BACK FROM SASURAL

I am back from my SASURAL this morning...The experience wasn't half as bad I thought it would be. I was pretty much at ease and everyone treated me in a very loving and caring way. The biggest compliment I received was I seemed less like a BAHU and more like a daughter to everyone...it can't get better than this!!! The only issue was the weather which was horrible, I kept sweating like a pig, which took away most of the fun in the trip. If they say Kashmir is the heaven on Earth, then for sure Andhra is the hell on earth during summers. It was sooooo bloody hot, I feel the temperature rising even while thinking about it.

With my in laws, I get to taste the flavor of joint families, a concept very alien to me since we are a nuclear family back home. I like the way elders invite you home and treat you, I like the lighthearted relationship the DEVARS and BHABHIS share, I like the way cousins care for each other, pull each others legs, exchange gifts on occasions and hang out at places...and yeah gamble. You heard that right, we had a game of cards with some similar aged cousins, which was a proper gambling and lasted almost till the middle of the night. Db lost a good 120 rupees I gained almost fifly.

I visited a place called GUPTESHWAR with my family, one of the oldest Shiva temples, which was a great experience. An entire post coming up on that soon.

And yeah...not without worries.
Db's native is a small town, and his relatives not very competent with the fast growing generation. But a few kids including Db, have managed to break free from the circle and have been able to make it big in the bigger cities.
But as they say Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers...
Not everyone has the the ability to sail smooth when they take this huge leap from a small town to the fast moving metros...I see so many young people going in wrong directions and getting into things which they cannot handle, in the pretext of being a part of the smarter generation in question. Not that this is the first time that I see them, I have come across a lot of such people and also closely witnessed their plight when the time of self realization comes for them. That's the reason why I have always called them the confused generation.

And the worst part is, you can't do a thing to bail them out. Somehow they dismiss you as a older generation who don't understand their lifestyle, they have developed a mid-your-own-business kinda attitude and to make things worse then don't realize that what they are getting into and they might not be able to handle the consequences.
So you are left with nothing but just wait and watch till they realize their mistakes. And the person in question here is actually someone who might have to pay a hefty price for what she's got into...

I wish she comes out of things in the best possible way and with minimum damage done.
Yeah I do care for her and wish I could help her...but for that matter I have never been able to help anybody who was ever in her shoes...
**sigh**

ABOUT PERSPECTIVES

Last night, while we were returning from Oasis, I was telling Db, that the people who work in the office space of the same building must be real lucky, they would have no issues with the food. If you don't like the food at office, hop on to Polynation. So unlike our office where the food is inedible and you don't have any choice than reconciling to what is served to you.

Wait for this one now:
Db begs to differ. He says, if the husband works in here, he would have to buy vegetables from Spar on his way back everyday, which is scary. But scariest of all is, if the wife works in here, she would go for shopping everyday at Lifestyle and Max...
Now the second one is a blunder...ain't it????

Talk about individual perspective...

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Two posts in a day, she must be really sitting Welle...
Yes...you are right...So wot!!!???

HOLIDAY MOOD

A week long holiday coming for us ahead...
I have almost stopped working at office since two days, since I have already got into the holiday mood.
We are traveling to Db's place tomorrow. Well...this is not exactly the kinda break that I was looking for since some time...but I am happy with anything that keeps me away from office for a while.

Hmph...a long and tiring journey coming ahead. Almost 40 hours of traveling, wish our parents could stay closer to make the traveling part simpler for us.
But in a way it works fine for us, the farther the parents are, the least they interfere with your life.
The thought of my Mom breathing on my neck all the time, to keep the house sparkling clean, cook lavish food...not to eat out, and save money like a penny pincher, scares the daylights outta me.
Similar for my in laws, being overdressed and, with mangalsutra, toe-rings and wot-not and doing elaborate pooja-path...Nahinnnnnnnnnnnn...not my cup of tea.

So, this is convenient, and worth the pain. So lemme just brace myself for the journey tomorrow.
Will update some pics after I am back, in the typical Hindu Pativrata Stree(which I am...ahem!!! at heart I mean) avtar.

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE PUT ON

…when you take awfully long time to get ready for office.

I have been telling this to Db for quite some time that I feel I have lost some weight.
He replies in negative each time (he needs a lesson or two on how to pataofy your wife).

But last night while I was speaking to my Mom on the web cam (it’s like a godsend thing for parents who stay such long distance away), she was all so thrilled when she saw me…okay, I exaggerated, she just said that I look a lot better and seem to have lost a good amount of weight…okay some weight.
Ah…Moms I tell you, no one understands you better than them. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from somebody.

But looks like my Mom wasn’t all that correct after all, I took equally awful amount of time to get ready for office today morning, trying my entire wardrobe to find something which fits me…boo hoo hoo!!!

THE CONFUSED GENERATION

Yeah!!! Confused...that's wot I call this generation.

Otherwise how do I explain why my friend got his so-called ex-girlfriend married to his elder brother...
Or why another one of my friend's wife chooses to continue her affair with her ex-boyfriend even after she is married to a descent family and a nice guy...and somehow his one affects me more than the first one.

I really feel like hitting her hard across her face...to call her all kinda names, she being the reason for the misery of the family so close to me.
But she doesn't deserve that.
More so, since she is a victim herself...victim of her own confusion.
I don't know what is she thinking while doing this, cheating her husband, cheating her boyfriend, or herself.
And who is the other guy kidding, romancing a now married woman.
I feel sad for the husband though, being cheated by his wife...

Forget conscience, do people not think about their own future before doing these things...
What is she up do...does she think sailing on two boats will take her anywhere at all???

I donno how to react...
I was very pissed up with the girl when I got to know about it...but now, after pondering over it for a while, all I feel for her is sympathy.

The problem is here...
These girls come from villages, from downright conservative families, where even the girls wearing pants (literally) is a taboo. Being brought up with these families, these girls leave home at at a very young age for studies and later leave to work at one of the metros or Bangalore or Pune. In an effort to be a part of the much forward culture and crowd there, they transform into confused individuals, not able to choose between the values given by their families and the culture that they are currently a part of, and hence get stuck in the middle of the evolution cycle.
Alas....there is nothing we can do about it???

My friend's life has turned into a living hell with her, and I donno how to bail him out of this. I feel so helpless, due to the sensitivity of the matter and also due to the fact that the law favors the women blindly on such matters.

Well...got to think of something and faster too.

MOBILE TESTING 1 2 3...

Testing to see if I can blog from my HTC.
My client has blocked the very little freedom that we had
by banning the news sites, trading sites, and of all other things, the
blogger too...

Now this is what I call 3rd degree torture.
Nevertheless there is always a way out, and thanks to Db for this one...
I always knew you are my little survival kit.

SATYAM BREAKS EVEN

Finally Satyam stock shows up green for us.
Today the Satyam has hit the upper circuit second time in a row...gaining over 10 percent the second time.

This was our loss percentage with Satyam dated 18th May 2009...

This is the one today...

And if experts are to be believed, the share value of Satyam is expected to go up to 100 soon.

Update 11th June :
Satyam breaks the upper circuit yet again...

I TURN A YEAR OLDER TODAY

A very happy b'day to me.

Though it doesn't feel the same now...as it did a few years back. I would stay awake till midnight for people to wish me, and I would be so disappointed if the no. of calls are less to my expectations. And contrary to that, last night when my brother called up to wish me, I was already snoring to glory.
I guess they are signs of getting old... **sigh**

Frankly, I don't want to get any older. It seems just yesterday when I was 17, the best period of my life, seventeen to twenty years of my age. The time I spent with my friends at hostel. I wouldn't count it as my happiest time, but yes it was the greatest learning phase of my life, learning with fun...and the time I made the best and strongest friends of my life.

The time wont come back and now I feel awkward every time
the children in my building call me Aunty( I d0n't feel like one),
my Mom asks me if I have finished cooking the meals(that's something Aunties ask each other),
every time I keep the Savitri upwaas (something like karwachauth),
When ever my SIL calls me Bhabhi(I am the youngest in my family, and there was hardly anyone who would even call me Didi),

Ah!!! How I wish birthdays would come and go by, but won't add to my age.

THE MOBILE HUNT

So, finally Db boiled down to buy me an high end mobile for my b’day.
Saturday morning, he shows me these wide ranges of high end touch screen mobiles in a real affordable range. It’s a surprise to find touch screen mobiles starting from 9.5K. After reading various reviews, we decided to go for one of the two models, the LG cookie and the Samsung Star.

After visiting a few mobile show rooms we almost decided on the Samsung Star which is a relatively new model, and was selling off real fast. At many stores, the last piece was just getting sold at the counter as soon as we reached there. We almost hunted 5-6 stores with no luck. At last we found it at a mobile store in the Forum Mall in Koramangala.

Okay finally, we grabbed the mobile, but just before we were going to bill it, we found that these guys didn’t give any memory card with it. Db wasn’t sure, since he remembered that E-Zone quoted a much lesser price with a 2 GB memory card, just that they were out of stock. So, he left me at the store and went out to call up and confirm with the E-zone people. Noticing that we were having second thoughts, the sales man approached me and agreed to give me the memory card as well.

While I was just waiting for Db at the store, another sales man from the same store approached me:

SM: Maa’m are you looking for that specific model.

Me: Yeah, kind of.

SM: Please come with me, I could show you some nice models in Nokia.

Having nothing to lose, I joined him

He started showing the 7610 supernova and Nokia 5730. But these were not quite the ones I was looking for, I wanted touch screen ones.

Me: No thanks, I was just looking for touch screen phones, in a range of 15K.

SM: Maa'm, Samsung is no brand at all, I tell you, its a total waste of money. You could go for Nokia instead.

Db entered at the same moment.

SM: Maa'm the Samsung touch screen would not last even three months. Take my word, you would regret going for the Samsung mobile.

He started giving some technical faults in the touch screen of the Samsung star. I looked at Db like a lost puppy...

Db: You wanna think about it??? Chalo, let's grab some food, you could take that time to rethink your decision, if you are confused.(To the SM) We will come back...

At KFC, I was still in a state of shock.

Me: I felt like he wanted me to leave the store without buying anything. The guy belonged to the same store, so why did he shoo me off??? I am having second thoughts about the Samsung hand set now, while the Nokia phones he showed me don't fit neither my requirements nor budget. They obviously lost business because of that guy. Do you think they would be on their way printing his termination letter!!!

Db: (He couldn't stop smiling) Yeah sure, But I don't really believe a word of what he said. He looked like a chirkoot to me, for sure he was hoping you would go for the Nokia model after all the brainwashing he did to you...so that he might get his commission, which obviously did not happen. Now, if you don't want the Samsung model at all, we could get the HTC model for you. That should be easy to decide.

So we went to another store and grabbed the HTC Touch Viva.

It's a whole new experience, with the 3G, Edge, Touch Flo technology, Wi-Fi enabled with windows 6.1 along with other features. And the best part is, now I can check my mails at office on my mobile, since web mail and other good and useful sites are all blocked by my client.

So, as they say, everything happens for good, I really thank my stars to have met that sales man, and I just hope he doesn't get fired for this.