My prank box

Today was Mohaloya, a very auspicious day for Hindu Bengalis, observed seven days before the Durga Puja, which heralds the advent of Goddess Durga, and is an invocation to the Mother Goddess to descend on earth from her heavenly abode.

I had a great time time today...

What does it look like to you?
A harmless li'l wooden box ..isn't it?


Wait, the top slids..


Whaaat the..?
What is that sticky thing that has jumped out of the box and is moving its tail!
Enough to freak anybody out... and that is why I bought it from Hallmark yesterday when I was buying gifts for a friend on her b'day.
I freaked her out by giving it to her , posing it as her gift.
The expression on her face was priceless :)

But later I gave her the actual gift :)

Great fun na!
Well it’s quite easy to build yourself..
A plywood box , pieces of wood , a little gum ,and some thread can do the trick.


Great! Now leave it on someone's desk...and have some fun
Like I had in office today :D

The quest

Sometimes, all I want is to get a knapsack on my back and go globe-trotting..but can I leave behind all that ties me back?
My family, my friends- the ones who love me?

But,I want to get away..

Stop calling me , stop expecting from me..
Stop worshipping me like I were a flawless Goddess

I despise all company..
I despise you who swore by the moonlight that you could lay down your life for me..
I despise you who said you would kill us both if we are not destined to be together ..so that in death we could meet..
I despise you who looks up to me like a faithful dog looks up to his master..

I despise all..
coz u take me away from me..
coz u tie me down...

I want to be myself..the only me..the eternal vagabond

I wish I were...

I wish I were a squirrel with a long, long tail...
then I might have appreciated the nuts I come across each day...

I wouldn't have to spend my days in an artificially conditioned environment wondering whether it was sunny or raining outside...

I would skip from trees to trees with my little nimble feet and shy away from all human company.
I wouldn't have to socialize, smile and greet and pretend to be happy even when I was not...

I would be in rhythm with myself and deeply connected to nature ...
I would gather and store acorns for winter in my hiding place and that would be my only treasure...

.....Oh btw, before I muse further over these absurd things I have to get back to cooking the chicken I had left to marinate.

Mom let it to slip to one of my colleagues that I CAN cook . And he has been continuously demanding to taste my culinary efforts.
But there's a difference between being able to do something, and being able to do something WELL. I believe in the latter or...nothing.
So, it has become a prestige issue now..

I have some time today and I thought I would cook and surprise him.
If he survives, I will ask him to write a testimonial for it...Lolzzz

TC
Chicken is waiting... :P

(The recipe is provided as the 10th comment on this post..)

14th September, 2006- another year wiser?

There is something about birthdays.
You keep wishing each one is more unique than the previous ...
whatevuh that means :D

Last year I had a rocking time with bro and most of my closest friends.
The party at Tantra, with all its elements- the ambience, the dance floor, the mocktails, the hookah... was a big hit.
After dinner, we drove down to Turquoise Cottage where I danced like crazy.
On our way back, one of the cars broke down and while we waited at 4 in the morning for the break-down truck, we danced on the road with our deck on full volume.
Even the patrolling cops giggled at the crazy kids.

Oh btw, I had even got a hunk for a gift..
Chill, not wrapped in a satin ribbon but some cousin of a close friend who was worried about my "SINGLE" status and wanted us to click.
Sadly, he was enticing only till he opened his mouth to speak...

This year it was a Thursday..a weekday=a working day
I was in office the whole day until my Boss said.."Aaj to Ghar Jao!!" and ushered me back home.
I was too tired to arrange for a party..
Called up one of my buddies from college and had a quiet dinner in a cozy li'l restaurant we used to frequent in college days.
I was exhausted and before I realised I was in my bed and had fallen fast asleep.

Now when I look back, I find myself receiving calls from my friends since 13th night..Tejil, Ani, Rai, Bijoya,Saikat, Abhi, Paro, Maduleena,Sam,Ritu..to name a few...
Nayeem, Meenal Ma'm, Amit Sir, Gajendra Sir, Puneet, Jojo, Syanti di, Emon di, Kuntal, Novel, Raj, Ronyda, Kutu da, Dileep, Apoorv, Ranjeet, Prasoon, Vinay, JD, Shashi, Nikhil, Saurabh, Deepak, Sangram, Abir, Moid...wished me too..
I don't think I will do justice to all so forgive me if I miss out a few names

The cutest call was probably from this sleepy voice who never remembers birthdays and starts wishing his best friend a week ahead, just in case he forgets.
He had put an alarm on his cell which apparently didn't work and he wished in the some indiscernible language,at 12:15 am, which sounded remotely like "Happy Birthday" in English.
I laughed and said "Go to sleep" and he did..lolzz

Unfortunately I had missed a few calls because I had gone to sleep early.
When I was getting out of my house to go to office in the morning, I saw a card and a basket of pink and yellow roses lying at my door.
It was addressed to "The Sweetest Heart in the World" with no reference about the sender..
Somehow, I recognized the handwriting..with those typical slants and cuts on "T".

At office, everyone was sweet and warm... a tad more than on usual days...
At lunch, I got another basket of flowers from a friend who lives far away with a honey-sweet message " A li'l bunch of flowers to fill your life with color..not that you need any, just do these flowers an honour!"

And later, I got something I had been expecting from someone I knew wouldn't forget- chocolates, a teddy, and a bunch of red roses...

It was soon time for the usual gift-rendering ceremony in office. And I was happy to unwrap those glossy papers..feeling all the while like an eager eight-year old.

If you ask me how was the day, I'll say I thought my life had all the colors until I discovered this new hue..

Oh come on!
Now don't ask me.."Yeh naya rang kaunsa hai?" :P

"Aur Batao" Syndrome

Is this happening to many of us…? All of us who are caught up too much with our work etc… Is there no time for personal life?

A recent forward cited the following conversation between two professionals.
P1--hello
P2--hi
P1--hey h r u???
P2--m fine!!! Wht abt u???
P1--m fine too.
P2--cool
P1--so howz life???
P2--gud
P1--hmmmm
P2--aur batao? ( passing the ball to the other side)
P2--hmmm everything as usual...
P2--so wht else???
P1--nothing much
P2--ok
P1--aur batao? (Passing the ball to the other side)

And it goes on like this ..

It's true ..the world has grown smaller..
but somehow we seem to have grown farther apart..

It's like you might be sitting just next to a person and yet feel some light years away from each other... (like that song from Mohiner Ghoraguli.. )

Steve, we'll miss you...

Looks familiar..doesn't he?

Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006) was an Australian naturalist, wildlife expert and television personality.

Best known for the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an unconventional wildlife documentary series which he hosted with his wife Terri Irwin that was broadcast worldwide,he also owned and operated the Australia Zoo at Beerwah in Queensland with friend William Rollo and his wife.

All his life his motto seems to have been "Why put things in cages?"

His achievements are many...and the honours too numerous to mention in the confines of this post...

Irwin believed in promoting environmentalism by sharing his excitement about the natural world rather than preaching to people.
He considered himself a wild-life warrior with the mission to save the world's endangered species.He founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which was later renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, and became an independent charity.

For a guy who was given a scrub python on his sixth birthday, his love for reptiles only grew, so much so that he named his daughter "Bindi"
Alright, get ready for it: He named his DAUGHTER after a CROCODILE... not the other way around.

On 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray barb, while diving off Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. He had been filming a segment for his daughter Bindi's upcoming television series. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for his daughter's programme.
News reports say:
"Shortly after 11:00 a.m. local time , Irwin was filming off the shores of Low Isles, Queensland, near Port Douglas and north of Cairns, where he was stung either through his heart, or through the left side of his chest. After he was stung, emergency services were called from Cairns Rescue Base and met Croc One, Irwin’s rescue vessel at Low Isle on the Great Barrier Reef. The Croc One crew performed constant CPR during the thirty-minute dash to Low Isle.
The Queensland Rescue Helicopter responded, taking him to Cairns Base Hospital, where Irwin was pronounced dead on arrival at noon. He was not killed by the sting itself but from a puncture to the heart in turn causing cardiac arrest. The Queensland Police Service notified his family and released a statement for the media concerning his death. News of his death prompted a public outpouring expressing shock and loss."

His unabashed enthusiasm for dangerous animals and childlike energy (and specially his catchcry, "Crikey!") had dissolved all boundaries.
His friends and family often reported that he was to them as he was to the rest of the world — larger than life.
200 million viewers in over 30 countries around the world..no ,that's enough..
a man who had won fans all over the world will be remembered for not only a life less ordinary..but for a death..which, though untimely and most unfortunate, has sent a message all across the world to redefine PASSION..

We'll Miss you, Steve.
We'll miss you..

Tomb Raider : Legend

Dad, this one is for you :)

Snapshots from TR-7, I was playing yesterday..







I told you the graphics are awesome:)

Almost 5 years after I last played Tomb Raider Chronicles I got TR-7
installed in my lappy...
and boy !!! I'm already addicted...
Though
walkthrough and cheat codes make the game easier, the real charm lies in exploring it all by yourself.

I still remember those days when Dad and me used to play TR through the night and Mom would wake up to find we are still playing it in the morning. At 7 am, she would usher me to sleep. I'd get up at 9 am , get ready for school...come home in the evening, finish my homework and wait for Dad come home from office to team up together and play again :)

That was much before Hollywood decided to make motion pictures Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)starring Angelina Jolie...and British actress Rhona Mitra appeared as a live action model for Lara Croft from Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series.

Lara was created by one-time Core designer Toby Gard, and grew out of a number of ideas discarded in early concepts. She appears almost invariably with short brown pants, a green top, holsters on both sides of her hip for dual wielded pistols and a small brown backpack. Over the course of the series, she has undergone minor adjustments, such as smoother facial features, reduced breast size and free moving hair...


but she continues to thrill the way she did in the salad days of my gaming.. :)