shoot the breeze

Recap

2009-10-30T17:14:00.003-05:00

Hmm… I got a new machine in office and have this spare time till I copy all my data from old laptop. In a way good that I have some free time and can write a blog!

What do I write.. Hmm… I donno… when I started this blog, my idea was to update it with random thoughts and experiences. But right now, I have been through so many varied experiences and not blogged about a single thing, I’m clue-less what to write about!

Well, lemme start with what all happened…

We went to India… came back… I got pregnant… figured out it’s a boy... and I always wanted a son, although Shantanu wanted a daughter! Pregnancy was awesome, I loved being slow paced, hearing those kicks, following babycenter emails and knowing all the tiny details of what’s cooking in there. At later stages, I loved eating, eating and eating :). And the best of all was the delivery… Can you believe a mom saying I loved giving birth? LOL.. well, you guessed right, it was a C-Section! And I never got any labour pain at all (At ALL! ).. :) isn’t it awesome… get a baby and that too without any pain :)… I love medical science and their technology advances!

We recorded Riyaan’s arrival, I remember how I was reminding Shantanu to take photos too, while undergiong the surgery (photos not of me, but of the baby). Sunayana, Mom and Shantanu were (I think) tensed but I was very happy to go through a surgery. As I said earlier, I’m amazed by how they do the whole process. Cut layers of skins and stuff, take the baby out and then stitch all the layers without a single goof-up… just amazing!

It’s funny in office when other now-moms share scary stories and when I pass by, I mention, yeah, it was all very nice, interesting!

Anyway… Riyaan’s first birthday is coming (this is what I had originally written… now the birthday is already past!)… time goes by so fast!

Blog shift

2008-02-21T12:23:00.002-05:00

Here’s my new blog.

I'm not much into blogging these days... one of the reasons could be that i'm concentrating more on photography lessons :)

Thanks to my friend, Sangeetha for the new subdomain (amita.conceptmall)... Sangeetha and I do photography workshops together. She's in California and I'm in Arizona, u'll feel that after seeing the pictures in our galleries :P

all my blogger friends, i do check out ur blogs, keep going :)

News that grab my attention....

2007-09-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

London's Harrods hires cobra to guard 62,000 pound shoes

Bin Laden wants 'caravan' of martyrs

Get pregnant and win a car

Sen. Craig: I did nothing 'inappropriate' in airport bathroom

NFL Star, Vick dogfighting charges stir stinging reaction

Warnings could have saved lives at Virginia Tech, report says

8 things about myself

2007-09-11T02:39:00.000-04:00

I have been tagged…. Suni tagged me for 8 things about myself (actually long time back :))

So, here we go. I…

love eating, sleeping, shopping
enjoy body massages… in short I love self pampering
like to work especially when something gets done
(sometimes) talk to myself (LOL)
enjoy hanging out with friends, family but also love to be alone sometimes
(sometimes) hide things from others (like I used to shop lift when I was in school :D)
Pamper my loved ones (especially younger ones, which I don’t have many LOL)
love receiving gifts :)

I tag poonam, aniket, panku, sangeetha, Amey

Show Low Camping

2007-09-10T19:31:00.001-04:00

ShowLowCamping_20070901_0092
Originally uploaded by a m i t a

This was my first camping experience... it was awesome... good gang and great weather! A very nice break from phoenix heat :)

few good things happened to me in this trip...
- I saw kids playing watching the rainbow in the sky ... frankly
speaking i don’t remember the last time when i stood quietly and
admired a rainbow

- i fell down and scratched my elbow... (lill bit though) cool... i
feel alive... again long time i got a scratch!

- setting the tent was an adventure... just after we set up the tent,
it started raining heavily. two of us went to the nearest walmart and got a tarp/ shamiyana kinda thing to give us some shelter. By the time we were done making all these arrangements, it started pouring like crazy... that’s when we sat under the tarp and played cards... was lots fun!

- we did barbeque and campfire too.... after the campfire, we went
inside one of our tents and played cards again; the night was chilly, especially for the desert animals like us :P

- one thing didn't happen that i expected was... bears :P... i had
full plans for taking a bear-portrait :)

all in all.... great experience!

Cooking spree (continued)....

2007-08-14T01:16:00.001-04:00

I made two preparations of karela (bitter gourd)... also Baba Ganoush ... on the same day :)... both turned out to be great.... long live cooking spree!
Recepies available on request :)

hum do aur hamara pyar :)

2007-08-09T02:54:00.000-04:00

We had sad times...

some crazy moments....

some moments were just 'ok'

And here we are.... wow! celebrating four years together :)

Hurray... First long weekend …

2007-06-01T20:46:00.000-04:00

We both were energized for the long weekend…. And it proved to be well up to our expectations …. Was damn fun … every moment used to make us feel…. ‘wow… this is what I wanted since long!’

Friday we drove to San Diego and stayed at Parag’s place. We had rented the sexy red Chrysler Sebring and to my surprise I didn’t sleep for the whole journey :P. On the way, we saw rocks, desert, mountains and flat lands too. Unfortunately I had to delete the journey snaps on the next day coz the memory drive was full.

Saturday was enjoyable at Universal Studios and Sunday was restful at Pacific beach in San Diego.

I don’t have many words to describe; snaps can say it all…

kewl…. Now I feel like I am in US…. :)

My love for cooking (?)

2007-05-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

These days, there is a distinctive change in my behavioral pattern characterized by special culinary instincts! Right from the day we took charge of this apartment, I've been cooking a variety of dishes... Chicken kolhapuri, biryani, butter chicken, veg dhansak, pav bhaji, pasta, vada paav and what not... things which I never though I would do. And you know what, I make pretty good food!

This behavior of mine was a sweet surprise to my hubby too: P.... he once asked me, "do u really enjoy cooking? how can u be so enthu about it suddenly, when u were never so in past 3 years(!)?" LOL.... and my diplomatic response was "amm... I should say I love eating :D".

I always knew that I am not a great cook or an innovative cook like a friend of mine. (I was a decent one though.) But for sure, I never ever craved to cook anything. One reason of this could be the fact that everything was so readily available in Pune. It's such a wonderful city... whatever u feel like eating, there is a restaurant/ tapari famous for that particular dish, serving it exactly as u love it! Be it dosa, pav bhaji, paratha, kathi kabab or just pani-puri! Most importantly, there is always mom at home who keeps your taste buds active.

I remember once a friend and I had decided to just chat all night. (Shantanu was on a boy’s night out. And my “girl’s night out” idea turned out to be a fiasco since only 3 girls were part of that party L) Anyway, after that “girl’s party” of total 3 girls, two of us decided to come home and chat for rest of the time. (the chat we had deserves another post!!) At 3 am, I suddenly got an urge to eat ‘sushila’ (that’s the name I know, it’s a “pohe” kinda preparation using puffed rice.) My friend was not very anxious about making “sushila” at that time, so I tried to defer the temptation. But finally I made it at 4 am and we both savored that like anything! LOL!

Coming back to current situation... my cravings for variety of food is consistent, but the ready availability of quality & specialized restaurants has vanished! Result is ... me spending lot of time in kitchen and grocery stores :). Not bad, I feel this is a good experience and I'm getting closer to home-office balance!

So here's my divine revelation: yes, I am foodie-goodie, a gourmet in true sense who can even take the efforts of cooking something from scratch, only to enjoy it once!

Too good to believe!

2007-04-25T17:39:00.000-04:00

(I had started this article long time back but somehow didn’t complete it then; here it goes…)

Sometimes, things ….or rather deals seem too good to believe… and you fail to understand what could be the catch. Fortunately or unfortunately we got some ‘too good’ deals for our apartment and the car. Apartment seems pretty close to the office, cheap, good management, quiet area and what not! Moreover they gave us monthly discount under ‘preferred employer’ category. Highly surprising thing is that the apt manager said I have a great credit history and she waived my security deposit!!!

About the car…. Yeah that also looks like a good deal… Saturn L200, just 5 years old with just 74K miles; carfax report is clean and Kelley blue book values it double the price that we got it in!!! Well in such times, I feel blessed and I normally thank god & elders for blessing me and I also thank my well-wishers for all the good luck endowed on me!

This feeling is something like ‘is it me or is it love’ :P

A calm Sunday morning, cup of coffee and peace of mind!

2007-04-23T01:49:00.000-04:00

Rain forest

2007-04-23T01:40:00.000-04:00

Today we went to Arizona mills mall... saw Dinosaurs 3D in IMAX. It was cool... wasn't upto my expectations... i mean i was expecting more of shocks and thrills ;) ... but it was more of a documentary! Anyway... had good time hanging out in the mall...
(Somehow flickr slideshow doesnt show titles and comments, too bad!!!)

new TV

2007-04-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

bought a 27'' TV today! cool, i m excited but dont have time to write a blog :(... will come back in some time.

World is small enough -2007

2007-03-13T18:46:00.000-04:00

Sounds like the bond-movie huh? I guarantee you; it’s not even close to that.
First of all, this is Shantanu who is writing this blog... why here? If you notice, in “amishan”, there is some presence of “shan”. Anyway... forget about this crap..

No other title would be best suitable for this blog. I’ll tell you why. The last weekend happened in my life, has shocked me so much with the truth that the world cannot get smaller than this.
We planned to go to Chicago downtown and gathered some information about the local sight-seeing. To our knowledge, Kapil Mistry, our old friend from Selectica lived in Chicago. We called him up supposedly to ask about sight-seeing info... but it ended up in Kapil inviting us to stay at his place. That of course sounded great! But Kapil just became a daddy which defiantly must be keeping him very busy... so we were not sure whether we should accept the invite. Also we never met his wife Anuya, and Kapil’s mom-in-law was also there... hmm should we go? I think it will be good. Ok... if you say so…

We left for Chicago early morning and went to the first decided destination “The Sears Tower”. That thing was huge!! 103 floors?? Yes... (Photos uploaded as a proof…) and we went to the top… which they call the Skydeck. You cant imagine the view... I mean... of course if you have been in a plane :D But great experience. Then we went to Millenium park and Navy pier… good places… then we left for Kapil’s place.

8pm on Shaumburg station: We borrow a cell from a stranger (total garibi), called up Kapil and asked him to pick us up. After 5 minutes... just both of us were left on the station. Spooky... it was dark... not a hint of human life, nor of Kapil. The public phone not working! Hard time... new country... no one to help, it was dark too. We waited for an hour or so... finally Kapil showed up... phew!! I should confess… we got frightened for a while.

He took us to his home where we met Anuya and Kaku, and of course cute Mr. Ved Mistry. We had a great dinner... thanks to Kaku. We discussed about food, then non-veg, then of course my dad (he’s a great cook). And guess what, kaku knew my Dad. Moreover she knew my Mom too and reconfirmed me as her friend’s son. Kapil was like... "Okay... I am already side-lined :(". This is not enough… she told Anuya and I used to be childhood friends when we were in kindergarten… scary... Then of course we found lots of common contacts… Kapil was still like... Okay. We just forgot... Kapil had got us here… Sorry Kapil :P

The weekend was great, it was over and we went back:(! Anuya’s husband or Kaku’s son-in-law dropped us at the station… hehe... (sorry Kapil :P). We went home and relaxed… Amita called up her friend Poonam... Poonam was busy so Prateek came on the phone and talked with me... I told him I went to Chicago for weekend... he said “I have a very close friend in Chicago... he’s name is Kapil Mistry” @#$%^&*(

AGLOCO

2007-03-13T17:22:00.000-04:00

I signed up for this service today... on a friend's reco. I think there is no trap...
Firstly – it is free. Secondly - it is quick and easy to join. Third – AGLOCO’s purpose is to get its members their share of the money generated on the Internet (i.e. you make money). And lastly – if you help build the AGLOCO network you can make much more.
AGLOCO works with toolbar type software called a Viewbar. Privacy is very strict so no spyware, popups or spam.
Personally speaking, I see no harm in trying this out.

Something good and something bad!

2007-03-12T20:14:00.000-04:00

Let me talk about the bad part first…
Not more than a week than I came to US, I started experiencing some excruciating pain near my left-cheek. I thought it was a normal swelling due to extreme cold weather, but destiny was something else. Before coming here, everyone told me ‘stay away from dental issues’! After the visit to a local dentist, we figured out that my wisdom tooth is coming out towards my cheek-bone! Oh… that sounds bad!
Wow! What a timing to become wise! Anyway, I had to get the tooth out – first surgery of my life! Doctor told me that my mouth doesn’t open wide enough to extract the tooth easily (LOL). So I had to undergo this surgery with general anesthesia (‘go to sleep’ is what they call it here). Surgery went well… fortunately I had no pain after that. It’s been a week now and I can eat almost everything.

Okay, let’s talk about the good things now J
1. I got SSN (thank goodness!)
2. Shantanu and I got few project-offers in hand to choose from.
3. We had a wonderful weekend (it is worth writing another blog :))

long time!

2007-03-08T11:21:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time … I was waiting for things to get settled down. Last few months have been 'no-so-good'... dull work, too many things to plan, excitement to see the plans being materialized... meeting all near and dear ones, preparing for relocation and what not!

Now having some time in hand... I have too many things to write about :)
lemme start with 'my first few days in US'…

My hubby and I were excited to see US for the first time! I always said that I love UK :). But I have to be unbiased since I have to stay here for couple of years!

Though I was psychologically prepared to see snow all-over and bear the cold out here (Chicago), I am kinda bored to see the color-less life …. Everything is white – roads, roofs, houses, walls and the sky – even in the night! Believe me, there are no “dark nights” here; if you see out of the window… you’ll see a bright surrounding outside. Streetlights get a huge reflection from the snow on the road and surprisingly sky is also white!

Check out the snaps on flickr.

First few days were relaxing in good words and unexciting in other words LOL. We stayed at home due to bad weather conditions and continuous snow fall…. Everytime I peeked out of the window… saw the same scene

No need to mention about the things which were contrary from those in India… traffic rules, electric switches … getting used to all these slowly. I am just waiting to get a car and be independent! Long way to go…. SSN bhi nahi aaya abhi tak!

My Visual DNA

2007-03-04T21:50:00.000-05:00

Here's the imagini - idea that I got from reshma's blog :)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Working from home…

2006-12-13T04:21:00.000-05:00

Wow... I am writing a blog after many many days! Morning 8 o' clock... didn’t feel like leaving my bed just because I didn’t want to go to the same boring place again!
Started the laptop and wrote an email to my current PM... 'Working from home; available on skype and on phone. Thanks!’ Guess what…. My PM is also working from home today baby sitting his daughter :)

So, here’s what I feel are the advantages of working from your own cozy room…

Save petrol
Eat home made food for lunch
Avoid machine made coffee
Answer one email and get into to your work (non-official)
Answer another email and get back to your work (non-official)
Officially have a siesta :)
Blame network connectivity for not completing as much work as you would do in office
Have lots of satisfaction for self pampering and gain peace of mind!

[Provided - although being a person with morale you can afford to work less on that day!]

2006-10-04T14:49:00.000-04:00

Just had a Goa trip with friends… we were 10 of us… had loads and loads of fun. Cannot really write what all we did ;) Only thing that didn’t let me enjoy to the fullest was me missing my sweet heart! ;( he is in UK right now… let me wait for him and wait for another beautiful trip with him ;)

Goa was damn fun!!! Life was so boring… I terribly needed this break.

White Water Rafting at Kundalika!

2006-09-28T16:20:00.000-04:00

Good that Vaarun (one of us who went for rafting few days back) did the job of drafting the whole experience.... it was mind blowing...
the lush green ghats... ups and downs of the river... controlling the raft... shouting 'long live gladiators' (it was the name we gave to our team) and finally jumping into the river!
Wow... i never jumped into a river and neither thought of swimming in a river... it was so nice... just lay down... life jacket is doing its job... river current is taking u wherever u want... and .... and its raining!

wow!

no other words for this!
check out the snaps on flickr...

2006-08-24T03:04:00.000-04:00

Yippee! Just booked a brand new Santro xing XL :)
Cool sexy black colored and pined since long!
Awaiting delivery of the car…

Crazy days…

2006-08-12T23:56:00.000-04:00

Thursday morning: we are already in the long-weekend mood… everyone from the house is going out of station… wow… will enjoy solitude

Thursday eve: Oh shit… big boss (the same one who didn’t know that going to India needs a Visa LOL) just mailed about the work coming for the weekend… no……………
But I have to accept this since I am the only resource in the company who has worked on that project… in fact I sustained in the lay-off coz I worked on this project… HMMMMM alright!

Friday morning: tried to push the existing work to others so that I can start on the weekend stuff and finish early…. NO dear… u cannot get away with this…
Okay… need to come to office on Saturday… called up my hubby and guess what he says? He has to go to his office on Sunday!!!!! MANN…. Two s/w ppl form a bad couple!

Anyways… Friday eve: Big boss says I need to finish some task by 9PM… Oh GOD… don’t do this to me… I need to attend a family dinner which was postponed for me since last week… No, I need to say no to this.
Said ‘no’ for 9 PM, but promised that I’ll work after the dinner and finish stuff by 1 AM. Good going girl!
Hurried home, had to wear a saree for the family dinner, duh! Anyways…
Had dinner, everyone had a discussion out there about my crazy work timing… and of-course had pity on the s/w breed!
Came back soon… feeling sleepy… but I have to do this since I committed. Alright, let’s get started… Oh NO…… broadband account is discontinued… man… my company doesn’t even handle the broadband accounts properly
1 AM has been promised to the Client too….. Anyways… Take a deep breath…
Called up the manager and told him about this tragedy and agreed that I’ll go to office early morning and do it before UK morning (Client is in UK, thank god!).

Friday night: sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Saturday morning: I don’t have the office keys… (Our multinational office is not open 24 hours. We are supposed to get the key from whoever has it, whenever we need it)
Back to the topic… got the keys from a colleague… a sin in my plate… woke him at 8:30 AM on a Saturday morning. Being nice, he said “It’s OK”.

Let me not stretch this jinx description long…

Saturday eve: Had a crazy day… Client kept suggesting new changes, had to co-ordinate with various internal teams, etc etc.

The finale…. Saturday late eve: I lost the office keys!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shit… I have to lock the office, without which I cannot go home…. Godddddddd, this is too much for a day….
I called up the manager who, I knew has another key… he was enjoying in camp with his family… another sin of the day…. I made him go to his home, collect the key and come here to help me lock the office!

And did I mention that I have to come to office tomorrow too, since the broadband is not working?
Nah… not again!

Composed @ Saturday 9/12/2006 09:34:00 PM

Daily extended (by Astrology.com)

2006-07-16T13:54:00.000-04:00

As I read on Friday morning…
Today you start to sense that a healthy feeling of fulfillment has been missing from your life. You've been admirably shifting your energies around to many different people, career prospects or self-improvement options, and this fluidity has kept you busy enough to distract you from what you're missing. But today, you see something you want -- and wonder what you have to do to get it. The answer will arrive soon, in a very obvious (and attractive) package.

I waited till the night for the attractive package… thought it could be any of the many things… may be a surprise credit of huge amount in my account :) or… my boss thinks that I am eligible for a month of vacation ... wow… it could be even better … I get scholarship for MBA and I get out of this shitty “software programmer” world!
It could be another re-structuring in my company and I get laid off… being a free bird I get enlightened to become a professional photographer.

In a fraction of second my mind went through thousands of dreams and then Outlook flashed the meeting reminder to get me out of this.

Sun set and the day was over soon… nothing happened :(

Addictions

2006-06-22T07:15:00.000-04:00

I fruitfully spent a day without having coffee (and without sleeping too :) ) at 3 PM!!! Cool, it makes me feel good.

Few days back, I read an article in Pune Times about ‘addictions in disguise’. I decided to think about it. Is there a thing in your purse, which if missing, makes you feel uncomfortable? Yes, there is… it’s the lip balm that I use. I started using it in the winter and never realized that I kept using it all through summer. Okay! I’ll stop using it until I get used to not-using it. Now after deciding this, I have stopped the habit since few days. It has made my lips look a little blackish, leading to some suspicious eyes asking “have u started smoking lately?” LOL

New term

2006-05-25T07:50:00.000-04:00

I was looking for a site that would give me one word for set of words that I enter. Remember the way we used to have in school…. ‘Enter one word for following’ :)

Though I didn't get what I wanted, coincidently I came across an interesting phrase…
layoff lust (LAY.off lust) n. The strong desire to be laid off from one's job.
A new term has entered the language: "layoff lust," the sudden desire to be sent away with a severance package, providing time at last to search for meaning and cultivate the soul.

Uh huh… Sometimes so true!

Ref: http://www.wordspy.com/words/layofflust.asp

Joke of the day - don't miss this!

2006-05-16T03:41:00.000-04:00

It was all hands… everyone was supposed to give weekly status to senior ppl in the department. Mr. X, a senior manager was supposed to come to India for a casual visit. He started giving his status… “It’s my fault… or rather … my mistake or carelessness….. blah blah blah”

Me: old man… aage bolo…

“I got my plane tickets for India… all fine… reached airport and they told me that I need a Visaaaaaa to come to India… I told them I have a Passport, but it didn’t work out :( Oh Gosh! I didn’t know this…. Now, I’ll have to arrange for one. Sorry, sorry, I apologize, blah blah blah…”

2006-05-11T01:38:00.000-04:00

Daily work (by Astrology.com):
Just wishing for a raise, promotion or high-profile project isn't going to make it happen; you've got to be proactive. Schedule a one-on-one and bring your credentials and recent achievements to the table.

“Aha…”

There is nothing more enjoyable than REAL LIFE

2006-05-02T05:40:00.000-04:00

MAHABI_20060501_0091
Originally uploaded by a m i t a.

Sherbaug... a must have experience for all those who love nature and seek tranquility. This was our second visit and was as pleasing as it was the first time. Beautiful flowers, ice-cold waterfalls, barefoot gardens, hammocks on tree-tops to laze around, charpoys & pillows to bask in Sun!

Friends can make the magic!

2006-03-26T04:41:00.000-04:00

It was an uninteresting week apart from the movie that we saw on Thursday by bunking office ;). The worst part - my PM called up to get me working on the assigned work. Two of our close friends were coming to our place and I had to think of a new reason to leave early. Off course I managed to do that :)

Friday was great, we had meals together, made fun of each other and laughed a lot. Went to Manas resort, did some boating; went to Durga for cold-coffee and then… went to the place where we freaked out for years together, our MIT!

We visited all the departments and spent lot of time on our favorite – Comp Porch. There was a girl…. She saw us behaving weird and hyper. Finally she asked “Are u guys pass-outs from this college?” Yes… we are pass-outs from this college and there are thousands of good memories rushing in our minds right now. We started remembering the common conversations we used to have sitting on this porch…

Hey, someone, please give me the index for CL2 journal…
Yaar… mera number hai, tu mere baad lena, ok!
Richa ya Ali kaha hai, unko dhundo, pakka unka sab kuchh complete hoga…
Are… mujhe ek blank graph paper dena… wo stationary wala maaz kar raha hai

:) WOW…. It was fun yaar!… we spent days and nights here for studying, completing journals, practicing dance, drama or for just doing nothing at all!

Okay… let’s come out of those nostalgic feelings!

Four of us were missing other members of our group (who happily got married and conveniently forgot us :)). We watched the video of our last trip to Mahabaleshwar with a craving to have another trip soon. That video reminded us of old practical jokes like a stranger offering one of our friends for a gay-relationship “Will you say yes or will you say no?” :)). Also, who would want to get in a situation like my friend did. While speeding his new bike he toppled over a pig that was also speeding around the corner of the road. My friend got hospitalized, but the thing which irritated him the most was that nothing happened to the pig. It gave a dirty look n left the victim n his not-so-new bike, lying on the road.

Hmmm… I can think of loads of such incidents, but everything cannot be written. I hope my friends keep coming back to the place where we first met and revive those fantastic moments in MIT.

Here we are, on the same porch, 3 years after leaving its shelter, missing all others who were with us…

I am in love.....

2006-03-13T10:32:00.000-04:00

WOW... I am in love! It’s been a while since I earnestly wanted a good one. It’s too good and up to my expectations. Here are few pics that Shantanu captured from our window. We haven't yet acquired good expertise, but we could manage to capture some good snaps.

Moon: As beautiful it is!

A low light trial

Kingfisher from our backyard... open this pic in full size and see, it's amazzzing!

another one from window!

A yellow light trial (indoor)!

:) onions can also be beautiful!

My sis-in-law n' me at Kiva

2006-03-06T00:56:00.000-04:00

Just got a Canon S2 IS!
I am excited to use it.... will post some quality pictures as soon as I am able to grab some.

The longer we live, more beautiful life becomes!

2006-03-01T06:53:00.000-04:00

Just read this as ‘Quote of the day’. I don’t think it is quote of the day anymore… definitely not for any one of us… ruthlessly struggling, and stretching our lives like anything! There is no end to it… we are going to do this forever!

Shan and I always envy the way his father lives… He owns a small shop of self-cooked non-veg food. His clients are literally crazy for him and his culinary skills. Apart from the fact that he is THE BEST in that field, he doesn’t want to expand his shop or open another outlet… He loves what he is doing and encourages all of us to enjoy life to its fullest. He is always there for us whenever we want to talk to him. Every month or so, he has to visit Mahabaleshwar with mom, just because he loves it. He shuts down his shop when there is India-Pak match :)
An amazing personality who is doing wonderfully well in this field and also knows how beautiful this life is.

I am not sure whether we will ever be able to decide where to stop!

2006-01-18T02:19:00.000-04:00

Already started the day in a bad mood … How can one NOT get frustrated after driving for a complete hour (usually it takes 20 minutes!) in traffic as insane as it could be?
I was trying hard not to get annoyed, even increased the radio-volume to the fullest so that I do not hear the needless honks. I reached office and was already thinking “What a great day!”

I started my Outlook; saw many mails from Client for stupid-unintelligent changes; OK, Now I have to do this … Mujhe hi shauk tha na PSO mein kaam karneka!
Meanwhile, also checked my Yahoo mails and then turned to 'My Yahoo'. Let’s see what my horoscope says…

“The concept of having fans is nothing new to fire signs like you. In addition to the well-known hypnotic effect that fire has on us all, the energy and enthusiasm you guys put out can't help but attract a following. At the moment, however, you'd better wield this weapon carefully, because your already lethal charm will be even more irresistible. It won't just be tough to say no to you, it will be downright impossible -- for mere mortals, anyway.”

Oh Oh Oh… Not a bad day :)
I am feeling better…

( Forget about the truth of this forecast, at least it made me smile and I am sure the astrologer is a Sagi-fan ;) )

Weddings weddings and weddings…

2005-12-09T07:53:00.000-04:00

It’s been long that I updated my blog… Actually I didn’t find anything to write about in those mundane chores that I’ve been doing lately… To bring some change in life, God arranged two weddings in my family. I was excited for the first ceremony… and soon I got bored of things like wrapping gifts, writing names on gift tags (u wont believe – I never wrote so much of marathi in my years till now); then things like getting ready, applying mehandi; shaping nails, putting on saree and along with all this heavy makeup behaving as a responsible host!

One of the most frequent and difficult situations for me was to explain people that what I was wearing as a necklace is actually made of Gold. Those aunty-people just don’t digest the funda of gold jewellery that doesn’t shine – forget telling about antique finish! They don’t even ignore… people will come to you and ask ‘beta you should’ve been wearing gold jewellery!’ (Godd, save me!!!)

After doing loads (literally loads) of work and listening to heavy doses of sermons about ‘why is having a kid at 25 important?’ I am damn tired of all these things and want to go to a totally undisclosed place with no one around for some time at least. This wish being almost impractical, I am looking forward to a quality holiday on some beach with Shantanu and couple of friends.

Ohhh… how can I forget … I have two more weddings to attend in December :(
….

Hey … one exciting thing happened today… went triple seat with two of my friends (girls). Though silly, it was fun. It’s almost 3 years or more that I last did it. I remember it was with Mariyam and Madhu & we were even caught by police :))

Busy

2005-10-28T08:57:00.000-04:00

Last few weeks have been very busy… lossa work in office… lossa pre-marriage stuff to do for my bro’s wedding…
There is really nothing to write…

One think amazing that happened – 2 weeks back, we trekked up the Sinhgarh early in the morning. It was action-packed and enchanting! Definitely work waking up at 5 am :).
Best part was that my legs weren’t paining that bad the next day. Cool, I m not really unfit :)
That reminds me about another thing I did - have my cholesterol check up done… No-one actually asked me to do that but I felt I should have track.
It’s absolutely normal and I am free to eat as much as cheese as I want :))

Coming months are gonna be even busier… Diwali to celebrate, project going live, bro getting married, house-warming to be done and what not!

Uf!!!

idea needed!

2005-09-21T09:51:00.000-04:00

This Saturday is Shantanu's b'day... I am thinking what to do to make it special...
I am assuming that he wont read this post before Saturday.

any out of the ordinary ideas?

2005-09-19T02:40:00.000-04:00

It’s so weird… when I am alone, not only my favorite shows, I watch all those things I never discuss with anyone. Things like an old-hindi movie or even a football match :))
Nothing like watching TV alone!

My long term Wish List

2005-09-15T03:06:00.000-04:00

A thought is lingering in my mind since days that I should keep all my (selfish) wishes written somewhere… so that tomorrow if I die, and if my soul doesn’t rest… people should know the reason for the unrest (ha ha ha)
These thoughts led me to pen down my wish list (some wishes are already complete).

Off course the list will grow / shrink according to my moods.

[Shantanu asked me to mention specifically: Grayed out ones are partially or completely achieved wishes]

Here goes the list... and these are not yet ordered in terms of priority...

Marry a nice guy

Know EVERYTHING about photography; own a camera-set (something like this) that’ll do all I want it to.

Be able to capture any moment as it is in reality. I may also have a photo-blog to host all my creative & high quality photography.

Get a luxurious car for myself other than the one for the family

Get a SUV… may be Ford Endeavour

Have a beautiful and cozy house to live in

Be a great guitarist … ammm not exactly; have some sort of art like music/ painting/ carving and be able to express whatever I want to – happiness, anger, sadness, loneliness, anything!

Have a great control over English – be able to express any damn feeling/incidence in words and pen those down

Be able to compose poems as expressive as Rohit does!

Be master in some sport… practically possible - Badminton

Be a ‘karodpati’ and be able to give anything to anyone without needing to think ‘what will be left’

Own a state-of-the-art music system and listen to all my favorite songs whenever I get the craving; And yes… have a huge collection of music

Own all state-of-the-art equipments like big-screen plasma TV, wireless laptop, camcorder, etc.

Be able to meet any of my friends/closed ones anytime I want to, no matter where they are (this might mean owning a airplane and/or chopper)
Fulfill all above :)

Now that I have documented all this, I know exactly what all I need from this materialistic world before I think of going towards austerity :)

All these are apart from benevolent wishes like…

Everyone should be happy

World should be free of poverty

Blah blah blah

- Amen

The rightest weekend I could have

2005-08-30T02:37:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was long enough to my satisfaction and exactly as I craved for… craved apparently since ages. One would wonder what thrilling did I do… Nothing, I just spent time with some of my good-old best friends. Nothing beats just sitting on the windowsill and chatting. I had invited a friend to stay at my place over the weekend.

I managed to find the photo albums of our hostel days, we rolled down on floor laughing, looking at the old snaps. Remembered old common jokes & teased each other on stupid acts that we used to do in hostel. We went to college and visited the porch that we spent four years sitting on :). In PLs, (Preparatory leave) I used to study in college corridors, porches and lawns. Its so nice to visit those places where we spent most beautiful years of our life - lingering around, doing monkey business with our class-mates & lecturers… I saw the place where I was ragged & the place where I used to rag my juniors. Ohh, ragging reminds me of a colleague who worked in my dept for an year and freshly told me “U remember, the guy whom u ragged in college for an hour and made him jump to collect leaves of a tree, tats me!!!” (Oh God, why is the World is so small!!!)

Anyways, coming back to our topic… me and my friend (who just visited my place) were the most notorious in our hostel. We shared our memories of getting held for deeds that we didn’t actually do. One day our warden woke up & found her locked inside her room ha ha… and without any other thought, she caught me. (THOUGH IT WASN’T ME this time :)) I remember the warden always telling me “U know what Amita, whenever I see in your eyes I get worried about what mischief is she going to do now. You are so mischievous!” And I used to be like “Oh, am I?” ha ha ha

Ha… my friend and I forgot to talk about the day when I slapped a girl; I acted as if I was very heated and my friend pretended to mollify the angry me, ha ha. It became a big issue later. Wow, those days were fun and full of happening events!

Oho, again coming back to present… last weekend, we even went to Darshani and Durga. I was happy to see the uncle in Darshani still remembering that I used to have “extra strong coffee”. At times, I used to go to Darshani all alone to have that madrasi coffee.

We had coffee just walked a mile together. But it seems like an energizer very effectual and very much essential.

Whee, I am so happy…
Hey God, thanks for the beautiful concept that u created – friends!

PUNE trafffffic - revised

2005-08-22T04:17:00.000-04:00

I am happy to see that SPTM has grown to a size that it can approach Government officials for the good. Though I am not able to give enough time to this Movement, at least I have a satisfaction that I am adding to its strength & doing whatever possible.
I do believe that this Movement will help improve our traffic state of affairs.

Cleaning up the house

2005-08-09T00:59:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was the time slotted to clean up the house by throwing away old items. Hmm… here’s another difficult task. I had to convince my mom-in law to throw away all old ‘khandaani’ stuff, which was almost a perseverance test in itself!

Me: mom, I’ll throw this jar, looks very old and unused
Mom-in law: Nah… it’s such a useful thing
Me: when have we last used it?
Mom-in law: aammmmmmm (thinking)
Father-in law with a twinkle in his eyes: I remember, we used it some 5 years back
Me: what??? Ok, cool, I m throwing it off
Mom-in law: waittt. It’s needed whenever ur aunt-in law gives her special pickle (?)
Me: ahaan, and how often does this aunt give her “special pickle”?
Father-in law again helped: She’s already left India, ha ha!
Me: ohhhh! DONE! I’ve thrown it off!

This was just one incidence, here’s another one.

Me: dad, what do we do with these wires & the broken cordless phone?
Father-in law: heyyy u ladies don’t understand importance of such things
Me: Hello... plz explain the use of rusted wires
Father-in law: Ohh, they r rusted is it? Hmmm, ok, throw the wires but not the phone
Mom-in law came to rescue: Listen, u have kept this broken phone since years and occupied this space, let her throw it off
Father in law: I am going to make a wonderful thing out of its parts
Mom-in law again: you’ve been saying this from 2 years; I am fed up maintaining such useless things (screamed)
Me: Yes mom, I understand ur plight :)

Now the next incident was heart-breaking for me :( :( :(

Me: hey, what r u gonna do with this toy-gun, give it to ur cousin
Shan: no way! I want the gun
Me: WHAT??? Are you going to play with this gun?
Him: Not like James Bond off course!
Me: then what?
Him: I’ll make a target & practice shooting the bulls eye; And I am keeping it in my drawer, ok!
Me: CRAZY! :(

As they say: "Housekeeping ain't no joke." :)

Atom feeds and blogging

2005-08-05T04:52:00.000-04:00

Hey, this is cool... I got this info from a friend’s blog.
Firstly, I liked the concept of XML feeds a lot… its too good. You don’t have to visit tens of websites for news updates, health updates and so on. Moreover u can mark all updates as ‘read’ and occasionally get rid of all feed pop-ups.
I find a gr8 scope here of convincing ‘potency of xml’ to a lay man.

Facing a POPy (Problem of plenty), I opted for a feed-reader from source forge.

Another cool feature I discovered today is adding atom feeds from our blog to feed readers / browsers like firefox / sites like my yahoo. I always used to wonder that whenever a friend of mine adds a new post, I should come to know right away…

Just add /atom.xml to your feed-reader. Say for a feed to Suni’s blog I added http://sunitathomas.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Voila!

Just the moment & its silence...

2005-07-21T08:40:00.000-04:00

Wake up early... at 6:00 am... and go for Bird watching. Take the country boat to go through narrow canals and watch… watch the birds, listen to the silence & breathe the healthy air… Bask into the forest and cherish the moment… get close to nature, get close to the serene self.
Get back to hotel… row through the lagoon to your cottage. Have a lemon tea and watch the cormorants fishing… This was Kumarakom.
Leave for another beautiful place… enjoy the drive… keep the windows open & breathe the healthy, fresh air…
Wait for the eve… lay down in the pool - talking to the rain drops merging in the water below, letting them hit you, doing nothing, seeing the light house in the midst of backwaters…think of the sunset cruise… sound of the flutist… thoughts about nothing… just the moment & its silence.

This was just one day of our most beautiful holiday – kerala and so the ideal celebration of our wedding anniversary.

Recent learning

2005-07-13T05:54:00.000-04:00

Do not allow anonymous comments on sensitive issues!

Last Day

2005-06-22T09:41:00.000-04:00

Today is my last day in Selectica… I’ve been associated with it for almost 3 years by now.
Leaving with a mixture of feelings; this is the place, where I got the first glimpse of IT world; an ideal work-place as I think. But there is a whole wide world yet to be explored. Finally, time has come to move on.
I was preparing for this day since a week or so… taking backups... forming Good-Bye mails (I call it a Bye-mail rather than ‘Good-Bye-mail’)... getting list of people to be contacted before leaving and what not.
Generally people leave with a sigh of relief… but it’s not the case about me. I have good memories.
I felt very good to see many replies to my ‘Bye-mail’. I don’t know what to write about this… but felt like expressing my gratitude towards Selectica in some way.
No matter how much people crib about old-jobs… I am proud to be an ex-Selectican!

Doing nothing… Being no-one…

2005-06-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

My messenger status these days is ‘Doing nothing… Being no-one…’ Actually speaking, I am very busy at home and also at work. But being busy doesn’t help me avoid this feeling. It seems that life is going on & on, the same mundane chores. As such I am surrounded by people, but something is earnestly missing. I wondered what it could be.

Yesterday while chatting with a close friend, I realized that she is also as lost as I am. And she said… ‘ams, look what has happened to us, we need to meet!’
Ohhhh, here I get about what’s happening… I haven’t met any of my close friends since long long time. I am being a a wife or a daughter at home, Consultant in office, but rarely am I being myself. I don’t remember the last time I laughed for nothing. Not that I don’t enjoy with my family, but being with close friends is something different, something essential. I cherish my old friends like anything. Rather I would say, may God never leave anyone friend-less, it’s horrible.

Regret for ever

2005-05-19T08:04:00.000-04:00

I always regret for my procrastination. This time… it had a serious impact – not to anything else but to my conscious.
Two days back, Principal of my college (MIT) passed away. Few months down the line I was told that he is seriously ill & is admitted to Mangeshkar Hospital. Even after planning genuinely, I did not manage to meet him at that time.
Whenever I look back at my engineering life & think of the college, he is the first person I think of…. a mentor in real sense!
My silly repenting mind wishes to convey him how much respect all of us have for him. Too late now!
It’s been told again & again through mail-forwards or posters or whatever.... that if you feel like meeting someone, get up & do that…. I hope I act on this now onwards!

Few Quotes from my favo - Sex And The City

2005-04-10T06:25:00.000-04:00

Miranda: Oh my God ... I'm married.

Carrie: I've spent $40,000 on shoes and I have noplace to live? I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!

Samantha: I'm officially out of men to fuck.

Samantha: You know when I was a lesbian ...
Carrie: I saw that coming.
Samantha: I could get in and out with nothing but a fine lip gloss.

Charlotte: He raped my face!

Samantha: Last night I could not stop thinking about a Big Mac. I finally had to get dressed, go out and pick up a guy.
Miranda: Talk about a Happy Meal!

Carrie: Can you get to your future if your past is present?

Carrie: I used to think those people who sat alone at Starbucks writing on their laptops were pretentious posers. Now I know: They are people who have recently moved in wtih someone.

Samantha: All married couples stop having sex eventually.
Miranda: That's not true, you've had sex with plenty of married people.
Samantha: That's how I know!

[http://www.sexandthecityquotes.com]

First time when I was overjoyed and second time again…

2005-03-30T02:31:00.000-04:00

I purchased a bicycle yesterday… just felt like sharing this joy with all!
I remember the first time I got my bicycle, I was happy like anything. It was in my seventh standard. My dad also remembers that event.
I’ve decided to go for a morning ride everyday and use this bicycle for short distances (to save pollution). Hmm, good resolution…. I pray it should last! Amen.

Anyways, I am happy for my new bike :))

Thank You

2005-03-14T02:11:00.000-04:00

Most of us have a habit of saying ‘Thank You’ to anyone who serves us in any way. Say a shop keeper or a Office-Boy. Some of us also criticize this habit saying ‘Good that you don’t thank your bed after getting up in morning, ha ha ha!’ Sounds funny to me too :).
Some of us also say that it is too formal to thank for obvious favors. I do not agree. People don’t have to do what they are doing.

I have a habit of saying ‘Thank you’ to Auto Rickshaw driver whenever I leave a rickshaw. Not all of them realize that I mean it. Day before yesterday, I hired an auto to take me home… and said ‘thank-you’ as usual. I was able to notice the smile on his face :).

Kindness pays! It made my day as well as his day!

PUNE trafffffic!!!!!!!!

2005-02-23T02:48:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time I used to be proud to tell others that I live in a beautiful place called Pune. Today when I talk to others I am just unable to feel the same content and satisfaction.

We say it is an education centre and a developed city with very good culture… I wonder how!
Where does the civilization go when we drive on road… when we walk on road?

It needs nothing but common sense to have disciplined traffic. Every time I am on road, I get the absolute feeling of staying in a remote village named something like ‘punegaon’. Here no one is educated and no one is civilized. Everyone knows a single rule - ‘survival of the fittest’.

All of us admire the disciplined road sense in western countries. What do you think makes those roads so clean & nice – the government? NO…. it’s the civic sense among those people. The sense of responsibility towards society makes each one of them a prudent citizen.

Whereas when we talk about Indian roads, it’s a nightmare for many of us. But what’s the use abusing all the while… there is no outcome of criticizing the policemen even. The improvement has to start from somewhere. And it has to start from within of every individual. I have decided to join the Save-Pune-Traffic-Movement. It has a mission to create a paradigm shift and drive the transformation of Pune traffic by us, i.e. the responsible and cognizant citizens!
Shantanu says he doesn’t need to join any Movement or so to be determined to follow traffic rules. But how long does that determination sustain? And moreover, do we afford to loose this determination again and again? NO. It’s high time now. We have to be very very serious about this, stop criticizing others and do whatever possible to save our beautiful city.

BLACK

2005-02-09T10:54:00.000-04:00

Last week I saw ‘BLACK’…. Felt like writing a review about it.It’s a brilliantly created movie! Shantanu & I were very happy to see betterment in Hindi cinema.
The movie is all about a blind, deaf & so dumb girl, who is treated as mentally retarded by all starting from her father :(
And then comes the magician teacher… Mr. Bachchan, who changes her life & makes everyone realize her existence. I will suggest everyone to watch it with hope that it will definitely help improve the life of such unfortunate people.

How does it feel when you grow a year older?

2004-12-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

“Birthday” or “Natal Day” is a different concept for everyone. I don’t really feel anything great on this day. But whenever I tell someone that it’s my birthday today, the reaction is always “O My God, why are you working in office today?” :)

One thing I always do is counting the number of years I’ve been in this world. Then I can boss on my juniors by saying that I have seen those many summers/winters more than them :) (There is a similar saying in Marathi). Coming back to the topic, another thing I do is getting gifts from loved ones. This time, I didn’t feel like asking for any gift. Is this an indication that I have grown up to a matured lady and I am no more a young bubbly girl? Oh no, this doesn’t sound very pleasing!

Another excitement for birthday is getting loads of mails and cards. By receiving a mail, I really feel happy that people still remember me. Also, I fear of the day when despite being my birthday, my inbox will be empty saying “there are no new messages for u and no-one remembers u”! Huh, scary!

I wonder why do we celebrate birthdays? They say "Another year has come full circle... Time to celebrate! Happy Birthday". In fact you’ve grown a year older, which means now you have to be more matured with new responsibilities. You are no more excused for making silly mistakes that teen-agers make. Also, it’s gratifying to get surprise gifts, cut a cake and get phone calls at 12 O-clock.

However I wonder and wonder how do you exactly feel when you grow a year older?

How to kill time in office

2004-11-26T14:05:00.000-04:00

Visit www.Orkut.com see variety of profiles, communities; think of joining a community and then forget about the thought. (I am doing all this because messengers are currently not allowed in here)
After random time-periods, show some concern on your face as if indulged into some gr8 workJ
Have tea…
Or visit some tourism website; Think of things to do on weekend.
Find out the driving directions for 2/3 places to provide a choice on Saturday about where to go. Take printouts of them; remember that office resources are all yours.
Grab a cup of coffee…
OK, now for a change work a lill bit – fill out the weekly task list.

Hmm, this is important, check out the exchange rate for dollar and pound.

How about watching a movie tonight, find out the new releases and reviews.
Again pamper yourself with some tea or coffee…
GOD! I am bored!
Hey, not that I always do this…

My passion for tea

2004-11-21T10:15:00.000-04:00

There were times when I was kind-of addicted for coffee… I used to keep my messenger status as ‘In quest of java green’. It was a heartrending decision of mine to go for a homeopathic treatment, which would take away coffee from my life. God! I somehow prepared myself by saying, ‘Ok, this is gonna be for few months’. I was pretty successful in controlling my desire unless sometimes allured by the aroma or irritated by workload.

Then came the Mr. Tea into picture. I started having tea in the office for the sake of having a hot beverage in the afternoon to avoid an embarrassing nap on the desk :). I hardly liked the concept of tea until I stole a ‘lemon and orange infusion’ from a colleague’s drawer. Oh wow, it was so tasty. I confessed to him later that I did use his tea bags and making things even worse, finished those :). He had a great collection including tealeaves, which he bought straight away from Japan.

Here started my obsession for different flavors… I started trying black tea, green tea, herbal fruit infusions, lemon and ginger, mint, strawberry, camomile, apple, mango and what not. Not all of them were good. My favorite still remains ‘Orange and citrus’. I surprisingly developed a great taste for a combination of ‘tetley regular’ and ‘lemon & ginger’. I started suggesting others to take a sip of this amazing drink. My mom won’t ever believe that I now start my day with a cup of black tea, which is totally caffeine-free. So this is another good thing that happened to me in UK, a great variety of tea to discover.
Bad think is that every time I visit Sainsbury, I cannot resist myself from buying a new flavor – not good for my pocket.

They say, "An Englishman would interrupt a war to have his afternoon tea", and now I am totally convinced.

The 'Great' Britain

2004-11-11T15:57:00.000-04:00

Let me start with how my first flight experience was...

Itinerary... Mumbai to Frankfurt (Indian Airlines - AI127) and further Frankfurt to London, Heathrow (Lufthansa LH4732).

We left Mumbai at 8 IST and reached Reading at 18:15(London time). So the whole journey was almost 13-14 hours. It was an 8-hour long stretch from Mumbai to Frankfurt (Germany).... but since we got Business class, it was exciting!

Ok, lemme talk from the start.... we reached Mumbai International Airport at 4 am, 19th August. Shantanu, my mom, his mom, Anup bhaiya and Kunal were with me. My team-mates Mohini and Mrudul were gonna accompany me for the journey. I went thru all the scrutinies n all stuff, bid adieu to all my dear ones and reached the ground floor. Aahhhhhhhh!!! Here was the first sight of the plane.... I took few seconds to believe my eyes and wondered how can this huge a thing fly!

Best part was that even though my Company organized for economy class ticket, we luckily got promoted to Business class for the flight: Mumbai to Frankfurt. We got into the plane thru the tunnel and got seated into the business class! So had good breakfast, lunch, music, movie and nice sleep. Reached Frankfurt, found our departure location and spent time in Window-shopping. Our flight from Frankfurt to London had lots of turbulence, coz of which both of my colleagues went berserk. I enjoyed the roller coaster ride!

Here comes our destination, London. Mumbai airport was ok, Frankfurt airport was impressive and London airport was THE SUPERLATIVE! We were afraid that the immigration officer would pester us... but he didn’t take more than a minute.The taxi was waiting... as I remember it was Audi's Quattro, awesome sedan! We got into it and reached Reading, Berkshire in an hour. Met the other colleagues who were already here, checked in Millennium Madejski hotel. It has 4 star rating; has a football stadium of its own, swimming pool, cafe, conference rooms, etc.

I had a shower, called up home saying 'reached safely' and then went out for dinner with my team members. We went to 'Oracle', that’s a big big or rather HUGE shopping complex kinda thing with 5-6 floor parking, all Brand showrooms, all Brand food-outlets, a 9 to 10 screen Multiplex 'Vue', some pubs and lots more. I was happy to see a very familiar place called Pizza Hut :). We went to an Indian restaurant for supper. There is a small branch of river Thames in the middle of Oracle infrastructure, which makes the place romantic for lovers [ :( ]. 'Oracle' seemed to be the most happening place in Reading.

Getting back to hotel, I was too sleepy... and this marked the end of 19th August, a longggg day!

I know ur bored... but lemme cover the second day as well.I somehow managed to get up at 8:23, got down by 9, had breakfast. Mistakenly I had a feeling that British accent would be easy to understand. Worst part is that they ask several questions like 'regular or mineral', 'still or sparkle' when I asked for drinking water. The waiter asked me something and I replied 'Kyaa bolaa ki!' :) Thank God that Sunita (a colleague) was familiar with all this.

Left for the office (MCI) with 3 other colleagues in Micra (a small automatic car). The MCI building is HUGE and beautiful too; with great and vibrant interiors. Modern art seems to be very common and effective all over. I met everyone in our team (managers outside India are so young!); got an Access card, IBM laptop, required stationary etc. Took lunch (again few familiar and few inedible things to eat!) . We had few hours meeting giving overview of the project blah blah blah.Good news of the day is.... I got a car for myself 'Clio', a small 2+2 seater with two doors and all basic facilities like CD player, radio, power windows, 5 gears, airbag, etc. I was offered a automatic car but I preferred a manual one to be in sync when I return to India :).
Even though it was weekend (Friday) we got very late to leave office, almost 18:00 hours. We again went to Oracle, had dinner in Pizza Hut and saw 'The Bourne Supremacy' in Vue. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! End of second day, I am feeling sleepy now.