Thursday, May 31, 2007

Justice, say cheese and jive

  1. An extremely cheeky, rude and annoying person gets a taste of his own medicine. For once, he's at a loss for words and appears flustered. That shuts him up for sometime.
  2. It rains. There's thunder and lightning for accompaniment. I remember the old joke about smiling when there's lightning - "Say cheese! God's taking your picture.."
  3. Dancing in office. I show Dharana some jive that I had learnt while in college. I'm quite surprised that when I try to, I can recollect quite a few steps in spite of not having jived in years...

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Treasured gift, vacation and sarcasm

New pictures on Trigger Happy.

  1. Treasure hunt! It's Gauri's birthday and a treasure hunt has been organized for him. Each little treasure is a birthday card with a message for him, along with a clue for who to find the next one with. He's hyper-excited about it and is running around hunting for his treasure. And of course, everyone else wants to play too, so all are chipping in with suggestions and hints to solve the riddles...
  2. All of a sudden, we're planning a vacation. And to Goa! 10 days later, we'll be there... Go Goa!
  3. The Renegade of Junk. Sarcasm the way I like it...

Monday, May 28, 2007

Rain, gup-shup and will-it-won't-it?

  1. Watching the rain. Post-lunch, when every one's drowsy and silent, someone suddenly exclaims 'its raining' and we all rush to the window. Not satisfied with the view the window offers, a few of us go downstairs and watch the rain from the porch. There's sunlight too, so we scan the sky for traces of any rainbows that might be lurking around the corners . We don't find any, but the rain brings life to our drowsy and dull afternoon...
  2. Gossipping over coffee. Today both, Dipti and I are in a talkative mood and we have an extended coffee break simply talking about things and laughing.
  3. Tanmoy's excited about a multi-level marketing scheme. Will it work? I don't know. But he's excited and is trying real hard to sell it and his enthusiasm is definitely contagious. Maybe it'll work?

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Click away, unnecessary celebration and healing

  1. We go on a looooong drive. There are plenty of opportunities to do some photograpy and I get some awesome frames. The light is perfect and its good to be outdoors.
  2. Champagne! There's something very sexy about champagne...
  3. At the end of the day, I feel tired, but healed... as if something inside that had been ailing for long, has finally found something that can cure it and nurture it back to health.

Elusive, angel and home

  1. At a christening ceremony I attend, someone's wearing a heady perfume. I keep looking for the owner of the scent, but all I get is a whiff every now and then.
  2. The baby who's being named looks like a chubby cherubic little angel. And she sleeps peacefully while everyone fawns over her, oblivious to the fact that she's just been given a name that's going to be her identity for the rest of her life!
  3. For a few brief moments, I'm where I want to be...

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Watermelons, cut it and sugar-free

  1. A colleague shows everyone her kiddie photos. She's especially proud of one in which she's dressed up like a watermelon (very appropriate for her, I can not resist mentioning) and when everyone laughs, she keeps saying "What?? I don't get it... what's funny? " That causes more mirth.
  2. Giving in to the temptation of skipping gym and going for a new haircut instead. I like the new cut!
  3. Cheeni Kum. The evidence of Indian cinema finally growing up and moving in the right direction. Its surprisingly refreshing, and amazingly funny. Tabu and Amitabh Bachhan share a sparkling chemistry on screen, and after a long long time, Amitabh delivers. Highly recommended watching for everyone.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Danglers, gift of time and unexpected traffic cops

  1. Finally getting a chance to wear the pretty red danglers I got on one of my recent earring-shopping-spree. They have a very ethnic feel to them... and oh do they dangle!
  2. Being able to decide in the evening to go for movie, being able to book tickets online and being able to make it to the cinema hall in time. This wouldn't have been possible a few months ago.
  3. While on my way to the movie, I'm stuck in a bad mess of a traffic jam. After a few fruitless minutes, I notice there's some activity. A few enterprising individuals are trying to unentangle the traffic and I silently bless them. People seem to accept their authority. As I come closer to the square, I realise that I know some of them - they're colleagues from my old job and they come over to say hello even in that chaos, grinning like they're enjoying the madness...

Monday, May 21, 2007

Narcissa, mission and oxygen



  1. Wearing my colourful and vibrant pashmina (?) stole... it's so soft and feels so luxuriant. Today I team it with a black top and black jeans. I could've spent hours preening myself in front of the mirror today, if I didn't have to go to work. Nevertheless, I do manage quick peeks into the mirror (read any reflecting surface) through out the day...

  2. Some pictures that I took on a colleagues camera have come out really well... I have a new mission now - photographing the reflections of clouds on the glass walls of the office buildings. And the good news is that the monsoons will soon be here, and I'll have all the clouds I want!

  3. Because I have a flat tyre, I have to come back home by bus. This means, I get 20 minutes which are absolutely mine in between gym and catching the bus. I use them to stroll around aimlessly breathing in the cool clean evening air. Magarpatta city is not called the oxygen zone for nothing...

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Zzzzzzz, trigger happy and silences

  1. Catching up on sleep. First, I wake up really late... and then I give in to temptation and have a long afternoon siesta.
  2. Going through some of the pictures I have taken and and giving myself a pat on the back.
  3. Going on a long drive after dinner with friends with whom I can be myself. There's understanding and the long silences are not awkward.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Out of the haze, popping corn and caress

  1. After days spent with my mind in a fog, I'm finally awake and out of the haze. It feels good to be able to see, feel, think, respond. But I think the cloud helped while it lasted.
  2. Popcorn. In office. Someone brings a bag of microwave-able popcorn to work and in the evening when a few of us are staying back late to finish our work, he pops the corn in the microwave. Ahhhh... the smell of warm buttery freshly popped corn... sighhh... now I want popcorn...
  3. There are grey clouds in the evening sky. The cool breeze brings to me the faint sweet smell of rain that has fallen somewhere not very far, and there's a slight, almost imperceptible wetness to the air, which feels like a caress.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Blue, colourless and black

  1. As I drive out of the basement parking lot up the ramp that leads me to the road, the blue sky opens for me. It is the bluest of blues and its dotted with cotton candy clouds.
  2. Whenever there's isn't much of a crowd (and sometimes even when there is), I dwadle in the shower after gym. The hot water flowing down my body seems to somehow ease things and make it easier for me to face the remainder of the day.
  3. Sitting on a sheilded stone bench in the lawn downstairs, late in the evening. There's the most heavenly breeze blowing. It's just right - not too strong, not too cool, just perfect. And from my vantage point, I can see everyone who enters from the gate or walks about the courtyard, but I can remain hidden in my spot and no one will see me unless they really try.

Crisp white, friend and permission to love

  1. Wearing my crisp white cotton shirt. It's the exact white I like - milky and pristine. It makes me feel so clean.
  2. Shenoy messages unexpectedly to ask if I want to have dinner with him. After having expected nothing out of this evening, I suddenly have company for dinner and the evening turns out to be the best part of an otherwise zonked out day. Shenoy, we should do this more often...
  3. Listening to 'In Dino' from Life in a.. Metro. Awesome! "In dino, dil mera, mujhse hai keh raha, Tu kwaab saja, Tu jee le zara, Hai tujhe bhi ijazat, kar le tu bhi mohabbat... " (These days, my heart is telling me to weave a dream, to live a little... it tells me I have the permission to love too...) I am listening to these very lines as I type this... aaaah! Beautiful!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Teach a kid, goofing off and claiming my points!

  1. Seeing the number of people who have volunteered for the 'Teach a kid' initiative that the community relations team at work has undertaken. The plan is to help the kids at a couple of orphanages with their studies... The volunteers meet for the first time today and the enthusiasm seems quite high.
  2. Having no work at office, so I can goof off all day... it's nice to have a day off unexpectedly :-)
  3. Finally redeeming the 200/- coupon from Shopper's Stop... of course, I end up spending another 200/- but I love the top I got... It's a pretty, cream-coloured sleeveless top with delicate multi-coloured embroidery. Hmmmm... maybe I'll wear it tomorrow...

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Multi tasking, bride and photography


Checkout my new blog Trigger Happy. I'm going to upload my attempts at photography here. No blah blah. Will let the pictures speak for themselves.


  1. Gulmohur. Everywhere I go, I see the flaming red of the gulmohur. The entire city seems to have donned a bridal veil.
  2. A weekend spent with friends talking, laughing, eating, partying, drinking, teasing, and generally having fun. This is the kind of multi tasking I like!
  3. Manjiri's photograpy. Again and again, I look at the pictures she has taken, and her eye for detail, symmetry and lighting, and her talent for creating frames continue to amaze me.


Saturday, May 12, 2007

Forgetting summer, little house in the prairie and Monty Python

  1. The cool summer nights in Pune... I go out for a walk after dinner, and the breeze is so cool. I'm reminded its summer only when I see two night watchmen licking away at ice cream cones! But at night, if I sleep by the window, I actually can forget its summer and get snug in my bed...
  2. The 'Little House in the Prairie' series by Laura Ingalls Wilder... These are books that I have read and loved as I child and as I read 'Farmer Boy' now, I'm once again taken back into a different world, one that us city dwellers can only imagine. The simplicity of the life then is something I envy now!
  3. Manjiri introduces me to Monty Python. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Here is the first ever Monty Python video I've even watched! Its for keeps...

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Ready to take off, hurry and Papa's love

  1. A colleague walks up to me while I'm sitting at my desk and presents me with a tiny toy air-plane. He got it with some instant pasta he bought and thought that I'd like it. He was right! The plane now sits proudly beneath my screen, ready to take off. And while it waits, it looks pretty sitting on my desk.
  2. Hurrying through work while constantly glancing at the lower right hand corner of the monitor screen. Some one is waiting for me at home :-)
  3. The way Papa's voice and tone changes when he talks to animals. The way mum claims that he's never talked to us girls with as much love! And the way Papa grins when he hears that and continues to play with whatever animal he has met at that time...

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Morning in the garden, bird-watcher and Fab!

  1. The Osho Teerth Garden. It's lush. And its quiet. All of us go there in the morning, and for the half hour that we spend there, we're in a completely different world. A world where time seems to flow very slowly, and where one can hear the rustle of leaves and the murmur of the flowing water falling over rocks. Every now and then, a bird that has been sitting somewhere unnoticed, suddenly takes flight...
  2. At the garden, we meet an aged couple who seem to have come there for bird-watching. They have a pair of binoculars and keep peering up the trees. Apparently, along with the birds, they have also noticed us observing a flowering tree that we are unfamiliar with and wondering what it is. Outside the garden, when we're about to leave, the old gentleman comes up to us and tells us that the tree that we had been looking at is a magnolia tree. He goes on to tell us that they love coming to this garden, because there some 50 varieties of birds that can be found in the garden...
  3. Fabindia. I just love it. Their designs are so simple and comfortable and yet so elegant and smart. We go there to shop for mum and dad, but Jui and I end up picking up stuff for ourselves too.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Early bird, devotee and show off

  1. Being up early. We go visiting temples and shrines at Dehu and Alandi. At 7:30 a.m., the weather's pleasant and there's a cool breeze. And though I'm actually sleep deprived, just being out in that beautiful weather revives me and I feel fresh and vital.
  2. At the shrine in Dehu, we meet an old man. Papa asks him for some information about the shrine and he's more than happy to regale us with more information and stories of miracles associated with the shrine than we asked for. And as one listens to him, one can make out he's a devout follower.
  3. Showing off my office to the folks :-)

Mom's cooking, together and Koyla

  1. Maa ke haath ka khana! Maaaaaaaaa....
  2. In my (comparitively) small 1 BHK flat, resources like space, water, bathrooms and storage capacity are a bit strained (there are so many people right now, that we're literally falling over each other!) but no one's complaining. We're just too happy to be together :-)
  3. Koyla. This place comes absolutely at the top of the list of my favourite restaurant for Hyderabadi cuisine. The kebabs are succulent and the meat is so tender. And the curries... aaaahhh! Even the naans live up to Koyla's reputation. For anyone who comes to Pune, a visit to Koyla is a must if you are a gourmet.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

House to home, peeping tom and shopaholic

  1. Having mom, dad, sis and cousins at home. There's lots to talk and laugh about and bicker over. My house transforms into a home.
  2. The quiet lanes of Koregaon Park. The city's cream lives here in huge mansions which have splendid gardens and tall gates. As we go through the lanes, I keep trying to get a peek into the gardens. I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing that.
  3. Going shopping. Frst we buy lots of book, music and movies. Then we go shopping for trinkets and I get to replenish my lost stock of earrings. And I have very enthusiastic company - everyone loves to shop... ok, maybe not Dad and Sameer, but majority wins!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Fit for the ramp, envelopes and taking stock

  1. Jui sounds very pleased on the phone. It was her first day in the office gym and her instructor says "Hey! you're good! One month and you'll be ready to walk the ramp!"
  2. The way crisp white unused envelopes look, feel and smell. And the way a folded sheet of paper slides into the envelope. Whereas earlier they looked pristine and untouched, now they look important and full of purpose. They must protect the letter that has been placed in their custody, and must place themselves in the between the letter and harm.
  3. I take stock of my life and decide that maybe.. just mayyybe, there's hope. :-) I go to bed with my heart a little lighter.