vacation..

Vacation- The time when time flies.


The time when there are a hundred things on the to-do list. The things that remain there.
The time when you want to do everything ‘tomorrow’. Sadly, ‘tomorrow’ does come, but only on the day that the vacation ends.
The time which leaves you with lots of memories and a certain amount of guilt. Important things become boring and trivial, unimportant things consume your time.
Vacation – the time which sometimes can be boring, yet comfortable in a certain mind-numbing way.
The time you start thinking about, almost a week before it begins.
The time when the mind’s bursting with a plethora of emotions- happy languidness, smug vagueness, impatient eagerness, a certain restlessness…

And one day it’s over.
Like it didn’t happen at all. Perhaps stowed away in some obscure part of the brain or a random note in a diary.

But the best thing about vacation time -->there’s always a next time!.

a li'l strange..

I just read about this cafe in Japan where something unusual goes on.. It's called the Ogori cafe..

Wanna be a good samaritan? or wanna try your luck? or wanna unleash ur satanic side?

go visit this place.. i mean..if u ever go to Japan that is..


At this cafe, you get what the person before you ordered, and the next person gets what you ordered.. you can go try your luck.. maybe u'll have a feast..maybe u'll have the cheapest, vilest stuff on the menu.. also gives you a chance to go and order for the next person..

just imagine.. you are about to order and you see your boss walking in as the next customer.. Or maybe the guy/girl you have a crush on , is the next inline and you could surprise them and get his/her attention by giving an extra generous order.. pretty useful eh? Howver, that may not be he case.. usually, you are just about to order for random strangers.. how good are you going to be?? quite a test of personality..

but personally, i'd never go there... no point! Well i could try rigging it.. go woth a bunch of frnz.. pretend to go there separately.. order for each other.. make sure you go after one another.. and get wat u want.. But then, as i said.. no point.. why take so much trouble???? go to a regular cafe..

Obsession!!!

I don’t even remember at what age I started reading. I only know that I’ve always enjoyed it. My preferences keep changing drastically, I keep picking up different genres all the time, but the presence of books in my life has been constant. From pulp fiction to core religious texts, the sight of a book has never ceased to please me. But of late, buying books has become a sort of an obsession! I keep buying them, but these days I’m not finding the time to sit down and finish a book. I get greedy , however, and everytime I buy a book I start reading it, and the situation right now is that I’ve started SEVEN different books, each belonging to a completely different world and I’m getting mixed up..
Last Friday I promised myself to stop buying anymore books, until I finish reading the ones I have. I wrote myself a stern pep talk in my diary about how I need to be more sensible n all..
And yesterday, (Sunday afternoon) I went to Odyssey to buy a CD for my uncle and damn! I came out clutching yet another book!!!


(in my defense, it was a fantasy novel about ancient Egypt and hence completely irresistible!)

a near-death experience.. ;)

We were dumb, plain dumb, and we actually thought we were being smart...

Some random IBMer sent us an invite for a seminar which would be 'life-altering'!! and blah blah.. of course we didnt't beleive that a bit.. nothing can change your life so drastically.. at least not a seminar.. at least not mine.. I have a problem with listening for more than 10 mins continuosly.. I never could..

But we thought it would at least have a 10% effect.. maybe! And we thought we could get up and run if it gets too boring.. so five of us, feeling quite proud of ourselves that we were leaving office 3-4 hours early, started towards the venue of the seminar.. for somehting we foolishly imagined to be fun.. All the while making jokes about 'how jobless are we' to be leaving for a seminar on a weekday!! and somehow, we were quite happy about it..

We reached the place, having narrowly missed being hit by a bus and an auto, and almost killing a biker and a pedestrian.. (the lady who had graciously given us a lift was driving in a sari.. which is the world's most uncomfortable thing!!.. though at other times I kind of admire her driving. it's kinda good).. It was later in the evening when we realized being part of an automobile accident would actually have been better..

Anyways, we were the first to enter the hall.. "Oh my God.. what if we were the only people in there?? we cant even get away!!" but slowly the hall filled up with people inching towards their slow death..

And then it started.. not at all what we had gone there for.... A splendid case of false marketing.. we were promised a life-altering blah blah and what we actually got was a sorta cazy, hyper person trying to sell us a 3-day 'self-help' course.. He kept jumping up suddenly screaming random phrases.. 'passion!! passion!!' and long clueless sentences.. sumthing like.. "your past is not in your past, but in your future.. you are not a product of your past.. but the future you are living into.. " and as he rambled on abt "past future crap crap... future future.. this view that view.. crap crap future future.." I really wanted to get up, shout to his face "dude you are screwing my 'present'" and walk away from that inferno.. but no, i sat there stupidly enduring all and that wishing that this particular guy hadn't been born..

Oh, and he was not alone.. he was aided by a team of what appeared to be actors in those cheap 'Telebrands' commercials.. all eagerly jumping up and describing how wonderful this course was.. They were all so eager to grab the mike that if sumone would have told them that only one speaker would have a chance, we could have witnessed a 'mass wrestling' match right there.. All we could think was.. 'How much have they paid you to say this?? We'll pay you double to just shut up!!'

After around 3 hours of this , I heard the sentence which was like nectar to my ears.. "Thank you all for coming".. we didnt hesitate for a miute..grabbed out stuff and ran like mad.. the gracious 'lady in the sari' had slipped out 20 mins earlier clutching her phone and yelling "hello.. hello" into it..

It took me a long walk in the fresh air with a friend, and a huge cup of coffee to become human again..

So ppl! Next time someone gives you an invite for a 'life-altering' seminar, forward it to your worst enemies.. :)

treat for coffee lovers....

hiya thr..

came across this li'l thing.. interestin.. read on..


oatmeal.com/coffee

early morning saunter..

Woke up really early on a Saturday!! The mere surprise of it prevented me from falling asleep again.

Cudn't go back to sleep, so went out for a stroll, wandering aimlessly, into the parts of my locality where i'd never been before. (Dunno why i keep getting these random mad ideas!)..

Kept walking, with my earphones blaring in my ears,looking at things. And somehow, maybe coz it was a uniquely unfamiliar time of the day or because it was such a purposeless pursuit, but I found myself completely relaxed and quite enjoying the moment.

Every mundane everyday thing was curiously interesting..Ladies picking flowers for their daily pooja; a sweet old uncle slowly unfolding the pages of a newspaper with a content smile;irritated-looking people sweeping the roads with long quick strokes of broken brooms;dog fights;half-awake kids being trotted off to school; a really cool sexy bike parked in front of someone's house..(At that moment I wanted nothing in the world more than a ride on it!!!)..

Nyways, passively observing these random happenings was like taking a peek at LIFE.. I kind of felt detached from my own life and felt like I was a part of all that was going on around me.. felt gud somehow.. But then, Why were all these normal things appearing to be so interesting? Is it because I've stopped noticing these small things these days as I go about , following my daily schedule??

On my way to work or back from it, there's something on my mind constantly.. what's happening at work;which movie to hit this weekend;he said this,she said that;booking tickets to go home;applying for leave... blah blah..I guess I'm stuck in my private world and completely oblivious to the world around...Is life bypassing us? Are we forgetting to even look around properly coz we're stuck in the clockwork routines?

My philosophical train of thought was interrupted as I decided to turn back and head home. These reflective questions were replaced by more urgent ones like

"Did I come from this lane? that turn?

Do I take this left? the next left?

or maybe... right??

Before I actually reached a state of panic, I thankfully hit a familiar looking lane..
"Ahh!! I know this road!!" and happily walked home, completely ignoring all those insightful questions..

Happy Ending!

Chance conversations...

I’m sure all of us at some point, have had random conversations with complete strangers. Little snatches of conversations that just happen.. without a proper beginning or end.. Some mere fillers, others reflective.. some leaving a lasting impression, some just fading into oblivion..

I keep having them regularly.. even though I’m a partially paranoid person and don’t talk much to strangers..

Like that evening 2 days back.. I took an auto on my way home, and this over-enthusiastic auto driver was in a super talkative mood probably, and told me tales of his entire family tree. Yes, I was stuck in one of those infamous traffic jams @ banglore and this guy just went chattering away to glory, while I sat occasionally mumbling “oh ok.. nice”..

Then there was an old uncle sitting next to me in a train who kind of gave me the weather report for the entire country in the previous week , completely ignoring my huuuge yawns ( my whole face ached due to yawning so much)..

There was one interesting old lady I met during one of those family functions who regaled me with  tales of her stint at the All India Radio. She writes and performs in the dramas aired on radio ..and she’s 85 yrs old… she told me about how she found her passion and overcame all the odds n all.. interesting.. inspiring kinda..

There are too many that come to my mind now.. a fellow traveler in a train narrating her love story in complete detail; another old auto-driver telling me about how he hails from a family which was very rich once upon a time; a young guy giving surprisingly profound insights abt philisophy;a cute kid prattling on about her school and her evil sister…

 hmm.. ain’t talking really really fun???