Perspectives and perceptions

There are so many things in our lives that we care about, when does this care turn into something stronger so much so that it borders on becoming an obsession before it actually does. Obsessions have no limits (which is of course why they're called that!), they could be absolutely anything! I, for one, am obsessed with cleanliness. Everything should be in order. It should be clean. It should be in straight lines (even the collages I make, I struggle to make them look like a collage, if I had my way, I would make collages in grids!) It has to be stacked height-wise, my clothes are arranged according to their use, cleaning my cupboard is my favorite past-time and if that's not enough, I have taken to cleaning cupboards of my friends! (No, don't call me now, I don't have the time! :)) I tend to fold clothes the way the laundry guy does it (thanks to my aunt and cousin who trained me) almost automatically. It's so natural for me, that wherever I am, I see something unfo...

There was a time when a new movie released and I would watch it within a week or two... I simply don't know what happened to those times anymore. Somehow I seem to have become content with watching repeats of the movies I've seen before, reading the books that I've read before, meeting people that I meet everyday, I have shut myself to the possibilities of everything new. I seem to be stuck in a phase, stuck in an image. I prefer to eat at places I've eaten before, I drink the same drink, I have the same shot, it's all the same. Thankfully the last haircut I had was way different from what I've got ever! I'm beginning to realise my downfall, I'm beginning to realise that I'm choosing this, I'm behaving safe, I'm being foolish! I need a jolt, I want to break free. The only thing different I'm doing these days is work, I'm doing different kinds of work! :) Aah.. for those who don't know it, it's a pleasure to work. It really is....

Recently I had gone for a trip with my mom and eldest sister to Saputara, a hill station in Gujarat. We had booked a car and a driver for the entire journey. From Saputara, we were going to go to Pune. The distance being approx. 280 kms. we estimated a 6 hour journey and thought that we'll reach around 4 pm in the evening considering we leave at 9.30 (taking a 30 min break for lunch) Little did we know we were going to be a solid three hours delayed! Having travelled in the same car for 3 days before the return journey, our patience of listening to the only CD in the car was exhausted. Desperate to buy new CDs, we scrounged for a CD shop in the lanes of Nashik. I found one and bought VCDs for Delhi - 6 and Luck By Chance and an audio CD of A R Rehman. The fancily equipped car had those LCD monitors on which you could watch a movie. Though it was a little difficult to follow the dialogues, overall it was an excellent experience. It took care of some great 3 hours of our journey. We ...

I have always seen and heard my friends talking about driving a car… till today I never had the courage to actually do it. But do it I did. I took a risk. For the first time in my life probably, I acted upon someone else’s trust in me, and actually went ahead with the plan. It was time for me to leave for my dance class, I thought I’ll take a bus or the auto. Something that my friend said made me think about taking the car. I decided to take the risk. Basically all this while, I’ve been waiting for someone to push me to do it. I don’t think I could’ve pushed myself at all. My mother was and probably is paranoid about my driving. She can’t relax in the car around me. That’s why I’ve never had the courage to drive on my own before. But today something struck me, something inside me made me want to do it. I took the car out nice and slow. Knowing the roads pretty well helped cause that didn’t come in my way of driving. I went on to the highway and was comfortable driving at 40. I wanted t...

The last time I was in love with the radio was when it had boomed around 5 years ago with a number of new channels coming on air! I can still recall being constantly tuned into Jaggu and Tarana's morning show on Go92.5, Savio on the College Radio and of course Malini in the evening show... For now, I'm hooked on Meow 104.8 FM! and there are two beautiful reasons for this! One is my vivacious friend Sameepa who has recently joined them as a RJ! She hosted her first show today, called MeriMeow during 8 - 10 pm on 104.8 FM and I am super proud of her! The whole thing with listening to this channel when she started competing for the RJ Host Hunt and all of us used to tune in to listen to her... The second reason is another RJ Ajay... I happened to listen to his show Meow Masti during 10 pm - 1 am and I was floored. By his voice, his casual conversational chatting, and his prompt response to emails! By now, I'm completely hooked on to the shows and the channel in the evenings! O...

Like a relationship with a person, we form relationships with places as well... I'm on the brink of ending a relationship with a place I have come to call my home... Though I've only spent half the number of years in this place as compared to my earlier home, I have begun to identify myself with this space... In spite of my repeated murmurings about how this place is a house whereas Takshila (my home in Andheri) is home, it is now when I'm leaving from here that I realise how attached I have grown to this place... It's not only about the physical space that I have here, but more about the memories that are associated with the comforts of the space that hit home. Because we had so much space, we were able to do so much more! Host our huge family for amazing dinners, host endless night-outs with friends, dance away to glory, choose different corners and spaces within the house to relax, define and decorate spaces for ourselves, spend time at the thousand-odd eateries, the...

How many times in the day do you call up a service provide only to routed through the IVR? How does that make you feel? The agonizing wait for a human to come online... Today, everything requires to be automated to make it cost-effective for the providers. Be it your telecom service providers, your banks, your take-away, your computer / IT related issues, everything is routed through an IVR, and as a last resort, you are guided to the Customer Service Executive / Phone Banking Officers who shall be "happy to help you". Yes, at times, it helps to have an automated system because it ensures that no matter who picks up the call, you're serviced the same. For example, if I want the number of an office / a restaurant and I call up JustDial.com, I don't care WHO picks up my call, because I get the number smsed to me just the same! However, when I call up Barclays or any bank regarding a query, I have to patiently explain the entire case history, background, service request ...