Bling Bling

The fiance is supposed to have a meeting with his manager and some board members of his organization and he has been visited the by great Loose Motion.

The stomach has its own reasons which reason knows nothing of.

The wedding is on the 4th of March. We bought the invitation cards. I was excited and felt for the first time that I am getting married for myself and not for my mom. She has been the one more excited about it than me. Perhaps, she cannot take any more of my break ups. :-)

I am used to the new routine of getting up early and coming back early. Now I know ten ways of reaching the pick up point on time. It’s only that I end up sporting different hair styles depending on the speed that I reach the pick up point. So if some colleague (no, let me add jobless) err! If some jobless colleague looks at me or my hair, I make a face as if I am calculating Pi to the 27th decimal like Vernon God Little and step into the cab. Taken stock of the situation and started reading voraciously on the journey to work and back. The eyes need some more training to get adjusted to the motion.

Family Matters

Between the mad rush to work and home, I have had time to really sit back and think or to read. I have seen the landscape of the city change and change very aggressively, the past few years. I see the constructions happening everywhere, of apartments and departments. The city is very much my own, yet how much of a stranger I am!

“No matter where you go in the world, there is only one story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different.” And I say to myself, “how true!” These lines from Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry, gives the pulse of the novel. Based in Mumbai, it is about Nariman, the Parsi who couldn’t marry a non-parsi and his fights with the ghosts from the past, his step-daughter who couldn’t forgive him, his son-in-law who struggles to support his family, his daughter Roxana and her children and the reaction of each member of the family when Parkinson’s come calling and leaves him bedridden. It is sweet and poignant, as expected from the author, with detailed characterization. It is not as good as A fine Balance but much better than many of the well selling and may I add, award-winning books on NRIs suddenly getting nostalgic about dal tadka, cow dung, crows and pickles.

I'd rather...

There are 2 offices of my company within 4 kms from my residence but I have opted for the one which is around 15 kms away from home. Yes, the grass is greener on that part of the city and it is so beautiful and I can see dinosaurs. Naturally, I have been dreaming on the way.

When I was working nearer, I used to crib that I cannot see the sunset but now, I am forced to see both the sunset and the sunrise and everything else in between. Life has become only about the never ending journey to work and back home.

This is the first week and I may get adjusted to this routine but as of now, it is about sprinting, running, somersaulting, doing whatever works, to reach that pick up point on time. The first day I went in formals, neat and ironed with well coordinated accessories. The auto ride was like a picnic and I took in the landscape of Bangalore that I had never seen before.

I wouldn’t go into any ‘gun jumping’ that what happened from the second day will go on forever, but the train of thoughts in the morning has been like this,” Well, jeans and T-shirts are the most comfortable clothes to work. But this is the same pair that I wore yesterday. If you wear another pair also it will be blue only. One blue doesn’t differ much from the other blue. Besides, nobody cares and while you are trying to take the other blue jeans out, the clock will tick way and you might just not make it to the pick-up point on time. So, grab another T-shirt. Yes, it is ok to wear the same pair of socks also for another day. Wait! Pray first before you wear your shoes. Now, run.”

I have another thought cropping up right now and that is, I’d rather wear fur than go naked to work. I have other choices though and Britney Spears should support PETA. She will hit two birds with the same stone.

Me and my colleague

A and I met during the induction and we have remained friends ever since. He is working for another division at another location. Through our internal messenger, we often chat about projects, bosses, hikes, bonuses and the cribbing that goes with it and sometimes about mundane stuffs. He once read his salary slip wrong and called me to inform that he has got a 100% hike in his salary. Naturally, I spread the rumor to many other colleagues across businesses and locations. (You must trust a woman to do this.) He is now based out of US and due to the time difference and work load, we seldom catch each other online and our conversations have reduced to Hi! and Byes! I found the following saved in my local folder as I was wrapping things up in my current location and did not have the heart to delete.

(Me: Busy with the calculator doing arithmetic of the taxes and laxes and how much is going to affect my next salary and how much I am going to pay to the government so that they could drive luxury cars and promise free T.V near the elections.)

Colleague (through Messenger): I shaved my head. Now I am bald.
Me: umm
Colleague: what umm? Britney Spears did it and it was in the headlines.
Me: umm (thinking she also went commando)
Colleague: Talking about news, what do you feel about Ash and Abhi? Do you think they will be able to live up to the name and standards of Bachan?
Me: Who are these Abhi and Ash? Is Bachan, the name of a company? Are they hiring people of my profile? If so, kindly forward my resume.

Organic Post

Everybody is getting concerned about health and the environment. So, I thought I should also start the new year with an organic post.

Well, first thing first. I finished my certification course. Yeah!!! The results are coming sometime this month but I finished and that's the point. I will be listing the things that I managed to do in the year 2007. It was tough but I enjoyed it and having a colleague for company really helped. She motivated me to finish the assignments on time. The series of tests toward the end were a little taxing. Had to do a lot of research.

I allowed myself to be distracted at times. Distractions came in the form of social networking sites. All these days, I never found them interesting but the day I had to submit the assignments, Oh! she is my classmate from school. Oh! he is my ex-colleague. Hola! his album is interesting. Brrravo! I got her scrap and she got my scrap and he got his scrap.

I even sneaked to my ex's profile and ogled at his palatial house. I knew he is from a rich family but I didn't know they were that rich. So, 2007 was also about eye-opening no , not to the wealth of some people but to the fact that, you need to manage time and not be distracted if you want to finish your assignments on time and not sit till 3 am (which I did).

The year 2007 has been good for me in many sense.

Things I did:

• Learnt swimming after wishing it for many years.
• Tried the guitar and realised I am not a person who can sit in one place and go tweng tweng. It was just meant to impress someone, which I did by many other things. I just couldn't go beyond the effking C cord, that too after having to cut my beautiful nails. I am a better singer and a dancer than a guitarist and I am happy that way.
• Completed a course. Yes, it was not the Pissed Graduation Diploma in Male Bashing but whatever it was, I am hoping it would enhance my career.
• Got a promotion and got a good hike.
• Got promoted and re promoted as an aunt by colleagues and siblings and like Rani Mukherji in the blue film of the year, Saawariya, I likes!
• Getting transferred to another Business Unit. That way, I'll be stable and within the same organization. Transfer to happen soon but the interview and the selection happened last year.
• For the body, seldom took the lift. Climbed to the 5th floor almost everyday unless I was getting late to work. Tried walking to the office which is about 4 kms away, a couple of times. I also went swimming.
• For the environment, reused plastic bags for grocery. The big stores generate a lot of plastic. Food coupons from the office forces me to do buy my grocery shopping from these stores. For a strand of coriander leaves also, they insist on a plastic cover for easy billing. I consciously carry them in my bag each time I shop.
• J came down twice and also got back with childhood friends like it was in school and chatted away to huge phone bills.
• Was committed to one person and decided to get married. Deciding was the most important part. I have found my tall, dark and handsome guy in a short and fair one. :-)Wedding to happen this year.

A post on him coming later, I don't want to mix romance with plastic bags and coriander leaves.