The return...

So... here I am sitting at the Toronto airport waiting to be airborne. As has happened earlier on my way here, I reached the airport very early! My flight is scheduled for 6.15 pm. I thought I have 3 bags so let me go early and reach in time so that I have no hassles. So I plan to reach there at about 3 pm in the afternoon. I arrange for the limo to pick me up at 2 o’clock anticipating it would take about an hour given the bad weather and impending traffic.
At about 1.30 when I am thinking of going and finish the check-out formalities at the hotel, I get a call from the limo driver. He says he is early as the weather is not too favourable and there are inevitable delays in this weather. Anyways by the time I finish all the formalities and have my luggage sitting in the car trunk, its about 1.45.
We start. What I see on the way is that there is no traffic and there I am at the airport check-in counter at 2.40 with too much time at my hand!
I had not thought I’d say this any time but I am glad that the rep at the counter could not operate the new ticketing system! At other times I’d be probably irritated at having to wait at the check-in counter for 25+ mins but not today. Today I am happy that the rep is cursing a system upgrade and that nothing works as it used to. All this is because of e-ticketing. Who would have thought. But I am glad for this hiccup and user complaints and more so that I (and the software we develop) am not responsible for this! Now that I have said this, I am musing, would it be any different for the customers we develop software for?

Cavalcade of Lights

What do you think about going to an open air theater at 7 in the evening and listening to a concert albeit not knowing the singer or having heard her songs before? Oh and I forgot to mention its -6 deg celcius and with wind chill feeling like -12. Crazy eh?
I did that. Singer was July Black, a Canadian performing artist. Occasion: prelude to Christmas. Location: at the Toronto city hall, where the official Christmas tree of the city is. It helps that this square where the performance was, there was an ice skating rink. I’d have liked to skate but given that there were nobody with us who could skate and me being so prone to falling, I dropped out of that and settled to just listen to the music. It wasn’t too bad, with cup of good hot chocolate to keep me warm.
After the concert there were fireworks. Amazing too. I’ll leave you with some pictures!

Toronto's official christmas tree.


the stage

fireworks - in the background is the new city hall buildings

the harbourfront - Toronto

The weather predictions for Sunday was that it would be partly sunny and partly cloudy but no rains. So I had decided that I do some outdoor activity. This time we(debs and me) didn’t ask the concierge for directions! Getting used to roaming here I guess! So we took the usual bus, then train and then the streetcar (aka tram).
We got down there and walked in the direction of the lake. Its not very difficult to find the way around there – there is the CN tower which you see from almost everywhere ( when our line of sight is not blocked by any tall buildings). We reached the lake side and there it was the queen’s quay.

It was a little cloudy and the lake reflects the sky so all was still pretty much grey at that time. It was a little cold too at 4-5 degrees. We took a stroll down from the queen’s quay to the harbour front and reached an area where in summer there are a lot of activities taking place. Not so much in winter.
There are three small islands in Toronto which can only be reached by ferry/boats. Summer time is the best time to visit there I hear. Now most of the activities there are closed so only the boat tour takes you around the islands.


We were thinking of going on the ride since it might start getting cold from next week and if the weather is not good, they might cancel the tours. But it was still cloudy so I thought we would come back in another hour or two. This boat tour was scheduled every hour. So we were just strolling around the lake side enjoying the sites
Here I spotted another boat just docking and then this girl calling out people/selling tickets for the next ride. I still wanted to wait for the sun to come out so that I get good pictures! So to spend about an hours time we went to this shopping center at the quay. When it was about 15 mins for the boat ride we went to the place where the boat would start from. We had an advantage of being the first ones on board – so that we could take seats we wanted! By now the sun was out of the clouds and so the sky was looking blue and everything was bright around.

The boat went past one of the islands which has a small aiport – which services flights from Toronto to New York and some other places in the US. Next we went past an island which was a clothing optional area – first in Toronto. Further we circled around a small Island which is a bird sanctuary. Didn’t see a lot of birds apart from swans and ducks – maybe because of the season. The trees were looking good and casting great reflections in the water, being the fall season.

The Toronto skyline looks beautiful from the boat.
Then we were on our way back to the shore.
So we had a good time and it was a good day spent along the harbor.

What happens when

you tell the hotel service lady that she didn't replenish sugar the previous day?

This..

Visit to the tallest concrete free standing structure in the world – CN Tower

Warning: Long Post

How does it feel being on top of the world? Well top of the world as far as you can see for that matter! I could tell you how it does! I visited the CN Tower and the view from there of the city of Toronto was amazing to put it mildly! Sunday being a good weather day we decided we would go to the CN Tower. It is funny how everything here ties in to the weather! We don’t really need to bother so much with the weather back in India. So the case in point is we followed the weather channel and studied that it would be a sunny day with the temperatures being around 10 degrees Celsius and we decided this would be as good a day to visit the tower as any we could in this season. Thus our plan was made.
We took the bus and then the metro to the Union station( yeah – just 2 trips in the public transport and you know a lot more about the city than you would by hiring a cab). We got down there to see this was like a business district with tall buildings trying to overpower one another – there was the Bank of Montreal BMO, the Royal Bank of Canada RBC, the Citi group building, the Scotiabank and the likes. Its nice to be in a big city and see all of these skyrise buildings which I missed while being located at some other client locations – in fact all my previous visits. Agreed all these places I visited had a small town charm about them but it’s a different feeling being in the heart of a commercial capital city – just like being in south Mumbai! Well the CN tower is visible from almost the whole of the city (and even from others – we saw it on our way back from the Niagara) but when we got down at the Union, we could see it right in front of us albeit 2 blocks away. We just started walking in the general direction to the tower and we knew we’d be there. On the way we saw the Royal York Hotel which is a very old hotel built sometime in 1928-29 for the royals from the UK. It is one of the largest hotels in Toronto. Going further we saw the above mentioned buildings and needless to say I clicked a lot of pictures.

Then we arrived at the base of the tower bought our tickets and headed inside. There is one lift which travels at 22 km/hr and it took us to the first level which was the belvedere in 45 seconds. The elevators were also glass paneled on one side. This took us to the first level – Outdoor Observation level. The main attraction here is the glass floor… Yeah glass. You can view the foot of the tower and the surrounding area through this. A lot of people were freaking out here as standing on a glass platform at this height does not really appeal to a lot of people. At the same time, we see a lot of kids very happily hopping and jumping around. Then there were some who were lying down on the glass and taking pictures which includes me! (thats my foot on the glass floor and you can see the ground below - far away - see the spots? they are cars)

Just outside of this glass is a balcony like structure covered with only a wire mesh and which is exposed to the elements which is the Outdoor Observation deck. The feel of fresh cool air is worth experiencing. The wind one experiences at this height has a different chill to it! Just taking a flight of steps we reach onto the next landing which called the Lookout is another balcony covered in glass planes. A pie of this circle also holds a restaurant and this floor rotates! The view from the restaurant changes and it completes a 360 degrees turn in 72 mins. Well I didn’t go to the restaurant but could make out the difference in views from all the time we spent their and the second time we came back to this floor after visiting the top. Again a breath taking view. All this at a height of 346 m or 114 stories equivalent.

From there we took another elevator which took us to another 33 stories higher to a height of 447 m. This is the sky pod. It is (or used to be till being surpassed by Burj Dubai) the highest man-made observation deck. The sky pod gives an unobstructed view of the Toronto city and is even more overwhelming. We heard that on a clear day one could see as far as the Niagara falls. No such luck for us though! From here you can see the levels below and is quite exciting. The view of the observation level from the sky pod below - We spent quite some time there and then headed back to the glass floor level. After some more pictures and viewing the place again, it was time to come back and set foot on solid ground!
We had taken the entire package which included visit to both the levels on the observation level, visit to the skypod, a motion theater ride experience and the movie about the CN Tower. The movie described how the tower was conceptualized by the humble idea that with all the high rises in the city, the TV signals were getting blocked and they needed a tower to transmit the signals which would be taller than any other buildings in the area. Thus the tower was born.
The motion theater ride experience was something I had not experienced before. Here we were seated in a mobile or moving vehicle. The movie was called Himalamazon which is how a new technology had made possible to develop trees which would grow in 11 months upto a full height. The trees would be made using the atmospheric conditions and DNAs from trees from Himalayas and Amazon – hence the name. It was almost like sitting in a ride with us being logs and it showed the journey of the logs through the factory, the jungle, the river etc. When the logs fell in the river, some water splashed as well!
Then back on the ground outside the tower, we went to the side opposite from where we had approached and we got a full view of the tower. Some more picture taking here, wandering on the brewery nearby and I was ready to call it day!

Look out

I am currently sitting on the 20th Floor of the 22 storey office building. Right behind me is a window which gives me a view of Toronto city – the CN tower and the business district on one side to the more non-commercial area which falls in the Eat York district where the office is located. Right behind the business district I can spot the lake Ontario which no doubt can be spotted because of the height where my desk is. One look outside and you can see that the highrise buildings and densely populated trees can co-exist. I can see a lot of green outside here and in this season of fall, some pretty yellow, orange and red trees. I am trying to make the most of this view while it lasts.
Lo and behold I present to you the view from my (office) window.

Visit to the most powerful falls

in North America - thats how Wikipedia describes Niagara Falls!

Yeah I had the chance to visit the famous Niagara Falls! What an experience it turned out to be!

We had our first stop at a village named ‘Niagara on the Lake’. It was a small town with tourist gift shops, coffee shops etc on the street. Next we went to a farm shop where they were selling fresh orchard picked fruit, homemade jams and preserves etc.

Next we saw this - a botanical clock - another tourist attraction here

From there we went to a spot where the Niagara river forms a pool of water down a valley. There was a cable car which went across the gorge. Here is the view

From there we went to the falls. The first view itself is amazing!! When we reached there, while still in the car, we spotted a rainbow; caused by the mist which rises high above and out of the falls.
A little note here: I had imagined the falls to be much larger than what I saw – maybe because of all these talk you hear but of course they are amazing – one of the natural wonders and not to be missed.

The best part is since we are on the Canadian side, we can actually be at the 80% side of the falls and experience the horse shoe from the top. The US side of the falls is about 20% and is flat where as the Canadian side is C shaped. We can experience it from the table top on the brink where it falls and gives you a very different feeling. Then we took time to explore the walkway along the river – the falls, the surrounding area, and walk on the ridge along the river. Some of my observations: You can really hear a huge roar from the water falling at this height. Also the mist rises very very high above. You can feel the mist as if it is rain while you are up at the horseshoe itself.

The next touristy thing we did was take a boat ride called ‘Maid of the Mist’. This boat takes you from one side of the river to a place very near the falls where there is a huge column of mist. That experience is awesome. You can feel the chilly water of the falls on you and get the feeling of almost going into the falls. Everybody is given flimsy raincoats which is actually of not much use since there was a lot of wind and we got wet anyways.

That is some experience. (We were lucky here as from next week the maid of the mist boat ride will stop. It will start getting too cold to go that close to the falls. )
Do I need mention I had a great time there?
Needless to say I was clicking throughout the day. Some of the pictures I have included here, some go in my Picassa and some more on Flickr.

Prep to the journey - an experience!

Well as promised, here is an update of the prep to my journey! My(and others) visa processing got quite delayed and I along with some other colleagues travelling with me were on tenterhooks waiting for them. Finally on Wednesday we heard news that the visas were processed and we would receive them. Me not being the main office was to collect my passport from the airport itself. So we were all ready to fly on sat night when we got the news that Monday is a thanksgiving holiday out here so we changed tickets to Sunday evening. Now all was fine until I left office on Friday – set with the e-tickets in hand. Saturday I did my last minute shopping. No matter how often you travel and how long you know in advance, there are always some last min things to be bought – yeah well its true for me at least! So I was out doing that, my cell phone battery conked off and so I was unreachable. After returning home, when I charged the battery sufficiently, I noticed a message from the travel dept guy asking me to call him up. He tells me that there was a huge drama and that my tickets are changed and he had sent out new tickets. Now the drama being, earlier tickets were from continental airlines and I was flying in from the US. According to the (new?) laws, we need to have US visas if we have a transit from there!! This was found by accident by another colleague who would also be flying with me. She had a casual call from one of her friends who works with the travel industry and he told her of this requirement. She tried to find out more and talked to some official from the Continental airlines directly who confirmed of this requirement. The she spoke to Thomas Cook and they confirmed as well.

Now this was notified to our travel dept back at the office and after some more rounds of back and forth, our tickets were finally changed to this new airline – Lufthansa. Now the story doesn’t end here; there is another twist. On Friday I had notified the travel rep that we had not received any formal documentation - no business invitation letter or other formal documentation. He assured me that none is required. Obviously I was not convinced and printed out all the meeting requests and any other doc to this effect that I had but left for the day unsure.

There was still this bug bothering me on Sunday which was the day I was to fly so I called up my manager to get any available documentation he had from the client or our onsite office. He was surprised that the travel desk did not give us the same and sent out some. That put me to peace. And thus ends my pre-travelling adventure.

But come to think of it, what if we had travelled on the initially booked airlines without any documentation with us? Shouldn’t the travel department guys know about it? It gets pretty frustrating as this is their job and they should know their job.

Here to stay

So what does it take me to start blogging again?

Well this …

Can you tell where I am now?

I traveled to Toronto, Canada over the weekend and here I am 3 days thence, sitting and updating my blog. I know I have been missing from the blog scene for quite a while and if you have kept checking all this while, I’m sorry folks!

But now that I am back, do expect to see the blog updated at least twice a week if not more! And of course you would loads of pictures on my photoblog and some here as well.

The prep to my journey was eventful and my next blog post would be about that!

So long!

Rains in Mumbai…

Here was my first mini adventure in the rains. I am experiencing rains in Mumbai after a long time! A couple of days ago, the rains started heavily and continued through the next day. I started to go to office but wouldn’t get an autorickshaw. There is this heavy downpour, no autos in sight and lots of people competing for any auto that would come along!
I tried to call up another girl who stays in the vicinity to find out if the bus had already left our regular bus stop. Thankfully the bus was late too.
Now I stood in this lashing rain for a good 20-25 mins and was just about to turn around and head back home when an auto comes along and believe me, agreed to go where I wanted to! So there I hopped into this rick and started. I also came to know in the meanwhile that my bus had left my stop. So I requested this driver to follow the bus and he flatly refused! Yeah refused to go beyond the earlier point. I had to actually plead him and say I’d pay extra. He finally agreed and I managed to board the bus only after making the bus stop for a couple of minutes.
But yeah didn’t have to miss work because of not getting an auto which was an achievement.
We were left early from work due to the heavy rains as well!

And is this becoming a habit?

I know I have said this before, but sorry for not posting regularly... Guess, the classroom trainings and certifications does that to me!

Well thats not the only things I am doing these days though. I am also catching up with the creative side - afterall "All work and no play makes..." and I dont wanna be dull in any way! So promise there will be some updates from here for sure!

Thanks for being patient in the meanwhile!

Book in hand

Its been a long time since I have had to sit down with a book in hand and study and that is exactly what I need to do these days. I am currently in a training class and as a part of this program we are to give certification!
I am used to reading novels - for hours together but a study book in hand and my attention span is just about half an hour.
Outcome : I am now finding creative ways to study.
Any ideas folks?

MIA?

Sorry for the lack of post here but I can now only access this on weekends.. Please head over to my photoblog which is updated more frequently...

About moving...

Being in the profession that I am in, I need to travel. When this travel is to different places, outside India and when it is for short duration, then I welcome this change. It is a great learning experience both workwise and otherwise. You tend to meet a lot of new people, learn about new cultures, new food and new places.
Another interesting aspect for me is clicking lots of pictures! Every place has got different sights to offer even more so when I get to see different seasons!
Ironically though, when this same job transfers me to another location in my own country, I think of it as an occupational hazard! I (and most like me) refuse such projects ordinarily. Needless to say, the kind of economy prevailing now has taken away this luxury of refusing such offers. Thus, I have moved to Mumbai.
I like to think of this as a temporary move - maybe only to think of this as positive and there is no denying that I am indeed here to learn some new skills.
Its not that I am new to Mumbai, I have been coming here as a kid as my grand parents hail from here. I started my career here and yet coming back here seems like I am back to doing what I was 10 years ago!
I wonder why is it that moving to a far distant place is more readily accepted and this relatively closer move yet not truly sunk in?

Immobile…

Well, yes that’s what I was!
Glad to break up that word now and say – I’m mobile!
As you know I am in the habit of making a story of every mundane thing too, so why not this?
So here it is…
Last Tuesday while getting off the bus, I sprained my foot at the ankle. There was a biggish stone and my foot just twisted over it and that left me unable to stand. I just sat then and there on the steps of the bus. I recently read that with injury to the foot, it might lead to fainting due to congestion of blood to the injured area. (Can you tell I am showing off, but I read this in a novel and thus am not sure of its authenticity though I did some reading on this on the net).
Well anyways with the rickshaws on strike (another blasphemous post on that later) during that very period, I decided to stay in office for the whole day with my swollen ankle. No, before you start chastising my friends, I declined a couple of my friends who wanted to come all the way to drop me off home. I was sure it was not all that serious to put them through the trouble.
So there I sat through the whole day with some pain and agony. Next day I got an x-ray done and was glad that there was no fracture! This sprain did leave me immobile for the following 2-3 days though.
Swelling not altogether gone and some area black and blue near the toes.
One good thing out of this – I took a 3 days off work and relaxed, did nothing at all! Now it’s not very often that this happens – that I take days off from work for nothing and do that (nothing).
But now, I am mobile again. Back at work too.

PS: If you find some parts of this post all garbled/muddled up, remember it is because of the blood congestion and my sensible mind is not party to this gibberish!

Showing the Finger…

Funny but this time around it’s the middle finger that gets the ink dot for voting. Usually it is the index finger and when somebody asks me if I voted, I put up my index finger display it proudly. Guess I shall have to hold myself back this time!

PS: 2 posts in a day! I know, two much!

I voted…

Of course…
Did you?
Well today is the phase 2 of voting in India and there has been much excitement around voting.
Till last evening I was the only one from my family who was going to vote (I do every year). With a lot of convincing on my part, my sister also agreed to vote; though she termed my convincing as ‘lecturing’. After all results matter, don’t they! I am so proud of her.
We usually get voting slips and this time my sister’s name did not appear though she has a voter id. So we had to do a lot of hunting around different poll booths to find her name. It’s not easy, to say the least. Finally, we found one place which has a computer database and hence easier to search from list. There we found her details and so off we went.
Sadly, I couldn’t convince my mom enough. Her argument, it doesn’t make a difference whoever we vote, all are corrupt to some extent or the other! Well. To this my argument is you can at least cast your vote and try to change the system. Too add, I think after you vote and it still doesn’t work, you have a right to speak of the wrong-doings. Another argument my mom put up was that none of the candidates or their representatives have come soliciting votes this year. There have been some mass rallies true but not the old fashioned soliciting. She says they are all interested in the votes that they can buy, not the educated votes. To this, I rest my case. Why, I agree to this to some point. All the same, I have gone and cast my vote!

Does my voting give me a right to chastise those who have not voted? I don’t know. I reprimand them nonetheless. Of course after trying to convince them to vote!
If you haven’t already, go vote.

Swimming Day 5, 6 & 7

Hey folks!
Day 5 & 6 for swimming did not see a lot of progress and hence I didn't have much to write about!
Day 7, today and there I was, swimming short distances, very short really but yes, swimming.
So decent progress was made and that made me elated, so much so that my coach mentioned she can see that I am happy. Well! Yes I am!
I went today the deep end of the pool today and could manage some strokes there. I am hooked on to it now! yay!
PS: Sorry for the over the board usage of exclamation marks. As you can probably tell, I am happy :)

Swimming - Day 4

Today I got to learn the hand movements along with breathing technique.
Next step was to incorporate hand and leg movements and with some assistance from the coach, managed to do that. Need to relax a bit more so that my body does not remain stiff.

Swimming - Day 3

Hey all!
It is so much fun in the water. I have had the feeling of floating yesterday - even out of the pool :)
Today's lesson - hand movement for breaststroke (corrected from freestyle). In my earlier post I mistakingly named it as butterfly but what I am learning is free style actually.
So now I can independently move legs, hands and take breaths and the next step is to combine these!
Some encouragement from my instructor - she said I am floating even better today and she says I should be able to learn early 'cause I am so willing to do it. Yay!!

Blog header update

Updated my blog header to celebrate my new activity - Swimming!

“Resolutions” is a heavy word!

So are declaration, pledge, determination and steadfastness. Nonetheless New Year should bring something new albeit heavy. I usually do not keep New Year resolutions but this year I thought why not give it a try. And thus, here I am publicly announcing my resolutions in no particular order.

• Make something creative every week so by the end of the year I should have 52 things I created - am still doing fairly good on this
• Write blog posts at least once every week
• Take one photo every week
• Exercise (this is one which is most likely to fail)
• Take up some creative course – photography maybe!
• Learn to swim - started - yay!
• Ride a bicycle (this one is after a long time)
• Call up old friends (as some of u would agree I am verrry bad at this)
• Volunteer at an NGO/orphanage/old age home - twice so far

I think I should restrict my list to these 9 items (for the year 2009) lest I feel bogged down by too many things to do.
Are you planning on keeping any resolutions?

Updated

Swimming – Day 2

I was warned yesterday that my body is going to ache. Fortunately that did not happen. There was some pain in my arms but otherwise I was ok.
By the way, what I did not mention yesterday is we start the session by walking in the water, front, backwards and sideways.
On day 2 there has been some progress. I could manage to stay afloat for longer duration before I hit the pool floor. I was given the kickboard and I practiced floating using the help of that. Also did some gliding straight ahead.
I can now relax more than yesterday.
One thing I realised today, when I step out of the pool after an hour, I can suddenly feel my weight. To carry this weight around now seems to need an effort!

And into the water I dive…

Well not dive really… But step into the water doesn’t sound as interesting!
Today was the first day of my swimming classes.
All the gals who have patiently listened to my swimming woes from last year, here I do it finally!
Woke up early morning ( 5.15 am is early now) full of excitement, anxiety, nervousness which comes with anything that is new!
Went to the pool to see my instructor waiting for me. A round of introductions. Here I am all showered and ready to enter the pool. A set of basic instructions…
Coach seems good, experienced.
What consisted of my first day?
Trying to stay afloat, leg movements for butterfly stroke and breathing techniques..
Breathing was ok, leg movements - well could manage too. Cannot yet stay afloat though.
Just before I left for the day my instructor warned me of pains in the shoulders, back and legs (all from being stiff).

Am excited.
Shall log about my progress.

PS: Swimming is one of my this years resolutions… one more down! And now I shall take VS's advice and keep ticking off my resolutions (I was waiting for this particular one).

I am not sport…

All this while I used to think otherwise. I realised this very recently – in fact just yesterday.
I lost a table tennis match. Didn’t take it too well.
Well I know I’m not the best at this game but I do play a decent game and getting out in the first round of a knock-out just did that – knocked me out! Well I fretted and fumed after the game and was grumpy… for a while.
You see I just hate to lose. Well that does not mean that I never lose or I don’t play with strong competition. I like that. But you know I HATE to lose. Who doesn’t like to win now?
I resorted to retail therapy and my mood changed.
Upon reflection, this realisation hit me that I am not a good sport and maybe I should change that, take defeat positively.
All the same, that’s not gonna stop me from wanting to win every game I play (I boast “I play to win!”).
Can I call myself a good sport now?
PS: I didnt mean to be away for so long... just could not think of anything to write...

Holi Hai

To the Women

Who I call my friends (family not included else the post will grow too long)…
Its women’s day on the 8th of March so I thought I shall just post a few lines about my female friends here (Sorry guys, I shall post good things about you another time).
(As always I shall not post your names – just initials – so as to not give you a chance to sue me).
So gals, here is what I admire about you (in alphabetical order)–

AH! – your smiley face!
AN – your enthusiasm
Bhai – your imagination
Chan – your sense of humour, our tireless plans of doing everything under the sun
DG – Attention to details, thoughtfulness
HM – your independence of thoughts, innocence
KK – your attitude towards life
ManWa – the host of topics that we can talk about
MT- your chatter
Risha – refreshing. how nobody can ever get bored with you.
SD – how u always have office news (gossip)
Silin – your lively spirit, demeanour
Smiley – your stories and experiences
SZ - your poise
UK – your cheerful demeanour
VS – your ideas and laughter

You gals are special and mean a lot to me, even though I may not say so frequently!
I shall not say thanks, coz that’s a very small word. Nonetheless I wanted to let you know what I feel about you.
(If you want to know what I don’t like about you, I shall tell each of you separately :) )

Made by me Monday - Big Ben Westminster

A friend wanted some icon of London to be made for him. So I made this Big Ben & Westminster for him. The paper I used had a ribbed texture(you cant see it in the picture) so the vertical lines added a construction(architecture) kind of feel to the cutout.
I was going to mount this on grey but my sister suggested this blue background which had some shades so I used that instead and am happy that I went with my sister's suggestion!

What a start …

…of the day, week, month!
I came in to office today realising on my way that I forgot my cell phone at home… I thought its alright I don’t get too many calls anyway and besides my cell was switched off over the weekend so another day would not matter much.

After reaching my desk, I realised that my chair was missing so I went hunting for a comfortable chair. I was looking at chairs in the bay next to mine which is practically empty these days.
So here I was testing the chairs and deciding which one I should pick. The first one was not to my liking so I tried the one next to it. There I sat and I fell down, backwards! Didn’t realize it was broken. To me that one second when I fell was a long time. I felt like I almost floated down. Luckily there were no sharp edges around there as I had pulled the chair into the open before trying and I wasn’t hurt. Thankfully not many people had come in then and I could get up on my own. No scratches, no bruises, no pain. It was almost hilarious!
Can you believe while I was falling I could only think of
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…’
Can’t stop laughing now!

And the Oscar goes to…

Slumdog Millionaire ...
Slumdog Millionaire ...
Slumdog Millionaire ...
Well ok!
The whole day the news channels here are running news of how this is India’s victory, how this opens doors for Indians at the Academy etc.!
All the channels – radio and TV and repeatedly playing Jai Ho.
We hear – “The success of Slumdog Millionaire at the Oscars had made India proud”.
Has it? Really?
I disagree. I, proudly Indian, disagree. No, I did not make a grammatical error there. I intend to say “proudly” and not “proud”.
I fail to understand why has this made people so happy? Is it the need to identify with anything successful that has remotely something to do with India? (I have similar views on associating Kalpana Chawla with India but that is another post.) This movie is not Indian. Neither a complete representation of India for that matter. India could be this but it is much more.
I have to admit that I have not yet watched the film. The initial reviews of the movie did that to me. From what I heard, India is not shown in good light. Yet, people rejoice!
I see a silver lining though. A.R. Rehman is truly a sensational musician and his getting the award makes me happy.
Other than that, even though the cast is from India, this movie is not.
I cant help but think, where does this leave Indians(or India), as slumdogs or millionaires?

Made by me Monday - flowers

This one is for another friend - now delivered so I can safely post pics here!

The picture is from a cell phone camera so please excuse the perspective lines!

Made by Me Monday - Guardian Angel

Another angel. This is for a friend and since it is now handed over, I can safely post it.

She thought something was missing in this though but could not quite point out what. Could somebody help? Am hoping there is a chance to enhance this someway!

Where is the buzz?

The clock is nearing 4.00 pm on a seemingly normal working day. Usually this is the time when you can hear murmuring and there is a spike in activity. People get up from their workstations to take a 10 minute break, head to the tea/coffee machine or a quick bite.
Why is it so quiet then, of late? Where is the usual drone? Where are the people?
There have been talks of a slowdown for a good over 6 months now. We frequently hear the news of layoffs in Organization ‘A’, shutdown of Org ‘B’. Till now, these are ‘news’ for me, terms that I have heard a few years earlier as well.
Suddenly people from around my work area go missing…
People who you travel with to work, who you chat with everyday and sometimes just wave or smile at are not to be seen at the office.
This is when reality strikes – and badly at that.
Maybe this is one disadvantage of globalization, or maybe not. The economies of the world are now so inter-related that some downfall in one part of the world has ripple effect across!
Not that I understand finance or economy in the slightest, these are just my thoughts. So rather than state some incorrect ideas, it will do best if I restrain my ponderings and leave this at that…
Some questions still do bother me though. How long before life gets back to normal here at the office?

Friday Foto - Pink and Green

Surreal but nice

You are exhausted from a day full of activity. You have late dinner followed with a walk and chatter with some others bunking with you. So essentially you sleep late. The next day starts early with you being all ready and set for another rigorous day. The alarm wakes you up early the next morning. It is still dark outside. You go for a morning jog, come back get ready and are prepared to take on the new day.
This day also follows the same pattern. You set up an alarm for the next day.
Surprisingly you are up before the alarm goes off. You set off to jog. You hear birds chirping and no mechanical sounds.
Imagine not having a TV in your room, no newspapers to read, no signal on your cell. Virtually cut off from the world. You do not hear/see vehicles, no honks.
Nature surrounds you and welcomes you.
It is difficult to imagine but not so much for me anymore.
I have very recently had the pleasure to experience all of this. It is surreal, but nice.
What made it even better is living in a tent so no doors to block the world out. By virtue of the tent, I welcome the nature!

Another new banner...

To welcome spring!

Alive.

How is the experience of laying your life in the hands of a group of people, a group which includes 7 people you hardly know and yourself? (I think this would be the same thought in every individual’s mind then.)
I had this experience. Yesterday.
I was in a program held at an activity camp.
We had a task.
Was it Exciting? – Yes
Was it Exhilarating? - Yes
Was it Challenging? – Sure
Had we ever done it before? - No
Life threatening? – Most certainly!
What with amongst the group of 8 barely 1 or 2 knew how to swim.
The task was to build a raft and actually sail on it. (Ok, there was help where required!)
And we did it. Made it back to the shore – ALIVE!

Made by me Monday - Angel

A friend wanted me to make a cut out of an Angel... So this was a proto for that!

My 30 mins of…

No, not fame.

Basic needs.

Oxygen.
Ok I am not writing this to boast that I went out for a walk this morning. In fact I’d say, far from boasting. This was one of my resolutions – exercising and a whole month after making the resolution, I am trying to put it into practice. Better late than never, what say?
That is beside the point though.
So I went to the park for a morning walk today. When I started on my way, the air was nice and crisp and chill, quite early so not much traffic on the usually busy streets.
Then I took 3 laps of the long (c’mon, gimme some credit) jogging track. My time was up and I started on my way back!
I have never felt the weight of air before! One step out of the park gates and I had this feeling of going into thick air. I was shocked as the realisation hit me that what I (and you) breathe every moment is so polluted, so contaminated, so carbonated! It was in stark contrast with the pure oxygen that I inhaled just a minute ago.
And now I can only hope that this fresh air has stirred some cells in my brain and those will want me to go and exercise in the park more often (I was going to write every morning but I don’t want to jinx it).
Tomorrow I shall take deep breaths – just to rake in more benefits!

Made by Me Monday - Hummingbird

My kid-cousin saw one of my paper cutting pieces and was all excited. He tried to draw a hummingbird on a rough pad for me to make a cutting out of. In the end he was not happy with what he sketched. So I thought I should make the same for him.

Lo and behold!



Now for some close-up shots -

1, 2 ka 4

What can you do if you are gonna be sitting at home for 3 days in a row (ok occasional trip to the grocery market excluded) and not get bored? Catch up on some movies. This past weekend being the long weekend that it was, well that’s what I did!
4 movies in 3 days – not too much but quite enough hours of sitting watching some screen – TV or laptop!
Well that’s not the point though.

I am not a big movie buff and hold off watching most movies till I hear decent reviews barring some exceptions. The downside is I need to wait till at least the second week of a release of good (surprise) movies before I see them. And then there are those which I chose to ignore till they come on DVD/VCD and I borrow from others! Yes you read it – borrow – I only own the choicest of them – which I can watch repeatedly without tiring.

Well that’s not the point either.
I am not a big fan of action movies.
I tend to sleep thru’ silly hindi movies – there are some which do not even have the bollywood masala to make it spicy!
I sometimes like to watch scary movies.
I am ok with animated movies once in a while but I have found very few which are really good.

So coming back to where I started, 4 movies in 3 days.
I watched ‘New Police Story’ – a Jackie Chan movie – ACTION. Unintentionally! I dunno what I was thinking – expecting this to be from the Police Academy series. After a while realised that I had expectations which were not to be fulfilled but for want of anything better to do, I continued watching this.

The next movie, that same night was a hindi movie ‘Saas, bahu aur sensex’. Don’t ask me why. And painful though it was, I watched it all. In spite of having the remote in my hand and the willingness to just stop it, I did not! Call me crazy!

It had been a while since I watched a scary movie. After the ghost stories from our ‘gals night out’ (see below post Gals just wanna have fun’), I was eager to watch one. When my sister’s friend offered a CD, I just had to grab it. Thus, came ‘the Grudge’.

Next was Shrek-3. Not as exciting as the 1st one I have to say but ok.

This is the 1st time I watched movies of different genres together… and liked the scary one the best!
Scary?

Height of...

(A recent conversation)
Chan: Today I look down upon you.
Me: (sad face) Oh! Does that mean I have to look upto you?
(Pause)
Me: No way!
Context -
I am wearing flat shoes and Chan is in 2 & 1/2 inches heels.
Me and Chan: (Laughter)
Now to complete the title of the post -
Height of ... heels!

Made by me Monday- Fabric covered frame

In december was my sister's wedding anniversary. Apart from other gifts, I wanted to give them something personalised and hand made and thus, here comes a fabric covered frame. It is decorated with some shells and conches that my youngest sis got from Goa. The frame even has my sis and bro-in-law's name in glitter!

Here it is with a abstract art done by my youngest sis.

Knock off those locks!

Sometimes I just look at myself in the mirror and think I look so boring. And no I am not saying on a day when the mood is glum. Even so on a day when the mood is good and all is fine. Then this continues for some more days. Whatever I wear, I look the same … to me. That’s when I know I need change.
I am not one to go experimental so the easiest way is get a haircut!
That is kinda a pattern with me. So to say. I am too lazy to go and get my hair cut every recommended 3 months – or even a trim. With me its only when I want. I rule me – you know!
Only this time it was my sister who got bored and tired of my long hair (waist length is long by my standards!). So she insisted that I get a change in my style. In fact she has been nagging me since a month or so.
I finally had to give in. So the past Sunday I visited my salon and snip snip snip… waved my tresses a farewell (temporary). While I have said earlier that I am not too experimental, I went from waist length to shoulder.

And now you would think – why am I writing all this on a blog – what’s the big deal? I know you would think that – especially if you see me everyday.
But let me tell ya, I write when nothing significant happens then why shouldn’t I when something does :)

Girls just wanna have fun…

Clichéd, I know. But nothing describes the weekend fun we had better than this. Come on its Monday and I thought why strain my brain too much J
So this title sums up pretty much how the weekend was spent. A gang of seven gals, a farmhouse on a hilltop, no restrictions on the noise we make and what you get is what you shall read ahead.
One from the group AN has beautifully written about the experience and with her permission here it is on my blog.
What you read ahead is in her words. I have taken some liberties of shortening names (I don’t want all to sue me for mentioning their names on the blog) and adding a few items of my own (in brown).
So this is what AN says –
I will never forget ...
chips n pepsi at gazebo, full moon, Bhakari preparation session, Pithala prepared by SD, sumptuous dinner.
Campfire in the cold, songs, ghost stories, Dhagi(nickname so it stays) without sweater in that cold, all time laughing and swinging UK, Adrak wali Chai by Chan n me(AN) J, our stupid PJs, Jenny and Bru, Scrabble, UK’s snoring, early morning trek, waiting for the sun to rise, waiting some more, returning downhill thinking the pollution blocked a good sunrise, seeing the first red of the sun, running back up the hillock to get sunrise shots!…
And our crazy photographers… n how can we forget Pohe prepared by Dhagi. When all of us were very hungry n tired, Dhagi prepared Pohe for us… Elaichi wali chai in the morning…
The whole night was real fun…

A good break and I for one am pretty refreshed now.
I was planning to hold on and not post this without pictures but then I can always add pictures later!
PS: Thanks AN for putting it so well.