(S)M(ile)-stone!!

Sorry, guys, for being absent from the garden. I was a little busy. Oh yeah!! Am a busy gal these days. :P I had a meeting near Amsterdam, Netherlands. Day was good and meeting was successful.  Now aftermath of meeting is the loads of work to be done. :(

I am sitting in flight writing this and feeling quite good. I gave a presentation on the agenda and the structure of the document, we would be working on.  I am on ninth cloud, and why should I not?? say say? tell tell? Not a big deal, but still I am happy.

I didn't know that small progress like these would boost my confidence. I am still far far away from my goal, but I am happy I am walking. Even if these are baby steps, never mind every baby grows. So will I :D

My boss said he was quite satisfied the way meeting went and we should be able to plan for next task. He was in a good mood. So, I thought I should take advantage of this and asked him for holiday. Approved!!! yippyyyyyyyy :D 

I was talking to my colleague who was with me along with my boss on this trip and he gave me insight that I should give a little more try. I should focus more on my PhD topic. These things are definitely value adding, but still they will not lead to my technical knowledge. Its like a whirlpool that I should be aware of. So, I need to be a little more active towards my phd work.

While I was in the meeting, I was feeling sleepy, was trying my level best to keep myself awake. When I am too sleepy, two things that I can never hide, rather three, are suddenly I get running nose. My eyes and nose would leak like theres is waterfall inside them. I have an embarrassing habit of snoring (thanks to sinusitis). Whenever, I get sleepy, I snore. You can imagine how awkward it would get if I snore in the meeting. Third reason is rather a bit cute an it reminds me of my Mom :P

I clearly remember, when my Dad and sister used to have some sort of serious discussion, and when my Mom tries to participate in the discussion, the scene is worth watching. If discussion were too technical, my Mom would be easily bored and looses interest. She would get sleepy but to keep up with the discussion, she would try to keep herself awake. At this moment, her expression would be, as if a grave problem is being discussed. Issue might not be as severe as expressions on my Moms face. For last 2-3 times I realized, I was doing the same thing. ;P

They say LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON, I guess in my case it should be LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER" ;)

Song of the moment -

Rehna tu hai jaisa tu, thora sa dard tu thora sukun, deema deem jhonka ya phir joonun....

Do (not) Program

Last night, I couldn't get a good night sleep. Actually I slept quite late, was sorting some pics and captioning them etc. I am in office now, I am so so soooooooo sleepy. I have already tried almost all the standard solution to keep awake myself. 

1) Take a walk.

Nah!! this made me more tired and sleepiness got worst.

2) Drink lots of water. 

Oh yeah!! I had 2 ltrs and now its to-fro to the toilet. My colleague is giving me looks.

3) Do programming.

Seems to be a good idea......

:D

:D

:D

After sometime..why my code not getting complied?? where is the error?  :-O

Oh No!! When did I write "bad leaves" in my java code???  :-((

Intoxication

Before I forget about another breakthrough event in my life, I should write an account of it. So, let me try to convert my feelings into words. 

It was for the first time in my life that I had been on business trip. Nothing new about that? Many times, many people do that, nothing new right? Yeah, I know, but there is always first time for everything and this was MY first time. First time to actually see how planning for big & financially crucial projects are done.  How much effort in terms of time & money goes into planning? Honestly, I did not know a single person there, though I had exchanged lot of mails with them so many times. Although, I did not present any thing in meeting, but still thanks to my boss and colleague D, for being there with me. Guiding me time to time. 

Its not attending workshop/conference with big shots that matter. I think when you attend these kinds of business trips you are being tested. How smart or intelligent are you in putting forward your idea in front of giants of the field. How good your interpersonal skills are. How well you receive new ideas from them. Also, importantly, you know deep down inside that you are pushing yourself to the limits and have pushed the ceiling of hesitation and inhibition a little further.

In short this trip was a boost to my confidence and I hope this will help me in speeding up my work. Imagine the scene when you are presenting your work in front of experts of the field and you sheepishly hide your self behind the dais, when they ask you all freaking question. I want to experience that, no matter how bad its going to be. I know I am sadist :P

I start this post with some different mood and now this song has changed my mood completely. Its "bekarar" from movie "pathshala". I guess lyrics completely fit with what’s going on in my mind.  May be, other meaning of "making progress" is also to leave things and people behind. For a moment, success can make you happy, but not for long. After sometime you realize that those people were actually important. 

The only static thing is "change" and only unstoppable thing is "time". So I am just riding on wave called LIFE. May be I am too intoxicated with it :P

So long!! bye bye 

Image

Cocooned in my own thoughts,
I strive to see rainbow outside.
I followed the signal,
Drumming of heart.
I planted my idea,
here, very near to this sea of happiness.
alas!! humidity is locked in lightening.
My belief see a silhouette.
draped in a brittle marigold leaf,
is it you, my Aspiration?

Positive Strokes

Once you told me,
you need nothing but me,

tangled threads of rules and desire,
threw me in eternal fire,

absconding me, from your memories,
they are nothing but accessories,

deleted you from the technology support,
heart's ROM will I soon transport,

moments slipped as drops from eyes,
wonder I, do they still spy?

clinging to my soul in fright,
now I know direction right,

trail of blood show me am walking,
so peeled I scab from wounds healing.
 

Alone, but not lonely!!!

Deepawali aka Diwali, this word itself is filled with happiness. Relatives and cousins visiting your place. Loads of gifts and sweets. From conventional kheel-khilaone to chocolate burfi, every sweet at your service. Variety of new clothes for different occasions,  from western to traditional,  from casual to formal. The time when you light candles and lamps. Fire crackers, almost a synonym for Diwali. The first most important reason to use them, the second being celebration of India's victory over Pakistan in cricket match.

Though now a days, getting Diwali vacations for a week, is next to impossible. It is a matter of joy even if you can manage to get leave for choti & badi Diwali. Diwali's definition changes as you grow up. For children, all it means is to have more time to play, get good food and so many people around. During my childhood, two weeks before diwali used to be the most hectic time of the season. Sending Diwali cards by post to more than 60 relatives, helping mom in kitchen, taking care of studies and homework go hand in hand.

As I grew up, all it meant was to spent good lot of time with Mom, Dad n sisters. Breakfast time was the suitable time to decide rest of the day's menu, decoration strategy, most importantly variety and quantity of sweets. Anything could be compromised, but not the mithais, the star attraction of the festival. Let me not disturb your salivary glands by telling the names . Kitchen department used to be Mom's responsibility. My sister or I would help my Mom in kitchen in between. Decoration was taken care by we sisters. The most important sweets department, as I already mentioned was handled by Dad. No recession, no natural disaster,  can possibly affect this department.  Many a times kitchen and decoration departments have faced quite hard sanctions, but any kind of cost cutting on sweets department was strictly forbidden by my eldest sister, which was gladly accepted by, we the sweets lover family. Every year Dad handled this department quite well.

This year I was alone, far far away from my family, my homeland. Place where lighting crackers other than New Year is totally forbidden. On both the days I felt quite nostalgic, many a times almost on the verge of crying. It really sucks, when you are far away from your family especially when there is a big festival back home. Choti Diwali could not make me feel so bad. Moreover, I was neck deep into my work, so it was ok. The badi diwali day was really tough. No light, no special food, no cracker, though I can manage without the last one. I went to office without any enthusiasm. Come on you can't argue with me on that. There can surely be no motivation to go to office when it is Diwali. I called up my folks so so many times, feeling happy, sad, nostalgic, grinning all at the same time. So I decided to go to my room early and do something to make myself happy. I asked one more Indian friend and told him that I would be doing pooja and if he wishes he can join me, as I am not used to celebrating festivals alone. He said he doesn't celebrate diwali, due to some reason. So immediately, I told him that I would be making special dinner and it would be nice if he can join me. You can call this a tactic, but I had to do it. There is nothing more luring than home made food for people like me. I knew he can't say no to it. :P

Now that the promise to make special dinner was made, it was time for action. So, I quickly made menu and list of things I need to buy. On the way to my room, I stopped by Indian grocery store. I could not dare to buy sweets as they were quite expensive. I quickly made shahi paneer, dry vege potato-onion , salad, raita, matar pulao. As the muhurat for pooja was from 7:30 to 9:00 pm, I had to be super fast. By 8:30, I was ready with decoration. Here are the glimpses:

By the time I finished pooja, my friend also came. After showing my naive skills of pooja, we had dinner. To be honest, nothing was perfect. Just like the day, which was not perfect but happy, dinner was also not perfect but complete. Rice was a little uncooked, dry vege had a little shortage of salt, shahi paneer was too sauer, only raita was under the permissible limits of being perfect. Accepting the fact that not all and everything is perfect, I excuse myself. After all, we are jack of all trades :)

Shaayad

Kisko aati hai maseehayi, kise awaaz dein,

Bol aye khunkhaar tanhaai, kise awaaz dein....

These lyrics might still be with you. They may express your feelings quite well, but the voice that has touched your soul with these words has gone forever. 

My interaction with this voice happened when I was still in the teens. The era when Doordarashan was the only channel. I still clearly remember that fine evening when, I came back home after playing badminton. I switch on TV out of curiosity. There was a music program being played. On a elevated platform main vocal artist along with accompanists on sarangi, tabla. The main singer was wearing thick glass, playing harmonium. There was this unusual thing about him, the vibrations of "gamak" were not only heard but also quite visible on the throat. The pathos in the lyrics was totally in sync with the voice and his expressions. Those were the days when watching TV was forbidden. So, I was asked to switch off the TV and that is how my first interaction with jagjit singh lasted for a minute. The ghazal he was singing was "Har taraf har jagah beshumaar aadmi"

As I grew up, Saregama, a musical talent hunt show helped me see him again. That was the time when I came to know about Jagjit singh ji's charisma. I don't remember when I became a big fan of him, but  I remember that I used to listen to his ghazals for more than 7-8 hours non-stop.

Many people often argue about the tune of ghazals, which according to them were always similar. I am sure that many people don't know that he had a mastery in using "gamak" and "komal swara". Handling of each note & gamak was so careful as if feelings from heart were being skimmed cautiously.

I remember, once Gulzar Sahab said this about him, "woh ghazal aise sunate hain, jaise koi ruyee ke faahe se zakhm sehla raha ho"( he sings as if someone is tickling old wounds with cotton).

There will be so many admirers, who have found solace in his voice. A comfort from his ghazals, a serenity felt inside even when we were struggling hard outside. Everyone has one or other favorite ghazal sung by Jagjit Singh. For many people Jagjit Singh was, is and will remain the "King of Ghazal". 

Who else would have made magical Shayari of Mirza Ghalib mesmerising? Whose voice could have sent lover's yearning for love( honthon se chu lo tum )? A bus or train journey would have been so lonely if "marasim" ghazals were not there as co-passengers. Twilight would have been filled with sadness if  "forget me not" ghazals were not the companions. Who would have encouraged with his ghazals ( pyar ka pehle khat likhane waqt to lagta hai )? Who else would have introduced me to "Faraz", "Zahir Ludhianavi", "Ghalib", "Mir taki mir", "Gulzar"? How I would have expressed myself when overwhelmed with emotions, if his ghazals were not there??  He has a special place in our lives and will always remain special. It is difficult to say "Goodbye" to you, Jagjit Singh ji, coz the fact is, till we live, you will live inside us, in form of your ghazals, in form of our feelings.

Phir usi raah guzar par shayad, hum kabhi mil sakein magar shayad.

Jaan pehchan se bhi kya hoga, phir bhi ae-dost gaur karein shayad.

Muntazir jinke hum rahe unko, mil gaye aur humsafar shayad.

Jo bhi bichade hain kabhi mile hai 'faraz', phir bhi tu intezaar kare shayad....

Kkisssaaa Kitchen ke rumaal ka!!

The mysterious case of lapata kitchen ka rumaal, which Khoji Pragya solved in total Bollywood style ;)

When Ekta Kapoor came to know about the missing  rumaal. She approached Khoji Pragya to help her solve the case. EK's only condition was that the name of detective be changed to Kkkhoji Kkkaramchand, to which Khoji Pragya agreed.

EK: I heard about the latest case that you are solving. I'd like to help you in solving the case with my Bollywood inspired  masalabrain.

KK:  tum apun koi kaaye ko help kar rela re?

EK: I have lot of interest in the things which starts with....u know?

KK: Errrrrr.....Akkhha duniya janta hai tere baare mein....chal, to abhi tere ko case ka details pata karne ke liye crime scene pe jana hoga.

EK: Kkkhandala??

KK: Grrrrr..nahi re. bole to Kkkkellaaarrrr.(under ground floor of buliding in german)

EK: Wahan kyun?

KK: Kyunki wahin se to  rumaal gayab hua tha.

EK::  Kkkitchen ka rumaal?

KK: Igshaktly!!! Abhi apun ka baat dhyan se sun. Last sunday ko client ne khoob saara kapda dhoya. Dhona....bole to saare kapde le jaa ke washing machine mein dala.

EK: To problem kya hai?

KK: Rumaal machine ke andar gaya, lekin baahar nahi ayaa. Total gayab!!!

(After applying too much of common sense, which she has like the gravity on equator. She finally found solace from Bollywood masala movies.)

EK:  Kkkitchen ke rumaal ka accident ho gaya ho aur woh raaste mein gir gaya ho. Usey A K Hangal  jaisa koi apne saath le gaya ho?? (just like khumbh ka mela situation. )

KK: Possible nahi hai re!! Client ne apne haath se rumaal ko washing machine mein dala tha.

EK:(Exploring the possibility of pouring more Bollywood masala into the case) Ho sakta hai ki Kkkitchen ke rumaal ne suicide kar liya ho because of the smell of week old gandi chaddi & socks??

KK: Possible nahi hai re!! body to milna chahiye tha na.

EK: (Tormented by rejection of her ideas, she finally pulled out her  bramhaastra)Kahin machine ke andar Kkkitchen ke rumaal ne plastic surgery se apne aapko socks mein change kar liya ho?

KK: Possible nahi hai re!! Andar 60 degree temperature tha. Itni garami mein surgery possible nahi hai. Ek extra different socks bhi to milna chahiye tha.

EK: (Totally disappointed by Bollywood, she finally approached Hollywood) KK ji, ET from Spielberg's movie pulls out  Kkkitchen ka rumaal from running washing machine.

KK: (Rolls her eyes)Possible nahi hai re!! ET aisa kyun karega?? Of all the places in world, why would  ET choose Client's ganda Kkkitchen ka rumaal?? That too when it is in the machine. 

EK: Kyunki, pichale janam mein ET bollywood ka sabse bada villian Pran tha. He dance with Amitji on yaari hai imaan mera  along with this rumaal.. KK ji I got a new theme for my new serial Kkkkkissa pichale janam ka.

KK: (KK now became cranky) Sheeeeeeeshhh!! tu apun ko help karne aayi hai?? ya apne next serial ki story ke liye idea lene?

EK:(jumping with excitement) KKji, ho sakta hai rumaal ko kisi se pyar ho gaya ho??

KK:(By this time KK is looking for nearest pillar to bang her head)To woh gayab kaise ho gayaa???

EK: Usey pyar ho gaya ho socks se. Anwar ke jaise uske dil mein bhi bahut sara pyar ho aur woh bhi socks mein samaa ke ek hona chaata ho? (if you have not watched movie Anwar, go and watch it. Its a must watch movie).

KK: Amused at the intelligence of EK. Possible hai re!! EK you are too much... How did you get this idea?

EK: (Sheepishly)This is what I call..... bringing up Bollywood!!!

Finally, after investigating about who is the  chitchor of Kkkitchen ka rumaal, KK and EK were able to solve the mystery ofKkkitchen ka rumaal.

Kkkitchen ka rumaal was actually found to be in love with the black pant and he was found samaya hua in black pant. They got opportunity when they were together in machine.

Further investigation shows that Black pant is KK's own daughter. Since KK herself is quite philanthropic, she gave green signal to their love. Now, Black pant is married to Kkitchen ka rumaal. All three live together. After marriage, black pant got a new shelf in the cupboard. Kkitchen ka rumaal has gone back to his profession of being a Kkitchen ka rumaal. There is quite a lot of love between The Saas and Kkitchen ka rumaal. EK and KK are good friends now. KK receives EK's saas-bahu tips quite frequently and keeps Kkitchen ka rumaal in her mutthi.

KK: (evil grinnn) Kyunki damad bhi kabhi rumaal tha ......Thanks to EK's bollywood!!!!

Shirt of change

WTH!!! How can I keep used shirts, back in the cupboard. Hey, wait a minute, I don't think I wore this yesterday. Oh yes!! I wore other black t-shirt. Oh my my, I have got 1-2-3-4-5...what?? 5 t-shirts? all in black?? 

This is what happened when I finally found that I am proud owner of 5 black t-shirts. Of course, with different design patterns. Till last year, I did not have a single black dress.  Now, I have half a dozen.

Time has surely changed, and so have I. 

SevenTy

Why on earth we can't be original? especially in jokes? The joke has to be "authentically" copied(ye kaunsa rule hai bhai). So, ladies and gentleman and Karan johar(uski to apni hi category hai na) I present before you, the taza-taza latest dimaag ki kadhai se garama-garam nikala hua joke.

A kid wore 7 T-Shirts at a time and suddenly he became old. Why?

Are, socho socho!!! ghutano ki maalish karte ho to batao? Mindpower badhaane waali medicine khate ho to batao??

Ladies & Gentlemen (ab kya har baar Karan Johar ko explicitly address karna padega) the answer to the great mystery is:

Kid has Seventy(Seven-Tee), hua na budha?

Bas bas taliyan marna band karo, sharifon ki tarah baith jao, lage dhol bajane. Appreciate karne ki bhi hadd hoti hai!!!

Till I come up with new original joke, I say Chaye(Chao +Bye) ;)

Dhapaaak

There are some things that you can never forget. No, no, I am not talking about the inspirational words, blessing of elders, envious words of peers etc etc. Some words, rather sounds get stamped in our memory forever. I heard this joke just once and I guess, its saved in my ROM. 

What is the difference between man falling from 2nd floor and 12 floor??

Man falling from 2nd floor:
dhap!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh (painful cry)

Man falling from 12 floor: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh, dhap!! (silence)

Who says beauty of sound can be felt only through music??? :P

Whats your LIQ??

Woooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww!!!

Thats how I started my conversation with one of my very good friend. We had a long conversation over telephone. I felt good. Since ages I did not have a lengthy discussion about so many things. She was doing well and was telling me all the stories of her office, which I have left almost a year back. She told me she found someone and she was quite serious about him. I was happy for her, and I know the guy she has chosen must be nice. "Kyunki, uski choice galat ho hi nahi sakti" :P

I started thinking how do people come to know that they are in love? or when do they decide that its not "liking", but "love"? or how do they start imagining the person/friend to be their life partner?

Come to think about this, when you decide that you love someone, probably at that time you might be suffering from "take-wrong-decision" syndrome. When you think you love a person, might be the time when you actually in need of "just-a-good-friend".

For me the bollywood movie's "love" is mere bullshit, coz Life is not a movie. I really feel ridiculous for those who elope from house or marry against the will of their parents. I guess these people suffer from Life-is-Bollywood diesease. You can't kill past relationships to make new ones. That too, those which were pre-decided before your birth.

I think LOVE is more about PRIORITY, MATURITY & RESPONSIBILITY. Shhhhhh..if my sister reads this post, she will blame for proposing a LOVE Model :P So according to me, the Love Guru Mata, definition and understanding of love changes with age. It has various stages. At each stage the one of the above factor strongly plays its role.

"Teenage love" is not at all mature and neither it should be placed high in ones priority list. Ones priority is not to get settled in life with someone, but to make a standing for themselves. I consider teenage love as mere distraction. This is the time when a person is not mature and must concentrate on his/her PRIORITIES.

Till in our late 20s and early 30s, we become mature enough to recognize our priorities. Mostly, by this time we make a standing for ourselves. Atleast, we make our selves well equipped to earn our own bread & butter. When you know about your priorities and find someone of real mental, emotional & social match, you act maturely. Before jumping onto any conclusion, you weigh all the pros-n-cons. You decide based on your MATURITY.

The last stage that lasts forever. It does not matter whether the love between two people culminates into marriage. Those involved in relationship of husband-wife or ex-lovers, have to bear responsibility of their decision for rest of their lives. It does not matter if they are far or together, they cannot escape from the responsibility they bear for the other people around them. Thats the stage, when one is ready to keep aside ones own happiness, coz the happiness of others is also his RESPONSIBILITY.

All the three factors do not exist in absolute sense. They go hand in hand and influence each other a lot. There is no bench mark for what should be the minimum level of MATURITY?? List of PRIORITIES that a person must have? What all RESPONSIBILITY one should carry?

It takes a life time to know how mature you have been in deciding your priorities and carrying out your own set of responsibilities. By the time you come to know about your maturity level, about your right-wrong decisions, about  your unfulfilled responsibilities, about your "Love-Intelligence-Quotient"....... one life time has already finished.

Alas!! your time is up.

Dost-(j)ana

Friendship is precious and I consider it as one of the best thing God has given to me. I bet, you had the most naughty, mischievous, funny and unforgettable moments with your friends. No relative, no cousin shares that warmth and understanding, which you & your true friend shares. Life seems to be joyless without those special moments which you and your friends have together created. I am sure most of you belong to the generation where asking for help from a friend is much more easy than your relatives. 

I was totally stumbled when I saw "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. Awesome movie, awesome acting, awesome dialogues, awesome cinematography, & cherry on the top, Abhay Deol's awesome singing style :P Ok, ok...I understand you didnt appreciate his singing. Its ok, but come on, think of it, he was not as bad  as we get at times.

But there are few things which I must mention here:

1) It took me some time to pronounce the name correctly. I mean I always said "Zindagi milegi na dobara". If you remember the song from "Rock On" Did it happen with you also??

2) Farhan's husky voice has totally totally stolen my heart. This guy, sings well, acts well, dance well, directs well,  and has got awesome sense of humor. A complete package.

3) I loved "Bagvati" :P

4) Tell me whose idea was to pair Katrina opposite to Hritik Roshan. I love the pair. They look so good. ( now, dont get too much emotional, read next point)

5) The kissing scene of Katrina and Hritik was totally not required and fraud. In short, that was a "dhakkan" scene.

6) What was the need of Kalki?? I mean she didn't have a major role to play. Her haistyle? ufff, horrible.

7) Why, why, why, on earth Naseeruddin shah plays father of illegitimate child. Main Hun Na, Masoom, Rajneeti? Naseer sahab, are you really running out of good offers? 

8) I loved the way Farhan Akhtar speaks english, when he orders " the reds the wines" or "the mentally the sick"

9)I loved the underwater shooting, it was cool. The sky diving, am not sure if these guys did it or their look-a-likes. The bull race, ufff!!! As it happens in most of the hindi films, everybody gets hurt except the hero(s). Infact, in the last scene, they were the only people running. Huhahahaha!! kamal ke BOOAYYZZ hain :)    

Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum,
Nazar mein khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum,

Jo apni aankhon mein hayraniyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum!!

Piya Bhaag Rahi Meri Sakhiyaan!!!

Hahaha!!! Is this me?? Yeah, that exactly was my reaction, when I saw my video of B2RUN. It was one minute clipping, but worth treasuring. Me, the half-dead, half-embarrassed soul, was trying to touch the finish line.

This run was of 6 Kilometer and if you complete it in 30 min, its worth being proud of. Run started from Olympia park and finished inside stadium. I completed the run in 55 min, I know, I know, its hard for me also to believe that I actually finished 6km so soon?? Proud me!!!

The "Run was Fun"
So many, children and old people standing on the side of track, and cheering runners. Some people were offering water to the participants. Few runners had funny costumes. So, with my tortoise pace,  I overtook two runners during the whole run. Pretty good hah?? An old fat guy, and an orange. Yes, a guy in a costume having shape of orange was running.

When I was 200 meters away from the goal, those were actually the "goose-bumpy" moments, when I was entering the Olympic stadium, it was full of crowd, lots of flood lights on, so many people cheering you up to finish the run. Ah!!! At that moment I wanted to be P.T.Usha. Now, I don't blame  my knees for complaining such a bad try.

Among my office mates, I was the last one, but never mind, I was not the last person to finish the run among 35, 000 fellow runners. I finished the run, and enjoyed it a lot.

 
I remember, this was written on the T-shirt of a lady

Some things may change, but spirit runs!!!

Its middle of the night, raining heavily outside and I have made a hot cup of "adrak ki chai", a perfect setup to write post and also to listen to my favourite singer.

For all the "pankhaasss" & "pankisss" of Shafaqat Amanat Ali Khan, please listen to this song. The relevance of the title with the song is hidden in the lyrics. Find it out yourself & happy listening!!!

Prickly Prickly Pickle

What do you do when a co-passenger opens his lunch box and you get the fragrance of home made pickle? What do you do when you see a small kid having a paratha roll in his hand and from head to heel, smells of aam ka achaar?

Yeah yeah!! I agree with you, it takes you back to your childhood. I belong to a generation when the only thing that never changed was your "school lunchbox menu". Paratha had a special place in the lunch box and there use to be turns of each kind of achaar for 6 days a week. Of course!! Saturday used to be half day, but still lunch box is the only unforgettable thing in school bag.

It used to be summer vacations of complete two months. The hot summer days would be perfect time to get ready for the stock for whole year. One fine day, mom and dad would go to the wholesale vegetable market and bring kilos of raw mango. The next day, all the shiny green, oval shaped mangoes were chopped into infinite pieces. It was then mixed with all sorts of masala. The life of pickle and taste of it, both in my Mom's hands. The perfect measure of every spice, fineness in the work used to be rewarded for whole year. During summer vacations, we used to get ready for the next class, by wrapping our notebooks with brown paper, putting colorful nameslips to each book and notebook. I guess, it was my mom's way of getting ready for the new academic session.

Now that the humid, hot, damp month of July is going to end, and pickle is almost ready to be part of our lunch boxes :)

Time has changed, no more school, hence no more lunch boxes, but the fragrance of achaar is still somewhere locked inside. I miss those days, I miss you mummy, papa, I miss you dear sisters.

This achaar took me back to memory lane.... "Achaar nahi Atyaachaar hai ye to!!!"

Parda hai, Parda!!!

I was away from work for 2 weeks and now am drowning in pool of pending work. In middle of my so-called Bee-Zee-ness, I checked my personal mail. Google+ has gained lot of fever these days and so my mailbox was flooded with friends request.

Suddenly, I read a mail with subject: kumar killed you to join him on Google+

I think due to Bee(u)sy-ness, my eyes got tired. I guess I have to plan one more holiday...

"FOR MY EYES ONLY!!!!"

Kyun, Ho gaya na??

Oh no, not again..... Give me a break!!! This is too much.... Will you stop that?? How many time will you sing this song?? Dont you have any other song to sing?? One side of me totally stumbled by one song, and the other side of me asking for a change for  a better song. For past one month, I had been singing this one particular song, was quite amazed by the lyrics and music. I remember, when I first heard the lyrics of song, Dhoop ke makaan sa ye. I was totally like, "woahh!! ye kaisi lyrics hain??". I actually didnt understand the lyrics, but I loved the music, the rhythm. Then one day I listened to this song carefully, I was totally "lutaofied" my dil to the lyrics. Now, from head to toe, I mean lips to vocal chords, I am totally mad for the song. Day & night, morning & evening, sleeping & awake, the "dil pheku" side of me has been singing the song. The other side was always been tortured till....(it is actually the kahani mein twist)

I was humming the song and the moment I sung it loud, it came out to be..

"Bhoot ke makan sa ye...."

Now, this is what I call, "Mat samajh akela, Lyrics ko badla"

Wait!! am yet to start my post, just searching for an unconventional word or line to start the post. Its too easy to start a post wtih "I", "Why","Long", well the list is unending. So, lets start the post with this...

Bhaag Dhanno, basanti ki izzat ka sawal hai!!!!!

This is a popular dialogue, but surely an unconventional way. All of us at some point of time in life, do feel quite disheartened, discouraged, and look down on ourselves. I Guess its quite normal, coz just like in a span of 24hrs, its not all sunny and surely not all cloudy. Similarly we do have variations in our mood. We do react differently to different things. Each one of us have our moments of glory & darkness.

But, I hate it, when you are puzzled with the conspiracies around you and you have been charged of being naive. To top it up, again & again you actually prove yourself to be naive. Now, thats what I call, washing a washed cloth.  Pitai to baar baar ho hi rahi hai na?? Dhull gaya sara confidence, ab kya??

Dude, kabhi kabhi mood kharab hota hai to kya hua?? mast sa koi gaana gaane ka, kuch achcha khaane ka, ya phir naachane ka....Naaah!! too boring, aaj kal jisko dekho yahi karta hai...try something else. Sabse sasta aur tikau tareeka hai ki apna account FB se delete kar do :)

I have this friend of mine( no I am not telling you my story by taking someone elses name, I do have a friend like that) so daring and just ready to pounce on every opportunity that she gets. To be honest I always liked people who have high good confidence index. Personally, I have been a low ranker in this field. So whenever I meet some tough situation, I say this to my confidence, "Bhaag Dhanno, aaj basanti ki izzat ka sawal hai". You can actually imagine me, puffing myself like the Dog in "Tom & Jerry" show, charging at Tom.

Thanks to my friend A, for revealing the rule of "choti lakeer, badi lakeer".  Whenever you feel you are too low or too high on confidence scale, always compare yourself with the other person. It will keep a check on you. But make sure dont compare yourself with a better person, when confidence index is low. It might be hazardous......

Yeah, I am also having my bad days, but its ok. There is no point in mourning for yesterday that is just gone and you can't do anything about it. I know its difficult to be happy, its difficult to have guts to say "please listen to me" and at times its even more difficult to figure out as to why?? God damn why you were born?? But still,  I believe its always safe to remain what you are, the real you, the one you know deep down inside, but nobody in this whole world knows, not even your family.  I am pretty sure that God has made each one us a "Happy Soul". I truely believe that there is a setting between you and Him to remain the actual self, with which we were born.

I read this on internet and its worth quoting here.

There  is no point in punishing yourself for someone else's mistakes. It doesn't matter if the person who has done this to you is in the past or present. Don't let somebody else, who crushed your life inspiration, to crush your right and your duty TO BE HAPPY!!

Hello World!!

There is a partial sync between the title of today's post and the story below it. Hahaha, there is no secret, many of the intelligent choras and choris might have guessed.

Whenever you learn new programming language, the first program that you write is "Hello World!!"

Are yaar, pehle post ki shuruat bhi to dhaansu honi chahiye.......

Hope this journey continues.....