~ Naturally Nivi ~

Few More

2008-10-27T06:22:00.001-07:00

Child's game!!

2008-05-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

'What comes to your mind first, when you think of me' he asked.

And I said, 'resident evil!!!'

Lol :-) The person who questioned me was my brother. Ofcourse, he dint ask me in a gentle or sweet way like it may have sounded to you.

Actually, we were arguing as usual for TV remote. All I wanted to see was "Lizzy Mcguire" and gosh, these cricket matches. Don’t stare at me. Come on, it's reasonable for one person like me per locality to hate cricket. In the heated argument he said, "enna pathi enna nenacha ne? mudhala, adha sollu" (what do you think of me, first, tell me) .. To any person in normal sense, other than my brother (who was blurting angrily) it would look funny...It did amuse me but in a different way as my mind was jumbling words in the question to 'What comes to your mind first, when you think of me' to which when I gave that answer. He not only grabbed the remote from me but also stamped hard on my toe :-(

For few minutes I have been applying that question to many things and here are my thoughts:

What are the first five things that come to your mind, when you think of

beach
Lovers
Bajji / Sundal
Crabs
Shells
My salty sticky-face
rain
Rainbow
Manvasanai (smell of wet sand)
croaking frogs
Hot samosa
warm bed/blanket
food
Dairy Milk
Cornetto
Andhra Mess
Chicken Biryani
Double Cheese Pizza
best friend
Shopping
Fun & Laughter
Gossip
Guys
Movie
work
Money
Is it Friday?
Empty official mail box (am talkin about the client id)
Overflowing officially unofficial mail box with forwards and chain mails
Wash room, comb, compact, lip care
Chennai
New Beach
Chennai-ites slang
Summer / Heat
Kathipara signal
kabaleeshwarar temple

Doesn’t it tune you to write too, about what all comes to your mind when you think of your favourite places, food, friends? Let's take it further. If you are interested, get yourself tagged and write what are the 5 things that come to your mind when you think of ----

Some simple thoughts and pleasures may make smiling for an entire day. After all, happiness is what we all seek for.

Let go…

2008-05-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here you go. I have got another post to write to, under the same topic. I have a friend with whom friendly relationship doesn’t work out a bit; confusing? Well…How much ever we try to fix, mend, stitch or stretch our relationship, it doesn’t work out and I can't satisfy myself with one particular reason.

This reminds me of mathi's post (A bird in hand). My situation is something like hers.

Whatever be it, when something doesn’t work out even after you struggle hard to make it work out, you can only give it away.

But how easy is it to let it free or give it away? I wouldn’t have been writing about it if it was easier. :-(

Let go…

2008-05-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

Talk of Protests; you will see lots of heads turning towards you, with indications, advices, recommendations and warnings... But when you actually protest, all you hear is a big snort and lohhh, you are left alone. You console yourself with a oh-you-scared-little-witches and walk ahead with a determination to express your dissent. Somehow with all your effort and few considerate individuals' help, your voice is heard and you get what you had asked for. You feel happy about your deed as you are sure that it benefits not only you but a whole lot. Ofcourse it would have left some unhappy who are the ones so used to the usual tough easy way. But what irritates is oh-I-told-you-not-to, look-where-you are-now stares.

What I am trying to say is though you protest for good cause you don’t get much support from your friends, from people who share your same feelings, Why? An immediate reaction of a colleague was "It has been like this for the past 2 years. Why do you want it to change? Yeah right, it's for good. But I was ok with what was happening before. Though it was uncomfortable, it was silently accepted as a routine. But see where it had led you. Surely, most of us are not happy about it. This is why I dint want to join hands with you. I don’t want to spoil my relationship at any cost. "

To you and to others like you, I can only say "Stay away from me…I don’t wanna be nice to everyone and do things without my heart in them. It's better to be "alone" alone than being "alone" even if others are around."

Sometimes, you cannot be nice to everyone :-) Just let them go.

You wouldn’t let them go, if they are worthy.

Moon-y!!

2008-04-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

picture of moon - yet to be loaded

One part of me sees you as a wonderful creation of nature. The other part always presumes that you are nothing but an opening (a gap in the sky) which when reached would tear me off, take me away from the worldly complications and bestow eternal bliss. Either way I never get tired of watching you!!!

Lovely Lady!!!

2008-03-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

I got so inspired by the very thought that I could draw that I couldn’t stop myself with one.. :-)

Here is my next piece….

The shading hasn’t come out very well.. so are the girl’s features… Never mind… :-P

Cute Little Girl

2008-03-08T23:08:00.000-08:00

Having masterted in her writing and reading skills, Nivi ventured into art... lol...

I always wanted to draw... And somehow I did it today... Its not a gr8 piece of work, but I just loved it... Check it out...

Cute Little Girl

His Sleeping Beauty...

2008-02-26T01:40:00.000-08:00

It was one of their terrible nights. He had had a dreadful day at work and now she made it all the more awful. He knew very well that there is no point in trying to coax her. No one can make peace with her unless she herself decides to. He also knew that he cannot stop arguing as his silence would drive the hell out of her. She was ‘the best’ at throwing words. She never realized what she said. Though he was all she had, she never hesitated to shout at him. After an hour of fierce argument (argument in which she was the only person talking most of the time), she subsided silently on a couch. Her silence was all the more frightening. He wanted to caress her. But any wrong move could make her snap at him again. He waited.

After few minutes, she stood, gave one hard if-only-looks-could-kill look at him and went upstairs. He switched on his ipod and tried to ease himself out but he dozed off.

It was still dark when he woke up. He went upstairs to check on her. She was sleeping soundly. One look at her sleeping face made him smile. It was this sleeping face which had driven him crazy. 3 years before, he had seen her in a train journey. He had missed the train, drove like a maniac all the way to next station and somehow got into it. She was his co-passenger. She was asleep when he had boarded. He couldn’t take his eyes off the sleeping beauty. That was just a small never-after encounter as he couldn’t even talk to her;He had got down before she even woke up. . Call it fate or luck, after 5 months of their encounter, they got married. It was a perfectly arranged marriage to which he totally agreed when he found out that she was the bride. There had been many misunderstanding and fights but their love for each other kept them up.

The memories faded away as he stood watching at her. He loved her and there was no doubt. He sat next to her sleeping form and watched her. He bent down and kissed her on her cheeks and whispered “I love you”. She smiled in her sleep and turned to the other side. He looked at her bare hands for sometime, then got up and went down.

She woke up late and knew that he was not at home. She hadn’t made him breakfast nor had she kissed him goodbye, but he had gone. She was not angry anymore, but depressed. She wanted to see him. She had outrageously shouted at him but did not intend to insult him. “Words once let out, can never be taken back”. She cried silently and then got out of the bed. She headed to wash her face, and that’s when she saw. Her three fingers in the left hand were polished neatly with a pink nail polish. She let out a gasp and laughed out aloud thinking of how much he would have struggled to do it when she was asleep. “Love you” she said aloud.

I am tagging --- You

2008-02-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

Tagging is fun unless you run out of blogger-friends. :-(

“Girl of Destiny” tagged me along with every other blogger I know.

But I don’t want this game to end with me, so if You happen to visit my page and if You aren’t tagged by anyone else, and if You find this game irresistible (lol ...), here You go….

I am tagging - You !!!

1.-Filipina,2.-Stories,3.-Abroad,4.-Husband,5.Gagiers, 6. Life 7. Everything, 8. Offer, 9. Moments, 10. Food Trip 11. World 12. suffering 13.china's autograph 14.Kiran's My voice15. Boobu 16.Sugar & Spice 17. ~*Girl of Destiny*~ 18. Nivi 19. You

All you're needed to do is to add your name to the end of the list.
The rules are that
-You shouldn't use any colors
-You should add only a short description
-You shouldn't change anything else in the tags.
-And there's also a way out where you can let others know that you're not interested in this crap by saying 'No' :-)

Note: Pls leave your blog link in my "Comments" section.

Yours lovingly..

2008-02-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

If today were your last day on earth, would you be doing what you are doing right now?

- A question that Steve Jobs asked himself. When you put that question to me, my answer would be jus like Steve’s which is “No”.

Forget answering the question, I wouldn’t even think something like that, in the first place. If we go around thinking that each day may be our last day, then life would be hell. If at all, I get to know that today is my last day, I wouldn’t be doing anything, I wouldn’t feel like doing anything... (Though I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing right now, though there would be so much I would want to do, right now….)

A man can never be never-dying and that is an undying fact. Yeah..., we accept that there is no assurance for our life and at the max our life can only be insured. We make sure that the close ones do not get affected much by our loss, economically if not emotionally. Is that the least we can do?

No, some prodigious people go to an extent of making sure that their loved ones are not affected even emotionally. “If I am not there, she/he should still feel loved / taken care of” And to make that statement practical lots of things get done when one is still alive.

The other day, I was reading a review on P.S. I love you… It’s about a happily married couple. When a movie starts with that kinda storyline, you can always expect what happens next. Yeah, right… here the husband dies of brain tumor. The actual plot of the movie is that the husband makes sure that his wife gets a box full of letters after his death; Letters that direct her to perform some deeds that would help her have a better life.

Hmmmm...Didn’t I see this before? Kuch Kuch Hota hai is one such movie. The wife through her daughter’s efforts (the daughter receives letters of her dead mother, on every birthday) make sure that her hubby gets married to his friend…

It’s not just about movies. I also remember reading an article, in which the hubby, makes sure that his wife gets a rose every Friday even after his death. It’s just a rose, but think of how it would be to the wife, when he is no more.

What is driving all these people? It’s just one word… Love!!! Knowing that you are in your last days is itself painful….Knowing that you cannot be with the person you love is even more painful. But overcoming, all these emotions they have achieved what they desired to.
The answer to Steve's question would have been "yes" from these people.

"Though love cannot prevent death from happening, its just love that prevails... "

It’s always better to leave than to be left...

2008-02-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

First it was my team mate, and then it was my close friend,
Before I could even decide to go ahead,
People around me are already out of sight…

It was once a crowded wonderland,
With brisk batches of wishful thinkers
Now, its jus me and a handful of others...

The over-crowded tables in canteen...
The deafening laughter from the pantry
The regular visits to beach & theaters
The frequent treats and get-together...
It was amazing days of our lives

Yeah right….I can hear you saying..
“Nothing lasts forever!!!”
But it is always better to leave than to be left out :-)

P.S. The author is having one of her bad days.. You will not be seeing these kinda posts again!!!

Its just my opinion ...

2008-01-29T01:07:00.000-08:00

I was flipping between my friends’ profiles in “The Scrap Book”. Some of them had uploaded photos and videos… I was really amused to see some pictures portraying identifiable-friend-of mine in front of a silhouette of a well known building/ place or next to a statue or for that matter anything-absolutely-foreign with a comment that goes like “me in … place / me near …. / me standing next to…. / me holding … “ . Some of them had uploaded photos showing their different moods like “Me drained out… / See how happy I am” and some even went to an extent of “Me wearing … which was gifted by my brother” and what not….

Why don’t they jus realize that it’s a public gallery...? What are those pictures gonna imply to someone who may be a total stranger? You may say that it’s just a matter of few pictures but don’t you think that it’s totally unnecessary? I personally feel that those are to be shared only with a group of close friends and not with everyone who passes-by.

On the lighter side, there were few pictures that totally surprised me... One of my friends had displayed pictures, I should rather say, artistic pictures... pictures that depict her photographic skills... capturing moments of happiness. …capturing even very minute gestures…clicking at articles that we would think are-of-no-importance… the captions of those photos were all the more interesting…. And again it’s just my opinion…

Well.. What do we have here? jus opinions, impressions.. somethin may look great to someone but not to everyone...

I remember reading a quote sometime back, somewhere…. And it suits well here … “Every man is a fool in some man's opinion”. :-)

Fear !!!

2008-01-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

We were about five kilometers from land. I was excited when I stepped into the boat. But the high tide gulped my excitement and there was only fear in the air... fear in the air around me… While my co-riders were having fun, I started to feel sea-sick…

The boat stopped and within seconds, few dived into the sea... The life guard assisted my friend in tightening her life-jacket… and then pushed her out of boat…. I saw her struggling for few minutes and then she started to float….
“Madam go.”
“Hullo... What? Where am I supposed to go? There? No way...”
“Hey come-on... Its fun….” yelled my friend… The man in the boat forced me again “Go on madam… “

I tried to jump into the sea, but I could hardly put my legs out of the boat… And then I fell... Someone from behind pushed me; for the next few seconds, I did not know what was happening… I fell flat into the sea. I had drunk lot of sea water, until the life-guard turned me up. I opened my eyes and realized that I was floating… I saw the sky; it comforted me. I was still alive… Then I saw the boat which was just few meters away from where I was. All disturbing thoughts came into my mind... “What if my life jacket loosens…? I don’t even know how to swim… I am 40 feet above sea level… the guy told something about jelly fish… jelly fishes are dangerous, aren’t they? I don’t think there will be sharks here, its jus few kilometers from shore... the tide is pushing me far away from the boat, how will they pull me back… where are the others… uh huh, sea stinks… never will I do this again…” And after few more dreadful minutes, I was pulled into the boat by the life guard. I smiled and said” Did you see that? I was floating…” :-)

Though nothing wrong happened, I feared. …It was a fear of unknown “It s not what will happen; it’s just the fear of what will happen… “

The other day, we stayed in a tree-house. The tree house was my-dream-come-true. The wooden steps... the tree-trunk table… The bamboo partitions... the hammock... the place looked wonderful to me until I saw a snail in the closet. “I am not gonna sleep here… You will not know what will fall from the roof… I already spotted snails and worms… Let’s go to back to the cottage… This tree-house looks so forbidden… Even if we shout for help, we will not be answered…” Though my friend comforted me, I had a restless night. But I was fine the next day. As I said, it’s just the fear of what will happen, again…

hmmmm... May be it’s this “fear” that is making these kinda adventures all the more adventurous. :-)

Check out

2008-01-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

Loved my friend's recent kavidhai...

Linking it here!!!!

http://chirpoftamizh.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_23.html

Hurt for naught !!!

2008-01-16T07:21:00.000-08:00

"3550 steps... 9 kms.. Then you are there" pointed out my cousin. My aunt beamed at him proudly and then turned towards me and said “he has changed a lot right? Look at him… the boarding school has infact refined him... he is also looking healthy these days…” I nodded and went ahead. I was only at 1450th step and it’s all I can stand at that moment. Exhausted, I sat on the step and stretched my legs. My aunt and her two sons, my brother were all way ahead. I looked down in search of others. My uncle was nearing me. My mom was far behind. It looked like she was gasping. My dad was climbing next to her. I felt that it was totally ridiculous... “Why should we strain so much…all for what in return? “ Save my aunt and mom, there were people who were kneeling down at each step, lighting camphor while chanting God’s names.

It all started because of my aunt. We were on our way to a temple which was somewhere on the summit of seven mountains. I was really sure if it’s on top of a mountain or in between seven mountains. All I knew was that we gotta climb for nearly 5 hours to reach there. My aunt and mom insisted that we walk all the way up. We had to walk all the way up to participate in a holy ritual which was believed to do good to the onlookers. I was not at all fascinated but I was not given a choice.

Grumbling and panting, I walked along with others who were all charmed by the idea. Though I whined all the way up, I should say that the walk up the mountains, through the woods was not that bad. (Well, it was not exactly a forest, there were lotsa trees around and we could spot/feed few deers. :-))

Having had an indefensible but somewhat satisfying (cos of the climate, trees and deers) trekking experience, we went to attend the ritual for which we had to spend a good deal. The ritual was all the more unreasonable. I was told that every hindu girl should see the ritual for it was believed that she would get a good married life. The ritual proceeded with an aged saint (I am not really sure if he is one... he was looking lik that) chanting mantras in front of three deity status. The ritual was nothing but marriage ceremony. The shocking part of the ritual was that the marriage was between the three statues symbolizing a guy marrying two girls at the same time. “Yeah right, And I was watching that to get a good married life”. I had to keep my mouth shut for that look of my mom and aunt (ardent believers). I felt like a civilized idiot. But looking around I pacified myself with just one thought “I am not the only one”…

Later found out that there were 10,352 on-lookers including me. Lol!!

Thattu kadai Kothu barotta!!!

2007-10-30T06:53:00.001-07:00

- Kothu barotta- South Indian Dhaba’s Specialty

The very thought of rain brings joy to everyone and we were no exceptions. But where were we? … We 4 were sitting in the same-old cubicle, working ;-)…

“How would it be if we could eat hot samosas now?” One of us exclaimed and immediately I said “Standing in the rain, drenched to the skin, munching hot samosas… woooooooow... I wish we could do that”.

“Hey, leave off samosas… how about kothu barotta?” our team’s all-the-time-food-lover B excited.

“Kothu parotta? I have never tasted it” I cried out.

It’s now D’s turn to take the situation in hand “You have never tasted one?? You should!!!... It is road side stalls’ specialty… a must-have when you visit TN”

“Let’s not just keep on talking… we will go to a road-side shop near-by and buy them” … When it comes to food, B is always impatient. So within fifteen minutes, the parcels were in the cubicle.

“Where do we eat? We can’t eat them here… nor can we in the pantry... The aroma is too crowd-pulling” G was concerned.

D convinced us that Visitor’s Parking is a good hide-out. Luckily by-then, it was only drizzling outside and we laid our parcels on a bike which was near a lamp post. The dish was delicious. I was already falling in love with it…

Talking, yapping and even freaking out few passers-by, added more flavor to the dish…

Standing in the drizzle, munching hot kothu barotta, we had the time of our lives! Now who wants to think of McDonalds or pizza corners? I should say that these little pleasures amidst work have bonded us so much….

Few tests to understand wher you stand...

2007-08-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

Took up few Personality Tests. Its indeed fun.. Thanks to you mat :)

How Independent are you?

What Temperment are you?

The final test that I took is Are you ready to be a wife quiz. :)

I was tagged!!!

2007-08-13T21:39:00.001-07:00

I was tagged by Mat. This is a game for bloggers. I am supposed to write 8 facts about me and then tag my blogger friends who will write facts about them and then pass on to their friends... Sounds interesting… So here I go...

1. I am a software engineer and I am totally not happy being one.
2. I am stubborn.
3. I like to do things in my own way though I end up messing them.
4. I am crazy about chocolates but I don’t eat them as much as I like.
5. I like to read people.
6. I love being with my friends.
7. I am very demanding.
8. I wanted to become a doctor, then a scientist, then a psychiatrist but ended up being an engineer.
9. I get depressed often
10. I enjoy being pampered.

i am suppossed to write only 8... y only 8? 10 is better.. ;-)
As per the game, I am gonna tag .. BALA, u r next!!! :-)

The familiar curve!!!

2007-08-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

It was snowing outside.

He stood in the corridor of his hotel room relishing the sight.

He was seeing snow for the first time in his life.

The pathway, the cars, the trees were all snow-clad.

It was freezing cold.

He felt like taking a walk around.

He took few steps, slowly basking the nature’s beautiful change.

Everything around reminded him of her.

He is 10,000 miles away from her but still he knew that she was there for him.

He took few steps further and saw his car.

He stood there for sometime and then drew a familiar curve on the snow coated glass of his car saying “I miss you”. He looked up and saw that a foreigner was watching his masterpiece. They both smiled at each other…!!!!

Why am I talking like that?

2007-07-17T05:59:00.001-07:00

Couple of days ago I took a session for my team members on the application I have been working on for months. I was so comfortable in that application and that made me confident. Every time I take sessions, I wanted it to be the best. I prepare my presentations slides taking more effort and time and finally when I am done it puts a smile on my face... a satisfied smile. So that is how I prepared even for this session. As expected the session went well. I was so convinced that I presented the application with the best of my knowledge to the team. All said and done, I was curious to listen to the recordings of the session. I did hear and that totally freaked me out. What I expected to hear was a confident voice (cos that’s how I think my voice is) and what I heard was a nervous child-like voice. And that’s when I wondered how the team listened to it for such a long time:(. When asked to the team, they said “we dint feel the difference. That’s how you usually talk. Very childish” That baffled me!!!

Why does your own voice sound different from the way others hear it?

Google gives lot of answers for that. Biologically, when you talk, it is your head that changes the sound and makes you hear a deeper voice than other people do.

Others only detect the part of your voice that is transmitted through the air. However, your skull and flesh conduct sound as well, so it’s you who will hear a combination of the airborne sound, and the sound that travels directly through your head to your ears.

But that doesn’t convince me!!! It should sound as you expected in either ways right? How come there are many people who call themselves great singers? Are they over-confident? Do they really like their voice from inside and outside?

The next time I take sessions, it would make me conscious and that would make me not so confident!!!

I would call it - Showers of Joy!!!

2007-07-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost’s “Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening “was all I could see on my monitor. It was also all I could think at that time when a message popped up on my screen. The message was from Mat asking if I would care to have an ice cream now. “Why not? But let’s have it in beach”. I replied. “Let’s start immediately otherwise we would end up going home late” came back another popup. After ten min we were on our way to beach. We were well aware that it was the peak time and we would reach the beach only after an hour’s ride but would that bother us?

Just before we could cross the first signal, it started to rain.

Mat: “Nivi, if it’s difficult for you to ride lets stop. I don’t mind getting drenched”.

Me: I don’t mind getting drenched either but I have never ridden a bike in rain. Let’s try it out.

Before we could cover another kilometer, the rain poured so much that I could hardly see the road ahead. We both were completely drenched. The rain drops were so big and the speed with which it fell pricked my bare hands.

Me: Hey I don’t think we can go to beach in this way. Look at the traffic. The road is also slippery. Shall we go back? Or we can even stand here and enjoy the rain for some more time and then go home.

Mat: Let’s not go to beach but lets go on a ride. Riding is fun in rain.

So we set out on our little adventure. We rode for an hour or so in the rain. Not wanting to miss this opportunity to enjoy the showers of joy, we rode very very slowly. Thunder and lightening made the ride all the more adventurous. We rode through highways, streets without street-lights, subway half-submerged in the rain water. The rain took away our exhaustion, killed our boredom. It gave us immense confidence, filling us up with new energy, making us to giggle, laugh, smile, tease and enjoy. As though this was not enough, we pampered ourselves with fast food on a road side bakery shop. With damp cotton chudidhar sticking to the body, dripping wet hair, numb fingers, we were munching hot puffs, enjoying the last few drops of the departing rain and yapping about guys, life and marriage…. Wow… That was one fun filled night!!!

-----------------------------------------------12th July 2007 (Thursday 7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Trip to my office!!

2007-06-28T02:52:00.000-07:00

“No Monday morning blues… I love to go to office! I love work! “. I start my day with that positive attitude. But that positive air around me vanishes the moment I step out of my house to travel. I have two options of traveling to my office. One - depend on the share autos that are readily available in Chennai. Those motta-sized autos that can take you to any nook and corner of the city provided you don’t complain about the rash driving and the bumpy roads. Two – depend on my own bike. The first option will sound good to anyone who hasn’t stepped into share auto. Yeah right… You don’t have to strain yourself by driving the auto; all you have to do is sit and enjoy the ride. But do you actually enjoy it? In the place of three, five people would be forced to sit and that too if you are unlucky like me, every time you take the auto, you will be surrounded by hefty people and among them, one would definitely be leaning completely on you. :-( You try to squeeze yourself so close to one corner trying to avoid the big fat guy, then what happens? A bump on the road... there you go…the fat guy will comfortably fall against you. If you somehow manage to avoid him, be careful and always look out for the screws that hang loose in the autos. One more bump on the road, the screw will directly drill your head. Here is what you have to do

1. The moment you enter into the auto, go to the left most corner.
2. Make sure that you pay the driver beforehand.
3. Hold all your belongings (your hand bag, purse or whatever) in your right hand there by preventing anyone to lean on you :-)
4. Rest your left hand on your head or place your hand on the loose screws, there by you get to save yourself.
5. Sit properly so that you don’t loose your grip when the autowallah take you o on the rollercoaster ride.

Now that I know lot about share autos, I prefer riding my own bike. But there are few things that you gotta do before actually riding the bike:

1. If you are dust allergic or if your skin gets tanned, wear gloves that cover your hand completely. Make sure that the gloves are not soft and not too tight as it may leave impression on your hands.
2. Next is your hair. Duppatta serves well to save your precious hair. Knot your duppatta in such a way that your hair is completely covered.
3. If your path involves subways or shallow roads, beware of the puddles. You can always wear an over coat over your chudidar or formals to safeguard your dress.
4. For safety purpose, put on your helmet
5. For shielding your eyes from dust, drop down the helmet glass.

There, I have done all those, how do I look?? Well…I am totally covered. I can avoid the dust and heat…Though I look 2 inches fat with over coat and duppatta. Well…. That’s ok…This is perfectly fine as far as I am not traveling in that dreadful auto. All said and done, I also gotta keep saying “I love to go to office”!!! :-)

Take time to look around!!

2007-06-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

“Why don’t we put that between the grills of the balcony? It is worth a try” said my dad to my mom. My mom thought it was hopeless. But she didn’t want to disappoint my dad and so she asked him to give it a shot. So with that determined look, he carefully lifted the artificially entwined hay, dried roots and leaves and placed it on a thick cardboard. Then he lifted the cardboard and placed it between the grill links on the top right corner of our balcony. He stood there for a minute staring at his work and then beaming proudly he said, “This will be not be empty for long. I am sure it will be inhabited.”

Everyday, my dad used to observe if anything new has happened. You gotta be really patient if you are gonna test nature. Sheesh…. I can never be patient like this. I often tease my dad saying that he is wasting time but he just walks away saying “I will not do that if I were you”.

April- May is the period during which I would never invite anyone to Chennai. Dreadful Chennai… Temperature shoots up; with the sweat and dehydration you feel restless and irritated all the time. Oh Man… Chennai sucks. And above all traveling in such climate, makes everything worse. I used to be dejected and tired when I reach home late at night after traveling for an hour from my work place. It was one particular night; I came home very late and went to the balcony to relax. It was pitch dark outside, cool breeze, rustling of dried leaves, clear sky, and the twinkling stars… It was a very relaxing sight. To compliment this amazing view, a soft chirp was coming from nowhere. But the chirp was very clear and distinct as thought it was coming from near by. I looked around and then I remembered… I ran inside to switch on the balcony lights and as I expected, there it was…!! It was an amazing sight. A small bird was sitting in that nest…. Is it the color of the bird or is it its pointed beak or its sharp eyes, I don’t know what captivated me so much. I stood there for some time relishing the sight. And then I went inside and woke my dad and told him what I found. He said “Yeah I know…”

“That’s it?? That’s your reaction? You waited for all these days, to get it inhabited. Why don’t you enjoy? Come and see it…” I compelled.

My dad looked at me for sometime and said “Your life has become monotonous. You have time to SMS for hours, you have time to watch a movie every week, and you have time to roam around. But you don’t have time for me. You don’t even have time for yourself… I just want you to understand simple things... Relax... Look around... Spend sometime everyday for yourself… there are lots of things to notice… That is a gift for you! Take time to enjoy and relish the simple things around you. Good night!”

I am fida over Murphy :-)

2007-04-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well… what can I say?? No work as usual, I am getting paid for no reason:-). I was so bored and was checking my mailbox for new … na... old mails. One mail caught my attention and here I am to write about it. It was a mail sent by my Project manager when I was ready to take up my first project work. This is how the mail goes:

Here are some Murphy's laws that can be a good guide while doing software testing. Apply this to software testing and you will understand they are true. These Murphy’s Laws also tell us the need to consider all the things that could go wrong while doing software testing

1. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

2. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. .

3. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

4. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

5. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

6. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

7. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

8. Every solution breeds new problems.

I did not realize the worth of the mail then. Now I know what it talks about. Not even for software testing, Murphy’s laws apply for almost anything and everything in life. I am totally totally in love with this Murphy guy. :-)

Tame the bull…. Na…. get yourself tamed!

2007-04-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

I was reading a book of my all-time-favorite author, Sidney Sheldon The author was trying to beautifully portray the feelings of an old man watching the game of taming the bull(yeah…Jallikattu in right sense). The old man tries to comfort his grandson who gets scared watching the ferocious bulls. He puts his arm around the boy and says "It is frightening; But wonderful, too. I once ran with the bulls. There's nothing like it. You test yourself against death, and it makes you feel like a man." These lines captivated me and at the same time troubled me with lots of unanswered questions. Why this kind of game is enjoyed the most? What is this obsessive need these people have got to depict this act as bravery? Why to show off heroism to these poor creatures? Just imagine that you were forced to drink, later hassled and harassed and then made to run for your live in the middle of thousands of ferocious creatures. What will you do? You will have no idea as to where to run, what to do to save your live. All you will try to do is to free yourself, breaking down all the barriers, knocking off all the obstacles. Are you not getting creeps imagining this? These bulls suffer similar tortures. Where are our human qualities? Why this cruelty? Putting forth these questions will get an immediate opposing answer from these maniacs. Their answers will always be, “This is an act of bravery. This is a traditional practice.” This is insane; absolutely insane. To show off bravery why not they try something else, why harm these creatures? The other day, I was watching a debate show in TV. Bingo… the topic that they took to debate is “Jallikattu”. There were about 20 people to talk for and against the topic. One old man said that he is proud for having given his son’s life for the game. He also said that it is an act of bravery and that his son had proved that he is indeed brave. There was not even a fleck of sadness on the man’s face. How cruel…..! Well I cannot tame these people, nor can you. Hope time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.

The Infectious Infyteens !!!

2006-11-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

This blog is the result of me being left alone without TV to care for…. :(

With my restless and undetermined nature I was totally put down cos of the heavy rain in nothing-is-predictable chennai. Thunder and lightening topped up with the slashing rain and as if nothing best can happen, my TV smoked out. Only in these situations will the human brain realize the value of time. My brain thus realized the value of quality time that I planned to spend with myself.

Why don’t I try to meditate? Listen to nature? Identify myself? Realize my true being? Lol! Nothing worked out and so I settled down to read my autograph book (dated April 2005).

So many friends pointed out the many-o-many good things in me… yes, I know what you are thinking. I am being self-centric :) ok.... Jokes apart, and let me come to point. What I found interesting in these scribbling is that they all talked about one point in common- We 4!!!

To quote a few:

Arch : You have an instantaneous and infectious smile (well all of your gang has it.. I dunno how!!)

Brindha: I felt jealous about one thing and that is your friendship. You have been maintaining the friendship with no misunderstanding for the past 4 years.

Ganesh: you four are like “naanga naalu per, engaluku bayame illai”

Reading all those words gave me an idea of writing about us. We are not great enough to talk about ourselves but if not us who else will? :)

Naanga naalu per : Me, Jan, Naru and Divi

Jan: Typical Arian-Confident, daring and intelligent. The girl I can turn to anytime I need help in accepting life.

Naru: Cuteeeee of the gang-Very straight-forward, not one percent the girly-girly type, very responsible. She is the sweetest girl of the gang.

Divi: Confident, loves attention, hardworking. Divi, the girl who makes anyone comfortable.

We 4!

I met the sweet girl (naru) of our gang on the first day of my college. She was my bench mate from then on. We two were not into the enjoying-girls gang; we were rather studious sitting in the front row answering all silly questions put forth by the professors. What happened then?? A tall girl (jan) from Hyderabad walked in to our life. She infected us. She changed the goody-goody girls to the last-min-prep girls. That is when we started going out. The last girl (divi) got added up to the gang after sometime and thus formed THE FOUR gang. We usually sit in one corner of the class, teasing and bugging professors. We had a world of our own and we were happy enjoying the life of it. Fun, Music, Movies, hang outs and what not?? I sure miss that touch of colors now. Life has become so monotonous these days. But alas….we gotta take things as they come.

People say life is always unfair. I don’t agree, atleast some part of life is indeed colorful and lively. Hmmmm….I could feel the same josh with my friends even now. If only I could go to that dreadful college and redo my engineering with my same old friends. Sheesh… I have become so sentimental and mushy-mushy. Come on guys, please try to digest… :)
I will end it here… I can’t write any more…

I love "Love Story"

2006-09-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

Love Story
- by Erich Segal

My favourite part of the book :)....

>It was about a month later, right after dinner. She was still doing the cooking; she insisted on it. I had finally >persuaded her to allow me to clean up (though she gave me heat about it not being 'man's work'), and was >putting away the dishes while she played Chopin on the piano. I heard her stop in mid - Prelude, and walked >immediately into the living room. She was just sitting there.
>'Are you okay, Jen?' I asked, meaning it in a relative sense. She answered with another question.
>'Are you rich enough to pay for a taxi?' she asked.
>'Sure,' I replied. 'Where do you want to go?'
>'Like - the hospital,' she said.
>I was aware, in the swift flurry of motions that followed, that this was it. Jenny was going to walk out of our >apartment and never come back. As she just sat there while I threw a few things together for her, I wondered >what was crossing her mind. About the apartment, I mean. What would she want to look at to remember?
>Nothing. She just sat still, focusing on nothing at all.
>'Hey,' I said, 'anything special you want to take along?'
>'Uh uh.' She nodded no, then added as an afterthought, 'You.'

Quotes to quote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

Some of my favourite quotes... Jus thought of jotting them down along with my views....

Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make them when nobody is looking.
Nivi: This is my favourite quote... lol..I am trying to master the art of making mistakes ...

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars
Nivi: This is damn true... like they say enjoy the day, today! worry bout tomo, tomo!

In cookies of life…friends are chocolate chips
Nivi: A sweet quote.. :)

The spaces between your fingers were created so that another's could fill them in.
Nivi: A romantic, cute quote which i will never forget! ;)

Be, But don’t just exist, There is more to life Than just being another name on the list.
Be Active, Alive and Adventurous Boisterous, Brave and Bold Confident, Cool and Clear Headed Determined and Decisive Eager, Earnest and Eloquent Free-Thinking, Fresh and Fun Loving,
But, above all, BE YOU.
Nivi: Oh Man! This is absolutely perfect quote...

"If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."
Nivi: I don get it.. how ll u b able to live each day as ur last, i can never think of doin such a thing

"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
Nivi: A famous question.... hmmmm, my answer s "NO!". But I dunno wat i should do to make it "YES!"

If it happens, It must be possible, so jus make things happen
Nivi: This suits me... lets make things possible.. the least we can do is think tht it will be possible

Love me for a reason and let the reason be love
Nivi: ha ha ha... nice na????

Dont feel bad... A lot of people have no talent.
Nivi: this should have been originated from a over-confident person.. but i like it!

It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.
Nivi: yep.. true.. b it maintaining ur job status or ur relationship, u gotta do everything.

You do not need to be different from who you are...You only need to be more of the person you already are!
Nivi: every tom, dick and harry is different... the more u imitate, the more u lose "the genuine U!"

The kiss!

2006-09-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

I was standing in the middle of the crowded room. I could feel the happiness ebbing out of me. I dint know what to do as I was filled up with mixed emotions. Thats when it happened. I was traumatized for sometime.Then my realization took a major swift and thats when i understood love! his love! his longing to be loved ! I can never forget that kiss- the kiss of my life.

I accompanied my friends to an orphanage. Though the room was poorly lit, we could still feel the warmth and glow of those innocent smiles. Within minutes, the kids were all around us ready to take nothing but love. We were talking , playing and also helping out the kids. Every minute spent with them, was totally captivating. We enjoyed to the fullest. Finally when we were about to leave the place, a boy, too young to even realise how his action would affect my entire life, kissed me.

Funny Fantasy

2006-07-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

We all have aspirations in life.Now dont think that I am talkin about ur career ambition and stuff. Small, petty things may feel wonderful to you and you may want to do it.I too have many cherished desires - to ride a bike, to drive long distance with my dad sitting next to me and beaming proudly, to get drenched in rain, to sleep for some more time when i am already late to office, to play basket ball and to make the ball reach the basket atleast once, to learn how to swim, to watch rain and eat hot samosas, to run fast when there is noone else around, to stay alone and be independent, to eat whatever i feel like eating no matter what time it is, and the list goes on.

I recently made one of my aspirations come true. I rode a bike. Wow i did it.Amazing feeling!!!.

It always feels great when u accomplish something. You may ask me " Is riding a bike,an accomplishment? Yes, it is cos i had a feeling that bikes are only for guys.I have overcome that idea now.

I have learnt that thoughts take greatest and least leaps.
LOL ... :-) No matter how kiddish your thought is, dont feel bad about it, some day unknowingly you will accomplish it and you will feel great at that time.

It s the gal's world out ther. Is it???

2006-06-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

Thats what everybody say these days... " Its the gal's world out there" . But is that correct? If u ask me,i will say "Noooooo!!!!! Its not!!!!!!!!!".

Let me tell you about an incident and you will realize why i deny this statement " It s the gal's world" .I was talking to my friend yesterday. I was telling him that, i am planning to do something worthwhile for the future, something that will recognise me in my professional life. He just told me point blank, " Why try, anyway you will be occupied by marriage, kids in one or two years and then quit. You have wasted a guy's life. A girl at work earns only for herself. But a guy at work earns for his family. You girls do nothing in office except giggle, gossip and go to wash room every ten min for makeup or whatever". Look at the attitute, I was shocked when he said that. I do accept that we giggle, gossip and use wash room now and then, comeon, as though you guys never do.Moreover, when we are in our seats, we work and not day-dream (guys generally do- a scientific proof). And if a guy needs my job so badly to support his family why cant he just out-wit me and grab it when he was interviewed. Ok Ok, I am not going into that girl-guy-who-is-great concept now. I am just trying to point out the male chauvinism. Yes, its true that girls nowadays are equal to men, infact better than men, but unless the dominant guys vanish off, girls can never rule the world,why go for ruling???, they can not even live peacefully in the world.

But dont go and cry out "girls nowadays....." and " girls rule....." dialogues...., you heartless freaks!!!!!!!!

( P.S.I am not trying to offend those who respect us, they do have hearts :-) )

*~ Naturally Nivi ~*

Few More

Child's game!!

Let go…

Let go…

Moon-y!!

Lovely Lady!!!

Cute Little Girl

His Sleeping Beauty...

I am tagging --- You

Yours lovingly..

It’s always better to leave than to be left...

Its just my opinion ...

Fear !!!

Check out

Hurt for naught !!!

Thattu kadai Kothu barotta!!!

Few tests to understand wher you stand...

I was tagged!!!

The familiar curve!!!

Why am I talking like that?

I would call it - Showers of Joy!!!

Trip to my office!!

Take time to look around!!

I am fida over Murphy :-)

Tame the bull…. Na…. get yourself tamed!

The Infectious Infyteens !!!

I love "Love Story"

Quotes to quote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kiss!

Funny Fantasy

It s the gal's world out ther. Is it???

~ Naturally Nivi ~