Whippersnapper

...conversation on a totally different topic that landed on this....

Me " I hate these office cubes! "

He " Well, you have to admit, its a lot worse in other places..."

Me " Ya, ok. Still doesnt make me feel any better."

He " You know when I worked at ABC....."

Me " Geez T, that was 50 years ago!"

He doubles up with indignation and laughter. "Alright newbie, you've made your point! Them painkillers are making this one saucy!!"

Yes, TGIF!

How the mighty have fallen!

How do you get an aggressive driver with a prolonged, cannibalized driving record to slow down?

Have the right toe nail ripped!

Right about now, a speed limit of 35 sounds welcoming. God save the drivers in the rear with clenched fists and swear words. Hey, that was your truly just 24 hrs ago!

Utter confusion

Argh! This disparity in words is beginning to get to me! Why not call a spade a spade? Why find synonyms(or whatever the hell nym words with similar meanings are called!)for EVERYTHING?????

After the usual mixup and confusion over color words like aqua, cyan, fuchsia and teal, after the jumbling of queues and lines, aisles and corridors, to-go and to-stay, here's the latest.

Last night, on an after dinner stroll to Walmart, I decided to get a vinyl tablecover for the dining table- the fabric one was proving to be a major maintenance nightmare. After hovering around the relevant sections, I saw a plethora of the said tablecloths. Bingo! I found one in the exact shade of red I was looking for. And vinyl! Easier to clean and wipe, surely. All I wanted was a rectangular piece of vinyl covering.

So the dimensional choices went 52 x 52 square, 52x70 oblong, 52x90 oblong. I knew a square wouldnt cut it. All other options were oblong ones.
Here comes the catch. For some reason, my brain was stuck on this little mis-fact that oblong meant oval(ya, alright all you geometry whizzers, it was a MISLEADING FACT-ergo mis-fact). I looked around for other colors with great disappointment, with some hope that I'd find a rectangular piece. Nope, all of them staunchly declared being oblong!

Alright, rectangle is not to be, so I pacified and resigned myself that the table is fated to have a oval tablecloth adorn it. I bought the 52x70 oblong.

This morning I proceeded to inaugarate the said oblong cover. I opened it out to see a 52x70 RECTANGULAR tablecloth. EUREKA!

Lesson for the day : OBLONG means rectangular as corroborated by wiki here. Argh!!!

And now for a view of the dining table in its new avtaar!

Will wonders never cease?

When I bought my car some 12 months ago, being that it was a more expensive one and taking into consideration my fear of theft- when the agent offered Lo-jack service for a nominal fee (which is a device planted in a secret location of the car, known only to the LoJack technician that installs it) I fell for it. Yes, yes and of course, yes I screamed. Who has not heard horror stories of mugging in downtown DC? And given that I frequent the waterfront and sights of downtown DC, both during the day and night(ahem, pliss to not mistake the mint to be a party girl!- I only go to take beautiful night shots of the Capitol, trust me!), I was secretly pleased. And relieved - that my car, my beaut was in safe hands. Of course, insurance premiums for this expensive toy were higher than usual which warranted many lectures from coworkers and friends alike on how Japanese cars cost less, demand lesser premiums, serve more and have a great return value. I nodded my head, smiled thankfully and continued to buy my dream car :). We are KNOWN to be stubborn arent we? Again, I digress. The car did not come equipped with a GPS, btw.

This weekend, after a successful and overdue trip to the temple, I drove amma to Baltimore. While I have mastered the art of driving around DC, Baltimore was virgin territory. Since I had taken a different route to get there and disobeyed Google maps' directions, I landed at a different entrance to the aquarium. Fortunately for me, I saw a public parking lot right across from the entrance. Eureka! I thought to myself. I rolled down the driver side window , collected a ticket, drove in, parked and we got down. I advised amma to bring her best walking shoes, loaded ourselves with food and water, armed with shades - I proudly locked the car. For a fleeting moment I wondered if I should lock it with the wheel club, but then my senses reminded me of LoJack and hence convinced, we were out and away....for a good 5 hrs!

Now some salient points to keep in mind are- I always have a compact camera in the car, for those sudden inspirational shots. The more expensive SLR stays at home. Secondly I of course, have my registration/insurance cards in the car. Just that day, with a load of shopping that was done the previous evening, that was left in the car as well.

Cut to the current, we returned to the car and as I unlocked it, I realised....................................................................................................... the driver side window was rolled all the way down! Without panicking, my eyes espied the camera that continued to sit innocently near the cup holder, the shopping bags in the back seats and everything in tact!

Post mortem report - remember I had mentioned, I'd rolled the window down to collect the ticket??? I never undid that action. So just to get things into perspective- the car had been sitting for 5 hrs in a parking lot in downtown Baltimore with a camera, important papers AND a boat load of shopping all right where it had been left at.

So, should this be labelled as 1. a narrow escape 2. miracle 3. just plain luck or 4. common everyday events?

I dont know...once in a while goose bumps erupt just at the thought of what could have happened, some times my mind heaves a sigh of relief that nothing did, some times I am amazed by some of the little events that grace our lives to constantly remind us to marvel and wonder at life and its miracles.

Yes, its all good and all's well that ends well.

Ending the post with some pictures of fishy wonder, courtesy the national aquarium at Baltimore. The dolphin show was spectacular and the summer harborside street concerts, definitely entertaining.

Carmic Capers

There exists a time in every person's life when one strongly believes that life is a bed of roses. That them movies arent lying- its all about celebrating life, gifts, flowers, cards - all sugar and spice and everything nice. Optimism seems to be the mantra for life or so one's told to believe and so one's told to get through with schooling and attain a well rounded education.

And then middle age sets in. The other day one of my co-workers mentioned that he believes in karmic justice- the kind of justice where good begets good and bad begets bad. Accounts are settled in real time- or so its said in this age- Kali Yuga.

I believe in another kind of karmic balance. That of happiness/successes and sadness/hardships. Well call me jaded, but for most part I am convinced if there is one day that is a supreme high, the next day or one of the following days will definitely be a supreme low. Just as there is an ebb and flow of tides, just as there is sunrise and sunset, just as there are summers and winters likewise happiness and sadness, joy and disappointment, successes and failures all go in pairs. One cannot exist without the other. Life is all about balance. Karmic balance.
Remember the physics law "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed." ? Well it applies to everything in life, be it mechanical energy, chemical energy or karmic energy.

Hence I believe the Serenity prayer is so apt when it says

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Why all this tatva on a Friday? Cos its true and cos one needs to be reminded of some basic laws of life and living...cos there's beauty in symmetry!

Me, myself and pointless predictions

You Are Rock

Powerful and overbearing, you intimidate people with your presence. People know they can't push you around, and they respect that. Deep down, you are calm, confident, and unmovable. You take everything pretty seriously, and you think deeply about all aspects of your life. You tend to feel smothered by paper people. You don't mind crushing the spirit of a scissors person. When you fight, you: Use all of your strength If someone makes you mad: You're likely to throw something at them

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Your Chances of Being a Multimillionaire: 76%

You have a good chance of being a multimillionaire. Better than most people. You simply have a natural knack for money and the personality for success.

Will You Be a Multimillionaire?

Expecting the unexpected

After a string of hectic weekends packed with "relocation" (replacement word for whats been banned for a few months!), this past week/end has been a welcome change. Even though the ugly word "unpacking" reared its head many times, for most part the days were filled with normalcy like getting back into a gym schedule, checking out a movie at the theatres, picking luscious strawberries at a nearby farm, hayrides, picnics and the ARR concert that will probably be a fitting ending to the whole package deal. True- normal is boring most times, but some times its just like slipping into an old comfort dress- soothing, relaxing, just what the mind and the body begs for!

Yes, summer in Virginia is here, here to stay for the next quarter of the year- which means its time to bring on the strawberry smoothies, the icecreams, the desh ka lassi and who can miss out on the many dips in the swimming pool? There were some odd strawberries that caught the eye and the lens this weekend at the strawberry picking picnic.

Gyaan for the weekend : When a majority is odd, then the odds are even :).

Recently I came across some of the "life's lessons" tidbits on TLC - common, everyday lessons that are depicted as figurines- one that caught my interest says "Just because you can be connected 24/7, doesnt mean you should be" . The message I got from it was about my internet addiction, though the figurine depicted a situation quite different from what I understood it to mean. Only goes to show that messages make relevant sense to the reader, not necessarily the same message the creator intended to convey. Alright, too much deep thought for a weekend, I know!

There is also a section listed to create one's own life's lesson. Which reminded me of the one lesson I learnt through practical examples, not necessarily through the moral science lessons in school. Any item or purchase made through a hard day's worth of labor, or many years of toil can never be lost or stolen. There have been many times that I have lost some of my possessions but have always come back to me intact, which even includes wallets, cash, train passes - the list is endless. Yes, if its something I have worked hard to gain, I never lose.

Hm, got to think of creative and humorous ways to say that in a figurine....what say?

Moves galore

There's something very unsettling(pun intended!) about having a home and office move in the same week. Being a Taurean, I am shaken in every sense of the word.

After a very tiring move in, I get to work to see an email and 4 large boxes planted right outside the office door with name tags and new location stickers. Granted the office move is of smaller magnitude, I dont have to do anything except "PACK" my meagre possessions, I dont have to lift ANYthing, but just another move makes me want to scream!!!

The words "pack/unpack" and "move" need to be suppressed from my dictionary temporarily for the next few months- no make that a year!

THIS is JUST what I am this week!!

Happiness is....

...polishing off bowls of kheer!

Some mid-week gyaan

The Magic Geranium

I remember this story from a long long time ago...well not quite. I only remember the title, I cannot, for the life of me, recall who the author was/is, which book I found it in, or exactly what the story was. With this vague memory, I sought refuge in our friendly neighbourhood search engine....yes Gooooooogle!


And this is what it found (Pssstt...Google never fails!):

"Story of an old lady living in a rickety old house. She receives a red geranium. Displays it on her kitchen table. The red geranium made the table look horrible, so she fixed it up and painted it. This made the chairs look shabby, so she painted them. This made the rest of the kitchen look horrible, so she proceeded to fix up her whole house. End of story is the lady and her house sparkled and flourished all because of the red geranium.

Read Aloud Funny Stories-Jane Thayer, 1958. The story is called The Magic Geranium."

Even though the story isnt complete and not a lot of detailed information is available online, this is the gist of the story as I recall. It might have been the graphics that illustrated this simple and small tale or just my mind conjuring images, this story and the mental image of it has remained in my mind all this while. Just as I've always have had mental images of the story "Gone with the wind" and most of what I saw in the movie coincided with what I'd imagined it to be and hence also my soft corner for Georgia. But I digress.

I have had an affinity to invest in potted geraniums with disastrous results before.

But the thought has always stayed with me and when I was presented with a clean, empty abode......the first thing that came to my mind upon seeing this cute kitchen window was to start the whole enterprise with a .....................drum roll................geranium plant, of course!!!!

Yes, just like Mrs Wistful in the story book. The first thing to get installed is this beautiful red geranium plant. And just like the story goes, the rest of it will just automagically be beautiful.....cos its a magic geranium plant- silly!! Get with the program! We're half-way there, having made a jump start with some magic action.

More updates forthcoming ....but for now we've all heard the wise old men say that "A good start is half the battle" havent we?

Harry Emerson Fosdick
He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determine the end.

Moving out, in and on!

Much as try to not sound dramatic, now that most of the contents in this little abode have been compressed into a myriad cardboard boxes, the clothes dumped into suitcases, some ingredients in the pantry disposed due to sheer unuse, sorting, cleaning, packing.....I feel the entire process and the stacks of boxes define who I am, or who I have become in the past years that I have vegetated here.

What I am proud of are the boxes filled with books. I have always loved to collect books, but only those that belong in the perennials section(as in long term reading over and over and over the years)- there is this dream of having a wood panelled study room filled with books, a wallpaper of books, a sofa-bed, a fridge and small pantry of snacks. I could live in just that room, my entire life.

What I am not so proud of are the boxes of shoes!!(shoe-aholics like Orchid, please note)- I am sure at the beginning of time, I had 2 pairs of shoes. Now it has tarantulized into TWO large sized boxes. I dont know if this still qualifies to being called a fetish. Hm, wonder what happened to the likes of Imelda Marcos(more with reference to her shoe fetish than her political histrionics).

Next in line- clothes! My mom used to tell us that Kali Yuga's curse was clothes and the way girls/women spend on them. Initially I used to label her as senile and dismiss the charges. Now I am appalled at the number of suitcases that are piled with clothes, clothes and more clothes. To top the agony, I hate folding clothes(thats what moms are for, imo). Hence most times, clothes are piled in a disastrous fashion inside closets and chests to give an impression to guests that my house is very clean and well kept. I could've sworn I landed in this country with ONLY two suitcases that filled all the three things that I have in excess now, and still not have to pay for excess baggage. So that should've been 2 pairs of shoes, about 2-3 books to keep me company on the maiden voyage abroad and enough clothes to survive one work week and a weekend. The suitcases also included the usual FOB must-have accessories such as one pressure cooker, a couple of vessels, amma-made aroma-filled sambar/rasam powders- yes enough to be able to make rice/daal and yogurt-rice- or so one argues while packing.

That brings me to the boxes that have resulted from the "stuff" in the kitchen. Good Lord- these new recipe ventures makes one invest in things(quoted in no particular order) such as a big jar of molasses, packets of bajra flour, cornflour, cornmeal, corn starch, 16 bean mix, brown rice, cracked wheat, bulgur, condensed milk, evaporated milk....need I go on some more? You get the picture- most ingredients I have used exactly ONCE in a BLUE MOON. And then multiple unopened packets of amma-made aroma-filled sambar-rasam powders since I have discontinued the rasam/sambar series for quite a few years now. But I dont refrain from picking up more every time I go home. Its a nostalgia thing, I have concluded.

The last major item are boxes filled with decorative pieces, showpieces- these are predominantly gifts that I have received over many years that I can never discard.....I have accumulated plenty of those as well(yes one can safely conclude that I have very thoughtful friends and family who dont fail to give birthday gifts ;). Just the stuff from the utility room generated enough boxes to scar(e) me for eternity.

Yes, my packing now defines the person I have become. Some times as I sit looking at the boxes I almost pity the movers cos them books boxes are heavy!! Which is why I gave away quite a few books, to make it easy on them :(. Still....there are so many I never want to part with.

A pack rat, I dont believe I am or have become- but nonetheless from 2 suitcases to this boxes galore situation is cause for contemplation - what happens in 10 yrs or 20 yrs? Would I need a cargo ship?

So muses the mint....

Footnote : Watched Last King of Scotland. Amazing performace by Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, very strong storyline and superb acting by the entire cast.

Hm maybe I should use some of the syrup and have waffles for breakfast today!!