I don't remember when was the last time I laughed so much...! I had thought that I would leave latest by 9 pm, but I finally reached home at 11 :P

Some observations about life- 

*Harmless flirting is the most amazing and healthy thing in the world

*It's great to meet old aquaintances after a long time- you have so much to talk about :)

*Laughter is the best medicine

*It's surprising how you can somehow meet people after 2-3 years and yet, just pick up the threads from where you last left them...

All in all, a great party- I'm really glad I decided to pull myself out of bed for this one :D

GiST

Came across this site called Grace in Small Things. The concept is just soo simple that you'd be surprised you never thought of it. It's just about being thankful about the small things in life. We all find it so much easier to crib about life, work, relationships, families etc... but how often do we feel thankful for the good things? So this site gets people together to fight against embitterment, against sarcasm, against cribbing.... :) 

All you have to do, is say thanks for 5 good things everyday...It's not going to be as simple as that though... bcoz we are conditioned  in such a way that we cannot see the good in people/situations/life... frankly- when I sat down to write, I really couldn't think of a lot of things to say grace about. But that  doesn't mean we can't try :) 

Random

I have decided to take on the issue of online privacy very seriously. I had had issues with this earlier also- but this time I am adamant. I have deleted my Orkut, Facebook and Linkedin profiles and have made my blog personal. But now the problem is that, if I know that no one can read it, there's no fun in writing it. So I'm still trying to work out some way in which people who I know can read this- but strangers cannot look me up via google or something. 

Hori khele raghuveera awadh mei... hori khele...

Yesterday's holi celebrations were awesome fun..! One of the perks of staying in a HUGE joint family is that every festival becomes that much more special and fun :D  

As usual the start was simple- with people being drenched with buckets of water,  being pelted with balloons and smeared with abeer and gulaal. Then obviously the entire gang (read 30 ppl) started targeting one person at a time and he/she would be thrown to the ground and basically left in such a beggarly state that even their parents wouldn't recognise them :D

The best part was the expression on R's face when A smeared her with what we call "keechadd" (and not just once- every time she got a little cleaned up, he would come from behind and smear that horrible muck on her) :D It's not gross if it's not being put on you and you can stand and laugh at someone else's plight :D 

Well after a while, people got hungry and gorged on the amazing food (paani puri was awesome!)... but but but... the second round of playing got worse! Soon people were pelting food on each other (that was my cue to disappear quietly :D) 

But all in all- the festival was celebrated in its true spirit- with elders and youngsters joining with equal gusto... and the kids were amazing.... they just couldn't get enough of the fun :)

Random random random stuff

Reading has become theraupatic for me. Earlier I read simply coz I enjoyed it... now I also read coz it helps me calm down and does not let my mind stray... There was a time I loved dancing for the same reasons... that it helped me just live in the moment.

For those who think that Harry Potter is just for kids- I used to think the same at one point of time (it was also partly due to my loyalties towards Enid Blyton). But, when you actually read it, believe me you'll realise the fun of reading a children's book again. It's a magical world and I don't mind believing in witches and wizards and goblins and elves for a short span of time- until you break out of that mood and come back to earth :)

The papers had a story of a young girl from Kolkata who went to a guy friend's place for a party where the guy's friends gangraped her! Along with the instant reaction of anger and shock, came the realisation that I could have easily been in that girl's place! For the first time in my life I find myself questioning my sense of judgement about my friends. How many nights have been spent giggling, joking and partying with friends on campus... how many outings have been made with the guys- to far-off places in Kerala... how many times have I been to friends' places in Mumbai...?? This girl did the same thing- she went to a 'friend's' place... what is sad is that one incident makes everyone stand back and re-look and question their own circle of trust. The next time a friend asks me over or some friends plan an outing- I'm gonna think twice about it. I'm sorry that it's like this :(

Spent a large part of the day working on my latest B-Plan...what I realised was that when you're working on something that excites you- you don't give a damn about what time it is or whether you're tired or not.. somehow you keep working, keep coming up with new things and your fingers just fly on the keyboard. Lunch time is not important, even having to pee is not important coz you don't wanna be pulled away from the screen... :)

Couple of random things...

When you get too excited about something- things are bound to go wrong somewhere.... you know like you've been waiting for this weekend trip for a long time, but when Saturday comes- you find it raining cats and dogs... or you've waited months for a particular event and something goes wrong or it's not really as much fun as you'd hoped... well life is like that... 

Some people are so egoistic you can't believe it!! I've had my share of snob relatives/aquaintances- who think they are  god's gift to mankind and would never condescend to talk to or mingle with other lesser mortals... I say- such people have a really false sense of importance and they can go wash their heads in the toilet! :D Though I guess such people wouldn't condescend to read MY blog, so they wouldn't read my piece of advice to them... tsk tsk tsk... :D 

I like orkut... but I'd like to know if there is some way in which you can cancel someone from your friend list... like maybe I can banish them from my kingdom... :D

Memories are wierd things... they have the ability to make you laugh or smile or cry :) Though as you get older, even the sadder times will evoke a smile from your face- as you realise that well, life isn't all that bad... So, if you're down today... tomorrow you'll smile at the memory of this day coz you'll realise that your were sad for no great reason.. :)

Updates

Nothing new happening in life actually... met up with an old friend from IIMK & his wife... felt really nice to relive those old days.... and actually after meeting we realised that we had never really been good friends in the proper sense of the word... guess we were just acquaintances- but the mutual liking and respect ensured that we 3 had a really nice time together...amazing pastry at Kookie jar and then a flopped trip to Victoria Memorial, ensured the day was pretty memorable :)

Landed up at a friend's place at 7am to give her bday wishes.... we entered her room, with the cake, singing "Happy Bday" at the top of our voices.... and when she suddenly woke up completely shocked, we knew we had achieved what we had set out for :) Then an amazing english breakfast at Flury's... not to forget Rashi's rendition of Happy Bday on the saxophone...
overall a very cool start to a long day....

Picked/stole this one from Sheeba's blog. It just says so much :)

You know what I like about blogging? I like it when people read what I've written and relate to it. Sometimes they'll leave a comment, totally empathising with my thoughts or situation. Sometimes they even call or ping on gtalk and say that they could totally relate to what I felt... or give me their views... the best is when people leave messages saying that I shouldn't feel down, or give me advice to keep calm etc... It's nice to know that I am not a freak and others go through similiar patterns or thoughts like I do...

The boss' daughter

You know what's the difficult part about being the boss' daughter? People don't take you seriously. They treat you as either of the following-
a) Some dumb female who'se just doing timepass till she gets married
b) The boss' daughter- who you have to speak only in monosyllables with and always look down at her feet!!

Phew! 1/3rd of my Life!

I'm turning 25 tomorrow. There I've said it! I've reached a milestone in life, though I'm not taking any credit for it :)

I don't know how that makes me feel... some times I think, "What's the big deal!" A person is only as old as his heart thinks...and then sometimes I think-"Gosh, I'm gonna be 25!" That's like a third of my life gone (considering I live to be 75!?) :P

Physically, I don't think it makes any difference to me, or my attitude or enthusiasm. Mentally too, I am not really feeling that I've become any older (although I do get into "generation-gap issues" with my younger sister..) What I'm actually thinking about, is about what I achieved in these 25 years. Maybe I'm being a little harsh with myself, but I do think that there are so many people who've done so much more in Life at my age, and maybe I haven't really achieved enough.

Maybe I've done better than some people I know and worse than others. I could avoid comparisons with my peer group and just evaluate myself based on how close I am to acheiving my goals in life... Well not as close as I would like to be, but I'm not doing all that bad :)

Here's wishing myself a Very Happy Birthday..! Hope this year goes much better than the last :)

"Babudom", here I come...

I am sad to admit that I have also become part of the "babu" culture of Kolkata. I reach office lazily at 9.30- 9.45 am. I take long chai breaks in office...and if I'm not in the mood to work, I just walk into the nearby Oxford store and spend an hour or so there. This is the one thing I was afraid of and never intended to happen to me. I always thought that I would be the kind of person who enjoys office and gives her best at everything. Even though I quit my job for the very same reason (not getting enthused enough about my job), I just hope this complacency doesn't become a part of me.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend :))
Can't wait for the day to end and Tomorrow to come :)

I am glad to inform everyone that I have quit my job! :D
yippeeee....! :P

I am down in bed with viral and am feeling very very miserable. I wanna go out and have fun. I wanna sing and dance. I wanna go swimming, I wanna party....(pout). It's not like I was actually doing all this stuff when I was fit, but just the fact that I can't do all this stuff angers me.

Btw, I've been trying to go get up in the morning (6 am!) to go swimming and have failed miserably the whole of last week. And my mom wakes up every morning and asks me, "Did you go swimming today?" with a wicked glint in her eyes- because she knows I haven't! As soon as I am out of bed first thing I'm going to do is buy a new costume (to give me an incentive :P) and then I'm going back into the water :)

Elaan

Have been meaning to introduce "Elaan" to this space for quite some time- but have been kinda busy. Elaan is this NGO that I have been interacting with for the past few months. They deal with Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). It's rare that you get to see such a motivated group of youngsters working for a cause they all strongly believe in. The owner is all of 21 yrs of age and Elaan is a full-time commitment for her...!

There is just so much filth in the world, you won't believe. How can you explain perfectly normal, married men, "touching" their nieces? Or some old grandfather spending some quality time with his grandchild (feeling him/her up!) What is sad is that once these kids grow up (it could be a male or female child) only then do they realise the extent of what has happened to them. Targeting a child has to be the most heinous of all crimes!!

Please do visit Elaan's website here and their blog. In case someone wants to help out in any way, you are most welcome.

Music has this amazing quality- it can easily steer your mood. My mood decides what kind of music I want to hear and the music decides what mood I am in. Sometimes a song can make me completely senti like no words can. Yet at times when I'm in a horrible mood, it can suddenly make me feel all pepped up. At a party, I start off by really enjoying the upbeat rhythm, but as the night wanes, I somehow get senti- Don't know about what, but I just feel like sitting there on the floor, under the psychedelic lights and just absorbing the whole thing... It makes me really frustrated coz I don't know what gets into me.. yet I somehow enjoy that sad feeling in a masochistic way.

Like now- I was sitting and listening to some general music- and slowly slowly the words start playing in your head, and it's no longer playing in the background... somehow it crawls into my mind and you start relating to the lyrics. Somehow I love that yet hate it... I was more comfortable when the words didn't make any sense....

Can you cook? :P

Who says India has become advanced? Who says Western influence has come in and is spoiling our culture (I so wish that were true!)? I think that our country is still living in that purana zamaana and the onus is on our generation to do something about it.

You still have the same ol' tradition of arranged marriage- guy's family and the girl's family meet at some place (the girl's side has to pay for the expenses!). The girl had better be dressed in a saree (never mind if she's never worn it in her life, and in most probability won't be wearing it on a daily basis). Questions asked to the girl- and this is the best part- so listen up-

a) What's your name? (At least read the bio-data before coming!)
b) How much have you studied? (refer to above point!)
c) Can you cook? (let's say she can cook... listen to the next one-)
d) Can you cook variety items? (Variety items??? huh?)
d) Do you know ghar ka kaam-kaaj? (like what? jhaadu-bartan-kapde dhona? that's why you want a bahu?)
e) Have you done any extra classes- like painting, cooking classes? (huh??)
f) Do you like going out? (this has to be the best one so far...! :D)
And the last and most important one-
g) Do you have any brothers? No? No brothers at all? Only sisters? Ohh.... Looks at the dad and says, "No sons?"

Not even one question judges the person within... nothing about what you want to be in life.. nothing about your personality... nothing about your expectations.... total timepass... and at least if the guy had been good looking, the evening would not have felt such a waste :D

I love impulse shopping :D

I went down to find a mobile shop and ended up buying a 2 books from the roadside vendor :)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and err... umm... I picked up a Mills & Boon (there I've said it!) I just couldn't resist myself- the vendor must have thought I'm some college kid who's high on hormone these days :D He kept showing me the M&B (I must really look like one of those desperate kids! ;)
Well, so I said wtf- I'll buy it :)

So now I have 2 novels lying on my desk and I don't wanna work anymore :D