Addiction

When I was in primary school, I got addicted to drawing. I used to draw almost everything I see, Houses, trees, people, things, animals etc. I was not good at it but used to enjoy it. Well no one was against it except my mom. She used to tell me to spend more time on studies than drawing.

Since I have to spend more time on studies, I got addicted to writing. I used to write neatly using many colours. I used to write notes for my sister. I used to write for my friends. My mom was happy as she used to always see me with a book.

One evening my dad bought me TV- Video games as a present for my B’day. I got addicted to it. I used to play day and night. Every one at my home got irritated with the noise it makes. One weekend I played video game from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night. I did not eat or sleep. My mom got really worried and hid all the cassettes.

Then in secondary school I got addicted to sports. I was into co-co, basket ball, and athletics. I used to play till late it the evening and used to sleep like baby in the night. My mom was not so happy as I used to not get time to study. Then I joined a residential college.

There is nothing much to do in college except for studying. And I think I got addicted to it. I used to study all the time. I was surprised at myself that I was enjoying it.
My mom was very happy with my new addiction. This new addiction got me a seat into a very good university.

In Bits, I got addicted to sleeping. I slept all the time. I was surprised that I can sleep so much. Many times my friends kicked me out of their rooms during exams, as I sleep while studying and they feel like sleeping seeing me. This new addiction affected my grades badly.

Third year in Bits, I made a resolution not to sleep more than 6 hrs a day, that is I have to cut down by 50%, so to keep myself awake I started watching movies. I watched Movies on TV, theatre and CD’s. I watched countless movies. I ran out of movies very soon.

Then I got addicted to serials, all my friends used to follow few serials. I used to always have a book in hand while watching serials. During ads and songs, I used to read. I did not like ads much. Then serial stories became very routine and boring.

I came to France and I met many new people. My new addiction was gossip. I and my roomy used to talk about everybody on earth until late in the night. I was surprised that everyday we used to have some topic to debate and discuss. Our ideas were very different. We always argued. But then I realized it’s a bad habit to talk too much about others and judge them.

After that I got addicted to cooking. I liked trying new dishes. I used to invite my friends for lunch or dinner and cook elaborately.

My current addiction is cleaning. I am staying at this new apartment which I really like. It’s new and very sophisticated. I don’t know why, I can’t take if anything is out of place or dirty. I am sure my cleaning lady is very happy. But she is not good. She moves stuff and rearranges things in a way I don’t like. I think I need to change my cleaning lady. I hope i get out of this soon.

Not very bad....my addictions were ok kinds.

Vacation Time

“Jhab bhi bhagvan kuch detha hai tho chappad paad ke detha hai”

How True!!!

Last month I desperately wanted to spend weekend outside Fontainebleau (my town) but none of my friends were interested and ended up spending weekends at Paris. Weekend at Paris is not as great as it sounds, after few weeks it gets routine and boring.

Few days’ back one of my friends suggested that we can make a trip to South of France (Toulouse and Marseille). I was very excited. It will be 6 day trip in August.

Very same evening, my sister called me and she said that she will be visiting France and spend 6 days with me. I am planning to take her either to Belgium or Normandy, France.

Next day, another friends group said that they are planning a trip to Barcelona and I should join them. Same evening, friends from work said that we should drive to Nice, South of France as weather there is great.

Sis visiting France is most important and that trip is definitely happening. I already gave my word for Toulouse trip, so I think I will go to Toulouse. Nice trip is on my B’day. How can I say no to something which sounds like ’Celebrating B’day on Nice beach and morning you get up u see blue sea with bright sun coming from it”. It will make an ideal B’day celebration. Barcelona is too beautiful a place to say no to it.

Unfortunately I am software professional and my boss will never allow me to take one month leave to full fill above trip plans. And I am not so rich to travel entire month especially in Europe. Now I have to choose….OH GOD!!!

Fete de l’air

I always think of doing things but never put them into action. It happens to me all the time. I wanted to go for jogging in the forest everyday (No time), learn tennis (No partner), start driving in France (No enthu) etc.

But this weekend was full of action. I did many things which I was thinking about.
Thanks to prashanth, I played squash for the first time and I liked it a lot. It was tiring but was fun.
Went for swimming and learnt new style. Well I am with a great trainer, so could learn just in one day. Emma, she is great friend of mine, who was a pent-athlete.
I had proper French cuisine dinner with French family. It may sound funny, but I saw strawberry, raspberry, kiwi etc plants for the first time in their garden. It was the perfect garden.

Sometimes I end up doing things which I had not planned or would not have thought of doing it anytime.

This weekend was like that. I invited few friends for dinner, which I planned. After dinner one of them wanted to have desert, so went out to have desert. Then one of them wanted to have a drink, so we went to a bar. We met a colleague there. We were discussing about discos and finally ended up at one of the best disco’s for which we had to travel about 20 minutes from our place. We were there dancing till 5 in the morning. I was watching my friends dancing for most of the time.

Next day after swimming, I went to meet my friend’s parents. It was Air festival (fete de l’air) and we all went to watch it. There was a presentation of different models of planes, copters etc. After that they were about 30 hot air balloons which took off. It was evening and the sky was coloured with beautiful balloons. It was just great. I forgot my camera, but I think it’s for good. I shall always have it in my memory and a picture can never capture what eyes can.

Evain – Paradise!

The best thing that happened after joining my new Job is ‘Evian’. An executive programme for ‘Rohm n Haas’ was conducted at Evian. The program was for one week.
The programme was conducted in hotel Royal, Evian. It’s a gorgeous place. G8 – summit was conducted at this hotel, that explains how good the hotel is.

Evian is on the bank of Lake Geneva. It is on France - Swiss border. From my room, I have a beautiful view of lake, and I could see Geneva, Lausanne.

Day 1: I took train from Paris to Evian. The view on the way was very pretty. Train passed through Mountains, lakes, valleys, small villages etc. I fell asleep for sometime. Then suddenly I woke up and saw a cliff and few people doing paragliding. The train journey was a big treat for the eyes. I reached hotel, ordered my lunch to room and saw French open finals. Met with another colleague from Wharton and had dinner with her. Awesome dinner it was, I ordered Moroccan dish, and I was told that the fish they served us is fresh from lake. We looked around the hotel. There are indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The speciality of the swimming pool is that you feel as if you are swimming in the lake when you swim in the pool.

Day 2: Setup for the programme was made. I doubled checked everything. And I was waiting for my professor, who was supposed come a day before, but due to French open finals, he could not come. I met my professor during lunch. And I was told another professor from Wharton will join. We were discussing about the programme when geekish looking guy with beach shirt came. He was another professor from Wharton. I was so impressed by him. I think I never met a guy a great/successful/impressive (professionally) as him before in my life. The programme started with cocktail party and dinner. Dinner had 5 courses with 2 different kinds of wine. I like it so much. I usually don’t like French food. But after this dinner it became my favourite.

Day 3: Lectures were started and I was back to my work. There were breaks during which I talked to few people. I was feeling completely out of place. First reason being, they were all regional managers who use a lot of chemical vocabulary and they mostly talk about their new projects. Second: They are very old. Lunch and dinner were great, except that table discussions are about ‘Rohm and Haas’ which I could not participate in. When I tell about my work, they don’t understand much. So I started talking about India, S’pore and France. It was good, people ask me few doubts about India, or discuss about its strengths, weakness. But after couple of meals, I was out of topics and got bored of repeating same things.

Day 4 & 5: Every thing was going fine. I had chat on cricket with a British guy. I talked about ‘South of france’ with a guy from Cannes, about Airlines with a Singaporean, about Shushi with a Japanese guy, about my future career plans with some person, who offered me that I can join ‘Rohm n Haas’ anytime. He assured me that a computer science background does not matter, even though it’s a chemical company. I was shocked and did not know how to react.

Day 6: I got to know more about the place. That Evian mineral water is from the French Alps. The hotel is famous for its gardens. Evian is vacation spot both in winter n summer. I actually got to know few people well. We took a boat ride to a near by village and had farewell dinner there. Wharton professor gave a small speech and that was the most memorable day of my life.

Day 7: Last day of the programme. In the morning I took some time off and looked around the place. We had white water rafting in the afternoon. I was so excited, I had to tell many people that it is my first time so that they don’t get scared by my behaviour. It was so much fun. I fell into the water once and rafting boat went over me, but I was ok. After rafting we opened Champaign bottle and everyone were scared and asked me if I am fine as I fell in water. I was little disappointed and I expected more action in rafting.

Day 8: I had breakfast with my favourite professor and he showed his snaps taken in India. I came back with my prof in his car to fonti. The journey was great. My prof told me about all the places we passing through.

If I get chance, I will definitely go back to this place.

Wine tasting!!!

Last week was ‘Chinese week’ at Insead, I got chance to wear my favourite Chinese top. It was so much fun. Participated in all the games they conducted and won.

This week is ‘Spanish & Portugal week’, its even more fun. We had Spanish lunch and dinner. Cheese, Olive and wine tasting. I have never been to wine tasting before, went with all my friends.

There were 2 glasses for everyone, so I assumed that we are going to taste 2 kinds of wine. Every one is served less than a peg of each kind of wine. Second one was good, though the difference is not too much, second was little smooth. May be its because professional wine taster told us so :P. I cud not finish it. I still wonder how people like wine, it’s so bitter.

After sometime they started pouring another 2 kinds, and I saw that all others glasses were empty. So I was forced to empty the glasses. I tasted those and I could not find any difference between them, but the professional taster was going on telling many differences.

Then they started pouring two other varieties of wine. I found no point in tasting those as I was sure that I won’t recognise any difference. But I was sitting in the middle of the row and I did not like the idea of disturbing them all and walk out. So I finish the 3rd and 4th variety. They served 5th and 6th wine.

Then suddenly I stared to feel dizzy and my stomach started to burn. I did not want to touch next 2 wines. I heard people saying 5th is a classic wine and is very good. Apeksha also said the same thing, so I tasted and it was same as before, little strong. I tasted 6th also. Wine tasting got over, but after effects were more interesting. I felt very dizzy that I doubted if I could walk properly. I learned that in total we had slightly more than half glass of wine. I know half glass is too less to cause dizziness, may be it’s the combination of 6 varieties of wine and having it with empty stomach. Even Apeksha was feeling the same way.

Went to Spanish dinner, after which I felt better. Went home and realized that next day is one of my friends birthday and we forgot to order cake. So I thought for a while and saw that there is my favourite Gulabjamun mix. Made him cut ‘Gulabjamuns’. I think it’s the wine effect. Apeksha and I had a good laugh over it.

Parlez vous français?

It’s been almost a year I have been to Paris. Luckily I went alone, lucky because if I am in a group I will be very busy talking crap, deeply into the discussions that I won’t notice how the city has changed. I had to give medical test in Paris. None of the guys there know English and were talking in French which I can’t understand a word. So I was relying on the sigh language. I was directed to one of the rooms there and the rooms were numbered from which I understood that I have to go thru all the rooms serially. The first room was simple with two chairs, a bed, weighing machine, tape. The lady in room said something in French. I immediately nodded and sat in the chair she was pointing to. She understood that I don’t know French and signed to me that I have to place my coat and sweater on the chair. Everything in the room went on fine expect that I have put on 3kgs, But I was more worried about how to communicate with people in the next rooms. I decided that as soon I enter I shall tell them that I don’t understand French in French. After staying for a year in France the only French sentence I can say fluently and used it many time is ‘je ne parle pas français’ which means I can’t speak French.

I went to next room and a handsome guy greeted me. French guys are really handsome. I think it’s their eyes which are really attractive. Bluish green big eyes with fair complexion, tall and nicely built. The room was very similar to the one before with 2 chairs. There was a pram with very cute baby and one of the chairs is next to the pram. He said something in French pointing to the chair near to the pram. I was about to tell him the sentence I was practising in my mind from the time I left the first room. But then I felt I understood what he said. It was very similar to what I heard in the previous room. But then I thought for a while, the chair he was pointing to looks new and the other chair cushion was little crumpled and old. So I concluded the new chair is for my coat and that why it looks new as no one sat on it and old chair is to sit. The pram is next to this new chair and sitting next to pram with kid seemed little odd. So I walked to the new chair and left my coat and sweater on it and sat in the old chair. The handsome guy pointed to the new chair and said ‘No no no….sit here’. I repented for not using the only French sentence I knew. I went and sat and on the wall I saw alphabets and number written in different sizes. If only I had seen these alphabets before, I would have understood that its eye checking room and sat there. I also leant that in french, similarly sounding words may not have same meaning.

Then he asked me if I have glasses, of course using sign language. Then he went to the wall and pointed to one of the letters. I was confused whether to pronounce the letters in French or English. I knew French alphabets. I was tempted to show my French skills to the poor guy. The looked at the letter he was pointing to and it was ‘R’. I was really depressed as that the letter difficult to pronounce and many time I pronounce it wrong. So it came out from my mouth R, in English.

I realized the other rooms will be even tougher. Actually they were tough with more complicated term and signs. Finally my test was over and my report says everything is perfect. I made a resolution that I will learn French at any cost.

I had dinner in my favourite Indian restaurant. Bought Indian spices and frozen parathas. Paris did not change much and I felt like I am in a place which I know very well. Even though hospital was little disappointing, the day was very good. I roamed around Paris entire evening. I decided that I should visit Paris more often.

First Cocktail!

My colleagues planned my farewell in one of the famous bars in S’pore ‘New Asia bar’. They just wanted an excuse to drink and dance. I heard a lot about this bar so even I was excited about the visit. It was on 70th floor with glass walls on 3 sides. It was 8.00pm and S’pore looked very beautiful from the bar. We luckily got a place near the wall. I ordered my mocktail and we were talking about all the places which can be seen from the bar. We could see a Revolving Restaurant nearby and I decided to visit it before I go. The music was great, less crowd and no smokers around. The ambiance was very nice and I was enjoying a lot. In my second around of drinks my friends forced me to have a cocktail. I had ‘Frozen margarita’ with strawberry as I was impressed by the story behind the drink. It was like juice having slight saltish, sweetish and bitter taste. We were deep into our gossip and discussing about everything on earth. I finished my cocktail. I have been to only couple of bars till now as I don’t drink and dance. But I liked this bar a lot. If you come to S’pore, and like clubbing, don’t miss this place.

Puloa Tioman!

I opened my eyes lazily and peeped through the window next to my bed. I saw a blue sea and blue sky, slight difference in their color shades are merging in the horizon.
This is very different from what I see daily, high buildings, metro station and sound of vehicles. Smell of fresh air from sea and sound of waves were irresistible. I quickly changed and freshen up. I went to the beach which is just 4 steps away from my room. The sand under my feet is wet and fresh breeze is hitting my face. No one was there on the beach except for a couple on one end and 2 kids playing with waves at the other end. I started walking on the beach for a long time collecting the shells on the beach. The rays from the sun behind the mountain were falling on the sea water making water transparent and the color of water is changed to bluish green. Can anything get better than this? This is the best vacation I had till now. Peaceful beach with very few people is the best part. Snorkeling and jungle trekking were great fun. Above all is the delicious sea food. Puloa Tioman is one of best places in Malaysia.

LOVE

I wondered what love is until today. I always wished to fall in love to experience the magical feeling.
And today when my wish is granted, I have no words to express my feelings. It is the sweetest and the softest thing.
I have known my lover from my childhood, but the feeling today is totally different. My friends told me that it is just an infatuation and I will soon get bored.
But I know I can never get enough and wanted more. It’s strange that the way I look at things changed in one day.
I closed my eyes and went into my dreams, there I see my lover waiting for me and looking stunning. I never had any dream about my lover before. I think it’s the magic of love. I can’t wait any longer. I decided to act fast.
I went to the most famous restaurant with my best outfit. I kept my hand inside my pocket and could sense it, I suddenly felt chill. Every thing is ready and perfect. I ordered my food and there comes.
Is it my eyes or is it my lover really looks so stunning? I could not wait any longer. I wanted to get up and run in that direction, but realized it will not be a good move. Finally, on the table is my lover “Gulabjamun”.
Is it not the sweetest and softest thing? I ate them and took 3$ coins from my pocket and paid the bill.

Another enthu weekend

Some weekends fly with out even realizing that it is a weekend. I like such weekends. On Friday I had a dinner invitation from a couple. One of best thing that happened to me after coming to S’pore is to meet this lovely couple. Whenever my favorite food is prepared, I am invited. Frankly I like anything baabhi cooks, and I end up eating like a pig whenever I go to their place. She made paav-bhaaji this time, heavenly it was. Then we started paying cards and played till late night.

On Saturday I went to buy groceries and after that had lunch at friends place. We just lazed talking, eating snacks, watching TV, solving sudoku. I got addicted to Sudoku these days, it’s a nice time pass while traveling by metro. We had a get together at night and all the couples bought exotic dishes. After that we started playing cards till late night.

On Sunday I went to watch a hindi movie with frinds, it was good. Then played tennis with them, it is my first time playing tennis. It was not easy at all. But it was fun and I am playing some sport after a long time and I realized how much I like sports. I will have a separate sports room in my house(dream house) in which I shall have a fooseball table, TT table, Pool table and basket ball ring and a tennis court in the backyard. Coming out of dreams....After playing tennis I went to gym to give company to my friend. I was totally dead after gym. I had dinner at my friends place and watched sholey movie. And here I am on Monday morning fully energized and with body pains. I will miss this group a lot after leaving S’pore, especially the couple.

Holi@Singapore

Happy holi!

The best part of this holi is, I got to celebrate twice and the worst part is 2 of my dresses are gone waste. I have to wear full-sleeve dress to office until the color is gone.

Holi celebrations were organized by kalsa club at S'pore. Music, food, water, colors everything was provided. I felt very happy to see so many Indians at one place. I was surprised to see even many S'porians were enjoying playing holi.

I had decided that I am not going to play holi @ kalsa club as I already played once at my friends place, which later I realized that decision was entirely not in my hands. I told strictly to my friends that I am not in a mood and I would guard their bags while they play. They agreed and soon were not visible to me. I was watching people around me playing holi and was attending calls for my friends.

Then suddenly someone poured a bucket full of green color water on me. I was very angry, I turned and I saw a group of people whom I could not recognize. Then one of them said, "enuf of guarding the bags, now that u r wet come n play". Its my friends. I had no other choice but to join them. My light blue jeans and white shirt turned into colorful one.

I had to take a cab back to my house, and all thru the way the driver was staring at me, luckily he did not ask me to get down :P

On top of Singapore

Thanks to my friend’s passion towards photography, I got to be on roof of tallest building in Singapore. The view of the city from that height was great. I realized Singapore is very pretty. Tall building, lakes, flyovers, sea, harbour, busy streets, beaches, islands, greenery…what not? This place has every thing. The city is perfectly planned. It looks even more beautiful with Chinese New Year decorations.

I don’t know if I will be able to go to Indonesia and Malaysia, but I could see those places from the top of this building, felt happy that I am staying close to such beautiful places, but felt sad at the same time as I am not sure if I will visit these places. I did not realize I spend an hour there just staring at the city.

If you visit Singapore, don’t miss having a look at this beautiful city from top of highest building. It is even more fun if u have photographer’s company to capture the beautiful view :p My photographer is little lazy, so have to wait for the snaps :(

Socially Active!

My orkut fortune column says ‘You are broadminded and socially active’.
I never believed in fortune columns, but this time it is true. This week has been the most happening week and I met many new people.

I went for shopping with Jane on Sunday. She is my house owner, Philippine girl. To tell more about her, she was model, singer and acted in a movie in the lead role, now she is house wife. She is extremely beautiful and active. The only thing she has common with me is food. We love cooking and eating. Most of our talks are about Indian and Philippine dishes. Thanks to her love for cooking, I could taste crab, shark and many Philippine dishes. The next item in the list is frog legs, which I am little scared to taste. I met jane long back, but got to know more about her this week.

I met an Indian couple this week. I have never seen a couple like this before, both of them are very enthued and lively. May be it’s because they are newly married. Luckily their house is next to my office, so I got invitation for dinner thrice this week. When I am at their house, I feel like I am in India. The environment is very Indian and it makes me feel very good. Star Plus on TV, Indian decorations, Family and marriage photos on walls, Indian food. Talks about TV serials, Indian politics, Indians in S’pore etc etc, while eating. The best part is food, home food can never be compared with anything else. I had aallu paratas, ghobi sabji, bendi fry, dal with thadka, paav baaji.

We had Chinese new year celebrations in the company I work. Lion dance which was followed by Chinese lunch. Before lunch, we had to toss the salad which is Chinese custom. I got a chance to talk to one of the professors during lunch. He had lot of questions about India and was nice talking to him. Authentic Chinese lunch was just great. Tasted jelly fish for the first time and tried many new dishes.

There was 70-Hour Gag in which 7 FM stations participated for charity. My colleague is a big fan of Tamil FM station Oli 96.8 in S’pore. So she took me to the place to support them and it was great fun.

My friends b’day was in this week, so went for treat, ofcourse choose an Indian restaurant in Holland village, I like this place. I met his roommates and also my favorite couple whom I mentioned above, was fun.

This week was quite eventful totally and met many new people. Waiting to see wats on cards next week.

Living alone!!!

Saturday 11.00 pm, With great difficulty i opened my eyes. Feeling very hungry,I have to make breakfast. There is not much stuff in the fridge, have to shop. For that i have to get up, take bath. I looked at the window, and its raining outside. There is no umbrella at home. Oh god! Back to sleep.

12.00 pm, Cud not sleep anymore, finally got up. Scanned the fridge, There is no juice, eggs tray is empty....there is milk...with a smile on face, poured the milked into a glass n microwaved....Oh god! milk is gone bad.

Fash back.........
Mom: Breakfast is ready on the dinning table, please come n eat. I am busy in kitchen.
Me: mummy, its nag's interview on TV, how can i miss it. I will have it later.
Mom: Eat it while u watch TV, u shud have it when its hot.
Me: mummy please get it here naa. pleeeeeeeeeeeeease
Mom: Eat it fast, i will get another dosa in a min.
Me: Dosa again! mummy cant u make something else
Mom: Its onion dosa. Yesterday u said u like onion dosa, thats y i made it, finish it fast.
Me: I hate this chatni.
Mom: Here, another one.
Me: mummy i cant have another one of this stupid dosa.
Mom: Shall i make ukma?
Me: Yuck! I hate Ukma. I am full
Mom: Eat one more dosa. You are not eating properly. Look at ur sis, she had 4 dosas.
Me: Oh my god, u force me to do all the things i dont like. I know when i am full. I am not kid.

Now i know y god has sent me to this great place all alone.

Tring...Tring....(Phonez ringing)....Hello

" hello sweety naana, ela unnavu?"
Mom's voice is as sweet as honey. I feel so happy talking to my parents.
I think people realize true value of few things when it is not with them than when it is with them.