Nobody to talk to...

One of those times when nobody seems to be interested in talking. That does not necessarily mean that there is nobody around! Its only that there are no topics of common interest or indifferent moods! Add to this the situation that people whom you call are not picking and nobody else also calls you!
:-(

Thank God for internet!

Tomorrow is the Valentine's day

Even before the dawn of the month, V day was in the headlines of most newspapers in Karnataka! It all started when Mutalik's mercenary attacked the pubgoers in Mangalore. It is a fact that alcohol is not healthy! But, then should the Govt. issue licenses to wine shops and pubs or sell them in Toddy shops? Forget that argument.
The safe guardians of culture should attacked the pub owners or should have beat down all including the guys! Why only the weaker sex? One should be fair even if one is doing injustice!
Is Mutalik saying that only the women are responsible for regarding our cultural inheritance? No wonder, his post box is flooded with 'Pink chaddis' & Victoria Secrets :-) though I personally donot approve of sending such stuff to him (He will make money by selling them, what say u?)
My 2 cents : All this drama is to set the stage for the impending Assembly elections in 3-4 months. If not for all this Thamasha, I wouldn't have come to know of this small-time politician!

Or, he has tie-ups with brands like Archies to promote V-day sales! He is a brand ambassador who promotes by asking people not to do things whom he is sure will do it definitely to prove a point!
What more marketing required than this?
Wish u all a happy Valentine's day!

What kept me away?

Guess what happens, when u return to work after a break? Piles of work and loads of mails in the inbox !
Well, I'm in a similar position. Haven't actively blogged for a while and now, have got Kilobytes and megabytes of things to share with :-)
Let me begin with the reason for my silence as the first topic.
I took a break from work for a month, after nine years in the corporate world. You may instantly approve the need for a break! I took this time to rejuvenate myself and did what I love to do.

• Stayed back @ home, sweet home till I got bored of the TV. I am not going to complain about saas-bahu serials and their viewers. The women at home and others watch them for lack of better options! (Plenty of time on hand and the absence of objective or goal may force things that are otherwise undersired. This is one of the lessons I've learnt.)
• Cleaned a bit (I have to say a bit, because cleaning and dusting a house are perennial jobs) and organised stuff lying all over the house. (It takes only a minute for the house to revert to its disorganised state and somehow I belive it takes no effort for this reversion!)
  
• Took up dieting and gymmed daily- I lost a good 4.5 inches and 1.5 kilos (The kilos have now returned back as pounds)
• Played keyboard and regularly went for my classes and practised at home as well (There was no need to dust the keyboard)
• Visited my parents and spent time with my immediate family and friends
  
• Went on a holiday with my hubby dear to the beaches of Mangalore and forts of Kerala.
• Rest of the time, I was busy shopping, listening to music and lazing around :-)
  

Basically, I grabbed the opportunity and spent quality time with myself and family.
I simply love those days and I was happy to end the vacation as well.
All is well that ends well :-)
And when I joined work last month, the initial days kept me busy and so, couldn't take time out for blogging.
Here I am and hope to pen mythoughts more frequently.
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and enjoy your vacation too !

Take a break!

Well, thatz what I'm doing, right now!
A break from the corporate world after so many years ! Though it is a 3 week interval, I'm enjoying it and thats the reason I haven't written any new post.
Well, now that I have broken it, let me also tell u that the next two weeks will be hectic with fun, thanks to Diwali and a function at my parent's place.
Whats your plan for Diwali celebrations?
Wish you all a very happy Diwali and happy holidays :-)

Yet another strike!

Yesterday witnessed another bunch of strikes - by airport , bank employees and in Bangalore the auto-drivers again applied brakes to their vehicles claiming various demands.
Are strikes right for the country? Is it a public-sector employee's right to stop work for one or more days?
Take the case of autos - though it is not a public sector, the drivers get subsidies and benefits because of their occupation! Who pays the monies for these welfare benefits - of course, tax payers like you & me! And what do I get in return ?
Almost 90% of auto-drivers simply refuse to ply to commercial areas in the morning and residential areas in the evenings! The reason said is that they might not find commuters for return journey! The only way to fit into this timetable is by sleeping at homes during daytime and goto work in the evenings! Auto-imposed shift system !
Unfortunately, yesterday I had a chain of bad experiences commuting across Bangalore. In the morning, when I took an auto towards AnilKumble circle, the driver took me Shoolay circle inspite of telling him throughout the way that my destination is in the other direction. Add one-way roads and traffic blocks - result is that I paid twice the usual fare and kept my cool.
In the evening, I had to hurry to pick up some documents from MG Road. I waited almost half an hour near the Airport(old) flyover before finding an empty auto. As expected, he refused to come in that direction. Few other drivers followed suit and some demanded exorbitant fares - more than thrice the amount, reason being the strike ! But, do they need a reason anyway?
After a while, I lost my patience and started walking with the heavy laptop and bag. Whichever auto driver met me on the way, demanded a lottery prize. When I cautioned one of them of complaining to police, he asked me if he should take me to the police station for 50 bucks!
Nexus between auto & police - would have been my title if I were a journalist! It is all out in the open for everyone to see that autodrivers can't be so demanding or cheating on meters if and only if our cops were straight!
BTW, the strike by autos was to provide better housing options and a lenient policing system - it seems! Amen!
If only we do our duties well, our rights will get their way!

Festive rush in trains

Its not only common knowledge, but also a very important tip that one can reserve tickets in trains, 90 days in advance. Its a boon because one can ensure availaibility earlier and plan the other aspects of the trip in advance, especially if it is a holiday or sight-seeing. Come festivals, which are plenty in our country, the trains are the first indicators even before the HR departments get ready with their planning.
I have been experiencing this with the major festivals like Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Pooja, x-mas or long weekends around Gandhi Jayanti, Independence or Republic days. During the past decades, the rarity of seats in public transport has only gone up by several notches. I'm sure the number of trains or seats have gone up in this period, but this number seems to have been beaten up by the number of citizens willing to take up journeys around these holidays.
My recent example is attempting a booking for Diwali, this year which falls on 27th Oct. Much in advance, my family had calculated the booking time and kept reminding me to book them on the opening day to avoid inconvenience or hassles with the public and private road transport folks. I too promptly made use of technology and kept enough reminders in Microsoft Outlook, mobile and post-its on the wall. The D-day being Saturday when I tended to extend my cosy sleep, I woke up to the alarms and reminders. It was 7.45 am and I had good 15 minutes to brush and switch on the computer. I logged into the IRCTC website by 7.55 and checked the availability for the Friday before Diwali for a train from Bangalore to Tuticorin. In 2nd AC, there were 17 seats available and that a message was displayed that it cannot be booked before 8 am. The site was behaving properly - all fair and good. Waited impatiently for the next five minutes without doing anything, lest I should use-up bandwidth. When the system clocked 8:00, I pressed the button 'Book ticket'. Well, nothing happened for 2-3 minutes which seemed like hours. I was visualising the various booking counters with mad rush of people who might have waited for hours in long queues and brokers who might be bulldozing their way through. But the website was relaxed and reluctant before the next page came up where I hurriedly entered the name of passengers, choice and id proof details and pressed the 'Make payment' button. This button was no less than the previous one and took its time to display the bank gateway where I filled the login id, password, transaction password, agreement with Terms &Conditions and pressed the button 'Confirm payment'. A message that the payment could not be done was displayed from the bank's site after what seemed to be another hour to me. I checked the time and it was 8:05. Cursing the bank and its infrastructure, I checked the availability of tickets which came out as WL15. I proceeded to 3rd AC which was also in WL and for sleeper class, it was WL200/Regret and it was 8:14 by then.
It was unbelievable, but imagined so many frantic guys in front of laptops and counters who might have got the 17+34+200 seats (it might be more) in that train and hundreds of them like me who got disappointed by the nick of time.
Forget inflation or fear of terror attacks - we want to celebrate our festivals with friends and family, our long weekends in beautiful hill stations or beaches.
Till the country gears up to handle these small pleasures of its citizens, we will continue to remain as a developing nation.

Significance of Sixty

I am now wondering why 60 is a significant number in one's lifetime ? There must be some reasons in the literature - In certain culture, 60th age signifies rebirth and is celebrated as the person gets to re-live the years 60 before. Well, in most of the Indian systems, 60 years form a cycle. I presume that there is an astronomical reason for the figure 60! So, once a person reaches 60, he/she enjoys the same year as that of his/her birth ! That's how it is a re-birth ! It is celebrated with family and friends and is a good opportunity for fun and merriment.
Interesting reason for the tradition, right? Well, let me also tell u the reason for choosing this topic!
This is my 60th post and I started writing that only to realise that I was not aware of the reasoning. Did a quick and brief research and found this!
Long live blogging!

Rate your life?

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.2
Mind:	7.1
Body:	8.3
Spirit:	5.2
Friends/Family:	5.8
Love:	5.5
Finance:	8.2
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Traffic(king)

I noticed two grave traffic (mis)habits we Indians take for granted.
1. A matador van with a minimum of 20 school children aged below 6, waiting at a stop for more to be picked up! It was not a school van as there was no name, but was painted all yellow. Either it is a private vehicle or the school did not risk its name! I also saw that there were a few parents waving as the van left the stop. The question is : If they are affording sky-high school fees, uniform and other additionals, why can't they ensure the basic safety of their children ? If they are also paying in thousands for the vans, why don't they raise the voices or bring it to the notice of authorities when the vehicles are not adhering to safety standards or exceeding the maximum capacity?
All the time we hear of a mishap involving school kids, we wonder how the school or parents did not bother about it earlier. I guess, we all assume that probability will be in our favour and take things light.
Responsible parents and teachers, do ask your ward how many other kids travel with him/her in the morning and evening and how he/she likes the ride? The answer will tell about his/her own safefy.
2. If it is before 7.30 am, any 2-wheeler or 4 wheeler or heavy vehicle including state transport bus, the traffic signals are ignored and violated. Reason from any of the drivers: Too long a wait when there are few vehicles on the road and no cops around to monitor.
This is not the solution as it is chaotic and the bullies get their way through inspite of red. An 'L board' or a traffic obedient waits with no other choice! There is a high risk of new drivers simply following the signal and get honked or scared by big vehicles in the middle of crossing and get to slam the brakes!
Isn't switching off the signals or an "orange" light better choice? At least people will be aware that there is no signal and try honing their skills or patience.
Of course, the best solution is to follow traffic rules and it is easier said than done

Writing style

Something that intrigued me today:
Consider these words of wisdom from the classic little guide to writing English, "The Elements of Style":
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."
This tip should be useful for us in writing for day to day purposes, blogging, writing white papers and articles... maynot be for exams where marks are directly proportional to the number of pages!

What r u reading?

What is the book that u r currently reading? Or what was the recent book that u completed reading?
Read that the answers to these questions tell a lot about the person more than his/her friends.
So, how does it help? To know about somebody for friendship or any other relationship...
We can simply ask abt the magazines a person reads if he/she is not a bookie!

Or now-a-days, a more suitable question would be: what is the website or blog that u visit often?

Autos off the Bangalore roads

Is that a good sight or a bad one? - is the question dodging me.
Today morning, I travelled all along the airport road and outer ring road to reach my office - only once, I could get to see the yellow roofed auto, that too in a self created auto stand. Reason being that the auto drivers (or auto owners) are protesting by going off roads for 12 hours today, demanding higher rates. It is good for all other vehicle drivers on road. -they can atleast attempt to stick to lanes.
I am wondering what kind of protest is this and how can one section of the society which is dependent on public utility bring people to a halt. It is not problem of today, but almost everyday. Ask any regular commuter of the hassles one undergoes to travel in a three wheeler. To begin with, one has to beg an average of five autos before getting the nod to get into the tuk-tuk. And this average is only an average and does not guarantee a ride every time you stand on the pavement waving your hands. When u stop an auto, sometimes you get a stare in return, sometimes a smirk, sometimes a little less than a "ghaali" and sometimes nothing at all! I have an idea if we can ask for the day's prediction to include this response from our astrologers!
Next is the problem of negotiating with the driver on the extra fare payment. By default, he starts with double the fare and bargains depending on ur desperation level.
If you succeed to get an auto in the direction you wanted and managed to get in, start looking at the meter - which comes in various types and speed. There are types which will not obey traffic signals and the meters never stop though the vehicle is halted. There are Ben Johnsons, PT Ushas and Gangulys that run at various velocity. Tell that to the driver, he changes his mother tongue and uses the only language you cannot understand especially if it is a girl!
What next? You get to see a bit of the city with the excuse of traffic blocks or jams in certain areas. This happens more if you reach Bangalore on a volvo bus. I guess any auto driver eyes a person with a suitcase as a hawk eyeing chicken. I think of macro economics after I get into an auto from an overnight bus journey, early in the morning.
After all these interesting travel opportunities, the last leg is no less. No change for the fare. I do not know where do the coins minted by the Indian Govt. reside ? I am sure that all the black money hoarders prefer currency notes and that too in higher denominations. Our friends hoard coins, especially 50p and 1Re are unheard terms- all these hold good if and only if if it is commuter's money.
Well, I also agree that there are a handful of decent and good autowalas around. Two days back, I was so happy when an auto-uncle (Mr. Chellayya) dropped me without cribbing or swearing. When I gave him the money, he asked me how much change should be returned without looking at the meter. I told him 5 , instead of the 8.
The last time I said a similar thing was to a cabbie in Germany.

More seats or more trains?

Read an article and a blog on the proposal by Indian Railways to increase seating capacity in the existing trains, probably without additional basic amenities.

We understand that more people are travelling and they are travelling more often than before for business, pleasure etc. This is a big opportunity for Indian Railways as trains are the most preferred mode of transport next to flights which have limited operations and are also more expensive.

Almost every train runs full house within days of booking opening. Even if all the trains are doubled over weekends, I am sure they will be full. What more can a service provider ask for?

I know that more trains means additional infrastructure and networking. But, we are a growing nation with a double digit GDP growth! If we can't do it now, then when?

Increasing seats in existing trains seems to be a penny wise idea and the opportunity loss is still huge!

Today is a great day!

Yes, everyday is a good day. I am happy for today. It is just the beginning of a long Monday!
Its not the day that matters, its how we enjoy ourselves!
Well, let me come directly to the topic. Its 9 am and I feel all excited about today. This is in spite of the early morning power cut resulting in a cold shower and me running to catch the office bus.
What could be the reasons for the happiness? I experienced the most blissful things of life:
1. The best thing in the world is to be loved
2. The next best thing is to love

To elaborate further, I casually told my hubby last evening that I make it to the bus stop alone daily. Today morning, in the hurry, he wore his sandals and accompanied me. I sighted the bus before crossing the road and ran helter-skelter and managed to board the moving bus.
An hour later, I called him to request him to get my track suits, he tells me that he can never forget today.When I asked him the reason, he told me that he had captured the moment when I turned back to wave at him before boarding the running bus and that this will remain with him forever. Though I think it is funny to see someone with two bags running and waving, I feel good that it happened that way!

The second reason is equally exciting for me. I get a mail from a dear friend that she is getting married to another dear friend of mine! And these two had known each other for more than ten years and I am sure they can make a wonderful pair together. Each of us had dreamed of different lives and are now getting into unexpected twists and turns. All is for good and all is well that ends well. I am so happy for the two and may the Holy God bless the couple!

Now tell me if I need any more reasons to be so happy?

Happy New Year and resolutions

Wish u and ur loved ones a very happy and fun filled 2008 !
Well, the terms new year and resolutions are tagged together. Everyone talks of it, if not resolving or breaking a resolve!
Do u know why a new year is associated with resolution? I donno ... but I have some guesses.
Anytime through the year, one feels to improvise oneself or the surroundings or something around oneself. This feeling might arise once or few or many or more times as part of day-to-day life, depending on the personality. Most of the times, when the need is not immediate, the natural response from the body is to procrastinate.
What does it wait for? The Christmas?
Almost yes.... but to be exact, it is the new year!
It is a new beginning and an easy start for setting and tracking the goals.
I too take resolutions and many a time, they get broken silently or come crushing down.
And every year I hope not to do them. Hope that this year also!
Well, before that, I need to define them :-)
Have a great year ahead!

Flash backs

The only time we use this term when we see past incidents being told in a movie. With a spiralling curve, one relives or relishes a past incident. Few are good ones and some are not so good to remember.
Here is my theory:
It becomes 'memories' when we get reminded ourselves of our past.
It is called 'anniversary' or 'happy birthday' when we remember and celebrate certain eventful days from the past.
Well, I am now wondering if the converse is also true.
Can all memories, anniversaries and birthdays be termed as flashbacks ? Yes, except for the birthday part of them, for reasons well known :-) I donot remember being born, but I was born!
I remember getting married (which smiley to use?) two years ago, on the same day! (Now, u know the reason for this post in this blog!!)
So, what does my flash back reveal? Loads of fun, music, dance, friends, relatives, rain(there was a heavy downpour for a week!), pictures etc etc.
Good to have flashbacks in life and enjoy the moment:-)

Penny wise

Guess, what I did today morning? Since the curtains 'd gathered enof dust, I had the noble thot of cleaning them before I rushed to work.
So, early in the morng, I pulled down the hall curtains and dumped them in the washing machine… Since the mac wasn't overloaded, I filled with some heavy-washable stuff like socks and powered it on…
Only after a minute did I wonder what if the colors from the bright curtains decide to switch places !!
Though it was a late thought, it happened to be a latest one :-(
After an hour when I pulled put the clothes, my red-white socks have become orange-red, the white teddies on my dress became pale & the green in pyjamas into something else !!
Next time, if u wanna dye any of ur clothes, let me know - the other curtains in the house are awaiting their bath !!