Goodbye 9 to 5 and some updates.

Colleague in the next cubicle comes to work when I am about to leave for the day. I guess he is a consultant (shows how often we interact apart from the formalities) and has to interact with the counterparts elsewhere. I often hear him speaking to his little girl over the phone. Like a doting dad,” Hi honey, fine thank you, be a good girl, don’t trouble mama, I heard you have been wonderful, I’ll get you that, oh, did you do that? …” I don’t eavesdrop, at least consciously, but from the tone and the way the conversation goes, I can make out she is really cheerful at times and a bit moody at other times as if wishing him home. By the time, he reaches home, I am sure she will be fast asleep or ready for school and another day.

Another colleague says her spouse also works at night and they get to be with each other only over the weekend. They have two kids together and are put up in a posh apartment close by. She said it becomes tough at times to handle the kids.

Work has been pouring with hailstones. I don’t know when was the last time I saw the sun set on a working day. Yet, there are colleagues in other buildings and departments complaining that I come later and leave earlier, which is 8 pm. Lifestyles seem to be changing. Like we always say, times are a changing.

All of us are ambitious and end up in compromising many things. The definition of ‘basic necessity’ seems to have changed- the T.V, the bigger T.V, the flat T.V. It is not like we don’t know. Now, ‘luxury’ is going home at 5.00 pm.

Thinking back, I am amazed that J and me had gone to watch ‘Hum Tum’ in a Cinema hall, which was not so near and came back at midnight in an auto. Once, we had also come back walking from Brigades after 10, eating chicken kebabs. We really thought it was fun then. Now, I avoid going out at nights.

Update: A 30 ml Pepper Spray costs 500 bucks.

P of the C (ii)- Back with another review because some of you said, the last review was boring.

For all I said in my last review, I just got three feedbacks and out of which, one said that it was boring. So, to take revenge, I am back with another review. Actually, I had thought of two but I’ll leave it for the next post. There are some goodness left in this world, in me specially.

I am trying to recollect with whom did I watch the first part ? Umm. Never mind.
I remember walking in when the movie had already started and wondering where I had seen Keira Knightley before. I remembered ‘Bend it like Beckham’ and only then, I started enjoying the movie. Thankfully, it was not in the climax.

In the sequel, Johnny Depp is gleefully over the top. There are characters worming their way in and out of dizzying plot complications. I was caught up in a fictive dream for the entire length of the movie. The shifting agendas and propelling motivations of the characters collide in a fantastic explosion. Some of the action sequences were brazenly preposterous fun, really creative and flourishes in all aspects of movie making.

Removed two paras as I myself slept off, the second time I read it.

Corporate, the let down.

Watched Corporate and it was let down for the simple reason that I did not get what I was expecting. I had expected Bipasha Basu to do some boardroom stunts like Helen Hunt in What Women Want (even though they are two entirely different movies), calling the shots and fighting her way out. The way Helen Hunt presented herself in the boardroom is often cited at Corporate trainings for impactful openings and closings.

What I got is a lady whose every move is driven by her devotion for a man whom she has been dating and mating. Jelled hair, neat suits and a deadpan expression is all I get from her. She wears pants and smiles at Kay Kay that's all. The only thing I liked from her was this dialogue: “Dimaag uppar hota hain niche nahin.”

I liked Kay Kay and Lilette Dubey in the movie. The story revolves around two corporate giants in a tug of war and their unflinching determination to outdo each other leaving no room for moral codes or ethics. In all these, she becomes the pawn, which according to me has got nothing to do with her gender.

Madhur Bhandarkar tries to take the road not taken once more with this movie but too much of grey shades make it unpalatable. In the past, I have worked for an organization that dealt with a lot of Government Projects and there were talks (I said talks) of instances where certain people had to be bribed for certain projects or while bidding. Even then, I feel Bhandarkar has been too harsh.

Like Page 3, there are some nice dialogues between drivers. (Or were they admin staff?)

6 weird habits

Shub tagged me .

The Rules:-- Post six weird facts/habits about yourself.- At the bottom, name the six people you will tag next.- Leave them a comment to let them know they've been tagged and to read your blog.

Here they go:
1. I often sit looking at the lines of my hands. I know how the lines have changed over the years. I have got two new moles, one on the middle finger and another on the palm of my right hand very recently.

2. I always comment on the salt when someone else cooks. Roomie got pissed off and decided to get married leaving me.

3. I save the best for last while eating. The last morsel is what I want best. Esp. with egg curry.

4. I fell in and out of love with the same guy for many years. It was a killing habit. Working hard on this.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”~Buckminster Fuller.
In short, get a new guy.

5. It started one day when I was watching T.V with dad. He concentrated on the T.V, I concentrated on one irritating beard on his chin and plucked it with my fingers. Then, it got transferred to boyfriend.
Picture this, boyfriend trying to be romantic, trying to catch my eyes and cuddly. Me, sitting upright and concentrating on one strand of beard, which is standing away and out of the rest. Plucked. Dumped. (Need to change my status in Orkut as Single again. ) I want clean shaven guys.

6. While cleaning the house, if I come across some articles, I start reading them up. Once it took me 5 hrs to clean my room.

And, Pallavi as I don't see you here nowadays.
Handa, as you have started blogging in Hindi. Before you start in Persian, Spanish...
Xeb, I am simply interested.
Burfi, as you often tag me.
Chandni, looks like you have done it. If so, kindly ignore.
You, if you are interested.

Powerpointless!!

There comes a time in our career when we are fed with doses and doses of presentations, mostly power point. It happens mostly when one is a new hire of an organization and is forced to endure it. I unfortunately have been at the receiving end of this torture once too often.

But like the light after the long dark tunnel, like the rainbow after the rain, like the rain on the desert sand, like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and many such clichés, my time came too, to pay back to some people in kind.

For all the times, my eyes squinted trying to keep myself awake during such presentations,
For all the times, I acted interested and scribbled lines and lines of nonsense even though hand outs would be given by the end of the session.
For all the times, I took long breaths to avoid yawning openly,
For all the times, I asked boring questions just to establish the fundamental connectedness with my peers,

I decided I would not be Gandhi and sit through another presentation when I am slapped with one. Instead I would give back with another presentation, with power, presence and punch.

I sat and prepared another presentation with some other tool. I was the presenter and I did not stop there. I recorded and inserted my own voice as the narrator. Period.