36 - Tag time again

1. What is your current obsession?
I can't reveal her name in public :P

2. What are you wearing today?
Right now, shorts and t-shirt. Plan to wear kurta-pajama in the evening.

3. What's for dinner?
Dinner at friend's place.

4. What was the last thing you bought?
A haircut!

5. What are you listening to right now?
I am humming random songs to myself.

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
I picked it up from two of my friends' blog.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
It will be somewhere in the hills, by a lakeside, with a fireplace, and good stock of books and drinks.

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Cotton, and more cotton.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Mt. Everest!

10. Which language do you want to learn?
Sign language.

11. What’s your favourite quote?
"The grass is always greener on the other side of the river" - I actually use this a lot.

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
All my friends.

13. What is your favorite colour?
Blue. Depends really.

14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own closet?
A pair of jeans.

15. What is your dream job?
Dreaming

16. What’s your favourite magazine?
I don't have a fav magazine - I read them all randomly.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Chandni bar... here I come...

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Black belt, brown shoes.

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?
Fardeen Khan

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
On me, crew cut. On ladies, the kind they show on shampoo ads.

21. What are you going to do after this?
Go to Chandni bar with the $100 I got from question#17.

22. What are your favourite movies?
Too many.. but Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Satyajit Ray movies are right there at the top.

23. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?
Deo, After shave, and moisturizer.

24. What inspires you?
The satisfaction of doing something well inspires me.

25. Give us three styling tips that always work for you
Get yourself a healthier body, wear comfortable clothes, and feel confident.

26. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Jeans and T-shirt :)

27. Coffee or tea?
My day starts with tea. Thereafter, coffee please.

28. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
I sing to myself, and philosophize.

29. What is the meaning of your name?
Auspicious lamp.

30. Which other blogs do you love visiting?
They are all listed on the right panel of this blog.

31. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
The one that is available - I am sweet crazy; it's better if I don't have a choice.

32. Favorite Season?
Winter.

33. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Maggi

34. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?
I need to learn to do this.

35. What are you afraid of the most?
Death

36.Is it possible to be in love with two persons simultaneously?
No for me, if I got the context right.

I tag - everyone reading this. Enjoy.

Brand-Aid

It's plain funny how some brands catch the imagination of the "public" in India. Generic products will be called by a brand name; and people insist that it is the right name. For example, when I asked someone at work to get a "photocopy", he tried to correct me by saying, "You mean Xerox?". It's not his fault, I guess. Every street corner in Kolkata you will find a sign boasting "Xerox by Canon" or plain "Xerox", although if you look inside the shop, the machine could be Canon, HP, IBM, etc.

Then, of course, all kind of instant noodle is Maggi. Chocolates, used to be, and sometimes even now, is Cadbury! Luxury buses, even if they are made by Ashok Leyland, Tata, or some other company, boasts of "Volvo" service! My mom says, when she was a kid, detergent powder was referred to as "Surf"! Even now, people buy "Band Aid" instead of "adhesive dressings". I am sure there are so many other examples that I can't recall now!

Excuses

BSNL broadband at home was not working. Follow up to fix it didn't happen during the Pujas.
Office policy (and work pressure) doesn't allow browsing.

So, let bygones be bygones. The good thing is I am back, isn't it?

A bachelor and a gentleman

If it happened just once, I would have ignored it. But, twice in a week is too much of a coincidence to ignore!

If I may say so myself, people generally consider me as a gentleman. But twice this week, this has been misunderstood. Twice during the course of discussion about "roving eyes" of other men, I had to face embarrassing questions about my sexuality and usual "Dostana" jokes! Why is it that people have to criticize the behavior of others as lewd, obscene or crass, yet cannot accept someone who is not behaving like that as a straight single gentleman?

All in a (Sun)day's work

Several cups of tea.
A short haircut.
A long-due tiring workout.
Moving stuff at home, that was long due too.
Clothes shopping with my brother-in-law.
Going to a movie with friends. Visit a friend, who couldn't join us for the movie, for post movie tea.
Taking a long walk by the lake.
Planning for next Sunday!

Ten days, nine nights

This is one of those posts, where I come back to my blog and see that the last post was written quite a few days ago, and see that I had so much to write but still didn't write, and didn't realise it was that long since I last wrote anything. If that confused you, never mind, I am not known for my lyrical prose anyway! Let me just go on...

Almost exactly two years after I took a break from the corporate world, I joined a company this week. Although I was enjoying work with my friends over the last couple of years, at some point in time, I guess this was bound to happen. As you can imagine, the first few days in this new place were really crazy (a positive crazy, like busy-crazy). Wish me luck people for this new journey.

Leaving you with an image from Chandipur, a place in Orissa which I visited just before joining. As all tours with childhood friends and like-minded friends go, this one was a blast. Even the post trip party last night was a total blast. Some people realized how drunk they were after the videos were shown! Some realized how liberal they become with their singing when they think no ones listening. Those who didn't make it to this trip realized how much fun they missed out on.

हिंदी पुस्तक के खोज में

I can read Hindi - slowly, write Hindi - with very bad spelling and handwriting, and speak Hindi - with mistakes, especially gender related and pronunciations. But I am not ashamed of those. After all, it is only the third language I know. To improve my hindi, I try to speak as often as I can. It is my effort to read Hindi, that I am not particularly happy about. I have tried to ask a few friends who are native speakers of the language, and I still don't have a list of writers who represent modern Hindi literature.

I am also worried, because none of my friends are reading Hindi, when I know some of them do read a lot. Forget about reading, they are not even aware about the Hindi literary scene from what I understand. I don't remember a recent Hindi movie which is based on original literary work. I don't remember anyone talking about a Hindi books, whereas a lot of noise is heard about works in English. Does that mean that there is a lack of interest in Hindi literature among people today? That would be sad, since I firmly believe a language evolves and enriches through written work.

BTW, I am currently reading two Bangla books, both fiction, but fact based. And even if I am not a big fan of modern Bangla fiction, I can tell you the names of at least five contemporary authors. I might also be able to suggest you books in Bangla based on your interest / genre. I know people discuss literature here. Why is it not the same with my Hindi speaking friends?

Please prove that my feeling is wrong. Tell me Hindi lit scene is thriving. Help me find some good Hindi literature.