Some Sizzling Scintillating Speculations

Thought for the day: Choices are the hinges of destiny Edwin Markham Hello, hello..and how’ve you all been? After a hectic work week, that ended with a headache and me sleeping a cool 10 hours, I woke up refreshed at 5 AM(Crazy, I think-waking up at that hour on a holiday). Today and tomorrow are ‘refresh ‘ days. Began it with the usual cuppa tea. Watched an episode of Seinfeld. Extremely funny. Great way to begin the day. Went for a nice long one hour walk. It’s still pleasant weather here, for this time of the year.(Touchwood, it’ll continue). Came back, feeling oxidized(Well, with all that unpolluted air being breathed in, it can be called an oxidizing experience, na?) Went straight for the breakfast table. Great buffet, as usual. Juice, salad, muesli in cold milk. The Special item was Aloo Paratha-had a quarter piece with curd. And, that’s enough to help skip lunch.:) Went up.. It was 8 AM by this time. Saw two tea-trays outside two rooms, with the tea and milk jugs in them....

I found this one while rummaging through some clippings in Baroda. Can you spot what the funny part of this is? It's a part of a drawing made by an air conditioning consultant for a theatre project, and given to me(when I was in my first company)  for preparation of our drawings. I'd been tempted to continue to use his literary expertise in my Co's drawings,  but decided against it.:) ------- For some reason, I'm reminded of the days in our ancestral home in Baroda. It was in the seventies- I was maybe 5 or 6 years old and, this was one of the big pleasures of life, then. In the evening, we'd go out towards Sursagar Lake. Right opposite it, there was a makeshift shelter made by a poor family. And, there was a wizened old guy there. He was a balloon seller. No, not gas balloons, but, round water balloons, about the size of an apple, and tied and strung by a black (cut) rubberband cut in 1/2 a foot length, made out of the material tyres are made of. It used to cost...

You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life....James G. Bilkey Fourth day here in the city of gold. Time’s been flying by, as usual. Let me go back to Sunday morning. Eventful, as usual. Read on: Got up at 430 AM(After checking the time at 1200, 0130, 0330…LOL) finally. Went to brush teeth and voila- no water in the basin. Apparently, the building’s overhead tank decided to empty itself overnight. Instead of being superstitious (that the day wouldn’t go well or something) or annoyed, I went and told the watchman who immediately switched on the pump and things were normal.:) The pick-up taxi guy came at sharp 530 and we left- had a ½ hour of sleep on the way. Reached by 730. A bit surprising to see less of a crowd than usual, even the 20-people-come-to-drop-the-maa-da-laadla-off-at-airport-who-wait-till-plane-takes-off crowd which hangs (literally hangs, on the railings) outside the entry gate were less. I entered, ready...

Thought for the day: Thoughts are sending out the magic signal that is drawing the parallel back to you...from'The Secret'. (So, you think positive, you attract positive and vice versa....try it..it's absolutely true.:)) One more day-today here, tomorrow there..this time a slightly longer visit. 'The Secret' has worked fine so far. I just know it'll continue to do it's magic!Wish me luck! I will be back, I will be back, I am back!!:) In the meantime, let me enjoy tomorrow's journey..hope the flight's not late, otherwise the samosa saga will repeat. I'll soon begin a 'thankful' series...the idea's just germinating in my mind. Let's see. There's an idea for a 'review' series as well. Let's see, again!:) ...to be continued.

Thought for the day:  Gloom we have always with us, a rank and sturdy weed, but joy requires tending.... Barbara Holland (Quite apt for this post, by coincidence only) I've been more in Baroda since the last six months, than I've been in eight years. And, I was discussing with some friend(s) about how things have changed, and for the better, and how nice it is to see these changes.  (This represents 3-4 tete-a-tetes): Me: It's amazing- broadband speed has gone up like anything. I'm using Tata Photon Plus, and it's superfast. Him: Oh, you just wait and see- as the number of people goes up, the speed will begin going down and will be just like dial up and you won't be able to load even yahoo with ease. Me: Isn't the VMSS(Vadodara Municipal Seva Sadan) doing a great job with the roads? I find them so much better than they've ever been in the past- less bumps, wider and faster traffic movement. Him: Oh-just wait- one heavy vehicle passed over them...

Hi,all!This post was supposed to be done yesterday, but as soon as I sat down to put fingers to keyboard, our building people decided that the electricity for our row of flats had to be cut off for 4 hours, since they were painting the O.T.S. shaft on that side.(Safety of workers was the concern and rightly so).  Well, that was a blessing in disguise-since it was early morning, I decided to do my morning walk first, and, as with most mornings, a brainwave stuck-why not go to a new place to walk, instead of the same ole street(s), the same ole park where people try to keep pace with me by hopping a few feet ahead or jogging a few feet ahead? You'll never guess this great new place- the Baroda Railway Station.  Just parked my 2-wheeler in the bylane outside, went to the ticket window and bought a platform ticket(No point in taking a 'fine' risk, na, for just Rs. 3/-), and walked in. First, on platform 1. From one end to the other. There's so many nice changes done...

Strange title to the post? Read on: hahaha. Besides being somewhat stressful, workwise, this week's been a real Arghh week. Let me recount why: - There I am, two days back going at  steady 2-wheeler speed of 30 kmph, near the Nizampura traffic signal. Suddenly, this bloke- a pillion rider on a 2-wheeler which was 3-4 vehicles ahead of me, decides to purge his insides, puke, vomit(to give it it's 'middle class' name, as they say). And, his driver friend has seen the signal light turning green, so he doesn't want to stop, and increases his speed, in fact, rather than slowing down. Let me best explain this by a movie scene- remember the scene in 'Main Hoon Na', where there's a bullet coming Shahrukh's way and he ducks a straight 90 degrees to avoid it, and you can see the trajectory of the bullet(It happens only in Bollywood, they say?haha)...or, remember Satish Shah's hi-speed of talking, which causes a whole lot of spit to fly out with it(so...