A ring on my finger!

Love... A feeling that grips your senses when you see that special someone...

To me, love was always something that would converge into a wedding. Nope, not a wedding, a marriage. What's the difference, one may ask. For someone who's watched the episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S where Monica and Chandler argue about whether to have a grand wedding ceremony as per Monica's wish or to bring Chandler's dreams of a beautiful marriage to life, the difference is not hard to figure.

Many of the dreams I wove, about a loved one making my life complete, have finally come into life. The jigsaw puzzle of my life is finally complete.

I'm getting engaged to my bestfriend next month! I couldn't be happier. I feel like all the angels up above have blessed my family and me with all the joys we could possibly have. Fingers crossed. Touch wood.

Pictures and a wide variety of editing options...

Google comes up with such wonderful ideas. For someone who started of with just a web search, they seem to be floating amazingly ahead. Try out the options on Picasa2(http://www.picasa2.com/) for example. In combination with the picture editing that's supported on Vista, even a bad photographer's picture can be turned into a beautiful wallpaper! I specially liked the 'Collage' option on Picasa2.

Another must-try software is Scrapbook Flair from Aurora Digital Imaging(http://www.scrapbookflair.com/Download.aspx). The downloadable version comes with quite a large number of templates, background and embellishments. With a wee bit of design idea help from Scrapbook and the rest from your imagination, the outputs can be as simple or as bold as you want.

Here's one I made with a picture of my team at work. Totally loved the simplicity.

How easy is it to make a rhyme?

Born to win,
But tend to lose,
Blame it on a hopeless fault,
Or a poor excuse.

Have some brains,
But they're hard to use,
Hard work pays off,
But am a lazy goose.

Time flies by, a boring day
Or a thought to muse,
The cry of a baby,
Or a darn abuse.

The kind of life we have,
We cannot choose,
Just like a beautiful painting,
With colourful hues.

The people here are fake,
They blow up my fuse,
They say they're fasting,
But drink a lot of juice.

The worst enemies are bad friends,
Bad morals and character loose,
When you have the money,
What praise they ooze.

The world's strange,
Seen from a million views,
Even if you're a fraud,
You'll figure in the news.

Life's the stage, life's a drama,
To God, someday we'll pay our dues,
One fateful day,
It'll all end in a truce.

That was pretty easy, I'd say...

Poems used to be works of art, ages back. That's why prose from the early centuries are called classics. Lately, random poetry (without much of rhyme or prose) seem to be the 'IN' thing. I'd say it's only cos people are lacking the sense of art these days. For someone who sees beauty in each of life's moments, I wouldnt think it'd be too hard to write something the next generation would classify as a classic.

The journey back home....!

This is a wonderful feeling... A mixed one... Where one's unsure of whether to be happy or sad...

The journey back home....!

Like a lioness who got a taste of blood, I was enjoying my new found freedom in California, away from home... My very first time away from home.. Actually being responsible for myself... It's an amazing feeling..

Before:
It churns your stomach
All day long, you whine !
Away from your loved ones,
The thought makes you pine...

Being able to fight with and come to terms with the fact that your family is way too far to be doing anything for you... To realise that you can do all that you wanna do and still staying sane... Allowing the fact to settle in, that the morals you were following so far were the values your family believed in; not having to stick to them cos your family isn't watching; and yet choosing to do so, cos the family has put enough sense into you to undersand that the values they instilled in you, made you a much better person than you would ever be if you had chosen to follow the beliefs you and your friends thought were 'COOL'...!

I mean, think about it! I am a 21st century girl, in one of the coolest and HEP-est places on earth-Bangalore, earning a decent amount which my family doesn't ask accounts for... I could probably do anything I wanted to do, and yet I remain sane... I make good friends, stay away from the evils, spend my money on the right kind of stuff, love my family for being the crazy people they are, go half the way around the globe to a totally new place, stay there for 3 months, and yet manage to come back without turning into much of a mess... Not too bad, huh?!

After:
Happy to be coming back,
But don't wanna leave,
I may not ever go back there,
The thought makes me heave...!

I was the happiest to be returning to Bangalore... But deep down inside, my heart felt a tug while I was bording the flight. It felt like I was leaving a piece of me back there in Aliso... I've met the most amazing people back there, learnt to live on my own terms, managed a home all by myself and Aliso had turned into a home away from home for me... Complete, with a different kind of family, a new set of friends, and a home I looked forward to coming back to, every evening. Now I can never walk down Grand park and walk into City lights...! But locked up somewhere inside, I brought a piece of Aliso Viejo back with me... To remind me at all times that I lived someplace, where the winds were chilling, but the hearts were warm, all around the year...!

Miss you, California!

Shades of the sky

Here're 4 pics capturing the same scene at the same time on 4 different days... I'm in awe of the beauty nature has brought into all our lives, in so many different way...

These scenes reflect the different moods that 've been experiencing lately... The glow that shows upon my face when I think of how my life's taken a turn for the best, the flash of anger that builds up in me many a times for many a reason, the warmth I feel when I think of home and the calm after a long conversation with loved ones...

Back to going places on foot...

Finally gave the car away after the weekend... Painful... Someday i'll own a sleek car of my own... Someday...

My first car...

I rented out a car today... A Sleek Black Pontiac G5...

So what if it's just rented out for 3 days... It's still my first car... I paid from my purse for it!!!

And man, it's quite something... A two door, four seater, auto gear beauty...

Here's a screenshot of the car for now... I'll upload a photo later...

Weather update

The weather forecast was accurate...

There were showers in the morning and it was BIG TIME windy...on Monday...

Tuesday was better... I think it did rain when I was asleep, but while I was away at work, it dint rain one bit. It was a lil cloudy though...

Today was much better... It was cloudy in the morning when I left for office, and then when I go out for lunch, it was as sunny as summer... I guess the summer's on its way here...

It's so nice in such weather... It's cool enough not to be sweating it out on my uphill walk to office... And the sunshine keeps the spirit of the day alive... Cloudy days are dull and boring...

I was telling Aneesh the other day that I like the heat better... He said he like the cold better... I guess it's all a matter of where we were brought up. I guess he hates the heat of Kerala and I love the warmth of Bangalore...

This weekend's forecast says it'll be back to the slight showers, but we're planning to rent a car and see some nearby places... A lil bit of shopping too maybe... And running a few errands... I stay alone in a house after all, so gotta take care of the bills myself... ;-)

Ah, I'm growing old!!!! Heheee...

The Californian Rain...

My first weekend in Aliso has been almost washed away...

The weather's been cloudy and rainy and there have been thunderstorms predicted in the Laguna beach area... which means it's bound to rain in the Aliso region too...

Well, my friend and I dint waste the weekend... We planned for the next weekend... We've made plans to go to Irvine and then maybe the San Diego Zoo next weekend... It'll be nice to go places and see what the 'in' places here are...

The weather predictions, by the way, came true... Looks like the weather system here is way too organized... The predictions come true, at the least... Well, this's what's predicted for the next 5 days...

I'll post it up for everybody to see... I'll make sure I post the daily weather too, for the next 5 days...

The weather website says its going to be partly cloudy or sunny... Hopefully, the plans we made for the coming weekend won't get washed away too... I'm praying the website is right...!!!

Offshore and onsite...

It feels great to be working onsite, just 16 months into the IT industry. It just means that my work offshore has been appreciated. And it sure feels like an achievement to be here before many senior members of my team at work...

The working environment onsite is very different from that offshore. The people here are totally workaholic, but only between 0800-1700 hrs and Monday to Friday... Anytime beyond that is totally tuned out of work... And that's much different from the 'I'll finish this thing and then go home' attitude that I've seen with people back home. Here, if you wanna get something done beyond 5 in the evening, you'll have to go to a few people and then decide to get the job done the next day...

From some small part of my heart, I miss the office back home... That's probably because I have more friendly colleagues there... Here're people are very very official... Overly official, I guess...

Talking about people I'm missing back home, here're the top three...














Miss you guys...

A home cooked meal...

Today I made a whole course meal all by myself... And it felt so good to eat it... Actually I tested it on a friend before I ate it... Thankfully, he din't die of it, so I ate it too... :-)

Shopping for food items in the US is a crazy job... There're a 100 kinds of a single thing. If you're looking for plain old curd, there're a million kinds of yogurt here... There's this flavour and that. And when you finally pick a flavour, there're a 100 other kinds. Low fat, low cholesterol, low this and low that. I mean, how on earth do these people pick anything from the supermarket??!!!

Pointless discussion...!!!

Foreigners in India must be cribbing about the few number of choices they have.

The Last Line : We're all the best in our home countries...
The Big POINT : I miss home!!!!!!

Lyle, my friend...

Here's Lyle, the guy who drove me from the LA airport to the hotel in Laguna woods.

Lyle's been living in LA for the past 7 years, away from his family in New York. While he was driving me to the hotel, we spoke of India and of US and of the differences there are in the 2 countries...

He had the impression that India was a country where people don't get educated and least of all speak good English.

I should be glad that I was able to change the opinion of a US commoner about my country जहाँ कि मिटटी मे शिक्षा और संस्कृति बसी है.

Blr to LA

After a 32-hour travel by air, I'm in CaliForNia ...!!!
And what a week its been so far...
The Heathrow incident made sure that all flights to and from London would be delayed, and unfortunately, I was on one such flight too. So then, I was scheduled from Lon to Seattle on another delayed flight and then, from Seattle to LA on Alaska airlines.

Everybody had warned me against British airways losing/delaying luggage and there I was in Seattle feeling relieved that my luggage made it on time.
And the next thing I know, Alaska airlines had delayed my baggage..!!!

And what's worse... All the chargers and plug point converters much needed in the US, by Indians with Indian laptops, were in the delayed baggage.

Finally after 4 days in the US, here I am, accessing my laptop with a fixed up converter... It took my lab in charge 2 random chords to fix up a new charger to connect a US plug point to my laptop adapter। Man, am I thankful to him or what??!!!

I so badly wanted to log on and chat with close friends and family.

I had the wonderful experience of being in a chauffeur driven LimOuSine... yup, that's right...
I took a limousine from the airport to the hotel I was staying at for the night I reached LA... It was such a wow experience to sit in a limo!!! That too a GPS controlled one. The guy who drove me to the hotel was this man named Lyle. Totally sweet. By the time he dropped me off at the hotel, we were good friends... I doubt I'll ever see him again, but I wish him well.

There have been quite a few people who have looked at me with 'Oh, Indian huh??Whatever...!!!' kinda look. But the majority of the crowd has been totally cool. I really like it here. The people are very warm. Non racist, if I might say.

Contrary to the beliefs of those whose believe too much of what on the news.

Am still getting used to the city. Writing about the city will take me another blog, I guess. Cos the beauty of nature there is in California, is the prettiest I've seen in my entire life...

Me - a FOB...

I happened to attend a cross culture training recently... It was held by this lady who'd returned to India after being an NRI for 38 years!!! Quite a big deal, for a desi like me... I agree the India we see these days is still on its way, crawling towards improvement in multiple dimensions. But if given a choice of where I wanna spend the rest of my life, my India it is!!!

Anyways, this lady trainer introduced me to 2 new acronyms...
ABCD of an NRI.... That's short for American Born Confused Desi... That's what the Americans call the Indians settled in the US, it seems... :-)
And the other one's FOB... That's what the Americans call the newly arrived Indians onsite... It stands for Fresh Off the Boat...
Amusing isn't it...?

Coming to the fact that I attended the cross culture program only cos I'd be travellin to the US this weekend, it's my organization's way of preparing me for the culture shock that I am to recieve...

It made me wonder...
Do the Americans attend a cross culture program before they travel to India???

The rising Indian economy in the past decade, I'm sure, has been a cause of concern to the Americans. Also the outsourcing of jobs... We do their software, their customer care, their hardware and software maintainance and what not???!!! They might definitely worry we'll overtake them in the decade to come... No wonder they are so interested in learning each detail of what the Indians are upto... We won't be in for a surprise if the day comes when 1 rupee=40 dollars (despite how much the RBI try to reduce the appreciation of the rupee to avoid loss during money exchange). The Americans may want to try learning a thing or two from us... ;-)

Another amusing learning I got from the cross culture was that the US was dominated and ruled by the British once upon a time. I always knew that they celebrated their Independance day on the 4th of July, but I wonder why I never gave thought to who they got their independance back from...

The British seem to have dominated quite a few nations in the past. Domination is in their blood. WOW...

The blog seems to have headed elsewhere fom whereI started off...
Can't say I expected much of a better outcome from my first blog... :-) :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)