The Ghosts Of New Year Past, Present And Future

(Warning: This is going to be a very cryptic Dear Diary kind of post...so you might wanna skip it. And my sincere apologies to Dickens who must be rolling in his grave coz of this post inspired by Christmas Carol. Mr. Dickens, please believe me when I say that "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery".)


The Ghost Of New Year Past

He doesn't always visit me at the end of the year. He turns up whenever he wants to torment me with haunting and scary images from the past. From time to time, he makes sure to remind me of the mistakes from the year gone by. I should hate him the most for tormenting me like this. But I know he keeps me from repeating the same mistakes again, so I try not to mind. Though sometimes I wish that he would not drag up the same things, that he would stop when I have realized my fault and let me be.


The Ghost Of New Year Present

This year the spirit seems to be more or less happy with me. Even though I had made no promises to him or to myself, I know he won't haunt me this time. He has a slight frown on his face though, as if to say that he is not happy with what I have done this year; that I could have done more. But I hope he understands that I have made an attempt to change things. He shakes his head as if to say that I am starting to lag behind, I tell him I am happy with my pace; that I will surely reach there (Where is 'there'?, you might ask..I am still trying to figure that out!). He groans and tells me that I am just using peace of mind as an excuse not to move forward, I respond that he would never be able to understand how much I craved peace; and that now I am ready for whatever life throws at me. He warns me not to isolate myself again, I assure him that even though I am tempted to, I will try not to do that.


The Ghost Of New Year Future

I have never been able to determine how he looks like or what he wants from me. He is the least corporeal of all the three spirits. He is engulfed in a fog and as I try to get closer, he moves further and further away. Sometimes, I give up trying to reach him, and at other times I am not able to resist myself. I keep on wondering what he looks like; does he look happy, contented, sad, frightening, disappointed or frustrated? But he always manages to evade my attempts to catch him. I think he wants me to be more patient, so I will just let it be...at least for now.

P.S.: I can't believe how fast the year has gone by!! Mr. Einstein, your theory of relativity doesn't seem to work in my case. Even when I am deliriously happy or down in the dumps, time still flies by at an alarmingly rapid pace!!!

When Recession Strikes...

• A slight note of displeasure from the client turns into hour long meetings at offshore.
  

• Your manager sees you leaving the office at 6, and wonders if he should assign some more work to you.
  

• People no longer want to stay on-bench.
  

• You have to fight for every pen/stapler/notepad that you need in office.
  

• The toilet paper starts vanishing slowly from the bathrooms.
  

• You put in a little something for your company, your client, the stock market, the economy in your morning prayers.
  

• You start getting a nagging feeling, that you should update your resume and update your skills, so as to be prepared.
  

• You start reading economic section of the newspaper or check your company's stock value.

Deja Vu...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_November_2008_Mumbai_attacks

The spirit of Mumbai...
Mumbai bounces back...
Mumbaikars will fight back...

Messages that are supposed to make people feel good? I am tired of hearing that. Its being used as an excuse by politicians and administrators to not do their job.To me it just means that people are so used to these things happening, that nothing is too much for them. What other option do we have? Do we sit at home as the city gets flooded, as hooligans hold the city at ransom, as bombs go off in one place or the other, or as terrorists go about on a killing spree?

Thankfully, the politicians have so far not hogged the news. But that will not last long. In a day or two, the political circus will begin. We'll hear inflammatory speeches and blame games, homages to the brave security personnel, announcements of compensations;all in the name of political one-upmanship. When the storm abates, then these paper-tigers will come out and use this incident for their votebank politics.

I have no solutions,just a lot of questions.#@$@!%!#%#!%#@!%#@!%#@!I can feel this voice screaming inside my head, trying to make up swear words. Who do I direct it against? What do we learn from this? Fortunately/Unfortunately, public memory is shortlived. Just like numerous times in the past, this time too, we will raise a hue and cry and then things will be back to normal. There will be numerous villains who will come out of this whole mess. The only true heroes are the policemen, the security personnel, the fire brigade guys and numerous other good samaritans who have been in the line of fire. God bless them!

P.S: This is the second time in six months that I have had to write about this. I just pray that I will not have to do that again in a long time. I don't think I have the Mumbaikar spirit or the famed resilience of this city in me; to bounce back again and again.

What Do You Get When You Put Two Girls In A Room?

Contrary to what the title of this post suggests, this is not going to be a kinky post. So, if you wandered to this post, after reading the title,sorry to disappoint you.

Once upon a time, there were two female roomies....And they lived happily ever after.

Ever wondered why no one has ever heard of this story? One always hears that two females can't live together without murdering each other after a while. Although I think it's a tad bit exaggerated, it is true to some extent.

It's not that we live in a war zone. If you happen to drop in unannounced, you'll be able to hear scrambling going on the other rooms to hide underthings and other objectionable items. This is also accompanied by sounds of frantic attempts to dress appropriately, washing off the henna/egg/curd from the hair, scrubbing off face-pack. It's a myth that only guys live like pigs and a flat inhabited by females will always be all clean and pink and smelling like perfume. If it not were for the maid who cleaned our flats there would be unwashed dishes and laundry, hair here there everywhere. But God forbid, if two roomies fall for the same guy. Then all hell breaks loose. And like any war, there are innocent people who are affected;the other roomies.

All said and done, if you are lucky enough to live with like-minded females, life is all fun. Where else will you find companions for umpteen shopping trips, endless gossip/bitching sessions about movies, fashion, guys, work, family, etc etc. It makes a lot of difference between being able to enjoy living apart from family and wanting to run back home.

P.S:
And then there are female roomies who lived happily ever-after
Ever-after meaning
A. Till the end of the lease
B. Until they have a fallout
C. Forever...if they fall in love

Dumb And Dumber

"How did you fit ice into a bottle?"
Moi

"There is no impact to existing code/process."
The Idiot in the next cubicle

"I am sorry... 2 years." And she believed it!

Someone goes to jail,someone does not go to jail, something happens, something doesn't happen, we vandalize buses, train coaches, shops etc. As it is, there are so many problems with infrastructure in our country. And we have a mob that is ever-ready to destroy public property. Do they not realize that tomorrow when the rioting stops, they will not have enough buses/trains to travel in?