CLOWN...Who me?

Where is da humour......

It is sad that life has become so busy that we hardly find time for a little laugh during the day.... taking some time off just to kid around is considered a sheer waste of time nowadays.....

Gone are those days when we would spend sometime just to fool around , laugh at ourselves, share a few stale jokes and just act silly......

In todays format of living, if you just want to clown around for sometime to ease the stress...you are either stared at or heckled at .....

I used to be Pheobe of the group way back and people actually found me adorable.......

I think actual freedom is when you can act silly at times and still be adored....

Well so much for a lil bit of humour...

Colleagues and Friends!!!!

I still remember the days when Dad used to invite his colleagues and bosses home for some drinks and dinner with family....and all that the men used to do is chill with the family and avoid talking about work......

Colleagues used to be not just colleagues but friends and further still confidants.....that didnt mean that they werent professional enough at work....

In todays date where we tend to take everyting a wee bit too seriously, it is really difficult to maintain a switch on-switch off equation with colleagues.....

You cannot enjoy a family get-together without talking about work.....we have become like parasites viewing every colleague as a host to feed upon....

we have lost the trust in colleagues.......offices have become zoos with animals feeding upon the other of their kinds......

Where has the Trust gone guys!!!!!!

Hutch is now Vodafone

I love the new Vodafone ad that has been splashed all over the city Hoardings.....It has these very beautifully shot young faces and little things they have to say.....one particular hoarding caught my attention, though there aint anythinthig spectacular about it, its simplicity puts you in a "feel good" state of mind.....it said " Revisit your college days, have cutting chai and meet old friends".....another one featuring a trendy teenager with a nose ring mentions" discover your city, visit the museums, and hit the new hangouts"......

Well, i simply loved the fact that these hoardings gave my some ideas on how to possibly spend some of those boring days when Gans wud be travelling to Europe..

Coming back to the ad.....it reminded me of the Hutch ad when it was first launched in bangalore.. ..it had these pictures of people who could be anyone...but the ad was really eye catching back then.....Vodafone took the same concept but added words to the mute ads.....

Somewhere down the line i think the choice of going into an advertisement in the line of the older brand showed that they did want to change the brand image in the minds of the customers, but wanted to maintain the Brand recall of Hutch....same goes with the television advertisement where they used the same dog but different kennels....and the "You and I" signature tune that they they retained but with a dash of jazz in it........

Basically, they want to scream that they are "THE NEW AND IMPROVED HUTCH"......and not very different from the older one.....

However, whether they would eventually break away from The Impressive Brand recall of the MIGHTY HUTCH or not.....one things for sure....they are basking in the glory of the amazing advertising creativity developed by HUTCH......

I-DENT-TITY CRISIS

WANTING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE IS SUCH A WASTE OF THE PERSON YOU ARE !!!
- CURT COBAIN

Why are we constantly trying to be like someone else,look like someone else, act like someone else? Like the Bard himself proclaimed" All the worls a stage ane we are mere actors".....I think this is the case with many of us.......

Well, as for me, lemme be honest about it, I still remember of the days when I thought Vonn Trapp family and their kids were the coolest, loved their lives, wanted to live their lives, daydreamed that I was one of them....was searching for my MARIA, the Governess....Mid school led me to believe I was all of the charecters straight outta the pages of Enid Blytons mysteries and boarding school stories

Grew through my high school days thinking Madonna had the coolest attitude in the whole wide world and I wanted to dress like her, act like her, even think like her......say all those feminist statements she did....look down upon men....in short, she turned me into a typical bra burner types.....

Then down the line i got bored of her and started getting inspired by Lady Di, I cut my hair short like her, practised her smile in the mirror, believed I would do charity like her (ashamed to admit it, but i didnt do a thing on the charity front)........

Then there were those adolescent days with sudden bombardment on knowledge of the opposite sex and the days "BASIC INSTINCT" was the talk of the town, it was very cool to be a Bad Girl, so I started believing that getting an acquired attitude like Sharon Stones would really be fun. It would be hilarious to watch those poor lil boys fumble and go weak in their knees....Miserable bunch of girls we were...all we wanted to do is get a man to drool and then before he tries to get dirty, show him the cold shoulder.....it was fun to break their tender hearts....oh..men can be such fools....little did we realize that we were greater fools!!!!!

We were a trio, Rachana, Swechcha and myself....and it was the time when F.R.I.E.N.D.S started the sitcom trend in India.....we started believing that Rach was Monica, Swech was Racheal and I was the lovably silly Phoebe.....the more we believed we were like them, the more we acted like them........... and the more we acted like them the more we wanted to be like them.......so there goes, another bunch of wannabes.......

Then came Business School and with it a slight seriousness of choice of Role Model, most of the ambitious girls in the college were all floored by the sucessful career women, and as there was a famine of good looks and business accumen in the corporate world those days(or perhaps we werent very aware those days), we started adopting mannerisms of Hilary Clinton, or Sushma Swaraj.

Passing out of B-School and two jobs through it was Kiran Majumdar Shaw, never emulated her in the sense of dress or mannerisms coz i believed that I was better in those aspects, so it was more about wanting to achieve the goals like her, the reason for idealizing were purely Intangible this time....

Two years of marriage and a stuck up in a shitty job( will definately move on to a better one, i believe that) .......and my role model remains Kiran Majumdhar Shaw, still want to start my off something on my own, even if my skills may be confined to being a florist......but the reason has moved beyond frivoulous reasons like wanting to look like her.....the reason is skin deep now...

But I guess for most of us our earliest memory must be of trying to emulate our parents or at least one of them, and trust me, for most of us that wish lasts a lifetime...

Finally one last thought after all this.......WHO AM I?....Just want to say....

WILL THE REAL SLIM SHADY PLEASE STAND UP!!!!!

Interesting Quotes by BOB DYLAN, The God

These are a few of my personal favourites I picked from various songs:

Take care of your memories.For you cannot relive them.
- BOB DYLAN

All I can do is be me, whoever that is.
Bob Dylan

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.
Bob Dylan

All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die.
Bob Dylan

He not busy being born is busy dying.
Bob Dylan

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.
Bob Dylan

If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.
Bob Dylan

Money doesn't talk, it swears.
Bob Dylan

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.
Bob Dylan

ALONE....NOT LONELY!!!!!

What is it about Indian Men and their fascination for that "LONELY WOMAN". I mean the moment these guys happen to see a lady sitting alone at a restaurant or going to the movies alone, they start building fantasies in that dirty head of theirs.Sometimes the desperation reaches such fever pitch that it is impossible to even wait by the road or walk alone without inviting unwanted stares.

Is'nt a girl allowed to have fun for at least one evening without being looked upon as a prey to those wild and hungry eyes.

Well, there are these times when i just want to hop by the nearest bazaar all alone to buy some girlie stuff , and probably eat at a fast food when i get hungry, but cannot do so without scanning the crowd around and how they might react to a girl sitting alone and eating her food.Dont know what these guys must've been thinking.In most probability their mind must go like this" Hey, poor girl, maybe she haz no one to give her company and needs a Man , maybe i can give her some comfort and......."

You are in greater trouble when you go out to the theatre alone, they somehow pity you.Why dont men understand that there are times when we girls would rather be alone than hang about like just another arm candy to our men.I agree hanging about your man can be real fun, especially when the other guys give you dat look of jealousy but then being on your own and doing your own thing gives you a different kinda kick altogether.Most men might percive this to be an attempt to show that we are available, but no, this is just a defiance to the societeal norms that a woman always needs a man around her to be safe, methinks, doing your own thing screams INDEPENDENCE.

A lonely woman just about brings in as much negetive attention as a "SINGLE WOMAN " would. I have experienced this personally.Before marriage, many stray encounters with guys through friends or friends friends would somehow lead to unwanted SMS after the brief meeting and these unwanted SMS(Short missile services) and other overtures would come to an end only after I may "accidently" mention in a conversation that I am commited.Now, after marriage, whenever I am introduced to someone at a meeting of getogether, the similar missiles of overtures are hurled at me untill I have to again"accidently" mention an anecdote which includes Ganesh and refer about him as "MY HUSBAND".Sometimes I wonder if I have to change my middle name to MARRIED....come to think of it, even mentioning you are married will not go down well with these sorts, one has to clearly mention"HAPPILY MARRIED".Why do they assume that if a girl is SINGLE, she almost always is AVAILABLE.Heaven help you if you are a divorcee, coz then they always assume you are an EASIER LAY.

Sometimes, I wonder if it is the fault of some of our Species who might somehow send out the wrong kinds of signals and allow some men to take advantage of their Status but after pondering over that I can only conclude that it is only Men to blame for their Perceptions, coz if a woman had to give wrong signals, she could do so even if she were married, so men have no right to generalize the entire fraternity of single women as "READY TO MINGLE".

I think Men have a long way before they evolve into finer HOMO SAPIANS, and understand that they should not make obscene overtures untill and unless they get the some kind of a signal.GROW UP MEN AND LEAVE US ALONE!!!!!!!!

TO HOPE OR TO EXPECT?

Sometimes i wonder, how simple would the world be if there were no expectations attached to people.......but is it really possible to live a life devoid of expectations.....

I know, what i am saying is nothing new, but i am sure most of you will agree....Expectations almost always puts you inside a pressure cooker situation, be it expectations from your kith and kinn or yourself (aint it funny that you always put the most pressure on the people you love the most.......wonder why???)

Take a marriage for example.....marriage is mostly about giving, i agree.....but you are also entitled to dreams of yours too.....I know people talk about unconditionality and "give without expecting in return"....but my take on the philosophy is that afterall we are humans and it is only human to expect....expectation only brings in the hope that you need to keep the relationship alive.....oh...i used the word HOPE( a new dimension here)....Well EXPECTATION brings the HOPE or HOPE brings in EXPECTATION....

Living without expectation kills you.......or should i be saying living without hope kills you...ok...i think the use of HOPE probably makes more sense......here is where i probably reel out my understanding of the difference between "EXPECTATION" and "HOPE" (and no, i am not just spurning out definitions from "THE OXFORD" or "CHAMBERS")........HOPE according to me is that tiny winy wish that is born out of some corner of the heart......and when the HOPE becomes more determined and certain then it is transfered from that little comfortable corner of the Heart to the BIG BAD ZONE called the HEAD, then HOPE becomes EXPECTATION.....Expectation is when you start believing that that little HOPE of yours is going to come true........ and when you start working towards it....

Is it such a bad thing to turn your HOPE into expectation.....not at all, what is bad is how you react to failure of your expectations........
thats what hurts you, i guess...well i am no one to talk about the sportsmanship spirit coz i am very bad at it myself, but ya,a stable reaction would help you to bounce back.....

Well, you cannot have much control over your expectations from others, but you definately have an upper hand when it comes to your expectation of yourself, so it is best to only HOPE when it comes to others and EXPECT when it comes to the self

i would always say HOPE, for there is no life without hope, EXPECT(from urself) , for there is nothing better than setting ur own standards.........and finally if the EXPECTED turns out to be THE UNEXPECTED, take things in your own stride........

THANK GOD THERE IS BOREDOM

notice how boredom sometime brings out the best in you.....

here i am reffering to some of da hidden talents we discover out of sheer boredom.....somethings that we might normally never do during the course of our busy schedule.......and are forced into them just because we have nothing else to do.....

ok...lemme decipher what i meant in my case....i had never in the world imagined that i would be writing things..coz right from school i have been allergic to exams...essays.. and anything to do with books and papers....now, that i have quite a lot of time at hand in my workplace(Hey, at least i am being honest)....i started to pen down stray thougths...feelings...and BUDOOM!!!!....blogging happened.....stumbled across the land of BLOGDOM (if i may call it that).......just then a realization sruck upon me....hey, i am not that bad at writing afterall.....i write pretty decent (heres' where you guys should start being polite and say i write well)......


Just the other day there waz this colleague of mine who suddenly cribbing one friday evening....she said weekends are so boring without any productive activity....then she suddenly looked at the small mishty doi earthern pots kept aside after the contents were scooped out by us......with a glint in her eye, she said, lemme try out pot painting this weekend......when she brought the painted pots with a dull gold coating and solid black design, we were spellbound.......the plain earthen pots were transformed into beauties in two days....I asked her" and this beauty came out of boredom"...a prompt nod waz her reply....

Of course, now she is hooked on to it and it is no longer, an activity out of boredom, but she takes time out to do it........

My point is we dont pay attention to little things in the busy humdrum called life....it take boredom to bring out the real talented us......WHAT A PITY!!!

oooh....that brotherly feeling.....

Its all CRAP......well sorry for being so cynical....but my experience has brought me to the conclusion that calling some-one a brother or sister only gives them the lisence to flirt openly without being labelled.......

Well...... Frankly speaking...It only makes me barf when a guy sayz he haz "Brotherly Feelings" for me......whats that supposed to mean.....As far as I am concerned...there can be platonic and non platonic feelings towards the opposite sex.......but making a brother out of a platonic friend is making a mockery out of the relationship.......what are people trying to prove by giving any platonic relationship such a name ?

I think some of them are trying to scream out loud "Hey guys....I find the girl sexy and want to be able to flirt with her with no strings attached...wanna be able to touch her "here and there" without offending her or anyone else"......

Girls have a different philosophy altogether....they want to have a nice time and at the same time save their reputation.....notice, they will make a bhaiyya only out of a hot guy, to be able to hang on him for every pretext and still be concieved as pure, innocent and virginal....... so that they remain untouched good girls and can be married off to whosoever their parents wish.......

And then there are the relatively more civilized group who just wanna to say: Hey guys....I find the person interesting, but there is no possibility of falling for her coz i am not even remotely attracted to her....so let me clear my stance

I have seen couples who havent been able to carry on such a FARCE for long....During one rakshabandhan, they are tying Rakhi to their"mooh bola bhai" and applying tika on the forehead....the next Raksha bandhan, they are seen cootchi cooing and smooching passionately in da beach......

Come to think of it I dont blame them as much as I blame the society, by society I mean those "mean" people who love to make rules about etiquette and "propah behaviour".......They do not have the word "platonic" in their dictionaries.....they only think that one relationship exists between a boy and a girl..."SEXUAL"

I just want to say to all those over suspicious aunts and neighbours.." please give them a chance to proove that two people can be friends without wanting to sleep with each other".....

As for me if anyone comes up to me next time and says I am like his sister......i swear to God, I will break his face.......

OF BITCHING AND GOSSIPS......

I really wonder how some people find it so easiy to be the typical "Miss Goody two shoes" without a single bad bone about anyone in them.....
I mean, there have been phases when I have tried to get into Miss Goody's two shoes.....the act lasts for a month or two, and then I am itching to be out of them and back to my wicked bitchy shoes...it iz much more fun that way......

Sometimes bitching (lets call it Bad mouthing as it sounds more euphemistic) takes you to such a level of euphoria and destresses you momentarily, i think it is the perfect substitute for Nicotine esp. for non-smokers....(imagine having the corridoor bitching sessions at the smoking zone during your smoking breaks sans the nicotine).......Bad mouthing, let me clarify, is different from back stabbing......You are not harming anyone by bad mouthing him......it iz done mostly with a close circle and in most probability would never be leaked out.... again it doesnt amount to defamation becoz you are not saying untrue things about anyone in a public forum......ya bad mouthing is mostly repetive and you tend to repeat the same thing you did about the person half a minute ago.....it is just a way to giving vent to your frustrations without causing real damage.....so why not go ahead and indulge your senses.....

Just yesterday I heard Ganesh speak to his boss over the phone about their Business trip to Singapore and he asked him if he had finished his packing yet.....Ganesh smiled and said almost done and not to worry...such a beautiful smile on hiz face, i felt he was so happy to acompany his boss...as soon as the phone clicked on the other end of the reciever Ganesh almost threw his phone and started uttering some of the choicesed cuss words and said the idiot has given me all the extra luggage and .....this took me by surprise and I admonished him for such a behaviour.... he said, "now there, I have vented my anger and frustration, i feel better now and this will help me to smile at him which i see him at the airport".........so there you go...i discovered an entire new dimension added to the list of advantages on bad mouthing.....it helps you to be decent to the victim and not create a scene... coz you have already shown you anger in his absence.......

But yes.....bitching also has downsides to it.....too much of indulging into this can make an addict out of you....and any kind of addiction is bad......once you are an addict it is very difficult to reform yourself (plus, they dont have institutions called "Bitching Anonymous" yet)....And yes it affects you health...mental and physical....just like bad vibes and bad aura does......It definitely gives you momentary pleasure, but might be fatal in the long run......

I still remember, when my grand father used to be angry with someone as his driver or painter or gardner, he would just say things like "PROCRASTINATION.....CONSTIPATION.......ADDULATION........." out loud...and when i asked him why was he spurning out his vocabulary, he smiled and said..."i dont want to have bad vibes by using bad words...so I used high sounding words which dont mean anything bad....so that the pple who dont understand english think i am scolding them....but I havent paased on any negetive Vibes"......

So as I said in my earlier Blog " Too much Sugar is bad......but too much Venom is just as bad, if not worse........U needint be Goody two shoes but dont spit out too much venom either........So bad mouthing is ok as long as it is done in limits and under the leash............OTHERWISE U R IN TROUBLE BAD BOY

THE JET-SET AGE Vs THE OLD WORLD CHARM

have you noticed how most of us have stars in our eyes whenever we talk about "the good ol' days", talk about fewer amenities, lesser luxuries, less comforts, and much simpler lives.....and(most of all) much happier times.......

People with oh so perfect , la-di-dah lifestyle, are so clausterphobic in their well woven cocoonss that they long to break free......as for me, have you noticed that whenever you travel to the so called "modern" countries, the first five days are so amazing and a respite from the hustle bustle, dirt, chaos of India....but by the twilight of the fifth day, you are so bored with the perfection and comfort in our lives........It kills you (like sugar)...and you long for the heat and dust and actually start missing it........

Last month Ganesh visited Turkey and and he was still beaming after a 10 day long visit. Apparently, he was delighted by the refershing change after visiting the other developed nations of Europe.....what left him so happy was that the country side reminded him of India, with people pulling carts, crowded market places, the strong ethnicity of people in the way they dressed and what they ate, and the OLD WORLD CHARM added to the entire experience..........he was of the opinion that instead of taking a holiday to singapore, malaysia or any other country which boasts of its modernity and tourism attractions, it would be much more fun go to such countries where people retain ethnicity of culture and carry the OLD WORLD CHARM, I agreed with his opinion, that these places were much more romantic........

Wonder what is it that makes most of us loathe the comforts of the jet -set age which make our lives so much more easier.........There is always a wistfulness to experince something thats so raw, so unrefined , so not perfect, so ancient......

I guess it is just like the urge to connect with other humans in a much different level altogether........not through emails, blogs, mobile phones, but probably through personalized hand written letters, discussions, and calling on at friends' houses........

Okie...okie...I hear some people accuse me of being one of those few lucky ones to experience the "good life", so I can talk about longing for "the not so good life".....but let me tell you one thing.......I know that it is very difficult to live under poor conditions (though many people say that the conditions you live in doesnt matter, what matters is only how happy you are), I am not making a mockery of below poverty line........I am just saying that too much comfort just might kill you......SUGAR IS A SLOW POISON............

HAPPINESS QUOTIENT!!!!

Isnt it a real pity that when people can choose to be either happy or sad in life they more often than not make the wrong choices in life.Well happiness lies in our own hands, no one can make it or break it for us.It is a state of mind whose reigns are in the hands of our mind itself.

Methinks, a human being is not happy being happy.To get that extra something, spice, zing..he wants to be unhappy.look at me, I feel so bored when the going is good and always complain that I am so bored with the "oh so perfect" , "la di dah" lifestyle we are leading.I want something to brood about, crib about ,blame someone to feel good.Lets face it , all of us have that little bit of persecution complex hidden somewhere inside of us.

Actually I think unhappiness acts as a "feel good" kind of a morphine to the darker side of the brain.I am no scientist or doc, but my native intelligence and instincts tell me that we do have shades of grey that somewhere somehow seek imperfection.

Yes, this means we unconciously bring in unhappiness to ourselves and then crib about it and derive some kind of sadistic pleasure from it.

Guess, our love for imperfection explains our love for the sexy rather than picture perfect.well, I dont know about others, but for me sexiness is not exactly a picture perfect beauty, but someone whose imperfection might have such charm that it could win you over.

I prefer Sush's imperfect and soometimes foot in the mouth sexiness to Ash's picture perfect and too politically correct beauty.

So probably all of us are seeking imperfection in life as because of our perception of what we deserve.

Next time you are unhappy, remember to enjoy it, coz you brought it on yourself

" Where there is a will......

Well life has a funny way of teaching you a lesson and then rewarding you for the lesson you have learnt.

I have noticed one thing,whatever you try to do and however you do it , the result always depends on how passionatly you want it.

Be it getting into a university or a job or even looking for a life partner.I am not saying that your performance doesnt matter at all.Yes, it most certainly does, but if even an average effort is lapped up with total sincerely and passionate desire for the goal, life gives it to you.

I think life is a very fair lady.

I have noticed that whenever I have failed in anything, either I have lacked that burning desire to achieve my goal or I did not have enough confidence in myself, my performance being above average.

My Grand mother says"nothing is unattainable in this world, all you have to have is Burning Desire, Confidence in yourself and perhaps a very little bit of talent is enough and the unattainable is yours."

I tell all those people who have failed exams and lost their Life partners, "Just look inside of you, Pehaps, you failed becoz of your lack of hunger to pass or lack of desire for that special someone"

Yes, Life has taught me that where there is a will, there is a way.

ODE TO MARS

While Men consider us women to be the most engmatic, puzzling and intriguing creatures in the planet, I think one underlying quality that binds men all across the world is their SIMPLICITY.Experiences with my Dad, husband and other umpteen male friends of mine inspired me to pen this ode to the amazing Species.There has been so much male bashing going around that I thought I should say something nice about them..........So here I am................Well, I think men are much simpler than the complex creatures that we are........According to me , they know exactly what they want out of life and work their way towards achieving it.The three basic needs are, Power, Money and Sex (not necessarily in the same order)Unlike women, whose needs and wants keep changing according to situations, men have just the three goals to focus on.We spend a lifetime of bickering, Jealously and Gossip, but men are superior to us in this aspect.Their thought process is very simple and no malice attached to it.I think a man is never so jealous of another man just becoz he looks better than him,.They have no time for these inferior emotions.Call me old fashioned, but I just love the way a man acts all chivalrous(Chivalry is not dead, at least not yet) when there is a lady around.The way the get so protective and Responsible.Women of the world, you may love to hate me for this writing this peice, but, I wanted to see if I could write something in praise of the Clan, and realized that it was too short coz there is only so much to it.Now, I know why there and many more articles on Male Bashing.Wait for my next on Male Bashing............................will definately be a longer peice..................I am sure...........Sorry...........all those Men out there!!!!!!!!!I still feel YOU are amazing.........Yessss..............I also admire how men resist shopping........our greatest weakness......