Thursday, October 26, 2006

Back with a Tag !

I am tagged again!! Tagged by a person who loves to tag me again & again since my days of naissance in this blogworld and once again I accepted the challenge. Here I am, taking time out of my busy schedule, trying to tell you a bit about myself. Well, I have both positive & negative traits in me as you’d know now but that’s the way I am. Here I go...


Rules of this tag:

1. Name the person who tagged
you.
2. 8 things about you.
3. Tag 6 people.

Question 1: Are you really interested in knowing the name after so many hints? It is none other
than Fleiger, the Tagger of the century.

Question 2:
Now this is the most interesting
part !! Oh come on!! Not fair. Only 8 points? It is something like you have been asked to describe only 2 points in your exams when you are ready to bombard them with all you learnt by rote ! Just kidding!! Wondering where do I start from. Being a very private, quiet and introvert person in real life, it’s like a challenge for me to speak about myself. Ok, let me try.

1. I am a straight forward, sincere and a level headed girl. I just can’t have anything fake about me or things related to me. Not even my posts on this blog. They have to connect to me in one-way or the other. I like being true, true to myself and to the world. Life is not a pack of cards or a blue sky for me. I take it seriously. But that does not mean I don’t laugh and keep crying all the time. I make others laugh and cry as well ;)

Most of the time I am a serious quiet person but that little funny bone got stuck somewhere in me (kabab mein haddi??) and from time to time it starts showing its true colours especially when I am in mood or in the company of people who can really make me laugh. In short, I am a strange mix of contrasts.

2. I am neither a writer/poet nor I want to become one. Was inspired by a very dear friend, whom I adore endlessly (Hey you!! Are you reading this?). No, the friend never asked me to write, I just got inspired by the sheer presence of my friend whom I had started missing.. Complicated?? Leave it at that.

3. Being on constant move & uprooted, I have dearth of close friends. As I am very reserved person, it takes a lot of time & effort for me (and for the other person) to make genuine close friend but once friends, I go extra mile for the person I care for. The people who know me, will agree to all of it. I am fully aware of this negative side of me. But that’s the way I am.

4. I love music. Music soothes me and makes me forget the whole damn world.. Soft melodious songs, ghazals, fusion, instrumentals, nursery rhymes are some of the kind of music I can listen to anytime. 88% of my songs are Hindi. Rest includes English, Marathi, French, Bengali (only S D Burman folk songs) & some Punjabi songs.

Not a particular singer or album but anything which suits my mood. My all time favourites are Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosale, Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali. Waittt, that doesn’t mean I like only soft music.. I am equally at comfort with blaring music when I am on a long drive (happens rarely though). Told you.. strange mix of contrasts.

5. I am a very organized person. Never you will find me, my place, my clothes, my mailboxes in clutters. I like my neighbourhood spick and span. That’s again a negative point.. sometimes I overdo it and wonder why others can’t be like me.

6. I have excellent memory chip fitted into me, have my own database and once registered there, people are sure to get wishes on their birthdays/ anniversaries and all the information when needed.

At home when people don’t find their belongings, they come running to me “Do you know where I kept that thing?” and Cuckoo knows exactly what do they mean by “that” and where it is kept.

7. I am not a regular movie goer mainly for three reasons.. lack of interest, lack of company and lack of good movies. I can add one more.. my erratic daily schedule (for last six months I have been extremely busy). I do watch them if I have time or the movie is recommended as good. Believe in quality not quantity. Can watch any good movie even if they are of an era when even my mom was not born ! Is that a negative point? If so, then be it.

8. Reading is another passion I enjoy. Mostly thrillers and some other interesting ones. But no Harry Potters for me. Thrillers started from my father’s collection and ended (my last book) with Robin Cook’s Coma. Not getting time to start another one. But I cannot read the same book for more than 3-4 times. Someone told me he has read Godfather 17 times! Phew!

I am also a fan of Tintin, Archie and Garfield. Tom & Jerry is my favourite cartoon show and I can watch it again & again & again for my whole life. Coyote & Road Runner, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel Hardy are some other in the list. BTW, just watched a DVD on Asterix yesterday.

9. Unlike general belief about girls, I am extremely good at keeping secrets between friends or otherwise and people who have confided anything in me know that their secrets are going to remain within me till my end.

10. I have a sweet tooth, love sweets in any form. Sweets, ice creams, chocolates. Ummm delicious .. But chocolates should only be in the form of chocolates, favourite being Swiss Lindt. Can’t have chocolate flavoured milk, chocolate ice-cream, chocolate burfi etc.

Ohh I shot up by two points but I think that is excusable. Or is negative marking applicable here too? No worries, Cuckoo is charmingly chilled, almost iced person and seldom gets angry. :)


Question 3:
And this is where I need to think now. I have very few regular visitors to my blog and either most of them have done this tag or the tagger has tagged them.

So, I am left with very little choice and after thinking for a while I am tagging the following persons and leaving free for others to pick up the tag.

1. Abhi (You are my first victim, my lovely shikaar. Can’t let you go, would like to see more of you)
2. Maverick (Now that your exams are over, you can attempt it)
3. Mridula (Don’t worry, take your time, maybe after December but we would like to know more about you)
4. Sigma (Sorry, I don’t have much choice here. But I want you to do it)
5. Sunil (I am sure you’d like to go for it)
6. Tarun (How can I leave you behind?)

Bendtherulz, Mayank & Priyam... you all are lucky this time. You don’t have blogs.

Ketan, Sameer, Deepak, Hazel Dream, Bharat, Alka and others. Pick this up if you want to.

Sameer - (would have liked to tag you but it won’t go with your blog, so leaving the option to you)

Leaving SiD’s all friends so that he can tag them !! But on second thoughts, I could have had Bharat at least!

NOTE – Make this tag as your next post (Mridula is excused, she can have more time).
After doing the tag please leave a comment here so that I can visit you. Please don’t make me wait till eternity. I have some more tags waiting for you !!. Kidding, ok?

NOTE – Now, No More Tags for me. Grrrrrrrr...

Update on the post..

Mridula, Maverick & Sigma have done their tags, Sunil has been excused since he has already done it before (my mistake to tag him).
Tarun has taken a sabbatical at present but has promised to do it as his next post.
Abhi ?? No news :(( Perhaps he is also going to take some more time.
Sameer has shown interest so probably.... :))

Current song- Abhi Na Jao Chodkar ki Dil Abhi Bhara Nahi – Md Rafi & Asha

Saturday, October 21, 2006

My Firsts..

In this series, I will not speak about my first step or my first word… those topics are exclusively reserved for my mother.
Here, these posts, are about the things that I have experienced and remember. They will appear in my blog as and when I experience or remember them, not in any sequential mode.

First Post
First Tag
First Hindi Poem
First Logic
First English Poem
First Dream
First Trip Abroad

Current song- Malgudi Days .. Tanana na.. ...

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Are we safe?

Today I happened to go to passport office in Worli. It is situated in Bengal Chemicals building and looked a pretty new office. There are two main halls, one each on either side. Both the halls were packed to full capacity.

At the entrance, I was asked by the security why I want to go in. I just had to utter one word “passport” and he let me in without further enquiry or checking. With a small rucksack on my back, one large plastic bag and a handbag I entered. Near the Xerox counter two public telephones are kept. Since no one was using the telephones (probably they were out of order) I kept my bags on the counter and stood in the nearest queue. After around 45 minutes I thought of taking one round to give some exercise to my legs. My bags were still there on the counter within my sight. I was in that hall for more than three hours in total before moving to the other hall and to my surprise no one was bothered about those unclaimed bags lying on the counter.

Last weekend, I saw two French movies from the French festival at Fun Republic. Fun Republic is a mall and has mini theatres, a gaming arcade and a bowling alley, a Macdonald among other outlets. First day we were a little late (thanks to Mumbai traffic) so had to rush directly to the movie floor from basement car parking area. Showed our tickets at the entrance of cinema and we were inside the picture hall.

Next day we reached early, parked the car and instead of going up the movie floor, came to the other side of the building. At the door there was a security guard who didn’t bother to even look at us since we were coming out of the building. We played bowling for sometime, had snacks before re-entering into the building for movie through the same entrance from where we had come out. Now this time there was a lady security guard also and she casually checked my handbag (not me). There is no such checking if we enter the building from parking lot side. When I pointed this out to them, they just ignored it saying, “Check to kar rahen hain, aur kya karen?”.

Question - After so many cases of bomb blasts, are we safe?

Current song- Agar Tum Mil Jao, Zamana Chhod Denge Hum – Udit

Monday, October 16, 2006

Mulgi Shikli Pragati Zhali – III

Before I narrate this final part, my humble request to all dear readers to actively comment and discuss on this 3 part series. I would like to know about my understanding & interpretation of the local vocab in particular and also about the post in general. The second part will help me in improving the quality of posts. What you liked or disliked about these posts. Feel free to voice your opinions as many times as you wish. I value your opinion. Please spend some time, do it at leisure, and DO it. Thanks.

First, let us have a free ride of Part – I and Part – II. FREEEEEEE?? Me comingggggg..

Ah! That was quite a ride ;)) Isn’t it?

So this boring dull story comes to an end with this equally boring post and even more boring Lady Jasoos. So sad na? Ok, before we get emotional, let me continue and finish it fast. So, me, the Lady Jasoos had full doubts about this ‘Udi’ man’s intentions.

Nevertheless, my one eyebrow went up and my CPU?? Huh, never mind. It was spinning at 1000000 RPM (excuse me non-IT people).. hmm hmm

Udi, Udi, Udi..

Did that mean he knew flying?? But this hefty guy was nowhere near any superman category. But who knows? NO, NO, NO.. I am NOT opening my mouth this time. Come what may.

Anyways, I was happy to have one more addition to my vocabulary.

Two good looking ;) guys were chatting with me (Ahem! For a change Lady Jasoos was happy) and suddenly one of them looking in one direction said, “Oh, my PL (Project Leader (for non-IT people)) is coming this way. Aaj to meri Vaat hai”.

Vaat ??? What?? Vaat = What??..

Some people’s pronunciation is sooo bad, let alone the grammar part. Don’t know from which remote place they do their studies. And who tells them to join this industry when they can’t even make a proper sentence? Now, what sense does his sentence make “Today is my what?”. Stoooopid guys.

My big grin had turned into an even bigger grrrrrr and while I was still trying to make sense out of that Vaat thing, and then.. .. then as in series of bomb blasts, the other guy dropped another one. “Chal beta kalti mar le”.

Kalti??? Oh no, not again!!! Was about to scream “Mommyyyyyyyyyy”. My gray cells had started turning black and my face red. The chilled Lady Jasoos was turning into a grilled one.

By now, I had started cursing myself for deciding to shift to Mumbai. I could manage in some languages but these stupid silly things were driving me crazy. Oh la la..

During lunch hour one day all of us wanted to have ice-cream. I looked at the menu. Ahaa !! There it is something new, “Sitaphal” ice-cream. Always ready to try out new things, I ordered the same wondering how it would be. First bite – Ummm delicious but didn’t have the taste what I was expecting. Second bite- I tried hard again to have the flavour of “Sitaphal” but no, it tasted altogether different to me.

Not wanting to make a fool of myself, summoned the waiter asking him what had he brought for me. “Sitaphal icecream, Madam” prompt came the reply. Girl sitting next to me tasted one bite of it and confirmed. I was not ready to believe that my taste buddies had divorced me in the prime of my youth. I’ve had green-peas ki barfi, cauliflower kheer, gajar halwa in the past and they had not given any strain to my taste-buddies, then why this stupid Sitaphal ice-cream? NOW, I said to myself, is the time to break the promise. Tried asking in a different way “How big a Sitaphal have you seen?”, “How do you normally eat a Sitaphal?” etc etc. I could see question marks on their faces but I had to find it out for the sake of my sanity.
According to them, Sitaphal was a fruit, but for me it was a vegetable. Uh uh, these guys were making mistake, didn’t know the difference between a fruit & a veggie- calling pumpkin a fruit !! PUMPKIN ??? They all jumped & shouted in unison “It’s Custard Apple”. It was my turn now to fall off the chair. :((

Many rhyming words like jhakaas, Bindaas are making me Khallaas (ohhhhh that one rhymed;)).. while loads of other words like raapchik, bhangar, yeda are still meaningless to me. I dare not to open my mouth lest..

I know one of ‘Parvarna’ & ‘waaparna’ means unaffordable but which one is that, I am at a loss. Similarly difference between ‘koodi’ & ‘udi’.. aaj tak samajh nahi aaya. If one is jump then what’s the other? And in what context do we use them?

It took me some months to understand that Aai shapath = Maa kasam (I still think so, someone please correct me if I am wrong) and Haaila, which I thought is an acronym of Haye Allah is NOT always used only by our Muslim brothers.

Anyways, I am an optimist, a keen observer, and a fast learner with ‘Never Say Die’ attitude. Looking at my alacrity, I am sure very soon I’ll master them all. :))

P.S. My Marathi is even better. ;) pan tikde ek problem aahe..

I request my fellow Marathi speaking friends to correct me if I go wrong somewhere. Mee tumchi aabhaari rehnaar.

Glossary of words used in this series: Some of them I picked up in office, others from day-to-day life.

Ghaai = Jaldi as in Jaldi hai kya? => Ghaai hai kya?
Gardi = Bheed (Hindi) = crowded
Ghadi = fold
Pakaana = bore karna
Udi = either jump or hop
Koodi = either jump or hop depending on Udi
Vaat = Shaamat (Hindi) as in aaj meri shaamat hai => aaj meri vaat hai
Kalti marna = something like (patli gali se nikalna) in Hindi
Sitaphal = custard apple = pumpkin (north India)
In Mumbai pumpkin is bhopla and that confuses me with zhopla (sleeping). Oh Oh too many rhymings. ;) I wonder what “bhopla zhopla” means? Pumpkin sleeping? ;) oh oh atta mee zhopli :P

Nakki = pakka (Hindi) = sure (English)
Kalingar = Tarbooz (hindi) = water melon.. this was a tough one for me. For months people were quoting kalingar in jokes and I was dumbfounded.
Parvarna’ & ‘waaparna’ = one of them is unaffordable, for other I am at a loss.

Haaila = Haye Allah (my guess)
Aai shapath = I swear = Maa kasam (My great logic.. since aai = mother, shapath=kasam/ swearword)
Mama = Thulla (north indian Hindi) = traffic policeman (English)

Current song- Lagi Tumse Man ki Lagan - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Mulgi Shikli Pragati Zhali – II

Whether you have read it or not, please read Part – I before reading this post for better continuity (or just for the heck of it ;)). I promise, I won’t proceed further till you finish. Waiting here for you.

Ok, done? Thanks. :))

So, the story goes like this. Once upon a time, there was a pretty little birdie named Cuckoo who shifted her nest to Mumbai..

Suddenly there was a tight slap on my face. “Oh come on, tell us the part II. Not interested in your boring story”.

Ouch!! Who did it? Huh? :((

Ok, so my self-made dictionary was swelling in size day by day. Some of these instances made me sit and think if I really was that bright? And as always, I was forced to have big bright grin on my face. I was learning new things. Yippeee…

But at other times I felt let down. Let down, because I FELT, by now some people had become aware of my knowledge of local vocab and at times they purposefully changed the conversation into their Hindi when they saw me coming their way. Just to have fun at my expense, I presume?? Grrrr..

This made me more quiet and observant all the time. I was almost tight-lipped. Though I wanted to shake the hand(s) of friendship offered by them, most of the time I ended up suspecting them for forming some conspiracies against me (purely my assumption). And so, a “Lady Jasoos” was born.

Once I even tried to tiptoe (with ears all up, eyes as sharp as an eagle) to their territory just to find out if they speak normally like that or only when they see me. But no luck :((

When I was new to my office, all my male colleagues were competing hard (of course, with all their good intentions), to impress me by helping in every little thing, even when I didn’t want any. How and what all they did over the period of time will NOT come in this post. Sorry.

Ok, let us come to the point.

On a particular day during break, some of them gathered around me, pulling each other’s leg in an attempt to have my full attention. One guy told me pointing to another “Ye bahut pakaata hai”.

“Oh, good. What all do you cook?” was my spontaneous question (with a big smile) to that other guy. There was a pin drop silence for 1.00000438 seconds and then to my utter surprise, everybody burst into non-stop laughter (literally ROFLing), so much so that some had tears in their eyes, and others, hot coffee on their clothes and all over the carpet. Now what??? Was there any hidden joke? I was utterly confused.

Enough is enough !! I am NOT (in CAPS, Bold, Underlined & bigger font size) going to open my mouth till I am dead sure of the meaning, I pledged to myself. These stooopid guys, what do they think of themselves?? Huh? Why do they do this to me?

I was terribly disturbed, always in deep thoughts, juggling with new wordology.

On another day, I overheard someone talking about potholes and suddenly changing to Hindi “Main udi maarke aaya”. Urghhh!! Another challenge?? Do these guys do it purposely, to check the depth my knowledge? Why do they have to speak near me? Did I see him slyly looking at me from the corner of his eye and smiling? The Lady Jasoos had full doubts about his intentions.

To be continued….

Current song- Dream Girl, kisi Shayar ki Ghazal.. Dream Girl – Kishore

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Big Thanks !

On 14th July this year, when I wrote my first post in this blogworld, I never expected my blog to cross even 100 reads in the first year. Today, two and half months later, on 30th September it has more than 1000 reads, 1027 to be precise at this moment. My site meter shows right now there are two people online – one from Hyderabad, India & the other is from Glendale, Arizona.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have visited this blog, sometimes accidentally ;) and sometimes by referral. It gives a nice feeling and I am encouraged to write more on seeing such an overwhelming response from the people, none of whom I know personally.

Current song- Pour que tu m’aimes encore – Celine Dion