Saturday Night Fever

And AM asked me that embarrassing question: What are you doing on a Saturday night sitting and reading comments (on your blog) ? I had to defend my position saying "I have just come back from shopping with my roommate." Then the conversation shifted to safer topics like the present scenario in Pakistan and Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Presidential candidate.

It was a girls' day out and it was fun. KM (Kiran Kirti Muppalla) and I kept saying to each other those weirdly humorous lines from Om Shanti Om ( remind me to write the review later):***Yenna Shotgun, Me Murugan in peculiar tones and laughed our heads off.

While we were walking towards the T-station, she observed that "It doesn't feel that cold when you are walking with someone" I suggested that it might be 'cause you are protected on one side from the crazy breeze when you are walking side by side or it might be that talking keeps the mind off the severity of the weather. And then I plunged into a deep reverie of how tough times appear more bearable when you have a companion in your life. She, who is quite used to my sudden seizures of philosophical musings, just smiled sweetly and took care that I,lost in my thoughts, don't amble straight into a car.

The journey proved labyrinthine as the red lines are closed from Park Street Station to Kendall till Monday for some construction and we had to take a shuttle bus. The simple itinerary of J.F.K/UMASS -> Central Square(~20 mins on T) proved to be J.F.K/UMASS ->Park Street Station on T, Park Street Station-> Kendall (MIT) on shuttle, Kendall ->Central on T again. We could have gone to Galleria in Lechmere using the green line by then. But KM opined that stand alone shops are better . And anyways, I prefer Central Square to any other destination on the T anytime. Except maybe Prudential Center , which houses my favorite Barnes and Noble bookshop.

All in all, I had a bit of adventure. It was a refreshing change to be above the ground and have a look around the city. Though most of the times, my view got constricted by kissing couples. It is not a common sight in India, specially with the soi-disant moral police on the prowl. But here it's pretty normal -almost as natural as holding hands in public. However, today the frequency seemed compounded. KM and I tried to find a spot inside the T where we wouldn't be measuring the flow of human saliva . I saw an old man talking to himself , sitting right across me. And KM found a youth wearing a jeans whose one leg was black and the other was striking blue and had his hair dyed in punk green. She fervently prayed that when she has kids they shouldn't go to such extremes. (She is married and plans to have a baby soon). I said it would be ok with me as long as my son (if I ever have one) doesn't wear a nose ring. (If I have a daughter, I plan to spoil her rotten)

Honestly, I don't like staring at strangers and feel pretty uncomfortable if someone else does it. I think it's one of the most impolite things to do. So, when I had brushed my eyes inside the T , read the ads for the nth time, and talked enough to KM, I got back to my favorite activity in such situations: concentrate on my shoes or my finger nails.:D


*** Disclaimer: I don't appreciate racist jokes nor do I intend to encourage them. The humor was not in the language unfamiliar to me, ( Kiran is a South Indian) it was the way SRK delivered the dialog. So, readers please choose not be offended.

External Link: Subway maps, Boston MBTA

Tomb Raider : Urban

What is life without a little adventure? And if you are living in Delhi or NCR in an area in whose vicinity the road has been dug up for laying metro track, you don't have to go out looking for it. Just go out for a harmless stroll on a Sunday evening and you will know what I mean. I was in a hurry for an appointment with my beautician when I was faced with the option to make a detour and get late or utilize my rock climbing and stone hopping skills and be on time. I opted for the later.
Here are a few snaps of what I enjoyed crossing at Sector 16, Noida.



And finally, from the other side after I had crossed-


UPDATE: Shittt!!! This blog entry just made me a male ! :P
View the algorithm and gender genie here (you can copy paste the text of this post and see what I mean )

Also, if you have time to while away, visit this

Laptop puran

Kitne baaje hai, madam? (What time is it, madam?)
Barah, Bhaisahab. (12, brother )
Kya baat kar rahi hai? Par abhi to shaam hai!! (What are you saying? But it's evening now !!)
Bhaiya mere laptop ka adaptor kharab ho gaya hai aur stock mein nahi mil raha- mere liye to barah hi baje huye na phir? ( My laptor's adaptor has gone kaput and is not available in the stock -so it's 12 for me now, isn't it? )

And he left me in my remorse. Aah! The agony ! The pain! The feeling of complete helplessness. I don't think I felt this bad even after a break-up.
I can't practise the new HTML codes I have been learning.
Can't spend my evening flipping through the pages of dictionary. com.
Can't blog when my whim suggests.
Can't listen to music at 3 o' clock in the morning.
Can't view if my orkut scraps have increased from 17,817 since I last saw it.
That reminds me- I just saw the assistant of this cafe browsing through orkut. Wow ! I wish I knew how his profile looks like. When I had the name of my employer organization displayed very naively on my professional profile, some creep who had nothing better to do in life looked up a few numbers on the internet and called up on my work phone when I was not in the remotest mood for mamuli khejure- alaap ( worthless chit-chat).
I have all respect for the guy who conceived the notion of an online community for social networking. I got re-connected to a lot of old school friends I had lost touch with. I made a couple of new friends too. Well exactly 'TWO' new friends. And one of them was actually my friend's boy friend so it really does not count. And he knew me through my blog first: so orkut can not really be given the credit. And the other chap I became friends with- well main ab tak pachhta rahi hoon ( can't translate this for emotional difficulties :P)
So - here I am. Clueless about my immediate neighbor. But worried to death about a firend who lives half the world away from me. ("Firend" samajhtey hai na aap? Yeah yeah- woh wala. )
Now you'll wonder how does my latop puran come into it?
Wohi to! My only convenient entry ticket to the cyberspace is blocked/locked/shut down/ kaput/ gone .
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Someone rightly said- happiness to me would be my laptop, a lot of deadlines and fried chicken ( I added good music for ambience and laughed at the truth of the statement.)
But life goes on. In spite of tragedies like these. So,I decided to get back to my old friends. Naah naah -not my chaddi-buddies. Though this week I was quite active in catching up with them.
But my diaper buddies- I mean books.
Those are the ones that open new avenues of thoughts, new channels of ideas.
Sometimes I indulge in mixed reading, id est, I read two books in installments instead of following my usual- "Complete without a breather principle". It's a way of showing respect to the author. But when I am learning something- as of now- some new codes, I allow myself the luxury of reading something else in between.
And this time the filler is "The Power of Six Sigma" by Subir Chowdhury. I have been fascinated by the quality prophet's views before but this one has made an awesome read till now.
Maybe I will write a post on the importance of quality soon and I hope I will post it from my lappy. [ I call it "Aparna" (Appy's lappy). Yeah, a narcissist :P I know someone who calls his "Angelina" :D ]

Until then,
Kabhi alvida na kehna ..
* makes a sentimental exit*

A suitable girl

Khushwant Singh once said: When you want to see the worst examples of urban prejudices- where do you turn to? The matrimonial ads columns!

A friend of mine recently voiced the same concern and said that he was unlike the prejudiced Indian males and had very few expectations from his life partner. He even helped me script a matrimonial ad which I promised to put up in my blog, which , according to him has viewers from all over the world. (I could have denied it but ..unfortunately he knows the many uses of site meter)
So here it is:

Wanted Bride.
Young, slim, fair and extremely beautiful. Highly educated. Should earn in six figures but should not mind giving away her salary to husband on the day of pay. Should have good mix of Eastern and Western values. Must enjoy cooking Indian food. Must have a great sense of humor (read:be amused by my poor jokes). But should not laugh too loudly. We will measure the length of her smile with a tape and tell her the perfect fits for respective occasions- so don't worry about it.
Should have impeccable social etiquette.Should have an ear for Indian Classical music. Should be an exponent in Bhajan-kirtaan.
Should be back before 8 pm everyday. Should not complain when asked to do domestic work after long office hours because we plan to get rid of the maid after I get married. Should not mind if the decision to have a child is unilateral, i.e, mine. Should not make it a ground to file for divorce.
...And if at all we settle for an innocent divorce, should not ask for alimony.

Here's a pic of my friend while heading for office.

Don't mind the hooves and horns. Despite the misleading appearance, he's a very gentle soul.
For close ups please mail to mrtaurus@hotbull.com

(LINK: Case of Samar Ghosh vs Jaya Ghosh,Mental cruelty to spouse, Supreme Court )

What's your take?

This post was triggered by a mock interview and the question :"Quick comments on love, specially when we have Valentine's Day coming,10 days from now. "
I think it was rather disappointing when I told him " I don't believe in romantic love anymore. It is just a matter of convenience"

Let me elaborate.
The one is an over hyped concept. Nothing like that exists. That's my take. We are all trying to invent reasons to make our lives more meaningful... more purposeful..
In the end.. it's just a delusion. Or as one of my wise friends puts it " Just a decision". Yeah..maybe...a decision triggered by the thought processes in a particular time frame. At another place, another time your decision could be different. Parallel universe, multiple histories- call it whatever you may.. but think of it- what if "the one" for you never met you!!
There are so many billion people out there..what's the probability that you met the right one?
"And yet we decide on one"
Because we assign the importance to a person or an event. Itself it means nothing. And our view of "importance" is so absurdly myopic, born out of our need to make choices for survival.

Think of your existence compared to the vastness of the ever-expanding universe.
Try to imagine how scant , how important you are. And how ridiculous it is to find meaning in the modern desk jobs, material achievements, accolades etcetera etcetera.
Don't you see the inanity of your over indulgence in the accumulation of a few molecules which you call yourself- Aparna, Bryan or Zhang ?

And yet, we try to find meaning to our existence, which spans only across a blink of the universe. And we "believe" we will leave behind us a legacy - a pool of genes that will fight for its survival till Doomsday. By then they might have evolved or mutated to becomes chimps or some creature hitherto unknown to human history. But who cares? We know our days are numbered. And maybe that is why we try to give some meaning to it, feel alive, feel content.

10 ways to lose a gal

I couldn't have written this post without inputs from one of the most eligible bachelors I know, who has successfully preserved his "single" status for years now.

1. Demean her folks. No girl can tolerate her guy constantly trying to degrade her family.

2. Talk about your past GFs as if they were all demi-goddesses. Even if she discovers later that one was a psychotic bitch, another a case of overdose of steroids, and yet another just got back from a rehabilitation center for stabbing her neighbor's cat some 29 times.

3. Try playing musical instruments you really suck at.
The cacophony in the guise of serenade will give her nightmares.

4. Wear socks that stink. Don't change them even if you have itching erythema and edema of feet. Don't brush your teeth when you kiss her. Make sure she faints once or twice (at least)

5. Tell her " You can never be like my Mom"
Never cook like her.. never be caring like her etc.
Stress on never

6. Flirt with her friends. Take particular unhealthy interest in her best friend.

7. Talk about your female colleagues at office with special reference to the size of the assets of each one as if you had a measuring tape with you.

8. Insist on having/not having sex. Always the contrary to what she wants.

9. Show attitude. Try to prove you are too good for her.

10. If nothing works, try "the unfeeling bastard" approach. If she says she is having a headache or stomach ache or something of that sort..tell her she has it 365 days a year- "So what's new?"

And she might just ask you to F#@^ off

( DISCLAIMER: To those sweethearts who got worried - this post has nothing to do with my personal life. Lol. I'll tell you when to take the post seriously)