Happy New Year!!

For the new year 2010, I wish everyone loads of small but necessary miracles....

• A fresh pot of coffee/tea, you don't have to make yourself.
• An unexpected phone call from an old friend.
• A call which you always waited for.
• Green lights on your way to work or home.
• Vacant lot to park your vehicle.
• Your keys right where you look.
• The fastest line at the grocery store/ATM/Petrol bunk.
• A good sing along song on the radio.
• A vacation with loved ones.
• That 5 EXTRA minutes of sleep.
• A reliable shoulder to confide your feelings.
• Tickling by a child.
• Hug by your dear one.
• Lovely time with family & friends.
• Mom cooking your favorite dish.
• Unexpected peck on your cheek.
• Star gazing on your terrace.
• A walk in the rain.
• Unusual escape from the daily routine.
• Small little surprises, which makes you jump out of joy.
• A hearty laugh till your end up holding your stomach tight and have tears in eyes.
• Finding your own forgotten old photograph in some book or attic.
• A day of little things to rejoice in.
• A day of happiness and perfection that give you the funny feeling that the Lord is smiling on you, holding you so gently because you are someone special and rare.........................

This Year!!

The year 2009 has been a roller coaster ride again, like the year 2008.

(my feel for 2008 : Innocence, exploring, solitude, inquisitive, freshness, new things, excitement)

The major part of 2008 gave me more than what I could have ever asked for.. It really showed me the naive & sensitive part of me, which I often don't realise myself.. I was really floating in the great state of happiness and bliss & totally carried away:) ... But, towards the end of 2008, things turned really upside down and made me realise the hard facts which was really difficult for me to digest..

(my feel for 2009 : Happiness, freedom, freshness, excitement, love, acceptance)

And, what do I say about 2009,

Did I ever had an idea of things, that would take place in my life.. obv, NOPE!!

Many new things have started, with god's grace, and continuing in good state.

I also had to face the biggest emotional battle and have realised that my heart knows better than my brain.. And, I'm so glad to follow my heart, it has only made me a better person and happy to see every small little wonders around me and be amused..

As the year ends, I convey my heartfelt thanks to the person who has inspired me to great extent, to do so many things and who taught me to enjoy every moment in life and love endlessly ...

Difference!!

Rule 1 : Survival of the fittest..Fight to make your presence felt..

Rule 2: Be friendly with & love all. Maintain peace & harmony.

Which is yours!!??

Mom!!

Kaami (the cat) gives birth to 2 lovely cute kittens!!

Everyone is happy with the 2 new members to the family and all the special treatment for Kaami.

As we cousins all gathered in the house for Christmas, it was time for us to roam around. We had a helluva time in Sirsi, Yaana, Sahasralinga, Banawasi, Joga, Honnemaradu.

But, when we returned, we were welcomed by a very silent Kaami. The kittens were missing. We all felt really bad, as we had left Kaami alone at home. Initially we thought, Kaami must have hidden the kittens to protect from possible danger. But we were concerned, as the kittens were not found even the next day. Kaami was being restless and started looking at us in silence. Everyone started looking at all the nook and corner of the house, for kittens, accompanied by Kaami, but were not successful. Kaami stopped eating/drinking anything. :(

Towards end of the day, when someone wanted to pick up something from the cupboard in the verhanda, Kaami pounced upon us and started jumping. The kittens were in the deep corner of the cupboard.

Actually, when Kaami saw all of us going out of the house, it has hidden the kittens in the cupboard as the door was open. When we came back, we have just closed the door without realizing the kittens inside.

The kittens had starved for quite a long time :( but,luckily still healthy as there was enough ventilation. May be we didn't realize, why Kaami went near the cupboard couple of times. We should have understood then!!

The kittens were found and Kaami was happy again. It started having its meal :D ...

So typical mom!!

PS: Kaami is the desi name for cats and uncle has given that name to his cat.. Kaami also means the desirer. Yes, cats happily desire for luxury and the human race provides it to the cats. There is a quote saying "Dogs have owners & Cats have servants :) "

PPS : Its said that, once the cat gives birth, it hides the kitten in 7 different places. A natural instinct for cats to protect the kittens from other animals. But, we don't see that behaviour in our city cats as they understand, there is no possible danger..

PPPS: Whatever the species are, the motherhood has remained the same on earth. To protect, to take care and to always think of well being of the kids. Even after a long trip in wonderful locations, being amidst the lovely cousins, I felt something missing there, and started to miss my mom!! ... to a good extent thanks to Kaami!!

Ads

Watching ads is my favorite pastime. In fact, these are better than any of the stupid soaps. Few ads are beautiful, few are sensible and few are utter funny..

And there are times, I admire the creativity of the ad makers too.

Esp. Vodafone - They have been always the top scorers for their wonderful themes. First they came up with the beautiful pugs in their ad, with a catch line, where ever you go, our network follows (The pugs became celebrity after those ads :D ) and now they have "happy to help" and the famous Zoozoos. (there is absolutely no post production changes for zoozoo ads).. Hats off to your creativity, guys.. u rock!!

Airtel, with regard to ads, they never came any way near to their close competitor Vodafone. The only wonderful ad, they ever created is "Special 5 friends". I loved the whole series. And that their top 1. There are other "Connecting people" or specific handsets ad, which we forget easily after sometime. :(

When SBI mutual funds were major earners in the market, they not only had the good investment bankers with them, they also had a very good ad makers team with them. Their ad in which they show how the other funds take away major share of your money while you withdraw. (http://videosostav.ru/video/e8933393ad650c7a25fd3c99c87d6d07/)

There are lot more to mention here.. and the list would never end.

Hey, let me change from the ad concepts to the highly paid models. But, are they really loyal to the brands they embassador??

Here is a list of such well known people, who moved on from one brand to other, in the same product line...It's all about money, honey!!

1. Sharukh – Mayur Suitings to Belmonte (you obv rem: Sharukh Mayur Khan!!)

2. Kareena – Lux to vivel

3. Rani – Pepsi to Fanta

4. Aamir & Aishwarya – Pepsi to coke (do you remember, aish telling aamir "Hi, I'm Sanjana".. very old pepsi ad)

5. Aishwarya – Lakme to L’oreal (The Lakme ad made Aishwarya a household name, even before she was Ms. World and also gave an edge to her, over other competitors in the Ms.India contest..)

6. Aishwarya – Titan to Longines

Woow.. Well, it looks like Aishwarya is one person with "Move On" mantra... Shouldn't she be taken to "Fastrack" watches ad!! :D :P

True Love!!

Narrated by a Nurse:

"It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80's, presented to have sutures (stitches) removed from his thumb.

He stated that he was in a hurry as he had anappointment at 9:00 am. I (nurse) took his vital signs and had him take a seat,knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. Asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning somewhere else, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.

I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him. "And you are still going every morning,even though she doesn't know who you are?" He smiled as he patted my hand and said. "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

I humbly add:

Yes, we all want such pure & true love in our life. But, at the same time, think, if we want it in our life, why not start with giving that love unconditionally & uncompromisingly?

In that way, we would always have that true love in our life, within us :)

Programmer!!

When I was going through my inbox, I found this forward mail which I received long back.

The mail is about the programmer’s reaction when something is not working. The list gave me a smile.

20. That’s weird.

19. It’s never done that before.

18. It worked yesterday.

17. How is that possible?

16. It must be a hardware problem.

15. What did you type in wrong to get it to crash?

14. There is something funky in your data. OR It’s a data problem, not a program problem.

13. I haven’t touched that module in weeks!

12. You must have the wrong version.

11. It’s just some unlucky coincidence.

10. I can’t test everything!

9. THIS can’t be the source of THAT.

8. It works, but it hasn’t been tested.

7. Somebody must have changed my code.

6. Did you check for a virus on your system?

5. Even though it doesn’t work, how does it feel?

4. You can’t use that version on your system.

3. Why do you want to do it that way?

2. Where were you when the program blew up?

And the number one thing all Programmers say when their programs don’t work:

1. It works on my machine.

Have you guys (Programmers!!) made any of the above comments, anytime!! :)

And...

Things I miss about school..

Obviously, this has been on my mind, from the time I have watched the movie Paa. As I said earlier, Auro & the kids have made me go back to my school days and relish all the sweet memories.

Every small thought about our childhood & our school days, will easily bring a smile in our heart, na!! Even the silly stupid fights we would have had while playing.. Oh!! How much I miss my days.

1. One major thing I really & very deeply miss about those days is, My own silence  yes, I was one of the very silent kid in our class, an observer, a listener, inquisitive, intelligent …….. (I’m not kidding!!) All the good qualities have remained in me to a good extent, but, but, I’m a chatterbox now and miss being that silent fella… I would any opt to be silent. :D

2. My sis.. When two sisters sit in the same class, usually people think they must be twins. And the moment, we said “NO”, everyone questioned my sister whether she flunked any class. And how much my sister hated people for that Question. The fact was, I didn’t do my kg classes, and since I scored good marks in the interview, had been given seat for 1st std directly. Lol

(And very sadly, we lost our sister in an accident a decade ago  I still miss you akka… I wish you were with me today)

3. And, since I joined early, I was always the youngest kid in the class, through out my studies. I did feel the age difference between me & my classmates, faced problems understanding them. But they always adored me, pampered me to the core. Even today, I can’t think I’m grown up,, ;)

4. The moment the school bell rang, we came out running to buy the mangoes or guava or ice cream. Do you remember the Mewad Mix Icecream or the cone ice cream we used to get near our schools.. I don’t find them anymore!! 

5. There was a mango tree near our school. It was our another stunt after the school hours. Whoever goes there first, will get more mangoes, before the owner chases us out!! :D

6. Every Saturday, after the school hours, all our friends met up in our house, to play hide & seek. It was not so big house but had many places where one can hide themselves. The game usually went on till late evening. Lani, saru, shashi, anna, ani,vani, viji, pushpa, savi, kulli, bharathi, sari,lee, dabbi… girls, can we play H&S again,,!!?

7. I was the one to wake up early everyday @ home and I loved watching ladies drawing beautiful Rangolis. Now, neither wake up so early, nor many rangolies these days 

8. One way, our parents got rid of our mischief was to send us to Tutions. Unnecessary time waste for us  … But had bunch of fellas there too. The one particular tution I attended when I was in 5th, the teacher was excellent. She would let us play out on the road, must for one hr everyday.. Heard of any tuitions like that: D,, we played, pass/fail, lagori, chuchendu, kuntebille .. What not!! I even went with guys for fund collection for ganesha festival: D.. I miss all those 

9. We always went to school at least an hour early, so that the whole gang could play lock n key, jootata, tree tree which tree, gate gate which gate… etc. Big bunch of more than 20 students, screaming loud while playing, was the great fun.

10. In those days, we never thought of the word competition. For us, that word was applicable only for singing or dance or sports or any other activities, where, at the end one would get a prize. We never thought all of us are competitors for high scores. Nope. I really miss the absence of such thought.

11. The wonderful part of the school days was Summer & Dasara holidays. Visit to relatives’ place, masti with cousins, and once back in again, boast about the fun we had, to the classmates  .. Don’t we all, really really miss this!! lol

boooh.... booh,, i want to go to school!! :(

Paa!!

Did I ever had an idea of what the movie would be all about!!!

Obviously nope!!

The title says: Paa - "A very rare father-son, son-father story"

And they meant, Jr. AB as father to Sr.AB...

But, in the movie, its not just about father & son..

The movie revolves around Auro, a progeria patient (every channel says about this syndrome, these days,, so, I don't have to explain it) and all the relationships he shares with everyone in his life.

Big B rocks as a school student. Amazing, just not that new avatar, but also the acting (his body language is genius).

He has a very loving mom (Vidhya Balan has done brilliant job), who is a single parent, but who is very proud of her son. Though she feels the pain for her son, brings up her son with a great amount of self respect in him.

And there is Arundhati Nag as Auro's granny, whom he sweetly calls Bum, who supports her daughter to be a strong single parent, taking take care of Auro and struggling to explain to Auro that Vidhya is not married, and happy for her daughter when good things are on her way.

We should really appreciate both Jr.AB's acting & his role in the movie. Though the role looks very idealistic, that's the kind of politicians we want, to "Change the system". About a corrupted officer he says, lets help if he is clean, but, we surely have to help him if he is corrupted. His phil is killing the patient doesn't cure the disease. Hats off!!

AB looks very opt for the intelligent, idealist, visionary politician with a dignified and sensible approach towards problems/issues.

And Auro has a good bunch of friends, who do not ill treat him, neither treat him with special attention. But, they are always with him,for him, like any brilliant student in a class would have and the bonding is also great, likewise.

Auro knows about his health condition, the way his family is struggling for him, understands what his mom has undergone in her life for him and even though he wants to be with his dad, he stops himself not to be an hitchki...

Isn't that a mature kid ?? I love Auro.

But, the movie isn't that serious at all.. This movie really made me envious of school kids.. I really really want to go back to school (I go as a teacher,, will anyone take me as a student, pls?? )

There is whole load of fun, which Auro shares with his mom, granny and his class mates, esp Vishnu :)

Even a single piece, which is as simple as "Tameez se baath kar", maakes you laugh ur heart out... Yes, I mean it..

Few of my fav dialogues from the movie are:

"Tameez se baath kar, MP ko jaanta hoon mein"

"I painted the globe with white color, coz there was no other color"

"Bum, do you have a credit card??"

"I'm a creative person yaar..."

"Kuch nahi kiya,, maths mein kuch nahi kiya, history mein kuch nahi kiya...."

"He gets angry, even I get angry, he scolds me, but I can't scold him" (Vishnu about his dad ;) )

"do mard ek ghar mein nahi reh sakte hai, yaar!!" (again, Vishnu ;) )

"Google se bachkar kahan jaaoge?"

"Knock, or I'll knock your head off!!"

To wake up the kid in you, to entertain the kid in you, to go back to your school days and all the sweet memories,

last, not the least, for Great effort by the whole ensemble,, Watch Paa.

PS:

Just now read that, there is a law suit filed against Paa, saying Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has violated the disabilities act.. Do these people really have sense.. or have they watched the movie ???

Selling = Cheating

Hi,

How many times you have had the feeling of "proud being smart" and "guilty of cheating" both at same time?? :D :P

Well, I say, only if you are smarter to the other person, you can cheat!!

(Cheat is a very big word... What I've done is really really petty ;) )

I'm currently having this feeling, coz I convinced the mobile store fellow to buy my mobile for a good deal.

My mob specifications were:

Model : Nokia 6300

2 mp cam, fm, music player, memory extendable upto 2GB...

AND

almost 2 year old, had fallen N no of times(I'm good at it :) ), had the display error from the time I bought, screen replaced by Nokia itself for 3 times, uncomprehensive errors while sending & receiving messages, usually the programme hangs up, and self switch-off ;)

Inspite of all these, I got 2.3K for my handset.. Isn't that a good acting on my part (and my friend who accompanied me)... We told him that the mobile is only a year old and it functions really really well :)

I've decided not to go near that shop for couple of months, but still scared that he has my mobile no and my friend's res. adress .... sobb...sobbb :(

Brilliant fun with collegues!!

Inc.1

One of the wonderful conversation between my friends in my previous co.. which we laugh at even today !

Well, Praveen is a damn brilliant guy ;) lol

To avoid confusions, usually the mail IDs will have father's or surname/familyname.. that's common..

One day, Praveen Rangaiah goes to Rajani Narayanappa's desk, for a usual chit-chat.

PR: ree, Rajani Narayanappanavare (too much respect na!! that's how he speaks), What's your father's name?

RN: Narayanappa

PR: (Thinking!!,,, god knows what) The name is very familiar.. I have heard it somewhere, but, don't remember!!

RN: Grrrrr

And big gang of us, burst out laughing.. PR realises what he spoke, after 2 seconds, and utters "Oh,, SHIIIIIITTTTTT" and joins us laughing..

Inc. 2

Weekend is just round the corner.. On Friday, not many are very interested in work and are planning things for their Sat & Sun.

When the whole floor is very silent, Ms.P gets up, looks around and says,

"Why am I feeling so cold, when so many hot guys are around me?"

All are shocked and dumb, not knowing what to reply... stare at her..

After couple of seconds, Mr.R (who is usually busy with his work and don't pay much attention to the fun around him) replies,

"Am I hearing such stuff becoz today is Friday, or did she really say what I heard?"

Laughter on the floor and the boredom gone! :)

Inc. 3

Ms. M says "mera pyaar sada (सदा)raha tha, sada (सदा) rahega... " ,

Ms. G teases "pyaar sada (सड़ा)raha tha, sada (सड़ा) rahega... "

For those who don't understand hindi,,, सदा means always, सड़ा means rotten

Inc. 4

when my colleague Ms.R says she loved a particular jacket in the showroom, the other collegue replies "How can you love that jacket when you have a lovely husband,,, I haven't loved anyone apart from my boyfriends..."

well,,, i still have problem understanding this.. :D

Menu :)

hmmm.. I would go for 1 serving of the last item!! :),

by the way,, what's that !! lol

(Photo Courtesy: All my friends from Surpass Trek '08)