Flowers

They are vibrant, rich, full of life and the ever lasting source of happiness and joy. You could find them everywhere around you, you just need to spend a moment, pause and get consumed in their beauty.

I know most of you have heck a lot of important work to do, so I am putting up few beauties here for you folks to enjoy and get consumed.

Never seen a richer crimson :-) Its very rich but no fragrance, these are what I see when I take a walk every noon after lunch around my office campus premises.

Now this is Night Queen. Awesome fragrance. The above one and this alternates around the campus.

These were wild. Found it in full bloom in between the narrow slits of the centuries old wall of the fort at Kannur.

Lotta tiny lavender flowers; juicy, huge honey pot for the butterflies and the bees.

Now this is a bed of beauties lining the side walk of my office campus :-)

Hues of red and orange.

Observe the delicate yellow bordering around the pinkish tinge :-)

This one looks like a Cotton Candy

Flaming!!

STAR!! Never seen this before. Does anyone know the name of this flower?

These have delicate petals.

Isn't nature the best designer? Look at this braid, so symmetric and painted to perfection in varied hues.

Pale blue. As if the blue has been bleached away by constant rain and dew drops 

Now don't they make the walk path beautiful and lively?

To my Dear Readers

I am going to do just the thing I have suppressed myself from doing all these days. But cannot stop myself from doing so.

I have been blogging for more than 2 years now. I blog to de-stress, to share interesting information that I think people would appreciate, to share the beauty of this world through my pictures, to bring smile on people who read me.

I don't rant on my blog, I don't want to crib here, neither would I use this space to thrash people around.  Its my space and very special to me. I am passionate about this space. I don't intend to feed any of my views here, nor do I intend to influence or get influenced.

I have guarded this space for close to one and half years, by not letting anyone know about this blog. I have had just 3 readers for that one and half years.. But you folks have discovered me constantly and encouraged me throughout and it really feels wonderful, every time someone new reads me and I feel I have tread one new step, touched one more person in this world. 

I give utmost respect to people who read me and I acknowledge their views and comments even if there are differences of opinion. You folks are not just an entity in this virtual world but real beings. I have always believed strongly that I don't have any right to moderate readers' comments and its evident of the fact that I don't have comment moderation. I welcome all sorts of views. That's the best thing I could give back to you folks who read me taking your precious time off and value my writings and offer your views.

At the same time, I don't want few readers to take advantage of this and muck around this space. Its beautiful and I want it to remain beautiful. I have a couple of suggestions to few readers. I have never ever flaunted myself as a writer. I am not a qualified writer neither am I getting trained. I am just an amateur who writes. If you do not understand the post or its intent, please ask for an explanation, I would be very glad to provide one. If you don't like the post, frankly speak out and I shall appreciate. If you don't want to understand, fine, don't comment.

Don't expect me to have the same view point as yours always. Opinions differ. And don't brand me as a 'faulty writer' if you did not understand my intent; as the same way I don't brand you as a 'faulty reader'. This very same 'faulty writer' seems to have inspired few folks to start writing!!! Ironical!! isn't it?

The comment space is all yours, but please treat the space with respect and don't indulge in brick-bats. Remember you do have your own blog space for that.

I did not want to express my unhappiness over certain things that happen here. It was way too personal to even express. But it has been repeated more than twice. And I had to speak. Apologies for the same. I just pray that this would be the first and last post of this kind. And yes, sadly I have enabled comment moderation for reasons best known to me. Its painful, but I had to do this to protect the interest of the blog and more than that, my precious readers.

I again thank all my readers profusely for taking your time off to read me, offer your opinions and encourage me. Please continue to do so. Thank you very much.

Veracity

"....The most divine thing for a woman is to become a mother. And there is no better boon than giving birth to a girl child"

She ended her speech amidst loud cheers and applause at the Conference on saving the girl child. She was one of the chairperson of the NGO which worked towards protecting the interests of the girl child and their development. They worked in educating rural folks against female infanticide and to nurture importance of the development of the girl child. 

She was very tired after a hectic day hoarded with meetings and conferences. She came to her room, decided to take a nap. She lied down, started feeling her stomach and silently wished for a boy.

Guilty and Innocent Again and also Nameless :-)

As promised, I am here taking up 2 more tags today. One by Nipun and the other by Gayathri.

Let me take up Gayathri's first. Its sort of  confusing as this is an award which has no fancy picture or a Name. Its called NAMELESS Award. What I have to do is this

1. List 7 things about myself that nobody knows.
2. Pass this award on to 7 other people.
3. Comment on their blog and notify them that they have been tagged.  

So here I go

1. I am a systems software engineer toying with advanced technologies of virtualization and enterprise storage. 

2. I am very very very lazy. I have to literally push myself to do anything at all!!

3. I am a music maniac. Need music all the time except while sleeping. Languages no bar. In fact, I need music to work productively and if there is a situation where I cant have music like meetings, trainings, then I sing or hum, there is always a rhythm within :-) Preparing for exams as well required music on full volume. And yes, I sing pretty well, that's what I have been told and suggested to start getting trained formally.

4. I am upfront, bold, no nonsense, straight forward and frank person who cant fake or sweet talk. Tough to get promotions eh? What to do, cant help. 

5. I seem to have an excellent photographic memory. I can remember anything seen or read just a couple of times instantly. My friends used to surrender their credit card numbers and other important dates and facts to me. I tend to remember everything and anything, however irrelevant that be. Its more of a disadvantage as I also tend to remember things that I very badly want to forget!!!

6. I am a shoe freak. I cant stop myself from buying at least 1 pair of footwear if I ever cross a shoe store. Now a days, I close my eyes literally whenever I pass a shoe store as I already have 40+ pairs of footwear in all shapes and designs and have no more closet space at home!! Oh yeah!! by the way, got 2 pairs yesterday too :-P

7.  I like to learn new things and update myself. Want to learn painting and hone my photographic skills. I know 6 languages, learning Punjabi and Gujrati but my teachers are not regular and dedicated as their student is. Listening to me Punjabi and Gujrati teachers??? After this, few more languages :-D

Wow!! that was super seven. I tag

Bik
Neha
SG
Nipun
lost world
Samvedna
Rajlakshmi

Now the next tag :-)

**********************************************************************************************
Nipun tagged me again for the 'Guilty or Innocent'. I had already done it last August and it was incidentally my first tag.

Here it is - Guilty or Innocent

But answering is fun, so thought let me answer again. You may find discrepancy in few answers. But that could be either because few things have changed since August or that I forgot the respective incidents and thus answered otherwise....Anyways its fun!!

The rules are thus…
RULE 1: You can only say Guilty or Innocent
RULE 2: You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks!
RULE 3: Copy and paste this into your notes , delete my answers, type in your answers and tag 20 of your friends to answer this.


I might just end up breaking all 3 rules :-)

Asked someone to marry you? Guilty

Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Innocent......but have been kissed by someone of the same sex :-)

Danced on a table in a bar? Innocent

Ever told a lie? Guilty

Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back? Guilty

Kissed a picture? Guilty

Slept in until 5 PM? Guilty

Fallen asleep at work/school? Guilty

Held a snake? Guilty.....Not just held, but been garlanded a python :-)  It was 4 years back in Los Angeles. Let me share the picture

Been suspended from school? Innocent

Worked at a fast food restaurant? Innocent

Stolen from a store? Guilty

Been fired from a job? Innocent

Done something you regret? Guilty

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Guilty

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Innocent

Kissed in the rain? Guilty

Sat on a roof top? Guilty

Kissed someone you shouldn’t? Guilty

Sang in the shower? Guilty.

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Guilty

Shaved your head? Innocent

Had a boxing membership? Innocent.

Made a girlfriend cry? (Guess its girlfriend or boyfriend) Guilty.

Been in a band? Innocent

Shot a gun? Innocent

Donated Blood? Innocent

Eaten alligator meat? Innocent

Eaten cheesecake? Guilty

Still love someone you shouldn’t? Innocent

Have/had a tattoo? Innocent....lot of temporary ones though.

Liked someone, but will never tell who? Innocent

Been too honest? Guilty

Ruined a surprise? Innocent

Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn’t walk afterwards? Guilty.

Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty

Dressed in a woman’s clothes (if you’re a guy) or man’s clothes (if you’re a girl)? Guilty

Joined a pageant? Innocent

Been told that you’re handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty

Had communication with your ex? Innocent

Got totally drunk on the night before exam? Innocent.

Got totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty

Wooww!! Even though I am answering it the second time, it is fun!!

I would not tag 20 people, as most friends have already taken this up.

I tag whoever wants to take this forward :-)

A Tag and 3 Cakes

I have 3 tags pending for quite some time. Thought let me take a break from my sarcasms and observations and take these tags now. So here is the first one. A tag by Nipun, and voila!! a bonus too. An award - Cherry on Top. Thank you very much Nuts for this wonderful gesture. :-)

Hmmmm yummy eh? I can have the cakes and eat it too...not just 1 but 3...3....3 :-D

It been sometime since the tag bug and award bug caught me. They have caught me again. Few months ago, we bloggers did only tags and passed on awards :-D Initially it seemed weird to me, then I started enjoying it.

Now what this tag is all about? I have to write 3 GOOD THINGS about me. Just 3???? Oh dear!! Miserly...I have so many good things in me...just 3? :-| Makes sense as there are only 3 cakes. Hmm....

For the first cake....

I am very very kind. Stupidly kind I would say. Kind to anyone and everyone. Phew!! it has its disadvantages. 

First cake was heavenly, now the second one.

I am extremes. How can that be good. Well, I can do an extreme thing or take drastic decisions in a split second. Helps me and others involved as well.

Now the third. By the way, the cherry was sweet :-P

I am a very simple person. My needs are minimal, well; except for the BMW :-P

Done :-)

Now I am going to tag few folks who are too good that only 3 good points would not be justified :-P
Presenting the Cherry on Top award as well :-)

Here they are. Please accept the award and take up the tag guys.

SG
Neha
Bik
Samvedna
Gayathri
Lost world
Shaunak
et

My next tag on Monday :-D

Isn't this novel idea?

My attempt on Wordless Wednesday. Saw this at a pizza outlet. I so liked it. My friends told me that only I could think the wicked way. I want to prove them false and say that there are lot more who are as wicked as me....

What say :-)

Tring Tring

When was the last time you heard a TRING TRING.....

Tring...Tring....old fashioned bulky telephone's ring tone. No...just like your unique hair style, attire, your style, ring tones are unique and defines your personality. Now its as unique as your signature and expresses your personality.

Well, why not? Isn't your cell phone indispensable and intricate part of our life, which actually shows who you are. Are you a geek? A choooo-chweet girlie girlie kind? A moron? Whatever, it freaks you out, brings a smile on your your face, makes you hide your face under your pillow....however they are inseparable...the notes of high and lows...music...The Ring tones and the caller tones. 

My observations again, heard a wide range of ring tones, few feeble and soft, few jarring and loud, few sing-a-song manner, few animal cries and few abuses. :-)

Few species that stand out. First things first. I cant wait myself.

The GIRLE tones

Awwww.....chooooooo chweeet....chhhhoooooo cute, sweetie pie kinda tones. Babies laughing, or a 'I am a little tea pot....short and stout' rhyme. Girls find it awesome, excuse me but its AWW-SOME. Would anyone ask them to PLEASE GROW UP!!!

The all-time BHAKTI/Spiritual tones 

Few folks would always be surrounded by GOD, hymns, singing in his praise. You call one such phone and it goes

Om Jaye Jagdish Hare, Swami Jaye Jagdish Hare
Bhagt Jano Ke Sankat, Khshan Mein Dur Kare ... 

 Boy!! And what happens? You forgot the purpose of your call and dive into spirituality and start singing HIS praise along.

The PETA tones

These are the tones an avid animal lover has as his ring tone. Dog barking, donkey braying, cock crowing are the most famous ones. Either you like animals or that you consider you as one among the species your ring tone has :-P But the low side is that you might actually mistake your ring tone that really the animal is crying and end up missing the calls. If it were your spouse who had been constatnly calling you..........GOD save you.


The WACKY tones

These are the metal heads' choices. Loud jarring pop, rap, metal. Imagine sitting in a meeting and one such person gets a phone call. You would want to stop the discussions right there, let your hair down and start banging your head to the tone of heavy guitars and drums :-)

The FREAKY tones

A Mogambo type 'Huuuuaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa" wicked laugh, Windows banging sort 'dapa tab...dapa tab.....dapadapa tab.....". A women shrieking "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh", or a door opening "crrreeeeaaaaaaakk......crrreeeeaaaaaaaaaaaakkkk" followed by a "wwwhhhhhhhhhhooooossshhhh"

If not for anyone else, you are gonna wet your pants one day for sure with these tones.

The FILMY song tones

"Volume kam kar....Papa jag jaayega"......or


"Tan ta daaaaaann....aaja aaja dil nichode, raat ki matki tode..........."

or the melodious "Khuda Jaane ke....Mein fida hoon.....khuda jaane ke....mein mit gaya......"

can instantly tell you that the person is a movie maniac and is an updated movie database.

The Drama tones

"Kitne Aadmi The....." Gabbar Singh questioning.......and it continues.

"mere pas aaj bangla hai....gaadi hai....bank balance hai....tumhare pas kya hai"............kinda ones.

Are you in mood for some drama and tamasha, well go ahead!!

The BOOSTER tones

These kind are not particularly of any rap, pop or metal. But it somehow boosts up the ego of the person whenever he/she receives a call. With ring tones set as the Mission Impossible theme music or the James Bond theme music, energy level peps up sooner than imagined.

The REGULAR tones

Last but not the least, the ever green regular and old fashioned TRING-TRING or the TURAAAN-TURAAAN ones.
Folks having these as tones don't want to join the bandwagon or happy with the TRING-TRING so much so that their latest iPhone would have TRING-TRING as the ring tone. 

Do you folks have any more types to add? Welcome :-)

Add On

May I take your order ma'am?
Cappucci.....
(even before mentioning it)...With cream or chocolate syrup ma'am?

All these with a plastic smile. I definitely am sure that these folks are trained in etiquette and behavior to woo customers and how to sell a product in 5 seconds. Its so void and its obvious.

Such mundane activity like ordering a coffee has become such a big task these days. Most times its an unpleasant experience to the customer. Not to forget the extra expense incurred. You may ask whats the extra expense here in just ordering a cappuccino.Well, the cream or the chocolate syrup is not for free. They are ADD-ONS and they carry a price.

The customer is bombarded with assortment of options, he is, at the end of it all, confused!! All I want was a coffee, now why does it have to be so complicated? I dont want coffee anymore!!

Not only coffee shops, pizza corners -  extra cheese and toppings, beauty saloons - pedicure, facials?, our banks as well!! Add-on credit card! As if its for FREE FREE FREE!! Even hospitals are offering add-ons!! Take that :-)

The way these options are presented to the customer makes one believe that these are included as part of the package, without realizing that it could as well dent the wallet. And if you dont specify the small, medium, large...you have bigger hole in your pocket, as the billing is done for the largest portion.

You would go to a coffee shop for a leisure and to de-stress. Well, at the end of your order, you wished you never went in there. Its irritating when you exactly know what you want and yet have to listen to the systematic order in which they present the products.

At one point, the marketing is so aggressive; trying to sell a product so hard that you forgot your primary intention!!
Tell a NO, and you are a mockery.

"No extra cheese for your burger, ma'am?"

"Dont want any drinks along with your pizza, Sir?"

"No facial? Your skin looks so tired"......

Cannot then stop feeling positively depressed!! And we get a nice HEADACHE as an Add-On :-P

Multipurpose Creative Reuse

Few things could be used otherwise than their normal usage. Leverage, optimize and reuse is the mantra. Some really creative usage of the ordinary for the extra ordinary :-D

Here they are

- Broom to spread oil on a large scale while preparing dosas :-)

- Banana doubled up as offering to deity and as a placeholder for incense sticks

- Footwear to beat up eve teasers.

- Charcoal doubling up as dish washing agent and as tooth powder

- Hockey sticks/cricket bats to bash up rogues.

- Horse shoe nailed to the main entrance of a house for luck and prosperity.

- Rice powder to draw rangolis/kolams.

- Sieve to look at the moon during Karwa Chauth

-  Soda bottles to knock off someone on the head.

- Saliva expelled in anger to INSULT somebody.

- Sacred ash or Vibuthi to adorn one's forehead as tilak doubles up as a cleaning agent for glass

- Paan stains to paint the town red.

These were all I could think of as of now. New creative ideas welcome :-) Shoot!!

Ordeal of a Kind

They say time waits for none. But there are few places where there is no sense of time. Well!! before you all start visualizing a heaven on earth where everything comes to a standstill...WAIT!!! Dont jump the gun. The place that I am about to mention is no where close.

Its nothing but our indispensable government offices - Regional Transport Office, Bank, Registrar office.......................

The time stands still or rather there is no concept of time at all except for of course tea, gossips, lunch, naps, tea, more gossips and home. Well, am I exaggerating? May be!!

But its no better. Go to any government office and you will see it for yourself. The staffs work at their own pace..........they can give tortoises a run for their money!!!

Only one finger pokes the keyboard; at its own speed...searching for alphabets as if they were precious diamonds rare to find............. a signature is made by a hand which is literally shivering, your documents are tagged as if it is going to take eons and eons.

Place where you can find antiques!! Probably these are the offices which use x86 processors and have floppy drives and FLOPPIES!!! I saw floppies after a very long time in a bank. An old man; probably senior staff threw it in a thrash can without any worry. What if it had had confidential information; related to user accounts??

Run amok, get the seal from counter 7 on 2nd floor, be asked to buy postage stamps at the counter on ground floor..... come back to 6nd floor and get the approval from counter 3, go back to 2nd floor to get signature from the Superintendent only to see he has vanished from his place.  Ask for his whereabouts and you don't get any proper response, wait patiently and when he comes back, he treats you as a trash. Yearn for his attention and be very polite just to get his signature only to be dismissed that you have not filled the details properly.

Ask him for directions as to what you have missed, he throws his price and redirects to someone else. That someone else asks you to check with Inquiry and the Inquiry is closed!! Check around and ask for help, finally get the details filled and back to the Superintendent counter. Now what? He has gone for lunch.

Wait for his return, finally get his approval and by the time you have completed your task, your day is gone. You are just left with sweat and frustration.......

And SORE FEET as it were a pair of stilettos which adorned the feet which sprinted up and down :-(

Random Picks

Some of my random clicks without any subject. :-)

In all its glory..Smiling :-)

Mute spectator

Waiting for someone?

Teenage - will grow to be a beautiful bride :-)

Life or Game?

Soothing RED

I just liked the pattern!!

Where were they going?

Gorgeous even after death. What a privilege!!

One followed the other constantly till the other gave up...Happy Ending :-P

Beauty Illiterate

Me and beauty salons are poles apart...Yes, unbelievable but true, I have somehow been averse to all those procedures to make oneself feel good. I mean, its not that I am clumsy and not presentable. I can confidently tell that I am attractive, but have not indulged in these things.

Weird, but that's how it has been. The only time I go to a salon is to have a hair cut. It was around a year back that I decided to appear like a girl with decent hair length and decided to grow them after having a boy cut. But that was not the case. And there were these depressed moments when lumps of hair would come in my hands with a stroke.

So I decided to visit the salon.Oh my goodness, is there anyone here who has been told "Wow!! Great hair!!"

Guess not!! Same happened with me. Got disgusting looks from the stylist after she felt my hair. "What have you done to your hair!!!" she sighed. "Split ends, dry scalp.....how often do you oil?" "Do you condition them?" " What shampoo do you use?".....magazine of questions shot at me. I answered them to her disappointment and told her "Just remove those split ends and chop it off as short as possible". Somehow, she thought it was too much a punishment and decided that she would give me a layered cut.

I wanted to just leave the place, but after having decided to step the gallows, let me get hung!!! Beauty salons somehow seem like a hospital OT to me!! The sight of those array of bottles, creams, gels.......eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww....give me jitters the same way the phenols, sanitizers, white and green screens in an hospital give. Those stylists are just as pale and expressionless as doctors and nurses!!

The stylist insisted that my hair needs a wash even though I had just washed them. So I let her way and operate my hair. She applied some shampoo, washed them, applied a cream, let it for a while and then I was ready for the LAYERED cut. I must admit that I was quite impressed the way she handled my hair. It put me to shame, there I was, pulling it and tying it up as if it was a unwanted extension on my body. And this lady was handling it with sheer elegance and care. She was graceful in styling it, applied some cream, hair perfume and dressed it. After that 2 hours, it was as though those hair were never mine!!!

What a metamorphosis!! I fell in love with my hair...The OOH-AAH factor!! This OOH-AAH was quite too fast I thought, it was PHEW!!! after I saw the bill...Cool 900 bucks!! And not to forget the products worth 1000s of rupees they try to sell "Your hair needs it. Repairs extra damage, conditions and regenerates".

I don't understand how only they can do it? The same shampoo or the cream doesn't work when I use it!!

It doesn't end here. I have always been a victim of "Oh dry, lifeless skin. Your skin is beautiful and healthy, why don't you have a facial? It will bring a glow. Aww..your eye brows. They have good shape. Why don't you trim them? Do you want to have a manicure? You have beautiful hands".........

Are they trying to say you look pathetic and un-kept? Or are they trying to compliment and say they will make it more better? I don't understand what's a night cream and a day cream? I don't understand what is the difference between a eye liner or a mascara? I don't follow a matte lap-stick and a glossy lip-stick. I don't understand how different is eye shadow from pancakes!!

I never use them and have felt I would never ever need them. But a visit to the salon always makes me think again; especially when you see 60+ women getting their hands and feet worked on!! Am I an illiterate? But the thought just lingers for a while. I don't want to know their differences....Ignorance is bliss :-) And fortunately I have never needed these high maintenance!!

Before signing off, an incident that I got reminded of....

Once, a friend of mine was leaving for India. He requested me to go to Walmart with him to choose cosmetics for his wife. Now, I did not want to say I didn't have a great knowledge about them. So I went with him, and he led me to the aisle which housed all those beauty and grooming products. He was picking up each pack and asked me if it was needed. I nodded for everything....gels, creams, oils, matte, gloss.....rows and rows of Latin and Greek for me. I randomly picked up packs and he happily obliged. The bill came to $670. :-|

Errrr......Do I suffer from Callophobia?? :-S