Back with a coconut

I used to buy coconut for Rs.30 back in India. Last to last weekend at the Farmers Market, I saw coconuts for the first time here in Chicago- neatly cut and wrapped in cling wrap. As soon as I saw one, I wanted to buy it and seeing the price tag of $5, I gave up the idea equally quickly. On a student budget, this felt too extravagant.

Eventually ended up ordering box of Coco vita on Amazon and I am sipping on coconut water from a tetra-pack while I write this.

I remember the first time I got the concept of nariyal paani and malai was from the movie Baazigar when Kajol asks Shahrukh to get nariyal and then he throws and cracks it open on a thug’s helmet. I found part of the scene here. How I would wonder about green coconut back in 1995. I had never seen one for real. At my Nanaji’s place there used to be a coconut tree and as a child I used to look forward to going there during vacations to see if we could get any green coconuts. I think a part of the child in me died when Maamu told me its khajoor ka tree and not coconut. It may sound dramatic but I was in love with coconuts J

One of my fondest memories of coconut water is from not very long ago.  My friend had been m.i.a. all day after promising to meet me and all of my 973830309 calls and texts went unanswered. Given my punctuality, I was extremely angry and worried and I knew that I am not going to let him live in peace for this. After what felt like a lifetime or precisely 58697659 hours, the said friend knocks on the door with two fat green coconuts. I burst out laughing. I did give him an earful but I swear it wasn’t a fraction of what I could’ve said. The coconuts saved him! Such is my love for coconuts..

Mighty Pen

Colleagues at work now are scared of lending me their pens. Apparently I never return it. So today I consciously made an effort to carefully keep the pen at one place. Unfortunately I lost it again but I was determined to return it to the rightful owner so went out hunting for it. Could not find it, tired I sat down in inventory room and seriously started thinking about it.

I was cursing myself- how I cannot remember such a small thing, how very forgetful I have become. And then my fast flying thoughts took me to fourth semester's artificial intelligence class and I clearly remembered the prof on the platform saying- Hessian is gradient of Jacobian and Jacobian is a first order partial derivative of a vector function (or something to that effect!) Why do I remember this shit!? I don't know what it means, I don't understand it and I don't need it. I remember this but can’t remember where I put my pen an hour ago?! Why o God why!
 

Frenemy

What would make one feel worse - someone you're nice to is rude to you, or someone you're rude to is nice to you?

I realised today- be nice to your enemies and make them feel like crap :D

Job(s) Effect

So a few days ago at work, a new guy had joined. The other day me and a girl colleague were discussing about new cosmetics that were being introduced.

Me: I tried Mac's new eye shadow. It is too good. It looks soo sexy and the application is awesome.

Girl Colleague: Yeah, but it's little expensive. I am going to save up for it and buy it very soon.

New Guy: (who was eavesdropping on our conversation) What's it that you were talking about? Apple has come up with a new product or what?

Me and Girl Colleague: Confused at the question, limited mind that we have.

There was a silence of about 4-5 seconds when suddenly both of us understood the whole thing and started laughing and now the New Guy was confused- what's got into these girls!

He still hadn't understood the joke when another guy took pity on him and told him that dude this is not your i-shadow world, it's their eye-shadow world :)

Error

I was going through the cv's  of some potential candidates and one in particular caught my eye- an unfortunate error.

Reason you quit your last job: To pursue my Master.


How a 's' can make a difference!

Aage chuha, peeche billi

Tom and Jerry is still one of my favorite cartoon shows. They never fail to make me laugh. So when I saw my little cousin had this as her status on fb yesterday, it caught my attention- 

Some relationships are like Tom & Jerry. They tease each other, knock each other down, irritate each other, hate each other but can't live without each other.

The love-hate relationship between Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse is wonderful. They will do anything and everything in their capacity to irritate the hell out of other one, torture each other to no end but they love each other like no one else too! 

C'est la vie

I banged into a glass door, while I was walking out of my building. In my own building! The door I have been using everyday for the last two years!!

After the stars floating around my head dropped down and I passed the main-kaun-hoon-main-kahan-hoon moment, I dashed into the lift trying to recover from the embarrassment.

Lessons I learnt from the incident:

1. You don't know your own place as well as you think you do.
 

2. Sometimes you can see what's beyond, but you can't see what's right in front of you
 

3. And sometimes things are so clear you don't see anything.

My name is Shiela

I was out shopping. I needed some help regarding a few things so I called the attendant.
This female comes and introduces herself as "My name is Shiela....." She also added "how can I help you?" but that just drowned in my mind. I looked at her for about five seconds not knowing what to say and trying not to say rest of the lines. I simply smiled and fumbled a bit to gather myself. She smiled too and said "it's ok ma'am"

:)

My phones

I have had six phones in the last ten years. It took me nearly an hour to get a picture of all my phones from internet. I didn’t know the model number of a single phone except Nokia 6610- that's because it my favorite phone for many reasons :) 

Mobile phones should have their model number written somewhere on the phone. You would think it would be reasonable to expect that, how else are you supposed to identify the hundreds of different models out there?

Jazz

I was sitting with a few friends and we were watching American Idol when I saw this song.
This guy sang jazz. He got standing ovation from judges.
I absolutely loved it.

The greatest thing that I have learned
is just to love and be loved in return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifpfD2HgycE

Facebook- liked

Conversation between me and my boss-

Prerequisite: Me and my boss have a very good equation.

He was not at work today but he was constantly checking his email on his blackberry. I was chatting with him and there wasn't a lot of work today.

Me: Steve, I want to leave early tonight and there's nothing much to do.

Boss: No you can't! You can't leave the desk un-(wo)-manned.

Me: I'll login from home and take care if something comes up.

Boss: No! You've put in your papers does not mean you can leave whenever you want.

Me: Steve, I don't like you.

Boss: I am not a facebook status that you like me. I am your boss!

Me: lol lol lol lol

Boss: You have to admit it was a good one ;)

Me: Ofcourse! You're the boss.

Angry Birds

Ankur got me an ipod touch on my birthday. I have never had much experience with ipod except for the nano which I got as a gift from Anish. It barely stayed with me for a few days and was taken away by its rightful owner- the gift-giver, if I may say.

This time I got the fancy, shiny 4g ipod touch with face time and all that jazz.

First thing I do when I get it- put Angry Birds on it. Angry Birds is a game quite like Pocket Tanks only it’s sillier.

When you look at the birds they appear angry with their knitted brows. Here’s why I call the game silly-  

 

Characters of the game- angry legless and wingless birds (wingless!?!?) and fat grunting green pigs

Objective of the game- to kill the pigs

How- launch birds off a slingshot at the pigs stationed in various structures

I get it till this point. Now comes the silly bit.

Why are the birds angry- because the pigs stole their eggs!!

Why are the birds wingless- no clue but that’s the reason these angry little intelligent creatures fashioned a slingshot to kill the pigs.

How do the birds kill pigs- after being launched like a projectile at the pig stations the birds explode (!!) and the explosion kills the pigs. And these birds are soo angry and eager to retrieve their eggs that before first bird explodes to death another one is jumping up and down waiting on the slingshot.

What powers do these angry birds and evil green pigs have- a blue bird can divide itself into three smaller birds while it’s airborne, another has the ability to lay explosive eggs! Pigs o the other hand wear helmets for protection!

I ask myself- is it not ridiculous. YES IT IS!!

But it’s addictive. So much so that yesterday while I was on the cross trainer I saw a bird sitting on the beam and I found myself wondering if the bird is angry because some pig stole its eggs… :-) 

Game trailer.

Shadi account

Ankur and I were all set to leave from Bombay but we got to know our flight was over four hours late because of which we missed our connecting bus. We reached Bikaner at 4 in the evening when we were supposed to be there by 4 am. 12 hours late already.
Because we got late I didn't any time to put on mehendi. :'(((

Saw Alka Di and Aman Di's sons second time. Became good friends with them. At one time Alka di called out for me- Sonal, idhar aana at which little Yuvi snapped.. Mummy, Sonal Maasi bolo. Cute.

Bus ride to Kota- O MY GOD! It was the most bumpy ride ever. I took the sleeper seat first thinking I'll catch up on my sleep but had to come down because I was being tossed like a football every few seconds. I tried to sleep while sitting but on one big bump I fell off and wedged myself between the seats and the floor. Slept like that for some time. Between Kamla Buaji's consistent urges to stop the bus on each bump and Dad's jokes on the situation and Bhaiya's constant leg pulling on how-much-we-are-suffering-to-get-your-dulhaniya the trip became hilarious and memorable.

Kota- Lots of dancing, lots of food, lots of fun, another sleepless night and Bhaiya got her bride and in no time we were back in the bus to Bikaner.

Karni Mata ka Mandir- aka rat temple, 30 kms before Bikaner. The newly weds were required to take blessings and I being a good sister and sister-in-law tagged along with them. Between Bhaiya screaming Mummeeee... Mummeeee... and Bhabhi screaming Gillu... Gillu... the visit became all the more fun. No one would have ever seen so many rats at one time. This picture is just one spot. There were hundreds of rats in the temple.

Back in Bikaner. More dancing, more food, more fun. At the reception Badi Maa, Bade Papa, Dad, Mom, Buajis, Fufaji were all dancing. Even Maa danced and I was happy seeing them happy so much that a tear rolled down my cheek. They looked content but old and tired. Why do parents have to grow old.
 
And now time to go back to Bombay.


5 days and Bombay-Jaipur-Bikaner-Kota-Bikaner-Jaipur-Bombay- lots of traveling, it's my turn!

Thought for food

Recently I have realized that I may be allergic to certain types of food. I am a big foodie. Knowing that I may be allergic to things that I love- is scary and I have been having these very random, very mixed feelings on food depending on what's cooking, my mood, who's around.

So here are a few of those:

Food is...

...an everyday routine.

...the essence of life.
 
...the only thing to look forward to on certain days.

...a nuisance when you have no one to have it with.

...a welcome relief in the middle of a busy day.

...an annoying interruption in the middle of a busy day.
 
...the window to a culture.
 
...an important criterion to finalize honeymoon places.
 
...a topic to avoid awkward silences

...an excuse to have someone sit across you on the table.

...a way of abusing the body.

...a way to take care of yourself.

...at times expensive and totally not worth it.

...at times cheap and tastes the best.

...pretty.

...messed up.

...boring.

...fun.

...and yummiest when Mom makes it!

(In)significant

At some points in our lives, we decide to make some-thing, some-one or some-day significant.
Sometimes it is hard to explain why it became significant.
But sometimes, it's even harder to explain how it stops becoming significant.

Guess it just happens...

Smileys

Let the smileys do all the talking-
A bbm forward that Chinky sent.

WC 2011

World Cup is upon us.

Found this picture somewhere. Loved it. It is so colorful. This is before 1992 World Cup started. First look at it and I know only three guys by face. I am sure I have heard or I know other players too but I don't have names associated with these faces.

Love the way Azhar is lusting after the trophy and how disinterested Imran is. And how hot is he!!

Cheap thrills?

There’s this guy in my gym- semi-hunky, acts all cool most of the times, thinks-he-is-too-handsome kind of guy.

So the other day I had been on the arc trainer for at least fifteen minutes, and this guy had done a grand total of four crunches, three over head weights, two leg lifts- intercepted with one looooong watch-himself-in-mirror and leisurely-stroll-around-the-gym sessions.

Fast forward today- the same guy had finished his lat pulls when I finished my warm up routine. It was my turn on the pull down. I adjusted the seat and noticed that the pin was set on four weight plates. Since I have just started I do the pulls at two. Just then I realized that I forgot my phone on the treadmill. I got up, picked up my phone and settled on the seat when I saw that the pin was miraculously sitting pretty on seven weight plates!!

Hee-haa-haa-haa moment :))

Stop, stop ... STAUPPPP!!

I was exploring the world of cricket on youtube when I landed on the video of that (in)famous Aamir Sohail -Venkatesh Prasad encounter in the India-Pak ODI - World cup 1996.


I vividly remember watching it at home and getting all joshed up and screaming and jumping up and down in glee.

And I realised it was fifteeeeeen years back!

15!! I can’t imagine 15 YEARS?! SO much has happened in 15 years!

And then I figured I was only 10 then.

Shit. I feel oldddddddddddddddddddddddddddd.

Someone stop the time :-/

:) but :(

Lately everything around me has been about wedding or associated with wedding in some way or the other. Lehenga, saree, jewelry, shoes, rooms, food, favors, sangeet, decoration and lots more.

It becomes overwhelming sometimes. Today was one such day. Although I hadn’t done any of the above mentioned things. The reason was this sms that Mummy sent in the day…

ओस की बूँद सी होती है बेटियां,
स्पर्श यदि खुरदरा हो तो रोती है बेटियां!
रोशन करता है बेटा एक ही कुल को,
दो दो कुलों की शान होती है बेटियां!
कोई नहीं दोस्तों एक दुसरे से कम,
बेटा अगर हीरा है तो मोती होती है बेटियां!
काटों की राह पर चल कर,
औरों के लिए फूल बोती हैं बेटियां!

विधि का विधान और सृष्टि का यही रीति रिवाज़ है की,

अपने प्रियजनों को छोड़ कर पिया के घर जाती है बेटियां!!

Emotions ka overdoze ho gaya Maaaaa.... Damn!

Senstivity

Chhi and Bhangi were telling me about their new year’s night. How they had a bonfire on one of the coldest nights on a beach in Daman and Bhangi started the fire and kept it going all night and how he tried real hard to not let it die when this one log refused to burn. That’s when this thought struck me.

Women are sensitive.

When someone close forgets to wish her on her birthday.
When her bff goes out for shopping with someone else and forgets to tell her.
When her friend does not meet her for a long time.
When her boyfriend forgets that she hates capsicum.
She takes it to her heart.

When her sister compliments her just like that.
When her roommate covers her up after she falls asleep.
When her friend comes over with nariyal pani or flowers.
When her boyfriend calls her a tomato.
She goes to bed with a smile on her lips.

Complicated. I know.

Men are sensitive too but in strange ways that I won't understand. If a man has built a fire and the last log does not burn, he will take it personally!!

Simple!?! :-)

Cricket

Lots of cricket is happening. With no work at office and India-South Africa and Ashes going on most of my day goes in watching these matches. Remaining day I keep myself busy with old cricket tournaments they keep showing on ten cricket. Tonight they were showing IPL T20 matches.

And I started wondering...what is the reason for bringing cheer leaders-pretty faces, hot bodies in cricket?

I mean...WHY??

Are they're here to pull the men. Men!?!

But when did men ever need to be forced to watch cricket? Not the ones in India atleast. So what purpose do they serve? Men will watch cricket anyday, pretty women or not. Don't tell me they're here to draw in the women. Please!
I'm a huge cricket fan but the minute I see these cheerleaders haw and hum in front of the camera, I feel like changing the channel.

Point is the game is getting too commercialized.

I hope they leave test match cricket untouched.

On a side note- I hope India wins this test. Chances are bright and Laxman’s the man. I wish he scores a century.

Pop corn

I bought a big tub of pop corn for keeping myself occupied in the movie Tron. What a tragedy it was! Worst movie ever!! Rs 350 spent for such a mind numbingly meaningless movie.

The only thing I enjoyed in the movie was popcorns. Once the popcorns were all over I tried eating the burnt corn kernels.

Popcorn kernel is small, hard, indigestible, and seemingly worthless- something you would hate. But put it in a pot and hold it over the fire, and it'll be transformed before your eyes.
 

Sometimes, life's pressures and problems can do the same for you.

I just love how the simple analogies can be used to convey something so well :-)