It’s Expensive!

The opposition called for a nationwide ‘bandh’ (general strike) yesterday against the centre’s decision to hike fuel prices. Normal life was disrupted in most major cities – no public transport, delayed flights and trains, closed shops and offices etc.  It was a huge inconvenience to the public and a lot of money was lost. I watched all this on the news bulletin at night on a popular news channel (NDTV) at night. The news channel was also hosting a sort of debate. There were people from the opposition party who were in favor of the bandh as well as other prominent personalities like Rahul Bajaj (MD, Bajaj Motors) who were agaisnt it. The arguments against the bandh like – it’s the common man who’s being inconvenienced, workers on daily wages lost a day’s wages and the right place to protest was the Parliament- seemed very reasonable.  The members of the opposition argued that the bandh was against rising prices of essential commodities and was necessary to wake up the ruling party. My first reaction was it’s the usual political game that the opposition and ruling party are always involved in. Maybe it was, but the fact that prices have really gone up hit me the next day.  I walked into this shop to buy half-a-litre of milk. When the shopkeeper told me it cost 17 rupees, I was taken aback. I checked the print on the milk packet to confirm the price and realised the shopkeeper wasn’t duping me. A litre of milk now costs Rs34!  Can the poor in our country really afford food anymore?I don’t know if the bandh was the right form of protesting but it definitely made me think…

A Refreshing Weekend Break!

This is my first post after Manas & I got married… :)Manas and I just got back from Ooty and it’s made me realize how refreshing vacations can be. Ooty (Ootcamund) is a popular hill station in Tamil Nadu. To get there, you can reach Coimbatore (flight/train) and then drive up to Ooty or, take the toy train from Mettupalayam.We visited some popular tourist spots like Pykara lake, Shooting Point and Botanical Gardens. But what we enjoyed the most was the idyllic walks down winding roads and just feeling the cool breeze on our faces. We’ve known each other for more than eight years and we still had so much to talk about! Having those conversations made us realize that even though we live together we didn’t connect at this level on a daily basis. This time we spent together made us realize how important it is to take vacations because even at home there is always something that eats into your personal time. You’re not always able to connect at the level you want to.On our way back to Coimbatore, we stopped over at this tea garden. The view from the road was breathtakingly beautiful. After a walk around the tea gardens we went into the factory where the tea leaves were processed. The guide was talking in Tamil so we just looked at the equipment and figured out the process :)We reached Coimbatore in the evening and took the flight back to Hyderabad. Like always we didn’t want the vacation to end and the thought of joining office the next day was not very pleasing. But we felt this renewed sense of energy and surprisingly we didn’t mind going to office so much :P

Quarter-ed?

I’m blogging after almost a quarter. The last time I blogged Q1 was just starting… and now we’re almost a month into Q2…

I’ve been working with Google for just over 2 years now and one of the things it has given me (apart from the extra weight ;)) is a new unit of time-’quarter.’  I’ve actually started measuring my life in quarters. It’s like living from one quarter to another :) I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad but it has subconsciously become a part of me and a lot of people around me.

That reminds me of a really funny incident… Someone asked one of my friends in office “How long have you been married?” and she replied saying “Just over 3 quarters now!”

A War Zone ?

I’m writing this at a time which is slightly unusual for blogging. Unusual because I’m in office and at this time of the day I’m usually loaded with work. Well it’s the beginning of the quarter and work is light :) So, what am I doing right now?

I’m sitting in the cafe and gazing out of the window… but the view is not as pleasant or beautiful as you’d like it to be :( There is a huge under construction building blocking the view in fact it is the view. The sun is trying really hard to shine but the fog is unrelenting. The steel girders, bricks and concrete blocks lying around coupled with the almost gloomy weather gives you the feeling of being in a war zone. It feels like the scene from one of those ‘The day the earth stood still’ kind of movies where you see broken buildings and structures against the back drop of a dark gloomy sky…

It makes we wonder if I’m seeing a small glimpse of the future… hmm… no these things only happen in movies and lets hope it stays that way :) !

One eventful year… Thanks :)

My blog completed a year :) I received this blog as a new year gift last year and it’s been one of the best gifts I ever got. Thanks Manas :) I should have said this a long time ago.

When I look back it’s been quite an eventful year… I haven’t been as regular as I should have been with updating my blog and I’m hoping I’ll do better this time around.  I’m looking forward to a lot of things this year hopefully more fodder for my blog… :P

Tags: gift, personal

This is taking longer…

This time they’ve come closer to breaking our spirit… and it’s not city A or city B’s spirit… it’s the entire nation. There is this seething rage and anger which can be felt from everyone. We’re expressing ourselves through peaceful marches, blogs and candles. We’re not trying to get over it but instead we’re looking to bring about a change…Inspite of all this, I’m in two minds about visiting a busy market place over the weekend… have they really hit me? I hope not…

Now Mumbai :(

The terrorist attacks in Mumbai prove yet again how vulnerable we are as a nation. The frequency and nature of these attacks make makes one believe in the futility of life… We don’t know if we’ll walk back into our houses once we step out of them. We’re apparently one of the strongest economies in the world with a growth rate of around 7%. But the kind of infrastructure our government has to fight terrorism and the weapons they provide our officers to fight terrorists are ancient to say the least. They have the spirit and the courage but these alone are not enough to  combat terrorists who use weapons that are way more advanced. Let’s face it-a service pistol is no match for an AK-47. Looking at everything it seems that terrorists are more determined and well prepared to kill us than we are to save ourselves.

After every terrorist attack we as common people are expected and encouraged to bounce back. We hear time and again about the undying spirit of Mumbai/Delhi etc… but the question is till when before we run out of it?

Finally I bought (my first) new phone… :)

I’ve been working for more than two years but I bought my first phone a few days back. No, I haven’t been living without a phone :) Who can?

I got my first phone in college but it was not new it was passed on from my brother. I got my second phone when I was in third year because the first one stopped working and my dad decided to change his phone. Yes, I got my dad’s old phone :) The next time my dad decided to change his phone… I got my third phone!

Finally, after much deliberation and consultations/opinions/reviews I bought an ASUS P320. A very decently priced phone for it’s features (GPS etc), pretty sleek and good to use. It can be a little slow at times but they had to cut costs and compensate somewhere ;)

My sister has been down with viral fever for the past one week and I’ve been working from home. At home for four straight days… I don’t remember the last time I spent so much time at home. It gave me the feeling of being in college when we had vacations :) Talking about vacations… I can’t recall the last time I went on one. Either I’m suffering from amnesia or I haven’t had a vacaation in a very long time. Of course it’s the latter :)

It’s high time I go on a holiday!

Which class do you study in? :P

A funny thing happened with me a few days back. I went to a boutique to pick up my clothes. While I was waiting for my packet to arrive the lady incharge started talking to me. The conversation started with the general small talk like where do you live etc. The next question was ‘Which class are you studying in?’ I looked at the lady smiled demurely and said I was working. She was visibly surprised but the expression when I told her that I had been working for two year was worth seeing. Her jaw dropped and she just kept looking at me for thirty seconds then finally she managed a smile and said “uh.. oh ok.”

It’s not the first time someone mistook me for being a school going teenager but it’s the first time I’m blogging about it :)