Gearing up...!

...I decided to work from home today - been a while I worked from home..the whole o last week went by in driving to work everyday - all thanks to my laptop screen that just decided to not show any details than the blackness. For hours altogether. Life does that too sometimes, doesn't it? Shows that 'u- called for' blackness to you...in a blink of a second. You see the black hole. Which doesn't seem to have a exit anywhere.

Whatever is wrong with me, early in the morning, talking about blackness. Let's shift base to some colors in life. Colors - I have aplenty in my kitty these days. I would be a fool if I said my life was a drag, simply going on with no surprises, no happiness and nothing new. I think taking life one day at a time has its own advantages. Every day has something new to look forward to and you splurge in it. No?

Saturday I went to Chandni Chowk..did I tell you I travelled in a Metro for the first time, ran across the streets in a confused state, I felt as if I would get lost...and realized its been a while I went to crowded places..I was in total panick...thanks to friends around, I was safe. I bought a tripod (!!!) - a bigger one this time and a reflector/diffuser too. I was pretty happy with what I bought. Sunday morning, a couple of friends from DFC went to shoot at the Lodhi Gardens. We used speed light, flash, diffuser, reflector etc...to click some portrait shots..also learnt a bit of Macro pictures...they dont interest me that much though but portrait shoot was a great one, everyone posing one by one...

I wish I could also tell you what I had in mind last night but let it be for other times.

My jaipur trip for 11th March is cancelled right now, which puts off my Pushkar plans as well. I will now be going on the 23rd of March..so guess the weekend thereafter is when I will go to Pushkar...it is pretty strong in my mind to visit that place now for last one month...obviosuly for photography. I hope I can materialize it.

:) Good day people....!

Yesterday was in a zombie state and by the time I came back home, I was very irritated...the music player in the car was shouting 'November Rain' which disgusted me further and I just patted it and told it to "shutup'! Well it did. But as soon as I had said that, I felt so guilty. Why the mention here? Because I wanted to apologize. I have been doing that ever since I told it to shutup...coz I really felt bad after I had said that. Imagine, countless songs I would have listened to from the player in last 3 years..(yes, my car is 3 year old now) - and yesterday treated it the way I did. We do that to our people as well, don't we? Do we feel bad later? Sometimes yes, sometimes not at all. We should. It matters.

Mesa weekend plan..

as of 9.52 in the morning, I plan to go shopping in the morning, followed by exhibition by Sanjay Nanda in IHC - I believe there are some real nice frames of Jantar-Mantar - am very keen to see his perspective..there is another exhibition on mountain pictures I guess followed by a talk...not sure if I will attend that. Oh yeah, rock on is on my list too...I better watch that movie. Sunday I plan to go with DFC folks to this ganesh visarjan in kalindi kunj that i have heard so much from Nandos and Om. I hope am able to make it to that place...I know it will be all jammed up but am keen. Also, I don't have a wide angle lens for the occassion...but let's see how much justice I can do with my kit lens and 50 mm. I guess its time I bought the other lens. Actually, I have that in mind...24-100 mm...and it probably is for 36-40k approximately. So, I think am gonna' gift myself this lens on my birthday in November...sounds perfect to me..:-)

But people...nuthing beats the 50mm...I recently clicked come pictures in Chandni chowk using only and only 50 mm...and boy, it certainly rocks..will share the pictures here soon...

Weekend Plan

You sleep at almost 2 in the nite and wake up at 10 minutes to 6 on a sunday morning with 3 alarms buzzing away to glory - Not done boss! Had to make a booking to hire a cab that early in the day for today and here I am - after all that done. Booked a Toyota Camri (wow..I can't wait till 8 am now). We - Vishal, Vinni, Me and Nitin decided yesterday in the party for a drive across the countryside towards yarra valley and lake mountain (where it snows). Cabs are usually very expensive in Australia and so decided to hire a car and fuel it up - would be convenient for us. Hoping that it doesn't rain for I have my eyes all set on that hot air ballooning thing that you can do in yarra valley. Not sure if I can take that for an hour, but I would love to do it once in my life..have seen it in so many movies (remember 'Hum kisi se kum nahi').

What did I do yesterday - I went to Victoria market - did whole lot of wasteful shopping - picking up everything that I thought was good (and which isn't all that good) - then came home, had a quick roasted chicken (from Nandos downstairs) with peri-peri sauce (man, you gotta eat it to belive it - its just yummm), and then off me and chayan went to Saint Khilda's beach. A beautiful beach in the sub-urbs of Melbourne - with awesome apartments facing the beach. I must say, this place is beautiful along the country side. It's so peaceful in here - you actually find people fishing away to glory in solitude on weekends. We would have spent about an hour and a half there, walking along the beach - enjoying the wind and the chill. And then we started to walk - and guess what, we actually walked our way back home - which is approximately 8-9 kilometers from the beach. The walk was so much fun that we just did not wait for a tram or a cab. Will share the pictures soon of the walk. Came back and we had messages on our cell phones for a pre-party at Amit and Abhay's place. 'Hollandia' was the beer today. Not all that bad - but I guess carlsberg yesterday was better anyday. Rohit and Mrigank also arrived today - almost all seem to be in the party mood these days...specially weekends. :-) As usual Anshuman was at his best, dancing and cooking (oh, by the way, I cooked rice pulao for everyone) and for a change this time - it wasn't our favourite anshuman cd playing.

And now I know how it is to be embarrassed to the core - guess I have seen the most embarrassing day of ma' life. :( It happens so guess let's just let it be.

Week One - Melbourne

Foreign Lands are alien lands - I have felt it each time I have been out of my country. Whether it was Japan or Singapore or Sultanate of Oman or Australia now - they all look similar and they all look alien. There are just some places or things that surprise you and you find them amusing - other than that, it's just the same.

First week in Melbourne Australia just about to get over. Been good so far. The first sunday, we went to The Great Ocean Ride - I actually took the helicopter ride over the antartic ocean to see the 12 Apostles - a view so spectacular - couldn't have dreamt of seeing in my life. A lifetime experience for sure.

Today, we went to Skydeck - a building high up - one of the tallest in the world, from where you can see the entire Melbourne city. It has 88 floors and it takes you a couple of seconds to reach the 88th floor. It wasn't new for me for I have been to the Tokyo Tower. But for first timers, it is indeed an experience. I will share the pictures soon. It also has something called 'The Edge' - a cubicle made of glass on the edge of the building which makes you feel you are up in the air 300 metres above the ground - the floow obviously is made of glass.

A little later today, we head to Saint Khilda beach for a stroll and watch little penguins playing there. :-)

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Well, wait for the pictures.

Khwaja Rocks...

...Weekend nearing an end is always painful. Quite a hectic and eventful weekend - from good to bad! The good I thank God for..and the bad I am used to...Life is beautiful and I will never cease to make it even more beautiful.

Aawargi, me and Divsy went watching Jodha Akbar..(You feel so good when you are with your best buddies together)....hmmmm....one time watch for sure...nice portrayal of characters. I never knew Akbar was so romantic (!)....and I almost fell for him until someone reminded that he was the one who separated Salim and Anaarkali...[HOW COULD HE DO THAT!!! Shooo...huh!!]....Ashutosh has done a good job as a director....it was a task picturizing history...liked some bit of cinematography too....I anyway like running horses on big screen...they look so powerful. Looking at horses, I got reminded of 'International velvet'...a beautiful english movie of a black horse that I had seen some 20 years back......will check if I can get that dvd somewhere...okay, back to JA...Hrithik is too good to be true...and knows his character...Aish - plastic beauty of which I have no doubts left...but okay to watch....but what scored for me was that one song...and worth a mention is the 'Khwaja' song...when it started...the first few lines...I was all set to rip my hair apart...but as it goes on...it IS terrific. It touched me completely...I had tears in my eyes when the song ended...and what a terrific picturization towards the end....so very soulful. It instantly connects you to GOD. AR rehman rocks! Please do listen to the song...and feel GOD within you. You can listen to the song here...http://tumtube.com/freestuff/?p=243

And phewwwww...did I mention the lenses I saw this weekend? 5 in total...(2 of one friend and 2 of another) and of them the best one...Sigma (if I remember it right)...I don't know the name but it was all iron and B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L.....the mention of friends is reserved for later times :-)...come April..am more than eager to get my hands on a nice camera now...for now the idea is to buy a Canon 40D (and thanks to 'ST' (Motu) for this recommendation)...but let's see what can I finally get for myself...

I intended doing some pictography..but did not find that kind of time off...did capture 5-6 moments, which I should be able to post after I am done with the editing......

Regular WU...

...last 3-4 days have been so hectic and so bloody dramatic for me. It was a total family weekend for me...Bhabhi...adorable as ever...ready to do and die...Bhai and Pinki...wonderful hosts...as usual treated us with Momo's....and finally a great lunch at Divya's place. Hectic alright but did find time to click some beautiful moments with little sunshine. It is always such a pleasure to meet up with Ahaana and her Mommy - two beautiful angels. Not to forget 'Raam Raam Sa' - who is full of warmth.

Change seems to have caught on my soul big time. :-) This time, it is my helper...they really form the part and parcel of your life and a day without them is a sin to live. So, I have one oldie with me this time. A new venture again..and all you women, would agree with me...

A number flashes on my cell phone almost after a month and a half - I try to figure out who's number it is...boy, when I pick up the call, is it a surprise? It is the most beautiful surprise in years gone by. Finally, someone who keeps me sad for so so many days, decides to call me up. The fact of the matter is we can't live without one another. Period. God Bless. And this time big time, han!

Yesterday, after 3-4 hours of standing around in Authority offices and all, we finally got the registry done for the house. A Task Done. It is pretty painful and time consuming.

And guess what - Roxid, Sinarest, and JOSHINA (I finally bought this one) - together have not been able to curb the dreaded pain in my throat...it kept me awake all night. Doc, you better tell me what to eat.

Update - Weekend

Weekend just got over like it never came - and I hate that. This time around it was minus friends - just the three of us...and it felt pretty nice to be that wasy. Saturday morning was usual shopping (Ahem!) time - we went to Ansal Plaza...bought Manish adventure shoes... infact I liked one shoe so much that I am going to buy it for my dad. Nice huge brown shoes from CAT - I see that Caterpillar has a good range of shoes. I picked up a nice sweat shirt (reebok had 40% discount) & a suit(red& green printed crepe) for Lohri. We would have done the going around Shoppers Stop in almost 45 minutes for I had a con call starting at 5.30 pm, which I took it enroute. Stayed over at Mili's dadu's house for the evening.

Sunday morning, as I gave an update in my previous post - was Zoo time. The animals don't look in good shape...almost 50% of them were so old and dying that it felt bad to see them aging up. Yet, the zoo had far more animals than I actually expected.

Next Dad's birthday - Ma called and checked if I remembered. Well, I had kept a reminder so no goofing up. She made a cake for him and they went to two temples. How I wish I was with them. Pa turns Seventy. Quite some milestone. Bless you.

Movie time evening...I would have watched Spiderman Part 1 for the hundreth time now - this time only for Mili. She was after my life that she will watch this movie and was sitting in front of the sony max channel way before the movie actually started. Her dedication failed us and we gave her company, only on the condition that she will watch for half an hour. Well, I remembered the condition only after the last set of castings appeared on the screen, after the movie was over. Such is the awe of Spiderman. Years gone by and still - Mr Maguire never fails to impress me with his innocence...oh man, he is so amazingly soft and innocent in this movie. Usko tou kahin door bhaga ke le jaane ka mann karta hai, if you really ask me. Lolz.

And not to miss the few moments of bliss, talking to an old aquaintance friday evening. The term doesn't suit but there is nothing more suited than that at the moment.

Mix of GOODIES!

I don't even feel like mentioning the schedule that is ON for me since monday...hoping I will find sanity in some days. But the weekend was great.

How can I miss the goodies - last friday was a great day for me. The team went for an offsite to Club Western in Manesar. Had one helleva time - from playing treasure hunt to cricket (Ahem, I was the maximum scorer), tug of war, blindfold, Egg Bachao Andolan...etc. Nice resort, has lots of open space. I did some click clicks too - of people in different poses..am really keen on posting them after I am done with few edits on them. Evening the team decided to watch 'Dus Kahaniyan. Gawd..sleazy stories...not at all worth a watch.

Saturday was a family day out for us - me, manish and Mili spent almost about 6-7 hours in the mall..shopping for winter wear..followed by a great italian lunch, and then a movie 'khoya khoya chand'. This one was somewhat nice. Songs were nice too. (missed my music classes! :() Sunday was Mishi's annual sports day. It is amazing to see your kid on the stage performing..she had eye contact with me even from across the ground where she was dancing to the tunes. Mommy had tears in her eyes..my kiddo is growing up and she amazes me always. I am just so crazy about her and will once again reiterate the fact that motherhood has given me a feeling that I will cherish lifetime. It is so good to be a mom, so good that you actually are proud of yourself. Every mom should be proud of herself.
More on little Mishi. The other day she went on and on - mumma why did kuch kuch hota hai (Kajol) have two boyfriends? She apparently calls the leads of the movies with the title names..like for her ta ra rum pum is Saif, Shar rukh khan is Om Shanti Om etc...I adore her inquisitive self.

Ok, break...the goodies still going on..I got to know on Monday that I got a Gold award from one of the business leaders. It was a wonderful surprise. The year at work has been satisfying performance wise..bragged two silvers and one gold...if and only if that's the way you gauge how you performed...kind of a stamp to your hardwork and perseverence. Though I would never agree to it. It is much more than getting the recognition. But am glad i got it. As long as it makes a difference and makes you feel worthwhile.

Now the trip uphill - almost freezed on Monolith resorts in Bhimtaal. Seems like a nice place. Thanks for the recommendations folks. I know I will feel a lot at home there. ;-)
And yeah - gotta go to mountain trail, chauti, and that shiv mandir in mukteshwar. I hope I manage to go there - at a distance of 45 km from bhimtaal, don't think it should take more than 2 hours. Actually depends on fog and all a lot.

Time to break - gotta get back to work...actually no, let me be home. :-)