Vadhu Dakshina.....

Thailand... A place where the men : women ratio is 1:8...

In most of the places, people land up dealing with women........ Be it in BTS/MRT ticket vending counters, 7/11 shops, offices, banks, hospitals, retail vendors, street food vendors, chefs, cleaners, suppliers etc.
It can sound wrong to call, "business men" ...and sounds better to call "business women".

Since Thailand is religiously connected to India, I assumed their tradition and culture might resemble Indians.
Upon noticing closely, I realized, they have adapted few Indian ways and changed according to their comforts... One such strange tradition is Dowry/ Var Dakhshina of India which has been adapted as Vadhu Dakshina (sorry, I do not know the Thai word of vadhu dakhshina)

While talking to a friend, I learned that there is a different concept of Dowry in Thailand ... Unlike in India where girls parents needs to pay to groom for no good reason..... The Thai version of Dowry has a meaning...
The groom has to pay the bride's family to get married.. Their belief is, the guy is creating a void in the family by taking the daughter away... and by doing so, there wont be anyone to take care of girls parents at their old age... Hence the guy needs to ensure that the girls parents are well insured and secured during their old age...

For some reason, I took the concept of Thai dowry system positively..... may be coz it had a justifiable reason..
It was definitely not like the concept in India where the dowry system sounds like price tag of guy based on his education and job status!

Strange are the ways in Thailand.....but whatever it is, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about their customs and beliefs... :) ...and surely I liked the concept where women are very well considered and appreciated ..

Disclaimer: Readers please excuse me if my comments on Indian dowry system sounded rude. I dint mean to hurt anybody's feelings who still accept dowry for being born as guy in India.

Happy hours :)

Some random instances in life which meant heaven back then….
The view of rainbow… I used to rush out of home just to get the view of it….and land up confirming if there are 7 colors in it…… I always missed to recognize indigo….so was landing up with 6 colors!(Surprised was i)

The sound of the aero plane… In Goa, there weren’t so many flights as many as in Bangalore… So it was a joy to watch the aero plane…. We used to wave our hands assuming someone might respond… and scream ta-ta bye-bye assuming someone might open their window and wave back… (Innocent was i)

The new hero pen…. I carried a ink pen just for fun… I liked to spill the ink on the plastic coated book bind and then hold the nib in an angle that it sucks all the ink back… I even enjoyed spilling or rather waste the ink by pouring it into a glass of water just to see how well it spreads and finally dissolve…(Naughty was i)

The new tiffin box……. I used to finish the lunch packed in a fancy tiffin box with the holder for the spoon….and the stickers of our favorite cartoon… As the cartoon stickers faded, the meager was my appetite… And my appetite used to be decrease if the fancy tiffin box was replaced with a plain steel box! (Stubborn was i) … The flair for fancy box ended when once the science teacher mentioned that the food in plastic box is unhealthy :) (Obedient I became)

The new compass box… More than anything in my school bag, I safeguarded my pencil box… whether I used so many pens, pencils, sharpeners & erasers, but I carried a lot with me… The collection of scent rubber was a craze… so was an equal craze to collect the pictures of our favorite cartoon and decorate the pencil box…(Creative I became…)

The new clipboard….. I still remember I had insisted to buy a pink clipboard even when I hardly knew that I would land up using the same board till I completed my Masters degree!! I had stuck Lord Ganesha’s sticker on top of it when I moved to Bangalore coz it was pasted in most of my friends clipboards(assuming that God would show some mercy and help me retain my rank) (Religious was i…)

The new color box…. Out of all the exams held in the school, Drawing exam was my favorite…. From crayons to color pencils to sketch pens to water colors to acrylic paints….I still have a collection of them… Eagerness to use almost all colors forced me to draw a house surrounded by garden full of flowers…(Fascinated was i….)

The diary milk chocolate….. More than the chocolate, I was more interested to get the golden wrapper which covered the chocolate… while most of my friends preserved the wrapper in the middle of their books, I used to cut them into small pieces and fill inside the balloon…. (back then I wasn’t aware we get glitters).. The only time I blasted the balloon was on the birthdays and was happy to watch the golden wrapper pieces scatter…(Celebration mood I got….)

The dry leaves….The flowers…the feathers…… all preserved in the books coz someone said us that they multiply!!! (Full of hopes…..)

Certain things which we did in our childhood can never be forgotten…..and now I feel funny abt those incidents, but still I miss all that….. I am sure most of you would have indulged in atleast one of these activities…. Just thought of recollecting and cherishing those moments… All I learn from those thoughts is life is never complex….unless we make it…..
Love and live life however it is :) Create a lively lovely environment around and enjoy every bit of it.... :)

Spare them!!!

It was a Tuesday evening when my team mate and I rushed to one of the session which had started sharp at 4.30. we were late by 15 mins, for which we had good justifiable reason…
The trainer however was a practical person, so could understand our situation… but by the time we reached, the air in the room was hot… Our manager was waiting at the entrance and was furious to see us coming late… He was on call and was blabbering “I don’t want this kind of passive response from you and your team members” …. For an instant I assumed that someone else was the pray for his anger… so I just greeted him with a smile..
He turned to me and the other team member and said, “yeah I was talking abt you guys only with your TL!!!, tell me why were you late?!!”... My mind went on a trance and I murmured that we were doing the migration activity of one of the HIGH priority project!!... My manager with the sharp ear could hear my explanation!!... For some time I had a feeling that I was answering my school principal… she was lady who would never take the reasons given by the fellow students easy…
Some resemblance which I found with my manager and my school princi were:-
He calls up the TL coz he doesn’t trust our explanation on delay to session…. And my princi used to call for a parents-teachers meeting if she doesn’t find us in the morning exercise session!
He keeps roaming around to see if all the team members are around….and if we are found missing during the tea break, then sends a sarcastic mail with the subject line, “No one in the bay!”…. My princi had set a speaker in our class, so that if the decibel raises, then she would get a beep in her office and she would blast us from there and dismiss the class and make us stand in the sun as part of the punishment!! (She was cruel!!!!)
When my manager speaks, he assumes he is always correct and never apologizes if he is proven wrong… Princi was “the princi” and she assumed that she can mend our ways by giving more punishments!!!
When my manager speaks, I notice his teeth and assume, it’s a high time for him to visit a dentist….When my princi spoke, I used to notice her head and I assumed that she must go to Dr.Batra for hair implantation…coz there was a rumour/fact that she was bald..
When my princi spoke, all I prayed was, “oh god, no-more-punishments-plz”…. And when my manager spoke on that day to me, all I prayed was, “Oh god!!, let this fellow not dare to show up this as a reason to spoil my appraisal”….
At school, after the hour of punishment, the dialogues which used to automatically come  “Yeh aurath seedha narakk mei jaayegi!! Iski gaadi ki tyre phoot jaaye!!.. Let it rain like hell on the day when this lady call for a expensive party to celebrate some event!!!.... Heartless female… Motii kahikii…. Hamaare paiso(school fees) se liya hua isska car…aur hame ek ride bhi na mila…… bhaad mein jaaye !!... Evlu onntiketa tara sanna aadrene evll gandannge match aagodu..else evlu dummmi ne!”
At office, after he finished his lecture session on what made him furious, the immediate outburst  I will blog on this fellow and let the whole world know that he is a screwy manager!!

First week of June!! :)

Its June 1st week!!! The week when most of the schools re-open :)..

Its one of the days, when most of the school students feel sad to wake up early and dress up in uniform instead of their colorful casual wears... and most parents feel good about it!!
Its the day when students feel excited to meet their chommies while parents sense the serene silence at home for few hours;)

Recalled my school days where most of the language teachers asked us to write an essay or letter, narrating abt the way we spent our vacation...... That used to be confusing situation to me and my friends coz sometimes we were landing up with attending functions of far relatives wedding or some 60th yr birthday celebration or house warming or thread ceremonies!!!....and that was the time when we hardly knew who were our relatives...........! and so we didn't know what to draft in the essay coz it seemed as though we attended some unknown peoples function!!!
Few students used to write abt their summer camp experience...or some students would go on a trip and would write in lengths abt their experience!!! which sounded really interesting...
While this was the situation with our language teachers, our co subjects teachers were still clever!! They used to call for a surprise dictation from the new syllabus coz they assumed we were book worms (i guess) and we might have opened the new book while binding and labelling them and read it partly!!
Dictation on few basic words like "arteries, digestive system, brain, diodes, chemicals etc was manageable...but terms like psychaitrist,etymology were like (uurrrrrggggg...what on earth did they mean!!!) The geography test was a terror coz we were asked to either spell the rare fauna and floras names!! or spell the names of places like Tierra, Massachusetts etc!!! (All we prayed was -> Oh god plz make us get 9/25 coz 9 was the pass marks)

The 2nd day used to be cursive writing and some paragraph writing just to get our handwriting in sync after the vacation.....and co-subjects teachers were making us write the spellings of the complicated words 20 times!!!

Maths was fun for a week coz there was no test as such... only reciting tables till 20 or we were asked to solve few lengthy multiplication problems.. :)

The PT sessions were just doing enough to tan our skin after the vacation... and in my case, i used to forget the next step in the exercise session!!! While all of us were busy struggling to move our hands and legs for exercise........It was the PT sir who was over enthusiatic to train us!!

Somehow things was getting better for all of us after a weeks time :) All thanks to the school days for making so many days memorable.....

Life can be simpler

It was a hot Friday afternoon when i met my friends at the lunch table in the office cafeteria....... Although it was hot outside, it was freezing cool inside due to the AC!!

Unlike other days while we generally discuss abt in and out of office where the topics range from management, transport, facility, work, project, canteen food, managers etc.... on that particular day we weren’t in such mood... so were speaking abt all the random topics..

My dearest Rabbit Rashmi was sitting opposite to me and was wearing a beautiful bangle.... I noticed that it was matching with her dress and I dint miss to compliment her for that...... She gave me details that the bangle was taken in the ooru jaathre :).. The word jaathre caught my attention and i recalled the days when my dad used to take me to jaathre and buy me colorful balloons :) (Yes, I like balloons even today)
The girl in the other corner stared at us as though we were not IT professionals!! The expression on her face was as though ->"Cant you girls go to any decent shop and buy stuff?"
I stared back in frown...

After sometime we were talking abt the Titan Raga watches..... I like the designs of it, and i use one of its collection..... While we were waiting for another friend of ours to join us for lunch, i checked the time on the mobile..... I then wondered on what’s the point in wearing an expensive sleek beautiful watch and not utilizing it for what its meant and instead i used it as a beauty/status statement :(
Finally concluded--> Use the wristwatch as a watch and not as a wristband!!
Also realized that digital watch is much easier to use...

After sometime we were offered sweet corn by one of our friend.... I usually like corns, especially the boiled ones served with butter & pepper... but that day i wasn’t in the mood to eat corns.....
I recalled the days when we enjoyed the hot corn with green chilly chutney sold on the street.....while eating that whole corn on the way home walking, talking and laughing and making hissing sound coz it would be too spicy.. still busy licking the chutney on it..
Wow!!! Its mouth watering...:p

Certain things sound so simple when we tend to accept it the way they are........ Life must be lived in a simple way with simple things around... with simple and right attitude...and life would turn out to be a bliss for sure :) Life can be simpler if we wish to make it simple :)

"The most memorable Dream

The regular to and fro bus journey from home to office has really started meaning a lot to me... The
potential solitary time i get to think, is while i travel back to home... But yesterday since I felt dizzy after
taking the syrup which was prescribed for my ill health, I fell asleep soon after I got my seat..

I partly remember the dream which I saw, and since it was very nice experience with the entire feel
good and feel lively factors, I felt like blogging on it....

It was an open space with lots of greenery around and no houses to block the view of nature... Seemed
like the top of a mountain.... I don’t remember how i landed up in that place...but all i remember is it was
an experience of endless happiness.. The sound of the breeze which hissed in our ears......my dress
and hair flattering due to the cold wind....a sort of swing made using the broken twigs ... the leaves and
flowers which fell on us while we were running around one of the huge tree... I giggled continuously for
some reason..... I took deep breaths as though it was an exercise to purify my lungs...
After a while I landed up near a lake where we spent whole of evening dipping our feet in fresh cold
flowing water....the sound of breeze and water was a bliss..
Later it was dark and we laid our back on the grass, and as usual I enjoyed watching the night sky
and gazed at the moon.... we hoped to catch the glimpse of the falling star...and the sound of breeze
became higher... and i suddenly heard the honk!!!!!!!!!!

That was the end of my dream coz I woke up with horror due to the honking of vehicles!! I woke up from
my groggy sleep and all i saw was long road with jam packed vehicles!!...
I began coughing roughly after i realized that the window near my seat had apparently opened wide
(may b coz I dint clutch it properly).. it was raining outside... (which meant another dose of immunity
syrup would be forced to me:( )

Till i reached home, i kept embracing the moments which i could remember out of the abstract dream
which i saw...... I wish it comes true someday.. ..

HeYY RaaM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes we don’t get what we desire...and we are either forced to take what was destined to receive or be happy with whatever we have...

Dear readers do not assume that I am out from saint's ashram coz of the above statement!!

It’s just that I am annoyed!!

It so happened...I was looking for a song at 12 in the night (height of desperation to hear that song)...

First time I was serious about downloading the songs which I wanted to hear... While most of the times I get the songs from my friends or colleagues, this time I was in action coz none of them knew which song I was referring to!!
It was one of the song from the movie “Hey Ram” and my state by the time I found that song was “HeYY RaM!!!!” I was getting only the Tamil version of that song while I wanted the Hindi version…
The task of searching for that song was tedious as I wasn’t aware of the lyrics.. I only remembered the piano and humming tune of it!! After browsing for long, I finally found the song in one of the sites ( I have forgotten the site name now) .. Quickly I downloaded and switched off the pc… While I was abt to doze off, I thought of playing that song assuming it would sound like dummy lorrri….and to my horror the song that played was a loud noisy marathi folk song!!!!! I felt like suing the site from which I downloaded!!! And unfortunately I dint remember the site address!!
Within seconds I cleared that song from my memory card!!! And threw my cell aside….
Dint dare to download the song for next three days…..untill my friend finally the hindi
version of the original song and passed it on to me……. :)
Thanks a lot :)

Random Rattlings

A strange thought just started eating my mind when i was peacefully sitting in the bus on the way back home...

I was reading a novel when i heard the girl sitting next to me wailing over her phone telling -"You hurt me...so i hurt you back on purpose to let you know that i am hurt" .. She then continued, saying, "You dont know how much it hurts me when i tried to hurt you"

There was sudden rush of thoughts in my mind, like:
-> Can we get a tongue twister out of these words coz the word "hurt" is used to many times in a single sentence!!
-> You are no more going to think of tongue twisters coz that lady seems to be sad or rather hurt!!
-> Its bad manners to hear others conversation lady!! (But i couldnt help coz she was sitting right next to me and her voice was audible)
-> Bad manners just paves way when the situation favors...(i had forgetten the headsets at home!)
-> Common!! headset is not mandatory in bus sweetie!! Shoo away that thought! Headsets tucked into ears for long time has hazardous effect.
-> Concentrate on the novel...thats more interesting :)
-> Listening to others talks and getting curious on what they are going through is also not-so-pleasant-thing to do..

And last of all the thoughts, Isnt it that her sentence had surely got some strong meaning to ponder.. -> By hurting the loved one, it doesnt prove that she wanted to take revenge or play tit for tat..It hurt her too to hurt her dear one.. But then there must be some purpose why she preferred to hurt to whoever!
Hmmm.. what a true thing she said though..

I thought for a while abt it coz i couldnt take my mind out. Had i really hurt someone? (Yes) Hadnt i given a second chance? (Yes, i gave second...third... fourth... many times) Had i not forgiven everytime they apoligized (I had..before the limits crossed)...

There were few more questions popping in my mind by the time i reached home and after reaching home, all those got evaporated as i soon realized i was hungry ;) Brain had got enough to think...so next was the time for the digestive system to work :)

Blunders just happen!!!

Its true that the blunders just happens.. And most times it happens unknowingly unless someone is very specific on screwing others life!!

It was in the noon when a lady walked up to us from blue while my teammate and I were seriously working... She just asked may i know who is Prathima...
Before even i could say its me, my team mate enthusiatically said her name.. This put the stranger in confusion coz my team mate's name resembled my name and has only 1 letter which is different...

Lady: errr......i am now confused by the names.. i assume the manager asked me to meet prathima..

Team mate: Its ok... We both can give you the same info so its ok to talk to any one of us..

Me: Still smiling... What’s your name?? New member to our team??

Lady: yeah, myself Smitha and Yeah, new to this team..:)

Me: Oh cool, welcome.. get on board :)

Team mate: Nice :) Experienced?? Which technology?

Lady: Yeah... was working on XYZ company till date..

Me and team mate: Cool, nice :)

Lady: So can you tell me abt this prjt?? May be i will try to get to know a bit..

Me: Hmm... whole of this floor works for the same prjt.. and our team stretches till (pointing at few cubilces) there..
And then a bit of blablabla just to give her some rough idea abt the client..

Team mate: (Got fully charged by our client's name).. Umm... and u knw what... there is No good things to tell abt our client.. No guddy bags.. No that..No this... Nothing!! Dabba prjt!!

Me: (got influenced) ya ya.. True.. (Added all the humming needed to keep my team mate talking and assured that what ever she utters is true)
And we giggled for some time as that was our usual fun time.....
We then asked the lady to join us to collect the FREE coupons allotted to women as part of "Celebrating women’s day" in ground floor...

Team mate: In this project there is no hope of getting coupons, so let’s collect the coupons sponsored by the cmpny!!

All the 3 rushed to the door..

Next scene -> Ground floor:
No coupons were left as we were late..

Me: Ohhhh!! This sucks!! We dint get even this!! Time kharab chal raha hai shaayad!!

Lady: That’s ok.. Next time :)

Me and team mate: Oh god!! This cmpny cannot get more coupons is it!! Sick ppl!!

Next scene -> Next day :
A mail popped into our mail box from our manager which said "Kindly come to Meeting room to invite the new TL Ms.Smitha"

Me and team mate: Almost slipped from the seat!! Jaws sagging!! Shocked!! Cold fingers!! and the voice in unison, "She was our TL" oops!!!!! We are dead today.. We might get thrown out of this project to have praised abt all the bad points of this client!!
Gosh, we asked only her technology and never thought who the hell she was!!

Next scene -> Meeting room:
TL: Smiling :)
We: Confused, regretful, sorry, run-away mood...Still smiling :) :) Lol!!!!! One hell of a blunder!!!!

Happy Happy :)

Calls at 12am........Happy mood....... continuous smiles.......... sound sleep.......... parents........blessings.....… hopes.......prayers.......... the gift of time....… sweet scented room.......a lovely dress........winter breeze......... Thick coat..... scarf......soothing music.......fun........ books...... endless smiles... :)

The loved one........endless laughter...........celebration.......family....… surprises.........the candles........ yummy pastry......... a new dress….... nice perfume.....… gifts........ delicious home made food........well wishes........ eyes full of dreams......… full of smiles.........endless photo sessions....… a special day............. blessed by love :) .......... Add on to memory :)

Thanks for everything…. :)
Life is simply beautiful :) Just the way I always wanted it to be :)

Simple...........sweet........super.......... :)

Few more months!!

In continuation to one of my post (Just 2 more years) when i was waiting for the MCA to get over...Now its all here....... Few more months!!
There are no weekend classes, no assignments, no lab sessions...no cribbing about the condition of elevators, no complaints on canteen.... This sounds good to some extent coz now we spend the days on earth with some kind of peace :)

And now am finally in the final sem of Master’s degree...which sounds really good for many reasons.. :) Now, I can go out with my loved one….try hard to open my eyelids at 10am on weekends…feel the warmth of sunlight which tries hard to wake me (mom being generous by not disturbing)….. wake up to the fresh smell of breakfast which mom cooks… meet relatives/cousins…..etc, the lengthy list of what not we can do in weekends goes on…

Until I find some new activity to fill my time, I quietly wonder about the 2.5yrs of hectic weekend schedule which just passed on to the fully-free weekends…. Will catch up with my hobbies soon though… :)

While parting on the last day of 5th sem, my friend said, "Don’t know when we will meet again".. … and without giving a second thought, I gladly said, "Soon"...and luckily the luck turned in our favor... She joined the same company as mine :)
I am getting suspicious coz things turned out true on what I said :) (I regret for the moment when I dint utter “We are going to onsite together”) :p

Back to the happy mood :) I met her as a stranger when both of us started our career in the same company and on the same day…Soon we became batch mates-> colleagues -> friends -> classmates -> best friends :)
Just the places flipped, Instead of the deserted 5th or 7th floor classrooms, we now have food together at office cafeteria.. Chat.. gossip.. discuss...etc over the office communicator instead of classrooms and corridors :)

Life is a mixture of moments filled with happy hours…sad moments…scary at times…surprising when least expected… but all in all, a rollercoaster ride :) and I am enjoying it :)


PS: Hey rabbit looks…….. I owe this post to you :)

~~Nostalgic Waves~~

It was early morning hours when I went to the breakout area at office to get some water in my bottle….. I must say- the lake view from the breakout area is too good… Felt like looking at the view for longer, so I silently stood there keeping my cell aside and a cup of chocolate milk (yeah, I like the extra sweet drink)..

The breeze was just complimenting the lake…. The waves moved in the direction of the breeze…. Wow!! Such a beautiful creation of the almighty I thought…. Though I couldn’t hear the sound of the water from the top floor of this sealed tower, I could still imagine that I was happily sitting near the shore, with my legs dipped in the cold lake water…

The weather outside is just like our life: sometimes good, sometimes bad… For some time it gave me a relaxing feeling……..and later the nature has its own ways to pull me back to the nostalgic moments… I recollected the years which I spent at Goa… All happy happy moods, the beach, the hat, the time, people around, the lovely Goan songs etc…….
I quickly realized that I can’t go back to that time….and I wondered what I am doing!! Working – which I really enjoy… Studying- just to get the feather on my hat of master’s degree (for namesake and for accomplishing my ambitions)! Keeping the pace with colleagues (so that I don’t stand behind)!
Felt like I am running with the time and simply straining myself by leading the fast-life to die young!! In my childhood, I always wished that I would lead my life as per my dreams… But now I feel, we are living thinking more about the next future slab! And have apparently forgotten that we the present slab was once our “dream future” which we dreamt in the childhood days.. :(

Keeping pace with time, I realized that I had spent solid 20 mins in the breakout area and I had lots of work to be completed... So, rushed back to work….
While typing this, I am planning for a long vacation to come out of the stressful life… Hope my vacation leaves gets approved :)

Morning Showers :) :)

Well.. Its raining outside and I must confess that my mood swings when ever it rains :)
There is something abt the rain that changes my mood.. my mind starts wandering… and the smell of the mud just makes me think of all the good things..
And I blankly consider that it’s the love of sky with earth in the form of rain.. though they can never meet, the sky showers the rain and the earth being receptive to it, responds by making the nature look more beautiful……….(This sounds a bit poetic unlike my usual posts…and I blame the rain to infuse poetic mood in me!)

The early hours in the morning when I am comfortably seated in the office bus, warmly sitting in the window seat with the curtain slightly open for me to get the view of the outside world…… My mind was singing “Saavan barrse tarrse dil……….yaar ek yaar ke intezar mein” and I received the text message from my darling informing me that the weekend is planned :) with two little sweet smileys at the end of msg :)… it was pleasant feeling….such a nice sync between the song and the msg …. I was waiting to meet :)

I switched on the player on my mobile to just keep me awake for sometime until I finally dozed off in bus... I opted the 1st song to be played and then opted the random options in the player so that songs don’t repeat…. The 1st song was simply chosen to keep going with my mood which was “Saavan beeto jaaye pe harwa…which is a khamaj song” and then the songs played in random were “Kailash kher’, Sayyan….Tu jo dekhe pyaar se…” then “You’re my #1 by Enrique Iglesias”..
Wow!! Such lovely tracks played back to back…..and all thanks to my player to keep in good mood until the journey lasted….

As I reached office, I saw people with people in raincoats and umbrellas just having good time walking towards their respective towers…
And there I was….walking without any umbrella:(…drenched like a bird and shivering in cold… and wondering why I dint obey to mom while she asked me to carry an umbrella… But things do not matter much…The overall experience was good :)

Aren’t we afraid of few species..?

It’s a few days back incident which happened with me… Unlike all other days when I am always late to the bus, that day I was a bit early to the bus.. I happily chose my seat in the bus as not many had come to the bus yet…
Was curiously checking in my bag for the headset which my mind said “U have misplaced!!!”…while my heart silently wished, “check it once again dear, u aren’t careless”…
So, adhering to my heart’s wish, I started to check inside the bag vivaciously, when I suddenly found something crawling!!!!! The next few series of actions were – I pulled out my hand from the bag within seconds!! My heart beat gained velocity!! I pushed my bag suddenly towards the window and waited to see if something would rush outside.. There wasn’t any hint of sound so I was clueless as to whether there was a cockroach or not!! I locked all the zips of the bag, assuring myself that the cockroach would die out of suffocation if at all it exists!!
After ½ hr, I could neither sleep nor sit awake…with my mind wondering abt what could possibly have attracted a cockroach to encroach into my bag while there is nothing worth inside of its use!!
Gathering all my courage, I slowly opened the bag to peep inside if I could find it… I pulled out the book and locked the bag quickly…. Then messaged my friend and sis and explained abt the situation……and received instant replies with Sis exclaiming “OMG!!” and friend being a animal rights activist said “Paaaaapa, badukkolli bidu” .. The very next thought in my mind was “Paaapi can never be paaaaapa” coz in childhood days, sis used to tell me that if ppl do any wrong deed in present life, then in their next birth they would be born as cockroach and insects!! (* For the benefit of all non-kannada readers, paaaapa word is used to show mercy on innocent)…
I still wanted to pull out my headsets from the bag, so after another 15 mins, I boldly put my hand coz I my mind strongly sent the signal, “sweetie, u are more powerful than that creature”… I had weapons like my sandals…books…raincoat and what not!! The crawling creature was a weaponless warrior!!..
As I looked inside, there wasn’t anything.. and I wondered what would that be which I made my mind alert to such an extent! The next series of actions were – Tied up my hair… Pulled out all the stuff from the bag and dusted it upside down to see if there wasn’t anything… It seemed as though I was desperate like a kid in search of candy!!
Finally I put an end to this melodrama! Realized that it was some piece of woolen thread from my sweater which gave me an illusion of cockroach!
Hah!!! I regretted for wasting the time in bus for no good reason… Neither did I sleep nor did I read the book… I dint even listen to music!! And since it’s the exam season, I had to stretch in night to patch up the time for studying :(

The busy Bangalore:)

Waking to the sound of crazy traffic noises while I am dozing in the bus and navigating through areas that are highly congested. This city is a bit like an ongoing project. The change in government means that some projects gets left and new ones starts to improve the area. Many of the roads have been resurfaced; this work is done as a combination of input from foreign tech business requirement and the local government.

That might seem like a good thing, but as the work is done, the population has grown fast, so the roads, new or old are still very crowded.

The metro rail construction which is supposed to decongest the roads, has begun and the construction work doesn’t seem like its going to complete sooner :( .. I happened to read an article which said that Bangalore metro construction would take another 10 ten yrs to complete…… The very next impulse of my heart asked me – “Would I wish to continue in Bangalore!?”

From the window seat of the bus, sometimes i enjoy the view of the roadside, where people irrespective of whether there is traffic or not, rain, winter or scorch summer, people simply move on :)… The shopping areas of the city are full of banners of the new brands, offers and with discounts and nice smiling models portrayed with the products… The view of the old thatched buildings, the compound or walls decorated with the latest movie wallpaper… And the new feel-good factor is the idea to avoid the movie adds on the walls, the government has employed the painters to showcase the Karnataka culture on walls and compounds! I must appreciate the painters!! What a brilliant job !!! [Sadly it isn’t the place where the painters are supposed to be appreciated :( ]

Hmm… yet there is something about the city which keeps bulging with more and more people… People cribbing about the less space, high rent, high cost of living, and still sticking to the decision of settling here assuming the life will be easier in n e a r F u T u R e ! !

Waiting to watch you speak :)

Yet another boring corporate training and I was also one of the participants… It wasn’t out of interest that I decided to attend this training, but because it was mandatory for us!!

By the time I entered the room, the trainer was already in!! I apologized for being 5 mins late and he excused me with a smile saying its never too late :) …
Hmm… my eyes were looking for the last row corner seats (somehow they are the most preferred seats for everybody and only one person bags it) I was lucky enough to get it as not many attendees had come yet….

The trainer quickly started off the session once most of them were in @ 9am.. To begin with he asked us to take chart paper and jott down few points on the specified topics…
That was an activity… Most of us were browsing for more points to fill the chart paper… Soon after 15 mins he asked us to present it…

From my experience, I have observed that people suddenly start coughing, feeling dizzy, they get head-ache and all sorts of ache when they are supposed to come to the center stage…
Its not only in the training as such.. but even while people are in a holiday mood with their friends & family members, when they are supposed to initiate a antakshari…..Those people who are freaking crazy and enjoying their time, suddenly fall sick!! ?? hah!!!

All I understand is – such people are shy or scared of humiliation incase they go wrong while presenting themselves…Or may b scared of criticism which they may get after their presentation….
There is a quote, “When a man speaks, people listen and then look… and when a woman speaks, people look and then listen”… I partially agree on this depending on the topic of the orator…..
As long as it’s a serious discussion and we have no clue of the topic, it’s apt to sit back and listen..! And when the topic is a bit common and we too have bit of knowledge on it, its better to make use of the opportunity to voice our thoughts..


There is nothing we need to be scared of…. In case we go wrong while uttering one or two words, there is NO harm.. We can always correct them…
Always remember, No man is perfect, imperfection is what makes us human…:)

Lost in the land of humans!!!

I was a bit free yesterday and had no significant task to complete.... After long hectic Monday to Thursday at office, my energy level had fully gone down by Friday... The only thing which i did was yawn!! True, i was yawning.. I did that for more than 8-10 times!!

For a moment i thought i can go around the office lounge and come back.... But quickly realized that this is not my previous company where the company's campus resembled a resort.... This new campus is a true corporate jungle!! All i could see was buildings, glass covered walls, lots of doors for every entry and at every entry i had to punch my access card so that the company could track me!!(i don’t know why someone wants to track on where i was roaming).

I saw few people with shining shoes outside the block roaming around to complete hyperbolic curves.... For a moment i thought- was it a ramp show rehearsal as everything that they were wearing and holding were all branded!! Off course branded as Tech guys!! so there they were Brand IT with branded stuff!!

Hmm.. Most of them with the same kind of expression on their faces... Sometimes convincing and sometimes blasting over the phone...and a crowd of curious bystanders drinking tea/coffee watching sky or anything that comes in the angle of their view!! I was wondering why none of those people with coffee ever spoke!.. Outside the campus were all seasoned smokers, so i hoped they would all gel well...but NO... They weren’t!! While most of them looked as though they were sailing on the same boat of work pressure, why don’t they speak and share what they feel instead of feeling lonely in the city is what I didn’t understand....

Back then we made friends who were from studying in different schools, living in different lanes... We all used to mingle and play games on the narrow lanes, grounds, roof tops etc.... On the contrary now, even though we know that the other person is from the same company, working in same floor, same technology -but people don’t even bother to share a smile! Strange!!

For my chagrin, the people never even bothered to look at the person sitting beside in the office bus!! I was vexed the very first week when i found none smiling!! The sudden rush of emotions pulsed through me whenever i thought as to why I became a part of this unfriendly environment... Possibly it was oblivious to remember faces of colleagues...

Am really lost..... Except the work and the top clients which are the only few things i enjoy here, i enjoy nothing else!! Well, to skip one step ahead in my profession was my own decision… but losing all smiling people around and at times forgetting to smile myself has been a bit painful :(

Now the only few things i enjoy here is my work and when i am tired, i stand in the corridor alone and try to enjoy the view of coconut groove spread over a wide area outside the office premises while the cool breeze silently whispers in my ears, “Cheer up dear… we are here for you”

Bus day in Namma Bengaluru...

Day before yesterday was the Bus day in Bangalore!! True… I got several mails regarding that from both my colleagues and the admin team stating Thursday 4th Feb is “Bus day” in namma bengaluru with a tag line as save Money, Energy and Time…..
The bus day was particularly focused on two traffic hit areas viz hosur road and old airport road. Hence BMTC had requested all the people traveling to that area by private vehicles to make use of BMTC buses…. The funda behind calling for this day was researchers wanted to check the difference it can make in terms of traffic congestion and air pollution. And yes, additional to it was the promotion and encouragement to all the fellow travelers to make use of BMTC buses..

For a moment when I heard Bus day I assumed that there is no bus fair on that particular day to reach any place in bangalore… and had even assumed that the some new buses are released which are eco-friendly for so………. Somehow dint like the fact that the “bus day” celebration was specific to two corridors and not the whole city… Why not call for a day as “bus day” and check the traffic congestion and air quality in the whole city instead of confining to only two corridors!!
I wish some day government announces “No Traffic day” with the punch line as “To: Fro = 1:1” where all the travelers would reach home early… I don’t know what will be the criteria to call for such a day but I wish they do….. I personally felt this coz my travel time to office is in sync with 1:2 ratio!!! Morning I can cover a particular distance in 1 hr which takes 2hrs to cover the same distance in the evening!! I feel office is nearer to home in the morning and VerY far from home in the evening..
Hope one fine day Bangalore city’s all the ongoing flyover and metro rail construction gets completed once in for all so that most of us can reach home in time :)

What’s your priority??

After all the crazy commercial ad that we see these days… here is something which caught my attention……..the chocolate shampoo!!! The parachute company as released its new “chocolate shampoo”!!!! Gosshhhh!! I wonder who gives them creative ideas like this!!
Was even wondering if it was really a shampoo or some something else!!

I saw the chocolate shampoo ad on a large poster put by forum mall…. I showed it to my neighbor in the bus… He saw it for a while and with a confused look on his face he said, “lets c that ad again tomorrow while passing this road”. His reply made it clear that he too was in a dilemma…

We are all living by using few products which makes no sense if we think otherwise… The product companies are trying their best to publicize their products as “the best/the popular” to make profits... While the advertising agency perhaps waits for another new product to be released so that they can commercialize it…

Considering few commercials which we get to see and hear regularly:
The dog biscuits - the ad say, “The dog biscuits with improved taste in 5 different flavors and extra nutrition”… (Can anyone say who tasted it?? Off course humans.. lol)..
Colgate toothpaste with salt…taste it before using it coz the ad says – kya aapke tooghpaste mein namak hai??
The height of commercialization is gone up to a state where we get lemon/orange juice with artificial flavors and dishwasher liquids with real lemon and orange extracts… Get gold coins in the soap bar is another such ad…(sadly none of them seem to have got it)
The pug breed of dog got more popularized than the hutch network…(a healthy pug costs nearly Rs.30K)

We really live in a funny world... Here we get education loan at the interest rate of 12 -15% with the processing time of 10-15 days while we get car loans at 8-9% interest rates plus the processing time of just 2 days!...
In the race between an ambulance and a pizza delivery, its always the pizza which reaches earlier….

Seems like we have prioritized the value-addition or freebies on products more than the main product…. Like the saying in kannada says- “gubbi ethu anta hosa shirt holsidha”(just coz he had few buttons, had got stitched a new shirt)…
Simple in the case of chocolate shampoo…Shampoo is important here but the ad focuses on chocolate flavor more!! Sad but true…

God fearing ??

Its 10.32 am here at office on a Tuesday morning… The busy hours when we get to hear only tic-tic of the mouse and the tapping of key board…. Amidst of this today I heard a religious song playing in the background… I was wondering who it could be… Out of curiosity, I walked to the next cubicle..
I saw a guy playing all religious songs in his mobile with the lowest audible tone… I knew that he loved listening to Kannada and Tamil songs (not religious though…).. Once again out of curiosity I asked him, “wassup with u?? Listening to religious songs today…instead of those tangy dance numbers”…… and the reply he gave me stunned me for a while… He said, “mom went to purohith yesterday….and it seems I have got shani dasha in my horoscope… so to reduce the shani effect, I decided to listen to these songs”… I smiled and came back to my cubicle after hearing the genuine prompt reply….

Haahh!! Can anyone explain me, how on earth the bad luck would shoo off if we listen to music of Lord Shiva…which is sung by the man whose voice resembles to a man who has been strangled to death and is weeping yet singing “brahma muraari suraarchita lingam….”

Then I realized that its not only him who is god fearing or rather horoscope-fearing guy around … There is another devotee in the other side ODC who has decorated his work space with photo frame of a deity… (I still haven’t recognized which deity it is), sai baba’s pic stuck on his name plate… A flower offered to lord ganesha’s idol next to his pen stand… Radha Krishna’s photo as his desktop wallpaper!! & finally a small pic of goddess laxmi affixed on his writing board!!!! Devotion in extremes… :)
Am not supposed to mention his name, but frankly telling his first and middle names are also of deities…. :) When I first entered his cubicle for a project related discussion, I felt as though I need to remove my sandals and enter coz it looked to me more like a temple…. The only reason given by him for keeping so many pics and idols was “Google cannot answer all our questions right?? So…”.. Hmmm.. witty answer :)

Another strange behavior people have got while traveling is touch the forehead and heart simultaneously / softly slap the cheeks on either side thrice / remove their sandals and fold their hands for 2 seconds - all these once they see a temple…strange!! This is seen very commonly in Bangalore…no matter they pray at home or not.. Devotion comes automatically on road :)

I seriously don’t understand whether people are trying to impress god by doing all such activities or giving themselves a little time… Prayer should not be an attempt to change God’s mind….it should be an attempt to let God change our mind…


PS- Devotees…plz don’t mind on the comments abt the pics and idols..