ganya manya rants

2008-01-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

वाह भैया अब तो हिन्दी में भी ब्लोग कर सकते हैं। यह सच मच एक नया रंग लाएगा इस ब्लोग दुनिया में। देखते हैं मेरी हिन्दी किस हालत में है। फिलहाल ही इंडिया से लौटा हूँ। बम्बैया हिन्दी कि आदत से फिर लग गयी है। इंडिया लॉट के काफी मज़ा आया। सारे दोस्तों को मिल और एक शादी में जाने का मौका भी मिला।
पानी पूरी और तोअस्त संद्व्हिच से मन भरा ही नही। अब वापिस आके खाना फीखा फीखा लगता है।
खैर यह पहली कोशिश थी हिन्दी में, आगे देखते हैं और हिन्दी ब्लोग्गिंग कटा हूँ कि नही.

Things never reported

2006-07-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone has heard of the horrific bomb blasts in Mumbai mah dearest hometown. It is sad to see a repeat of 1993 happen to this city. I cannot understand what drives someone to kill innocent people and get a feeling that they have achieved something.
you've read so many things along these lines. And probably don't want to hear anymore about my frustration with the situation. I wanted to mention a few things that never get reported in the articles written about the incident though.
The bomb blasts, the number of people dead, the number injured, who did it, why do you think they did it - all this is discussed in great detail in the media. The things that they fail to point out, speak to the heart of this city. I talked to a few friends of mine who are in Mumbai just asking them about their day and what they had to do to get home. Almost everyone was stuck in traffic jams for many hours that evening. The spirit of the city really came out in the open then. A couple of my friends recounted how as they were sitting in a bus gridlocked for hours, nearby shopkeepers started handing out food (pav wadas - the great mumbai meal) and water at no cost. It didn't matter if you were in a Muslim neighborhood or a Hindu one everyone was helping out. This city has a heart that beats loudly. And lets you know that we have a character, a personality, we stand for something and we do it together.
The other thing that almost every person I talked to mentioned was, the next day after such a horrific incident - not a soul stayed home!!! Everyone went to work, the city of Mumbai worked overnight to put the trains system back into working condition. Except a couple of tracks everything worked fine with the trains. The city was a bustling busybee almost immediately. You can't show these bastards that your will is weakened. You can't let them feel any sense of victory. And that is what Mumbai did.
I love my Mumbai!!! Jai Hind!

2006-02-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

Read this article by Preity Zinta recently in BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4268387.stm

She talks about the two brushes with death that she recently had. I thought it was one of the more weird articles I have read recently. Weird because of what it made me feel. I read with lot of interest cos it talks to real brushes with death that a person had. As you read on through the article you expect a sense profoundness to come off the article or expect it to speak to some action that the person took because of these possibly life changing events.

She talks about the fact that she was in Phuket at the time of the tsunami. And how this place looked war ravaged, and the death and destruction in front of her eyes. Then - this is the most weird part of the article for me - Right after talking about seeing probably the worst situation a person could imagine seeing in their life - she decides to take a cruise (the very next day). Cruise off the coast of the saddest situation possible, and the fact that it was liberating.

I was itching to say couldn't you do something - to help!! Anything - something....
I would like to believe that I would do something. I would like to believe that I would think this moment is bigger than me. I would like to believe there is a larger sense of what is going on inside me and I would try to help in my own way. And that I would see myself as an extremely fortunate person and consider the less fortunate.

Then I again I could have been the person catching the next flight home. I haven't been there. So who am I to say anything. What have I done, do I need a moment of such magnitude or am I just offering excuses for what I have not done?

What would you do?

2006-01-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

Was doing one of my usual work breaks, which is, to start from my own blog page and click on the blogs that I have listed there chit-chats, rush, nish-phish, (since I am too lazy to bookmark them). My blog page has not changed in ages - won't say laziness, more like don't think about it. But after a while I saw that rush and nish-phish the die hard daily bloggers had not blogged (which was annoying actually, because my usual break from work was not working out as well anymore).

So I write instead.

If I go back and look at my blogs, a lot of them start with a sense of apology or offer excuses for not blogging all this while. None of that this time. This is a spite blog to get all the regulars to put some sweat into it and get bloggin again cos my work breaks are hanging in balance.

Most interesting recent day (gotta work on that) - Had a friend of mine come over recently. He had some work going on in his apartment so needed a place to park for 12 hours. When I say he needed a place to park I really meant he, his wife, his 3 month old cute baby, his mom-in-law and his two cats. All made for an interesting day to say the least.

I think I was at the height of my domestication that day and made me look very fearfully into the future. Wanted to wipe that feeling off my brain instinctively with a lot of alcohol. But couldn't get myself to do that, am still a bit turned off from alcohol (Don't worry it won't last) after the worst hangover in a while on Jan 1st. Particularly can't take the sight or thought of wine - since it was the poison of choice for New Year's Eve.

I am sure with Super Bowl looming large the alcohol shall flow again.

kwafee kwafee no kwafee

2005-10-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

the huge humungoid kwafee machine broke down today ... waaaaaaah!!! maybe I put nazar on it (jinxed it)

kwafee

2005-10-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Last few months I have almost abstained from the kwafee. In the act of getting addicted Chitz off the caffeine, me too became a total chai person. Always have chai - to the point that I don't really like the local starbucks variety coffee too much.
Now I come to new project in new company with snazzy office in South San Francisco. I used to work in a dungeon .... any other office looks like a palace in comparison. But I digress.
Was recently shown the way to the break room. There stood on a platform, a huge humungoid kwafee machine. I mean the local starbucks would be jealous types. You want Kwafee press a button, you want capuccino press another button, you want espresso press another button. Not only amazingly convenient - the thing actually grinds fresh coffee off a hopper for every serving and then does the dear percolashun.
Kwafee may be back in my life

The much ignored

2005-10-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

I was showing off my new little hobby of bloggin very proudly to a bunch of my friends. The hype was well built especially since some of them figured prominently though unnamed in a couple of blogs. Lo and behold me goes into hibernation for a month or more - attributed to sheer laziness (although I do feel like every great blog idea comes to me only when I am away from my laptop). That said lots happened in the month since I blogged.

Went to sweet sweet aamchi Mumbai for a couple of weeks. I thinking I am still sweating alcohol from the trip.

Spent the first four days getting up at 4:00 am. Too early for my building watchman who would have to open the gate at 4:30 am coz I couldn't think of anything better to do at that time than go to the beach (apna Juhu Chowpatty Beach).

The first walk to the beach - I saw so many things changed in my ol'neighborhood. Old bungalows being broken down and new apartments coming in its place. The old tide water dam gone (I am sure there is a more technical word for that contraption). The same chaiwallahs on their cycle serving chai/coffee/bidi/cigarette to the rikshawallas (was still scared of the water so didn't have any of that kickass chai on the first day). Dogs dogs and more dogs barking at the lone soul on many of those roads ... I think the number of strays has actually gone up.. fertile fertile mumbai. My school looking even bigger than before, they seem to be getting bigger by the year. It was a small three storey bldg when I left school, now it's a 5-6 storey structure covering half a football field I think.

I reached the beach to be completely shocked. The whole expanse was a trash can. I had forgotten that I was there the morning after Visarjan (Ganesh Chathurti - uninitiated look it up). The beach probably had thousands of people till late in the night immersing Ganpatis. Which means plastic bags, flowers, incense sticks, idols, and whole list of sundries were thrown in the sea. Which reminds me Mumbai city has banned manufacture or use of plastic bags by any commercial establishment desiring to operate in the city ... I just love it ... next time you go shopping better take that cloth bag from home or you are going to carry everything back in your hands. I still went ahead with a two hour walk at the beach. Got back home pretty tired but I saw a whole lot that I liked and otherwise ....

There is more on its way about mah India trip ..... I haven't even started with the alcohol stories.

Since then baggage

2005-08-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Seems like every time I sit to blog it's a few weeks apart. So I have this intense need to cram in a few weeks worth of thoughts into one blog. I start with a flourish and end up escaping the whole thing with a small whimper of a blog instead (obvious remedy - blog more often .... me just too lazy)

But seriously, I think of atleast one topic, one accident, one occurrance worth blogging on every single day. Usually am sitting in my car or in some place away from my laptop where I can't convert that spurt of energy into action. I resolve almost on a regular basis to put that brilliant thought into words (baah!) but it don't materialize.

Aaaah!! Now I remember one of the things I had to write about -
So I recently shared my blog with a larger audience. I know all of you are reading this .. so whoever is reading this I don't mean you. So is it a good thing to share your blog with people or not?
Consider this something funny or irritating or provoking or even boring happens with someone who knows this blog address. Can I write about it? No!! Cos I can't bitch about someone who is going to read about themselves in good/bad/dim light.That will change how they react to me based on my writing. Or should I let that happen (could be a good thing once in a while).

India aaaarelia hai bhidu

2005-08-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

Peeeepuls me in India within a month or so. The countdown has begun .. although I am a little down on the fact that it's just a two week trip instead of the customary three weeks (or like last time for four months). So everyone relevant has been forewarned to get their asses to the nearest ticket offices and get their flight tickets to Mumbai city ASAP.

Besides meeting me, which in itself will be fabulous enough. You would get the fabulouser possibility of meeting chitchats .. mois truly.

consider this as advertisement, warning, arm twisting etc etc etc.

loong time no hyar

2005-08-08T00:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged. A month and 3 days to be exact since my last blog.

Since then, work has been the bitch you would expect it to be, sucking every last drop of my time. I have this beautiful system of working. Start every morning at 9:30 am. Now doesn't that sound like a nice late time to start your day? Don't get your hopes up. It all goes down hill from there. Usually a horrendous morning after my first call with the India team, then I work through lunch (everyday), finally get home at around 8:00 or 8:30 pm. Before I have sat down for long enough to unwind. I have a call at 10:00 pm with my most esteemed India team (gawd!!!). It goes on at least the usual hour but most times it ends up being an epic that lasts just a little longer than my patience. Nothing against them personally ..... It’s just that I talk more often to them than most people I would love to meet daily (and I don't love them). And I think past work life balance issues are just causing me to hate them more.
So the past four days I just haven't called them ...... just thought because already why you!!!

yellow stone and teton

2005-07-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

wented to yellow stone national park over the past weekend (4th of July weekend in oosa). probably one of the most spectcular national parks i have been to (zyon national park, grand canyon - north rim and yosemite give it a good run for it's money).
the national park is a strange mix of spectacular to very saddening.
firstest the spectacular - the park is a large bed of volcanic activity, which leads to a lot of hot springs and steam spewing from different parts and corners of the ground/water/rocks etc. this steam and boiling water all over the place mixes with the minerals to create pond, puddles, deep pools of water in so many different colors, right from deep blue to shit yellow (seriously it looks gross). two of the strangest springs - one mixes with minerals in a strange way to create gases which are in different colors almost like a jeetendar movie with colors being thrown around from fat pots (just needed fat jaya prada to dance around them), the second one is called mammoth springs - here the water keeps bubbling over to build these huge calcium like deposits which would form odd shaped steps, each with a small puddle of hot water. anything falling into these waters would over time become part of the hot spring. first getting covered with a white calciom like deposit and later sulphur filled bacteria forming odd shaped and colored formations on it - all very p-cyc-a-delic.
there was also the 'old faithful' this is a hot spring which every 70 to 80 minutes spews out 32000 litres of water sky high. it is so regular (hence the name). first thing that came to mind when I saw this was 'viagra'.
now for the saddening part. the park had a very large fire in 1988 which literally burnt away 1000s and 1000s of sq meters of trees. now all the trees that were burnt were cut down but for lack of money the logs were left where they are. kinda made me feel like it was a large graveyard of trees. in other parts where the dead trees were not cut down it looked like fields after fields of dead soldiers all lined up. all very morose.
also went to grand teton natinal park for two days. grand teton gets it's name from the three tallest peaks in the teton range (which is part of the rockies). teton means tits in french. so the park is literally named after three tits (teton la terre).
this park did not have as many dead trees or logs which was heartening. saw many wild buffalo, koyotes, mule deer, white tail, bald eagles, canada goose (not named after canada the country rather the canada the person who discovered the bird). would have loved to see a grizzly or a black bear but had no such luck.
the whole four days were filled with activities through the day, beer through the evening till wee late times and dealing with a blocked nose all the time (the most irritating part of the trip was falling sick one day before the trip)
did a lot of hiking (hiked in rain for the first time in america). did white water rafting for the first time (am hooked for life). we did two level 3s and got slammed around by the water a lot. was being very the macho not taking the splash jacket and paid the price by shivering for almost two hours after the rafting. went horse back riding in some long trail in flagg ranch inside grand teton.
had abso amazing time want to do a multi-day white water rafting trip next.
more on trip in next blog

aha!!

2005-06-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Wine filled epipipipiphany of last night "oversimplification is the same as overcomplicating something"
Haven't figured it out myself. But hey .. thought I should put it out there and garner some responses.

been a while

2005-06-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

Yes it's been a while since I last wrote anything here.

Life was more sedentary for a few weeks when I started this blog. Now things are picking up pace.
Firstly I got on a project. So work life is starting to look more and more ominous. Days when I supposed to finish work by 4:00 pm end up actually finishing at 9:00pm instead. Hopefully the work will stay interesting.
I have been reading three books (keep switching books and never finishing any of them). The first one 'Hitchhiker's Guide' The one I am most interested in ... and yes I have never ever read this book inspite of about 15 people hounding me to read it for many years now. I have had a copy at home for more than a year now ad am glad to finally have gotten to it.
The second book is 'Blink'. Promises to be a god one. This is a book about human psyche. And how most decisions we come to are usually in the blink of an eye although we try to satisfy ourselves by collecting lotsadata and mulling it through in our head. This is a must read for anyone.
Last one 'The man who sold his Ferrari' a dear friend of mine read the book. His first reaction was to buy me a copy cos he said he thought of me right after reading the book. The book is about a monk who gave up everything (including a ferrari) to find himself (I am still trying to figure out why he thought of me after reading the book. I personally want the ferrari and would never give it up for sanyas). Hopefully I'll get through all these three books in the near future.

Saw a standup last night 'Greg Proops' of 'Whose Line Is it Anyway' fame was in town (the thin guy in the show with spectacles. He is absolutely hilarious. With sentences which last 3 whole minutes and words like gourmet pronounced with a pronounced 'T'. He cracked me up to tears. He dedicated a quarter of his show to Jessica 'Barbie' Simpson and just butchered every inch of her being in the process. Would've enjoyed the show multiple more times had the waitress decided to show up often enough to keep me buzzed thru the evening. I was able to get exactly one cerveza through the evening and was left looking at the bar (longingly) way too often.

New term of the evening 'whack' - white guy who thinks he is black.

email chatter de jour

2005-06-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

This is an email exchange over a day with a bunch of ex-colleagues who are trying to find out if Mr. T (all names have been changed) got hitched recently.

Actors:In order of appearance
People - Roles
Mr. C - Badgerer 1
Ms. A - Badgerer 2
Mr. J - Badgerer 3
Mr. B - Badgerer 4
Mr. T - The Badgered

Mr. C wrote: To All,It appears Full Disclosure has not occurred with one member of our littleNCAA group. It appears Mr. T has been dating Sharon Lee and did notwant to tell anyone about it. Must I stress the need for us all to betruthful to one another or pay the verbal assualt consequences.Call to Action - Please begin the email assualt on Mr. T until fulldisclosure occurs.Thanks,C
Ms. A wrote: Mr. C, when it took you over a year to tell us you'd been datingAmber, I don't think you have any ground on which to stand in thisdiscussion.Not to mention, Sharon Lee? Gag me with a spoon. I think Mr. T woulddate a man before he dated her.
Mr. J wrote (we are a bit racist): Nothing wrong with a little Asian persuasion..:)
Ms. A wrote: Mr. J, are you jaundiced?
Mr. C wrote: I knew it. Coming to the protection of Mr. T. Is your nickname Condom? Iwouldn't expect anything less from you.
Mr. J wrote: No that would be agent orange my dear.
Ms. A wrote: Dang, for a minute I thought you had yellow fever
Mr B wrote: She was his 'subordinate' at work.
Mr C wrote: Maybe they were "testing" their love in those private one on one meetings. And the code word for those meetings was "I can't stand Mr. C."
Ms. A wrote: Gives a whole new meaning to "under the table and dreaming." No wonder the poor thing couldn't stay late to work, she was all tuckered out.
Mr. C wrote: I have one question Mr. T.....Was Sharon logging any bugs or defects regarding performance?
Ms. A wrote: Mr. T's glad we weren't doing "upward feedback" at that time.
Mr. C wrote: At Mr. T's age it's probably more 70 degree feedback. Was the defect being logged a P1 (Severe) or a P4 (cosmetic)?Mr. T, just let us know who your dating and the verbal assualt will stop
Ms. A wrote: Is that why all the defects had to go through Mr. T to be assigned? I wonder if anyone ever reviewed the "Closed-Not a Defect" list.
Mr. J wrote: I did notice that there were a fair amount of performance issues logged with the application... hmm now it makes sense
Mr T wrote (finally): Nothing like having a really shitty day, followed by a delayed flight to
Boise, and logging in to read this dribble. I had such higher hopes after the phone calls I received earlier. What I didn't realize was the requirement to "register" each home run (excluding the solo shot to left field). Let me put the rumor to rest that I am not dating. Playing the field, yes. Shag like a rock star, yes. Have them flying in mid-week for a repeat performance and another shot to dead center, yes. And to put it in horse racing terms, I only play the phillies. - Ace Bigelo
Mr. C wrote:
Hey Mr. T,
When someone hasn't even been to the batter's box finally hits a homerun not only is it newsworthy but it should be communicated on a broad scale
Ms. A wrote: Just for clarification, did Mr. T just tell us he's a Philly fan? Like those men in uniform eh? Or were you trying to say that beastiality's best?
Mr. J wrote: I think he may be the DH or better yet a pinch runner in this case. Din Ho
Mr. C wrote: So in essence someone did all the work and Mr. T just got inserted into the game. Did I hear someone screaming BALK?
Mr. J wrote: I think the commish (Mr. C) found some pine tar on Mr. T's bat, not sure how that got there. I thought that MLB only played exhibition games in Japan during pre-season. I guess they have mid-season exhibitionist games as well.
Mr. T wrote (completely exasperated): Good god, somebody tell a guy when he needs to shave his neck. Glad I cleaned my ears that day.
Ms. A wrote: I thought you had your neck shaving schedule in your 'How To Be a Metrosexual' book.
Mr. T wrote: I don't have a live in tart to do these things.
Mr. C wrote: Ms. A are you living with a tart?
Ms. A wrote: Well she wouldn't sleep with you. Though that may just be an indication of good common sense as opposed to lack of tartness.
Mr. C wrote: She wouldn't sleep with me because I asked her to turnover. Get the story straight next time!!!!!
Ms. A wrote: Funny, I thought it was when you asked her to put on the strap-on and started calling her Tiny.
Mr. T wrote: Is it poor form to scream your own name?
Mr. B wrote: As long as it's not "mommy mommy" ...

2005-06-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

For all the power of all the humungous american TV networks with their monster budgets and their sticky ass reality shows, I can't find one f***### channel which will play the French Open semis between Nadal and Federer live. Arghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Perfect House

2005-06-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Inspired by latest blog in http://surrealsurges.blogspot.com/ I decided it was time get over my jitters about writing something and actually put something out there. However stupendously silly it'll be.

So what did I read - This guy Donald Manison has stopped living in his house. Actually lives out of his 1998 Dodge Caravan. Why?!! cos his house too perfect and he fears ruffling even a carpet hair in there. So will, not living there, preserve the house perfectly. I guess he didn't have a word with termites or roaches or spiders before his brain wave.
Saw something similar a couple of years ago in real life, when a dear good friend of mine had this notion ( a very serious one) , that someone is watching him (spying). He felt that whatever he did in his house and car was being watched by his superiors at work. No amount of talking to him would convince him that no one was watching his every move (and I did spend days convincing him). Finally doctors had him pop some pills to convince him otherwise. The whole bloody thing was a chemical imbalance that a pill could solve, can you imagine!!!
It made me a firm believer in pill popping if nothing else. I pop a pill at the hint of a headache now.
So me thinks I not writing cos I don't want anyone to read what I write. Then me thinks why fear. Also me thinks is there a pill to pop for that and some other fancy things in my mind heheheehee. Wouldn't you want to know!!

2005-05-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

ganya in espanyol
ganya phota

Virgin Blog

2005-04-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

This bees first blog for yours truly in a while. Sitting up at 1:00 am looking at other friends blogs and getting cheap inspiration to get the rust off the pen. I just saw how they have gone from bumbling bloggers to ppl who write as they think. Thot I should get there too and share some annoying spellings to irritate the crap out of the stickler in the process.
Neeways mees going to sleep now ..... will follow this virgin attempt with some more stuff soon.