Quikrrrrr

These days, witty ads are hard to come by. And this one really makes you take notice. The print ad for Quikr.com behind an auto rickshaw.

If you are Hindi-challenged, it says:

"As compared to your vehicle, my vehicle is QUIKRRRRRRRR"

And if you are the one driving behind it, you wouldn't know whether to smile or frown. Full points to creativity!

Journey of a lifetime!

Whenever I am stuck in a traffic jam here in Bangalore (which is almost every day), I think of scenes from Hollywood movies. Scenes where people are screaming and evacuating a city because some aliens decided to attack them, or a Dino-sized someone decides to take a walk on the road or some psycho has decided to blow up the city!!!

I think about them because that's exactly how Bangalore traffic looks like. No rules, vehicles running at random, fitting into the smallest inch possible on the road!!

I inadvertently tend to look out half-expecting to see a flying saucer or a Godzilla bringing down a building with its tail!!

At least that would make the journey interesting...wouldn't it?? ;-) 

Complimentary

After a long day filled with meetings and work, a man walked up to a cafe and ordered a cup of coffee. 

As he sipped the liquid with gratitude, he heard a soothing voice say - "Nice shirt buddy". He looked around but nobody was there. The place was almost empty except for himself and the waiter who made his coffee. And this waiter was at the far end of the counter washing something. A few moments later he heard the same voice again - "Beautiful watch". 

A little shaken up, the man called the waiter over and said - "Hey, listen, I must be losing my mind after a long day's work....I keep hearing these voices saying nice things. But there's not a soul around here except us".

The waiter laughed and said - "It must be the cake".

"What??" - asked the man in disbelief.

To this the waiter smiled and said - "You heard me....it must be the cake.......its complimentary"

Drift of thought

In the manic pace of a usual work day, I paused, took a deep breath and looked at the sun lit window on the other side of my desk. I slowly sipped my coffee and also took in all the mindless banter going around.

And suddenly, the world seemed a brighter place :-)

Happy new year

I don't believe in making new year resolutions. Resolutions which last what...a week?  Well..that being said, all I want on the new year and throughout is for everyone to realize what it takes to be human, get some peace of mind and also loads of happiness and sweet surprises.

Happy new year everyone :)

Merry Christmas

The best in the world

As the hours slowly fall into nothingness, I contemplate on all the sacrifices, all that they had to go through to mold a son and daughter to become the best persons they ever could be.

I hope we carry our parents's name with pride and honor. Thank you for everything. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

You're THE BEST PARENTS in the whole world.

Oh...cut the crap!!

Well....that's exactly what we all keep doing at the work place....

Cut the crap (Ctrl X)

Paste the crap (Ctrl V)

and sometimes even Copy it (Ctrl C)!!!!!

Brainless!

Today was easily one of the bad days...everything I did, all the hardwork....it just wasn't working!!

I'm glad I made it through the day without kicking anyone ;)

Hope for a better tomorrow...

Emotions!

Its been 4 years today!! Indeed time just flies!

With every year that passes, I continue to learn how wise each of my dad's words were! I miss him so much and think of him everyday. Am sure he will still be thinking of me from somewhere up there...

Love you loads Appa. Missing you ever so badly....

What's my destiny?

This question has been haunting me ever since I had this casual chat with a colleague of mine yesterday about childhood dreams, how good we were in everything and how things have changed drastically once we started working.

Remember, when as children, someone would ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up and we'd give answers like "scientist, astronaut, IAS officer etc."? People would admire you but wouldn't take it seriously. Why were these fantasies dismissed as the ramblings of one who did not know what they were talking about? I feel that, as we grow up, we begin to limit ourselves to focusing so much on a rut-filled routine life that we forget that we are not a mere 9-to-5 job, that we still have infinite possibilities around us. In school and college, most of us, including myself, handled academics, extra-curricular activities, sports and then some more with equal panache. Then what is stopping us now from going beyond it? The burden of age? Extra responsibilities? Lack of time? I feel the culprit is our laziness....the thought of postponing everything to the next day...

I stepped outside my comfort zone and explored public speaking, debates etc. whilst in school. Then after college, I took up Engineering and then moved to a very uncertain, volatile profession. Within this, I moved from what I knew I was really really good at to something I took a risk with. There is so much to do yet, and I'm no celebrity. There are people who've done much better and bigger things and they are like beacons of inspiration for me. They show me that if I will it, it will definitely happen. 

I know that all of this might sound pretty fantastic in writing, but the fact is that....it is indeed fantastic! I am told that it's not easy at all, but its not impossible either. So, I think...when has anything easy ever been fun??

I remember dreaming big as a kid. As a child, it wasn't about riches or success.My initial dreams were colorful like most movies - no story to speak of but with lush, open, gigantic spaces which you could drink eyefuls of. I interpret that as the freedom of my mind which is willing to explore. That has been primarily responsible for my exploring new avenues in spite of being settled and really good in what I initially was.

I want to be a woman who never stops dreaming. As they say....you are never too old to dream big and make it happen.

The joy of cutting onions

A very famous cook who really loved what he did was crying while cutting something. Seeing this, his friend asked him:

Friend: What's wrong buddy? Why are you crying?

Cook: Oh, nothing my friend. These are my tears of joy!

Friend: Oh! That's um nice! By the way, what kind of joy are we talking about?

Cook: The joy of cutting onions, ofcourse!

Well folks, a silly little joke which you can be rest assured I made up while cutting onions today :-)

This reminded me of a funny little story I heard in my childhood about why we cry while cutting onions. This is how it goes...

Long long ago, there were two best friends - An Onion and a Tomato. Every time someone came to the grocer to buy vegetables, these two used to hide somewhere in a corner so as not to get caught. Suddenly one day, someone bought this Tomato along with the other veggies. While bidding his farewell to his best friend, the Onion started crying. For many days he felt very lonely. Then a thought flashed - What will happen when someone buys me too or when I die? Who will cry for me? I am so lonely without my friend Tomato!!!

This was the time God granted him a boon - "My dear Onion, don't you worry...when you die...the whole world will cry"!!!!

And then....the rest....as they say....is history :-)

The Key to everything...

He is a Don...
He is the Key to everything....
So....does that mean....he is a DonKey???

What the heck!!

Family gatherings

I think the whole idea behind family gatherings, of getting in touch with cousins and elders is a very cool idea....in principle that is! That being said, I'm quite sure that I miss half of what goes on at get-togethers, because while the male relatives say hello, how are you, sit down, and stay relatively silent, the women in the house, especially the elders.....well, what can I say!!

With the women in the family....there's always a constant torrent of noise (No disrespect to the women folk though...just my observations). Every female relative in a family gathering insists on dissecting things in minute detail afterwards so that car rides are filled with "Can you believe she said that?", "Why did he say that?" or "Why don't they remember what happened?"

The male cousins just tend to sit in a sort of silence. Any topic brought out is met with either agreement, a polite surprise or inquiry or occasionally a fascinated discussion. And just like it started, the conversations just fade to an acceptable relaxed level. Most of the times, the male cousins are not great conversationalists.  But the women in the family....I figure they are all significantly more vociferous. The male cousins keep chatting in a low simmer and the women most times keep yapping it up in the next room. But sometimes even this yapping is very very amusing :) You feel some kind of void if the noise is not there!

It all starts when we're all around a table, sharing food and talking. This is exactly when the really awkward questions start - "When are you getting married dear?", "How's that new job of yours?", "Why don't we get to see you more often?" etc. etc... Judgement is such an ugly phenomenon when it comes from relatives, isn't it?

If you haven't experienced this yet or are puzzled about what I'm talking...may be you will experience it too...in time. I'm not exactly sure how or why it happens, but it does...all the time!!! Which is why I sneak out of the room when such topics arise and always find the most comfortable place in the house to close my eyes and sleep when I can't add anything to such conversations. 

I always feel that there needs to be some sort of bluetooth-based messaging system or something of that sort for people like me around a table...people who have cellphones and want to message or communicate something to each other without texting so that we can keep ourselves occupied in-between awkward questions, the cheesy family jokes, and unrelated conversations...

Now that this is out of my system...I'm gonna move on and listen to some feet tapping numbers...Highly recommended :)

Cultured?

They say Humans are cultured...
Ha!!
So are bacteria!!!!