| (no subject) |
[Jun. 19th, 2006|06:17 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Feel the Silence - Goo Goo Dolls | ] |
Lots of birthdays the first half of June. Anikesh, Tabita, Sandeep, Blanche, Nikhil Lasrado,Smita, Kiran, Rashmi/Romola.
Anyway, it translated into many treats and parties over the last 2 weeks . Last night was Lasrado's party. His 3 year old nephew, Karan is such entertainment. He fell in love with Nayantara and told her to "sleep with him". Then she went to the bathroom. KAran was waiting outside and after 2 minutes got impatient, shouted "Your making kakka or what?" . Everyone was in splits and Tara walked out red in the face.
Nikhil/Sonali and Rupali were in Delhi around the same time we lived there. Aunty Meena's Hindi isnt too good .They lived in the Army bungalows. So this one time, she was alone at home reading a book while in bed, and the male cook came and said, "Ma'am, Khana ready hai". He had this habit of putting the cleaning cloth on his shoulder like a waiter which she didnt like. So she told him, "Khana baad mein . Tum pehla kapda utaro." Luckily he realized what she meant before he made any moves that would have gotten him shot by the Major General :)
Like when mummy shouted at the driver in a packed bus in Delhi, with the impatient driver expecting us to jump off the bus while it was still moving, "Jab tak tum nai rokega, mein nai utaarungi". |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 22nd, 2006|05:18 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Just Feel Better - Aerosmith/Santana | ] |
Uncle Tony passed away on friday. Funeral was on Saturday. Family is in complete shock . He was 78. May his sould rest in peace.
The stock market crashed again this morning and portfolio is down almost 80K.
On the upside, it's my birthday today. Brought in my birthday at Dominic's place last night . Just Errol, Smitha, Tamara, Darius, Anand and Dom. Quiet birthday this time. :) |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 18th, 2006|10:09 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song | ] |
I've become really involved in the Stock Market these days... always checking out the market swings on moneycontrol.com and looking at the new IPO's coming out. Was doing quite well till last Thursday ..and then the bloody correction. Portfolio has shed quite a few pounds. Hope it regains recent past glory soon. :)
Uncle Tony passed out last week and refused to go to the hospital saying that it was the heat and nothing else. Turns out, he had a blocked artery and was actually going through a heart attack. He seems to be responsing well now, thank God.
Been playing tennis at Country Club last 3 weeks with Nicky. Have to go 17 kms on Bannerghatta Road for 1 hour's tennis. It's been ages since I've played. Feels good.
Practices go on for 'Unforgettable'. I'm doing a solo. 'Leaning on the Lampost' by Hermans Hermits. Sonia and Clifton are doing 'All I ask of You' from Phantom of the Opera. It's a lovely song and they do a beautiful rendition of it.
Did 2 trips last couple of weeks. Went to Coorg and Nagarhole mid-April and GRS water park in mysore on our way back . What fun that was! Went for the Coffee Planters Guild annual party at Andrew's estate in Chikmagalur this weekend. There was an impromptu dance competion and i was made to do some african dance. As usual, made an ass of myself. It became an extended holiday . Got back only on Tuesday(not much work at the office anyway, so no one missed me). Went estate hopping and living the life of Bacchus. These estate wallas sure know how to live like kings . See pics here .
Some of my Tara's freinds from the US are in town . Went out with them last night. I was supposeed to take them out cos they're in a new country etc. Went to Spinn and there's like 10 of their friends (Germans, Brits etc). Went to Alok's place after and yakked while he came up with some really super cocktails. Must learn the art someday. Got back at 3:30AM. Never stayed out this late on a weekday.
Cousin Vandana immigrated to the US finally. It's been a long wait for her after Uncle Kenny got his papers in 1999. She wrote looonng emails about her experiences. She loves the place, but obviosly, misses her friends and roommates in Bangalore.
Nikhil J has a new girlfriend, Priyanka. Looks like she's the ONE, apparently . She has a bunch of nice friends. Went out with em a couple of times. Once to Blue bar(I had promised never to og there again.. but I was forced) and the other time to Upbeat. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 25th, 2006|04:01 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Goo Goo Dolls - Here is Gone | ] |
Cousin Anil's baby died in a London hospital. Doctors said there was no hope of her surviving a huge hole in her heart and so advised them to pull the lifesupport. She was hardly 2 months old. God rest her soul.
Our ironing guy Shekhar also died of complications after his surgery. His wife and 2 sons are handling the ironing cart now. Adrian's dog Shady also died 2 days ago.
We're doing 'Unforgettables' in July. Its a concert of oldies music and some line dancing too. I'll be singing 'Leaning on the lamppost' by Hermans Hermits. Aunty Sheila bought a new Piano and wanted to program an entry into it. She said, "This manual is in Chinese". So Adrian puts his fingers to the side of his eyes, streches them and said, "Read it like this. You should be able to understand."
Went for the Bryan Adams concert sometime in Feb. Tanya is a huge fan so she dragged me, and since I hadnt been to his previous concerts, I decided to go. Was a good concert. Got a sore throat trying to sing at BA's pitch. How does he do it??
My cousin Jatin is now a reporter on Times Now. He is one of the background voices when some story is being covered from Bombay. Keep a ear out for him .
Niece Maria is engaged to Michael Correa, an investment banker she met in Chicago. So we were laughing that she'll be known as Maria Correa from now on . She has promised to be a submissive wife to Michael and not bully him like she does her poor uncle.
Went to Hydi last weekend with Sree and met up with one of my old Pune roomies. Found out he was on LJ too . Folks, say hello to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) amit_oommen!! Musician, Songwriter and Singer... he does it all. Paapi pet ka sawaal hai, so he's also moonlights as a software engineer. We had a band in college which didnt last long. But Ammo continues to Rock On. Watched 'Walking on the Moon(3D)' and 'Rang De Basanti' also. Really neat movie, compared to the other rubbish that Bollywood dishes out.
Been following American Idol too. It's pretty easy to pick out the Top 3 this time around. Chris, Mandisa and Katherine , no doubt. I think Chris is gonna win. My girlfriends this year are Catherine and Lisa. They're both soo damn cute.
I also have this major itching to go backpacking across Europe, or the UK atleast. But havent found anyone whose game. If you come across anyone doing a trip, lemme know. I'd like to bum a ride. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 22nd, 2006|06:55 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | The Strokes - 12:15 | ] |
So its been a very long while since I updated my page (little over 2 months, I think). There's been some shockers in the office. Prem's wife committed suicide mid november. They were married for 7 months. It was an office romance and he married her against his parents wishes.There was speculation that his folks were mean to her cos if he had married someone fom the same community he wouldve gotten a lot more dowry. Prem is one hell of a great guy . He's no longer the fun guy anymore. Used to be such a joker, now gone very quiet. Who wouldnt.
Anyway, that incident was completely overshadowed by Pratibha's murder. It was very upsetting to see the media and public blaming the company for the incident. What followed was a series of compulsory self defense classes for all the ladies and improved security for night shift employees. At an all employee meet, one lady even demanded pepper spray and guns to be given to the lady employees . Better stay away from that mad woman :)
Home was completely flooded with guests for the most part of December and early Jan. The Sequeiras, Diya and Thomas, the Sresthas, The Noronhas etc. Its been so much fun, with all the cousins around and the continous parties and outings . Feel horrible now when everyone has left. Maya and I got quite close. We would talk till 2-3 in the morning and go for early morning walks to Cubbon Park. Hardly slept a wink. Poor thing was so upset that her folks were trying to fix her up with all the guys even though she's least interested in getting married. She taught me a bunch of drinking games too. She's a little worried about what she wants to do with the rest of her life. She feels that I shouldnt be doing somethingthat Im not passionate about. But what does one do if he hasnt figured out something he's passionate about? I wish there was something, I'd quit right now. She also feels that I'm too laid back and need to move out of home and get my own apartment. Things are so different in India. No one thinks a 27 year old living at home is a loser. I told her that if every 18 year old had his/her own apartment we'd have a housing crisis on our hands. What do you guys think?
Lucky that HP is closed for 10 days from Dec 23rd - Jan 2nd. I could spend lots of time with the cuzzies. Paul earns minimum wage($6 an hour) as a tennis instructor. He spent all his money taking us out to TGIF, MacDonalds and KFC. He loves his fast food. We went to LalBagh for a picnic, bowled at the Leela, went for a pedicure(just once). We made a trip to Mangalore for Nikhil's wedding. A. Hazel was very upset that I slept in the same room as all the girls after we got back from the wedding. She thinks Im a real scrath ball. I couldnt help it, Jason had locked his room and it was 3 AM, dammit!!! :)
So a bunch of my friends got married this season. It's a sign that Im growing older. Jacqueline got married on Dec 3rd. Met the old gang from college at the reception. Both Karthik's tied the knot. Arvind also got married. Rajesh and Jackie are baptizing Keara on the 26th of Jan.
Finally got to sing at Kroak Night at Opus . Priyanka and I decided to sing 'I'm the one who wants to be with you' by Mr. Big. The crowd was pissed drunk by then and I had to share the mike with at least a dozen other folks screaming into my ears.
We had our Cecilain Choir show that evening at Ambedkar Bhavan. Adrian conducted the blind school kids. The ticket read
Jyoti Seva School
For The Blind Conductor Adrian Mascarenhas.
I over heard someone in the audience mention that the conductor didnt seem blind at all. :)
Ayesha celebrated her birthday the same night. Spent a fun evening in the presense of the very entertaining poocha9 and jackol, who was actually in a good mood singing a Neil Diamond song. Cant rememebr which one. The party was brought to an end by a very irate neighbour and Ayesha using her rudimentary knowledge of Hindi to the hilt. "Hum sab ladki log hai. Tum paanch minute ke baad aao.". I couldnt help laughing. Andrea and Ashwin called from the UK that night. They're spending Christmas together. Looks like love is blooming in London.
Sang for Vikram's wedding on the 26th. I turned around and saw a very pretty young lady whose mum was in the choir with us. I didnt know it at the time, but it happened to be noelladsa. A. Sheila thought we sang really badly. I think so too. Couldnt go for the reception cos Liza got married the same evening. Her reception was at the Bangalore club. Nayantara and I burned up the dance floor. Theres like 15 pics of us in the wedding album. Balan thinks I should marry her cos she's a good dancer. Mark thinks I should marry Mudamma, cos shes a surgeon. He thinks Paul should keep an eye on a 10 year old girl called Alia who he thinks will turn our to be really pretty. He makes the most random statements. One that I rememeber was "As long as Im alive you do what I say. After I die all of you'll can commit suicide." and once I was telling everyone that Maya fell while bowling, but she fell gracefully, he said, "And when she dies, I hope she dies gracefully too.." and looked at her with a strange smile. The rest of us laughed so hard. I think he was drunk.
We had a party for all of Thomas' friends. Dad was in a mad mood. He asked Trevor, who is in the Merchant Navy and one of Thomas' quieter friends, how many women come on the ship. So he said, "None, uncle". Dad said "Shit, better be careful of these Nuns." . Then he went on and on about "whose rocking his boat these days" etc. His wife, Twisha, went red in the face. I wish I'd kept track of all the jokes.
Think I'll close here for now. I have a slight cold. Need to upload some snaps too. |
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| Mangalore Trip |
[Nov. 9th, 2005|02:38 pm] |
Mangalore Trip was chilled out, boring at times cos there was'nt too many people holidaying there. After college no one hangs around in Mangalore. They all push off to Bangalore or other cities. I hopped on the bus on Wednesday night and thought my seat number was 1, but it was 7.. I misread it . Seat 1 belonged to Rayna, who seems to always be in the same bus that I take. So we had a little tiff (just kidding), cos both our tickets looked like it said 1. Finally, I was instructed that 1 is always a ladies seat so mine had to be 7. Anyway,her dad's bday party was on Thursday night,so she invited me to come over cos i was staying with the Pais' and they were invited too. There were no youngsters, only me, natasha, sudeep, sidhath pais and sailesh and sanjana from Blore. Nat and me went to zara's (my 2 nd cousin) 18th bday party which was at high villa . I embarrassed all the shy boys there by making them ask the girls to dance and basically beign a pain in the ass cos i was chaperon since all the elders were out.
Met up with mrinal and 2 of her friends on Thursday and went to Liquid Lounge, possibley Mlore's only hotspot . Then went to see her shop and all the expensive curios, furniture other knick knacks. Some really nice stuff, but over my budget. Watched a stand-up comedy routine by Rusell Peters, an American Anglo-Indian. Damn funny. If you get a chance to download his routine from the net, you should.
Went to the mandatory beach trip with Cousin's. Preeti swam across the filthy Sultan battery backwaters. Yuk! Saira is very proud that her sis is the 1st woman to do so. :) I think my folks should move to Mlore in 5 -10 years. Its such a quiet and peaceful place. And no traffic and noise like in Bangalore. Plus, we have so many relatives they can hang out with.
Went to kanara club for some diwali dhamaka party . They had bollywood music and dance, some food stalls , booze stalls, housie and a grand fireworks display. Most of it was boring but the fireworks was cool . Then me , Nat and Parineet (her friend ) went for a long drive somewhere and came back at 2 .
Sunday we went for mass to aloysius and saw the Sistine chapel-esque ceiling. Some Italian guy painted the entire ceiling a la michelangelo ,with scenes from the Bible. Watched 3 episodes of 'Joey' that Nicky had downloaded .
Trundled down to Andrea's place and lunched with her dad, charmaine and Sunshine the dog biting my ankles. Bullied Charmaine into coming with me for Vidi's wedding on Sunday. Topics of discussion were Bangalore's horrible roads, rains in chennai and humidity in mlore, Saurav Ganguly's future, Bangalore's night life, comparison of all the clubs in blore, dogs and other animals, piano guitar and other assorted music instruments, my crappy job , Andrea, Ashwin, soniya, estate trips etc etc. Then Andy's dad and I watched the cricket over some Gin and lime and olives (man, they live like royalty.) Speaking of royalty, we then went for vidi's wedding bash . Vishal picked us up, took us to the hall, and after we were done came all the way picked us dropped us off . Charmaine has all the boys wrapped around her finger :) i told her that . She disagreed. The photographer told me not to stand next to vidi for the photo. Gents must always be on the groom's side. Then I almost went and kissed her while wishing, forgetting that I wasnt at a Catholic Wedding . Should have done it and shocked the entire bunt community. haha!! Was leaving by the 10 o clock bus that night, so we pushed off early and now i'm back in Bangalore. End of holiday, back to work. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 26th, 2005|04:55 pm] |
I've been going to Opus for Karaoke night regularly for the last 3 Sundays. Perfect end to the weekend, something fun and lively and yet not too taxing that one cant wake up for work the next day. Nicky, Achaiah and his girlfriend (Meghna), who was in 'My fair lady' with me 2 years ago and a few others are the regulars, even braving the rains :)
Went for a sexy party on the 8th. it was a Jack Daniels sponsored party at 1912. They were giving away some awesome prizes to people who didnt really need em (like a trip to the US for some Vice President). He was like, "Ok, ya, whatever.." . Anyway, I must have drunk about 3000 bucks of JD.
15th was Soraya's b'day party. Met some old friends there. Rest were all from her office. Apparently, their job is to watch movies and sub title them. How cool is that !?
I finally got a new computer. Bought it at a sale in the company. A HP D220m 40 Gb/128mb/15" monitor for Rs. 15,000 . Not bad for a branded Pc. I'm getting the Airtel Broadband internet connection. Rs. 700 per month for unlimited 128 kbps download. Sounds quite good. Keeping my fingers crossed .
Watched 'Into the Blue' with Nik, Rachi, Kritika on Saturday morning at Inox. Got tickets easily, the mall was empty, no lines for the popcorn and coke. What a pleasure! Movie wasnt too bad. Never realized Jessica Alba was so hot.
Hosur road the past 3 days is so mad with the incessant rains. Theres actually people standing around waiting for folks to get stuck and then charge money to help them out. |
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| Everyone's getting married!!! |
[Oct. 4th, 2005|09:38 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Daniel Powter - Bad Day | ] |
Two more have bitten the dust . Karthik and Jen decided to get married on Dec 28th. So now it's Jackie/Marty Nov 3rd, Anjali Dec 16th, Liza/Prashant Dec 26th, Arjun/Smitha Dec 26th, Arti/Vik Dec 26th, Karthik/Jen Dec 28th, Nikhil/Nandita on 2nd Jan and Jayant/Suzanne on Jan 14th. Phew!! Also, Chin and Jackie had a baby girl on the 24th of Sept. They've decided to name her Keara.
Couple of Sree's friends came down from Hydi. So took them to Spin on Saturday. Closed at 11, but the place was packed beyond capacity.
Sunday was the CRY FACT Quiz.Gautam Bhimani from ESPN was the Quizmaster. Sreekanth and Ramsub got through to the Final 6 but didnt manage to get to the All India Finals. Since HP was sponsoring the event, Shrini, our HR head was supposed to give away a prize but he didnt land up. So out corporate communications , Jayanthi told the organizers to call me on stage to give away the prize. Gautam Bhimani introduced me as the quiz club president at HP. As i walked on stage he asked, "So if you're the quiz captain how come you're not in the team?" . So i said "Well, Im not as good as these guys" . Then he said, "If you arent that good how come you're the captain". So i said "Im the Saurav Ganguly of the quiz club" . Everyone laughed. He then jokingly said that he was a Kolkattan and I should be careful what I said. So one guy from the crowd shouted, "He is our Bangalore Rahul Dravid". I'm waiting for them to send the snaps, which I shall promptly post. My 15 seconds of fame :) I even won an audience prize, 500 bucks coupon at some luggage shop.
Yesterday's Times carried some pics from the Mango Showers dance on page 3. |
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| My pity date |
[Sep. 26th, 2005|10:03 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | KT Tunstall - Other Side of the world | ] |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 15th, 2005|03:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Keane - Bend and Break | ] |
Events round up (major and minor), that I can re-collect, that occurred in the last month and a half since I posted. I have uploaded some pics too .
1. August 2nd Week - Roop and I hung out with Miks and Shaurya ( or Chaudhary as Roop called him ). Went to Styx, Legends of Rock, Catholic Club (for a shitty Independance Dance), Purple Haze and Miks guesthouse. So the 3 days he was in Bangalore was well spent. He was really looking forward to the Freedom Jam, but that didnt happen. So I taught him how to ride a bike. Man, that was funny. He's never sat on a bike before. Then we taught him Konkani songs. I just had to record his Brit cum Indian cum American accent singing Konkani.
2. Then we started practice for the baila, or mando dance. Thats a traditional mangalorean folk dance. 7 couples. My partner was Tricia. We performed at the Mangalorean Superstars show on the 26th of August and again last sUnday at the KCA Social. Practice was so much fun . We would jive/salsa during our breaks. I've picked up some nifty moves.
3. August 20 -22 in Mangalore. Put up 'Sound of Music' at Town Hall. Partied at the beachhouse. Didnt take any pics like an ass. I guess i was too busy in the pool and on the beach. Lionel, tina, karen, nev, jude and me in one car got totally lost. Reached some place called Thalapady which was 15 kms past the beachhouse. So now I'm known as 'Dev Thalapady - the only place to party!!'
4. Classmate from PU, Sunil got married. Same day cousin Vyonne got married. And Nikhil had his party and Riya had her's. So we were shuttling from one place to the other. Kyara was down from the UK for 2 weeks. So she joined in as well. There was a rumor that Rajkumar died and it wasnt safe to go home. So the rest spent the night at Riya's. Kyara and I braved it and pushed off. Rained so heavily that night. Next day I spread the rumor and got a lot of nasty phonecalls when we realized it was a rumor.
5. Jayant conrad D'souza, benchmate from PU landed from the states after 3 years. He's finished his studies, landed a job in Portland, Oregon. Dropped a tiny bomb on us one night when we had all gone out for dinner. He's getting married in Jan . He met this girl a month before he left for the states. They were in touch the past 3 years and finally decided to get married.
6. St Joseph's sports day and OBA day. Wasnt as much fun as it normally is. Dad, as usual, got up early both days, put on his cap and attended right through. Die hard Josephite that he is. Raya had flunked twice in school ..So he was hanging out with the batch of '92, '93 and '94 . :)
7. Ashwin is leaving for the UK tonight. He had a going away party last saturday at his grand residence on Museum Road. I've fallen in love with his place. Theres tiny waterfalls and a huge patio runnig all round the house. Whatta place for a party!!! Mudamma left for the UK too.
8. Brother in law, Neville, also got married to his long standing Nepali girlfriend, Deeksha.They got married in traditional Nepali custom in Kathmandu. Went out with them to Beijing Bites last week.Balan locked himself out (again!) in his nightsuit and came home in pyjama's to get the spare key.
9. Anikesh, another PU buddy, has come down from Bombay. Came over last night.
10. I wanted to check out the new Inox. So watched 'No Entry' with Sree, Nik, Natasha last Sunday. Yawned through most of it. But the rest of the publics found the movie very funny. Didnt get Rs.170 worth. Other movies watched : The Island. Now that was a good movie. Went out with the boys: Nikesh, Andrew, Sam, Errol and Nazir, to a place called Coastal Express. The Ghee chicken Roast was awesome. Sinful stuff!!
11. Met up with VJ, Priyanka and the rest one saturday at CC. Free Smirnoff.. need i say more??
12. Mrinals paintings won first place at an Art exhibition. She was so thrilled. Aloka made a pencil sketch of me. Really good likeness, I must say, though my jawline is like Ridge Forrester. I'm not complaining :)
13.I am the quiz co-ordinator for HP. I got finance to sponsor two teams for a corporate quizantakshari contest. I suck at Antakshari and dont particularly enjoy it, but each round the team wins, we get one crate of beer, so I attended the show just in case. 4 of us split one crate. Unfortunately, they lost in the next round . Next on agenda is the CRY FACT Quiz to be held on Oct 2nd.
So with all that, work obviously had to suffer. I started making up for it by working extra hard. But then, I read Jace's post on allofmp3.com , became a paid member and now spend most of my time listening to albums on their site. Totally worth the $10. Let me know if you come across some good music. I shall listen to the free samples, and if i like, i will download. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 4th, 2005|10:29 am] |
Tara left for the US on Monday. 6 months have flown by. Will miss her terribly. Her flight was delayed till 5AM, so we sat down and recalled all the funny stuff that happened over the last 6 months. Man, there were tons! She got the 'Best Student' award at the Yoga class and all the other ladies were grumbling tht she got it cos the master had a crush on her. I think Mum's missing her the most. Went with her to Christel House last Sunday to watch their Annual Day celebrations. Those children are so entertaining. One kid told her, "Maam, your husband is very handsome, ma'am". Before the show started, the MC, one of the teachers, said "We'll start in a short while since the chief guest is late." He walked in almost immediately and she suddenly changed it to, "There he is, bang on time". You could see the embarrassment on her face. :)
Speaking of embarrassment, On Monday, Balan came home and we were all having dinner . Then A. Enid tells some story of how Joe calls up Audrey and says "Audrey, are u stroking your pussy?" (cos she has a cat) . and almost immly , she put her hand on her mouth and looked towards balan, who was pretending not to hear it and busy working on his fish. The rest of us were in splits, more bcos of her expression than the actual joke. Balan is'nt very big on smutty jokes. (Dunno how he tolerates my family)
Oh! and my cousin Roop, A. Enid's son is now in India, staying with us. They are down from San Francisco. He's my first cousin, 28 years old, and I've never met him. Can u believe that? Somehow, at all the reunions, either I havent been around or he hasnt showed up.
When i met Roop he said, 'i knew u existed. but just didnt believe it till now'. He's a funny guy.
Over the weekend, I was busy with the stage production of 'Sound Of Music'. Was involved in Stage Management. We had 5 shows from Friday to Tuesday. Tons of fun with the old gang and some new people. I used to do a bit of Theater at college, but no time now. Met poocha9 's better half at the Saturday show. She came with a friend, sans poocha, grumbling about him not enjoying cultural activity or something. We're taking the play to Mangalore as usual. Thats on the 20th.
There's a lot that happened over the last couple of weeks, but I'm feeling lazy and just typed in whatever I remembered. Will have to try to be more regular. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 14th, 2005|09:27 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Jewel - Standing Still | ] |
Last two weeks has been kinda low on activity. Didnt do much both weekends maily cos my darling Nokia 3310 got lost and all my numbers with it. I finally picked up a Sony erection, sorry, Ericsson T290i for Rs. 3800/- from Global Access. Then Partha Prasoon tells me Sony Ericsson phones are the worst and after a month I'll want to throw it from 'Howdah Breedge'.
Mum celebrated her 54th Birthday on the 8th. Had a few ppl over for dinner. Uncle Kenny, my mum's brother, sent her an email and signed off as 'Love, Daddy', since he only sends mails to his daughter. :)
Last wednesday, went with Sree to 1912 cos her dance class at Opus was having a salsa party. Met siham there. She teaches dance. Those ppl at 1912 better give me a 'frequent drinkers plan' or something. I've spent tons on money there.
A. Enid arrived and Roop, my cousin from the states, is due to arrive on the 31st of July. I've never met him, can you believe it!! And I've met all the other cousin dozens of times. Somehow, I ve never been around when he visited. So finally we get to meet. Diya says he's a fun guy.Tara leaves for Chicago on the 1st of August. 6 months have flown by so fast. Last night I was talking on the phone with Andrea and she said tell Tara to extend her trip like Soniya did. So I started teasing her sayign that Soniya found a guy in 2 weeks and Tara didnt manage it in 6 months. Shame on her, etc.
Diya has picked up the 1st season of M*A*S*H, my favorite comedy series. Cant wait to watch it when they get here in December. |
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| Quizzical |
[Jul. 6th, 2005|02:43 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Bowling for Soup - 1985 | ] |
Remember I told you i'm the Quiz club president at HP? Organized our first event last Friday, 1st July. Wasnt sure of my organizing and leadership abilities, but i think i did a damn good job of it. I'm so proud of myself. Was expecting about 50 - 80 to register... turns out 208 registered!!! Arul mani was the quiz master and he did a terific job. Heard he was named India's best quizzer or something last sunday.
Anyway, lost my mobile phone that evening. Havent picked up a new one yet.
57 teams of 4 each took the prelims and the top 7 went into the final. Azfar, Srekanth,Kunal and Amitrajit won, no surprises there with Ramsub/ramjee and other oldies coming in a close second. Heres the prelim questions. All the top 7 got 20 and over.. So match your quizzing skills against the best in HP.
I post the answers tomorrow.
1.This Indian state capital, built around a hilltop fort, takes its name from the Marathi word for ‘land that does not flood’. Name the capital.
2.Which insect bears the species name mori, derived from the Latin name for the mulberry tree?
3.Benjamin Franklin invented the glass harmonica, a percussion instrument that was briefly popular during the 18th Century. Which Indian instrument is the closest equivalent?
4.This vegetable, originally purple in colour, was turned orange by Dutch farmers in tribute to the House of Orange, the ruling dynasty of Holland in the 17th Century. Identify
5.New, ____, quarter, gibbous, and ___ are five phases in its development. Either identify what develops thus or fill in the missing phases.
6.As part of the legacy bequeathed to the English language from the Anglo-Saxon era, one of the days of the week is named after a Saxon Goddess. Which one?
7.The Latin word for ‘thousand’ has given rise to a unit of measurement. The word was originally used as part of a phrase meaning ‘a thousand paces’. It was later standardized as exactly 1760 yards. Which unit?
8.The name for this breed of dog is derived from the fact that they were originally used to hunt burrowing animals. The term is derived from the Latin word for ‘earth’. Identify.
9.Budget travelers used to book themselves on to the Tipu Sultan to hit the beaches here. While foreigners are allowed to visit only the resorts at Kadmat and Bangoram, Indians may also have a look-see at Kalpeni, Kavaratti and Minicoy. Which Indian region are we talking about?
10.Which media organization began functioning on November 14, 1922, from the roof of Selfridges department store in Oxford Street, London?
11.Procter and Gamble recently announced that they were going to purchase a company that manufactures batteries and razors for $ 57 billion. The merger will create the world’s largest consumer-goods business. Which company?
12.According to classical geometry, only five regular polyhedrons are possible: the tetrahedron, bounded by 4 equilateral triangles, the hexahredron, bounded by six squares, the octahedron, bounded by 8 equilateral triangles, the dodecahedron which has 12 regular pentagons and the icosahedron which has 20 equilateral triangles. What name is more commonly used for the hexahedron?
13.Which place-name was the first in India to become a trademark, bearing Geographic Indication numbers 1 & 2 as per the Geographical Indications Act passed by the Lok Sabha in 1999?
14.In 1907, Gem Manufacturing Ltd patented what they called the ‘slide-on double oval design’. The product was released with the announcement that it could ‘secure letters, documents, or memoranda without perforation or mutilation’. The company’s name is closely associated with this product. What was the product?
15.He was born on June 22, 1932 and made his Bollywood debut in 1971 playing a side role in the film Reshma aur Shera. Passed away earlier this year. Who?
16.This Bollywood film, directed by Govind Menon, is a remake of the Hollywood movie Heartbreakers, starring Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. It’s been in the news for a variety of reasons. Just identify the film.
17.This plant has three sub-species: indica, japonica and javanica. 2004 was celebrated as the International _____ Year to mark the role that this plant has played in the lives of people in Asia, parts of Africa and Central America. Identify the plant.
18. According to some sources, he is the son of Dharmaraja, the god of Justice, by Shraddha, the goddess of Faith. Some of the names applied to him include Samantaka or ‘Destroyer of Peace’ Murmura or ‘Like the crackling of fire’ and Ananga or ‘Without Body’. Which Hindu deity?
19. It was originally released on March 31, 2004. There was speculation that the whole thing was an April Fool's joke, however, because of both its close proximity to April 1, 2004 and because of one rather generous feature. What are we talking about?
20. Which Indian state is bounded by Tibet to the north, Nepal on the west and Bhutan on the east?
21. Jordan named Narain Karthikeyan and ____ _____ as its drivers for the 2005 season. Fill blank.
22. Which soft drink was originally sold as a remedy for stomach ache with the promise that it would ‘take the ouch out of grouch’ before being repositioned as the ‘uncola’ drink?
23. Which recent Hindi film has caused Bodo organizations to protest and call for a ban because it presents their community in a bad light?
24. The name of the last Nizam of Hyderabad lives on as the name of an Indian university once in/famous for its get-a-B.A-in-one-sitting arrangement. Name the university.
25. This phrase was coined in the 1920s to describe the singleminded manner in which the boxer Jack Dempsey decimated his opponents Jess Willard, Georges Carpentier and Luis Firpo in successive matches. The phrase is now much used by Indian journalists while talking about why our sportsmen don't do well at international events. Identify phrase.
Some snaps if you have the time :). |
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| Mangalore trip |
[Jul. 4th, 2005|04:36 pm] |
The Mangalore trip was so much fun. Tara and I travelled with Vidisha, Andrea and Pettu in the Ballal Volvo and reached A.Renee's place on 25th June. Tara has never met the 2nd cousins and hardly knows that side of the family. So i took her on a m'lore jaunt and visited A LOT of people . her head was spinning with all the combinations of aunts, cousins, uncles,wives, husbands etc. Squeezed in a trip to the beach between all this.
a. renee is so funny. She's 75 years old and drives like a maniac. She nearly mowed down 4 people in 3 trips that I took with her driving. She drove with the hand brake up for 4 days. she yelled at the mechanic that 1 day after he serviced her car, it was not starting. Poor fellow came all the way and found that she hadnt put petrol.Once A. Renee was carrying live crabs on the M'lore -B'lore bus. Late that night the crabs got loose and were roaming around the bus and causing havoc. A. Renee as usual, unflustered.
They had gone to malaysia on holiday and found her missing, early one morning. They later found her on a jet ski wearing her night gown. apparently, she woke up early and thought of taking a walk. Finding a jet ski tied at the pier she just "decided" to go for a spin.
Then there was this time it was drizzling. She was stopped by a cop. Rolls down the window. Cop peers into the car and says, "Ma'am, you jumped the red light" in Kannada. Without blinking she rolls up the window and speeds off.... with the cops umbrella caught in the window. There were several more, these are a few i remember. We were in splits while the stories were being dished out.
The engagement went well. There were games and dancing and drinking.
Next day went to Andreas place. Very pretty house and her family is really nice. The rumors were true, her sister's a babe!! Ate like a pig. Later went to Christo's mansion. 6 bedroom penthouse. Beautiful. Nitya's friends were praticing for some college play. Then had icecream at Ideals with the whole junta and came home to pack. Journey back was horrid. It rained and the roof of the bus leaked. Some snaps if you have the time. Will put more later. Have some work to finish now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 21st, 2005|01:31 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Keane - Somewhere only we know | ] |
I've been elected president of the HP-GDIC Quiz Club, under protest. Our first quiz is on the 1st of july, so the whole of last week was calling meetings, emails and chasing after Arul Mani to be the quiz master.
Nitya left last night to NZ. So things might quieten down a bit. The next 3 weekends have been planned.
Coming weekend: Mangalore
Weekend After: KCA picnic
And the weekend after that: Errol's estate
Last week was Nityas last week in b'lore sooo:
Wednesday - 1912
Thursday - Reem was in town so all the ex-stylusites including jackol and dhempe met up at Sherlock Holmes.
Friday - Blue bar. Miks also landed up there. Frightfully expensive and no dance floor. So Blue bar is struck of my list.
Saturday - Didnt plan to go out on saturday, but Tara's colleagues Carly and Dave from Australia wanted to see B'lore nightlife. So we went to 1912 and they overcharged us, so 1912 is also off the list.Watched Bangladesh bt Aus.
Sunday - Father's day! Tara an I bought dad 3 t-shirts with pockets (he's very particular about that) from Garuda mall. I'm kinda addicted to that corn they sell at the entrance. I know Rs.30 is a rip off for a small cup of corn , but still.... That evening went to Catholic club for housie. Mum won Rs. 750 for 2nd full house at the last round.
Andrea's hotel has finally come up on Magrath road. Called the Grand Magrath . Went for a guided tour of the place. Should be ready in about a month for occupation. They'll be hoping to get that road fixed real quick. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 13th, 2005|04:31 pm] |
Hmm .. This weekend was a hectic one too. Friday night was spent with Manijeh, Meha, Johnathan, Andrea and her cosuins at Taika and then Spin. Spent shitloads again. gotta stop, gotta stop.
Got up Saturday morning and Joel called. We had made plans to go to Ferns Meadows. So after lots of calls 10 of us piled into 2 cars and headed out. The owner of Ferns knows Joel real well so we could bring outside liquor. The Boys vs Girls water polo was soooo much fun. We ate a largish meal, drank lots of vodkas and soft drinks, swam etc for 270 buck per head. Totally worth it.
That night was Sandeeps sausage-fest b'day party. I was pooped . Raya and I left early, around 1AM.
Sunday was Tennis time with Vasu, Amol and his roomie at Country club. What fun playing tennis after 2 years!! I'm going to try and go every weekend. My body's aching today though.
Try and say this real fast. "I'm not a pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant pluckers son. I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant plucker comes." |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 9th, 2005|01:07 pm] |
The car is going to cost us 25,000 bucks to fix!! The flooding in the basement has caused extensive damage to all the vehicles. Hopefully, insurance will cover at least 50% of it.
Pearl and I started the Eco club in the office and had our first meeting yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who turned up. The first thing on my agenda is to get a speaker on Rain Water Harvesting. Instead of water becoming run off and uprooting trees and causing havoc, I think it's a much better idea to invest in RWH and store it for future use or re-charging the ground water level. We have a total of 175 members who have signed up for the Eco-Club. We've named our club grassHoPpers ..
Saturday was Ranjan's wedding . After mass, Johann said that he had to go home cos he had a scrabble tournament planned with his family.. Anyway, the reception was fun. Nikki, Natasha, Martin, Johnathan,Manijeh, Meha and I hung out. There were two cute girls, one in green and the other in blue. Martin introduced me to them as "Local Chick Magnet". I dont recall their names right now.
Ranjan's a bit on the bulky side. The toastmaster said, "When Naina saw Ranjan she HAD to look again". So Adrian says, "Why? cos she couldnt see all of him the first time??".
Tuesday was Tabitha's birthday party. Jackie made a rare appearance. Met Joel, Sandya and all after a long time. Didnt drink a lot cos I had work the next day. Planning to spend saturday with them at Ferns Meadows (a resort). Should be fun.
Was supposed to go partying with Johnathan and Manijeh yest but didnt cos everyone's ill. Mrinal, Nitya and Tara all got the Flu. They called and woke me up at 3AM just cos I ditched and J bunked work to come partying.
Just got a call from Sanjeet, a frined from Bombay who got married 5 months ago.
Dev: Hey man, any good news ?
Sanjeet: NO man, not even started doing anytihng about it.
Dev: Huh??? In 5 months??
Sanjeet: Ohhh.. I thot you meant if I got another job. :)
Amol bargained like crazy and bought a pair of "Roy Bon" glasses for 100 bucks. He was bragging about the purchase he made when another guy came and offered us 2 for 100 bucks!! Haha.. he was so embarrassed. |
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| Water , water everywhere |
[Jun. 1st, 2005|10:18 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Fall to pieces - Avril Lavigne | ] |
Wow! The rains are wreaking havoc to say the least. Last evening it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home only to find the entire basement is flodded waist high. I couldnt get in!!! We had to go for a dinner to Canopy and lukily mum had gone for Yoga. So, the two of us went in whatever we were wearing. Dad was 'stranded' at home.
It was freezing last night and no electricity. Thank God, no mosquitoes (must have drowned in the downpour) This morning the debris was all over. And no freakin water in the taps. Thats irony for you.
It was heaven, but it's fast becoming helll!!!!
A. Sheila was offering everyone puffs. Went to each one saying, "Puff?" .Adrian told her, "No, Thanks, I dont smoke" .... hahahaaha!! Just thought I'd end off with Adrian's droll humor after a longish rant. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 30th, 2005|10:00 am] |
Long time , no update . My birthday was a pleasent one last sunday . Had the party at jackol 's guesthouse on the Hyderabad highway. awesome for a party, if you can find the place :)
There was tons of Biryani left, which dhempe polished off like Kumbakaran . Man, that bugger can chow down !!
It rains every bloody day . The rubber tree in front of the building fell right in front of the gate brigning down the electric wires. So all the building folk were trapped till the tree was cleared.
Tara left for Kariakal last night to work at some Tsunami camp. There was one oraganization she came across where you had to pay $250 to do volunteer work. This is apart from the money one needs to shell out for food and stay etc. Anyone know why they;re charging people to come and volunteer ? SOunds absurd to me.
Weekend was hectic. Partied on Friday and Saturday. Paltan from Chennai landed up. Went to 1912 and Spin. Priyanka was yelling that Bangaloreans are pseudo and Chennaiites are real etc. I compared Chennai to the Mexicans who climb barbedwire fences to enter the US (Bangalore) . She got all flustered so I left it at that. :)
Our Thadiyadamol trek was put on the back burner cos the weather didnt look too good for trekking. And Mekadatu didnt happen either cos everyone woke up with a hangover.
Sunday was our company picnic at Club Cabanna. I took mum and went cos Amol kept irritating me to come cos he had no company. The drive there was really nice. The road's have really improved since the last time i went there. It was fun. Mum got a prize for the most enthusiatic audience member . Now why doesnt that surprise me? :) Luckily I was playing tennis while she was yelling and shouting. She told my colleague Srilaja, "I cant do this in front of my son. He'll tell me to keep quiet and not embarrass him". |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 11th, 2005|10:03 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Rush Hour - Jane Wiedlin | ] |
Listen to this one... The other day Tara was walking back from the Web World on Brigade Road and a guy walks up to her and says, "I'll give you Rs. 2000 if you go for a movie with me". She told him she wasnt interested and walked on. He then followed her and said, "I'm a nice guy. Im a medical student. See here's my ID card. Ok. Rs 3000 if you have a coffee with me. Just one coffee.". She kept walking and the dude followed her and persisted. Just then another sidey guy, that Brigades is so full of, brushed against her deliberately and walked by. So this guy's like "See that guy touched you and didnt even give you any money. I'll give you Rs. 4000 if you give me a hug in public". !!!!! By then she reached home and Nicky was around so the dude finally realized she wasnt interested and pushed off. I mean !!!! Isnt that totally crazy?? It sounds like something straight out of MTV bakra. But this guy was dead serious. And she says he wasn't a bad looking guy. Looked very normal.
Read some other news the day before. There was this guy in a Delhi Hospital who raped a nurse and gouged her eyes out with his fingers *shudder*. He offered to marry her in court if he was acquitted. I was totally zapped.
Height of Brazenness, I tell you. |
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