THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Ap'praise'als

2009-01-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

Though the climate is very chill, the atmosphere is all heated up as the appraisal results are out. It always happens that people normally do not get what they have expected – it might be because of two reasons.

1. Every associate expects too much of himself (just bcoz he knows more about himself and the hard work he has put in rather than any other individual).

2. The manager and the associate have different viewpoints and the manager thinks about so many people in parallel.

The appraisals hit hard and this time a lot of people are affected, probably for the reason that market is not good and the managers think that employees will not risk leaving the company. There are different perspective of each individual – the manager and the associate and the rating thus differs based on that.

Manager’s perspective

1. If a set of people are working on the same terms in a project, and there are only a few number of vacancies, the manager has to often pick people at random which is quite hard.

My Say – Set objectives higher for each cadre of people. When no objectives are set, there won’t and can’t be any comparison and rating people without objectives is highly demoralizing. It would appear to an associate as if his work is unnoticed bcoz an associate without objectives always think he is more or less similar to the well appraised associates.

Baseline – Set proper objectives and compare.

2. An associate should know and do more than what he is eligible of.

My Say – Give the opportunity for the associate only when the person would be able to show what his capability is. It is the responsibility of the manager to provide that opportunity for the associate. Just saying that an associate should lead a team wouldn’t help unless he is given a team to lead and see what he does out of it.

Baseline – Give opportunities, watch and then rank.

3. The appraisal is based on the past managers comment.

My Say – Take the past managers comment and please do not appraise a person based on that. Based on the past managers comment, the level of improvement the person gained in the amount of time needs to be identified and that can be set as a benchmark for appraisal.

Baseline – Take the feedback, assess on the improvement, decide his learning curve and then rank.

Associates Perspective

1. There are three kinds of people in the industry – one who works and showcases his talent, two who works but can’t showcase his talent and three who doesn’t work but showcase the work as if everything is done by him… This is the real talent. An associate wouldn’t be affected much if his talent is unidentified when compared to the first two set of people. But if the associate who works gets a lesser recognition than one who just showcases without working then that would affect the morality of the team.

My say – We need to have a 360 degrees appraisal, where the team member rates his peer, his manager and the people under him. An associate certainly would know about his peers and since it is a many to one mapping, a true analysis would be done on the same.

Baseline – Everyone should be appraised and rated by everyone else in the team.

2. Sometimes a manager doesn’t work closely with the team. Still he appraises the people.

My Say – Work closely with the team and know about the associate in and out. Ask the module leads and appraise them. Even the peer’s feedback should be taken into consideration.

Baseline – Understand the work done and then rate people.

3. No favoritism please.

My Say - Sometimes people get appraised for different reasons with the reasons better known. The appraisal should be a fair process and there should be no favoritism out of pity, concern, friendship, favor or whatsoever. This impacts the deserving associates who are highly affected based on that and there are chances of the employee getting demotivated. Sometimes a person on bench for almost 8 or 9 months gets a better appraisal than a person who worked hard and smart. The results are often not taken into consideration. The managers should have the insight to look into the quality of work done by an associate. Lack of trust in the management affects the work culture and work environment of the people.

Baseline – Lack of trust makes the work culture gross.

4. Don’t give appreciation awards just for the sake of giving.

My Say – Appreciation awards are given to people and they are complimented for the wonderful work done. Good comments are given for the associate and they land up getting least deserving appraisal. Nobody wants any appreciation award, or good review comments if the manager doesn’t think the person deserves. When you give an award just mean it else FORGET it.

Baseline – When you appreciate a person mean it. Showoffs are not necessary.

These are just a few factors that have come into my mind. There may be a lot of other things that the readers better know and have identified personally… It’s for the higher management to set the objectives, goals and targets based on which the appraisal can be done such that there will be no favoritism. The managers have to abide to that and appraise people based on that. There should be a measurement for the work done by the individual – like the quality of the code delivered, the quality of testing done or whatsoever with respect to their concerned area. All these needs to be identified and it should be a systematic procedure. An appraisal once given cannot be changed whatsoever. This impacts the person’s destiny for a year. This needs to be made a little flexible and standardized as well.

Disclaimer - No personal references made. If it hurts anybody I duly apologize.

Dasvidaniya - The best good bye ever

2009-01-30T21:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a month I have published any post. I gathered several topics to write a blog but didn't have sufficient time to pen (err type) it down. Today as it is the last day of the month and the year I have taken a resolution(a pre new year resolution) to write a blog though it doesn't have any sensible content. I have several topics that I thought I would write about but which didn't work. I felt it's a nice idea to brief a few of them in this post.

Obsessions - Like I was obsessed to write a blog, there are several people obsessed with several things in life. I can just name a few of them in my own team who are obsessed with several things. Like DV(name changed), is obsessed about her cab driver…. Guys… she is obsessed not with the cab driver himself but his driving skills. She board this cab which is some 10 mins before the next cab and all this bcoz the driver drops her in office before anyone else reach office. He takes all possible ways to reach office first. The other is obsessed with a fellow colleague travelling in the same cab. She tries all possible means to trace him in the cafeteria and go to the cafeteria at the same time. The other is obsessed with Communicator, phones… meaning they are more into these Communication Skills and Soft skills… I guess half of the team would be relating this to themselves.. … if at all they read this post… Someone else is obsessed with Asin. Each person has their own obsessions and it is sometimes entertaining… I need to mention about my hubbys obsession as well… He is so much into GO GREEN, and against the use of plastic.. The other day when he went to the grocery shop to buy chillies he said NO to plastic and got the chillies in hand… L… Carrying milk or curd packets, tamarind in hand is ok which we often did… But carrying chillies….Hmmm… Heights of obsession… Isnt it?? I am obsessed about KFC and food primarily…My obsession is bad, it spoils my health while my hubby is proud of his obsession. Others obsessions may be hilarious or silly to us but they have their own perception…
PS - I guess I have used the word obsession multiple times. Pardon me for the same as I didn't find any proper synonym.
Dasvidaniya - The next blog I wanted to write is about the movie Dasvidaniya - the best goodbye ever. Though it is an Indian version of the English movie Bucket list, it tied me from the start till the end. Amar is an employee who will be diagnosed with stomach cancer. He is a man in his late 30's whose primary concentration was on his job and his mother. He is unmarried and he is a non-smoker and non-boozer(if that's the word for doesn't drink ).. When he gets to know he is going to die in a couple of months he has realized the lost life and wants to live out his best in these 2 months. He writes a list of THINGS TO DO before he die like he writes it everyday. He wants to live his remaining life saying "kya pata kal ho na ho"(who knows if there is tomorrow or not)… He makes a list of 10 things out of which he achieves 9 of them before he dies.. which includes small things like to buy a new car, to meet his first love, to learn guitar, to go abroad, to meet his best friend, to meet his brother and get his brother and mom together(as they have departed a few years back) and to be the boss of his boss. However Love is one thing he never expected in life, but which he has got… It was included in the wish list after his wish was fulfilled…. The tenth thing which he wanted to do is to be on the first page of the newspaper like his friend in school. This he knew will be possible after his death when it will be published in the paper. This got fulfilled after his death but in the third page.
The movie is a mixture of emotions and happiness… Vinay Phatak is at his best… he is a superstar to me to portray each role with such an ease…be it Bheja fry or Dasvidaniya… he looks innocent and struggling too…He wants to tell everyone that hes gonna die but everyone takes him so easily. So his atmaram(conscious) comes out, which is the hep version of Vinay Phatak and lets him make his last wish list and encourages him to fulfill it. If you haven't watched the movie, please go watch it… There is no movie that equals Dasvidaniya in recent times be it Shahrukh's much hyped Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or Aamir's overrated Ghajini.
My rating would be a complete 5. I enjoyed every part of it and my heart doesn't allow me to cut alteast a half mark for the movie. Its awesome, amazing, and heart throbing…

PS - I have put all my thoughts in a single blog… But I feel the more shorter the more crispier it would be. Happy New Year to all the readers…. May you have a prosperous, safe and a peaceful year ahead and lets give our best goodbye to year 2008 despite of the terror attacks and fall in market and pink slips. Lets start the new year with a ray of hope.

Dostana Review

2009-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

After seeing atleast 3 reviews for Vaaranam Ayiram, I quickly searched through the recent posts, to check for the review of Dostana, so that I would give my comment on the same. But as I quickly navigated through the pages, I never found one. So planned to write my version of it.
After trying for the movie Dostana, in PVR, Inox and Fame Lido, for Friday, Saturday and Sunday we have actually given up the hope of watching the movie this week. On Saturday morning, we just decided to go to a theatre far from home just to watch the movie. We reached Urvashi theatre by 10:30 and got the tickets for 11 show.

The movie is bold, and kudos to Abhishek and John for accepting this movie and putting up their excellent performances. The movie starts off with John (Kunal), a photographer and Abhishek (Sam), a nurse flirting with girls and enjoying their lives in Miami. They get to meet each other a couple of times and both wanted a rented apartment to stay. They were so desperate in need of a home that they pretend to be a gay couple who are in love with each other for the last 3 years. Fortunately or unfortunately the house belongs to Neha(Priyanka) and she has no concerns to live with a gay couple in the same house. They get along well with each other and becomes the best of pals. Both Sam and Kunal falls in love with the girl. How each one tries to impress Neha, were they successful in their endeavours, finally what happens and who gets the girl is altogether a different story…

It is a Karan Johar movie and the theatre is half filled with girls. But you don’t get the Karan Johar feel like the Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gam and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. There is no rhona-dhona and its complete fun watching the movie. However there is a scene from KKHH where Sharukh asks Kajol for a dance copy pasted in the movie as well with a bit of humour involved and several bits of music from KKHH and K3G.

Abhishek is quite lithe with his character. Loved every expression of his. John has done his part well too but has a little less flexibility than Abhishek. Priyanka has done justice to her role. Loved the performance of Kiron Kher as well. Mom of Sam, flies to Miami when she gets to know her son is gay. But she is in the movie for only a little amount of time, but had spilled her beans. I loved one dialog in the movie, where Priyanka tries to convince her saying “Pyaar andha hai”,(love is blind), then Kiron Kher retorts “Pyaar itna bhi andha nahin hain ki ladki aur ladke mein farak dikhayi nahin deta”(Love is not that blind where u cannot identify a guy from a girl) … The first half of the movie mostly turns around Sam and Kunal and second half revolves mostly around Priyanka with the two guys…

Music by Vishal Shekhar is entertaining. Bobby Deol, a special appearance for the film has quite a role to offer but looks bland against the fun making, jovial Abhishek and John. The first half is a complete entertainer, while the second half has a bit of love story attached where Priyanka thinks that she along with her two other close friends(ofcourse Sam and Kunal) are in love with the same guy, Bobby…. Phewwwwwww…. :)

Nice entertaining movie altogether…

My rating would be 3.75 out of 5 for the movie.

Dasvidaniya - The best goodbye forever

2009-01-20T09:03:00.001-08:00

PS - I guess I have used the word obsession multiple times. Pardon me for the same as I didn't find any proper synonym.

Dasvidaniya - The next blog I wanted to write is about the movie Dasvidaniya - the best goodbye ever. Though it is an Indian version of the English movie Bucket list, it tied me from the start till the end. Amar is an employee who will be diagnosed with stomach cancer. He is a man in his late 30's whose primary concentration was on his job and his mother. He is unmarried and he is a non-smoker and non-boozer(if that's the word for doesn't drink ).. When he gets to know he is going to die in a couple of months he has realized the lost life and wants to live out his best in these 2 months. He writes a list of THINGS TO DO before he die like he writes it everyday. He wants to live his remaining life saying "kya pata kal ho na ho"(who knows if there is tomorrow or not)… He makes a list of 10 things out of which he achieves 9 of them before he dies.. which includes small things like to buy a new car, to meet his first love, to learn guitar, to go abroad, to meet his best friend, to meet his brother and get his brother and mom together(as they have departed a few years back) and to be the boss of his boss. However Love is one thing he never expected in life, but which he has got… It was included in the wish list after his wish was fulfilled…. The tenth thing which he wanted to do is to be on the first page of the newspaper like his friend in school. This he knew will be possible after his death when it will be published in the paper. This got fulfilled after his death but in the third page.

The movie is a mixture of emotions and happiness… Vinay Phatak is at his best… he is a superstar to me to portray each role with such an ease…be it Bheja fry or Dasvidaniya… he looks innocent and struggling too…He wants to tell everyone that hes gonna die but everyone takes him so easily. So his atmaram(conscious) comes out, which is the hep version of Vinay Phatak and lets him make his last wish list and encourages him to fulfill it. If you haven't watched the movie, please go watch it… There is no movie that equals Dasvidaniya in recent times be it Shahrukh's much hyped Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or Aamir's overrated Ghajini.

My rating would be a complete 5. I enjoyed every part of it and my heart doesn't allow me to cut alteast a half mark for the movie. Its awesome, amazing, and heart throbing…

PS - I have put all my thoughts in a single blog… But I feel the more shorter the more crispier it would be. Happy New Year to all the readers…. May you have a prosperous, safe and a peaceful year ahead and lets give our best goodbye to year 2008 despite of the terror attacks and fall in market and pink slips. Lets start the new year with a ray of hope.

Gliding over the skies

2008-11-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

I enjoy going to new places, but I detest travelling. I dislike travelling for two reasons. First it consumes so much of time in journey and the second and most important one is I am sensitive to travel. If I go for a drive on mountains, or roads which has lots of twists and turns; my head starts spinning, whirling, spiraling, rotating, revolving and what not… Same is the case when I get on to any of the land or water rides in any amusement parks including the giant wheel, roller coaster, titanic, tora tora, or any twisters as such.

I wouldn’t ever dare to do some crazy things even in my dreams - like bungee jumping, paragliding, sky diving, scuba diving or any other things of that sort… The utmost risk I could take is get on to the Giant wheel and yell at the top of my voice and pray to god to land me safe so that I can never get onto it again. (may be till next summer ) Bcoz in my place, we get this Mela only during summer where we can get onto all these rides. We don’t have Wonderla, FunWorld, MGM or any other amusement part in and around my place to enjoy it more frequently.

After I got married, my first vacation was to Shimla – Kulu – Manali. The first thing that comes to our mind when we hear of these places is nature, mountains, cool breeze, snow and lots of fog. It was in September last year. It has everything but the snow. I loved every moment of my vacation be it the long horse ride through the hilly areas of Shimla, the mountains, the flowers, the hotel we have stayed in; but the drive definitely made me feel dizzy and giddy when I travelled in the ghat roads. Once I have landed at the destination I am certainly the enjoy-whatsoever girl. In Manali, we went to a place where this Paragliding and other adventure sports are being organized. My hubby being an adventure freak insisted me on doing the trekking to the top of the mountain and paragliding from there which is almost 1500 feet from the land which sounded almost impossible for me. We had two options, either to trek the mountain or take a horse ride. My legs started aching after the 3 hour long horse ride in Shimla so I preferred for a trek. After trekking, I was almost tired and paragliding from there looked like a no-chance-whatever case. I know I just can’t do it. I insisted him on doing it alone but he wanted me to accompany him in the act. Then he started reciting about his previous mind blowing, breathe taking adventure. I would like to publish his experience in his expressions.
“I went to Houston sky diving centre with two of my friends. We stared at the whole event for at least an hour. The flight takes the individual up to 14500 feet and drops him from there. At that level we could only see the flight not the person unless he is half way down. After seeing ten's of people landing safely (we actually counted on how many people boarded the flight and how many reached safe to the same place) and seeing the expressions on their face, on what they have experienced, we just decided to go for it , but sure my legs were weak to board the flight, but again it’s now or never. So I decided to go for it.
We hired a photographer to shoot the whole act. The flight took off. We are all dressed up from head to toe. After the flight reached 14500 feet, the doors have been opened. The wind rushed in and the flight started trembling and shaking and I can feel the shivers in my body too. After a few seconds, the flight stabilized and when I looked down I couldn’t see anything at all. Every diver will be accompanied by a trainer. The trainer insisted me to look at the sky before jumping down to reduce my nervousness. The photographer jumped a second ahead of me to shoot my heroic act which is like very common for them. I looked into the sky and jumped from the moving flight. I had a free fall till 8000 feet which actually took less than a minute. When the altitude reached 6000 feet, the trainer untied the parachute. The trainer allowed me to direct the glider till we reached 2000 feet. Then the glider needs to be controlled to reach the target, the land. This complete episode took approximately 6 – 8 mins after my jump from the flight.“

(Back to me) I was flabbergasted, astounded, shocked about the whole episode. I have seen his sky diving video and I can see a big smile on his face which included so much of nervousness, anxiety and a mixture of almost all emotions. When he was doing a free fall, his clothes were all flapping. The trainer wore a half sleeves shirt and we can see his skin flipping through the heavy winds blowing… Even his cheeks were fluttering like the wings of the butterfly… I could see the excitement, the thrill on his face when he landed on the ground. He was all smiles and proud of his own achievement. I don’t think there is any other excitement as killing your fear and going for an adventure like this…

After marrying an adventure freak like him, I just couldn’t pour water on his plans of yet another adventure, at the same time couldn’t gather the courage for a freaky act. The whole post has been too long so I have decided to take this on to the next post. Just keep guessing if I had actually taken the courage to do it for my hubby or just made him carry on with his yet another new adventure.

A Loony Ride

2008-11-21T17:43:00.000-08:00

How will one feel when he is allowed to drive after 3 years – that too after driving for 8 years nonstop? May be like a person meeting his bestEST friend whom he never thought he would see again, may be a person finding his school photograph after almost 20 years when searching for an utterly useless thing, may be like a person going to his own place where he has enjoyed so many beautiful phases of is life after so many years being a refugee in a different place. When I drove after 3 years, I felt like I got wings and I am all set to fly higher and higher and higher err… I mean drive longer and faster passing all the vehicles that came my way, leaving the traffic behind, a long way behind ….

After I started flying higher and higher I felt my wings are cut abruptly… I felt there is a lot of change in driving in these 3 years. Though it’s not the experience but the circumstances that could have been generated from it or out of it… The place I have learnt driving is a small city with not much of traffic. The smaller cities have quite an organized traffic and people drive in their own boundaries. While driving in cities involve so much of unorganized traffic, immense pollution and several other factors.

The biggest hurdle I felt while driving is the helmet – which was supposed to protect the head in unforeseen circumstances. I understand the necessity of the helmet, but then it is itchier to wear it. I just can’t have a glimpse of the vehicles that are closer, which are far closer to see in the rear view mirror. The headdress obligates my vision to the front and my left and right sides are fully blocked. The second reason why I didn’t enjoy my driving irrespective of the cool breeze blowing on my uncovered parts of the face (by the helmet) is because of the heavy traffic, the pollution and the unknown routes in Bangalore. I just can’t express my feeling when I was in between two hugggeeeeeee buses. I wasn’t happy, nor was I scary about it but there was a level of discomfort in driving. And most importantly the heavy machine which I am trying to drive on and go crazy… has driven me crazy bcoz of its hefty structure and a wiry kind of thing behind. I just couldn’t decide if the skinny cousin is still behind me holding the vehicle or I have already dropped her somewhere, where I am not supposed to throw her off… The Activa which I was driving was too heavy for me to handle as I was always used to a bike which is as thin as this cousin of mine… For readers, who are wondering what it is, no guys its not a bicycle, its TVS Luna Superrrrrrrrr…… Grrrr I don’t want anyone to giggle over it though… I just love my vehicle.

There are many sweet memories associated with my Luna - my mom made us stick SAI on it… All my friends in college used to call it SAI. They used to ask, “Hey how come u didn’t get Sai to college today”… I remember one of my uncles calling my vehicle as the bullet. There were days when I used to compete with my classmates in college in bike race. I used to win by hook or crook and the only word I knew in driving was winning… There used to be my neighbor with whom I did my luna pooling (derived from car pooling u see).. One week she used to get her tiny cute reddie Sunny and the next week I used to take my Luna super… She used to just give up the ghost by the time the race was over. She used to say “Swathi Please go slow”.. I used to say “Akka pleaseeeee hollddddddddd on”… That was my first year in college. I guess she has got scared of my driving, as she used to get our own bikes from the next year…. The other friend of mine, another tiny creature used to hold on and she is one of my best co-traveler on my bike ever.

After all these races and drives, readers must be wondering, if I fell off from my bike atleast once… Phewww…. I don’t fall from the bike you see… But there are cases where the one behind me have certainly taken the privilege of kissing their motherland. I was supposed to drop one of my aunties at her place after her visit to my home. I was driving and she sat behind on the little rod of my luna. It couldn’t clutch her anymore and busted. She landed right on the road. The other one was a funnier episode wherein I went to shopping with another aunty friend of mine. This time it was not a tiny thing behind but two heavy things on my kutty luna. I had to go left which had a uphill. I somehow couldn’t manage to get over and was about to tell that aunty of mine to get down. But my little Sai never gave me the chance to say that. It stood on its one leg, like a horse heaves its two legs before galloping. I turned back to see and my aunty was sitting in the lap of our mother earth. She was too happy that she didn’t get hurt and she was in place… :)
My Luna had been a wonderful companion in my life.. but my dad sold it off despite of my nagging. He convinced me saying, atleast it will be used by someone other than being at home idle, not solving its purpose of being created by man. I was hushed and my bike was sold off… I can never get it back but I still love it… It is one of my best travelers in life…

Yeh Hi Hai Zindagi

2008-06-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Life keeps changing at every walk of life

some times it seems butter and sometimes the knife

there is a family of four - mom, dad,and girls who are two

Happy was the family and slowly the troubles grew

The older one flew abroad, MS was her dream to persue

The younger one stayed back at home and confided I am always there for you

She completed her Post Graduation,and in the job she was recruited

Glad were the family and suddenly the dad got transferred

The girl was there with her mother and things looked as if they are in place

though the father is a new place where life had its own pace

The girl joined her job and left her mom back home

mom, dad and the girls, each of them reside now in a different rome

the elder gets married and then the younger

the younger is now looking for a transfer

Two months of bench, the HR started to threaten

the girl thought its better to be a tester than to resign

finally the girl got a project and she moved to a new town

the dad is waiting to get transferred back after 3 years but with a frown

The time has come when the dad got transferred back to home town

and now its time for mom and life continues to say "Please Go On".

Mein Shaayar To Nahin...

2008-06-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

After I got into the bus that i usually board
I looked at everyone in there with faces so bored

I decided to call a friend and took out my phone
I remembered my phone bill and the oath I have sworn

To cut short my calls and reduce my bill
Bcoz when I see the bill i just fall ill

Out of my bag, i take my mp3
Then I remembered the poems i read of sree

i finally started thinking of the poet inside me
So took out the pen & paper and got into a poetic spree

then i started thinking what to write
should i write about me or my height

i have written a couple of lines with a face so bright,
the air blew, and the paper in my hand flew out of sight.

Hit hain to Fit Hain

2008-06-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

After Shahrukh Khan has emerged with his 6 abs pack doing “Dard-e-disco” for his latest flick Om Shanti Om, which had created sensations in the film industry, the guys tried hard for a 6 abs pack. Aamir Khan has gained the 6 abs pack in a couple of weeks. The 6 ab pack is ongoing among guys for the trend it has created among the youth.

Kareena Kapoor has become prominent for her zero size in her last floppy flick “Tashan”… Thou I never understand what zero size mean and how can somebody be of size 0… L Being inclined towards Bollywood gossips, I heard that Kareena Kapoor had ONLY orange juice and absolutely nothing else to become size 0. I also heard that she fainted during the shooting of the film.

Hmm.. never understand why gals are so weight conscious… hmmmmmmmm… Today morning when I went to the restroom I heard a few girls talking about the Dos and Donts to reduce weight and become slim, lean, slender, wiryyy… Surprisingly even I am looking out for articles in google these days to reduce weight… Not that I am suffering with obesity or the kinds and definitely not for the reason to be of size ZERO bcoz hmmm u know why.. I don’t have to say it explicitly .. I just want to reduce weight to stay fit, healthy and in shape… I don’t want to be circular, or amoeboidical…

Among the different ways to reduce weight which I found out recently, I would like to mention a few of them for readers to better plan to reduce weight…. .. though not from me but from my experiences which I have encountered recently.

1. I went to aerobics for a month… Meaning I have paid for the aerobics class for a month thou its hardly some 10 - 15 days I attended the session… late everyday thou.. I don’t know how much I have reduced weight (bcoz I cant see that from the more accumulated pounds of flesh) after going to the session but I have certainly learnt a few FACTS… I was in this illusion that I am a superb dancer, and stand next to Hrithik and prior to Madhuri… Psssttttt… My delusion dissolved when I had to stretch my stagnant sluggish body and my stiffened muscles. I was almost tired after a couple of stretches and bends and my steps were as discomfited as that of Superstar Krishna of Tollywood or as our beloved captain’s… As you are aware aerobics is a combination of a few dance steps moulded to an exercise form… something like a dancerise… So after one month of the session, I was told that we will be shifting to a new office in Bangalore which drew a line for my aerobics classes… my only hope for becoming FIT.

2. I was browsing through a few sites which say what to eat and what not for a flat tummy… Don’t eat non-veg, don’t eat eggs, don’t have milk and hundreds and thousands of them.. Finally I couldn’t decide what under the sun I should eat on… For every statement there is a hullabaloo… They say lime is very good to have with honey early morning. Then others say lemon is bad as it increases acidity. Some say ghee is not good but others say its good for digestion. No KFC’s, no fried foods, no pop-corn…. What should I live on if I can’t have any of these??? I would starve, starve and starve and finally decide obesity is better than dying of hunger. Yesterday I was going through some websites which said YOGHURT is good for health. The name itself provides me no clue of what it is. When I go and search for it in Wikipedia and Encyclopedia it says it is “a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk”… With great understanding I derived it should be panneer.. bcoz that’s my hot favourite in veg… I can have lots and lots of panneer… But then I heard that its not good for health from somebody else.. Has a lot of fat or cholesterol and stuff… I hardly know the difference between fat and cholesterol… and my husband keeps counting on the number of calories that accumulate.. Finally I understood Yoghurt is CURD. Carbonated drinks give 1500 calories, pop corn gives these many calories… huhh….. The final conclusion is, the names which they call for healthy foods in the so called websites are alien to me and my search for dropping weight continues….

3. The one last thing I wanted to do to slim down is to exercise every morning.. Every night I sleep with the inclination to wake up early and go for a morning walk but when I wake up when the alarm hits 5:30, I just can’t open my eyes… However.. my brain wakes and says, one day doesn’t matter… Can go for exercise from tomorrow… So that tomorrow never comes for me.. It didn’t come till now…

So that’s how my journey for staying fit, (a polite way of saying, reduce weight or fight with obesity) is proceeding. I don’t have to say anything to people bcoz I never followed a single thing… As every story has a moral, my story has a moral as well.

Moral of the story – To reduce weight all that u need to do is to leave the laziness(to do what u want to do and not just postpone it), have determination(to eat and do what u are supposed and vice versa), inclination to slim down and a lot of patience (bcoz u don’t get slim in days… try try and try..we should never give up)…

Anyways… some tips for a happy dieting…(don’t ask me the reasons please… bcoz my little kutty mind can’t remember all of those)…
· Eat lots of fibre

· Eat in regular intervals with less duration in between each interval

· Start your morning with fresh lime juice with honey

· Don’t eat much of rice, fried foods, KFC chicken.. yummy…, butter popcorn, butter, cheese, potatoes, meat and equivalent

· Carrots, Bitter guard and capsicums are healthy

. Wheat is good for health against rice. Spinach is good for health.

· Oats and cereals are good.

· Ginger is good for digestion

· Fruits are good for health but it raises sugar content. So eat in limited portions.

· No sugar… Jaggery however is good as it has lots of iron.

· Exercise atleast 40 to 45 minutes a day

· Sleep properly for about 6 -8 hours each day.

· Drink loads and loads of water

· Smile and be happy AND

· Learn to love yourself…

To stay fit is no more a myth… On a serious note, to stay fit is not for any fashion… it is for the healthy life of oneself.. as we always know the age old proverb “Health is Wealth”… Staying fit has more advantages with regard to health, fashion, style and everything… Stay fit and make ur life a hit.. Wah.. what a statement…

Perceptions and Perspectives

2008-06-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

PINK was my favorite color when I was a kid. I was so fascinated with the color that I even wanted my kids to be pinkish… One of my uncles calls me PINKY even now knowing how crazy I am for the color. Time moved on and my love and lust for the color has been wiped off. Then I went through different stages of life, from school, to college, to job - where I have started liking other colors like Green, Cream (half-white), red. My maternal aunt was very fond of half-white during summer and I used to ask her why she wears such pale colors. I used to tell her my mood switches off when I wear Cream. Suddenly in course of time I started loving Cream color. Then time changed again and my love for PINK is back. Today my closet contains three fourth of pinks and in the remaining one fourths, I have another three fourths of cream… I made it a policy to buy a pink dress for my birthday year after year, every year… Whenever I go to a shop and look at the cabinets, I can just find only pink and cream… Few of my colleagues in my last project have identified my pink attire and whenever I wear a different color, they always asked me why I didn’t wear pink that day…

I never liked Papaya when I was young. But my dad forced me to eat it and it became one of the preferred fruit till date. There is a poem in Telugu which says “Tinaga tinaga vema tiyyanundu” meaning “if u keep on eating Neem, after some point of time it will taste sweeter”. I once loved Kurkure and it had been a part of my breakfast, dinner and lunch too… Now I become hypersensitive when I even smell it… That’s when I remember my grandma saying too much of anything is also bad… Now it contradicts to my statement told above J… Different perceptions for different things for the same person… Isn’t it surprising???

When I was in Class X, I went to a movie called Premalekha, a dubbed film of Ajit and Devyani (named Kadal kotai in Tamil). I have become a huge admirer of Ajit. I was overwhelmed by his looks (putting aside his performance in the movie). Today my perception for him is not the same and I have better choices and better movies to watch for. Another incident I remember is that one of my colleague friends used to tell that the Mallus and the Bengalis are the most beautiful females in the country. I never accepted that then, hey guys… I am not jealous … but I thought beauty can never be determined by place. But now there are so many beautiful Mallu girls around that I don’t deny it any more… One of it is our own, dearest “MINI” are yaar “Sowmini”… who emphasizes on her beauty and brains in each of her blog …

People when they get married; marry with the intention of leading a life together. Small mistakes in the earlier stages of marriage appear small and manageable. As time moves on the SAME mistakes appear big, bigger and finally come to a stage where it is hard to even adjust or look out for a solution. It’s just because the perceptions of the individual has changed. Not just marriage, for any other relation in that case. When children ignore their parents after they get settled in life or after they find a job or when they know they don’t need their parents any more. It’s a misfortune when the people forget that their parents are the people who have supported them in whatever they have done in their life…

Perceptions and perspectives can change for insignificant and lifeless things like a color, an actor, fruit, dress, electronics, shoes or any other damn thing in life which doesn’t have a heart to understand or a life to feel the pain… But let’s not allow our perceptions to change for our parents, for our siblings, for our grandparents, for our friends, or for any of the beings we are connected to in life… When perception changes (in a negative sense), the relationship is on hazard. Let’s not get carried away with perceptions and risk something valuable in life.

Linguistic Barriers

2008-06-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Life has been changing continuously and I kept moving from one project to another… I made a lot of friends in each project (as most of u don’t know I am very friendly ). Life has changed for them too and they dwelt to different changes in life. I left all my friends in Chennai, there are quite a few whom I consider as my very close friends. In the friends I made in Bangalore, one is leaving to US with her husband, the other moved to the client office and the other moved to a different project. There are a few others who by god’s grace are still working with me. (Don’t know if they feel the same about me…. Whatsoever :)

In all these days, months and years after I have moved from my state to another state, I realized people welcome friends into their circle irrespective of the state, language or any other barrier as such. But the fact remains that the bonding is immense when it is between two people of the same state. Bcoz they talk to each other openly and can better express themselves better to the other… I was no exception though I had a lot of Tamil friends, some real close ones…

When I joined in my first project, there was one guy, who was adamant that I learn Tamil. Just for an argument I would say “I need not. I can communicate in English, the universal language or Hindi, our national language”. He used to say “You are in this state and you HAVE to learn the language”. He told this to me several times. I used to get irritated to the core. Time changed. He had to go to Pune on deputation for a short term project. He doesn’t know the A, Aa, E, Ee of Hindi. Somehow he managed to stay there and after his deputation is over, he is back with us in the project. Then he came to me and told, “I understand what you feel when you are forced to learn a language just bcoz u r in a different state”. I was more than happy not bcoz he learnt the fact but bcoz he realized that on his own terms.

As I was surrounded by people from Andhra, I never had the chance to learn Tamil. My other Tamil friends pretty much used to talk in English and I never ever got a chance to learn the language, I always loved. Then I moved to Bangalore; I found a couple of Telugu friends and a whole big bunch of Tamil friends and a few Malayalam friends who knows Tamil properly. As known and implied I mingled well with Telugu friends and used to maintain a good relation with all the others. Finally all my Telugu speaking friends have moved on in life and I am left with the Tamil friends.

I go with them for breaks and lunch sometimes. They often speak in Tamil, and they are so fast with their accent that I don’t get a glimpse of what they are talking about. I get bored easily and feel I am just not one of them and I am not meant to be there. I have no concerns or issues with them as I would have done the same thing if I were in their position… May be it is now that I realized that one is not supposed to speak in an alien language when he is surrounded with friends who don’t understand the language.

This post is mainly to make people understand; about people who are feeling aloof and unaccompanied though they are surrounded by a group of friends. I have realized this. How about you???

Hum Tum

2008-06-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

August 10th – City Centre – Chennai – Time 6:30 pm

My fiancé was coming on August 11th to meet me / receive his sister in Chennai who has come to attend our marriage. It’s his birthday on August 15th (his first BDay after I met him) and I actually planned for a lot of surprises for him one of which is buying him a Swatch watch. My friend has accompanied me to help me with the shopping. After a lot of effort, we shortlisted a few watches – with the preferences we have, the budget and the look and feel of it. One watch was selected out of the many and it was considered sold by the shop keeper when I gave a go ahead grin to him. We were moving through other counters in the City Centre like Shoppers stop and the time just rolled off. It was 8:30 pm in the Swatch watch…. We were hungry and planned to go and dine.

We were walking through the corridors of the City Centre, taking snaps and my friend introduced me to something and someone which I never knew existed. I never thought it would be a part of my life thereafter. Didn’t electrify me much when I was just introduced, but started loving and adoring when I got to know more. I was glad, happy, content, pleased, excited when my friend was telling more and more. I thought I am going to miss all this for the rest of my life as I was getting married on August 31st and leaving Chennai. Don’t even know if I am going to meet again and have this magnificent feeling again in life.

My life in Chennai was going to end by August 24th. I never mentioned about that magnificent moment in my life to my fiancé. I had hardly two weeks to leave Chennai… I realized that I am not going to get more of it… Two weeks have gone by and I had to leave Chennai, thinking of all those wonderful memories which held me intact with the place and the people out there…. Tears rolled my eyes as the bus left the Chennai outskirts…

The D Day finally came and in the excitement and enthusiasm, I have left all the things behind just to welcome the new life and what it has in store for me. I have moved to Bangalore with my husband.

September 9th 2008 – Forum – Bangalore – Time 4:30 pm

One day I went to Forum, a shopping mall in Bangalore and was passing through the variety of shops, the mall has to offer… Suddenly I see something again… My eyes have seen something which I have wondered I can never see again in my life…. My husband held my hand and we moved closer and he introduced me to yet the same one again. I was shocked and flabbergasted. My eyes sparkled with the happiness just as if a missed child was back home after a traumatized episode or as if you have seen a friend of yours you wished to see all your life but never had the hope to.

I just couldn’t stop or waste a minute to join hands with it and take the tender one for a small bite. It was the juicy, crispy KFC chicken I am talking about buddies…. Something which have been a part and parcel of my life ever since. I go to KFC, Forum every Saturday and it’s been a part of my meal at least once a week. Don’t mind having it even more frequently but my husband can’t tolerate me any more for that. My love for KFC is limited to only once a week… But thanks for at least that. It has just become another important ONE in my life……

In Fond Memory of "My Memory"

2008-06-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Writing blogs, getting annotations from people you seldom know and being a part of the blogosphere is one of the marvelous experiences I have encountered recently. I think back on instances when I came across such experiences before…Surprisingly I remember NONE.

It’s not because I don’t have one such incident but its because I am playing the role of Ghajini in my life too though not so strong and wild as Kajol’s role in U, Me aur Hum where she suffers with Alzheimers (For people who didn’t watch the movie, Kajol’s memory is disturbed and she often forgets things happening/happened in life including her hubby ooppsssssssssss).

I have always been admired for my sharp remembrance. Whenever my mom goes (takes me) to shopping, she normally gives me the charge of all the baggage to carry along with the finances. It was indeed a pleasure taking responsibility of all the funds except for the bags you have to carry to the market. For readers, I always did a commendable job in carrying the luggage. When the whole of my family including my mom, dad, sis and granny used to go on vacations, I used to carry the hefty luggage (next to my father) and my sister stands first….. though from the other end. She always used to carry the water keg with quite a lottttt offfff troubleeeeeeee……..

My dad never safeguarded my certificates bcoz he was always assured that I can take care of my things… My sister, used to toss her certificates when she came back home and my dad used to preserve those…. (I always feel that he should have thought “Thank God she has at least got it home safely” ).. They never expected my sister to take care of her things because of one simple flashbackkkkkkkkkk………

When I was 6 or 7 years old and my sister was a year older to me, my granny sent us both to the grinder shop (to grind flour). She handed over the container to me and my sister the two rupee coin. We actually planned to buy some candy’s with the change. The shop owner said it will take half an hour time and we just sat there hoping to get it finished quickly and buy the candy’s before we go back home. Once the course of action is over and the container is handed back to me, my sister opened her fist and found her hand empty…. We had to go back home and get the money… And from then on my sister was never allowed to try her luck again. Poor thing she is…. For readers who are interested to know in her current whereabouts she now works for Microsoft, Seattle.

So it is not actually the memory power, but it is also the safety I take in things. When my father used to go out of station and I used to doze off watching TV, my mom would wake me up asking me to go to my room, I always used to check the safety of the if all the doors are locked before I finally hit my bed. I used to even remember the minute things like which dress I wore for some occasion, which bus I boarded and stuff… Readers must be amazed with my reminiscence skills, but I was never the topper at school, not even in the top 15 … My granny always used to boast me saying “She has very good memory skills but she just doesn’t use it in her studies”… You know grandparents are the sweethearts, who pamper you to the core…. And parentssssss hmmm… My mom always used to say “What’s the use of having good memory skills if she doesn’t use”.

Days started rolling….. And my memory skills started withering. I once went to the tailor shop, and then to buy some embroidery stuff in a different shop. After I came to the second shop and purchased some stuff, I realized I forgot the saree at the tailor shop. I immediately went to the tailor shop and got the saree back. Then I went home relaxed and found the embroidery kit missing. I paid the money and forgot the bag in the shop. I again had to go and get it back.

I have been trying to work on my memory which worsened after I settled down in Bangalore. Everyday I have to struggle to catch the bus at 8 am in the morning that I forget to switch off the lights and fans at home. The heights of it being that I forgot to turn off the stove one day. My husband always insisted on cooking on low flame to save energy. One cylinder at my home lasted for around 7 months and my parents-in-law and parents doubted if we really cooked at home. Suddenly one day I forgot to turn off the stove and the cylinder was empty within no time. My husband came back home in the evening and was horrified for a moment when he found the stove on(though the gas has all blown off). He immediately turned back to open the windows and saw the windows already opened another example for my Alzheimers which actually saved us this time though ……..

Floating without Focus

2008-06-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

I always wondered if there are people who don’t have any ambitions in life… When I just joined my MNC(multi national company) as an ELT(Entry Level Trainee) with a batch of 24, who have great aspirations towards life, I was left alone with no ambitions for career or for education. One of my friends asked me what my ambition was… My answer was “Should everybody have an ambition in life?”… She was shocked at my answer (question) and was left speechless.

When I think back at my aspirations in life from the time I was a kid, I find myself to be an average student in school who used to pass with a minimum mark in Science and Mathematics. Somehow I struggled to pass my tenth class. I still remember my mom asking if she should retain my school uniform for some more time. (That was hard to take when your parents don’t have the belief about your academics, and that u may have to sit back in school). She has never been rude as far as my education is concerned, never rude in any other things too… Somehow I passed my exam with first class (my neighbor celebrated my first class)… I don’t know why people were so unsure about my academics… I always had the confidence to pass with at least a first class.

That broke my morale and when I was asked to choose the subjects in my Inter (which others refer to as Plus II), I chose to take Commerce, Economics and Civics. My dad’s colleagues loved my sister as a kid bcoz she was a gem in school and passed her schooling as a topper. They all discouraged me for the subjects I have chosen in college… But my mom always said, it doesn’t really matter what u read, it matters how good u do it… My mom’s colleagues loved me bcoz I was more naughty and sportive.

Joining in Plus II was my biggest booster… I was the topper in college with a very good aggregate. I belong to a small city but I speak decent English because of my schooling (which others lack in). In this college, they send the marks home after every exams. I still remember when I got 100 marks in Accounts and my dad received the letter, he asked me if I got 100 marks for 150.

Getting a good aggregate in my Plus 2 helped me to write the entrance test for BCA. Worked pretty hard for the entrance test and got a decent score and joined in a degree college in my place. Enjoyed three years there. I used to mug up all my programs for practical exams and just copy it out there… But things weren’t always the same. I am bad at mugging up too L. Often I forget the statements in between. Somehow my friends happened to help me all the times.

I have discovered one of my biggest assets there. I have emerged as a good speaker and I have hosted quite a lot of shows in college along with an inter college competition. After a few years, people called me by my name and asked if I was the host of the show.

After my graduation, came the next entrance test which is a common entrance test for MCA/MBA in Andhra. I have written the exam and got a pretty good score. I have also written MAT. Then again I am confused and I don’t have focus as what I want to be. Should I take up Computers or Management? All my lecturers and I myself believe I am good at management. But things changed - my sister has to go abroad to pursue her MS, my granny died. There is no point in doing MBA in a not so reputed college in my place. It is quite a waste. I didn’t want to leave my parents at that time so I decided I will join in MCA.

But before I joined MCA I was determined to do programming… Thought no more of mugging up and no more of copying… Then I actually did a lot of programming… That’s when I thought “If you think you can you certainly can”. I topped in college and bagged a job in a big MNC… That was my biggest achievement of life. My mom always used to say that I will settle down in life before my sister by getting a good job. That did happen and I am happy for that.

I joined as an ELT and learnt DOTNET. I joined as a team member for an Oracle project. Worked in Oracle for almost two years. Got married and had to move to Bangalore. So had to move to Testing. Things changed drastically and are still changing and I am still in the same place asking myself “What do I really want in life????”