and some classic English ones..

They live outside the skirts of Pune!!
Open the doors of the windows and let the atmosphere come in...

Hindi chi chindhi..

Sorry for the very marathi post. But kay karnar..so here it goes..

Anaesthetist to patient: woh aise pair main mungee ayegi to bolneka
my doctor kaka: tum kayko gharbarta hain, main hain na
my very hindi medium educated mom: Woh isme bacchon ke ghadiyaal hain
My MIL: woh uska zhakkan dena

I am sure I have done that several times, however, these stand out..:D

Can somebody explain to me what this sms.ac thingy is?

I keep on getting emails from people I have not been in touch with for ages. Some people with whom I have never had any communication via email. Does that mean we can send SMSs to each other? Why an email account? What are the chargees?

HALP!!

Driving in Pune...

is like waging a war against every other vehicle on the road. They are all there to make sure that you are alert, on your toes and very very agitated. Ever since I have come back, I was avoiding driving the car making excuses like..I do not want to drive a stick-shift, I will save petrol driving a two-wheeler, I don't have the time!! However, with the heat and polution near University Circle, driving the car is almost imperative. I also tried the rickshaw, but last week, my rickshaw-wallah pulled right next to a truck at the light and for about a minute or so, the truck was spewing CO in my direction. Here, you can't sit in a rickshaw with your helmet on, or else atleast that gives a bit of protection.

And driving a two-wheeler on the Baner connector to the Bombay-Pune highway will scare the daylights out of you. The trucks and buses still have the inertia of having just left the highway. The BPO cars and taxi drivers feel like they are on a F1 track. And to make matters worse, there is construction going on which reduces the road to half. Fun Fun!!

Hence I finally gave in and ventured the zen into the traffic. Everyday, I have to mentally prepare myself to drive. It takes about 10 minutes. Its almost like meditating. Once in the car, when your hand is not on the gear, its on the horn. I liberally honk at fellow road users. Coz they don't care for their life. Thats not their responsibility. You are in the bigger vehicle, you have to take care of them.

At a light, leaving about half a foot between you and the car in front is a red carpet welcome to two-wheelers to squeeze their way ahead. So, the ideal distance to maintain between you and the other car is NONE!!

And the potholes make sure that you feel entertained and shook up!
Yet, the biggest lesson I have learnt is to keep your cool. When you are in the car, there are about a 1000 people on the road walking, on bikes, cycles. Speeding and getting upset is just going to drain your energy (if you have any left from driving). Instead turn the radio up, turn on the A/C and drive and let drive..

What do you do when someone you know and respect is doing something very wrong...

If its a person whom you know well, you know is fair and caring and yet is doing something that is totally wrong andis not going to do any good. Is it acceptable to step beyond the boundaries of friendship because you care and want to help. Is it okay to point out that it is a big mistake? Or should the limits of friendship be kept to friendship and not personal life...

I like to...

read the last page of a novel because most of the times I am too impatient. Then I finish the book I am reading, does that make it a lesser sin?

I like to keep jalebi in the fridge, let it soak and become soggy and then eat it!

I like to chew on sweets (especially hard candy) and not suck them for hours!

I usually hate to sit through movies in a movie theater. Too long and single track!

If I had magical powers right now...

I would make sure that our house would be ready in the blink of an eye. I am so sick of the mess that has occupied every inch of the place. I am normally not too finicky about cleanliness (read sloppy), but this is beyond the limit of my patience. ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH...

On the other hand, found some old MP3 CD which has some Indonesian Songs sung by Krisdayanti and Anang (I hope I got the names right). Very nice romantic songs..transported me back to the several summers we spent in Indonesia. Always associate that with relaxed vacations with a lot of pampering, getting fatter :) and fabulous shopping..Funny how we have associations with certain foods, smells, even weather..

Bath and body works "cotton blossom" will always remind me of anuja, my SIL. YSL's Paris will always remind me of my mom, foggy, chilly early mornings will always remind me of Indore, Crepes will always reming me of Fisherman's wharf although I have eaten it more often in Jakarta than US.....

This post has been written over a period of two hours..before and after lunch...hence the mood swing from ARRRRRRGH to cool!! :)

Jeez...the typos in the previous post made me cringe..as you can see, even my profound thought did not sound too profound...:)

Had my English teacher in high school read this, she would have probably had an earful to say. (or is it mouthful?? :)). Back in school, I used to be one of the academically better performing students. And yet, somehow the praise for that was always so scant and almost absent while criticism was abundant. When I won the an award for fictional writing at an International level at the hands of the then Vice President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, all our English teacher could say was "Yes, you, who is always winning awards, you answer this question".

Was that supposed to be praise? Or was that a taunt...or praise disguised as a taunt or the other way round?? Why would she say something like that. Yet, that is the sorry truth of some teachers. I know its petty to harbor this for so long....But wasn't it petty to say such a thing?

Is it always necessary to sound profound when you write something? Is this really a profound and deep thought or just a lame attempt?

Being fair-skinned in Pune...

Yesterday, I took my co-worker's wife, who is visiting Pune with him, Saree shopping. She had been to Shopper's stop and similar places and had not really been able to find a saree that she liked. Last time we went together for dinner, I had suggested that they should go shopping with me. Helps to have a local with you..

Paul called me and asked me if I had time. So I took Carrie to Lakshmi Road to buy a saree. I figured that no American would venture into that part of the city by themselves. Most of the times, they went to MG road (closer to the Osho Ashraam). We tried to get a Rickshaw outside the hotel and the guy looks at Carrie and goes 60 rs. I was like, WHAT???. I told him (in marathi, of course), that I would pay by the meter. He said no. I was like whatever and we walked away. About 5 feet away, we got another rickshaw and who agreed to charge by the meter.

It took us 21 rs to get to Lakshmi road. The kids who beg at the signals, would come running and want to know where she was from, whether there was something in her mouth (Her tongue is pierced!!!). Gori Gori..Angrez, they would yell. Carrie had learnt the art of ignoring them and not asking me questions on poverty in India. She had been in India for 2 weeks now. Here I should mention that she has grown up in Nebraska in a city with 68 people. :) And has never been to NY/Boston.

We went to Shagun, one of the older stores that I am familiar with. I, myself, am not too fond of sarees. More of a jean person. The guys at Shagun were quite excited to have a "gori" buy sarees at their store. Carrie was even more excited to have several sarees draped around her. She was very impressed with the Banarasi Shalu's that they showed her initially thinking she wanted to buy one of those. Finally armed with a beautiful green and gray saree, we walked around buy a matching blouse and "petticoat". People did stare at her, but not as much as a pair of Americans!! :) Their eyes almost lit after seeing her walk past them. "Good Evening" they wished each other..and I almost felt like I was back in Fort Collins, CO :), forgetting the dug-up roads, poverty and paan stains for a second. The rickshaw back was easy as well.

Later, I taught her to drape the saree. For once, I felt like I knew more about sarees than the person I was with :)...After I left the hotel and merged into the traffic, I was almost grateful to not be stared at....

Born with a silver spoon..

Why is that something that is always abused? Getting something easily seems to take away the fact that it was not something that everyone gets..definitely not as easily. And yet, this is something you forget and start taking everything for granted.

Appreciating what you have is so crucial to make sure that your feet are on the ground. Unfortunate is a person who has lost touch with reality..

Anyways, Wish you all happy holidays!

Dear Shamala and Shiva.
Wish you a very happy anniversary..and many more to come..

Love,
Ketaki & Neeraj..

For who don't know, Shamala is my best friend..known for the past 10+ years.

Dealing with change...

If I could change the world....I would be the sunrise in your universe...

Actually, No, I would not change anything. I like to be comfortable in my own little zone. That's me. Neeraj gets restless when things get too comfy..I crave to get comfy..and yet, leaving the jobs that we both have grown to love was hard for him and is hard for me. Although technically, I am not leaving, I will just join back as a contractor, I almost feel lost again..like that first day at work..the lost puppy...I have made some of my best friends at work, so although I will still work with them, and I know nothing changes for my co-workers, yet so much feels weird...Almost like an alien...I just need to log in on Monday, know that all my accesses and my email addresses are the same to feel better...till then, I guess the queasy feeling continues....And I had so long to prepare for this, and yet, I guess I will never be too comfortable dealing with change...

Want Vs Need...

As I typed my comment for Ketaki's blog, set me thinking..Does want overpower need when you are presented with an offer you can't resist? When I found the pair of trousers in GAP that I had drooled over for a long time, on sale, I bought it. Question is, Did I really need them? Probably no. Did I want them, heck yeah!!

Do we really need the IPODs, Blackberry phones, laptops, dozens of pairs of jeans and shoes, diamonds and portable DVD players?? ;)
Probably not. A friend, after a shopping binge, showed me her wardrobe and said, "Look at all the stuff I have, and I always wanted to live a life with minimum material footprint as possible" True, and yet, we seem to hoard up on all the stuff we dont really need and definitely want.

Whats worse is, the tendency to judge people based on what they have. So having the stuff you have, that you don't need, but is good to have, is an indication of how happy you are and how much happier you could be.

If we all just lived a life with minimal materialistic, would we all be happy? Would there be no struggle to make yourself "happier"? Would life be boring then?

Relaxing weekend

Went to Konkan for the first time. Spent two idyllic days at the beach..loads of food..fish and more fish..6 couples. Now I am working at 2 am :D

Will try and post some pictures of the trip..

When is opinion too much opinion?

Recently, I came across a conversation about someone where the person seems to have passed a very opinionated comment on something very irrelevant which hurt a lot of people. And I agree that the comments were a little under the belt.

Is it fair to pass judgements and opinions and advice just because? People usually are tuned with other peoples sentiments and yet, while passing a comment on something, it almost seems like they are bypassing any feelings or tact. What is the point in passing comments which you know do no good, spoil relationshops and make everyone uncomfortable? Do people usually do that out of a superiority complex or the other way, to avoid feeling inferior? In which case, it is usually silly, because they make it so obvious...

There I go making a judgment..and yet I like to think of myself as fair for most of the time..

Some plane observations..

Please note that the plane is deliberately misspelt. It is a precursor to what this post is all about. After a journey of 36 hours, I am back in India. The flight was long and tiring and having 32 kgs in each bag along with 20 pounds in carry on was no fun. I have never had my arms ache after a long journey. But this time, they are still hurting.

Observation 1: When you wish for something really hard, you don't get it. Hence never wish that you get an empty flight so you can stretch out and sleep.

I was hoping that since I was flying on thanksgiving day, it might be a fairly empty flight. Its the time to be with family, enjoy good food..blah blah. Indians don't care about thanksgiving and so there were tons of people and as usual the fight was fully booked. And there are several others who think like me!

Observation 2: Even if you fight for an aisle seat, it is no good if the guy sitting next to you is a 6 feet 5 inches tall american guy.

This is the third time this has happened to me, too many times to believe that this is a co-incidence. It is a conspiracy. So although, I managed to get an aisle seat, I was quite uncomfortable.

Observation 3: Every person thinks that its the other person's luggage which fills up the overhead compartments and so they look at each other in utter disgust.

How is it that everyone carries atleast two huge bags (pushing the definition of "reasonably" sized hand bag) and once their bags are in the overheard cabin, sit smugly in their seat and pass comments at others. I once heard an Indian air hostess pass a comment like " look at these Indians with all this luggage, they don't understand only"..so not happening.

Observation 4: Every person seems to think that they have been travelling the longest and have the right to express loudly, very loudly, how tired they are.

Strange, because the flight comes from US and almost everyone has been in the flight for the same amount of time. The funniest was when last year, during the last leg from Singapore to Bombay, we had some lady with a kid who joined the flight from Perth, who complained how sore she was from the 8 hour flight in a very fake australian accent. Neeraj and I were so tempted to turn around and ask her to shut up. :)

Observation 5: Every one seems to think that they are the experts in "foreign" travel and are willing to give advice (sometimes unwanted) on the ways of life abroad.

This is not an observation in flight, but seen commonly otherwise also. However, the effect is more pronounced in air. Its better to bury yourself in a book and not socialize too much on flight :D

Observation 6: Singapore airlines rocks. (This a personal opinion).

I have always seen the SIA air hostesses smile, make special effort to make you comfortable, help in every possible way, including hoist the heavy hand bags in the overheard bins. Cathay Pacific air hostesses, on the other hand, refuse to help passengers, even when there are old parents and women with kids, and if you do ask for help, look at you as if you are a pain. This is not a one time opinion, its built over time and each trip on Cathay seems to make this opinion stronger and stronger. Why is it that they can't smile?

As you can see, I had a fairly long flight and lots of time to make some plane observations :)

My big fat greek dinner..

Discovered a fun and quaint little greek restaurant called Athena Grill http://www.athenagrill.com/ . The place was full of the restaurant owner's greek relatives. While we were about to leave, they started some greek movie. It was fun to see some 50+ year old folks, about 20 of them, having a great time. We lingered longer at dinner than we meant to just because they were having so much fun!!

Highly recommend the stuffed capsicum (this is not on the menu) and the hummus. Fun place, you could go out on a date or with family :)

Going home..

After 4 months here in US, I will finally go back to India this Thanksgiving. Tons of stuff to do and no Neeraj to do it for me...:(( LOL.

Its going to be crazy, and yet very exciting. Looking forward to visiting Hong Kong in the layover. Slowly inching towards visiting all the countries in the world. :)

However, for now its crazy and load at work is not helping...HAAAAAAAAALP.

I have still not colored my hair...

But I did sell the car!!! It was crazy but I did it!! :)
Almost as crazy, the Habanero night at The prince of Wales Pub in San Mateo.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/11/PK72876.DTL&type=food

The habanero burger there is reputed to the hottest in the world. Folks at my company used to take new hires there earlier. However, these days its just on our own. I had missed about three opportunities to eat there. Heard ten million horror stories! :) Finally, I had to eat it. After all, want to make most of being 28. Refer previous post...

Its a really dingy place from outside, but once you get in, there is a "small town" feel to it. With funny posters, placards all over the walls. Our group of about 25 ordered 7 burgers in all. We shared one in hour and six other people had one each.

Its one of those common sense defying things that you do once. I tried the sauce with a fry and my mouth was flaming. Wasn't sure why I was eating the thing, but I guess its adrenaline, peer pressure and sheer stupidity. The first girl, ate it with much ease and we were like, hmm, maybe it not that bad. However, a few minutes later, she was sweating a lot. But she still seemed ok. The next guy had 3/4th and then the last bit was the worst. He was sweating, crying and in pain. When it came to us, I quickly grabbed the smallest piece and then it began. The first couple bites are where it is hot, but you are okay. And then it strikes. You don't stop, don't drink water and don't think, for sure.

I did the last thing for the last bite. I stopped for a second. I could not get my hand to put that piece in my mouth after that. Everyone was cheering and I did it and drank about 1 pitcher of water. The next 10 minutes were the worst. The heat of the chilli sunk in and it was sheer torture.

It took about 20 minutes to settle completely and I ate and ate after that. I figured the more I ate, the more it would dilute in my stomach and then make things easier the next day. However, I dont even want to think about the guys who ate just the burger for dinner. Poor guys!! :)

I think I can write this off as one of the craziest things...and something I will never do again!