Now I know - II

The online world seemed exciting. Although it had been a year since I had started blogging, I wasn't really active anywhere. But that June evening, as it poured outside, I had nothing better to do than go online. After checking my Orkut, my Gmail, my Hotmail and my Yahoo (which had over 400 unread mails!!), I happened to sign in to my blog and was surprised to see so many comments on it. It meant that people actually visited it more often than I did myself! I began reading those and I stumbled upon a blog of one of those commenters- Raghav, that caught my attention for the longest time. I enjoyed each and everyone of those posts and couldn't keep myself from leaving a comment there. After a little more blog-hopping, I went off to sleep.

The next morning, the first thing that I did was to visit that particular blog again to check if Raghav had left a comment in reply. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see one. It went on that way for a couple of days, and soon he was in my Orkut list and we happened to have a mutual friend too! On knowing that he went to the same college that I do now, my excitement doubled. He added me on GTalk the very next day and we started chatting endlessly. It was fun never meeting him in real life and yet talking to him like I've known him for years! Through him, I met many other bloggers online and started being very active on my blog. We always had a lot to talk to, and soon, advanced to talking on the phone too! He lived in the US, and that meant heavy call rates but that never seemed to bother him and we talked for hours.


I'd wait for Raghav's calls and for him to come online. And on days that he didn't, I'd feel restless and uneasy. This was a different feeling. I knew I didn't like him that way. It wasn't the kind of happiness that I felt when I was in love or the one I felt when I won a trophy in school. I just felt the need to talk to him everyday. I was addicted to him. We'd talk about college, about our friends, about our lives, even teach each other our respective mother-tongues! My life completely changed in two months time and my addiction kept growing by the hour! But I didn't seem to care. All I knew is I loved talking to him and he felt the same too. We enjoyed and that's all that mattered.

Then one day, I happened to go to a friend's place on the outskirts of Bombay to spend the weekend. I was meeting her after ages and we were catching up on each others lives over tea; I told her all about my experience and how things had changed since that evening in June. I expected a call from Raghav the same night, I wanted her to talk to him too! The clock struck 10 and I looked at my cellphone. Nothing. "This is the time he always calls, what could have happened!", I thought. I waited some more thinking he might be busy somewhere, but after an hour, when my phone didn't ring at all, I was sure he had forgotten and gave him a call myself. Nobody answered. I left a voice message, but felt very scared somehow. I stayed up all night talking to my friend and at the back of my mind, expecting the phone to ring anytime considering it was day-time in the US. But nothing happened. No calls, no messages.

When I came back home, I checked my mail and my GTalk to see if he had left any offliner. Nothing there too! I went all panicky, and pinged another blogger who knew Raghav too, to ask her if she knows of his whereabouts. She too had no clue! I felt helpless and stranded. I didn't know what to do. A week later, she mailed me saying that he was safe. Apparently, he had mailed another blogger to tell her that he was just very busy and nothing was wrong.

I heaved a sigh of relief but could never understand why he left that way. Today, he has left the blogosphere and has stopped interacting with all of those bloggers he had befriended once. None of us know why.

I didn't know what addiction could do to me and how wrong I was to give myself completely to someone who seems like a complete stranger now.
Now I know.

Now I know - I

I knew there was something different about this guy,the way he looked, the way he was... Being in an all-girls convent school, I had never been close to a guy before. This was new and exciting. And did it feel good? You bet it did. I would always wait for Anish to come over, he and my brother studied in the same university . As days passed, we became good friends and soon, started exchanging e-mails. I'd write lengthy mails to him telling him every little thing under the sun. And he replied promptly, his mails being equally long. I checked my inbox every morning, and sure enough, there'd always be one new mail from Anish. He once mentioned how much he'd wait for my replies and I smiled to myself thinking how I would always switch on my computer the first thing in the morning waiting for his mail! And when he'd come over, my joy knew no bounds! It felt different. It felt good. This HAD TO BE love.

Over the course of time, we became the best of friends! We even started chatting online every night and my cheeks would hurt from smiling so much the whole time that he was online! One day, he said I was his 'Angel' !! "Yes!", I thought, "He loves me back too!". I was elated and within a few weeks, we started going out together. Each day felt heavenly. I wrote poems in his name and painted pictures. I loved the songs he listened to and played them over and over again. It felt so dreamlike, except that it was so real !



Anish introduced me to his friends and family and I knew I was a special part of his life. His sister Geet took an instant liking to me and shared almost everything with me, and so did one of his friends Sakshi. Sakshi was his classmate, she was one of those girls you could feel at ease with. We'd meet often and even be on the phone for as long as 3 hours. I confided in her and happened to tell her how I felt for Anish, and she'd help me in a lot of ways, tease me to no end and we would laugh for hours together!

Soon, I finished school and sought admission in the same college as Anish's just as he had asked me to, so we could spend more time together. I got through but things turned out to be different. He'd always keep busy with his lectures and practicals, and I'd always complain about how he'd hardly ever come to my lecture hall. I'd blame him for asking me to take admission there, and for promising me something he could not give- time. As for Sakshi, as time went by, she and I lost touch. I tried calling her repeatedly, she wouldn't return my calls and once or twice, when I did get her on the line, she would say she kept very busy and hardly found time to breathe. Her behaviour puzzled me but I couldn't do much but let go.

Then one fine day, as my classes had ended for the day and I was about to go home, I ran into Geet. We began talking, I asked her about her family and we strolled around the area chatting away. In the middle of our conversation, she told me of a girl she thought Anish was in love with, and she was talking about Sakshi. I shuddered. Though we had never declared our love to each other, I knew I was THE ONE. He never once mentioned any other woman in our conversations. I ignored her suspicions and went on with my life, with just as much love to give. But I kept hearing of this, time and again, from some source or the other. So once, when Anish and I were coming back from the sea face where we'd always spend hours talking, I asked him if Sakshi was any special. He denied. I trusted him blindly. In a month's time though, when a dear friend of mine told me what all he'd heard from Anish, I couldn't help but confront Anish again, and this time, he confessed to being in a relationship with Sakshi, for almost a year.

My world came crashing down. I felt shocked, hurt and angry all at the same time. I had no one to blame... After all, he never said he loved me, did he? It was a castle I built all by myself. I cried and cried till I could do no more. Knowing the facts, I still missed him dearly and I cried myself to sleep every night for a year, half cursing myself to believe he loved me, and half hoping all of it weren't true... I later made my share of mistakes by trying to get back to what never was mine. It was difficult. I could never love again.

When I look back now, I thank my stars. I have no regrets. Had this not happened, I would never have known what falling in love is. Now I know. :-)

Book Review: "Simran" - Nikhil Kumar

"When does the heart stop wanting?

Its inherent to our existence and without it, we'd be no better than the stray hyenas, scavenging for morsels of leftovers. When do we stop wanting the good things in life? When do we stop wanting a comfortable lifestyle? When do we stop wanting love? Should we ever stop this incessant want for everything?"

"Simran" is a beautiful story where we find the protagonist in the midst of a battle between the mind and the heart, the fiercest battle ever known. The story revolves around the intense relationship the protagonist Nihal shares with Simran. The author Nikhil carefully describes every moment of the battle- the mental agony the protagonist goes through, the surge of anger and hatred that collides with the unfathomable love he has for Simran and the way "life plays a game of hide-n-seek with us". Every facet of the book makes you feel you are a part of it and that's the mark of a good writer. A must-read!

For downloads and more details on the book, visit http://mirrorcracked.wordpress.com

P.S. Happy Birthday Nikhil ! :-)

Book Review: "It's not about the bike" - Lance Armstrong

Cancer can make it impossible to live, it grips you mentally and physically, you die before you even know it, it can KILL you. To know this and to still find the courage to live, to believe in yourself is truly remarkable.

Lance Armstrong is a living legend. Having detected with testicular cancer at an early age of 25, and given a 40% chance of survival, (which he later finds out was actually a mere 3%), Lance Armstrong does not give up. "Don't be a quitter, son" are the words that he lives by, the words spoken by his mother when he was only a child. His mother continues to be his strength in his life. He fights cancer with great determination and will to live and just after 16 months of his discharge, goes on to win the Tour De France, and also becomes a father.

Lance now has his own Cancer Association and has won the Tour De France a record-breaking seven consecutive years (1999 to 2005)

Success is truly felt when you fall down and rise back up!

In this book, Lance tells us his story and how thankful he is to have got the disease and fought it, and how much it changed him as a human.

"The one thing the illness has convinced me of beyond all doubt - more than any experience I've had as an athlete - is that we are much better than we know. We have unrealized capacities that sometime only emerge in crisis. So, if there is a purpose to the suffering that is cancer, I think it must be this: it's meant to improve us."

True inspiration!

"Swine Flu" Fever :-D

Yes, here's one more article about it again. Please don't stop reading. I am sorry. I am just so sick of it that I had to write about it !! It has become the talk of the nation, it has taken the whole city by storm; wherever I go I hear people talking about it!!

I get atleast 2 mails about it everyday. It was also a Trending Topic on Twitter last week !

I see people wearing masks ALL THE TIME so much so that, the other day, when my brother went to the Dentist's for an RC, the dentist confessed he had a hard time getting a mask for himself, it seems they were all out of stock !!! I see people making good business selling all kinds of swine flu masks outside Andheri station everyday. It's good to take precautions but some have turned into hypochondriacs.

A Tweet I Read :-D

90 people get swine flu n d whole world wants to wear surgical masks..20 million people have AIDS n still nobody wants 2 wear a condom...y??

One of my friends who travels to college by train everyday had just recovered from viral fever and had a mild sore throat. She was waiting to alight the train at Nerul and happened to cough just then. People moved away from her that instant and rushed to the other exits in the train leaving her all alone at that door! The co-passengers seated in the compartment scorned at her as if to say "One more time and you're out of here!"

Schools and colleges have been shut down. If the virus is so contagious, it's going to spread anyway! How will shutting down institutions help? And for how long can they remain shut? It wouldn't be a surprise if the entire city shuts down in the days to come.

Media can sometimes be so misleading. They've started reporting Swine Flu deaths without highlighting the other complications that those individuals suffered from. Research clearly shows that dengue and malaria are more fatal than swine flu is (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/jaipur/Dengue-malaria-more-fatal-than-swine-flu/articleshow/4869284.cms). It's contagious agreed, but it's also 100% curable! I am sure if they start reporting the number of deaths caused by malaria, the streets will start smelling of Odomos! It should instead re-assure people that the flu can be cured, and that it's not as fatal as we think it to be! If not anything else, atleast the panic levels will come down.

Precautions are always good, it's also nice that we keep each other informed via mails or tweets if we come across any news about this, but guys, we also need to think practically sometimes. Remember we're known to resume work the next day the city was bombed- twice!! We can't just sit at home fearing we'll catch the disease. It's okay to feel worried, we're human, but let's just try to be a little practical, and a little more braver. :-)

Image Courtesy: Brainstuck

Friendship Day Special

Okay, this is not one of those clichéd posts about friendship , and how much friends mean to me and how I'd die without them!! This one's about online friendship (even more clichéd!! :D).

A couple of weeks back, just before I could leave for Ahmedabad to meet my blog friend Sakhi and also, soon after I came back, I was bombarded with a lot of questions from my friends all over.. I got reactions and questions like "How can you go so far to meet an Internet friend??", "How can you trust someone you've never met?", "Why do you have to go all the way there? She's just an Internet friend, let it go!", "Are you out of your mind???", "OMG!!!".

Most people seem to think online friendships never last, and you can never meet good people online. This post is just to clarify some myths about friends you make off the net.

First of all, the general protocol that people seem to have created and religiously followed is : "Internet friends should never be trusted".

Now suppose, you happen to follow a random person's blog regularly because you find it interesting,then you happen to comment on it, and then add the person in your IM list just because you want to know the person behind the blog. Over a period of time, you happen to know the person well, and wish to meet the person you've been communicating with for so long! But as per the protocol, you can't. You are not supposed to trust the person (Internet friend after all, right?). You've read all of the person's posts, chat with the person everyday, even talk over the phone sometimes, you even go to the extent of sharing your life with the person (wasn't the "trust" factor there then?), and now, just because you have met this person online, you can't trust him/her. So now,there is nothing left to do than feel sorry for not having met the person by some other means. What's the point?

Another FAQ : "Don't you have enough friends already?"

I don't surf the internet solely to MAKE friends (Some people do, but that's another story!). Friendships take place by themselves just like they do in real life, and you don't discard a friendship just because you have enough of friends, do you? :)

I've always felt it's all a game of odds. There is always that risk factor everywhere. You may be strolling on the road,slip on a banana skin and fall on your face! When I put forth my opinion with this example, most people throw me back a "That's another case,but when you know something's risky,why would you still do it? Why would you dig your own grave?" I certainly don't think it's as risky as that !! I don't say you should add random people and meet every other person you have on your list. I say, get to know the person, give it time, a LOT of it, trust your instincts and only if you're really sure you can go ahead and meet the person preferably in a public place (that again depends on the level of trust the two of you share).

I am of the opinion that online friendship is infact the purest of them all, because you directly connect with the person and not with how he/she looks, not by the kind of clothes he/she wears, not by the company he/she keeps, not by the family background, you basically get to know what the person is really like without associating any preconcieved notions about him/her.

In the last one year, I've met wonderful bloggers, even met a couple of them in real life and we have our own small blogger circle now. I've also made a few friends on Twitter, and they all seem to be genuinely good people.

There also have been a couple of cases where I have interacted with people online and didn't feel like trusting them or was wrong about them, but again, if you're not comfortable with the person, you don't end up making friends just like it happens in real life. We don't enjoy hanging out with the people whom we aren't compatible with, do we? So, the point I'm trying to make is- it's all the same. I am not saying I'll always be right in determining who can be trusted and who cannot, I might be wrong about people in future. But those are the chances we all have to take. How many of us have NEVER been betrayed by their real life friends? Betrayal and deceit are a part of friendships and other relationships. You don't stop making friends just because you got stabbed in the back by him/her, do you? Sure, it takes time to trust all over again, but you surely can't refrain from doing it forever.

To sum it up, online friendships are just the same as real life friendships. They happen on their own. They can either break or even last forever. Nothing is ever certain anyway! It all depends on the choices you make. :)

Reema wrote a post on similar lines: Blogging vs Social Networking :)

P.S : Happy Friendship Day to all my friends and readers :)

Wasn't really excited about it this year, guess I'm getting old :D

Weekend In Ahmedabad - Part II

The next day, i.e. on Friday, the 25th of July, we were all up by 9 making plans for the day. Sakhi had prepared breakfast for all of us-- some dish called "rosti" made of grated potato and cheese, and when Chirag added that she keeps experimenting on guinea pigs like them, I was a little hesitant to taste that thing! I said my prayers before I could take a bite, and it turned out to be so YUM that I took another helping of it!! :)

We got ready and first went to Isha's school for a PTA meeting. I set my foot into a school after ages and suddenly, I started feeling like I was so old! Toddlers ran past me playing amongst themselves, and I could see a couple of ladies in their late twenties hurrying up to make it in time for the meeting, and oddly, I felt like I had missed out on my years back then.. it was a strange, strange feeling.

Anyway, once it got over we went to my first "sight-seeing" spot - "Adalaj Step Well"

Frankly, when I looked at it, I thought it was a piece of crap, all I could see was a temple and a few pillars jutting out but I trusted Sakhi enough to know she wouldn't take me some place just for the heck of it and kept mum. And I'm glad I did! As we stepped inside, I just kept on looking in awe ! The place is a marvel !! The step well is actually 60 feet down ( 7 storeys below), they've made steps to climb up and down, and carved all over. The carvings were so intricate and so beautiful, each a different one...we didn't keep our camera in one second! We then headed for lunch at Havmor and I spotted a camel on the way!! I don't get to see many of them here; my excitement puzzled Sakhi :D

Lunch was delicious : Karaari Rumali Roti and Cholle Bature followed by Sweet Lassi and Cold Coffee. I fell in love with that Karaari Rumali Roti,it was crispy with ghee and masala in it; my mouth waters each time I look at this snap!

Post lunch we went to IIM-A

One of my friends Nissim studies there, I was supposed to meet him and he had offered to take us around the campus- both the old and the new. The campus was nothing like I had imagined it to be, it was even more beautiful ! I have seen nothing so serene and heavenly. I felt like I had come to a whole new country :D It's full of trees, and he said we had come at a good time, it had just rained and made the place a lot more greener!:) The classrooms and the dorms are huge (everything is huge basically), and there are huge circular openings on each building for the light to come in. The library is amazing. And there's a 132 feet gallery connecting the old campus to the new one.The new campus is just like the old one, except that the in the old one, the buildings have a natural aura because of the bricks that have been kept unplastered or painted, while in the new one, the buildings have a sleek grey (concrete) look. The circular windows are also relatively small in the new one. We had a cup of tea in their canteen "TANSTAAFL" which stands for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", one of their professors came up with the name! :D

Next, we went to Law Garden for some shopping. They have legal stalls lined up there for the tourists. It's worth visiting even if you don't really want to shop. The place is vibrant with colours and mirrors reflecting the lights of these stalls! There was a huge variety of chaniya cholis, dupattas, embroidered hand bags, mobile pouches, junk jewellery, bangles. I bought 2 hand bags, one with "Kutchi work" on it, a small purse, a dupatta for mom and 6 embroidered mobile pouches for my dear ones!

We then stopped for dinner at Swati's, this time Sakhi ordered for me. She wanted me to taste typical Gujarati food and so, we had khichu and dal-dhokli. I liked khichu!

It was time to go back home and start packing again. I was to leave the next day (Sunday, the 26th of July). I felt like waiting a day longer but didn't really have a choice there.

Sakhi came to see me off the next day, I gave her a big hug and boarded the train (Gujarat Express) at 7 am.

My journey back home wasn't good at all. I enjoyed an hour with Kayan who just kept staring and smiling

at me but soon, the compartment was occupied by too many people with no sense of hygiene at all ! I tried my level best to ignore them; my novel and my cellphone (Twitter) kept me company all throughout, even managed to catch a few winks and soon it was 4pm.. The train halted at Dadar station; It was pouring...classic Bombay! ;)

Weekend in Ahmedabad - Part I

Just two weeks back, my blog friend Sakhi and I were on Gtalk as usual discussing plans for the weekend. None of us had any, and she randomly suggested I come over to Ahmedabad for a weekend! I first thought she had gone bonkers, but when she later added that it was just a matter of 8-10 hours, I considered the idea and got all pepped up! The next hour we were talking about where all we'd go once I got there and what all we'd do. I didn't give a thought to whether my parents would even send me there considering the farthest I've gone to all by myself is Panvel :D She offered to speak to them in case they had a problem with it, and so mustering a lot of courage, that night, I asked my dad over dinner if I could go. It was more like-- "I am going." That always seems to work better than "Can I go?" :D Anyway, he didn't say anything, neither yes nor no, and that always means "Yes". (I should probably write my next post on "dads & their lingo" :P) Mom had said yes already. The next morning I looked up for tickets and pinged my dad the train timings and schedule, and he readily agreed! I called up Sakhi immediately who was just as excited as me! :) I prepared a few chocolates for her that week, and on request, added ONLY raisins in them. Also got a book from Crossword that I thought she'd like ("Unaccustomed Earth" - Jhumpa Lahiri)

My train -- Karnavati Express, was scheduled to depart on Friday, 24th July, at 2:17 p.m. from Borivili Station. I took a half day off from work and went straight to the station. Waited, waited, and waited some more. I started getting worried when I asked this chap on the platform whether the train was to arrive there or on some other platform and he casually replied

"Karnavati toh nikal gayi!!". It was when I asked a few more people that I deduced that the chap was a complete idiot. I had even got my coach number wrong, but luckily I managed to find my seat once I was in the train. I took out my novel and began to read it. Meanwhile, also made friends with this young girl here "Pankti", who was travelling with her mom to her grandmother's place for a wedding. Another lady seated on my left , supposedly named "Neha Shah" started making conversation with me, and when I mentioned I'm from Bombay, she didn't leave me alone one second. She asked me about what I do, where I work, what my parents do, how many siblings I have and then she went on to tell me her own family history so much so that I had to put down the novel I was reading and listen to her!! Apparently, she was a Rakhi Sawant fan and asked me if I follow her show "Rakhi ka Swayamvar" !!! Now you all can imagine what a character she was, and just when I thought I had managed to get away when I was was about to get off at Maninagar station, she asked for my number! I didn't have much of a choice there and had to give it to her and store hers too.

At the station, Sakhi, her husband Chirag, her daughter Isha and Isha's friend Rutwa had been waiting for me since an hour!!

After exchanging a few pleasantries at the station, we went on to have dinner and chatted on the way. None of us felt like we were meeting for the first

time and no one could tell we were ages apart too! After dinner, we headed to her house where I was to spend the night. I gave her the book and the chocolates, she said she had already read the book but would add it to her

collection nevertheless :)

She too gifted me with a shower gel and body lotion pack. Isha was the cutest,

she gave me a chocolate and Chirag later mentioned she gives it to people she

really likes. I was happy! :) We retired to bed pretty soon since a long day awaited us ahead.

(To be continued... :D)

"What's up, Dude?"

Its been more than a month since I joined my organization, and it's been good so far. Wherever I go, I always happen to notice the way people talk, there usually is a common pattern that they follow. Likewise, I've been observing the dialect of the people here, one of them being the excessive usage of, "Typically", "Dude" and "What's up". It's something you pick up just by being a part of the company. I always avoid picking up such words to avoid being tagged as a stereotype, not always successful at that though. I remember having a hard time holding myself back from saying the F word when it was an overused word of the vocabulary of most people all around me. I don't understand why people use such words so often though, in places where it's really not required. Maybe it just gets passed on.

Some people just adopt that in their daily lingo because they hear it being used frequently. Others just do it to be a part of the clan, many of them do it to sound "cool", irrespective of whether they know what it means, or if they can even pronounce it. Most of them would say "Dooodh" (milk) for "Dude" and walk away feeling like they are the coolest of the bunch. It's okay to say it casually out of habit, but it's noticeable when they are trying to put on something.

Dude is a slang term used to refer to a friend or partner. The term dude generally

refers to a man; the female equivalent, "dudette" is used less often. However, "dude" has evolved to encompass both genders. Dude is a slang word, and this was true even in the 1950s, when the word was used in its more traditional sense.

Historically, the word usually has been used as a noun describing a type of man, or as an interjection. The tone and inflection of the word "dude" are used to convey the various meanings. For example, someone may be a "surfer dude." "Dude" is considered to be slang, similar to the phrase "man".

"Dude" is also used alone in a sentence as an interjection denoting a feeling of surprise, happiness, disappointment, amazement or other emotions. As an interjection, a short, clipped "dude!" might be used to convey annoyance with someone, while a long, drawn-out "duuuude" conveys amazement. The word might also be used almost anywhere in a sentence in order to convey such sentiments in conversation, as in, "Listen, dude, we have to go."

Other, older definitions include those of a well-dressed male, or one who is unfamiliar with life outside a large city. These definitions may go hand-in-hand, hence the phrased definition "an Easterner in the West" (United States).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Over a period of time, the excessive use of such words completely changes the meaning of the word itself! The F word, for instance, can mean a lot of things now, and not just the activity you perform in bed.

"What's up" is taking the same course. It has replaced "Hey", or "Hi" now. I see people passing by each other everyday saying "What's up?". Most of them don't even wait for the other person to respond, as if they don't really give a damn to what's really up!! I usually reply by "nothing much, what's up with you?". Some try to be funny by saying "The ceiling, duhh!!" , or "The sky!" or even "Why don't you look for yourself!!".

This one can leave you thinking why you even asked the person in the first place -- "Nothing much, just broke my arm last week while I was away on vacation climbing the Everest. And oh yes, my dad's blood report came in. The old fella's got cancer. I'm on my way to work now, gotta complete some formalities, just got fired you see. What's up with you?"

It has taken different forms too-- "Whaddup!!" , "Wassa" , "Whazzup", the most concise version being "Sup!"

Contrary to the popular belief

that the phrase is derived from the the famous catchphrase 'Whats'up, Doc?' of the cartoon character Bugs Bunny, it is not. The first referance to 'whatsup' can be found in a short story The adventures of Shamrock Jolnes

from Sixes and Sevens (1911) by acclaimed American short story writer O' Henry (September 11, 1862 - June 5, 1910) when the character Shamrock Jolnes says, "Good morning, Whatsup".

Bugs Bunny made its first appearance in 'A Wild Hare' on 27 July 1940, many years after the publishing of the book 'Sixes and Sevens'. However it can be said the phrase was made popular by Bugs Bunny.

Jack London's The Sea Wolf 1904, page 157 "what's up" I asked Wolf Larson

Source: http://wikianswers.com

Some slangs/words are used so frequently that they get added to the dictionary over the years."Google" for instance was used so much ("to google up for" means "to search for something on Google") that it got added to the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's Dictionary as a verb.

However much we try not to use them, we always find ourselves using them some time or the other. I remember a time when I used "sexy" as an adjective for everything right from a hard-bound notebook I had bought from A1 stores to the new Google Chrome interface! Can't help it really, can you dude? :P

A well spent weekend..!

As everyone kept cribbing about the monsoons, and about how the dark clouds kept playing dirty games with us especially when it would rain heavily for an hour followed by a dry spell throughout the day, we were all taken aback when the showers hit Mumbai on Saturday, the 4th of July!

I had spent Friday night at my uncle's place and was coming back from there to attend a birthday party. It was Aditi's birthday and she was giving us a lunch treat at Classic. I was looking forward to it, it had been a long time since we all celebrated a birthday together. I was running late. There was water logging in many areas, some tracks were even flooded, I had to wade through the knee-deep water on the station road. As soon as I got home, I changed and hurried to Classic. Sure enough, like I had told them, they hadn't cut the cake! :) I seated myself, the cake-cutting session followed and we put on these funny birthday caps, clicked pictures and acted crazy!

It was still pouring outside and we were tempted to go to Irani and enjoy cups of hot tea while watching the rain. After a lot of gossip and jokes over 2 hot cups of lemon tea, we finally left to go home at 5.30 pm. I still felt like making the most of the rains that had hit the city after really long and so, I started cooking! Within an hour, with my mom's assistance of course (actually,she did more than just 'help' but I like taking the credit :P), I had prepared aloo and banana bhajiyas, fried 3 different kinds of papad and made ginger chaai. Okay, the bhajiyas do look a bit over-fried,agreed,but that just makes them more crispy :P

Sunday was good too. I spent most part of the day lazing around, the weather bureau had predicted rainfall heavier than Saturday, and everyone was advised to stay home. It didn't rain a drop the whole day (I should've known!) so I finally went shopping with my best bud Chinky in the evening. We went to Dadar and Colaba. I bought a formal John Players olive green full-sleeved shirt for dad since it was his birthday the next day. After a lot of shopping for junk jewelery at Colaba Causeway and hogging at McDonalds, I was back home. I wished dad a Happy Birthday when the clock struck twelve, and gifted the shirt to him.He wore it to work the next day, so I'm assuming he liked it, he didn't say much though. But again, dads aren't very expressive, are they?

All in all, it was a well spent weekend... I hope this week goes well too. So far, it's been good!
College starts from tomorrow, looking forward to it :)

Adieu.

P.S. Don't mind the alignment of the pictures, spent way too much time on it!!! Planning to just write the whole post in HTML next time!