Feb 29, 2008

game to name...

i'm bored of the name of this blog. not the URL, just the name. it's too 'strange'.

and u folk who read this know enough about me and are intelligent enough to suggest them names. without options. u may give me options, however!

so, go on... i'm not going to blog till one of u suggests a name that'll make me go "why didn't I think of that?" & change this one immediately! if u want me to retain this name, please tell me why.

also, this would be a good opportunity for u to remain quiet if u don't really want me to blog anymore! :D

Feb 27, 2008

i ate it all...!?

a mail interchange between me & mine.. this noon. it's extremely amusing, to me. and i HAD to post it here. so i could always r'ber it!
the lines are verbatim. from the mails.


mail 1:
vin: lunch is awesome....:)
did u give me all of it or u kept some...
reply:
me: gave u all of it. enjoy! :) *i usually cook dinner*
reply-2-reply:
vin: :(.. we dont have anythin to eat now...??

P.S.
i would like to clarify that we DO have food to eat. or rather, we will. once i stop blogging, get off my fat a$@# and cook!

Feb 22, 2008

...and i lived to tell d tale

p.s.: facts in this piece may be exaggerated. so take it with as much salt as u please.

i'd read a post on Y's blog a long time ago about her near-death experience... at that point, i couldn't really think of anything that i cud say was anywhere near-death to me! no, not that i'm complaining... but i just thought of something which seemed pretty scary to me when it happened. not near-death. but VERY darn scary.

i was abt 15, i guess.. old enough to be think i knew everything and young enough to actually know nothing. my elder bro was pursuing his dream of becoming a pilot and so was living in indore. he had JUST received his PPL when my summer vacation set in. as we know, pilots don't really have holidays like normal people. so mom & i decided that it would be good fun to visit him there. dad being the work-a-holic said he'd happily manage by himself while the two of us gallivanted around central india!

so it was that we reached indore. the first day we were there, bro in tremendous enthu that only he can muster, said he'd take me for a joyride. before my mom could say anything, i said WOW! and grinned from ear-to-ear in total brotherly adoration.

the "airplane" in which i was to go for my "joyride" was a cessna. the 4-seater kinds. it was my bro, another pilot friend of his - mind you, BOTH were students there and had recently got their PPLs *private pilot's license* but as i said, i was 15 and didn't know better.

so there we were... the take off was kewl... and i was rather kicked about it. my bro was probably as excited as i was... the only thing was each time he'd bend over to show me something on 'my' side of the plane - like the lakes @ bhopal... or some famous temple or some such... the plane would actually "dip" to my side... kinda scary. but again, i was 15. and thought this was fun.

after a while, this "look, the plane dips" became monotonous. so, just like that. for fun. he said "let's switch off the engine for a while". now, this was a single engine plane. and i may not have known much, but even at 15, i knew that this meant that the bloody thing had ONE engine... without which it would FALL!
so i said... "WHAT!" this was meant to be like a "why wud we do that?!" kind of what. instead bro thought his stupid kid sister couldn't follow what he was saying. *yeah, now i think we had communication problems.* so he went ahead to demonstrate. he switched off the engine.

in that one moment, must have been 10 seconds or lesser, my entire life flashed in front of my eyes. *yeah, all 15 years of it!* i wondered if that was his plan - to say it was an accident and 'take care of me' in a mafia fashion. i thought of everything i hadn't done yet and wanted to do. like have shikanji, go para-sailing, get a pet tiger, kiss a boy et al... yeah, ALL of it flashed in front of my eyes *i never had my priorities right, did i?!* in the 10 seconds that my bro had switched off the engine.
he switched it back on, of course, coz he only wanted to illustrate what he had said. and demonstrate HOW fast an airplane would fall. yeah, i really needed to learn that. right. of course, i was speechless for 10 minutes after this. after that, we landed.


then, of course, he told me that they were trained to land those aircrafts even if the engine failed. good consolation, that. of course, now my brother is all grown up & stuff and he doesn't do such things. so if u're in india & flying on one of his flights, pls don't be scared.

and now, i feel like knowing about all those moments in ur life when ur life flashed in front of ur eyes. consider this a tag - and if u like it, pls do it. or leave comments, so i'll know.

SINCE i said this is a tag, the follg instructions are for suruchi & galadriel, whom i'm tag-married to. the rest of u - go, think and write. or read the other posts!
ok... u two... IF u haven't had a near death experience, IMAGINE it, and write. and if u did have a barely near death... go ahead namak-mirch lagao it and blog it. :)

Feb 21, 2008

purrfect!

kyra's happy. and purrs her gratitude to preethi & nantu. she has made not one, but TWO wonderful friends!

here are rambo & simba... kyra's new pals!

and, we are still not talking to buddy!


failed attempt at fr'ship

no, not by me. by my baby, kyra. the cute little tiger cub on d left? of course, by now, kyra believes she's a little kitty. and she's not going to grow up into a man-eater! rather, she's not going to grow up. EVER! it's like neverland for her! she's also as docile as a kittie. she even plays with rope & wool!

so... my well-behaved darling thought she needed to make friends. she thought that like rayshma, *whom she has now adopted as her own pet* she also should "surf" - strange word, that - and find like-programmed pals. virtual friends, as they say.

thus it was, that she came across buddy, the dawg. he seemed nice. he seemed friendly. after all, his name was "buddy", duh! also, he was mrids' pal. so kyra cud frolic with buddy while rayshma & mrids bitched about everything under the sun. perfect situation?

kyra approached buddy y'day. feeling extremely shy - for she had never interacted with dawgs *or men*, she extended a paw, smiled her adorable smile, even wagged her tail like a dawg and sed "friends?"

that's where the proverbial kahaani-mein-twist made an appearance.

buddy did a double-take.. and sed "course not! i'm scared of u!" and whimpered back into mrids' lap! *scaredy little thing!*
poor little kyra took back her paw - for a minute, she thought of showing him her sharp, retractable claws, but then realized it would only worsen the matter - hung her head down, smile wiped out... and came back to me. sulking.

it's sad to see her like that. but my little tigress doesn't need friends who don't appreciate her. she could do well to stay away from specie-ists *that's d equivalent of racist in her world* like buddy the dawg!

but as of now, she's just a little heart-broken by the sheer insensitivity of buddy. she'll be fine. i'll make sure. but in protest, i hereby declare, that i shall not throw ANY bones at buddy. hmph!

p.s.: does rambo still go on his expeditions, preethi?

Feb 20, 2008

life is to be the strange...

i was taking a math quiz on facebook and was taken back to my sheer hatred of maths and the one quant prof who i'll r'ber for the rest of my life. and no, not in a good way. comic, maybe.. but not nice. so, i quit the app and came here to sulk on my space! :P

now, there's something about numbers that i've never quite got.
maybe it's the basic intelligence. or the fact that MY logic is not necessarily what anyone else sees as logical. even in school, when affronted with a question of computing d father's age, i'd stick to the safest answer and say "insufficient data" wherever the option was present! it was just taking the easy way out. of course, with age, i grew out of this habit *taking d easy way one* and now restrict it only to maths questions. also, i'd never be able to figure out any relation between those series of numbers to tell them what came next. that, to me, was like deciding between the chicken & the egg.

that given, a key reason for picking MICA *apart from a bunch of others* was d absence of quant. or that's what i believed. but as luck would have it, not only did we have quant, we also had a psycho prof! his english was completely out of this world. i think he also was painfully low on self esteem. his questions - non maths questions - would genuinely amuse & confound me simultaneously. how do u answer a question like "y d two of u are sitting on d backsides?" or "you are to thinking smart?" when he's trying to ask me if i thought i was too smart. well... painful. yes.

he also had something called "treaky quijhes" *surprise/tricky quizzes, in english* which i refused to tackle. he actually timed us, gave us separate papers *each paper had a different question*, so we wudn't copy and he did a frikkin countdown for the last 10 seconds!!! hello?! go get a life!! it was bad enough that he wanted us to solve the question in 3 minutes. i took that much time to understand what was asked!!! but the countdown completely ticked me off! heyy, i KNOW it's for 3 minutes...? STOP counting down when i'm just beginning to start solving this crap!
so i used to leave those tests blank. once, i walked up to him a minute after he'd barked out "start!", handed him a blank question paper and walked out. my intention was good. i cudn't figure out the problem, so wanted to avoid the pain of sitting there for 5 minutes not knowing what to do. of course, he had a legit question to ask me then... "how u will pass?" he asked me. and me - looking back, i think that was rather snooty - i nonchalantly told him "maybe, i won't!" and cat-walked out of a packed class. i have no clue where i got the cheek to do that from!

of course, i later got hell for that. he apparently complained to the powers that were that "d rayshma is thinking smart" so i was summoned to explain how i cud think smart.
yeah, i "managed" to scrape my way out of maths... initially, with the help of a few intelligent friends who took pity on me and finally, by sweet-talking people who mattered. u know, now that i think of it, it's amazing. the fact that everybody else was so much better at quant than me never really made me reconsider my own intelligence!! yeah, being stupid helps, i guess! also helps to not take anyone else or urself that seriously! but i digress.

and there ended my love-hate affair with numbers. *which means me loving to hate them* of course, i can work on ROI sheets & biz plans. but u always have excel & it's formulae to help u out! sure, those six months of feeling absolutely out of place in quant classes will neither be missed nor forgotten. but then such is life. memories are sometimes made of moments which u'd never want to relive again! strange, no!

Feb 18, 2008

every dog...

...has his day. and apparently, according to this, his song as well!
would i be right in saying that the world is going to the dogs, then....?

Feb 15, 2008

the inner circle

life has changed a lot for me in the past couple of years. and i seldom analyze how blessed i am to have friends who'd do anything for me. it's so comforting to know that i can count on every one of them to be there for me. to make me feel better when i'm feeling grey... to make me smile when i least feel like it. to point out the silver lining when i look up at dark, stormy skies.

i've always categorized everything. frenz included. so i have acquaintances, colleagues, people, friends, and then close friends. here's to core that form the inner circle!

minal: for knowing exactly when i need her. we may not speak for days... weeks... but somehow, the DAY i'm feeling low, she's there. almost telepathically. she has this uncanny way of just knowing what i'm thinking. i don't have to bother finding d words! i love the fact that nothing has diminished the closeness we feel. if anything, we're closer today than we were when we first met.

suruchi: for being there for me. through-out! on days i desperately need to talk to her & on days when i don't. for opening her heart & home to me at a time when i was a li'l lost! *and even homeless, after the b'bay floods!* she made me realize that i don't detest kids, maybe even like them! she made me understand that marriage doesn't tie you down if you marry the right person. that u don't have to lose your individuality only because you're a wife, a mother. you still ARE you. and above all, she made me realize that i wasn't the idol of perfection! :) she keeps me rooted, no matter what. and i am so honored she thinks of me as a friend!

vibs: she morphed into a friend from a colleague before i could turn & say "i like to dance!" she's stood by me through some real stormy, confused times. she made me fall in love with b'bay. and with life. she was my food guide, my area guide... we've done a lot of crazy things, driven people up d wall... had fun. through tears and smiles. through storms and d calm preceding it. our friendship has been put to test at so many levels... and we're still close. i don't know what i'd do without her in my life. d only person i know who lives life with so much zest & style! she's going through a tuff phase right now and i hope i can be there for her like she has been for me.

mishra: he's allergic to mush. simplifies every issue with a flair that makes me feel silly at times! but he knows how to make me smile. irrespective of how screwed i'm feeling. sometimes, we take people for granted. with him, i know i can... and i do. and he returns the favour. but we both know how much the other means to them! and tho i'll never tell him... it's comforting to have a fren like him.

joy: for being the bozo only he can be! for introducing me to bong rock! and making me procure a legally banned CD. has d most amusing perspective on every situation! thinks i married V so HE can have twins! *complicated, warped logic... don't bother!* but i know that if ever i need to fall back on him, he'll be there.

then, there are my occasional guardian angels who help me cheer up on arbit days when i'm blue for arbit reasons... there's GPS, whom i only grow fonder of with every passing day... there's Poo - she can be annoying as hell at times, but i still love her!

here's hoping all of u who believe in V-Day had a good one... and so did all of u who don't! :)

Feb 13, 2008

it's about d money, honey!

me: u know what... mishra bought me today. on facebook. for $571.
vin: he did what?
me: bought me! and then mailed me saying "i've bought u. now u have to call me 'master'".
vin: hehee
me: what hehehe? moron! and u're okay that he bought me?
vin: hmm... yeah. he knows u well enough. but how can he buy u?
me: there's some app on facebook that lets u buy & sell frenz. u're okay with guys buying ur wife???
vin: arre? u shud be flattered he wants to buy u after knowing u so well!
me: *stunned into silence. thinking "he shall pay for this later* achcha?
vin: let's do one thing. let's tell him that when he has to return u, he pays me $1000.
me: what?
vin: *obviously very pleased with himself* yeah, return policy! buy at own risk. return for $1000.
me: who will pay whom here..?
vin: HE will pay ME when he wants to return u. that is why it's a return policy. also, we're sure to earn the $1000, hai na!?

Feb 12, 2008

i'm a commodity!

i recd a mail this morning. which said : "P & A have bought you for $571."

huh? what did they buy? ME??? they BOUGHT me? had V put me up for sale while i was sleeping?!

i thought i was sleepy. or maybe it was the thunderstorm effect. i was hallucinating! first, i see & hear a thunderstorm outside... right here in bright & sunny TX! then i read such mails! as far as i was concerned, i saw NO reason why these two would even think they could buy me! after all, we're good friends!


but common sense prevailed. and i went on to check what exactly they were upto. that's when i realized, i had been bought. yes. unknown to me, i had become a commodity... and been bought.

i don't know what i shud feel worse about. the fact that i'm "sale-able". or the fact that i'm ONLY worth $560 plus taxes. thanks to facebook. d least they cud do was hike up my cost! i mean, hello? even recruiters pay u based on education & work ex, don't they?!

well, i don't usually tell V what's happening on my networking sites. but i think he shud know this! i mean my friends are virtually buying me!

now i'm off to see who can be bought and for how much!

basic.

here is the proof that u don't need a PhD to read my blog! so, read on...!

blog readability test

Feb 8, 2008

doodlez revisited

lavs and the cute li'l aryan tagged me to do the tag of 5. aryan also gave me chocs! yippie! :D
these are the rules of the tag:
Post links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given : family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

so, here goes:

family:
i'd done this piece last feb on my bro... when i was feeling particularly homesick. and now that he's gonna be a dad soon, i'm missing him again.

friend:
i've done a couple of pieces on some close frenz... but i'd link to this as my fave. don't know why. maybe coz i was thinking of this in the morning...? anywez, reading it again just made me miss her more. so here's a happy b'day to vibs, a little bit in advance!

yourself:
well, most of this blog is about me. so linking to ONE post is kinda difficult for a self-obsessed narcissist like me... but this is more of a sneak-peek into a bunch of me! a piece i'd titled i, me, myself.


your love:
well, there're loads of snippets of conversations between V & me... and of things i love. the stirrer piece is still quite fresh.. and i won't link to that! so here's a couple that made me smile while going thru my archives. i'd written about
how we ended up being together in the engagement tag.
and since it's that time of the year again, wishing u all a "happy val day."

anything i like: this was like picking out which child of urs u like the most. it also made me realize that i do like my blog! :)
here're two pieces that are close to my heart. one, coz i love that pic & place. and this one coz it makes me feel like superwoman!

i've to tag 5 people... well, most of u have already done this. but i'm gonna abide by the rules. so i tag: alice, loca, pixie, suma & preethi.
and all of u who haven't done this yet, plz pick it up?

Feb 7, 2008

arbitly urz...

PRATS' tagged me to play d 20 questions.
1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets?
- ability to laugh. despite tears, despite life - at others, and at myself.
- attitude. to carry off anything i want to.
- optimism. of finding the silver lining in every cloud. *if it doesn't exist, i'll draw it*

2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?
u've made me discover the me that i didn't know existed.

3. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you?
*disclaimer: i want to be stranded with all of u at different points of time, but this sed THREE, ok? so plz don't dissociate with me!*

- fuzzy: she's witty, she's crazy. also, she can handle ina, i shudn't be more difficult.

- galadriel: she sings & plays in a band! good entertainment. also, she wud pro'lly kill me if i don't mention her! :D
- taureau: hilarious to the core. he has escapades with elephants and goats... he'd help us survive. also, he gets tongue-tied with women, so he prolly won't need to talk much! :D

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
delphi, greece.
edited to add: this is why.

5. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?
that i get to travel the entire world without having to worry about expenses.

6. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?
i've lived life on my terms. i've made mistakes *i still do*, and i learn from them. so, no regrets.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?
my individuality.

8. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?
make sure nobody's watching when i flick it off to the safety of my home! ;)

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
no. i wouldn't.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you...
i've never met prats, so from what i've read on her space, i think she has:
- amazing optimism.
- a wonderful way of simplifying complicated thoughts.
- intelligence & sensitivity.

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
d requirements list is endless... these are kind of the mandatories:
- patience *i lack it*
- ability to give me my space without feeling insecure.
- know me for who i am and love me despite and/or bcoz of it.
- intelligence.
- sense of humor.
- modesty.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?
*would've been easier to say what i like abt people...*
d types who're intellectually innocent, professionally inefficient, obnoxious, hypocrites, over-friendly and/or a combination of the above.

13. What is your ambition?
to be myself. irrespective of who wants me to become what they like or why.

14. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?
me seeing someone kick/abuse an animal. *and not in self defense*

15. What is the one thing you would change about yourself?
i would be more career-oriented, if i cud.

16. Are you a shopaholic or no?
not at all.

17. What is your stress buster?
staring into nothingness with a cuppa coffee, chips, a good book and getting in touch with the me that knows that life can only get better.

18. What should be done to people who make such long tags..
blog-roll them! i love tags!

19. Do you think God actually exists?
i don't know. i'm as agnostic as they come.

*replaced question*
20. if you could trade your profession for something else, what would it be?
a wildlife photog.

Rules: Remove 1 question from the tag and add your personal question. Make it a total of 20 questions, then tag people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them that he/she has been tagged.

i tag: pixie, trishna, loca & the usual suspects, suruchi & galadriel!
go, gurls!

i'm blessed.

no, this isn't a post about me trying to say how blessed i am and u shud worship me! i'm actually blessed. preethi blessed me. and i haven't stopped beaming since i got to know that!
i would like to thank... well, all of u! :) and preethi gets double thanks. feels really really nice to be thought of... :)
of course, now it's my time to play the goddess of blessings... and i'm in a magnanimous mood. so here i go!
i bless :
suruchi & minal: this blog wudn't exist if not for u gurls.

mahesh: may u find d wife i've been harassing u about! ;)

fuzzy: she's disappeared... and i wonder where...hope all's well.

orchid: the first few who started reading my doodlez! and i love her space.

galadriel: blessings to the lady of lorien for all she may want in life
.
alice: who writes wonderfully, and loves cats! ;)
ketan: bless u & urz and wish u all the best. always.
mrids: since i know where she works, i know she needs the blessings!
plush: she has a wicked sense of humor...and me loves it!
taureau: all d best with d elephants & goats & of course, the gurlz... and keep blogging abt them all!
pix: for being so absolutely lovely and picking up tags :D
lavs: wishing her loadsa luck with her baby

and also blessing all of u who're reading this! we can always do with a few more blessings, can't we?!


ok... prats & lavs have tagged me... so the tags coming up in a bit!