A Beautiful Day!!

The sky is out shopping today - it is changing its look a bit too often. And you can feel its mood swings.

One minute its looks like its bright and shiny. All set with the sandals and a hat to go to the beach and the next moment its like settling down for a lazy day ahead with feet up on the sofa, curtains closed and watching a favorite movie. And the rain acts up suddenly.

How does all this happen so fast? Its amazing. Wonder what its thinking.

Its a beautiful day!!

Explicit Talks!!!!!

Work has calmed down as the year is coming to a close; Micro-Economics seems to make no sense to me at all; My car looks as good as new after the small dent repair; Need to get a manicure; Have to buy a keychain as the Thailand keychain broke; Have to drink lots of water; Need to be less on the internet; Have to clean my cupboard; Have to ask my sister if she is ever going to empty a drawer for me to keep my books; Computer files have to be sorted out; Laptop battery to be replaced; Time to sleep. *Yawn**Yawn**Yawn*

How about havin a 'My Day'?

We humans have allotted days to be grateful to everyone in our lives except for ourselves. Its nice to know how selfless we have become but like we have Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Bosses' Day, Valentines Day, Aids Awareness Day, we must have a "My Day". A day that should be declared every once in a year where we would celebrate the fact that every individual makes a difference to the world, to someone's life, to the environment or to him/her self in however big or small way. With respect to this contribution, this day should be given high importance. Besides we hardly find time for ourselves so this day would in a way help touch base with ones inner self.

On this auspicious day, everyone should be allowed to do whatever he/she wishes to do. For instance, no compulsion to go to work, sit in front of the TV the whole day till your eyes pop, shop for yourself till your wallet is exhausted. In other words, do anything that ones' heart pleases. And absloutely no one is allowed to question the actions/behaviour. And mind you, when I say allowed to do whatever I mean whatever that is permissible by law. Does not include stealing, spitting in public, banging into your not-too-favorite person's car, sticking gum in your bosses' hat/cap and other things on the same lines just because its "My Day".

Obviously this day comes with a condition - Adheres to individuals over & above 21 years of age.

Sorry for being mean, but its basically for people who understand the meaning of this day. And besides it would make no sense if children were home on this day. Then it would turn out to be just like a weekend. So, children have to go to school.

Can you imagine the advantages of this day?

Its time!!!!!

Its that time of the year. Yup, I know it. I can feel it. I know when its coming.

I know its time for me to take a break. From work. And this time I am going to make sure its a loooooooooooongg vacation.

What the.....????????????

Man! What's wrong with people in Dubai??I mean how in the world can anyone step out of their air-conditioned homes to go for a damn walk in the park - IN THIS HUMID, SUFFOCATING, CHOKING WEATHER??? And you know why I am able to comment on the weather so well - its because I just came back from one.

Now Now...calm down. I am not being a hypocrite. Long story short. I left office at 5pm and as usual I felt damn good getting a little warmth on my skin as the a/c duct in my office is exactly over my head which permanently has left the top part of my head numb. Anyways, so i walked towards my car, sat into it. And switched on the a/c. Now when I was on my way towards home, I saw a number of people walking outside Zabeel Park and there were some nit-wits who were playing and rolling on the grass. So, I really thought that since there are so many people, there should something good about the weather. I excitedly came home, woke up my sister who was dead beat after school and asked her to join me for a WALK. She got up half heartedly, argued with me for not willing to go, I argued back convincing her to go as a little exercise can do no harm to anyone. So we left.

Half way towards the park both of us were in high-spirits. (Atleast I was) But the actual trauma started after the half way. Man, it was sweaty. Now I was in a position where I couldnt really let out my feelings about the way I felt of the situation. It was getting bad. And I dare not look at my sister. I just sped up so that I would really not have to face her at all. Anyways, I did try & complete one round. When I came back, my sister was waiting for me. I just nodded at her and pretended that i was busy listening to my iPod. Not one word. We dint exchange a single word during our whole journey back home. And guess who is waiting for us at home to do a lil break dance on our hurting nerves? My mom. The first thing she says is that we look like over-ripe dates. Thanks Mom. Whoever calls their own flesh and blood over-ripe dates.

My sister is still not talking to me. :) :) :)

Can I now call myself "a Europe return"?

Its been a week and a half since I have been back from my trip and well, i just thought I should document it. It was really surprising to know that some people relate to Europe only when you tell them that you have been to London. London=Europe for them. So, just for the clarifications, I did not visit London. Vienna, Salzburg, Munich & Amsterdam are the places which were the lucky to have me.

Well to begin with, visiting these places was a very different experience. What I really found enthralling was that though these places are geographically closely located, every place has a different look.

Wien uff Vienna, to begin with, is absolutely beautiful. The cool non-polluted air to breathe, the open spaces in the middle of a market areas, the cathedrals, museums, palaces are refreshing sights to see. We visited St. Stephens Cathedral which is in the heart of the city built in 1147AD. A huge, amazing monument. What really fascinated me was that the interior & the exterior gave a very gothic feel to it. You know, when you see it, that it has a lot of history to it. I felt like the impressions on the wall had a been changed over the period of time to cover some secrets. Or maybe I felt that because I am reading a lot of Dan Brown lately :) Outside the cathedral is a huge area where people mingle, performers perform to earn money, students do a skit or dance for the public.They are so liberated and express themselves in really different ways. We also met some performers dressed as kings and queens selling tickets to opera shows. And after a short conversation with one of them we did end up buying tickets to one of the show. Also, another amazing monument which we visited was the Schonbrunn Palace. The palace covers an enormous area which includes gardens, parks, zoo, a maze and is also in the list of Unesco World Cultural Heritage sites. Besides that we saw a lot of the city on foot and also went for a chariot ride where they take us through the city explaining the major sites. Oh yes, and Mozart at the age of 7 had his first performance in Vienna.

Salzburg is an hour and a half away from Vienna by rail. A very small town. Initially, Salzburg was not on our itinerary but eventually we did go there realising that if we wouldnt have visited this place - it would have been a major miss. Scenically, the best out of all, it is also on the list of Unesco World Cultural Heritage Sites for its breathtaking beauty. During the day, we had hired cycles and we pretty much saw the whole city by reading the maps and finding places. We visited the Mirabellagarten, a garden famous for its mystical figures and also one of the sites where the movie "Sound of Music" was shot. We had also taken an excursion through the lakes and mountains which was an experience never to forget. I saw snow and we clicked lots of pictures as every angle we saw was worth capturing. There was a stop at a small village called St. Wolfgang where we saw a lake, Mozarts mother's house, a gothic church. Salzburg also gave us a temporary souvenir: Bum ache from riding the cycles. For the next 3 days we looked physically challenged. But at the end of it, it was all worth it.

Munich also known as Munchen in Germany was, well nice. To describe the city in one word: Eerie and grey. Not a very active city. It has a lot of really really huge monuments starting from the airport. Also, a city with a lot of museums. We did visit one museum known as the Bayern Krones or something like that. Dont remember the name clearly but it gave us an insight into the Bavarian kingdom. In the palace was a huge 5 room vault which was known as the treasury which had tons and tons of gold, silver, diamonds and the most mind boggling was the Crown. The Crown actually worn by the King during the era was showcased with extra security. Felt like I was in a movie set with robbery as the base theme. The city is gearing up for the FIFA 2006 coming up in June.

Amsterdam. Very colorful place. Will explain to you why so. It is because there are loads of beautiful places to visit. Madurodam, a place where the entire Holland is in miniature.Its in a city called Hague. A must-see. Kuekenhoff which is the tulip garden spread over 50 acres of land. Madam Tussad's Museum- just like the one in London. We clicked snaps with Pierce Brosnan and Robbie Williams. But we were a little upset to know that they dont have the statue of Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan.Kya hai ye? The beautifully lit canals give a different feel to the city at nights. One major event we had the priviledge to experience was the arriving of the Queen of Luxemberg as she was visiting the city. We saw the guards, police, soldiers, students and public waiting for the royalty to arrive. We eagerly waited for like 45mins with our cameras in our hands. Its a different story that we never got to see the queen as the convoy of cars came, passed us and went. Though I did happen to see a lady in the car with a feather hat. It think it was her.

The nights in Amsterdam are the highlights of the entire trip. While visiting the pubs and roaming the streets, we came to realise that soft drugs & well, to put it in nice words "pleasure" activities is legally allowed by the government. And even more surprising is that when we visited the much heard about Red Light District we realised that its a tourist spot i.e. the tour operators actually give a tour of the place. Cool huh? Women along with their men freely roamed the place. No children allowed ofcourse. A couple of men seemed awe-struck, so I am sure the kids will be in a state of coma after seeing the half-naked women dancing in the windows.

During the whole trip, we used 9 types of transportation: Airplane, train, bus, tram, bicycle, sub, horse cart, boat and walking ofcourse. A very fulfilling experience.

Forwarded mails

DO NOT SEND ME DEPRESSING MAILS AS FORWARDS. This is clearly what I had written to the people in my address book when I notified them of my new email add. Dont people understand. Why on earth do people send depressing mails to other happy people? Why cant they just get depressed themselves and leave it there?For crying out loud there are like tons of things that happen to people in their daily lives which may get them sad, disappointed.To top it even emails help fill in the crack.Thanks to 'those' kind of people who forward it to others.

I mean I get all kinds of ridiculous stuff - and some of them are so out of line. Like for instance I was reading this mail which had a subject:Beautiful Coats.Now the first thing that would come into anyone's area of thinking after reading the subject would be that a friend of yours has forwarded a mail on some chic happening trendy coats. But nooooooo. Nope, thats not it. Firstly its "Quotes" misspelled. I guess this mail originated somewhere in France. Anyways, its a powerpoint presentation with really cute baby pictures in it and every slide has a "motivational" quote. The first slide shows a baby with the cutest smile and the quote says something about leaving your loved ones with loving words.......as it may be their "last words" they hear. What the......????And the second one is even better. It says "I believe....that no matter how bad you feel, the world doesnt stop for you". That space is for the void space in my mind. All I can say is that whoever created this mail is a loony. Cute baby pictures and quotes about end of life or how indifferent the world is. Can anyone connect to this?

Please send me something which enlightens me with great knowledge and information like the spicy video clips from Lakme Fashion Week ;)

Dubai Rocks!!

Its raining in Dubai. Its raining. Its raining. I find it very captivating to see people running with polythene bags on their head to save themselves from getting wet. You know, its not a usual sight in this part of the world. The whole impression of the city has changed. Roads and the buildings seem unusual, people look different and definitely everyone get into a different mood altogether.

I'd rather step out. And just tilt my head towards the sky and let the rain drops fall on my face. Its so invigorating. Liberating.

Play in the rain. That reminds me of my childhood. Whenever it used to rain we used to go out in the parking lot. There was a slope for the cars to come in and out and thats where the water used to get collected. We used to take our shoes in our hand and splash in the water. And ofcourse how can I forget the paper boats. It was like a ritual. And to think about it maybe the water used to get collected because of the excessive paper boats which used to clog the drain.

Its feels like nature is stretching out its hands & reaching out for us.

I got a job!!!!

Woww...I am blogging after a long long time. Anyways forget that. I am blogging today for a reason and the reason is the give out some news.

Well, the good news is that I got a job and for some reason I feel like I gave out the news in the title itself but anyways I couldnt think of a better title.

So, let me tell you about the whole experience from the time little before I got my job to date. I started looking out for a job two weeks before I landed with the current one and it was the longest two weeks of my life. You may think I am exaggerating as I am famous for it but believe me it feels like that when the job you are in feels like a nervous breakdown is due anytime and it is a serious thing when it may happen to someone else because of me. So, all I can say is this job came by just in time.

And what can I say about my current job. Its absolutely what I had dreamed off. My list included less work, more pay, 5 days a week, close to home, less irritating boss, a big cabin. I got most of it checked off my list except the last thing - a big cabin. And dont think I am complaining - just commenting.

To begin with my desk, it measures up to exactly 2ft x 2ft. When my IT incharge came to install my PC, he quite accurately said that he thinks my place is pretty 'cute'. He really could not find place to put the PC so he left it on my table and left. Now my table holds a monitor, a PC, a telephone and it pretty much fills up the entire table which leaves my keyboard and mouse hanging half on and off the table. And as you can understand that I have no space to keep my arms while typing and when I showed a little concern over this, guess what was the alternate solution they could come up with. A chair with armrests. So, when I have to type now I have to bring my chair really close to the table so I can place my arms on the rests and type away to glory.

Below my 'cute' table is a drawer which leaves 1ft space for my legs and a dustbin. Infront of me and on my left hand-side is wall. On my right hand side is a enormous cupboard. In front of the cupboard is a huge printer which makes an earsplitting noise while printing. My kind colleague did comment one day that the printer emits harmful radiation which can prove harmful to a body. I asked him like a vulnerable soul if we could do anything to protect me and he said "ofcourse". He did come up with an innovative idea and turned the position of printer to avoid radiation hitting me directly. So kind of him. And just for your information, my company deals in equipment which detects harmful radiation thus protecting the workers from the exposure.

Otherwise everything is more or less like I wanted. I guess.....