jUsT FaiR....

i am in one of my worst moods .... today... tonight.... right now...

i guess its just fair for life to be unfair at times !!!

there has to be a balance between

the smiles at the sadness !!!

the cheers and the tears !!!

the sounds of friends laughing with you and the ice cold silence that surrounds you when you are alone...

the success and the failure that makes you cherish each one of your milestones more then ever...

the feeling of achievement and the realization of a loss at the same time...

the feeling of winning that 10 km marathon... and the pain in your legs....

the cold air at the top of a mountain... and the bruises you earned while you were climbing up...

the need to cry out loud.. and the strength you give to the ppl around you at the same time...

that smile on ur face... and that small tear in your eye...


i guess life is just fair enough !!!

Good Morning God... Gimmie strength... because i need it... and you have no other choice but to give it to me !!!

Amen....

OutTa HeRe....

i submitted the list of things that i commit to complete at work in the next one year, today...

long list...

and way to go...

have also thought of a few more things.. which need me to be more serious about myself and where i want to go and what i want to achieve...

i think i will be able to think while i am driving for 400 kms at a stretch... towards Dharamsaala....

and i want to do this thinking in the second week of may... starting the evening of 10th(Wednesday) to the morning of 15th.. or maybe evening of 14th(Sunday)

I plan to visit Dharamsaala, McLeodganj, Pragpur, Nalagarh.... and i would not be surprised if i go to Manali too which is about 235 Kms away from Dharamsaala...

anybody game?

_________

the next question comes about what would be done in dharamsaala in these days...

expected drive time to dharamsaala is 8 hours.. about 500 kms...

trekking options:

Dharamsala is one of the most popular starting points for treks and rock climbing over the ridges of the Dhauladhar range. There are tailor-made treks in the Kangra valley around Dharamsala and adjoining places. The trekking season starts from May and goes on to October. The most frequented route from Dharamsala to the Chamba valley, over the Indradhar Pass (4350m), is arduous trek but the most novice trekkers can manage to complete it within five days.

There are many easy walks of small treks around McLeodganj and Dharamsala such as Toral Pass (4575m) that start from Tang Narwana (1150m), which is 10-km from Dharamsala. A 2-km stroll takes one to Bhagsu, then a little further a 3-km walk will bring the trekkers to Dharamkot. If one wishes to go on a longer walk then he can walk 8-km to Triund. The snow line of Ilaqa Got is just a 5-km walk.

The most difficult route is towards the north, a five to six day trek across Bhimghasutri Pass (4580), covering near-vertical rocky ascents, sharp cliffs and dangerous gorges. An easier four or five day trek from Dharamsala crosses Bleni Pass (3710m) in the milder ranges of the northwest, weaving through the alpine pastures, woods and passing through few streams, before terminating at Dunali, on the Chamba road.

The area is rich in small rivers and streams, which give ample opportunity for angle fishing. The 20-km stretch of the river Beas between Nadaun and the Pong Dam offers ample of opportunities in angling for Mahaseer.

QuOte (un) QuoTe

"i need to know something more than nothing to be able to do what i want to do"

:D

i wrote it.. and then i could not understand it when someone else said that she could not understand it.. hehehe...and then i read it again.. and understood it...and i guess it makes a perfect email signature !!!

LaZiE LAsT WeEkEnD....

If i had to give lazy weekend awards then the last weekend is going to get the first prize... i mean i cannot believe it myself... i did not even see the main gate of my house on Saturday till like 2130 hrs when i went out to get food for myself...

and i also did not get home cooked food either on three out of four occasions this weekend ( two lunches and dinners )
i ate chinese... noodles and sweet and sour veg..

i ate south Indian.... rava masala dosa and idli...

And i cooked for myself some pasta... and this time i was not that good.. because i forgot to add Pepper and Red chilly Flakes :( but it was good otherwise... the amount of the salsa sauce and mayonese was just right to make it taste fine... and i am inclined towards trying out something new next time... lets see... will move one step closer to making better pasta next time !!!

what else did i do.. :P i did a lot of nothing this weekend...
oh.. and yes.. i read those two mags that Ashi got me... Wow cameras in there... for some reasons firang lands have these online stores.. where you are get anything.. and that too at very decent prices... and India is still getting introduced to online shopping... we sure are a few years behind there... i saw exorcist too... it could have been scary if i was watching it in the night.. but Sunday afternoon it was.. so it was ok ..

Sunday evening i listened to some of the oldies that i have... HMV CDs with some classical songs... loved each one of them...
phoolon ke rang se... dil ki kalam se.. tujhko likhi roj paati ( one of the best songs ever)
jaaneman jaaneman.. tere ye do nayan.. chori chori leke gaye dekho mera man...( love singing this one)

and a few more....

the breaking news on the tv channels this weekend was Promod Mahajan's episode.. its unfortunate that he was shot by his own brother... and whats more unfortunate that hundreds of ppl in this country die everyday because they cannot get blood on time, while Pramod mahajan was given over 30 bottles of blood because of a leak in his liver... This just make me feel that to survive in this country you either need money or power... if you have anything of the two.. you will be good.. if you do not have anything of the two.. just mind your own business and life your life... and hope that you do not get into situations where you will need any of the two !!! sad !!!

oh.. that reminds me... if anyone of you wants to organise a blood donation camp.. get in touch with me... i will help you out... you can arrange a camp in your college, your office, your locality anywhere... summers specially is a time when the blood banks are short of blood big time...

monday was just another monday.. but i got ready in less time then other days... i also manages to iron my shirt and trousers.. and also shave.. and went to the office like a perfect gentleman... white shirt... nice beige coloured troubers... polished black shoes.. and nicely styled hair !!! if you are looking good it shows on your face too... a certain level of confidence wraps you if you are dressed up smartly !!!

oops.. its already 0730 hrs... and i have been sitting in front of the PC for about 45 minutes now.. lemme go and get ready !!! have a wonderful day everyone :)

JuSt LiKe DaT....

its fun when u just do not want to do anything at all...

like i did today...

the habit of waking up early ensures that even if there is no alarm.. i still cannot sleep beyond 0800 hrs :( so like it or not.. i have to get up... and i did today too...

and then just idled away to glory with both the laptop and the desktop switched on... while i kept transferring some data from the lappie to the home PC... the laptop has been acting up for a few days i am afraid i will loose some important data if it conks off...

a nice bath in the afternoon.... a good lunch and sleeeeeeep for 3 hours saw me wake up to a lazy evening...

and then got reminded of a few things that needed completion for work.. did them and done for the weekend ( i guess ;)

rohit just called.. he is in noida.. but i cannot meet him.. looks like mom has a few plans.. and i am in no mood to get into an argument about me not giving enough time at home right now... so i am home....

last evening was good... left from office around 2000 hrs.. after Ashi came in... so it was Me, Ashi and Munshi who went to GK this time for the Golgappa treat !!! a different shop this time.. but good stuff...

and a walk around the place.. and a discovery... the Sales House... wonderful shirts... i am going to buy at least 5 next week.. and a few trousers too... did not buy it yesterday because my billing cycle for the card is coming to an end... and delaying the shopping for 3 days means getting a interest free credit cycle for 50 days...

and then also ate the pan at the Prince Pan bhandar... i think that was the last time i am eating the pan there... its not value for money at all... not that it takes anything to spend those 15 bucks.. but they make the pan look a lot bigger then it really is by wrapping and re-wrapping it atleast 3 times with paper and stuff... and when you reach the actual pan.. u have nothing more then something of the size of a small toffee to eat !!! huh...

that reminds me of the Banarasi Pan wala in New Market, Bhopal.. i have never eaten better Pan then Bhopal !!! i am missing that shop :(

i called up tushar to find out what he was doing.. looks like he is busy too with his folks.. so the late evening ice tea does not look possible for today !!! anyway...

what else..

i want to watch IceAgeII tmrw... lets see... if i can manage to go there in the evening and get myself a ticket i will....

oh.. and yes.. Ashi got me two magazines from British Council... and its full of Camera reviews and related stuff... loved the mags... will read them too !!! ye ye !!!

am happy !!!

iNnOvATe !!!

we all go through a phase in our everyday life when the usual things we do become so boring, so irritating so monotonous that we do not want to do them anymore... we do not want to be part of that daily routine life anymore.... and we do not know what can be done to change things.. because most of it looks like its not in our control...

some examples...

• i hate to get up early in the morning... its such a pain...
• i hate to take that same chartered to office.. or that bus to college is so crap...
• i just cannot do this job anymore.. its taking me no where...
• my job is so boring....
• i do not have anything worthwhile to do in the evening... all day work and then nothing.. it sucks...

don't all of us go through something of this sort.. almost very regularly...

i also do...

and what do i do to take care of this..

well

• either i can crib...
• or i can keep quite and keep things inside me and keep getting troubled
• or i can think of something that changes things...

like...

if i have problems getting up in the morning... i might think of doing something first thing in the morning that excites me... to start with listen to an alarm that is nice ( this might need a phone where you can change alarms as your favorite songs)

or go to the radio.. and listen to my favorite station...

or just get out of the house and take a walk around the neighbourhood...

or switch on my PC and run the cartoon that i love to love..

if i do not like the way i travel everyday...
then...

i can take a different bus.. maybe a bus 10 minutes earlier then usual...

i can take a different route if i am driving myself...

listen to the tapes that i bought 3 years ago.. and have not heard in a long while...

or spend time over the weekend recording my favorite numbers and then listen to them in my walkman or discman...

or give one of my old friends a quick 10 minute call... wonderful way to catch up...


ok..what was the next problem?

hmm... i do not like my work at office...

well there are times that this cannot be changed... too bad we cannot choose our own bosses and work profiles( at times)

so what can be done...

do the same work.. but Innovate !!! try new ways of reporting data... change the fonts that you use... think about naming conventions for your files... and so on and so forth...

try new things in doing the same activity...

shift your desk as well...

try facing the window if you have one.. and look outside when u do not feel like working...

walk upto the person you like talking to at times and go for a cuppa tea together.. .

about evenings now...

call up old friends.. those 10 minutes do wonders...

work out for 10-20 minites..

pick up an activity... like drawing.. sketching.. learning to play an instrument.. swim... go to the gym... that makes you spend time outside the house...

make sure you are the one who prepares salad for dinner ( thats all that i can do hence this idea)

read.. and then share it with someone who would listen to you...


i am sure there are a million other ways to improve our lives... but there ARE WAYS... we just need to look around.. and find them out for ourself...

treasure hunt...

isn't life one?

AnOThEr... WeEkEnD....

this was a long weekend that just went by... lots happened in this long weekend too..

while i was worrying very hard because sayan asked me to... why? because she was away on a trip.. and she did not want to worry about anything.. so like a good friend in need, i offered to worry in her absence.. and so i did..

and what else did i do...

hmm... i realized that for someone who is earning around 30000 bucks per month, it was not possible to buy a decent house in Greater Noida..

the real estate prices are sky rocketing... to the extent of 25K to 30K per sq. Meter.. which means that for a plot of about 60 sq.m. someone would need to shell out about 15lacs... add to it the cost of building the house and the rest of the charges, registration, tax etc etc... phew.. tough.. life is tough !!!

so that was saturday's realization...

and Sunday... well.. thanks to DMRC... i was very very happy.. a metro ride from Barakhamba to Dwarka.. which took about 60 minutes made me happy.. met chacha and chachi after a long time.. chacha came to the station to pick us up and dropped us back too.. so it was kinda cool... i went from Noida to CP in the car... parked the car @ Birla Towers next to the Barakhamba Station and took the metro from there.. pretty neat eh !!!

and then came monday... the worst day of the week... enjoyed some of my favorite songs on my way to the office... and then the usual too much work at work days... started with a heated argument with one of the guys because he could not understand something that i was trying to make him understand for over a week now, and was continuously creating unnecessary noise about things... so he was taken care of... and then blah.. and some more blah.. which was followed by blah.. and more blah.. before i finally switched off the damn laptop and got out of the office leaving a few things for tmrw... had golgappe in the M block market... ummm... yummy !!! followed by the nimbu soda @ prince pan bhandar and then the thanda meetha paan...

and the icing on the cake.. a quick 3 minute dash to complete the toll bridge with bon jovi screaming his lungs out to Its my Life !!!


yo !!!

back home !!!

totally chilled !!!

where is the bed?

gotta sleep !!!


oops...

food..

gotta eat too..

ok..

lemme eat and sleep !!!

ta tu !!!

good night !!!

sHiMLa....

so now is the time to write about the last weekend.. why !!!

because i got the snaps today... writing about the trip without pictures is not really fun !!! so here i am...

friday evening... the bag was packed in 15 minutes... and me Aditya and Shubhika left for the metro station.. both of them had not seen the metro from inside so far, and the excitement was justified... so we took at bus ( we got on at 2100 hrs easily) and reached the Rajiv Chawk Station... huh !!! its the CP station... grabbed the tokens and took the train.. the crowd at this to take this train was nothing less then the Kolkata Metro !!! tooooo many ppl at the platform... thankfully when the train came to the station it was empty and we could get in with ease...

the Delhi Main Station... or the Chandni Chawk station has two exits... one which takes you to the Fawwara Chawk and the other ( which i took for the first time) which takes you to the entry of the Old Delhi Railway Station... Love you DMRC... going to the Old Delhi Railway station is fun now !!!

there were a total of 21 ppl who were going... all very excited... we quickly ate some sandwiches and searched for the bogie... and took our seats.. had to make some adjustments to sit together... so we asked a lot of ppl to exchange the seats with us... and they had no option... afterall who would like to sleep in between a group of 21 ppl.. we are expected to make noise right ?

the guys who wanted to have drinks enjoyed the drinks after the train moved.. and the other group... with 6 girls were getting bored... and then the game of dumb sharades started... and it was real fun for about 2 hours before some ppl woke up and asked us to sleep... but we could not stop... and carried on for a while this time controlling our voices...

reached kalka in the early morning around 0500 hours after i managed to sleep for about 3 hours...

tried getting a seat in the two trains scheduled to go to Shimla...but Shivalik Express and the Himalayan Queen were both full !!! and there were ppl waiting and fighting the TT because the idiots and taken waiting tickets and wanted a seat... anyway... we moved out of the station to find out alternatives to reach shimla...



took a joyride in a small truck to the Gandhi Chawk bus stand... and waited for a bus there... we could've taken three qualises for 100 bucks per seat... but we chose not to and waited more for a bus.. and finally a Himachal State Transport deluxe bus took us to Shimla... we managed to reach Shimla around 0930 hrs and spend about 1.5 hours looking for a hotel... and finally checked in to the Maharaja Palace near the Kali Badi Mandir... checked in... got ready... and moved out by 1300 hrs... had a wonderful time eating chinese food at Alpha near the LIC of India Office on Scandal Point... and then spent the rest of the day just walking around the Mall Road... what crowd !!! manh !!! i have not seen better girls in this quantity for a long time... the place was FULL of people.. and a good percentage of this PEOPLE was CHICKS... yummy !!!



some of the people got really tired and went back to the hotel while me and a few more decided to stay back on the Mall... i was one of the ppl who stayed back.. took some pics... watched some chicks... and then called everyone for dinner at one of my favorites The Plaza near Guptajee's on the Mall.. both of these restaurants have been the places i make a point to eat at whenever i am in Shimla...



managed to sleep around 0030 hrs... had to wake up early to go to Kufri...we managed to hire 2 Sumos and one Alto... some view points... lots of mules in kufri... and the nature park walk... some rain... a wonderful view point... some pictures... and some great kashmiri pulao and wonderfully tasty pineapple raita followed...


we reached the shimla station @ 1600 hours a good 2.5 hrs before the toy train was to leave Shimla...we had planned to take the general tickets... and to kill time we just kept our bags inside the small ticket counter area... and started what i am never going to forget ever in my life...



the next two hours saw me, Rajat, Lalit, Shivasheesh singing songs loudly.. and on request...we even were asking the other passengers for just 5 bucks for any songs.. hindi, english, marathi, punjabi, sanskrit.. whatever... after sometime the show shifted to the platform where we had the entire passengers of Shivalik Express as our audience.. and we even managed to Sing our way to 5 bucks from a foreigner.. in addition to about 50 bucks that we earned from within the team by singing songs of their choice !!! i will see if i can get one of these videos and upload it...

and as soon as the train arrived... the general dibba was full :( and we did not have a place to sit... so we quickly graduated to a sleeper class compartment and talked to the TT about the extra fare... and made the payment !!! nice... 30 seats in one compartment and 21 of them were with us !!! so no points for guess what followed...

about 4 hours of non-stop singing... with all of us singing at the top of our voices... and me adding some beats to the songs by picking up two empty water bottles and using them for managing the tempo of the songs... a personal question hour.. one Chichora hour... and some non-veg jokes followed... and this journey from Shimla to Kalka because one of the most interesting and well spent journeys of my life !!!

kalka came...we took our seats... and were back in Delhi by 0700 hrs in the morning... so a weekend very very well spent in the company of some amazing people...these are the times when you know life's good !!!



the next weekend is already here and i am not doing much this time...

and i noticed that starting Sep'05 i have managed to be one a outstation trip every month !!! i am praying to God that this continues forever !!!

Amen !!!

oh... and i almost forgot... the fotos have been uploaded to flickr... you can check them out by clicking here

GrOwiNg....uP.... sTiLL...

I am on this planet for 27 years, 11 hrs and 45 minutes as of NOW...

birthdays used to be one day when all my family members.. chacha chachi, mama mami, mausa mausi, bua fufa, all cousins came over to my place and we used to celebrate...

and then it stopped... everyone became busy in their own lives... and i moved on too... and then came the time when i started celebrating with friends.. dinner, lunch, tafri watever...

i remember having a party in Lodhi Garden as well... my college gang was with me.. and we had a picnic in the centre of the park !!! it was fun..

and then came the time when i had my girlfriend to celebrate the day with... nice romantic days... ugh !!! can't think of repeating that as of now...

and for the last few years... the birthdays have been more of a silent affair... meeting a few friends... lots of calls yes !!! and the usual work !!!

today, i feel birthdays are milestones in my life... the time when i should be judging myself on what i have done in the last one year... i have grown older... but am i more mature with time as well.. have i learnt anything in the last 52 weeks...

well... the last year has been fairly fair to me.... have learnt a lot... but i still cannot sugar coat my words... i am still very blunt with words... maybe this coming year things would improve...

i have grown on my patience levels... i can not let go a li'il easily and i can listen for longer...

i still do not know how to handle stupidity...

i love driving more then i used to on 11-April-05...

i love fotography more then i used to on 11-Apr-05...

i love travelling more then ever...

i have met some wonderfully nice people in the last one year...

i have managed to be out of relationships and related worries for another year...

above all...

I have managed to be MYSELF !!!

OuTTa.... HeRe !!!

i am getting out of delhi tonight... for two days...

much needed break from the negative frame of mind i have been in since the time my salary got credited this month...

i need some fresh air...
i need some train...
i need some curves on the road...
i need some hills...
i need myself...

i am going on my way to get it !!!

{C} A LiFe.... & a DaY...

i used to think it was only India which was full of festivals and reasons to celebrate and all the jazz... but with these firangi concepts of "day" coming in... we have
Valentine's Day
Father's Day
Women's Day
Mother's Day
Rose Day
Friendship Day

am i missing some of the popular days?

i guess not...

and to top it all, we have seperate gifts for seperate days... Rose day obviously calls for a Rose... on the Valentine's Day anything red and heart shaped sells... Father's day would see some special for-father gifts... not to mention some special mother's day gifts for the day for Mom's too...

if i had to make a wish list... this is what i would really like to celebrate...

• listen to your music the whole day, day
• kick your irritating neighbour day
• run over the bugger on the road day
• no incoming calls day
• speak only truth day ( i am sure the world would be observing silence this day :D)
• scream at the top of your voice day
• play childhood games day
• only smiles day
• fire your boss day
• be what you wanted to be in your life day
• take your crush out on a hot date day
• kick your crush's boyfriend/girlfriend day
• live like a single day ( for married ppl ofcourse)

what else... lots i guess...

tell me what all days would you like to celebrate in an year !!!

i am waiting...

PaSTa...PaRTiE....

please welcome... prashant bhardwaj... the COOK :)

while i can cook ideas and naughty acts in my brain... i can successfully manage to feed myself with a fresh nice "made with some help" chilled pasta salad as well...

it all started in eatopia... i wonder how many things would start from there.... one of my affairs about 3 years back... the ODM... and now the pasta salads... when i ate the pasta salad there... and really liked it... and wanted to make it myself...

sayantani was there to help with the list of things i needed before i could make it... and i managed to buy the capsicum... or the bell peppers as she calls it... green ones; some carrots... and hara dhaniya... on saturday itself...

now the hunt for the right kind of pasta started on sunday afternoon... and ended at store-18, which now is my favorite store for things i need... because 1. they take cards, and 2. i got all i needed there.. including the mayonese, the pasta, and some salsa sauce....

so back to my house ready to cook...

chopped the veggies, nicely... boiled the pasta for about 20 odd minutes with some salt and a few drops of oil... washed.. or rinsed with cold water...

took some mayonese... beat it... and then mixed it with the pasta... added some chilly flakes... some pepper... a li'il bit of salt... and the mexican salsa sauce... the veggies... i had "power boiled" the carrots as well before... and then some grapes too...

and chilled it for about 30 minutes... and then relished the treat... too bad mom could not share it... it was her fast yesterday.. and pa in any case eats only once.. so he could not comment either...

and because i really needed some comments so i took some to tushar... and i did not know that he does not really like pasta and all.. so it was a dull reaction from him too.. Preeti however told me that it tasted just fine... and i am happy that it was eatable !!!

so ladis and gentalmans... next time you really need to eat some nice pasta salad... please feel free to come over to my place... but... gimme a days' notice so that i can get all the things i need to cook a good delicious salad for you ;)

ta tu...

and i have to go to gurgaon tmrw again... a drive of 50 kms one way !!! aargh !!!

AnOtHeR DaY... HaPpY...

life been pretty hectic for the last few days... starting from the day of joining... no no.. nothing has changed in terms of work.. but the quantity has picked up...

i have applied for my corporate card... and as soon as it arrives, i need to travel to EAST... Bhubneshwar, Guwahati, Kolkata and Patna... might just steal a couple of days for myself as well during these work trips...

yesterday was very very good evening... went to dv8 in CP... the dj there ROCKS !!! literally i used to think Blues plays the best rock in CP, but this was much much better !!! after listening to some wonderfull rock for about 3 hours... with a couple of drinks... and some good foodie snacks... moved out and walked on the empty and otherwise very crowded roads of CP... i love CP... and would always call it that way.. no bloddy Rajiv or Indira Chawk for me ever !!! Manish told me about all the bird watching that he used to do there when in college... we went towards D'Pauls as well hoping that it would be open but it was not... so basically it was a very nice evening spent in the company of some good friends....

slept very late... after working on a couple of things for office :( yes... rohit can vouch for that... i was working at 0100 hrs :( slept around 0200 hrs after completing my work desperately hoping that tushar does not call up in the morning for jogging... that bugger did... and i had to get up... oh and by the way i have been jogging for two days now... terrible pain in the entire body... and an old left knee injury reminding me to take care of it !!! so i cannot jog a lot :( would have to think of other fat burning ways ;) other interesting fat burning ways :P

met sayantani today... it was fun... her office is so cewl... all books ... i feel good when there are so many books around, i usually do not read any.. but what the heck.. i still like that feeling... and i could trouble her with all my nonsensical talks while she was inviting some bachelor big shot for a book launch on the 4th april !!! 4 books arebeing launched on that day !!! and her name is on two of them... am totally proud of you editor girl !!!

and then we thought about what we want to do.. where do we want to go.. initially she was to treat me to a movie.. which she denied... also the PVRs for some reason had no bloddy show before 1400 hrs... what are they doing in the auditoriums before that time !! huh !!!

anyway... we decided to go to Cafe Coffee day, Green Park... this is at the backside of the deer park... on a road which has very less traffic... and i like it for the view it gives... but then i decided to experiment with the route that we take, and landed up on the Lodhi Road... and then decided to go to IHC... i have somehow started liking IHC a lot... there is something or the other you can watch there... and something or the other is always on there... like it was today... started with a full parking lot... and a b/w foto exhibition with fotos of some street children... being sold for amounts like 10K-20K !!! huh !!! and then went to this painting exhibition of breasts and butts... no seriously !!! this exhibition had all the paintings but 6 which had women painted in all different colours and the two body parts as mentioned above being focused at !!! Sayan also asked me why one of the chicks on one of the paintings had a strange orange butt !!! the only reason i could think of was that she was spanked big time, before the artist got down to painting her !!! anyway... we then went to the Visual Art Gallery, where there was an exhibition of some musical collages !! it was nice... abstract... very nice...

when i used to sketch... i used to try to hard to have everything proper... proper eyes, proper face and a balanced landscape and all... but then most of the paintings/art work i have seen actually is not that way... abstract obviously is not easy but i guess its a better form of the free flow of expression.. and leaves you with a lot of questions too.. and as sayantani puts it, the work there was Visually Interesting !!! nice...

oh and there were these two hotties taking care of the exhibition there !!! and of them wanted my name and address !!! ya... to be written on the guest book :P hehehe...

Eatopia followed... and a lot of talk too... about LLAs, and chicks, and guys... and sayantani kept telling me that i am gross and disgusting all that.. and i should talk to a girl like that about other girls.. but then i made her understand that if she is a friend, i should be able to let my thoughts and words flow freely in front of her... otherwise its not really being friends... which meant more conversations... maza aaya...

oh.. and we picked up a line from that exhibition in the Visual Art Gallery.. so profound.. here it is for you guys : "Even the face of an angel can be devilish red when the sound of his voice is not true"... nice eh !!!

and then i dropped her @ the power grid office where her dad was waiting for her... and on the way i made her listen to one of my favorite tracks these days...

Toone Deewana Banaya to Main Deewana Bana...
Ab mujhe hosh ki duniya mein Tamasha na Bana...

Abida Parween has done magic to these words... and 10e obviously liked it... oh.. and i also gave her a compilation of the best of angreji music that i have.. and i got the CD of Kailash Kher's album Kailasa from here... so we also exchanged some music too !!!

came back... slept... and woke up !!!

talked to richa... all the best for your exams sweetheart... do well !!!

nice day so far... lets see whats up in the rest of the weekend...

ta tu for now !!!

SiMpLy CoMpLiCaTeD...

alice....
has written about what she is feeling this days in her relationship...

she loves her boyfriend...

he loves her too..

and still there is some emptyness around...

she feels happy alone.. she thinks he is too good to her... and so on an so forth... you might like to read what she has written.. just make sure that you do not aggrevate the pain she is going thru...

her post reminded me of the painful times i went through when i was in a relationship... i certainly am more happy without a relationship today as compared to what i suffered...

this march end it would be 2 years that i broke up.. yes i feel that at times there should be someone for me to hear me out.. someone who can give a shoulder to rest.. someone who would just be around...

but all these feelings are so temprary in nature that i have even stopped bothering... and is that killing something inside me as a person.. am i loosing out on my emotional ratios... am i over with the passion in my life... would i never be able to love anyone ever again...

i guess not... i am still a very emotional ass... i still can cry when i do not get what i want... i still have the same passion for a lot of things... ican still love.. but a women in my life... maybe i am not really want it... coz i am afraid...

because i am afraid that things change..
because i am afraid that i loose my space...
because then i will have to think before i speak...
because then i will not be myself anymore... there would not be any i or you there would be a we "there was a time when i used to love this line, however today this like brutally murders my individuality, which i hate to even think about"

and a lot of other "because" lines...

but then does that mean someone who is in a relationship should get out of it only because there are a few things that do not seem right...

if i judge it from a very practicle point of view, i would suggest moving out... not to look around for one more person.. just move out of the concept called a relationship.. live your life.. and if you still feel that the person stays very very important for you and worth leaving that independence go back to him her and pray that (s)he is around...
but is that really possible... you have to and you should snap off relationships actually... you can continue streching things as long as u can.. b in a lot of pain yourself.. and let the other person keep wondering too.. but thats not being fair...

so what was i thinking when i read what alice wrote.. what should she be doing...
i think she is in a situation where she loved to eat sweets and had a li'il too much of it... something that we feel when diwali is just over... no more sweets please feeling... i guess the only option as someone has very very rightly mentioned in the comments on her post... give space... and also go ahead with your life.. if you still need him.. come back... and i will add to it... pray he is still around..

but alice girl.. go live your life for a while... lets yourself loose... know yourself better yourself... just be alice or whatever your name is... and then see where you reach... come back if you feel like... or carry on if you are happy... you will always have someone or the other to take care of you.. in a friend, in a lover, in a boyfriend, in a stranger, in a parent, or in GOD !!!

HeCTiC...

i was home.... and still this has been a pretty hectic day @ work... sometimes things have to go wrong...only when you are not around to take care of them quickly....

and thats precisely what has happened today... the tool that i support and maintain in the office went berserk... and that made sure that i could not rest the entire day... the only difference being that i did not have to drive to work today...

good that i have a nice team with me in the office.. which meant that the issues could be resolved even when i was only on phone and chat...

so nice hectic day today... need to go out to get some photocopies... and then the day is over...


ta da....

GoOd 'n' BaD...

a couple of good news... and a bad one...

ok.. the bad one first... so that we can forget it quickly as soon as we read the good ones...

i am sick... headache... stomach infection.. body ache fever... had to skip office today because of this ... but am still working... kisi tarah... can't help it...

and the good ones... here they go...

i completed 10000 visits on my blog... very nice feeling... had no clue this is where i was heading towards when i started with this page in September'04... some stupids posts that i wrote then.. and things for sure have changed... thanks blogspot...

and the other good news... i am finally joining IBM tomorrow as a regular employee... for ppl who did not know.. i was a contractor so far... a third party consultant for them.. and now i would be a full time regular IBMer... a Tools and Technology Lead for the IT Services Arm of IGSI... nice...

life is good.. working to make it better....

and my happy budday is coming... just a few days to go.. and i will be officially older... huh !!! this is not good...
anyway.. i have this looooong list of goodies that ppl can buy for me... and if not anything else.. i think i will be content with some spring flowers.. but then wishing and getting me something have to be together... and i know what most of you are going to say.. thank you and a treat have to be together too.. hehehe... we shall see :) this is sayantani's favorite line.. and i am sure she wants to kill me for using this...

too long a post... and i am tired... will rest for a while.. and then get back to some work....

MoRe.... RaFTiNg....

ankur...

clicked some of the best candid shots of the trip !!!

Wonderful work Ankur.. looks like I would not be able to get out of the rafting trip for a few more days !!!

here everyone.. check some more of the fotos out :) Courtsey Ankur...

our guide from the October Trip.. Sunny.. preparing the raft for the downstream trip...

the gang of rafters... brushing their teeth... ankur did not brush.. he took these fotos :D

sheetal, rohit and me... busy clicking ourselves...

shammi... clicking shetty...

this was a group of Bharat Police.. practicing for the competition... they have to reach rishikesh as fast as possible... they took off like zoooooom....

me taking a few pics... i like my pics... both where i was clicked... thanks ankur :) and which i clicked :)

and i still am not getting out of that rafting fever... i am going to get to rishikesh in april too... come fast april.. come fast...

RiShiKeSh.... AgAiN....

A lot of us...

i love myself for clicking this one...

including me...

have been wating for the fotos...

and i finally got them today..

had to wait till like 2300 hours to start uploading them.. but i did.. and most of them are up on flickr.. except the ones which rohit has in his cam...

rohit.. pitega tu !!!

so folks... you might like to click... err.. no.. lemme have some of the fotos here before i give you the link :D

heheh...

Aseem working on the only babe with us on the trip...

and there she is... right there.. on a beach... in her natural best... Kudos to Aseem...

after lunch... the gang...

one of the rapids enroute...

so now.. you can click here to go see the rest of the fotos :D

7 GuyS... 24 Hrs...500 KmS...1050 BuCks... uNLiMiTeD Funn...

Friday was a hectice day in office... loads of work.. for now.. lets talk some good things...

friday evening around 2000 hrs i picked up aseem from his office... we came home... kept his bag and then went to the T-shop... during that time to when i came back home around 2230 we had quickly changed a part of the plan...we were seven guys and could afford to get a cab instead of going to the ISBT and then take a bus... so the list of poeple going rafting was now:

Me
Ankur
Rohit
Tushar
Shammi
Aseem, &
Harsh...

and believe it or not... the first six are members of Orkut... and i have met Rohit and Shammi through Orkut itself...

so we leave around 2300 hrs from my place after enjoying the great Indian laughter challenge... meet our driver.. MAMU :) yes.. thats what he liked to be called... and then picked up tushar... and then Shammi and Harsh... and then Ankur and then Rohit... this is around 1145 hrs... and we were moving at a good speed towards rishikesh...

the traffic less...
the road good...
the driving quick...

made sure that we were moving at a very nice speed... and were able to cross meerut in less then 1.5 hrs time... the journey so far included a lot of gaalis and loud singing by the people in the car with the nice songs that were playing... *courtesy : your truly :P*

we decided to take a small stop for tea before we reached MuzaffarNagar... the road between Sakauti and MuzaraffarNagar is a pain... the rest for some reason looks and feels better... i am sure some work has been done on the highway... felt that on the last month's trip to mussoorie as well...

the stopover would be remembered because, THIS is where... Shammi is supposed to have eaten BALLS, which he did not like and for some reason as soon as he ate them, he ran away only to reappear in about 5 minutes... a secret that he guarded till the last minute yesterday.. and still its safe with him...

the next stop came at Haridwar... 0330 hrs... nice lights... cold air... i had learnt from my last trip in october that mornings are supposed to be cold around the Ganges.. and hence my nice warm red jacket kept me just fine... and the colour combo i was wearing.. yello t and the red jacket.. was nicely complimented by tushar.. who was in a red T with a yello jacket... some fotos have made me realise that NOW is the time i have to do something about my tummy !!! :(

the fotos make it evident :( *crying out loud* and the waise pouch that i had on my waist helped look the tummy look worse :(( not done... kuch na kuch to karna padega... and that too soon !!!

some fotos were clicked.. and the sleep was fought with... and we moved to rishikesh in abt 45 minutes time...

the moon was out.. the air was again cold... and the sulabh was closed... so all of us chose to be inside the cab itself... and rest and sleep.. harsh was the first one to brave the outside cold and get out and take a few pics... rohit followed...

oh.. i had also called Deepak from Mohan Nagar to tell him that ODM was happening outside delhi for the first time :D

and then in turns we went out of the car... stood in the cold air... which was now turning to a nice cool breeze... and then the sulabh shauchalay in the parking was open to public and we guys being the only public around.. had unsigned exclusive rights to the loo there :D

some fotos clicked... with Ankur trying to click something inside the ladies toilet.. and tushar coming out of one of the ladies toilets... hehehe... some nice pics of the place around followed... and then we moved to Govindam...this is one of the restaurants that Me and Tushar like to like... but the cook was not in so we decided to walk a li'il towards the ganges.. and enjoy the breeze...

this is where i saw a whole army of buses... i counted 30 buses myself... and all with West Bengal plates... and full !!! oh boy !!! what crowd... too many people... and that made us just come back to the restaurant... this place is called Govindam... complete with a temple, a guest house, a few shops and all.. just like ISKON... and has this small restaurant called Govindji's Prasadam...

breakfast followed... lots of paranthas... cooked very well.. some lassi and pickle... that reminds me that i really really want to go to Murthal to have some paranthas... i think i will stop there on my way to Dharamsaala next month...

we finally met Pradeep, who arranges for my rafting trip everytime i go to rishikesh...

oh one thing which is not to miss a mention here is Ankur's shorts.. hehe bright blue swimming shorts.. shorter then shorts and a li'il bigger then the v-shaped undies.. and the best part being that he was walking barefoot.. and this big white tshirt had very nicely covered his shorts... so for obvious reasons there were people staring at him.. and actually turning back to see what kinda person was roaming around in the otherwise sane rishikesh :D

:D oh.. and did i forget to mention that he was a carrying a very decent looking SLR with himself as well... Aseem asked him to ensure that he speaks in english only.. this would save him from the rage of any sadhus for offending the hindu community atleast :D

anyway... we moved to shivpuri in a sumo... and were joined by Sheetal, who is back in India for good after his masters in finance something.. he turned out to be a cool guy and was a part of the gang as were by the end of the trip.. i also need to send him a orkut invite...

because it was an all guys gang.. the gaali galoch was at its best.. and i don't remember but for some reason we decided that everyone someone swears.. the rest of them would point a finger at the sky.. i guess to let God know what he sweared and request that he should be fogiven... and find it offensive or whatever.. there was someone or the other rising to the occasion every second sentence !!! it was funn.. bigg time !!! atleast we were enjoying without offending anyone !!! so chilled out !!!

rafting.. started from shivpuri.. and braved the rapids like Return to Sender, Roller Coster, Gold Course ( the only grade 4 rapid on the Shivpuri-Rishikesh route), Hilton etc... we also had lunch @ brahmpuri where we took a lot of fotos.. and Aseem here was at his artistic best.. and made something unusual with sand... this was first a man lying down on the beach.. and after some peer pressure he did some small tweaking on his work... and turned him into a her... someone who could give Pamela Anderson a run for her money ( you know what i mean ;); and what else do you expect in a beach full of all guys, hehehe) anyway... it was fun.. and after some more rest... we moved on the river again... to the jumping point...

Aseem was the first one to jump and repeated it twice... Shammi gave his fear a finger and managed to jump twice too.. Harsh managed it twice... and so did Sheetal... he was all excited and told us that this was by far the best he has done in rafting... while comparing it to the rafting trips in US... oh.. how can i forget.. ankur took sometime.. but jumped too.. the water level was kinda low there... and that meant that you had to jump from about 24 feet instead of the usual 22... as if that makes a difference from that height.. i did not jump this time... could not gather enough courage.. and was feeling very tired already... had not slept for over 29 hours now... so i took the role of a life guard.. and made sure that i could bring Ankur and Shammi to the shore... Ankur needed it.. Shammi could take care of himself.. with a li'il help from me...

the last leg was kinda slow.. and relaxed... where more of talking happened... with Ankur performing on the Kajraare Kajraare as well.. Ash beware.. you are going to get a run for your money if ankur performs his way in his bright blue designer shorts... and the wet white t-shirt :D

got off the raft near the parking lot itself... changed and decided to move to haridwar to have food.. had the poories, the gulab jamuns, the halwa and Lassi at haridwar... no fotos this time.. and then moved to Delhi...

Aseem realised that he had dropped his phone near the railway crossing on the Muzaffarnagar by-pass... but he did only near Khatauli... we turned back... and tried looking for his phone where we had stopped for a while.. but as expected we could not find it... so basically.. Aseem pee-ed away 10K bucks on this trip... and even though its possible, he had not backed up the data which is biggest loss, other then the money ofcourse... Sayan also did not back up her phone ... and when she lost the phone.. she lost a lot of data too.. guys please please please be careful with your wallets and phones... its very very difficult to get the numbers, the files, the tones back and we usually realise this only after we've lost the phones and wallets...

One thing that i did not like was that Ankur had made plans of meeting his relative for some work in Meerut and did bother to tell anyone till we left Rishikesh, even though he knew he had to do this when he left.. coz he was carrying his papers and the official docs needed... you cannot take a call for yourself, without talking to the rest of the people who are travelling with you... no one knew Ankur so well.. and did not say anything even though it was kinda evident that they were not at all happy with waiting for him in Meerut while he was with the person he had to meet... anyway...

we reached delhi.. dropped Rohit, Ankur, Shammi, Harsh, Tushar.. and Aseem and Myself... dropped Aseem to the NOIDA expressway crossing where his brother was waiting for him... and i was back home @ 2345 hrs... a 24-trip came to an end now !!! wonderful !!! this was my fifth time on the Ganges and i loved it out and out.. already waiting for the next time i go there... April may be... lets see...

ok now for a few stats...

Total time in reaching Rishikesh : approx 5 hours.. actually less if you start late night.. best time to start if you are travelling on ur own : 0300 hrs this gives you enough time to sleep for a few hours... and also avoid the traffic on this route..
now the money part...

Cab : 3700 bucks.. include the 2*100 bucks night charges for the cabbie...
Rafting : 450 bucks per person including food @ Brahmpuri...
Food: Approx 400 bucks in breakfast @ Govindam, and 250 bucks in Haridwar ( snacks.. but very very filling)

the total expense per person came out to be around 1050 bucks... ( Rohit: you need to be treated for spending 1100 :D)

i am right now tired... because of the cold water.. and air... need to rest today...

the fotos that i clicked would be availble soon.. i guess by wednesday... Rohit should be posting his by day end today !!!

Have a happy sunday everybody !!! God Bless...

{c} wedding iDeAs and MoRe...

Managing marriages is a tough deal...

starting from when to get married to, how many people to invite, to booking of a band, to finding a place to host the wedding, to arranging for music and so on a so forth...

these days you get some package deals which include the decoration, food, place and music, however I am not sure if there are consultants who work with the middle class families on any wedding reception ideas. I think this kinda consultancy is long awaiting and there are more then enough people who would like to engage such firms and enjoy the celebrations...

what next after wedding... a honeymoon... and a few years later... may be another if the spark stays.. or on a more not so romantic note... looking around for a some options where you could just go and relax... one of such things is vacation home Orlando where you could actually have a home when you are on a vacation... this happens in India too.. where you can actually get complete cottages or houses where you can stay during vacation...

nice... I am not sure if I am looking forward to a wedding or not.. but... vacation... game anytime for it

:D

An EvENiNg WiTh FriEndS....

the evening today was great....

met deepali after a long time.. though we work in the same office, we are not able to meet each other... and then we went to South Ex. Barista... this is where i had met Richa for the first time as well... and while on our way i asked her to call Neha as well... which she did.. and Neha also managed to join me and Deepali...

the conversation:
about Deepali's meetings with the probably grooms... the eligible bachelors.. and i was really keen in finding out what were the kinda questions that she asks the guys she meets up with... well to start with the good part is that she meets them in a restaurant or a a cafe and not in the sea of relatives at home... and then what surprised me that she would ask questions like what kinda music the guy likes, what does he do in his free time, and if he reads books, what are his hobbies... does he drink and all.. and what shocked me was the the guy were also asking the same kinda questions... stupid !!! eh !!! i dunno.. but thats not really taking anyone anywhere... so we did a small act of me being the guy she meets and then ask questions... and it turned out to be hilarious... and we could just laugh a lot about it :D

and then Neha maidam comes in... as pretty as ever... and all smiles !!! and these two girlfriends of mine were now a team against me to pull my leg.. and trust me they were good in making sure that i shut up nice and proper !!! with my occasional words, it was a good 45 minutes spent in the barista... some ppl make the world a better place.. and these two sweethearts sure are one of them....

dropped Neha at her place.. and quickly came back home... and had a small convo with Aro.. and a wonderfully exciting convo with Sayantani.. she is a sweetheart too.. always around to cheer you up... with her crazy ability to laugh at anything.. and imagining in her mind whatever you are talking about.. hehehe...

whenever anyone of these is getting married, i am going to get them some bridesmaid gifts... is that a right term to use... well.. i am not really sure... but whatever.. i will think of something really innovative... i am going to search and search for the best gifts for them... even hire some search engine marketing consultants... make them search for something, so that i could make these nice and pretty friends of mine really happy...

and rohit also called me... and he wanted to know how was my first time.. and what are the things that he needs to take care of.. as he is going to do it for the first time tommorow...

ok.. he is for sure not talking about what a lot of you ppl are thinking right now.. he is going rafting with me tmrw... and he just wanted to make sure that he is aware of the few essentials...
hehehe.. nice boy he is... God bless him...

and richa also sent a couple of naughty SMS's :) bahut bigad gai hai wo bhi... padai mein to dhyan hi nai lagta aajkal ke bachcho ka :D
:D

oklie doks.. thats it for a good day...

gotta go off to sleep...

abhi chalta hoon... phir milta hoon....

HoLi HoLi -DaY...

explain this...

when i slept last night the sky had more clouds then HOLI needed...

and when i got up today...

nothing.. none.. zilch... bright blue sky with lovely sun outside...

and just the day to celebrate holi...

Ankur always visits on Holi so i was ready to catch up with him after applying the mustard oil to myself wearing a nice white shirt :)

and then rounds of gulal followed with me and Ankur first visiting Neelam, and then Tushar... who was looking quite handsome with a black and green face... and shining white teeth... we just added soem colour with red gulal...

and this where i could not stay away from the pakka rang... so my face all blank and blue... and i did not know this was only round one...

round two @ ankur's place.. where kanisha ( his sister) made me look like a horrible ghost with some blue, green, yello and ORANGE colour... phew.. and they did not seem satisfied enough with this achievement.. and to get some more pleasure out of the simple me... they poured buckets of water on me ...

phew.. what a holi... and my shirt now... was no longer white...

nice day till afternoon so far... thank you God for this festival... so many colours.. so many smiles... so much of laughters...

won-duh-phull !!!

semi {c} SoMe MoNeY MaKiNg...

I know that there are a lot of very serious bloggers, who write and read a lot... and i always used to wonder where exactly they get the time to do this from?

I find it tough to manage my time after i am done with my office and the everyday photoshop playing around...

and then i found out that i could make money blogging.... well i do not not see it as a problem... if things work out fine..i might just earn enough money to take care of my fotography expenses every month !!!

Oh, and how i mentioned about buying those silver bricks and coins and stuff.. i found out that there is something different that you could buy as well... Buy Silver Bullion... for those who do not know what a bullion is.. click here to find out...

ThOuGhT DuMp....

rains...

you have to drive with your windows rolled up...

and then there are traffic jams...

and then !!!!

Some BASTARDS who would still drive with high beams on... not even noticing that the water drops on the glasses of the other cars explode that light and make the other driver as good as blind.... and then they must be wondering why the hell are there so many accidents... why ppl cannot drive carefully.... you ASS, if you could drive with your bloddy headlights in low beam... atleast half the drivers who cross you are 50% safe... attleast its only their fault that would lead to an accident.. and not your too bright show you all headlights !!! aargh..


oh.. and then there are some simpletons... or i would choose to call them idiots... who think that mud flaps are only to make your car look good.. and when one of these drops for some reason.. the best you can do is remove the other one too.. you buggers.. when u are driving on a wet road... your rear tyres work like canons and throw dirty water from the road to the motorists behind you as missiles... rain water does not screw up the windscreens.. its the small dirty water drops that screws up the visibility !!!

and now something strange...

in my lifetime, i do not remember a choti holi when it rained in delhi/ncr

my dad does not remember a holi when it rained in Delhi the day before holi..

something has happened here on this earth.. and i am not too confortable about it...

and now something happy...

i was struggling to hear some good rock when i was coming back home on monday.. and today my CD changer has 3 good rock CDs... which means i have a song for every mood now in the 10 cds i can plug and play... and there is nothing for a sorrow mood... sorry sorrow.. you are not allowed in my car !!!

the way water drops move up the windscreen when the car moves ahead is kinda very sweet to watch... it leaves a wonderful pattern behind as well...

and i feel that i can make ppl laugh when they are in a real bad mood... have a few confirmations from a few situations !!!

and now something that is a part of life..yours mine.. everyones maybe...

there is this good guy... and there is this good girl...

the good girl likes the good guy... and the good guy likes the good girl...

and then there is this bad guy.. who is a good friend of the good guy...

and this good girl, even though says that she loves the good guy... is attracted towards the bad guy...

who obviously does not mind the attention because he is a bad guy.. and is certainly looking forward to a nice time with the good girl...

the good guy confronts the good girl.. and tells her that he loves her... she likes him too.. but she feels that the relationship is too mushy.. and breaks up with him..

and who beneifts out of it... the bad guy.. who enjoys the company of this good girl... while the good guy is all alone...

phew...
the question is... do girls really get attracted to bad guys? ok... decent looking bad guys? or is this something about power/attitude/control that attracts them... and why is that usually not so apparent with good guys.. why do bad guys look like being in control most of the time... atleast to the outer world?

ugh !!! what am i writing... good night !!!


oh.. and a very very Happy and Colourful holi everyone... enjoy take care !!!

gUiTaR....

Laadiss... and Gentel-Mans... Pliss... Welkomes...

MEEEEE

The Guitar Players...

oh manh !!!

i SUCK @ playing Guitar...

hehehe...

bigg time..

lets see what these classes can do...

And my guru @ guitar.. Ashish... plays really really well.. God Bless him :)

Oh.. and Tushar is learning Salsa these days...

once both of us are purrfect... i play the guitar.. and then he dances :D

hehehe..

and you can be the audience.. and throw money at us.. just make sure that you do not throw coins :D

WeEkEnD.... EnDs.... TOooo SOoooN...

some of my friends are thinking what has happened to me.. and why the last two posts do not seem to be written from heart...

well.. they are generating some money for me.. thats why... am increasing the page ranking of a few sites and get paid for it... while they go ahead and enjoy the high backlinks...

for the benefit of ppl who come here to read about me... i will mark such commercial posts with a {C} like Tushar does...

and now about the weekend...
saturday... umm.. no no.. friday night.. the plan for rishikesh got cancelled.. and i was in no mood to go back home...

where else could i go..

Gurgaon.. yess.. Arobindo... called him up.. he was home.. so i went there... and enroute.. had a roll at tha Kathis in Saket... and met up with Ashi... her office has a LandRover to take them around.. what the heck !!!

Ok.. Aro's place.. and then to Hughes... met up with Narang... he is a big man now... and checked out his new babe.. the new City... lovely.. i feel so glad when i see him moving ahead..

dinner at the pizza hut followed... got a pizza packed for narang too.. and then met him again... and slept peacefully at Aro's...

saturday morning came back home... was tired... sleepy.. and still went out to sector-18.. don't even remember why... but i remember meeting naveeen... and having coffeee @ costa... and buying a book...

sunday...

went out with mom dad...

saw Iqbal.. and loved the movie.. i think i will get all the movies by Nagesh.. he is a wonderful director...

evening.. did some shopping in Lajpat Nagar.. bought two new pairs of shoes... nice.. eh :) one kaala joota... and one casual joota... ekdum masta...

and i realised... that the jeans that i love to love... is giving up on me... this holi might be the last time that i wear it...

and monday comes a li'il too fast... ugh !!!

waiting for next friday again...

rishikesh jaana hai :)

GrEeDy NoW....

why am i doing this...

first i thought i have some money and a few coins should be good enough for me...

and now i found out that i could actually buy silver bars... hehehe imagine...

like in the old movies i have that tijori with a huge door...

with a lot of money inside it..

and these gold and silver bars and all... but then doesn't that make me kinda prone to attacks... some peope might want to just lootofy me...

and then i need protection... and what if i am not able to do that for myself...

i would need to hire some guards or something... if this was the US then these new york personal injury advisors would have been of help for sure.. but is something of that sort available in india? i am not sure...

would you know of anything?

tHiNkiNg...

My birthday is near....

April...

The financial year starts... money comes to pockets and then is spent...

i am thinking of buying silver coins for myself... well... why is that surprising... i am actually expecting my friends to buy me things like the lens i need, the leh trip i have been waiting for... or if not anything else.. then how about just a few gift baskets full of goodies...

anyone game ?

:)

:D

LiMiTeD...

tushar says my thinking and photography is limited by my philosophy....

i agree..

i have not thought or even made a slight effort (sorry about that tushar) to get technically sound with photography... although i have like a million questions on how to do this and how to do that... and the answer is going to come from?

READING...

uh... brings me back to something that i am not good at... reading... but i guess i will have to leave that mind-block aside to grow... thanks tushar for being a pain and making me think this...

coming back to photography...

i have thought of a theme.. a message... a story... a moment with all my fotos... and not of the ISO, or the Shutter Speed or the Aperture so far... i want to graduate to a DSLR and do all this... that is when i will also have data to analyse.. today a film based SLR does not let me remember the F-value or the Shutter Speed for every one of those 36 shots... anyway... this is not an excuse but a realisation of whats not being done...


and reading... i have promised tushar that i will read "A train to Pakistan" in two days as required by him... so be it...

and we went to Costa to have Coffee today.... the Primo, the Medio and something else is the cup size there... oops... the Coffee cup size i meant...

and then we did not really a lot of good gurls in the sector18 today.... so we came back sooner then usual...

oh and i want to read "Spouse" by Shoba De... hudd hai... now i want to read books that talk about a happy married life.. huh !!! and i bought the "Malgudi Landscapes - The best of R.K. Narayan" ab padunga...

and i uploaded a foto of the Howrah Bridge on my photo-blog...

and i want to rest now...

but i do not want to...

abhi chalta hoon...
phir milta hooon...

:)

jUst LiKe ThAt !!!

yesterday was one of the nicer drives back home...

forget about the traffic jam... thats ok... especially after I have seen the situation in Banglore and Mumbai... i have stopped complaining about the roads or the situation on the roads in delhi... its atleast a 1000 times better if not more..

so moved our of the usual traffic jams and reached the toll breeze... oops.. its the toll bridge... and i was enjoying the breeze...

awesome... driving at a comfortable 50 kmph... with the windows rolled down.. and some of my favorite numbers playing... its time like these when i do not mind the cars overtaking me like crazy at all...

and reached home...

and got a wonderful news from a friend... happy women's day ho gaya ekdum mera bhi uska bhi... God bless her !!!

and the morning drive to office was good too...

i could see the blue sky and the white clouds in my rear view mirror.. and i hated myself for not carrying a camera with me today... aaargh !!!

moments moments moments.. they do not get repeated...

and i have managed to survive 9 days in this month without my salary... and i am going for rafting tomorrow...

and tushar has written in his blog that he has not gone outta delhi this year so far... i thought i will also write about where all i have been to in 2006...

• 2005 wished me good luck and went away when i was in chennai at deepak's place...
• moved to banglore from there...
• and then had that wonderful one day trip to Mysore...
• Kolkata followed...

thats all for Jan'06

and Feb saw me going to

• Bharatpur
• Mussoorie
• and my village... not too far away but it was a drive and a wonderful experience... so three trips in feb...

march is here...
first trip to rishikesh... Rafting... i am addicted to this sport... and i plan to do it at least twice every year till i can...

whats planned for the rest of the year...

• Rishikesh again in april...
• Singapore ( thought of it a few days back.. might want to buy my camera from there.. instead of india)
• Dharamshaala and McLeodganj ( Drive for 4 days) can't forget the funn when i went to uttranchal last year on a drive.. love you radha...
• Rajasthan ( Drive again.. in winters 2006... a week this time)

all of these look doable as of now... unless things take a turn.. and i take up a project outside india.. which i would love to... lets see...

wish me luck.. while i pray for the wellbeing of human kind :D ...oh.. and you ofcourse...

CoNvOzzzz.... & MoRe...

have not written about whats been happening for a while now...

dunno why...

was just too tired to write i guess...

anyway...

i think the last weekend was something i really would like to write about.. not because it had something special associated with it.. but because i would like to write.. and not be my usual lazy self...

saturday... spent in searching for a lense for my camera... and ending up in more confusion because of the variation in price with multiple dealers... actually i think that happened for good.. because the camera that i am going to buy might just be different then wat i was thinking... so not reaching any conclusion as of now.. i am going to spend some more time in researching to reach a mature decision...

the other highlight of the day was...
meeting Rohit and Richa.. and Richa... kinda excited on seeing Rohit for the first time.. and screaming.. "he is sooo cute"... saturday also saw her being in love with some vocalist of her college band... its so easy to be in love i think... everyone should be in love.. with a lot of people...

and saturday also saw me and tushar thinking about the age difference we had with rohit and richa... who suddenly looked kids for some reason... and we thought about us reaching a certain level of maturity with age.. which they will too... in due course of time...

and saturday also saw us travelling in the public transport of delhi... not really willing to keep standing... waiting on the bus stand for an empty bus and so on.. with the ending with a refreshing litchi ice tea @ my favorite tea shop... this is where an interesting conversation started.. and it was continued on sunday too...

some of the words and sentences that i remember of the conversation i had in the last two days with tushar...

kids, age, maturity, i cannot read, i need to look for the right book to read to start with, my willingness towards conversations then reading books, the marriage proposals reaching my home... the conversations at home about them... my total 100% cluelessness about how to take them anywhere... my total confusion about how someone can figure out if they really want to spend rather can spend the REST OF THEIR LIVES TOGETHER... one of my uncles talking to my mom about a girl.. and stressing the fact that she has done her education in english medium... me thinking and realising that somewhere around my city itself... studying in english medium makes you better then others... me and tushar talking about how the priorities change when it comes to getting married...how we did not talk about if the gurl had any affairs in the past.. but we only talking about how she could mix up with the existing set of friends one has... and how she would be able to cope up with different kinds of societies the guy is a part of.. his family, his friends, and his office... how being beautiful is not the biggest reason why i would marry someone... and in between... oogling at the hotties around in sector-18... and not really talking about marriage and girls and only about how hott the girls looked in what they were wearing.. and how they would look with lesser clothes.. and talking about how we would like to record all our conversations and then post them on the blogs... and that we would make a questionaire for women which they could and would fill up and give to the men.. and how we would like to do this as a business... and so on and so forth...

i am sure i have not been able to write even 30% of what me and tushar talked about.. but then the crux of the matter is... that life is totally not solved and confusing when it comes to getting married...

so enjoy folks while i continue to write about the state of mind i would be in on every proposal that comes to my place...

and how life takes different turns while the days pass by....

and also we talked about why i could not get into a relationship right now.. because if i am having an affair.. big or small... i would loose the freedom of looking for a life partner for me.. unless the girl also in the state of mind which allows her to let me do this.. which is kinda a toughie...

and also.. how the girls also were keen on making out with their boyfriends... but they still waiting for a good while before they let their guy touch them... and tushar wondering about why that permit cannot be given in 6 hours instead of 6 months or 6 weeks.. or whatever...

am i forgetting something...

i guess i am..

and the more i try to think about what it is.. the more blank my mind is feeling right now...

so good night... have fun.. be safe...

Me MoRe mE...

these personalities tests are funn...

something that can cheer you up kinda quickly.. well they say so many good things about you... and all the other times they are pretty accurate as well... here is what i did first thing in the morning today... to make sure that i have a good day...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Your Birthdate: April 10

Independent and dominant, you tend to be the alpha dog in most situations. You're very confident, and hardly anything ever shakes you. Mundane tasks tend to drain you - you prefer to be making great plans. You are quite original. When people don't "get" you, it bothers you a lot. Your strength: Your ability to gain respect Your weakness: Caring too much what others think (hmm) Your power color: Orange-red (and i m in love with this colour too) Your power symbol: Letter X Your power month: October

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Your Seduction Style: The Charismatic

You're beyond seductive, you're downright magnetic! You life live and approach seduction on a grand scale. You have an inner self confidence and energy that most people lack It's these talents that make you seem extraordinary - and you truly are!

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Your Personality Is

Guardian (SJ) You are sensible, down to earth, and goal oriented. Bottom line, you are good at playing by the rules. You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader. You are interested in rules and order. Morals are important to you. A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do. You're very serious, and people often tell you to lighten up. In love, you tend to take things carefully and slowly. At work, you are suited to almost any career - but you excel in leadership positions. With others, you tend to be polite and formal. As far as looks go, you are traditionally attractive. You take good care of yourself. On weekends, you tend to like to do organized activities. In fact, you often organize them!

The Three Question Personality Test

aaargh.... and sMiLe...

aaargh...
i was unfortunate enough to reach the blog of someone who bought a canon 350 d.. and has been wasting it for about 6 months now...

why do people who do not know how to own things buy them...

aargh !!!

smile...
you might like to click here to read more about the camera... this is going to be my next camera.. whenever there is one...

and if my pocket permits.. i might go for a 20D...

BeTtEr NoW...

Sayantani

and

Richa

have talked about what are the things that make them happy... (click on their names to find out...)

i think i will also do that...

especially after how sad the second half of the day was... before i got to see the Red fort pics...

Jai Bharat

ok.. ok.. here is the link...

click here to see them yourself...

• these fotos made me very very happy.. and there are more then 10 good fotos.. so i have more then 10 things that make me happy...
• the fact that richa is not going to kill me because her fotos are good made me happy
• and the songs of Satte Pe Satta made me feel just fine... jussssssssst fine :)

...

i am totally pissed right now...

TOTALLY...

aargh....

and i cannot think of anything that can cheer me up :( :(

maybe a sundae.... triple.. make your own... nirula's