Peep toes, breakthrough and sleeping beast

1. I like the way the silver-grey peep toes look on my feet.
2. There's some breakthrough in a particularly complex piece of work I'm doing and on the way back to my desk (after checking no one's looking), I do a little jig to celebrate.
3. "Georgie, your eyes are drooping. You're gonna fall asleep sitting on that bean bag any moment now." "Na na Rashmi. I'm fine. See, I'm wide awake." Five minutes later, we hear first a gentle snore and then a slightly louder one.

The gap, backup plan and nerve soother

1. You expect the worse. And then it doesn't happen.
2. I've been trying for more than an hour to get Picasa to upload my Kashmir pics, but apparently its not to be. I mention this to Tanmoy, and he says he'll bring over his laptop tomorrow, and we can try on it.
3. I invite myself over to Dharana's 'coz I'm a little annoyed and could use some distraction. She makes me a really delicious cold coffee.

Rare weather, coming home and corn on the cob

1. The weather in Nagpur is perfect right now - its cloudy, pleasant and breezy. Grandma and I sit on the swing on the terrace, gently rocking and chatting about nothing in particular. I'm happy to let her ramble on, telling me about the new neighbours and the birds that visit her bird bath and the flowers. Its a lovely morning.
2. After lunch, I plant myself on my mom n dad's bed, fighting for space with dad. It's good to laze around, doing nothing, being the kid and getting pampered. This is what I came home for - for what else is recuperation?
3. The best bhutta in the world can be had at the stalls outside VNIT's gates. The one's available in Pune seem rather poor fare, with their garnishing of salt and lemon juice. Here, there's butter and green chilly chutney (the kind that makes you go sssssssssssssss) to go along with it. Seriously, no one makes corn on the cob the way these guys do. We even got one home for grandma, and can you believe it, she ate it! She's 90!

Curls, Punishment and Cool car

1. My hair is a mass of mad curls today. It's good to toss them around.
2. You ought to be tarred and feathered, Aditi tells me. The sentence conjures up an interesting picture in my mind.
3. Because the car sits in a covered parking lot right under my apartment these days, it doesn't heat up like an oven. It's nice and cool.

Not Negligent, Perry Mason and Buddy

1. What was thought to be my mistake ( indeed, even I thought so, and was quite embarrassed by what I looked like negligent testing on my part) turns out not to be a mistake after all. It took me a couple of days to figure out that the test results were fine really. Whew!
2. I love reading Perry Mason mysteries by Earl Stanley Gardner. Papa's a big fan too, and we've both read umpteen number of titles from the series. I finished 'The Case of the Substitute Face' today. Mason, the high flying criminal lawyer, is once again in an action
   packed murder trial. Slightly 'filmy', but entirely entertaining.
3. Tanmoy has moved to Pune. It's good to have him back.

That'll shut you up, vroom and the gang

1. A colleague is always teasing me and pulling my leg at the slightest opportunity (or even when there's none!). The best way to shut him up is to start teasing him about his wife. It's effective because he got married only last month.
2. A friend has been using my bike for the past couple of months. It's a pleasure to press the electric start button and have it spur into life immediately.
3. Friday is a holiday. There's only one more day of work between me and the long weekend. Anticipation runs high, because the gang is going to be here by tomorrow evening to kickstart the weekend. Gullu has promised that he has some masala news to tell, but won't say what it is unless everyone is present. Jui, Pallu & Tanmoy are coming, Shenoy's joining in and Patty, who I haven't seen in years, might come too. Let me sleep so that tomorrow comes early!

iPod touch, cool headed and Dimple

1. I'm posting from my iPod touch since yesterday, since my PC refuses to boot. I'm thrilled by this piece of technology and how it integrates almost seamlessly with all the stuff I want to do. It's still a bit wanting in formatting etc. and I miss the good ol' copy paste, but being able to blog from my iPod easily beats these inconveniences. Perhaps someone out there has figured out how to copy paste on iPod touch?
2. I've washed my hair just now at night. There's a delightful coolness spreading over my head right now.
3. Dimple Kapadia is so stylish in Saagar, she seems of a different age altogether, much ahead of her time.

Old-new, no need to choose and unexpected

1. The seating arrangement at work has been reorganised across the floor for some 400 people. The machines were shifted to new work locations over the weekend. There's plenty of chaos in the morning - people are hurrying about, connecting their PCs, unpacking boxes, putting up their charts and posters and arranging their desks... and occassionally also forgetting to go to their new locations, and turning up at their old desks, only to find someone new already occupying their seats.
2. The aerobics class got shifted to Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of the original Mondays and Wednesdays. I no longer have to choose between attending the Yoga class and aerobics.
3. An old friend from junior college suddenly calls to say he's in Pune, and would like to meet if I'm free. I get late at work, and he gets late too, so we end up meeting at 10 p.m., but I'm glad we do. He's pleasant company and it's fun catching up and getting news from Nagpur. He's a father now and shows pictures of this little daughter with evident pride.

Finally, Only early morning dreams and irreverently funny

1. I have a gas connection at home, people! How cool is that? Congratulate me! It has taken so many days, so many trips to the distributors office, and so many discussions and arguments with that rude fellow who mans the office that when it finally arrives today, I find it difficult to believe the long and tiring journey is over... but there it is! Sweet!
2. During my afternoon nap, I have a very vivid dream. My parents are telling me that because I'm not getting married, they're going to shift to Pune on 6th April. Dad has arranged to start his Law practice from here, and I'm supposed to quickly find a larger house. I tell this to mom and she's quite amused. "Didn't you freak out?' she asks me. I pretend to be very hurt by this comment. Don't worry, she tells me, its only morning dreams that come true.
3. I have started reading My Family & Other Animals. When Shenoy asked me last week what I wanted for my birthday, I told him I wanted this book, and he seemed quite surprised to hear it's title. I haven't read much yet, but what I have so far, makes me want to get back to it quickly. I love the way he's completely irreverent about his family and how he describes the way his family has helped him write the book.

Welcome, touch and grilled to perfection

1. Tanmoy is here.
2. My iPod Touch is, simply put, damn sexy. I can't believe I now own something so classy.
3. The grilled fish at Malaka Spice is perfect and quite unlike any that I've ever had.

Light headed, gifts I like and objection sustained

1. A head massage. And a shoulder massage. And warm, fragrant massage oil. And the way my head feels so light afterwards.
2. It's so difficult getting birthday gifts for guys. Finally, I find what I want to gift Sriharsha and Kris. Sriharsha gets Anurag Mathur's The Inscrutable Americans and Kris gets Miss Shumway Waves a Wand by James Hadley Chase. Both are books I have enjoyed immensely when I read them many years ago and was quite happy to find them on the book shelves at Crossword.
3. Tanmoy has taken strong objection to the fact that his name is not in 'My People' here on this blog.

Survival food, in a jiffy and

1. Maggi. What would I do without it?
2. Thinking that like all tailors, this one will also be fussy and will take a long time to stitch my dress, I ask him a little apprehensively when the dress will be ready. Tuesday, he says. Have it ready by thursday, I tell him. Er... tuesday, you mean? No no... Thursday will be just fine. I can't pick it up on tuesday.
3. I'm getting bored at home. So I call up Sriharsha and Kris and we try to plan what to do. We end up getting ourselves invited over to Kris's. Vrunda is sweet, she whips up a quick dinner for us.

Happy day, random gems and negotiation

1. I feel light today. I put in 12 hours of work, but even in the 12th hour, I find myself humming a tune while sitting at my desk. I like days when it's easy to smile. People seem to irritate me not quite as much as they have done in the past week or so.
2. Manjiri writes me a random email. It ends with: Found this today - 'the tailors measured him just for the sake of excercise these days.' Wodehouse, who else?
3. A super tight deadline has been negotiated and I suddenly realise that I no longer need to work on Christmas... Lesson learnt - ask! negotiate! Especially when the present scenario can't get any worse. A painstakingly composed email sent last night did the trick.

Looking nice, company and the sound of music

1. On a day when I haven't taken any trouble to really dress up and am sub-consciously convinced that I'm looking 'just ok' and perhaps a tad fat, I get a compliment that I'm looking nice.
2. I've slogged through the day but its been one of those days when getting even the simplest thing done requires herculean effort. Driving back home from work really really late, I'm tired and cranky. At such a time, I'm glad of Arminder's company as she joins me in cribbing about the how badly people drive in Pune. Its so much better than driving home alone when you really want to rant about stuff, but have no one to listen to you.
3. I finally find the drivers my PC needs and install them. The sound's working now! Yay!

Entrancing music, glad and freedom

1. Having the good fortune to listen to Ronu Majumdar play the flute and Pt. Jasraj sing at the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival. Today was the final day of the 4 day fest, and what a musical feast it has been! I've attended on all four days, and each day has been one enriching and fulfilling experience. My experience has culminated today on the high note of Pt. Jasraj's heavenly voice - one needs to be at the festival to see how his bhajans sway an audience of over 5000, all rapt in the the same emotion...
2. Jui is happy she came all the way from Hyderabad to attend the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival.
3. After months of driving only the car, I take the bike today. There's a strange sense of freedom as I weave my way through the traffic, slipping through spaces which are inaccessible to the car, instead of waiting patiently till there's space enough for the car to move ahead.

To the grind, Smita and panache

1. There's so much work, I'm having to keep my nose to the grind. I'm kinda enjoying it.
2. After many months, Smita has been emailing. Her familiar frank style reminds me of the good long chats we used to have when she was here. Has it really been two and a half years?!
3. Ocean's Twelve. I just love their style and panache!
   
   

Wish me, younger, Brisingr and making way for the new

1. It's Dharana's birthday today. She keeps insisting every now and then: "wish me happy birthday!". We do. We wish her a happy year.
2. It's Stafford's birthday as well. I ask him how old he is and give a theatrical gasp when he tells me. "Yeah yeah... I may be older than you, but I look younger", he tells me. "That's just because of your juvenile behaviour," I tell him. A throaty laugh comes from the other end of the line. May you have many such laughs this coming year, Stafford! Wish you a happy birthday.
3. Come evening and I can't wait to get done with my work and the gym so that I can rush home and get immersed into Brisingr again.
4. Papa's camera has arrived and he's thrilled to bits with it. Mummy has called him up at the courts to tell him a gift has arrived for him from Delhi, and has refused to divulge any more information, so he has come home wondering what it might be and who might've sent it. He is already making plans of how and when to use it and of getting rid of his old point and shoot.

Birthday girl, special gift and soft!

1. It's Dipti's birthday today. Last night a few of us from work landed up at her place at midnight to bring in the birthday with cake. She has loved the surprise so much that I overhear her telling anyone who calls her up to wish her about how exciting her birthday has been this year. Happy birthday girl!
2. Dipti goes out to receive the birthday gift that has arrived from her fiance and comes back radiant, holding a gift set of CK perfumes. Her eyes sparkle so much, its impossible not be drawn into her enthusiasm at the gift.
3. I manage to make soft, edible rotis today. They don't fluff up as they should when I hold them over the flame, but I suppose that's setting too high an expectation at so early a stage in my roti making career!

A common dream, epidemic and Mario Miranda

1. George calls up after a long time. He's very busy these days attending B-school and we don't get to catch up as often as we'd like to. A rescheduled exam has worked in my favour and he has a few hours free. There's much to talk about. We keep planning on how sometime in the near future we'd all like to stay in the same city, the whole gang within reach.
2. An email arrives from Sonal announcing her engagement. We all ignore it - it is after all such a common prank played on unsuspecting colleagues when they leave their PCs unattended. But this time, there's an unusual amount of buzz after this email, and it turns out it is true after all, and there are sweets to be had at her desk! It's a wedding epidemic, I tell you! A whopping 12 people I know are getting married in the next quarter. Wedding plans and fiances are the hot topic of discussion anywhere you go.
3. While in Goa, I kept searching for souvenirs with Mario Miranda's cartoons, but didn't find any. Looking him up on the net though, I did find some delightful pieces of his work. His eye for detail and his love and understanding of Goa's unique culture is evident in the pictures. He takes care to remind us that Goa not just a beach state that attracts tourists by the cartload. Its a place with its own rich cultural diversity, very different from the rest of India in that it was ruled by the Portuguese till 1961. And yet, the native Konkani people have maintained their own identity, even while assimilating the influence of their conquerors, creating an exotic and heady cocktail.

Tomatoes, one of those people and pining

1. Pallavi emails to tell me about how her experiments with cooking turned out. Let me just quote her: well it was a decent meal though I realized that my rajma and paneer both turned out to have excess tomatoes!!! So it was an extremely tomaty (if that’s a word) dinner!!!! I like that word. Tomaty... hmmm...
2. In the same email, comes another statement. You're becoming like those people who go to Goa at least once a year, she tells me. Well, this is the second consecutive year... and I'm rather pleased about it! But next year, I'll go some place else.
3. Dipti is engaged and her fiance has gone off to the US. He'll only come back for the wedding now, which is to be held either in February or March. She sits at her desk looking all forlorn (and extremely funny) and says "How will I wait four months to see him?"