December

A complete blur of events:

- Wrapped up stuff at work

- Had fun with the last minute Claire-ing for my "dress"

- Observed how drunk and outrageous colleagues can get at the Office Christmas parties!

- Ran to NY and visited my lovely niece.. so much so that I didn't leave the house for all of the three days I was there!

- Got back, and rotted since then

So, all in all.. nothing spectacular.. and even if, ain't interested in writing anything.. Maybe New Year will kick my habit in again.. Ciao~

'Tis the season..

Yes, the flu, but also Christmas is around the corner. Therein lies my biggest confusion. It started with the days back in a Christian Convent School, and I still have this craving for a Christmas tree of my own in my house. So I thought, why not? This is my third Christmas here, and maybe I should start the tradition too! A nice spacious living room sure deserves a funky tree..

There began my dumb questions about the trees to A, who sure had a laugh over it all. Looks like I've spent the entire day at work browsing for trees?! I wanted a tree taller than I am (d'uh!), but imagine how many ornaments that would require to get all covered up. And we can't really have a naked tree can we? I'd love the fresh cut ones, but lets face it, I am NOT in the mood to sweep up fallen needles once the season is over, nor am I enthused over lugging it home tied to the top of my car, or trying to schedule a recycle pick-up.. Agreed, a real tree smells divine, the pine-y scent etc, etc,. But nah, an artificial one makes more sense, I can stow it away until the next season, and in the long run, it is the right thing to do!

But then Th enlightened me about the issue of the number of ornaments I'd have to buy.. which would definitely skyrocket.. and hooha, I'd spend twice as much on ornaments than on the tree. But c'mon, can't I indulge myself? Yes I can.. and I WILL. I am going to buy a big 7ft tree..

Or should I buy the 4.5 foot one.. its only 30 bucks, sensible right?

But I want the 7ft one though its 75 bucks..

Mummyyyy.... I can't make up my mind.

By the way, do I even need a Christmas tree? Hmm..

How dare they!!!

I read an article now and then analyzing Sachin's poor form, and that gets me REAL pissed.. And when I do start ranting and raving, believe me, it will drive anyone crazy or murderous or worse, suicidal!

I like cricket too, c'mon, how can you not like the sport? Despite the GBShaw-11 fools theory, it is a game after all, and I love it.. every pulse-pounding minute of it. In fact, I'm one of these superstitious folks who won't change their seating, much less transfer the drink from one hand to the other for fear that it'd get Tendulkar out!!!! My days as a cricket fan were hugely when I was at school, and would come home to hear my mom in turn rant and rave about my dad and the rest at home glued to the game!! (talk about how some things never change) I loved the way Jadeja would strut instead of rushing to the crease when he knows his run is safe (why the heck did he come and squeak in that movie with Celina Jaitley, God only knows!!), I used to think Azhar was cool, and would be thrilled with all the yelling that Mongia would do wicket-keeping. And nothing need be said about how smart Kumble was ;), and the GOD Sachin Tendulkar, the Jammyboy Dravid and Ganguly too..

But whatever it was, I loved the Indian team, and did agree with folks who said: Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our God!!

Anyways, what makes me angry these days is how Sachin is getting the flak for his batting. WTF? Who are all these people who come and criticize that nice down-to-earth soul? About him retiring, getting out cheaply, scared of rising deliveries (grrrr!!!), and all that crap. Ok, I ain't technically sound to comment about all this, but cmon, what the heck.. that guy has been such a source of inspiration to an entire nation of young boys.. so much so that it wasn't the dream to be 'on the team' but to 'be the next sachin tendulkar'.. and is this the way we treat him? How people love to watch the mighty fall, and then claim the dust as a trophy? Make someone like him an 'also-ran'? I'm not saying the Indian team was a one-man team.. but give the guy the credit he's due. Why are you so bent on making him fizzle out? With all the injuries, the pressure, the dedication.. he needs to have a Hall-of-fame all to himself!

But come what may, however the nitpicking idiots may try to write him off, the history of the game cannot be undone, the writing will be there up on the wall, and those of us who grew up idolizing him will never forget the golden era of the game that was (and will again be) Tendulkar's glory!!!

Another week, another weekend.

I am currently trying to complete my 2 credit project.. or should I say 'start'!!!

Hence the lack of updates. My imagination is as big as a zeolite pore-tunnel (which is fairly big on the molecular scale and hence accounts for its use in pervaporation) and sarcasm ain't oozing out of any pore about any topic under the sun. Taking two days off this week sure helped run through it faster. But Tuesday was a joke, when I completely forgot that I'd taken the day off to collect my commencement stuff, and ended up blowing 80 bucks on a winter coat at H&M instead!! Minimum earnt, maximum spent, who cares!

But yeay! Its Friday! :)

Friday sure is the Mr.Popular of the week! I remember this McD's radio ad which touts Monday free-coffees, and hence Monday goes up a notch in the 'cool' ratings, and is thrilled that Friday even talks to it.. But imagine, the week is in fact a good distribution of personalities so to speak..

And yeay again.. next week is a three-day-workweek.. yoohoo! Thank Thanksgiving :)

Gym-bo.. gymmy-boy.. gym-ster!

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be offensive to the gym-lovers/gymsters (whatever you call yourself) I know and don't know... a.k.a 'Enjoy maadi, lite-lene-ka! Not that my blog is public anyways, and no one's gonna be reading it. Aah, just trying to act smart by adding a pompous looking and dumb-schmuck sounding 'disclaimer'.. but I digress..

I'm one of those people who can't gym. Period.

Not to say I didn't try it just coz I wasn't getting enough exercise owing to my lack of frequent dance sessions. So I thought to myself, hey, this should be fun! Boy was I wrong...

People already complain I am thin. Fine, I am fortunately (and unfortunate in some aspects) small built.. (c'mon, be lady-like and say 'petite') and thin, and not prone to putting on 3 pounds in the five minutes after I eat a slice of chocolate cake. This draws sneers and jibes when I proclaim I am going to try a gym routine henceforth. Some gymsters (ooh, my vocab) don't see the need for me to be in a gym or anywhere within a 5 mile radius of it, for that matter! Maybe I'd disappear if I tried to gym.. and blah blah. Nevertheless, I did make a few trips there and haven't been back since.

Now maybe its a case with my school gym, for I haven't been to any other, but I got the feeling I was getting into some mechanized trench-in-the-middle-of-nowhere! The place was jammed with a gazillion gymming equipment - if I can call it that, for I don't really know their names all that well, apart from the Treadmill and the weights :)

And its the people in the gym that made me stay there for the twenty minutes or so that I was around.. There were those who watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S. episodes while they were Hitler-whipping their abs to perfection, the ones who tried to one-up each other with the techy-ness of their iPods and Walkmans, the ones who were really there to gym, a couple of giggly girls, and the huff-and-puff ones who'd work religiously on intricate guillotine-like mammoths of machinery.

The gym is just NOT for me. Grunting, sweating, making puffy-fish faces trying to lift weights, looking mean-machine on the biceps, etc just did not work for me. I don't wanna wear any of those spandex-y/itchy/net-fiber-on-the-inside gym outfits; nor have I ever managed to find a pair of soft work-out pants that I like.. (like: feel sexy/smart in!) Nor do I wanna worry about jiggly parts when I'm trying to walk/run on the treadmill.. :D

So much so, the second (and the last to date) time I went to the gym just to try and 'work-out', I just sat on the Cycling thingie and pedalled and pedalled and pedalled and finished quite a bit of Da Vince Code the n-th time around!! Yea, I'm just going to stay away from there. Just be-ing is enough exercise for me, atleast at this stage of my life.

Maybe once I pack on the mega-giga-pounds in the future, (shudder, God forbid I just bloat inexplicably anytime soon, shudder); I'll buy a robot that drags you by the neck (or multi-layers of the neck-that-was) and deposits your ass on the road, and/or molecular-transfers you to the nearest gym and puts a force-shield around the house that does not let you back in without a satisfactory body-fat analysis.. Geekiness ahoy! But yea, who knows what gizmo-gadgets will rule the day in the future? But if it comes to that, I do hope they will make one which just zaps you into shape without any effort on your part, other than pressing a button and inputting your favored parameters. I should think about this more.. hmmm, interesting!

Salsa Thursday!

Every morning, when I pack myself some food for the day at work, I feel like I'm preparing for a picnic! All the food I take, apart from my junk-food-vending-machine.. It gets me through the individual day, but how do I get through an entire week? The secret: Salsa Thursdays.. Tada!!! Every Thursday, Pam brings in Salsa that she makes at home, plus two bags of chips, and sets them down on the table downstairs.. This countdown to Thursday kinda takes the blues off the first three days back at work, how psycho am I! Oooh, I wait till its 9:00 am on Thursdays to rush down and pretty much be among her first 'customers'. The interesting part is about the salsa.

Americans, in general, don't seem to be too tolerant of spicy stuff. Look at all the cheese - my point has been made. But of course, me the great, would die without spice in all probability. And Pam makes this spicy stuff, and if I say spicy, then you should understand how spicy it must be! And I simply looove it. So, the funny thing is to see how these folks eat the salsa. They take a bunchload of chips, sprinkle some salsa over it, like we sprinkle holy water on our food after a puja!!! And then, they huff and puff about the spice, and drink a gallon of Coke/water! Hehe.. and when they see me dip my chip in the salsa bowl and bring up a pile of 'liquid fire' to my mouth, they just watch like I'm one of those 'freakshow' corners at the carnivals! Tickles me pink.. Long live salsa.. I'll surely miss these Thursdays once I'm done with the internship!

Inky Pinky Ponky

I was just 'Orkutting' and came across the line: Who said life is fair, it is about making choices.

It took me only a couple of minutes to realize the truth in that statement. In life, we do really come across those 'decision-making-crossroads' (And I assume that includes the Inky-Pinky-Ponky ones too!), and sometimes we do not realize that we are in fact at such a juncture. More often than not, we do take the easy way out. Reminded me of this poem I came across in high school:

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Theories abound and arguments continue over the interpretation of this poem - if Frost was mocking his friend's indecisiveness, if it was about his choice in life to become a poet, if there is a satire in saying that 'Though as for that the passing there, Had worn them really about the same' alluding to the fact that we see what we want to see, and a lot of other views.

Be as it may, it all boils down to making a choice. What triggers a person to lean towards one choice more than another? Is it the state of mind at that point of time, the pressures, the feasibility, the 'correctness' of the decision..? Does his 'And that has made all the difference' ring a satisfactory tone, or a sigh of things that may-have-been?

They say that people who are mentally strong, and keep a cool & clear head while making a decision are those who are good decision makers. Why? Why can it not be that fickle minded people think about an issue in more angles than one, and hence cannot make up their mind? Eventually, everyone does end up making a decision, for good or bad. And time will tell.. Even then, down the lane, some might look back, some might not. Some might regret it, and some might reap a future benefit from the wrong choice (as it might have seemed at an earlier point in time) they made. Is life just a play of probability? Is it just nothing but a 0-1/on-off choice?

Society shapes what you think. But aren't you a part of the society? And thus influencing some other person's train of thought? If that were true, are we all just a tapestry bound together by interwoven thought processes? What of the so called non-conformists? Are they the knots in between? Do they need to be weeded out? I would think not. They add the textural dimension, don't they? Would you rather have a cotton rug beneath your feet, or a nice knotted Persian?

All you need is the belief to adhere to your decision, and the strength to see it through. That is what strong people are made of, not a single window of thought.. Deep down, you must just believe that you are doing what you think is smart and right. Right - morally and ethically. And from this decision and conviction will spring the strength that will carry you through it. It took the spider all the way up, did it not? :)

I will always remember the one line that takes me through life: 'Everything that happens, happens for the best'. How easy it is to throw the dice, and realize that you have done your part, and the faces that land up on the dice are not really in your hands (as long as you ain't cheatin'..!) As big as you think that your life has its problems, there are people out there with problems much worse anyways.

Psyched!

Why am I thrilled? Because I picked up a whole bunch of books to read.. Yeay! An obscure corner of the mall had this bookstore which had this Bag-it-offer.. you just pick up a normal sized grocery bag, and put all the books you want into it, and its all for just 5 bucks! How cool is that??!!! So, racing against mall-closing-time, I zipped through shelves of books, and guess I picked up somewhere around 25 books? And now, I can slowly read all of them, when I'm indulging myself during that 15 day holiday that I'm counting down to...

I picked up a whole bunch of varied fiction stuff, right from the Jackie Collins variety to Robin Cooks and a lot of unknowns. In between all these plots lies this one type of novel which I still love and hate. Its the psycho stuff... all the brutal serial killers, the raving maniacs with minds that snapped from a childhood tragedy, the cold blooded ruthless ones who kill just for the heck of it, the criminal masterminds who plot intricate cat-and -mouse games just to thwart the Yard.

I haven't yet decided if I love them or hate them. For instance there was this Dean Koontz "Intensity" that I read, about this guy who kills to appease his fine 'senses' and is a cop in real life. What a twisted character he was... These are the kind of novels you loathe, go 'eeeewwwww' over, but still continue reading because you want to see what happens in the end! Some of these psycho plots are so elaborate, some are killers on a whim, some consider themselves Gods of justice, some carve up pregnant women, some go about getting rid of gay people, some fashion whole scenarios like in the movie 'Saw', some just have mindless sprees, and what not? I absolutely HATE them.. but every now and then, when the mood gets to me, I go all dark and morbid and sit down curled with one of these kind of novels.

Do people write such novels mirroring the actual criminals out there in society? Do they write them as an escapist fantasy that they'd like to embark on, but cannot owing to the societal scenario? Do criminals get their ideas from all these pages of gore and guts? What drives the writer/the reader to write/read such a story? Why do I, at times, want to read a purely psychotic story? Is it to convince myself that there are people who are more psycho than I am? Am I psycho? Is it just to see how cracked the human facade can be? Is it to just become numb and not think about anything for a while after you read that? I cannot fathom it, but I repulse these novels.. And yet, once in a while, I pick up one of their kinds!

And whatever you study into the mystery that is the human mind, there aren't going to be answers out there. Psychiatrists exist, I'm not saying they are baloney.. But in the end, no one can predict/figure out in entirety what drives such sociopaths. They are in a way fanatics. But that is a whole other state of existence. I'd say that in a way, all humans are fanatics about something or the other, it is just the degree of obsession that is the thin line between the normal folks and the others. But who are we to claim ourselves as normal? I'm obsessive about having a clean space, where-as someone at a higher degree of this obsession might, for all you know, go around slashing people who bother him in that aspect! I might tolerate all beliefs and faiths, but someone who is not open to it might as well become a 'terrorist' in their own right. And what of the people the society brands as 'terrorists'? What made them that way? Was it just their upbringing, or was there a humane side to them too? What of all the different angles which define a person?

What is it that drives people to become that way? Again, it is all in the mind. As gullible as it can get, the psyche can be completely unrelenting and unyielding. That makes us who we are. For some, the control drives you either to the extremes or to a balance which might be your key to sanity. But you cannot question the sanity of anyone at the extreme ends of the spectrum either! What gives you the ability to decide who is sane and who is not? After all, an insane persons first claim is that he/she is indeed sane.

This is where the future of humanity pretty much lies: in the balance of control over the self and over others. In the mind...

Boooooring.

Have I done any notably 'crazy' things in my life? Hmm... I wonder!

Nothing so absolutely smashin' to gloat about. Dyammm, am I a boring individual?

Ok, maybe I should list the 'crazy' things I haven't done, and then go about doing them in 2007.

Naahh, I should just get crazy on impulse. Talking about which, I have done quite a bit of 'impulsive' stuff in the two years I've been here, and that reassures me I ain't that predictable and boooooring.

Woh pehli bar

Hmm.. the pehli bar? As the queen of interpretations would rule supreme!

The pehli 'bar' I jumped into? When I was sick and poor couz of mine was trying to get this fresh-off-the-plane-and-sick-child a ginger ale by all means, while waiting for Muk to turn up? And there it was (aptly named): the First Base, in the heart of Sox-land.

Or the 'Woh pehli bar', which I hum for no reason, every now and then. Sweet song. The movie bombed (I guess, and I haven't seen it anyways) but I did catch the tune. Hmm, romantic and me? Now thats a laugh. But doesn't hurt to listen to these songs right?

And all the other 'pehli bar' stuff.. that night on 57th, on the way back from a daring jaunt through the univ to get to Noodles etc, and on a full stomach plodding along, and lo and behold.. my first fire-fly sighting. I know, shame on me, I was 24 when I actually got to see real live fireflies fluttering around. Fascinating!

Or the first time I was proudly grinning seeing my name on the Company phone and contacts list.. the flyer that gets updated and distributed on the routine. Well, cmon, I'm only an intern, I have every right to grin :)

Or the first time I navigated downtown without getting lost, on my own.. the first time I bought those CK jeans of mine with no one to ask an opinion from.. the first time I drove my car all by myself, with no one on the passenger seat!.. the first time I had bills in my name.. my first credit card. Like duh!

Or the road trips, the Metra escapades, the Target sprees, the Dollar stores..

Or the rasamalai, the mor-kuzhambu, the onion garlic chutney (forget the rava dosa that went with it!)..

Or the first time I paged someone on the company paging system.. gleeeeee... that was this morning ;) Cool!

Looks like I'm a nut case, bringing life to the phrase: Simple pleasures in life.

?!

Things do move along... the 2 credit project, the doc's visits, the company projects, the shopping sprees, the lets-have-fun episodes. Isn't as tough as I thought they would be, but now and then, I remember that its not as it all seems!

But who cares? As long as the day goes by... and with work picking up, having to complete stuff by the deadlines, its not so bad.

I am so looking forward to the December vacations that I'm going to take.. man, 15 days of much needed doing-nothing, not waking up early in the morning, going out whenever and wherever, maybe try a trip or something, or just vegetate turning the heat up, the soup on the stove and the novel on my pillow.. I've started counting down to Dec 12th already!!

Blah, nothing much to write about right now.. but quite a bit happened - the realization about me having kept away from Alexa's and grown my hair a bit, another no-big-deal Diwali (seventh in a row), retail therapy weekend, Monday morning purples (I ain't all that blue today!!!!), accounts due, my blah mehndi (was so impatient, I took it off in a short time, and its a dull orange, blyech), the record socks, the shady trip to the Alley on Clark (absolutely LOVED it), the forecast of another funky-chic-coat-less winter to come (but you never know.. might actually buy one soon!), the rava dosa (and not so brilliant rava dhokla?), the french fries craving that still rages on, yada yada.. etc.

The TV Trap

There was a time in my life in the US where I didn't really watch TV, at all! But now, I just switch it on just because it is there! And boy oh boy, basic cable itself reels you in with so many channels and shows, I wonder what would be the state of affairs with more than 75 channels.

I am not a soap-opera fan. No tear jerkers for me, no thank you! Every time I'd visit home in India, there it will be, the inevitable array of soap after soap after soap. And each would be a melodrama at its best - long drawn out dialogues, music crescendo, a highly made-up female villain with the largest bindis and eyelashes, an avenged protagonist completely devoid of make-up (to throw in the sympathy votes), lots of family ties, and shady pasts.. Why do I not see things like Small Wonder, Friends, etc in the Indian context? Maybe it is because people keep dishing out the same old formulaic segments that are sure to get their ratings up.

Why I like episodes of Raymond, Friends, 8 Rules, and the like are because of one simple reason.. they need not be watched continuously.. week after week. You just catch an episode now and then, laugh over it, and just be! How cool is that? Though I must admit, I even watch re-runs of Friends episodes..

And now, its a whole new ballgame, the dawn of reality TV. Even better! The competitions and all the drama. I am more inclined to these things as compared to the TV shows of the old days.. (not that I'm THAT old!). But yes, I LOVE Project Runway.. why? I don't know.. I also catch a few episodes of Top Chef and America's next Top Model every now and then. There is something about these three shows that makes me want to watch them. Maybe its the fact that it is a competition of a different kind..

Oooh, and I love taking someone's side and seeing if they make it through to the final! Damn, I was rooting for Alyson, and finally, switched to Michael once she was out and he made the Pam Greer outfit. And how hilarious were some of yesterday's re-union clips! Tim Gunns's vocab sure made it fun ;)

But all said and done, the TV is a menace. If it just weren't around, I'd stick to renting some DVDs and watching them on my comp, and then, spend the rest of my time quite fruitfully. I would be roaming around downtown, window shopping of course ;) Else I would finally sit down to do my Oil painting of my interpretation of the Chicago landscape.. Hmm, its time to start it, but this weekend doesn't seem to be too promising. Too much to do, so little time..

Oh no, there is also my 2 credit project.. God save me!

Rice and shine!

I LOVE rice. Period. But lately, there seems to be this paradigm shift in my already confused universe. I have started HATING it.. whaaaaaaaat?

Yes, this is the morbid confession of a South Indian Madras Rice Freak. Rice for lunch, rice for dinner, and rice for breakfast at times too - that was me. But ever since I have started cooking rice daily and having it here at work for lunch, I feel like 'Damn, isn't there anything else I can eat?'. And for the past two-three weeks, all I can think of are McD's french fries and Potbelly-Panera-Subway sandwiches. Has eating rice become so monotonous? But how is it that three-course rice meals at home everyday went by pleasantly in Madras? The sambar, rasam, pachidi, curry and thayir sadam (man, if only I were a poet, my first ode would be to Thayir Sadam!) routine was sailing along so smooth then.

Ok, thinking of that, Thayir sadam still hasn't gotten hazy, its still strong and steady in my preferences. But its the basic rice that has become jaded. I wouldn't mind eating some frozen Mac n' Cheese for lunch, but please, don't give me micro-waved rice in a box again? Maybe it all has to do with the sitting on the sofa - eating from a plate - licking your fingers thing. Which is why I could probably explain the fact that I don't mind rice for dinner.

But why do I not mind Chipotle for a meal? Isn't that rice too? But nah, its FRESH. Complete, and a feast for the eyes too. Thats probably why I still like it. And which is why I love soups. They are so smooth, and easy to eat/drink(?). Oooh, its a T-storm outside now, and my mouth waters at the thought of the Broccoli-Cheddar at Panera.. Haha, lets drag B.

But does that mean, I have started not liking Indian cuisine.. No, that isn't true either. I still love rasam, cutlets, Hema's kitchen, India House appetizers, Sev batata puri from a box, etc etc.

It is but a passing phase I guess. I should just lay off the rice for a while, and start having all other things like salads, pasta, mac, pizza and sandwiches at work. That should have me panting for rice like a dog at dinner :)

Sob. (hic)

Yes. A pretty washed out end to the week.. oh, literally 'washed out'. Game day, and all in great spirits, and then.. a good start. Got them wrapped up for 149. Our target: 150. (Funny, the way I say 'we/our'.. I'm just a spectator, am I not?) And down came the rain. The boys were of course in a good mood, thought they would win easily, and danced around in the rain, blaring 'Paatshaala' over the speakers. Then out came the sun (how I now wish that had not happened.. wish, indeed) One by one, they fell, slow and steady.. until hope came in somewhere in the middle. But it was not to be our day, remember? Torrents yet again, and we pack up to continue the next morning. Advantage/disadvantage.. the what-ifs? Next day, bright and early, with the cards stacked precariously.. half asleep, I receive the call, its a close game.. We still have a chance. And I sense, rather than feel the impending doom. It was there yesterday when I watched others on the field.. but I had pushed it aside.. the clammy feeling, the flutter. But here it stared me in the face. We were going to go out one notch lower than last year! And down we went. Tears anyone? Not me, thanks, it was just anger and a resignation.

I keep thinking, why do I feel so bad? It wasn't my team (per se), I wasn't playing, I wasn't betting anything on them, but in the end.. Yet another year of games come rain or shine, every Saturday morning, sitting there crossing my fingers and breathing a silent prayer they would make it through.. and make it through they did, but not the game that mattered. I know I'm wrong, but I cannot help but blame everyone, they all let me down. But aren't they the ones who feel more sad.. that they lost? I feel sorry for them, but selfish me, sorrier (grammar, hic!) for myself.

Rationale and logic take a backseat. I am sad. Even if everyone had made just one more run, I wouldn't be here writing a sob story. When does the game become more than a game? Why am I never able to register that? Because I am not a person playing the game? What is it that drives people.. the rush of blood, the speed.. the ups and downs of a team's season.. I agree, there must be sportsmanship, the ability to face defeat with grace. But why do I feel bad?

I should in fact be glad that the season is over, for there are no more Saturdays to wake up early, no more games, no more getting messy with sweat in the sun, no more oily sun-blocks, and no more dead-beat Mondays..

Why then, am I so empty? Devoid of reason?

Its a love-hate relationship I share with cricket.. and I loved-hated every moment of it this year.

Weird.

This sure is weird. I haven't really blogged so often in the past, and look at me now? Maybe its a flutter-by butterfly kinda thing.

I usually don't like putting my thoughts down on paper. They simply should be in my head! In my head.. reminds me of this Mathemagic Disney cartoon I used to own on tape when I was young. It was pretty much one of the coolest things around then... There is this one particular shot of the brain being zoomed in, and as soon as Donald duck tries to 'think' and do some arithmetic or remember the tables or something, the wheels start working rustily, the gears creaking against each other, and slowly the room (=brain) becomes a little brighter, and Donald is able to whiz through its corners, upturning shelves and stacked papers to find what he's looking for! Or am I imagining the scene?

This usually happens when you're trying to think back about something you really used to like, and now its all part of this vague past, which you think you remember, but you actually don't??! How does that happen? Is it that your memories get stacked in your brain and get erased in a while as new ones get etched there? How then do you remember extremely vague things from when you really were a young kid? Like the time I played with one of these cool 'Hotwheels' setup bridges-roads-etc set which my cousins(?) had (in Bangalore, was it?).. Or like the green train I swear I remember I broke the last compartment of by stepping on it and chipping it? (though my mom surely doesn't recall what I am talking about.. and believe me, my mom does remember pretty much everything!). Some things are so teasingly within the grasp of the mind, yet they are so far away. The more you try and probe, the more frustrating it becomes!

What a weird thing the brain is, indeed?! No wonder people still haven't explained the phenomenon of the 'dream'. Why is that sometime even in my dream, I realize 'hey, I know what's coming next.. I've had this dream before'.. and yet I continue dreaming? Why is it that I still remember the dream where the skeleton was dancing on my front porch at Prithvi Avenue? I even remember the rubbery feel of its arm, while I was trying to push it away!!!! What is it that triggers these sensory perceptions which stay in your memory?

And even more weird, the 'deja-vu'.. Now, what is that all about? God bless someone who does figure it all out. Maybe this is why I appreciate the conspiracy theories when I read novel after novel :) Anything that remotely hints at a hooded situation in the existence of mankind surely does tickle me.. What if we are indeed in a 'Matrix'.. what if we are really in the 'I heart Huckabees' existentialist world... what if we are indeed just a small speck in some other larger universe? The what-ifs are countless..

Of course, when I mean 'conspiracy' I do not mean the machinations of the 'human' mind. I am not talking about the 'greatest cover-up in the history of the presidential race', the 'man-did-not-truly-land-on-the-moon' or the 'this corporate giant is doing this-and-that' kind of conspiracy.. I am talking of the unexplained stuff.. the X-Files kinda thing. But does that make me a sci-fi buff? Nah.. I still read pretty much anything and everything I do get my hands on..

And right now, I guess its time to get back to the report on the Daily Production Summaries of DEFI staring me in the face!

Curse of the (Curly) Parsley.

Ok, I admit! I am becoming a Food Network regular. I frequently watch Alton Brown; lap up Rachel Ray, bite my nails over Cake competitions and Top Chef, and randomly flick my TV to Channel 70 if I’m bored. I am a food junkie, and everyone who knows me very well will tell the others (who scoff at my petite frame) that this is, in fact, true. But we are deviating... It was supposed to be all about Parsley... Alright, Halloween nears, and you might think my imagination is running wild when I titled this the Curse of the Curly Parsley. But no, I do consider it a curse. Pray let me explain:

It all started with me watching quite a few people prepare dishes with Parsley on the network, and go about praising its ‘strong fresh flavor, the earthy tones, and the aroma it blends into a cold salad’. Now what we must keep in mind though, is the fact that I am a complete desi-food cook. But yet, I do not give up hope. Ignoring the cilantro (which has always been my top-herb - I still find saying ‘erb funny!) wilting in my fridge, I decide that I simply MUST try parsley out. Add to all the hype the fact that parsley does wonders for a fresh breath and blah blah... And then, like a cursed soul, I kept thinking about parsley quite a bit, imagining the heady scent of it, when I would chop it into fine fresh pieces (can we call them pieces!??).

One impatient week later, I jump onto the pretext of an important Devon shopping spree (for what? Some munchies, asafetida and paneer) and decide that today I WILL end up buying an entire bunch (and some cilantro, of course.. now we do not want to offend ‘the’ cilantro, do we?) to try. Shopping done, all pleased with myself, I come home and wait for the next day when I’d prepare something with the herb.

So I go about browsing the internet for recipes incorporating the stuff sitting in my fridge, and end up with zilch. So I decide, ok, let me make semiya upma (another thing I decided to pick up from Devon with my random aisle-walking... Semiya!! And heck, this was already roasted, how cool is that?) and instead of garnishing it with cilantro in the end, maybe I should just chop up the herb and let its flavor do the trick. Upma is a roaring success (hoo-haa, my first time, and its b-e-a-u-tiful) and now comes the garnish. And I retrieve the stuff from the fridge, chop it up, and decide to smell it before I put it in my Upma!

EEEEWWWWW! This is not the smell I want with my Upma?! It is strong! Now I know why Wiki says it is used as garnish in a lot of fish and meat dishes. So, there goes... And they say that curly parsley is the less strong of the two (curly vs. flat, that is) Now I understand, why moms never did use parsley in our cooking at home! But, do I give up? No. I will still make that cold salad recipe with onions, tomatoes, lime, cilantro and parsley... You just wait, I will.

But for now, parsley’s back in the fridge, sitting right next to the cilantro. That makes me think... what if it was the Cilantro that pulled one over the Parsley? Maybe it’s the curse of the Cilantro?! Hmm...

Dude, where's my Internet?

Irritated? Wash it all down with a bowl of soup..

I LOVE soups. Of course, the veggie ones :) But I don't mind the occasional chicken broth factor which could hinder an otherwise veggie-freak to neglect a good Broccoli-Cheddar soup at Panera's. Lovely stuff.. smack!

But yea, that was NOT what I started out blogging today.. getting back to the 'irritated' bit. I have been without the internet at home for the last 14 days. And, looks like I survived! But thats besides the point. I've been waging this battle of sorts with AT&T. And let me tell you, they have driven me to the brink of insanity.. (the smash-your-fist-in-the-wall, damage-things, curse-like-thats-all-there-is-in-your-vocabulary, snap-at-everyone variety) First, their online stuff is such a load of crap, you HAVE to end up calling them anyways to start the process. And don't we know customer service? Yea, a big fat waiting time, with some recorded techie-droning on the other end. And finally, you do manage to set up an appointment for the folks to come out and fix it four days later. You ask specifically, does this installation require someone to stay at home? They say no, and phew, there is no need to take the day off from work. But then you see a voicemail on your cellphone.. "We needed access into the house, and hence the connection was not set up this morning". And of course, they do not work a minute after 5, they do not do this work over the weekends, and so you wait until Monday.

Catch hold of a friend to sit at home for the work to get done, while you're at work.. stuff gets done, they say the DSL should be up and running in two hours. Two hours become eight, and no sign of it yet. 110 digested daytime minutes later, they give you a commitment for a 'by-8-pm-tomorrow' connection. And another 90 daytime minutes on the phone the next day, and voila, 'We cannot find any fault, can you stay at home from 8am to 8pm tomorrow to fix it?' Dude, are you going to sign my paycheck?.. take a hike! And this is a pattern thats repetitive.. And I buy a phone only to notice that the dial tone is non-existent on the phone line he 'fixed'! Aarrrrrgghhhhh..

And thus go by Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu.. and today Friday, I am planning to rush back home for a 2-6pm slot. I swear, if I do not get the connection today, I might end up institutionalized!

Funny business all this.. Customer service. They won't transfer you to a 'supervisor', they are the only folks who cater to your area, they are the only option you have, and what ever happened to 'The customer is King' days? Are we just going to have to take all this nonsense? AND pay all the charges? What are these corporate giants upto? Do they think we cannot do anything about this stuff.. in a way, yes, we all have better things to do than drag this out to some consumer court or file a claim or whatever it is people do. But in the end, I do wonder.. how long is this going to last? All the less-than-size-7 print in (the-almost-white) grey on their websites which we fail to notice - the 'fine print'.. their 'Policy'. Sure looks like its here to stay!

Knock Knock

A hiatus.. through August. What was I upto? Thinking back, all I can remember is running around to complete my projects for the semester, trying to get the paperwork done at work and finally.. move to a new place. Damn the housing manager for all the confusions she caused.

But anyways, now I sit, in a quaint house, sedate and content. Blessed are those guys who helped me move.. lugging those couches and boxes over three flights of stairs, phew! Manpower indeed.. :)

But with all this on my head, this was a first-of-sorts for my B'day! Sep2 and I wasn't even jumping around a week in advance. Is that a sign that I've become 24 and can no longer worry about such things? Nah, I don't believe it.. Must have been all the stuff I was busy with at that time.

I want my Birthday back!!!!!

(Maybe I should celebrate another birthday.. come up with a 'Floating-Bday'!)

Ah, birthdays. What is it about them that generates all the hoopla? But every bit of the day is exciting. The self-induglence and the pampering, the shopping (needless to say), the treats, the GIFTS!

Twiddly thumbs?

As has been the habit for the past week, here I sit, "at work".. and my current project? God-only-knows!! Anyways, not that I'm complaining about it! It is quite nice to sit around at times and do nothing, isn't it? AND get paid for it ;)

There is quite a bit of stuff floating out there in the "Internet", enough to keep you sitting still for atleast an hour (provided you don't keep jumping up and down everytime someone goes past your cubicle!) and man.. somehow at the end of the day, no matter what you read, what you learn, it feels like you haven't really done anything! I am of the firm belief that you have "done" something when you are physically tired. Yes, I loved that week where all I did was sit next to the reactor and troubleshoot it at 125 degF, when I ran around inventorying all the doors that needed weather proofing, shuttled between departments trying to figure out what was going wrong where in the process.. But there you have it, I am one of the dwindling species on the earth who look at work from this angle. What with the computer boom, where the work is all in your mind, and the physical part of it is office ergonomics!!!! No offence to the software folks (ooh, have so many friends in that huge part of the working world).. Aren't we slowly moving toward a period where physical work isn't really considered glamorous? Where suits and laptops rule the day? Well, I still stay the same

As they say.. all in a days work ;)

Ticket Tuesday.

It began with a speeding ticket.

B, I told you about a zillion times, that the way you were driving guaranteed a speeding ticket soon.. Well, lets mark this day Tuesday, 27th June, as the day that changed B's habits (atleast for some time to come). Crappy reasoning:

1. I won't get a ticket as long as I am only 15 above the limit
(fyi = Limit: a. The point, edge, or line beyond which something cannot or may not proceed. b. The greatest or least amount, number, or extent allowed or possible)
2. Everyone's going at this speed, how will I be the only one to get caught? (case in point, today)
3. C'mon, whats the thrill otherwise..

Anyways, my be-sweet-to-B-coz-he-got-himself-a-ticket day is kinda turning the other way around ;) I'm kicking B's ass, and having such a good time at it! But poor soul, bad luck, real tough luck.. There goes the cricket bat out the window, and so does the digicam :))

Alright, will stop before I get beaten up! And look forward to more posts here..