I dreamed a dream

No this post is not an ode to the sensational Susan Boyle.
I generally have dreamless sleeps but when I dream, I dream like no one else I think.

Yesterday, rather early morning today I had a rather strange dream which gave me enough fodder to make a post.

My house is just a stone's throw away from the beach. And I dreamt we were being attacked by the Taliban from the sea route! We saw from our terraces the whole big fleet of the Taliban catamarans approaching the Elliot's Beach (If a few readers are reminded of the movie Troy, I appreciate their skills to put things in a proper perspective.) No sooner did we saw the approaching fleet, than we started making preparations to fend the attack. Everyone started bolting their doors and putting extra locks.

But in no time we got news of Block A of the apartment complex being completely taken under Taliban control (Thank God we stay in block B) We also started getting news of the atrocities meted out by the Taliban like ordering the inmates to cook food, provide fluffier beds and all. We were counting the hours before we too would be under their control. Then I remembered that my friend A stays in the same floor as us and just 2 doors away (She actually stays in a different city). She has the dubious distinction of being the last person to know things that are important, I felt it was my moral duty to warn her. I walked the corridor carefully and reached her house, and as I had expected, the main door was open. I was filled with trepidation. Then when I entered her house, I saw 2 militants, hiding under a rack, and thankfully with their back towards me. I tip toed inside and in hushed tones warned my friend that the militants were already in her house! We carefully walked back to the front door (again praise the Lord that they did not look back when we were walking out of the house in stealth mode. ) We locked the door from outside and ran to save our lives.

But by the time we got back to my house, pandemonium had broken loose. That is when the whole building was evacuated and we all started running. There were gun shots, sounds of siren, smoke and fume all around and we were all running being chased by the men in turban. And all the time I was thinking - I don't want to die running :(

Suddenly we spotted a cavalcade of trucks. We were scared again since we were unsure if they were friends or foes. We all started to run backwards. Some people started climbing trees and hiding in a park nearby. That's when my Dad called and asked me - "Where are you? Why are you breathless?" I said Taliban has attacked Chennai. He was aghast and asked why had'nt I informed him? I said, "But you were sleeping" (I have no idea why I replied that.) He said, "Atleast you could have told me, I could have got the car. Rather than running we could have used the car". Then I said, "Dad there is no place to use a car here. Everyones running!" Then the call got disconnected and I heard someone on the loudspeaker from the trucks saying "We are the Indian Army. You all are safe now" I heaved a sigh of relief and calmly opened my sleepy eyes.

Mil and K were in splits hearing of the dream. But imagine what all I can amalgamate. This dream had traces of 2 news stories - the Taliban and LTTE saga. It was also influenced by Dr. Manhattan's character from Watchmen. Plus I had my usual family characters and friends whom I love a lot and think about too. Some dream!

Century!

Thanks a ton Ashu for giving some exercise to my grey cells. :) Here comes a very lenghty tag.. Brace yourself.

1. Last drink: Coffee

2. Last phone call: With Mommmmy

3. Last text message: Some Airtel promotion message

4. Last song you listened to: Something on in my gym maybe Britney Spears crooning "I was born to make you happy"

5. Last time you cried: Last weekend maybe. I was boredddddd cos K would nt give me the laptop. I still cry if I am bored :D A trait that has remained since I was a toddler.

HAVE YOU EVER...
6. Dated someone twice: K who else.

7. Been cheated upon? Cheated - Guess no.

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? Hell no

9. Lost someone special? Hmm I dont think so.

10. Been depressed? Of course!! And I tell you its an awful feeling.

11. Been drunk and threw up? Nopes

LIST THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS:
12. Red
13. Black
14. Blue

FIRSTS :
15. Made new friends: Yes :) Luckily started it in school when I chanced upon Sameepa. She was a friend to stay.

16. Fallen out of love: No - Am too level headed for that

17. Laughed until you cried: That's not me :)

18. Met someone who changed you: Changed me a little bit? - Yes. My friend Swapna did bring about some changes in me. Again I am too stubborn to bring in a whole lot of change.

19. Found out who your true friends were:Yes during graduation.

20. Found out someone was talking about you:Yes in school :) We were silly girls then :)

HAVE/YOU:
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: K is very much on my friends list :P

22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life:There are 4 whom I don't know. Rest all I do.

23. How many kids do you want to have: 2

24. Do you have any pets:No

25. Do you want to change your name: NO

26. What did you do for your last birthday: Went roamie roam with K :)

27. What time did you wake up today: 9:45 technically though woke up umpteen times for the milkman, open door for household help, close the door once she left, answer a phone call from - Log sunday ko sone bhi nehi dete hain :(

28. What were you doing at midnight last night: Reading Love in the time of Cholera

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: My parents to make a visit here

30. Last time you saw your father: In March

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life:One decision I took in my professional career

32. Most visited web page: Goooooooooogle

Whats your:
33. Name: Amrita

34. Nicknames: Cherrie, Amu, Moooo, Moosie, Chubby,Bunny

35. Zodiac sign:Sagi

36. Male or female or transgender: Huh. Female

37. Elementary: St. Annes Convent School

38. School: Carmel Convent

39. Colleges:NIT Rourkela

40. Hair color: Jet Black

41. Long or short: Longish :)

42. Height: A little less than 5 5"

43. Do you have a crush on someone? Hugh Jackman, Sachin Tendulkar :D

44. Ever been in love? Still am :D :D

45. Piercings? Ears and they suffice

46. Tattoos? Are you talking to me?

47. Righty or lefty: Righty right

48. First surgery: Will the ear piercing count? :P I got it done at a pediatrician

49. First piercing: Those ears are coming in a lot of answers

50. First best friend: A girl name Ranjita in school. We were such thick friends.

51. First sport you loved: Badminton

52. First pet: A doggy named Ramu :) Ram Jaane how his name came :)

53. First vacation: We used to make yearly trips to my mom and dad's native place during summer vacations. But a real vacation which I remember was a trip to UP and Delhi with 13 other member of our family.

54. First concert: I attended or I gave? :D

55. First crush:Mel Gibson and Roberto Baggio :) I had a crush on Baggio more when he missed the penalty stroke. My heart just went out to him.

RIGHT NOW:
56. Eating: Nothing.

57. Drinking: Nothing again.

58. I'm about to: Make lunch

59. Listening to: K blabber his suggestions on how to answer the questions

60. Waiting for: Him to shut up.

YOUR/FUTURE
61. Want kids? Of course

62. Want to get married? I am. Not again :D

63. Careers in mind? Oh manyyyyy Full time mom, teacher, librarian, financial honcho.... lotsss

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
64. Lips or eyes:Eyes undoubtedly

65. Hugs or kisses: Warm tender hugs

66. Shorter or taller: Tall. Short men don't make much of a statement :D ( Sorry no offense )

67. Older or Younger:Older

68. Romantic or spontaneous:Spontaneous. Romantic is so filmy

69. Nice stomach or nice arms: Nice arms only they can give the nice hugs :)

70. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive

71. Hook-up or relationship:Relationship dude.

72. Trouble maker or hesitant:I love trouble :)

HAVE YOU EVER :
73. Kissed a stranger: And why would I?

74. Lost glasses / contacts: Don't need either

75. Broken someone's heart: Nay I am not a heart breaker

76. Had your own heart broken: It broke when I heard Mel Gibson has a Russian girlfriend :( :( :(

77. Been arrested: Noooooo

78. Turned someone down:Yes

79. Cried when someone died: Hmm yes

80. Liked a friend that is a girl?Like? :S I dont think this like is in the right sense

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
81. Yourself: Everyday

82. Miracles:Again everyday

83. God:Hes my pillar of strength

84. Love at first sight:Of course not

85. Heaven:No. Everything is right here on earth.

86. Santa Claus:Hehe no. It was a Mrs Udita Kapoor in school who used to dress up as one. So I always knew who he is :D

87. Kiss on the first date?No.

88. Angels:Yes. Moms are.

89. Devils: Yes :) Many kids are. :)

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
90. Is there one person you want to be with right now?I am with him now.

91. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time?No.

92. Wanted to kill someone ever? Oh yes. Sometimes I wonder how are suparis given :D

93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss? Ewww no one.

94. Committed a blunder and regretted later? Are nt all blunders regreted later?

95. Wanted to steal your friend's boyfriend / girlfriend? Noo.

Associate with something you wear:
96. White: Kurta

97. Black:T shirt

98. Red: Saree

99. Pink: Shirt

100. Posting this as 100 Truths? Was fun :)

Now I tag Renu, Shalom, I'll try 2 be truthful,Satish ,Abhishek Khanna(I know you hate doing them and would make a complete nonsense out of this - but i am being optimistic here that you may just write it ) and Shylu

Mera time kuch kharab chal raha hai :(

Yesterday was a very long day for me. Yesterday I was pick pocketed. Yes - you guys heard it right, and I am bad at keeping suspense and revealing at the very end as to why yesterday was a very long day for me - I was robbed of my wallet. Of the zillion + 1 things I carry in my big as a rucksack purse, the small cute navy blue wallet was what was chosen by the disreputable thief. And with it went 800 odd rupees, one ICICI platinum card, one ICICI silver card and 2 debit cards :( Thats why I said, mera time kuch kharab chal raha hai :(

Now back to the basics, how did it happen. Well yesterday I chanced to get into a bus to commute to office. As per my habit I paid for the ticket and went ahead to read Love in the time of Cholera. When I alighted from the bus, my purse felt a teeeeeny weeeeny lighter and I checked - the wallet was MISSING! Now till then I gave no thought as to who, when, how - I ran to the nearest auto. The urgency in my tone was sufficient to convey to the auto driver who knew no other language but Tamil to go ahead and chase the bus. He could have given any Hrithik Roshan a run for his money by the Dhoom ishtyle in which he drove the auto rickshaw. We reached the bus in the next to next stop and when I got in and checked, there was no purse to be found :( First I thought, maybe I was careless and had dropped the purse and the driver or conductor took it up. Crestfallen, I asked the auto rickshaw driver to drive me home, promising him to pay once we got home. On the way back itself, zip zap I got 2 messages of transactions worth Rs. 2840.50 and Rs. 6293.00(within a span of 15 mins of loosing my wallet). Then I was certain, that none of the bus operators had picked the wallet, cos they would be still on the route. It must have been someone who took it deliberately - and I had quite a few people who chanced to sit beside me and there could have been any number of opportunities for someone to pick pocket :(

I must commend the auto rickshaw driver for the awesome help that he was. I later discovered that he was infact waiting for someone to come when I came and approached him. But rather than waiting for that person, he chose to drive and help me. His other passenger in fact still owed him money for the onward trip. I called up that person to speak to him, since the auto driver did not have balance in his cell phone. The other gentleman said that, he had picked the auto from near his home and would pay him surely in the evening.

Once home, I had to go through the long, unnerving and extremely irritating process of cancelling 2 credit cards and 2 debit cards. My God, how ICICI bank made me wait wait and wait phew! I have gotten allergic to the theme tune of the bank grrrrrrr.... It took from 1220 to 1445 to get the 4 things blocked. Then since there had already been some transactions on my credit card, I had to file an FIR in the nearest police station and fax the same to the Fraudulent Department of the bank. When anything has to go wrong it will most definitely go wrong. Today being election day in the state, most police men were on election duty and the rest present were munching mutton biriyani clad in white vests ( believe me thats what they were doing ) When I saw the sight I thought I wonder if anything will work out today :( But I think the writer recognised my face ( Yes I had come to the same police station 2 months back to inform about the loss of my cell phone, and he obliged to take the complaint. Thank God! As we were coming out, we heard of another case of a girl having left her credit card in the ATM machine itself! Someone withdrew 4K cash and used the card to shop for 15K odd! She had left the debit card in her office ATM machine, means someone well educated was into such abhorable task. Maybe there should be more plastic money :(

FIR logdged, we came back home. I was dead tired not only with all the scurrying around but also because of a reprimands I got from K. He was hyper, tensed and very very anxious. And my dad being his replica, I had warned my sis not to tell him. When I reached home from the police station at 1530 and was about to have lunch, my dad wanted to speak to me! I was nearly narrating Hanuman Chalisa. I was too happy to hear "It happens dont worry" rather than a face a rampage from him. He was so chilled out!! I was amazed! Maybe he thought I must have got a heady dosage from K and could do without a repeat telecast from him. Lunch done, I lied on the sofa and dozed off for an hour and my mil who was with me through and through (poor dear she ) too had a cat nap.

Evening was full of analysis of how, why, when, destiny, karma, God. We called up the store as well to find out what had been shopped and it seems the spurious person had bought vessels and a fan! My dad was like " Arre why did nt he/she buy and ac!" I was like "Dadddddd!! " My manager being the good samaritan that he is, offered any sort of help needed even monetary :) When I informed my onsite counterparts, I was touched to see their empathy and concern. One of them retorted, the fiend should be made to do allllllllll the documentations of our projects, not once not twice but thrice and should even be made to answer some questionnaires :)

Frankly speaking, I was having a very ominous feeling since the morning. One thing or the other was going wrong. I had a strong sense something very wrong was going to happen. So when the theft happened, I was relieved in fact, that okay, if this is what had to go wrong, its fine. Whatever happens happens only for the good....

We have moved on and How!

Some days back I saw the wedding pics of a college mate of mine. I was kind of close to her at one point of time, but over the years our alignments and affiliations changed, and we formed our own distinctive circle of friends. Thanks to orkut, we kept getting updates on whats happening in the other person's life. When I saw her wedding pics 2 days back, I felt 2 things - first nostalgic - yea this was the way I had wedded some 15 months back and secondly - I thought how much we have moved on.

Most of my friends are married. Some nearly for half decades now, some in the seven year itch state :). Some are mothers! And most on the lookout for alliances or waiting for their turn to tie the knot. Some of my friends had improbable demands - and I saw them acquiesce real timidly to the charms of the guy and the whims of destiny. Some had long time sweethearts turned into soul mates. Some had difficult conditions and heavy baggage to carry but ended up getting the perfect person to share the burden. Some are still on the hunt for the perfect one - and I hope they get the partner of their dreams..

Today as I look my one year old neice and hear her mom say, I have to start saving for her wedding - I feel thats how maybe my mom would have said for me. And see now I am married, my parents are done with probably one of the greatest responsibilities. They still are waiting to do a lot more for me, but I am sure, getting a child marriage was something they will always feel proud of. When I see wedding pics of my friends, the thing that wows me most, is the expressions on the parents. I think its unfathomable the physical strain they would have underwent while arranging all the stuff and the less said of the mental anxiety the better. So on the wedding day, the eyes filled with love and concern for their wards yet a strange satisfaction is what makes me feel - we are blessed. We are blessed to have such parents.

And life does go on post wedding. Many things change, many for the better, some remain the same and some we struggle to keep the same. But the flux is really interesting. I was talking to my dear friend A yesterday who has lately gotten into full blown domesticity. And I was asking her hows life treating her now and all. Topics veered and we were reminiscent, how dark a picture we had of marriage. So unsure, so frightening. What if we ended up with the wrongest man on earth!! How might we go on? Touchwood - till now nothing that untoward has happened. (Hope our spouses have the same to say ;) ) During our student life, we saw married folks, but that was just passe. Today we are leading those lives and sometimes I think - hows married life for a particular person, how do so and so spend their time together, how do they manage to run the house. Nothing voyeuristic. But just like when we look at a house from outside and think about the people inside or hear about a profession and are curious as to what people actually do sitting in those place, similarly, I feel how others lives are. ( I am not sure how many people "look at a house from outside and think about the people inside" - but I do :S )

And then I feel how much I myself have transitioned. Today my answer to "hows married life?" would be different from what I would have answered in Feb 2008. And it will be so different in Feb 2010.

Mazdoor Union

Zindabad zindabad!!

I hate communism. But I Lourveeeeeeee them for giving us Labor Day! Chuttiiiiiiiiii!!

This was a weekend I was awaiting with bated breath. This year since its inception has been damn hectic; and all my plans of taking breaks, vacations, time offs have been going for a toss. I have had to work on weekends- many times on my own volition, on holidays, work from home after office hours and all that jazz. I was anticipating something untoward to happen this long weekend too - upar se election vilection ka time hai bhai - one never knows.

But then I think good Lord looking over me from the high heavens thought, ok let the sloth sloth around this time. And I ended up having the lazzzzzzzzzzzzzzziest 3 days possible.

Friday I lazily woke up at 8 ( very late by the standard of a good bahu) Once done with the morn chores and seeing K off (he had office all the 3 days) and done with an early lunch - I hit the bed. And i dozed a good 4 hours! Evening I caught up with some blogs, orkutted, chatted and generally browsed. Saturday was spent equally leisurely in the company of magazines and books. Evening we had invited Ks newly wed cousin and his bride for dinner. Mil and I were scurrying around in the kitchen, me busy with matar paneer and she with kolambu. Luckily both the dishes came out yummy yum. The couple wanted to get some shopping done and I escorted them to some areas near the beach to get the stuff. We never realised how we just like that passed 2 solid hours going from shop to shop.

And it was really endearing to see the newly wedded couple. Theirs is again a love marriage and the guy is head over heels over head in love with the gal. There he was playing the perrrrrrrfect hubby. Running to open the doors, pulling out the wallet zap as soon as they reached the billing counter, buying gifts secretely for her and asking me to hide them and to the extent of running to pick the shopping trolley for her too. I was like Dude, till 2 days ago she was doing all this on her own, and you get married to her and treat her as if shes some princess from Egypt. Then the girl was like, I swear, 2 days into marriage and hes like this - let a year pass, then I would have to remind him who I am. To this he solemnly replied - I wont change. I was like, touche :)

It was a real pleasure hosting them over. And sunday, mil and I bonded over the tv. Random we were watching shows all over the place :) End of day we made two bigggggggggggg jars of musk melon milk shake and mango milk shake - gulped a good amount (WOW) and kept the rest for the bebe of the house.

A gooood lazzzzy longggg weekend. Bring on the monday now. Am not afraid of it :D

My two pints about belief

First things first - I am extremely sorry to my blogger friends for not having visited you all in a long time - scarcely have any time in a day :( But trust me I keep thinking how things might be going at your end - how are Renu's thought provoking blogs shaping up? Hows Abhishek's humor doing? How is Shalom faring with her bebe? Whats cooking at Satish's? How are the tunes of the Piper? Whats up new with niceguy? And Raaji? Hows she been doing? And all the others who adorn my favs list on the right hand side..... I am immensely sorry for not having visited you guys.. I am not sure if you would be missing me as much as I do you all... But trust me.. once I get a breather I will read each and every post that I have missed.

This post is about something else. Recently I made a trip to a temple for the head tonsuring of my 12 month old niece. It is a custom around here to have the head tonsuring once the kid turns a year old at the family deity temple. So out of our busy work schedules both K and I had to beg and threaten (beg superiors and threathen kiddos working with us *evil* ) people at office to get one day's leave. And we went to a place called Vaidheeshwaran Kovil which is a 6 hours drive from Chennai.

Now that place had such a weather, that one could bring hard core criminals for third degree torture there. It was blazing hot, not an ounce of wind and swamped with mosquitoes. But what pained me most was the sight of my niece and her cousin ( her paternal cousin is a day older to her and had also come by for the tonsuring ceremony) The babies were nearly roasting in the heat and under the humid conditions and taking care of the kids both the moms had lost all color. It kind of made me think about the efficacy of holding such ceremonies at the cost of convenience.

I know I know purists will be leaning to strangle me - but then think about it - is nt it better to do away with some rituals as they loose their significance? In earlier times, families and extended families used to stay in and around the temple of the family God. That only made the diety the family God in the first place. So ceremonies were held in the temples of the family God so that all got a chance to get together and an excuse to pray together too. But now as families are moving away from their roots, is it still essential to hold onto these customs? Would nt it have been better if the function was held with fanfare at the place of residence of the parents - in some temple there? Is it that God only resides in a particular temple? I dont think so? I somehow feel it would have been much more endearing if all would have gotten together at the kids place, had a small party, given some daan at a social service institute - that would have been so much more meaningful rather than wasting resources in to and fro travels and stays.

My mil said, you sacrifice your looks to appease God. That's why you need to go the said temple and tonsure the child's head. That made me think what my mom always says - God never wants anything from us - come on why would He want anything? He Himself is omnipotent and He has given us what we have. What will He do with our offerings? The only thing he wants is our devotion. And I somehow have always stood by it. I feel it is ridiculous trying to give flowers, fruits, incense to God. He is much much above all this?

And I hate the practice of promising stuff in lieu of favors from God. I am a devotee of Chilkur Balaji and there its a norm to go around the deity 108 times if a wish gets fulfilled. Once when my first wish (which I put more as a litmus test of the powers of the deity) came true, I thought am I not doing business with God rather than believing in Him? But when I made the 108 pradakshina around the temple and as I was chanting His name, I thought, at least by these 108 rounds around the deity, I am chanting His name for 4 odd hours. This is a simple thing we humans forget to do - thank God when all is right. Maybe this rule was made in the first place to ensure that we thank God. And thank Him not by buying stuff and placing at His feet, but by remembering Him and filling ourselves with his belief.

The quotes of Kabir Das always linger with me "Dukh main sumiran sab karen dukh main kare no koi, Jo sukh main sumiran kare, dukh kahe ko hoi? "
(Means, everyone remembers God when in sorrow, no one remembers him during happy times. But one who prays during good times, would never have sorrow befall him)

So true....

Ps. This post was entirely my personal thought. I welcome any comments on it. And I apologize before hand if I offended any one inadvertently.

Severances

Since the beginning of this month I have been keeping busy as hell. I have been getting 6 hours of sleep only. Office work is too damn challenging and managing a team being a new ball game altogether I am always on my toes. So much, I see myself loosing my cool at times. I am not a person to react - in fact I feel I am too lazy to react. But lately I see myself, reacting on a fraction of a second to people. There was a point where I was about to be very caustic in my reply to a person pretty high up - because the facts he demanded were completely meaningless and a waste of time. Then perchance I remembered rule no. 1 of professional etiquette "Respond- do not react to emails." And thank God I excercised restrain else there would have been some good music high up.

With K also keeping an equally busy schedule, we hardly had time for each other for that matter. Again Thank heavens for cell phones that we were able to be updated about at least what was happening in the other person's life.

Thanks to the cooperation of my team members, we were able to pull through something which was more or less resigned to be unachievable. We won accolades for the same and it was all kinda going to get a relatively smoother track. But then last Thursday, as I was thinking about how badly we were slogging our a**es(excuse the term) off, I got a news which completely threw me off balance. The onsite coordinator (let me call him FB )who was such a charm to work with was being replaced. He was being moved out of the project and another person was supposed to take up extra responsibility of his tasks. FB was sheer pleasure to work with. I had even mentioned about him here. His moving away came as a total shocker. Someone who was 44 years of age, had given 25 years of service to the firm that he was with, who had exceptional technical skills, was very adept at process related work and immensely talented at people management - he was being released. I suppose it was the first time, I felt sad to have someone leave whom I had no personal touch with. Over the 9 months, without even meeting, just over emails, phone calls and chats, he had build such a rapport, that it was completely unbelievable to imagine normal work without him. I always consider him as my idol - some one like whom I would like to be when I reach that point - and we always saw him as someone indispensable. But the way he was being unceremoniously removed due to budget constraints just made me wonder - what a bloody dog eat dog world is this.

My parents are from the government sector so I am kind of used to seeing the kind of respect society and their job arena places on them. The private sector does not have time or patience for those peripheral benefits. It has a different aura of its own where "performance" matters - period. I always thought, the kind of person and performer FB was, he would withstand the ravages of any recession - cause his are big shoes to fill in, he is nearly irreplaceable. But when he also bore the brunt - I thought - where do I stand? Some one who is echelons below him in every domain. I still am shocked and disillusioned - but then F's optimism only brought a smile on my face. When I asked him what were his plans going forward, with his characteristic smile he replied - "Not a worry Aamreeta ( thats how he pronounces my name :) ) I will look for avenues outside the firm, if need be. Else when authorisations are back, I will come back and join you guys in this project again"
Attaboy! Hope you get back to this very account FB.