2006~ The Wind up

I just cant believe that we have reached the fag end of 2006.
TEMPUS FUGIT!
2006 has been a year of mixed emotions for me. A lot of joyous incidents took place, but there always is some element of sadness that prevails in people’s lives, however shortlived or stretched it may seem to be.

I happened to go through my archives and found last year’s wind up post , and I realised how things were quiet different then and how things have seemed to have changed now!
Hmm …

T.E.A.L.S.P.A.C.E is more than one year old now. I had started off this year with a craze and passion for blogging … and blogged even during the most testing and tumultous times in the past year …

1. Learnt a lot of lessons, some easy some damn hard.
2. We never seem to realise how blessed we are, do we? Take a lot of things for granted, we do. And yes I do love Jedi Master Yoda [who happens to be my favourite character from Star Wars Series] but I’ll not copy his unique style.
3. Learnt to give my best.
4. Learnt to leave the rest to god.
5. Cant say I am superstitious, but yes I believe in providence, destiny and all that jazz.
6. This year marked a reaffirmation of my faith in many ideas.
7. Threw a surprise party for my best buddy, who’s birthday happens to be today!
8. Learnt to get a grip on some areas and learnt to let go
9. Lost faith in Indian Democracy. 99%.

There are so many path breaking stories that happened this year, some shocking, some mind numbing and some plainly numbing.

1. The ban on blogger! Grrr….
2. The anti reservation protests, which ultimately went in vain. I have decided not to write more about such futile things, where the citizens of a democracy raise a united uproar, and are ultimately hushed to a deathly silence. For my emotions on the same, you could always read my post on that.
3. The July 11 train bombings in Mumbai and the subsequent bombings in Malegaon.
4. FIFA WORLD CUP – Zidane’s (in) famous exit from football [Will miss you Zizou ]
5. The verdict for Jessica Lall’s case.
6. Salman ‘the shirtless’ Khan getting five years of rigorous imprisonment, has also been fined Rs 25,000 and sent to the to Central Jail.
7. Kaavya Vishwnathan’s accolades on her ‘genuine’ work.
8. Schumi’s retirement.
9. Last but definitely not the last – Saddam Hussien’s execution, which happened before dawn today! Around the same time last year Veerappan and now him, next year, hopefully Osama.

Anyways …
Wish you folks a rocking 2007! May god shower all his choicest blessings on you and give you all that you need to achieve your dreams. Have a blast this year!

Carpe Diem.

This Is My Life, RatedLife: 7.3Mind: 6.2Body: 8…

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.3
Mind:	6.2
Body:	8
Spirit:	7.5
Friends/Family:	3.8
Love:	2.9
Finance:	8.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

This is my life’s rating from some arbid site …. .the link found from some arbit person’s blog.
Cant say I agree much with some aspects of the results though

Corporate Comedy :D

There some aspects of work that people love, some that people love to hate. Some that people will never stop cribbing about. As mentioned in my earlier posts [refer June Archive for further details] I had taken a “firm” vow not to crib or whine again in life, since pointless.
Thus proved.
Or is it???
Before I start ranting and raving and lose track of the topic let me continue on the same line of propagation

There are somethings that go on work in a daily basis, some that happen so suddenly and causes such “mayhem” and “chaos” but finds it’s place in our hearts for situational comedy. Many of us would’ve experienced this. Yup, I am talking about Fire Drills.

Each team has it’s safety warden. Or maybe even two. Some companies offer a hideous red cap [headed straight from Bappi da's Fashion "NO-NO" rejection collection] with the words “SAFETY WARDEN” written across it. Some dont.

But what to make of the “Forsaken”, i.e. those that dont have a safety warden????
I dont have one … my company doesnt care about me boohoo (
So anyways,
The PA system emits strange gurgling noises, basically crass cacophony……

“Attention Floor n… attention floor n … thi…isshhhhhh .. shhhhh…”

Me~ Arrgh … I am busy checkin my e-mail, WTH is this …?? ?? $%^&@#

“We are having a shh… sh….”

Ok ok. So we got info prior to the “safety drill” to be conducted. Employees gang up in cubicle with their safety wardens all set and ready to escape …..

Me~ ????

PA:~ “Sorry for previous distubance the. This is you security officer Lardlabakudas speaking. AAal of oooo musht leave the beeeldingg imedeateeelyy “

I think the dude is tryin to say something ….

Hey wait … everyone is casually walking towards the fire exit [in the manner of a marathon/exhibition/any arbitrary crowd pulling event] may be I should go too …

PA:~ “nth floor EVACUATE!!! EVACUATE!!!”

Hmm .. sounds like the dude is having a cardiac arrest or, is threatened at gun point.

Oh a nice walk would do me good.

Tealananda’s tips for fire drills~
________________________

1) Dont walk to close to anyone.
2) This excercise enables us to clearly distinguish between haletosis and Tobacco. It is an essential knowledge for the bloodhound round conducted to award “Employee of the year”.
3) Dont walk in the center, lest you dont enjoy getting squashed into pulp.
4) Take your mobile phone along, to sms on the side, since walking the “n” number of floors might take a nice long time.
5) Make note to use deo at all times.
6) Get a grip and realise that (1) is impossible.

Tealananda’s words of wisdom~
___________________________

1. If you refuse to budge from your system, claiming that you will work till your last breath, be prepared to get blasted by your nearest security officer.
2. If you think mock drills are actual drills [in order to get the real time feel of things] watch out, your clothes might just get stuck in that rusty drawer and get a nice rip in the center.
3. FYI, Rips in formals is SOOO NOT in.
4. Dont be stupid enough to enquire if your other colleagues are ok, and dont rush ahead, because then you wouldnt know whether it is a mock drill or an actual drill.

Author’s Note:
___________

This post strictly doesnt undermine the importance of a fire drill, considering that one facility in my city had caught fire a while ago. So all you sensible people out there.. take a chill pill!!!

Of Grossness and gorging

Most people end up doing this on a daily basis.
People end up doing this as a last resort of hanging out.
No thanks to my wonderful work timings I get to eat around the clock …. and by around the clock i mean throughout the 24 hours. Ordering for food in the hotel near by to place [which under normal circumstances i wouldnt even dreaming of visiting in my life]

IS it the apprehension of being a pure veggie eating at a non veg hotel?
Wat if they mixed ladles ??? Wat if they put chicken stock in veg soup??? [the latter is something i had heard from my school buddy who was doing her nutrition and dietrics internship at a reputed 5 star hotel in gud old chennai pattinam]
Fear engulfed me. Paranoia tried to extend it’s monopoly over all my senses.
And then the primitive need that drives most living beings took me over.
Hunger.

NO. NO. For my fellow veggies and my well wishers who dont even want me to eat egg [read elder sis] I didnt touch non veg. It is something i can never imagine myself doing that. Me and my friends frequent a joint where veg and non veg buffet are kept at a significant distance. Which makes me feel relieved, I must say.

Now most junta from the previous generation dont prefer eating outside for many reasons, all of which I cannot list down right now. But let me tell you guys something. Through out my college days [man, they just got over. Now dont u guys think i am a relic or something ] I used to eat a lot outside. Frequented a lot of popular veggie joints around my city.

Once you order for the food right, here are a few games that came to my mind.

Something I am sure every homo homo sapien has played through out his lifetime.

How long will it take for my dish to arrive????
[Please note the solution to the above is not available in Shakuntala Devi or R.S Aggarwal, despite the printing mistakes]
Sri Sri Tealananda replies~
The answer to this being very very simple. The time it takes for your dish to arrive is inversely proportional to the magnitude of your hunger.
For an instance~
Go shopping in T.Nagar on a saturday or sunday evening [I DARE YOU TO] and drop by at any restaurant. Find a place to sit. [That being a herculean task in itself]
Order a dish.
Find it delivered to your seat in no less than 2 hours.

Panner in Panneer-Butter-Masala-Hunt~
This is a variant of the popular children’s game “Treasure Hunt”.
One of the people seated at the head of the table shud keep track of the time. The others must dig into to the sabji’s container to find the mysterious location of the panner. Finding Tomato pulp or Onion pieces are not counted.
But finding other substances may land you bonus points.
Other variants include Veggies-in-Veg Kadai-Masala, Chicken-in-ChickenMasala… and the like.

Calculate the elasticity of the naan/parotta/chappathi~
For all you geeks out there, who said you dont belong anywhere?
You could always determine the elasticity of naan and the snap threshold of the parotta … based on the timely judgements of the facts that the batter for both would be made even before sunrise the same day. [Not to mention that the gravy for the side-dishes cud be the ones left over from yesterday]

Which is spoiled? The side-dish or the main-dish????~
This is probably the most popular game played by my office buddies. The poor souls ordered a chicken biriyani from the nearby hotel [let us call it KV -> Kuppandi Vilas for now].
Not only does KV charge as per the normal elite hotel rates, they also deliver the food very quickly. Just one hour after you order. The secret task hidden in this game is the endurance. It is a persisting parameter.
By the time the food arrives, my buddies are nearly dead.
And then … the enigma continues ….
Last when I saw those 2 poor souls, they were still in a dilemma.
Wat a grippping game eh?

Eating at Kuppandi Vilas has become a necessity for most people in my office. I for one will stay as far away from it as possible.

Teal’s Note: This is not intended to dissuade all those of you who eat outside.
Nor is it to rub salts into the wounds of those who eat at places like Kuppandi Vilas without a choice.

After keen observation of grossness [not to mention gorging] Tealananda very eloquently surmises~

***Mom’s food is the best***