ctd...Memories of Thailand

Our tour guide Nisha rightly said in a strong thai accent – “Phuket, very safe place for lady, but very Dangerous for man”. I didn’t know what the main attraction of Phuket is, until we took a walk on Bangla Street. Its not tin or rubber, its simply sex tourism! You’ll spot old men with sixteen year olds, and that really isn’t pleasing!

Anything you want to buy at Phuket - bargain and go on until you’ve settled for one-third the price. The whole process will anyway suck the shopping spirit out of you. If you have all the money in the world, spend it at the flattering gem factory! I loved an emrald ring, but I don’t think I can afford it in this lifetime to say the least. :P

Walking along the patong beach was simply my favorite thing. Pics -


Phuket has an awesome nightlife, needless to say! It’s a city that’s alive all night; we even spotted kids out at mid night! I don’t think I saw a cop all through my stay at Phuket! Everything is legal until you get caught, and there is hardly any chance you will!

The tuk-tuk is the most preferred public transport system. You can even get a ride on the Bike-Taxi’s (You get a drop on a bike!).

As we walked across the shopping markets, the store-owners sitting outside kept asking us “Heyyyyy, you from Paaakeesthhhhaaaan “ (With a tune, dragging the last bit). We were so tired of responding to “Ohhhhh Namasteyyyyyyyy!!”, that we simply decided to ignore their comments. So we walked along and suddenly - “Heyyyy you from Indeeeyaaaaaaa”… again…“Heyyyy you from Indeeeyaaaaaaa” …”Indeeeyaaaaa”… “ you not talkeeeeng”… “only walkeeeeeeng”… and we burst into laughter !!

I obviously missed my niece despite the short duration! :P The best –EST part of the trip was Canoeing at James Bond Island. It has startling needle-shaped limestone formations. This was the most memorable of all the (few) things I have done.
Noticed a perfect lady carved out on the limestone rock, seemed like a wonder of nature to me!


Phuket is a place run by ladies and lady boys (below: P).

All in all - an awesome place to chill out, the best place for a vacation. I am just crazy about clear blue waters, and beaches at Phuket were crystal clear. Loved it!

Memories of Thailand

This blog is awefully late, and by now, I know I have said so much about this trip that most of you would be bored reading this entry! So if you’ve heard enough about this, then please do me the favour of CTRL-W. (You are obviously using Mozilla, aren’t you?)

Phuket, Thailand – I had the time of my life! Thailand makes you live like there is no tomorrow! We were put up at the Novotel in Patong beach area, right by the splashy blue waters of… of… of..ahem…ahem… the Andaman ??!!?! (I am geographically challenged!) I loved the place - the view from the hotel being awesome! Take a look...

At the hotel                                                                                                                                            View from the Balcony

First day on my first trip abroad was unforgettable! I am not exaggerating when I say – I did so much on the first day, that by night, I was calling morning - yesterday. Eh ?
This sounds damn cheesy, but, five of us were strangers yesterday, yet, together we really freaked out. We were the few like minded youngsters on the trip and we had no choice...

What made me really enjoy this trip was the fact that I was so stressed at work, and I needed to take my mind off it for once, and I did ! I have lots and lots coming up... but on the next entry... running out of time now.. come back for more !

Missing my baby ! :(

I have been upto a lot, but for now, being away from home, I miss my little niece the most...

When I'd return home at five in the evening, my cutie would stand waiting at the door, hoping I'll take her out... (Of course kids are selfish ! )

And, don't even get me started on all the fuss she makes when someone leaves home and isn't willing to take her along...

Her toys can't keep her busy for any more than five minutes in a row !

I waited for her to come into our lives... I imagined I'm always going to be strict with her... I'm not going to give in to her brattish demands...I'll teach her the manner, grammar blah blah blah... but, I was already shopping for her before she came.. and when she did... I was the first one to want to spoil her... she follows me in the house... she hits keys randomly on my laptop... she wears my socks... she uses my clips... she walks into my wardrobe and messes it all up... yet I can only encourage her, and love her more and more...

Thats my spoilt little princess. My heart... my life... I love you my doll and I miss you the most even when I know I'll be back soon...

Good old days are gone for good.

So it’s finally time to write. A friend told me he misses reading my innocent chatter (if that’s what you call it, thank you!), and another wrote up a good entry himself and had a very interesting story to go with it; all this encouraged me and I am back.

I have been up to a lot over the last month. The Highlights being -

I have learnt a LOT of cooking in the last month.

I also went to 300 years of Celebration With The Guru ceremony at the Gurudwara and loved it!

I have made up some really good slogans to abuse my cab mates (colleagues) when they can’t stop preaching about piracy. E.g. the racist condemns piracy.

And many more…

1RV02IS021. I could forget my name when I was in college, but not this number.

This number would be entered four times every semester in the huge VTU exam form with one copy for college, one for VTU, one for the student and one on the hall ticket, four times on the Valuation form, four times on the fee receipt and so on!

All the receipts were “submitted” from one side of the window to the lethargic fat man on the other side. Our hands would hang on the window bars; Sometimes if we had guts enough - we would sway the receipt a bit to grab the fat mans attention, who gets enough heat from the layers of fat on his body, to feel like he is underneath a thick blanket, dozing off in God’s-Kind-World.

All those lab attendants who did not know anything about computers and tried to bully us to satisfy their ego; all those teachers who were constantly trying to solve the who-is-going-out-with-who mystery; all those silly hangers-on of our even sillier principal who roamed around in college to check for couples; all the cell phone confiscators; all those examination cheats; the forming of bbings; the non stop non-sense and Mallika Sherawat jokes; the CIP class and the quizzes we won by intelligent guessing (read : utter fluke); the cheti-and-gang-and-pavan non-sense; the bheja fries; the awesome five some; the pappu; the DOS class always interpreted as the LAS(T) class by us; sitting in the last bench with all the front benches empty; sharing one notebook amongst four; combine studies; the examination time smses; the bus driver menace; the placement season; the lab viva and the likes are indeed good old days I miss terribly.

I wish I could rewind to catch a glimpse of the good old days that are gone for good!

The Most Beautiful Girl I know

Mood : Missing my sweet little niece. :(

Innocent Tease ?

I am not the Indian woman out of a soap, so quite obviously I wasn’t really dressed up at 10.p.m. in the night. A silly pink nightdress, and Innu to give me company in the exact same nightdress in a different color.

My dad always complained to me about one (supposedly) terrible habit my mom has – that she remembers all the important things at late hours. And my mom just lived up to this complaint dad has, and remembered one really important tablet we just HAD to have at that hour. I am paranoid (I am tired of explaining this – so assuming all my readers out there know it by now), so I wouldn’t let Mom and Innu go to the medical store by walk at 10.p.m. in the night. And after much fight with my lazy-self, I decided to drive them down, ONLY and ONLY on the condition that I will not change (nightdress is THE thing to live in), hence will not get off the car! My mom said of course no problem. So if I didn’t have to get off anyway, I could safely wear dad’s bathroom slippers too. Innu looked exactly like me, and my slippers on her were even better than the bathroom slippers on me, trust me!

We reached the medical store and Mom gave me that Oh-I-Work-For-You-Guys-All-Day-Long look. Almost begged Innu and me to get off and get the tablets. WHAT???

So we just sneaked in trying to go unnoticed. Found a safe corner and stood there. There are at least twenty guys at the other side attending the huge crowd, cause this medical store is apparently the best, and most crowded, in Bangalore. And those guys just have to have a girl on the other side, they come running to attend you. That always helps to get out of the store quickly :D

There was this broad man standing in front of us and he got a call, he wanted to move out, he just dashed into me and moved out. I got super pissed, and before I knew it, he again came all over me and moved back in. It was so annoying; Innu and I uttered loud curses at him, still trying to go unseen… Those nightdresses and giant slippers were making us look just HORRIBLE – we just couldn’t afford to get noticed! And again! He gets a call and barges out and that’s it! We both screamed REAL loud, in chorus – EXCUUUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!

All, and I mean ALL heads turned, and gave us one thorough look, and this man somehow had the support of the crowd and the advantage because we looked like Idiots in those pajamas. This broad-guy just made us feel more stupid, and put up a really innocent face and said “Oh! So Sorry!” All this was actually so hilarious, and till we stood there we kept getting Silly-Girls stare and this man made sure he said loud excuse-me-pleases before he would move. We took our packet, returned a few stares and RAN!

Pictures from A Memorable Trip

En route Gopalaswamy betta

Nandi

The beautiful sleeping flamingo !



Mysore Palace


And the most most most memorable Tanga Ride !!!!!!!

Chal Dhano !

Quick Question

Can two people live happily forever ? Can they be in love forever ?

Don't know what to call this one

Disclaimer – This entry does not intend to offend or criticize any entity/religion, nor is it intended to hurt any ones belief and feelings in any way.

It was one of those weekends when I hardly get about one good minute for my own self. I had been out straight since Friday night, and when I got home on Saturday evening, I had a friend calling from the parlor, saying the ladies are already there and waiting. I rushed.

So there was this Muslim girl and her mother waiting. I sat with both my palms stretched out, thinking mother and daughter would be painting henna on my palms. Turns out, only the girl was going to do this. Her mother was there to merely escort her!

At any given point in time, I have a hundred things to daydream of. AT LEAST. So as this long, arduous task of keeping my hands stretched out continued, I dreamed a lot, about my kids, their kids, n then everything that I wanted to do n blah blah. After about an hour when I had touched the tip of almost every desire that I ever had, I looked into my palms - and WHAT!??!! We were not even done with one side of one hand! The mehendi was beautiful though. I had run out of things to daydream off, so I found myself (quite annoyingly) staring at the girl sitting next to me, totally engrossed in painting my hands. She hadn’t spoken a word! How could she not have said anything yet? I stared at her burkha, and was tempted to ask her how she could bear the heat.

Anyways, just to strike a conversation I asked her how long she had been doing this, and all that crappy stuff. I knew what I wanted to ask. I just turned to take a peek at her mother, she was mumbling away to herself, so I grabbed the chance to ask her – ‘Apne kya padha hai? Aap naukri nahi karna chahte?’ (What have you studied? Don’t you want to work full time?) She told me she has done her graduation, and many computer courses, but her brothers wouldn’t allow her to work. I uttered something through my clenched teeth and said ‘Apke bhai aapko yeh kaam karne dete hain, par office nahin jaane dete?’ And quickly she replied – ‘Unko pata nahi’. Just to pursue her interest, leave alone career, she had to have the permission of her brothers, when she herself was probably as old as I am. I was appalled! Comparing her with me, I was feeling helplessly pitiful for her, that she has not even the right to make her own decisions. Would she ever step out and see what the world is like, without her mother accompanying her? I know this is probably very small to you, when you read it, but I couldn’t imagine being caged like that, with my brothers telling me what to do. I wanted to say a lot of things… but I just didn’t!

I don’t know when our country will rise beyond all this!

The worst thing about me ?

Like any common person, I love myself! (Is it all that common?)

However, there is a kind of circumstance, and just this one kind so far, when I’ve hated myself and wanted to pick up a “life master remote control” and rewind (undo – what we call Ctrl-Z) whatever I did/said. This is generally when you catch me extremely emotional about something, and if you ask, I tend to dramatize. A LOT!

I’m not saying I exaggerate. I’m not saying I over state anything. I feel and mean every bit of all that dramatizing that I would have done, it’s just that – its not very normal! I’m a classic example of an idealist. I have perfect ideas in my mind, and I strive to achieve that same perfection, which is just not possible in real life! And then of course what I would have expected is very different from what one would have expected. (‘One’ - as in – a normal person.) This would lead to more dissatisfaction than normal, which in turn would lead to all that drama.

Hence proved.

Anyway, I know a lot of people- who know me and are reading my entry- have patiently dealt with all that dramatizing. So here goes a big thank you with reminders of the dramatizing (although I know its not something you guys have forgotten: P)

My Mommy – when we were watching that stupid soap, and I just randomly cried telling you about my petty troubles.

Brunga – when you were in London and how I just jumped on you, in the middle of the night, telling you stuff.

Ashit – when I made you skip that drink with your friends, just cause I HAD to meet you in the middle of the night!

Ravi - When I shared every bit and every teeny weeny issue I had at work or anything else, with you!

Innu – ALL THE BLOODY TIME! (You were no less)

Shilpa – On those rare occasions that we spoke any sense at all.

Soup – Before every exam, and after every result (What a pain I was!). And of course no better drama than the day I howled in your car and refused to take the chocolates.

***** – Oh my god! This is a completely unrevealed drama. The day I typed at least a thousand mails in justification to you.

And all you guys who shared the endless drama – Bhanita, Priyanka, Abhinav, Preethi, Arvind, Chetu... each one of you!!
Thanks Guys :) I won’t change, but you all have surely become more patient: D

Rich n Creamy.. yummm...

Ordering a Pista scoop at the dinner table today, my mind drifted back to Wayanad. I’ve had the creamiest ice creams EVER at Green Gates, Wayanad! I tried so many places after that, but no, the best ice cream is waiting for me at Wayanad.

The irony being - although I can probably afford to take a ride to Wayanad for an ice cream, I really cannot afford to have too much of ice cream!!!

Madam - one and a half please !

They leave you with a bitter taste; their money is hard earn (Khoon-paise-ki-kamayee), ours is all lottery business; they harass; they are unsafe; and they are broad day light robbers!! Yes, it’s the very famous auto driver nuisance.

Since office moved, I don’t travel by car, and any extra traveling will be at the mercy of a stupid enough auto-driver. I caught up with my friend at The Forum Mall last evening, at around 8 ‘o’ clock, and we had to head to Shantinagar. I knew it wasn’t a good time for one (paranoid one) to be taking an auto. Having decided to go prepaid, we walked towards the Christ college entrance; the cop at the Prepaid counter recommended the other entrance. We walked there to find it shut! Got back to the front entrance, with an irritated expression well defined on our faces, and finally got a receipt – thirty bucks to Shantinagar. Isn’t prepaid just as pointless if they don’t let you pay up right there? We could foresee the excess fare menace now. By the time we approached Shantinagar, this dude starts off – “Madam this is not Shantinagar, this is Double Road”. And mind you, he was arrogant, very arrogant! This guy was totally bigheaded and argued till we showed him a big yellow board that read – ‘Shantinagar’. He couldn’t argue about it not being shantinagar anymore, but hell he could still argue, over just some random, arbit thing! We asked him to stop and when he did, we were in a lonely by lane. He said fifty bucks. We didn’t intend to pay any more than thirty.

It’s not about ten bucks but about the attitude and the unreceptive environment that these auto drivers create. They invariably have to ask for excess fare, all they care about is to over speed and dump you at your destination to catch the next fool. They harass the ones inside the auto and the ones driving outside. They are a big nuisance on the roads, and more often that not, an auto travel leaves me sick of the city!

I opened my wallet to find five hundred bucks and no change in it. No Choice! He was fuming, and could have ripped of our clothes any minute! I was well aware of where we were and frankly, I know a lot of people think its cowardly, but I knew that beyond a point, I wouldn’t argue. Of course, I wasn’t close to giving up yet. I asked for change, he gave four hundreds, then a fifty, and then of course – a ten. That’s it! We screamed and said he would have to pay us back, else we would complain. The moment I began to take notice of the number, he tried to run his auto over me while my friend still tried getting our money back! K A 0 2 A 4 7 5 1 sped off, leaving us with his damned registration number.

After all this, getting an auto from Shantinagar to Vijayanagar was a nightmare. We boarded at least three autos, with drivers being their nasty selves, demanding excess fares! Finally one decent auto driver came along and we got home that evening.

A year I won't forget...

The past year has forced me to stop, look back and reflect on what I’ve done right, what I’ve done wrong, and what I haven’t done at all! A year that started very well, took a really ugly turn and ended – I don’t know how. Most of last year, I was overwhelmed, with every little thing, and looking back makes me feel like in the grand scheme of things, this is after all a year that will just fade.

The New Year is probably the most well known celebration in the world. For people like me however, it’s just another day! No resolutions, no celebrations to mark the beginning of a New Year. But as the year ended, and I took a moment to reflect, I knew - If there is any year I would never forget in my life – then its 2007. The last year has transformed me, taught me lessons; sometimes I struggle to live with them, I fight to disprove them, but at the end of the day I hope to carry them with me wherever I go. I know I haven’t done anything like I did last year in all my life. It’s the first time that I didn’t keep in touch with anyone over months, the first time that people around me influenced my life to such an extent, The first time I accepted a whole lot of non-idealistic things, and of course the first time that I ended up talking to anyone and everyone who came my way, as a result of which first time there were shocking revelations of people. I had small achievements to help me sail through a rather tough year, and I had myself. All in all GREAT! No, I’m not being sarcastic. I was always lucky beyond belief, and its good if once in a while, your good luck stabs you in the back, and shakes out the cobwebs.

Looking forward to an ambitious year myself, here’s wishing everyone else a very happy year ahead!