Some Sizzling Scintillating Speculations

I got the above pic as a fwd. QUIP:BCCI has announced Rs 100,000 to anyone who can help them to find whose HAND it was... ??? Sooooooo Guess and Win ------------------- Hi all! Sorry I haven't been blogging(Posting and visiting my favourite blogs) regularly since I came to Baroda, but then,that's what happens when : 1. You don't have a net connection at home.(Imagine the complications- first,you apply to BSNL for a landline.That comes after a period of 2-3 days(Of course,that's much better than the days when getting a phone connection after a year, was an event to celebrate), you get the landline. It doesn't ring,of course, till you go and say the 'green waala thanks' to the lineman. After this, you can apply to them for a broadband connection, which I did two days back. Now, I have to go and meet the 'broadband waale saab' to ensure the connection comes in a day or 2. Let's hope it comes by tomorrow. Since I usually wake up at 5 AM without an ...

(Quip: Can you guess what this pic depicts??) Hi,all!Whew...when a lot is planned and done,a lot is still left to be planned and done!:) At least,that's what I feel, at present. It's been nearly 2 weeks since we landed in Baroda. And, it's been a lively period,to say the least. Some observation s: Today, while sailing along at 40 kmph on my Kinetic(two-wheeler, for those not in the know, one of the most reliable vehicles to travel fast on Baroda's roads)I was astonished to see a sign board,outside at least half a dozen bungalows and buildings, proclaiming: Entry inside is strictly restricted to the owners...and, below it, it boldly said' Red Rose '...thinking that this was a new and upcoming builder, I went closer to one of the signs to read the small print and, couldn't help bursting out laughing when I read the full description after Red Rose. So, it goes: Entry inside is strictly restricted to the owners. Trespassers will be prosecuted- ' RED ROSE b...

"The difference between an obstacle and an opportunity is our attitude towards it. Every opportunity has a difficulty,and every difficulty has an opportunity." -- J. Sidlo Hi,all…whew- day 5 of my holidays already. Here’s a quick update of the memorable happenings from the day of departure. As I always say, watch out for the signs…and, watch out is what I should have done, last Friday. We’d decided to do an early check-in, and, on reaching the airport in the morning, I found the guy there asking me why I’d come alone, for the check-in…however, after a bit of cajoling and seeing the sincere look on my face, he agreed to take in the luggage. That should have been a signal to me to watch out for what was to come in the hours to come. Anyway, unmindful of the signal to be careful, I just went home, finished off the packing for the cabin baggage and waited for the hours to drag by, till 8 PM, which is when w...

This is THE season. The season of that juicy, luscious, voluptuous(most of the time), red-hot, se*y…….mango, of course….if you were thinking anything else, ye of dirty minds, whatever were you imagining? Keeping in tune with this, our very own Lulu Hypermarket (I say ‘our own’ coz it’s very much Indian-owned, Indian-products governed, with a good quantum of foreign products, too, and fairly decently priced) came up with a mango festival. From the goodies they had, I got mango juice(but naturally), mango jam, mango raita, Gujarati mango curry and..believe it or not, mango bread. Of course, for me, it’s just a ‘sample taste’ of these goodies, since mangoes are on the’ restricted’ list when on a diet. But, let me say, they were/are yum, except for the mango bread, which I didn’t try out yet! Now, for those interested, here’s just some of the other items on their ‘mango festival’ top 100 list: Grilled chicken breast with mango sauce, Mango and Chicken kebab Mango fruit cake Mango mousse Ma...

With fifteen minutes to leave for home(from work), here goes a 'speed post'.:) Observation of the day: I was shopping for the usual ghaas-phoos(green veggies and salads) which go with my diet, at Spinneys. While walking through one of the sections, I observed this lil lady-must have been in KG 1 or KG 2, with her Dad, also out shopping. And, suddenly , she goes to the racks of potato chips, and points at each of them, moves also to the cream biscuits side, saying’ Daddy, this all junk food. This and this and this and this and this. *Daddy smiles. * She continues’ Junk food make us ill.’ Even as I was smiling at the tiny tot’s knowledge, knowing that her Class Teacher Guru must have given them this pearl of wisdom, she says ‘Daddy, we not buy any junk food’. Daddy: (Pointing to the potato chip in her hand): What is that? The tiny tot goes: This only mini junk food. ---- I couldn’t help smiling for the next few minutes. Hats off to these smart kids. ---- Junk food reminds me- onl...

Whew…every now and then I come across an email/ article which leaves me wondering how much research went into it. For eg, here are 10 recommendations which the Family Guidance and Reformation Department at the Courts here gives to newly married couples. Recommendations to wives: * Men are different from women. * Men are not talkative, so don't nag. * Men like to be the focus of a woman's attention so don't ignore them or make them feel unwanted. * Men like to talk about their work, so don't expect them to talk about everything you like. * Men may have a hard time expressing their feelings, so don't force them to say something they don't want to say. * Men by nature hate failure, so try not to criticise them. * Men like to be alone when they get angry, so don't intrude on their solitude. * Men are capable of solving problems, so don't impose your thoughts on them. * Men don't shop that much and they like a contented woman, so don't be too demandin...

Where do you think this pic is taken from ? An aeroplane? No..it’s from the (current) world’s tallest building under construction, Burj Dubai.(I see it everyday on the way to and return from work,and call this marvel 'history in the making') I wonder whether anyone from that level would be tempted to see whether they can walk on the clouds? The above pic, again from the top of the Burj. I felt dizzy just looking at it . Wonder how those workers are sitting so peacefully? Speaking of the Burj , I read yesterday that a British man has leapt from the Burj , to successfully complete the world’s highest BASE jump from a building- and, promptly landed himself a date in court next week. The 36-year old clambered up 150 floors of stairs without being spotted by security guards before leaping with a parachute just before 5 AM. ---- Once again- I engaged in some pleasant conversation, with someone from a group of what I consider Dubai’s most interesting conversationalist people- the ta...

Today,it's time to CCP some nice wishes I came across. Hope you can add more to the list,too.(*Read this as - I was feeling too lazy to post a normal post today.However, I've added my two bits here and there.ROFL*) May we get a clean bill of health from our dentist, our psychiatrist, our ophthalmologist, our cardiologist, our gastroentologist, our urologist, our proctologist, our gynecologist, our podiatrist, our plumber and the IRS/ IT Dept(in India). May our hair, our teeth, our facelift, our Abs, our honey cakes , and our stocks not fall and may our blood pressure, our triglycerides, our cholesterol, our white blood count, our weight and our mortgage interest rates not rise. May we find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere in the rush hour in less than an hour and when we get there, may we find a free parking space. And if we need to use a parking space designated for the handicapped may we find one without shopping carts in it. May we be awestruck by the universe’s ...

(Quip for the above- brilliant ad,huh? It's for'quick drying paint'(You can see the box if you click on the image)) Thought for the day: If you can’t say something good about someone, keep quiet….AmitL Quite a nice start to the week, this one, writing wise. They did pick my caption as the best one, in the print edition of the local paper. Another, is a letter in Filmfare, after quite some time. But, it’s in the print edition only. So, if you buy it, check out the latest issue. ---- On to another topic- why does blogging sometimes remind me of Diwali time in India? I think it’s because of the way people, more often than not, do the visiting part where Diwali and blogs are concerned. I mean, see the similarities- someone comes to your place to wish you during Diwali , partakes of the sweets and the namkeens , discussed the world situation, from their baby to your job to nuclear bombs, and goes. Next day(Sometimes, on the same day), you visit their place, partake of the swe...

There are some types of people who get on my nerves. Just two of these types are: - People who follow you around when you are at a supermarket/grocery/shopping mall. They’ll just stand behind you, breathing down your neck, trying to see what you’re planning to buy. You touch a DVD player, they also have to touch it and see. You ask the salesman one question about the water dispenser, they have to ask five. Next time one of these irritating guys(Naturally! You think gals would follow a man shopping?LOL) follows me, I’ll quickly step into the men’s room and disappear into a cubicle for 15 minutes. Let’s see whether he comes in to check the quality of the taps on the washbasin, or the flow of water in the urinal. What makes such people what they are, I wonder? Aren’t they confident about their own shopping abilities, or the items they are shopping for? Arghh! - Another peculiar ‘breed’ is of people who love to complete your sentences , like they have a sixth sense about what you are able...

For a change, I thought- why not touch on a taboo topic, and let everything in this post relate to this g*ay topic? So, here goes: How do you recognize a g*ay(the asterix is put in between, to avoid my blog being banned, by usage of such bold words out here. Further, for the rest of this article, I’m going to use a synonym and call them ‘lighthearted’ ) when you see him(her?)? I was going along this street, on my usual evening walk, listening to music of the ‘Chak De Phatte’ kind(also called ‘music to walk fast by’), when, coming from the opposite side, I saw a, err, couple of the lighthearted kind . The guy- wearing a tight Tshirt, with, I think shoulder pads, and a, err, macho jeans, was accompanied by the other guy, who was wearing the 3/4th kinds of trousers and a fluffy Tshirt designed to, err, show off the non-existent cleavage, and walking with a jhatka/matka, a la, a model walking on a ramp. Suddenly, they walked out of the shade and into the path of the sunrays, and, the, err...

Keshi reminded me that I did not give the answer for the above ad in my last but one post. The ad is for : Grow More Trees Explanation, for those not familiar with our customs: In India(and, perhaps, elsewhere), some varieties of trees are considered sacred, and people worship them, say prayers and move around them while saying them(prayers). So, in the future, if we’re not careful, we might be worshipping around telephone/electricity poles, since there won’t be any trees around. ---- Someone recently sent in this ‘revelation’ to a newspaper: As you know, when you give your ATM card at any store , there are two slips which come out of the printer. One slip is given to you for signing. This slip has your full card number. The other slip which you get as your record copy, has just the first four and the last four digits of your card. So, any cashier, if he or she wants to misuse your card, can easily memorize the expiry date, turn over the card and memorize the three pin number digits an...

How to get rid of your wife(If you want to): A man walks in a bank, pulls out a gun, and robs the bank...Then he turns around and asks the next customer in line, "Did you see me rob this bank?" The customer replies, "YES!" The robber raises his gun, points to his head and BANG!!!!!... shoots him in the head and kills him! He then moves to the next customer in line and says to the man, "DID ... YOU ... SEE ... ME ... ROB THIS BANK????" The man calmly responds, "No ... But My Wife Did!" ----------- Solitaire, thanks for giving me this idea. Solitaire asked co-bloggers to name their favourite clichéd dialogues from Hindi movies. Going a step further, I began thinking of the various individual stars and their clichés:(And,I'm not referring to the most famous Gabbar dialogues,et al...they're on everyone's list): So, here goes(The ones which instantly come to my mind): (More additions to the list are welcome) Talking of person-al cliches: M...

If there’s one breed of people that I cannot understand, it is the gum chewers , especially when they try to chew and talk at the same time. (Note: ‘You’ in this post refers to gum chewers in general, and not any particular person) I mean, I know, some sugarfree gums are good for the teeth, but, why not enjoy them while, say, watching TV or reading a book or while standing quietly in a corner? Why do you have to sound like the food monster and go chomp chomp chomp on that gum , just when there’s a serious discussion going on? What do I gather from this? That you are not interested in the talks hence you are going chomp chomp ? Or, that you’re God, the all-knowing, so you couldn’t care less what is being discussed, because you know it anyway ? Or, That you’re hungry and waiting to be relieved so that you can go eat,till then this gum is your only solace ? Or, That you are trying to concentrate ? Other irritating habits of gum chewers : - To increase the noise part of chewing, when they ...

(Quip: Came across this fwd pic from the ole days in India.(No,before you ask, that's not me in the carriage or pushing it.LOL)Wouldn't you have loved to travel in this 'train'?See the tracks,et al) --- The Art of Conversation: Someone: Hello! Me: Hello! Someone: I calling from Building Materials Co Me: Ok. Someone: I want sell to you cement, structural steel. Me: We do only MEP works. You need to contact a Civil works company Someone: Ok. You pass the line to him Me: Him? Who him? I said you need to contact a Civil works company. Someone: Yes,yes! You pass line to Mr. Civil Works. Me: You don’t understand. We do not buy this materials. Someone: Ok. I will call Mr. Civil later. Me: (Conceding defeat at trying to explain): Ok. Thank you! (Me, after this conversation, looking skywards: “ Why, God, why me, of all people ?”) And,thus endeth another of the erudite conversations I have with suppliers of everything from safety shoes to swimming pools. ----- That reminds me, g...

Have you ever had the pleasure of tasting icecream made in the original style- from one of those wooden icecream makers(as in pic above), in which the ice and the balance ingredients are poured,then,you rotate the handle round and round and round and round....when it becomes too tough to rotate,voila..the ice cream is ready. For some reason,I was remembering that ole style of icecream making today. There's a place called Samrat Ice Cream in Baroda,which,till maybe 10 years back, used to prepare their scrumptious icecreams that way. Then,commercial reasons gave way to sentimental reasons,and they shifted to the machine based icecreams.But,still,the flavour somehow remains the same.Yum-that's one thing to look forward to during my Baroda visit next month!!(I'll forget my diet just this once,or,walk from there to home,a good 4 kms!LOL)

What do you think? Nice ad,the above one,huh? Thought: I think. I think I am. Therefore I am... I think When I heard this song , I nearly switched the FM channel it was on, wondering why they were playing oldies, suddenly. The song begins with a very K.L. Saigal-ish style, going ‘Doob Jaa Mere Pyaar Mein’(Drown in my love, literally translated), from Johnny Gaddar. After the first line, though, the song picked up it’s tempo, and now it’s part of my ‘fast walk favorites’. It’s got a real fun beat to it . Check the link . (song: Move your body) ---- Do you wonder why minor incidents make our minds go haywire ? For example, today morning- I woke up, and the first thing I heard is this strange sound from the refrigerator . A continuous sound, like something’s wrong with the refrigeration circuit. I opened the door, checked-all was ok. The sound persisted. I switched off the fridge, restarted it, and the sound stopped, for a minute or two. Then, it started again. Tried switching off again....

In buying everything from safety shoes to swimming pools and Jacuzzis, I tend to have and hear the most interesting conversations. The latest one went: (After long technical discussion): Frustrated supplier(His price was too high): Well, you must make an apple to apple comparison with my competitors. My colleague: Well, have you seen two apples which are exactly alike ? Supplier(flustered) : Not really. Colleague: There’s your answer. ---- That reminded me of my first job. I was sitting, taking interviews of freshers, to be taken as GETs(Graduate Engineer Trainees), and one enthusiastic guy, trying to convince us of his skills, said: Him: Sir, I can sell ice to an Eskimo . Me: Really? Him: Yes, Sir. Me: Ok. Go ahead- I’m the Eskimo.Sell ice to me. (The Manager settled back in his chair, with a big smile on his face). Him: (A bit flustered). Well, err..let’s see….(then, he kept trying for 15 minutes. And, was unable to convince me and our Manager) Him: (Finally): Sir, I admit- I can’t ...

Were you happier in the days when there were no emails ? I believe I was. The pleasure of receiving a hand-written letter or two or three or more, with those colorful stamps on them, cannot be the same as getting an email. In fact, I think, sometimes, when people write about what’s going on in their lives, they simply copy paste from the emails they send to someone else, modify it where the name is concerned, and, voila, the mail is ready…press click. If you’re lazier still, you will just put all the email ids in bcc, and, with a click, off go the emails. And, you believe that everyone will be happy. But, are they? I mean, how can I be happy if someone forwards me a Diwali card, for example, where they have just hit the forward button and not even cared to delete the id of the person who sent it? Don’t tell me ‘It’s the thought that counts’- I cannot believe it . In fact, why just to me, they probably just bcced it to their whole address book. The same is the case with smsed wishes- ...

Since I’m in the mood to just take it easy, after a hectic day(5 minutes before the work day ends), here’s a collection of what made me smile during the day,during my mini-breaks: Quotes: Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile. Albert Schweitzer If you want to see a comic strip, you should see me in the shower. (Groucho Marx) ------ Jokes: Pickup lines and rebuttals: Man: "Hey, come on, we're both here at this bar for the same reason." Woman: "Yeah! Let's pick up some chicks!" --- President Bush is rehearsing his speech for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He begins his remarks with "Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!" Immediately his speech writer rushes over and whispers in the President's ear: "Mr. President, those are the Olympic rings. Your speech is underneath!" --- Good girls say, "Please... Don't... Stop..." Bad girls say, "Please Don't Stop..." --- A Quote again: One of the greatest discoveries a...