Fish and visitors smell in three days. ~Benjamin Franklin

How true!

Recently, I had some guests come over a my place. Now, I'm not a bad person; I am just not that comfortable when there are guests in my house. I don't mind some close relatives, cos them I'm quite comfortable with, but when it comes to distant relatives, I can at the most survive for 3 days. And thats how long they had come for.

Now, I know that in India, guests are like God. But it gets really irritating if even they start behaving as if they are doing us a favor by just being there. I saw for 3 days, my mom, bhabhi & sometimes me, slog all the time for them. And all the guests kept warming our chairs/sofas/beds, never once offering to help even a little!! Whenever my family has gone as guests to anybody's place, I always remember my mom never lets me sit if the host is working, she and me always help. And its fair too. A person is doing a favor to you, when he lets you invade his privacy, his routine. The least that you can do is behave human. I wondered later on when my mom & bhabhi went down with viral, was the fatigue of last 2-3 days partly responsible for taking them down. I'm not writing this for fun, I felt deeply about this. I wouldn't want anybody to slog for me so much let alone fall sick cos of me. Thats why I came up with this -

Some guidelines that should be followed when you go as a guest to somebody who is not that close to you -

1. Do NOT live as if it's your own house.

2. Do NOT treat their living room as a place for you to roam around only in a short bermuda after bath, even though you might be doin this at your place.

3. Do NOT treat their TV as your own, respect their choices/preferences.

4. Do offer to help around in the chores as much as possible.

5. Do respect the fact that you are in their house and not the other way round.

6. Do follow this when you come to my place :P

Sayonara!

It was one of those days....

When ...

- you wake up early morning to drink a sip of water, and happily dream of how since the last of guests are leaving today, you can relax and have the whole house to yourself and watch TV whole day or surf the net.....and then when you actually wake up later dad comes and tells you Mom(M) & Bhabhi(B) (sister-in-law) both are down with high fever.

- Okay...u think, I've just been reading a book on positive thinking and this is just a minor setback, and can be handled. Guests leave, dad leaves for office, Bro leaves for office. You take M & B (whose condition has visibly deteriorated) to hospital, only to find that there is lots of crowd(everybody chose to fall sick today!), the cashier is not available (which is the first step to meet the doc, get any test done or whatever - pay for it!) and people are speaking nothing but Tamil so it takes you or them to repeat things at least twice so as to undertsand each other.

- Waiting for your turn you find yourself runing behind rude hospital maids to switch off various fans as M & B are shivering! After meeting the doc you find yourself again doing this and more running to get injections as you wait for the blood sample to be taken from both, and an injection to be given to both. M&B's condition keeps deteriorating. You are on verge of tears.

- While coming home you remember, you left your 85 yr old Granny(G) at home who must be all worked up due to worrying by now, and you also have to cater to her along with M&B.

- You spend the whole day running around after these 3, to give medicines, to give them juices (Doc has happily prescribed a liquid diet), give granny food/tea/juice/snacks after every 2-3 hours.

- Some people who had told they would be your roommates, tell you suddenly to F*** off, only with sugar coated words. You come to know that one of them said "I don't think I can live with her" (and you wonder whats wrong with me...heck she doesn't even know me!Gaawwwd!), and suddenly you find yourself in a "back to square one" condition, but now the time is running out.

- You are on the verge of tears again. Life seemed better until now even though you had to cook dinner single handedly, handle (rather manhandle) M&B to force them out of kitchen & assure them that you can take care of things, listen patiently to all the instructions coming from G,M & B. At least there weren't any people who said they don't think they can live with you.

- You realise the positive thinking book has had an effect cos even though you feel bad, keep feeling bad, but don't sulk or cry but try to find a solution & while doing that, also decide to post about it. :)

- You realise as you sign off, today wasn't so bad since you were able to manage pretty we-eell...except for the "namak-kam" daal & sabji! And the sour thought at the back of your mind that somebody doesn't wanna live with you, even without knowing you. That person has managed to form judgement of you just by sitting across you in Barista for one evening without even speaking to you. And you realise you yourself on the other hand have spent your entire life trying to justify wrongs of people and trying not to judge them. And you also realise, that you want to keep doing that, cos thats the way it works for you :)

And you doze off to sleep....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

It's decided!

Yes! It's decided! I finally have zeroed in on where I'm going for my honeymoon! No, my marriage isn't fixed guys....!! In fact its no where even close...(whatever...) There's another reason. I love to travel. And see beautiful landscapes, mountains, etc. And today I got these in my mail -




How in the world can anyone not fall in love with a place like this. And to share it with the most beloved one.....aaah soooo romantic!
Hence....its decided!

Sayonara!

I changed my mind...

Some days back I wrote this. But I have changed my mind now. I judged people whom I had met that day, not on that day of course(that's why I wrote that, I'm not as crazy as you think I am); but after more interactions with them. Unfortunately, my experience did not turn out that great. And let me tell you this -

• It's not easy to be nice to people who have been not nice to you before.
• Its very difficult not to get nasty thoughts like - Why should I help him now? He didn't help me when I needed him to!!
  
• Even if you don't act maliciously, and do help them after all, you cant help thinking - now you've come to me!! NOW...you need me.
• And lastly you end up feeling guilty about thinking all such stuff!

So anyways...what I think now is, there is hardly any other way but not to judge people. I think we humans wouldn't be us (you know the whole crap about us being the finer species with acute brain power n blah blah blah) without the judging bit inside us.

So I think we can be okay about it not feel guilty about it :)
Atleast that's what I will follow...because I have also learnt that it is this very trait that leads you to form the best of relations with those whom you judged wrong first. :)

Sayonara!

Ghosts from the past still haunt me sometimes!

Has it ever happened to you, that there was something/somebody that you felt very strongly about in the past, and suddenly something/somebody else comes up, who reminds you of them so very badly, that all the feelings come rushing back and almost torment you?!

This happened to me very recently. I spoke to somebody concerning some work, and his voice was so much alike to certain somebody in my past, that I have to control myself from blurting out anything stupid! After I start talking to him, I have to make conscious efforts to remember that he's not the one he sounds like! And after I've hung up, I feel so so sad, remembering my past....

Has this ever happened to you?

Whacky stuff

A dull rainy day. A slow lunch in company. Does this:

When a man falls from first floor, he goes-
Thump!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

When a man fall from eighth floor, he goes-
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Thump!!
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And then finally
When a man fall from fourth floor, he goes-
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Thump!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! :)

And this:
Sensation of tension = Tensation :P



Later!

Hollywood v/s Bollywood

I think people who know me, would vouch for the fact that I absolutely love everything Indian. And I can give any (and believe me when I say "ANY") arguments to prove how India is better, or is improving at things. And I hate people who think foreign countries are better than India. Maybe they are in some respects, but they also NOT in many others!

Anyways, so at lunch today, me & my friends got into discussion about movies made in Hollywood & Bollywood. I recently saw Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a strictly-OK movie. And then there is our very own Shivaji-The Boss, released just a few days back which is a hot topic of discussion for people who make fun of...umm...'such' things. So I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it has all the all-too-famous "tricks & antics" of Rajnikanth. And while I too think it's funny, I hate it when people start comparing it(or any Bollywood movie for that matter) to Hollywood movies. I mean Johnny Depp has his own style, and many people like him. But the same goes for Rajnikanth, and many people DO like him too! I may not be one of his die-hard fans, but I feel that if people like what he does, and if thats his style, well I'm not the one who'll compare it with Hollywood and mock it. (You get it - the point is, I'm attacking Hollywood comparison & people who think its better than Bollywood. this is one of those "any" arguments) :)

Anyways, so our discussion proceeded further where I went on to point out that, people often critisize that Bollywood movies forget laws of Physics, gravity etc while putting in effects, but do they notice that Hollywood movies have long forgotten not only the laws of Physics (e.g. Matrix) but also of Chemistry(e.g. Terminator) and Biology(e.g. Jurrasic Park). Then why do we appreciate that and laugh at our own movies?

Another thing that I came up with (I'm very enthusiastic in debates about India, movies etc) -
Terminator has the villian whaterer-his name-was, who liquifies any time he wants, solidifies any time he wants, and takes any human form that he has touched. If anybody was as lousy as I was in my 6th - 7th standard, they must've seen many movies that followed the concept of Icchadhari naag(Takes-the form-it-wants snake [couldn't come up with anything better]). These reptiles were intelligent human-snakes, that could take a form, any form according to their wish, they only had to see the person once. Now doesn't the Terminator concept look like an absolute rip-off of this concept. And I can swear on my life, these snake movies came way before it. Even if it wasn't copied from here, well there you go, if you appreciated & were awed by the fiction & concept that they showed in Terminator, India was already in the been-there-done-that stage!Hah!

So there....!!
I've proved my point!India & bollywood is no less(in fact its more!), and as to giving an answer to the "original" concepts in hollywood movies, we've already done that baby! (YAWWWN) (GRIN)

Sayonara! :)

Cheeni kum - Some fundas from the flick

The "Happy-sad/Sad-sad" funda:
Why are you sad-sad? You should be happy-sad.
Why are you sad?
Because somebody hurt you.
Who can hurt you?
Somebody who is close to the heart.
Who is close to the heart?
Somebody with whom we are happy.

So we were happy thats why we are sad na...
So be happy-sad...not sad-sad!


The "If you cry, you'll empty your heart of love for that person" funda:
Don't cry dear....
You love her a lot...Don't empty your heart of her love by crying...
Why do you cry?
Because your heart is heavy.
Why is your heart heavy?
Beacause it is filled with love.
What happens when you cry?
Your heart feels lighter.
Why does it feel lighter?
Because you empty the love in your heart through tears.

That's why you shouldn't cry for somebody who's gone....

The "Reason why men & women marry" funda:
Should we get married?
Why?
Because Marriage is the price men pay for sex, and sex is the price women pay for marriage. So after learning this deep philosophy of marriage from me, will you marry me?
Yes.

My views:
I like the first one best...the other two I don't really agree with..but whatever :)
Very entertaining movie. Must watch to relax, and enjoy some great satirical comedy from some brilliant actors.

Sayonara!

Is it just me?

A friend (say S1) came to stay at my place yesterday night and we were cooking dinner. We started discussing about food and how different people cook in different ways(I know pretty lame but what else would we do while cooking....)

Now, to give a little background-her marriage is fixed & she was telling me about the kind of food they prepare at her in-law's place. The following conversation took place. It is in marathi(translation provided) -

S1:
Arre tyachi(her fiance) aai, majhya aai sarakhach jevan banavate...fakt thodya bhajya veglya karte.....ti vangyat danyacha kut taakte.....etc..

(His(her fiance) mom, cooks food the same style my mom does...except for some vegetables that she cooks differently.....she puts groundnut powder in eggplant.....etc..)

Me:
uuhhh...uuhhh
(Nodding along)

S1:
mala tevadha fakt shikava lagel...
(I'll just have to learn those things that she cooks differently)

Me:
changala aahe na mag!
(that's really good then!)

Me(thinking inside):
Shit!shit!shit! She is soo ready to get married! She's jus an year older to me. Look at me, I cannot even imagine eating something that tastes & is cooked differently from what my mom makes. It freaks me out to even think that I have to learn stuff formally from a Saas (mother-in-law) and cook like her. (I was pretty much freaked out even then!)

It suffocates me to think I have to go live wth a new family and call them my family...follow their rules & regulations...behave like an adult, mature person...know stuff about running kitchen & house...be ready to hear things from in-laws patiently...not be a rebel that I've always been and probably always will be...

OMG, OMG, OMG !!!!!!!!!!!

Relax Shruti.....breath in-breath out, breath in -breath out, breath in-breath out....
phhheeewwww!

I think I might have died just now due to suffocation....but I'm okay now!Anways...so in the end I'm thinking, is it just me who freaks out like this?Is there no one else?!!

What personality are you??

Saw this on a Website....rather stumbled upon it(I know i know..I'm using it wa-aay too much to post stuff....but can I help it if I stumble upon such good stuff and wanna share) :)

Read on...and yes...Don't forget to comment!If you don't, this time that may lead to serious threat to your life ;)
Just kidding!But yeah...would love to know what you are... :)

Psychological ("personality") Types

According to Jung's theory of Psychological Types we are all different in fundamental ways. One's ability to process different information is limited by their particular type. These types are sixteen.

People can be :
Extroverts or Introverts, depending on the direction of their activity;
Thinking, Feeling, Sensing, Intuitive, according to their own information pathways;
Judging or Perceiving, depending on the method in which they process received information.

Extroverts vs. Introverts

Extroverts are directed towards the objective world whereas Introverts are directed towards the subjective world. The most common differences between Extroverts and Introverts are shown below:

Extroverts are interested in what is happening around them are open and often talkative compare their own opinions with the opinions of others like action and initiative easily make new friends or adapt to a new group say what they think are interested in new people easily break unwanted relations

Introverts are interested in their own thoughts and feelings need to have own territory often appear reserved, quiet and thoughtful usually do not have many friends have difficulties in making new contacts like concentration and quiet do not like unexpected visits and therefore do not make them work well alone

Sensing vs. Intuition

Sensing is an ability to deal with information on the basis of its physical qualities and its affection by other information. Intuition is an ability to deal with the information on the basis of its hidden potential and its possible existence. The most common differences between Sensing and Intuitive types are shown below:

Sensing types see everyone and sense everything live in the here and now quickly adapt to any situation like pleasures based on physical sensation are practical and active are realistic and self-confident

Intuitive types are mostly in the past or in the future worry about the future more than the present are interested in everything new and unusual do not like routine are attracted more to the theory than the practice often have doubts

Thinking vs. Feeling

Thinking is an ability to deal with information on the basis of its structure and its function. Feeling is an ability to deal with information on the basis of its initial energetic condition and its interactions. The most common differences between Thinking and Feeling type are shown below:

Thinking types are interested in systems, structures, patterns expose everything to logical analysis are relatively cold and unemotional evaluate things by intellect and right or wrong have difficulties talking about feelings do not like to clear up arguments or quarrels

Feeling types are interested in people and their feelings easily pass their own moods to others pay great attention to love and passion evaluate things by ethics and good or bad can be touchy or use emotional manipulation often give compliments to please people

Perceiving vs. Judging

Perceiving types are motivated into activity by the changes in a situation. Judging types are motivated into activity by their decisions resulting from the changes in a situation. The most common differences between Perceiving and Judging types are shown below:

Perceiving types act impulsively following the situation can start many things at once without finishing them properly prefer to have freedom from obligations are curious and like a fresh look at things work productivity depends on their mood often act without any preparation

Judging types do not like to leave unanswered questions plan work ahead and tend to finish it do not like to change their decisions have relatively stable workability easily follow rules and discipline

These four opposite pairs of preferences define eight different ways of dealing with information, which in turn result in sixteen Psychological Types:

ENTp, ISFp, ESFj, INTj, ENFj, ISTj, ESTp, INFp, ESFp, INTp, ENTj, ISFj, ESTj, INFj, ENFp and ISTp,
where E - Extrovert, I - Introvert, S - Sensing, N - Intuitive, T - Thinking, F - Feeling, j - Judging, p - Perceiving.
So, ENTp for example would be Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking and Perceiving type.


BTW I am - ESFp :) (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving)
This of course is my opinion!!
and about all this you can more information here.

Waiting for your comments!!

Adios!!

To my Best Friend

Dear S,

You're one of a kind, different from others,
Generous, charming, but not one that smothers,
Optimistic, thoughtful, happy and game,
But not just another, in the long chain,

Appreciative, warm and precious like gold,
Our friendship won't tarnish or ever grow old,
You'll always be there, I know that is true,
I'll always be here, always for you.

-Me

Disclaimer: I have not written this myself, but hey finding such nice stuff is difficult too :)

And then there were none...

I had a presentation today. I worked my ass off for it in the past two weeks. Worked even on saturdays(!!!!)[for those unaware, working on weekend is considered a big, even magnanimous sacrifice]. I am not even gonna go into how it went. Lets just suffice to say that, I have slept in others' presentations and now I know how they must have felt. :)

And right now, although I have things to do, I am suddenly feeling very empty. I am relaxed yet the tension of the presentation hasn't worn off completely. Its a weird feeling. I was longing to write a post and now that I am doing it its not that satisfactory.......naaaay....who am I kidding...I am so happy to be finally writing here :D

But yeah, the feeling weird part still stands. As I'm still worried/tensed/scared about something, even though there isn't much I should be worried about!

Anyways...just for the record, this is my first ever presentation where the audience did not really grasp what I was saying! Vaise I do pretty good job of it. Today it was - a very complicated concept(which took me 2 months to understand myself btw) + after lunch session that put everybody off to sleep. I think lesser doses or atleast doses in installments will be better next time :)

Boy....I didn't expect myself to be so positive about this! This is a surprise!!(And I like it) :)

Adios!

For my mom...

This is something that I am posting on an impulse....
And this I think represents only a very very very small fraction of what my mom is to me and how much I love her!

Warning: Comment anything even remotely funny/teasing for this post and you will face some serious hazard to your life!

Today...

Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles...
A fresh pot of coffee you didn't make yourself...
An unexpected phone call from an old friend...
Green traffic lights on your way to work...
The fastest line at the grocery store...
A good sing-along song on the radio...
And your keys right where you left them...

Today...
I wish you a day of ordinary miracles....

3 reasons

There are 3 reasons for this post. Oh btw, before I mention them, you can stop reading right here as they are all as useless as this post itself(actually I'd prefer you reading till the end since I am taking a lot of trouble writing this...I just wanted to use that line once ;>). Okay so I think you would like to know the reasons now? Really??!! That interested in others' , even though she has warned you already about it being mundane and useless?!! Wow...I would say I'm flattered, to make you happy, but I'm not!And I generally don't lie unless its a matter of life & death (read matters which profit me!). And obviously this is not that.

But it's not that I never lie....sometimes I do lie, but this I am sure is not one of those times. I mean yeah everybody lies, and that's really no crime as such, but it's wrong! And I avoid it as much as I can. Don't you too? I'm sure you do!I mean I'm sure you do lot of other wrong things too, but frankly speaking I am not interested in knowing! And of course I am not going to talk about wrong things that I do. This is my blog and I should be praising myself here, I have every right to! But as I am very very modest, I will refrain from doing that. (I can almost hear that sigh of relief :| )

So anyways, since you have read till here (Gawd..!), I might as well tell you the reasons for this post. I think you have earned it :)
So here goes -
1. I have nothing to write about.
2. But I want to write something.
3. I'm waiting for the Remote Desktop connection to finish log-in so that I can start work :)

And since now it has set-up the connection(Damn!)I will have to get back to work(boo-hoo-hoo).

Sayonara!!

Who is your true friend?

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked...
:)

Alvida...

Jinke darmiyaan gujri thi abhi kal tak yeh meri zindagi,
Lo un bahon ko, thandi chaon ko,
hum bhi kar chale alvida..

alvida...alvida meri raahein alvida....
...meri saansein kehti hai alvida...

Hostel Account: Part 1

Living in a hostel for past 5 years, I myself find it quite strange that I have never really posted anything about my hostel. But come to think of it, I'm sure I can never put down in words the magic of my hostel days. I am not saying it was perfect like a fairy tale...living in a hostel had its own pitfalls, and some which can never really be apparent on the surface! But just recently I realised that what happened then, helped me a great deal in handling a particular incident now. I now know, had it not been for the experience of my hostel, I would have reacted in a completely different manner.

Anyways, I drifted away from my point. Today, I am venturing to write about a part of hostel, and a very important one - roommates. We were 3 of us in one room. Let me just take a moment here to state that if I were to go back in time and choose roommates again, I would still choose the same roommates again, knowing all the downfalls that are to come...but also knowing, that they were and still are so very precious to me! Not just because they form almost half of my memories of hostel, but also that they were the most honest & genuine friends, who were there for me when I needed it the most and deserved it the least!

There's this special closeness & bonding I felt with them every time I entered the room. I felt like talking to them. Anything, any crap, any damn thing. But I just wanted to speak to them something. I guess it happens, when you are with somebody a lot of the time. I controlled it often, because I could see them studying, doing work, etc. And yet I grabbed the first moment that I could to chat with them. And they did the same :)

I basically like to chatter a lot (which does not necessarily make me an extrovert as some people like to think!). And I have spent some amazing time chattering with them. We shared a lot with each other, from thoughts to clothes, from books to food, from jewellery to computers. From laughing-till-your-stomach-aches to getting-bored-and-talking-any-crap. From complimenting to bitching. From coffee to water. From maggi to chinese. From happiness to distress. Almost everything. And when we parted, it was like an end of an era. No. It was an end of an era! And I miss those days a lot!! :(

And I will cherish them for the rest of my life!!
God bless them. V & M-If you guys read this, Love you both!

Sayonara!

An interesting evening

Yesterday from around 6.45 pm I met about35 people whom I had never interacted with. Out of them 20 were completely new. And guess what I lasted :) and even enjoyed myself thoroughly. I think it's really fun to get to know new people, when you yourself don't keep any inhibitions/doubts/fears. I think its easy to find people interesting when you are least biased and very open to thoughts & ways which are different and unconventional(if I may) from yours! The key is not to judge and believe that people are actually nice and don't have sly intentions whatsoever!

Anyways, it was a very interesting evening and I loved it! :)

Sayonara!

How true!

It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn't match what you dreamed it would be.