Hellloo ppl. I have a bad bad cold :(

I just want to get into my pajamas and climb into bed.

Sadly, I need to research on Insider Trading Regulations :(

Which is not interesting at all.

I have been having cups of hot coffee and soup all day, but my nose is as blocked as ever and soon my ears will also be blocked.

When you have a sinus problem, a cold is the worst thing ever - cuz I have to be careful that I don't trigger off my sinus or get my ear pain (that happens when the eustachian tube gets blocked) or fever or a sore throat or all of them together.

I wish I didn't have to work .

Thankfully my mom is here so she's feeding me nice alu-methi ki sabzi and Arjun will be fed baingan ka bharta :D

I looove sizzlers. I have had sizzlers in most of the major Indian cities. When my office moved to Defence Colony, everyone told me that I just had to have the sizzlers at Gola, which is pretty well known and cunted amongst the top 3 in Delhi for sizzlers.

Well Arjun and me decided to celebrate Christmas eve by having dinner at Gola Sizzlers. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Waste of complete time, energy and money. To begin with the place was dingy, and was in desperate need of better lighting and music. They were playing instrumental throughout and on the other hand, I could hear 'Singh is King' blaring from the television. Bright lighting very much needed, especially in a place where the seating is such that if diners on adjacent tables are eating at the same time, elbows would definitely clash. I lost interest the moment I walked in and wanted to leave, but Arjun was of the opinion that maybe we should try the food. The captain was rude and least interested in anything except his tip. When we asked him for a table he showed us to a small corner table in one end of the room. Considering the fact that the place was practically empty (which should have probably tipped us off), we could have been shown way better seats. When we were finally seated, we perused the menu. Ordered for drinks and we decided to skip the appetizers and move directly to main course. We had to ask him a query about one of the dishes twice, till we were finally told that he had no idea. Undeterred we still placed our orders. Ughhhhhhhh the food was soooooooooo bad.

How can anyone mess up a sizzler? Gola could well give you some tips. Well you lather a boiled piece of the slimmest chicken breast ever with lots of bland weird sauce (which for some reason shall taste like a watered down version of the usual bhuna masala made with onions & tomato) and you pass it off as mushroom sauce, and sprinkle a couple of mushrooms around for effect. Let the diner hunt for the chicken. Along with that you serve some burnt garlic bread and a solid piece of butter which if cut, will probably go plop into the neighbouring diner's plate. You also serve precisely 5 piece of 5 different veggies - all wilted & most uninteresting looking. You plonk it in front of the diner like your doing him a favour and give him some dirty knives to eat with.

Well, I obviously left most of it uneaten. Arjun was a brave soldier and ate what he had ordered after liberally dosuing it with tobasco sauce. Then I asked for the feedback form. Immediately the waiter wanted to know if there had been deficiency in service, I replied that there had been major deficiency in food. He took it t the captain who tried to tell me that continental food is supposed to be bland. Well I know it is bland, but is it also absolutely tasteless? Anyway he very happily told me this is what they serve and this is what people eat here.

So people if you do go to Gola Sizzlers, Defence Colony, it is solely at your own risk, and then don't say I didn't warn you.

PS: Don;t forget to carry elbow pads.

We had our office party today. This is our Christmas tree with a few of the gifts displayed below.





Everyone had to be dressed in red/ green.





We also had Santa Claus (a very sporting stenographer of our office).



Of course we did have a few spoilsports. They had to get ice cream for all of us.



We had lots of cake.

We exchanged gifts. Ate lots of biryani. Had fun. Sang songs. Just chilled. Decided that 1st January ought to be a holiday and that the holiday list for 2009 should be mostly on Fridays & Mondays.


Merry Christmas Folks!!!!!

Yeloooooooooooo people....I am back from the wilds. We had gone to Corbett this weekend with some friends who had come down from US of A. One of them is an Indian, born and brought up in the States and venturing out of Bombay for the first time ever on her third trip to India. We sure showed her some sights and sites she never saw before :)

We left early Friday morning, really early on a cold winter morning and reached Corbett around 11 in the morning. We had booked two cottages overlooking the Kosi river and an awesome view. Our bathroom was bigger than the room by the way and we had to carry our buckets and go get hot water from the kitchen to bathe. The rest of Friday we just chilled and lazed around, had some really yummy food - it wasn't any five star food, but just simple sabzi, dal, chicken & hot hot phulkas straight off the tava. Post lunch, after some rest, we went on a trek to the river. We had to go down a rough path eked out of the hills - getting down was not that scary, but getting back up sure was cuz it was steep path with no handholds, and we were a little wary of holding onto twigs and putting our hands on rocks because we had been warned off snakes. We spent the rest of the evening just chilling around the bonfire and spending lots of quality time with Arjun.

Saturday morning, the boys went off to get passes for the jungle safari, while we ladies slept in. We had opted for the afternoon safari, which in retrospect was a good idea in the winters otherwise we would have been shivering in the chilly morning at 6:30. After a hearty brunch of alu ka paranthas, we left for the safari at 1:30 n the afternoon. We entered the park from the Brijrani side. We spotted quite a few spotted deer and some sambar deer too (which is allegedly the favourite meal of the tiger, which led us to believe that tigers are South Indians :P). One sambar deer just came and stood right in front of us as we were going along the path. We saw a herd of elephants too - there were about 2-3 full grown females, 2 teenagers and 1 baby. They were quitely grazing one one side of the path that we were taking. Our guide had warned us to switch off the flash on the camera, so that we don't disturb/ distract them. Unfortunately another group right behind us did not switch off their flash, and suddenly one of the full grown elephants came charging at us. Oh boy, we sure told our driver to take off asap. We saw tiger poop, mounds of elephant poop and we caught a deer pooping. Lots of poop tales. We never got to see any tiger. Our guide told us that Corbett has about 164 tigers but very rarely are they spotted. We however did get to see some tiger pug marks which we were informed were pretty recent. At one point, we just stopped and took in the serenity of lots of greenery, tall trees practically blocking out sunlight, a small stream gurgling away, birds chirping, monkeys jumping from tree to tree. It makes one realize that money and the hustle bustle that we are used to is not everything, sometimes we just need to stop and smell the roses.

The rest of Saturday evening again was spent chilling around the bonfire, and everyone else laughing while I got stalked by the smoke. I swear, each time I shifted my chair around, the smoke followed me. Not funny, cuz I had a bad bad headache by the end of it.

Sunday morning, we were up and sadly had to get back to Delhi and to the daily grind. This was a welcome and a much needed break. We stopped to smell the roses, hear the birds chirping and watch the stream gurgling away. Sure puts things in perspective. Also makes me realize that I still have so much to see in India itself (though I have traveled quite a bit around the country with friends and family) - we got snow, rain, desert, beaches, mountains, nightlife, swamis, culture, crowded streets and friendly people all here in India.

Just a few lines to say Hey to all of you...been awfully caught up in work (Yes I know usual story). This week has been tiring and stressful, and its just Tuesday. Thank God this week  ends early for me. That's cuz we have some friends visiting from the States and we'r off to Corbett for a Jungle-book weekend. Hope we manage to spot some tigers and deer. Oh, people I bought a bright orange wallet - Govinda style orange. Afterall, I need some colours to jazz up my otherwise classic black and white. As Arjun says, he sees wife in technicolour only on Sunday :P

Have a good day people :)

I'v been tagged by Chandni to do the following tag - this is a list of 150 things to be done before I turn 30. Given that I have about another four and a half years to go before I hit the big Three - Oh, guess I better get started. The one I'v already done are in bold.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with dolphins

03. Climbed a mountain (Does trekking near Darjeeling count?)

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula (Ughh, no thanks)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone (Not yet :P)

08. Said “I love you” and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped (Dying to do it)

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars.

20. Changed a baby's diaper.

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon.

22. Watched a meteor shower.

23. Gotten drunk on champagne.

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger (Asked out a senior on your first day of college while being ragged and who later went on to become a really good friend)

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states (Barring Gujarat & the seven sisters I have visited all the other states)

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends (Why had? I still have them.)

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (Danced with a foreigner on New Year's eve)

44. Watched whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero.

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Played touch football

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theatre.

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played DD for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced ( I certainly hope not!)

76. Gone without food for 5 days (Exam time - 7 straight days of surviving on coffee and chocolate only cuz we just didn't have the time to eat. We used to be ravenous the day the exams would end. )

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on a television news programme as an an 'expert'

83. Gotten flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten Shark

88. Kissed on the first date

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Passed out cold

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication [Unfortunately they never got published :( ]

106. Lost over 100 pounds

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Touched a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a TV game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears (I'v been thinking of getting my nose pierced - what say you?)

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school (Not yet - but I'd love to)
131. Parasailed

132. Touched a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes

134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read (Read Harold Robbins and then was thankful I hadn't ever wasted anytime reading him)

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

139. Skipped all your school reunions.

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life

All those who want to do the tag are most welcome to rake it p. Please do tell me when you'r done so I can drop by and see it too :)

Arjun, I have already done your tag in September :).

Just a few thoughts/ suggestion off the top of my head from an Indian citizen as regards the current situation and the aftermath:

• We have a huge percentage of unemployed youth - how about providing them with gainful employment and train them to protect the politicians instead of deploying 1700 NSG for that purpose
• Why do Priyanka Gandhi & Robert Vadra need to be protected at the expense of the taxpayers? If they feel they need security, let them organise it themselves and pay for it
• No politician, except the current President and Prime Minister be provided with Z class security. Former Presidents and Prime Ministers can be provided normal security
• Make all other politicans pay for their security. Let's see how many actually need Z class security after that. 
• Today any person wearing a black coat and a band can walk into the High Court (Delhi) or Supreme Court without being checked. Why? Bombay High Court also checks advocates
• A certain fixed amount be spent every year by the police force of each state to upgrade their ammunition etc. and a transparent account be given for it, not one which gets lost in the numerous files of the Government
• A Company today has to give its Annual Balance Sheet. Why not the Government? How effect is the Indian Audit & Accounting Service really. One corrupt person and the whole system falls apart
• As citizens we stop giving chai pani to the government babus. They get paid from OUR MONEY, yes the taxpayer's money for doing their job. Why should we pay them anything extra?
• Stop filling up caste details in any form whatsoever - if I have to get admission in a college, why do you need my caste details. 
• Reservation in schools, colleges and jobs should be on a financial basis and not caste
• We desperately need more judges in out courts to handle matters. Judges in lower courts ought to compulsorily hear an x number of matters everyday. Impose heavy costs for adjournment sought without a very valid ground. If ill-health (favourite excuse) is pleaded, let the court send someone to verify it, soon such feeble grounds will not be taken up. Cases can also then be expedited
• If any elected representative decides to take 'moral responsibility' and resign, let them pay some heavy pecuniary penalty. Moral responsibility taken - very good, we'r proud of you. Now act on it. don't take the coward's way out. There is a reason that they were elected - and no I don't mean their gifts of goats and saris to their votebanks
• Every  MP/ MLA give an Annual Report of what has been done by them in their constituency and let the same be open to the residents for verification. Any misrepresentation will result in a heavy pecuniary penalty
• Some statute be enacted to restrict the 'breaking news' repeatedly telecast by our electronic media, especially when an operation is on. Something like this 
• Politicians and public servants ought not to be allowed to use government vehicles to ferry their wife to the market and pick up their child from school
• Some minimum educational qualifications for our politicians. 
• No person with criminal record in our Parliament
• Bring back Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) 
• Take exemplary action against offenders - everyone will think twice before doing any such crime again 
• Make it compulsory that all cases have to be heard and disposed off within a certain fixed period, no unnecessary adjournments, impose heavy costs for any delaying tactics adopted by any party, and if any party tries to use political influence immediately put them in jail till they get some sense
• The US has this concept of social service as part of punishment for first-time offenders, we should also have something like that
• Teach schoolkids about religion and what religion preaches - not have any wrong ideas about any religion or people from such a religion
• Common citizens be allowed to question their elected representative without queuing up for hours to see him or feeling like he has done a favour

Feel free to add more. Maybe we can make it a petition. What say folks?

The CM of Kerala deserves all that he got and more. He should be highly ashamed of himself. At a time when a family is grieving the loss of their son in a dastardly attack, he is politicising the whole thing and making extremely uncalled for statements about a martyr's family. When someone asks  you, requests you not to enter their house, and you still enter, it is known as trespassing. And when you trespass on someone's private property, the red carpet is not going to be laid out for you. It doesn't make a difference whether you are a CM or a PM or MM or just a common man. So many thousand of people lined up to pay their homage to Sandeep Unnikrishnan, no fuss was raised at that time. Now the family wants to grieve in peace, let us give them that much respect at least. And this is something which any human should and ought to understand and respect. But, I guess politicians are way lower than dogs. Actually why are we insulting dogs here? Aren't they man's best friend after all? I guess dogs all over are going to be up in arms. 

And what is all this brouhaha about the resignation of Shivraj Patil, RR Patil & now contemplated resignation of Vilasrao Deshmukh? Why should they resign? How is this going to  change things? They ought to hold on to their chairs where we, the people have put them. We demand accountability. Resigning is a coward's option. it is the easiest way out. Resign and hand over the burden to some other bakra (fool). We demand that you stay put on your seats and right the wrongs. Resigning is not an option. Today you are resigning only because you know that you have no answers to the questions raised by us. Have the balls to tell us that you are at least searching for the answers. Didn't you aai (mother) ever teach you that?

The CM of Kerala deserves all that he got and more. He should be highly ashamed of himself. At a time when a family is grieving the loss of their son in a dastardly attack, he is politicising the whole thing and making extremely uncalled for statements about a martyr's family. When someone asks you, requests you not to enter their house, and you still enter, it is known as trespassing. And when you trespass on someone's private property, the red carpet is not going to be laid out for you. It doesn't make a difference whether you are a CM or a PM or MM or just a common man. So many thousand of people lined up to pay their homage to Sandeep Unnikrishnan, no fuss was raised at that time. Now the family wants to grieve in peace, let us give them that much respect at least. And this is something which any human should and ought to understand and respect. But, I guess politicians are way lower than dogs. Actually why are we insulting dogs here? Aren't they man's best friend after all? I guess dogs all over are going to be up in arms.

And what is all this brouhaha about the resignation of Shivraj Patil, RR Patil & now contemplated resignation of Vilasrao Deshmukh? Why should they resign? How is this going to change things? They ought to hold on to their chairs where we, the people have put them. We demand accountability. Resigning is a coward's option. it is the easiest way out. Resign and hand over the burden to some other bakra (fool). We demand that you stay put on your seats and right the wrongs. Resigning is not an option. Today you are resigning only because you know that you have no answers to the questions raised by us. Have the balls to tell us that you are at least searching for the answers. Didn't you aai (mother) ever teach you that?

Addendum: I'm wondering how this post got published twice. Can anyone tell me that please?

As a common citizen of India, today I have several questions for my  Government - that same Government whom we elected and have given the reins of our country to. 

I want to know what is my Goverment doing to protect me. 

I want to know if stepping into a mall or eating out will now constitute an act of great bravery?

I want to know how my Government plans to punish those behind this carnage?

I want to know why my Government does not come out with a tougher stand on terrorism?

I want to know why even in 2008 we still discriminate against Hindus & Muslims and upper castes and lower castes?

I want to know why is that box asking me for my caste there on the form? 

I want to know what action is the Government going to take against Pakistan?

I want to know why after the blasts all over this year, security measures were not increased?

I want to know how was all that RDX brought into the country when the local fishermen had given intimation to the authorities?

I want to know how can a person with an AK 47 and a bag full of ammunition just walk into any building/ station and shoot randomly?

I want to know how many more lives will we have to sacrifice before you, the Government decides it is enough to warrant some action?

I want to know why the Government first condemned Hemant karkare and now makes him a matryr?

I want to know why no action has been taken against Raj Thakeray?

I want to know where was Raj Thakeray when his beloved Mumbai was being defended by Indians - not Marathis or Biharis or UP Bhaiyas or Muslims?

I want to know where does all my tax money go? 

I want to know why our Police force still used WW II rifles and not more modern guns and ammunition?

I want to know why what the Government is doing to prevent any other such attack?

I want to know what the Government, being the face of India, plan to say in the UN and pressurize that Pakistan which allegedly condemns the attacks, actually assist India in bringing in the perpetrators?

I want to know what is the action plan in case of future attacks? 

I want to know why you, being our public servants have Z class security that we pay for?

I want to know if the Government can today give me any guarantee that I can walk around on the streets of my country safely and not have this niggling fear that there is going to be a blast or any terror attack?

I want to know how does Shivraj Patil's resignation  make the situation better? if that is the case, I want to know why he  didn't resign  after the series of blasts?

I want to know why I should vote for you and bring you back to power and not for any other party?

I want to know what promises you have made and are making and what have actually been fulfilled?

Does the Government have any answers to the questions of a common citizen?

I want answers. I want accountability from my Government.