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 :)