Saturday, November 10, 2012

Go Car Go!

Sometimes its just  bad luck.. wear blue or not. This happened sometime back (almost a month now, this blog's celebrated its 1 month Birthday sitting in my drafts heheh) we were driving home, tired to welcome a fresh week next day. My friend who was driving trying to turn the heat ON broke my AC/Heat knob. Trying to be good, I didn't complaint unaware of what my car would be the next day morning when I'd head for work.


I went home and searched on ebay for the knob, seeing the discussion forums I found this was a very common problem for everyone with Lancers. To my disappointment  I found that just the knob isn't sold the whole unit of AC/Heat system has to be bought, a used one would come for 150$ and I didn't even want to look for something new.
Next morning: I went to my car, it was frozen..there was no way I could drive it like that..without any hesitation I exchanged cars with the guy who broke the knob, I missed my car..whole day I kept thinking about the accident I met with sometime in April. I remember how much I cried when we were taking it for repair after the accident, every part of the dashboard was literally dangling. Well..its an old story now..car's recovered from all the injuries I gave. 

I started early for home for I had to repair my car. I was driving and I noticed that the steering was hard to move, it wouldn't rotate for anything. I pulled over to the side in a garden/nursery. I had been here earlier. The guy working there opened the hood for me , we found that one of the belts near the engine was broke. I called one of my automotive buddies, we discuss all car issues..he told  me it was serpentine belt and if I try driving with it broken I'd break the alternator belt which'd inturn damage the engine by draining the battery, whatever it was I didn't want to take any risk. 

Sometimes if things like this happen, when I want someone to help, I take wear my bechaari look(poor look) on face, I remember my friends in high school saying 'if you say pleaseeee the professor will give you the grace points and pass you in the weekend exams.' and yes prof used to give me grace points at times..means my face really worked at times like that. I have tried this look and it worked more effectively on Americans than Desis...Americans are light hearted I feel when compared to Indians. So, I went to the owner of this place and told him what's wrong with the car, trust me I didn't really had to act very sad in front of this old guy, he was so friendly ..he started searching for tow trucks without me asking him to. In no time my car was repaired and I drove home.
I got some planters after few days from the same store..I'll  write about my indoor garden sometime, may be when I grow at least 10 plants..will write from where I got those and how I grew them.

You see I wasn't wearing Blue but still I got a double dhamaka Offer -khud ki gaadi tudwali aur doosre ki gaadi bhi todh dhi. 
My Temperature knob is still not fixed, I might have to get a complete unit, my mechanic turned the knob to Heat though, absolutely of free cost, thanks to my bechari look ;)


Friday, September 28, 2012

Shop Alone.


I was supposed to post this last weekend. Please digest!

Dear god mother,

Every time I shop I try to think the way you do...I know I m not a .5% the way u do it ... Every single word u say still lingers in my ears...I m in a mall in Chicago shopping all alone, today i'll prove that i m ur best shishya by picking the bestest things here..missing you and kebab me haddi hums ...
I wrote this to my sister yesterday when I started shopping.. I don’t know if she got it..One of my friends happened to visit a friend in Chicago, I was asked  if I wanted to go..with no second thought I said yes. Chicago’s always been my favorite city..walking across those high branded stores which adored the streets with its banners and big LED screens, I always wanted to go in and shop something like those high heeled, no crease skimpy downtown girls..I many times went in but came back. Those downtown stores have so highly priced tags. So this time I went to a suburb shopping mall, it’s listed 8th best shopping mall in US.

I started  with JC Penny. I never  shopped here, the only thing I remember buying is a  comforter. It's hard to get good patterns in solid. I remember how crazy it got and it is still in India with those bright blue, yellow or hot pink color kurtis with some crazy borders on hands and necks. I learnt this from sis- Only one color, no freaking too many flowers, patterns on a shirt/kurti..mind you she takes this serious on sarees she wear too. Ha! All good/bad I learnt about picking clothes is from her, i don't go by those rules all the time coz its hard. So here it is isles of clothes all arranged color wise, it made picking things so easy,   I am famous for wearing same shirt in different colors, that's coz I don't find good clothes often and when i find something i tend to pick multiple colors of the same style. I don't remember when was the last I wore green or blue, I try to stay away from blue coz not even once was my day good when i am dressed in blue; sky blue to be precise.. so I try to be on a safe side and I stopped wearing any blues. I picked a bold blue (i don't know the exact color name).

I just roamed around for a while scanning shops and it was way late for lunch, i tried keeping away from a Pizza store, I went to Panda Express and got something in a to go box, I always have a feeling they give more quantity in a take out box than for here plates. I sat on the abnormal highted stool and noticed a chinese girl(not being a racist) beside me had a lovely brown color bag it had 'sabon' on it..looked like  its from a gift store, I cared to ask her which store it was..and it took me five minutes to explain her.. she did as if she was scrubbing something on her hand she said 'scrub', it was my next destination. Winter's almost here and i could see my skin getting that dry feeling..I entered the store, there was a brass tap.. with different aroma oils and scrubs around it, the pretty girls came to me and made me try their products. I sometimes even think about getting a cheaper deal on a 6$ Olay body wash and here I was buying a bottle smaller  than Olay for 21$!! I am miser, real real miser. I asked the girl to pack the ginger orange bathing oil, it was only in my bathroom that i found she wrapped rose extract for me...eee! I so much try to stay away from the majority peoples favorite. I remember how I use to turn away clothes saying 'this is very common Mom, you can find 5 girls wearing the same suit in different colors from mehdipatnam to tolichowki (neighboring streets)'.

Later in the day I bought Sugar scrub and some cosmetics, I know I've said this a lot of times- I always thought I should buy things only which are essential..coz I thought all this fancy stuff, charismatic aromatic pampering things are only good when you receive them as gifts. But trust me I never got such gifts, I remember sis giving me a charlie perfume, which still decors my cupboard.. I think its been four years I've had it, I always put perfumes on the top of the list when I am shopping for gifts, its so simple just enter into the store and buy a perfume gift box along with it would come a body wash and moisturizer, like a family pack. haha!

After this shopping experience I got this short time fever of making soaps, bath bombs. I probably will make few bath bombs this weekend and post some pictures here, lets see how they fizz.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Being Intern.


I always defined a blog  as a long 5-6 paragraphs  small story/incident with unnecessary humor to put a little me in it… so, were there no stories to tell past 2 years? Well they were..a  lot … sometimes I very badly wanted to bitch about my roommates…sometimes cry, recall  every small memory from home..sometimes my struggle to get started in the technical world.
16th August- 2011, I got my first job Offer  letter which I never even read and said –‘Yes I’ll be glad to join.’  I remember how I spent that day looking at toys in the shopping mall, anything good and expensive I’d look at a thought followed in mind-‘no not now, once I get a job I will,’ not that I didn’t have money but for me I wouldn’t buy anything just like that if it’s not essential, but that just applied to me not for my less than a year old niece. 

I have been an Intern for almost an year, now that I have a full time job I realize how good those being intern times were, though I don’t use to be very late at work or really enjoyed the perks of not playing a crucial role in the  team..still I miss that free bird life. I was the second Indian in office, Patel was the account manager who never even cared to interact with me personally, being an Indian which I thought I would..well who cares about  any Indians attention I got everyone’s attention, I was the youngest of all, away from home she miss home bechari they thought. They would get things for me from home to eat to Americanize me. Everytime there was a festival, be it Halloween or Thanks Giving I asked them so many questions and they’d explain me patiently why they celebrate it.  

I remember I use to be the only one eating my lunch alone in the break room with everyone eating at their desk. I think that’s how I made most of my friends they’d come and ask me “what’s this sauce made of?” seeing me eating daal and rice, and I’d briefly explain them that it’s lentil soup made of tomatoes and mixed vegetables ..blah blah..

At first I wondered how freely they talked about their families their ex-wife’s husbands. In a month or two I knew everyone’s story, how many kids they have, their names, what they like eating etc.. each family was a story and I still follow it on facebook. I always found it interesting to interact with people older than my age, may be because of their stories. What story a person of my age can tell you? They went to shop, movie or got drunk(doesn't mean I do all this), in a special case that’d interest me a little –they broke up with their gf/bf.

Everytime a luncheon was hosted at work the best buddies I had tried not using red meat so that I can eat it. I brew my first pot of coffee, ate Chilli, perogies, paczkis  and bagels for the first time there. The big thing, this is when I learned to drive and got my drivers license. 

Few things which I can never forget related to the previous place I worked-the day when I took them to the Indian Buffet for lunch, my boss scooped out rasmalai and thought was something to be eaten with naan(bread). One of them ate a plate full pakodas, the other liked naan so much that she asked me for recipe .

I can never forget how they gave me tips to get out of the room when I was having issues with my roommate, when my car got into an accident.. and how I was warned to drive 10 meters away from the car in my front when it’d snow.
Of all I can never forget those hugs and wishes they gave me on my last day.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Ideal?


I have always been a shy writer… back home in India, I used to close the bed room switch on the AC , let it cool for 10 minutes, confirm nobody needs the computer and then start writing. I then imagined, how much fun it would be to sit near a pond throw stones, sit there watching the ducks and write a blog on my own laptop. 
I started writing this blog a month ago, when  I was bored at home  sitting alone  in a balcony with green leaves falling ;  very much looking like maple tree leaves.  A scenic place which I always thought is ideal to write/read. I  wondered if an Ideal place was unsuccessful in making me do something which I like, then is it ideal?

Well..everything’s is ideal for a short time because we’re greedy. I  conclude before my blog ends. Shows that my poor  writing skills have become more poor after a big leap of almost two years.

Going back to where I stopped blogging… I was enjoying the Naya Desh, shopping on black Fridays enjoying the new cuisine, loving all the new friends around, excited about the weather.   But till when can everything be all good and nice? The Naya Desh  became purana,  you can’t shop everyday.., definitely maa ke haat ka khana can’t beat any cuisine, friends became witches and dragons. I’d have used the b- b-big words, but I am sure my sister’d read it and say it’s not supposed to be in your blog, my mom’d say  ‘the HR People scan everything to know more about you, you better be  careful while posting in public,’ and the Newyork , London kind of weather became  an excuse for putting on weight,  because my other Indian friends who are competing with me to put on weight say – it’s because of harmone imbalance, we have become like bears whoe undergo hibernation  sleeping 6 months because it snows and enjoy the bbq or we can say enjoy the prey the other half of the year because there’s sun. So...new isn't new anymore, its's become old and something which I am bored of now.

I don’t have any excuse about time or studies to take a break this time from the blogosphere..so..I would take an early blog off now, because I plan to pen an adieu to my one year old first job as it comes to an end this Friday on July 6th.

Welcome me back! ;)