Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas, everyone. May the festive season's cheerfulness engulf you now & always. :)

I was honestly pondering upon what to write for a while. And then came the series of updates to share with y'all.

Red Nail Polish

Believe me, it's close to ten years since nail polish touched my long cuticles. And I thought, Hey why not? when I saw the bottles of nail polish resting in the Saravana Stores covers on Tuesday. I have three shades as of now - Deep Romantic Red, a dark shade of brown and a dizzying Pink. I've reserved the bottle of Pink shade for my birthday week. (Oh yeah, my birthday's just four weeks away. Whee :D ) Only after applying the enamel on my nails did I realize what a sticky affair it all is. I mean, I had to wait until it all dried up and that was approximately an hour of waiting without giving any heavy-duty to my hands. The next day morning, I accidentally chipped away a bit of the nail polish when I was pulling my lunch bag from the handle of the seat in office bus. Oh boy, that did irritate me! So much that immediately after entering home, I went straight to the shelves, pulled out my bottle of nail polish and mended the chipped portion. Hehe! It's gotta be perfect, if you ask me. Right now, a lot of it has chipped away from my left hand I'm not bothering to mend it. But yes, the point I'm trying to get through from this update is - My nails look so much inviting and beautiful with a coat of nail polish. I'm loving it! B-) It makes you feel cool/ confident when you swish your hands in the air, trying to make a point to someone. LOL!

Chris-mom Chris-child Update

The festive season has come to an end at office. No more of the beautiful game here on - not for another one year at least. I'd always walked up to the conference room regretting on the large amount of work left in hand and how I'm playing games with so much to do. But no more of it any longer! Gee, I've turned fond of the game after all. :) My Chris-mom S got me a bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut for a gift. It was great! I finished the entire bar last night, all by myself. Muhahaha! Maybe I should've saved some for mom, perhaps? ;)

Also, I went upto my Chris-child G and handed her the basket of flowers. She didn't come to office on the concluding day of the game and I gave it a day later. She loved it, so I'm glad. :)

I've befriended a new person - R. He works at Accenture and we met through the office communicator pertaining a request I'd launched. He put up a status on friday - 75. I asked him what's with the unusual number displayed on the status message. He said, he'll be moving to CISCO in another 75 days. I felt happy for his good fortune. Unexpectedly, it triggered a question within me which I'm trying to answer sincerely - So when am I moving from here? Agreed that the organization I'm working for is one of the best in India. And globally. Work level isn't so high (Except for this Feb release I'm working on, which is so hectic!) People are friendly, approachable and all that! But, you know what pricks me? My FA rating is out, though not officially declared. But I know the value - 3.9. It's neither close to 3, nor 4. X-( In our organization, there's an unacceptable policy for rounding to whole number. If it's 3.4 - round it to 3. If it's 3.9 - That too is rounded to 3. :( Can you see what I'm trying to point? It's typically lame. But that's how it works here. And I don't know why it has to be me, WHY ME, oh Lord? After all that I've done for the team, I feel it's not fine by me. But can I argue? Well, no. Just like they can't change anything about the work levels I'm putting for the Feb release, this is also something I can't do anything about. Well, there's a bias that exists. The upper levels of the team work on Process Management issues and don't do much apart. Talk about Corporate Domination. Sounds bad? Will I turn into such person if my career grew here? I'm turning lazy and cozy, in my comfort zone. I need to work on beating that. I can surely achieve more, if I stemmed all my energy in the right direction.

I keep meeting my cousin S (By marriage to my cousin V) all the time at the bus stop here. He keeps giving me tons of advice and tells me what's good and what's not good - from his view. Do I need these lectures? Nope. He can just care about his work, his kids and so on. Why pull me into the picture and try raising the standards of my life? So I avoid sitting beside him if I can avoid it. My dad's family are feuding with us for a long time now. Not that I care too much for them. Just saying in general. How cool would it be, to rise up the ranks and show him a piece of my life? B-) *Aside* Dream on, kiddie!

Talking of office, we had this New Year 2012 Bash at office on thursday - Scintillate 2012. Some DJs came on the stage, mixing peppy numbers and had the crowd dancing to a cocktail of fast beats. :) It was fun being out there. My friend M said there was a Mimicry show before the DJ nite began. I missed that, but tuned in for the DJ Nite. People let their hair down and danced like there was no tomorrow. :D I just sticked to clapping my hands and tapping my feet to the rhythm. My colleague S danced like crazy and some others from our project - M, S, B et al saw her dance. It became a hot topic of discussion temporarily. Hahaha! S is still embarrassed about it though. She said, "I wish you too came along with me and we had stuck together as a group. Then I would've made you also to dance and I would've had company now while they teased." :D Scintillate 2012 - Good work, Maitree! I only wish I was with the right people when I was there. Sigh. Anyway, next year's always there. :)

We're having Potluck on Wednesday. And initially, I agreed to bring 15-20 chappathi for the crowd. But later, the organizing people asked me to bring Veg Biriyani for 6-7 people. Knowing mom and how much trouble I'd put her through for this - I told them this can't be done. So I'm contributing a share of money for the Non-veg Biriyani. Irony, right? Paying for something that you're not going to eat. :P I'm not going to eat anything on Wednesday morning. Just so that I'll be able to eat plentiful during Potluck. Tee hee!

I'm turning mature with time. I've stopped feeling slightly put-off for missing the New Year Getaway. C was pinging me on FChat yesterday, asking me how's work, how's life, Wassup and all that. I kept giving her monosyllable replies, wishing to give nothing more. Looks like I've finally become mature enough to let go of certain things and people in life. I just pray what I've chosen to do is among the right decisions.

My cousin C was going to come pay us a visit today. Cousin C lives and works in Canada. She did her Masters course there. They said they would visit us, but actually never turned up. How rude!!! They should've at least updated us about the revised plans for the day. That too, they didn't do. Mom's pissed off with their attitude. She's planning a getaway next week when they come. Even the old and much wiser parents can get ticked off, I tell you. I'm irritated too, because I got up sooner than my usual time and got ready for their visit. I didn't even go for my evening walk despite the weekend duty that I consider it to be. Okay, looks like the Self-centered, Egoistic family still haven't changed one bit. X-(

To conclude this post, here's a Christian prayer song on a Very Special Day -

(I miss being in Scudder during the fabulous season of Christmas. My school was and is the best!!!)

Silent night, holy night!

All is calm, All is bright

Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child

Holy Infant so Tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight!

Glories stream from heaven afar;

Heavenly hosts sing Al-le-lu-ia!

Christ the Saviour is born!

Christ the Saviour is born!

Silent night, holy night!

Wondrous star, lend thy light!

With the angels let us sing

Alleluia to our King!

Christ the Saviour is here,

Jesus the Saviour is here!

Silent night, Holy night!

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus Lord at thy birth;

Jesus Lord at thy birth.

Merry Christmas, folks. :) Enjoy your time off with family this festive season. God bless.

A movie, a book and life in general.

I did two things this week and I forgot to talk about one of them in the last post. I did the second thing just yesterday. Okay, enough suspense. It rolls out here.

One

I have successfully finished reading the book I too had a love Story by Ravinder Singh. I got it from my friend A about four weeks ago. Since I was not-so-good at managing time and also because I couldn't finish reading it completely till last week, I couldn't go on to give a review here. The story is a different genre, unlike the typical flavor of Indian authors like Chetan Bhagat. We all know how Chetan Bhagat writes. He adds flavor and spice to an otherwise ordinary plot and serves it with action and drama! And most Chetan Bhagat books don't have a sad ending. (Now don't start off about Revolution 2020 - the confused girl kept messing it!) Ravinder Singh has his own unique narrative pattern and whoa, I was hooked to the plot, though I could predict the storyline from the title itself. It's a sad ending types book, with the girl dying in the end. We've all read Love Story by Erich Segal. Somehow, I've never been moved by the book even though I've heard from some friends that it brought tears in their eyes. I too had a love story was one book that made me feel a mixture of emotions for the protagonist Ravin, in the end. It's pretty similar to Love Story, by Erich Segal.

I too had a love Story is a plot based on how an Indian girl and a boy - fall in love by bumping into each other on a matrimonial site. What moves on as a fine romance is interrupted when Fate plays spoil sport in their lives in the form of an accident. I was touched by the sincerity of love and care that Khushi displays for Ravin throughout the book. :) To really understand how it makes you feel, I suggest that you read the book once for yourselves too! My rating for the book - 3.75 out of 5.

Two

I saw the movie 7aam Arivu after having it on my system for nearly two months. The movie came out as a Diwali release much earlier. The plot was quite unbelievable and beyond fantasy. I mean, all that Operation Red, Rupees 300 Crores exchanged with a professor of Genetic Engineering and Chinese Government, the atrocities of Assassin Dong Lee, 6th Century Disease spreading like wildfire in the 21st Century, Genetic Engineering students activating Bodhi Dharman's DNA pattern by suspending Suriya in a fluid filled cage like a dead cockroach was quite bogus. Whoa, wild fantasy does have its limits, Murugadoss sir. The highlight of it all - Nokkuvarmam which Dong Lee kept showing off with such ease. I was rolling my eyes whenever Dong Lee managed to hypnotize someone and bid them to do his will. I mean, WHAT was that all about? The songs were very picturesque - Especially Mun Andhi Chaaral and Yellae Lama. Suriya gets more handsome with each movie of his. :D Shruti Hassan looks charming, but she could've showed more emotions on the screen. The girl can speak good tamil, bless her! :) The life of Pallava Prince Bodhi Dharman (portrayed at the start of the movie) should make every Tamilian feel proud of his heritage. So he was the one who taught Defense Arts and Ancient Medicines to the Chinese, eh? I did a Google search of the same once the movie was over. The movie tries to make us look back at our rich Cultural Heritage that we've conveniently ignored - Thanks to the Era of Modernization. 7aam Arivu is a Message-wrapped movie with a heady mix of Historical Documentation and Impossible stunts. All said and done - Good attempt Suriya. You're the one who holds the entire movie on your shoulders and the audience can't do anything but admire you, as you did that well! My ratings would be a 3.5 out of 5.

Apart from this, there are a few others I'd like to talk about.

My school friends - A, C, D (She's not exactly my school friend. She's my friend's friend. A friend to my colleague M), S and V - have apparently planned an Getaway to somewhere for New Year 2012. Did I see this was coming? Yes. Did I know it was going to happen? Yes. Does it matter a lot to me or sad that I'm not a part of it? No. Am I curious to know what it's all about? Well, partial yes. My school friends have been planning this big meet-up for about four or five months now. Earlier, when it was in its Planning stage I fell sick and got hospitalized - Aug 2011. S and V came upto the hospital to pay me a visit. That's when they told me that they're planning out something and that I should join. I said I would. Later, I turned to become unforgivably angry for being called a 'Psoriasis patient' by V some two weeks after I was discharged. Joke and all is okay only upto a point. When it goes overboard, I cannot remain quiet and tolerate it. Some words, even said casually, can hurt us in very deep ways. It went on to create a ridge on what we've been - Friends. I initiated it, no doubts there. I want to clearly state this before someone screams "You did it. Don't make it look like it wasn't your making!" X-(

I've always felt over burdened by comparisons. C always kept doing that, knowingly or unknowingly. If she was reading this post, she'd probably swear she was never up to all that. Never mind! I've had a tougher walk in life than any of these folks. No regrets there though! What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. It hurt me (and it still does) that some of my so-called Best friends couldn't make it for Appa's funeral rites. What's in there? All over in a matter of few hours, no? Too bad! I will remember minute details well. Cutting edge memory is one of the gifts that God bestowed upon me when I was born. One guy said he was busy with shifting and moving between Coimbatore, Vellore and Hyderabad to come. Another didn't bother to come and we don't want to know whom it was, do we? Okay.. Let's get back to the point now! So I believe that the one who doesn't share sorrows - doesn't deserve to be your company during the good times too. Off with the burdens. My life is better without such people who make me feel non-existent. I've always felt small and muted, beside these Best buddies. Whether they do it intentionally or not - the constant comparisons and Oh-I'm-turning-so-much-better-than-you-by-the-minute statements they make now and then urges me to do nothing but puke! I don't like it when people who don't mean well take control of my emotions. And yes, so we've split. Four against one. I don't feel bad about it. I like it better this way, than to be an unprecedented prey during the past meet-ups.

Okay, so they've all planned something BIG. I-don't-care-not-being-there. I'm slightly curious. That's it. V wanted to make the big meet-up happen this new year, since he'll be off to the US next year for his Masters. No more of India for another couple of years. So all emotions run free. Yikes! Let's not get into the details. Enough here. :)

Let's move on to another story. We're playing Chris-mom/ Chris-child game at office. Any guesses at who is my Chrischild? The newly-married PL - Mrs G. ;) She was MIA for the past three weeks due to her marriage vacation. Now that she's back, I'm all ready to give her the task. Muhahaha! :D It'll be talking like Ramanaa Vijayakanth and giving project statistics. B-) Can't wait to see that happen. As a part of the tradition, the Chris-mom should gift the child at the end of the season. I just shopped and picked her a gift. I hope she likes my gift - a basket of violet colored flowers. :) I shopped it today because I'll be too tired after office to do it when I come back from work. I wonder who's my Chris-mom! They made me tell a story in Tamil, without inclusion of English words. Yeah yeah, I'm called the Peter Woman of my project. More than knowing my Chris-mom I am waiting for my present. Hee hee! =D We're also going to have Potluck at office next week. I will post more updates when it does happens. I hope everyone knows what's Potluck. It's a tradition in which everyone brings food from home and shares it among their friends. We're planning for one lunch session when we'll all be sharing food made by others' - their moms and family. :) This simple little custom teaches us the art sharing and appreciating what others have. Sounds so beautiful, doesn't it? I'm so excited for it to happen within our project.

Speaking of Potluck and about food, did you know that my lone piece of snacks after having lunch is just a small packet of biscuits? No coffee/ tea also otherwise. Yeah baby, yeah! I'm on diet and it's time to lose all the extra pounds and flabs I've gathered. Some results are already evident and for some others to show up, I need to follow the regime for even longer. I so totally wish I had a Weighing scale at home - to see the peaks and valleys of my weight whenever I feel like it. It'll help me keep track of my weight too. Must buy a weighing scale SOON.

It's 11:45 PM and I think I should wind up now. I've ranted enough for the day. Besides, I have office tomorrow as well. Sigh, the Monday morning blues have already engulfed me. I'll post again, when I have some free time or when its the weekend - whichever happens early. :D

Nos vemos pronto! (Spanish)

I. Will. Keep. Writing!

Well.. You know something? I've made up my mind to post atleast once a week over here! Hahaha! So much efforts to keep the blog alive and I'm going to let this happen no matter what.

Ok, today was nice and not-so-nice owing to 2 things which happened.

1. I had my relatives visiting our place in the afternoon - at lunchtime. A perima and N peripa came to see new houses/ apartments here and they decided to drop home for a visit, along with R perima and cousin R. This was both good and bad since I had to shower and get ready EARLY cos they were all coming.. Not the thing I usually do on a saturday. :P So yeah, begrudgingly I accepted to do something not-so-usual-for-a-Nandz-style-saturday! On the flip side, they brought a LOT of good food for us to have - I said na? It was a lunchtime visit. R perima went out of way and made Vegetable Pulao and Aloo paratta, just the way I like it. :) (Slightly hot though, had my eyes swimming in tears from the extra Masala in the dishes!) The taste is still lingering in my tongue even now.. At 7:20 PM. *slurp* In fact, I'm savoring scoops of Carrot Halwa that they brought, as I'm composing this article.

They went crazy at the sight of the guava and chikku hanging ripe in the trees around our house. Infact, R perima and cousin R went with a plastic bag to the terrace to pick all the big-sized fruits from the trees! Yes, I admit that the house is great for the fact that it has a lot of plants and trees around it. :) We didn't live in such a scenic and beautiful house when I studied college - the Chitlapakkam house. My mom always rattles about how all the coconut trees' keep letting the dry leaves and the big coconut shells fall down with heavy 'thud' all through the day. Infact she'll say "Nandhini, veetu orama mattum nadandhu varadhe ma. Edhavadhu thenga un thalaila edhir paarama vizhundhuta enna seiyardhu?" (Nandhini, please don't walk near the side of our house when you're walking on the road. Coconut shells keep falling at the unexpected moments from those trees. What if one falls on your head?) All my relatives took the part-ripened fruits home. They're planning to put it in rice sacks or empty containers to make them turn ripe.

My relatives were pretty impressed with the house, I should say. They kept saying it was airy and the rooms were large. A bit too much for us, it seems. Gah, who cares? We lived in a King-sized house in Vellore. So be it in Chennai too. ;)

2. The bedroom fan unexpectedly gave up working in the morning today. And thus, it spoiled my mid morning reverie. We tried to call the Electricians we know in this locality to fix before the Relatives' visit. Unfortunately, all the three men we called were busy or couldn't come. Sigh! Tonight, we'll be sleeping in the other rooms owing to this. Looks like Event #2 is much shorter on the description side than Event #1 for the day! :P Ah well.. This was an important thing that happened earlier today too, as it means a LOT for me to wake up before 11:00 AM, Mind you!

When I started writing this particular post for today, I wanted to vent out the frustration and stress I'm facing with the work load at office. I've been assigned for three February releases and the work is so-damn-hectic! There's always something or the other to do on all three fronts. I don't go out even to have evening snacks these days. It's that bad already. :-( I hope that this phase of life ends soon. If it goes overboard, it'll definitely become difficult to handle. Not that I can't handle such truckloads of work. It's just that I prefer not to, get it? They're saying that after a particularly important April 2012 release, a lot of us wouldn't be required in this project. I don't know if I can believe that it'd happen for sure or not. See, I do spend a LOT time pondering about the future. This is one such instance. :D I've already made a jump from one technology to another earlier this year. I wonder what the future holds? :)

Well, it's close to one year since I joined Tata Consultancy Services. I had my one-to-one meeting just a couple of days ago. Whoa, and what a session it was! I haven't been bombarded with such intense questions for a while!.. I just hope it all goes smooth. I'm expecting a good rating, but then it's all in my Supervisor's hands. Let's see what's given. All is well! :) And my best friend and sister A said she's visiting Chennai soon - it'll be a work-related trip. She's told me that when she does, she'll try to fix up a meet between us. That'll be so cool, no? It's been almost two years since we last met - At Chennai Central during March 2010. Ah, what a meet up that was! She gave me big hoop earrings and I got her the Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) in the last moment, just a few minutes before her train departed. Incidentally, that was the day I got placed (!) in Element K. Looking forward to meeting and catching up with A soon. I wish I could go to Secunderabad, but my work levels wouldn't let me take leave. :(

I really should get serious about preparing for higher studies. I've taken it light till now. But time seems to move fast and I really ought to be preparing before everything comes blindingly close. I'm considering studying abroad as well. Visited a few sites and career prospects of studying outside India. Let us see. God, be with me! Lead me in the right way and help me keep away from all Evil. :)

Ok, apart from the serious stuff I've been pouring out here's a snap update from the Bites of the Travel Bug - My friend A and her husband K visited Venice as a double celebration trip - A's birthday and well as their first Marriage anniversary. Seeing those pictures really made me whine and pine for a trip to Venice. Well, you know what? I really will go to places. These kinda things only re infuse the burning flare within me. I will make it big in life. And of course, the best thing about making it big (From my perspective, that is) - is to aim at visiting one exotic location after the other, country after country. :P Hehe.

More updates coming up later. A presto! :)

Maturity is indeed a wonderful thing!

It's been so long since I made a post here. I just thought I'll have an update of things just so that it makes an interesting read - for ME when I come back sometime later! :D

I am no longer as confused as I seemed when I made that blog post in May. Yeah well, I am confused on some other aspects of life. But about picking anonymous numbers' calls and whether mom should or shouldn't shift to Chennai? - RESOLVED! :) Some interesting developments have happened in life these 6 months. Mom shifted to Chennai after a point when I couldn't tolerate living in hostel anymore. I got seriously ill and hospitalized during Aug/ Sept - it was an allergy outburst which was worse than I could handle. :( And I'm no longer worried about picking calls from anonymous numbers that call me for a project interview. Good or bad - I've moved into a project post training in the ILP. Of course, there were some critics out there, who lashed me (and some who still do - certain pricks, in the name of cousins) for choosing such a project. The bottom line is, I'm happy with my choice(s) today. Given the opportunities, I'm sure I can move up with time. There's this beautiful quote right? "Being happy doesn't mean that everything's perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections". Now that's precisely my mindset.

After the hospitalization episode, things turned sour once more. The allergy refuses to cease, even now. The best thing is, I have decided to cope up with the allergy without the "usual" medicines. So I'm fighting it in a different way now - Minus the medicines. It works and it doesn't work but for all it's worth, I'm trying! I am sure that this too will pass. :) What's life without hope and prayers?

I've moved through a lot of troughs and crests. I've made, lost and ignored a few friends. This is reality. It teaches you lessons the hard way. You don't have a scribble pad where you try out things before doing them actually. I don't know if I can relate with someone's life. But my journey thus far has been unique and gifted. I'm thankful to God for that! :-) I'm moving to a more sombre narration of my journey. It could be a bit heady but then, this is my space. I can say what I want, shout all that I can because I feel like it! Certain friends wanted nothing more than "FUN" out of being in company. Sheer hooliganism, no sensitive feelings, none of I-share-your-sorrows-and-I-understand-your-difficulties. To those of you who've been there and those I've muted from my picture, I all I want to say is: Go ahead. Enjoy the sand and the sun. Make more friends, be more merry cos this is all you expect out of being friends. But I wont be among that variety. I wont simply sit there and watch you criticize and rip apart my state of life. I have chosen to move on. If all I give you is a daily dose of ignorance and care-a-damn attitude, then you can certainly be sure that I've decided that my life's better without you in it. :-) Of course, when I say all these things, I know certain friends who will stir out "Hey! You never told us anything on how you felt. Are we magicians to know your mindset? You have to come out and say what it feels like." at me. Well, thanks guys! Your love, warmth and care are deeply appreciated. I have been through and know what it is to be under the "I-Care radar" of yours, which is the size of a.. Nevermind! Life's too small to point out at the ignorable blotches that ruin your picture! :)

I feel that I have developed a certain maturity these days. Be it the people I choose to interact with or the things I wish to talk about. Definitely I'm a new person with each day. I have also begun to think on the lines of What's next? .. Marriage? No, not yet. I'm too young and immature for it at this point of time. Studies? Hmmm, perhaps! Why not? Provided I can work hard enough to crack the entrances and do myself proud! In between, I'm also living a dream of travelling to places afar. Europe, USA, Australia, Egypt - Somewhere like this. I WILL travel somewhere among these, sometime soon. And why? I want to live my life to the fullest. I want work towards making certain dreams a reality before I answer the flame within, asking me to outperform more than my yesterdays! :)

Because, one day we're all going to die. The intermediate phase between being born and death is the wonderful phenomenon of Life. It's not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ;)

“Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine, and valleys of frustration and failure.”

Adios, until the next post!