Where's mine ?

She warned me - “Raje, you have never made mooli paratha, it’s not as easy as aloo paratha”.
I laughed… What? I wouldn’t be good with a paratha? I??
So I made the stuffing, and was all set to make the paratha… the best radish parathas ever! I had to make about ten - not a big deal really! I started, overconfidence stabbed me in the back, and I screwed up! The first two were nothing short of a disaster! How does mom do it? So perfectly, so tasty, so oil-free and yet so yummy? I tried, this time, a little differently, and – Not bad – This one was good, except, it was pale (one out of ten) compared to moms! And then Mom came, almost laughed up her sleeve, trying not to let down all that confidence oozing out of the dabbler, and showed me the tricks. And perfect - I got the next few right!

A good cook always adds love. Maybe that’s why, I always keep the best ones on the top, and up for grabs. But this time, self-love came first, and I so wanted to taste the better ones, just to see if they were like moms (of course, what did you think? I wouldn’t eat for myself :P). One tangerine, one orange and I would be done with the juice, to dive into my paratha’s. Sadly, when I was done, the last two awful ones remained, and I shoved them down my throat with lots of water!! We could have managed with a turkey or something for Christmas !!

Edit - Due to popular demand -
Raje - Used in Punjabi, to generally refer to a pampered little one.

Six days of grandeur...

Loads of food and gifts, the bridal trousseau, diamond and silk draped aunts, and lots of kids – There I was, in the “City of Joy”, Kolkata, at the Big Fat Indian Wedding. Being a Punjabi, I mostly know what grand weddings are all about, but this one made my jaws drop. Everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean, just about anyone, was dressed like it’s his/her own wedding!!! Suddenly, mine felt like acceptable work attire! And worse still, for some reason my sweet tooth betrayed me big time - in Kolkata of all cities! Every time I reached the sweets section - the famous sweets of Kolkata, remember? - I was left with an “Oh they look so heavy” feeling. Maybe that was just the true blue Bangalorean response.

Since I was there for the wedding and the wedding alone, I didn’t have time to see around the city. But I have a lasting impression of the city with the old Victorian looks to it. The tall buildings, the traffic cops dressed in white, in the forties style, remind one of the bygone era. The city is indeed frozen in time. And that’s what makes it so distinct. I really then felt, that the city doesn’t need re-modelling. When discussing Kolkata, I cannot fail to mention the “oh so daring” Cab drivers. I had gone to meet my Cousin, one out of those six days, and for some reason we decided to watch goal. Two of his roommates and the both of us, took the cab, and what a journey it was! It seemed like ages in a Cab at a speed of eighty or ninety kmph. The drivers defy any concept of a two-way road. They take you as close to death and then take a steep curve off it! And man, I was driven to the edge; I said my last prayers too! They particularly love to play with the dividers; they’ll zoom and rip till about a foot or two away from the divider, and just when you think you have taken your last breath, hell, you are jolly well back on to the right side of the road!

My best experience was a barge party on the Hoogli River below the Howrah Bridge. That apart, I did some pretty daring things, like walk out at 2.a.m (just a few steps, but that’s still daring by my standards!), only on the assurance that Kolkata is a safe city. I’m sure they just said that to me in view of my paranoid mind! After this visit, one thing is for sure - mine is going to be a court marriage!

Crowned Champions

Finally a WORLD CUP after 24 years !!! Indians just clinched a five-run victory in what was by far the most nerve wracking match !!

Read this post for more

I just had to express how happy I'am :)

Found my way back here...

Too many thoughts, one just racing to beat the other, and finally, the curtains fall… you never know who won.

I live a paradigm shift, and I believe I’ll emerge victorious, cause I still haven’t been shaken enough to change my truth, my basic value, and the principles that drive me. That should be just about enough to leap from the precipice :)

Working insane hours, and if work spared me any time, spending all of it with people around - catching movies and doing everything that I always thought I did not have time to do, returning home at crazy hours, I was left with a yearning for a slower rhythm. It was time to take the much-awaited break! I demanded a three day leave, I got it with great higgle haggle, but no guilt trips what so ever. :) I left work Friday evening (with loads of movies on my laptop), and it’s been great so far…

I watched a Kannada play for the first time – Heegadre hege. It’s cool, and funny, and I cannot understand one bit of Kannada when spoken in its purest form, only a familiar word here and there would do me the favour of “contextual understanding”. Apart from that, I got all of it! Caught up with a silly movie, and did some courtesy calls. Just pure timepass is fun sometimes :P Try it !

That’s all for now…

Ballerina please

I went around the entire city, starting 6 '0' clock in the evening , and NO, not a single pair of appealing Ballerina shoes!!!!! What has this city come to...

Entering my house at 10.30, without those shoes, has inevitably been one of the most depressing moments of my life...(as I painfully learn to live with it)

(By the way check out the graffiti I made brunga on facebook :P)

Just a few clicks...

Way to kushalnagar



Beautiful Kodagu ...



Namdroling monastery

And the Way back...

Whatever...

I don't wanna know, I don't wanna hear = 128 * 120

This was in my dreams today, while I was taking a short nap!!
I thought every dream is connected to one's own reality! Boy! I must have been terribly wrong...

[I won't encourage comments saying I'm some psycho/nerd who needs a psychiatrist :P ]

Waking up to a beautiful Bangalore

A few years ago, I used to believe Bangalore is heaven. I still remember the old times when it was just a 15 minute ride , from my home in Vijayanagar(yeah, it's a long distance call, so don't even try!), to my college at jayanagar.

Being a true-blue Bangalorean, I curse myself for not having any glimpses, any pictures whatsoever of the Bangalore that used to be. However, I woke up rather early yesterday morning, and could sense the day outside to be beautiful, so I just stepped into my balcony, and wow! There were no vehicles on the road, the rains had left the stretch cleansed and impeccable,and the weather made the day alluring! I felt completely nostalgic! I took a few pictures which I believe cannot capture how I felt, however, take a look...

Did I mention the Beautiful Sky??

Bbings...

It’s been almost a month since I visited here. I know no one really missed this too much cause all the innumerous comments that I have (really? Thankyou!) come from all the publicity my status on gtalk brings, and little (just a little) of that other stuff I do (hush bush, ignorant people...you still haven’t read my blog entry?? hmph!) And I know some of you (yes! Abhinav and Bhanita, you can please smile at your mention here) regular readers don’t even have me bookmarked.

When I began to blog, I didn’t think I was going to blog regulary...as in… periodically… like those disciplined sorts… once a week blah blah. I knew I was going to write only when I really felt like it.

And today, trust me, I really feel like it, but as you may have already figured, I don’t know what to write! No… no ...please don’t go. Wait wait… let me come up with something. Like, shall I write about my really weird dreams these days?? Or would you like to know about my sleeping habits?? Okay let me just introduce you to whats on my mind right now – BBINGS.

Hmmm.It’s been quite a while since I met bbings and had the stupid fun that we always do. Suddenly we become like two year olds… have hell lot of fun … gossip (just a bit), discuss how everyone (we mean everyone “else”) has so many shortcomings, and no one is just as nice as us! It’s so true about bbings... you wouldn’t know the power of bbings until you’ve met them. No, we haven’t been trained in the jedi arts or anything, but yeah we can manage to get what we want pretty much easily.

So what is bbings? Going in the order, I can say it has one IQ-heavy photocopy machine, with weak ears, one storyteller, with a gay dog, one chatter queen with a small appetite (for food I mean! :P), one house of paranioa, and one small tiny kind of thing - a kind of a manipulator, a bit of a dancer, a bit of a head turner…

So all of this together forms a strong something (you see, we just cannot be defined or categorized), with an amazing bonding around it. And don’t mess… we are partners in crime too.

Anyways, we don’t reveal too much about ourselves cause we have some secret missions, which may be hampered by a lot of publicity. :P

And I have a few questions…

1) Why the hell do people (read: stupid people) commit suicide?

2) Can anyone interpret dreams around here?

Creativity Measured

Be yourself!

Fever!

No... I'm not Robin Cook and my daughter doesn't have fever! However, I HAVE fever and I'm not having a nice time. Just imagine a Nice, really nice, sweet, amazing, bubbly, full-of-high-spirits person like me has FEVER!! Who ever said life is fair!

Anyways, I think I need to spice up my fitness regime (maybe I should have said plan up a fitness regime!) . One day of activity and I'm down with severe body ache and fever. Feels like someone tied a bag of stones on my arms. Whereas people twice my age (or maybe a little less) were good at all the activities!! Fit as a Fiddle!

As you may have figured out by now, the point of this entry is : NOTHING :)

Fender-Bender

Madhavan Park Circle, 3rd Block, Jayanagar...
Brunga was at an average speed, like never before, on her bike. We were heading to my place at around 8.30 p.m. For a change we weren't even talking, the both of us! A mélange beige Chevrolet optra was slightly behind us, on the right. A very common site on bangalore roads today, the driver (mad!) of this car, wanted to turn left, being on the extreme right of the road. And he DID! The car bumper banged us...We knew we are going to lose balance and fall... but no! We were okay... The driver having touched us clearly panicked and before we could realize... again...he hit us bad this time! There was a THUD noise, we knew what hit us, and we FELL! I had a whole lot of things in my hand, and they were all over the road.
Fortunately, I rolled on the ground when I fell and didn't really get hurt (not any that were visible atleast!) Even before I could get up I was worried about our bags cause a whole lot of people were around us...One big crowd! Seemed like we fell into a well with people peeping in to see who’s there. I grabbed the bags(I’m a girl..hehe…bag is my life) and my cell phone, and managed to get up with some help... And what do I see??? Brunga HOWLING! The bike was on her ankle! She was crying ;I ran up to her. I was so scared at that moment, but people around were so kind and helpful. They helped me get her to the footpath. I called her dad; he was there within minutes.
The guy who banged us was being extremely sweet (not that he had a choice). He was there all along and offered to take us to the doctor...But his WIFE! I could have eaten her alive! She claimed to be very tired! (Idiot! &*$^%$&^*^*)
We got back to her place with her dad, took her to the doctor. She hopped in with her bleeding ankle! Thankfully, she was just given tablets. We go back home, ordered pizza (nice part) and slept… when I woke up, it was 11.30 a.m!!! I have never slept so much. My body was so tired and pained after the fall! I slept n slept… and got late for dance (Yes yes… I went!)
Anyways just before leaving the accident scene I stopped to check what happened to the car. There was a huge dent on the bumper and it was terribly scratched too! (NO! I didn’t feel bad at all) Will cost him a bundle to get it replaced. Superb!

Let me out - Part II

I'm back :) I know part II is awfully late.I've been coming home so tired from work..not because I'm working too much..just because I'm eating all the wrong things and messing up my health. And I'm getting depressed about weird weird stuff;like today..I got totally upset cause I don't have a brother!!!! (What!!!&*%#^$%&^%)

Anyways, getting back to the building, I spent an entire day at the building peacefully. A colleague I met at the same training guided me up and down those i'm-dying-to-close-on-you lifts. When leaving, we were given two heavy training books. These + my already heavy laptop bag = VERY HEAVY STUFF! I carried them and walked the corridor towards the entrance of the building...oops wrong direction.. thats the entrance...exit must be somewhere else! Went back to the other end of the corridor... ah i see a lift here. My car is on level 6 - superb! Get in! And the control panel brings me the bad news...it shows buttons upto level-5 ONLY! My only option was this guy in the lift... I asked him... excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the parking? He had that silly-woman smile on his face when he said ' You are in the wrong lift- come with me, i'll show you'. Now this guy was being really sweet... but "come with me" and my paranoid nature didn't allow a comfort zone! He was to get off at level-4...he skipped it and came with me to level 5... And then took me to someother lift...Before saying bye, he said something like 'go down to level -0 blah blah blah'. For some reason i was really numb when he gave the rest of the directions...

By now, my fingers had gone red..the bag seemed heavier than ever now! So i went back to level -0, and headed to the guard - HOW DO I GET OUT??? He mislead me completely!!Each one would guide, rather misguide, me with so much confidence that I thought I have gone mad or something!
I was desparately searching for the lift which has even numbers on the panel! Remember? In Part One, I said I noticed something really weird about the panel. Finally on one of my trips down the lift in this eternal search, there was this guy who i obviously turned to and asked - Could you please (please please please please) tell me how to get to the parking. Guess what this God sent angel said - 'I'm going there... you just follow me'

After that I realised...no matter what floor you are on, you have to come down to level-0, get out of the building and take the parking lift out there! You HAVE to come down to level-0!!!! I was amazed...truly! Why wud they design it like that?
I was just thanking my stars that i didn't park on an odd floor...cause the panel didn't show those numbers at all! May be there is another lift to get to those!

Let me out - Part I

I happened to register for a training, and because it is common for the entire corporation, I had to visit another building to attend this training. Now my entry is completely about this building. I will call it …hmmm…say The building. So first thing, I drive to the The building and after almost half a kilometer drive I see a guard. I ask him for parking directions, and he shows me the way. Wow! Now that’s a huge parking lot! Eighteen floors of parking space!
Level 0 – FULL
Level 1 – FULL
Level 2 – FULL
Level 3 – FULL
Level 4 – FULL
Level 5 – FULL
8.a.m in the morning, I have gone up the parking ramp six times! On the contrary, if I get to my office building at 9.30 a.m., I have the entire parking lot to myself. Completely spoiled by the culture (Who’s complaining :)), I didn’t like the idea of driving so much extra just to park!
Anyways, I park on Level 6, search around a bit for the elevator. Oh! There it is…hiding somewhere behind the ramp. I had to cross the ramp to get to the elevator. Now! Now! This wasn’t as easy as pie. Cars came up the ramp like oblivious drivers speeding on fast lanes of highways! After a few unsuccessful attempts, I finally managed to cross and get to the elevator. Now this elevator is not really the patient kinds. It had just opened and I was strolling in, and ouch…it almost closed on me! I hop in and notice something weird about the control panel there. Never mind, my training was on level 0, so I obviously pressed level 0 and quietly waited. Oops…what happened…I’m back on the basement? The guard said “Madam floor two mein jaao”. Well, I got back in, pressed 2, and got to the ground floor! (WHAT???!!) Not to forget, I was carrying my laptop in a heavy, mind you, very heavy Dell laptop bag. The building had driven me crazy by now. There is more and more weird stuff waiting to be posted. Come back for Let me out – Part II

...And again!

“Guru has nice songs” – said a colleague, raising her eyebrows in delight, as we were moving out of the conference room. My perception: Guru is a website to download songs!!! (Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you in my last post – I’m NOT a movie buff!)

Few Days later –

I can’t find a song I really like, and I recall, “Guru has nice songs”. I had a task at hand; I had to find the link to this website guru. I was sure I would find the song at this website. I pinged my favorite person for doubts. He’s like a stand-alone call center when it comes to links and website and registration information! Ladies and gentlemen, may I please introduce to you, my friend and colleague, Abhinav Kishore. (Round of applause and some faint noises of boo’s follow…). So, I asked this powerful resource for the link to guru. Now - comprehensively examine this situation –

He happens to be a huge movie buff

He and I are connected on the intranet

Consequence – he gives me the link to all the songs of guru on his machine!

Well, it then didn’t take me long to realize that guru movie is in fact a movie.
Going by all this, you can imagine my level of interest in the movie, my awareness about, and expectation from, this movie. (NIL!no marks for guessing!)

I happened to watch the movie just yesterday, and contrary to my beliefs and your expectations, I actually didn’t think it was ALL that bad! Not ALL that good either ;)
Aishwarya Rai – hmmm – generally I could have her head on a platter, but I must say in guru she is really not all that terrible. Maybe cause she hardly had a role! In fact in many places I thought she was cute and the romance (that’s all she’s there for) was refreshing, and real! And unlike all the other reviews of this movie, I also thought Abhishek was good. But yeah that’s about it. The story was the same old monotonous thing after a while, say an hour. And as usual, the demon of melodrama was sworn in and the end was completely meaningless!

Going far behind, I still haven’t found the song I was looking for.
Its called “yehi vo jagah hai, jahan hum mile the” from the movie “yeh raat phir na aayegi”. I have heard this song just once, fell in love with it, been looking for it ever since. Let me know if anyone finds it!

A movie after aeons!

While I was still at work, a friend called me to ask “Shall we go watch blood diamond at night?” And I was just being my usual self, suffering from paranoia, when I asked… What time is the show? How will we go? How will we get back? What time does it end? Knowing me very well, she already had the answers to these. So it was 5 of us… My friend B, her dad (of course! That’s why I agreed to go out at night!) , And two kids along with us – S and I. (Names changed to protect the innocent.)

I caught up with I after work, and we went to B’s place to drop off my laptop. However B was with a friend(boy) and told her dad she was waiting for us at the mall!!!! Gosh we screwed up! So, after exchanging some bitter and twisted remarks, I finally got to watch a movie with lots of popcorn in my hands, after around 6 months (Yes, I’m not much of a movie buff but I had gotten to the bitter end… I was compelled to watch one now!), and I’m glad B chose this one! My expectations from the movie were not very high at all cause the last couple of movies I watched were just plain disappointment! A movie about conflict diamonds, also called Blood diamonds, managed to grab me from start to finish. It touches upon hugely sensitive issues and opens one’s mind to brutality of civil wars, of how child training could turn a child to a rebel!

DO NOT go there to watch Jennifer Connelly, she didn’t look good, AND her role was unwanted. However I’m glad the romance between Caprio n Connelly wasn’t developed. J I won’t reveal much here for the sake of people who haven’t watched the movie! And since it is an action thriller, the kids (I and S) were a bit scared. They refused to sleep at night!

Just for kicks...People who know me, may want to answer this - WHO DO YOU THINK THE KIDS ARE??

Could i speak to Mr. Gun Gun

In a Sikh's household, soon after the birth of a baby, the naming ceremony is held at the Gurudwara. A name starting with the first letter of the shabad of the holy hukam (command) should be proposed by the granthi (man in attendance of Guru Granth Sahib), and after its acceptance by the congregation, the name should be announced by him.

It so happened that in my case they bent a rules a bit and my uncle named me... so here I am... Gagandeep Arneja! My name has and will go a long way in making me the sport I am (Thankyou :) ) But for the life of me I cant remember more than two or three (if i stretch) people, who could pronounce my name as it is supposed to be! (As pavan says - In your face suckers!)
There are many common deviations to it - Ganga, gungun, gangdeep, gaga and the list knows no end... In fact I even got my first internship pay cheque with one of these on it.

Here is what people are capable of making out of my name:

I'm in the training room on a fine morning and an HDFC representative rings me up.
Me: Yes?
HDFC: Can I Could I Could I speak to Mr. Gun - Gun - deep ?
(All the Can I's to get time enough to pronounce this extremely complex name)
Me: Speaking (what else could i say !!)
HDFC: (Baffled, still expecting a man on the other side) Mr. Gun - Ga?
Me: (going beet red) YES!!!!!!!
HDFC :Is this Mr. Ganga ?
Me: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HDFC: (switches to a language he is more comfortable with) Idu ladies aa gents aa?
Me: (I'm in training...ten people around..how can i get myself to say.. I'm a lady speaking) Kiwi kelsalva?
Rest as they say is history.

Anyways, after i was born and before i was officially named, i was given a pet name - Preeti. Just when I thought this could be my hot back up...yes this is what i can tell people when they ask me "What is your name?”,I came across this.

Here is how you pronounce my name -
gag - say gun replacing the n sound with the g sound.
an - remember how they taught us way back in school that it is "an" ice cream.

That should be enough! :)

Opening night

After a long day of reading all the blog entries of all the people I know who blog..I'm finally blogging! I don't think my blog can ever have a title suitable enough to encompass all that I am and everything I could think and write of. Yes, you are right... I can be complex sometimes but harmless otherwise :) Anyways, keep visiting for more... lets see how long I can keep this going!