…is such a pathetic excuse we (or at least, I) get from co-workers, subordinates and even the management sometimes that we completely ignore the real significance of this remarkable coincidence.
Mostly I just think, “Yeah right, so what else is new” before moving on to the actual topic of the call or email which is usually just as mundane as everything else at work.
This evening however was when I really found out the reality of this phrase in a rather delightful way. While I was having lunch this afternoon I thought I’d mail an old friend of mine who I hadn’t heard from in quite some time.
Now the trouble is, getting back in contact with people you’ve been out of touch with for a while, kinda feels awkward at times because you don’t really know what to say or how much to write.
It was with these confused thoughts that I logged into my Gmail this evening – and found to my delightful surprise, that I had an email from her just an hour ago, making it the first of all items in my inbox.
It wasn’t too long or complicated; just a “hi-its-been-a-long-time-so-just-getting-back-in-touch” mail that is guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face; especially when you were just about to mail them at that time.
I quickly read through it, and then started off my reply with,
“Hi, I was just about to mail you right now…”
And then I paused.
There's really no way anyone can understand what that statement actually means, is there?
(I know that at least two people reading this swear by this online service and won’t take too kindly to my bashing it…but if you’re reading – sorry you guys; I just had to write this one)
I’m willing to bet everyone reading this uses or at least has heard about Twitter, so I won’t get into the specifics of what exactly it is or what’s it for.
If you’re still wondering what I’m talking about, you might wanna watch Twitter in Plain English. It’s a wonderfully made video from the guys at CommonCraft and actually the reason I got hooked onto this what-to-do-online-when-you’re-bored thing.
Though I must say, and one must give it credit, twitter in itself is based on a brilliant idea:
Even though we have SMS, Email and instant communication, real life happens between blogposts and email; and you wouldn’t send an email telling your friends you’re having coffee right now. This is where twitter comes in, linking up your real life to your profile online and paint a picture of you to your friends in a rather unique way.
For me however, it simply did not work. And here is why.
1. 140 characters too long:
Technically, a twitter post cannot get longer than 140 characters. The idea is that you only make short posts – ideally just a sentence or two on what you’re doing – so that people don’t have to read too much.
Unfortunately, too many people get around this by posting links – which is heightened by services like tinyurl that compress large links – and ultimately leads to the information overload that twitter tried to prevent in the first place…and what we’re all too familiar with.
2. Similar alternatives present.
Though this might have been a recent development, social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut also have a kind of ‘status message’ where you can tell the world what you’re doing. If you’re someone who already uses one of these services (like me), why bother with an additional online account to do the same thing? Its just one more thing to keep track of all the time.
3. Real life is not online.
This is the single biggest reason I quit. I don’t know how it works for other people but for me, “real life” happens OFFLINE…when I’m away from blogs, computers, and yes, even mobile phones.
For instance, the other day when I was out ice-skating with the guys would’ve been the ideal what-am-I-doing post that twitter looks for. But obviously, when you’re out on the blades, you don’t take out your phone to tweet “Just fell hard on the ice” when your priorities at the moment are elsewhere.
There’s a thin line between what can be online and what can’t, and some things just aren’t meant to be online.
And when I am online, what I do includes blogging, reading/commenting on other people’s blogs, getting banking done, socializing on networking sites and the like. None of which really carry a worth-while mention as long as I’m doing it.
4. Lack of “happening” events
This maybe a purely social thing…or it’s probably just me, but when you log in and read all your buddies’ posts on how the weather’s so beautiful at their place or that they’re off to have a great time somewhere; and then look back at your posts and see the only thing you’ve accomplished in the last two weeks is having 4coffees a day and playing a ton video games – it kinda starts getting depressing.
That, fuelled by a lack of interesting events in your life start to drive you crazy after a while. I mean come on, how many times can you tweet, “Alright, I’m off to work…again” and still hope to have a following?
The key is variety…and for a person with a routine lifestyle, it doesn’t really make much sense.
5. Lack of resources when you need them
Perhaps the best times when stuff happen to me is when I’m footloose – like when I’m off vacationing in another country. And most of the time, I’ve never had my phone or could access the internet when I could really use a tweet.
I mean, “The Eiffel Tower looks awesome” and “On my way to the Taj Mahal” would make really wonderful tweets and stuff I really wanna share with the people in my life…but let’s get real; you probably didn’t have internet access in your hotel room in Paris or on the train to Agra.
It’s almost as if there’s some sort of you-can’t-have-the-best-of-both-worlds curse; when something interesting does happen – I’ve no access to stuff online.
And I could probably list more, but these five are reason enough for me to stay off this teen-trend – and hope that the fans don’t take it too hard on me.
Lesson to learn:
If there’s an empty hair-salon right across the street from two more that are fully packed – there’s probably a reason why it’s empty.
And its reason enough not to go there.
Unfortunately for me, I found that out the hard way.
To start with a bit of history; I’ve always had wild hair for as long as I can remember. And because I’ve never bothered much about it, now that I look back at my high school photographs; I really had a bad mess of spikes sticking up from my head most of the time.
Actually it mostly wasn’t really my fault – at almost every place I’ve been to, I’ve been told that my hair is the type that likes to stand on end.
Back when I was living in Chennai, I once discovered this promising-looking place and walked in:
“Good evening sir, what kind of haircut would you like?” asked a rather professional-looking guy.
“Um, I don’t know…any way you can change my hair style?”
“Sure sir, would you like spikes?”
(Dude, this was something I was born with…why on earth would I want spikes again?)
“Er…no, I have a day job you see”
“Well then, how about leaving it long at the ends?”
(Say what? To cut it short was the reason I was here in the first place!)
“No. Anything else?”
“Sorry sir, your hair is kinda – “
“Yeah, I know. Just give me a regular haircut, okay?”
Anyway, that was two years ago, and I’ve learnt to live with my unique hair-ability and not to mess too much with it since then. And getting to the present, at the regular place where I now go to, I opt for the ‘normal’ cut (because for some strange reason, a “short” translates to getting your head shaved!) and hope that the guy understands a couple of words in English so I can tell him when to stop.
The place I went to today however, had a rather severe-looking guy; ran the machine though my head like a lawn-mower, taking too much off the sides, and then gives me this weird look that says,
“Gee it looks fine on this side, but somehow kind of different on the other.”
And as I sit in my room typing all this, my hair currently looks like a fuzz ball that’s just been through a blow dryer in a car wash.
And despite my efforts with tubes of gel; this is probably something that only time will heal.
:)
Within the hacking circles there’s a saying that goes, “All good things take time – Rome wasn’t burnt in a day”.
And I don’t normally write about my travels but in this case I’ll make an exception. Because although I’m not quite sure how long Rome burned, it sure did leave a lasting impression on me.
Actually the main reason I write this is because, before leaving for the trip we checked out a whole load of websites on what to see and expect; but most of them kinda fell short on one aspect or another. If you’ve ever wandered to a site looking for info, you immediately find there’s usually more advertisements than useful data on them.
So for the benefit of all wannabe Rome-travelers I’d like to present, my take on the city in a completely unconventional way:
- Rome wasn’t built in a day: And there’s no way you can see it in one. If you’re not gonna be in the city for more than a day; the only thing you can do is head over to the Colosseum (which incidentally ranks among the most recognized landmarks in the world) for a few pix before getting out. Everything else needs more time. For instance, I've never really seen a view of the Colosseum this way:
- All monuments are so huge that you can’t really pose in front of one and still hope to get a good picture of both you and the monument. I’d suggest you take a camera that’s got some sort of panorama modes and take multiple pictures that you can later stitch up together.
Your only other option is to take a really expensive pro-camera with a super wide-angle lens, which is more than what a lot of budget-travelers care to take. However, our experience showed that the panorama mode is quite sufficient for the everyday tourist, like this pic of the Fountain of Trevi below:
- Within the main stations and airport, all arrows pointing to anything, ANYWHERE, are ridiculous; and do more harm than good.
For instance, a sign board with “Tickets => ” probably means there’s a ticket counter somewhere 2floors up and on the side, the first step of which starts in the direction indicated.
We found this out the hard way while trying to locate a toilet based on an arrow that said “Restrooms =>” …and eventually found it in a narrow corridor 300m away in the 2nd level basement. - The Vatican Museum is a waste of time. If you must see it, the best way is if you go there on the last Sunday of the month when the entrance fee of €14 is waived. Even so, we figured the only people who’d appreciate or even understand it are historians – specifically Christian historians for that matter.
We, for the life of it, couldn’t tell the statues of the Popes from Popeye. - ALL Asian-looking people, Indians and people from the sub-continent look suspicious. Don’t ask me why.
Now I’m not a racist and don’t mean to say it like that, but seriously, every single non-white guy on the street we saw looked like they were gonna run away with your wallet any moment.
If there’s any Asian, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi living in Rome reading this – please, please, please write to me and explain what’s up with you guys. I really want to know. - The view from the top of the main dome at St. Peter’s Basilica is simply breathtaking. But it comes at a price. In this case, in the form of 560steps snaking your way up through a narrow one-way-only corridor in the side of the interior of the dome, up to the 140m high observation platform!
And even though there’s an elevator that takes you up half way, the rest of the 320steps can get claustrophobic. But its worth it.
- Everything you would've read about on tourist sites about Rome being a not-so-safe destination is true.
Yes, we are sorry to state this, and I really hope the Italian Government takes note. Of all the countries I’ve seen, this was the only place where a member of our group was actually mugged. Luckily, the only thing he lost was a pack of cigarettes when the guy bumped into him on an escalator and grabbed his jacket for support. But the point is, it could have been anything. And we’re just glad it wasn’t his wallet or camera or worse; passport. - Italian Pizza really is good. Very good. In fact, the best pizzas I’ve ever had. Pizza Hut and Domino's should be ashamed of themselves…and is probably the reason why we never saw any American pizza outlet branches in Rome.
It figures, doesn’t it? - Ditto for Italian ice cream. Nowhere else did I relish 3 exotic flavors on a single cone for just €2!
Anyway I really hope people don’t take it the wrong way; but this is just something that I felt I really HAD to share.
Enjoy!
Er…no offense to any of the ladies but I’m sorry, this is something that gets me annoyed every single time I get on the bus for groceries on my way home from work.
I guess its fair game to state that we as Indians are known for our ‘social’ nature; we chat with perfect strangers on trains and busses, play games and sing songs during fun college trips, even play games that involve singing songs and the like; but I think its only right that living in a foreign land means showing a bit of respect for the local culture.
In this case; the fact that the only things Germans are fond of on public transport are reading or staring out at the window with the earphones plugged in.
Anyway, every time I take the bus – the 72 towards Russelsheim – I almost feel like I’m back in India the moment I step in.
This bus is half full of girls (alright, women!) chatting away non-stop in Hindi, usually with a Bollywood song playing in the background from someone’s I-wanna-flaunt-it mobile phone. More often than not, there’s one member of the party stuck in the middle of the bus, but not that this stops these girls (women, okay!) from shouting out to them halfway across the bus, as if the rest of us were stone deaf or something.
And I’m no expert, but I'm guessing people think they can be loud just because apparently no one else understand a word of Hindi.
Well I’ve got news for them:
People know exactly what they mean because, though I didn’t wanna say it this way, the Hindi (or Tamil) we speak, is so far out from the original and has so many English words that anyone can get a fairly good idea of what’s going on.
I mean come on, when you point to someone and say,
“Dhek, uski eye color blue hai”,
…it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure what you’re talking about!
The height of this fiasco is reached when the bus gets to the stop of their hotel and some of them realize they’re already there only when the first half of the party is already outside, and then jumps back in to shout out to the rest to get off. Seriously, I’ve seen circus clowns less hilarious than this!
I think that just because we’re a social lot doesn’t give us the right to abuse upon those of others – and create a thoroughly negative impact on our culture in the process.
I’d also like to think of this as social service, so in case you know someone who’s loud, I please suggest that you print this out, and leave it on their desk or someplace they’d see it.
Particularly if they happen to work in the Avionics Training Center in Kelsterbach and take the RMV 72 to Mercure Wings Hotel, Raunheim at 5:42PM everyday.
I’d really appreciate if they could read this.J
In case you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like for a mobile phone to go around in a washing machine…
…I can tell you: they DO NOT like it.
And I found that out the hard way this evening after I stuffed my laundry into the washer, turned it on, and then three cycles later discovered that I forgot the phone in my jeans.
And needless to say; it died a sad, wet death under layers of suds and fabric softener; and I’m still mourning over the loss of my poor Nokia 6230i.
May she rest in peace.
Now moving on and getting to the realities of the situation; I still have another phone – a clammy old one from work; and I’m not missing a lot of phone numbers because the only people who call me are either from work or concerning work; and I already have their numbers on Outlook.
The biggest loss for me though, was all my data that it took along with it. I had a list of all passwords I use for pretty much everything online; I’ve marked important dates on the calendar; scribbled in a bunch of notes; even put in a little to-do list for the week.
All of which I don’t have anymore.
In a way it kinda freaks me out because it draws us to realize how so very much we are dependent on these little electronics which you can lose at any time.
I mean, when my laptop died last year (yeah, this evening wasn’t the first time I lost data to gadget hell) I was absolutely lost because that is where I had almost every aspect of my online life; from Email to documents, pictures, contacts, videos…pretty much everything.
And in a way it teaches you too; it was only after that mishap that I realized you should never stash data all in one place; and that it’s important to take regular backups. And that you should always keep written copies of passwords.
But I guess no matter how prepared you are, nothing prepares you for that one sudden moment when it all turns black; and you realize its all over.
Just like our own lives.
Yes, we are finally back.
New blog, new template, on a fresh new domain. And boy am I excited.
So let’s get started right away.
Firstly, you’ll notice that this isn’t Random Thoughts anymore. To be honest, coming up with a new name and domain is the part that took the longest time because I was so comfortable with Random Thoughts.
But then I realized it wasn’t very original – there must be like a hundred sites out there with the exact same name; just try the words “random thoughts” (with the quotes) on Google, you’ll see what I mean. In fact, it took me over a week, after the design template was completed to finalize on the name to use.
Now why “The Square Circle”?
For the same reason Steve Jobs ended up with “Apple” – one week of domain hunting later I was so frustrated (did you know ALL the good domains are taken; most of which are just stupidly parked) that I started looking for something random, pretty much anything I could find and so, here we are.
Getting down to the technical side of things; my old blog (http://rahmannoor.blogspot.com/) still redirects to here. And I’m yet to import all my previous posts and setup my widgets, but I promise I’ll do this soon.
Coming to credits, this design is an adaptation of Blogy-illacrimo for BlogandWeb from DesignDisease, and I truly thank them for the wonderful template.
I say ‘adaptation’ because the original template had three columns which I didn’t like, so I changed it to just two and rewamped some of the original artwork.
There was also a whole mess of broken image links in the original template file which I had to find and upload to my own image-server; not to mention invalid xml and missing script references which I had to fix.
Btw, I’d prefer to think of this as “still in beta” (now don’t give me that look) because I tested this on a few browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome and good old IE but I guess there are still a few glitches to it.
Oh, and in case this is the first time you’ve landed on this blog, here’s a snapshot of how my original blog looked like.
(I know, lame wasn’t it?)
Do let me know what you think, and how I can take this further. After all, in the end, it’s only the readers that count!
:D
I have been blogging for quite a while now, and although today is not any specific day like “exactly-two-years-ago” or anything, it struck me how far it has come, and how much further I’d like to go.
Now, a long time ago I stumbled upon sites like BlogBloke with expert advises on blogging and the like, but somehow never really paid much attention to it.
When I logged in this afternoon however, it suddenly stuck me how lame the whole thing really looks.
I mean come on, a terrible looking design template, less-than-creative URL (that’s my name there), minimalist stats tracking and comment control, and no RSS…it really doesn’t get much dumber than this.
With this in mind, I’d like to take a deep breath, and announce that effective immediately I’m putting all my current blogging activities on hold and working full time over this holiday season on getting my blog back on track and in better shape.
I’m thinking maybe I’ll switch platforms, to something with better control (and a much nicer custom template!) or maybe even go pro on an owned domain; with my very own CMS and all the fireworks.
Whatever I do, I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven’t quit, so just in case you come back a month later and still find this post on top, you know I’m still working on it!
"What should I write" I was thinking all night, when suddenly, it dawned on me!
I guess it’s been all over the news more times than necessary that the outgoing US President George Bush was thrown a pair of shoes at during a press conference in Iraq. In case you missed the news, here’s a link.
Now, putting the serious and insulting nature of the issue aside, I’d like to take this as an opportunity to introduce a new phrase into English; and I really hope this catches on.
I mean after all, not so long ago, when J.K. Rowling introduced us to the world of Magic and Muggles, hey the Oxford English dictionary brought that out and officially introduced the word in 2003!
So here’s my contribution to the world of words in our beloved language:
Bushed [bůshΔ] (verb):
The act of throwing footwear at a person, either individually or in a group, with the intention of insulting or otherwise humiliating the person; see also Getting-[v]: being a victim of such an act; [v]-ing: throwing footwear, esp. as a form of occur disrespect and the highest level of insult towards the subject.
Here’s a few examples:
When the burglar broke into the barn, he took off after the boys bushed him with leather boots.
The local judge ordered the shoplifter to be tarred, feathered and bushed.
“If you do that again, I’ll bush you in front of the entire village” threatened the town Elder.
Although I must say, something like “The president was bushed” does sound a tad bit too insulting. But I guess that’s the way a language grows :D
(Technically, this post should’ve actually been on Broken Fishtank which is the usual place I write stuff like this, but I just did a post there yesterday and I don’t want it to sink to second place already.
This is going to be a long post; and a serious one. If you’re busy now, please come back and read it later. But I do implore you to not skip paragraphs)
I’m probably the last guy on the planet to write on the recent Mumbai attacks, nearly two weeks after the whole thing was over; but in a way it got me thinking about a lot of stuff we seem to take for granted…including who we routinely blame for it.
First off, the politicians who are a bunch of idiots and we all know this. In fact, we know better because we’re the ones who put them up there in the first place, so in a way, we’re to blame for it.
And who can forget the “Deccan Mujahideen” who supposedly claimed responsibility for the attack…and then the media went into overdrive with home-grown terror.
Until someone was intelligent enough to expose this as a bad joke by some prankster, every news channel in
…why?
Because Muslims were the bad guys. Muslims were the terrorists. Muslims were the people who like to blow up stuff.
Quickly, give me a no-hard-feelings answer: what’s the first image to pop into your head when you hear the word “terrorist”?
If you get an Osama-bin-Laden-look-alike with a turban, a long beard, wearing a robe, you’ve hit home base – along with a million others.
Now here’s where it starts getting confusing, because if you look at the one picture of the terrorist we’ve seen far too times on TV, there was no turban, the guy was wearing a black tee, cargo jeans and (gasp!) no beard. And then you have this other report that the terrorists apparently had stashed up 3days worth of food; chicken and liquor!
The chicken part, I buy, but alcohol?
I’m no expert but I’m guessing you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure who the only terrorists who don’t drink by principle – as opposed to not drink before an attack – are!
Now I’m not denying or alleging anything, but for all we know, they could have been college-dropouts or unemployed graduates taking out their frustration to the world…and the fact remains that no one still knows who the attackers were or where they came from or what they wanted (despite what you see on TV) but what makes me mad is that we’re quick to again blame the Muslims for it.
And again, why?
Because hey, if it’s not them, who else could it be?
In fact, a while ago during another bombing, an Indian news-magazine ran a story with the racist headline: “All Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim”.
Note here how the LTTE, The Naxalites, the IRA of Ireland and the FARC of South America all suddenly cease to become terrorist organizations just because apparently in someone’s mind; only Muslims do all the dirty work; with the dislodging clause that, “well, maybe not all of them though”
And thus, effectively alienate part of society by calling them the bad guys, throwing the blame on them and view them with suspicion at every turn in society.
No, it does NOT feel nice to be looked at as part of the problem and a potential terrorist when you have nothing to do with it.
In short: terrorists are our common enemies…and you can’t fight them by blaming a community or a country or a religion for it and alienating them.
Regardless of whether they are “jihadists” – that’s the usual term; or RSS extremists – we’ve seen this in the Melagon attacks; or by the United States – which pokes into Iraq, Afghanistan and pretty much the rest of the world; call a terrorist a terrorist.
And unite to fight them.
…my roomie asked eyeing me, as I skipped the section with the full-cream yogurt and reached out to the one marked “0.1% fat”.
I scowled back at him. I don’t know why but most people I know have only two kinds of food habits.
a) eat like there’s no tomorrow (“dude, this is the age to eat”)
b) go on a diet and cut out on pretty much all the good stuff. (“I’m dieting”)
My biggest problem is convincing people that you don’t have to be ‘on a diet’ to make sensible choices when it comes to food.
Sensible choices, for me includes choosing whole wheat over white bread, light cheese, trimming the fat on the chicken, using the oven instead of the deep fryer and yes, picking 0.1% fat over full-cream yougurt.
And no I am not on a diet.
In fact I’m nowhere close to a diet – I live on chicken 2 to 3 days a week, ice-creams (inspite of the snow outside!), munch on Pringles and have a Twix every once in a while.
Which is exactly why I’d want to eat more sensibly.
Because the kind of activities I do on a day-to-day basis hardly justifies my food-ability. And I’m guessing most people reading this aren’t exactly Rambo look-alikes either so it’s not just me who has to worry about going through the day on a chair getting up only in case of necessities.
In a way I’m angry at people who don’t care about their food habits unless something happens. For these people a ‘food habit’ pretty much means whatever they can find and are allowed to eat where they live. I know a lot of my friends who have deep-fried delicacies almost everyday because “this is what you get here dude”.
No its, not! And and no points for guessing the side effects. True, when you’re living alone, (and on a tight budget) healthy eating’s not always an option but hey, we can try, right?
Remember; a ‘diet’ is what you routinely eat, not what you go on for a month – and having the right attitude makes a good diet; One of these days I really got to talk to these guys, after all…
“Hey, I’m still talking to you”
I blinked as I snapped back to reality. I was still reaching out for that yogurt and there were other people starting to stare at us.
I just looked back at him and smiled. There isn’t much you can say sometimes.
(I know a lot of people reading this probably aren’t gaming fans, but NFS is one of my weak spots, and when EA Games came out with the latest installation of the series last Thursday, I knew I had to do a post on it)
Need for Speed: Undercover hit the streets last week on the 18th of November and it got me excited.
Historically, the Need for Speed series has always been the hallmark of EA Games ever since the first installation came out way back in 1995…and one of my favorite games of all times.
Back in my school days, I remember trying to tweak my ancient Pentium II machine to get it to run NFS: High Stakes on it.
While I was at college, we’d huddle around at best buddies’ places for one-on-one, all night long tournaments of NFS: Hot Pursuit2 and sneak into computer labs for illegal versions of NFS:SE.
When I finally (saved enough and) got my own laptop a couple of years ago, one of the first things I did was get Underground2.
But after all this, I’m upset that EA disappoints us this time with a game that’s both boring and technically flawed. I haven’t tried it out myself, but every single review I’ve read unanimously agrees that Undercover has serious flaws that let the frame rates get out of whack and cause graphics to jump at you.
Also, the AI is supposed to be so dumb you can win each game the first time round. And after ultra-realistic modeling and physics in Carbon and Pro-street, this game apparently has laughably poor detail and animation.
The game also contains a video-based storyline that features a half-naked woman smoking a cigarette and telling you what to do…which is simply not my idea of a good game play.
All in all, in one sentence the reviews simply read: “Whatever you do, please don’t buy this game”
Hope the guys at EA are listening – and come up with a better and more stable Undercover2 fast. Because at the it’s-not-worth-it-now price of over €60, this is one game I’m not gonna buy in a hurry.
Today was one of those days when everything seems to go wrong:
For starters, those new shoes I bought the other day – I just realized they’re one size too small…while I was half way to work. That means I had to sit through the entire day with sore toes before walking (ouch!) home. And having skipped the weather forecast, I didn’t take my umbrella so I had to walk (ouch!) in the rain. Apparently new shoes don’t like rain either.
At work, I nearly lost my head over a dumb argument with a stupid manager who had no idea what I was talking about. Took me over 2hours and ton of Email to get him to see the light.
And at the end of the day, I forgot to leave my backpack in my locker at work, so I had to come straight home carrying a 5pound laptop instead of heading over to the zeil for dinner like I had originally planned to.
Oh and there’s at least another 4 items in my inbox that demand my “immediate action” (whatever the hell that means) as soon as I get in tomorrow morning.
It is exactly at times like these when I think about all those people out there who don’t have a place to come home to; shoes to wear; managers to cuss or a job to crib about.
…and realize life, just can’t get any better than this!
Actually I don’t think I’m the first person to write on this; quite a while back ela wrote this post on how people tend to put on the pounds after they get married, but I only got to find out how true this is when I was in Chennai a couple of weeks ago for my best friend’s wedding. Almost every one of my friends who got married have put on like a ton or something…and the worst part was that no one had the slightest remorse about looking like a hot air balloon! Although I guess, the “look-good-feel-good” theory probably doesn’t apply here. Most newly-weds are happy with the…you know, and also the good food that comes along; with loving care too, I might add.
A friend of mine (who, incidentally, is also a dad now congratulations!) shrugged it off with a, “Dude, I’m married, this stuff is normal after you get married…you’ll see”.
No I do not see.
And I honestly don’t think there is anything ‘normal’ about inflating yourself just because you’re walking the path of bliss, and don’t have to worry about looks anymore.
But I’m thinking it’s not just the food that’s causing all this. Because in spite of their high-fat, high-meat-content food, most Europeans seem to live healthier lifestyles because they do something about it. I mean, my boss is over 40 and she goes rock climbing. Most of our guys on the other hand, prefer to come home to coffee and hot samosas instead.
All fun things said and done, here’s a serious fact:
Asians (and Africans too, but I’m guessing not too many people from the
And I’m not messing you; this is a medical fact for real.
Also, I don’t know about the numbers but more and more people are starting to suffer from heart disease and diabetes than just one generation ago; and this has nothing to do with genetics. Its all to do with what we eat; how much we eat; and what we do about it.
Married or not. :)
Even though the city is now coming up with more hip places to 'hang out', my personal favorite will always be Spencer Plaza; for the shear variety you find...from the ultra high-end speciality audio studios and fashion outlets to the tiny side stores in the aisles where you pick tees for a hundred rupees (not to mention Samosas and chai) and everything in between!
Here’s a quick question:
What do you get your best friend on his wedding day when you know he already owns a lot of the stuff you can think of and is not interested in most of everything else?
Turns out it’s a lot more difficult to get people gifts…especially for good friends when you want to get them something special and not the same as that dumb watch you got for Bob from finance.
After we realized that three days of international e-brainstorming (on IM from across 3 countries) didn’t help, we had to settle for a gift voucher from a retail outlet.
That’s when I decided to put together this list to make things easier for people (if any) who are willing to get something for me anytime soon. So without further ado, here’s my wishlist:
- A PSP:
Yup, I’ve been eyeing one for nearly a year now, and almost bought one on my last trip to Dubai. But somehow this has been evading me since, and I don’t see shore anytime soon. - A cat:
Or maybe a kitten. With a bell and a little blue ribbon on top. Most people don’t know this, but I absolutely love cats. Wonder if there’s a gift-a-cat store nearby? - LEGO Mindstorms:
Yes, the big daddy of the LEGO – complete with sensors and programmable controllers. I’m a gadget freak and can spend years with this thing…and I’ll be honest here: I can’t afford it, so I hope someone else can. - The New Macbook:
(This may be an overkill, but I sure hope it works :D)
I wrote that I’m in love with it here, and gosh does love hurt. My poor wallet too. - Tissot Touch.
I really don’t mean to advertise, but it is an awesome watch. A study showed that most men love watches that do more than tell time; and with something that gives you a barometer, altimeter, chonograph and thermometer at a touch, I’m no exception. - A pair of Nike AirMax.
At over $200, this is one shoe I’m not planning on buying anytime soon. But doesn’t mean anyone else shouldn’t either so just for the record, I wear a size 8.Now that’s really money under your feet. - A Large FatBoy:
Not only are bean bags a barrel of fun, but they also seem to be the best things to curl on with a book and a steaming cup. Even without a book or coffee, I’d love to snuggle up against one. Too bad they’re too bulky to transport. - Harman/Kardon iPod dock:
Yeah I know its probably gonna look terrible against my tiny 8GB Nano, but doesn’t cost to dream does it?
So there you have it, a list of stuff which I am sure
a) I’m not gonna buy and
b) no one else is gonna get me either
So in all respects, this is the world’s most-impractical-list-of-things-to-buy.
But I guess once in a while we are all entitled to a healthy dose of madness, aren’t we?
I recently came to realize that we have another tenant living at our place – a lonely old man who lives in a one-room apartment down in the basement.
Now, being one of only 3people who live here (this is not an apartment, its just one huge house where the owners stay in one portion and sub-let the other two to us and another couple) I was genuinely astounded to find that out – because the guy must at least a good seventy five and lives alone with a bicycle.
Yes, with a bicycle.
And one of the reasons I’ve never seen him before is because he doesn’t get out much and no one comes to see him.
It makes me re-think on all the times I’ve felt alone like when my roomie goes on vacation and stuff and realize, “God, its good to have people – friends and family – who love and care about you!”.
I guess it’s another one of those small things we all take for granted.
There is a lot in life we should be thankful for.
...and I'm so in love with it!
I originally intended this to be sort of a sequel to my last post on Online living because I later realized there was so much I didn’t do it much justice – and as some people pointed out; maybe there is more to life than the internet.
But brings us to another point: overload of the stuff we love and hold on to everyday.
Apart from my work Email and office phone (which keep me busy nearly the entire day five days a week) I also have 3 other personal Email accounts which demand checking a few times a day. And then there is orkut – the single biggest service I use on the internet next only to google search.
To complicate things, I recently discovered a whole lot of my high-school buddies on facebook and joined in. And then there is Linked-In to keep in touch with old colleagues from work who neither fit in orkut or facebook.
And this does not even take into account the free sign-up offers I turn down everyday from places named Hi5, friendster, WAYN, Shelfari, RupeeMail, Yaari… and this list gets long.
Picasa and Flickr where I stash my pix online.
And then there is twitter; which I don’t use all that much either and just signed up because it felt like a good idea at the time (and because the guys from CommonCraft did a great marketing job with Twitter in Plain English!)
And when that day comes; I’ll do another post on it ;-)
