Year in review..

Well, it's been a funny kind of a year.

Started off absolutely brilliantly, spending New Year's eve & a good chunk of Jan 1st on a flight to Paris, one hell of a party in Milan, some unbelievably cold weather (I touched snow for the first time!!), frostbite, miles & miles of traveling and spending Pongal in Lyon! But then, I did get mugged in between, but the replacement wardrobe from Milan was worth it :P

A few uneventful months followed with me visiting every single inch of India, except for J&K.. Hmmm.. Need to get that sorted next year. I realize that I have practically lived out of a suitcase this year & sometimes I do not know if I am going or coming..

I lost a mobile phone for the first time in my life & THAT hurt! A whole bunch of pics & documents went along with it & nothing can bring those back.. So now, I have two memory cards with a backup done every 48 hours.. We revamped the entertainment system at home & I realized that my negotiation skills suck!! What was essentially supposed to be a Media-Room at home is now a store for luggage and stuff..

My sis & nephew came home for their 'annual trip' with scores of gifts from United's store in Manchester & the fact that United went on to win 2 major trophies this year (and ya, the bizarre Club World Cup too). Somehow, 'I told you so' just doesn't quite say it!! El Scouse lead the league on New Year's eve this time around. Not to worry, the last time it happened, they finished fourth! :P

I have been accident free this year!! Very surprising 'cos I normally have at least one close encounter with a TVS Scooty every year!! I have a magnetic effect when it comes to that bike. They normally end up running over me!! Maybe the fact that I haven't been at home that much this year has kept me safe! I convinced (Ya ya, big surprise!) my Dad that it was time for me to get a car & we ended up booking a Fabia in October. The bozos at work decided to 'donate' me to the parent firm in France & I am 3 months away from settling down in Lyon! We had to cancel the booking as it was a waste of money & my one good piece of negotiation went useless!!!

It's been a pretty good year otherwise & considering the fact that there hasn't been any major mishaps, I would rate this absolutely eneventful & boring 365 days as probably the best in a long long time!!

Time for some awards!!! :D

Song of the year : Viva la vida - Coldplay
Movie of the year : Transformers (well, I saw Munich on TV for the first time this year & thought it was awesome!!)
Phone of the year : SE X1
Website of the year : Engadget
Bloggers I stalk :P : Ketaki, Prabha & Retardoman

Well, that's it for 2008. Here's wishing the 4 good souls who visit this page regulalry a great year ahead!! :)

Molars & Fillings

If you ever are in an argument with a dentist, please accept defeat & shut up, lest you find yourself in a situation where they can afflict serious pain on you!! Man, getting your teeth cleaned hurts!!!! The doc was sweet enough to coax me through an hour of cleaning, filling, grinding etc, but never has a woman inflicted so much pain & gotten away with a smile at the end of it!! The scores of stitches I have had seem so painless compared to what I endured today!

And to think I was in love with a Dentist!! :P

Squeaky bum time!

Ah well, that's a phrase I've plagiarized from Sir Alex & football!

Well, it IS squeaky bum time, meaning, it's time for yearly reviews & unachievable target setting for the year ahead. Well, this will be the last review in India for a while now that I am running away to Lyon!!!!!!! (More on that later!)

What fun these reviews are! Perfect manipulation of words & circumstances to make you want to commit suicide for having decided to work there instead of serving beer somewhere! Man, that sounds so good! Pearls like,
"We believe in talent building"
"The bigger the bubble, the more sound it makes when it is burst!"
"The hike is PURELY based on your PERFORMANCE and has nothing to do with your lack of, err, 'assets?'"
"You are one for the future"
"We take care of our stars!"
and so on and so forth!

Now tell me, how does someone whose main job somewhere in Cochin was organizing memos & taking phone calls go from being an executive to a Senior Manager in Planning in 3 years? Is that even remotely possible? Even if your dad owns the f*!king company? People who tell you that gender bias does not exist in corporates are seriously nuts! It exists big time! And it helps if your boss is from the same state! I never really give a rat's ass about people climbing ladders through manipulating the system, but a dear friend of mine is getting a really raw deal because of someone else possessing the right 'assets?'... Bro', if you are reading this, which I highly doubt, Elephant one column, Cat one column :P

Back to what I do best!

This was done quite sometime back, but somehow I did not find the time to upload it!

As always, the inspiration behind the sketch belongs to the brilliant artists at deviantArt.

Hit List

People who have, at any point in time,

1. Jumped a traffic signal & almost killed me..
2. Sped like a rabbit on Meth & splashed water (rain water, to be more specific) on me..
3. Parked their vehicle in front of a public convenience point (steps, corridors, platforms)..
4. Driven on the sidewalk, honked at me & expected ME to make room for them..
5. Blared Himesh Reshammiya on their stereo systems & looked at me like they were hip..

... please be scared. Very very scared. I have lost my patience waiting on this world to change & expecting people to have good road-side manners!!

It's time for some vigilante justice.

Step 1 : Bumper stickers that say "I am an inconsiderate ass 'cos I block public access points"

Kangaroo Curry!!

Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is more satisfying to me than the following things,

1. United thrashing Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool.
2. India embarrassing the Aussies!

And even though El-Scouse inflicted a defeat on United this year, Dhoni's men humiliating Punter's troops was more than a tonic to make up for it!!!

Here are some pics from the Mauling at Mohali!

On a monday, yet again..

Those of you who live in and around Adyar would know of Canara Bank's ATM near Ambika Appalam Depot for the following reasons,
1. It was the first ATM to open doors for other banks' cards to be used without any service charge.
2. There are invariably 5-6 customers in queue to use it at any given point in time.
3. It doesn't work 99% of the time.
4. When it does work, it refuses to dispense cash if the requested amount is greater than 2500 bucks.
5. It holds the record for "eating" the maximum number of credit/debit cards!

And on a fine Monday (!!!!) morning at around 7 in the morning, I decided to withdraw some cash & made my way to the ATM to find just one person ahead of me, waiting to use the machine. I was pleasantly surprised that there weren't many people around & gave myself a pat on my back for the timing! The female who went in ahead of me did not take much time to process her request, but, when she tried coming out of the ATM, the exit button did not work & she found herself stuck inside! She tried the button a few more times & finally, I used my card from the outside to open the door and let her out. A week or so back, the same thing had happened & the customers in the queue helped each other out, opening the door for each other. So, this time around, I asked the lady if she would wait outside for a couple of minutes so that she could let me out. She agreed & I went in to withdraw some cash.

The lady who was supposed to be outside was nowhere to be found when I wanted to get out & I was stuck in the ATM! I was so enraged that I started banging on the door trying to get the attention of any passer by! 5 minutes passed, 10 minutes passed, 15 minutes passed & not a soul was to be found! The bank normally opens at 9 in the morning & it was only close to half past seven at that time. I finally decided to call a friend of mine (Natasha aka Tasha) & asked her to come to the ATM and "rescue" me. She agreed & when she finally turned up, she made me agree to a deal that I'd take her home and introduce her to my nephew who had come down from the UK for his holidays. I told her it was a bit early to be barging in to my place and bonding with my nephew & agreed to take her to Sangeetha for breakfast instead.

We were at the signal waiting to cross the road when from the other side a couple of "gentlemen" decided to let my friend know that they thought she looked like Lekha. They made couple of mistakes.
1. This was in full view of the traffic cop who was manning the infamous (a minimum of 10 accidents occur at this signal every week) signal. On second thought, this really did not matter.
2. Tasha hates Lekha Washington :P
She was enraged (:P) and decided to yell back, bellowing expletive after expletive at the guys! Fortunately for them, before she could stroll across and strangle them, the signal fell favourably for them & they escaped. She then walked across to the cop & asked him to register a case of eve teasing. He flatly refused saying that there wasn't enough identity/proof/evidence & we should get on with our lives! This enraged her even more & before she got herself in to further trouble, I pulled her away from the cop & calmed her down! He was right in a way because we had no clue about the identity of the guys! But there really must be a better way to put it across.

The day that followed was far more pleasant and memorable. We ended up seeing the new Batman movie. Heath Ledger is plain awesome! And we emptied half of the Adidas showroom in T. Nagar!

Two things to be learnt from that particular day,
1. No matter how good Madras is turning out to be, the problems of eve teasing still persists. Not just in colleges or when women are alone, but, in broad daylight in a crowded place like Adyar. The law is still not strict enough on eve teasing. When I told my Dad in the evening, he said that during his teenage days in Calcutta, the public would beat the crap out of any suspect. Vigilante justice might not be a bad idea, but, the change should come from within.
2. Always read the small signs stuck on the door of an ATM which says stuff like, "Door does not open from the inside. Please leave it open & process your request."