the 2 H’s: halloween costume and high school mentality…

So I had been struggling to figure out if I want to dress up in costume for this Halloween.. I honestly didn’t feel up to it initially because it seriously is not as exciting with no friends around and Gojira not here. But then because of my office Halloween party which is apparently mandatory I decided to put some effort in figuring out a costume to wear. First I thought I’d dress up in a sari since its different and would say I’m a traditional Indian. but that’s lame and I donno it’s like cheating. At Michael’s I saw these cat ear hairbands so I figured worst comes to worst I don’t find a decent costume I’ll just dress up in black and wear the cat ears. But then I started thinking maybe I could be a pirate.. but then I didn’t have the eyepatch, the hat or the sword.. or the right shoes. I honestly want to avoid spending as much as possible. So then I started thinking what costume can I come up with without spending anything. That’s when I realized I could be a gypsy, I have plenty of beaded necklaces, anklets, colorful bangles and dangly tribal looking earrings. I have this cool bohemian spaghetti strap top that has all sorts of different Indian fabric sewn together with pretty sequins, lace and beads. I’m going to wear that with a skin tight, long sleeved, olive green shirt inside. (It’s cold outside, don’t wanna freeze my ass off!) and then I have a half patiala bottom which kinda looks like genie pants so I thought those look kinda gypsy. Theyre magenta pink which goes really well with the rest of my outfit. I also found hip chains which you actually wear on your cumber when dressed up in a sari but oh well.. the more clinky-chimey-jingle stuff i wear the more gypsy I’m going to look (and sound!) I’ve also got some nice kohl that I can wear and kinda extend on the sides of my eyes to make it gypsy ish.. maybe I’ll do the traditional three dots on my chin like traditional women do. I also have a colorful batik scarf which I’m going to wrap around my head. Now when I go home I’ve got to hunt through my mom’s closet to find comfortable but interesting shoes I can wear with it.

My coworker was sweet enough to bring in a skirt I could wear if I wanted. I’m going to go home and try it on to see if it goes and if it fits. But to the best of my ability without being rude I’m going to try to avoid using it because I didn’t expect her to offer me one because I was originally looking to wear a long skirt as  a part of my costume and then decided to wear the genie pants. Hmm… She’s a tall women so maybe it will be too long and I can use that as an excuse so she won’t get her feelings hurt. Either way I’m excited I have my costume all put together. I will definitely take pics to put up.. and of course of my pumpkin carving. I’ve decided to do 2 carvings. one on each side of the pumpkin. (It’s big enough to contain 2 different carvings) I’m going to try and do both of the designs I discussed in my Halloween fever post.

Some people in my office are planning to dress up as Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs for Halloween. Since there are so many of them they are going to have doubles of characters.

But it makes me roll my eyes in my head because these people never asked any of us (my team) to join them. The high school mentality just continues for some people. The “popular” “cool kids” never including everyone in their grand plans. They enjoy making others feel left out and the idea that they are so much better than the rest. These same cheerleaders and snobs that were in high school have grown up to rear their children in the same mentality therefore making sure there are plenty of teens who experience a miserable high school. It’s a vicious cycle if you ask me. In the news there’s all this hype about bullying going on. With the recent hike in the number of teen suicides due to bullying, I’m so glad people are spreading awareness and making sure to prevent incidents from occurring. But how many people are guilty of just plain neglecting their peers? I’m sure there are plenty of kids out there like me who weren’t bullied as much as ignored in high school. I think it falls in the same realm. To make a person feel invisible. To feel not good enough to sit at their tables at lunch just because I didn’t wear Ambercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle and because I wasn’t a cheerleader just is seriously pathetic. I’m not saying all of them were like that but most of them were. You’ve got to be genuine and heartfelt to be motivated enough to get to know the quiet kid who sits in the back corner of the classroom or make the last person picked in gym class to feel like they weren’t left behind but it was just a matter of chance. There are so many people that can make the effort to make everyone feel included but it’s easier to just ignore problems. It’s a shame that people “grow up” about communicating and interacting with their peers only when they hit college. But what people don’t realize is that the damage has already been done with all of primary and high school being one lonely existence. One of my very good friends from high school was valedictorian and came from a rich family. I appreciate that she didn’t judge me for the brands that I wore. I’m not saying my family wasn’t rich. We were upper middle class and my family gave me a lot of things to be grateful and proud of. But they didn’t understand the importance of clothing and brand names and being popular and couldn’t grasp my sadness of not fitting in. This whole experience has made me passionate about making sure that when I have children and they start going to school, I will make sure they fit in by giving them what they want to wear. But at the same time I will make sure that they behave like my friend who was friends with everyone no matter what they wore. I hope this high school mentality disappears along the with the bullying. More psychologists and behavior specialists need to be brought into high schools to have workshops with children to give them a chance to remove the walls they’ve put up around themselves and to see everyone for they are and to respect and appreciate everyone in their class. It’s a far off dream but by doing so we would no longer have the need to classify students and peers as “nerds,” “jocks,” “popular,” “losers” and so forth. It would make the experience of high school a lot less stressful for our youth. anyways im done with my rambling for today. this light is turned off.

To Lil Misha: Mexican Restaurant

So Lil Misha had us put on our thinking caps to add to the following sentence with whatever we wanted:

A man and a woman in a shadowy corner of a mexican restaurant.  The woman is crying and he rests his hand on hers.

I had decided I would do this because I love exercises like these which I used to have to do for the creative writing classes I took in high school… honestly I found my experience of writing after so long to be quite a rusty one.. I’m not happy with my results… but here it is.. I guess if Lil Misha has one every week like she says I will hopefully get better with time.. this light is turned off..

“Please don’t cry my love… I hate seeing you like this.”

She looks away from him as she unsuccessfully tries to control her tears, smudging her makeup. The feathers in her hat sway from side to side as if doing a mournful dance as she trembles and sobs.

“You know I’ll be back soon,” he says to try and console her and hopes that she will understand.

“My duty comes to my country first and I have to stand up and fight… otherwise who will?”

Suddenly she looks him in the eye. As tears start falling faster down her cheeks she hysterically yells at him, “Someone else will, someone else will go. Why do YOU have to go? You don’t! You just want to die!!! Why do you want to die?!! They will kill you.” Initiating a fresh set of tears as she crosses her elbows and puts her head down on the table to cry some more.

He looks gravely at her as he realizes there is no way of making her smile. Nervously he plays with his moustache as he puts down his sombrero on the table. The owner of the bar comes over. The premature balding man with a tub belly adjusts his apron, pulls out a piece of paper and takes out the pencil from behind his ear. He looks over at the woman falling apart and then focuses on the gentleman sitting across from her. “May I take your order?” He’s lost in thought and doesn’t hear him, so he repeats himself “May I take your order?” and clears his throat.

HHHHHHhhhehhhhhehhmm… Suddenly he realizes someone else is talking to him which shakes him away from his deep clouded thoughts.. Oh sorry senor. Ci,  I would like a pint of beer please and I think the lady will have a bit of tea to calm her nerves. We will be leaving soon sorry to take up your time during such hardship.

The owner looks at the man sitting across from the lady again with unfriendly piercing eyes.. and then over at the lady. He keeps staring at the man as he says to the lady.. “If anyone is bothering you, you can tell me Ma’am I will be happy to ease you of your troubles” and then walks away.

The man blushes in anger and says to the woman, “See even he is giving me trouble. Doesn’t think a white woman is safe around a Mexican. Hmph! I would show him a thing or two if I didn’t have to go and fight this battle.”

She ceased her tears and wipes her eyes with the hanky the man gives to her. She stares at him as if looking at him for the first time. Who ever thought she would fall in love with a Mexican? The daughter of a rich cotton plantation owner from Texas born and raised in high society has fallen in love with a … Mexican. She looked at him carefully staring into her eyes as if searching for some sign of calm and sense. It was so endearing and his thin slick moustache waxed and framing his beautiful olive skin.

She smiled imagining what a fit her Daddy would throw if he knew who she had fallen head over heels for. But she had always had a mind of her own and was a wild spirit at the young age of 20. Most people mistook her for being 16 or 17 because she had such a tiny frame. I guess it was better than falling in love with a Negro. Her dad had many slaves working for him on his plantation and had always kept a watchful eye on her when she went to play in the fields on cool summer days. He had ordered his slaves not to even look at her or he would punish them with a 1000 lashes to whoever disobeyed this rule. The slaves out of fear always looked down for this reason never to be even mistakenly caught glancing at her beautiful porcelain skin, her rosy cheeks and her slim dainty figure. By the age of 19 she grew bored of her being imprisoned under her parents conservative ways and decided to run away from home. Her mother always called her a devil’s child and always complained out loud how her daughter would never grow up to be a proper lady of society.

The owner of the restaurant brought over their order and goes away. She looks over at him again. And says in the calmest tone she could conjure, “So what do we plan to do then?” He looks over to her almost affectionately as if a father were looking at his daughter.. She was so young and trying to be so brave. He was so proud to be in love with this woman. He knew she was not happy with his decision to fight the Americans in the war against Mexico but it was his duty to his country. He had not told her yet but he planned to take her Tepoztlán where his ancestral ranch home was. There she could stay safely with his grandmother and sisters till the war was over. He knew his eldest sister Maria would take her of her even if she did not like her very much or understand why he was doing this. He would be able to serve his country knowing that she was safe and far away from the havoc that was about to unfurl on the Mexican-US border.

Currently watching
Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball

Valentine’s Day Hypocrisy

India the country where the Kama Sutra was made has political upheavals every year on Valentine’s Day. Does that make sense to you? Ok well enjoy being confused by this utter crap as I break it down for you. There are certain political groups which like to lay down their beliefs on others with force. They feel Valentine’s Day is a western influence and should not be celebrated in this country. Every year on Valentine’s day the followers of these groups…(by followers I mean recruited uneducated slum dwellers who are basically paid money to act upon the dirty deeds of these politicians) will go out into the streets will ransack flower stalls so no one can buy roses for their valentines, light fires in greeting card shops, smear tar on the faces of men who are carrying cards or roses or anything to do with this holiday, and harass women who have dressed in red or are going out to meet their loved ones. One year they even invaded a private rooftop party that someone was having on Valentine’s Day and molested the women and tore off all their clothes as punishment for celebrating this holiday.  You might be wondering where the police were and what they do? NOTHING. They’ll sit and watch or will ignore the situation. They are just as corrupt as the politicians in this country. Politicians will pay these policemen to look the other way.  This is how the land of the Kama Sutra acts.

On Valentine’s Day most of the people I know in India avoid being outside on this day and prefer to spend it indoors or away from the public eye. It’s pretty sad that when you walk down the streets in India you have to think twice before holding your boyfriend’s hand. Whether this will attract the wrong crowd and get you in trouble… you never know. It doesn’t make sense to me that when the Kama Sutra was created in India, why can’t people be free and open to celebrate a holiday of love? The city I live in is one out of the two destinations in the country known for its roses. As we speak 6 million roses are being exported from India and being sent to the UK for this holiday. It’s so obvious why because how would these rose growers make a profit selling them here in India? If anything they will go into loss.

India which is considered to be the largest democratic country in the world isn’t free to celebrate this holiday. If freedom is one of the main principles of democracy and Indians are basically threatened into hiding on Valentine’s Day, how can they claim they are the largest democratic nation in the world?

Even though I’m not really big on this holiday it makes me livid that people don’t have the freedom to celebrate.  Below are some videos of incidents that have taken place during past years on Valentine’s day in India.

I hope these political tyrants are toppled soon and the people of India will have the liberty to celebrate Valentine’s Day openly.

Oh and you want know the funniest part? This city in India I live in,  is home to the Osho commune. The commune teaches the philosophies of Osho who was known as a sex guru. So how can a country whose history and culture advocate sex  through teachings and the Kama Sutra be condemning Valentine’s Day? Tell me people is this right? Is this fair? I hope Indians don’t have to put up with these hypocrisies much longer. What would you do if people prevented you from celebrating Valentine’s Day?  

Currently watching
Love Happens

yay…

So Dollarish finally fixed the glitch and featured my post properly about approximately 3 hours ago. I’m grateful to them because they did so. But I think because of the glitch yesterday the 70 comments that were visible or that were showing got erased or something sigh…

This is the second time ever I’ve been featured so I’m pretty happy bout it. But I think for most its a boring post subject and it’s not really something they can relate to so I’m frankly not expecting much feedback for this featured blog post..

have you ever submitted any posts to be featured? Were they accepted? Please provide links, I’d like to check them out! This light is turned off…

Currently  listening to
The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
By Dredg

In India Call Centers Are Hell On Earth…

Everyone has their reasons for accepting outsourced call centers or rejecting them and of course there are the bunch that just don’t care either way. Having worked in a call center in India for over 1 year I will tell you they suck. If you are desperate to make some fast cash then maybe this would be the career for you but then prostitutes are in the same league according to me. First of all, they do not pay you enough for the amount of suffering you go through to deal with the night shifts, the shitty cafeteria food, the endless hours of complaining customers, the dangerous cab drivers transporting you to and from work.

Half the time the customers get agitated because Indian call centers force themselves to appear American. The call centers spend one month teaching Indians how to speak the American accent before they introduce them to taking live calls. They need to realize Americans are not retarded or dumb. They’re going to get more frustrated and pissed off with an agent that’s trying to pose as an American than just dealing with a regular agent who speaks the British English he’s used to. (Yes, the Brit English rubbed off on most Indians when the British ruled over India…)  America is known for its diverse cultures and backgrounds that live together in towns and cities across the nation. So why can’t India call centers use the English they’re used to instead of pretending something that they’re not. Most of the time I would get customers who were so frustrated by the time I received their call because they had spent half an hour dealing with the first couple of agents posing as Americans. They were not able to understand their made up American accents, that didn’t know how to help them with their issues or appease the situation, and because the agents themselves were fed up and didn’t know what else to do, they would hang up on the customer calling in making them even more agitated with our call center. It’s just making the problem a whole lot worse if you ask me…

They try and sell it as a career prospect saying how important it is and what a difference you are making in someone’s life when most end up just making it worse (I’ll get into that later). They sell you the job by giving you seemingly important titles such as “customer care officer” and by telling how much you can grow in a call center. But the truth is they just want you taking calls for the next 5-6 years or however long they need you, till the parent company gets fed up and moves their process out of India. And no you will not grow. You will be taking back to back calls for 9 hours for however long you last there. They lie to you while pitching the idea of working there that you can start working in higher positions after 6 months. Nothing of the sort happens. I am American, have lived in NY for 20 years and I couldn’t get into accent and linguistics training. I told them pay me the same but let me do something productive and helpful that will benefit the process. But they said no. When I finally gave my two week notice after getting frustrated, the general manager called me to his office and basically threatened me to withdraw my resignation. They were hell bent on keeping me because I was good at taking calls. But they were herding me like a cow back into the pasture of taking calls. But I resigned because I didn’t want to be doing the same stagnant job my whole life.

The kind of crowd that works at these call centers is filth. The call center is a completely different lifestyle and social circle from the rest of Indian society. Most of the call center people are interested in just sex and having a good time. Most people who work at call centers don’t treat it as a job. They don’t come to work. Girls come dressed as if they’re going out to the clubs.. skirts that barely cover their asses, halter tops, and pounds of makeup… People in this circle are just out to have a good time with whoever’s ready to join. For them there is no meaning of getting to know a person or the significance of attaining a good friendship or acquaintance. It’s with whoever’s available and with random people who are ready to blow cash. Because all these deteriorated minds get together they prey on the few good people who do come to work at these call centers with an earnest mind set. They corrupt their futures without those people coming to know that theyre being corrupted with horrendous stories and gossip. Bosses and managers will be ready to sleep with agents for some quick entertainment. Marriages get flushed down the drain with rooftop sex scandals and romps in the back of the parking lot. Your mind ends up rotting when you hang out at a call center because everyone’s thinking is so corrupt and pitiful. You end up becoming so frustrated because the few handful that manage to move up within the ranks of the call center basically buttered up the managers or slept with someone to get there. I remember if I ever brought a book to read during my breaks people would look at me as if I was alien. It was beyond their thought process to think that someone reads and actually enjoys it. They assumed people read because they have to and not because they enjoy it.

Every day before you get into the cabs that are designated by the call center to take you to and from work, you need to say a prayer to hope that today isn’t your last day. The drivers have a certain amount of hours and kilometers to fulfill by the end of each month or they suffer pay cuts. In order to fulfill their quotas they sleep in their cabs and basically live in the parking lots so whenever a shift is over they are available to take employees home. Because of their lack of sleep they are literally falling asleep at the wheel. If they are late in dropping employees to work they get cuts as well. So they zoom in and out of traffic so they can transport people on time. This means they will die trying to get there on time rather than transporting you safe and sound. Because I guess to some people money means more than having your life intact. I would be rich if I could get a penny for every car accident in India involving a call center cab. Oh and by the way, because they practically live in these cabs and driving is their priority, they don’t carry for sanitary routines such as taking a bath, brushing their teeth, etc.. so if they stink after not taking a bath for two weeks, too bad for you if you’re a passenger.. I’ve heard plenty of people complaining of leaving a cab with bed bugs crawling all over them though it’s never happened to me. But a typical cab is thick with the smell of the cab driver’s sweat. Believe me it’s nothing like you’ve ever smelled before.You’d be astounded at the number of rape cases that have been filed against call center cab drivers.

The food in most Indian call center cafeterias is provided by outside hired caterers. Most of these caterers attend to weddings, parties, events, etc. as their main business. And as a side business they come every day with a menu to serve the employees of the call center. They try to save money as much as possible and so all the pulses are not gravies but just watered down slop to the core. There is no salt. There is no flavor. Every single dish has baking soda in it to fluff up and basically expand the dishes to become larger quantities. A cheap mechanism to double the amount of food.  But that creates havoc on your stomach. I can’t remember how many days I had to deal with an upset stomach from eating the food at the cafeteria while I worked at the call center. Feel like perking yourself up with a nice cup of joe? Only if you’re lucky enough to find a machine that’s not broken or just hot water. You’d think in a call center that deals with agents doing a night shift the one thing you’d want running is the coffee machines. But I guess that’s too much to ask for.

I know that one day when I have kids they will grow up and go through the same experiences as I have… to go out into the world after obtaining a decent education and working and learning to make a living. But I will never ever let them work at a call center. I don’t recommend it to anyone. It’s hell on earth and I’d rather put up with anything else than go back and work in a call center…Do you think you could ever work in a call center in India? This light is turned off…

Currently listening to Taste Of India
Nine Lives
By Aerosmith

2006…Murderous Heartache

The sweet nauseating smell of pain resonates through me,
clutching at my chest,
throbbing like a tremor that rudely awakens an innocent sleepy town
Into turmoil and deafening chaos,
not realizing that the worst is yet to befall them…

I plaster mask after mask,
hiding from truth and reality
they scorn me like heavily made up geishas
boasting and prancing in front of me
laughing at my stupidity…

Why was I blind then? And Why can’t I be blind now?
Craving to shelter my eyes and be dumb
To numb the pain
And mute the screaming from within the four walls of my mind…

Aurora crucified on a cross and set to burn,
Without a second glance,
Her prince looks the other way.
The deception of men curdles my heart
No longer choosing to seek refuge in them…

Like a mad hatter I am alone and lost and dazed,
in Alice’s wonderland.
Or should I say My Wonderland?
Struggling and stumbling towards the winding path
That leads to my supposed destiny
But finding myself walking in circles
Back from where I started
Bumping clumsily into the lunacy and senile ways of this world…

I flinch as regret steps on my toes,
Reduced to fill the empty hole in my heart,
With everything and anything I can grasp onto,
The shackles of despair threaten to drag me under,
Desperately finding a way to keep my head above water
To prevent myself from drowning in endless misery…

(source: http://www.lukechueh.com/)

Currently listening to Dirge for November
Blackwater Park
By Opeth

Why Should I Feel Guilty for Buying Blackmarket Goods?

Living in India, I get a lot of opportunity to buy knock off goods, otherwise known as black market merchandise. That can include branded sports gear such as Nike, Reebok, Puma, for like Rs. 600… (That’s about $12 US dollars!) the latest books for Rs 50..($1 US dollar!) or even Lacoste t-shirts for Rs 150….($3 US dollars) I could go on with this list, naming all the things I could buy off the black market for dirt cheap but I’ll refrain…

Let’s start with my favorite black market purchase: BOOKS!!! Counterfeit books are made on the streets of India by street hawkers. They get their hands on original books which they then have illegal copies made by local printing shops.(Slip a couple hundred rupees under the table and the printing companies get their cut off this black market deal.) The books can then be bought off the street for 1/10th of the price. Famous author Jeffrey Archer gave an interview to the P Mirror when visiting P. He was pretty surprised when he was handed a counterfeit copy of his own book by one of the interviewers. I think he was more shocked at how efficiently his book was copied to be made into a pirated book. I dont have a very good picture but here’s a small snap of the article in P Mirror with the headlines “Jeffrey Archer Stumped By His Pirated Thriller”

Now black market merchandise can ideally be categorized into 2 groups. There’s the stuff that’s real, which is usually made here in India itself or in countries like China by the brands themselves. When a surplus of merchandise is made and the brands don’t need all of it, they have whatever they need shipped back to the good ol’ USA or Europe or wherever they need it and the extras go into the black market to be sold. Then there’s local “craftsman” who like to make imitation merchandise. It’s not the real thing but some of them do a pretty damn good job of copying the real thing, that you end up liking the imitation better than the real thing! Below are some examples of counterfeit sneakers you DON’T wanna buy… Lol… yeah they have some goofy stuff out there. But you gotta know where to find the good stuff…

(These ones don’t even look real…but believe you me, there are the percentage of Indians who don’t know any better and buy it just to wear something that says “Adidas”! Talk about brand starved people??!?)

This photograph below shows one of the many stalls on the street where you can buy counterfeit clothing. As you can see at this stall they’re selling boxers with brand names such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Emporio Armani, Reebok and much more… (You name it, they have it!)

My point is this. Why should I buy a pair of Pumas for $90 when I can get the same thing for $12? Generations today have become so obsessed with brands that they are willing to pay through their nose to have “Nike. Just Do It” pasted across their chest. Why should we be paying companies for advertising their brand names on our clothes? If anything WE should be getting paid for being their personal billboards.

The even more surprising bit is you’ll probably get a better pair of branded sneakers off the street than by going to the actual store. Most of the actual stores in India don’t take the effort of maintaining their merchandise. If you’ve ever been to India you’ll know there’s naturally a lot of dust in the air. The shoes they offer are so musty with the dust from around the store, they almost look used. You don’t even get the joy of having squeaky white new shoes to wear, when you buy them brand new! But these street sellers? They’re pros. They know people are going to buy something that looks nice. So even if they have their stall right next to an overflowing gutter of garbage and travel through the smog ridden city, they make sure their goods are nicely wrapped away in plastic to retain newness. Isn’t this what we learned about in school? Supply and demand, competition? If you have a better product  you’re going to get more people crazy about buying it! Is it our problem if the fakes are selling better and look more appealing than the originals? So why should we feel guilty for buying on the black market? this light is turned off.

Currently listening to
Lost Highway
By Bon Jovi

In My Darkness… 2000

The water laps around my shoulders,
As i drift further and further away…
The tiny minnows feel like soft feathers,
As they dart away into the darkness of the coral.
It is so quiet I can hear myself breathe,
As the sound echoes into the distance to some unknown place.
My feet feel like lead as I tread water,
Not knowing where I am going.
My head is just above the water,
As I am breathless with my effort to stay up.
I grasp to all sides looking for something to hold on to,
Pain shoots through my fingers,
As I hold onto the rough stubble suface of the razor like barnacles.
I feel the extra warmth of blood trickle down my fingers,
And suck them to taste the bitter-salty mixture of seawater and blood.
The drip-drip of stalactites echo through the cave,
Like the ticking of a clock.
Time ticking away from me,
As I hold on to dear life…
I wonder who will come for me in a place like this?
Who will be my knight in shining armor?
After all, knights can’t swim…….Can they?

 

Currently listening to
Deadwing
By Porcupine Tree

25 Shtuffs About Moi <3

RULES: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 24 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.Copy and paste my entry as a new blog entry delete my answers and write your own! When you write yours make sure you tag me and any more friends you’d be interested in learning about! Pass on the fun…. N-JOY!

24 Shtuffs About Moi … <3

1.) God and I have a very boisterous relationship with each other but I still cherish it. I question my relationship a lot. Sometimes I feel alone in this relationship. Sometimes I think it’s a force that is over powering my life. But it’s like any relationship, you have to constantly work at it.

2.) My parents and I never used to see eye to eye. I think we have a much healthier relationship today, I truly love them and I don’t know where I’d be without them today. I believe that we choose our parents when we come to be born and I never regretted my choice for parents. I feel like they are my real parents. I feel lucky to have smart parents who were able to teach me everything I needed to know before I stepped out into the world on my own. I am still learning from them everyday.

3.) I don’t know where home is. When I am in the US, I am homesick for India and when I am in India, I am homesick for the US. I absolutely hate it when people ask me which place I like better because to me it’s like comparing black and white. I am proud to be an American and also be able to fluently speak, read and write in my mother tongue (Marathi) and I feel lucky to be brought up with both my American and Indian cultures.

4.) I love typing. I am a pretty fast typer ranging between 53 and 58 wpm. I once reached 60 wpm as well! And it’s all thanks to AOL Instant Messenger. When AOL first came out, chatting with friends online was the coolest thing to do. But while chatting with many friends online, if you slowed down your time it takes to send a reply, they would get offended thinking you’re too busy to chat. So in order to talk to everyone at the same time I automatically learned to type fast!

5.) I am a VERY insecure person. My insecurities have prevented me from participating in a lot of things throughout my life and has affected my relationships with everyone. I am learning to overcome my insecurities and go out, participate and experience the joys of life without any inhibitions.

6.) I am a food addict. I think I seriously need to see a counselor for my unhealthy addiction to ice cream, guacamole, peanut butter, expensive chocolate, pudding, pizza, sushi, cookies, falafels, baba ghanouj, Jamaican jerk pork, jambalaya, hummus, Mexican food, Italian food, mughlai (Indian) food, the list goes on….!! (and of course how could I forget my favorite sandwich invented by my dad > Peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches.. they’re truly the best if you have the guts to try one.

7.) When I’m married and if I can comfortably manage, I want to have 3 children. I want to have two girls and a boy. My first child will be named after my grandfather: “Yeshwanti” if it’s a girl or “Yeshwant” if it’s a boy. It means one who is glorious or successful. I will also name one of my daughter’s “Farishtah” which means Angel. I want to have a boy and adopt both my girls. (I was adopted at 10 days old and will also adopt and continue it as my own family tradition to be passed on.) (I’ve blogged bout this in the past I think….)I want to have a girl someday as sweet as my niece and a boy as adorable as my nephew.

8.) I am a scaredy cat when it comes to exams. I love learning, but when it comes down to taking the exams I chicken out and don’t sit for my exams. But, inspite of my fears I managed to pull up my socks and get through college. I was always aced my homework and essays and projects though. I in fact helped a friend at Princeton by writing a final exam thesis paper (I got an A- for it!) I’m very proud of my one and only Ivy League accomplishment!!

9.) I love colors, designing, painting, drawing and dreaming… Imagination and creativity are the best things in the world which don’t need learning to acquire. It’s just pure instinct.

10.) I hate the taste of water at room temperature. I feel pukish when I have to drink it that way. I have to have it chilled or at least half cold.

11.) I think a sari is the most elegant fashion statement in the world. I have a passion for collecting them and wearing them. My favourite one is a silk striped blue and red one that was passed down to me by my mother. I think the traditional 9 yard (Navari) saris are pretty too but I don’t have the right figure or height to wear them.

12.) I LOVE to blog. I have realised the best way to blog is to blog anonymously. When people who know you read your blog I find that they tend to dispute or get offended by my emotions or my point of view. I then also refrain from writing things I really want to write about because I feel conscious about writing if people I know are going to read it. So I do blog but you can’t read it!!

13.) I have a tattoo of a dragon on my left shoulder. I have a tattoo of a koi swimming under a lotus on my right ankle. I want one more but I am going to think carefully for a couple years about what I want because I’ve decided it will be my very last tattoo.

14.) I think I’d put a bullet in my head if I couldn’t have music in my life. I do not leave home without my ipod. I feel naked without it. I wish ipods had bluetooth to transfer songs easily between ipods. Tool (lead singer Maynard James Keenan) is a major influence in my life. My parents (the hippies that they were) introduced me to the Beatles. I would have loved to be a DJ if I could have. But it really doesn’t sit well in your parent’s minds no matter how much you try and persuade them that being a DJ is the right career path for you… hehe.

15 I love to read though I don’t make the time for it lately as much as I should. I love to read about culture and about the experiences in other people’s lives, I enjoy fantasy, romance, adventure and interesting history. Shantaram, Where The Wild Things Are, The Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, You Can Heal Your Life, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Memoirs of A Geisha, Trash (Amy Yamada) are some of my all time favourites.

16.) I love travelling. I feel blessed that my parents felt it important enough to make it a priority in my life. So far my cherished travelling moments with them I’ve gotten to see: Egypt, Kenya & Tanzania, India (duh!), Cancún Mexico, Florida Everglades, Boston, Disneyworld, San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas. Places I look forward to travel to someday: Thailand, Singapore, China, Japan, Hawaii, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, London and Brazil.

17.) I used to hate cooking because I felt I was supporting the stereotype that “All women have to know how to cook.” I rebelled against learning how to cook for that reason. At one point I swore I would marry a chef just to prove this point wrong and so I wouldn’t have to learn how. But now that I’m living on my own and have friends over often I really look forward to learning how to cook my favourite foods and trying something new. I am an avid fan of the food network (I wish I had that channel in India), I regularly email my mom for her recipes. I consider each dish I make a work of art. My specialties so far are: white sauce chicken pasta, mini pizzas, banana bread, and a couple of different chicken curries.

18.) My sister is my best friend for life. Sometimes we don’t talk for months. Sometimes we talk every other day. Whether she is active or passive in my life she is always there supporting me in her own special way and has always stuck up for me when I needed her most. She understands me in ways that others don’t, like I understand her in ways that others don’t. Sometimes we completely disagree but we still respect each other’s right to have an opinion. We are the ying and yang of each others lives. She knows the importance of what good childhood memories are all about and I feel blessed to have her growing up as my little sister along side me. She is the reason I will make sure I have two daughters so hopefully they will have a relationship like we do someday and I can have the pleasure of watching them grow up the way my sis and I did.

19.) I was scared of ET when I was little, and I used to get nightmares about him being under my bed. I think it was my unconscious fear of aliens and the unknown. I used to hate watching scary movies because I used to get scared sleeping at night, now I can enjoy some scary movies like Mindhunters. These days I watch scary movies and if I get to a scary part I just mute the volume so I can see what happens without getting scared.

20.) When I’m at home alone I like playing air guitar with a tennis racket and bouncing around like I’m a rockstar. (I learned the joys of that habit from my cousin brothers)

21.) My favourite colors are bruise colors… dark blue, dark purple and black… I got into frosted pink in 2006. My mom feels my sudden interest in pink is like me going in for a sex change because as long as she can remember she knows me as a blue lover. Lol…

22.) I don’t like the idea that people buy pedigreed dogs when there are so many homeless dogs living in the streets of India… Just like how people would rather have babies than adopt an orphan who really needs a home. I have grown up having stray dogs around me my whole life and trust me, they are just as loving as pedigreed dogs!

23.)I want to work as a teacher for a one year non for profit project, where I live on bare necessities and just focus on helping needy children have a better chance at life. I wanted to initially work with the Peace Corps, but 2 yrs of working on a project ALONE I don’t think I could handle…I plan to embark on this project in 2011.

24.) I am alive today because of my cousin B. She is my rock. She is my chameleon. She changes into what I need at that moment in time. She becomes my mother when she has to be, yelling at me and correcting me when I’m wrong which even thought I don’t like it at first I know she cares and loves me, she is my sister when I need one, she is a friend when I need advice, she is my shoulder when I need to cry.. I would not be able to do the things I can do today without her love and support. She is my lifeline. I aspire to be the super mommy that she is

Currently listening to
How to Save a Life
By The Fray

P is…

I think I’ve mentioned before that I do a lot of blog research in my line of work so I come across some pretty cool ideas to write posts about. Here’s one that I found. You mention the city you’re from, you live in and you finish the sentence with different endings that you can think up of. try it and let me know what you come up with. Here are mine below… let me know what you all think :)

P is… a nice city in India to live in because it’s cool and dry instead of hot and humid like the other Indian cities around.

P is…like Mumbai’s little brother, still a small city but has a lot going on.

P is…the best place for breakfast on FC Rd at Vaishali, for a scrumptious cheese onion uttapa with coconut chutney and a nice hot filter south indian style coffee…or an SPDP like no other in the evening…

P is…fun sized in the way that you keep on bumping into friends and family as you go about your daily life…

P is…cool with all the funky little places to go and chill at Koregaon Park and Wanowrie.

P is…brimming with BPOs.

P is…the quietest in Aundh.

P is…annoying when all the fun dinner and dance places shut right after midnight.

P is…beautiful and refreshing during the monsoon rains

P is…where I got drunk for the first time, had my first kiss, got stoned for the first time and lost my virginity!!!!

P is…envied by other cities for having Kayani Bakery, the one and only genuine bakery in the world that makes Shrewsbury biscuits.( A piece of buttery heaven.)

P is…full of people who have road rage and drive the wrong way.

P is…a needle in a haystack when it comes to finding the perfect tailor for stitching outfits, but once you find one it’s like winning the lottery!

P is…religiously admirable with its fine collection of select Ganpati idols scattered around the city, the synagogue in camp, mosques, shrines and pretty churches.

P is…full of warm interesting people to befriend but have some closet drama queens as well (And I’m not talking bout just the girls, mind you!)

P is…nothing without Chitale Bandhu Sweets, which I may I add, is the best in the country.

P is…hopefully going to make an effort to reduce pollution and garbage and the increasing crime…

P is…waiting for a nice new dance, lounge place which will last more than 2 months and not be shut down for one reason or another.

P is…full of cute stray cats, dogs, kittens and puppies which I feel like taking them all home!
(This picture is taken by Michelle Lohutko who has taken pictures of India’s strays to get people to notice their plight.)


P is…overcrowded in certain areas with those overly commercialized and expensive Barista and CCD outlets and needs to focus more on genuine personalized places to hang out instead of stupid clone cafes.

P is…waiting for the recession to ride over…

P is…lacking libraries. We need more books people!

P is…amazing because of its shopping nooks like Hong Kong Lane, Lakshmi Road, MG Rd, Appa Balwant Chowk, Fashion Street, and Koregaon Park, where you can get cheap and chirpy stuff. (I know a place where I can get black market Pumas for Rs.600 so beat that!)

P is…yummy with felafels and shawarma like Hite Bar serves!!!!

okie… it’s the end of the day, Im hungry as you can see with all my P food obsessed comments.. see what you can come up with about where you live?

Currently listening to
Phenomenon
By LL Cool J