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| Time : 8:54 am. Its a lovely cloudy breezy July morning. I am walking towards office, making plans of how to wind up work and other activities dependent on me and leave office at 5 pm latest. I have to take the night train to Chennai tonight, so that means, I wouldnt be seeing Mihika in the weekend, I was making some quick calculations on how to plan meeting the kid before leaving the city for the weekend. Just one building before the work place, a white man coming in the opposite direction stops his car and informs me about something happening at the office. I could first hear only Swi.. I asked him what swiping was he talking about. I switched off the FM on my mobile, I heard him clearly this time " There is a confirmed case of Swine Flu at office, people are leaving, and more cases are suspected, so why dont you return back" . Well, I knew he was working at my work place , I have seen this person, probably lifts or may be my floor, but I am not sure. Bu then I am sure, its easy for people to spot me, bcos of my height and recognize me outside work place too. Well his news was sudden, and since I was just a building away, I thanked him and told him, I will anyways walk upto there to meet my boss/team to confirm further details. Pacing slowly towards the office building, I could see, company buses entering normally into the Office Gate. So I called my boss on his mobile, but he didnt pick my call. Then I called my teamie B, and she confirmed the news and told me, they were all made to wait inside the company bus.
After I reached the office, I teamed up with few of my colleagues and waited outside the office building with 1000 other employees. Nobody knew the source of the Information. Finally somebody from the MGMT declared that there was one confirmed case of Swine Flu and that they have quarantined that particular floor and people who are comfortable can go in and work. Well, there were some debates and discussions and finally what we heard was that we could take the day off.
Well 2 of my colleagues came back home with me, and we had a Dosa, Sambhar, Pudina Chutney, Breakfast at home. They have been waiting for quite some time for Dosa bfast at my place. We discussed some of the office tales/gossip and then they left for the day. We looked for more information on the Internet for this particular news. But we havent been able to trace any. Also we do not have access to work-email from outside office network, so we havent received any official information from the MGMT yet.
I do not know the impact of this incident on the remaining employees. Some of us are already feeling sick thinking about the possibility of contracting the flu. I have been having hectic schedules for a month now, and my health and well being has been normally low for quite some time. So, I think my sick feeling today is just a temporary phase and things will return to normal very soon.
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| I have a number of pending things which have to be logged here, some of which have been some major turning points in my life. Most of the posts come with pictures, and I either forget to upload or update the post. Remember this post, where we were supposed to make something by ourselves and dispatch it to the first 4 winners :) Well, I have still not reached 50% of the original idea I had planned. Luckily I still remember the first 4 winners of my contest, but I do not remember, whom all, I have to get my surprise gift from :) ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dianaparadise sent my gift before even before I had actually started thinking about what to send the winners from post. She sent me this beautiful hand made card, collected all leaves from her garden and when it reached me, I could still smell the fragrance :) Well, I have got musical cards, this is the first time, I got a garden flavored card :) ( Card behind ) | |
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| Some time, early this year, I had problems with stray cats, visiting my backyard and treating it like a public toilet. After couple of times of stepping onto cat shit and urine, I searched on the Internet for effective ways to keep them away. Also my kitchen back door, opens to this place, so keeping the door closed, meant less of ventilation. Well, I am no expert in cat traps and pepper spray, but after reading couple of help pages, I concluded that cats are repulsive to certain smells like those of citrus fruits. I didnt have time to run around markets looking for commercial cat-repellent sprays, I tried with Baygon cockroach spray and it worked from day 1. The cats didnt turn up for a while.
This problem went forgotten until Saturday morning, when bro pointed me to a half eaten dead rat and also some cat shit around the same spot. Looked like the cats, have had a major party, bringing in food, making themselves comfortable on the floor mats, and then forgetting about cleaning up the left overs. well,l it was indeed a kitty party. We took turns cleaning the mess. And before going to bed, I used my weapon(Baygon) again as the repellent. Sunday morning was fine with no traces of remains of kitty parties, or shit.
Monday morning, as I opened the kitchen door, there were patches of dry blood over the floor. Didnt look like that of leftovers from the Kitty party, bcos I couldnt find any rat hair or legs as remains like the other day. Either the prey was delicious for the cats to have cleaned up all the bones, or one of the cats, probably a female one, was menstruating. Well, I spent some good amount of time, cleaning and washing the floor on a lovely monday morning. I have to seriously look for alternatives, if anyone knows of any shop or any number I can call and seek help, please do provide. I do not want waking up every morning wondering what surprise lies on that side of the door. | |
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| After struggling for a week, with a bug in the code, when it works Monday morning, its like getting relief from constipation. You know its there, but you dont know why it is not working, and you dont know what the bug is. And you have that heavy feeling within you.
Finally got relief today. Damn, only if I could read in between the lines of the error log file. Last week was pathetic, I hope the week ahead is nice :) | |
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| Dont know if its the emptiness within or in the house, its been a bit blank after parents left today morning. The past 2 weeks have been mixed, a bit of tensed especially with Dad getting sick. And to add to more responsibility, bro was not in town, and suddenly it seemed like a support off. Luckily he came back last weekend, and it suddenly feels nice to have everyone home and in good health. There were some occasions earlier in childhood, when out of a moment of anguish, or temporary kiddish sibling rivalry when I wondered why I had a younger brother, I used to wonder how life would have been without a sibling, that too a younger one. The equations favored him then bcos he was younger :) Well, last week, I knew how it would feel like, when you suddenly feel all alone especially with ailing parents, when you cant outsource your worries. Friends are supportive and loving always, but family is family.
Dad as usual gets tensed when things dont go punctual. I had booked for a taxi to the Rly station for 5 am for the 6 am train. From 4.45 am, he has been panicking about the taxi not arriving. In between desperate calls to the taxi office, the only thing I hoped was for the taxi to make a magic appearance. With all the chaos, the milk boiling on the stove, spilt all over the kitchen. The story of the milk is another one. Since Dad was advised for a regular exercise bcos of being over weight, I allowed him to venture out yesterday morning to get the milk for the day. Well the person who was supposed to return with 1 litre of milk, came back home carrying 3 litres of milk. Yes, thats my Dadda. And I reminded him that they were traveling back the next day and I should prolly shift to a whole milk diet to consume the extra 2 litres all by myself. Well, Dadda had other plans, he says, " its okay, we will make Payasam " . Well, now, we know how the overweight thing came up ! The payasam plan was safely ignored or forgotten.
So it was good that today morning some of the milk went for a toss. And after they left, I had a huge task of clearing up the kitchen. Cleaning up is a good way to divert sadness/emptiness. But then, I did remember I am home alone, when I put back those extra crockery, until they return again.
Good thing about being alone is, getting back to the Internet network, and also catching up with many friends post as well as pending posts to be logged.
Work has been the worst this whole week. I guess, there will be such low points now and then. | |
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| It is only in the Lift you can smell a combination of stinking shoes, unwashed socks, bad breath, shirts perfumed with sweat, oily unwashed hair, body odour ...
And its only the lift, you meet all the junk heads working in your company. People on phone, blocking the door wondering which way the lift goes, people who dont get out of the lift bcos they were either talking, or dreaming or on phone, people who barge in without letting others to exit, people who have a fantasy to press random buttons and make the lift stop at all unwanted floors, Well, its a jolly ride till the 7th floor. If only, I had the stamina to take up the stairs, I would have avoided this.
If the CEO, gave me the choice to lay off people, I would take him on the Lift and show him how much cost he can save !
Meme time, add your other frustrating lift experiences as comments !! | |
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| Its day 5 at the Gym and considering the aching muscles, it has been good so far. The last time I was in gym, it was 2 years back, and I was not this heavy then, and since the gym was outside office, I wasnt feeling this uncomfortable with my huge body especially wearing the gym clothes. Now, I accompany my junior team-mate B to the office gym, who is very fashion conscious. So it also means, I did some weekend shopping for more gym clothes and accessories. Did I mention that the gym clothes I used 2 years back, are shorter for me ? Well, I am sure, I have not grown taller. If that was the case, the never-ending search for the right and tall guy is going to take much longer. I started analyzing why my clothes got shorter, and I was not very glad to hit on the answer. When one grows broader, the clothes have to cover larger area width wise, and so they cover lesser length wise ! Huh . Well thanks for standing 176 cms tall, people who see after a year now, do not complain/exclaim that I have put on weight, its only me, who worries, bcos I carry those extra 10 kilos now ! So during the weekend B and I went shopping for clothes with contrastingly different specifications. She was looking for extra-small and I was looking for X-Ls. And I usually go for the unisex varieties bcos of my height. She also made me buy some hair bands and other accessories. I have not started wearing them yet. Well, she does, and she looks like a typical Anushka Sharma of RNBDJ. Good in way, it adds a glamor quotient to our otherwise boring gym. I need the motivation to jump around, otherwise, there is no fun jumping around fat masses during the aerobics session. And now, it seems the fashion factor is hitting me too. I am bored with my gym clothes. And since its mid-week, I have no time for a dedicated shopping spree either. I regret those many times, I was offered t-shirts at different office events, parties, contests, I always opted them for bro or Dad. I have no interesting t-shirts :( And somehow, I didnt want to hit the gym today with my boring t-shirts. Its pay-back time, So I opened my brother's wardrobe and looked for t-shirts which can be used as unisex. Also, for the ones he wouldnt mind donating it to me. I finally got a t-shirt sponsored by " THE WEEK" . Good enough for today, now I know what to do in the weekend. | |
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| A month back I spent 4 days in exhaustion for getting things in order for an impulsive decision. After applying for the VISA, though I doubted my own application, I didnt bother much about it, bcos I knew if I did, it would weaken me further if I fail. I never prayed once for a successful processing, though in between I got anxious and kept tracking the progress on the VISA office website. And one of the worst fears was, what if they called up my present employer for a background check. My friend had a similar call for the same VISA, and when his manager inquired about it, he was lucky to fool his manager with some other reasons. I know, my manager cannot be taken for a ride that easily. And when I havent really thought about the migration, I do not want to ruin my manager's hope about me staying here for a long time. So yesterday I got a call at 9 am from the courier office. I was already on the way to office, so I could not collect the passport. I got a bit anxious bcos I had to wait till evening to know the news which could be either ways. I called up Vee, who helped me ease out, and after reaching office, I forgot about it until I reached back home and started following up with the courier office. May 1 being a holiday, I didnt want to sit whole of the day waiting for the courier till Saturday . At 10 pm, I got the courier. There was some confusion with the consignment number, so while the guy was checking it up, I didnt want to get anxious, so went back to the kitchen to do the dishes :) After he left, I held the cover in my hand, mumbled a small prayer which I dont even recall now. As I opened my passport, the first thing which fell out was my passport photo, and I got a shock which made me weak, wondering if my application was rejected. However the shock didnt last long, so I pulled out other papers to find out why they rejected my application. I already set my mind to appeal for it. I couldnt find any papers other than my original documents. So I opened my passport again and found the VISA on page 17. :) I think they usually return photos :) I didnt know that. My mind was calm, I looked at the VISA for some time in silence. I realized then that there is actually nothing forward to look to, I do not have plans yet, I am yet to make plans, it had been a long day already, so I left the passport on my table and retired to bed. Plans can wait, or they can evolve, I anyways have the keys to one of the roads of my future. I need to choose which road. Co-incidentally yesterday I completed 6 months at my current employer. I didnt realize it, until I got a confirmation letter from the HR eod. Though transition from probation to permanent is usually sequential, with the economic conditions around, anything could happen. I am glad, nothing untoward happened so far. This is key to another road ahead. I do not believe in Astrology though I try to analyze people and their sun signs. But they say, the positions of planets favor when it is ur birth month or sun sign phase, so good things happen. And bcos of this reason, over the years, once its April-May I always turn positive about the decisions I make and their outcome. Be it planetary influence, or the positive thoughts, things have been good so far. Everything is falling into place so far. | |
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| Last night when I was just about to hit bed, my college batch mate Vin caught me online. We were class mates at Engineering for the first year, later we were divided into different streams, he was into Mechanical. The first time I knew him, I thought he was a "Vaaye-Nokki" ( One who keeps ogling at girls ) , bcos he was desperately trying to hit on my beautiful room-mate Sho, who was not interested in him either. Being the protective and motherly room mate, I always tried to keep him away from Sho.
Later Vin changed his strategy and started acting as if he was hitting on me, so that Sho would get jealous and fall for him. I remember, Vin looking for me on one of the Valentine's and how I tried avoiding him and ran for my life. We all knew it was for fun, but Sho and Vin werent a couple then, not until we graduated. I do not know what happened after college days, I knew things were serious between them, only when I came to know they were together in Dubai and were getting married despite religious conflicts, family honor etc .
Today they are happily married and are blessed with a beautiful daughter Tina. And Vin was multi-tasking while baby-sitting and chatting with me, Sho was busy preparing for one of her training exams. Vin was telling me that everyday Sho cursed all the people in her company for making her read through Aircraft engineering. I had a hearty laugh, bcos Sho was somebody who couldnt sit with a book under her nose in college days even. Sho and Liz, my room-mates used to sleep all through the exam days while Vids and I spent many countless nights burning midnight oil. They in fact, brought special Dunlop Mattress from home, bcos the hostel beds were not very nice to sleep for long hours, especially when other kids were putting on the light and studying :) I remember, as we were the first batch for the new syllabus, the important questions under different categories could be easily guessed. Sho and Liz would wake up around 5 am on the exam day and start studying, while I did the revisions for the important questions. They always passed. Vids and I always wondered where this was leading to.
Even before any of us had jobs, Sho was already employed with Dubai's best Airways. I remember when Vids and I discussed how getting good ranks and marks didnt matter once you are out of college. Today Sho works as an Electronic Engineer for Dubai's world famous Airlines. But she thinks, she is not able to grasp things on her training manuals, bcos she didnt read anything properly in her Engineering days. Vin says, Sho feels atleast if she had worked hard then, it would have been easier today. Vids are you reading this ? Sho repents now ! But little does Sho know, it really does not matter what you read in Engineering or vomited on the answer sheets. Bcos none of us are really working on what we read those days, though fundamentals remain same. On second thoughts, may be Sho is right too, she is never used to sitting in one place with a book in her hand, so its definitely a task to prepare for the training sessions now. When she was 18-19, she cursed the authors of our Engineering reference books as to why they couldnt keep things simple, today reaching 30, she curses all the training staff at her work place.. Heh.. Life sometimes brings you back what you dont want. | |
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| Today is International Dance Day. For all you Dance lovers, you know what to do next. My team mate has been pestering me for sometime now to join her for some Dance classes. As I already have my evenings packed with loafing around and disturbing friends, their parents, their kids, their servants and in some cases neighbors too, I had not given her my whole consent.
Co-incidentally today we bumped into the idea of joining the office gym where we have aerobics classes too. Well, its 2 years since I last visited a gym, and the weighing machine numbers do not leave me content either. So today we enrolled for our gym and aerobics class. I am eagerly looking forward to this.
Today morning when I went to pick some tea from the pantry, the glass table with a borken sharp edge(kept for news papers) tore my salwar and also a little of the kameez. And it also scratched my leg slightly. I managed to temporarily staple the torn cloth. I am angry with myself and also with the facilities team here. I raised a call report asking them to either remove or replace the table, bcos it could be more dangerous for someone else. I dont think they understand.
Btw, I was not dancing around in the pantry, I was just trying to quickly scan the newspaper and was standing and reading the newspaper when this happened. | |
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| The past 4 days have been hectic. I expected myself to be physically drained, but with some minor problems I got mentally strained as well. Yesterday I suddenly felt abandoned as the pillars of support I was leaning on appeared to be crumbling. Somehow, these days, my endurance levels have been better than before, so I am just letting this phase pass as well. So far, the journey back towards recovery is going faster than what I anticipated.
I reached Bangalore today morning at 5 am, and I decided to crash into my bed for further sleep. I reach office late and even after 4 hours of doing bits of code and staring in vain at my failing code on the monitor, I couldnt get back to routine. After calling up few friends, I call Mihika.
Every time she talks to me, the first question I ask her is "What are you doing " ? As she has just started catching up with English sentences, she mistakes my question to "Where are you " ? And her prompt response is always " Here "...then pauses for a while " Here" .. screams a while later "Here" ( As though I dont understand what "here" means !) While I try to equate "here" to a probable question" she screams louder "Nanna house " ( Dad's house ) . Well after altering my question to a multiple choice question with options like "are you eating " , "are you playing " , "were you crying", she mumbles and gives answers in her own baby language !
Today however she gave me a surprise when I asked her my usual question . She replied " TV cartoon " . I was happy and the gladness took away all my tiredness and we continued for a couple of seconds until the maid switched channels. Mihi thought I did something bcos it was me to whom she told she was watching cartoons. She runs to her mom and complains that I changed the channel. Well, to rephrase what she actually complained "Look at what this lady did to the cartoon ". Well her mom tried to explain to her that I didnt have access to their TV from my office, she was in no mood to reconcile. Well, I should now think of a peace treaty. ( perhaps get her the chunni which I promised ) | |
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| This day last year, I was confused about my life's position. There were many questions unanswered, there were many reasons unknown. One of the worst birthdays I had in my life minus the family and friends who stood by me. In midst of all chaos in my life, the only thing I knew was that I was back home, I knew my family was there for me. I had nothing to look forward to, I nearly screwed up my career, my life was never like before, and destiny was what I didnt want to accept then. Today I am still confused, I havent got the reasons I am looking for, I havent found the answers, the only difference being I know what I dont want, I know what not to accept, I know what is not possible, and above all I know even if you hit rock bottom, there is always one step to take above !
2-3 years back, this is not what I wanted my life to be today. But compared to what it was this time last year, I have progressed quite far. Though I get ocassionaly depressed when I think a lot, I am glad I am perfectly competent at work and have not lost the zeal to excel. There is something always to focus and spend your energy on.
Well, at work place, it is an unsaid custom to bring sweets and snacks and then offer a small party at the Cafeteria. Feels like school days, bringing sweets and everyone coming to your place and wishing you. Anyways, as long as anything makes you feel younger and kiddish it is good, especially with every advancing year.
So far the day started with a lot of events. Milk spilled while boiling, bcos I was trying to multi-task with irctc. I had to book tatkal tickets and the site never opened its services. After refreshing 40-50 times, and able to login 20-25 times and paying 7-8 times, and getting deducted thrice, I finally got one ticket booked. Phew. I got late to office, and I had to carry sweets and snacks, so I took an auto. Anyways after reaching here, everything seems to be normal. I got to give a project presentation about the projects I am handling to the management here, I hope it goes on well.
Looking forward to brighter days !!
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| I think what I did mainly this weekend was reliving my earlier weekends, especially the ones around 2-3 years ago. Saturday morning, though it was quite hot, R and I went out shopping. With 2 kids, R never gets time to be herself, so we decided to leave the kids home and venture out. After dropping R back home, I got home and when it was a bit cooler, I got into a BMTC bus and went on a jolly ride for a Rs 30 daily pass. Well, a BMTC is never a jolly ride, but thanks to IPL, the junta was mainly indoors and the roads were a bit empty. I went around almost all places I used to frequent 2-3 years back. As the bus slowly crossed these landmarks, I recollected every moment, every dialog I had with the person who accompanied me that time. Some of the memories were funny, some were painful, some of them made me guilty for having hurt some of the best people in my life, some memories, made me realize the wonderful set of people I was around with then, the people who were always there for me, when I needed them. I also re-lived my feelings for one of my crushes, how I met him, how I wished, he would call me again to meet him, how I kept oscillating my decision about whether to tell him or not.. heh. Well, I also realized, its not bcos he is married now, I actually lost the feelings for him a while back, I cant recall when, or why or how, but given a second chance, I do not think, I can get back those feelings. But then re-living the past was quite amusing :) I returned back home with mixed feelings of my entire flashback. R had to exchange few things bcos of size mis-matches, and we went again yesterday. This time with Mihika also bcos S offered to drive us around. Ever since Mihika spotted her cousin wearing a salwar set, she has been persistently asking one for herself . So, we found a cotton salwar-kameez set , and I was surprised time flies so soon. It was just like yesterday when Rash and I went out to buy some baby accessories for the just born Mihika. And now, we stand shopping for chudhidar set ! Well, it didnt end there. We reached home and Mihi was quite ecstatic of her salwar set. She changed into them and did some of her typical dance steps in joy, while her parents R-S and I were watching her and we eventually got carried into our own thoughts about how our little darling took her first baby steps. Well, we had to abandon our journey through memories, when we heard a loud shriek. Mihika wanted to know where the chunni was !! Well, who buys dupatta for 2+ year olds and its not a typical jodha-akbar set either. So R and I tried explaining to her, that this didnt come with a chunni.. Well, the wails turned into louder sobs and S kept looking at us as though we were some fools who didnt think about this situation earlier. In between her sobs, the kid also tried explaining to us, that she wanted the 3 things together, and that was what was called a set. Well, we realized the kid was quite serious in her specifications and it was the chunni the most important attraction. Desperate we were to quieten this wailing kid, we immediately tore one of R's dupatta's and wrapped it around Mihika. She wasnt amused. After assuring her and taking the blame of leaving the chunni at the shop, I promised to return back with her original chunni ! phew.. that was close. | |
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| For the past 2 days, every time I went to the ladies washroom, I saw the same gal sitting on the sink slab and talking on her phone. I might have gone over 5-6 times between 9 to 6 pm and I saw her there every time I went. I wonder if the poor kid remembered to have her lunch in between. I also cannot imagine her being absent from her work place for 2 whole days ! Even if somebody didnt have work, cant they be grateful to their employer for paying them the day's salary ! I do not work 100% of the time I sit in office, but I give 100% to what I do when I am in working in office.
The worst thing about putting on weight in summer is, your clothes which are just fitting you get more tighter and stick to your body more closer. And instead of removing stitches, I am determined about getting back to original sizes. And the step towards determination includes sleeping on time and waking up early to get back to my morning walks and try other ways to increase the metabolism rate.
Another thing I worry during summer is hair loss. I think its about the sweat which triggers more hair loss. Its going to be one year I straightened my hair and I think , its time for the next one. Over all, I am quite happy with the way I had to deal with it and also, I didnt expect that much of hair loss as I had imagined it to be. And its funny, everytime I notice the newly grown curly hair, I hate it, yes, I hate my very own natural hair. The very own curly hair which added more cuteness to my chubby face when I was a kid.
Today morning, I was standing near the Domlur Flyover bus stop, when an IBM bus to Manyata Emabssy crossed. It went mid-way on the fly-over and stopped bcos the driver forgot to pick up a girl waiting near the Flyover bus stop. Only when the girl starting walking on the flyover , I noticed she was handicapped and she was struggling her way up. I had no idea on how to help her reach the bus. The traffic was not at all bad, atleast some people could have got off the bus and helped the bus take reverse. The poor girl struggled her way up, and everyone was just standing and watching her. I was one among them. I am just thinking now, why my brains didnt work then, I could have stopped either a 2 wheeler or 4 wheeler and asked someone to offer her a lift upto her bus. My brain goes dead sometimes. | |
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| Last Weekend, I invited Vee and her hubby P for dinner to my place. I had suddenly recalled that I hadnt invited them home after their marriage, which was actually more than 18 months back :) Well, so many things happened in all our lives last year, that we forgot about these formalities ! Anyways, it was not typically a formality, I just wanted them to come home.
I was so excited that we finally could get all of us free on Saturday evening and I made elaborate plans for the menu. P being a converted Vegetarian, I suddenly felt handicapped about cooking ! I realized I didnt know any specialties in Vegetarian dishes.. All my life, I have been witnessing only non-vegetarian feasts thrown out at home parties. Even some time last year, I had been host to some 20 people and I somehow had managed to build up the menu to some 15+ items, ( thanks to chicken, eggs, fish and prawns and their corresponding starters) . Okay, I made vegetable cutlets last year, I didnt think about it this time, so I missed out on a opportunity to show my talents :P Well, I know to make vegetable pulav as well, Rash a strict food critic, has also certified my vegetable pulav to above average standards, but then I have stolen the recipe from Vee's mom, so I didnt want any repetition, especially from their home menu.
Anyways, mid-way between my cooking, I got lazy and lost the enthu and since I had not hit on the idea of vegetable cutlets. I closed my kitchen after making a payasam. So we just had chappathi, chana chole, rice, mixed vegetable sambhar, ladies finger sabji, and moong dal_rice payasam, and oh yes, garnished with plenty of talk and fun which was priceless !
Next time, I invite somebody, I would start with culets as specialty ! And for Vee and P, I will extend another invite for a snacks party :) | |
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| The other day I was waiting in the queue outside a Vijaya bank ATM near my home to withdraw some cash for the house rent. A man in his 50's was at the ATM, doing something for a long time. As I waited outside impatiently, he suddenly turned back and after noticing me, he opened the door and signaled me to come inside. I really didnt understand what he was trying to convey. He kept showing his ATM card and signaled me to come inside. I assumed he wanted me to go in and use the ATM, bcos his card had some problem. Without thinking about anything, I immediately signaled him back, that I had no problem waiting and that he could use his time.
This happened for 2-3 times, until another middle-aged person came and stood behind me. Soon the new person also got impatient, and he went nearer to the door. This time the guy inside called the second man in and both of them started debugging the ATM machine and his card. I began thinking if I did a mistake by not helping the guy initially. May be he genuinely had a problem. But then, who knows, could be a trick also to fool somebody, get her in and take some cash at knife point ! I also didnt wait any longer, may be 2 thiefs together trying to fool me. And being April 1, I didnt want any thief playing any tricks on me either ! May be I just only lost on doing a good deed.
I remember a similar incident where I refused to help someonea month back. A guy in bike stopped near me, and asked me if I saw any black wallet on the road I was walking on. And then, he asked me to lend him 50 rupees as he had lost his wallet, so that he could fill petrol and reach home. I didnt wait and ask him, if he wanted me to lend or donate ? I just told him, " I am sorry, I cant help u " and walked back home. I think I walked back rather fast and made sure, he was not following me. Well, it was not about losing 50 rupees, I was worried, this could be some base plan to get something bigger, either divert my attention and snatch my handbag, or in the pretext of returning the money, coming to my home etc etc.. Well, and who can identifyy people with helmets on ! | |
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| The biggest thing I did last week, was to suddenly decide about applying for a UK work visa. I had plans to look for a job in UK sometime last year. But I didnt have a valid work visa then. With markets down, I had totally given up on the idea, until when the UK VISA board, changed the eligibility for TIER-1 General VISA. They allow only candidates with masters from March 31. Atleast for now, I do not plan to do a masters. So with just a week left, I made one big decision and got all the bank documents in place. There was some little running about, bcos I had to get attested payslips from 2 employers and supporting bank statements for a 12 month period.
The good lesson I learnt from the whole experience is, things go fine, when one maintains oneself cool. I knew I was very late to get the documents in place, so I told myself, I am not going to get frustrated at the end of the ordeal, if I fail to get things in place. Looking back now, most the documents were not in the format I wanted, I had patiently explained to the banks and the employers my requirement, and without forcing things my way, I actually got the documents finally. Especially with the previous employer, I stood quite some time at the reception of the corporate office, explaining on phone to the payroll guy. I was surprised, that never in my life before, I have been so patient with people or situations ! I am glad, I am learning to accept change.
I submitted my documents on March 27, and I have decided again not to get anxious about my application getting approved. I have told myself the only loss would be the 45K I spent on the whole process, bcos I am not bothered about the job thing currently and its too risky to shift jobs anyway. But I am happy I made an attempt to go about this. | |
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The biggest lesson of 2009 is not to accumulate your CLs atleast till the end of the financial year. With 1.5 CLs unused and with 2 working days left and a hell lot of work to catch up, it looked like the 1.5 was sure going to lapse on April 1. I managed to take an off Thursday afternoon, and instead of taking a full day off and letting my team suffer bcos of my absence. I planned to take 2 half day leaves on Monday and Tuesday. But plans failed, and I ended up working till 7 pm yesterday.
So just before I left yesterday, I applied for a half day leave for today's forenoon session. I know I could take a full day off, but there are some pending things to be wound up at work. Much to my own surprise, when I applied for today's leave, I gave the reason as "Exhausting CL " !! I do not know how my manager is going to take this !! Knowing him for the 4 months I have been here, I am guessing, he shouldnt have much of a problem.
Ironically, I got up today with a headache. Looks like I am sick finally !
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| Recession also means rising responsibilities at work, that you become a super woman with 5 additional brains and a lot of patience to deal with crisis and crisis_creators and yet not complain, bcos you should be happy that you are one of the few loaded with a lot of tasks and may not be the first one to be asked to leave. Summary, irrespective of all the above, I am content at the end of each day, as it gives me less time to worry about other mundane stuff. And also I realized these days that one needs to be careful not to blog from work, bcos there are always people around your desk looking for your time to solve their issues. And I really do not want any of them to actually peep into my monitor and get the url of my blog. Because some day I want the freedom to write about them as well :) Believe me, I am having wonderful times, and incidents happening here actually keep me in good humor !! Like today, I switched off from work to LJ logging, bcos somebody was cutting nails at work with a nail cutter, and I absolutely didnt like the sound, doesnt suit as a good background noise when I am working. I am surprised, people have/carry nail cutters to office. No, its not a she, its a he. Yesterday was on phone for 2 hours with a long lost close friend. Yes, thats a oxymoron bcos one never loses close friends. But then it so happens, that we are 2 different very busy people, with no way of intersecting in each other's lives, even though we live in the same city and since we know each other too well, and often do not bother each other in our lives. I think I last met her some 14 months back, that too at my hometown and not bangalore. After that she changed her number once and I did it twice and being a Space Scientist with Chandrayan and other interesting things happening in her life, she didnt bother to check her yahoo mails. Luckily she happened to send me a forward from her office email which is very unsual of her, and then I replied and finally got her number. Well, she never carries her mobile to work, one of the additional reasons we fail to usually catch up, and being a devoted scientist, she reaches home only around 10ish ! ( yes, she is a Govt of India Employee) . As it was already late for both of us, I had planned only to call her for 5 mins and probably catch up with her in the weekend if she was not spacing around in office. Well, we ended up talking for 2 hours. And I realized that she being a really good friend, I infact hid details of all hell which happened in my life in the past one year. I already know how my close friends and family experienced pain knowing about what I had to go through. Somehow, I didnt want P to experience the same pain. She was quite happy to know my whereabouts and I let her be with that impression. Of course, I am quite back to normal now, when things get a little more better, may be I can just tell it to her like a recap. I do not want her to travel with me in this journey back to normalcy. But, yes, I miss her support in this phase of my life. Well, its already a long post and a considerable brain_absence from work and no more nail_cutting noise. But then I have actually forgotten to log a lot of other things like, Mom turning 60 last weekend, Dad too turned 60 four months back, now we have 2 senior citizens at home and a lot of child-like feelings and cribbing :) And then Stick ( Rash) took me to a cartoon exhibition that too making me bunk the strict 9 hour office routine, and guess what, I found it boring, and she thoroughly enjoyed it, so I will stop cribbing about it. And then Mihika is back in the city with her little brother. Now there are 2 of them to actually divide my love, and of course, test my patience ! Well, bcos I am the one who usually carries bday cakes and left over cakes from other parties to her home, she thinks I am a synonym for a cake ! And when I caught up on phone with her bcos I couldnt meet her for 2 weeks, she says " Come soon, bring cake" after a pause she corrects herself "big cake " . Well, she is getting the vocalubary right, much to her advantage !! Heh ! | |
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| It is raining Babies on my LJ buddies page !! 1..2..3... and more... Congrats to all my dear mom and dad to_be's !! | |
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| I have been noticing recently, most of my LJ buddies as well as me, who update on facebook do not make regular livejournal updates. I was talking about this to rechristened last night when I happen to know some of her updates actually through facebook and not LJ :) Well, with last month of the financial year and close project deadlines and markets, I guess most of us are busy too. Anyways, facebook is the robber :) In other news, from today onwards, I have taken a resolution not to drink tea in the morning. I have noticed that drinking tea has become an addiction. I have tried couple of times, to avoid tea and drink hot lemon water, but bcos I make tea for bro, I end up drinking tea too. I guess, the tea is toxicating my system, and it would be better if I could avoid the morning tea. So that leaves drinking the office tea twice in a day. The tea at office is so pathetic, that I do not add sugar these days, bcos it makes no difference. So that means, I wouldnt be taking sugar in either tea or any form 5 days a week. That leaves the weekend to enjoy my own tea with sugar. Let me check the effects of these on my weight reduction spree. Today morning I met a girl at the bus stop where I get buses to office. Seems she works for a bank in Bagmane Tech Park. She has to login at work by 8.45 am and she was waiting there desperately for the bus. It was already 8.43. She came up to me and asked me if I would share an auto. From my past experiences, I have learnt that autos do not come for anything less than 50rs for an actual fare of Rs 20. So when I told her this. she was frustrated and was behaving as though I was gating her from reaching office on time. She was assuring me that she has got autos for Rs 30 and she was about to cry.. I was shocked, bcos her eyes were already moist and she also announced, she had her monthly problems and she was quite unwell. So I didnt want to make my morning unpleasant, so to play it fair, I told her, I would join her, if she could get an auto for Rs 30. The bus came soon after, and I was just shocked a total stranger, whom I have never seen before, was behaving this way. Well, circumstances and money does play an important role. I am thankful, God has given me the privilege to be independent. | |
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| Stress at work has gone exponentially higher. And I hardly find time to notice anything to update my journal. And this weekend, I decided to cool it off by not venturing out. I somehow manged to keep myself indoors whole of saturday except when Bro and I decided to get some hardware for my laptop from Computer Warehouse. After some coffee at Indian Coffee House, we headed back straight home. Surprisingly, Coffee is good for headache, but everytime I have Coffee at ICH, I end up getting a headache. The place has poor ventilation.
So I wake up early Sunday morning, and decide to make chutney for the Idlis. What happens is that the power goes ON and OFF every 5 mins. This continues for 1 hour, when I give up on the mixer for the chutney, and decide to take a cold water bath. Oh yes, Murphy wins, the moment I step out of the bathroom, the power returns. Meanwhile Bro is up and he notices that somebody has hacked into the home network.
So when I login to my laptop, I realized that somebody has got into the configuration and I had lost the whole system control. Well, I was late to church, so I entrust the laptop to my brother's care and head to church. At church, its the prize distribution for kids for their participation at the events which were part of the sunday classes. Well, I was drained, but being their teacher, I thought, I had to be present when my kids receive their prizes. What followed was a boring address lecture by the old priest to the kids. He began saying by how we were poor because we didnt have the infrastructure for sunday class rooms, and the kids were not very pleased by being called poor, so they corrected him that it was the church which was poor and not them. Then he went on with something I hated, He was advocating the kids to join ministry and nobody volunteered, not even to be polite ! And when he picked out a 3rd class gal and asked her, why she wouldnt want to become a nun, she replied " Nah, I want to get married to this guy in my school " :) Well, I guess, I want to write a separate post on this with my thoughts.
I return home and I get the news from my brother that it was something serious with the laptop. I however had the newly purchased hardware to take the backup before my laptop hit coma. At 3 pm, things got a little better. And i realized, I had not got the lunch ready, and there was no water either. However the water problem was restored, and we had lunch by 4 pm and decided to format the system later. Though things look safe and normal, I dont feel like using my laptop, its like living in a house with a killer !! I better get the format thing done soon. By evening, I get calls from my friends asking me what I was upto. I realized it was 2 days, I was away from my world of friends. What a loafer I might have been, people get worried when they dont see me on weekends !!
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| Special thanks to inspirethoughts for pointing to this link. Result -> We guess http://aneeta-04.livejournal.com is written by a woman (54%), however it's quite gender neutral.
Surprisingly, I like this number and I am sure, I wouldnt have been happier if it was more womanly. I think the tool looks for more specific gender based contents, and I am sure, I havent used many womanly thoughts or posts. I also know, its a different bond, when we have woman-screened posts like most of my female LJ friends do. Though I have a friends-fliter, I have never used it. Coming back to the analyzer, here is a weekend meme for you all. 1) Guess what would be the gender of your journal. 2) Goto the Gender Analyzer page and try it on your journal link. 3) Paste the results as comments and also post it to your journal if you like it. | |
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