Lazy Sunday Signoff

(ahh the post title sucks big time. But what the heck-im too lazy to change it)

After all the last week's hassle -two trips out of town - visitors - day trip on saturday - it was a nice and lazy sunday - i wud av slept like 5 hours during the day and will probably go to sleep as soon as i finish this.

I had an hour's chat on the phone with T whos back home in bangalore for a month long vacation before joining for work as a big shot investment banker in Mumbai. Hes going to be down in chen in Apr for N's wedding.

Most of the talk was centered around T's & my lack of 'life' as he called it. 'Dei, we should get a life da' - he kept telling - 'youre going nuts living all alone' - he prefers to ignore my informing him that i have very stimulating work all day - and that i visit my parents twice/thrice a month.

On further probing - it appears that the main grudge T has is that all of his B school batchmates, workmates & a quite a number of his friends [A, now N, his old flame P, his last year's roommates..etc.] all have serious girlfriends or are getting married or already married. Now that hes 'settled' [he has this nice job now - not that hes started work yet] he says that hes pretty keen to quickly find the nice tambrahm girlfriend of his dreams - because he does not want this 'dangerous' [his words, not mine] situation where - after 1 or 2 years - his parents force some girl down his throat - and what if it doesnt work out

I told him that hes better off keeping his options open - and atleast - hes fortunate that he will continue to be in environments where he'll be benchmarked / mingle with guys/girls of his own age/peer group - and sooner or later - he'll get his girlfriend - unlike less fortunate blokes like me.

He claims to hate these B school types - who are too 'dominating' and 'bra burning feminists'- and prefer more 'docile' 'homely' ones. [ again, all his words - not mine ]

Well goddamn!

I do hate to think of life like some kind of stupid roundabout - do well in school - get into college - do well in college - land a good post grad - do well in coll again - land a good job - look for a 'life' - [ tambrahm, docile - girlfriend !? (ROTFL)] - then what - buy cars, apartments, homes, foreign vacations, kids, bigger cars ..blah blah

All said and done..maybe i pooh poohed his concept because somewhere in my own sub conscience - id av liked to have his kind of a simple, structured approach to life !?

Jashn-e-Bahaara [ Celebration of Spring ;) ]

Kehne ko Jashn-e-bahaara hai :: Ishq yeh dekh ke hairaan hai :: Phool se khushboo khafa khafa hai gulshan mein :: Chhupa hai koi ranj fiza ki chilman mein

It is said that this is a celebration of spring but love is distressed to see that in the garden, the fragrance is shying away from the flowers.There is a hidden sorrow in the curtain of the happy air.

Saare sehmein nazaare hain :: Soye soye waqt ke dhaare hain :: Aur dil mein khoyi khoyi si baatein hain

The slow sleepy flow of time has silenced much of the sorrow here and many unsaid things are lost in the heart.

Kaise kahein kya hai sitam :: Sochte hain ab yeh hum :: Koi kaise kahein woh hain ya nahi hamaare ::

How does one say what troubles them so.I wonder this nowhow does one actually tell you that they are not in love with you?

Karte to hain saath safar :: Faasle hain phir bhi magar :: Jaise milte nahi kisi dariya ke do kinaare

We journey through life together,but there exists a distance between uslike that of the two banks of a river that never meet.

Pass hain phir bhi paas nahi :: Humko yeh gham raas nahi :: Seeshe ki ek diwar hai jaise darmiyaan

We are together, yet we are not.This pain of separation is unacceptable to me.There is, as it were, a wall of glass divides us.

Saare sehmein nazaare hain :: Soye soye waqt ke dhaare hain :: Aur dil mein khoyi khoyi si baatein hain

Kehne ko Jashn-e-bahaara hai :: Ishq yeh dekh ke hairaan hai :: Phool se khushboo khafa khafa hai gulshan mein :: Chhupa hai koi ranj fiza ki chilman mein

Hum ne jo tha naghma suna :: Dil ne tha usko chuna :: Yeh dastaan hamein waqt ne kaisi sunaai

The tune that I thought I would hear was the song that my heart chose.But what is this tune that fate has chosen for me to hear instead?

Hum jo agar hain gumgheen :: Woh bhi udhar khush to nahi :: Mulaquaato mein hai jaise ghul si gai tanhai

If it can be said that I am sad,truth is she is not happy there either.It is as if our encounters are blended with loneliness.

Milke bhi hum milte nahi :: Khilke bhi gul khilte nahi :: Aankhon mein hai baharein dil mein khiza

We meet but we do not unite.The flower blooms but doesn’t blossom.When I look around I see that it is spring but there is an autumn in my heart.

Saare sehmein nazaare hain :: Soye soye waqt ke dhaare hain :: Aur dil mein khoyi khoyi si baatein

Kehne ko Jashn-e-bahaara hai :: Ishq yeh dekh ke hairaan hai :: Phool se khushboo khafa khafa hai gulshan mein :: Chhupa hai koi ranj fiza ki chilman mein

** You know, i HATE to be a grown guy and do silly things - but with a song like this - you cant help but smile that silly smile & drool **

Rain

Well its been raining cats, dogs & Donkeys in chennai the last few days. Today was the worst - rained all night - a bit of a respite in the morning and then it has been at it non stop since like 10 am. [This photo (you wont believe it) was shot around 1 in the afternoon]

I already had a bit of a cold since yesterday and to top it off i was woken up at 5:30 today by an overly eager bloke in China. Then after getting through my mornings work - i have sort of taken the day off since lunch - coating my nose with Vicks & reading this book i picked up last week : "Half of a Yellow Sun" - an oddly interesting Novel set in Nigeria somewhere in the 1960s i think where it was just another Banana Republic { some blokes say that its still that way }

I somehow gravitate towards this kind of a work routine - shut up all by myself - with a phone & computer - all day long (apart from twice a week visits to our larger office in Chrompet & a few hours daily spent in visiting customers in North Chennai for testing new products from the Resin plant)

My dad thinks i am reasonably productive this way and dont waste my time doing routine chores - my mom thinks il go crazy living alone with no one to keep tabs on how long i keep staring at my laptop screen - my uncles been mortally offended because ive moved out of my room in his place to my own place here.

I think its better this way when im working on assignments like my current work (new product line, major work is information gathering with customer testing, consultants, travel) - and if i feel lost/depressed/ i just go back for a couple days with the factory/mum&dad and keep tabs with other affairs.

Its a bit of a longish weekend with Good friday/Miladinabi/Holi - and everyones in a lazy mood. Maybe il catch up with the EPL or something.

** Yawn **

Interesting Experiments

Interesting few days, where my experiments at home have lead on to the following interesting observations:

a) The shelf life of an open pack of Nestle Dahi inside a fridge [ 4 days ]. The 4th day- it starts going greenish and gives off an odour which puts you off dahi for the next 48 hours.

b) The shelf life of an unopened pack of Nestle Dahi inside a fridge [ Dunno - mine did 1 week ]

c) The shelf life of packet milk, broken and stored in a container inside a fridge [ 2 days ]. The 3rd day it like curdles with a reduction in viscosity. Although it looks and smells ok, packet milk is not safe after the first day, unless you want to die of Food Poisoning. The Tetra pak Nestle milk does about 3-4 days after being opened. [I wasnt food poisoned with the tetra thing after like 3 days. Thus i know]

d) The shelf life of boiled rice stored in a fridge - 24 hours. Beyond which it hardens and becomes inedible.

e) Boiled rice left outside the fridge - goes brown - and STINKS like hell - all in like - 8 hours in humid, warm chennai climate. ** GOD ** The smell in the damned kitchen still wont go way - after 2 days.

f) What happens when an open pack of Milk Bikis is left in the fridge for like one month - Answer: The biscuits go soft. With not too much deterioration in chemical quality [ Meaning it does not rot or stink ]

g) What happens when a nicely ripe bunch of malai pazhams (bananas) are kept inside a fridge for a week (after they became ripe) - well they become black - and the whole fridge starts giving off this nice sweet smell - the banana insides become like - dark honey coloured - i did not dare to check how it tasted.

- In the like 20 days or so, ive used up about two 500 ml Pril (the lemony, green dishwash liquid) bottles, thrown away more rice (boiled/spoiled or boiled/frozen) than what i managed to eat and have developed a HATRED for Maggi Noodles, Aashirwad Heat n Eat Dal makhani, Ratna Cafe down the street and have almost started to worship my (rapidly diminishing) jar of Vadu mangai - for how its sustaining me.

- On the brighter side - there have been no major fire accidents (with the kitchen,um, gas stove) and i have managed to survive without resorting to eating out too much :)

I guess it is time i moved on to experimenting with recipes & stuff :) Eh !?

** UPDATE ** (Prompted by the comments)

Well - most of my experiments are purely based on a scientific,um,curiosity.

Ive gotten pretty sick of cooking for myself alone - I only remember food when i get hungry at home and THEN try and cook - which is pretty irritating.

Plus the economics of cooking for just 1 person does not compare too favorably with the one person eating out all the time. The overheads are too much [ Like the Dahi, Milk, Gas, doing the vessels, stocking other things etc. ] for just one person - Heres a little cost analysis:

Good meal made at home -

Half a pack of heat n eat chappattis - (3 pcs) - 18/2 = Rs. 9/-

About 1/3rd of Nestle Dahi - (200 gm!?) - 13/2 = Rs. 6.5/-

Half a pack of Dal Makhni (MTR/Aashriwad) - 42/2 = Rs. 21/-

About half a measure of Rice (Boiled) - Rs. 2 /-

** Daily overhead divided by 3 ** - { Milk, gas, Pril liquid, scotch brite, Sugar, Salt, Oorugai, Coffee Powder, Tea Sachets etc, } - Rs. 10 / -

Total (Per Meal - @ 3 meals a day) : Rs. 48.5

[ Remarks: The meal is big enough to be a brunch. Somedays i have 2 meals like this. Some days i end up a wee bit hungry and end up eating some cornflakes at night or something ]

Satisfaction Rating: 4.25 /5
Cost Vs Satisfaction: 4.25 / 5

Eating out - Non grand / Plain decent food

Lunch down at Rathna Cafe near the VN Temple: 38/- Very good South Indian meals good until 2:30 in the afternoon. After which they begin watering down their sambhar :)

Satisfaction Rating: 4/5

Cost Vs Satisfaction: 4.25/5

Lunch at the Woodlands in Panagal Park - Next to Nalli: No meals on Menu - So an ordered meal of maybe chappattis, subji - about 70 /- [ No extras or Drinks or Dessert ]

Satisfaction Rating: 3.75/5

Cost Vs Satisfaction: 3/5

It is just a little analysis, you know, If youre at home and you start making food for 3 / 4 people - you can afford to throw in a Salad, Fruits, Green Subji etc. - without affecting the overhead per meal too much - and bring up the ratings close to 5 :)

Irritating stuff

In my damn apartment - the damn workroom (aka office) doesnt have an AC fitted in it. But the goddamn broadband is WIRED (yeah,fucken wired-not wified) ONLY to this room - i have goddamn nice laptop and THREE goddamn other rooms with AC - only to try to work out of this goddamn oven every goddamn night !

If Airtel dont deliver the wifi modem tomorrow - theres gonna be some serious ass kicking done -

Billions of bloody, blistering barnacles !

[ Chennai is fucken majorly hot - believe me - MAJORLY ]