Its Kool...

Just last night I was complaining that its getting hot here at bangalore...and its already raining today.
Love the weather today, but its a pity we have to work today, and worse I am not supposed to take leaves for the next 5 months of my probation period and the worst that Db isn't here.
Have a long weekend starting day after tomorrow. No clues what I am gonna do with it.
Yes, I am slowly starting to get bugged by my temporary bachelorhood.

Temporary bachelorhood

Now, this is my time for self glorification.

There are times when you feel like patting your own back, when you can find reasons to believe that you are superior to most of the others in your species, you believe that this is something others probably couldn’t have done.

The first time I had felt this was during my graduation days in hostel…when late one night, ‘Leen’ went to the roof to hang her clothes, and came screaming down saying she saw somebody draped in a white saree on the roof top. Our entire gang gathered together but it was only me who said ‘what bullshit is that!!!??’ and walked up to the roof alone and came back with her balti which she had dropped in panic up there…I was alive and not possessed.
On the contrary, I almost fainted when late another night while I was coming back from the roof top after hanging my clothes, I heard the hostel landline ring, I picked it up and the voice on the other side said ‘Hey…can we have s** on phone???’. I was obviously not aware then that guys from the boy’s hostel were so funny.

Well…coming back to the present I have had many such moments this week.

The pest control at home. Trust me it’s not an easy thing to do single handedly…to dismantle the house and join the pieces back later, more so you have a nosey nose like mine.

I went to watch a movie alone at PVR. Many of my friends went ‘Awww…That’s so bad…you could have called me na!!!’. But I did not feel bad at all, in fact I have done this several times when I was single…Big Deal!!!

One of these days, I felt like gym after office. The gym is in the roof top of our apartment. Late in the evening when I went to the roof, it was huge, dark, quiet and deserted. I paused for the while and thought ‘am I scared??’. But I was not. I unlocked the gym…It was quiet. I worked out for around 40 mins and came back. I dare you if you can do that, more so if a family of 3 had committed suicide in the apartment just above yours a few months back.

Well…I could go on but I think I should stop blowing my own trumpet now.

I am expecting a friend from office on this weekend. Its time I arranged my temporarily bachelorized house to some kinda standard expected from a married woman (no girl). So this evening I have got something to do.

I have never waited for a pay check as badly as this month. First…I am running out of cash while the hoosband is not here, second I dying to know how much I will get in hand in this new company and finally…next week is a long weekend and Db is going to Sydney with his friends, so before I die out of boredom I wanna shop shop shop till I drop.

To which Db says:
Cool , I’ll make sure the credit card has enough limit available for u.

which basically means he is gonna pay off for what ever I have already spent on my card.
I can't tell you how much I adore this man.
Ahh!!!...the joy of having a good hoosband!!! Touchwood!!! :)

Ants in my pants

No, I dont literally mean that, I thought this kind of a title will make my blog look more catchy...not sure if it actually served the purpose.

No ants, but worse...I had bed bugs in my house. They started in my bedroom some time early this month. But for some unfathomable reason, they never attacked Db. Not that I would want him to be bitten by bed bugs, but why the hell me all the time. We didn't know there were bed bugs then, I thought it were mosquitos giving me a tough time, and Db thought it was psycological for me since they never made their presence felt to him.
Nevertheless I tried everything I knew to fight against mosquitos...all out, kala hit spray, mosquito coils...but it didn't help. That made Db's case stronger, that it was psycological fo me.
Hmm may be.
I tried not to think about them...didn't help.

And, one fine night we saw them, just two weeks before Db was supposed to travel to Australia. They were clinging conviniently to the mattress, we carried the mattress to the balcony. I had no prior experience of bed bugs, thankfully Db had.
It was his idea not to kill them, it seems they reproduce from their blood. So we started collecting them in a little bottle or flushed them down the toilet. Looked like it worked, but we shifted our base to the living room bed nevertheless. I slept peacefully for a whole week before they started attacking our drawing room bed as well.
Awhhh...there was no rescue. Another week of cleaning the mattress and drying them in the sun, didn't help too much...but in a few days Db had to travel and I was left alone in the house with the bed bugs to gimme some unwanted company.

Those were the worse days...probably the bed bugs are also like pervert men, who want to hit on a AKELI LADKI.
I tried a small experiment. I have a huge tweety bird at home, a soft toy, who is big enough to be mistaken as a human kid in the dark. I placed it on the bed one night and switched off the lights. After half an hour I suddenly switched on the light to find the tweety bird lying helplessly while 7-8 of the bugs were trying to feast on her. So now I know how it looks on me.
'Awhhh...I'll kill you, I 'll bloody kill you all'. Someday I'll write a blog post on it, if I can get rid of them.

As my 1st move, I decided to consult Google Devta, he knows it all. I came accross this. I decided to take up the duct tape solution, sicnce I cannot take up a pest control session in the middle of the week.

This is what I wrote to Db the same day.

I found a way out to torture the pests...one sadistic way. :D :D :D
I found this on the net
I have bought some duct tape here, I am gonna paste it around the bed and the mattress.
When the bugs come having dinner on me, they ll all get stuck on it.
In the morning I ll dispose the tape and add one more the next evening.

Think this should work. :D

And the next day Db queried:

Any interesting adventure ? did the duct tape work ?

To which I replied:
not exactly.
It was a long night 4 me yesterday.

I came late from offc, while I came back from the church it was already 9. So picked up my favorites from Magnolia ;)
soon after that started the tape work. Since I didnt find duct tape which have adhesives on both sides, I had to manage with single side tapes.
it took me 2 hours to seal the bedroom matress.
Though I couldn't cover all of it.

I slept almost peacefully all night, sine the bugs obviously couldn't reach me, except a few smarties, who eventually got caught and flushed.
But contrary to what I expected, I didn't find a single bug stuck to the tapes in the morning.
though I found a few wriggling on the floor, and they eventually also got flushed.

Any way I have fixed the appointment with the pest control guys, they assure me in 2 sessions they would be gone.
hope it works out.

But it was still the middle of the week, 2 more days to go for the pest control. So I kept using the tapes every day, at least I could sleep peacefully...well almost.

This weekend I got my house pesticied. I was a difficult day for me, since the house was totally dismantled. Also because I have severe allergy to dust, smoke and any kind of sprays, so it kind of left me panting for fresh air. I finally sealed the house for next 5 hours but I didn't know where to go to kill that amount of time. So I went for a movie at PVR, called Lahore. The movie was good, but intension was just to kill time.

I came back around 5 in the evening with a severe headache and the consequences of the alergy still prominent. My house looked more like a refugee camp to me then. I had asked my house maid to come to help me in the evening, I was expecting her around 6. So I cleared a part of the drawing room, spread a small bedsheet there, opened all windows and switched the fan on at full speed, covered my nose and went to sleep for an hour. For a second I had the feeling of self pity which I hate to have. Woke up with my maid calling on the door. She helped me a lot in clearing off things and arranging the house back to normal.

my house is cleared of bugs, for as of now. I have been sleeping peacefully since last two days, except for the persticide smell which still lingers.

My idea of bliss

NB : I didn't want this to be my first post soon after Db left for Australia, the pun is absolutely unintended.

The bug I had been working on all day, gets resolved exactly at 5.34 for me to leave the seat at 5.35 to catch the 5.45 bus. The traffic is mercifully too less and I reach Kormanagala in 45 minutes square...with the lovely melody of 'iktara' swarming from my Ipod and bottle of Thumbs up tantalizing my taste buds, while I take this 15 minutes walk home from the bus stop in a lovely breezy weather...and reach only to find that the yummmm chicken curry I prepared yesterday is still waiting for me in the fridge and a portion of the forgotten strawberry ice cream you bought for your guests last week awaits you.

MMMMMMMMMMMM...I love my life, but I miss you love!!!!

On Leave today

I am on leave today, while I am not supposed to. While on the probation period in here, I am not supposed to take leaves. But I guess I had to.
I have a bad stomach upset, I had a bad pain in my stomach, not to mention the no. of times I have been running into the loo all day, also running a little fever
I wanted to keep my sick leaves, since I normally need to call in sick at least once in the month. But that reminded me of a story, and I stayed back.

Once there was a poor old man. He had a gold coin. He decided to keep the gold coin to use it during the worst time of his life.
Life gets tough for him, he is left with no money. He goes around begging for food, but he doesn't use the coin in order to keep it for a worse time. And one day, he dies due to his poverty, still having the coin to use it for a worse time.

So I stay back to use my leaves while I need them.

Random Nothings

It’s been a while that I wrote something here.
Well!!! There’s been not much updates though.

Now that I have finally adjusted with the work timings and travel factor for the new office, they are moving my project to another building in the Old Madras road. So starting from 29th of this month, I am gonna ride a vehicle all the way to office from Kormanagala to Old Madras road, crossing the major bottlenecks of the city…the Inner Ring Road, Indiranagar and the CMH Road (Anybody who can suggest me a better way from Sony world signal to Big Bazaar in Old Madras Road, is my angel).

Work has already started for me in the new project…even while the KT isn’t quite finished. There was another guy who had joined with me here, but he is more or less kinda absconding. This guy has loads of attitude problem, though he doesn’t look like one could carry such attitude. He hasn’t come to office in the last 3 working days and didn’t feel necessary to inform anybody in the team.

There are no updates regarding Bhai, we are pretty much where we started from.

Times have changed for me. When I started my career in the IT industry, I had this team mate called Debu. He was a non-stop nonsense, doesn't-know-what-he's-speaking-about kinda guy. But we were good friends, despite of the fact that I tried to keep a fair distance from him since he had a tendency to get flirtious at times. Now I have a bit refined version of Debu in my team now, but somehow it doesn't matter to me anymore. May be I am getting too old and all these just look like baby talk to me. Pata nahin!!!

Db is travelling again. This time for a minimum of 2 months. So going back again to a temporary singlehood life starting sometime next week. But this time around I have a few friends, so hope it wouldn't be all that bad.

So that pretty much sums up the last 3 weeks for me.
The next to next week is gonna be a little lonely for me.
*Sigh*

About Kids...

Kids…I love them. But I think it’s just convenient to say I like kids when they are other people’s kids.

No…I am sure, people who have their own kids are happy to have them, but I feel having a kid is a huge responsibility or as Db would like to put it…the ROI (Return on Investment) is very bad.

I do want to have my own kids at some point in life (donno when though), but I am not sure if I can handle the responsibility it comes with. But there are times when I look at other people and feel that I could have done a thousand times better than them. As I told Db the same day, it’s been a while that I met a kid whom I found sweet.

We went for one of Db’s nephew’s 5th b’day party this week. Now, I come from a nuclear family, I have never got to seen so many kids together. Here there were too many kids, most of them seemed to have both working parents.
Now, I believe there is a very thin line between pampered and spoilt, mischievous and ill mannered. Like I feel, I am a pampered kid but I was never spoilt, mischievous but not ill mannered. I remember Bhai and me to be quite well behaved as kids.

These kids were spoilt to the extent that they refuse to speak Hindi or Oriya even with the elderly people in the family, yell at the guests whom they have never seen before ‘Ae…you get out of that sofa, I have no place to sit!!!’…while their parents watch and smile in silence ‘Awwwww my baby is cho chweet!!!’
The kids had all kinda firang names, who believe that speaking, yelling and swearing in English is kool. They refuse to listen to their own parents. Now, what will they grow up to…a confused generation, who would probably have an identity crisis.

I mean...I have nothing against speaking English or beahaving like firangs, but I have a problem when they say ‘I don’t speak my mother tongue’. Even my Oriya is not great, I was brought up in Rourkela, which had a more cosmopolitan culture, and also Oriya was not mandatory in our school then. We got to speak our mother tongue only at home, or within the family and relatives. Despite of the fact that my father is a renowned writer in Oriya literature, me and Bhai have only got a descent knowledge in Oriya. But that is not something we are proud of, nor are we shy to speak in our mother tongue. That kinda shows your upbringing.

I really don’t wanna have a kid and bring him up this way, so that he grows up to a confused individual, and unable to identify himself among any group, American or Indian. I want to bring him up so that he/she can adjust himself in any group, with family he can be as pleasant and charming...mischevous okay but not ill mannered, and yet can be at par with the kind of friends he mingles with.

My first blog from my new office

Now this is my first blog from my new office.

Being a bank, they have some real serious security procedures. Too many passwords…way too many. To set up the minimum no. of passwords to let me access the internal sites and internet took good one week. But my software installations are still on its way, so you see I haven’t got much to do.

Though I am yet to check out the code base, yet going by the technical documents given to me, the project is hardly any challenge. We used jdk 1.5 earlier (planning to upgrade to jdk 1.6 soon), hibernate and springs, and ajax and rich faces in my earlier project…but here they work with jdk 1.4 and JDBC…that’s it!!! So you see, technically its pulling me back to where I was 4 years back. Since this is the IT division of the bank, there isn’t any competition from other servicing companies. So people take a chill pill here.
So it’s not a good feeling at all…kills your enthusiasm.

I have to wake up at 6.45 every morning, contrary to my earlier schedule at 9 am. I have to walk to the bust stop, a 15 mins walk from home, two times a day. I can’t manage to sleep a blink on the way, in the bus. I reach home around 7-7.15 in the evening, saving hardly 2 hours compared to my earlier schedule.

So am I complaining???

No I am not.
Hmm…well let’s just say, not yet.
The reason being the team and the office. The office is the coolest I have ever worked in.
People reach here between 8.45-9.15 in the morning and leave at 5.45-6.15 in the evening.
It’s a good change to find non-frowning faces around.
The team is a bunch of mad caps (most of them), but an otherwise fun loving team.
The HR and Finance are very friendly, and the managers are friendly and enthusiastic.
The food in the IT mall is great…so I gotta watch my weight again.
I walk quite a lot all day, so might lose all that I gain at the IT mall.
The tea at office is very nice, and needs no coupons.
It’s nice to work in a carpeted office after a long time.
They have 13 holidays all though the year, my previous employer had only 9.
I have *Drums roll please* 32 leaves in a year, out of which 26 are mandatory, meaning they are not to be carried forward to the next year. With all my provious employers I had 18-20 leaves per year. Also getting the leaves approved was a huge pain in the neck. Here they are pretty flexible with the leave system.
I have a personal IP phone at my disposal, at all other places that I have worked earlier, 3-4 people used to share one phone.
I can carry my I-Pod inside which none of my previous employers allowed.
There are quite some short term onsite travels here, to Egypt, Paris, Russia among other places (yipeeeee!!).

So it’s kinda great, except for the everyday travel to office and the technology I am to work with. I will certainly try to find out some good projects around and see if I can get through them.

Second Happy Walla Anniversary...

Db: So you are a housewife now.
Me: Howzzat??? I am gonna start my new job on Monday.
Db: So what??? You are not on anybody’s payroll for the next two days, so that makes you jobless.
Me: But these two days are weekends.
Db: So what?? You are not paid for the next two days, so that makes you a housewife.
Me: Big deal!!! So what if I am a housewife for a few days.
Db: So behave like one.
Me: As in????
Db: Make me some good food, mere pair dabao, meri sewa karo.
Me: Huh!!!
Db: Nothing doing!!! For the next two days you have to behave like a housewife.
Me: Okay.
…Dal is getting so costly these days, and all Gobi’s in the market are damaged….what do I cook?? …My friend nam got amazing diamond studs last week, you haven’t given me a single piece of jewelry in last one year,
…The neighbors next door got a new Honda City, we don’t even own a car.
…Nam went to Srilanka for a vacation on this New Year, you haven’t taken me any where ever since our marriage.
Db: ??!!!!??
…. Your Mom called yesterday, wants me to visit the temple everyday, who has the time for all this. Grrrr!!!
…Your siblings are not doing well in their academics, lemme tell you, I am not going to take their responsibility.
…When are we going onsite?
…This house maid bugs me so much, get me a new one.
…Take me to a movie…Shahrukh Khan!!! I am bored…take me shopping.
…Why are you with your laptop, talk to me!!!
…Where are my Saas Bahu serials.
Db: Okay…I lose. Don’t you dare ever leave your job, work till you retire.
Me: **GRIN**
Let the madness never end. Happy Anniversary Love!!!

NB: Since this is my blog, I prefer to write about only those arguments that I happen to win, which again happens once in a blue moon. But my blog is my business…so Meri Marzi!!!

I'm calling it quits

Today is my last day at office
I had finished the farewell mail sending business late in the evening yesterday, so that my clients at US get a chance to respond back to me. My team held a small farewell get together for me, and they gave me a nice surprise, a huge TWEETY BIRD as a gift to me. So all z been well here.

But I am not feeling sad or guilty while I leave today.
Despite of the fact that my managers have been facing the music because of my resignation. My clients were extremely unhappy with my resignation, more so since another key member also resigned with me. It's also come up to the extend that my clients are reconsidering the contract they have with my employer.
My clients have been ever so sweet with me. I not for my employer, I do have some kinda camaraderie with my clients. My team here was very pleasant to work with. Less of team mates and more of friends. For sure, the best team I ever got to work with. That's one thing I am surely gonna miss.

But somehow it does not matter to me. Not anymore...
May be because I firmly believe they did deserve this, may be because life has taught me to be selfish...or may be I am just, plain and simple, happy about it.
I know that once I get my relieving letter in hand at 3.30 in the afternoon today, I am gonna run off in top gear, without even looking back once, even if calamity strikes. If tomorrow I have to join back here for some reason, I will think (1000 X 1000 X 1000 X 1000) to the power 1000 times before I do that.

Finally when I went to meet a few people before I left, they all greeted me with a congratulations first, and then an all the best...and I completely understand.

And right now I am just waiting for the clock to strike 3.30, so that I can just get over with it all. Monday I am starting with another company(yes!!! No break for me), hoping the management there wouldn't be as bad as here, and hope the team be as good as the one I had here.
And puhleeease gimme some simple work there, nothing too difficult, for which I have to stay too late at office.

And before I call it quits, I would like to say farewell to all those who I leave behind, in our national language अलविदा कमीनों !!!

Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

I am sure for every person in his 20's and late 30's, Mile sur mera tumahara would be an iconic song. I remember, I grew up with it. Those were the days were hadn't heard of mobiles, cable TV, play stations or video games...all we had was a old colour TV with just one channel called Doordarshan, DD1.

Those were the days, when the celebrities were mysterious for us, there were no channels airing every single detail about the celebs. Unlike these days, when a (non-)actor is a star even before their first film is released (Deepika Padukone anyone!!!), those times we hardly go to see them out side the films they were a part of. So it was through the 'Mile Sur' and 'Baje sargam' kinda stuff where we got a glimpse of our favorite actors not trying to be somebody else but just themselves.

While I say this, I feel like a old granny. A feeling akin to when my Dad said that he started with a job which paid him 300 rupees a month, and he was called a genius for that.

Well...not deviating from the topic, when I first saw the 'Phir Mile Sur' on TV, I couldn't help but compare it to the old version of the same. Certainly, its a great idea, re making the iconic song with people from this generation who have made a mark in the society.
But I was terribly disappointed.

The remake looks more like a commercialized khichdi, very unlike the original which looked so genuine and had the heart in the right place. It more looks like a marathon of bollywood actors and non-actors (call them stars), again trying to be somebody, and not themselves.

Picture these:

- The length of the segment is annoyingly long, and the individual segments look very detached from each other, most of them looked very forced.

- Salman Khan sitting amidst variously disabled children, looks less up for a social cause and more for a Rupa Baniyan or Rin Supreme ad.

- Deepika-overhyped- Padukone, my first reaction when I saw her was, arre eske kapde kahhan hai (where are her clothes???). She stands with a reveling dress on a ramp like pose looks less talking about national integration and more like advertising champi with parachute hair oil, before shampooing with fiama di willis shampoo.

- Aamir Khan doing his Bum Bum Bole act yet again with a group of kids, looked like a total caricature.

- Sonu Nigam looks like he is straight out of a mental asylum. He is a good singer, no doubt, but he should avoid the forced koolness and acting like plague, as much as Himesh Reshammiya should do the same.

- Aishwarya-plastic-Rai, redoing her look-I-am-so-pretty act yet again, and Abhishek lurking behind her back in a consolation 3 seconds role for being the son and husband of a talented father and plastic beauty respectively. Wonder why Jaya Bachan was missed out, since the Bachans kind of expertise in making all occasions a family get together.

- Shahid Kapur has this I-am-a-rockstar-but-they-wont-let-me-dance look.

- Ranbir Kapoor in a pyjamas, looked like he is straight out of bed and hardly interested.

- Shahrukh with his ever constipated expression, stretching out his hands wide doing his typical Shahrukhanisms synonymic to saying 'My Name is Khan'.

- The Olympics winners Bindra, Virendra, had in a blink and you miss contribution.

- What's Kavita Krishnamurthy doing with her entire family??? Trying to give competition to the Bachans is it!!!

- Its all bollywood bollywood all the way, the sports icons were conveniently missed out. I would have loved to see veterans like Om Puri, Lata Mangeshkar (who were a part of the original version) and Naseeruddin Shah as well.

Terribly terribly disappointed. Bole toh akha memory ki watt laga dali.

Some old memories that I still visualize - I

A real long post on a few gems that I can clearly visualize from my past.

A real long post with a few censored stuff.

Sexy Sexy Sexy mujhe log bolen. It was sometime during my class 7th or 8th when this legendary song was released, which went into troubled waters due to the repeated usage of the word sexy. They later replaced the word with Baby which they believed was more milder.

During those days, we had just one smartie in our group...Lekha.

During the biology class I whispered to her

Me : Why did they ban the song?

Lekha : Because it had the word sexy in it. Its not a nice word you know.

Me : Why!!! What does it mean?

Lekha : You donno??? Sexy means somebody who shows off her sex.

Well!! Given today, I believe that was a very straightforward and smart definition of sexy that she gave. But back then my grey cells were underdeveloped.

Me : So, whats wrong in it. We wear skirts to show that we are females and the boys wear pants to show that they are males. So that makes us all sexy right!!!

She didn't reply anything, but somehow I vividly remember the expression on her face, half disbelief, half confused, half oh-you-dumbass and half well-you-have-a-point look on her face. PRICELESS!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My maths sir at school was not very fond of me. I was a 80 percent scorer in all my subjects, except maths, wherein I always scored less than 60. I went on to believe that I am weak in maths, and decided to take tuitions from the sir who taught us Physics at school. When my tuition sir reviewed my maths terminal answer sheets, he found that I should have at least got 70. It turned out that the maths sir was liberal with marks for people who took tuitions from him, while he would treat the rest with an iron hand. When I confronted him, saying I deserved more marks, he shouted at me humiliating me infront of the whole class.

The next terminal,which was the last terminal of my 10th std, I failed maths with 38 marks.

I again showed my paper to my tuition sir, who believed i should have got at least 6o something in this paper. But I was scared to confront him. So my tuition sir decided to confront him all by himself.

I am not aware what happened that day. The next day was our last day at school, we had a 15 day holiday after which we had our ICSE board exams. My tuition sir called me to the staff room, he pulled out a notebook from my bag. On one of the pages, he wrote a 90 on it and put his signatures below. He gave the notebook to me and said, don't show me your face if you cant pull off more than this in the board exam. He left.

I scored a 92 in maths in the board exams which was the second highest in my school. And yes, I did show my face to him.

I still have the notebook with me, one of whose pages says a 90, signed by Mishra sir below it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During my hostel days, somebody would steal away our undergarments from the rope on the rooftop. Never did we hear a case when dupattas, jeans, t-shirts, handkerchiefs or skirts were stolen, it was just undergarments. Later we found out that the guys that stayed around our hostel (our hostel was inside the city) used to climb up to the roof top and steal away things.

During one of the late night gossips in our room,

Me : What kind of chindichors steal undergarments man!!! I mean at least steal better things to gift your girlfriends, what sense does it make to give them used underwear!!!

Others in the room : ROFL

Well!!! Now I know why guys would steal female undergarments.

Thinking aloud

Five things that would have bothered me if I hadn't resigned

1. My manager, either he would have killed me or I would have done the same to him.

2. My promotion was shelved. I am the only one in my team who did not get the promotion. And worst of all, despite of repeated reminders from my end, they made it out to be a careless mistake. On the day the promotions were announced, my manager actually came to me to ask how much hike I got.
Oops !!! It seems I missed to initiate your promotion. He said
What???????? who made you a manager!!!

3. The dissatisfaction in the team has been increasing exponentially because of lac of motivation from the management side. Its getting more and more difficult to get them to give their best at work.

4. PAISA!!! Duniya kya maange, money money!!! Well that could have been the fist item on the list.

5. I have been in this same project for more than 2.5 years, needed a change after all. If I would have asked my manager for a release, then please read back point no. 1

Five things that makes me happy for my resignation

1. PAISA again!!! I got a bhayanak hike. I have got coins glued on my eyes right now.

2. I don't get to see his face again...do I need to elaborate who is 'he'!!!

3. People who have got promotions, have hardly got an hike of 5-6% on an average. I mean that looks like some kind of charity given to them. And the best part is, my salary is still way higher than anybody else in the team. And still read point 1 again.

5. I have got my confidence back. The fact that I have got almost 3 offers already makes me want to pat my back myself.

I have another interview lined up in Db's company, TW. They have a unique recruitment procedure, a tough one at that. If I get through that, I will be on cloud nine.

So I Quit...

I quit my job this week, the very day I set my foot in Bangalore from my vacation. It was a little difficult since two more people also resigned with me on the same day with me, hence it certainly is a huge blow to my project.

Now my days are getting busier than ever. Conducting interviews to find our replacements. I am also trying to pull in some of my friends into the project. The times had been bad, and now that I have the power, I want to pull in some of my friends who have seen bad times in the last few months. I wish I could do something for Bhai though...**sigh**

So I would be on another payroll early next month. I am happy, will be happier if my friend gets through for my replacement coming Friday, and would be happiest if Bhai strikes gold.
God please gimme this news that we have been waiting for since months, I promise I wouldn't ask for anything else...ahem...at least for one year.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

I thought I'd forgive him. I have just landed in Bangalore after a really great vacation, the after effect of which tends to calm me down.

I was just happy with the fact that I am resigning today, and will get rid of him soon...who else...mera manager!!! But he has to take panga with me.
A personal attack, a God Damn personal attack, with a mail CC'ed to the who's who of the project and the HR as well...subtlety blaming me of conspiring with my friends in the team to resign on the same day. Gawd!!! Do these people go through some managerial training at all before being thrown in to sit on our heads.

Dude!!! Blow fire as much as you would like to, you can't change the fact that 6 people have resigned from the team in last two days, and that's due to your arrogant behavior. Your ass is on fire now, go figure out how you are gonna explain the resignations.
I will have the last laugh.

Last day of my vaccatiom

I am writing from my Dad's desktop, from the city Rourkela while its freezing cold here, like 4-5 degrees and it literally feels what Jack said Rose, it feels like a thousand needles...no marks for guessing the movie.
Its just a simple twist of fate, lest I would have been in the train to Bangalore right now. But the train has got rescheduled, delaying it by 7 hours, which is now 4 in the morning. So you see I haven't got anything better to do.

Its been a good vaccation this time. The plot deal was done,met my in laws, went to Puri and the Jagannath Temple, had a blast at the new year carnival at the local club at Rourkela(an entire post coming up that shortly with elaborate pictures), caught up with an old friend...and most importantly had a great lazy time at home, chilling...yes literally. The house miraculously got cleaned, the clothes miraculously washed , the food was miraculously ready. Nothing like it **Yawn**!!!

Now Bangalore looks so far to me. I feel when I would reach Bangalore day after tomorrow, the city would have changed, the people would have changed, my company wouldn't recognize me any more, everything seems just so alien. All of a sudden, I almost feel like forgiving my manager...such is the effect of a good vaccation.

Well, as the reality strikes, I have a train to catch in 6 hours, I have to resign from office day after tomorrow, and as I had expected that my resignation is gonna trigger two more resignations, one is already pipelined one day after I resign. So lots of action awaiting me back an Bangalore...so gear up gal!!!

The Secret Santa

As a part of Christmas celebrations, we are having the game called Secret Santa at office.
Since this is the first time I am playing this game in 5 years of my career in the IT industry, I took my job a little too seriously. I have been gifting my devil once everyday, sometimes twice as well.
The first day, I gave him a bottle of Appy Fizz, which got warm by the time he discovered it...arghhhhh!!!, so I gave him another can of chilled Diet Coke post lunch.
The next day I gifted him a garland, which had various snacks items.
Today I gave him some 20 lollipops.
And, I am thinking of something really wacky for tomorrow, since its the last day.

But you know, you should pass on the kindness. I have been receiving all boring gifts a pen, a chocolate bar...that's it!!!
Come on now!!! Looks like I am the only person who likes to have some fun!!!

Coming to other updates, my manager has finally given in to my leave request. But it has certainly triggered a cold war between us. I also communicated to them my intention of putting down my papers soon after I return from my vacation, but looks like he hasn't taken me seriously since he hasn't started looking for my replacement yet. Looks like my wild imagination is finally going to come true. **grin**
I know, my resignation is gonna trigger two more resignations from the team of six, and then the project is gonna fall like a pack of cards. But I couldn't have been here for another month, this manager is driving me insane.
Anyhoo, I have done my bit by warning them beforehand and for the rest, I couldn't care less...and over these years I have learnt to be selfish and mind my own business. I prefer giving tension to others than taking it myself.
So most certainly, this new job opportunity is the best gift Santa could have given me this Christmas.

Looking forward to the vacation. Will go to Bhubaneswar for the plot deal, will meet my parents and in laws, will meet Db's friend who hitherto I have met only in the web cam, will visit the Puri Jagannath Temple(its been a while I went there), will visit Rourkela, probably for the last time, since Dad will permanently shift to Bhubaneswar after his retirement in late 2010.
Quite a happening vacation this one would be.

Kung Pao Paneer

As much for my love for cooking, I realized I do not have a single recipe on my blog
Inspired by a few more bloggers on the blog world, I choose to write a recipe on my blog, the one I tried this morning.

I love the kung pao chicken at Magnolia, served with Chicken Malaysian flat noodles. So much so that I order the same each time I visit the place. I tried looking up the recipe for the same sometime last year and didn't find anything interesting. While looking for the same recipe last night, I came across quite some blogs and sites which provided the needful.

So I followed this recipe, replacing the chicken with paneer (since Db does never allow me to cook chicken at home, he has his own reasons to believe that cooking chicken is a laborious task which he wouldn't like me to do), replaced the sesame oil with the normal vegetable oil and skipping the rice wine or dry sherry altogether.
The rest of the procedure remaining the same.

For my Kung pao paneer, I rate it 9/10 on looks, and 6.5/10 on taste. I can sure give Magnolia a run for its money after I try the recipe a few more times to gain expertise on the same.

Will post a pic on my wonderful Kung pao once I reach home from office. Here at office, we are deprived of all worldly things including the camera and the USB cables.

My Home Sweet Home - I

So didn't I tell you we (me and Db) are buying a plot in Bhubaneswar. Dad arranged this 2000sqft plot for us. We pay a whooping 2 lahks in 1week and the rest of the money in a year's time and by the end of next year, its oursssssssssss.
Now I know its too early and Db is gonna bang his head saying a SATYANASH to himself when he finds this on my blog, but can you blame me for my excitement !!!

Here is the draft version of my house plan.

Ground Floor. Please ignore the water mark and click to enlarge.


First Floor Floor. Click to enlarge.


And I have already put up the print out on my cubicle. Hee Hee
**Grin**
Will keep the blog updated with more news on the same.
**Grin Grin Grin** again.

I can do with some encouragement

I am quite sleepy today.
Not just today, I have been quite sleepy during the daytime everyday since last three days.

I have been getting up at 7 in the morning since last three days...my usual timing being 9 in the morning three days before.
After trying everything I could to lose weight (except exercising and pampering my taste buds), I finally gave up to the slimming centers. I couldn't try harder or wait any longer...what if the world is actually coming to an end in 2012, I wanna die pretty or at least look good during the last days of my life ;) .
And the first phrase of encouragement came my way on the very first day of my visit to the center.

On the Saturday morning, I reached the center at dot 7.30. There weren't many people, means the recession is quite done with. I was wearing grey tracks with a black T-shirt. There was another girl (say Lolitha) who was sharing the room with me. She was quite overweight and hardly five feet tall, she wore a pink printed nighty which made her look heavier and shorter.

Lolitha : You are here for the size zero program?
What??? Did she really say that. I mean...I have never been size zero in my entire life.
Me : No, that's too much of an optimistic thought. I need to shed quite some weight before I reach even close to thinking of being size zero.
Lolitha : Really!!! Doesn't look like you need a slimming center.
Me : Trust me I do. I am sure black has more slimming effect that I thought it did.
Lolitha : Oh May be then.
She turned away with the people-have-so-much-money to-spare look.

Not that I mind, its not often(read ever) that I get the envy of a woman for my weight or lack of it.