the animal in us !!!

So how do you feel when you are sitting there smiling at the person when you get a frown back in return ? Is it nice to hear "yeah yeah whatever" in return when your statement says " have a nice day" ? I learnt these small things when i began my first job. A customer facing role is extremely difficult; for a novice especially more. Imagine a scene where a young fawn has been released to the wild. Why do i make such a drastic comparison.. B'coz it is very much the same. The theory of evolution says we evolve from animals and in this day & age when we consider ourselves so sophisticated and refined, Our roots ( read animal behavior ) show when things don't go our way.

My job gave me a clear view of all the different animals in that jungle.. The mighty elephants which can be wild but can be tamed.. the tigers that go aggressive and cannot be calmed and the scavengers that live of the powerful tigers.

The elephants are those everyday fliers who know the airline and its rules inside out. They would know the processes better than you and point out loop holes; however they when in crisis ( read their preferred seats unavailable, overbooking ) they can be tackled with easily by offering more benefits and perks. They appreciate you for all you do and thus its always a pleasure having them back.

The tigers - those who belong to the cream of the society. the top actors, super models, politicians etc. For them its their way or they highway. You do as they say and have things as they want or else bear the brunt of it. There is no way to convince them, we have to bow down to their power. There may be those rare occasions when they would be kind enough to listen to you; if that happens count your blessings.

The scavengers - I always hated this lot... They had very little or almost nothing of their own in terms of power, prestige fame or even common sense but their inflated ego got them to float above the rest. They would be at the ground level in their line of business but their expectations are to the treated like the king of the land. Standing your ground firmly and ignoring their desperate pleas for attention helps deal with this lot and sometimes brings them back to their feet. Don't expect appreciation from them; they don't think of anything around them as worthy of it.

There are many more varieties of animals found but the above the the distinct ones. You need a different set of skills to deal with each of them.

My funda - be the ringmaster. Look tough and keep the whip handy.. you never know who might just need a lash :)

Diwali vacation

I remember when i was in school vacation time was the best time we could ask for ( obviously duhh !!! ) Summer was a long ( and i always wished it never ended ) 2 months; Christmas was a quick 10 days and Diwali a beautiful 3 weeks.

Diwali was the time every one looked forward to; i can safely say that for my house. Dad always got this whole big stack of gift vouchers from places like Shoppers Stop and it was our time to go insane shopping even though our Diwali shopping would be over by then. Sweets would keep flowing into the house; weight watchers that we all were; where and how the boxes would disappear no one claimed to know. But most of all it was about the family and having your closest family over is the best way to spend Diwali.

It is indeed a very special time. My family is unlike many others. We are South Indians only by name; our roots lie in Mumbai and we celebrate very festival that comes our way... I remember having Iftar parties in my house, Diwali celebrations happen every year and Christmas is also a time to have fun.

This Diwali is gonna be extra special... First Diwali as the working girl going home with gifts for my family and not from the money i borrowed from my parents. Can you feel the pride :D

Then i get to see all my friends; some who have always been in Mumbai and some are have come down - all about timing ya !!! Most of all i get to see my city, where the roads are familiar and people are ohh sooo great.. I get to eat the food i love soooooooooo much; my Mithibai vada pav and open cheese mysore dosa; the cheese pav bhaji on juhu beach and the pasta & pizzas from alfredos, the kati & seekh rolls from outside my school and never the least the awesome food at home ( for all those laughing at that statement, when you are not an awesome cook i will understand what i am saying )...

What an awesome Diwali vacation it is going to be !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bone splinters & drops of blood... now forgotten

Most mumbaikars would agree that we, as a city have seen a whole lot of terrorist activities; probably more than any other city in India. Each incident leaves it ugly scar on the city and more so a deep, eternally burning one in the lives of the citizens. It pains me to see how justice is never meted out, cases pile up one on top of the other and the city waits silently for the next act of violence...

The media glorifies the city as being ultimately tough/ cold hearted (as you may want to interpret). They say we go on with our lives as though nothing ever happened. I ask them, do we have a choice; for many people everyday's work would mean a hot meal for the family - no work, no daily wage, no food. So is that person supposed to sit at home twiddling his thumbs or take a chance, go to work and earn so that his family can get that day's meal ???

26/11 was probably one of the worst attacks on Mumbai city; the city has never been held at ransom for almost 60 hours. So many people massacred, families torn apart, security officials killed, property destroyed; its effects can still be felt. The lone terrorist to be caught alive- Kasab; caught on CCTV footage spraying bullets at CST and then responsible for the death of a police officer who held on to him tightly even after being shot. We saw the whole ordeal of trials, read about all the questioning and his confession and we rejoiced at the verdict.

I picked up the paper today and one news item catches my eye - Kasab appeals against death sentence... WHYYYY ... who gave him the right to even appeal and the reason he states; police provided insufficient evidence and eyewitnesses accuse him bcoz they saw his photograph on TV. Why wouldn't they identify you, they have seen you kill their kith and kin !!! I don't understand why we spend so much money on keeping a person like him alive even after the verdict has been declared; it is unfair to waste tax payers' money on a terrorist. He slaughtered mercilessly and deserves no mercy in return.

Slightly hard hitting comments, one might think but it upsets me that after so blatantly attacking the city, being caught on CCTV, questioning being done & verdict being given, this person still has the audacity to state a reason as flimsy as 'insufficient evidence'. We are showing ourselves as weak by not executing the death sentence immediately. We need to send out a strong message to those who think they can bring us down that we can fight back when the need arises...

However do I see this happening in the near future; it pains me to say "NO"....

Good morning !!!

It's very strange how we go about our every day life like mechanized beings; each thing is a routine and there is nothing we look forward to... I began my day in the same fashion.

It was a usual battle of rejection as it is every morning - rejection by every rickshaw guy who i ask 'oh-so-kindly' to take me to office. But then as i was thinking of how this had become a daily occurence, along came a rickshaw with a smiling face showing on the windscreen. He agreed and very sweetly asked me to get in. As i began to dig my bag for my MP3 player to take my mind off everything else, he began a conversation. I usually hate having conversations, coz they usually only involve them complaining about the traffic, or arguing against my selection of route or fare.. But he says " so how are you today ?" ...

How are you today... How are you today .... oh my godddd !!! since when did a stranger ask you something like this with a warm smile on his face and timed it oh so correctly when my day had just begun sooooo badly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, i silently held on to MP3 and my bag, waiting to see how the conversation progresses... My mind starts thinking ' crazy, psycho man; unnecessary talk, blabbering away' but slowly i get reeled into the conversation and my MP3 slowly slides back into my bag...

I dont think i have heard someone speak such impeccable english in a long time, no no i am not talking about myself, my rickshaw guy was like a global traveller. My 20 minute ride to office was filled with stories of France, Switzerland and USA.. He tells me the story of his post retirement life, how what he planned failed for him and then inspite of having children livng in Switzerland and USA; he decided to begin working again as an entrepreneur. His financial status didn't let him employ anyone so he rides the rickshaw himself... The best is the way he leaves you, a sweet greeting ' have a nice day' and ' god bless you' ....

My God !! would i do that ... I dont mean to be prejudiced or biased in any way but no.. i dont think i would... I see the happiness in his eyes in simply serving the passenger and no quarms of having to work at this age... Wow; really Wow !!!!

Kudos to Mr A.N Fernandez !!!

nostalgia ... and a whole lot of drunkenness

4 months since we finished MBA, 4 months since the noise of the hostel, the constant chatter of people around, the bad food we ran away from to take solace in Hot n Cool maggi and satkar parathas ... So what happens when some friends come back to the city for a weekend; the weekend turns out superb..

P came from 'the pind' and V from chennai.. Wanted K to be there, missed her tons... For V n i the weekend was like any other in college; waiting for a plan to be made and then the rain... "the never failing to arrive when we don't want it" Bangalore rain, the many, many change of plans and the on going discussion about where to go while S drove towards one place... And then we land up where Pig told us to go... Saturday night with awesome music and the even better liquid diet :D ... Ms K : very upset you weren't there

How quickly the saturday went past and i woke up the next day with a bad back and a fairly dirty living room... Bottles and kurkure packets under the sofa and kurkure dust everywhere...

I didn't remember how the night ended really; but the snaps spoke for themselves :D

Waiting for the next one !!!

when a candle blows out...

On my weekend grocery shopping trip, I happened to pass by the home decor section of the mall and there stood some of the most exquisite candles i have seen... it got me thinking...

Have you wondered about the relation between candles and people ?? Here's my thought - For me every person in my life is like a candle.. Like a candle, they give out light and brighten my life; the same way a candle brightens a room. They could be acquaintances, like the regular white candles which we usually ignore but dig out when the power goes out... Allow me to reiterate; while they may look ordinary, but they help dispel the darkness we hate. Doesn't that remind of those numerous people we have in our lives, we may not call them friends, relatives, close ones or any such label but they have the solution when you are in the dark !!!

While I more than appreciate those, I want to stress on the other category; the 'scented candles' - Yes, those that not only bring light but also a beautiful fragrance into our lives. They adorn every aspect of our life, beautifying it with their artistic shapes, vibrant colors and pleasing aroma -  I call them my family, friends and close ones. I would hate losing any one of them, but they do blow out sometime..

I felt the pinch of losing one very recently, the candle being one of my reasons for existence. The candle stood out in my life, its shape being the model for me to shape my life, its light soothing me, shadowing me quietly while I was unaware but showing me the light whenever I needed...

How does it matter that the candle was separated from me in geography through my life and now eternally, its presence is and always will be felt very strongly in my life. My eyes are filled with my last sight of this candle, flickering as if sad to see me go but still burning brightly as if to say "I am proud of you and I am always here to show you the light".

Thank you my dear candle , how I shall miss you !

...and then i lit the fire !!!

While this experience may have come in much earlier into the lives of most ppl, i am unfortunately a late starter... It was fascinating to watch it being done and the exotic results it produced; not to mention unbelievably delicious..

In the past 10 days my boredom with eating out and my dabbawalla's khana started to increase; Not to mention the amount i spent on eating out was burning a nice hole in my pocket.. My craving for Mc Donalds, Subway and all the rest started to decline, how much i wanted a nice dal, veggies and rice.. So at the start of the week, after quick consultation n very little deliberation my kitchen has a stove, gas cylinder, spices, basic vessels and vegetables... Woo hoo !!! Now the million dollar question ... what to cook, rather how to cook ???

Luckily i got help, awesome help that helped me turned simple ingredients [ and a bird ;) ] to a meal i will be very proud of for a long time...

But the basic process is what should be mastered. The cutting of the onions, those damn onions, who says they should be there in every dish ?? Two onions cut and the tears wouldn't stop... there i was trying to cut the onions properly, trying to protect and fingers from being cut and battling my oh so many tears.. then the chicken resting soundly under the marinate of curd and spices... we start to make the gravy... the flurry of onions & tomatoes, several masalas ( chilli, turmeric, garam and dhaniya - yes i know the names and even how they look ), salt and meat masala... Mix,mix,mix & stir, stir, stir vigorously of course else it will start to burn...

But the battle is not with the dish on one burner; the second sitting silently, like the calm before the storm is the rice; the rice that i know if not dealt with correctly will burn.. So one begins cleaning it and then bringing the water to a boil before letting the rice in... i cover the rice leaving just a tiny outlet and let it simmer...

The chicken is mixed into the gravy and again we are again to stir stir stir... eyes on the rice too.. its like watching a tennis match; eyes keep dashing from one side of the stove to another... Keep checking on the rice and finally the wildly vibrating cover of the rice dish screaming out that the dish is done.. my chicken also releasing a wonderful aroma... i turn off the gas and breathe normally again....

I just cooked my first meal !!!!! Bon Appetit !!!

Friends...

The past few months; actually years there was a very common statement that my set
of friends used very frequently and unaplogetically " we are too old to make friends now"... Sadly enough it seemed like it was true; we clung on to each other for our dear lives, binding the chains of friendship tight around our ankles... But the chains always begin to wear out and they did in my case too.... This statement started to get disregarded when i moved out of home for MBA... The new environment and the new city brought in a huge wave of friends - very different from the ones i have back home... I loved this change - one begins to think of how one set of friends differ from the other but still are equally special....

My hometown friends... those that know me from years on end, have seen me thru school and college, who have seen me thru various transitions & transformations and seen the person i have become before i left home... we have set traditions which we always look forward to whenever we are all together ( to cite the simplest example undhiya )... The gang has split but the emotional bond stays strong - it stays unshaken across the various geographies where we exist... You see it when there is one chain mail sent across, the smile is beyond brilliant, the glimmer in the eyes unmatched to any other sight... as difficult as it maybe to find time to connect, that one act of connecting (phone,email, chat or FB) brings unexplained joy...

My hostel friends .... Those who made my life in a new city so much easier. They listened when i cried for home, they laughed at my new and funny experiences in this city.. we celebrated every happy moment of our lives together and made sure it was the best... Those secret terrace drinking parties to the very frequent and secret escape from the hostels to party; things i have never done before... Setting up camp in each others' room or rummaging through each others' wardrobe - each incident is crystal clear and fresh in my mind... Now our ways have parted but i don't see any difference in our attitude towards the other... I know each one is a call away as am i for any of them... They helped me learn to live on my own and have fun at it too... I will never forget that and needless to say them...

My work friends... The transition from 'campus to corporate' is scarier than one can imagine.. The move from a chilled out, relaxed, very scheduled college life to a 'full of challenges', extremely dynamic, constantly under pressure work environment can bring down the toughest of students.. An awesome bunch of people at work keep me going on and on and on; those 'expectation' meetings on the first day, getting things set up for yourself, 'who do i ask what' frights - can't imagine the nightmare of joining alone... The best part in the first week would be having someone, one familiar face when you walk into office on those first 2/3 days.. The never ending talks, unusual amount of chitter chatter, chocolate time after lunch and of course our weekly outside lunch - two months and counting; these rituals have formed and there are more to come... The excitement is bubbling under ...

How each other affects my life is difficult to detail; but this is my small way of saying thank you. Whether near or far, each impacts my life in every way possible... and when i thought these were probably the only classifications in the groups - i attend a mandatory training program and make some more friends over two fun filled days of team games, in-depth introductions and rappling :) .... Details on the trip later !!!!!