Greek Food

Last night Rohit and I decided to eat out! And for want of truly trying something new, hit this place. Well atleast I had never had Greek food. I thought logically the geographical contiguity would mirror between Mediterranean and Greek cuisine. The place was nice cute and and very smartly though minimally done up and my guestimate says it cost all 1 lac to do up the entire place (excl the construction ofcourse). I think one has to really develop a taste for some kind of food and this is surely one!..Awkwardly pungent and somehow they managed to make all vegies taste the same. :)... Well, I guess that how they like it but it was surely Greek to Me - and as such the name of the restaurant "It's Greek to Me".

the toothy tryst

I think this post deserves to be authored by the uprooted today! "I have to admit that I had been paining my innocent owner for the past one year.And so I would, after all I chose to be different.. HORIZONTAL ---poking into my neighbour!!! The unholy dentist had advised my removal a year back but since my owner would not trust any other than this unholy doc, she decided to assuage me through medication till she was more permanently in Delhi..so finally my day had come. I was to be in the hands of this very proficient doc - Dr. Mridul Seth at Max Dental Care and I knew HE would not spare me.I afforded my owner her first real experience of a dental treatment today! She chose to give me up with the wisdom I was supposed to carry and I was....EXTRACTED, saving the not so wise in the neighbourhood. As I lay in the kidney tray, I have to say my owner looked pleased and the doc confident, while I lay suddenly orphaned, displaced..perhaps soon to be thrown away in a black bag.. what hurt most was not the scraper, the needle or the plyers the doc used to pull me out but.. the fact that my ex-owner did not carry me back home to bury me in the ground as she did with others when a child...Bidding adieu and a painless jaw... hopefully.." IIIrd Molar

Saawariya..OSO .. Drain Strain Pain

I need to meet those souls who have had a weekend as eventful as mine. Weeding out the potential commons..Diwali & Bhai Dooj.. am sure not many could have subject themselves to a torture..a double torture..Ok let me not exaggerate and prolong the expression. I have seen 4 movies in the past 3 weeks (laga chunari mein daag, bhool bhulaiyya and..). It deserves a mention as they have all been: as SRK says in OSO.. "What the fish?". HDFC Imperia membership afforded my mum 4 free tickets to Sawariya and ofcource we took them up on the offer. The comment that best describes the movie- " A blue film not meant for public viewing". Why blue..find out or read one of the reviews. Then came Om Shanti Om.. this movie should make money for several reasons- Diwali frenzy, solid promotion, SRK & the jhakas bollywood bandwagon, Deepika - the new craze, but most importantly- it's a way to get over the Sawariya trauma..till u start feeling another! Well actually it's not so bad. This one is pure drama.. leave ur brains at home an just watch- if ur eyes can bear the 'magenta, yellow' of the 70s, and appreciate the rather mellifluous tracks -- if ur eardrums can bear the blare!! It's a 360 degree masala movie format, u might just enjoy. A firm believer in Yin n Yang.. a weekend well spent, lots of smiles & recounting all the fun I had these days while I take care of the last event- A TOOTHACHE!!!!

Diwali

Diwali is always special..for I was home this time, it was even more special for me. The festivities, the madness on road, the warmth at home, gifts, lights and much more to look forward to. I managed some nice things at home apart from entertaining guests..a rangoli and more decorations :). There is more remaining, the puja and crackers :).

Who moved my cheese???

My franchise stint has started and right now I am sitting in the bottler's office. Things are different and the comparisons rich. I left home at 10 in the morning today and reached Lawrence Road Industrial Area after three wrong turns - and one and a haf hours. The combination was lethal enough to cause a detour... absense of mind, constant 'bakkar' (which means banter as coined by my MT colleague from Lucknow) plus the maddening delhi traffic full of people who want just give give and give, atleast on this day- Diwali time hai bhai! There was some hope... I was to get some nice food in office.. from pizza hut...my garlic bread with cheese. but someone else insisted on ordering on our behalf and damn forgot to mention CHEESE. but i can't voice my grief to someone else hence this poor blog! plan to leave this place after 4 and head home for a diwali party in the evening. meanwhile i am bickering and with my hunger pangs plan to close this post! but i yell..."who moved my cheese"..

20th Oct-3rd Now

CHANDIGARH I came back from Gurgaon after my presentation only last afternoon. The presentation had gone well I thought. The MUGM seemed satisfied if not exhilarant but yes, more than anything I was relieved. I wanted to get to back to Chandigarh- pack myself to Delhi- the next evening, today evening. This wish was by no means to sigh relief, but because I just felt like getting a change. Chandigarh had slowly started growing on me and I feared before inertia beckons- I better get away. I am in the train now. CHANDI- KALKA SHATABDI I was all packed, stuffed up the car, fuelled it to capacity and I was all set! Reached office to hear, from that I was glowing and was surprisingly very happy to leave. Because I had enjoyed my stint. Guess, what? The coach was almost wholly occupied by a group that seemed to have returned from a ‘’shaadi’’ and they were about 4 couples with two kids each! And then there was a ‘’Charmie”, no that was not a pet! It was the name of an infant who lay on the table right infront of me! She sprayed from time to time inviting a nappie change, she strew chips all over, she screamed she yelled and if that was enough attractive other kids around her. I love kids, will dote on my own. But what does one do when you can’t get out of a situation? It’s some more minutes to Delhi. By the way I ate paneer BETTER masala in the train today.

BANGALORE Flew off to Bangalore to attend my quaddie’s wedding. It was a very special occasion for I had seen this dainty girl through many occasions but this one was where she was entering into a totally changed life…Ms. Anusha Verma is how she would be known! Felt nice having gone all the way to Blr to attend her wedding, have never done such a leg before. Met up quite a few people from ISB, plus also Smita’s mom who is ever so doting, Jyotsna too.. RISHIKESH Came back stayed in delhi for three days and now was time to go to Rishikesh for an offsite. Three days of arduous classroom sessions with Ajit Mulla our trainer, combined with exciting treks, rafting and rappelling- overall a fantabulous experience. Also managed to passively feel a near death experience with one of the team’s rafts capsizing.. All rescued all accounted..Only now can say Hindsight is 20-20. NEW DELHI Recovering from Viral infection. I have now joined work in Delhi will be here on a project till Dec 7. I have to work with one the biggest bottlers of Pepsi, and observe the departures and synergies with the parent organization. Hope to take back some concrete learnings on Modern Trade this time. Hoping this is enthusiasm remains as the days unfold. Overall, it’s been a packed ten days and am still orienting myself!! Looking forward to : Diwali at Home and OM Shanti OM

Bidding Adieu...

15th Oct, 07

Time flies, and it has! I came here on July 28th. The first two days were spent just looking around the place, trying to explore PG accos, getting a phone connection, internet connection and so many other errands! Don't believe it is already time to surrender all of that.. Having got the orders to relocate- trying to recount all my experiences and I have to say I have enjoyed these ups and downs!

Our Management Trainee regroup is happening, three months after our orientations. I have to be in Delhi from 24-26th and then they take us for an outbound to Rishikesh.. should be rocking. As per initial schedule I was supposed to have come back to Chandigarh on 30th and relocated to another territory by 15/19th. However, Saturday morning- my eyes opened to this mail which said that I should not be booking tickets back from Delhi as I would straight away be moving for my next stint! GULLP... well it was no more than a week's notice. After having been here some 3 months - I did get attached to this lazy but pretty city. As is natural- made some friends, started enjoying work, felt good knowing the market...and whoa! it's time to leave. My small little room here with knick knacks in different nooks, am used to this place now.. liked the Guest House food ... basically made myself quite comfortable... At work, there are some people I will surely miss... The ADC, Mr. Bhagat - a great person, a sensible guide and very nice at heart. He is the one who manage to allay most of my fears and apprehensions at various stages. Not to deny his absolutely electifying sense of humour. I am going to miss the AE- the accounts manager for his constant banter and extremely funny way of intruding, some innuendo accompanied and that smoky cigarette in one hand which was enuf to drive me out of the room when he entered...no matter how rude that might have -appeared. Mohanji- the pantry person... who gave me tea and coffee just when I was about to sleep off. Hari Singh- the guest house keeper- who makes awesome home food. I am also going to miss the Punjabi lingo intertwined with curses - right left and center.. well I guess it is systemic to this profession - SALES! I am going to miss the LASSI in sector 17, the awesome shoe shops and also the onsetting winter of chandigarh.

Guess this week too will fly off-- i am in delhi on thursday, then back to chandigarh for two days and then I take off for Delhi to go to Blr to attend Anusha's (my quaddie in ISB) wedding. Moreover, midway a lot lined up- bye bye party, my project wind up, packing, Unit Office goodbye handshakes and yes- very importantly - my appraisal presentation!

What I did right - Ate butter chicken in a dhaba, had lassi, went to a gurudwara, checked out the markets(no option there), went to kapil dev's restaurant, saw bhajji's & yuvraj's house, went to the mohali cricket ground, ate enuf and more times at the famous Gopal's sweet shop, bought all varieties of 'mojaris'.

What I missed- Missed going to Kasauli n Shimla on a weekend, did not shop enough, did not go to amritsar or anantji sahib... Will add to this list of unaccomplished tasks end of this week!

Much Awaited...Much disappointing

The promos of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag had worked on me and I had been eagerly waiting for the movie to release. Following my heart I went and got myself tickets for the first day!... I have to say that nothing lasts forever, even if it is sensibility! It would have taken Pradeep Sarkar a load of effort to churn out this disaster of a movie.. and whatever happened to the much talked about brilliance of stalwarts like Jaya Bachhan, Anupam Kher and Konkana Sen? They make u laugh in a scene which would have ideally been emotional, amateur screenplay and very average performances on the whole. Varanasi lacks culture, Mumbai remains no more than a scape-goat city-of-sins, Switzerland and Italy happen in a blink... this is only the country salad...there is more... The way Rani transforms is certainly not the most aesthetic one, rather shallow infact. Abhishek seems to have only been a buy one get one free with Jaya!! I think I need another movie to compensate for this eye strain.. Bhool Bhullaiyya..here I come.. :) Two thumbs down! PS: Abhishek looks nice in a sherwani, Rani wears awesome jewelery!

Winter Breaks...

It's that nip; It's that dew, on the anvil is the winter hue

The sun has been benevolent since the last day or two....

The quiet, the coffee, the mittens and blankets are by far a favourite

If only winter weren't so beautiful, I would not wait a bit!

My train journey - A melting pot of attitudes

C10- Seat no. 50 was like this peek into what we call ''various attitudes''. Indeed very interesting helping me bide the 4 hours I was to en route Delhi from Chandigarh last evening. Having both the seats next to me vacant, I was in a position to relax and just observe with a soup-stick in my mouth intermittently.. ah! this is life... :). A bunch of boys and girls, back from a vacation in Himachal were seemingly excited and exuberant! The girl, the only one in 4 boys was busy trying to justify why some boys are so not worth it- they don't know where to draw the line...blah blah and she suddenly yells!!!Ooops!!! the co-passengers thought. Nah! was not as bad as it seemed, she only overreacted to her seat being taken by one of her mates while she was away to the restroom...!! Chhheeee. Then there were these two little girls who were busy with their hand tapping games and several riddles -- OK here is one... "Which bank has no money???""... the answer is.."A river bank".. Ha ha! well, i can laugh at it now or am i actually laughing at my own self albeit in retrospect. Then was this man, who had "Engineer" written all over his face, some 30 odd years into his life & the script of his frequent phone calls only re-iterated his profession. Then comes out the laptop and ear plugs into his ears!.. While I continued to look outside my window spotting the scattered lit bulbs between the darkness...I suddenly heard these bouts of laughter...haa haa, hoo hoo, hee hee... wondered what happened.. he was watching a comic flick and apparently did not realize his decibels because of the ear plugs. LOL. The couple behind me.. OK! So they had a new cell phone and a Nokia one.. and next time you want to know how many ring tones there are in it, and to rate them..pls ask me!! Phew, that was soo irritating :(. Taking the cake, were two ladies who actually totally dampened my mood... two sisters, about 50 years of age..and DAMN! refused to lift their mother's luggage who was accompanying them... and to top that showed absolutely no respect for age or relations in their communication...anyways, I can only observe. Sept, 29 '07