Year Ends ...

It’s that time of the year again… when people are ready to bid a farewell to the present year and welcome the next one, when invariably everyone, every year says, “Shit man!! This year passed so quickly!” It’s the time when you reflect on what happened, what was inevitable, what could have been changed and it is also the time of resolutions. No matter how short the span of our resolutions be, these little friends do dare to pop their head up every year. But, not for me you’re your honour. Saalo pehle , yours truly took a resolution which was “I will never take a resolution” and I am proud to say, I stick by it till today! See!! Some of us do not break our promises to ourselves! :) Please don’t take me wrong. I believe in new beginnings. But somehow trying to change on a new year and then finally not sticking to it had become such a cliché that I decided to refrain from it. And anyway, you do not need a change of a year to change yourself. You just need a change of your heart and strong will power.
As for me, 2011 was one hell of a year! City change, company change and actually an entire 180 degrees life change. This year would go down in my memory as the year when I met the most wonderful people and had some amazing trips. I can tell my kids “It was year 2011 when I saw Laddakh and when I went on my first trek trip which was followed by many others and did many other crazy things. “ I wish that later I will add “…. And kids, year 2012 was the year when I went to Europe for the first time.”

It’s that time of the year again. If a change of date triggers a change in you, so be it! Just make sure the change is for good. Gentlemen, throw that cigarette away. Trust me; it does not make you look cool. It makes you look weak and villanish. Ladies, lets bitch a little less! I know there is this “ajeeb sa sukoon” when we bitch, but really, we can cut that down … right?
Lets exercise, read, travel the world, throw away the anger and smile some more! Lets get in touch with old friends, revive the forgotten ones, eat some interesting cuisines and learn a new language! Lets just do whatever makes us happy!!

Have a happy, smiling, crackling, crazy new year!

If looks could kill ....

It would be wrong to say that I dont admire talent and beauty. Now that I am a pakka/normal/straight girl, I would re-write the statement as "It would be wrong to say that I dont admire talent and handsome-ness( I dont know if thats even a word!!) Getting straight to the point, I always had this idea of creating a list of my top ten handsome men and I have finally compiled one. So here goes:

1) John Abraham : Any one who even remotely knows me would know that this name had to be on the top of my list. There may be people better than him, he may not be a very decent actor, blah blah keep talking people! I am not listening. He is the world's hottest man hands down!

2) Ian Somerhalder: For people who dont know him, he plays Damon Salvatore in Vampire Diaries. He is the "Bad Guy" with a good heart and he is a dude!!! He is charming and witty and loving and caring and useless people like me keep wondering if he is going to get Elena (The female lead of Vampire Diaries) or not.

3)Farhan Akhtar: I really find him cute and funny. He simply has this genuine sense of humor without the desperate attempt of being funny. Probably that is what I like the best about him. And i am duly impressed that he is multitalented. I dont have to really write that. Acts, directs,sings and I am sure there are others as well and if you see carefully, he is quite good looking as well! Did I mention he has a wierdy nice voice?

4) Ali Zafar: Another good looking, talented singer. For his latest album Jhoom, he pulled off a one man show. He wrote the lyrics, sang the songs, composed and mixed the music and also acted in the video. I was a little disappointed with him in "Mere brother ki dulhan". I mean he can act and he has proved that in his videos. I dont know why did he under or probably over performed in MBKD. But I know he is a rockstar!

5) Hrithik Roshan: He is "theee most" good looking guy (But still John scores 'cos of the smile!! ). What I love about him is that he seems to be very down to earth and he comes across as a real good human being. I loved him .. like really loved him in Dhoom:2. However illogical the movie was, I can see it again and again only for him.

6)Paul Weasley: Now he is Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. He is the good brother to Damon. Until the last season, he never killed a human being for blood and was all pro-humanity. But now Klaus (the original Vampire) has put him under compulsion and I will stop here before I start off with the VD story. Again he is good looking, loving .. extremely loving, protective and caring.. and HOT!! :) :)

7) Shah Rukh Khan: Yesterday I was watching DDLJ for the (n+1)th time. He is not your essentially good looking guy. But please notice the look on his face when he says "Duniya ka koi bhi ullu ka pattha tumhe ek angoothi pehna ke mujhse duur nahi kar sakta." If you still dont fall in love with SRK the reasons could be as follows :
1) Your BF is romantic-er than SRK (I am sure there is no such word again!)
2) You are super cold hearted
3) You are a boy
4) You like girls

SO SRK with his romantic gestures, his dimples and the fact that he is actually a self made man makes a place in my top 10.

8) Ranbir Kapoor: I like him only because he is good looking and talented. There is nothing extra "special" about Ranbir. He gets everything in the genes. So nothing worth mentioning about him. But all said and done he is a very good actor!

9)Arjun Rampal: He is exceptionally good looking. I remember how Vibha and I were literally gaping at him where we were watching him dance to "apni to jaise taise" in housefull. And he has pretty much learnt to act. I mean they dont really give out national awards to non actors. He may not be an Amir Khan but he is improving and thats what I really like about him.

10) Leoonardo Di Caprio: Good looking, super awesome actor and an amazing body of work. Pick up Titanic or Catch me if you can or Shutter Island or Inception or whatever, he is an amazing actor! You just cannot help but be a fan of Leonardo Di Caprio!

Thats my list. And BTW while I was compiling it, there was a 11th name. Technically, I dont know his name. Mr. Fresh. Yup!! My un-named Hyderabad crush! The absolutely super good looking tall hunk!

Suggest me more add-ons. There can be a part two as well! :)

When love stories die ...

I have seen perfect love stories come to an end for ridiculous reasons. I know its never my business but I get that helpless feeling .. like I wish i could do something for them. Like I could turn back time, could convince the villains (Read: Parents/Relatives)... Something which could bring those two together.
I have heard about people retreat into silence. I have seen friends crying themselves to sleep and waking up the next morning ...with a fake smile and a real resolution to face the day. I have also witnessed the same people gathering themselves up and now leading normal lives ... contemplating to move on.

Someone very truly once said to me, "Kisi ke aane ya jaane se zindagi nahi rukti, lekin kisi ke aane ya chale jaane se zindagi badal zaroor jaati hai".Its like when you hear "Shaam Tanha" by Agnee and identify with the line .. "tere jaane se main adhoora reh gaya". Life does not stop. But you leave a bit of yourself behind ... in the past. Never to be found ... never wanting to be found again.

I dont know why am I writing this. Maybe because when I look at those people, I truly wish the story had lived on ..to be told like a complete happy story and not an unfinished one ...
Because when true love stories die, something else dies with them. Praying that all true love stories have a happy life ..that they never end!!
May there be lots of love in this world ...

... and then there was another trek

I had been to one trek trip without knowing what it really was all about. When I returned from it, all swollen and limping, I was sure that i was done with my share of adventure. I was done with trekking, but somehow trekking was not done with me.
So when Om’s friend (and now mine too) Jinal came down to Bangalore, he being the adventure freak planned a trekking trip with the ever hungry for adventure guys Diptesh and Lohith. I was pooled in as well. In typical Om’s style, I was just informed that we have to go for a trek.”You are coming”. Not “Are you coming?” But my guard was up. If life would have been a movie, on the screen that time, the scene would be the flashbacks of the super tiring last trip. I tried giving him all reasons Anyhow!! He convinced me to come along and go along I did.
So was this trip as scary as I was anticipating it to be? Not really! Turned out that the trek route was beautiful, the company was fun and weather was decent. Since this was an almost chilled out trip, with nothing super-different happening, here are just a few highlights :
Power packed little trekker: Diptesh introduced us to Suman. A quite, pretty tiny girl. Now I know never to underestimate little people. A very very useful lesson! This little girl climbed wet stones, ran down hill, jumped, walked and never complained. We were just amazed! And by the way ..... this girl can blow that shrill whistle! The Bhopal ki bharat talkies back benchers whistle!! Hats Off Suman!!!! You rock!

Smiling lonely farmers: We stopped by a lonely house where an extremely friendly family stayed. They welcomed us with a very sweet smile and gave us these big cucumbers to eat which tasted awesome. We just dug our teeth in them and tasted the most amazing ever cucumber.

Leeches Screeches: To say that Jinal was scared of leeches would be an understatement. Petrified ... maybe! Horrified/terrified ... Use any word! Be my guest! You get the point. Jinal would screech at the top of her lungs when attacked by leeches. Unfortunately, poor girl was attacked the most. But she had so many of the leeches coming on her, that I am sure she might have overcome her fear by now. I know you will be the bravest of all when it comes to fighting with Leech attack in the next trek Jinal!

Awesome Nature: One of the points why I was being super-reluctant to go to the trek was because I felt I was done with mountains. I mean I have crossed off Laddakh from my list! How much more of mountains can a person take? But still, mountains and clouds have some way of mesmerising you every time. The more we climbed up towards the peak, the more beautiful the valley seemed. When we were at the peak of Kodachadri, sitting and enjoying the mountains, the clouds descended suddenly and everything went white. Nature truly never stops to marvel you. The return trek was from the middle of dense forest and again it was wonderful.

Marvanthe Beach: This had to be the highlight of the entire trip. Now we had two hard core “I love Mumbai” mumbaikars with us. To my surprise, they were more excited to go this beach than the rest of us. I mean it is like an MP-iya like me getting excited over poha! Bad comparison I know!! But then , it was fair for them to get so super kicked about it. No beach, Mumbai or Goa was so clean, serene and beautiful! The best part was the road which had beach at one side and back waters at the other. It was by far the most beautiful place I had seen in Karnataka.

The company: If the company is good, the fun of a trip doubles. We talked in our way, played Uno in a dark room, helped each other throughout the trek and kept chattering on our way back. Thank You Diptesh, Lohith, Suman, Jinal and Om for making this a super rocking trip!

PS: Will be adding the pics soon!

Force!!

So i write my 2nd fone blog on my way to coorg with great company & bad songs. Very bad songs. I had 2 find some way to pass my time while my co-passengers r catching on with sm beauty sleep. You hv 2 pardon me with my sms lingo in this 1. This is 'the best' i can do with my nokia music express.
Coming to the point of this blog. FORCE! John's latest. Now i seriously dont know what have the papers been saying about it. Frankly, it is not a my kind of muvi. Had it not been 4 john, i would not have bothered 2 watch it at all. So my motives were clear. I had gone 2 watch john & i got precisely that. 2.5 hrs of pure uninterrupted john abraham bliss. To say he looked good would be an understatement. To say that he acted well will be an overstatement. Yes, i admit he is not the bestest of actors. There were scenes when he could not deliver what was expected. Oh well! He looked good, smiled like a super hunk & did a pretty decent job. So i have no complaints. I will recommend the movie as a loyal john fan. Rest assured, if nothing else, atleast the makers have found logical reasons 2 open up his shirt unlike ready & bodygaurd illogics. If u r a john crazy like me (or like this another girl in the hall who went 'eeeeeee' after watching a shirtless john) then go. Enjoy every moment of the muvi like i did. Otherwise do let me know how was mod or saheb, biwi aur gangster. I would now return my attention to my now awake co-passengers & a long 4gotten song 'nazarein milli dil dhadka meri dhadkan ne kaha luv u raja'. Sigh! I told u there r bad songs. I have had worse though! Note 2 self - keep a gud mp3 along when u travel. Next blog will obviously be the elaborate coorg trip.
C u around!

No open letters .. Humanity rocks!!!

So the latest trend is the the recent blog by Shahana (absolutely wonderful name by the way) bashing delhi guys. The lady went a little over the top in being rude, included moms dads, religious sentiments, partition history and over all managed to bring upon herself a lot of appreciation as well as criticism. People on her site have started a virtual war about the great north Indian and south Indian divide. As if we do not have enough divides to think about -- Men/Women, Hindu/Muslim, Gay/Straight, India/Pakistan -- Do we really need more classifications really? I mean we have to give Shahana a little benefit of doubt. She must have actually been through a lot to have written something so harsh on a public platform. Yes, if you make your blog public, then it no longer remains just an "Online Diary" and you cannot say "My Blog! I will write what I want to!" . You cannot rant about an entire community, just because you met a few jerks. Anyway, I am not writing this on her site because she is already being bashed by some 2k odd people, some even calling her names. Well! Thats easy for people -- oh its a girl! We can always call her dirty names, target her character just because she pissed us off, and get away with it! Sad I have to say (A classic example of the gender divide).
Coming back to the classifications, will we ever stop dividing our own selves? Seriously! When will we just start considering ourselves as individuals? Just people with good heart and sentiments? Why north Indian and South Indians?? Why not just Indians???? I am from Bhopal. What shall I call myself? Central Indian?? I have lived in both the north and south part of the country. I am friends with Delhi-ites,north indians, south indians and all!
In Bangalore and even in my 10 month stint in hyderabad, I have come across some amazing "South Indians"... and seriously,they are my friends only because they are WONDERFUL people and I love them and not because they come from a particular region of the country! North, south, central,north east does not matter. Hindu, Muslim, Christian does not matter. Gay/Straight does not matter. At the end, only being a nice human being matters. I would want to give a reference of "My Name is Khan" here. I loved it when Zarina Wahab makes 2 stick figure and explains a young SRK, there are only 2 kinds of people in this world. Good and Bad. Trust me this is the only thing I an going to teach my children.

Love rules!! May there be lots of love in this world!!

Aur Batao!!

This is what two absolutely bored people ask each other when they have nothing else to do with their lives.Recently , while talking to a friend, he told me how irritating he finds these two words and how he prefers to close the conversation when the other party says "Aur Batao". Now I have always been the “talkative one”. Rest assured, if you are a quite person and its just me and you who are out, chances are that you may not have to worry about how the conversation is going to be. You see, the problem is that when some ones tells me to “aur batao”, somehow I feel a heavy responsibility on my shoulders to steer the conversation. So, there have been times when people have told me to “aur batao” and then they never got a chance to utter another word. There was this one incident when Nikhil passed my desk and casually told me, “Aur Varsha! Kya chal raha hai” There was no conversation after that. Because conversation is when 2 people talk. When just one person talks, its called monologue. And that’s what happened after the question Nikhil posed me. There was an endless monologue by yours truly ofcourse! And the poor guy could just at the end give a finishing line … “Chalo, see you around!” Then there was another poor friend yesterday who had difficulty in fitting his lines “Varsha, I have started to drive. Can we talk tomorrow” between my blabber.

My mom once asked me a very profound, deep question. Something which worries her a lot. “Beta, Don’t you EVER get tired of talking??? “ And I had a bright NO for an answer. You see!! I never get tired of talking. Probably the very reason that I came back home with notes in my diary, “Varsha Tiwari disturbs her fellow students!!” So I ALWAYS have an answer for all the “Aur Bataosss”. But you know what has been my torturous best? When I tell people to "Aur Batao" and without a pause I start "Aur Batao"-ing them. Poor Prabhjot is the BIGGEST victim of that!! Sometimes, I have so much to say, that I start interrupting people. I know! An extremely bad habit. Something which I HAVE to change. But its like the words refuse to stay inside my mouth. So much so that, they come out even when I am sleeping. There you have it people! My biggest secret .. Yes .. I talk in my sleep!!! My poor roommates! All of them have a story of how they discovered I sleep talk. So Neha tells me, I was scared and surprised and Ambika tells me, “I thought you were talking to someone on phone and I was surprised only to realize you were sleep talking!”

But then, with so much to say, I would wish God the same thing which Rajesh Khanna wished in Anand, “Bohot boloon, Par acha boloon. Kabhi kisi ke liye kuch bura na nikle mere mooh se” Very saint-ly I know. But its better than hurting people and getting in trouble.

May there be lots of love in this world!!

Some useless facts about me (Part 1)

Well!! At the end of the day, it is my blog. I am allowed to be a little narcissistic here. I know nobody wants this information but as i always say, there is nothing wrong in talking about oneself sometimes. Needless to say, the most commonly used word here would be "I". So here goes under no specific subject :)

1) I am dead scared of crossing roads.
2) I am extremely scared of dogs. Especially barking, running dogs.
3) I am at my best mood when I am surrounded by books. I can loose myself in books without the slightest track of time. That is why these days Oxford book store at Leela's is my favourite place.
4) I love to hug people :)
5) I would still prefer to read a fairy tale over a proper novel.
6) I think summers are better than winters. I hate it when I feel cold.
7) I feel bad if I say bad about anybody. But if it is someone I hate, I feel a kind of relief when I or someone else says bad about them.
8) I have no ambition to climb up the career ladder just to get into a higher position. I want a super good job so that I can use the money to travel around the world.
9) I wish I could travel back in time. Had it been an option I would want to see Delhi before independence.
10) After reading "Many masters, Many lives" I am extremely curious to know who I was in my previous birth and how many of the good people I know today were related/connected to me in the past lives.
11) Although I believe that no one is completely good or completely bad, there are 3 people in this world I regard as "real bad". All the 3 are girls. (No names :) )
12) I unfortunately believe I have become too selfish and too practical to get into a relationship.
13) I am allergic to ayurveda medicines.
14) I totally love (almost) all my friends :)But sometimes I want them to leave me alone.
15) I hate slapstick comedies. I love situational comedies. I have laughed the hardest watching Andaaz apna apna, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and most surprisingly aloo chat.
16) I believe in staying happy and positive and surrounding myself with the same kind of people. "The Secret" by Rhonda Bryne has a lot to do with changing my thinking.
17) I love babies eyes.They are bright and shine with hope and excitement.
18) I will keep coming with more such posts!! :)

Dear moms and dads of India

Dear moms and dads of different castes around India,

I have a real genuine concern and I speak for, well, most of the children around the world. We love you and we are always thankful to you for being there for us. At every point of our lives. Its because of you that our lives have always been so simple. But then, there is one aspect of our lives, which you make a little difficult. That is when your children fall in love with someone other than their caste. Somehow, you guys donot agree to a match of your son/daughter in a different caste irrespective of how good the girl/boy is. Dear Parents, we understand that you are concerned for us and you truly believe that your sons/daughters are the best but they have made the wrong decision. Here, I would ask you to put a little faith on us. You will have to understand that we encounter a lot of jerks in our daily lives and we can differentiate between a jerk from a non jerk. Just because that person is from a different caste does not make him a bad match for us.

You prefer us to marry in our own caste mainly because of 2 reasons (or so I understand) First, It would be easy to adjust because the customs are known ( This mainly goes for the girls) and second because it would help you keep your head up in the soceity/samaj. Now if you actually think about it, adjusting in a new family is anyway difficult for a girl. It would be really good if you would believe in us and help us settle in the new culture. Yes we will need you. At every step of our lives. Please don't disown your children just because they want to marry in a family which does not follow same tradition as yours. At the end of the day every culture's family is the same .. bounded by love and harmony.
When you talk about "an uncha sar" in the "samaj",I would like to ask you why would you really care about "gossip Mongers?" Don't they have a life to live after all the hullabaloo has quietened? After everything is said and done, it is just the family that stands as a single unit. The "Samaj" would always want something to talk about and they will! Please don't ask us to leave a perfectly wonderful guy/girl because pados ke babloo ki bua would gossip!
Please understand that same caste is not a guarantee for 2 people to be happy. A loving and caring partner definitely is! A good understanding, friendship and compatibility is more important between two people to be happy and not the same cultural backgrounds. If your children happen to find a partner for themselves, be glad and please don't threaten to kill yourselves or us for that matter!! If you do not like their choice please sit across the table and give them logical reason as to why! If the guy does not earn well or drinks uncontrollably or is a natural flirt , you can explain this to your child. If the girl seems wrong in her character, explain it to your child. But a wonderful, talented , self-dependant girl or a decent, good earning nice guy is rejected just because one is a surname A and other is a surname Z , is very unfortunate.

I wish some parent reads this. I wish someone AT LEAST thinks about changing their thinking. I wish no couple breaks up , not because they don't want to be together, but because no one else wants them to be together.

May there be lots of love in this world!!!!

26 things learnt by the age of 26

Here is a list of 26 life lessons I have learned thus far at the age of 26. I pass this list on to you with the simple hope that it makes you think. Sometimes thinking about your life and sorting out what you have learned is just as important as tackling a new venture.

Being an adult can be fun when you are acting like a child.
Love has nothing to do with looks, but everything to do with time, trust, and interest.
Laughing, crying, joy and anger… All are a vital. All make us human.
The greatest truths in life are uncovered with simple, steady awareness.
Greed will bury even the lucky eventually.
Bad things do happen to good people.
Paving your own road is intelligent only if nobody has gone exactly where you are going.
Uncertainty is caused by a lack of knowledge. Hesitation is the product of fear.
Time heals all wounds… regardless of how you feel right now.
Most of the time what you are looking for is right in front of you.
Your health is your life.
Chance is a gift, so act on chance when given the opportunity.
Kindness and hard work will take you further than intelligence.
People deserve a second chance, but not a third.
Marry your best friend.
Take lots of pictures. Someday you’ll be really glad you did.
Money makes life easier only when the money is yours free and clear.
Carelessness is the root of failure
Your actions now create memories you will reminisce and talk about in your elder years.
Stepping outside of your comfort zone will put things into perspective from an angle you can’t grasp now.
Motivation comes in short bursts. Act while it’s hot.
Purposely ignoring the obvious is like walking backwards toward the enemy.
Taking ownership of failure builds the foundation for success.
First impressions are completely worthless 50% of the time.
Personal glory lasts forever.
If you never act, you will never know for sure.

Not Original. (Source -- http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/02/06/26-life-lessons-learned-by-age-26)

Inside a trekker's mind

A recent foray into a trekking trip has given me full privilege to call myself a trekker. Trust me it is not something which I would die for. So why did I ever sign for it? Because I am a sucker for new experiences. I am not adventurous. I just love to meet new people. I love to look forward to a situation and say, "Now what does this have in store for me?" and most importantly I start getting this weird feeling if I stay inside my house for more than certain hours and hence this trip. Once again, like the Jim Corbett trip, I did not anticipate anything much about how everything is going to be. Atleast , the experiences we had, they were far far beyond my anticipations. So trekking requires you to walk .... a lot!! and when you walk, you think .... a lot! So here are a few things that went inside my mind at many different instances when I started walking/trekking :

1) So when you start walking, you are all full of energy and zest. You give pep talk to scared people around. You never let others know that when the co-ordinator said, "Today we will trek for some 20 kms" the voice inside your head went, "Oh shit! How the hel will I do that?"

2) Anyway, the trek starts. You are doing pretty okay. The one constant thought in your mind is, "Pls Dont get weak in front of soo many people!" You can walk, you can walk. Be strong." Pep talking to your self and enjoying the breath taking beautiful scenery around, you soon realize you have covered quite a decent distance. The peak is still far but so is the starting point.

3) Then comes a point when although you have covered a considerable distance, the peak still refuses to come. All the walking makes you super hungry. All you can think about is food! What will these people give us to eat? What would have mom cooked today? What do I really feel like eating right now??? Still the peak has not come. Now you are so hungry that you are no more hungry.

4) You reach the peak of the trip. Explore a super fantastically mysterious cave. You see bats and think about vampires and the days when you sat cosily inside your room and watched the Salavtore brothers in The Vampire Diaries. Oh and by the way you also think about how cool it would sound when you narrate your friends back in office that you semi-explored a cave!

5) Then comes the time to start walking down. Even the ending point teases you by being far far away. Then you have this weird feeling of walking on a tread mill which just cannot stop and there is no emergency stop button. You walk and walk and walk. You become slow and wonder if the guy behind you is getting irritated by your slow speed.You say a "Sorry dude, I cant help being slow" in your head and keep walking.'

6) The first trek ends and there is food. It looks like a reward. It makes you understand the value of food. It does not matter that the food is white rice, that it comes under the food group of fast carbs and that you should be limiting its intake. You just EAT!

7) After you eat and just set your bums on a seat in order to relax, the co-ordinator calls you for the next set of trek. 8 kms he says. Achivable your head says. Although you are bloddy tempted to skip it as some of the others, you still dont want to miss out on the experience and you say, "What the hel! Lets do it"

8) The second trek is rock climbing till a decent distance. You are almost on the verge of asking someone to drop you back. But then you tell yourself, Finish it now that you have started it. There are big rocks, its cold, its slippery. You are doing your best and then --- you have your first big fall. Embarrassingly in the clear line of vision for everyone. You get up as quickly as you fell and then you see that had you fell a little inclined, you would have been having a one too one with the ultimate manager -- God! You dont stop. Because you know that if you do, it would be difficult to start.

9) You are dead tired. You feel weak and then you command your legs to be on auto pilot. You command your brain not to feel anything. Its windy and bloddy cold. After some point you stop acting brave. But then you find the peak and suddenly you actually feel proud of yourself.

Over the other days, several other thoughts cross your mind.You thank God for the experience.For the lovely time. For the games and laughter and non stop chit chatting around the camp fire. For the new friends. But one thought that never crosses your mind is regret. You never regret the decision of going to an amazingly beautiful place. At the end of it all, you only cherish the memories! :)

Dont be the best ...

There is a fight out there ... to be the best. In everything! Best student, best employee, best friend, best mother, best teacher --- Mediocricity is not the name of the game. Thats what my MBA instructor used to tell me. Everbody seems to be running towards the "Best Someone" trophy. A few grab it and rest are left behind. How much of life do we really experience in this race? A little breather may not really kill anyone. I was and maybe still a part of that race. But I am okay if I am not the best. I have mentioned this before. I wanted to come first in my class in school. I wanted to be a topper in college. Today, all of us are leading the same lives. I am doing pretty well for myself and seriously it probably does not matter that i never came first. Yes maybe if I had been an IIT or/and IIM passout, I may be drawing a bigger salary. But still I would have been going to the same 9-6 job, would have still waited for the weekends and cribbed on sunday evenings. I would have still worried about my taxes, complained about my manager, hung around with friends and longed to go home.

It is okay if you are not the best. People make mistakes. The topper was the topper because she made made lesser mistakes in her answer sheets than anybody else in the class. But you really dont learn anything if everything goes smoothly in life. What matters is that you give your best. What is really important that at the end of the day when you go to bed and analyse your day, you should not regret and say, "I didnt do that work properly because i felt lousy doing it!"

Take a chill pill! There is probably not much of a difference between the "best" and you.

27 Pointers ..

1. Before getting angry, ask yourself if it will really matter in 20 years
2. Focus on being a good person, not on pleasing others
3. Don’t engage in office politics
4. Refuse to gossip, or talk behind other people’s backs
5. Don’t envy others
6. Don’t look for reasons to be angry or sad, look for reasons to be happy. You’ll always be able to find plenty of each.
7. Return emails and phone messages promptly
8. Never let a lack of money ruin your zest for life
9. Take yourself less seriously
10. Be a hopeless romantic
11. Be a hopeless optimist
12. Be eternally grateful
13. Allow others to see who you really are, but be careful not to overshare intimate details
14. Smile when speaking on the phone, it will translate
15. Let others have the limelight
16. Sing in the shower
17. Giggle
18. Have inside jokes with your closest friends
19. Be the person that you would want to be best friends with
20. When you are in love, be utterly and completely in love
21. Let the unimportant things go
22. Give more than you get
23. Take the bus, or the train so that you’ll have more time to read
24. Read poetry
25. Love your life
26. Do not retailiate
27. Be sincere, genuine and kind

Sometimes ...

Sometimes being alone does not mean you are lonely. It just means you are spending time with yourself.

Sometimes, actually more often than not,people tend to go after relationships that they are denied of.

Sometimes, it is okay to think about yourself and say no because you actually dont want to do go to that party your friends are forcing you into ..... but sometimes, it is also okay to think about others and make them a little happy.

Sometimes, it is okay to fall and make mistakes and learn ... but sometimes it is also important to punish yourself for doing something wrong you know you shouldn't have done.

Sometimes, it is okay to feel weak and cry,shed the tears, shed the baggage and move on ...

Sometimes it is necessary to be strong, hold back tears and smile as if nothing has happened.

Sometimes, a little criticism can be taken magnanimously, learning out of it. It will do nothing but good to you.

Sometimes, however you want, you cannot make a third person understand what is right or wrong for him/her. He will know it only when he himself will realise it. Until then you can just give suggestions.

and sometimes the best thing to do is let life be! Dont analys it, dont try to understand it .... leave things as they are. More often than not, solutions find us rather than we finding the solution. :)

The bucket list

These are a few things/wishes I always wanted but it never happened :

1) In school, we used to have badges for the first and second rank holders. They were "first in class" and "Top Girl" respectively. It was kind of a bloody show off (for those who could not have it) and an honour for those who had. I always wanted to have atleast one of the badges. Never happened .... (In other words, I never came first or second in my class)

2) I wanted a room all by myself when I was a kid. That never happened. By the time I got a room I was fully grown up and had lost the craze to stay all alone in a room. (In other words, i understood it so boring latkofied all alone in your room)

3) I always wanted those video games which had those joysticks and would be attached to tv. (In other words, my parents said -"ye total waste of time hai .. padhai karo!! )

4) I always wanted a big time protective elder brother. Although my sister was never lesser :) (In other words, she was a big time bully)

5) I wanted to write like Enid Blyton :) (In other words, I used to copy her stories and write them and say they are "my own")

6)I wanted to be a journalist. I had even asked dad to give me permission to do a course in mass comm. I am sure you guessed what his answer was :D (In other words, NO!!)

And these are the things I want now :

1) go on a world tour (Quite possible!! )

2) retire in a hill station or country side in Ireland ( Anywhere where it is beautiful and peaceful)

3) have coffee with John Abraham :) :) (Come on!! I can get atleast a coffee for being a die hard loyal fan. Although I am very happy with a coffee MUG by that time -- a birthday gift with John and my picture on it by my sweethearts!! )

4) write beautifully (Practice !! )

5) get rid of a few physical shortcomings ( very obvious)

6) make frnds with a few people of different nationalities (In short, koi angrez)

7) Read all possible wonderful books in the world (which is like ..impossible!!)

Zindagi na milegi dobara

दिलों मैं तुम अपनी बेताबियाँ लेके चल रहे हो तो जिंदा हो तुम
नजर मैं ख्वाबों की बिजलियाँ लेले चल रहे हो तोह जिंदा हो तुम

हवा के झोंकों के जैसे आज़ाद रहना सीखो
तुम एक दरिया के जैसे, लहरों मैं बहना सीखो
हर एक लम्हे से तुम मिलो खोले अपनी बाहें
हर एक पल एक नया समां दिखाएं

जो अपने आखों में हैरानियाँ लेके चल रहे हो तो जिंदा हो तुम,
दिलों में तुम अपनी बेताबियाँ लेके चल रहे हो तो जिंदा हो तुम!!

The seven secrets of happiness!

A book with the same name was my last read. It was kind of amatureish and too fairy tale-ly. But the author takes her readers through 7 points which she calls "The seven secret of Happiness." I'll review the book later. First let me share those seven pointers. I may not have really liked the story in the book, but I did love the "secrets". Every time I read each one of the secrets I went "How true!" So here are the secrets and my thoughts on those.

1) Emotional Independence -- The author suggests that one should be emotionally independent. I somehow very truly believe this. Depending on anyone for your happiness is almost crippling. I know it is extremely easier said than done. We tend to easily look towards a person very close to our hearts for an emotional support. The day people will start looking within themselves for a smile, no one would be sad because they were ditched in a relationship or because someone very dear did not do as expected.

2) Healthy mind and body -- Needless to say, you would not enjoy a good joke with a high fever or a running nose. Exercise !!! Walk! Abandon the elevator ( I can say this without any guilt at least now because I have been a good girl and exercising lately!! :) :) )

3) Let go off jealousy -- Difficult ofcourse! The jealous pangs just come up without you even noticing it. But seriously, once we let go off that feeling and genuinely be happy for a person, it is kind of liberating. Trust me when I say this because I get the familiar J feeling whenever I see people posting FB pics of their Chciago trip, Paris trip, China trip, Ye trip, Woh trip .... But then I remind myself that being jealous is extremely negative and since I am a big time follower of positive energies, I manage to keep myself at bay! I know I will go too ... I will go travel the most exotic locations in the entire world and will post every detail on FB!!! HA! Take that people!!! :D :D :D

4)Do good deeds: Hands down yes on that !! and you know what? You really don't have to find a charitable organisation for that. Make a person smile, help a colleague, counsel a friend or at most donate blood. Somehow it feels good. Really good!

5) Hold on to your friends: Oh! So true! How many of you had a bad day and you had a mood upliftment after sharing a hearty laugh with your friends??? I am sure almost everyone! Friends are those lovely lovely gifts ... as books put it "Your chosen family" Never let go of these gems! They have come in your life as a blessing. Thank God from the deepest corners of your hearts for them. I know I do! :)

6) Seek happiness in the small moments of your life: Life is all about those small moments. Had tea standing below a chappar while it was raining? or had an extremely sound sleep? Just look around and you will find many many such small moments. Sometimes you do need to make that extra effort to make youself happy! Come on! Do it. At the end that smile is totally worth it!

7) Let go off the past: Whatever happened cannot be changed, Learn and move ahead. Past - be it good or bad holds nothing with it anymore. Relieve yourself from the baggage or keep the beautiful time spent as a wonderful memory. Whatever it may be, Let it go and smile! Remember that at the end "Life is what you make it" :)

So there you go ... No preaching here! Just what I read and feel and truly believe.. Stay happy people! Live! Laugh! Love! Let there be lots of love in this world!!! :)

Turning 26

Eons ago was the time when i had last posted something on my blog! Its been crazy. Target finally decided to keep me busy and how! Time flies once I reach office and the next thing i know is it is the end of the day. But I always keep reminding myself that I am loving it. I have always loved keeping myself superbusy. Probably its my devilish mind which I want to ignore or probably I just love the feeling which I call as "Pillow Hit" which means going to sleep as soon as I hit the pillow. Whatever it is I love engrossing myself in work. People do feel it is weird though!
Its my birthday very soon and I'll be turning 26. Crossed the 25 threshold. Somehow, now that I am putting it in words, I am feeling very matured and grown up. But I strongly believe that your mind has no age and a person is as old as his mind. Oh Well!! I have to keep consoling myself with some words now that I am just 4 years shy of joining the 30 club. I am doing atleast one thing right these days! I am exercising a lot and I am loving it. 26 years of my life and atleast I have learnt one lesson ... Learn from everyone you meet. Sometimes some people you meet are also examples of what a person should NOT be. But I am thankful to God that he has always send extremely wonderful people towards me. So be it anyone who has walked in my life, I have grown a lot with them. So maybe age is really just a number. You can decide to be mature and childlike or bore and childish. I have decided to choose the former and thats the "phase" I am staying in forever. Mature and childlike. The age may keep incrementing. It would really does not matter.
Turning 26 brings one more package. I am, for some orthodox thinkers, way past my marriage age. Although for some , I am at the perfect age to get married. Now here are my thoughts on marriage :
People want me to get married because they want me to "settle down".Ok!! Although I seriously dont see the reason why? Is everyone not tired and bored of the same routine after marriage? So why would I want to go in a boring routine deliberately?

People say get married because you have a secured future. Thank you very much but I am working my ass off all alone to get just that for myself. Why should I get married to a person for a selfish reason -- "MY secured future????" As I said earlier, its MY future and I will secure it myself.

People say get married because you will have a companion for a lifetime. Fair enough! Lets first see who a companion should be? Basic answer .. somebody with whom I can feel my best and enjoy his company. I may "settle down" for this reason, but then this "companion" should be just that. Somebody who can be my best friend and I can enjoy his company. ALL MY LIFE. But what if ,God forbids, my "companion" is a person who is all wrong? Is marriage worth risking all your dreams, your entire individuality and your future???

Please dont get me wrong. I am not against an allaince. But then as one of my friend puts it, a relationship should help you grow. If it is stagnating you or making you sad then its is not worth the trouble.

Also, people say get married because. "log kya kahenge". For that , i would like to quote 1 scentence I read somwhere and fell in love with instantly -- "What others think of me is none of my business!" :) :)

Yes I am 26. No I am not against marriage. I am only against giving it all up for a man who is not worth it. But if I do find "the one" I am all for marriage. Probably with all the excitement that there is! Till then its not a bad idea to explore the world and life, is it??

Love again ...

These are not my words. All this time, while I have tried to write about Love in my blog, I never could sound so beautiful. This article expresses things so beautifully that I just had to put it down here. I don't know who wrote this but it is certainly the jist of all I had ever wanted to say.

When you think of your past love; you may view it as a failure; but when you find a new love, you view the past as a teacher. In the game of love, it doesn't really matter who won or who lost. What's important is that you know when to hold on and when to let go. You know that you love someone when you want him or her to be happy, even if their happiness means that you're not a part of it. Everything happens for a reason and for its best. If the person you love doesn't love you back, don't be afraid to love someone else again, for you'll never know unless you give it a try.

You'll never truly love a person, unless you risk for their love; love strives in hurting. If you don't get hurt, then you won't learn how to love. Love doesn't hurt all the time; though the hurting is there to test you, to help you grow. Don't find love, let love find you; that's why it's called falling in love, because you don't need to force yourself to love, you just fall. You cannot finish a book without closing the chapters. If you want to move on, then you have to leave the past as you turn the pages.

Love is not destroyed by a single failure or won by a single caress. But why is it that the greatest irony of love is letting go when you want to hold on, and holding on when you need to let go? You can never find the right person if you can never let it go of the wrong, but at the same time the moment you feel like letting go, you remember why you held on for so long. Sometimes you have to forget what you want and remember what you deserve.
To love is to risk rejection, to live is to risk dying and to hope is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing at all. To reach for another is to risk involvement, to expose your feelings is to expose your true self. To love is to risk not being loved in return.

How to define love: Fall but do not stumble. Be constant but not too persistent. Share and never be unfair. Understand and try not to demand. Hurt but never keep the pain.
Love is supposed to be the most wonderful feeling. It should inspire you and give you joy and strength. But sometimes the things that give you joy can also hurt you in the end. Loving people means giving them the freedom; whom they choose to be and where they choose to go. Loving someone means giving them the freedom to find their way, whether it leads towards you or away from you.

Love can be a painful risk. To love means that risk must be taken, no matter how scary or painful, for only then will you experience the fullness of humanity of what we call love. If you're not ready to cry, if you're not ready to take the risk and if you're not ready to feel the pain, then you're not ready to fall in love.

May there be lots of love in the world ....

Anand

This is my all time favourite movie. I have watched it many times and can still watch it. The story of a guy called Anand who lives life to the fullest knowing truly well that he is going to die in 6 months. He is diagnosed with a disease called "lymphocercoma of the intestine". I dont know if this disease really exists or not, but it did become quite a popular term in the Indian film industry. Everything about the movie is just so sensible and beautiful. Everybody falls in love with Anand. He is is this always smiling, full of positive energy ,wonderful person one cannot help but like. What makes the movie more wonderful is the other characters whose lives are touched by Anand. They are all from different religion and backgrounds but they all pray to their respective Gods for just one thing -- that Anand survives. I loved the timimg of the last scene where Dr.Bhaskar shouts at a dead Anand saying "6 mahine se bol bol ke mera sar kha gaye ho!" and the tape plays ... "Babu Moshai..Zindgai aur maut upar wale ke hatho main hai jahanpana ....". The best part is how there is a delay created with silence while they tape this dialogue with Anand getting ready. This delay is then used amazingly well in the last scene.
I absolutely and completely loved the dialogues of the movie. Here are a lists of 5 of them which I never forget :
1) Zindagi lambi nahi badi honi chahiye.
2) Jab tak zinda hoon tab tak mara nahi, jab mar gaya to sala main he nahi.
3) Shayad ye gum he hai jo usse sambhale hue hai.
4) Zindagi main koi pasand aaya, usse baat ki, uss ke sath has liya ...
and finally the closing line of the movie,
5) Anand mara nahi, Anand marte nahi.

Oh here are a few more :
1) Ek mara nahi aur doosra marne ke liye paida ho gaya.
2) Mujhe aashirwad dijiye ki main bohot boloon, kabhi chup na hoon. Acha boloon. galti se bhi kisi ke liye bura na nikle mere mooh se.
3) Aise aadmi ko chhod ke to Bhagwaan bhi nahi reh sakte.

Well, It is considered a classic for all the right reasons!

Why do I write

I write because I am lucky enough to convert my incoherent ramblings into coherent words.
Because sometimes sentences just pop in my head and keep echoing unless i put them down.
Because it helps me to think clearly.
Because it helps me to move on.
Because I always have so much to talk about and often there is no one to listen.
Because somethings are better written than said.
Because its good to keep a record of your thoughts since you can always go back to them and reflect if you have grown as a person or not (too philosophical?)
Because it helps me to keep elaborate memories.
Because maybe if i keep writing regularly, I'll actually start writing the way I want to. Filhaal, I am not even close.
And finally I write because I will burst with trapped thoughts if i don't :)

The Crush

I am time and again reminded of Hyderabad. Having changed 3 cities since the starting of my career, I have come to realize one thing. It is not a city which helps you create memories. It is always the people who help you do it. Every city at the end of the day has some cool hang out and even if it is not a cool hang out place as such, friends and laughter make it cool anyway. But then I have one super special memory of Hyderabad. I have mentioned it in my earlier blog also. Mr. Fresh. The BIGGEESSTTT crush I ever had. I never came to know his name and he was hands down the handsomest guy I had seen. I remember the way my stomach would do a flip every time I would see him.
And thats what I miss the most now. The teenage crush on somebody absolutely unachievable. Infact it is that "distance" which makes it all the more fun. I may not have wanted to make friends with Mr. Fresh but I would be so happy just seeing him .And ofcourse then there are your friends who share the same idiotic happiness as you. They'll help you spot him and do all that they can to attract attention, sometimes embarrassing things too, when you flinch outwardly, but inside you are smiling too!
Even in Noida, Isha had a crush on this guy. Atleast we were successful in finding out his name. Though the crush died its natural death but we still had those silly giggles and stupid fun. Ok he was Isha's crush, but i still remember how excited all the other four of us would become whenever we would spot him. That excitement, that turning back and stealing a glance and laughing all silly ... if nothing else they definitely give you great memories to look back and smile on.
I could not find anyone worth having a crush on in Bangalore. (although I do keep my eyes open ;) ) I know somebody can say that I have passed the age of being oh-so-girlish. Well, truly speaking I used to feel the same. But on second thoughts whats harm in acting little childish and feeling happy just looking at a person?
This by the way is more of a single thing, just one more of the advantages of being single!

Hollywood high!

India makes the largest number of films in a year. More than the movies made by the rest of the world put together. We have quantity! But we lack big time in quality. I love the indian film industry and thats why I prefer to call it that. The indian film industry. Not Bollywodd which is a rip off of Hollywood and ofcourse we have the telugu/Tamil film industry -- Tollywood and if i am not wrong there even is a kollywood. Well the word bollywood may have found a place in the oxford dictionary, but it still has to find a place in the world film industry. On the brighter side, (some)hindi movies made today are really good .Thanks to intelligent film makers/actors like Amir khan that we do have sensible movies to boast of here in India.
But there is one thing which I really really wish for. I wish we had variety like that in hollywood. People there make movies out of concepts from which indian film makers are far away from. Movies like Prestige, Shutter Island, Inception or constatine (which was the original inspiration of writing this blog) have ideas which can only make a viewer go wow. I dont deny that we donot have good filmmakers or good actors for that matter, but we do have a big time dearth of ideas.
Here, I would also have to take some onus on me as a movie goer. Somehow, audiences have never been able to accept "anything different" from the hindi movies. We still flock theatres for a Karan Johar/Yash Chopra movie. The entire hindi film industry is thriving on a single emotion. No prizes for guessing that --- Love! I wish story tellers dare to think a little out of the box and the film makers dare to make them.
India started by making brilliant films with amzing talents like Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. I can still sit and watch Anari, Anand or chupke chupke. But we still stood our ground on love, love songs, realtionships, family, etc etc. Also there have been sheer rip offs of hollywood movies. Rip offs so bad, they make you flinch. For example there was a movie called "The Dragonfly" They made a hindi movie out of it called "saaya". They not only took the whole story, they also took the dialouges! How unimaginative can you be in a profession that requires you to be creative and imaginitive! Then there was Shukriya which was badly taken from Joe Black or even a hindi movie starring Randeep Hooda and Shahana Goswami which was an awful take away from the beautiful "If Only". Even when they buy the rights and make "We are family" out of Step Mom you still want to hide away and wish you had not wasted your 300 bucks on coming to watch a desperate attempt to be at par.
I still have my hopes high on the indiam Film Industry. Because for every stupid movie, they still give me a Rang De Basanti and a fashion. But we still have a long way to go to make an Inception or Invictus!

The 100th ...

This is my 100th post!!! So firstly congratulations to me!!! :) :)

And now to my thoughts ....
However confused I may be over the topic of marriage, I am certain about one thing. There is an excitement of starting a new life from the scratch. Lots of my friends have been married of-late and somehow, I always seem to share their excitement of searching a new house, settling down, buying the basics, new curtains, beds, bedsheets ... somehow its very refreshing. Tiring indeed ... but it fills you with a feeling of hope and happiness.
Its the fun of decorating a new house, calling it home, making your own comfort zone and sharing your life with somebody you really want to. But thats where the real complication starts. This setting up a new house can be fun only when two people come together because they wanted to and not because their parents and "society" wanted them to .
Actually more than the marriage thing, its more of decorating the house, shopping for new, stylish interiors which makes it so tempting. I remember wanting my own room in Bangalore just so that I could decorate it all according to my choice( had thought of giving it a blue theme) That unfortunately could not happen, but well, I'll still wait for the time when I get to convert a house into home, decorate it with beautiful paintings and props. That ...then would be my home :)

Why does this not happen to me?

1) I see a girl on TV use a shampoo and come out with beautiful shining, smooth, straight hair and I ask myself .. why does this not happen with me! Heck .. I have to use the costliest shampoo to keep my hair 1% of the lustrous hair they have!
2) Someone uses a face wash and becomes all glowing and beautiful and the world starts noticing her. I am not noticed even if I get a facial done!!!
3) A handsome guy walks past me and the wind blows and both of us look at each other and there is music in the background or everything slows down (like in DDLJ when Raj and Simran cross paths). Why does this not happen to me??
4) Using Lux/Vivel makes my skin glow big time and I am walking down in evening gowns with people staring agog! *sone se bhi sona lage!!!*
5) I use a deodorant and become a star at a presentation (Come on!!! Advertising ppl have to be a little more practical)
6) Oh yes! I am laughing all girly-silly in public and there is someone watching me and falling in love with me ... again with a background sound please *ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga*
7) My friends plan to go for a euro trip and i am invited and i find all the time and money in the world to roam around and shop! (DDLJ again ... What did Simran and Raj do again??? Oh yes ...one was son of an uneducated billionaire dad and the other was a homely daughter doing nothing other than writing romantic musings! Ofcourse they had all the time and money in the world! )
8) I say something motivational in background (which is muted in background music ofcourse!!) and everone is clapping and nodding their head in affirmation saying ...she is the bestest!! ;)
9) and finally why dont have the answers to all the questions and solution to all problems!!!!

For the guys ....

This is not original but I loved it and I had to post it here ...

-When she stares at your mouth kiss her
-When she ignores you give her your attention
-When she pulls away pull her back
-When you see her at her worst tell her she's beautiful
-When you see her start crying just hold her and don't say a word
-When you see her walking sneak up and hug her waist from behind
-When she's scared protect her
-When she steals your favorite hoodie Let her keep it and sleep with it
-When she teases you Tease her back and make her laugh
-When she doesn't answer for a long time Reassure her that everything is okay
-When she looks at you with doubt Back yourself up
-When she says that she loves you She really does, more than you can understand
-When she grabs at your hands Hold her's and play with her fingers
-When she bumps into you Bump into her back and make her laugh
-When she tells you a secret Keep it safe and untold
-When she looks at you in your eyes Dont look away until she does
-When she tells you she truely loves you tell her you love her more!!
-When she reposts this bulletin She wants you to read it
- Stay on the phone with her even if she's not saying anything
- When she's mad hug her tight and don't let go
- When she says she's ok don't believe it, talk with her because 10 yrs later she'll remember you.
- Call her at 12:00am on her birthday to tell her you love her
-Treat her like she's all that matters to you
- Stay up all night with her when she's sick
- Watch her favorite movie with her or her favorite show even if you think it's stupid.
- Give her the world.
- Let her wear your clothes
-When she's bored and sad, hang out with her
-Let her know she's important.
- Don't talk about other girls around her
- Kiss her in the pouring rain
- When she runs up to you crying, the first thing you say is:
"Whose ass am I kicking babe"

Invictus by William Earnest Henley -- Beautiful Words

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Friendship beyond geographies ...

You don't have to be in the same city to be friends. You dont have to be living together to be friends. Its not about how close you are geographically.
Its about how closely you are connected through your hearts. You will not have to "take" time out to call up your friends. you will just know that you have to talk to him /her. They are your chosen family. You may not talk to them daily .. but you know that they are there and just the realization is enough to bring a smile on your face. I love my friends and I am blessed to have them. Genuine friends who really wish well and I cannot thank God enough.
Its so strange that when you meet a total stranger ... you don't even know what is that person like. Suddenly the same person becomes such an important part of your lives. Their opinion matters. You are truly happy when they are happy and vice versa. You start knowing what would be their reactions to something, their likes, dislikes, tastes even how they sleep!! Just the way you know your family.
I can start and keep writing about all my extended family members ... but then it will be such a long post and then I am scared I will miss out some one. So here is to all of you who have made my life beautiful by being my friends ... I am so fortunate to have you in my life. Thank you for all the non stop fun, laughter, gossips, advices, fights, shopping, lunches, dinners, coffees and mostly for showing me how beautiful life is when all of you are there. No matter how far or how close.
Let there be lots of love in this world!!

Weird thoughts ...

First day in Target Banglore -- I am all dressed up and raring to go. Formal dress was important and hence different from my IBM experince of jeans and flotters/canvas. I had worn normal chappal style flat foot wears with my suit. They were looking good and nobody in their wildest dreams could have imagined that such b'ful and innocent looking shoes can do even a slight harm to my feet. But they did. They bit me ...so badly and in BOTH feet that i can never forget the torment. I hated those shoes. I hated the day when I bought them. I hated myself to have bought them. And i was in trouble. I was supposed to wear formals daily. I could not even give myself the permission to think of myself wearing flotters with suits and trousers. That was the moment when I had to take a decision. And a decision I did take. I will carry my pair of flotters in my bag and will wear them whenever I would feel that i would have to walk too much. I know it sounds silly ... People laugh when I tell them the idea. But I know that this is one of the best decisions i have ever taken. Like today ... when the journey to total mall seemed never ending ... my feet were battered by another rather innocent looking chappals .. I came back to offc and changed to my sweet flotters. Nobody is noticing it today because I am wearing patialas. They almost cover your feet. So I am wearing my flotters and walking easily and i am happy!! :) :)

Changing equations

Life is weird. No cliches. I mean it. It really is weird. Relationships change. For good or for bad .. but they change.

The person you cannot imagine your life without , may become hardly an acquaintance. Decent hello and hi or probably not even that. A stranger can become dearer than life. Friends become family and sometimes family becomes less frequent. A person who is introduced as your lead becomes an elder brother figure. The first person you meet in college and hit off really well may turn out to be "just a someone i know" over the years. A room mate becomes closer than a sister!

These changing equations make me wonder. Who is there for life? I fear that the people whom i love so much today, will they stay with me forever? But nobody stays forever. They depart. But then isn't every person unique? Everyone has a different story to narrate and different story to offer. Yes Equations change. People change. But memories don't.

How really strange is the world and stranger are the ways!

A Day Away From Civilization ...

For some time now, the travel-and-exlpore-new-places bug has bitten me big time. And hence i never miss a chance to see any place i am offered to visit. So when Vibha asked me if i wanted to go to Jim Corbett, i replied in affirmative. But honestly, I didn't know what to expect when i would hear "Jim Corbett". Vibha told me that we would be living right in the middle of the jungles, but then all my unimaginative mind would see was a brown colured room and hear the roar of a tiger. But I knew that I was going to have fun.
Jim Corbett was the closest to nature i could get. And for the first time i realized how really beautiful nature is. How things work for themselves in perfect unison. There was silence all around .. and it was peaceful. As we went deeper and deeper in the forest , there were trees which bent towards the sun to take in the sunlight. So beautifully were they bowed down, that they looked more like soldiers bowing down in respect to welcome the guests in the kingdom of their king. We missed seeing His Highness the tiger, which was a pity. But we did get to see different animals and birds and plants. It was a totally different experience.
But the best part were two unforgettable scenes in my mind. While we were heading towards dinner, it was dark! Dark like you had closed your eyes. Dark which could scare the hell out of anybody especially since it was a new place. While I was cursing myself as to why i did not consider the darkness while deciding the time for dinner, I happened to look up. And there it was! The most magnificent night sky ever! Stars sprinkled across the sky ,it was nothing like i had ever seen before. There was no patch left where i could see an empty sky! So this was what the sky actually looked like in a beautiful night. I wonder how limitless the beauty would be, had there been a full moon. Unfortunately, an excruciating pain in my leg stopped me from sitting out and soak in the beyond words gorgeous sky nature had put up for us to enjoy. But the scene i still clear in front of me.
The next breath taking scene came up just the next morning. I always had a dream, a vision of me sitting in front of a beautiful porch, looking across the mountain and a calm sea and clouds floating around. God blessed me with the fortune of experiencing just that. I stepped outside my room not expecting anything. Opening the doors out of sheer habit. The next few moments, sipping tea, taking in the most beautiful morning of my life ever, I am sure i was being rewarded by God with a good life. Because I was in living my imagination! I was living my dream. So now my checklist goes --waking up to an out of the world enchanting morning on a hill station --check!!
Vibha asked me to rate this trip ..i said that unless i was done with all the trips of my life, i could not say that this was a perfect 10 .. greedy that I am!!
I can yet say that these two days were till now the most beautiful days of my life. I experienced just the thing ---away from the maddening crowd, no phones , no contact ... just the elusive peace, calm and tranquility!
May I have more such days and more new experiences!

The other realm

I wanted to name my blog "The other realm". Unfortunately Blogspot did not like it. Kept giving me error messages. So i have changed it to varshvani now. By the way "other realm" was Sabrina the teenage witch's magic world. Its way was through their closet. I as a little girl was thrilled to see how they would go to another universe through a closet. I have been a sucker of fantasy stories all my life. Enid Blyton's books were the best thing which could have happened to me in my childhood. It introduced me to the world of far-away tree, pin village and wishing chair! Pin Village was called so because it was as neat as a pin. It had its way through the darkest green patch of the lawn where it would go down to this impeccably neat and clean village. Far Away tree was a tree in the enchanted forest. It was the tallest tree ... so tall that you could not see where it would end. It would merge somewhere in the clouds. The top of the faraway tree would have a new land everyday. The land of gifts, the land of Birthday parties, The land of topsy turvy, The land of 3 wise men, The land of dreams and so many more!
I still remember these books more than I remember intellectuals like Train to Pakistan or Lajja. I still can and would prefer reading them any given day. I would love to be transported. I would love to find my own secret land... sliding through through the rainbows , passing the clouds ... or enter a magical land through a most ordinary looking door.
I may sound silly and so unrealistic ... and thats the pity. I wish it WAS NOT unrealistic and silly!

Ted Mosby!!

Ok My priorities are cleared! I am sure about one thing in my life. I want to get married to someone like Ted Mosby. He is the perfect life partner for a girl. He is handsome, Has a really cute smile and his eyes go a little narrow when he smiles which is all so cute. He is an architect , he is intelligent and yet child-like. He is funny. But most importantly he is loving and caring and sensitive. He loves to read and he loves music. He is extremely sensible and level headed. He is always there for his friends! He is a man of principles and the best part? He is a die hard romantic! He cooks and although he is not a cleanliness freak (which again counts as a positive point for me) he likes things organised. He stands up for himself and he really has his life sorted out for him. He is a real sweetheart. He is a thorough gentleman and he has a class. He has dreams and he wants to fulfill them and his family is a part of that dream. He is extremely loving and committed and he always goes that extra mile to make a relationship worth it. He like me cannot stop himself from correcting people!! And these are the only qualities i ask for my life partner! I love you Ted Mosby!

Dilli ki ladki!

The one thing I am really going to miss about Delhi is the crowd. And by crowd I mean the real Delhi crowd. The hunks and the divas. We went to GK today and more than my shopping, I was actually enjoying noticing all the people around me. Though it may sound weird, but i think the girls are more worth noticing (read admiring) than the guys. Now please stop those naughty horses in your brain. I love guys! I really do. But a thing (or person) worth admiring, should be admired. Truly, Delhi is a perfect place for guys to find what we call "Eye Tonics". I mean some of the girls here (and I mean Delhi and not NOIDA) look like they have freshly returned from the parlour. One girl I saw had a skin to die for! It was glowing big time and one does not have to touch it to know how smooth it was. It looked as smooth as satin (or whatever is the smoothest thing ... feel free to put your metaphor)and she looked beautiful. Then ofcourse there is my favorite look. Long straight hair, flicks and those broad frame glasses. Saw 2-3 girls with that look. Alas my attempt to don the same look could not be succeded because A) I dont have straight hair and so the flicks would go haywire (as rightly pointed out by the hairdresser) and B) broad frame glasses did not agree with my face (this Prabhjot and I both noticed) There is something about Delhi girls ... They make a very simple piece of dress look great on them. They accecorise, they mix and match and most importantly, they carry it with such great panache that it looks wonderful.
Probably, they do go that extra mile in "maintaining" themselves but I really don't see any harm in that unless they have their heads over their shoulders. I hope, one day I will have the same elegance. Maybe this would be one (more) lesson I would be taking from Delhi.
Oh and tomorrow by the way is Valentines day! For the general knowledge, it is celebrated because some saint died on this day honouring the love of a couple (Thats all i know, but i am sure most ppl dont even know this!!). Mostly commercialised, this day is giving Diwali a competion in celebration. The day it seems is not far away when it will be declared as a global holiday. Anyway, Mr. Manager msged the "team" -- "lets celebrate V-Day tommoroww. Dress code red" My ass!!!! As if the "team" is so bonded in love!
Anyway , I am going on a date tommorow (Ha! .. Keep guessing) and I am sure I will have funnnn 'cos I always have fun with my "date" !!
So, in the end ..Delhi Girls rock and as i always say and will emphasise it more today in honour of tommorow "Let there be lots of love in the world!!"

What a wonderful world!

This song is basically the jingle of Aircel Wi-Fi. No, originaly it is a song by Loius Amstrong. Beautiful lyrics!! And truly .. What a wonderful world it is!!! :)



I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Ted's Words

The One --
Ok I'm gonna say this out loud that I am doing
a pretty good job of not saying it out loud
lately. What you and Tony have, what I THOUGHT
for a second we had , what i KNOW Lilly and
Marshal have , I want that. I do. I keep
waiting for that to happen ... keep waiting for
that to happen, and I guess I am just tired of
waiting.

And then Stella says:
She is on the way Ted ..and she is getting
here as fast as she can!

How I met your mother!!

Seriously!! I have to write about this. I am only on the second season so i hope this does not pulls off a lost but as of now it is gripping. I totally love it. What i especially like about the show is how much Ted loves Robin. I love the way he looks at her. But then it turns out that Robin is not the mother met because he goes on to say that "that's how i met your aunt Robin" to his kids. So now there is a bit of suspense as to who the mother is. Now this is a bit irritating because then you cannot read much about the show on the net. But i am not sure if the show is over now and if whether it has been revealed. But scrolling down the pages, i discovered that Ted and Robin will eventually break up and Robin will also be with Barney for some time. Barney?? Eiuuuuu!!! Anyhow, as of now it holds the top slot of my attention so right now ... rocking!!

How almost single doctor met your mother (ahaa!!)

Yes .. I am back with the old blog theme. No i have not run out of blog themes. I have them aplenty. But this one is really good and it is called "Woman-talk". Speaking of women, I read this book about a woman by a woman. Indian author. I picked up the book by mistake because i thought this was the same lady who had written "the zoya factor". But they are 2 different woman. That one was Anujha Chauhan and this one is Adavita kala. So now i knew that this one was the not the chick lit i wanted to read, i had my reservation. But then after blink i was dying to read a story. A proper fiction. So i said what the hell and went ahead anyway! First things first. Did i like the book? hmm .... kind of. Which is not a certain no for an answer becuase i did laugh at a few points. It was actually a typical chick lit with its own highs and lows. The hight point was definitely the humor and the fact that the author had quite rightly captured how desperately the world want singletons to "couple up" even if they themselves wanted something else. Good! Here is the low point .. the way each and every line of the book shouted "I am american!!" Yes! There was nothing indian about the book except for the the fact that the protagonist wore saare to work everyday. over jeans ..so there you go! The food, lifestyle, dresses described (except the occasional saris (rohit bal))everything was about america although there is no direct mention. Not that i am complaining, i am just pointing out an obvious fact. Anybody who reads the book would realize that. Also a take on the (almost non existent) love story between Karan and Aisha. Okay.Thank God for no mills and boon angle here. But atleast, i could have done with some elaborate love story. Where does it start and how easily does it comes to a conclusion ...not happening really. Ok now dont give me the what would you have written look, I am not an author!!
Now i am reading Doctors by Erich Segal. There are a lot of reasons why i am reading it. First in the pretext of getting another book to read, now that i was coming closer to finishing almost single (thats the chick lit i was talking about) i brought six suspects by vikas swaroop (the Q&A author) only to realize that this would be my second indian author in a quick succession and although this author was classy, I thought Segal was classier. And i had to read doctors. I mean Segal ends up wrting beautifully. The class, love story and Oliver's story are printed proofs. Two lines. One from class "And so they ended up being lovers, friends, parents to each other" and second -- the closing line of Oliver's story. "Sometimes , he wonders how life would be if she was alive. Then he realizes ..he would have been alive too" Now thats called beautifully poetic. Lines which stay with you. Forever.
Another thing to talk about is "how I met your mother" A fun series. I love the story line, the characters and the suspense they are building over who the mother is. Its not crazily funny like friends but it has its own highlights and i am loving it.
So till then, Keep rocking and i haven't witten this even once in my blog since the new year "Let ther be lots of love in this world."

Hic! Hic! Hurray!!!

Sunday morning in office is so not cool. It is cool because there are not many people bothering you but it is still so painful to come to office on a sunday. I wish, once i am in target, things change and i get a normal life. I also wish that once in target, i get an onsite chance ASAP. You know what is real cool about joining a product based company? The fact that i will be in the company and work for the same company. Like when i Satyam i worked for IBM and when I came to IBM, I started working for Bharti. But when I will be in Target, I will work for Target! This way, my philosphy, " company is as good as the project" will merge. Because the company and project would be same. Ok Fine you get the idea. I want to keep myself up and hence i am ranting and writing. Basically why and what i came here to write is this. I came across a picture which had a homeless man holding up a placard saying "Why Lie .. I want a beer" and the first thought in my mind was ... this is a "homeless" man. He probably owns just one pair of clothes, not sure if he manages even a single square of meal and basically has no money. In this grim situation he says "Why Lie .. I want a beer" !! I mean what is it about alcohol and beer anyway? I have tasted alcohol and it does not taste good. Period! you never eat a dish which tastes disgusting then why oh why is the world crazy after alcohol? Is it the head rush? Maybe it is the head rush.
Now let me tell you something about head rushes! It is so not a feeling you can love. No! trust me! It feels like there is an earthquake inside your head. Now when i had a head rush, it was a very mild form and i could understand what was i speaking and what were others speaking. But the mild form felt like Santa claus's south pole workshop on the day of Christmas eve! like little elves running around here and there and shouting and there is clamour all around and all you want is some peace and you get none. Now i would not want such a hotch potch inside my head. Ever! So why are people still crazy for alcohol? Maybe I would never understand that.
But to all those people who drink, someone once told me "Drinking should always be in class and control quantity" I think that should be the mantra.
I remember we had an office party and boys as always went crazy after the "free" alcohol. (Alcohol is enough to make them mad and then the word free attached with it makes them go berserk!) 2 of my colleagues were so heavily drunk that my manager was later heard saying that he was ashamed to have such people in his team. A check over class and quantity comes in handy for situation like these. and then there is this other guy i know. I have asked him many times but he never tells me his secret. He can hold his drink so good, that you actually doubt if he is drunk at all. But he is crazy. He only has alcohol pictures on his fb. Still he has a class which atleast does not qualify him under the category of manager embarrassing colleagues.
I'll come back for more..writing. Till then ...hic!hic! hurray!!! :)

How Rude!

Sometimes I am so rude to people. and you know whats the worst part ? I hate it when people are rude to me. I hardly give them a second chance then. Sometimes I hate everyone around me. No matter how close or not I am with a person. Infact, I become defensive when nervous or scared. Right now, I truly from the bottom of my heart HATE my office. I hate everyone. I hate every piece of "job" I am supposed to do. I am basically a happy person and I am rude only when something really unpleasant happens. Even then, if it is something really subtle, I dont let it show. And when I dont let it show, nobody comes to know how i feel inside. Like yesterday, I was extremely angry and sad. Thank God for the "me" time i get in the afternoon. It helps me cool down and relax. Sometimes, i really wish from the bottom of my heart that i could give a piece of my mind to all the people who piss me off! I wish i could just tell them to "shut the fuck up assholes!" Basically, I am never rude to a person "just like that" You should have done something extremely extremely annoying to have have come under my wrath. So if i am wrong in being rude to you, You are not completely innocent either.
So the question is , Do I want to change this? Should I stop being rude? I rather be quite than say anything to hurt people. Thats what i generally am when I am clearly mahaupset or like now, when i just dont want to talk.
All i want right now is a chance. A chance to kick all assholes' butts!!!

Zindagi roz humari class leti hai ....

Zindagi roz class leti hai ....
kitna dekha doosro ki aankho se
kitna jaana kitabo ke panno se
socho, kitna seekha humne zindagi se
aur kitna, khud se

zindagi par apni pakad banayi
kabhi kabhi muh ki bhi khayi
sapno ke baadal phugaye
aur fight maar kar upar aaye

tedhi ungli se kaafi kaam chalaya
par sachi mehnat se bhi rang khilaya
raaste jitne uunche neeche the
unhe kuch bhi karke seedhe banaya

kabhi darr ke peeche nahi hate
apne focus se kabhi nahi bate
choti moti khushiyon ko ungloyon se sajaya
doston ke liye haath badhaya

har bandhan ko apnaya
zindagi roz humari class leti hai
nursery se school fir college aur ab yahan ...
socho
kitna dekha doosro ki aankho se
kitna jaana kitabo ke panno se
kya kya haasil kiya jugaad karke
socho, kitna seekha humne zindagi se
aur kitna, khud se

The first in 2011

Dear dear blog,
I am sorry to have abandoned you in the new year. and i know that the last blog was really tacky. But i cant even write "i dont know what i was thinking" for it. Because i know .... i know what i was exactly thinking at the moment i came up with that cheesy stuff. To give you a hint, the phrase "dhokebaaz pal" struck in my mind and i found it very gulzaar-ish. So i decided to do wat gulzar would do with the same phrase ... write a poem. Well, i will try my best to not do such posts in the future. And why didnt i come to you earlier? Well! i just didnt feel inspired enough. I didnt feel like ranting the way i do now and still i dont have a specific topic to talk about in my first blog of 2011. But i know i will pull it off ... like i always do. And u know what dear dear blog? you may get a name change. I have been doing a lot of thinking and if i am successful in convincing myself, i may give u a name change. cool that is right? And what did i do in the new year? chilled out basically! Anticipating 2011 ...anticipating bangalore .. some times when i deeply think about everything that has happened in the past days , i feel i should not have done it. But then, i was so fed up of this job, that i had to do it. Yes it is my choice and i will make sure that it becomes the correct choice. Everything is going to be correct this time!
Then i watched movies. I watched "one missed call" which deservers no mention at all except for the fact that i was watching it while the world was entering from 2010 to 2011. Then i watched golmaal 3. It was a typical slapstick comedy but i did find some parts funny and kept laughing throughout the movie because i was watching it with thakur who can laugh on almost all silly scenes. I saw no one killed jessica last night and he is just not that into you today. I liked NOKJ and i really liked HJNTIY. It is a typical typical my kind of movie. Those typical chick flicks i literally swear by! The way people find each other and fall in love. Oh! I loved the movie. and it had 2 very beautiful lines that stuck. "You are my exception.( One can understand the significance of this line only when one has watched the movie" and "Some times happy ending is just moving on" So true right??? I also liked how Ben Affleck proposes Jennifer Aniston in the movie.
Oh and by the way, how can I forget to mention that i had the loveliest of sundays today. We had tea while shivering in the delhi cold and then went to this not so cool looking place to eat something and had the most amazing poori sabzi, idli and coffee! Then the chick flick which i loved, crossed levels in klueless and had everything served to me in bed. Thank You God!! You have blessed me and Thank You for that!
Dear dear blog, I'll keep ranting in you and i will keep you posted.