Aug 11, 2007

My brain must have been fried to half its size by now. I've spent about 5 hours on the phone since this morning. When my phone's battery threatened to give up, I switched phones with my hubby, who's busy waiting for an interview since forever. We reached the gates of this company around 10:00 am; he waited for an hour and a half for the first interview. Upon my reminding him of my existence after the first interview was over, he joined me downstairs in the cafeteria for a quick pineapple juice. I'm glad, because that's all he had since the mind-blowing breakfast of bun-omelette, cream rolls, and bournvita that I so lovingly prepared for him this morning, as a token of my good wishes for his interview. I hope that does him good. It's past 5:00 pm now, and I've survived on a litre of water and sweetlime juice.

So, what was I doing on the phone for so long? Have I inherited a fortune to burn away like that? Well, no. It was a planned attempt to tick off items on my to-do list, one of which included making phone calls--to the numerous construction companies whose information I had collected off the Internet (thank God for this wonder). I must have called about 30 of those and short-listed about 10. Those 10, will be paid a visit tomorrow. I am determined to end my house-hunt this week. I also found time to check my old Inbox (from the previous job) and remove part of the unwanted stuff. That was besides organizing my papers for two different applications to two different banks, and my broadband application (note that this added some items to my to-do list). Inspite of all that, the wait wasn't over. So I decided to utilize the time to make courtesy calls to all of the in-laws and their family friends that live in the same city. The wait, though, was not yet over. So I called my mumma and spoke to her for half an hour. The wait was still not over. In frustration, tired of walking, and of the congested air inside the cafeteria, I came outside to spread out (cross-legged, not literally) on the lawn. I guess that's the best part of the day.

Thankfully, I still had enough power in my wonderful laptop to log on and vent myself. I'm feeling much better now. And I also noticed that I was ignoring my sweet little laptop for a long time now. Seems like I don't give my first big (read most expensive) device as much value and attention as I should. It has helped me in many desperate moments of work and many boring and irritating situations like these. I'm glad I bought it. And now, my stomach has started rumbling so loudly that I'll have to stop (besides, the battery's almost drained out). Sorry to bore you all with this extremely stupid post. Get away and have fun.

Damn! I knew this...

You Are Great With Money

You know the value of a dollar - and you save and spend wisely. By living below your means, you've set yourself up for a rich future. And while it may hurt to sacrifice now, you'll probably have plenty of money later on. You're on your way to riches - just keep it up.

Are You Good With Money?

Sometimes I think I'm a big spendthrift, but I may not be one, truly.

This is something I picked from http://www.blogthings.com a long while ago, but never posted. It rings so true yet again inspite of the financial situation changing drastically... we'll be paying one person's salary off as the EMI for our car, house, and other things that we might take a loan for. Call me foolish, but I know how I've managed this money, and got the things I wanted, so I'll pat my back on my own ;-)

Aug 25, 2007: A day of many Firsts

The past Saturday saw many things happening for the first time, including:

1. The arrival of my in-laws at our house (strategically preceded by my mom's arrival the previous day :-))
2. The delivery of our new car (safely driven home by my uncle) and the related -
1. Successful parking experiment by my hubby
2. Unexpected denting while retrieving the vehicle from the parking lot (shhh!)
3. Uneventful drive by me
4. Good ride by my friend Meg
3. The meeting with my dear friend Meg in Pune since we both shifted to Bangalore (I shifted to Bangalore - she got married - she shifted to Bangalore - I got married - I moved back to Pune - waiting for her to move back)
4. The meeting with our (Meg's and mine) dear friend TheBug and his new bride for the first time since they got married (I doubt his bride'll ever want another meeting again--we almost made TheBug yank her out of the bedroom to meet us in the parking lot and then didn't allow her to open her mouth!!)

These are the things, which, inspite of my illness kept me in high spirits through a sleepless night. Sadly, no pictures to go with this post, but I'm sure this will bring warmth when I read it over again in the future.

Yet another sequel to

...my blueness :)

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Overwhelmed

Yes, that's what I am, these days. But naturally, considering that we've recently changed cities, switched jobs, and are house-and-car-hunting. Not to forget that it's tax payment time. The backlog of chores is never cleared. There's always something left to be done. This, despite the fact that I took a month off between leaving the previous job and reporting to the new one! I'd planned a million things to refresh myself before I got into the daily grind again, none of which ever happened. There were books to be read, blog posts to be written, swimming to done, massages to be taken, sunsets to be enjoyed, exercise and diet to be planned, trips to be made, and a lot more unwinding to be done. The book I began to read had to be returned to the library since I had to move to another city. The blog posts required an Internet connection; the cyber cafe I visited had keyboards from hell. I went for swimming one evening and caught a bad cold the very next day. The massage sessions were to be abandoned abruptly since the cold was followed by a bout of fever. By the time I finished the days' chores, I was too tired to drag myself to the rooftop to watch the sunsets. There were numerous exercise and diet plans in my mind but none of them ever got implemented. Fortunately, we could do a nice little day trip thanks to my uncle, but that was the one and only highlight of my so-called vacation between jobs. But I have to go on this way until I find a house worth buying, before the property rates soar well above our "aukaad". Just to make this post not look so sad, I'm gonna end it with pretty pictures I took during the trip to Tamhini ghat.

Yes, it was a four-lane road when we began... then it trickled down to an almost-two-lane ghat.

We saw such beauty while driving down... to no particular destination.

So we had to park our car...

...and get our feet in there!

Even the rocks couldn't help but sustain life!

We drank the water from this tiny spring trickling down the stones. And the water was pure bliss. Did I mention that the water taps in house brought in murky water? But this was pristine!

A lonely, half-dead tree amongst the greenery. This fella would also sprout into more branches a while later. It was just the beginning of monsoon!

That's a river bed, my friends, and those aren't people potty training, those are barks of trees that grew out of there decades ago.

One of the few cute little stray mushrooms we encountered.

This is where we made our final halt...

...before turning back to the way home.

And on the return journey, this is what gave us company all along.

So we took some pits stops, yet again ;-)

Oh, and all this was accompanied by a sumptuous meal of misal-poli, kaanda-bhaji, and steaming hot chai and coffee :D Basically, this whole trip made up for the relaxation and rest that I couldn't get during my vacation. Now, when I get my car, you know where to find me on weekends. Not to forget: for all the inconvenience and irritating things and people that overwhelmed me, this was the one good thing that made me feel euphoric.
He he eh eheh!
Sorry, but that's the latest addition to my peculiar habits--the villainous laugh.

The universe (still) speaks to me

I got the answer I was seeking from the universe in my previous post. Around the same time that I felt this strng urge to get the feeling out of my system, the Hyderabad blasts took place.
Pasting the news article here so that it isn't lost when they delete the piece:

Bomb blasts rock Hyderabad, 5 killedPTI
[FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2007 03:10:03 PM]
HYDERABAD: Five persons were killed and four others, including two children, were injured when a bomb exploded in the historic Mecca mosque in the Charminar area of the old city here. The bomb exploded when thousands of people were gathered in the mosque for Friday prayers, DCP South Zone, Kanta Rao said. The bomb exploded around 1.30 PM and people ran outside in panic. Stones were pelted at the nearby shops and police personnel by an angry group of people. The local Majlis MP, Asauddin Owaissi, however, claimed that six people had died and 15 were injured seriously. The Mecca mosque is historic, said to be over 400 years old, and considered holy by people of Hyderabad, the rest of Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajshekhar Reddy, who is in Delhi, talked to the DGP Basith and other senior state government officials and took stock of the situation. Home Minister Jana Reddy said that police reinforcements are being sent to the area and the situation would be brought under control. Police were yet to identify the people who could have been behind the blast. They said an unattended bag has been found from the spot. Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh told reporters on the spot that the bag has been sent for defusing. Most of the injured have been admitted to the Osmania hospital. Four of them are in a serious condition, Dr Sreenivas of the hospital said.

Baawaraa mann

Everything seemed normal this morning till I reached office and sat at my desk. Then I opened GMail to check the usual mails and be online on GTalk. I noticed that the friend I usually talked with wasn't online and so called him. We had a nice long chat. It's past lunch time now, and still there's not a thing out of place. But ever since that moment when I logged onto my workstation this morning, my mind has been shivering. I have no idea what it is about, but I am disturbed. Once I got back to my desk, after talking to the friend I mentioned before, I heard the strains of the song "Baawaraa mann..." (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi) coming from a colleague's desk. This song always grips me for some reason. I quickly opened a media player and added this song to the playlist, along with a few other good songs so as not to get bored. I have been working since, with the music playing in my eardrums, but something's wrong. I'm feeling so full of some unexplainable emotion that I wanted to cry. In fact, I did. Just a few minutes back. I could take it no more. I turned on the aforementioned song on full volume into my earphones, covered my eyes, and shed a few tears. I have this huge feeling of something being wrong somewhere. And I know that I won't come to know what it is so soon. It may or may not be related to me, or someone very close to me, but something's happening. I don't even want to hope that it isn't too bad, for I feel that it's unavoidable and it's happening for a reason. The feeling was so strong that I had to get it out of my system. That is why this post. Maybe nothing happens. And then, in a couple of days, I might just delete this post. But for now, it stays.
:(

My mental radar started working and trying to scan the universe to know what's happening. I took a cue from the song, and my sudden strong urge to listen to it repeatedly. Till now I hadn't seen the movie and didn't even bother to know what it is about. I looked at IMDB and came to know it was about the political crisis that occurred in my country a few decades ago. Now, the song has got nothing to do with politics. But I'm just trying to guess the connection of all this with my state of mind--anything wrong going to happen in India's political scene? Anything that affects our lives adversely? But then, why am I emotionally unstable due to it? Politics is the last thing I want to think or know about. Seriously. Most politicians disgust me. Knock, knock, universe? Any answers? Till then, I'm off to some Googling. And work. That doesn't stop for anyone.

Addendum:

• Oh, well. Another piece of news for me. Till now, I never realized, inspite of listening to this song umpteen times, that it was sung by Shubha Mudgal, not a man!
  Oops! Just double-checked... there is a version of the song sung by Swanand Kirkire, a man :D I like Shubha's version too. She has a very strong voice and I like that!
  
• A search for "shivering mind" on Google for images gave me two things that caught my eye: the first image above (titled humpback_whale_lips, which is self-explanatory), and the second one here at the end. I liked both :) But none of them give me an answer. Guess I'll give up and get back to full-fledged work now.

So I can't resist. So here are the lyrics:

Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna
Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna

Bavre Se Mann Ki Dekho Bavri Hain Baatein
Bavre Se Mann Ki Dekho Bavri Hain Baatein
Bavri Se Dhadkaane Hain, Bavri Hain Saansen
Bavri Si Karwaton Se Nindiya Door Bhaage
Bavre Se Nain Chaahe, Bavre Jharokhon Se, Bavre Nazaron Ko Takna
Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna

Bavre Se Is Jahan Main Bavra Ek Saath Ho
Is Sayani Bheed Main, Bas, Haathon Mein Tera Haath Ho
Bavri Si Dhun Ho Koi, Bavra Ek Raag Ho
Bavri Si Dhun Ho Koi, Bavra Ek Raag Ho
Bavre Se Pair Chahen, Baavron Tarano Ke, Bavre Se Bol Pe Thirakna
Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna

Bavra Sa Ho Andhera, Bavri Khamoshiyan
Bavra Sa Ho Andhera, Bavri Khamoshiyan
Thartharati Lau Ho Maddham, Bavri Madhoshiyan
Bavra Ek Ghooghta Chahe, Haule Haule Bin Bataye
Bavra Ek Ghooghta Chahe, Haule Haule Bin Bataye
Bavre Se Mukhde Se Sarakana
Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna

Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna
Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna
Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna