Wishing all of you a happy new year! May this year bring with it lot of joy, happiness, prosperity and peace above all...
It has been an eventful year that went by as quickly as ever. Lot of ups and downs, joys and sorrows have made this another interesting year for all of us. The new year brings with it a lot of hope, expectation and happiness. May this stay on throughout the year. Happy new year once again!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Lazy musings...
I need to do this. And now. Yeah, that's my inner thing talking to the lazy self in me...I've been thinking for ages now about starting to write more posts. Anyway I'm happy that the good in me could convince the bad in me :) So here goes, yet another series of musings of the wandering mind...
I watched this movie called 'Kanjivaram' a couple of days back on Vijay. Amazing movie! I've been a great fan of Prakash Raj for quite sometime (more after I watched Abiyum Naanum), probably one of the very few who still make sensible movies. It picturises the life of a poor silk weaver from Kanchipuram, back in the 1940s. Some of the scenes had a striking impact. The scene where he feeds his crippled daughter rat poison is extremely moving. More so, the climax where he covers the body of his dead daughter with the incomplete silk saree that he has been weaving for the past 22 years and his agony when the saree which was being woven for 22 years still doesn't cover his daughter from head to toe is really touching. Kudos to Prakash Raj!
It was the weekend again and that time of the week to do some grocery shopping. I took out the car as it was late and switched on the FM and there it was ...Radio city...91.1 FM...my companion during most of my drives. But it just amazes me that inspite of there being so many Telugu songs, I get to hear the same ones again and again. Its either 'Ninenna nenu chustonsi ninenna...." or "tututu tututu tututu ...hasini hasini..." or the very interesting "Excuse me Mr Mallanna...". I never thought I could learn a Telugu song completely just by listening to it a hundred times. . Do any of you feel the same about the Radio City song listings?
Mixed feelings I have now...I turned 26 a quarter hour back, done with a quarter century of life - thats the good feeling....am getting older and need to get more matured - thats the not so good feeling...anyway...Good night!
I watched this movie called 'Kanjivaram' a couple of days back on Vijay. Amazing movie! I've been a great fan of Prakash Raj for quite sometime (more after I watched Abiyum Naanum), probably one of the very few who still make sensible movies. It picturises the life of a poor silk weaver from Kanchipuram, back in the 1940s. Some of the scenes had a striking impact. The scene where he feeds his crippled daughter rat poison is extremely moving. More so, the climax where he covers the body of his dead daughter with the incomplete silk saree that he has been weaving for the past 22 years and his agony when the saree which was being woven for 22 years still doesn't cover his daughter from head to toe is really touching. Kudos to Prakash Raj!
It was the weekend again and that time of the week to do some grocery shopping. I took out the car as it was late and switched on the FM and there it was ...Radio city...91.1 FM...my companion during most of my drives. But it just amazes me that inspite of there being so many Telugu songs, I get to hear the same ones again and again. Its either 'Ninenna nenu chustonsi ninenna...." or "tututu tututu tututu ...hasini hasini..." or the very interesting "Excuse me Mr Mallanna...". I never thought I could learn a Telugu song completely just by listening to it a hundred times. . Do any of you feel the same about the Radio City song listings?
Mixed feelings I have now...I turned 26 a quarter hour back, done with a quarter century of life - thats the good feeling....am getting older and need to get more matured - thats the not so good feeling...anyway...Good night!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Its time for pongal again!!
Wishing you all a happy pongal/sankranthi. This was the first time I was celebrating Pongal all by myself. As always, the net came to my rescue for the recipes. And they did come out pretty well.
The alarm went off at 7 AM. I kept snoozing it and finally got up with a start at about 8.15. I rushed to have a quick bath. I had to make the pongal before 9 and I'm pretty slow, so it would was going to be a mad run! I decorated the cooker (its actually supposed to be a "pongal paanai" but i dont have any ;)) with the coconut, turmeric pieces, banana and sugarcane. The milk started boiling. Meanwhile I couldn't wait. So I thought "Why not do a kolam on this auspicious occasion". So I went armed with the rice powder. And this was the net effect of the exercise!!
By this time the milk had boiled, I put the rice-dhal mixture that I had washed and kept aside in the milk. After this would boil well, I would add jaggery and spices and "Sakkarai Pongal" would be ready.
While the sweet pongal was getting ready, I started the preparation for the "Venn Pongal", coconut chutney and sambar. I selected the best looking recipe among all the ones from internet and went ahead with the preparation. It took about an hour and a half to get done with everything. However, finally the dish looked awesome and so tempting!! Want to have a look? Here it goes!!
Happy with my creations, I went on to have a happy breakfast. By this time, Mukund joined me from his deep slumber. I was cent percent sure that my pongal was really good, as Mukund (who usually hates the sight of rice!) took two-three servings of the pongal :D
See you all then. Time for me to go for my dinner!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Anything but a software engineer!!
The blog title should explain it all. Today is one of those days when I think why did I become a software engineer. (I should admit that there are days when I think 'Thank God, I'm a software engineer').
It's a nice relaxing Saturday and here I am working on my office stuff, the muted TV in front of me. The code is one of those frustrating, seemingly easy, taking the life out of you with the problems it reveals, where none of your 100 solutions work!!
So I thought, I'll take my eyes off the taunting code editor for sometime and blog something. (Of course, there is a parallel thought process at the back of mind thinking about a 101th solution to the problem)
For this post, I thought I will blog all those so-called "ambitions" that I had when I was a kid!! Hmm...so let me start thinking.
1) A singer - There have been many times when a rolled up magazine wouldbecome my mic and I would sing away to glory. Not only that, I would serve as the host too who would introduce "The singer Janani". All until my mom would shout at me to shut up and study!
2) Social worker - There have been innumerable occasions when a group of young children on the streets of the town where I grew, Salem, would bring this thought into me -"When I grow up I would run an organisation to provide these children food,education and health. And I would come again here and take them with me to that place".
3) An engineer - No...not a software engineer! I would see the bright yellow helmet that my dad used to wear during his shopfloor supervisions and would think - "Wow! that looks cool. I should become like him when I grow up!"
4) Doctor - Don't ask me why I wanted to become one! I wouldn't have even managed to cross past half of it with my patience levels!! I used to be fascinated by the stethoscope.
5) Cook - This was purely triggered by the recipes that I used to read in the children's magazine "Gokulam". It used to be the same recipes again and again - Crumbled biscuit pudding (I still remember my brother spitting out the pudding I made!!), Bread balls and so one.
6) Hair stylist/Beautician - This was one of those wishes that lasted for a very long time! I used to style my mom's hair during her afternoon naps. My brother too became the victim of my skill once. I promised him a step cut and at the end his hair was shaved out in patches. He was shocked and cried out loud. But you know what he was blamed for having shown his head to me.
Thats pretty much the list. Can't think of anything more. Time to sign off. My code is beckoning to me and I am going to move to it reluctantly, thinking why I couldn't have become one of the above!!
It's a nice relaxing Saturday and here I am working on my office stuff, the muted TV in front of me. The code is one of those frustrating, seemingly easy, taking the life out of you with the problems it reveals, where none of your 100 solutions work!!
So I thought, I'll take my eyes off the taunting code editor for sometime and blog something. (Of course, there is a parallel thought process at the back of mind thinking about a 101th solution to the problem)
For this post, I thought I will blog all those so-called "ambitions" that I had when I was a kid!! Hmm...so let me start thinking.
1) A singer - There have been many times when a rolled up magazine wouldbecome my mic and I would sing away to glory. Not only that, I would serve as the host too who would introduce "The singer Janani". All until my mom would shout at me to shut up and study!
2) Social worker - There have been innumerable occasions when a group of young children on the streets of the town where I grew, Salem, would bring this thought into me -"When I grow up I would run an organisation to provide these children food,education and health. And I would come again here and take them with me to that place".
3) An engineer - No...not a software engineer! I would see the bright yellow helmet that my dad used to wear during his shopfloor supervisions and would think - "Wow! that looks cool. I should become like him when I grow up!"
4) Doctor - Don't ask me why I wanted to become one! I wouldn't have even managed to cross past half of it with my patience levels!! I used to be fascinated by the stethoscope.
5) Cook - This was purely triggered by the recipes that I used to read in the children's magazine "Gokulam". It used to be the same recipes again and again - Crumbled biscuit pudding (I still remember my brother spitting out the pudding I made!!), Bread balls and so one.
6) Hair stylist/Beautician - This was one of those wishes that lasted for a very long time! I used to style my mom's hair during her afternoon naps. My brother too became the victim of my skill once. I promised him a step cut and at the end his hair was shaved out in patches. He was shocked and cried out loud. But you know what he was blamed for having shown his head to me.
Thats pretty much the list. Can't think of anything more. Time to sign off. My code is beckoning to me and I am going to move to it reluctantly, thinking why I couldn't have become one of the above!!
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Visa God features in Wall Street Journal
Back to work after a long weekend!
I got this mail from a colleague about the Chilkur temple getting a mention in the Wall Street Journal. The link is here for you to read and enjoy too.
http://www.garamchai.com/HyderabadVisaGod.htm
I heard about the Chilkur temple three years ago when I moved to Hyderabad. There were talks about the temple helping you to get through your visa interviews smoothly.
My first visit to the temple was on Durga puja day with my friends. Of course, after that I've been visiting it for 4-5 times now, mostly accompanying people who visit me to the temple.
On my first visit to the temple, I was really dumbstruck by the huge wave of people trying to make their way around the temple with a small piece of paper and a pen in hand. It was a totally different sight from what you get to see in other south indian temples. Curious to know what was in the paper, I peeped and got a glance of one of them. Any guesses? It was a piece of paper with numbers 1 to 108 printed on it in a grid. People were striking off the numbers one by one as and when they finish one round around the temple or a parikrama as they call it. It was an easier way to keep count of the 108 parikramas that they had to do. As much as it was amusing, I was impressed by the simple solution that the temple priests had provided for a problem much more simpler.
Another thing which I feel is good about this temple is that they do not accept any money as offerings. However, if you want to contribute in some way, you are welcome to offer your services at the temple for the short time you are there - like distributing flowers to the devotees, selling the books at the counter etc. If you want to contribute money, then you can buy the books that the temple trust publishes. They are published in English/Telugu and cost Rs.5 each. The temple encourages you to buy them and distribute it to spread the fame of the temple.
Some kind of temple reforms!!
I got this mail from a colleague about the Chilkur temple getting a mention in the Wall Street Journal. The link is here for you to read and enjoy too.
http://www.garamchai.com/HyderabadVisaGod.htm
I heard about the Chilkur temple three years ago when I moved to Hyderabad. There were talks about the temple helping you to get through your visa interviews smoothly.
My first visit to the temple was on Durga puja day with my friends. Of course, after that I've been visiting it for 4-5 times now, mostly accompanying people who visit me to the temple.
On my first visit to the temple, I was really dumbstruck by the huge wave of people trying to make their way around the temple with a small piece of paper and a pen in hand. It was a totally different sight from what you get to see in other south indian temples. Curious to know what was in the paper, I peeped and got a glance of one of them. Any guesses? It was a piece of paper with numbers 1 to 108 printed on it in a grid. People were striking off the numbers one by one as and when they finish one round around the temple or a parikrama as they call it. It was an easier way to keep count of the 108 parikramas that they had to do. As much as it was amusing, I was impressed by the simple solution that the temple priests had provided for a problem much more simpler.
Another thing which I feel is good about this temple is that they do not accept any money as offerings. However, if you want to contribute in some way, you are welcome to offer your services at the temple for the short time you are there - like distributing flowers to the devotees, selling the books at the counter etc. If you want to contribute money, then you can buy the books that the temple trust publishes. They are published in English/Telugu and cost Rs.5 each. The temple encourages you to buy them and distribute it to spread the fame of the temple.
Some kind of temple reforms!!
Happy new year!
Its been a long long time...Its sad to think I couldn't take out time to blog of late. Anyways, let's see if I can atleast do it this year! Let me not make it a new year resolution because they are made to be broken.
Let me take this post as an opportunity to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Let the new year bring with lots of joy and happiness.
Hmm...and its time for a new, more matured look for my blog :)
Let me take this post as an opportunity to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Let the new year bring with lots of joy and happiness.
Hmm...and its time for a new, more matured look for my blog :)
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Orkut fortune...
I've been following the orkut fortune quite closely for sometime and surprisingly I find it right a lot of times!! (though it is even fundamentally wrong many times)
Today's fortune says:
Your winsome smile will be your sure protection
Though it sounds good, I'm now wondering how a smile can protect you...Hmm...
Today's fortune says:
Your winsome smile will be your sure protection
Though it sounds good, I'm now wondering how a smile can protect you...Hmm...
Again after a long break...
...How much ever I try, I just cannot put my thinking to action when I want to pen down some thoughts in my blog. Maybe its the tight schedule that I have or maybe its the inherent laziness in me. Whatever, I finally vowed to myself that I would post atleast one post every week from now on. I hope I'll keep up my promise to myself!
Yesterday, we had the 'Spice nite' at the Indian School of Business.[That's where my husband's studying now). It was organised by the "Student's Family Association", mainly the spouses. It is the husbands who are studying management, however the spouses just rocked in the way they organized the function.
I performed a bharatnatyam piece to the song "Thaaye Yashoda" in Thodi raga. Wonderful song it was in Sudha Raghunathan's beautiful voice! My legs ached terribly during the practise sessions, but it was the song that kept me going. I simply loved the song as it gave me ample room for expressions and "bhavas". However, I realised that I needed regular practise...maybe it will help me shed those extra kilos too :) Should definitely think about it!!
And today we had the foreign language classes starting here. After my brief stint with Japanese, I tried to experiment on something with an easy script. And I chose Spanish among them. I enjoyed the first class, learnt a few words too... However, grammatically nothing seems to be as easy as Japanese - no plural, no gender, no future tense!! Though it makes up for the complexity in its script.
So thats it for this week. Hope to post something during the week if I get some time out of my work!!
Hasta pronto.....
[I learnt this today!!! 'See you soon' in Spanish]
Yesterday, we had the 'Spice nite' at the Indian School of Business.[That's where my husband's studying now). It was organised by the "Student's Family Association", mainly the spouses. It is the husbands who are studying management, however the spouses just rocked in the way they organized the function.
I performed a bharatnatyam piece to the song "Thaaye Yashoda" in Thodi raga. Wonderful song it was in Sudha Raghunathan's beautiful voice! My legs ached terribly during the practise sessions, but it was the song that kept me going. I simply loved the song as it gave me ample room for expressions and "bhavas". However, I realised that I needed regular practise...maybe it will help me shed those extra kilos too :) Should definitely think about it!!
And today we had the foreign language classes starting here. After my brief stint with Japanese, I tried to experiment on something with an easy script. And I chose Spanish among them. I enjoyed the first class, learnt a few words too... However, grammatically nothing seems to be as easy as Japanese - no plural, no gender, no future tense!! Though it makes up for the complexity in its script.
So thats it for this week. Hope to post something during the week if I get some time out of my work!!
Hasta pronto.....
[I learnt this today!!! 'See you soon' in Spanish]
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Salaam Karne Ki Aarzoo
An audio post. I did notice I had to improve in a lot of places - with respect to my lyrics as well as singing.
Movie: Umrao Jaan
Song: Salaam Karne Ki Aarzoo
Listen to the song here
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As usual your valuable comments solicited.
Movie: Umrao Jaan
Song: Salaam Karne Ki Aarzoo
Listen to the song here
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As usual your valuable comments solicited.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Back after a long hiatus...
Great to be back to the wonderful world of blogging. Hope not to take such long vacations in the future.
Lets see...Anyway, the last few months have been life-changing for me. Well...I entered into matrimony and saw two cities in three months. And finally am back to Hyderabad.
These two months in Bangalore were really good and so different from what I have lived till now. Waking up at 7 (which is really early for my standards),travelling for about an hour to office, that too amidst thiccck traffic and last but not the least , the pleasant-dull-cool (whatever you may call it) weather. It used to be impossible to make up my mind to get out of the cosy quilt, and if I succeeded then it would be another ordeal to bring myself to push off to work.
Apart from these, there were innumerable things that I enjoyed in Bangalore - the 'pani puri' from the boy on the roadside in Jayanagar, Lassi from Cool joint, window shopping at the forum, actual shopping in the small fancy stores, tamil movies in PVR, italian food at fiorano and the most important of all - spending time with my new found best pal for life ;)
After two long months, when I came to Hyderabad, I was kind of worried how its going to be. But the amazing team I have in office here just made sure I didnt feel as if I've been away for two months. So settling back to work in Hyd...and ya do expect some more posts coming...and if time permits some audio posts too :)
Lets see...Anyway, the last few months have been life-changing for me. Well...I entered into matrimony and saw two cities in three months. And finally am back to Hyderabad.
These two months in Bangalore were really good and so different from what I have lived till now. Waking up at 7 (which is really early for my standards),travelling for about an hour to office, that too amidst thiccck traffic and last but not the least , the pleasant-dull-cool (whatever you may call it) weather. It used to be impossible to make up my mind to get out of the cosy quilt, and if I succeeded then it would be another ordeal to bring myself to push off to work.
Apart from these, there were innumerable things that I enjoyed in Bangalore - the 'pani puri' from the boy on the roadside in Jayanagar, Lassi from Cool joint, window shopping at the forum, actual shopping in the small fancy stores, tamil movies in PVR, italian food at fiorano and the most important of all - spending time with my new found best pal for life ;)
After two long months, when I came to Hyderabad, I was kind of worried how its going to be. But the amazing team I have in office here just made sure I didnt feel as if I've been away for two months. So settling back to work in Hyd...and ya do expect some more posts coming...and if time permits some audio posts too :)
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Microsoft Photo story
I came across this tool which is a free download from Microsoft - PhotoStory
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
Its a wonderful tool and very easy to use. You supply a list of pictures and this generates a video aka 'photo story' out of it. You can customize it with your narration or a background music.
Here is one such video generated from the pictures taken during a trip to the Nagarjuna Sagar dam in Hyderabad.
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http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
Its a wonderful tool and very easy to use. You supply a list of pictures and this generates a video aka 'photo story' out of it. You can customize it with your narration or a background music.
Here is one such video generated from the pictures taken during a trip to the Nagarjuna Sagar dam in Hyderabad.
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Monday, April 10, 2006
Song: Saanakya Saanakya
Movie : Dum
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The mood was set with the recording of the first song. :D
So I experimented with a few more songs this weekend. Here is one of them.
Song : Chinna Chinna Vanna Kuyil
Movie : Mouna Ragam
Music by : Illayaraja
Feedback solicited as usual :)
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So I experimented with a few more songs this weekend. Here is one of them.
Song : Chinna Chinna Vanna Kuyil
Movie : Mouna Ragam
Music by : Illayaraja
Feedback solicited as usual :)
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Thursday, April 06, 2006
Kanda Naal Mudhal - My "mudhal" song :)
A dream of long time has come true today.... :D
I finally got the resolve to record my first song - Kanda Naal Mudhal from the movie Kanda Naal Mudhal...a very melodious and close-to-carnatic-music song.
Thanks a lot to Anand for helping me with the mixing and for making this lazy girl do this :D
Do drop in your valuable comments...:)
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I finally got the resolve to record my first song - Kanda Naal Mudhal from the movie Kanda Naal Mudhal...a very melodious and close-to-carnatic-music song.
Thanks a lot to Anand for helping me with the mixing and for making this lazy girl do this :D
Do drop in your valuable comments...:)
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Wallpaper philosophies
Came across some "philosophical" wallpapers from coolbuddy.com. Some of them here...
If you are a vegetarian just to be nice to animals, why are you eating their food?
Good things may come to those who wait, but all the really excellent stuff will be gone by then
Don't be irreplaceable, if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted
If you think your boss is stupid, remember you wouldn't have a job if he was any smarter
The sooner you fall behind the more time you will have to catch up
And, my favourite :-)
When women go wrong, men go right after them
If you are a vegetarian just to be nice to animals, why are you eating their food?
Good things may come to those who wait, but all the really excellent stuff will be gone by then
Don't be irreplaceable, if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted
If you think your boss is stupid, remember you wouldn't have a job if he was any smarter
The sooner you fall behind the more time you will have to catch up
And, my favourite :-)
When women go wrong, men go right after them
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Partha Mudhal.....
Had a hectic day at office and just thought of listening to some music. "Vettaiyaadu vilayaadu" caught my eyes on Raaga's front page. Though I had heard from some of my friends about the songs that was the first time I was seeing the songs on Raaga. I just ran through the singers and Bombay Jayashree's song got my full attention. Expectations raised especially because it was a Harris Jayaraj - Bombay Jayashree venture. I enjoyed the song very much. Jayashree's husky voice is just awesome! Couldn't stop from repeating it over and over again. However this song seems slightly different from her previous hits - Vaseegara and Ondra Renda. It has a comparitively faster beat and not as romantic as them :-) Also it seemed a little bit like a rhyme.
Vaseegara is the still the "most romantic" song I've ever heard.
PS: These are just my opinions on the song. I know that my taste is almost 360 degrees different from many :-D
Vaseegara is the still the "most romantic" song I've ever heard.
PS: These are just my opinions on the song. I know that my taste is almost 360 degrees different from many :-D
Friday, March 10, 2006
Subtle mystery in Narnia??
The last week was really good. First of all, I had a training for three days and so did not have to do much work :-D. And then, the training was truly interesting and I didnt fall asleep(surprisingly!) As one of my friends said "It was right from the horse's mouth". It was a Windows Internals training by David Solomon....I was reminded very much of the architecture classes by Shantha mam and RP mam at college :-) although all other details of the subject are vague :-p
Another reason for my spirits remaining high was the extremely pleasant weather at Hyderabad (That too in March!?!).It is now about 2 years since I've been in Hyderabad and I already have so many things about it to cherish. I love the city as I somehow feel it sways according to my mood - calm when I want it to be and bubbly when I'm so.
So just two days in the week and it went away in the bat of a eyelid. Thanks to Yamini we decided to go to "Chronicles of Narnia" on Sunday. On Sunday, we left to PVR for the movie at about three. We were late and so couldnt get the "Panju mittai" :-( The movie was good and really above my expectations. It had slight resemblances to Harry potter right from the first scene where the kids depart in a train through the valleys and hills. However, there was one subtle thing in the movie which I don't know if it really was! In the scenes where the fawn (or whatever!) and Lucy(the little girl) appear, there were hints of romantic sparks between the two :-D The look in the eyes of the fawn was unmistakable.(Or maybe it is a god-given gift :-D) Anyways, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly.
After the movie, we went to the "Ohri's Metro" - the train restaurant that features in 'E-20 U-18'. We decided to order something differently and decided to have starters as the main dish and the main course just as starters. I ordered a mocktail which I swear will never even touch again :-(( We took some snaps in the restaurant and then came home. We then remembered we had "Madagascar" waiting at home for us. Another nice movie for that weekend!
At the "Ohri's Metro"
Shika and Yams posing while the great photographer is in action :-)
Just outside the train....Me and Yams
BTW, meet my virtual pet 'Leo' :-) Saw this in someone's blog and liked it.
Another reason for my spirits remaining high was the extremely pleasant weather at Hyderabad (That too in March!?!).It is now about 2 years since I've been in Hyderabad and I already have so many things about it to cherish. I love the city as I somehow feel it sways according to my mood - calm when I want it to be and bubbly when I'm so.
So just two days in the week and it went away in the bat of a eyelid. Thanks to Yamini we decided to go to "Chronicles of Narnia" on Sunday. On Sunday, we left to PVR for the movie at about three. We were late and so couldnt get the "Panju mittai" :-( The movie was good and really above my expectations. It had slight resemblances to Harry potter right from the first scene where the kids depart in a train through the valleys and hills. However, there was one subtle thing in the movie which I don't know if it really was! In the scenes where the fawn (or whatever!) and Lucy(the little girl) appear, there were hints of romantic sparks between the two :-D The look in the eyes of the fawn was unmistakable.(Or maybe it is a god-given gift :-D) Anyways, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly.
After the movie, we went to the "Ohri's Metro" - the train restaurant that features in 'E-20 U-18'. We decided to order something differently and decided to have starters as the main dish and the main course just as starters. I ordered a mocktail which I swear will never even touch again :-(( We took some snaps in the restaurant and then came home. We then remembered we had "Madagascar" waiting at home for us. Another nice movie for that weekend!
At the "Ohri's Metro"
Shika and Yams posing while the great photographer is in action :-)
Just outside the train....Me and Yams
BTW, meet my virtual pet 'Leo' :-) Saw this in someone's blog and liked it.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Ham teacher-student khelenge...
Its been about a month since I wrote a post. So here goes one....
I've been trying to write about something for long but just didnt get the time for it. Today, even though being a sunday, I came to office as I had some pending work to complete. As usual, didnt get to work much...Was chatting with my juniors in hostel catching up on college gossips, reading blogs from near and far and so on.
I finished all this and just started to work when my colleague Puja came to office with her kid, Abhika. She's such an adorable kid...but really shy and doesnt talk much.
But surprisingly she came to my desk today and started talking to me...I couldn't make out most of what she was telling :-D but really enjoyed it. She then arranged all the dolls from my cubicle and other nearby cubicles under my table. She too went and sat under the table and beckoned to me "Ham teacher-student khelenge..".I joined her :-D
We then played teacher-student and she was telling me stories like her teacher. I forgot all my work,worries and started playing...It was such a good stress reliever...She then taught me the steps for 'Kajra Re'..It was really great to learn from her :-)We then made drawings of 'monkeys' on the whiteboards...Everyone in our row is going to have a shock on Monday. There'll be a monkey on everybody's whiteboard, courtesy me and Abhika :-D
I realised it was a long time since I enjoyed myself. :-D
I've been trying to write about something for long but just didnt get the time for it. Today, even though being a sunday, I came to office as I had some pending work to complete. As usual, didnt get to work much...Was chatting with my juniors in hostel catching up on college gossips, reading blogs from near and far and so on.
I finished all this and just started to work when my colleague Puja came to office with her kid, Abhika. She's such an adorable kid...but really shy and doesnt talk much.
But surprisingly she came to my desk today and started talking to me...I couldn't make out most of what she was telling :-D but really enjoyed it. She then arranged all the dolls from my cubicle and other nearby cubicles under my table. She too went and sat under the table and beckoned to me "Ham teacher-student khelenge..".I joined her :-D
We then played teacher-student and she was telling me stories like her teacher. I forgot all my work,worries and started playing...It was such a good stress reliever...She then taught me the steps for 'Kajra Re'..It was really great to learn from her :-)We then made drawings of 'monkeys' on the whiteboards...Everyone in our row is going to have a shock on Monday. There'll be a monkey on everybody's whiteboard, courtesy me and Abhika :-D
I realised it was a long time since I enjoyed myself. :-D
Monday, February 06, 2006
A treat after a long time
Yesterday we went for a dinner treat after a really long time :-) The host was Yams and the occasion was her birthday (It was in December but the treat had been postponed till I came back to Hyderabad :->) We decided to go to Ohri's midnight biriyani as Angeethi was ruled out [:-(] as Yams and Ayesha had gone there just the day before and Deeptha was dead against Angeethi...We reached there at 10.30 to find that the midnight biriyani started only at 11.30 on all days other than Friday and Saturday...We definitely couldn't wait for an hour...most of us had skipped lunch due to the treat :-D So we went to Ohri's Tadka. Right from the time Yamini told she was giving a treat I was telling I wanted to eat biriyani...and so I didnt take much time to order. My biggest disappointment was when the biriyani came :-( It was just white rice with vegetables here and there as if they had fallen in by mistake...I decided to compensate for this in the dessert. So we headed to Havmor below after dinner to get the "Toblerone" shake....I really enjoyed it inspite of Harini's taunting about the amount of calories it had :-D..after all I had lost some calories after my trip and I had to compensate for them..:-)It was a wonderful time we had especially all of us together after a long time...
BTW, an interesting series of posts that I came across...really good :-D
http://prabhukrish.net/category/he-she/
BTW, an interesting series of posts that I came across...really good :-D
http://prabhukrish.net/category/he-she/
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Skiing at Crystal Mountain
The last two weeks in Redmond was pretty good for me...I learnt something new. Ironically, this matched with the new year resolution for me on the gift scratch card that I got in Subway :-) It was "Learn something new this year" and I'm happy I fulfilled it too early in the year ;-) Anyway,this doesnt mean I won't learn anything more this year, just that the learning spirit has been instilled in me with full vigor...[hope my manager reads this ;-)]
Want to know what I learnt? I learnt to ski :-).....I never thought I would ever enjoy some sport at all, me being the lazy kind of person. The main driving factors were the wide expanse of soft white snow in front of me and the feeling that I will never get to try this once I'm back to India. I joined Chetan and his friends, Prasanna and Jigar to the Crystal mountain skiing resort.
I opted for the 3- day lesson scheme which amounted to 125$. My first day lesson was on Jan 7th. The drive was also a really enjoyable one. The road was lined up with tall and dense pine trees towering up to great heights and blocking the rays of the sun. At a particular point it looked like we were going through a tunnel...see below for yourself...
Want to know what I learnt? I learnt to ski :-).....I never thought I would ever enjoy some sport at all, me being the lazy kind of person. The main driving factors were the wide expanse of soft white snow in front of me and the feeling that I will never get to try this once I'm back to India. I joined Chetan and his friends, Prasanna and Jigar to the Crystal mountain skiing resort.
I opted for the 3- day lesson scheme which amounted to 125$. My first day lesson was on Jan 7th. The drive was also a really enjoyable one. The road was lined up with tall and dense pine trees towering up to great heights and blocking the rays of the sun. At a particular point it looked like we were going through a tunnel...see below for yourself...
The second day we also stopped in the middle to chain the tyres. The landscape was totally white draped in snow and it was snowing lightly. It was wonderful.
Once we reached there, we got ourselves registered and proceeded to the first time skiers zone. There we met our trainer for that day - Nicole. She was a sweet friendly person and I was really astonished when she remembered me by name the next week because she sees so many people everyday :-) Maybe she remembered me as the most difficult student to teach :-D Teachers usually remember slow learners ;-)
There were about 6 people in my group and the first lesson was to teach how to wear the skis. The shoes were damn heavy...about 8-9 kgs and they were almost biting my toes. And wearing the skis was a bigger problem than I had thought it to be :-) I kept falling down the slope and really had a difficult time...Then started the lessons on how to ski. I was told to make an 'A' wih my skiis. This shape was supposed to reduce the speed of skiing and so for the first timers this was to be maintained throughout. My shoes were a bit oversize and it was making it even more difficult to push the skiis apart. I could not count the number of times that I fell down that day :-(. After a lunch of veg pizza, we again went to the ski grounds. I was determined to ski atleast once without falling before leaving that day :-p. We realised that there was no class for the afternoon session. So we proceeded to the lowest slope - 'The Discovery'. Getting on into the wench was a nightmare, the wench kept moving and we had to get on to it at the right time. But once on it, the journey to the top sitting on it was fun :-) The slope was 4580 feet tall. Again, getting off the wench was really tough and I kept falling down :-( I was almost beginning to think this was not for me, when Chetan agreed to coach me. I should say he was a really good teacher and by the end of the day I was able to make 2 zero-fall skiing attempts down the slope :-D
The second day, I got longer skiis and getting up was even more difficult.During the lesson, we were taught how to turn. We had an exercise after that - the trainer fixed poles at about an yard's distance from each other in a straight line. We had to go through them without knocking out the poles. I was the last to go through. I went through the poles without knocking them off but I was skiing sideways. Until people told me after I reached down I never realised it looked so funny :-( After the lessons, I didnt want to venture bigger slopes with the others and stuck to the 'Discovery'. However I enjoyed it much more as I didnt have many falls. It was a much more colder day and was snowing throughout. I was enjoying every moment of the snow fall. I met a girl from Florida on the lift up to the slope. When I told her I was from India, she asked me "Oh! So you would have seen live elephants right?" I was surprised...why elephants of all the things in India? But then when she asked what else was famous in India, I couldnt think of anything specific :-(
At the end of the day I was really glad to remove the skiing shoes. My toes were hurting really bad. After dinner at subway and a hot water bath at home my head hit the bed. After the second day, I didnt have much pain too like the first day. For about a week after the first day I couldnt even move a muscle. But truly as a whole it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Below - me in the skiing gear
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