I miss...

Rains – I miss everything that happens before the rain (the collective effort of all those clouds , the anticipation of it actually raining….and so on) and everything that happens during & after it actually rains (the sound, the smell, the visual, the craving for tea at that time…everything!!). Ohhhhh I miss it all so much.

Movie outings - I miss going to movies almost every weekend .No Hindi movies on big screen here

Driving - I haven’t and wouldn’t buy a car here. The parking situation scares me.

FM - without this, I have no way of knowing which new tracks I would want in my collection. I am not much of a fan of watching music videos on TV.

Shoe Shopping – Like any other girl, this used to be at least a monthly activity. In the last 6 months, I have only bought 2 pairs and that too with much effort. Its not that shoes aren’t available here, however the styles, the prices, the variety … its not the same!!

Head Massages – Apparently salons here don’t offer this. Inspite of the fact that going-to-a-salon is much higher frequency phenomenon here for women; the focus is mainly on look-good activities. I miss the feel-good services like a head massage(oil), an indulgent pedicure (a pedicure here essentially means spending ten minutes on the nails mainly…yes, that’s it! Arghhhhhhhhh!) and so on.

Rotis (home-made)- don’t get wheat flour here. I know it’s unbelievable but that’s how it is.
My cell phone’s ringing diarrohea (or diarrhea) – I miss it,mostly on weekends. Sometimes the phone keeps lying in my handbag all through the weekend without me feeling the need to even look at it once during these two days. I miss talking to friends on the weekends.

AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa

Sometimes i wish to scream for no apparent reason whatsoever.

I am feeling like that at this very moment.
Am I crazy or do we all have such urges?

Why do Russians make kickass chess players?

Somebody forwarded this piece to me recently...

After months of negotiation with the authorities, a Talmudist from Odessa (in Russia) was granted permission to visit Moscow. He boarded the train and found an empty seat. At the next stop a young man got on and sat next to him. The scholar looked at the young man and thought:

This fellow doesn't look like a peasant, and if he isn't a peasant he probably comes from this district. If he comes from this district, then he must be Jewish because this is, after all, a Jewish district.

On the other hand, if he is a Jew, where could he be going? I'm the only Jew in our district who has permission to travel to Moscow.

Ahh? But just outside Moscow there is a little village called Samvet, and Jews don't need special permission to go there. But why would he be going to Samvet?

He's probably going to visit one of the Jewish families there, but how many Jewish families are there in Samvet? Only two - the Bernsteins and the Steinbergs. The Bernsteins are a terrible family, and a nice looking fellow like him must be visiting the Steinbergs. But why is he going?

The Steinbergs have only daughters, so maybe he's their son-in-law. But if he is, then which daughter did he marry? They say that Sarah married a nice lawyer from Budapest, and Esther married a businessman from Zhitomer, so it must be Sarah's husband. Which means that his name is Alexander Cohen, if I'm not mistaken. But if he comes from Budapest, with all the anti-Semitism they have there, he must have changed his name.

What's the Hungarian equivalent of Cohen? Kovacs. But if they allowed him to change his name, he must have some special status. What could it be? A doctorate from the University.

At this point the scholar turns to the young man and says, "How do you do, Dr. Kovacs?"

"Very well, thank you, sir." answered the startled passenger. But how is it that you know my name?"

"Oh," replied the Talmudist, "it was obvious."

Nostalgia one more time!!

Recently I came across this -
http://www.worldschoolphotographs.com

It’s truly something... More than 90% schools in India are covered and not only the city schools at that. Yes many villages are covered too...... I dont know how those guys did it!!! Of course, Africa is not covered in such detail but apart from that the site claims to have covered all other continents. Isnt it something?

You can try and see if yours is there.

"Girly" still evades me...

I guess i cant blame the poor guy (the colleague in my last post)

However 32% is not bad at all..... Given the fact that all the men, i have been friends with, think

"Me being a female" = "Slip at God's part"

You Are 32% Girly

You are a pretty hardcore tomboy, and a very free spirit. Gender roles be dammed, you like to do things your way.

To be or not to be?

While waiting for one of colleagues to finish his work, so that i could get a lift till home.

His boss to him - "Ok, you can try this analysis by using different variables. But pleeeeeeez dont choose the variables like girls"[Whatever that meant...by the tone i was pretty sure it didn't mean to flatter girls]

Me - "I am standing right here, guys!"

The colleague - "Oh come on. You are not a girl."

I wasnt sure who was more deserving of my killing stare!!

Logically...

Read this question in some fun test for logic.

Taking the below statements as a group, which statement is the true one?

• The number of false statements here is one.
• The number of false statements here is two.
• The number of false statements here is three.
• The number of false statements here is four.

Want to give it a try?

They say first level of Maslow's hierarchy, I say the last!!

I have my mid term review today with my boss & the big boss. I am going to be asked questions like – What are your long term objectives? How long do you wish to be in this country? What are your career aspirations – which country from here , which division , which role etc ? Where do you see yourself after 2, 5 and 10 years?

And the problem is that I don’t know. Yes I dont. And I am ok with that.

I never claimed to be career oriented, or ambitious. And I have reached here by natural progression – without proactively doing anything about it. I am good at what I do. But that’s about it! I work because I cant sit idle. I don’t see the motivation to go places in my career. Heading a unit doesn’t motivate me. Maybe I am weird. Or maybe just that I am in the wrong profession. I don’t know.

I like being honest. But I am aware of the fact that if someone mentioned this in their review, probably the management would think of that person as someone lacking drive hence label that person as a non performer. I don’t want them to think like that. For the simple reason that its not true. I am at the same place in this point in time as many of my other peers who were proactive all along in their efforts to reach this position. So like I said my performance has ensured my natural progression. And I am content to be in this place at this without having a future plan. Not because this place in my career is the end that i had envisioned, but for the simple reason that i am a person who doesn't need too much to feel content. I do not rely on having an ambition (career wise) to feel happy & alive.

Maybe I am in that phase of my life where something else is of a higher importance to me than career (Although I doubt if career would ever become my top priority …but that remains to be seen!). And that something else is - ensuring companionship for myself. Yes companionship..more so, for my old age. As of right now I don’t have any complaints about being single. I don’t mind being single, infact enjoy the me-time.

Coming back to my review… what is the best way I can get these guys to figure out that my not gunning for any bigger role or country of strategic importance doesn’t automatically imply that I have lost all interest in my work? That my being content in this place & not having a 10 year plan doesn't mean that I am anti-progression & surprisingly when the progress is for my OWN self. Now being the management, they should be equipped to see things clearly. BUT do they really have the time, more importantly, the willingness to play psychoanalyst for just another employee, revenue generating alright, but just another employee. I don’t think so.

Anyway …enough of whining. Let me go to that damn meeting now. After all I have to negotiate my increment in this meeting. I like the idea of more money.

And No, I don’t wear glasses for my myopia.