Say Cheese

I used to visit this place called “Chill n Relax” for my manicures and pedicures. The service offered was worth every penny, the ambience and the hygiene were also full on. But most important thing about the place that not even made me visit them but also refer my friends was the lady at the reception. She was one cheerful human being I have ever met, full of life, made sure that the clients were attended the moment they came in, if they had to wait made sure they are comfortable with magazines or asked them if they want any specific channel to watch on TV while they are at the lounge. Oh she also reminded people a day before about their appointments, and she knew everyone by their name. Never forgot to ask about the immediate family and how they were doing.

One fine day when I was there I did not see her. Her absence was so visible and felt. I asked the person in charge and she told me that she didn’t work for them anymore.

The new lady at the desk wasn’t good; her bar wasn’t even near that graceful lady. I don’t know if it was my psychology but even the services had dropped and the place was disorganized to the core. I stopped visiting and was told by friends that they too had bad hospitality hence are not availing their services anymore.

Front office is such an important role for any business. It can make and break the trade so immensely. They are the first set of people who represent your company and if they are not up to the mark, it creates a negative impact even if you are providing the best.

All you ladies/gentlemen at the reception lounge “Remember a smile is more contagious than a yawn, go ahead, brighten someone’s mood and make someone’s day”

A Clean 300th Post

Spring cleaning is not what I like. Not because of the work it requires (it’s mom who does that anyway) but coz she will again throw things that I managed to hide & store during the last clean.

“Why do you need that?” is mommy’s question every time.

I’ll use/need it someday, is my answer. She is clever, makes a fake act of agreeing and keeping it inside the storage boxes but when I am off home she throws them. Out of sight is out of mind and moreover the next cleaning session will happen after a quarter passes by, she will not remember is her idea. I am cleverer than her (some upgraded genes after all) I book the maid who is given the chore of throwing waste (as she calls, I call them memories). I get them from the money minded kaamwaali and put them back neatly to where they belonged earlier. It is she who forgets them during the next session that she’d thrown away those stuff.

I was in my native last weekend, the place where I grew up, & the store room had my clothes of age 3 to 13. It was bliss to open them all and recollect all the occasions those clothes were worn. Pati too is aware of this let-me-keep-it-i'll-use-them-someday obsession and has decided to make the storage room bigger.

I suggest to have two store rooms, one for the family stuff that I am gonna keep and another just for me, my stuff.

“What if I won’t?” he asks.

“I’ll throw you out of the room baby. So make sure at least the living is bigger and has a comfortable seating” I say.

So we will have two stores, that’s decided!!!

P.S: Its 3 years & 300 posts today – Cheers to my long writing and your patient reading!!

Hide N Seek

“It’s your turn now”

“No, you have to go. Last time you cheated me by coming in 10 minutes early”

“You sissy, stop pouring cold water on my decisions. I am the king maker, when I say go, you have to. For one last time stop listening to little Johnny, he has played enough”

“Damn you one hot ball of useless fire, that M S Subbulakshmi has started singing in every house hold, go show your presence else that grandma’s hen will overtake you”

& they continued fighting on whose turn it was.

Meanwhile somewhere far far away, the mistress at the urban scolds the weather for not letting her clothes dry and lady at the rural yells at the weather for not making her crops dry”

Sudden Wonder

She dusted the box. A series of cough followed; it had to be wiped twice in a wet cloth, the box was that dirty.

Few wipes and she realized that it was the “Apple 80Gb Black Classic ipod” box.

It has stopped working the day she threw it in anger, the same day when she threw all his materialistic memories off her closet. “Never do or talk stuff when you’re angry”, he used to tell her ample times & she never understood. It had stopped working.

He put into her hands, that black colored, 80 GB apple ipod. “I love it when my closed ones are superior between loose talking people” he had declared. & it had indeed worked well in creating fumes.

“I should get this working”, she decided after all it was bought with hard earned money and valued with emotions.

She plugged in the device that looked brand new after the cleaning. The status showed “Charging”

A sudden wonder happened and she was bale to retrieve all the songs, videos and photos inside.

May be god repaired the device; she wished if he could repair the relationship as well, but then wishes should never come true by breaking other’s wishes. Isn’t it?

De-Morgan, where are thou?

My mind these days works like the NOT gate or the inverter; when life is good & smooth going, it worries whether this is the “silent – state” before the powerful storm and when life is going through a rough patch it consoles that things could have been worse.

Is the logical inversion for good or bad? What if the bubble wasn’t there, would the life be any different?

One tough circuit this!

P.S: This Post is dedicated to MLD who followed us till S'patna, came till the temple, saw us inside the water, ran away abruptly as if he went to report it to RDX then only, stopped us at the Mysore Bangalore road, did not get scared of my I-have-long-hair-so-I-have-the-right-to-leave-it-open look !!!

Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi

I have draped Saree and wore Mysuru mallige second time in this week. Phew, these marriages and festivals I tell you. Al though they last just for a day, preparations are for a life time and even when the occasion is done the arrangements yet falls short.

I went gold shopping yesterday, was longing to buy those traditional gold Jhumkas. After a lot of searching and re-searching, shifting jewel showrooms finally got hold of one. It is conventional and at the same time a tiny bell hangs between the Jhumka adding a modern touch, oh, & also makes the tingling noise when I move. One more khathri to Pati’s purse and blade to his bank balance, serves him right for canceling the trip to Kodai.

For the first time I have independently carried out the “Puja” today. From cleaning and washing, arranging and decorating, flowers and flagrances to aarti and prasadam, all neatly done and executed at mom’s place. My not-so-well-mother who thought that this year the puja cannot be done was almost in tears; ha I like surprising people some times, giving them the unexpected.

Now its time for some corporate work wearing customary south Indian attire, & then handling the daughter-in-law’s responsibility at the in-laws this evening.

May you guys get complete blessings from ashta – Adi, Dhanya, Dhairya, Gaja, Santana, Vijaya, Vidya and Dhana Lakshmi !!!

Gaana Bajaana

New favorite songs can actually make you obsessed with them. Most of the newly added to favorites will be played all through the day, again and again, sung n number of times, lyrics viewed to lip sync, that’s what they do to you; they make you go mad until the next one catches your attention ears. My biggest boomer till date is listening to a 4:45 minutes clip 391 times in a day.

Few tunes have to be listened just once to be fond of them, but there are tracks that make you fall after you’ve heard them again & again on radio/TV. Specific ones are appreciated after the movie is watched. I am not even talking about the ones that are bad, the lyrics made just to sync with the already composed hit tune of some other language. I am not much fan of remixes but certain times, I repeat only at few instances the remixes sound better than the original.

Also the tunes…wait a minute I just heard something and its calling me. We shall discuss more on this later.

Until then Keep Listening.

Judgements

If a woman kills her husband, she must have been mad and mentally unstable.

If a man kills his wife, she must have been cheating on him or not loyal to him.

A man and his actions can never go wrong but a woman’s actions can never be right!!

The G-Link !!!

One of my dear friends told me the first time we met “There WILL be a link that connects all GOWDAS, No matter which part of Karnataka you hail from”. & indeed it was true, we were relatives, his dad’s brother’s wife (to be read as his aunt) is my dad’s cousin brother’s wife’s (to be read as my aunt) cousin. I am not sure whether the people who connected know this but we both knew that we are connected, through them.

I started to observe this link on almost on all acquaintances. In that way I even started knowing that I had those kind of relatives, which if not I would have met on my wedding day, smiled, clicked picture & taken the gift, but nothing more than that.

I keep telling sister to bond with people outside Mysore, Mandya, Hassan and Bangalore vicinity at college. It will be the same mutton oota, chithali amma, chunchungiri and gowdru politics with those lads, the stuff that dad has done by not moving out of town. I guide her to talk to people from different parts of India and world, learn new languages, and make contacts. What if your patient doesn’t know Kannada, English or Hindi, I ask her?

I have named the typical “Oh we are relatives” with a new name “G-Link” (not inspired from any of the strings mind you). Yesterday it was the heights at a wedding; I was invited from the guy’s side, he being a great friend and his family our close allies, Pati from the girl’s side, bride’s brother was his classmate, they were neighbors for long. When I met the girl I realized that the girl was my classmate at Joseph’s.

So much for being grounded and not spreading wings; Hmmmmphhhh!!!!

Darna Mana Hai

I am scared while going down the stairs that I may trip and fall like those Hindi movies (Read Hum aapke hai kaun) Bathmophobia, what ever they call it. Also of the heights, what if one of the compartment came off the giant wheel? Acrophobia to be precise. I am also scared of my dad, no matter if I am at fault or not, even those normal days I don’t have the courage to venture anywhere near him, Dadophobia I call it.

Pati is trying hard to fix all the above phobias; I hope he doesn’t have Aviatophobia, coz I see that there will be no success for his attempts!

P.S: Check this track sung by Ritisha of VOI fame.

The "This" & "That" syndrome

My mom has it & how!!! She irritates all of us with it. I wonder if it’s her age that’s doing the trick or is it that she cannot concentrate on two things at a time. Confused? I’ll explain, imagine a happy household where husband has gone out for work, the lady of the house is done with kitchen chores & is happily watching the news channels showing how-deal-manja-got-dealed, kids are playing around the house kids are watching TV in their respective rooms, you get the picture?

Ya that’s when the mother remembers that watching TV needs just her eye attention & her hands are free, they could do any not attention needed job. So she yells out loud to the kids who have their doors closed.

The kids come out of their room after few minutes and the mom instructs “Please get me that which is kept there”. Now the kids, poor little kids, what can they comprehend? They politely ask what should be got and where is the location. She yells at them for not listening for the first time & repeats in a harsh tone “Get me that tray of greens kept in the kitchen”. Sometimes she herself forgets what she wanted and sends us back. Oh, I changed my mind she confronts.

The kid (read me) does the same; not that I am not there, sis says that the problem has increased. She once said her to get her cell phone and when sis gave it to her yelled at her for bringing the wrong phone when she never told the specification that it had to be the phone that’s used only for STD calls.

We have sensed that the major culprit is the age and other is the silly world wide news she watches all day. We can’t ask her not to watch it as that’s the only companion she has got after I came out of home & it is better than the saas bahu soaps. & these days everyone believes the “Bharathi News”, its short, its real, its mix of all the news channels and most importantly its fast. They just call her and get the updates, & she will be more than happy to do so. Sports, Politics, Cinema, nowadays for aliya she has updated her knowledge base with Sensex and stuff.

Don’t be shocked if she has her own channel someday, we’ll name it “Vividha Bharathi” may be.

ಸರಿ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳು

ನಿನ್ನ ನಿಂದನೆ
ನನ್ನ ಚಿಂತನೆ
ಆಗಿತು ಪರಿವರ್ತನೆ

Illi Ondu Sign Maadi sir….

Signatures are the only thing that stays by your deathbed and even beyond. May be you can’t take the property you made after you leave the world but certainly you can decide who can have it. They are the ones that determine all the serious stuff, to tell you that you are married, have kids, you are the parent, you hold the authority, and they reveal that you are YOU.

Once you are 18 the first thing you should do is not visit the video parlor to buy the blue colored DVD but practice a significant, easy-for-you-tough-for-others-to-understand-and-copy sign. Practice the same until you get it right, sign at 5 places & all the 5 should look similar, the lines, the dots, and the way you strike through, perfect all.

Well, that’s when you become an adult.

Your signature could reveal a lot about you, your personality, your identity and the way you deal things. Graphology does just that; some have three dots below their name and few two... a few signatures start and end with upper an inclination and many are at the same level. Most of them are hard to read, but if you look at 99% of fairer sex’s signatures you can without any hassles get to know their names.

Then there are people who love creating signatures, who are very well aware of the letters and combining them to get a manuscript. I got mine inspired from one such person. My signature has a smile, & that’s what the person who taught me to sign left in my life “A smile”.

A smile when things are not working your way, a smile when you are giving your responsibility to someone else, a smile when your taking a responsibility, a smile that leaves a pleasing effect what so may be the situation.

Signing off with a :)

TM Tale

*Imagine a non-Indian speaking hindi, just like those tele-brand ads*

Kya aap baar baar gym mein join hokar pareshaan hai?
Kya aapko work se pursat nahi ke aap work-out karpaye?
Kya aap apni pasand kapde nahi pehen paa rahe hai?
Kya aap.....

[Oh damn cut the crap]

Dear women/girl/lady of the house who have a treadmill at home, do not, I repeat do not go for a higher end washing machine that dries off the washed crispy clean clothes.

Put the clothing on the treadmill for drying, it will not only dry clothes indoor during the rainy season but also ensures that the clothes fit you.

It is difficult to burn calories in order to fit into clothes, drying them on TM will expand them. Make the rules and your clothes will obey.

Him & Her

“Perfumes” clued his thoughts. She already has so many brands and what if she doesn’t like my choice. So off went perfumes which were the last option his mind could think of. Watches, bags, purses, chocolates, flowers, diamonds, jewellary, Sarees, accessories, cell phones, gadgets he had bought her all.

I have to take help of Pappu and so he called her.

“Hello” answered Pappu.

“I have to get her a birthday gift. I am not able to figure, please help me”

“Dad, for all these 30 years, mom has always liked what you gave her. So stop behaving like a kid and get her what your heart says”

That day, their home had a small puppy “Montu” and she loved it.

P.S – august is not a good month for me. Knowing so many Leos and early Virgos leads to confusions – financial (how to manage budget) and commercially (what to choose as present)


Happy Birthday to all the fiery august born who know nothing but to succeed.

Film: Krishnan Love Story

Krishnan Loose Story

Direction - good
Acting - good
Narration - good
Screenplay - good
Music - good
Costumes – good

Story – worst…. Who the hell wrote it? If it is real story or inspired let it be, why bore the audience to that extent? The second half spoils all the good part of the movie. & if the character is of a psychopath, the actress these days act the way “Soundarya” did it Aapthamitra. That’s so not happening, bring some yourself already.

I wonder how it’s running for 7 weeks now.

Total waste…