It's a Carnival - FIFA World Cup, Brazil 2014

32 Nations...

64 Matches...

More than a Million dreams...

One Cup.. A beautiful game.

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Well, it doesn't come without its share of controversies...

3 X 7 things about myself...

Here I am.. writing about myself. Long back i had written my 7 X 7 and felt like doing it again :D.. and also it is a great way to know about the new freinds i made on bloggers :) .. and the result is this blog. Just tweaked the regular 7 X 7 things about myself to 3 X 7 things about myself.. to keep it short and enjoyable.

I have tagged some of my friends in this blog (scroll down to see if you are in that list), if you are not on the list and wud love to write about urself.. pls go ahead and get tagged... dont forget to publish you blog to me and ur freinds though... wud love to read it! :)

3 places i would pack my travel bag for

1. Swiss alps, my dream destination

2. Eiffel Tower, Paris

3. Gods own country - Kerala (missed visiting twice)

3 On-Screen charectors i love to watch

1. Joker (Heath Ledger) in Dark Knight

2. Amir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai

3. Big B in Namak Halal (cant forget the Pag Ghunguroo song)

 .. and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in Friends :)) 

3 moods that describes me the best

1. Lazy (during office days)

2. Anxious, thoughtful (when idle)

3. Overjoy, Excited.. (during weekends) 

3 things i always think of doing on a weekend... but never did.. :)

1. Clean my room (so much lying around not sure wher n wen to start)

2. Go for haircut (its been ages!!!)

3. Continue reading Jeffrey Archer (i dont rem wher i stopped anymr) 

3 things from my childhood that i cant forget

1. Play play and play.. :)

2. Last day at my school (HJKP)

3. Visit to my aunts place (in mysore) for every summer vacation.

3 things i wud never say no to

1. Bowling (quite a craze... hv bowled in Blore, Mysore, Pune, Hyd, Toronto, Melbourne...)

2. Long drive in my car... anywher, anytime...

3. Sweet corn (pepper masala or chat masala flvor) 

3 things i cant live without

1. Laptop, internet etc.. anything that hooks me online..

2. Playing wid Chinni (the one n only .. cute, little ravishing darling of mine.. my niece.. Mrudula)

3. Music, movies and masti.. 3M!

Yes, you have been Tagged!!! :))

Tagging my blogger friends Arindam, Sabrina, Jazmine, Vijay, Mehreen, Alankrita, Renella, Vijaya, Jyotsna, Ravali, Pragyan and Mayaa to continue this chain. Looking forward to see you all write 3 X 7 things on ur blogs... Come on folks, would love to know more about you!!

Happy Friendship day!!! :)

Just some rulezz to follow...

- Tag as many u want!! (well.. thts not a rule...)

- Link their pages in your tag post

- Post a message / leave a comment screaming that they r tagged

- Mention the person who tagged you in your tag post, and link their blog.

- Write 3 X 7 things about yourself :)

Good times

Life has to be full of fond moments and exciting times spent with family, friends, grandparents and loved ones. First day on your first job, an unexpected meeting of your childhood friend, first movie with your girlfriend, a romantic candle light dinner with your loved one... its wonderful how on such moments you feel the gush of emotions running right through you... and after many years it still gives you the feel as if it happened today.

One such memorable day that I wish to share was my first outing with Sindhu on my bike. Like any typical South Indian family, taking the girl out before being formally engaged is a strict no-no affair.. and like any typical pre-engagement boy and girl, we would be waiting to step out (Hehehehe... :)) But first time is always a first time, you are always in the dilemma whether to keep it chupa-chupi or let the elders know. After much thought (my Decision no.1) I decided to inform her dad on taking Sindhu out for a while. So I called her up and told her I would be there for pick up at 6PM IST... so that she would prepare the pitch, and all that I would need to do is to present myself in formal look (obviously not the MJ look and feel on the first visit).. exchange a few pleasentaries and ride away with the dream of my life. I was fully excited, got ready in no time, took my Fiero and zipped thru the traffic, only to find myself parking my bike at Sindhu's house at 7PM (late by an hour.. anyways IST is Indian Streachable Time and how can I not live upto the reputation that "guys" are never on time). Climbed the stairs to their first floor house with a bit of nervousness, but got a very generous warm  and a smiling welcome from everyone. Sindhu was inside dressing up for the outing.

Things were going as planned. Trying to keep the decent approach, I began a conversation with Sindhu's dad (hoping to end it soon and take Sindhu out asap). At first I was not even keen on listening, after a while I made an effort to listen to what was reaching my ears... Weather, coffee, job, Bangalore traffic, Metro, fuel prices... the talks never did seem to end. I too pitched in with a few comments here and there. Soon we ran out of topics... precious time.. God help me!!! Trying not to be rude or anything, I tried to close the conversation on a few occasions, but only to find another one starting.

I started getting restless, matters was slowly slipping out of my control, topics started repeating :'( .... I even tried to remain silent, hoping of some reciprocation. But my prayers to the God of Silence went in vain as the talks went on and on and on.. like Amaron battery. By now, each passing minute started to give me the feel of a day... thats when my Decision no.2 came.. I stood up on my feet, took the helmet in my hands, and said non-stop - "I think its getting late, we have planned to go out for a while, will be come back in an hour's time". Then there was silence. When you ask your fiancee out making the return time obvious for her parents is very important (not that you would take their daughter on a 6D/7N all inclusive trip to Kulu Manali, but just to sound responsible)... else forget even getting a shake of the head from her parents.  Finally after a few exchange of smiles... we left. There she was, sitting on my bike for the first time, and I was all in heavens :).... took her to a famous chat center in Gandhibazar, spent more than 2 hours chatting (lots of talks and samosa chats in-between).

Time just flew by, me and Sindhu met a few more times before getting engaged. Currently enjoying, the so called golden era (post engagement and pre-marital bliss). Suddenly weekends became more happening and full of fun (minus all the effort and the pain) :)

Engagement models!!!

A funny blog from my collegue. Read and Enjoy!! :)

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No, no.. don’t go away.. this is not about proposals or project management. This is my unique take (actually nothing unique, but then I am running out of topics) on the post engagement pre-marriage period which is the golden era (ahem..hem) in anybody’s life..

There are so many guys (read 1) these days asking me for tips on how to handle this enragement period (oops, spelling mistake! anyway let us leave it that way). So, being the shrewd observer of things (that should make it clear that this is not out of experience.. any comments of that sort will be ruthlessly moderated), I decided to play the savior of such wandering sheep.. Please follow this set of rules to confirm your marital status. Remember, there is very little difference between marital law and martial law!

Rule number 1: Unless you are a close relative of the Ambani’s (or own sweat equity of some IPL franchise), get a CUG phone connection. You have so much talking to do (mostly listening.. but talk also if you count ‘yeah’, ‘right’ and ‘ok’). 

Rule number 2: Your reply SMS messages should be a minimum of 10 words. Remove words like ‘ok’, ’sure’, ‘me too’, ‘fine’ from your SMS dictionary. For example, a suggested reply for a message like ‘I have a lot of work today’, should be ‘Oh no.. Too bad. Tell ur mngr that you have a hdache :-):-) ‘..  A reply like ‘oh ok’ for this message is sure to put you in mortal danger. 

Rule number 3: Remember to remember.  Guys have a tendency to remember key things like Sachin’s centuries, Deepika’s latest boyfriend and Messi’s jersey number and forget trivial things like fiancee’s birthday, the names of all of her 14 friends, in-laws’ wedding day and Tommy’s vaccination day. Not any more brother! Try at least to remember the month of birth of your fiancee’s sister-in-law’s  second cousin. You never know how it will help.

Rule number 4: Know your colours. Men can distinguish about 3 colours in a rainbow. But women can identify all the 38 colours in it. So, practise until you can clearly distinguish blue, light blue, deep blue, dark blue, navy blue, sky blue, copper sulphate blue, zinc phosphate blue.. you get the idea..

Rule number 5: Extrapolate! This is very important. What she says is not what she wants.. For eg., if she messages you to get a band-aid, and if you manage to buy one, you will look like an absolute idiot! You are supposed to immediately call her with an anxious voice on why she needs one, what really happened, whether she needs an ambulance (a rescue helicopter if she can’t see through the sarcasm).. And by the way, she really does not need a band-aid!

Rule number 6: Interpret! Continuing with the above rule, sometimes  you have to do the opposite of what she says, because there is a hidden meaning associated with each phrase

‘OK, you don’t have to come’           If you are not here in the next half-our I will kill you’
‘It is not heavy, I can carry it’           ’You moron, will you take this from me or what?’
‘This dress does not suit me’             ‘It looks great on me and I expect you to say it’

Rule number 7: Hidden within those multiple strands of your brain, there is a commodity called logic. Get it out somehow and throw it as farther as you can.. Else it will interfere in those inopportune moments, like when she calls at 2:00 AM in the morning to check whether you are awake or why she needs 3 pair of slippers when she already has 4 or how someone can be a fan of Tushar Kapoor. Asking such questions will result in… I don’t even want to think about it!

Ok, folks I hope you find these pearls of wisdom useful. Some people listen to experts, some learn the hard way. So it is up to you. Enjoy the marital bliss.

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Any feedbacks or comments will be promptly fwdd to the author of the original blog :)

Frends, food, fun...

3 magnificient treats, a lot of shopping, and catching up with frends.. all of this and much more in just one week. hmm. what am i upto???!!.. well, u will know soon! :) Its has been a great week since last wednesday... and the best part is all the fun has come on week days.. after office.. n not weeknds!

After all the lavish eatings, I feel I can actually write my own column on the restaurents in Bangalore. Desmonds, Sahib Sindh Sultan, TGIF. Yesterday nite was also memorable.. had been to TGIF (they say, Everyday is a friday at TGIF!), great place for some continental food... pastas, shrimps, and others. Not to mention sm great music is played during the night. Shall srcibble more with sm snaps.. till then read this.. feels like cricket is no more a Gentleman's game.

Sahib Sindh Sultan

this time its Dilbert!

eNjoY!! :)

LOL!!! :)))

Fun-filled trip to Pune

It was a perfect get-away from home, work and worries… a 3-4 day off from all the worldly headaches and a trip with frends to some distant place was all that was needed to relax and rejuvenate.

We headed to Pune for a training on one of the products required for our projects. Accomodations were arranged, tickets were booked, luggage were packed and we were all set (four of us.. myself, N, S and SH). Our onward journey started on the Saturday evening from Bangalore. Ahead of us was an 18hr train travel in a 3-tier AC … which we thought wud be the most boring part. But it turned out to be the most fun filled part of the whole package. I don remember the last time when I had been out on a train journey with frends.. yeah I traveled bt Chennai and blore evey weekend when I worked for CTS Chennai. But it was alwys an overnite travel. So here I was with 3 of my project mates on a Saturday evening chatting, eating, teasing, playing cards (Badam Satta, Bluff and a new game called ‘Phat’ :))… none of us were in the mood to sleep. we stayed awake till pretty late and slept only after we got several warnings from the co-commuters ;). The next day it was a lazy (Sunday) morning… and the first thing that was on our mind was to meet SH’s mom and bro who wud meet us at Gulabarga station with some nice food preparted for our lunch… the train wud stop there for 10min and it was fun to meet, greet and grab all that they had got for us.

It was almost 4pm when we reached Pune station. S’s sister had come to escort us to the place where we had our acc booked. my second stint of Pune was ok, thot it was more impressive on my first visit. Anyway… the weather was good.. unlike blore which is pretty damp for quite sometime now. All four of us were pretty tired with the journey.. we got settled in our rooms and then had a nice dinner and dozed off, for we had make at our training center the next morning at nine. We did make there but atleast 30 min late, thanks to the taxi driver who came late to pick us up. First day at the training was pretty decent with theory sessions being covered during the pre-noon and pracs during the post lunch. but the sessions which were supposed to complete by 4pm… got dragged till 6pm. we were pretty exhausted … Day1 at the training was over. That evening S’s sister took us for a small roam inside Pune. We saw MG Rd and visited a couple of stalls .. and did some shopping. Then we were taken to the best eat outs in Pune. “Durvankur” … the place where u can find the maharastrian food at its best. Well, I don’t remember what all I ate that day but yes we all ate soo much that we cudn get up from our seats. we sat for a few more minutes at the table and then started back to out service apartments, which was quite out of the city. the clocked ticked well over 9pm as we hired two auto rickshaws. well this was how our day ended.... some amazing never eaten before maharastrian delicacy. Slept to the core that nite only to be woken up by S the nxt morning.

Day2, 9am and we found ourselves sipping coffee in the corridors of the training centre. Still pretty lazy.. but one good thing happnd on day2 was we started with the practical sessions which was unfinished on the prevs day. The learning went on till 6 again and we did quite a lot of work on day2. The satisfying part was we cud see some outputs. Well, it was evening and we had to cover the Fergueshen College Road before. “The” place where the Pune youth wud hangout. Most of the famous restaurant, cafes, coffee bars are located on this long stretch. We all had a walk thru the streets .. took a few snaps (which includes the one posted on this blog). The best of the lot. S’s sister took this snap and she moved even before my digi cam flashed and took the pic. Hence u can see the feet all of us :D. truly a fantastic, unforgettable evening. That nite S’s sister had cooked some amazing veggie stuff for our dinner. Ate nicely and gave a gift we had purchased for her. Infact we couldn have asked for more… we got some superb company for the two days we spent in Pune. She provided great comfort level as she kept us engaged and never did we feel that we were outsiders. Tremendous energy levels. Well, Tuesday night was all over as we slept early as we had to catch our trains the next day arnd 12 noon. We obvsly wantd to stay for one more day in the city as we dint see any places as such. But we consoled ourselves that there is always a next time.

We boarded the train at the Pune station at exact noon and started towards Bangalore. We were blessed with some well cooked food for lunch. We had an all day of journey ahead of us…. this time it was a two-tier AC so it was only 4 of us in the compartment. it was pretty comfortable. another 18hr travel and we started doing what we were good doing at.. having fun !! listened to music, chatted, played a lot of improvised versions of the games…. laughed to the core. Seriously it wud hv been a pretty boring journey if we had to travel single. The company was good, and we all had a brilliant time. Ate all the junkies like ice cream, bhel puri, tomato soups, etc and kept ourselves engaged till nite. No doubt we were sort of exhausted traveling all day. so we decided to sleep early. And it was my mom’s phone call that woke me up in the morning. She gave me the news that my sister in law gave birth to a baby girl in mysore. Sweet was the news… there cud hav been no better way to complete our unforgettable journey. N, S, SH n myself .. for all of us it was a nice break and happy time together for 4 wonderful days.

We all certainly wud hav opted to stay back in pune given a choice, but then we wud hav never looked forward of visiting Pune again. Now we do!! The memories of this visit wud certainly live in our hearts…. so that we cherish them forever.