The Native

All in the Family

2009-12-08T10:42:00.007+05:30

Tarun participated in a singing competition in school. He sang ‘Country Roads’ by John Denver, and won the third place – the bronze. His school had taken a photograph of the singers and sent it to the parents. The singer in action :)
Abhinav too is intense about music. The moment he hears music, he claps, or sways or taps his thigh in rhythm. I had read in some baby book, that all babies have a sense of music and can follow rhythm.

Abhinav is ONE

2009-08-08T12:38:00.002+05:30

We celebrated baby's first birthday on August 2nd. It was a small affair with close friends, neighbours and family. Baby was just perfect. He never cried at all, unlike his big brother, who cried throughout his first birthday party. Not to hurt big brother's sentiments, both Tarun and Abhinav cut the cake together. We had cake and potato chips and home made wine. This was later followed by mutton biryani and its associates.

All went on well... and we still couldnt believe that baby had grown up so fast :)

Update :)

2009-07-10T10:21:00.006+05:30

Long since i even opened this page... Was busy.. an excuse :)
So far :
I have resigned my job and am a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) He he he...
Mom was diagnosed for Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and was operated upon on both hands.
Dad retired on April, and mom and dad going back to kerala in August
Tarun started going to LKG at Montfort, the first week us sorrowful for him as well as for us, but now he's enjoying it.
Abhinav will turn 1 on Aug 2 (so fast).
My brother had come down for vacation for a month, and finally my long term wish, a trip to Pondicherry with George, kids, Anoop and my cousin Amith, was fullfilled.
(Abhinav baby's first trip besides native Kerala was to Pondicherry :))
Me at home, a change after working for so long.
George has shifted job, from his recession hit company to heading the training division of Trends n Vouge, CavinKare. Thanks to God for that.
I do think of my blog friends, Julia, Pearlie, Abe, Roopa,Theresa,Preethi, though i dont read the blogs (coz i have 2 kids to manage :) ) and wish them well.

Endae Keralam Ethra Sundaram and a Wedding

2009-01-21T16:51:00.009+05:30

Us Cousins

Tomy tying the minnu

Family sans Abhinav

The bride

Dinner the previous night

We left for Kerala from Chennai on the 25th of December, for my cousin's wedding. Tarun and Abhinav, contrary to our fears were at their best behavior in the train. I was excited about the wedding as I was to stand behind my cousin, to fulfill the duties of an elder sister as it is our custom, till the minnu/thali was tied by the groom. On the previous day of the wedding, all of us cousins, stayed at the bride - Anjana’s - place and had a great time – lots of games, gossip and ofcourse food. As my uncle, the bride’s dad, was a building contractor, there were so many people coming and going. We had erected a shamyana outside and hired tables and chairs because the people coming and going would not fit in the house, and also that it was easier to serve them food there, on banana leaves (no need of washing and easily disposable). We too had our dinner there. My mom and aunts were forever in the kitchen, preparing tones of food…breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea, coffee and juice for those people walking into the house in between all this.

The wedding – as in our community – is conducted from the groom’s side. Due to this we had to travel over 120 Kms – one way - by road, from Maramon to Kothamangalam. Lucky for me I left with my cousin in a car early in the morning, to hotel Sicilia (we didn’t dress up from home due to the distance), located at Thodupuzha, to get dressed then to the groom’s church. The rest of family and friends joined us at the church directly.
My cousin Anjana got married to Tomy Thomas. I stood behind my sister and my duties got over once the minnu was tied by Tomy, and from thereon, his sister-in law took over.
The food was lovely.. appam, mutton curry, beef, fish, chicken, pavakka fry, aviyal, thoran, rice, salad, ice cream etc etc….
Then from there close friends and family left to Tomy’s house, to participate in another custom, where the girl goes to the boy’s house for the first time. We were welcomed with cake and wine. After prayers, we started our journey once more, this time back to the bride’s place, where the bride and groom would spend 3 days, after which the bride would go permanently to the groom’s house.

The only difficult part of the wedding was the travel. We traveled over 260 Kms by road My... it was one big journey. The road, had lots of hairpin bends – enough to make our stomach’s lurch and vomit, I think George was the only one in the family who didn’t vomit - and lonely stretches amidst rubber plantations. To top it up, we lost our way a couple of times, adding to the extra kilometers.
The wedding was beautiful, and Tomy a very nice person. Tarun was dressed in a white kurtha and he managed it beautifully, again contrary to my opinion about him.

After that visiting aunts and uncles ( read “all the time eating high calorie food”) and other relatives took up most of our remaining vacation time. It was a lovely trip, Kerala as beautiful as ever, fantastic weather, the vacation lasting close to 20 days and Abhinav’s first Kerala trip.

Baby is Baptised ..

2008-12-14T16:56:00.006+05:30

Baby was baptised on 6th December 2008. It was a simple ceremony and the only important person missing was Anoop achachen, my brother. Unlike his brother Tarun, who cried from the moment of entry into church, Abhinav never cried. Even when his lower body was immersed in the baptism tub, he never cried.(My dad the told me that the water they used was warmed slightly :)) His bawling started only when the priest poured the water on his head. All went on fine, baby fell asleep after a feed and all the guests had dinner.

Tagged !!

2008-12-09T19:03:00.003+05:30

I was tagged a long time back by Abraham. I never had the time... finally i did it..
Most of the questions i guess would be best suited for unmarried people :) Any way here is mine..

Abraham says that its customary to write two lines about the person who has tagged you.. so Abe here it is ...

A cool guy with a good sense of humor
Good writing skills

The other rules are :
RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any
question that they dislike with a new question formulated by them.
RULE #2 Tag someone else to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If your lover betrayed you what would your reaction be?
Thank you very much for letting me know in advance about you....

2. What’s it that you see in an ideal partner?
A sense of humor, a level head and fun to be with.. (Well George fits the bill i guess)

3. What, according to you, is the perfect date?
Spending time at the beach (Now, with two small fellows to take care of... that's a distant dream :))

4. Would you like to have children soon enough? Or would you wait till your mid-thirties for the first child?
I have 2 - Tarun ages 3 yrs and 5 months and Abhinav aged 5 months

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
George was not my best friend...

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Works well both ways :)

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
The wait got over July 14, 2003

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Give him my good wishes ???

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Prevent child abuse.. It hits me bad even to read about such things

10. Do you lie?
Well i guess when i was a kid, not any more..

11. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
Both kids in school and a lot of time for myself :)

12. What’s your fear?
Sounds silly, but my biggest fear is that my children could be kidnapped and be abused or they could get lost in someplace.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
A cool guy with a good sense of humor.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Married and Rich

15. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
George :)

16. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
A Very very difficult thing to do

17. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Happy in a relationship.

18. What is your all time favorite film?
Difficult to single out, but i like The Patriot, Life is Beautiful..

People.. you are tagged

Roopa
Julia
Theresa
Hari
Preethi

A song for Abhinav..

2008-10-16T21:31:00.006+05:30

My brother Anoop and me have an age gap of six years, and I was in the first standard when he was born. The post delivery room, where my mom was admitted was located in the ground floor of the hospital. I used to speak to my mother from outside, through the window, refusing to even look at my baby brother, due to the ‘Jealousy’ factor. I started liking him, only after he started smiling and reciprocating .

My friends keep asking if Tarun likes Abhinav. Actually I really don’t know. Tarun sometimes tells me, Babiya kupayil kalla (Throw the baby into the dustbin), Babiya ishtam alla (I don’t like baby). He pulls baby’s hair and sometimes hugs and kisses so hard, and releases only when he starts to cry. He’s most excited when I am burping Abhinav. He comes running from wherever he is, saying that he would do it . (I guess when burping, the hitting is justified :) ) .

I really don’t know as to how to manage. We are very careful.. and none of us show any love or attention towards Abhinav when Tarun is around. I guess.. as time passes, everything would be fine…..

One day..Tarun was singing for Abhinav..

Onam

2008-09-19T13:33:00.007+05:30

This Onam, we celebrated at my moms place. This is because my father is retiring, and this is the last Onam, in the house where they lived for the past 29 years. This April he would retire and my parents would go back to Kerala. My cousins who are studying in Chennai, also joined us. Mummy made a lovely Sadhya that included, rice, paruppu, papadam, pachadi, inji kari, achar, aviyal, sambar, moru kari, pradhaman , banana chips and sharkaraparati. Tarun baby thoroughly enjoyed himself eating the traditional way, from the banana leaf. We too had a good time.

28th Day - Irivathiyettu Kettu

2008-09-19T13:33:00.005+05:30

For us Malayalees, the 28 day after the baby is born, there is a custom called irivathiyettu kettu, where a black cord / thread is first tied around the waist of the baby, followed by a gold chain called the arinjanam.

Abhinav’s irivathiyettu kettu happened in a very simple way. For Tarun, we had invited friends and family and the function was followed by lunch. For Abhinav – I guess, him being the second – there was nothing much. My parents, and inlaws were present. George had gone to Hyderabad, so it was just the five of us.My father tied the black thread around the baby’s waist and my father-in-law, the arinjanam. This was followed, by lunch cooked by my mom. A simple function indeed :)

Baby has a name - Finally !!!

2008-09-09T13:41:00.001+05:30

After a lot of head breaking, we have finally decided a name for baby.
My first choice was Nikhil and George's was Rohan. We also liked Ashish and Rohit. George did'nt want Nikhil, as it was his boss's name, and he said, when he heard the name, only his boss’s face came to mind and not the baby’s ; and i didnt like Rohan.
Then came Abhinav Bindra, who won India’s only at the Olympics. We thought, OK lets name him Abhinav, after Bhindra, who won the gold the year baby was born. When we checked out the meaning of the name, coincidentally both Tarun and Abhinav mean young. So, finally baby has a name, Abhinav Angayil George.

A New Addition To Our Family

2008-08-25T12:41:00.003+05:30

Baby was born on the 2nd of August. We haven't yet decided on the name. He weighed 2.8 Kgs at birth and is one teeny weeny fellow. He keeps me totally occupied with no time to check mails, or do anything :) Would be so i guess for atlest 2 months. As of now, he resembles my brother Anoop. On seeing the pictures, Anoop got so excited that Baby looks like him. We are still looking out for names...

Baby turns 3

2008-07-30T11:49:00.007+05:30

16th of this month, tarun turned 3. So fast...

I remember, 3 yrs back.. he was one small baby, 3.6 kilos, wrapped up in the hospital's green baby cloth..

Time goes so fast and hes going to playschool. Hes becoming an independant little fellow, making his own choices - food he wants, clothes that he will wear and so on :)

Tarun Goes To School

2008-07-30T11:42:00.002+05:30

Tarun on June 6th started going to play school. The first week was for half an hour and the second one hour. The first and second day passed on uneventfully, with our man enjoying it, because i was there. The next day on the crying started. A total of 31 kids in 4 baches. All of them crying.Now school starts at 9.30 and closes by 12.00 - and Tarun gets up in the morning saying '' Enikku schoolil pokenda, school ishtam alla, enikku ammachi veetil poya mathi'' (I dont want to go to school, i dont like it, i want to go to grandmoms house). When we go to drop him, even before we reached the gate, he starts crying. I am almost heart broken to see him cry this way.The school is actually a nice one. Its called ' The Bluebells ' and is run by an old gentleman. There are three teachers and 5 lady helpers. I just hope baby settles down fast.

The Speed breakers of Defence Colony

2008-06-24T11:53:00.005+05:30

Defence Colony, Chennai was a place where peace and tranquility reigned supreme, even though located in the city. All this changed with the start of construction of the cloverleaf grade separator at Guindy. There used to just a roundabout (called rountanna in TamilNadu) there, and to cope up with the ever increasing flow of traffic, the government decided to build a grade separator. You know like any road construction, further congestion of traffic happened. Then the commuters started taking shortcuts through Defence Colony. Lorry traffic is not permitted, but the other vehicles, just because the road is empty, would go at super duper speeds. Then the residents came up with an idea. They put up speed breakers. Such huge, unscientifically sized ones, that low base cars like Zens and old cars, Kinetic Hondas and other scooterettes whose shock absorbers were a little old, had their base scraped each time it went over a speed breaker. The road stretches to only a kilometer, but there are 6 speed breakers on it. Vodafone sponsored some roadsigns and the colony eagerly took it up. They have put up a lot of roadsigns, and someone with a permanent marker, wrote on all the “speed breaker “ roadsigns. Do check out the pics :)

The Police Story

2008-06-17T21:01:00.004+05:30

Guess most of you would have heard of Sodexho coupons. Well for those who havent, in India its common for most of the office's to give these coupons to employees, so as to avail tax benefits on the amount. These can be used in restaurants, to buy food / vegs and so on from select outlets.. Well you must be wondering where this is leading to???

What are the uses of the Sodexho coupons??
1. To eat at restaurants
2. To buy fruits and vegetables
3. To bribe policemen

Yes, you read right.
This Saturday, George , my cousin, Tarun and me went to Reliance Fresh located in Ashok Nagar, for our regular home stuff shopping. The roads are real wide and people for years have been parking at the side. Well we too parked our car and went shopping, as we always do. When we had paid our veg bills and were at the non- veg section, buying fish, there was an announcement on the speaker informing that the traffic policemen had come and those who had parked bikes and cars had to remove them.
George, baby and me went out to see the state of our car. George's purse was totally empty as we were planning to go to the ATM on the way back and we just had the Sodexho coupons. We had paid Rs.1300/- at Reliance and was left with coupons worth Rs.200/- only.
I was carrying baby and saw the police guy put a lock through the rim of the tyre, locking the car. He told me that we had to pay a fine of Rs. 150 /- for parking on the road.
Meanwhile George went to meet the policeman (the regular looking one- tall, huge mustache, huge pot belly ) who was heading the ' operation ', to inform him that he had to release the lock for him to go to the ATM to get the money for the fine, and that he had only the coupons. The policeman then asked him what the coupons were and to give him Rs.100/- worth coupons. George was shocked. He then asked George the uses of of it and where it was accepted and so on. He gave the policeman the coupon and was walking towards me. The policeman was also walking with George and very politely told me that we could take the car. I thought he saw my almost 8 month pregnant tummy and was showing some karuna (pity). Then only George told me the story of the Sodexho bribe. I was shocked. This was the first time I had come across a policeman so openly asking for a bribe. It was almost funny.
So bad is the state of our policemen !

Tarun starts to write...

2008-05-30T16:11:00.006+05:30

We have a tradition in Kerala, where, before a child is sent to school, he has to be '' initiated '' into learning. Traditionally, the child's right index finger is held by a learned person and made to write '' hari shri gana padhayae namaha '' on spread out rice (uncooked, of course :)) or sand. Then the mothers minnu / thali, is dipped in honey and same thing written on the baby's tongue.This is called 'Ezhuthinu Iruthu' (Sitting to write) or ' Vidhyarambam' (Start of education). I know this is practiced by the Christians and the Hindus of Kerala. Not too sure about the Muslims. And one more interesting thing is that no one is not supposed to hold the hand of the child and write, until this event happens. The child though, can write or scribble wherever he wants.

People who live out of Kerala too, try to adhere to this tradition. Malayala Manorama, on Vijayadashami day, organizes an event where you can take your child and make him write for the first time.

Tarun baby on Sunday the 25th wrote on rice, his hand held by my college professor and Head of Dpt., Dr. S K Sunderraj. Tarun was so excited, and unlike what i thought, didnt create a fuss. All went on well.

Rice was spread out on a tray and Dr.SKS, held his hand and wrote ' God is Love ' . Since he is from TamilNadu, he was very interested in this, though we had to guide him step by step :). We skipped the honey writing because we thought that would be a bit too much. And as Dakshina (Fees) Tarun gave him a neck tie . Tarun is starting play school on June 6th. Another event to look forward to.

The Cashew Accident

2008-05-27T12:01:00.007+05:30

My mom was cutting raw cashews in their shell, and for an audience, she had Tarun. She had got those cashews from Kerala, some months back and she was going make theeyal (a curry) out of it. Well, the phone rang and she left the cashews and went to attend it. Then she came back and carried on with her work
After some time, Tarun went and told her that an ant had bitten his stomach and that it was itching. Mom inspected his stomach, and didn’t see anything. Then the little fellow went to sleep. Mummy just to check, lifted up his shirt, and she was shocked to see, pink burn like marks on his stomach. Only then did she realize that our little man had taken the cashew shells, when she had gone to attend the call, and placed it on his stomach. She then applied coconut oil to it – the panacea for all things of this kind.
The juice / sap like thing from the raw cashew, stains hands when touched, or if placed anywhere else, gives your skin a burnt appearance. Then the skin peels off and has to grow afresh.
In the evening after work when I went to pick him up from moms place, the fellow very proudly displayed his marks and told me (in all his toddler imagination) ''Ammachi cooker kondu polichatha'' (Grandmom did this using the pressure cooker). How we laughed. So much for my mom looking after him the whole day…

The Car

2008-05-23T14:56:00.007+05:30

We bought a new car. We went and collected it from the Hyundai showroom yesterday. It was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, but the registration didn’t happen, so we got it yesterday.
It’s a black Hyundai Santro Xing. We sold our old Maruti Zen and choose a Santro. When the old car went, I felt so so sad, as though a part of me had gone. This morning too when George dropped me at the office, I could not help thinking of the Zen.
The showroom people, I guess, as a customer satisfaction initiative, gave a picture of us, the sales person and the car, all in 5 minutes :) . I think it is a good initiative..

In the scanned picture, the number plate looks like it has some halo, glowy kind of an effect. Its just reflection of the light i guess, as it was close to 9.00 PM. And if you look closely, you can see Tarun eyeing away the bigger cars in the other direction. His favourite was a sporty red Getz, which unfortunatey wasn't ours, because it didn't fit our budget :)
Anyway, the new car is the latest excitement in our life and best part is Tarun baby is hyper excited about it!!

BSNL Broadbad - A long story

2008-05-05T15:35:00.003+05:30

This was a incident that occupied our mind for a long long time and caused us a lot of mental trauma. I guess, had it been any other country, the telephone company would have got sued.
One day, when we checked our broadband usage, we saw it was Rs.6000/- We didnt have time for a week to go to the office to register a complaint. As the office was close to mine, i went to complain and the person told me that the bill was not 6000/- and that the bill was Rs.20000/-I was shocked.
Well, i guess instead of typing the whole story, i will copy paste the letter George sent BSNL.

11/03/08
From
George Koshi
**********
***********
Chennai – ******

To
GM – Chennai Telephones
Dear Sir
Sub: Excess metering for Broadband Connection telephone No: *******– Consumer Number: **********

With reference to the above mentioned telephone number, we have received a bill dated 10/02/2008, amounting to Rs.23984.00.
Please note that the complaint letters have been given to the AO, the AGM, the DGM-Finance, on 7/2/08, 12/2/08 and 3/3/08, respectively. We gave the first letter on seeing the billed internet usage, in the BSNL site. The letter that was handed to the AO was collected and given to AGM on 12/2/08. As in the previous letters, I would like to present the issue again.
This telephone was installed on 17th of December 2007; the telephone was dead for over 40-45 days in the first two month on and off. I tried calling up the automatic complaint registry and the message we received was that our telephone number did not exit. At that point in time, we had already received and paid our first bill. I have called up 1500 a number of times and registered complaints, which they informed was manual entries of complaints and that the fault would be rectified. Only after my spouse came to your office and met the Junior Technical Officer and the Accounts Officer, did the line become functional.
In the meanwhile, one day when the phone was dead, I checked our internet usage amount from the data.bsnl.in site. The ID for usage check I had procured with great difficulty from the 1500 office. We were shocked to see a billing amount of Rs.6000.00 (Earlier the data.bsnl.in site used to reflect the cost for usage too) We stopped using the net then on.
My wife came to your office on 7 /2 /2008, to complain about the dead phone as well as the excess billing of internet usage. She was further shaken, when the AOTR told her that the internet billing due was Rs. 20000.00.
Sir, I can reassure you that we are aware of uploading and downloading data from the net and its consequences. Both of us work at office that provides us with free internet access. Furthermore, my company has provided me with a laptop with a Reliance connection (free) too.
I can assure you that we have not used the internet to this extend as my wife and me are aware of the Rs.250/ month plan we are in. We have also used your services previously, for confirmation where you can check the usage of the ******* number, where we have used the internet facility under the same plan (At that time the download limit was 400 mb and we never crossed the 400 mb limit).
In the mean while on 3/3/08, we met the AGM – Finance and he directed me to the AGM - Technical who put me to the AOTR-II who put me to the AO, again advising to issue the provisional bill. We have received the second shock at that point of time where she said that the broadband usage for the month of February was approximately 35 GB download. We have not switched on the modem and the computer for the whole of February month.
We met the CRO South after meeting the AOTR and in his presence we have changed the broadband password. (The facility to change this password was not available early)
We have been meeting a lot of your officers in your office, in this regard from February. Even today I called up the CRO and was told to call the AE and the AE directed me to call the AO, who never picked up the line (she could have been busy), but ultimately, I have not met with any success. This issue is us a lot of mental trauma, I request you to kindly use your esteemed office and resolve this issue.
Thank you and Regards,

George Koshi.

CC: DGM – Finance/DGM-C&A- Technical/AOTR-II/CRO-South/AO

We received three bills from BSNL, totalling upto Rs.70000/-. Th downloads were happening at 1 AM / 4AM and in the early morning hours. As a last resort, we went and met the GM. The lady told us that she would check and let us know. A few days later when i called, she asked me if i had been to Calcutta (A city in the East of India) or if i knew anyone from Calcutta. I didnt know anyone... She told me that our username and password was used by someone there. Well they waived off the whole amount and we just had to pay the rent. An ordeal.
I would never forget the stupid AGM - Finance and the AGM- Technical. Customer service a big ZERO. They spoke like we were at fault and we literally walked out of the AGM- Technical's room. And the tech fellow's seceratary.. a real tied up bull dog. She just would not let us in and had to fight our way into his cabin.
All these people in BSNL, are still in the government mindset. They have such huge cabins, with 2 split AC's per room, eating up all the tax payers money. And they love to see people suffer.

April....What a month - A Gripe

2008-05-02T14:23:00.001+05:30

April had been a vey very bad month. First I was down with a stomach infection and then baby. He had to be hospitalized for 2 days. Then George caught a viral infection and was down for a week. And last Thursday I got it too. Fever, body pain, and throat infection. Then baby caught it. He’s been running a high temperature for the last 6 days. Today is the only day he got up in the morning without fever. Poor baby, he' so tired of medicines and so am I. Both of us being sick at the same time is terrible. My parents were there to help us.. thankfully. Yesterday too, took baby to the doc again and have given his blood sample for tests. Tomorrow we have to go again. I hope, God willing, there’s nothing wrong. His pediatrician is still convinced that’s its viral and not to worry. I hope he’s right. I went through 2 courses of antibiotics, for the damn virus to go. I have lost 2.5 kgs and baby over 2 kgs. This is the worst time I have ever had in life :(

For Julia

2008-03-11T10:36:00.004+05:30

I was tagged by Jewels to put up the photo of my refrigerator last week, but didnt have time to check blogs or even put up the photos i took. Office was very hectic, and its going be this way till this month end. Here are the photos :)

Children’s Park

2008-02-18T14:26:00.004+05:30

One weekend we took Tarun to the Children’s Park, Guindy. I was under the impression that it was a lousy place, cramped with people. Actually it is not. For all those guys who live in Chennai, you should go to the park. There are a animals and birds in the park. They include monkeys, wild dogs, deers, parakeets, snakes, peacocks, emu, crocodile, ducks, and so on. It’s a really neatly maintained place. There are slides, and swings for children too..There is lots of space for kids to run around and have fun. For adults too it’s a nice place to walk.. in the heart of the city. Tarun had a lot of fun, and he keeps saying that he wants to go to Guindy Park..

A Spoilt Valentine Day evening @ Cornucopia

2008-02-15T10:47:00.002+05:30

George and I had decided to go out for dinner yesterday, a break from the routine on Valentine’s Day. When I cam to office, my friend Suchitra and me suddenly decided, we would all go out for dinner. I called up a few hotels and to my dismay, all tables were booked. We called up Hotel Green Park, Residency Towers and so on…and finally we got a table at The Residency. This is a very old 4 /5 star hotel, so we were not too happy. We were also suspicious as to how come it was not fully booked.
Then we decided to ask one of our colleagues. She suggested a restaurant called Cornucopia, on Cenotaph Road, Teynampet, which served continental food. She told us that the food was excellent, the veggies were so fresh that u can taste the freshness, the ambience was so good, the service so excellent and so on. We then called up our husband’s and informed them of the venue.
At office, we also read up on the newspaper review on Cornucopia.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2003/11/13/stories/2003111301030300.htm
After office we went to the restaurant. It was an old mansion that was converted to a restaurant. There were these dull yellow lights. We kept sitting there for quite some time. Then finally the waiter came. We ordered soup and starters. Suchitra and Satish are vegetarians. We ordered food in accordance to that. The non-veg soup was ok. The veg one was so bad. It tasted like plain starch fattened with cream. Then came the starters. The veg dumplings were good. The batter fried shrimp was very average. Then we waited and waited and then the waiter came for the main course, and we mentioned that we wanted the food very spicy.(We Indians love spicy food..) They ordered veg cutlet with kidney beans and we some chicken breast in cream or some stuff like that. The cutlet was very bad.. and our chicken dish very very average. Contrary to what we read in the newspaper, the servings were not all that huge. Well then we ate it and were still hungry. We waited for another half hour and then the waiter came. We ordered our desserts. They ordered a brownie with chocolate sauce, George a chocolate mint brownie in rum sauce, and me a vanilla ice cream mud pie. Then the desserts came and this too was average. George’s dessert tasted like brownie and chocolate sauce with Colgate tooth paste, theirs like some hot brownie with a little dab of cream and mine like a huge chunk of vanilla ice cream with a dab of dry chocolate that was supposedly mud pie.
This was the worst meal all of us had tasted. We regretted not having gone to The Residency. The Dhabba Express is located bang opposite this restaurant. The Dhabba serves such lovely Punjabi food. We could have had tandoori items and so on.. Well….We were extremely disappointed and went home, totally dissatisfied and saddened on Valentines Day. Ya may be it was one of those “ bad food day”, where we made the wrong choices…Yes and we surely wanted to beat up our colleague :-)

People

2008-02-05T10:24:00.000+05:30

I am writing about a topic that I have been thinking about for quite some time. It’s about where you preaching ends and your practice begins.
There are a few so called ‘devout’ Christians I have come across. I know that their families even run churches. These people back home I guess are very pious and goody goody. But at their work place, they leave their beliefs and faith behind and are no where Christian in their conduct. Deplorable clothes and deplorable attitudes. They do all the back stabbing, talking behind peoples back, not seeing right and wrong and so on.
Even in college, i remember such people. The belonged to the Christian movement and so on, but character, very questionable…
I am not a hard core religious person. I believe in God, and also believe that all people are equal and one should never hurt anyone intentionally and lead a clean and neat life. Be Good. That what George and me believe in. First be a good person, and then one can think of the rest. Your life will fall in place. Don’t be a Christian who would belt out sermons at the drop of a hat. Be a human being first, someone who every one trusts and believes, someone whom every one will look upon. This is the best glory you can give your God.

Baby Picasso

2008-01-16T10:45:00.000+05:30

Tarun was getting very bored. I thought i was innovative and thought would develop his creativity, teach him two colors and so on, and gave him two sketch pens. Well the result of it didn’t make me feel too intelligent :)
He had scribbled / drawn in the notebook I gave him, and also extended his creativity to the floor. I managed to pull the sketch pen away from his hand after a line on the wall :) I have put up Picasso’s sketches on the fridge. One proud mom !!!! :)

benazir bhutto

2008-01-03T18:01:00.000+05:30

benazir bhutto, is all what the Indian media had to say for the past few days.
a strong woman, a good orator, and an india hater.
her death no doubt, was a terrible one. the theories as to how she died, another sad story.

I wanted to write about this on the day of her assassination, but dint have the time. I think I was in school, and there was a program called, the world this week. It was a program on current affairs, a subject in which I was very interested, at that point in time.
Well, I can never forget a part of her speech, where with all her might she was yelling into the microphone that – Kashmir hamara hai - Kashmir is ours and so on- I even remember the scarf on her head flying and roaring like her spirit and her voice.
She was an India hater, all her life. She loved America and the Americans loved her. Thus hillary clinton’s sympathy and request for inquiry. she was never for peace with India, and was a jihadi supporter. She was a true politician, fuelling the Kashmir dreams of Pakistan. She wanted our Kashmir.
What struck me the most that day, was that the super duper Indian politicians proved themselves – Indian politicians-. they issued statements that benazir was a true friend of India, that India had lost a good friend, Pakistan had lost a good leader and so on.
I am not a Pakistan hater… after all its human beings everywhere, on both sides of the border…My sympathies to the family and the motherless children.
But, Pakistan is always Pakistan and benzir bhutto a true Pakistani…

moral policing in chennai

2007-12-28T22:27:00.000+05:30

-the shift key is still not working, so please forgive the casing-

is there a limit to moral policing ?.
In Chennai, for the past three days, in the deccan chronicle, we have been reading that all night parties that are being conducted in the farm houses around the east coast road, have been subject to raids from the police.

These parties are being conducted with prior permission from the police department and are mostly attended by the techies who work in the various information technology companies.

These are attended by both men and women and are becoming an easy target for the police to make money. These police guys, conduct raids, confiscate foreign liquor, and photograph the people using the cameras on their mobile phones. Some pictures given to local news papers, with news that women have been found drunk in less clothes lolling around the swimming pool and so on.
All this in the name of upholding / protecting the tamil culture.
I was surprised to read this.

The may be times when there are some dirty ugly parties too , but I guess only adults who are old enough to make their own choices attend these parties. I don’t want to dwell on the issues of moral right and wrong.

Why should the police consider themselves protectors of the culture?
Their department is corrupted to the core. May be the one among the most corrupted in the world. Every one takes bribes… from the lowest ranking official to the highest. Personally I have seen a traffic policeman take a bribe from a speeding motorist. power corrupts and absolute powers corrupts absolutely.
Any woman in her right sense would never walk in to the police station to complain about anything. that’s the level of trust we have in the police. Yesterday too in the paper, there was an article where a girl who was taken into custody, was assaulted by the police inspector in charge.

So much for the moral policing ! ! !

Christmas Tree

2007-12-17T17:06:00.000+05:30

We put up the Christmas tree at home last week. I did not have time to transfer the picture, hence didn’t put it up. We bought it last week. It’s a lovely tree and most of all Tarun baby is very happy about it.

Chris Mother Chris Child

2007-12-13T18:24:00.000+05:30

Christmas time in office, and we are playing the Chris Mother Chris Child game.All those who
wanted to participate gave our names, and all the names were put into a pouch and we picked
up one name from the lot.
The Rules go like this: You are not to reveal yourself to your Chris child. To keep it a
suspense till the 21st. You are to get gifts for your Chris child, if possible, every day
starting from the 12th to the 21st, the last day of the game.On the 21st you are to get a grand gift for your Chris mom and one for your Chris child.We will have the gift exchange event on the 21st.
We can use our collegues to carry gifts to our Chris child, over a promise of secrecy.
Some of us dont even even know if ours is a Pa or a Ma.
The organizing team has also created a group id to which the Chris Children can mail and
thank their Chris Ma / Pa .

Samples of the Thank You mails :
Thank you for the gift and the card mom.... it was gr8 :)
Christmom/ dad, Thank you so much for your cute gifts.
hey chris ma thank u chooooooooooooooo much for the beautiful GIFT's...........
Thank U Chris Mom for presenting me chocs( My favrte One) & key
chain.that smiley key chain was awesome.Tks a lot ;))))
Hey Chris Ma/Pa ...Thank u so much for the yummy cake !!!!
Chris Parent --- Your gifts were awesome .. Thanks a bunch .. The teddy bear was huggly
wuggly cute !!!! :-)

And coming to myself
I gave my Chris child a pack of choclates
From my Chris mom, i got a pair of pretty earrings. Coincidence was that it perfectly
matched the clotes i wore
My friend / collegue has gone out of town, and i adopted his Chris child and bought him a Choclate Trouffle.
My friend will be back next week, so till then i am the parent :-)
I courired 5 gifts to various Chris children of Various Chris ma 's / pa's
Its great fun.No matter the size or cost of the gift, the joy one has when giving and receiving is awesome!!!
Joy to the World and God Bless Us All ....

Endae Keralam, Ethra Sundaram

2007-12-06T16:03:00.000+05:30

On the fourth of this month, i happened to watch the Malayalam news on the Asianet channel and believe me, i was shocked.
The political party and the party workers belonging to the K Karunakaran faction, was holding a meeting. Suddenly the party workers of the party that K Muralidharan belongs to, barged in and started assaulting everyone and every thing in sight. Humans, mikes, tube lights, chairs, tables. Even the press and cameras were not spared. Father Karunakaran, a veteran Congress man, and son Muralidharan also belonging to the Congress party, and the battle never stops.
I was shocked to see a woman clad in a white sari, along with a group of men, beating up a youth from the other party.
Father and son against each other politically and the end result is that it puts the political ideologies to shame. Gods Own Country, indeed !!!!!!!!!!

Office Acronym's

2007-11-29T14:39:00.000+05:30

I could not restrain myself, from putting this up...

An acronym thats used most commonly at our office is 'OOO' which stands for Out Of Office.
This is used across at all levels, when person leaves office during ''official working time'', which is 9 AM to 6 PM.
A mail is sent to all the concerned, with 'OOO' in the subject and an 'eom' (End of Message).

A few samples
OOO - after 1pm today - REACHABLE ON MOBILE (eom)
OOO after 5.00 PM today (EOM)
OOO for an hour and will be back to office - EOM
OOO from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM -- Reachable on Mobile ----- EOM
OOO from 3:00 PM today
OOO on 03/08/2007 and 03/09/2007.

Now you get the concept ???
This 'OOO' by itself sounds funny, and two of my crazy friends added to it....

OOO - Out of office (Sounds sensible ??? )
OOS - Out of seat (Alright)
OOSFL - Out of seat for a long time (Now thats going too much)
OOSFA - Out of seat for ages (Whoa !!! )
OOP - Out of project (reading fwds, wasting time) (Hee Hee Hee !!!)
OOW - Out of work (project completed, sitting pretty trying to spend time) (Isnt that nice??)
OOWWC - Out of work warming chair (Aaah Bliss !!)
OOSBM - Out of seat, bothering Manager !!! (LOL)
OFL - Out for Lunch (Nice)
OOM - Out Of Mind (Thats whats happens sometimes, right!!)
OTHO - Out tearing hair out (Rolling On the Floor Laughing)
OOO - NCB - Out of Office - Not Coming Back (:D)
OOOP - Out of Office Partying (Hehehe .. Thats welcome !!)

Dressing Up - Is it for Yourself or for the Others?

2007-11-29T12:43:00.000+05:30

One day, at office we had quite a discussion on whether we dress up for ourselves or we dress up for others. My say was that - its for ourselves. We feel good about ourselves if we dress well. Three of my collegues / friends / neighborhood cubicle dwellers- were of the opinion that it was for the others. They even came up with '' Eat for Yourself and Dress for Others''. Well i still differ.
You dress up to feel good about yourself. Who would'nt like compliments from someone?
Reminded me of one incident...
It was Oct 18, 2006. It was my birthday. I was wearing a Calcutta cotton saree, and i thought i looked good. That morning, i still remember, George and me had an argument. It all started with a statement, that he would not be able to pick me up in the evening. Then we used to live with my in laws, and their house was quite a distance from my office. On my Birthday, the thought of bargaining rates with an autorickshaw driver in the evening and so on, depressed me so much.
He was dropping me at office, by bike. We stopped at a signal, next to an autorickshaw, when a lady (I guess an office goer) from inside looked up at me and said ''You are looking very nice''. I was shocked, because in India,its unlikely that a stranger compliments you. That person, whom i would not recognize the next time i see her, lifted up my spirit and i felt so good about my self. She made my day !!
Actually in the evening, George did come to pick me up :-)

Family - Pictures - George, Anooja, Tarun

2007-11-19T17:55:00.000+05:30

The Family

George & Me

Tarun
Fav Photo 1
Fav Photo 2
Fav Photo 3

Weight Worries

2007-11-19T17:47:00.000+05:30

Hii Anooja… Uve gained so much weight
You look like an aunty
You need to exercise
You need to loose weight
Hey can you not go on a diet
You can end up with diabetes and other problems
Just imagine, at this rate how you would look in another few years
Are you second time pregnant?
Your face is nice, but loose some weight, would make you look nice
Loosing weight would boost your confidence
Your feet will not be able to take the weight
Loose weight, you will feel good about it
Hey you know what, only fat people can make jokes about themselves on their fat.. and laugh, and that means they are not confident..
No mam we dont have the size.(and a stupid grin)..(This happens only when i go out to shop with my husband, George)
At a school friend's wedding - whom i had not seen for 10 years, my ''friend'' the bride, at the reception '' Hey you have gained so much weight, you look very auntish '' (in presence of George)
I am fed up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May be i am just finding excuses
I work 9 hours + a day, run a house, have a little fellow who is 2 yrs and 3 monthsI just cant seem to have the time
I need to sleep too...

No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office - George Bernard Shaw

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake-Author Unknown

If nature had intended our skeletons to be visible it would have put them on the outside of our bodies. ~Elmer Rice

I keep trying to lose weight... but it keeps finding me! ~Author Unknown

I'm allergic to food. Every time I eat it breaks out into fat. ~Jennifer Greene Duncan

You can't lose weight by talking about it. You have to keep your mouth shut. ~Author Unknown

Dieting is not a piece of cake. ~Author Unknown

Don't go out of your weigh to please anyone but yourself. ~Author Unknown

Toys and Safety

2007-11-12T17:48:00.000+05:30

I happened to read an article on children's toys and its safety, and it got me thinking... Around the world, especially the US, Australia, Europe...there are so many regulations and restrictions on the kinds of chemicals used in making a toy. In India, there are no such things. If there are, then, the common man is not aware of this. We see so many toys being sold - from posh shops to hawkers, which i dont think adhere to any safety standards. The Indian market is flooded with Chinese toys. Every thing and anything, is Made in China. If China can supply inferior products to countries like the US and Australia, which have strict regulations, its quite scary to think of what they export to India, where there are no such regualtions; where 80 % of the population does not know what it is ment by product recall.

Thinking of such things gives me the creeps. My son Tarun, who is 2 years and 3 months old, plays with so many of the Made in China toys. Scary !!!!!

My ICICI Bank Credit Card

2007-11-06T16:55:00.000+05:30

ICICI and me…
A pathetic relationship story that goes on and on ……
One day, I got a call on my mobile asking me whether I needed a Platinum Card (credit cards are of the category - silver, gold and platinum)from ICICI. The credit limit was 90 thousand. I never had a credit card, and thought this was a good chance. I got the card and lived happily for 3 months...

Well, on Saturday (3/11/07), I received an SMS that my credit card had been used to make an internet payment through the indiaideas.com site for Rs.2000 /-

On Saturday morning, I had a chalazion removed from my left eye, and my eye was all patched up. I was at home that day and was nowhere near the computer. Browsing was next to impossible, given my condition that day.

Then i called up the ICICI toll free number that was listed at the back of the card
The call answered by Abhinav
Gave him the details of the issue and also informed him that i had not lost my card and that the card was with me
He told me that i might have given my card details to someone
I guess they should understand that now a days people are aware of such things and would not divulge such info to anyone
For all i know, this card is just 3 months old and had swiped it at a very few establishments.
Customer is at fault was the attitude !!!
I guess its very easy for any one at a merchant establishment to gain the information from the card .
He just has to memorize the 3 digit CVD (Card Verification Digits) number at the back of the card, as the the 16 digit card number would be there in the bill; and use it where ever.

He also told me useless info like the merchant is in Mumbai and so on
Well, then he told me that the card was blocked and the conversation went on in circles, with him telling me that i have to wait for 1 day to raise a dispute and so on.(Sounded like i had to file a police complaint and had to wait for a court order :-))
Then i asked to be put to somebody senior and then i spoke to the Manager, Niranjan
He too told me the same thing and told me to wait for a day
Then on Sunday, i spoke to Priya
Well of no use again ...
she told me that the merchant can claim anytime in 20 days and so on
and that i had to keep checking, if he claimed.
I guess she thought that i didn't have anything else to do in life besides checking if the merchant had claimed
I am really not confident about the way ICICI works, as Niranjan should have told me on Saturday about the 20 day period. No one seems to know the process too well.

ICICI Bank, please take care of your customers, just costly advertising and catchy phrases '' Hum Hai Na'' doesn’t mean customer care.

Take 123

2007-10-26T13:06:00.000+05:30

In the news channels, we see a lot of people opining on various things. It can be from Indo Pak relationships to the price of safety pins.
When I see this, I am reminded of an incident that happened quite some time back. This incident happened 6 years back. There was a company where I worked for a month. This company was a partnership firm and one of the partners was a politician’s son. (My mom was the most relieved when I quit the company, as she always imagined that politician’s sons were no good – but actually, this fellow was a decent person)
Well, one day, there was an India Pakistan match. There was a reporter from a popular channel, with the camera and crew. No names, as this person is a very popular politician now. This persons father and the partner’s father belonged to the same political party.
Well, they made us stand at various locations in the office (for it to look like they were actually interviewing people, from a lot of offices) and speak on Indo Pak unity. You won’t believe it; they took two of the employees to the beach, and interviewed them there, to again give the interview the appearance of mass coverage. I was shocked at this kind of journalism. Then, I was very excited about appearing on TV. But as soon as I saw the telecast, I was kind of ashamed; that I had participated in such a staging, duping the mass.
So even now, when I see people giving opinions and so on, I am reminded of this.
So much for responsible journalism !!!

My Ammachi

2007-10-11T12:59:00.000+05:30

This time, when I went to Kerala for a vacation and visited my Ammachi (grandmother), I thought that I should write about her. She was widowed at 32, and still managed to raise her 6 daughters well.
She is close to 80 now and is a reader of the Malayala Manorama newspaper for the past 60 years. Lives all by herself, with a maid for company. She still wears beautiful starched neriyathu and white white chatta and mundu. She has very severe arthritis of her left knee, and the right too is not too good. With the latest feavers affecting Kerala, she had an attack of Chikunguniya. This has left her all the more in pain.
She was a part of the Asharayathu family, Thumbamon. She got married when she was 13, and my grandfather 17. After marriage she went back to her house and then went to live with my grandfather when she was 17.
She was pregnant with her sixth child, 3 months gone, when my grandfather died of a snake bite. She was 32 with 5 daughters and pregnant and all alone.
They sold off the land they had and moved to another place. She had the financial support from my grandfather’s brothers and that’s it. She had 6 beautiful daughters (the genes I say they inherited from her) and had to ward off men, drunken men, old men, young men..all men , all the time.
She is a very very strong woman. Single handedly she looked after her 6 daughters and looked after her land. Many a times she had driven off drunken men off her property. Such strength I have never seen in anyone I know of. My mother says that the men in the area were scared of her. She would never be scared to pick up the vetukathi (a big knife) and be after the men who tried to trouble her daughters. Such courage, my Ammachi had. Never have there been any rumors of affairs or activities of any sort, about her or her daughters, which is quite a surprise in our country, when a woman lives all alone with daughters.
She is still a very strong person, with very strong opinions and principals. Since all these years of her life, she has been the sole decision maker, she gets irritated if any one advises her to go and live with her daughters :-) . She says she is capable of taking care of her self. She is the most courageous and strongest woman I have ever met. Her endurance and her way of life…. A sad story this may be, but, a very strong one.

Titleless

2007-10-09T11:24:00.000+05:30

Long since I wrote
Each time I see something worth blogging about, I compose it in my mind…
But don’t have the time to put it down.

Veggie

2007-09-11T17:26:00.000+05:30

Being a vegeterian does not make you a superior peorson.Its just the way your life is.And by the way, you are missing out on a lot of things...
The other day when at a training program, we were divided into groups and asked to do some
stupid activity. Soon our topic went on to restaurants. We were speaking about a malaysian restaurant and the food they served. I was of the opinion that they serve the best fish paratha, when suddenly the guy i was talking to said ''yuck..i dont know all that and i dont care''..i was surprised at the reaction.
Please, grow up people.Understand that people are different and different people have different habits and cultures.
We Syrian Christians, even have non vegetarian items for breakfask.. appam mutta curry, appam beef stew...and so on..
Do not put up a show like you are the child of a greater God..Vegeterianism is your way of life and not mine....

Fast Track to Nowhere

2007-09-06T12:27:00.000+05:30

Yesterday George had to go to the Airport and we had booked for a call taxi - Fast Track - to pick him up at 9.45 PM. The flight was scheduled for take-off at 11.15 PM. When i called up to check the status at 9.40 PM, the fellw there told me that the booking status showed cancelled. I was shocked. It was pouring cats and dogs and there was no way he could go to the airport by bike. No autos were also willing to come in the torrents. The nearby travels' too didnt have cars. Finally, he took our car and left it at an uncles place close to the airport and then that uncle(he is close to 70 years of age) dropped him at the airport. If not for him, he would not have been able to make it. So much for the call taxi, which never even came.

When call taxi operations in chennai started off, they were good and always on time and cosidered superior to the autos.But now, they are so unreliable, and we are forced to travel by the autos. The modus operandi of the taxi drivers too are similar to the auto drivers. If one is not aware about the place, then the taxi drivers too take you around the city. In the end, its the kilometers you pay for. Furthermore the disvantage is that, unlike autos, you cannot fix a fare and start..becoz its the meter that matters in the end.

2007-06-15T09:55:00.000+05:30

My ICICI Experience.. Part 2

2007-06-05T16:55:00.000+05:30

My association with ICICI, I guess is never good. Some time back (actually a long time back), I had written an exam conducted by the bank.
Didn’t hear from them for months. Then one day, a lady called me up from Mumbai. She informed me that I had an interview the next day at their Santhome branch. I asked her about the position offered and the department. She told me that it was for a mid mgt position and that they would decide about it later and all that. I was really excited. The next day, I went to the bank. The receptionist told me to go to the 3 rd floor and wait. I was to meet a lady named Jennifer. Well when I went up, I saw two people already waiting. There was no one to guide us. There were two training rooms on that floor and there was a training going on in one. We sat there and waited and waited while our numbers grew and grew. Finally after half an hour, we met a person from the HR (His English was very bad, and so were his people skills). Anyway, he took us to the other training room and gave us a psychometric test. We then gave him our resumes and the test paper. We waited for some more time and then two people came and asked us to be sent in one by one to another small room.
The interview had finally started, and we had spent a total of 2 ½ hours there. Well when I was called in, I was met by a very stylish lady and a silent looking guy. She had an interview sheet with her, and more than listening to me answering, she was filling up the sheet. So much for effective communication. And she made the HR guy look like he had a lot of people skills in comparison. She told me that the job is for the branch office and that I might get placed anywhere. I will be the staff at the counter and the average working hours will be 10-12 hours. God, what do they think? This she told me, in spite of the fact that I told her that I had a baby. Unlike others, she didn’t even ask how old the baby was; for this staying back business. Then she told me that I would have to do over the counter sales of the insurance and all other crap ICICI sells. I told her that I would not be too keen.
I was so so surprised about the interview. It was so badly conducted. In a nutshell, this was the worst interview I had ever attended. So much for the dramatic “ Hum Hai Na.’’

My ICICI Experience

2007-05-17T17:07:00.000+05:30

I had booked for a Hero Honda Pleasure on Akshya Trithya day (not that I believe in good luck and stuff, for it is turning out to be a very bad experience), paid 18000+/- as advance and filled in an application for a two wheeler loan from ICICI bank. When I went to give in the originals to the representative from the bank, he asked me for a statement of accounts; and that’s when trouble started….
As I never receive these statements, I called up the call center on 23rd of April and requested for a statement of accounts. I got a confirmation message on my mobile that it had been dispatched on the 24th and would take 7 days to reach me. It never reached me.
I called up ICICI on 7th May, spoke to one lady named Vibudhi- Complaint # 24437129. She promised to revert the next day, and she never did.
Next I called up on 15th May and spoke to Mani. She said the courier has been dispatched and that she will give me the number of the courier agent and that I could call up and trace it. And you know what?? ''Madam, we do not have Chennai numbers, can I give you any other city’s number, where you can call up and trace?'' God, where are their brains? To think that I will make an STD to call up some courier company.
Then I asked to be transferred to her '' superior''.. Spoke to the Service Manager Vishanth – Complaint # ZC5143435. He promised to call the next day. He too never did.
When I called him on 16th May and asked as to why he didn’t call, he said ‘’ I just could not call’’.. So much for being the manager…
He told me that that the courier was dispatched twice and that he sent another one the day I spoke to him.. a sum total of three. I then asked if he could not trace it.. and you wont believe the reply '' That’s a totally different department and you have to speak to them, I cant check'' I thought bureaucracy was existing only in the government offices. He then gave me another complaint # SR24865438 and told me to go collect the statement from a nearby bank, and that he would waive off the charges (Charity after the bureaucracy). Its all ended where it started.. I wanted a statement sent, just because I didn’t have time to go to the bank
My salary gets credited here, and this is the only reason for continuing this stupid relationship :-(
Believe me; I still haven’t got the statement, and my two wheeler is waiting.
And I wish someone from ICICI reads this…

The Kiss - An Issue ??

2007-05-03T15:23:00.000+05:30

You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss...~ Herman Hupfeld

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.~ Ingrid Bergman

Is not a kiss the very autograph of love?~ Henry Finck

A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point.~ Mistinguett

a peach is a peach, a plum is a plum, a kiss ain't a kiss without some tongue... so open up your mouthand close your eyes, and give your tongue some exercise...~ Diesel

Shabana Azmi, Nelson Mandela, Shilpa Shetty , Richard Gere, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad .......Does that ring a bell? Well its all about kissing :-)This morning, i saw the newspaper (Deccan Chronicle), and i was surprised by the front page news.... President of Iran admonished and the whole Islamic community angry with him... All because, he kissed his teacher's gloved hand on Teachers Day. The sin is that he kissed a woman in public and that it is against Islamic law to kiss someone unrelated to you. This is not considering the fact that his teacher is a very old woman, may be as old as your grandmother, and was his first grade teacher. The issue is that it is against the Islamic Sharia - whatever that is.I am not against any rules and laws and i respect all religions. But this incident has hit the world press, and even our Indian paper(s) have thought that its big and published it in the front page. So much for display of affection...From where i come from, Kerala's Syrian Christian community, its not a sin to kiss someone. Passionate kissing in public, though is forbidden :-). Its Ok to kiss and say good bye.Its not a kiss, lip on cheek, rather a cheek to cheek. We still call my grandmother who is touching 80, '' Umma Specialist '' which translates as " Kiss Specialist ''. All of us get kissed when we go to visit her. Be it when meeting her or saying goodbye to her. Most of the grandmother age, aunty age people - related/ non related in Kerala, i know of, kiss us all when we meet and part.
Not to be left out, we have a desi version of everything. Our very own Shilpa Shetty incident. So much of focus has gone into the incident, that it had sidelined all other major events of the country. People who dont participate in any socially useful meetings were seen to display mass protests, burn effigies and shout slogans. Please, we have better things to do in life. Instead of focussing on Shilpa and Richard, lets look at what we can do to bring people together to work against the evils that are dominating our society. And dear media, we are fed up of sensational news, models clothes falling off during catwalk, shilpa crying in Britian during the Big Brother show, shilpa getting kissed...We like better NEWS..Please give us a breaaaaaaaaaaak.

Appraisal - A Gripe

2007-04-18T14:30:00.000+05:30

Are appraisals meant to motivate you or are they meant to make you feel that you haven’t been doing much at all? Just sitting around in office, drinking coffee, and warming your chair?
Appraisals are an assessment of what you have done. But then it should also focus on what you will be doing till the next appraisal.
The focus has to be on how best you have done your work, and not on some weird data that you cannot comprehend, and which would be difficult for even your appraiser to comprehend after a few days. Also please do consider the many many days you have stretched and stayed back to complete tasks. Its something I have done for my company, no personal benefits, and also that the company doesn’t pay me for overtime.
It’s actually very difficult for women to balance both career and family. I am not saying that it’s not possible, but I believe it’s very difficult. When there is a question about which takes precedence – family or your job, it’s obviously family (at least for a majority of the women folk, from where I come from).
The women have to balance both office and home. Work, work, work in office, go back home and find a host of things waiting for you; family stuff, babies, food to be cooked, clothes to be folded, guests… and trust me its one hell of a balancing act.
And coming back to appraisals please let it not be about crap data, learning curves, blatant blaming and the whole exercise, an intolerable gyaan session, about what you could have done. And please don’t show favoritisms. Do accept that people are different and we tend to work differently. She/ He may not be good at something I am good at and vice-versa.
I don’t need rewards, but please dont hold back on recognitions ….
Let me not continue to feel - enda deivamae, inganae oru jeevithamo !!!!

Mobile Menace

2007-04-11T10:35:00.000+05:30

Mobile communication is something most of us Indians cannot live without now. Accepted that its one of the best things to happen. All fine. But then what about the fact that these companies actually sell our numbers to other companies, for us to be harassed by a number of callers ….. ‘’ Madam I am calling from ICICI bank / Citibank / SBI Cards (and what not)… and you number has been selected and you have been chosen to be one of our privileged customers, and have been allotted a personal loan’’.
These people trouble us all the time, any time of the day. Not to blame them, they have a mindset that the answer would be ‘’ no, not interested ‘’ . I guess of the 100 calls they make may be 1 person will be actually be interested. These calls are such a menace!!
So are the SMS’s. Free franchise, Brain Gym, Lose Weight… The list is endless. Try calling the number from where the SMS came, and you get to listen to the message that the mobile is switched off. Mobile companies offering free SMS services, is a major reason for this kind of advertising.
May be I can tolerate one or two calls from a bank or a few SMS’s. But when bombarded by SMS’s and calls, its natural to loose cool. Where are ethics? I don’t want to be disturbed means; I really don’t want to be disturbed. It doesn’t mean, please call later.

The English Language

2007-04-09T12:37:00.000+05:30

Living in Chennai, we do come across a lot of people working in BPOs. Not to blame them, but sometimes its difficult to understand the ‘ English language’ the way they speak it. It could also be that we are used to hearing it differently. They seem to carry on with their accents even out of office. But then I guess people are people and not automations that you can turn on and turn off. To actually pretend to be a Rachel Anderson for 8-10/11/12 (?) hours and then to leave office to be Pavithra Vasudevan, is a very very difficult task.
English, not native to us, is taught to us differently at different points of life. I work as an instructional designer and I am required to write courses catering to the American audience. We have a person who teaches us how Americanize the way we write English. The spellings I learnt (its ‘learned’ in America!) are actually incorrect, and I have to unlearn what I learnt in school to write the courses I write. Analyse is Analyze, Colour is Color and a Jeweller is Jeweler. I wonder what I would teach my son :-)?
Talking about accents, I met a person last week, actually my husband’s friend/ colleague. He had a major accent and it was difficult for me to follow conversation. I had to ask my husband for clarification, when I didn’t understand. In total I felt like an ‘English Illiterate’. The incident reads funny:-), but actually, it was quite embarrassing. I was wondering, whether it was an English accent or an American accent and then I realized that it was a False accent :-).
People and their accents!!!.

born an original

2007-04-09T12:19:00.000+05:30

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. ~John Mason

I was flipping through the pages of a book when I came across this statement. I liked the way it sounded and thought that I should put it up. It’s nice when people are themselves and don’t try to act, speak and behave like someone else. It’s boring to talk to such people. Be yourself... Its makes more sense to the world as well, as to you.

Share Autos in Chennai

2007-04-05T16:26:00.000+05:30

Needless to say, share autos are a boon to travelers...but then the number of people forced into one auto is shocking. The norm is four, but the auto drivers actually fill up to 10 people. For the benefit of those who don’t know what a share auto is.... It’s an auto that’s slightly larger than the normal autos, and can accommodate 3 adults comfortably. You would wonder about the magical figure 10. Well, four people sit on the seat, four on the plank of wood fixed opposite the seat and one on either side of the driver. Also to note is that the driver is a little hesitant to take people who are a little heavy, because it would take up space and the auto would have to proceed one passenger less. The law permits only four passengers, but anyway, who’s bothered???
Bus services are bad, and everyone crams into the share auto, no ladies and gentlemen privileges... All are passengers and should '' adjust '' accordingly.

Everything, including your life, a precarious balance.

Life-Thoughts

2007-04-05T16:20:00.000+05:30

It is not often you find people who can carry on a conversation, without getting stuck or without fumbling. Very few of them bother to keep themselves updated about the happenings around. I guess people have so much to do in office, that they can seem to find time to do anything else.they are so so busy, chasing their careers, chasing lives....
Enjoy life.. money comes and goes.. There is no point holding on to the money you have and leading a frugal life, and then way ahead in life, after age has progressed, to look back at the youth you didnt enjoy..
Lots of my friends have adviced me to get a home loan and get a flat and so on.... but then if i get one, i end up paying an EMI for the next twenty years of my life.. and in the end, would be the owner of a house, but the life i lead the twenty years
would not be the one i wanted.