Time for a New Year

A few more minutes for 2010 to begin...

To tell the truth, I think all the 'New Year' stuff is just hype. What's the big deal about a new year? The only thing that changes is the calendar, oh ya, n probably a new diary. So what? The calendar is just a way to measure time and a tool to make it easier to mark days. Partying and cutting cakes for the changing-of-a-calendar-and-a-new-diary is in my view absurd.

I think it makes a difference only if we use a year to measure something, like whether we have fulfilled our resolutions, or say, to assess whether we have achieved whatever we wanted to in the year. Other than that, I think 'New Year' celebrations are just commercialized. Btw, resolutions made on any day are as good as those made on the 1st of Jan and assessing can be done on any day - it makes no difference.

When I was in school, I used to buy the most elegant diary available in the market and make a resolution on the 1st of January to write in the diary every day. And then,

Jan 1st - I used to write 'Happy New Year' and about all what I did that day

Jan 2nd - I used to write about two paragraphs about how the day went

Jan 3rd - about one para or a line

Jan 4th onwards - empty pages  :D

The only reason for me staying up late and posting this blog is that I had a really good nap in the afternoon and I'm wide awake now. Normally I would prefer to doze off before I hear everyone shouting 'Happy New Year' (:P) and the frenzy of firecrackers begins - actually the firecrackers have somewhat already begun.

Looking at the other side of the coin - I think this is one occasion which unites people together in celebrations, irrespective of the religion. And of course, it is a good occasion to wish others a happy new year and get in touch with old friends.

So, I wish everyone a very Happy New Year 2010!

Oh! n bye bye 2009!

My Mini Vacation

I had planned to do tons of things in this mini vacation of mine. But, it has been mostly reading books (I’m reading a book which is not exactly a novel, and definitely not a text book :P), watching movies and dozing off. I prefer to call it a 'mini' vacation though it’s not exactly so. Maybe I feel so coz I’m mostly confined to home - thanks to the bandhs. This is turning out to be more of a ‘Staycation’ (A term introduced to me by a friend in 'Staycation').

I finally read ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ – which I’ve been planning to read from the first year of engineering after a lecturer recommended it, and ‘One Night At The Call Center’ - which was the only remaining Chetan Bhagat book to be read. Right now I’m reading ‘Blink’ (recommended by a friend). I’m hoping to write the book reviews before the end of this mini vacation.

As for the movies – I watched ‘Wake Up Sid’ at last. It was pathetic that I couldn’t get the tickets and had to watch it on DVD, that too after such a long time. I watched '2012' too - which is another pathetic story – I couldn’t get the tickets for many days, and when I finally got them about 2 weeks back, the show was cancelled due to the bandhs (Thanks again). I finally watched it on Sunday IN A THEATRE, which I’m very thankful for, coz I was dreading I would have to watch the movie on a DVD – an experience, which as described by my friend – ‘felt like match boxes were falling apart’ :D

And then I watched a couple more movies on TV. Lotsa movie reviews to write! Hehehehehe (Evil laugh)

As for the dozing off part – it amazes me as to how much I can sleep. I was like Kumbakarna on some days!

Also planned for the vacation was the putting up of the Christmas tree, which I did not coz I was too lazy :D. Somehow, this year I did not find a single Christmas tree which was elegantly decked in any mall, maybe they felt lazy too :D

My next posts will be book reviews, hopefully, if I have the time :P.

Trip to Konaseema

Yeah! I'm blogging about my trip to Konaseema at last :)

Patriots please don't hit me :D - I confess that I did not know where in our state this region was till I went for the tour. I did not bother to know where it was even a day before the tour :D Hmm, so obviously I did not expect anything about what I would be seeing.

Me and my colleagues (colleagues :D so funny, a new word that I'll have to be using from now on) started off in the train to Palakollu and from there we headed off to the resorts at Razole by cars. The journey itself was awesome and my eyes popped out of my head looking at the beauty of the place. Oh my God! So much greenery! It felt sooo  good. The Taveras in which we travelled were so luxurious and had TVs (is it called a TV?... I have to clarify). All we gals spent all the time trying to decide what to watch and we finally ended up watching bits of everything and nothing concrete.

The resorts comprised of four villas located RIGHT ON THE BANK of the Godavari. Yippeee!!! And what a view! Breathtaking!

Next stop was a temple on the way to the Antarvedi beach. It was so funny that almost everyone (not me) was in 'beach attire' when we went to the temple :)) .

The beach wasn't that exciting for me as I did not wanna get into the water, but the other gals managed to pull me till I was waist-deep in the water. I got a good taste (sight and smell too) of the sea water when a friend splashed a good amount onto my face :(

The boat ride to the confluence (where the Godavari merges with the Bay of Bengal) was superb. On one side we could see the river flowing smoothly into the sea, and just a few feet away were waves crashing onto the coast. What a wonderful sight!

The next day we went to some gardens, again right on the bank of the river. We had a gala time there and drank loads of coconut water and another boat ride ensued. We walked on the river-bed where the river water was knee-deep and crystal-clear .

On the journey back to Hyderabad, we played games of all sorts and even ate kulfi at a restaurant in the station at Vijayawada. I can say it was the best kulfi I ever had; my mouth is watering as I type this :(

The best part of the trip was savouring the beauty of the place :)

Book Review: 2 states

The cover page of the book reads
‘2 states – the story of my marriage’
and the back cover reads
‘Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.’

Whew!

That’s what the book is about – a love story with a desi (both north and south) twist. The book will get you LOLing from the word ‘Go’!

The book seems to be a sequel to ‘Five-point Someone’ (another hilarious book by the author, IN CASE you did not know). It starts with the intro of Krish and Ananya to the readers, as well as to each other.

It is a light-hearted love story with a few serious moments and has well-etched characters; somewhere down the line you might feel a connect with some aspect of the characters in the book. In the end, you can’t help but feel happy for Krish and Ananya and their families and for our country and for its diversity and for yourself (yourself for all that LOLing)!

The language used in the book is quite simple and the mood of the book is more like ‘Five-point Someone’ than ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ (which has a more serious story and tone).

I’m glad Chetan Bhagat is not one of those Indian authors who write pages and pages on India’s poverty, describing how disgusting India can get. I agree our country still has a long way to go when it comes to development, but those who try to cash in on that should develop first!

Those who loved reading the author’s previous books will love this even more. This book is a must-read!

I wanted to write a blog-post last weekend; before I knew it, the weekend was over in the blink of an eye and the week too passed by so quickly. What I wanted to release last weekend wasn't this, but a book review on Chetan Bhagat's 2 states. I'm determined to write the book review tomorrow, but with tons of things to be done and looking at the way I've been postponing writing it for a week now, probably by the time I do write the book review and release it, everyone would've already read it.

Hey, I just realized that I actually bet my own record in something this week - I did not swtich on the PC at home for a whopping 3 days!

What is this blog-post about? I have no idea, I'm just typing something here coz I'm not yet feeling sleepy, no friends are online to chat (all of them are so busy these days :( ) and I have the PC at my disposal. Too bad the exclamation key does not work properly any more on my keyboard, else I would've used a dozen of  'em by now, using the key has become a herculean task.

Talking (rather 'typing') about chatting, I've gotten so used to smileys, I have to be extra careful not to use them in official communication. And with my friends all busy, I hardly chat nowadays and my hands itch to use smileys.

So here goes: :)   :D (my fav)    :))    ;)   :-/    :P   :(   

:((    :|     X-(

P. S. : Regarding my earlier blog  'An adieu to my much-loved', I am happy to say that I found my ear studs today after a whole month :). Actually, I lost one of those ear studs and so I obviously couldn't use the other one. I finally found the lost stud - I never thought I would coz I lost it when I was outside; I would like to thank those who found it and returned it to me :).

See? My 'kavacha kundalams' would never abandon me :D, no wonder I refer to them like that!

Feelin' good!

I've been think of blogging about this last weekend, but this week time just seemed to slip by and before I knew it, weekend was here again.

Last saturday wasn't like a typical weekend. The experiences of that day made me feel happy, special and nostalgic and also made me realised how life has changed dramatically.

After weeks of postponing, two of my friends and I visited our college last Saturday to get our T.C.s . It was the first time I was going to college after becoming a 'techie'. Even though it was a place I went to everyday till four months back, last Saturday was a totally different experience.

Though the college did not change a bit, my perspective of it did. The minute I stepped into the gates, I had a strange feeling- I could no longer feel the connect with our college. In one of my previous blog posts, I had mentioned that the college was like a second home to me. I no longer had that feeling. What worried me was that I had absolutely no feeling.

After reaching college, we roamed around the campus for sometime and headed our way for taking the T. C. s. After the work was done, I did not feel like leaving the place somehow and longed to be there for some more time.

We then decided to pay a visit to our 'D' block and greet our lecturers. The way the lecturers treated us was a huge surprise- while one even ordered coffee for us, the others gave us a warm welcome and were happy for our achievements. It then dawned on me that we were now working and no longer students of the college, but 'alumni' :(

On our way back, I suggested to my friends that we sit at the back of the ‘Shankarpalli’ auto, dangling our legs...coz who knows, it might be the last time we would get such a chance. As the auto started and the college began to disappear into the distance, I felt a small pinch in my heart and at the same time couldn’t help but smile at the way things have changed so much in a matter of a few months.

We then went to Eat-Street at Necklace Road- our 'adda'. Although only 10 of us managed to be there, it was wonderful to be seeing my college friends again after so many days. I must say we had a whale of a time! This was followed by some shopping at Central and I went back home feeling tired and happy.

Even though I’ve been working for a few months now, it never really dawned on me as to how much has changed, pretty much because home is always the same. But, it took me just a day at college and some time with old friends to realize this.

Last Saturday made me realize that my metamorphosis into a ‘techie’ is almost complete and had me feelin’ good!

An adieu to my much-loved

I thought I would release at least 3 blog posts this week, but I haven’t released even one till now. I perhaps got too much into the ‘relaxation mode’, and felt too lazy to do anything.

I’ve been moody for the past two days, the reason being I had lost something which was extremely near and dear to me. I should’ve expected something like this to happen this year, as I already mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, this year isn’t that great on the personal front :(

What I lost was one of my precious, sweet and cute star-shaped ear studs- presented to me on my birthday 9 years ago.

Since then, the ear studs and I were inseparable…the only exceptions were when I had to attend weddings, when I used to grudgingly replace them, though only for a few hours (no other lesser occasion could detach me from my beloved ear studs).

Once, a friend in engineering happened to notice that I always have the same ear rings on me and asked me if I ever change them. I said no and even joked that they were my ‘kavacha kundalams’. So just imagine the plight of losing one of my ear studs, which I held dear for the past 9 years. And also, this happens to be the first expensive item I lost in my whole life.

Hopefully, I should be out of my depression by the weekend, although I’m sure I’ll have little drops of tears whenever I look at the stars or for that matter, anything star-shaped :(
Sigh!

Book Review: The Lost Symbol

When I saw this book in the bookstore, I was thoroughly overjoyed at the bulkiness of this book. If the comparatively tiny Da Vinci Code could incite marvel in me, just imagine what this book had to offer! :D :D

I had enjoyed reading the Da Vinci Code; the thriller like narrative, and the startling secrets it revealed- a perfect cocktail for an enjoyable book.

I expected the same and more from The Lost Symbol...the book seemed to promise a more enthralling experience.

I must say that after finishing the book I was a tad disappointed. The book hit the bull’s eye when it came to creating nerve-wracking suspense with its gripping storyline, but the book did not rouse any ‘omg!’s or ‘wow!’s or ‘awesome!’s, when it came to revealing secrets as was expected.

The book does make for a good reading; make time for the book when you are absolutely free, coz it may be hard to set the book down once you start reading it. I must say it was one of my ‘read without eating-sleeping-doing anything’ kinda books.

The book falls a bit short of its expectations only because it did not reveal any controversial and unknown facts; otherwise, this book is definitely a must-read for its plot and is much much better than many other best sellers.

P. S. : I found the last few chapters a bit senseless though. After all that the characters in the story have been through, they leisurely discuss about paintings and buildings as if nothing happened :P

Books in 2009: The God of Small Things, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The White Tiger

My very first novel in this year was The God of Small Things, which I started reading in May as soon as I was done with my final semester exams. One reason why I chose to read this book was mainly because the author, Arundhati Roy is an activist and articles about her keep popping up now and then in the newspapers and I was curious to read the very first novel she wrote. I kind of anticipated that she would write something totally unconventional, bold and probably enlightening.

I must say the pace at which I read the novel was too slow, somehow I couldn’t get beyond 10-20 pages at a time (which is very curious in my case as I’m the type who reads a novel continuously without eating-drinking-sleeping till I finish it). I somehow wasn’t interested at all and forced myself to read the first half just for the sake of not leaving a book unfinished. As I came to the second half, the story began to take a shape and it was only then that curiosity arose in me and I quickly completed the second half.

The way the story is weaved by switching the narration recurrently between the past and the present is commendable. The story seems so ordinary initially, as you read all the tragic and shocking elements creep into it.

Though it was quite a good-read, it’s not my kind of novel.

The next book I started to read was The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. I think there is a lot of hype surrounding this book, I dunno why though. Throughout my engineering I would always find someone or the other deeply engrossed in this book, in the college bus, or in the bus-stops.

Naturally, I had very high expectations on this book even though I did not know what it was about (I usually don’t try to find out about any book, I just pick a book by instinct or choose the award-winning ones. Maybe it’s high time I changed this habit and go for any book only after taking someone’s opinion.) To tell the truth, I thought it was a novel a-la The Da Vinci Code or at least a bit adventurous! Poor me :(!

No sooner had I begun to read the book filled with enthusiasm and zeal, than I realized what the book was actually about. Even though I was disappointed, I continued to read it with the hope of getting some enlightenment out of it, something which I could apply to and improve the quality of my life (!!! :P).

I have to say that it was an ordeal to read even ten pages at a time! After the Herculean task of reading about 57 pages (omg!) of that book, I finally decided to call it quits.

Now, I plan of catch hold of someone who already read that book and get from them the message that the book wanted to convey!

For the record-this is my first unfinished novel :(

My most recent book was The White Tiger, which I completed just yesterday.

A dark tale told in an intriguing manner- this aptly sums up the content of the book.

This is yet another novel I picked to read simply because it won a prize (The Man Booker Prize). And ya, also coz the cover page looked funky and cartoonish :D.

The author solely depends on the ingenuity of the way the story is told to captivate the attention of the reader; he makes no attempt to build any sort of suspense as the turning-point is revealed in the first chapter itself.

It was a novel that was quick paced and managed to keep me glued to it.

After a long time...

I’m back to blogging after a long long time :D. It’s not that I didn’t have the time or didn’t have the mood to write, it so happened that I wrote a series of blog posts, but never released them. I’m glad I didn’t, else I would’ve regretted it sooner or later. I filled up many word files with stuff I would’ve liked [then, not now] to release on my blog. But then, the posts were too personal and I chickened out from releasing them.

With the advent of 2009, I’ve realized that things are going quite good in my college (and now professional :D) life, but things are awful big-time personally this year. Maybe it’s just my feeling, maybe it’s true.

Life had been sort-of like a giant, precarious roller coaster ride a few months back….now I can sense a calming down of the turbulence….but hey, I can’t be too sure- this is 2009!

I now resolve to write blogs regularly coz I feel rejuvenated and back to my old self and it’s time I start to hone my long-lost writing skills again.

Prized Memories

It is with a heavy heart that I’m writing this blog post. My heart feels heavy because I’m soon going bid farewell to my college, which has been my second-abode for the past four years. I’ve become very attached to my college, the environment and most of all to my friends, and the very thought of leaving it all soon, brings tears to my eyes.

I remember the first time I stepped into the college; I was awe-struck at the size and beauty of the campus! The very first year of engineering was spent getting used to the long-distance travel and the very-new environment and thinking about how to escape the seniors. I must say I’m happy that I’ve never had to face any uncomfortable situations, I was only asked by a few seniors to tell my ‘BD’ and wish them whenever I see them. I did make a few friends in the first year, but they were just friends with whom you sit in the class and listen to the lecturers. That had always been my definition of friends. What I enjoyed the most in the 1st year were the labs-seriously!

Come 2nd year and it introduced me to some of the most fascinating inventions of man- Orkut, yahoo messenger and google talk! They made communication much more easy, made me feel that my friends were always within reach. I made many more friends in the 2nd and 3rd years, life went on like a dream, so pleasant, so happy, I enjoyed each and every day and looked forward to going to college. I enjoyed the subjects too, as studying computer science had always been my goal and was not an obligation.

During the course of these 2 years, I changed a lot. My grumpiness gave way to humour, I learnt to be more cool and speak from my heart, to be myself and enjoy each moment in life, in fact I learnt a lot about my own self. Most importantly, my friends became an inseparable part of my life.

Working for Qubit-’08 as the event coordinator of the Online Treasure Hunt and again for Qubitrix as the designer of the souvenir (and I designed some banners too for the event) taught me many things and simultaneously instilled confidence in me.

4th year has been even more enlightening for me. It made me stronger, increased my confidence levels drastically and I’ve done things which pleasantly surprise me when I look back.

With only a few days of college life left, I feel happy as I know that life has a lot in store for me, but moving on is not going to be a piece of cake as I also know that I will never get such wonderful days back again.