The Bangalore Train Journey February 28, 2007

This is the story of a smart young girl (no points for guessing who) who went to Bangalore by train last weekend. She met a few ineteresting, good, bad, ugly people during this journey.

Girl Mistake #1

Buys tamarind rice for 12 bucks from Kacheguda Railway Station

6:27pm – Train arrives

6:35pm – Girl takes her seat, quite happy that she got herself a lower berth

Shy Guy enters – 6:47pm

Girl checks out Shy Guy, slightly worried whether he is going to be in the opposite lower berth. Shy Guy totally ignores Girl, takes out his phone and makes a call, smiling shyly at intervals.

Girl switches on her music and stares out the window, hoping some family joins them, even if that means 2 pesky kids come along.

Prayer unanswered. Enter Cute Guy at 6:56pm. He checks out Girl (or so she wants to believe) and sits next to Shy Guy. Before Girl gets a chance to confirm that Cute Guy is actually cute, disaster strikes. Enter Loud Guys 1 and 2. The kinds who are friends but look strikingly similar, have white cell phones and wear pink and purple striped tee shirts (wide vertical stripes). And brown hair. Girl’s hopes of a family joining her is nipped in the bud.

Girl Mistake #2

Checks out Cute Guy a tad too much. Now he thinks he is Shah Rukh Khan (or whoever else you think is good looking) and has an arrogant expression. Sheesh.

Loud Guys 1 and 2 check out Girl (this time she doesn’t want the attention). Girl stares out the window and pretends to be with Shy Guy (remember him?)

Girl Mistake #3

Fishes out her notepad and writes down stuff furiously, hoping to turn it into a funny blog post later (No, she is not crazy, just very very passionate). Now that just seems to be getting more attention from Loud Guys 1 and 2, weird look from Shy Guy and a disinterested yawn from Cute Guy (who cares about him anymore)

Girl quickly puts her notepad away, tries to eat her tamarind rice, realises it too sour (and has pieces of hair in it), gets Shy Guy’s help (suddenly he seems cuter than Cute Guy) to throw the rest out the window and continues to pretend she is with him, secretly waiting for Loud Guys 1 and 2 to sleep.

Here ends the story Girl had written down in her notepad. The story has no specific ending but it has an epilogue. The fate of each one of the characters.

Cute Guy: Has an early dinner, gives another disinterested look at Girl and goes to sleep on his upper birth.

Shy Guy: His name is Venkat, he works with Wipro and offered to buy Girl dinner when he goes to get some for himself from the next station. Girl politely declines.

Loud Guys 1 and 2: They happened to be brothers, had a large amount of tamarind rice (homemade) with them and insisted Girl share it with them. They were nice people who definitely were loud and probably didn’t speak english, but so what? Their mom’s tamarind rice was amazing (minus hair).

Girl: Broke every rule in the first few lessons taught by her mom. Don’t talk to strangers in trains, don’t accept food from strangers (it was also painted on the train wall), try not to travel alone by night (she gave up on that one long back so it doesn’t count as a rule anymore). Probably she was lucky this time that Shy Guy didn’t turn out be a serial rapist and Loud Guys 1 and 2 didn’t dope her and try to steal her stuff.

Or maybe the world is a better place than we all think.

The End

I have been tagged :D February 26, 2007

Before I start, a few things.

- I went to Bangalore this weekend and had written a post when I was in the train. Forgot to take that notepad in the morning so will be posting tomorrow.
- I love being tagged. Gives me an opportunity to say stuff in a precise manner, stuff I wouldn’t have known how to put across otherwise. So, thank you Rosh
- We are going to get Subway stuff for lunch and thrilled beyond imagination at this. Did I mention Google gives free food to all employees I love it!

3 things you should know about the no. 3

1. I am the youngest of 3 kids. It was a roller coaster ride while growing up, and still is.
2. The number of times I shifted houses in Hyderabad (phew)
3. The number of times I typed something here and deleted it thinking its not interesting enough to put up here

3 things that scare me:

1. Horror movies!
2. Fear of falling out of love
3. Growing old and regretting not doing something I should have done at a younger age.

3 people who make me laugh:

1. Amrith aka Shanky aka Shanks
2. Rosh, Godyears, and all our chats
3. Joey and Chandler in F.R.I.E.N.D.S

3 things I love:

1. Mom’s cooking
2. Fresh bedsheets
3. The beach

3 things I hate:

1. Missing someone
2. Things out of their place
3. Rude people

3 things I don’t understand:

1. How men think
2. Why I can never seem to save some money
3. How a mother loves her child unconditionally. Where does that emotion come from?

3 things on my desk:

1. Gifts from people
2. Bottle of water
3. Laptop docking station
(Damn, why cant I think of anything interesting or funny to write?)

3 things I’m doing right now:

1. Wondering how it will be to be married
2. Planning big time for my first trip abroad
3. Feeling a little restless because of all the work I need to get done and a feeling I am not doing anything

3 things I want to do before I die:

1. Do stand-up comedy and be good at it
2. Have a happy happy happy marriage
3. Around the world trip

3 things I can do:

1. Get ready to go out in five minutes or less
2. Patiently listen to the most boring conversations on earth
3. Not answer back however right I think I am, unless the other person is done talking (this really helps)

3 things you should never listen to:

1. Advice on your relationship from others. There are only two people who can solve any issue and that’s you two
2. The inner voice that sometimes says its time to give up and move on (Gotcha! Inner Voice)
3. Cant even make up a third one to put here

3 things I’d like to learn:

1. Hindi
2. Classical Dance
3. Drive (Ride?) a train

3 fav. foods:

1. Subway (its a class in its own)
2. Ice cream (I can have just that for dinner, lots of it)
3. Mom’s food

3 beverages I drink regularly:

1. Tea/Coffee
2. Peach Tea
3. Flavoured Soy Milk

3 TV shows/Books I watched/read as a kid:

1. Chithrageetham in Doordarshan
2. Balarama (malayalam childrens book)
3. Mash

3 people I tag:

I don’t think there are any three people who constantly read my blog. If you do, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments field. Can’t really name anyone

Ok Ok, I tag Uglygirl of Unisexzone.
Alok of Hello World who was kind enough to say that there are definitely more than three people who visit my blog regularly. Thank you Alok.
And last but not the least, Life Rocks!!
Take it away Guys!!

Blowing My Own Trumpet (I just couldn’t resist) February 22, 2007

Things have been a little hectic at work of late and I have been in training for the past two weeks. This week I have a batch of my own and that session is going on. Next week, again, I have Email Response Training (ERT). We have something called a pre-ERT Test which needs to be cleared before one can enter ERT and I gave that test a couple of weeks back. I totally didn’t get time to prepare but managed to take it somehow.

Today, I got an email from Darshini (who is my ERT trainer and also my team member, since I am also part of training team) saying:

Hello Nags,

I’m sorry to inform you that you have not passed your Pre ERT Test. The required pass was 45 out of 60 questions. Unfortunately, you did not make the mark. You will need to take the test up again. Please let me know when you will be free to take the test and I will schedule you for it. Please let me or Kalpana know if you have any questions or concerns.

I had given a 10-minute break to my class and thats when I saw this email. Was completely disappointed and responded to her saying:

oh damn! cant believe i was this bad. I will take the test today during lunch. (12:30-1:30) thats the only free time i have. gawd, i am such a disappointment to the ERT team sorry guys, will try to clear it this time. a very embarrassed nags

I was quite disappointed in myself and wondered why this happened. A short while later, Kalpana knocked on the door and asked to talk to me. She told me there was a meeting after work today and I had to attend that. We spoke for another 2 mins and then headed back to the training room. I opened the room, and there was Darshini with her camera. There was a congrats sign stuck to the wall.

I was speechless and at a loss for words. My trainees looked at us in wonder thinking ‘where the heck are we?” Welcome to Google, dears.

This is the follow up email that Darshini sent to the entire team and congrats have been flowing in. Guess I am fishing for more here.

Team,

Superstar Naags has created a new record… She is the first ever to achieve a full score in the Pre ERT test!!! Woooohooooooo But, she was NOT the first to know about it. Keeping with our tradition of doing things the nutty way, we decided to tell her that she had, indeed, failed ! Filled with disappointment, she shot out apologetic emails to Kalpana and I, and gave her class a quick break so that she had some time to recover. Little did she know that Kalpana and I were on our way here to make it all up to her and give her the good news in person! And… Was she shocked to see us!! Further more, she was shocked to find out that she had actually passed, and with such fab results! (For the shocked expression, please see photo) I must also add that after taking the test Naags was not so sure that she was going to pass it… But, she has done a fantastic job and has set a record in the bargain! Everyone please congratulate our very own Naags who has done this while focusing on ABT and other responsibilities!

Yay!!!

~darshini

Actually I just wanted to record this as a memorable day in my life. Darsh and Kalpana are both in a different building and they came all the way here, just to make my day. Thank you guys.

Love my job, love my life

Old Habits and How They Die February 21, 2007

Those days, I couldn’t wait to rush home from school, kick off my shoes, hurry through lunch, and crash on to the bed with my book. Books! They were such an enigma. There were days when my mom actually used to yell at me for reading too much! We go to visit someone, I find books in the house and start reading. I don’t hear their questions about school, them offering cookies and milk or even chocolates and fruits. I am already in the world of Nancy Drew, or Secret Seven or Mr. Pink Whistle. It always took a sharp nudge from my mom and a yelp of pain from me to bring me back to the real world. My mom took me to the eye doctor every two months because she was so convinced I would ruin them with all this reading. I almost always used to forget to switch on the lights once it started getting dark. One Nancy Drew adventure took me two days to finish, during week days. One day, if it was a holiday.

Why am I writing all this here? Well, just a look back at that old pastime, hobby, passion, whatever you call it, has made me think where it is now. Its true that even now, at any point in time, I will be somewhere in the middle of a book, but it takes me so long to finish, that by the time I reach the end, I would have forgotten the beginning. Yes, its that bad. The interest is there, the passion is there but something has changed. The excitement of having a fresh new book in my bag and the feeling of dying to read it has passed. Now its more passive. Ah, maybe I should read for some time. I have some time to kill, should I listen to some music or read? Music maybe. Sheer laziness, growing up, lost interest, what is it?

I miss that voracious reader in me. I miss that girl who was so yelled at because books took her to another world and she was deaf to what others had to say then. The glow in her eyes when she saw a book she wanted to read and the emptiness when she finishes a book and doesn’t have anything to read till the library opens the next day.

I am glad I grew up without Cartoon Network and HBO and Pogo. I am glad I always had something to do even if there was no power and the cable guy pulled the plug. I am glad for Mr. Pink Whistle and the Adventures of The Faraway Tree and Naughtiest Girl and Fatty in Famous Five and Jughead and Archie.

As a note to self, I have put up a ‘Currenly Reading’ section in my blog. When this doesn’t change for a long time, I know I have to pay more attention to reading. After all, that habit of mine did contribute a lot to who I am today, on top of wasting a lot of money on visits to the eye doctor.

A Few Random Things February 20, 2007

Things are a little hectic at work now. My days are jam packed, just the way I like it. Even if I complain, its the happy kind of complaining. Something like a husband complaining about how long his wife takes to get ready, while secretly thinking its kinda cute. Anyway, I spent the last two weeks in training (where I was the trainee) and learnt a lot of stuff. It was extremely difficult to stifle a yawn, not show restlessness and not to look at the clock every 10 mins. More so, because as a trainer, I know that even if you do try to do these things subtly, the trainer can always see you. Sigh. So I didn’t really try to hide anything. Yawned away to glory in the afternoons and gave a sheepish grin after that.

Mandar is getting married. He is a colleague, somewhat a mentor, and a nice guy. Good luck Mandy. Hope you guys get the ‘happily ever after’ that seems to be reserved for a select few these days.

I am on a diet. I know how boring and icky and ‘oh plsss’ this sounds but writing it down here helps me. This is my blog and I write what I want. So there! Having passed that arrogant spell, let me tell you, gymming for a month has completely ruined everything. This extra weight I put on just refuses to leave my body. Or should I blame it on the new caterer in office. AAAAAargh I don’t know. And I don’t like it. So, I am on a diet.

Going to Bangalore this weekend. Looking forward to that

Aaaaaaaaand It Happened!!! February 19, 2007

Thank you all you guys who read that crazy post of mine and consoled/sounded worried/enquired and inspired me/about me. Its over! I can’t give more details here but its over and I am happy.

Hope and patience can do wonders. And I am living proof of that. Sometimes you will need to stop thinking about yourself, your ego, your pride and concentrate on what you want (you dont need to actually stop thinking of yourself, you know). I did that. I wanted something so so so bad. Fought with myself, with God in me, with people around me. I was unsure, and uncertain. But finally it did happen.

I believe in happy endings

To God In Me (Don’t even try to make sense of this post, you others) February 16, 2007

Dear God,

Finally I feel something could happen. Something I have wanted for so long now, that I don’t remember how I was or who I was, before all this. I only ask for something good to come out of it, at the end. A change in the way things are now. Nothing major, nothing extravagant, just a change. I know I haven’t been talking to you as much as I should have been. That’s cuz you are there in me and I know you were the one who kept trying to stifle that irritating Other Person in me when I was going through those tough days.

So, like I was saying, let’s work something out here. Time to give me atleast a part of what I want, don’t you think? 8 months. 8 months of uncertainty and fear and nervousness and tears. If its the pain you wanted me to realise, I realised it long back, didn’t I?

Anyway, just remember this conversation when things happen tomorrow. Be good to me, ok? I know you realise its time.

I hope I can post something that I never thought possible, on Monday. Its still uncertain, foggy and more shit can pile up on top of the existing shit-mountain, but remember that thing called ‘hope’? Yeah. I am holding on to that. Don’t care if that makes me a fool. Rather be a fool than miserable.

Here is to the much-awaited change in my life.

Nags

Delhi, Memories, Valentines Day, Flights and Me February 15, 2007

My visa interview was on Feb 14th, in Delhi. I remember thinking on the day I registered for the visa interview “hmmm.. wonder how Delhi would be, on Valentines Day.” I will get to the answer, but let me start at the beginning.

On the 13th evening, I had to rush through the mad traffic in Hyderabad, especially Panjagutta and Begumpet areas, to reach the airport a little ahead of time. I had Aj, Kv, and So with me. We checked in and waited, silently hoping fog won’t delay the flights. We had heard terrible stories of how some others from office flew the day before. Flights supposed to leave at 7pm left at 2am and they had to land at Jaipur and wait for the fog to lift, before they could proceed to Delhi. More than anything, I wanted a good night’s sleep so all of us were silently praying that doesn’t happen to us.

Anyway, the Indian flight was just half hour late and we settled in, had dinner and dozed off. Reached Delhi around 10:30pm and it was frrrreeeeezing. Huddled into the Innova that came to pick us up and set off to Silver Ferns where we were put up. I sat looking out the windows and couldn’t believe I was in Delhi. I had been there once before. With 71 other 12-year olds, on a school trip. I vividly remember the bright yellow scarves, freezing cold, cold creams, chap sticks, thermals, shopping, sightseeing and teachers. Same Delhi, same w—i—d—e roads, same traffic, same buses, different me. Don’t remember much from that trip, except that it was also at this time of the year and we were there on Valentines Day. Then, it didn’t mean much. Not that it means anything to me now, but that can be considered as a resentful, single, twenty-four year old’s ranting.

Woke up at 5:30 on Valentines Day, went to the Consulate and we were all out by 9:30, victorious. We all got our visas approved. Yay!

Mad rush back to the hotel to get all our stuff. And off to Sarojini Market. I had come here during that trip from school. Still remember buying stuff for everyone within the 1000 rupee budget that I was on. After buying for everyone, I had 35 rupees left for myself. Got a skirt for 30 bucks and dropped the five rupee coin on the palms of a 4-year old boy who looked like he hadn’t had food for a week. (I no longer encourage begging. Turn a blind eye. Was so difficult initially but comes much easier now. Thank you Hyderabad.)

Got back to the hotel in time for lunch. So this place, had a lot of cool shops in the same compound. Like coffee day, barista, wong’s kitchen, Nirula’s (where I had had many an ice-cream soda back then), Subway (yess), Mac, etc etc. I got ‘Daily Special’ from Sub while the others hit Mac. Ice cream sundaes from Nirula’s and we headed back to the room, sat on the bed and ate. None of these girls were people I am too close to, except Aj, and yet I had a great time.

Flight back was Kingfisher. Was pretty nice. It was great to finally get one of those pouches for myself. Free headphones and all that. Wheeeeeee.

Got home around midnight with a terrible headache. Slept well in spite of being alone.

God! This post is boring. Yawn.

Visual DNA Widget – Random Things February 12, 2007

Saw this in Lemonade’s blog and immediately wanted one. Liked the idea Here we go!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Thinking In Subway February 12, 2007

Fiday 9th Feb 2007

This should prove that I am a truly addicted blogger. Truly Madly Deeply addicted

I am in Subway now, waiting for my friend (a girl, boooooring. Hmm.. she is not boring, the idea of it not being a guy) to join me. The chikken tikka subs for the two of us are waiting in front of me on a tray. The familiar smell of freshly baked bread, the many sauces they miraculously make and the characteristic ’subway smell’ keeps me company on this Friday evening when most of Hyderabad’s population (atleast the ones who eat subs otherwise) are either partying, pubbing, or spending time with family. I don’t fall under any of this category.

Coming back to Subway, I hugely enjoy their stuff. We normally get their daily specials that cost 50 bucks (+4 bucks tax), well worth the money. Fresh, yummy, healthy (-er than other normal stuff we eat when we eat out), and for 54 bucks you have a complete meal. Neat. One brand I totally endorse. One thing I am glad Hyderabad changed in me.

OK, a cute guy just walked in. Hmmm.. he is walking towards the non-veg counter. Good so far.

Cute Guy: “Right now err you err what errr (stares at the menu board on the wall)

Me (thinking): “hmm he is just confused about what to have”

Subway guy: “Yes sir, what would you like to have today” (he is taught that, thats why he sounds so sophisticated and all that)

Cute Guy (curling his lips and thinking harder than required): “Hmm.. I think errr chiken hmm err meat gulp gulp balls?”

Me (thinking) : “Time to shift chairs and sit facing the road”

NB: Cute Guy (who isn’t even that cute if you look more than twice) just left. With two subs. Damn!