After 30 plus years of having gotten rid of those bothersome thingies called spectacles...I shall soon have them again!

Thus spake Ophthalmologist!! Aaaaaaarrrgggghh!! B)

If you own a Flickr account...and believe in the Tibetan cause...do go there and post a picture supporting the 'Free Tibet' movement today - Monday 14th April 2008.

This is a silent movement to show solidarity with the cause of the Tibetans and people like us can help spread the word...

Being non-techie Idon't know how to make a hyperlink on my blackberry...what I can do is type the address and hope it shows up as a hyperlink on my post...

Please visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezee123/2411698336/
for more details on this silent movement!

This one friend of mine deserves special mention! She has been with me every step of the way since June last year. I met her just as I was about to change jobs. I was worried I would get lonely when I would have to be away from friends and familiar environs..travelling...being away from home more than two weeks in a month! She promised to keep me company no matter where I went. Its a promise she has kept to this day!

( Here's my good friend Pinky... )

Have to thank Pinky's momma....for letting her spend so much time with me! I know you are reading...so here...take a bow from me Pinky's momma dearest! Your little baby is my very precious friend!

Feels really great when one gets calls from or speaks to some really old friends!! And I have been feeling great! Have suddenly been in touch with some very very dear friends! It has been a series of calls/ meetings with friends over the last couple of days! April 10th - a friend's birthday! (We speak to each other only on birthdays!!) I call up to wish her and find out that she has just had a baby! Congrats Anita! Wonderful news! Later in the day I phone yet another friend to wish her on her birthday and find out that she is in the USA!! (Way to go Malini!!) Cool! Later last night I get a call from another friend..after a very long time! I was waiting for this call and hoping it would come (one of those cases where you are sure you don't want to call unless the other person does!!) It was wonderful speaking to him..way past midnight! Coolio... Mama...that was fun!

11th April - Josh...that's what I call my very very dear friend Nupur...it is always lovely to talk to her..whether birthday or not! Whether in India or outside! I spent nearly half an hour on an International Call ... and this was only a Birthday wish call ;)

12th April - was the birthday of yet another friend ..we had been together in school way back in 1980! I Called up to wish her and had a lovely long conversation...apart, of course, from getting an invited to spend some girl time together at her place in the tea gardens in Alipurduar !! Our little gang of four had come together in Loreto House, Calcutta, quite uniquely, in 1980! Navina was from Carmel Convent Calcutta, Sangeeta from Frank Anthony Public School, Delhi and Neelanjana and I were, coincidentally, from Loreto Convent Lucknow! We found each other only in Loreto House, Calcutta and we studied together for barely two years! In 1982, Sangeeta moved to Delhi, I moved to Madras while Navina and Neelanjana continued in Calcutta! Somehow, we kept in touch...mostly through snailmail...there was no email back then!! We had decided that we would make an effort to come together and meet at a common point on the silver jubilee of our first meeting...and WE DID!! January 25th, 2006 was special...Neelanjana came from USA, Sangeeta from Alipurduar, I travelled from Madras..just for two days, to Calcutta, where we all met at Navina's place! OooooH! Much fun was had! Way back in 1982 we had taken a photograph of the four of us together! We took another photograph of the four of us together..one of those touristy sketch thingies (one minute computer sketches) done at some random mall in Calcutta! ( Lovely piece of memory!! ) Sangeeta...our chat today brought on such a flood of wonderful memories!

Later in the day I had gone to the Salon for a usual grooming routine...I enter, take my seat and turn to look around out of sheer curiosity, and lo and behold, sitting right next to me, I find Rekha, a very dear friend of mine from college! We used to hang out together all the time and had been touch even afterwards for some years (I had even done the bridal mehendi for her when she got married)...just that of late both of us got kind of busy with our own lives and even though we knew we would be able to pick the threads up from where we left them, we didn't really pick them up!! And today, the one hour that we were in the Salon getting ourelves attended to...was brilliant! Not only did we catch up on all the news, we also caught up with yet another good friend from college (mobile phones - great invention) and made plans for a reunion in the coming couple of weeks!

On returning home, I was joined by another close friend...who came over spend the afternoon. We had a good time together! Chatted, ate, relaxed...till it was time for her to leave for her Saturday late matinee movie at the club, and for me to leave to meet yet another dear dear friend. Divya and I had not met for over a year! She had called me a couple of days back saying that she was waiting for me to return from Gurgaon and that she wanted to have some 'hygienic Chaat'!! I had promised her some home made chaat ...so she could eat without worries. I did wonder, though, how I would manage that, what with full work days and yet another upcoming trip to Gurgaon! The solution - if she couldn't come over home for the chaat, the chaat could go to her!! So, it was Alu Tikki with dahi and chutney that went to Divya's parents' home in IIT Madras...for dear Divy to enjoy! 'Hygienic' home made 'chaat'!! It was most satisfying to watch her gorge on the alu tikkis going "yum yum yum yum".. baby style! There was enough for her brother and parents to have as well! I felt happy and gratified!! As I left her place, in true Tam Brahm tradition, her mum gave me vettrilai paakku and handed me an armful of ( lovely shiny sparkly glass bangles! )
I had missed Divya's Valaikappu as I was away in Delhi! (Aside: I love glass bangles! I have a huge collection of those...some of the oldest ones in the collection go as far back as 1976...when i was in school!!)

I returned from Divya's only to log on to the net to check my mail and, guess what.. found that yet another friend had just found me on Facebook!!

Yipee!! Life is good!!

2:45 in the morning and sleep eludes completely...Not my normal style...I sleep well on a normal night! But damn...this is something else! I can't sleep because of a #*@*# e mail!!
Have been away from home nearly 3 weeks to get this piece of work sorted out...and,,,damn...I could just as well have gone back and been at home....less than half the effort would have sufficed...and damn...all this enlightenment happens in retrospect!! DAMN!! What a waste of time,energy, effort and emotions!!! DAMN!!!
Is this what my spiritual Guru of sorts had been warning me about? Could be! He had forewarned me of some such occurrence and advised meditation to help me tide over the likely adversity...I had followed his counsel.... erratically...! I might have slept well had I been regular in my practice..
Ah well...on the flip side...as I lie awake, the wind is whistling through the tiny gaps in the doors and windows of my room! Bolts of lightning light up the sky and my room intermittently.. .the usually dusty and smogfilled environs of Gurgaon appear to have been wiped clean of all the grime and the city lights are shining brighter...I can see far into the distant horizon even as I type this post!The heat of the day has all been washed away by this rainy breeze...it feels almost like a thunderstorm, though not quite!

And my thumbs hurt from typing so long on this tiny BlackBerry keypad (sureshot prescription for RTI)...if only I could forget it all and just sleep...."After all", like Scarlett said..." tomorrow is another day" ... DAMN...or may be Fiddle dee dee!!!

A random chat with ezee123 made me realise that I had not posted since hubby returned from hospital..repaired and much better than before (in terms of health and lifestyle)!! Thanks buddy for reminding me that my last post (that sounds spooky :D) was from Hospital and I have been out of that hospital for a fair bit of time!!

Not much time to update given my very hectic and rather crazy work/ travel schedule!! Have done enough travelling over the last three months to get two tier upgrades on the airline I use most! Haah.. Soon Silver shall turn to Gold...and this is NOT a fairy tale!

Loads of stuff has happened since I last posted *chuckles* changed my job ! Life has been moving at a pace hitherto unknown...it seems like days morph into weeks morph into months morph into a new year...and the pace is yet to slow down!

Priorities have changed drastically and LJ has reached some bottom rung that rarely gets to see the light of day! Not sure if my friends even bother to check if I posted remember me! Ah well.. anyway...!! Been travelling a lot.... on work mostly, a bit for fun as well.... for anyone who may be interested..

The farthest that I went...


The highest....


The funnest...


..and the holiest... :-)


Hope to be able to keep posting every once in a way... :-) And Thanks ezee123 for that chat nudge!!

Room 508,M.... Hospital!...the husband is admitted here...today is our 22nd Wedding Anniversary. Expected calls have been received, many people have forgotten as well...that really is not a problem...
IMCU-the neighbouring ward.. bed G... Mr.KK passed away this morning...the wife and two little daughters are distraught..the older daughter cannot be any more than 19...
Life...is such an irony...

Thanks to a marvellous piece of technology, here I am, wishing all my friends on LJ a very Happy Diwali!!

Hail blackberry!!

Just a tiny update.... Here's congratulating ezee123...who has been selected as one among Five Fantastic Flickr Photographers..

For details...click here

A post just to record a happy day spent with friends! One of them is relocating outside Chennai very soon...! I may be travelling when the move happens! It will be kind of empty when Sam leaves Chennai. He is a really sweet friend and great company.

I cooked a Bengali meal for this dear Bong friend today. A whole Bengali Vegetarian (!!!!!) meal! And, I think it turned out pretty well! (going by the happy noises made by Sam at least!)

For those who would understand, we had Chholar Dal, Aloo Posto, Panch Melesh (That's what its called I think!), Begun Bhaja, Luchi and Bhat! Woohoo... quite a spread! The only thing missing was Mishti Doi (my personal favourite)..Anyway, Amul Shrikhand was used as a poor substitute! Sad we don't get that divine Mishti Doi in Chennai (If at all we do, its sold very far away and is not a patch on the original Kolkata stuff)

There is a picture of the spread somewhere...on Sam's Cam! Shall be put up as soon as it is received! [My camera is malfunctioning :(]

I had a super time cooking. Cooked after a very long time...gladly, it appears, I haven't lost my touch!! ;) Reminded me so much of of my mum's cooking and her amazing attachment to Kolkata and all things Bengali. (I guess it must have rubbed off on me) The greatest satisfaction came from the fact that everyone liked it! Nothing like a good meal appreciated :)

It was a nice relaxing day, despite all the work. I enjoyed myself thoroughly!...and..the house still smells of Mustard Oil :P

.....when things start looking up for your friends and yourself almost around the same time!!

From my last post to this one...time and tide have changed a bit and life's more beautiful!

:)

It is a crazy world....really and totally SO crazy...

A friend of mine is in quite the same predicament as the one in which I had found myself in about three months ago...a totally UNFAIR deal at work.

My heart goes out because I can actually feel the pain. I find myself so helpless..so totally unable to help...I SO wish I could.

How, just how to convince someone that very often its a crazy world that works against a good person...invariably the person concerned ends up blaming him/her self when s/he need not at all.

They say its all fate/stars/destiny/karma... whatever...!

But I hate this feeling of helplessness. I have been talking to my friend and trying my best to ensure I keep confidence levels up...today I think I failed miserably...

May God bless you my friend...you take care..because I know you are good...don't allow this crazy world to make you believe ANY other way! Just DON'T

Hmmmm....! Food for thought! After having been a member for over a year, today was the first time that I attended a meeting organised by the Madras Book Club! Never attended all of last year because I could NEVER make it on time for the 7:00 p.m. meetings on Wednesdays or even Fridays ...that's when most meetings took place. It was good, then, finally to have attended a meeting today (after a great deal of hemming and hawing to my dear friend / co conspirator/ partner in crime and everything else... Tins!)

It was a book launch we went for. I was hesitant... I had expected a great deal of speechifying and self promotion and the general panegyric that ensues at such events...pseudoness and high browness all pervading. But, no, I was pleasantly surprised by the motley crowd that had showed up. Some people I could recognise... parents of old acquaintances, teachers from many years ago at College, a freelance journalist whom I had met at a recent family do, N Vittal, the famous Vigilance Commissioner (retd.), and many others whom I did not recognise, but must've been scholars in their own right. There was a pleasant air of erudition around! A complete lack of the 'oh-I-must-be-seen-at-this-event' type la-dee-dahness! It was good.

The book being launched - 'South India Heritage - An Introduction', edited by two eminent Historians from Chennai - Dr. Prema Kasturi & Dr. Chithra Madhavan. It was a short and sweet function. An introductory speech by Chithra was followed by a short piece by Dr. Nanditha Krishna who presented the first copy of the book to the Chief Guest, Mr. GV Ramakrishnan (Retd. Chairman SEBI) He gave delightful speech himself. It was good to hear the passion in the editors' voices and the hard work they had put into this venture came through in their voices quite clearly.

I did buy myself a copy of the book today, after having resisted picking it up at my favourite book store just last Sunday! (yes, the book has been out in the market already for the last couple of days!)..and...got myself a Rs.100/- discount as well! Cool deal!

Came back home and checked if there was any information on this book on the Internet...ahem...and this was all I found after a lot of dedicated Googling!

The book itself is a collection of well researched pieces written by at least 47 different authors. There are 500 such short pieces of writing covering an entire range of information on the South Indian History, Art and Culture. Neatly laid out, the book is easy to read. The editors pitch it as an 'Introduction' to the South Indian Heritage, a ready reckoner for the quintessential NRI who, when faced with questions on the History and culture of his native land, answers more with blinks rather than insights on what he grew up surrounded by. Well, I am quite sure this book will be useful for that class of people...and will be very useful for someone like me too...someone who just has a crazy curiosity for why things around me are they way they are!! Ahh...this should be a good read!!!

The date today reads 24th June 2007! Exactly one year and three days ago, I had placed unsure steps into the LJ world... and enjoyed immensely! It was a period of transition in my life back then!

One year has gone since! 368 days to be precise...yet again, I stand at a similar point... its transition once again! For a normally stable and rooted person like me, this transition has come too quickly. The speed with which events have taken place, has all but unnerved me!

I stood at the threshold of a new life last year at around this time. I stand at a very similar threshold once again this year! One year flew away so rapidly, I am still trying to catch my breath.

An eventful year to say the least! A transition that was expected to bring hope and better tidings .. did not! Support systems that were supposed to have stood by and helped, collapsed when least expected. All in all, six months brought some sort of a slow destruction and the next six months were spent rebuilding... painfully... piece by tiny little piece...a semblance of normality. (Normal?.. what is normal? Normal is such a relative term... hence 'My Normal' is what I am referring to here)

May have been that lack of 'normal' feeling that kept me away from LJ. I am not the best of people at articulating pain and the reasons for it, even though it may have helped to share! Unhappy events, IMO, are not what I am best at writing about... so I kept away. Life's serious pace was just too quick for me to sit back and smile at the beauty that surrounded me! Pretty much like driving on a beautiful highway... one knows that the beauty around is breathtaking, but the speed of the car allows only blurry images for the driver... and I did not have the time to slow down...for fear of other fast moving traffic mowing me down! Cryptic? Yes, but that's the reason I have been away from LJ.

Aah.. does life come full circle...I am unemployed once again, for a couple of days and 'Amethyst' and 'Little Italy' have featured again as my favourite hang outs...not very different from last year! The farewells have happened! Amazingly enough, the number of people who wrote to me appreciating my contribution in the short span of time has been large! One particular message was really nice...something like, "you have been here for a short while but have managed to influence many people's lives... I think your skills were underutilised here. The system could really have used you better"... now that was a thought that made my day! Apart from that, I have made a lot of friends here. I hope I will be able to sustain the contact and ensure I don't lose touch!

Onwards ho! To the new job... a challenge that I have taken up... a risk by "normal" standards... to walk into an unknown future....

After all, given my experiences over the last one year, I never imagined that future could be so unpredictable...so...what's the point getting worried about it...

Think positive and move on.... my mantra now..as I begin a totally different assignment and a very unfamiliar lifestyle!!!!!

my first anniversary of being on LJ! Tee hee!! Time it is... to start updating once in a way! Well... at least I am not late by too many days!!!
:)

Life seems to have come full circle in my one LJ year! Details to follow...maybe!!

A very Happy Wedding Anniversary to deponti

Never mind that your spouse is F-A-R away this Anniversary. Just wanted to remind you that both of you are well loved and cherished by all your friends and relatives! here's wishing you many many happy returns of the day...

Have a great day!!!

This post is dedicated to someone very special. She has been in my life for 25 wonderful years now and I am so happy that she has been there right through. If I could say thank yous to God for having brought her into my life, I would say one for every single day that I have known her AND then add some million more...(HAAAAAAAAAAALP!!! Math experts..please caculate!!!). I admire her for...

Her constant and so very unflinching affection (now that's very personal to me, yet I am sure all her friends would agree too!)

Her very helpful nature. Her shoulders upon which many a tear has been shed and the owners of those tears have found much peace and support.

Her amazing knowledge about SO many things under the sun

Her fantastic sense of humour...she can have anyone in splits for every minute that they spend with her.

Her sense of involvement and dedication to anything that she takes on

Her truly fantastic talent in music

Her amazing ability to make so many friends and to maintain those friendships. I know very few people who have friends in the age range of 5 to 95 and are loved and cherished so much by them all!

Her brilliant skills at home management - she keeps a lovely lovely home...one that has a sense of true warmth even in her absence

Her interests that range from music to art to theatre to nature to photography to wildlife to people to....just about everything...AND..

Her amazing spirit and enthusiasm for life..... she personifies 'youth'....

Oh this list is endless...and I could fill the entire LJ friends page with it...So I will not add more to this, BUT , what I will do instead, is request all of you who read this post to add your thoughts on her here because I want this to make this a very special gift for one of the very special people in my life deponti, some one who introduced me to LJ, someone who has an amazing number of friends not just in real life but also in the e community, someone who is dear to so many people... dear dear deponti

deponti I miss you... you are one of the most precious people in my life, you and KM and DnA. I wish you were here!

I have to go to work now, yet I hope you will see this post and will know how much I am missing you right now!

Take a biggggg e huggggg all the way from YINDIYAAAA!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!

It has been a fun six months on eljay! I have not posted much in the last year, I hope to be more regular in the new year that has just about arrived in India! No, it is Not one of my resolutions, hence has a lesser chance of being broken! :D !

2006 has been an eventful year. It was made up of so many flavours of life, I really cannot complain...it had amazing variety. It has passed too quickly, this year has! There was just too much happening, each month has a story to tell. I will try and recall for the sake of recording some of the highlights of the year..for me.. ( so read under this cut ...at your own peril...details and photo accounts!! )

And ...as the early hours of 2007 are here already, here's yours truly ..... wishing all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR -- May 2007 brings with it plenty of hope and happiness for everyone....

My Company participated in a Job Fair held over yesterday and today. No, I was not directly involved, but I did drop by to see my colleagues and figure out if they needed any help.
What struck me, as I watched my colleagues go through several profiles and interviews, was JUST how sad the state of affairs was! There were thousands of job seekers at the fair...literally crawling out of the woodwork...swarming all over the place. Yet, only an incredibly low number of these teeming millions appeared employable!

I was chatting with my colleague who manages recruitment in my organisation (and who was doing a lot of the interviewing etc. at the Fair), and he was telling me about how he had interviewed scores of MBA Grads who had passed out with phenomenally high scores, yet had pathetic communication skills or the ability to think/ apply!

I am sad... sad to see that this country of mine, has such an immense pool of resources, most of whom are getting a good education, yet the education that they receive seems to to have failed in preparing them to be employable.

Somewhere, our education system has gone terribly wrong. The focus is on getting high marks in examinations (never mind if exams are but tests of memory and our youngsters here, masters in parroting stuff!), rather than evaluating how the knowledge gained is applied in real life situations. How can we teach these youngsters that a whole world exists outside text books and notes. A world that thrives not just on memory to reproduce pages after pages from text books, but on the ability to communicate, to get one's point across, to hold an opinion and hold it well even in the face of opposition, if one truly believes in it.

I feel sad to see that this vast young population, is not breaking out of the obsolete systems where doing well in studies means getting 80%- 90% (or more) marks in examinations (even in humanities, mind you) by the sheer power of the memorised word.

At the end of a two day Job fair, we were able to zero in on 2 people. Now that's a poor rate ... considering that 16 working hours and more (multiply that by the number of people who were there to conduct interviews etc.) were spent on this exercise.

Would it not be a good idea for Industry and Academia to join hands and work towards a common goal - that of producing employable people...the kind that industry looks for? Industry needs to join hands with Academicians and ensure that the population that comes out of educational institutions is prepared and readily employable from word go. The need to focus on communication skills, on encouraging independent thought and expression thereof cannot be ignored any more. Someone, somewhere needs to stem the rot...before we turn into an entire nation of highly qualified yet totally unemployable people