears. Bells are ringing everywhere celebrating the joys of wedding and its now just a question of who’s next. There were, when I last counted, six marriages of friends just this month and early next. If I have the stats right, four of these are love and inter-cultural and the other two arranged. It’s like a never ending chain reaction. I can already see another approaching; of my friend whose Dubai bound guy is coming back soon, and following not far behind may be a junior from college who just got back together with her boyfriend again. So far, I have been able to come up with valid excuses to not attend one this month. But I am yet to learn deflect inquisitive married friends from asking when they can attend mine!

Recent Developments, Bond and Others

2006-11-27T16:20:00.000+05:30

I was never a Bond enthusiast, and seeing the latest 007 agent's promo pictures did not exactly send my pulse racing. I never quite understood the hullabaloo guys made over a Bond flick. And then I saw Daniel Craig in action, and all changed. Our desi Dhoom:2, if not anything else, sure scores on the babe quotient when compared with Casino Royale. Eva Green as Vesper just did not click well in a glam role, she looked as if she had done her own makeup in a hurry. Her sans makeup looks were much better. I am not going to repeat the critics' and other blogger's ramblings here and recycle content. But I gotta admit, I am eagerly waiting for the next James Bond movie for a change.

Prithvi Theatre's Festival '06 on occasion of Prithviraj Kapoor's birth centenary was on couple of weeks back. One of the weekends, went to watch the Manipuri play Pebet directed by Kanhaiyalal. Considering the fact that non-meiteis (non-Manipuris) contributed for almost all of the audience, it was good that the play used minimal verbal interactions, was easily understandable and appealing to all. Me and another meitei friend spent most part of the 10 minutes break translating whatever little dialogue that was used in the play to eager non-meitei neighbors. Couldn't help but notice that most of the play-goers were in some way or other related to theatre/some form of acting/journalism at large. After the play, met an actress who used to be in a popular Hindi soap my entire family used to religiously follow before the saas-bahu days. Nice Punjabi kudi from Delhi, said that it was her debut serial. I was more sorry to have missed the previous day's meitei play Dakghar after hearing some good reviews from her.

Besides movies and one odd play, I have been watching tv like I was deprived of it for a year, but all not in vain. I finally saw our dear Mr Laloo (Prasad Yadav) speaking in English! I had no idea this politico knew much angrezi (though he is an LLB), let alone speak grammatically correct albeit with a heavy regional accent. I immediately called up my sis to direct her to the channel broadcasting the interview by Vir Sanghvi and was a little disappointed to know that she knew about this avatar of his. Its amazing how I missed this little detail when the whole world knows about it obviously. Duh!

Some trivia in news, Wipro employee's wife sued the company because her husband allegedly deserted her due to the company provided dating allowance. It simply underscores my new found realization, just how highly uninformed I am. I had no clue whatsoever that Wipro was giving such an allowance or I would have joined Wipro or gone Wipro guy hunting! I reckon its still not too late, so till other companies follow suit, I am gonna croon "Wipro man, wipro man..." (for effect, in the tune of "nippo man, nippo man..")

4 Weeks (not) Too Late

2006-11-09T12:02:00.001+05:30

Wrote it, or rather typed it out some 3 or 4 weeks back but just got involved with things mundane. If I read it again now, it would either shrink to a quarter of its length or go straight to the recycle bin. And anyways, I am too lazy and it saves me the bother. Here's the unabridged unedited version, parts of which may perhaps not hold true anymore. Fashion changes at the skip of a heartbeat, so why not my skewed thoughts.

Money, Money, Money: “It's all 'bout the money, It's all 'bout the dum dum...” sang Meja and I hummed along, only because I like sing-along songs. Money is important, I would even go so far as to say its very very important, but it is not the most important thing in one’s life, definitely not in mine atleast. And coming from me at this moment of quite desperation (money wise, I am at my brokest best right now), I am not sure if it is daunting bold or just plain silly. If the money factor was the looming priority in my life, I would perhaps have dated this chap, married in a jiffy and become his first/second/third wife (heard it right, his own sequence of comedy of errors ended him tragically with marrying two women on the same day, so glad he wasn’t my object of affection!). You can’t live without money, but you can’t live with just money either. Money, to use a cliché, cannot buy happiness. And I, selfish as I am, want a happy life for myself.

Flashback: How far? On second thoughts, I'll rather save them for my grandkids! And anyways we should let bygones be bygones unless there are sweet nostalgic kodak moments you want to cling on to. Top of the list being “The eX Files”, when doing a reverse view of course. I endorse my friend’s view here who once said “I like the prospects of the future more than the history of the past.”

Connect: A friend of mine once spent 50K (INR) making STD calls to his girl, and another spent lacs making ISD to his, good that he was earning some green and other money. Its not the money spent or rather invested, as another friend puts it, that holds the relationship, it’s the unending communication (amongst others) between them that makes the relationship stronger. If distance stands between the two, there is always a phone, mail and IM handy. You do not have to spend thousands and lacs like these two, just stay connected. Don’t let distance raise that gradual impenetrable wall, build bridges instead. In the mad rush to get ahead, its not just distance that’s the culprit these days. People hardly seem to find the time to even make that 5/10 minutes call to their heart’s desire couple of blocks away. Such is the plight of today’s ambition driven, power hungry, always on the run restless lot.

Happy Ending: This phrase was redefined for me the day I first heard about naughty massages and the following happy ending. I upgraded myself from thinking about the “happily ever after” fairytale happy endings for this innocent sounding innocuous looking two worded phrase.

Chipkoo (sticky people): What’s with some girls who stay glued to someone else's sweet someone and follow them everywhere like an irritating itch? I was just telling a friend the other day that the only thing remaining between him and this girl who's-not-his-girlfriend was gluing them with a fevicol, he just stammered some incoherent joke about that making a good ad idea and brushed off the issue altogether... guys I tell you!

Perfection: My black stilettos, it has just the right height, balance, style and colour. What more can one ask for? Its purrfection personified, I am afraid it will get old and I will never be able to find its replacement so seldom wear them.

Sweetest Threat Received: An old worried friend when I was staying all alone, “call me atleast once even if that is to fight with me, so I know you are fine and I continue to torture you.”

5 Unlisted To Dos yet to be Striked off:
1. Have snowball fights. Owing to the lack of snow here, my fist should qualify for now if I at all feel the urgency!
2. Build sandcastles together (still the utter romantic).
3. Learn and memorise the way from my house to my most frequented movie theatre. Not to be stereotyped anymore, I must rise above woman's inability in map reading in general and my horrible road sense in particular.
4. Visit Disneyland just to indulge the child in me a little bit. I hear a lot of locals like to work for the mouse. One of my friend’s girlfriend wants to work for Disney someday. Hop, skip and jump (from her house) and she would be at work, good for her. Proximity aside, she can enjoy all the fun and interesting things inside for free (or get free tickets), she’s a big Disney fan.
5. Take part in the next, ahem, Miss India and eventually the Miss World/Universe contest! I only cringe at the prospect of stealing someone’s thunder, I can’t do that to those world peace loving women, can I?!

Can't help but add this last one despite my lethargic tendencies..

Smarty Pants: My now six year old nephew, who in his kindergarten days used to go tell his good looking teachers “Teacher, you are very pretty!” especially after running a mischief and when trying to patao/smooth his way into something :) This young chap finds his classmates too boring and goes asking 8/9 year olds “mujhse dosti karoge?” (Hindi for “will you be my friend?”). The day he learnt the Hindi vowels (vowels in this tutor) in school he went and got a small Hindi story book issued from the school library and got it home! His elder sis is yet to learn that she can borrow books from school to read at home. Recently while his aunt was in India on vacation he took out two toy cars from his stack and said “Take this for Sky and Cliff”, Sky and Cliff are his aunt's grandsons. We were all so touched and later asked which cars did he give, “I didn't give my Hot Wheels, I gave the oldest ones baba” replied my little imp! Next we heard, Sky and Cliff ignored all the gifts they received and were only interested in the old toy cars he sent :)

Cowasaki

2006-10-09T18:31:00.000+05:30

Courtesy: A friend's relative

Women

2006-09-13T19:15:00.000+05:30

"I can be smart when it's important, but most men don't like it."

- Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

"Men love little and often, women much and rarely."

- Giorgio Basta (French Writer)

"The key to a woman's heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time."

- Sean Connery in Finding Forrester

Re: Re: Confessions of a Serial Killer

2006-09-12T14:41:00.000+05:30

This is about a friend, a friend who somehow makes me want to do a Helent Hunt (à la As Good as It Gets style) and snap “Come on in, and try not to ruin everything by being you”, but a dear friend nonetheless.

This friend of mine told me the other day that he is going to write a real long blog post apologizing everyone he has interacted with for all those times he has hurt them with his arrocasm [read arrogance + sarcasm. Don't bother looking it up in the dictionary, I am yet to update the next edition :)]... and since he does have this irritating way of being (not just sounding!) rather arrogant and smearing his sarcasm at times, I must say there will be a long list of people he would have to confront if he was to personally ask for pardon from them one on one.

I know I shouldn't, but I somehow started comparing his otherwise sweet gesture with the confessions of a serial killer. And I am not referring to a serial killer who after executing all the heinous crimes realises the aftermath of what he has done, who cannot look at himself without reproaching himself for all the blood shed he has caused and who now is asking for penance and wants to reform. My analogy involves the other breed, the perennial killer who is yet to sober down and tread the reformed path, who after a 5 year killing stint decides to confess his sins. And it is not an act of remorse, regret or any kind of guilt that drives him to the sanctity of the church to ask for forgiveness. He just wants to confess and get it done with so he can go “bang bang.. boom” again the next moment! And we must forgive him his recklessness for it is written in 1 John 1:9 verse of the bible, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession done, killer cleansed of all his evil deeds and he is raring to go pawn on more gullible/non gullible unsuspecting martyrs. Another 5 years and he is ready to repeat the cycle. If I was an authority in church, I would make it mandatory for all confessions to be accepted if and only if the confitent is full of self-reproach for the mortal sins he has committed and firmly resolves to redeem himself. But I am yet to adorn that robe.

Coming back to my killer... interesting thing is, next confession session he does not need to ask pardon for all his sins. He can just refer to them as “ones committed since my last confessions...” or if we get so advance as to have a facility to get our confessions done through e-mail, he can just do a Reply to the priest and continue. After some time his e-mail subject may look something like “Re: Re: Confessions....”

Similarly my friend who has an abundance of arrocasm and who I know has no qualms admitting it nor is toning it down, when needs to ask for similar pardon from friends/relatives, can repost it every 5 years or so. His blog has a wide circulation, so he would not need to worry about them not reading it. To add a personal touch, he can perhaps simply send a mail saying “Dear xyz, Please refer to my blog post “http://........com/confessions..” Cool thing is its on the world wide web forever. He can direct people to the link as and when the needs arise. This way all are cool, or are we really...

I am only worried that perhaps, just perhaps, I will get so ticked off with his arrocasm one day and decide “..and that was the last straw!” in a moment of passion...
I am only worried that my dear friend will one day become my once dear friend...

Sleepless in Slumberland

2006-08-03T20:37:00.000+05:30

All my tossing and turning on bed this week if equated to some zippy life's stability, has the immense potential of turning it topsy turvy. I miss you awfully... Sleep, where art thou? With sleep and some more of my obscurely habituated elements deserting me, its no wonder that my only source of entertainment tonight is my not so titillating idiot box.. Telly or no telly, sleep or no sleep, gonna go hit the sack now...

3 exciting blueprinted activities for the weekend: sleep, sleep and more sleep! (no harm in spending the weekend trying atleast)

Blogspot Ban in India: Damp Squib!

2006-07-21T15:15:00.000+05:30

Couple of days back I decided that I absolutely will not add another rejoinder to the already long list of mumbo jumbo around this ban. Fact that I am a lazy blogger helped, and anyways my friend assured me that this was not going to last, they will lift the ban. I decided too soon, I keep forgetting that we live in a generation void of absolutes!

If there is a will, there is always a way. Indian government may follow suit of their Chinese and Pakistani counterparts and ban Blogspot. But we are no draw string puppets (Indian Kathputlis) that they will pull some string and we will indulge them and bow to their whims and fancies. In China, these were futile efforts of the ruling Communist party, Pakistan was and still is ruled by a military dictator. Iran is well Iran, they even banned BBC once (not sure if they have revoked the ban now), but isn't India supposed to be one of the biggest democracy in the world? Whatever happened to our freedom of speech?

If they had done some forward thinking they would have known that there are already alternatives galore on the world wide web to access a Blogspot blog. And someone needs to be just a wee bit smart to do a google and find the solution just some clicks away. Even if there was no gateway to Blogspot, just how much do they really think this will help curb terrorism? Blogspot is not the end all and be all, there are still personal websites, MySpace, TypePad, LiveJournal, Blog.com, WordPress et al. Can they ban them all? This ban is nothing but just an impediment we already know how to wing through.

Continue reading these banned blogs from the more popular pkblogs.com. Just put the blog name at the end of the url like http://www.pkblogs.com/generalmumbojumbo. On the flip side, some image files may not show up.

You can also subscribe to any of the Feed readers and read them online or have it configured on your Thunderbird, MS Outlook or any other mail client of your choice.

Google lovers, for whom the internet starts and ends with Google, can read the blogs through the Google cache.

Alternatively, you can also use any of the various translation tools like Altavista's Babelfish and have it translated (English to English or Chinese to Chinese). For more information on using this and other ways of bypassing the censorship, read this.

Update: No more gateways needed, looks like the ban's been lifted. Yippe!

Love Me

2006-06-23T14:58:00.000+05:30

“Love Me” read the deviantART he sent, and "Love Me" stayed his name with me...

Mr Love Me logged on to orkut, sent me a teaser, added me to his hot-list and the crush-list and informed me soon after executing the tasks. I took the plunge too and added Love Me to my crush-list. And pronto came this sweet message from orkut:

"Take a deep breath and ponder this...

orkut has unmasked a shared affection
And shown twinned wounds from Cupid's darts.
But while we aid in love's detection,
Its future path lies twixt your hearts."

Now, if I had added Love Me with some anticipation here and some wishful longing there, there would have been butterflies in my stomach and after receiving that alert I would have been walking on air in glee. But for me, I knew what was coming and was only romanticising myself for the sheer joy of it.

But you, all my single friends out there in this virtually connected world of bits and bytes, there is a task you oughtta execute too. If not for love, then just for some laughs. Hunt down your crushes on orkut and add them to the crush-list, who knows orkut may play the cupid and unmask another shared affection twixt your hearts. If any of you get lucky or have already been lucky, let me on too. Enough of blogifying love now. Don't waste anymore time. Go fish!

Tee and her Nagging Theory

2006-06-19T16:00:00.000+05:30

I was flipping through the channels on tv when I chanced upon the serial Sex and the City on HBO. The character Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) was talking incessantly, almost dabbling on the verge of nagging, to her boyfriend. It was more than mildly irritating, and it got me thinking on how tiresome it would be for the guys to have to subject themselves to such a behaviour of their other half. And to admit that I myself have been nagging a certain someone the whole of last week would be the understatement of the month...

So why do women nag? Why do I nag? Thats the million dollar question! My dear friend Tee believes that nagging is a woman's prerogative and man take that as a part of woman's fundamental character/habit and do not mind at all (I doubt the later part!). Women, by nature, are attentive to small details while men only see the big picture. Thats when the nagging start, and anyways little nagging is healthy for a relationship.

I am not sure I totally buy that. But, I liked her theory. No one is perfect, and its the imperfection in a relationship that keeps it going... The other day she arrived at her Boyfriend's place to find his room strewn with clothes everywhere, 5 bags open with stuffs overflowing and he standing in a corner with a confounded look on his face. He was to leave for some trip, she sorted out everything and finished the packing for him. I know guys are famous for their packing inabilities save a few, and we women still nag them about it. But, women also love it when after reaching his destination, he calls up just to ask "Where is my tooth paste? Where is that t-shirt?..." Women may nag that their men always leave the room dirty and dont help with household chores. But they also love it when they see the glow of appreciation in his eyes on finding the house spic and span.

Bottomline for Men: We may nag for the imperfections in you, but we also believe that its nice to be imperfect. It is in our genes to nag, we just can't help it, so please endure this trifle more than insignificant imperfection in us too...

Achtung Baby!

2006-06-09T12:18:00.000+05:30

Haven't really written anything since long. Letting go of my typing hands free, albeit strong protests from loud voices within. Anyways, keypads here I go! Guys looking to read some meaningful junkie, please excuse!

Mood: Playful.. I am in the mood for mischief! (Sounds familiar? Yep, you heard it before with White Mischief guys)

General Mumbo Jumbo: My online scratch pad

Job on hand: Tampering with templates

Bold and Beautiful: Being coy is a strategy best employed by teens in their youthful sheens! Me no teen, but me still coy [wink wink]. If beauty lies in the eyes of beholder, then beautiful I am [psst.. me looking at mirror right now!] :)

Size matters (of the shirt rey!): "bloop". "bloop" in the existential sense, of course!

Been branded a brat: Au contraire! My English teacher from pregrad days said I was the simplest (and may I add one of the smartest?! Just to make me feel good you know) student in the class. I swear! But then, of course, I graduated ;)

Like being kissed n hugged: Does a chicken like to peck, does a cat like to scratch? Sure I do!

Rock climbing: Why not! Me all for living on the line of danger. Just keep the Ambulance ready for any casualities. Nay, not for me. Just worried for fellow climbers :)

Moi Riding the Political Bandwagon: And pigs can fly!

Picture of me (in my mind): Me looking like a collage of colours celebrating Govinda Day in college (with no offense to me, who cares about Govinda!)

Lucky in Love: Read somewhere:

“Lucky is the man who is the first love of a woman
but
luckier is the woman who is the last love of a man”

But c'mon its just unfortunate for a woman, we will have to wait till the guy falls in love with another woman or wait till eternity to find out if we were indeed the luckier few!

Fav Pass time: Flipping/surfing. Flipping through a book, channel or website and loafing around.

Googled 'sex': Can you keep a secret?

Evil's Day, 666: First post in this blog was posted on the supposedly Evil's day 666, 6th of June 2006. Actually I gotta make that 6666, it was at 6 pm on 06-06-06. Spooky, eh?!

Hear it again from me: There are 10 kinds of people in my world - those who understand binary and those who don't.

Fav key (on the Keyboard yaar!): By now you must know.. for the dumb wits, its "!", I use it generously everywhere. Pre e-mail days I used to go "?!!!?!" lol

Bored: After all this writing business, waddya think?? Someone gimme a ticket out of here!

Tia!: Greek for princess, Spanish for aunt. But no, my name is neither for princess nor aunt, its for Thanks In Advance!

42!

2006-06-06T18:00:00.000+05:30

Forty-two, the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything! For the uninitiated, this was the answer given by Deep Thought (the second greatest computer in the Universe of Time and Space) after a seven and a half million years’ research in the book H2G2 (Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

Every other day I find friends/acquaintances pondering online and offline on the meaning of life. Every day there is some soul standing in a desolate crowd with the question looming on his mind about the meaning of life, the purpose of his very existence... But, I have decided, I am not going to waste any moment of my remaining few years trying to philosophise on life and its intricacies when I have a readymade answer! Yesss, 42!

There have been theories and speculations abound on why the answer (in the book) was 42, but then who really cares. According to Adams its just a random meaningless number. And I am going to work up whatever theory appeals to me at my particular moment of reflection (bye bye sleepless nights). Life, here I come!