experiencing life.

This is one of those posts that you write with the browser window hidden from everyone else. especially your boss !
yea..its been a long while since I wrote...but things seem to be getting hectic.

umm... i've joined the gym (again !) .
i dunno what it is with the gym thing, but i never manage to continue without a break.
the last one was for around 3 months...so i'm pretty much back at square 1
:P
So my weekdays involve getting up at 6 (huh? me?!) ...yea, honestly ! .....then going to the office gym at 7... have breakfast in the office canteen at around 9 ( and its MUCH better than the one in the Chennai office !) ....
The body has a wierd tendency...i've seen... losing or gaining weight happens naturally at the exact places you don't want !!!

anyway, I've been trying to do something ..umm...different thesedays.
I have decided that i'm NOT going to keep a TV at my place here. Although it seems like the stupidest decision I , or anyone since the Ice-age,has ever made, I'm going to stick by it.
There's a reason for it too. the way I see it...the idiot box has always made me lazy. Once I sit down to watch star world or anything interesting, I can spend days not moving my a** from the sofa !

I've realized that I want to experience life.
I want to do stuff that I've always wanted to do....or that I've never thought I would ...
Along the same thoughts, I went to a demo dance class this sunday !!....The guy teaches all forms of dance..this month it's gonna be bollywood...next month's western...after that Hip Hop and Salsa are in line...
btw...we danced to 'Aahun Aahun' from Love aajkal (that's the one, no?)

Dance.
Although i'm adept at the drunk-dance-at-weddings, this is one of the things i've wanted to do. Always.
In college a 'friend' and I had decided to join Salsa classes ....but that didn't happen ...due to certain...errrmm...unavoidable reasons...

but enough! I said to myself... I wanted to taste more of LIFE(I'll elaborate the reason for this in another post), and I'm gonna do it.
Perhaps i'll sign up for the dance classes after all .
what say?

PS: I was gonna name this post 'Chance pe Dance' ....but that's kinda overused ;)

bathroom talk.

There's one thing i've always wanted to say to a good looking stranger... "Wasting water's a sin... shower with me !"
siiiiiiiigh .....kab aayega woh din ? ;)

At every point in their lives, people have to judge stuff.... and its not always a bad thing .
I mean of course we need to judge..... is this shoe worth it? Should I have rum with Vodka? will I be able to get home after that? Is the one in black hot or the blue one ? Should I actually put this on the blog? will I need to kill her now? ( ermmmm :P)

So anyhow, I have one major criteria of judging a house or a room...yea now that i've house hunted in both Chennai and Hyderabad, I have an opinion on this.... the one thing that makes a house stand out amidst the cramped up ocean of others is............
ta
tada
tadada
............. a good bathroom !

Yes. washroom/restroom/gusalkhana ( :P )....whatever you want to call it... its something which I cannot compromise on.... not to sound like a snob or anything, but isn't it an amazing feeling when you walk into a spacious,clean,fragrant washroom ? sounds pretty trivial, i know, but it does feel great...or maybe u've just never lived in a hostel ;)

The thing is, when we were deciding on our accomodation in hyderabad , the first thing that influenced my choice was this flat's bathroom.... I mean its HUGE.
Seriously...like more than half the size of the bedroom.... and that's not exactly small either.
Plus, it has a shower that ACTUALLY works ...which isn't a high probablitity when searching for rented places....
Its got pure white tiles...which makes it look even cleaner (and more difficult to maintain)....


All in all, I'm happy with my place here ....although I don't spend all day in there, I still love the ...bathing area.... :D

thought i'd make this a short post...as it is i'm ignoring doing what i'm paid for and instead doing what I love....writing! ...
but I guess everyone does that at times...or probly needs to do so !
and people walking past me are giving me wierd smiles or tut-tut expressions...

PS: Pseudo-exciting,though apt blog post title, isnt it?

new chapter...being me

OK guys....BIG news .... i haven't had time to write.... I've moved to Hyderabad !!
this happened last friday.

Wednesday:
I go to chennai office as usual....check my mail...and it says i've been absorbed into a project and i should contact xyz person and report to hyderabad ...."niice" ,i said to myself...atleast i'd have a couple of days to chill out in chennai and say adieu to the friends i made there....
I called up the concerned person and he asked me to report at 9 AM the next day ... "ermmm...I'm in chennai actually...(how could he not know?)...so i can be there only on friday..hope that's ok "...it was.

Its a funny feeling... to wrap up your life in a few hours and move to another place...that's exactly what i did... boozed bigtime with pals (farewell, right !) ...that was wednesday night...woke up on thursdy morning..packed..cought a flight at 4 in the afternoon.

and here I was...hyderabad...a new city, yet again. Famous for its apparantly amazing 'biryani' ...which I haven't tasted yet...also, I'm a veggie...so the prospects of biryani aren't that exciting anyway..

I've rented a flat with a friend.....my own place ...the first time(chennai was a hostel).... i'm rly psyched about it...i mean, woohoo!! guys, i need suggestions on what all i'll need to make the house a cool place to be.... all i have right now are beddings , a pressure cooker, a stove and some plates ! .....I've been reminiscing about my parent's house in gurgaon....it actually was kinda amazing....lets hope i can make mine a bit as good too :D

More on this new 'hyderabadi' chapter to follow....

oh btw...i was tagged...so here goes..
The more [x]’ s the “dumber” you are.

[] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were talking
[ ] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were NOT talking
[ ] You have ran into a glass/screen door
[ ] You have jumped out of a moving vehicle
[ x] You have thought of something funny while walking by yourself
[ ] Laughed, then watched people give you weird looks

So far: 1
[ ] You have run into a tree/bush.
[ ] You know that it IS possible to lick your elbow
[ ] You have tried to lick your elbow… a few times
[x ] You never knew that the Alphabet and Twinkle Twinkle Little star have the same rhythm.
[] You just tried to sing them.

So far: 2
[ ] You have tripped on your shoelace and fallen.
[ ] You have choked on your own spit .
[ ] You have seen the Matrix and still don’t get it.
[] You’ve never seen the Matrix.
[ ] You type only with two fingers.

So far: 2
[] You have accidentally caught something on fire
[ ] You tried to drink out of a straw, but it went into your nose/eyes.
[ ] You have caught yourself drooling.
[ ] You have fallen asleep in class and fell outta your chair

So far: 2
[ ] Sometimes you just stop thinking
[x] You are telling a story and forget what you were talking about
[ ] People often shake their heads and walk away from you
[ ] You are often told to use your “inside voice”.
[ ] You use your fingers to do simple math

So far: 3
[ ] You have eaten a bug
[] You are taking this test when you should be doing something more important
[ ] You have put your clothes on backwards or inside out, and didn’t realize it
[x ] You’ve looked all over for something and realized it was in your hand
[ x] You have ran around naked in your house. (pls..no details !)

So far: 5
[ ] You repost bulletins because you are scared that what they say will happen to you if you don’t.
[x] You break a lot of things.
[ ] Your friends know not to use big words around you.
[ ] You tilt your head when you’re confused
[ ] You have fallen out of your chair before

So far: 6
[x ] When you’re lying in bed, you try to find pictures in the texture of the ceiling or wall
[ ] The word “ummmmm” is used many times a day.

Total 7 = (7/37)*100 = 18.9% dumbo..!!
funny....its the same as the my tagger (if there's such a word)...birds of a feather? :P

and I tag whoever wants to be tagged (actually ..does sound silly) !

baaack

aaaaaaand i'm BACK !!
first things first..... I cleared the test !!! :D and I scored the highest !...much to mine and everyone else's surprise ;)
when I clicked "submit" and got the score, I looked at it twice...stared at it for 2 minutes..... i just cudn't #@ believe it .......no one else cud,either...for that matter...... absolutely EVERY person i've told this to has asked me this question: "what the HELL did u do man????...seriously " .....I guess sum stuff's just meant to happen.....only thing is, u gotta pinch yourself hard to believe it......
perheps its cuz of all the good wishes you guys sent me .....awwwww :D

..... training's over....and i've qualified.... phew !
its been soo soo long since I wrote, no? I'm rly sorry I cudn't keep up with u guys' posts... i'll try harder......promise ..... oh, and i'm rly happy tht my blog's following's increased...yes, it does make a difference to me...no matter how much I try to say that it doesn't ...... just like I had always tried to prove that i'm not at all supersticious....turned out that I totally AM !
So no point in hiding it......
Did I ever happen to tell u guys that i'm amazingly bad at faking it ?
NO, its not what you think ( :P) ....i've discovered that i've always been a pathetic lier....I just can't control my facial expressions when i'm lying ...either i'll laugh out or i'll look here and there....so the listener will almost immediately know that i'm lying...unless their dumb,ofcourse...... you think it's a disability?
So that explains why I didn't run away to "Bombay" (I still like to call it that and not mumbai) to become a hero ....yup, that's right, not an ACTOR, a HERO ......after all, that's what everyone says, isnt it?

sumhow recently this particular thought came to me....and I wanted to share it....... as technology and economy has progressed, people have lost their innocence..... their genuine-selves..... to give way to new,tech-savvy,suave,money-yearning creatures ........
this happened long ago...my grandpa asked me:

Scene:

It was '96 and we had recently bought a computer.....
my nana (grandpa) , who owned an automobile servicing firm asked me what it was...so I told him...... and its amazing how some things just get stuck in memory...what he actually said was:

"that's very nice...but u remember to keep it well -oiled , or the parts will rust"

yeah, it may sound irrelevant now or probably just plain ignorance..... but to me the above line exemplifies innocence..and sumhow i'll never forget it..

changing the topic, we were at the beach till 2 in the night the day i cleared.... its such an amazing place to be..... i'd choose a beach over a mountain holiday...anyday....but I already told you that....
its like...whenever i'm near the sea, and I hear the waves crashing against the shore, everything else just rushes out of my head, and what's left is peace.... its one of the places where I can sit for long...idle....thinking...

anyhow...gotta go...will write soon....

the story continues...

Its bugging that i can't write here very often....and its primarily cuz of two reasons :

1) i don't have a lappy where i stay....so have to go out for surfing..... i've always wondered why these places are called cyber cafes...yea, the cyber part's obvious..but why the 'cafe'? any bright ideas anyone?

2) almost all 'worthy' sites are blocked at my office...which includes facebook, blogger,gmail....not a lot left on the net after these...wat do i do all day, google??
by the time i come bak in the eve, i'm too tired for point# 1 ;)

so more on chennai et moi? here goes..

a) the beach is a 20 min walk from my place (did i already mention that)? but i manage to go there only in the evenings on weekends ...its too hot in the day !

b) there's a rly gud library close by....and it's air conditioned too ;)

c) its f***in cheap ! of course, as long as you don't go to the taj and the sheraton a lot :P


there's one thing that really bugs me, though..... whenever i try to buy fruit from a vendor, he'll always talk in tamil, even if he knows bits n pieces of hindi..... and he'll ALWAYS quote double the price...... HATE it ! ... currently i'm trying to befriend a couple of neighbours so they can bargain for me ;)

went for a haircut today...... its funny the stuff life throws at you... sitting in a salon, watching and listening to tamil actors jive on tv...... looking at the pics in a tamil version of 'filmfare' .... but i don't mind, really....if there's one thing i actually DO know about myself by now, its that I'm open to new things and experiences...

and also the random fact that i rarely give ppl second chances..... :P


wats up at work?
well, wipro has about 6 offices in chennai, and initially we were at this swanky, great-campus,lotsa-greenery,great-food-options one.....
but after 3 weeks, we were shifted to this old, no-campus-whatsoever, crappy-canteen, place-u'd-hate office....so that sucks....just trying to survive in there
right now, actually i'm in training ....and i have a REALLY important exam on october 16th.....so trying to study for it...and that kinda gives me no time for pretty much anything else...

madras talk !

Okay, I said to myself right now... "time for my first post from chennai !"
its really nice of u guys to wish me good luck with this transition...really made me smile :D thank u!

first things first.... i'm gonna try n recollect stuff that i've been doing since I came here....

honestly, i was really freaked out about coming here initially.... partly cuz i don't know a soul in this city and partly cuz ALL my friends who've joined the same organization have gotten their posting in bangalore .....

the first week here was pretty chilled out... i was putting up at my dad's company guest house....no probs there...besides, it was in a relatively posh locality so there were nice places to hangout.....

i came across some colleagues from work who were also looking for accomodation here.... so we decided to look for one together.... to top it up, one colleague had a friend along and this guy was from chennai itself...so he helped us out a LOT ... talking to the brokers and house owner's in tamil (obviously, they'd quote a higher price if that guy wasn't a local) ..... he also showed us quite a few places to chill out...which included both types of drinking ..... coffee and booze !

there's a few things i've noticed about the city...i can't say if my observations are accurate or not though......

1) a few area-names end with 'pet' ....namely, 'chetpet','saidapet'...a few others which i don't remember...so i'm guessing 'pet' would mean an area or sumthing
2) the arterial roads are 'anna salai' and 'MGR salai'.... so it'd be ok to say 'salai' means road......but i was told it also means 'statue'....not sure
3) chennai vaguely gives me the feel of chembur in mumbai.... perhaps cuz of the architecture.... haven't figured out why...but it just does.... its one of those feelings u can't pinpoint the reason for....
4) The public transport is pretty good here... almost everyone you meet at a bus stop is capable of telling you the bus number to ur destination..... doesn't happen in delhi a lot...
5) chennai has two kinds of weather.... (a) hot ... (b) very hot
6) almost everything u get to eat is directly or indirectly made of RICE :P .... makes me think of the umpteen no. of times i refused to eat rice at home . poetic justice, perhaps? (waving fist at the skies)


Oh, n i'm trying to learn tamil..... till now, i've learnt the following :

1) counting from 1-10. it goes like this:
urr, rend, moon, naal, anji, arr, yel, ett, umbodh, patt

2) how are you : "apdi irkinge? "
i'm fine : "naan nalla irke"

3) i want to got to chennai central: "naan chennai central pono"
how much? : "avelo?"
50 only : "50 ta"
don't want: "vanda"

4) crazy : "pythium"
happy : "santosham"
sad : ....forgot this one
big: "perusa"
very big : " rombo perusa" (what're u thinking of ? don't get any ideas !)
small: "chinh"

5) i love you : "naan unai kadli kirane" ( really important , eh?! )

6) Tomato: "takkali"
Onion: "Vengayam"
coconut : "tenga"

7) yes: "ama"
yes yes : "amama" (duuh :P)
NO : "ile"


enough for today?
hopefully i'll get a chance to write soon.....
the thing is, i'm currently on training... and so wer'e kept #@% busy all week..... i finished with one main assessment this week...so have a few days to myself... that'll explain my visits to Eliot's beach, and booze sessions at bikes and barrels ;)

catch all of you later... all the new readers and especially the old ones !
mwaaah !

a temporary au revoir, or an incredible beginning?

There's something big happening with me right now that I wanted to share..... I'm changing jobs...and the new one's taking me to chennai !
I rly don't have a lot of time to write..... and perhaps I won't be very regular on the blog either for a while.... and i'll miss it
Also the incredibly sweet ppl who read..u guys really make it worthwhile, honestly ...mwah!

after 4 years of living in a hostel, I was at a point where I preferred being away from home...cuz of the obvious reasons...freedom,blah blah.......i've stayed at home with folks for a year now, and strangely, i'm a bit jittery (i'm ashamed to admit this ) about the change ...... esp. cuz the entire city is totally new to me and i don't know a soul there...... i'm also kinda curious about how i'll gel with the place :P

who knows, maybe it'll actually turn out to be good for me....hopefully....

wish me luck guys !

PS: moving tomorrow!