Either way

You get tired... When you have too much to do..
You get tired... When you have not much to do..
Either which when you get tired... you are getting OLD! :-)

Boriyat

Realised today that I have suddenly lost interest in
reading.. and even writing. :-(

Have a huge Marathi book with me - which I fought for -
but just not able to pick it up and read. Same with writing..
Havent written much in this year so far.

Ofcourse I have been busy. Had been to Germany to visit my
bro who was on business there. (Had a much awaited visit to
Heidelberg.) Then my youngest bro was with me until today..
so yeah. But this is nicht gut.

:-)

होंठ पे लिए हुए.... दिल की बात हम
जागते रहेंगे और... कितनी रात हम
मुख़्तसर सी बात है... तुमसे प्यार है...
तुम्हारा.... इंतज़ार है....
तुम..... पुकार लो....

दिल बहेल तो जाएगा.... इस ख़याल से....
हाल मिल गया तुम्हारा.... अपने हाल से....
रात बेकरार थी...बेकरार है....
तुम्हारा.... इंतज़ार है....
तुम..... पुकार लो....

Celestial Connections

or Kismat Konnections...

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.
You meet people for a reason and that though you may not
notice the reason right away, eventually it will be clear.
Ofcourse, there are still things that happened and people I
met - the reason for which I do not know yet. But nevertheless,
the belief stays.

Just happened to revisit some of the old times and thought of it.

Trigger

manatale bhaav saare bandist aahet othan maage
bhavanancha baandh sutayla havet mag aathavaninche dhaage

Growing slow and steady

Looking at my blogging history it appears that I have
been a turtle... slow and steady.

The number of posts from 2007 have steadily increased
and I hope I keep the pace this year too :)

A New beginning

with a new year, new resolutions, new goals..
Wish you all a fantastic 2010 and hope you get
what you really need and may you enjoy the struggle
to get what you just want :)

It was a long break from blogging. Took a good vacation
in December and though snow and bad weather played
havoc with some of my plans - all in all - had a relaxing
2 weeks.

M back to getting used to the rut of regular life... yea, mid
Jan is a tad too late - but if you get an awesome vacation, it
does that. :)

Whats new with you?

Opinion Poll

The best relationship is one in which your love for each other
exceeds your need for each other.

Agree?

Currently Reading...

"2 States" by Chetan Bhagat.... AND "ek shunya mi" by Pu.La. Deshpande

Well, the first is my first of Chetan Bhagat's books and I must say he has a
flair for writing or what! :) His book is just irresistibly addictive and I just
cannot keep it down... so I search for any 5 minute break that I get and try
to read as much as I can.. even if it is walking ! :)

Well, two reasons... first, he is GOOD!
Second, I connect to what he writes... I had a boyfriend while I was at IIM
and it just brings back fond memories of that time and it just feels awesome :)
(I know my current boyfriend wont like this statement, but ... )
So... its just nice... may be the guys out there will say its too mushy...
but hey.. I am a woman.. I like it :D

Lone woman standing

I dont think men realise how hard it is to be the lone woman
standing.. no they would never know.

They takes so many things for granted that its easy to miss the
efforts a woman has to put in to be standing alongside them.

Well lets start with the basics.. her attire. Too long - she's labeled
boring and too short makes you a too loose. So you wear a
slightly low neck tee and you have men hardly listening to what
you have to say.. lower attention span.. :)

Once they get past it they will judge you for what you speak and how
you speak. Soft will make you weak and a little strong will make you
too aggressive! What the hell ?!

Your status... the first thing to check will be her ring finger and if thats
missing then they will ask you out. And if you turn them down, well,
you have a hidden enemy for the rest of your time in that project.
For guys, its the done thing to flaunt their married status and kids.
A woman asking to adjust the timings to take care of her home and kids
will make her a liability.

The jokes... are incessantly on the wife, the girlfriend, the mother or the
bitchy lady boss. Whoever noticed that men too do the same?
Language is another issue. Swear words (all mostly based on woman) are
like interjections in any statement they make... so casual. Men get
irritated when they have to mind their language around a lady!
Btw..I have never understood why all the swear words are based on a woman.

And these are only some superficial points I made.

Standing as the lone woman many a times in my career so far has sadly, still
not taught me how to tame a man at work.. no, doesnt mean I know how to
do it in my personal life.. but it is surely something that oughta be learned in
order to crack into the group and get access to the same information that men
have.

Being pally doesnt help.. neither does being girly... or classy..
Is it that men still have not warmed up to the idea of a woman working
shoulder to shoulder with them and being equally successful?

And the Champagne flew

finally at 11:30pm on Saturday night :)
A relieved lot enjoyed the drink with laughter and fun
and light banter over the tough times in the recent past.

For me... now starts the phase of adjusting with the inlaws..
the defects that might get reported when the system goes
live on Monday! I hope they aren't too tough.

It will also see me trying to get the fine balance between
work and home... that is defects and new releases.
Its gonna be an exciting time ahead.

Oh Christmas vacation.. where art thou? :)

Ironing out creases

No matter how boring the weekly task of ironing my clothes
is, I realised today that I like it.

The reason? Well, that is the time when your mind is initially
focused on ironing out the creases and making sure the shirt
looks wrinkle free n stuff... but eventually the monotony of the
task sets in and puts you in semi-trance. You start thinking about
the various creases in your life and ways how to iron them out.
Will the steam work, should it be just less hot, or should you just
put it on maximum heat? Sadly, it doesn't have an option of soft
heat or a caring pull that will straighten out the situation.
But well, you get the point.

Indian men

are hypocrites !

This is fact that I have to live with for the rest of my life!
Cos I am going to be with Indian men in my personal life
as well as professional.
Wont talk about the personal part, but the professional
discrepancy was there for more than me to see today.

I have been raising a couple of points since the time I moved
into this project regarding the way the team operates and
carries itself at a client site. That was the first resistance I
met - saying I was new and should not be bringing in too many
reforms all at once, which was a valid point. But the same
behaviour has become rampant now and has spread across
many teams. So we call for another meeting and I raise my
voice again. This to much dismay makes my male colleagues
(who are indians) uncomfortable of having a lady speak more
strongly than they and that our bosses agree to my point...
no matter how valid it is. It has also resulted in me being
infamous to a certain extent for moving the team out of the
comfort zone. All that is lacking is a formal protest!

Then we have a big shot lady manager here, who is Dutch,
and she has a reputation of being strict and well, not ruthless
exactly, but authoritarian. She is known to openly slam mistakes
and caring two hoots about who she is dealing with.

When I was discussing this with my team member, he was all
praises for her. I did a small test on him to check if the same
will work had she been an Indian working with Indians. The
answer was an expected "No.. it would not work!"

This is so unfair. Indian men do not mind a foreigner (lady)
bossing around and on them.. but the same done by an Indian
lady would not go down well with them. This is so absolutely
ridiculous.

I understand that this boils down to the Indian culture and roots
and upbringing and stuff... but men working abroad are exposed
to so much more than what they have been in their childhood.
They are also much more capable of thinking on their own,
judging what is right or wrong, where to draw the line between
personal and professional and the works. But this has not changed
the way they think! :-(
The so-called Indian values are so imbibed in them that they do
not take anything outside of that as acceptable and will openly
rebel!

Whoever said life is fair!

The Wedding Prep

The wedding prepations are on in full swing....

Its a one time event and takes all it takes.
The pre-wedding, the wedding, the post-wedding..
the after-care..
You need to make sure the venue is right..
the food is there.. the guest list... the entry passes...
the accomodation... the rituals... the rehearsals...
man.. does it ever end?

Its on 27th of this month... goraj muhurta..
Be there...

Currently Readin

"दास डोंगरी राहतो " by गो नी दांडेकर

Its about this great saint called Ramdas.
He was Chhatrapati Shivaji's guru, mentor.

So far an interesting read.

Have you

ever thought, why addition is easy and subtraction so difficult?

Another status message

put up by my friend on her gtalk.

"If you didn't try, then don't repent..
Cos you didn't try when you had the chance to hold it."

Man, is it cryptic or what :)

Found another one...

another lookalike I mean.
Man... can you believe it.. ! :)
This place is like a backup of the world!

Freedom

is Priceless !

Was watching the "Jailed Abroad" series on NGC.
It had this episode on an American woman jailed
in Cuba for carrying cocaine.

No matter where you are stuck... in a boring job,
a dead-end marriage, in your head, in the quicksand...
everybody realises this at some point or the other...
that Freedom is truly Priceless.

Dog days

Spoke to my dog yesterday.

He obviously doesnt speak much.. but we had a good
conversation. He kept looking for me underneath the
computer table (cos we were talking over the internet :P)
and just sat there for a long time listening to my blabber
and responding in his own ways. :)

Oh he does miss me... and I miss him sooooo much :(