Tom Yum Soup !

I ordered tom yum soup n veg noodles from a new rest that claimed to have continental, thai, indi chinese, etc etc in their menu. I felt a lil bit 'fishy' when the guy who took my order turned out to b a mallu...never mind anyone can take order..was sure they had a great kitchen crew...

Reality : I got a light green liquidy liquid that tasted more like more kozambu than nething close to a soup forget tom yum. Ive had the best of tom yum the ones that make u sweat as u go thro the bowl, fragrant with lemon grass n that unique lime leaves..hmm.. The one I had in front of me cld win an 'innovative' recipe award for making more kozambu with shrimps n ya CHICKEN CHUNKS(may be they got some from some leftover stew..)

Wait what about the noodles? Well I was reminded of semiya uppuma,a lil bit of tadka well it would be a very interesting combo....

I dont have to pen down the moral of the story I know it by heart now. Wait did I see clam chowder in the menue......

Ang Mo Kio St 81, Orchid Park...

My mom...hmm she is very innocent, mean she believes me n whatever I say...all BS she'll buy n its fun to watch her getting 'punked'

This one is one recap of her visit to Singapore...

Venue : Immigration office, Singapore
Purpose : To get stamping on her passport for her stay
Status: Impossibly loong line..I was gettin restless and wanted a break.
Plot : I tell my mom 'So uve memorized my offce n home address? What about my ph numbers?

She gave me a blank look. I was like 'What I already mailed u about this before you came' I went on with my 'explanation' that since she will be staying here depending on me they will ask for her passport no, my name, designation, office address, ph no , home address and cell ph no just incase she gets lost.. Pressed the panic button just right...All that she knew was my cell ph no.

I suggested she write it down n start memorizing. Also added she better do it in her hand so she can have a sneak look just incase she forgets. So she draws a line seperating -Home address, Office address, ph no , ext, my designation etc n started memorizing like lil kids. After 5 min I started asking her random questions n she judiciously answered. I still remember the look in her face..tensed, focussed n hiding the panic feeling. She did a great job in crammin up all the info in that 20 odd min wait.

' My home address' my question 'Ang Mo Kio Street 81 Orchid Park...' came the reply. She was prepared. N when we reached the counter it was a 2 min job, the 'interviewer' hardly had anything to ask, I dont remember anything 'challenging' asked, n when we were done she had this sparkle in her eyes like 'I got lucky they didnt ask me anything'... the rest is history.....Those 20 min is a fav topic of discussion for me n my sis n my mom just goes mum. Her only complaint is what all the ppl in the line wld have thought of her while she was busy memorizing the lines n saying it out loud...something like when u see kids fall down, they decide how to react only after they look around...

Thats not just that. Mama has never been on an escalator before , so I took her to the MRT when it was not too busy, got her to do the climb up n way down 'n' no of times n she was kinda ok...Then came the judgement day, we were @ Orchard road station, its like a mini NY or Mumbai, extremely crowded, n then came my mom's turn to show her expertise. I told her to just relax n step on the escalator just like she did the other day. She stood, she stared, she stared n she stood...behold look some1 has brought Orchard station to a grinding halt may be just 10- 15 sec, I didnt count but it seemed like forever.Poor thing did finally manage to climb on n may be I shld have opted for the lift in that crowd...I turned back n gave all an apologetic look but the ppl r nice out there...

A coupla months ago I got this sms from mom n it read something like 'You know what I did, I used the escalator in Kumaran silks today' hmmmm good joob!!

Whats with this space? Hear it from Robin Sharma

Some excerpts from Robin Sharma...made simple but interesting reading.

Just got back from the desert. Enchanting. Wide open spaces and utter silence. Reminded me of something important--we need space in our lives. Space to be creative. Space to reflect. Space to pursue our dreams. Space to become what we know we must be. Yet many of us don't give ourselves space. Our desks, our minds and our relationships are cluttered. We are burdened with unfiled papers, unfulfilled obligations, unfinished business and other talent-consuming messes. And these messes are a barrier to a world-class life. Here's the big idea: we need to make space in our lives in order to achieve our greatness.

Creating space in your life can be as simple as reflecting in a Starbucks or having a conversation with an extraordinary person or having the discipline to walk in the woods to ensure you are putting your best resources on your biggest opportunities. By doing these things you free yourself to focus on the important and you make certain that you are climbing the right mountains.

Examine every dimension in your life and ask yourself the questions below. Some areas may be easier to de-clutter than others. However, I assure you that when you make space in your life your productivity and impact will explode.


Career:
Are your files and workspace organized and easy to use?
Do you have any unfulfilled obligations hanging over your head?
Are you overcommitted to things that don't add outrageous value to you or the organization?
Do you check your email constantly? Can you reduce the amount of email you receive?



Relationships:
Have you celebrated a teammate?
Have you told your family that you love them?
Are there people you need to forgive or apologize to?
Are there difficult conversations that you need to initiate?
Do you have friends that you must connect with?



Finances
Do you have a financial plan written out?
Are your will, taxes and insurance in order?
Are you saving for the future?
Are you living within your means?



Health and Energy
Are you working out three times a week?
Have you had regular check ups with your doctor and dentist?
Do you consume sugar, caffeine and alchohol in moderation?



Home
Is your car in good repair?
Does your home and environment rejuvenate you?
Are all of your tools and appliances in good repair?
Are your closets organized?

Complex, confessions and gratitude...

A few confessions...then...

I had a complex that I have flat feet n so I cannot run as well as others

I had a complex I am from a village school when I joined college and cldnt relate to ppl when they spoke of Gill Adarsh, Anna Adarsh, SBOA...etc..

I had a complex I had to give my ph no starting with the STD code and a few 'friends' actually refused to take it cos they wont make an STD call (again in college)

I had a complex(may be guilt) I transferred from Adiparasakthi engineering college thro reco to 'hep' Crescent and I didnt really deserve it.

The above mentioned guilt discouraged me from trying for a 'better' group and opted for Polymer science while I had got the least score in Chemistry in my +2 exam.

The low score in Chemistry in turn is tied in with the fact(read mental block) that a guy who had BSc Biology as his qualification took Chemistry for us in my village school. I thought he knew nothing n I learnt nothing....I had a complex I wont do well in Chemistry when i moved to a diff school for +2.


Now...a few confessions..

I run 13 kms flat in 70 min and I do it min 5 days a week.

I know which school you went to can only do 'as much' to you. It doesnt really matter when you know what you want to do....I look back with utmost gratitude for all the personal attention I got in my school (class strength was 5 I swear) and howmuch influence Ive had by a great personality like my school principal (Late Mr. Felix Bosco, died in a freak accident), he taught me discipline and hardwork thro his English classes.Unconsciously I learnt what is to be humane, what is to remain +ve always, ALWAYS from Sister Rita (Maraimalai Nagar St.Joseph's) and now I know these 2 were my greatest inspiration on a personal level and these I learnt from my 'village schools'.

I take pride and n am thankful for growing up in such a peaceful, serene place. I hate the fact that my beautiful village is no more a village, It has a chennai code(thats ok). Its crowded, its messy n will find a lot of 'People talking without speaking'..man i refer to these lines in every other blog...

I know now it was neither Chemistry nor Computers( though i do some code crunching now) where my heart lies...Adiparasakti or Crescent doesnt matter..I am here for a better purpose..(can u see the halo behind my head?)

I thank Thee for the blessings , the opportunities, the real life experience and all the twist and turns life has thrown at me and continues to do so...

This song is soo reflective of my current state of mind. Touchwood...did u hear me say Mashallah!

Well it took so long for me to realize
That my destiny was right before my eyes
If it were up to me to travel through this life
I'd find an open space for me to live out all my dreams
I'm such a lucky man, I try to be a stronger man
I shed a tear or two but that don't make me a weaker man
It's made me a better man, I've given all I can
To a world that sometimes thinks that I'm a lesser man
I remember all the things I've been through
Gave myself to all those people I once knew
I'm such a lucky man
I'd like to thank you for the times that you have been with me
I hope it meant as much to you to share these memories
There's a guiding light that always seems to shine on me
If I did it again I'd be happy 'til the end
I'm a lucky man, I try to be a stronger man
I shed a tear or two but that don't make me a weaker man
It's made me a better man, I've given all I can
To a world that sometimes thinks that I'm a lesser man
I remember all the things I've been through
Gave myself to all those people I once knew
I'm such a lucky man
It's right here in the moonlight...
Whooooooooohhhoooooohhhh
I'm a lucky man, I try to be a stronger man
I shed a tear or two but that don't make me a weaker man
It's made me a better man, I've given all I can
To a world that sometimes thinks that I'm a lesser man
I'm a lucky man
Yeah
MMMMMmmmmMMMMMmmm.... I'm a lucky man
Whooooooooohhhoooooohhhh.... just a lucky man

Accents- UK accents, U.S,...Southern..Manglish ,Hinglish n the rest....

This is in response to what Sethu had to say . Well whats with this fuss on english accent? Is there like a benchmark on how it needs to be spoken? If english is from the U.K from my limited knowledge they still have their Scottish... Irish...Welsh accents. So which one do I pick?

If you ask me I dont know what accent I speak with. Mean its not my native language. When the native speakers have their own 'flavors' well I care a damn bout how I do. Its just that out of 'necessity' we learnt it. Well the Americans and the whole lot hire ppl who speak Japanese to deal n sniff on Toyota way and learn a few Six sigma tricks cos its their 'necessity' to learn the language to deal with the Japs..If Indians were resourceful, innovative, industrious, and 'lean' enough (this opens another topic for dicsussion /debate lets save that for later..) may be they might be forced to learn telegu n tamil n we can make fun of their 'wierd' accents...Let me not tread away from the topic of discussion.

I do want to recollect an incident when I called up one of the support centre for a software I deal with. From the first greeting of the lady on the other side I cld see it the call had gone to India. I was amused and then a bit irritated by the accent like third pardy(party- ????) tool...pEASsword(password -Southern/ Texan? ) I was soo tempted to ask her to speak english. From my own accent she wld have very well known I was from India or even Southern India but still she continued her whatevr...Point here is its ok to stick to your natural accent n not feel guilty than act like a retard tryin to fake one..

It is also true that I am bound to have some genuine influences on my accent based on where I am.. 21 yrs Ive been in India 5 in u.s and close to 1 in singapore( singlish- can also aah( can you? )going back ready aah(are you leaving?)) n now in middle east-Yalla yalla lets go, i sneeze n if i say 'excuse me' i dont hear many bless yous, they say something else i havent caught up on that..Down the lane I might end up saying alhamdulilla instead of excuse me. Touchwood wld get replaced by Masha allah. Hopefull by Insha allah...n a whole lot. All the Brits, South Africans(my boss) Australians n Dutch whove been working here for a while add those whole lot of arabic words to their vocabs n have a 'customized' accent. So whats the big deal?

So next time some1 pulls a prank on manglish , tanglish or hinglish its ok. Shame on them. This trend is so prevalent with the FOBS landin up for Grad studies and couple of yrs down the lane make fun of the ones who hasnt picked a cue or two or just hasnt come to terms with the new place. ABCDs makin fun of Grads Grads on FOBS n FOBS on say hmm may pe direct H1. 'Kinatril vaazum tavalai pol' they r just morons. its perfectly ok to forgive the ignorants n be happy you have a broader bird's eye view of the world. Stay humble. Peace be upon you..Assalamalaikum.

Machi Sethu I know I treaded away from what you had to say or this post has nothing to do with what you wrote, but I wanted to blog on this some day, u just gave me the lead...

Mike Wasowski!!

It was cartoon weekend last..I watched Monsters inc and Ice Age...effect of my colleagues. One of em had highly recommended Monsters inc cos her son loves it n she was guarded in confessing she loves it too , nother one has got 'mike wasowski' as her ring tone...I liked Ice age though..the last one I really enjoyed was Finding nemo..hmm been a while.


Well everyone has a kid in em, some are just too conscious to reveal it. I remember the line from the story chota jaadugar 'paristitiyaan manushya ko bahut jaldi chatur bana deta hai' we not only get smart/cunning/mature we kill the kid in us....Neways I am gifted with colleagues who always fool around, funny videos are forwarded by my chief (very picky though), n walking into office shouting 'mike wasowski' is considered very normal. Touchwood.

Thayir saadam

I made fat free curd rice for lunch. So whts the big deal? Well Ive added half scoop of slow digesting casein protein powder to it.....aplause aplause aplause!!!!

Laka laka laka laka

This aint reel life but this pic of Jyotika reminds me of Chandramukhi. N ya i got these bunch of Jyotica -Surya marriage pics from my sis saying I resemble Surya...wink wink hehe. Enna seyya reminds me of the saying 'kakkaiku than kunju pon kunju' Neways jo-surya look cuuitee beri cuuitte. So the question is where is my Jo????

American dream in Arabian soil....

Winter is tops down in Bahrain , 2006 Mustang has a good deal goin on, torchred GT conv is readily available with the dealer, I ask the bank n they are fine with the loan with minimal interest, I forget bout the poor resale value here in ME...I forget for every 200m there is a signal n there aint many 'freeways for my way of driving' nthe caption on car wld be 'The legent driven by a legend'............ I am all ready to buy........................................................................................................n then I wake up from the dream.

Friends...

Today is one of those days when I miss my frienz terribly,n crawl back into my shell..

My friends...they are such integral part of my life...ppl I can just take for granted..they are always there, u can be u (read stupid) n still be loved.

Well there are friends and the acquaintance...

The roommates who never become friends even after couple of yrs living together(yes I had 1), the friends whom ull never dare to have as roommates(i have frenz who r awesome to be around but just cant imagine havin him as a roommate..)

The colleagues who remain to be colleagues....good ol langoti yaars(they r the besshhht), tea kada friends, darru frenz( they end up bein genuine ones..) n the ephemeral ones( oh well that wld b a looong list)...


I soo loved to cook when my folks n frenz r around..the beers, the music, the bakchodi...hours of talk that looks soo serious but wld mean nothing...

When I look back on whats amiss, I can see all the travelling has taken its toll....


I also notice that the older you get the harder it is to make frenz(acquaintance yes). Like I find most of em too boring n very 'phoney' in their talk...may be I am wrong. As we grow older the innocence,the genuine tone in the voice n the warmth in the eyes is lost...its more like the 'how are you's you hear in the office and not waiting to hear the 'never been better' reply..again reminds me of the lines

'People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening'


Life sans frenz suxxx....


Courtesy S&G /Arun

Old friends, old friends,
Sat on their parkbench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today,
Sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,
Silently sharing the same fears

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.

I love my solitude but at times I am confused...

I did it!!!!

Read the book 'The Alchemist' cover to cover yesterday. The only other book I remember reading @ 1 go was 'Black Beauty' bout 14-15 yrs ago....

Eros - I WILL GET ALL PIRATED DVDs

Morons eros this , i pay a friggin 1 b.d for a hindi movie n these dvd makes fill em up with soo many ads, n wht more u cant skip em...just forward n wait the movie's title is on cool n wht do i see nother lowlife eros ad...morons i am gonna watch all pirated ones , copy n distribute all movies for free if they r on eros. grrrrrrrr..y a i am a bit 'disturbed'

Saif , Ajay n Salman ...the good, the bad n the ugly(read disaster)

Shaadi karke....whatever this movie with Salman n Shilpa(wink wink old wine is givin the phat ass newbies a run for their money) in the lead. man its been over 15 yrs with sallu in movies he will make our Narasimha Rao proud...He just doesnt know how to emote..the model n the stripper still has some fans following...rehne de..

On the other side we have our Saif Ali Khan n Ajay in Omkara...man Saif just keeps getting better n pulls it off convincingly as Lagda n Ajay rocks again in the bad ass role (cant beat aur Dutt saab though, but Devagan has this class of his own..)

'pathetic'

is what one of my close friends had to say bout my blog. he was nice enough not to leave a comment, since hez a very good critic, ill take it..am honoured. sethu hope u read this.

Imagine...

A honda civic convertible...

To piss the auto dealer

Ask for a honda civic convertible with a sun roof...I guess I am getting 'normal'.

Wishlist

A punching bag in the recreation room in the office- for starters let them work on a recreation room.

Some 1 just pissed me off in the office n am venting it out orkutting n blogging. But yes I really wish there was a punching bag...have to wait till I reach home. Sigh.

n nother weekend passes by..

Well the whole of last week I did nothing. Most of the folks in bank are in vacation, my PM n Chief are @ Singapore n South Aftica having a good time (hopefully) n here the IT has its fun time. Its like going to school on Saturday in colour dress n knowing the teachers are not gonna turn up. Well doing nothing the whole week @ work stressed me out(hehe i knowww) n on my way back home on Thursday evening I picked up some 8 beers ( dont ask me why 8 , I dunno). Ive stopped trying out the bars cos sans company it depresses me even more, well whts the point in goin to a bar?

It was like the good ol days on friday ordered a pizza n some chicken wings, had picked up some movies, so drank my beer n just thought nothing bout the empty calories, the saturated fat...all those counts Ive been doing for the past 3 months..To make up for the lapse in my fitness regime I hit the treadmill first thing on saturday did 8 kms n had a fruits day to cleanse up the system..

It wasnt all bad, I guess am getting used to being alone, gives all the time in the world to think n take stock of things that otherwise wld leave it for that spl day to ponder on....

Khandahar

Picked this movie..the review says plight of a woman in Afghanisthan trying to reach her sister in one of the war ridden towns. Hmm sounded interesting, lately have this liking for movies on wars, conflicts bet west n east, civil wars in Africa watched some really good ones - Hotel Rwanda (real life story in lines with Schindler's list bout this guy who trades his all to save a few lives of his tribe from slaughter.) Paradise Now(tracks the mindset of 2 young Palestinian friends who decide to become human bombs) Syriana (on oil , money n dirty deals of west), Lord of war (how a weapons smuggler thrives on civil wars/disputes across the globe..)

Well lets get back to Khandahar - I was just baffled by Sai Baba n some Hindu holy chantings as background score all thro in a movie based in Afghanisthan. Well am I missing something or the director is just plain ignorant....