Friday, October 29, 2004

Compliments

Today I got one of the best compliments ever :) Oh ya!

I had gone shopping with one of my friends for her Diwali dress (I am her chief style consultant hahaha!) and as usual I dragged her to my fav store in Chennai- Naidu Hall. While we were waiting for the bill, I saw this cute little girl who was talking a mile with her grandma, attracting a lot of attention. We moved closer to her too. Imagine my surprise when the kid turned towards me, looked me up and down, and glancing down shyly, gestured with her hand that I look 'super'! And then she went on to ask her grandma whether she looks like me? And the grandma said "oh ya you do, as pretty as akka." My day was made :)

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Blogging contest

IIM B is running a blogging contest as part of Vista 2004. It will be on till Nov 5 and bloggers need to write on the topic "Innovating at the Frontier". Rs. 3000 at stake!!

Monday, October 18, 2004

No wonder I call Bangalore dumb

Will you believe me if I tell you that the Garden city does not stock dolls?

Ok, Dolls of the right kind?

Ok, Ok, Dolls that are miniature and plenty to find elsewhere in the country?

Well, you better believe it.


When Navaratri started, the first thing we kids did (ya, I still think of myself as a kid!! haha! can you believe that?) was build up ideas on construting a park. For those unelightened souls on Tamil culture, we tams keep something called a golu every navaratri- A golu is an exhibition of dolls arranged in steps- and one of most the nicest things that makes golu famous among kids (Apart from sundal- now how do I describe sundal? and dressing up in diff avatars!) is the park thing. As the word suggests, a park is a park...hmm...thats not much help is it?!

Well, we haul in some soil from the garden, put some seeds (and hope they sprout on time before the visitors start coming in), then we arrange some animals and humans all over so that the set up looks like a park! oof! Thats better!

Some people even build zoos and tripati hills and other strange things!!

Coming to the Bangalore city part... We didn't have miniature humans at home to put in the park as this is the first time the household has agreed to allow a park. As you may guess, this wouldn't do at all! A park without miniature humans? Noway! So VJ did what anyone would have done- promised everyone at home, including the adults, that she will be back in one hour with plenty of humans and some nice park things like swings, see-saws and stuff.

Off she went to the nearest fancy store and in a nice attempt at Kanada asked if they had any 'chikade people dolls'? What is the reply? A wierd look and pointing at a girl doll that is 20 times bigger than what she had in mind! Ok, maybe this shop doesn't know about golu and hence doesn't stock dolls. No probs, there are a million other places right? No! Ninth block? - wierd look, a sarcastic comment at her language! Fourth block?- a little more understanding but still a horizontal head nod!

Maybe it will be with some balloonwalas? The dolls are still 10 times bigger! Here and there she went, combing Bangaluru for some miniature plastic park stuff but poor thing, she had only a sore throat and an aching leg left at the end of the day! And the promise of one hour stretched into three before she finally accepted defeat and went back home!

Back home in dear old Chennai, we used to get this for 5o paise and 1 rupee with almost all road side shops littering near the Parthasarathy temple. And the stuff were so so 'park' But now...cha!
No wonder I call Bangalore dumb!!

Thursday, October 7, 2004

Monday, October 4, 2004

Bannerghatta Road

Anyone who has ever lived in Bangalore for a decent bit of time would know that the Bannerghatta Raod is the worst road they would ever come across in their life, leave alone in Bangalore, but the entire world! When I moved into the campus some one and half years ago, this road was not so bad- it was tolerable! But as my aunt puts it, it has reached such a state now that it has become an option to facilitate difficult deliveries! (of the birth of babies kind!)

Some hope was born three months back though, when the authorities (whoever they are- some say its the highway dept, some say its the BDA, some even say the companies in the road have a signed a contract to maintain the road..) undertook some intense activity- and a new road was built almost overnight (not quiet!) over some of the baddest stretch. As you may guess, things are back to normal today- worse as usual! And when it rains, the road becomes a true Hellway!!

1It is really pathetic that none of the big organizations that have housed their offices in this big road has taken any initiative to get it repaired- there is Honeywell, IIM, Accenture, HSBC and a few others.

But I care, because I have vested interest in the well being of this much neglected poor thingie! After all, my college is ten minutes away and none of my friends volunteer to drop me home because they are simply too afraid of taking up the Bannerghatta Road Adventure!

So, things being the way they are, I was not very surprised when the citizens of the road took it upon themselves to set things right this morning. Stones were thrown, vehicles stopped, people threatened, shops were forced to close their shutters, the traffic police terrorized and Action was demanded!

Traffic was disrupted almost for the entire first half of the day- "You either build the road or forget the road, no vehicle shall pass" was the unsaid slogan along with "Govindo, Gopalo" to heave the heavy stones to the middle of the road! Some of the few enterprising exchange students of IIM were kind enought to pitch in and help the locals too :) and they did get to shoot cute pics of Indian life for return!

My piece of contribution?

You authorities better sit up and take notice soon or we shall do this every morning - "concerned citizen of the BR"

Sunday, October 3, 2004

Camels

Two camels (a mother and a baby) were lazing around, when suddenly baby camel said.

Baby: "mother, mother, can I ask you some question?"

Mother: "sure! why son, is there something bothering you?"

Baby: "why do camel have humps?"

Mother: "well son, we are desert animals, we need the humps to store water and we are known to survive without water."

Baby: "okay, then why are our legs long and our feet rounded."

"Son, obviously they are meant for walking in the desert. You know with these legs I can move around the desert better than anyone", said the mother proudly.

Baby: "okay, said baby camel. "then why are our eye lashes long? Sometimes it is bothering my sight." said baby camel.

Mother: "my son, those long thick eye lashes are your protective cover. They help to protect your eyes from the desert sand and wind." Said mother camel with eyes brimming with pride.

Baby: "I see. So the hump is to store water when we are in the desert, the legs are for walking through the desert and these eye lashes protects my eyes from the desert. Then what the hell are we doing here in a zoo???

The Moral of the Story : Skills, Knowledge, Abilities and Experience are only useful if the management gives opportunity!!

Friday, October 1, 2004

That was a long long gap

Ok, that was a long long gap!! And it was no deep slumber!! Rather an unexplainable coma!! hahaha!! Shall come back soon ... ;)

By the way, I love my new site design, dont you?