I am always struck by how much people will do for you - even if they don't know you. Perhaps especially if they don't know you... The people you expect the least from :
- The Israeli girl with the child in her arms waiting in queue with you for a transit visa will fight for your cause with the airport police. Knowing nothing of German like yourself but fighting nonetheless for a complete stranger who is probably in a better position than she is.
- The Egyptian lady will give you the other half of her adaptor because she discovers that you have got an adaptor that while it has the right kind of holes - fits NOTHING... Give, mind you - not lend.
- The Sardarji uncle who knows some German but not nearly as much either of us had hoped will stand with you parking his luggage, his wife and his children and asking them to "Shush" while he reads German notices slowly explaining what he can to me...

On other journeys:
- The conductor from a Mumbai bus who asked me to tell the American girl next to me about the bus timings and then bought coffee for both of us , refusing to take money. He bought it for her because she was a guest and he bought it for me .. JUST.
- The sub-inspector in a Mumbai bus who walked with me from a bus stand to railway station just to show me the way. And when i had reached went all the way back to the bus stand but not without telling me to 'Take care and Be Safe' and giving his card in case i ran in to trouble.
- and so many many more...

My wallet has many such cards and tissue papers with numbers and email addresses of people like these... who I will never call or mail.
But they are the reason for my sigh of relief at a crazy airport and for my resolute confidence that i will absolutely and surely Be Okay!

No one needs to know.

- I ate quail awkwardly wondering if the bird would fly out of my plate while i was trying to cut it.
- I got in to the bus not knowing how and who to give the cash to so stood around staring for a bit.
- I gave out a 2 cents instead of 20 (why make 2 cent coins anyway)
- I sweated while eating at the Marriott coz for some reason there were no prices and i didnt know how expensive and i was to embarassed to leave.
- I almost got stuck outside the train door because i just about made it in time.
- I can often not understand what people are saying in calls because of their accent
- I said inappropriate things about the German airport authority to a German person
- I have no idea if they like me - and i am always wondering why they are smiling... like that!

1st time i ever took an international flight was on my way from India to NY..
The BA flight circled around a Bit, had one of its wings hit one of those big ladder things, and then they canceled that flight because of fuel leakage.

The Dubai trip was un-eventful. I think thats coz J's good luck canceled my bad luck.

Now this time on my way to US - a volcano has erupted in iceland which is causing chaos in Europe.. so of course thats where i am - Europe.. with all the chaos!

Everything is in German, All TV channels, newspapers .. when i opened the blog, it asked me if wanted to "Anmalden" and i was not sure if i was being asked to delete the blog... Thankfully, it just means "Sign-in".

Height of Anonymity

I give you a "Speak Out box" so you can post your notes / questions anonymously.
You then give your note to someone else and have them post it (much like shikhandi killing bheeshma)- so that NO ONE SEES YOU put the ANONYMOUS note in the ANONYMOUS box!
Whatay!

I dress for work, attend meetings... but i don't believe i make any difference to this company. It feels like i am just playing Office Office.

I watched 3 idiots.. the same movie the whole country is raving about (box office results as of 28th Dec: 100 crores). Huge hit clearly!

Why this movie did'nt work for me:
1) Aamir Khan (THE Aamir Khan - the man i love and wrote love letters to when i was in the 8th standard) hammed his way through this!
2) This is Taare Zameen Pe (TZP) Part 2, begging parents not to kill their kids in the race and to recognise that each child has something else .. blah blah. Did i mention too preachy.
3) It was so so predictable
3a) Remember this scene: Kareena Kapoor character (KKC): "Are you married?",
Aamir Khan's character (AKC): "No";
KKC: "Do you love someone?"
AKC: "Yes"..
(silence and everyone is expected to hold their breath)
AKC says. "Tumse".
Seriously! And you didn't see that one!!!
4) They really had to go and do the Five point someone Engineering thing... and the flood thing... AND the delivery scene ... AND the runaway bride thing. Stop already!
5) Lets go kill that Chatur guy.
6) I have a problem with jokes on crap, fart, poop etc etc.. and by my standards this was an OD.

Very long 3 hours for me.
p.s.: i'm with chetan bhagat - not enough credit given to the author of the original story.

I write this today in the hope that i write a little more and a lot better this year. Amen!

Why i liked rocket singh...

They had their research on Sales pit-pat... And that was refreshing.. That you took the trouble to understand and then tell me the story and didn't just shove absurb, bizarro fantasies you have my way.

Can you imagine how this would have turned out if Madhur Bhandarkar had made it - given his penchant for making vertical focused movies.
He would have called it "Sales" for starters, and then shown the salesman sleep with all the customers to get the business and then i am guessing something about him becoming the biggest salesman in the country and how that gets to his head and how he ruins it all! something along those lines. Trust me.

Rocket Singh took Ranbir Kapoor's biggest asset (his face) and covered it with a beard and a paggdi and said "now go deliver" ... and he did!

What i didn't like... the curse of the 2nd half i would like to call it.
Stretched a bit too much and got quite preachy in the last few scenes.

But all-in-all, good watch. 3.5 stars from me.

I went to Dubai for my 1st phorren vacation.
And No, the week long NY trip i took early last year does not count
because ...
a) it was for work
b) i had NO money
c) i almost froze and died... and surviving near-death experiences does not a vacation make. Fair?

Anyway, this trip was so so different..
i was with family, i had a longish break, the weather was just the kind i can handle (hot and humid). All in all.. great!
Also i had some money....
soo i did shopping-ish things...
soo now i have to say, "i used to have money".

Dubai is very different from what i expected it to be.
The way my brother made it sound, i thought it would be teeming with malayali 'somewhat-relatives' type people who you never even wanted to meet "back home" (Ha, there i said it.. THE ultimate ex-pat phrase)...
Not true though! Its a super large city filled with superlative things... literally. Tallest building, biggest fountain, largest flag, largest LCD display.
If it does not have an EST attached to it - tis not worth the Arab's time.
(fingers crossed that the recent crash is not the largEST).

But seriously. Great holiday spot... (limited experience but still!)

I often look for my husband on the internal office communication system (called OC - how's that for creativity!). And then get very irritated that someone who does not work in my company is not available on the chat... How inefficient!

Soo bored!! Think i will look Appa up on OC now.

SenR & Me have an idea...
and i think this might really be it!!

Communication. It's the first thing we really learn in life. Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words and really start talking the harder it becomes to know what to say. Or how to ask for what we really need.


- Meredith Grey

My dear dear J,

Yesterday was our 2 year "Proposal anniversary"
(I wonder if other people also have anniversaries like that)

My guess is that your memory of that night can't be very nice, thanks to my very freaked out reaction to the proposal. I am sorry for that.

You should know though that i had the most incredible experience that night,
Something i never expected to happen to me - did.
Someone i loved asked me to marry him...
& not just asked, mind you - asked on bended knee, with a ring and wine ...
Thank you baby for making my memory of the proposal so so special.

In the last year of being married, we have been through 3 trials (i think we have consensus on this) and dealt with it better than okay...
and even though the miscarriage is only a week old (i have decided that its okay to talk about this), i still recognise that while i would rather have had things work out differently, now that they haven't, i am only grateful that i am dealing with this situation with you.

So j-boy... 2 and something years of being with each other, and 1 year of marriage later, i know today what a good decision i made 25th Aug 2007, when i said "YES".


With All My love,
A
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p.s.: don't worry about this being a public forum. only 4 people visit...
and they'll be okay with anything. Trust me.

i take longer to put detergent in the washing machine,
longer to hang clothes - clipping each item to the clothes line with more care thean i normally would
i take a bath slowly, trying to get cleaner than i normally would
apply more cream and more patiently than i normally would..

is your life also slower & more careful when you are sad? like you just could not afford to be careless with any task.

I Left This Morning
~ by Peter Bland

I left this morning saying 'I love you'
as if setting out for some unknown country
instead of the corner shop. I wanted
you to be sure, in case
this time - out of, say, 10,000 departures
I never made it back: although
after 50 years together, 2 countries,
3 children, and several former journeys
that would put this one to shame
you'd think there'd be no need to pause
on my own doorstep, suddenly afraid
of the distance between us, of your absolute beauty,
of the growing aloneness when I clicked the latch

I'm going to Kerala tomorrow for a whole 8 days!!!
I CANNOT wait.
My self esteem has taken such a beating at work in the last month - it needs the kind of biased, blind-sided boosting only parents can provide.

One of the most treasured memories of my childhood is of being in my grandparent’s house in Kerala at night; with no electricity, a million cousins & a handful of torches.
At least one cousin would be flashing the torch from below their chin pretending to be a ghost,
While the rest of us tried to identify insects from the sound they made in the dark.
& we would all talk in to the night – ghost stories and all.
Aaj kal bijli kam jaati hai

Having been told quite early that I must not attempt to sing,
The only times I did was when the power was gone,
And I needed to distract myself from the darkness and from wondering “what’s that shape near the door?”
Soon I would forget all about odd shapes, refrigerator sounds and the darkness,
As I tried to remember the paragraphs of old Hindi songs.
Aaj kal bijli kam jaati hai

My mother & all other aunties in the colony would come out and sit at the entrance of our building when the power would go
They would just sit around there talking, cutting vegetables for dinner,
While all their kids would be sitting around playing Antakshari or Hide & Seek.
Have you ever played Hide & Seek in the dark? It's the most fun.
Aaj kal bijli kam jaati hai

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Am writing this in the comfort that no one ever comes here and the ones who do come out of deep unconditional love for me and will not stop coming because i wrote random things (again).

Whatay truly terrible week this has been ...
Actually 2 more terrible days to go before we can call it a week!
(Yes i know "Faith", i wrote about her 2 posts ago. I write this after having consulted her.)

Anyway, i now feel bitchier than the average week.
Here are some specific bitchy thoughts:
1) Frequent readers of this blog (26% of the 2.83 who visit this blog) would know that i dont have a cabin at work yet... i would like to change that very dated idea you have and have you know that now i don't even have a seat. Thank you!
2) I do have a very good team though and while i have had a great 1st 6 month innings with them, i am now having some very very depressing things happening.
(since this is a public forum, i cannot share much more, but to give you a parallel - remember how you felt after you watched "prem aggan"...Exact same emotion)
3) In this most motivating work envirnment, i want to add - i am light years away from achieving any goal set for me at work.
(actual count as of 28th May '09: 0/3236 goals achieved)

This is a small account and captures only very few surface emotions...
Don't get me started on acquaintance type relative who wanted to know if i had "any good news" to share, Calvin - pup by day, Taliban funded sabotage agent by night and
many more life-embracing situations sprung quite recently at J & me
(largely because of god giving in chhappad phaad ke format).