Being the pampered last child (Shendefal, in Marathi), I never imagined myself going beyond the boundary of "home, sweet home"! But thanks to this corporate world and my first two jobs, I visited a different world called Chennai and kept visiting it over and over again. When I think about Chennai, I literally go in flashback. There were funny moments along with struggling frustrating events. But all in all, it was truly eventful period which finally proved as an important chapter of my life! There was so much of cultural difference. My lifestyle changed completely, not to forget my name too! I became SWATHI PATHANKAR. Everyone would write all combinations of Swati; SWATHI, SWATHEE, SWATHII But they would never forget that H, grrrr..
It was way back in the year 2005 I got my first job. After convincing my parents, I went to Chennai for job. I still remember that train journey. We were a group of around 18 freshers in the train travelling together. There were a couple tamilians in this group. We (non-tamilians) showed tremendous enthusiasm and started taking Tamil lessons in the train itself. Onne, Rend, Moon, Naal, Anj, Aar, something something, onbudu, patthu (bear with my mistakes if you are a Tamilian)! We learned 1 to 10 numbers in Tamil in no time, our learning graph was at its peak. But it suddenly dropped to ground level. We learned one important sentence and that was "Tamil Teriyad" (I don't know Tamil). This was magical line which solved our problems and confused the person we were interacting with! Once I said same thing to my manager in office, he started laughing. He said, "You are saying, you don't know Tamil and that too you saying in Tamil hehehheeh". I just smiled at him and said to myself, "What to do Sir, people here don't understand any language other than Tamil" :)
Samruddhi was my roommate in Chennai. We both were always together experiencing daily challenges. We used to interact with Autowallas daily. There are no meters in Chennai, I mean there are meters but nobody uses. So in the end, before getting into the auto you have to bargain and obviously you have to do that in Tamil. We came to know from colleagues that our daily one time fare would be max 20 Rs. So our task was not to give more than this. Here was our daily routine: we used to stop an auto and say "Alwarpet" (that's where our office was) and with action ask him how much? He would say a figure which we wouldn’t understand. And then we say "Irubathu" and then his facial expressions would change drastically. He would act as if he has returned from some tragedy and start speaking in Tamil looking like he is crying. Then Sam and me look at each other and say in chorus, yeah you guessed it right "Tamil Teriyad". Autowalla: "Tamil teriyaadaa ammmaa, something something" Then somehow we would manage to bargain till 25 Rs.
Sorry to say, but Chennai autowallas are really weird or they are too smart! We once decided to roam around some places. Our only option was Auto. Me, Sam and Anshul decided to go to Mahabalipuram and visit places on the way, so we wanted to hire an Auto from morning till evening. Again the first step was enquiry. To and fro Mahabalipuram plus places on the way should have cost us around 500 Rs. We started searching, many of them were not ready and many were quoting 1000 which we thought was very costly. So we moved ahead and asked one more autowalla. Told him the place and asked how much in our usual style. He said 10000! whooaaahh.. we were in shock, but gained control, we thought he might not be knowing English. So asked him using our hands 1000??? He said “No Amma, Ten Thousand!” Anshul got mad at him and he instantly switched to Hindi, "Abey saale, ek din ke liye hire karna hai, kharidna nahi hai tera auto!" heheheheh.. We were laughing out loud. We controlled Anshul and went ahead. Finally we managed to get auto for 600 Rs. :)
On the way to Mahabalipuram is one Amusement Park called VGP. It’s like Essel world, we enjoyed there. There was Golden Beach in the same park! I tell you, that's a must watch place in Chennai. When we went there, for a moment we thought we have reached abroad. Such a beautiful sea, greenish blue water, clean sand, clean beach. This one was classy place. Our 600 Rs was already paid off!
Days passed by and we soon got tired of our daily interaction with Autowallas. Another option for transportation was Bus. I am a resident of Mumbai so I actually shouldn't have got scared looking at the bus. But it was really scary. I hardly saw any bus going balanced. The buses would be so crowded that they would be tilted on one side. But Sam and I had decided so we would show some courage and get in. After the initial struggle, it would be quite ok travel. The bus conductor would be SITTING on the first seat. Everyone would pass money to buy ticket. And everybody would buy tickets, it was mutual trust I guess. And there would be two separate rows, all ladies standing on one side and all gents on the other side. I was quite impressed with this self achieved management in bus. Btw, the place names were quite hard to remember in Chennai, Nungambakkam, Peddunaickenpet, Siruvallur, Thiruvotteeswaranpet and the list goes on. If you have to go to such difficult places, do write it down on a piece of paper, a sincere Advice! :)
Being from Mumbai, another major problem was Food. There would be options like idli, sambar, dosa mostly. For lunch and dinner, different types of rice and a huge variety of chatnis. I used to literally starve for chapatis. After a long time, I got to know one lady who prepared nice chapatis. She must have got lots of good wishes from all of us for sure. There was one strange food item though, Bonda Sambar. Guess what that would be! It is batata (potato) vada with sambar. I mean putting batata vada in sambar is like insulting my favourite batata wada :( I never tasted it! :)
Now another advice from me, if you are visiting not a high profile hotel in Chennai, don't ask for 2 things. One is Spoon (even though you have ordered idli) and other is finger bowl. If you ask for a spoon they give a look as if you have asked them to remove all their clothes heheheh. And Sam had asked for a finger bowl in one good hotel to which the waiter replied, "Basin is there aaaa" :D One funny incidence happened in the same hotel. I ordered for a juice. After my order came, I didn’t drink it immediately. I was busy talking with my friends. That same waiter came n stirred my juice with a straw! He did some facial expressions and said "Stir Stir aaaa". I said OK and laughed like anything after he went. I was wondering was he planning to drink it also? hehehhe
One attraction about Chennai is movies and music. If mumbaikars are cricket lovers then Chennaites are movie lovers. I never got a chance to see any Tamil movie but I fell in love with Tamil songs.. Kannam kannam nokia, Raa Raa, Rend ka Rend ka Rend ka.. the list goes on. Never understood the meaning of any song but they were really melodious/catchy numbers.
Chennai has given me lots of memories and it has taught me to be on my own away from parents, the most important lesson. Cheers Chennai!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Yaaro, Dosti badi hi haseen hai.. SPANDAN.. the HeartBeats!
Friendship post without a mention of SPANDAN is incomplete! SPANDAN is my BE group, a group of 9, A beautiful mix of different personality traits! SPANDAN means a Heartbeat; it was named by my creative dear friends. Everybody has got something from this group. Spandan gave eventful 4 years of engineering, memories to treasure, wonderful friends for life time. And what it gave me is a bonus; it gave me my life partner - Nikhil. Getting a life partner whom you know for years, who is one of your best friends; what more a girl would ask for!
SPANDAN was always special for each one of us but we realized the value of this group with the announcement of our marriage. One fine day, we disclosed the news to everyone! OMG, what a day that was! They were as surprised as we were initially. We felt so connected that day! The joy of getting married doubled with SPANDAN being so happy in our happiness! I and Nikhil executed our plan nicely of sharing this news. We mailed the group to give marriage news separately and Nikhil told the group to guess the girl. I did my job well to misguide my dear friends. It was a whole day drama, slowly the surprise unfolded. We ensured that nobody worked in their respective offices that day :) In the end, it was completely ecstatic moment for each one of us.
Remembering SPANDAN takes me through a beautiful memory lane. That travel by 211 bus to college, fighting over places to sit, Amit always blocking HIS seat and then 45 min of full-on fun drive! Having tiffin together and then finishing it in no time :) Pratik used to bring biscuits. A packet of biscuits was also such a pleasure! Having snacks in the canteen, of course sharing the snacks too; Shailu mostly blackmailing a new target daily for buying him a plate of snacks Hehhehe.. Endless rounds of dumb charades at Juhu Beach, at Nikhil’s home! Ohh yes, Nikhil’s home was our favorite place to hang out! Nikhil’s egg rice, khichdi, tea was his specialty :)
In fact, each one of us had his own specialty. Shailu is still known for his laziness, he once expected his dad to submit his resume to the companies for him to get the job, haw! Uski har ladki ko dekhke WAAT lag jaati hai! :D I don’t know what’s with his troubled look, but his face mostly looks as if he is suffering from constipation hehehheh.. I think I and Ashish had couple of things in common. We both were terribly slim in college, that’s why we used to be compared with the fliers (I don’t know it’s name, its plastic toy flying in air) at Juhu beach :) I used to compete with Ashish for a moustache and I guess I was declared a clear winner! :p I think Ashish has taken some treatment recently, he has now got a small beard too ;)
Sachin and his alliance (daily changing) used to find a new target daily, teasing him/her full on. That poor target mostly used to be Pratik. :) The moment somebody used to catch hold of him, Pratik used to put his hand around his shoulder and murmuring something, only thing we could hear was “Oooo Bhendi”. Every teasing session would go on until me & Kalpana are laughing :p Nikhil’s leg pulling session wouldn’t last long as he used to get irritated and then run away with his fatfati :p
Even Kalpana and I were not spared! Giving us whole lot of names.. kamla-bakula, dombivali-kalyan, master-slave (I didn’t like this one, grrrrr) and there would be many more which we are still unaware of! Mostly Sachin would be the mastermind behind all this. But most important thing was everyone was so close to each other that everyone took teasing sportingly, in fact everyone would enjoy it completely!
Exam and Viva was a tough time for everyone. One memory of vivas is still fresh in mind.. Mostly I and Amit used to go together for vivas because of our roll numbers. It was Electronics viva and I was having real bad time. The examiner was asking all questions for which I had no answers. Amit’s viva was also not going that great but it was not as bad as mine. Finally examiner asked me, do you want to pass or stay in the same class? I was shocked, who would say NO to this question? I guess there were couple of last chances given to me and I answered some questions. I was horribly scared until results were out. But I had prepared my mind for KT because of that question :) And guess what, I got 11/25 and Amit got 9(+1 grace mark to PASS)! I still remember his reaction, he was so mad at that professor! :)
Our informals used to be real fun! None of us was that good at dancing. But there is always an advantage for non-dancers when it’s a DJ night. No one would really make out how you are dancing because of the light effects. But our guys gang didn’t miss my and Kalpana’s dance steps even in light effects :p Kalpana’s “Ambe maate ki Jay” dance step gained lot of popularity :D Last year college event was special fun with our class winning the trophy. And there was contribution from SPANDAN as well. Remarkable performances by Kalpana (doing cute love scene with Amit Kale), Kala Kauwa acting by Ashish, Sachin playing villain and my first ever stage performance with one dialogue in the skit. That skit has a special memory for all of us. And a 3rd prize in instrumentals by Nikhil playing tabla :)
All relationships go through a phase, its share of ups and downs. Even SPANDAN had its share of ups and downs. There were some minor fights. But what really stood strong was our friendship, our love for each other! I remember, there was once a difference of opinion among me, Sachin and Kalpana. Kalpana and I didn’t like some of Sachin’s comments. I don’t really remember the incidence; probably it was not a major thing. But eventually what followed was Sachin came to both of us and said sorry. The SORRY was not that important but it showed that he valued the friendship more than what happened.
Things have come and gone, but we all are rock solid. Even today, each one of us is sure that we would get a helping hand from these friends whenever required. Nikhil was my secret keeper in college time and a strong support. He continues to do his job today also. :) Amit and Nikhil were my guides in crucial times in Chennai. Each member of SPANDAN, just being there makes me feel good. Unmesh doesn’t get tired writing long entertaining mails. I was really amazed at his recent comment; he was relaxed about his life after retirement because he will have loads of fun-packed email conversations to keep him busy. He didn’t think that his wife and kids will be there too to keep him busy. :) That’s how Spandan is, everyone’s heart truly beats for each other! And finally this is what I believe for SPANDAN..
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”
SPANDAN was always special for each one of us but we realized the value of this group with the announcement of our marriage. One fine day, we disclosed the news to everyone! OMG, what a day that was! They were as surprised as we were initially. We felt so connected that day! The joy of getting married doubled with SPANDAN being so happy in our happiness! I and Nikhil executed our plan nicely of sharing this news. We mailed the group to give marriage news separately and Nikhil told the group to guess the girl. I did my job well to misguide my dear friends. It was a whole day drama, slowly the surprise unfolded. We ensured that nobody worked in their respective offices that day :) In the end, it was completely ecstatic moment for each one of us.
Remembering SPANDAN takes me through a beautiful memory lane. That travel by 211 bus to college, fighting over places to sit, Amit always blocking HIS seat and then 45 min of full-on fun drive! Having tiffin together and then finishing it in no time :) Pratik used to bring biscuits. A packet of biscuits was also such a pleasure! Having snacks in the canteen, of course sharing the snacks too; Shailu mostly blackmailing a new target daily for buying him a plate of snacks Hehhehe.. Endless rounds of dumb charades at Juhu Beach, at Nikhil’s home! Ohh yes, Nikhil’s home was our favorite place to hang out! Nikhil’s egg rice, khichdi, tea was his specialty :)
In fact, each one of us had his own specialty. Shailu is still known for his laziness, he once expected his dad to submit his resume to the companies for him to get the job, haw! Uski har ladki ko dekhke WAAT lag jaati hai! :D I don’t know what’s with his troubled look, but his face mostly looks as if he is suffering from constipation hehehheh.. I think I and Ashish had couple of things in common. We both were terribly slim in college, that’s why we used to be compared with the fliers (I don’t know it’s name, its plastic toy flying in air) at Juhu beach :) I used to compete with Ashish for a moustache and I guess I was declared a clear winner! :p I think Ashish has taken some treatment recently, he has now got a small beard too ;)
Sachin and his alliance (daily changing) used to find a new target daily, teasing him/her full on. That poor target mostly used to be Pratik. :) The moment somebody used to catch hold of him, Pratik used to put his hand around his shoulder and murmuring something, only thing we could hear was “Oooo Bhendi”. Every teasing session would go on until me & Kalpana are laughing :p Nikhil’s leg pulling session wouldn’t last long as he used to get irritated and then run away with his fatfati :p
Even Kalpana and I were not spared! Giving us whole lot of names.. kamla-bakula, dombivali-kalyan, master-slave (I didn’t like this one, grrrrr) and there would be many more which we are still unaware of! Mostly Sachin would be the mastermind behind all this. But most important thing was everyone was so close to each other that everyone took teasing sportingly, in fact everyone would enjoy it completely!
Exam and Viva was a tough time for everyone. One memory of vivas is still fresh in mind.. Mostly I and Amit used to go together for vivas because of our roll numbers. It was Electronics viva and I was having real bad time. The examiner was asking all questions for which I had no answers. Amit’s viva was also not going that great but it was not as bad as mine. Finally examiner asked me, do you want to pass or stay in the same class? I was shocked, who would say NO to this question? I guess there were couple of last chances given to me and I answered some questions. I was horribly scared until results were out. But I had prepared my mind for KT because of that question :) And guess what, I got 11/25 and Amit got 9(+1 grace mark to PASS)! I still remember his reaction, he was so mad at that professor! :)
Our informals used to be real fun! None of us was that good at dancing. But there is always an advantage for non-dancers when it’s a DJ night. No one would really make out how you are dancing because of the light effects. But our guys gang didn’t miss my and Kalpana’s dance steps even in light effects :p Kalpana’s “Ambe maate ki Jay” dance step gained lot of popularity :D Last year college event was special fun with our class winning the trophy. And there was contribution from SPANDAN as well. Remarkable performances by Kalpana (doing cute love scene with Amit Kale), Kala Kauwa acting by Ashish, Sachin playing villain and my first ever stage performance with one dialogue in the skit. That skit has a special memory for all of us. And a 3rd prize in instrumentals by Nikhil playing tabla :)
All relationships go through a phase, its share of ups and downs. Even SPANDAN had its share of ups and downs. There were some minor fights. But what really stood strong was our friendship, our love for each other! I remember, there was once a difference of opinion among me, Sachin and Kalpana. Kalpana and I didn’t like some of Sachin’s comments. I don’t really remember the incidence; probably it was not a major thing. But eventually what followed was Sachin came to both of us and said sorry. The SORRY was not that important but it showed that he valued the friendship more than what happened.
Things have come and gone, but we all are rock solid. Even today, each one of us is sure that we would get a helping hand from these friends whenever required. Nikhil was my secret keeper in college time and a strong support. He continues to do his job today also. :) Amit and Nikhil were my guides in crucial times in Chennai. Each member of SPANDAN, just being there makes me feel good. Unmesh doesn’t get tired writing long entertaining mails. I was really amazed at his recent comment; he was relaxed about his life after retirement because he will have loads of fun-packed email conversations to keep him busy. He didn’t think that his wife and kids will be there too to keep him busy. :) That’s how Spandan is, everyone’s heart truly beats for each other! And finally this is what I believe for SPANDAN..
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Yaaro, Dosti badi hi haseen hai!
Scene 1: At 12.00 am
Me (Depressed, Calling my friend): Hey, Can we talk for a while?
My Friend: Hey, are you alright? Tell me what's the problem. You sound quite disturbed!
Me: I am stuck with "X" situation. Kya karu yar? This is really miserable!
Then my friend talks with me until I feel alright. Things just fall in place after talking to a friend.
Scene 2: At 11.30 pm
Me and my husband (Nikhil) talking about one song. we both know some hints for that song but wo song yaad nahi aa raha! we both getting restless!! Finally I give up, tired of giving stress to my small brain at this time.
Me: Chhod yar, let's call Shilpa. She will definitely know the song.
Shilpa (obviously sleeping at that time) picks up phone. We ask her about that song and she immediately tells the song. If she was little fresh, she would sing also for us :) And then she says, tumha doghanna kahi kam dhande nahit ka? evdhya ratri mala ya song sathi uthavla. And we shamelessly say, Your work is done, you may sleep now! :)
Friends are such an integral part of our lives! They are your stress-busters in your emotional lows and your joy multipliers in your happy moments. There are just no rules in this relationship; it blossoms with unconditional love for each other. :)
My oldest friends are from my school. We were a group of 4 girls. I entered in a new school in 8th. So we girls were together for merely 3 years and these 3 years were enough for a lifetime friendship to build. I don't know how I touched their life and they became such an important part of my life!
Deepika is one girl whom I call every time, 99.99% of the times, she would say "Swati, mala tujhi khup aathavan yet hoti, mi tula aata ch call karnar hote"! :O) And mind you, she says the same thing to every friend. heheheh I don't know how she manages to keep her finger on Call button for every friend, that's still a mystery for me. I can never forget one incident with her in school days; it really made me feel special. She had undergone a surgery, she was in a hospital. While she was unconscious, she was calling my name and she wanted to speak to me. Her parents called at my residence. I was surprised to hear what they said. From there on, we went on to become best of friends. Btw, I am still clueless what she wanted to talk! :)
Shilpa! What do I say about this girl? I think God burdens her weak shoulders with all possible problems in the world I guess. Whenever I talk to her, she would be stuck in some or the other problem. She is mostly in her own world. Always so very much stressed that we will need to FORCE her to get out of that situation and have some fun. (I said WE, because Nikhil has become her close friend, probably closer than me!) But still, she is a complete sweetheart. She doesn’t feel bad if we make fun of her, she takes it sportingly. If we get angry on her, she listens quietly :) She has the strongest of memory. She knows my Dad's birthdate. She remembers my oldest friend, Pallavi's details. You tell her once and forget it. She will remember it for you. She values friendship completely. If you got her as a friend, she will stand by you in all circumstances.
Viyanka always came across as a bindaas girl. Mountain Dew, Dar ke aage jeet hai was probably invented after watching her. So all the positive source of enrgery was from Viyanka. Our school name is Namdar Gopalkrishna Gokhle Highschool. No doubt he was a great person, but such a big name! So Viyanka had made it really simple. She had renamed our school as St. Gokhs! :) You know it always feels better to tell someone that you are from a convent school. So we all really appreciated her invention.
It's been so many years being with these friends; but the memories are still fresh. Having lunch-box together in class, Being together in sports days (just being together, as I was just a cheer-leader).. miss that fun really! Ohh yes, a very very funny incidence in Gadre Classes (No need to elaborate it in the comments :p)! that Dharamsingh Hall, where we all shared each other's secrets! I have beautiful memory with you gals. Long live our friendship! :)
Another sweet friend of mine is Samruddhi! She would be happy that I have written her full name. Her friendship is yet another example of this nice relation. Our friendship developed merely within a month of our first job. Then it went on a new level, don’t get me wrong here. ;) We were each other’s partners in the times of happy, sad & challenging events. Living in Chennai away from your family is the biggest challenge I have faced till date. :) but we both managed it well. Our friendship became so strong that when one used to suffer, there would be tears in other’s eyes. We still are so very best friends. We call each other when we are feeling low, we can comfort each other just by talking. It’s 100% sure, whatever the problem could be, we will be perfectly alright after talking. A friend like her is the only good thing that Chennai gave me! :)
A friend is someone whom you can completely trust! The one who can give you his shoulder to cry when you are feeling low, the one who can stand for you, the one who becomes happy when you win or achieve something! May be friendship is God’s way of saying “Mai hoon na”! Sometimes my family member becomes my friend! I discovered a friend in my sister-in-law, I discovered friends in my cousins, just because I feel comfortable being with them, I can share things with them. It’s the love that keeps us together! My cousins have different way of expressing their love for me though. The moment they see me, they attack me. But I know, they completely love me. We all have a crying session when somebody is in trouble, that’s what shows how well we are connected!
So this post is a dedication to all my friends. It’s difficult to mention all of them here, but I truly admire each one of you for being there! My life would be incomplete without YOU!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Ummm, I Love Chocolates!!
Reading the caption, you might feel I will write here about my love for chocolates. Of course, that's one part, but that's not all! In fact this is a continuation of previous blog, one more embarrassing moment, in fact most memorable and cute one :) If Sameer Bhau (my cousin) reads this, he will get a shock of his life!! :p
I think I am a completely transformed person as compared to my childhood. I was totally shy and introvert kid. Being at home with my family is the only thing I remember I did most of the times. And I used to have toughest time when there would be school holidays because that's when all my relatives used to invite me to stay. So same way one fine day, my relatives called me over and I couldn't say NO to them out of respect.
May be there was one more reason why I agreed to go. Mavshi's fridge used to be always filled with imported chocolates :) Finally I was there for couple of days. I saw those yummy tempting chocolates every time the fridge was opened. Of course mavshi gave me chocolates to eat. But I was not satisfied, I was like "Can I finish them all??" heheheh
Next day, everybody went to their respective offices. They were feeling bad that I will have to stay alone. But I assured them that I will be OK (more than happy with the chocolates)! :) and Sameer bhau would have returned by afternoon so they were also relaxed! I was alone at home so ideally I could have had as many as I wanted. But it was not as simple as I felt. My mind was not allowing me to have chocolates without taking permission. I controlled myself till afternoon. But then I felt, what's wrong if I take just one chocolate. A kid's mind gave up! :) I opened the fridge and grabbed one chocolate, smallest one!! I ate it and felt niceeee for some time and then I started feeling horribly guilty. I had the chocolate and the wrapper was still with me!
I thought throwing the chocolate wrapper in the dustbin was not a good idea. What would my relatives think if they notice that wrapper?? "such a horrible kid, doesn't have manners to even ask!!..." afterall, I had stolen one chocolate!! so I went straight in the bedroom balcony. I threw the wrapper out. :) Now I felt relaxed, huhh!! I managed to destroy the proof :) I was just about to turn around and I saw Sameer Bhau from balcony. OMG, that chocolate wrapper might have fallen in front of him or may be on his head! I just ran away from there very next moment. And then I sat like a innocent child and behaved as if nothing happened. hahahha... Even Sameer bhau didn't ask me anything, may be I was safe! ;)
It's been many years, but I still remember that day :) I know my relatives wouldn't mind if I had taken many chocolates, but that's the way I was as a kid! There are just two inferences from this story of mine.. one, kids are really innocent and two, kids love chocolates :)
Ohh yes, gtg, There is one chocolate in my fridge waiting for me ;)
I think I am a completely transformed person as compared to my childhood. I was totally shy and introvert kid. Being at home with my family is the only thing I remember I did most of the times. And I used to have toughest time when there would be school holidays because that's when all my relatives used to invite me to stay. So same way one fine day, my relatives called me over and I couldn't say NO to them out of respect.
May be there was one more reason why I agreed to go. Mavshi's fridge used to be always filled with imported chocolates :) Finally I was there for couple of days. I saw those yummy tempting chocolates every time the fridge was opened. Of course mavshi gave me chocolates to eat. But I was not satisfied, I was like "Can I finish them all??" heheheh
Next day, everybody went to their respective offices. They were feeling bad that I will have to stay alone. But I assured them that I will be OK (more than happy with the chocolates)! :) and Sameer bhau would have returned by afternoon so they were also relaxed! I was alone at home so ideally I could have had as many as I wanted. But it was not as simple as I felt. My mind was not allowing me to have chocolates without taking permission. I controlled myself till afternoon. But then I felt, what's wrong if I take just one chocolate. A kid's mind gave up! :) I opened the fridge and grabbed one chocolate, smallest one!! I ate it and felt niceeee for some time and then I started feeling horribly guilty. I had the chocolate and the wrapper was still with me!
I thought throwing the chocolate wrapper in the dustbin was not a good idea. What would my relatives think if they notice that wrapper?? "such a horrible kid, doesn't have manners to even ask!!..." afterall, I had stolen one chocolate!! so I went straight in the bedroom balcony. I threw the wrapper out. :) Now I felt relaxed, huhh!! I managed to destroy the proof :) I was just about to turn around and I saw Sameer Bhau from balcony. OMG, that chocolate wrapper might have fallen in front of him or may be on his head! I just ran away from there very next moment. And then I sat like a innocent child and behaved as if nothing happened. hahahha... Even Sameer bhau didn't ask me anything, may be I was safe! ;)
It's been many years, but I still remember that day :) I know my relatives wouldn't mind if I had taken many chocolates, but that's the way I was as a kid! There are just two inferences from this story of mine.. one, kids are really innocent and two, kids love chocolates :)
Ohh yes, gtg, There is one chocolate in my fridge waiting for me ;)
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Oops... God, why me???
Welcome to my second post!
As the name suggests, I am going to share few moments of embarrassment in my life TILL NOW :) A brief background before I start, I come from a Marathi medium school, ummm, I think that's enough background, now let's get started!! :)
My engineering college life was pretty cool, I was in Fr. CRCE (Agnel) college situated in the most happening place of Mumbai, Bandstand! After two years of struggle with English, I landed here. I was still learning and struggling in English. We had this horrible subject "Communication Skills" in the first year. There was a mandatory presentation for every student as a part of term work. We had to present our topic for 10 minutes. I started my preparations and I wrote enough material to speak for 10 minutes and mugged it up nicely. :)
Then THAT day arrived, we gathered in a conference room. Time was running, 3135, 3136, 3137.. My heartbeats were running fast and there comes my turn! My number was called 3138!! I was shivering.. Somehow I composed myself and went to the podium. God, damn it, Why is such a huge crowd sitting in front of me??? Now this was a do or die situation, so I started finally. I spoke first line of my rattofied presentation and then??? shit, I forgot everything!! My memory had crashed temporarily. I tried to recollect my stuff looking at the ceiling of the room and then I looked down & said "Ma'm, can I start again???" yeah, I actually said that. :D Professor's reaction was like, "Whateverrr, Go ahead". I had a quick glance at the crowd. I saw my friends group sitting right there and everyone was laughing :( I prayed to God and started my presentation again, but as you could imagine, I was damn nervous, I finished my 10 min speech in less than 5 min!! Oops.....
Now get ready for next one.. The story didn't end there, there was also a group discussion as part of this stupid subject :( Thankfully there were no impromptu topics. From a list of options, our group selected one of the topic. As usual, my RATTA business started. I decided what all points I will say. But I didn't know that a GD cannot be planned, you need to be prepared for anything in GD.
Finally our GD started. Someone started with introduction, someone raised positive points, someone contradicted and what was I doing??? Of course, I tried my best to chip in, but I was ignored by rest of the crowd. I couldn't shout and get into the action, so for the rest of the time, I kept looking at all of them like a tennis match audience. hehehe.. Now there were only last few minutes left. No no, I didn't realize that, I was peacefully listening. :) Our examiner announced, "last 3 min, now I want someone to summarize, Swati please start!!" shit, why me??? My mind was saying "Can I pass??" :( But then I started, I fumbled and as expected I couldn't give nice summary, so somebody took over and scored the marks over me!! Somehow I passed both of these terrible tests. They gave me least marks so that I don't flunk in that subject. My heart was broken, I felt like a loser and I went into frustration for many days. I used to get goosebumps remembering these incidences, but today I laugh at them!! :D
Thankfully gone are those days now, I gained confidence in public speaking in these years. I owe it completely to my first job for this. No, it's not 3i-Infotech, not many people know, I worked as a lecturer in my college after graduation for one semester! After reading these incidences, this must be funny right?? Even I never imagined myself doing this job. But I was in need of job, So I grabbed the opportunity given by our Principal Dr. Sesha Iyer.
As expected, there were many challenges in this job. First one, ... no need to tell :D and above that, our junior BE batch had all new subjects. Me and Krupa (one more classmate) were given Multimedia Systems subject. Right from day one, there were many embarrassing moments. It was tough task ahead, I used to study all night for next day lecture. There were many incidences where I had to say in the class "I will need to look into this, I will get back to you!!" After some time, my students gave up and stopped asking questions :D But that's not all..
I was once taking labs (practical sessions) for one subject. I was just observing each n every person how he/she is doing it. Same way, I stood behind two boys. And I heard what I was not supposed to hear.. Sharad (Yes, I remember that person :D) said, "abey wo pakati hai, usko kuch aata nahi hai!!" Oops, Damn it, why I had to stand there at that time??? Very next moment, Sharad and his friend noticed me standing there and they were like "Ohh shit".. I didn't know how to react to that, I just smiled and asked them "do you need any help?" and then sat down in my chair!! But in the end, this job taught me a lot. I made few friends (my students) from my class by the time semester was over. Krupa and I had most fun with this job, we loved the lunch time gossip about students ;)
And guess what, I got my pictures (while taking the lecture) after few days from one of my student!! Naughty boys.... I guess, my class never paid attention to my lecture. Anyways, thank you all for bearing with me, Dil se...
Now enough for this post. But there are few more "Oops" moments that I would be sharing, but that will be in my next blog.. Keep waiting till then.... Cheers!!
As the name suggests, I am going to share few moments of embarrassment in my life TILL NOW :) A brief background before I start, I come from a Marathi medium school, ummm, I think that's enough background, now let's get started!! :)
My engineering college life was pretty cool, I was in Fr. CRCE (Agnel) college situated in the most happening place of Mumbai, Bandstand! After two years of struggle with English, I landed here. I was still learning and struggling in English. We had this horrible subject "Communication Skills" in the first year. There was a mandatory presentation for every student as a part of term work. We had to present our topic for 10 minutes. I started my preparations and I wrote enough material to speak for 10 minutes and mugged it up nicely. :)
Then THAT day arrived, we gathered in a conference room. Time was running, 3135, 3136, 3137.. My heartbeats were running fast and there comes my turn! My number was called 3138!! I was shivering.. Somehow I composed myself and went to the podium. God, damn it, Why is such a huge crowd sitting in front of me??? Now this was a do or die situation, so I started finally. I spoke first line of my rattofied presentation and then??? shit, I forgot everything!! My memory had crashed temporarily. I tried to recollect my stuff looking at the ceiling of the room and then I looked down & said "Ma'm, can I start again???" yeah, I actually said that. :D Professor's reaction was like, "Whateverrr, Go ahead". I had a quick glance at the crowd. I saw my friends group sitting right there and everyone was laughing :( I prayed to God and started my presentation again, but as you could imagine, I was damn nervous, I finished my 10 min speech in less than 5 min!! Oops.....
Now get ready for next one.. The story didn't end there, there was also a group discussion as part of this stupid subject :( Thankfully there were no impromptu topics. From a list of options, our group selected one of the topic. As usual, my RATTA business started. I decided what all points I will say. But I didn't know that a GD cannot be planned, you need to be prepared for anything in GD.
Finally our GD started. Someone started with introduction, someone raised positive points, someone contradicted and what was I doing??? Of course, I tried my best to chip in, but I was ignored by rest of the crowd. I couldn't shout and get into the action, so for the rest of the time, I kept looking at all of them like a tennis match audience. hehehe.. Now there were only last few minutes left. No no, I didn't realize that, I was peacefully listening. :) Our examiner announced, "last 3 min, now I want someone to summarize, Swati please start!!" shit, why me??? My mind was saying "Can I pass??" :( But then I started, I fumbled and as expected I couldn't give nice summary, so somebody took over and scored the marks over me!! Somehow I passed both of these terrible tests. They gave me least marks so that I don't flunk in that subject. My heart was broken, I felt like a loser and I went into frustration for many days. I used to get goosebumps remembering these incidences, but today I laugh at them!! :D
Thankfully gone are those days now, I gained confidence in public speaking in these years. I owe it completely to my first job for this. No, it's not 3i-Infotech, not many people know, I worked as a lecturer in my college after graduation for one semester! After reading these incidences, this must be funny right?? Even I never imagined myself doing this job. But I was in need of job, So I grabbed the opportunity given by our Principal Dr. Sesha Iyer.
As expected, there were many challenges in this job. First one, ... no need to tell :D and above that, our junior BE batch had all new subjects. Me and Krupa (one more classmate) were given Multimedia Systems subject. Right from day one, there were many embarrassing moments. It was tough task ahead, I used to study all night for next day lecture. There were many incidences where I had to say in the class "I will need to look into this, I will get back to you!!" After some time, my students gave up and stopped asking questions :D But that's not all..
I was once taking labs (practical sessions) for one subject. I was just observing each n every person how he/she is doing it. Same way, I stood behind two boys. And I heard what I was not supposed to hear.. Sharad (Yes, I remember that person :D) said, "abey wo pakati hai, usko kuch aata nahi hai!!" Oops, Damn it, why I had to stand there at that time??? Very next moment, Sharad and his friend noticed me standing there and they were like "Ohh shit".. I didn't know how to react to that, I just smiled and asked them "do you need any help?" and then sat down in my chair!! But in the end, this job taught me a lot. I made few friends (my students) from my class by the time semester was over. Krupa and I had most fun with this job, we loved the lunch time gossip about students ;)
And guess what, I got my pictures (while taking the lecture) after few days from one of my student!! Naughty boys.... I guess, my class never paid attention to my lecture. Anyways, thank you all for bearing with me, Dil se...
Now enough for this post. But there are few more "Oops" moments that I would be sharing, but that will be in my next blog.. Keep waiting till then.... Cheers!!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The First Step...
Here I go.. even I am going to start blogging now.. I never gave a serious thought about blogging.. But there are some things which caught my eye.. First and foremost thing, Thanks Tanu for motivating me to write!! It's such simple way of being in touch with your dear ones.. Of course there are many networking sites, but with blogging, I can give way to my emotions, my thoughts, letting people know my updates.. And the most important thing, it's FREE!!! :)
So why was this hesitation stopping me till now?? Can I not write?? Of course, I can!! I am educated enough to write something.. But now good or bad, that will be left for the readers to decide.. May be there could be other reason that I shared with Tanu.. I recently came to know that a human being has approximately 60000 thoughts daily.. ohh my my, that's a lot.. So may be I was thinking will I be able to select one single thought out of so many and write on it!! For the time being, I am not going to think much about it, the thing is I have started.. There is this beautiful line by Emerson and that's what I have done now!!
"The first step isn't in the taking of the first step; it is in deciding to take the first step"
Now a bit of my updates.. I am in a holiday mood these days, relaxing at home.. I saw 3 movies in one day, yah I know I know.. That's a lot..Here goes the list, with my reviews of course..
My Name is Khan - A message to Khan. I have been your fan since childhood. Now don't give
me reasons to hate you.. grrrrr... itna to boora acting mat karo yar!!
Jogwa (A Marathi movie) - truly heavy stuff (but good work in the end), not to be watched
when you are in holiday mood!! but guess what, there is Lip Kiss in this Marathi movie..
hawwww, I was aghast! ;)
The Secret - Last but definitely not the least.. this one is again inspirational and philosophical.. But a good one to watch, these things definitely don't harm us.. But there are no hero heroines in this, It's a gyan about life!! but still I can recommend this one!! And thanks Bhau and Harshada for gifting me this.
I know, my recommendations might be late, these are all old movies, But got time to watch them all in one day, definitely an achievement for me!!
I guess that's enough for the first post, in fact a bit too much.. Keep a watch on my posts if they interest you!! Ciao..
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