The FIVE kind of girls you see in any party.

Any party will have at least one of these girls, and if you are lucky then you may spot more than one. These girls make for an interesting observation during a very boring party and can keep you entertained! So here goes the Famous Five.. 1)The Free Loaders: These prim and propah looking girls are the most difficult to identify. They order like there’s no tomorrow and can talk about anything under the sun.But when the bill arrives, they busy themselves in utterly nonsensical activity( like checking their mobile phones) and wait for others to pay.Well, it’s okay (probably) to expect someone to pay for you if it’s a date,but when you are out for casual drinks with some casual friends, then its plain ridiculous and cheap.And to top it all, they carry this cute looking wallet or purse,which is probably empty with invalid debit cards, a Rs 500 currency note hiding somewhere and their dad’s credit card( meant for emergency only).
 2) The Restroom Queen: You first encounter her in the restroom of the restaurant/club, talking to someone and explaining why she didn’t pick the call earlier, where and with whom she is . And most of the time when you revisit the restroom ,you end up seeing her still on phone poorly doing the persuading job,with a friend in tow for moral support.This type is found more in the washroom than on the dance floor. And with each restroom visit,you resist the temptation of saying something loudly which would ruin their secret. 3)The cocktail Girl: These are the most entertaining yet the most disgusting kinds to watch . They are probably the only ones who have tried every drink the bartender can mix.They are entertaining when they begin drinking and they do that like a pro, only to end up swimming in their own vomit puddle after sometime. At the end of the party, they become the corpse which has to be taken home carefully -crumbled at the back of the car,like a house cat. 4) Fakestars: They come across as rockstars but dig deeper and you get your very own Fakestar. From their clothes, to their accent (no they don’t work at the call centre but still have it) and to the big Business/ Life plans they have in their mind. Everything about them, is strangely cheesy.They probably have pictures of their neighbour’s house which they claim to be theirs and they say that they stay in a posh locality, while they may be residing just outside its gates.These are the ones who update their locations on Facebook, the minute they set foot inside the club.And crop others out from their pouty pictures. 5) Pseudo cool: These are my favourite types as they are pretty naive. Who would otherwise wear a shimmering dress and put on all the junk available in Janpath, knowingly? They don’t drink but feel it’s cool to borrow someone else’s drink to pose with. They tell their parents that they are going for group study to a friends house, while stuffing their bags with party dress instead of books. Well, here was the top of the mind recall of all the weirdos I have seen or heard about.I’m sure they are many more out their slowly climbing up the charts and would soon grab our eyeballs with their unique antics in future parties.To all, I would jus say, keep entertaining us!

When I'am feeling Blue....

Why choose Blue when the rainbow has other colors too? Any change in life can lead to stress. And if it is a life changing event most of us tend to get the blues. Probably you have relocated to a new city and are taking your own sweet time to understand and merge with the general atmosphere .May be you are the one who’s just been married or had a kid and despite of all the euphoria around you , you feel stressed because you desperately want some ME time. Or you could be the one who lost that seemingly perfect job to the grueling reality of the economy. And in this long list, how can we forget you- yes YOU, who’s been crying over that break up since ages . By now you must have been advised by all the people you know and the strangers you don’t, to get your groove back. Because your stress is terribly leaking out and has begun to stress them out too. So, not for others but for yourself you need to reclaim your life and this is how- • Set a routine: In the initial days of the event breaking the monotony of life seems pleasurable. So all those late nights and subsequent late mornings give unparalleled ecstasy. But not for too long. Gradually a sense of meaningless and unproductively seeps in and before you know it you are a very dark shade of blue. However much you might hate it, but a routine gives us a sense of purpose. So whatever your situation in life might be right now set a routine, as it would compartmentalize you life into smaller time blocks and when that happens it gets easier to slowly start taking control over life once again. • Your situation is not your identity: Not only do these statements sound different when I say, “I am unemployed” Vs “I don’t have a job” but they also make you feel different about yourself. Stop internalizing your situation to such an extent that you associate your sense of being with your problem. Problems are often external events, over which we do not have much control. And the best part about problems is that sooner or later they go away, but they should leave us better and not bitter. Understanding that a job or a relationship is just parts of life and not life itself, would go a long way in building a strong self image. Why build a permanent self image on the basis of temporary events? So the next time you tell yourself “I AM poor” you might hear an inner voice correct you, “You AIN’T poor. You just don’t HAVE money right now and that is a temporary situation”. And my dear, you are not single you just don’t….. • Go out and play: Not just because it keeps you healthy but it has been proved that physical activity produces feel good hormones. When we feel low we usually don’t want to move a limb or socialize. This leads to piling up of both physical and emotional energy and before we know it we are a very active human bomb ready to explode, even at a Hello! So, for the safety of all things and people around you, get out and pick up an activity that you enjoy. • Discover the world outside and within: Happiness is a great companion but Pain is the ultimate teacher. Our saddest phases in life teach us more about people and ourselves than anything else. Use this phase to understand and accept the world and emerge wiser. If the idea of spending an entire day with yourself suffocates you then you have been missing out on a very beautiful friendship –which is with yourself! Most of us cling to toxic and destructive relationships for the fear of being alone. All of us, at some point in time experience a sense of emptiness and we in vain search for someone or something that would fill the void. But the truth is YOU are your own hero, there’s no one who would come to recue you. Truth is always that simple! Come to think of it, if you befriend yourself you will forever have a companion. You will swiftly glide from being emotionally dependant to being blissfully independent. • Something moves inside us when we learn: So you think your life is almost over because there’s nothing new to look forward to. And that is leading to a lot of boredom which is in turn taking you closer to the much hyped and less understood state called depression. Before you hit the rock bottom and gloomy becomes your middle name, you ought to shrug off inertia and pick up something new to learn. Sadly, learning is often linked with the consequent monetary benefits. It shouldn’t be so. Learning challenges the limits that we have set for ourselves and enables us to marvel at the vastness of everything that makes up life. There’s an entire universe inside of us and with every cell in our bodies changing dynamically there’s no reason why we should accept being dormant as a way of life. • Don’t take everything personally: Well now, as it happens with negativity, we tend to project our own ill feelings on people and situations. The waiter, who was rude to you, had his own problems in mind and knew nothing of your circumstances. Or those girls, who were giggling behind your back in the bus, were just having a good time and definitely not mocking you. All these hallucinations would be taken care of if you have a positive self image. Use your imagination to build one. And in the end, remember THIS is just a phase and this too shall pass.

The (software) engineer's wife

Well, when I saw his picture,(yeah arranged marriages still happen), I simply had no thoughts..but it wasn't until I met him,that I realized that THIS IS IT, and so the process of our wedding began to unfold. Since then, it's been three months of togetherness.Like any other marriage mine is almost the same..we have our roles clearly defined,there is already a power structure in place and other "couple"things...BUT..there's a distinct difference between my marriage and that of any other person on the street, I happen to b an engineer's wife! SO WHAT? you may ask...well, that little word..pardon me, title makes my entire world absolutely and crazily different.First of all,whether you would like to read it or not....no engineer is ever happy with his current job...so yes YOU,the better half, would naturally become the mute listener of the stories of the ordeal of the IT jungle, day after day! The terms like hike,switch and others, would raise their ugly heads even in the most romantic or the most laziest of hours.... When Shakespeare scribbled the famous lines,TO BE OR NOT TO BE..he was referring to an engineer...so my dear counterparts,your suggestions of quitting or staying fall on deaf ear..and over time you would realize that to survive the indecisiveness,you better zip your mouth,only occasionally opening it, to let out..umms and hmms,wherever appropriate and when the conversation is over, garnish it with a "Everything would be alright, Dear!" statement. Everyman loves his machine, but an engineer loves it to the point of obsession.So while he's engaged to any form of machine,talking to him feels like talking to a black hole..nothing ever comes out of it!!!! but if you are lucky,you may get your responses,by the end of the day,when the system needs some cooling off....but the good thing,the unresponsiveness makes you independent and if anything goes wrong,you can blame it on the black holish attitude!!And then there is that onsite project,any engineer's dream and a wife's nightmare( if she's not getting the visa)But every cloud has a silver lining, and in my marriage,the silver lining is my husband,the engineer.Engineers are, by far the most independent and flexible species of the human race.the engineering days prepare them for anything in the world..and as my husband puts it,they are trained for extreme conditions :-) Living with them might get lonely at times but hey doesn't it give us more time for our own ambitions and dreams!!Over the time an engineer's wife shall learn to celebrate his achievements,while moving towards her own.

Will To Happiness

If the divine strategy for me had been to follow someone else's footstep, god would have never given me legs.All our lives, we fevershly try to find the path which would invariably lead up to our destiny. In the mad search, we forget a very simple fact that there is no path. The purpose of our lives is to create our own path, inch by inch, milestone by milestone, so that by the end when we reach our destinations. We are overwhelmed by the feeling of having "arrived"
What is indeed worse?To experience things on our own and learn through them, perhaps to regret some deeds and feel guilty over others for a lifetime. Or are we better off, learning through other people's
experiences, and living life ever so cautiously, scrutinizing every step and counting each breath and at the end regretting things which we could have and ought to have done ourselves?
If so is the case then by the end of the journey not only would our achievements would not be
ours even our mistakes would be borrowed!!

My experiences are the only thing that are truly mine, they are so engraved in every atom of my being that I do not stand separate from them. I am what I've experienced so far. They are my treasure yet my
only weakness.
I am nothing but a string of experiences accumulated over the years.
When i shall pass over, the only thing I can leave behind is the
experiences I had, covered in the web of false stories, however the
essence would forever remain true.

Questions and troubles may change faces and magnitude over time but the
answers remain forever well hidden in the same place since ages.
This place we hardly visit but is a reservoir of deep wisdom, knowledge and guidance. And the place lies within us.

--

Pune:A City Beckons

The aircraft hanged amongst the clouds while the honey sweet music of R.D Burman streaming through the aerial station, prepared me for a journey which was about to unfold. In a couple of hours, a balmy Delhi afternoon, was transformed into a cool breezy Pune evening.

The first thing I noticed about Pune, once I left the modest airport, was the number of bikes and scooties and the equal or more number of trees lining the city-which is still known as the retirement city. As most Mumbaites would and still choose to nestle in at Pune, once they reach the autumn of their lives.

Hiring an autorickshaw which actually runs on meter was some kind of a welcome surprise to Delhities like me, who are used to the everyday haggling with the auto drivers in the capital. It was then that I realized that the meter is not just any black box used to accessorize the auto but it really has some purpose to serve!!

Pune has something for everyone, I admit this may sound like an overused cliché,but trust me,that this still holds water.To get the most out of the Pune experience,one needs to decide before hand what one is seeking.

If you are searching for a night out experience with friends,then you can head straight to a place called the ABC farms. The entire landscape is jeweled with some of the cities best pubs and restaurants. Which would be glad to showcase their hospitality but till 11:00 pm. It’s sad to know that post the famed rave partiy incident,the government has laid down strict laws, which forces the restaurants to wrap up by 11:00.But the party does not stop there, post all that clubbing, one could head straight to the Pune railway station and wait for the morning sun over cups of Marathi masala chai.

The early birds can immerse in the pleasure of taking a long drive on the Pune- Mumbai highway, which might invariably lead to the neighbouring getaways ,like Mahabaleshwar and Lonavala. For the spiritually inclined, within the city, there are places like OSHO ASHRAM, Isckon and ganpati temple, where people can connect with themselves and the divine, either through resounding chants or through the still silence.The peace one finds in pune, pushes him to explore places like, Nasik and pay homage to Shirdi sai baba.

Two things one must not miss, while at pune is to devour the fresh strawberries plucked from farms in Mahabaleshwar, which is of course seasonal(MAY-JULY) and visit the student populated areas like, Fergussan road to sink in the vibrancy of the young crowd or pay a visit to the famed INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FILM AND TELEVISION and catch talented artists at work..

So ,what should bring you to pune??? The tourist hotspots or the pubs???? Pune will not top the list of someone who plans to go many places and click innumerable pictures and has a big to do list,but it definitely would be a destination for someone who wants to loose himself in the crowd without the constant obligation of doing something or going somewhere. Because it’s a forest, for the free bird to fly aimlessly and yet completely.