Time management

Heres something I had to write on a quicky on time managent..Its helped a great deal tho I am yet to master it..hope it helps you a bit too..Here we go...

Time Management

Ever wondered why your peers, who were partying hard with you, have achieved a lot more in life than you? When did they find the time to make it big and why are you left behind? Why is it that your workload keeps increasing despite the fact that you have worn yourself out trying to clear them? The problem is with the way you manage your time.

While all of us are blessed with the same time frame-24 hours, how we utilize it directs our life. Humans are divided into two classes-the achievers and the failures. The only difference between the two is time management. While the successful lot has managed to make the most of the 24 hours in the most productive manner, the latter still struggles to achieve anything in life due to poor time management.Now, the question arises as to what is time management? Time management is the basic shift in focus to achieve the most in the given time. The Pareto Principle fantastically denotes our time management. Going by this 80:20 principle, we use 80% of our mismanaged, underutilized time to achieve 20 % of our targets while just 20% of efficiently used time results in 80% positive results. Pareto’s principle reminds us to focus on the 20% that matters and put in more effort on that to kiss success. All the successful people from all walks of life have managed to strike a balance with Pareto’s theory.

To join the elite list of successful people, it’s important to get your time management right. Well managed time helps you to be in control of not just your work but also your life. You may seem really busy fretting over some pending work which just gobbles up your time, but in the end you feel you have achieved nothing and the work never seems to get done either. Also poor time management results in last minute scuttling around to meet deadlines, delays, overlapping of appointments, wasted days and a lot of stress. Productively utilizing your time and decreasing such inefficiency helps you succeed in life and avoid above situations. Here are a few simple steps to make the most of your time

· In order to increase the number of hits on your targets you can just sort your work on the basis of priority- the important and the trivial. While you are on with your important work, give it your 100% which involves no interruptions, 10 minute coffee break and back to focusing on the work. Remember, our brain takes 10-15 minutes to focus well on one thing, so make sure you work for 30- 45 minutes without a break or disturbance to yield maximum result.

· Keep your desk in order and make a small list of what you have placed where. This will decrease the time that you waste in searching for your things and makes your desk look organized. It also makes you feel in control of the situation.

· Make a small to-do list for the week that highlights all that you need to do. End of the week, asses all that you have achieved on the list and reward yourself for good performance. This will increase your confidence.

· Sort out your professional meetings on the basis of priorities. Schedule only meeting that require face to face communication and sort the others out by reverting via mails or telecons. When you fix a meeting, write down all the important pointers for the meetings beforehand. This not just saves time but also makes sure that you don’t miss out anything important.

· There are tasks that we may not enjoy much but nevertheless we can’t ignore them. In such a scenario, just get down to work and finish them. You will relish the freedom that comes from getting over with important yet boring tasks.

· Besides planning the week, planning the day helps a great deal as it also takes care of all the trivial work that does not need much time. · The most important of all is to keep a tab on the days, weeks and months progress as this will help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses.

All this can be easily achieved by maintaining a little bit of self discipline. Above all, effective time management helps you make the most of every opportunity that comes your way.

8x10 Tasveer-Review

8x10 Tasveer - A Nagesh Kukkunoor movie with Akshay Kumar –thriller—put all the three together and you can swear by the fact the movie will keep you glued to the seats...But this was far from reality…arm yourself with a huge basket of pop corn and some good company to help you survive all the 'what was that?' moments…

Jai(Akshay Kumar) has some kind of super natural power that lets him have a 1 minute peek into the lives of the people if he can get hold of their snap…whats interesting is that only the last one minute after the snaps been taken are what akshay gets to see …and this insight hold true irrespective of it being a hard copy or an image in the mobile…this also has a side effect of him almost slipping into coma and having to rush for a blood transfusion post the vision…I doubt any doctor can explain this strange phenomena...never mind…He’s also a forest officer or something chasing bear hunters and diving off cliffs as if its the easiest thing to do ( the promos give us a peak into this psycho side of the character) …

His dad dies under not-so-mysterious circumstances and everyone assumes it was a normal heart attack...till this loony character who introduces himself as Happi with an ‘I’ (Javed Jaffrey in an adorable role) plants a seed in Jai’s head that his dad was murdered..

The rest of the movie was a mystery. The climax was the most bizarre one that one could ever think of …for a man of Nagesh’s sensibilities and his talent, I still don’t know what made him direct a movie so senseless… Like a PC Sarkar act, a twin brother of Jai’s appears in the ending. From the time he had accidently disappeared while he was just 10 or 11 to to his come back...you left wondering of his upbringing and where abouts for all these years...

Sharmila Tagore as his mum din’t really add anything great to the movie, while the rest of the caste was just ok…the only surviving grace was Javed Jaffrey. Whenever he comes on screen, he tickles you with his hyderabaadi accent and brilliant performance…Ayesha Takia as Jai’s girls done a completely different role…so different you really don’t know what shes doing in the movie…

For man whose delivered Dorr and Hyderabad Blues, this movie was a downer...Its good to explore new genres, but this time the result is disastrous.Unless you wanna beat the heat and find solace in the air conditioned theatres, give this a miss.

My ratings- *

Devarishi Patel-Mtv Roadies 6 Hell Down Under

Devarishi Patel -Annoying...thats the word that comes to my mind when I think of him on MTV Roadies…initially I found him cute ( I must have been out of my mind) and was a bit pissed with Pradeep for kicking him…I thought that the poor, innocent chap was being bullied…and then the Nauman vote out happened and I realized that he’s far from being innocent. He knows what’s happening and is smart enough to play the game of ‘trust’ very well. I just pity the people who trusted him…
As the episodes flew, my disdain for Devarsihi Patel just grew…I always thought that Raghu was an intelligent chap who knew what he was doing while selecting the contestants…This time I was not so sure…This young roady is really, really irritating. Half the time he has no idea about what he’s talking, he tries his best to dominate, and his optimistic talks really gets you in the wrong place. Now I must confess that may be what Pradeep did was wrong but the devil in me is now ready to defend him. MTV roadies 6 Hell Down Under, is a snake pit and the fittest wins…But please at least the contestants have a class…I am glad that this stupid chap was kicked out, that too with serious loathing…Devarishi, puhlease get a life dude… there’s more to this world than fools like you talking in a weird accent and being ‘lucky’ enough to land up on such a popular reality show… glad your ‘kicked’ out…Guess you weren’t fit to survive after all..

Delhi 6 Movie Review

As I Hail from the north, this Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra flick got me really nostalgic. I had already heard about Delhi6 being a bore, waste of time and all that but watching the film changed my perception.

For a change, this Delhi6 is different in the true sense; we don’t have a hero, a heroine and villain. The movie is made of real people, intricately woven in the background of Delhi, its love, belief and vulnerability. We as people are still naïve and ruled by our hearts and I can’t think of anyone but the Rang De Basanti director to catch it on screen with such élan.

Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) is born of a Muslim mother and a Hindu father and brings back his grandmother to India from the US to fulfill her dying wish. From the day he lands, he strats getting a taste of the real Delhi. As a newcomer to this country, he can’t understand the selfless warmth of his neighbors, a cow delivering a calf in the middle of a street and people treating that as a lucky omen and the caste difference among people, where you are compelled to purify yourself if you touch the lower caste. There also a love angle where Roshan developes a soft corner for Bittu(Sonam Kapoor) who harbors an ambition of becoming the next Indian idol which she believes will bail her out of her boring life. Somewhere, Bittu represent the India that we all have today, where we all want to make it bigger and better at the quickest time possible.
The story also has the back drop of the monkey man and how people have used this horror to their advantage. From the pickle preparation on the terrace teamed with a folk song to Jagrans, the movie gives you a delicious taste of the raw, real Delhi.

The first half was much better than the second half, where it’s a little hard to understand the last few minutes, as there was too much happening at the same time. The soulful music by AR Rehman just adds to the experience called Delhi6 with some tastefully choreographed songs.
From the senior lot like Rishi Kapoor,Waheeda Reahman, Prem Chopra to the fresher ones like Sonam Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, Mehra has been able to get some brilliant performances. Even the characters played by Pavan Malhotra and Om Puri strike a chord.
Dlehi6 is definitely worth a visit.

My rating ***

My Favorite

Airtel Customer Care-Pathetic Service

I was using the campus card from Airtel and thoroughly relished the fact that I was able to stay in touch with my buddies by messaging them locally at 20p, while my best buddy was also on the same plan so we could yap for hours at just 10p…it was all rosy for four months till Airtel started goofing up..
They suddenly changed the plan and my card became a normal card with basic rates…you know, it’s always easy to move up, shell out less from your pocket, but the transition from such a tempting scheme to a different plan where you have to shell out more is not easy…and I learnt that in the next 45 days..from mid January tell date, I have spend a harrowing month calling up ther Airtel customer care trying to fix this up…Well..After 10 customer care executives and a month down the line I realized I was wasting my time…they either promised to fix his problem in the next 24/48/72 hours( different customer care executive gave me different time limits) or they were ever so polite, they just hung up mid way…Talk about well trained executives…
Till date the problem is unsolved and as this is the only contact number that’s with my friends, family and colleagues, changing it will not be easy…
I am tired of the fools that Airtel has hired…they don’t know what they are doing, lack the basic manners to talk(despite the knowledge that the call might be getting recorded) and give us customers an unpleasant time…
Using an Airtel SIM is burning a hole in my pocket and to top it all, the networks pathetic…maybe I should brave it out and choose a better network…

Meeting Raghu-The MTV Roadies guy…

Raghu Ram..yupss the MTV Roadies guy..the most hated man(actually no , most of us are just terrified of him) on the television was here at my office…and unlike his television persona…he swept me off my feet.. Literally…and it wasn’t just me, but every hot blooded female in my office was wide eyed and ecstatic for the 45 mins that he spent at web18.

The frenzy he created was crazy…I always assumed that if I ever come across this mean, rude and ruthless character I will flee off the place….was I a little surprised by my reaction when I waited for him like a stupid besotted teenager…just to get his autograph…and while I waited for him to finish the live chat that he had come for, I called up all my friends to let them know that Raghu…THE RAGHU…is at my office…while the men tried to shrug it off by replying ..So? and some even tried to act cool n calm by asking me …’Raghu…whose that?’ the farier sex were more like…’Kya baat kar rahee hai?Cool yaar’…

My office being media house has no dearth of celebs walking in and out for interviews but the popularity that this guy has amassed was evident with the reaction that evoked…Stupendous…and the coolest thing was his down to earth nature where he stood by and let all of us have a piece of him by posing for snaps with us…loved it…

Isn’t it weird…that this scary bald guy who made so many people sweat with fear could be such a gentlemen…I wondered which was the real Raghu…the one we see on screen who rips the youth apart with his temper giving them sleepless night or the man who could create a euphoria that made all the females in my office go weak in the knees…

Once he left, the excitement extinguished…though most of us glowed …Raghu…hated ??? I doubt it…his popularity exceeded that of the powered puffed, manicured celebs who have walked by my work place with their noses in the air and have ‘favored’ a fan or two by posing for a snap and then wiggled out pretending to be really busy…esp the ones who have ‘many’ projects in the pipeline though the only time they are in the news is when the fall in and out of love…
Raghu…the much married Raghu…deserves the popularity that he’s amassed …We love you dude…

RAAZ movie Review

RAAZ..The mystery unfolds…

I went ahead for this movie expecting a lot from Mohit Suri and Vishesh Films. Mohit has proved himself a decent director while Vishesh films have the knack of churning out some good thrillers…and I believe that they have just added another good film to their kitty…

The movie start with Nandita Chopra(Kangana), a young and successful model, patching up with her ex…though it’s never been explained why they broke up. There’s a good friend of Nandita who keeps warning her about patching up with her ex as he doesn’t think much of her profession. Through out the movie, I hung back trying to figure out why the boyfriend was against her choice of career. But I was disappointed, in no way has this over hyped part of the story been explained. Moving on to the boyfriend ‘ Adyayan Suman’. God help!!! The true horror of this movie was this man. Sad looks, sad dancing and the saddest was the acting. Well!!! The perks of having a famous father. He was half the reason why I had goose bumps…

Anyways, this poor little chic patches up (women!!! we love hanging on to men who keep us miserable) which leads to a number of mysterious happenings. Of course the most mysterious was Emraan Hashmi’s look.I know this has to be a horror flick…but have mercy on the audience. How could they let loose a man on 70mm screen who looked more like a freak than a reclusive artiste? But it definitely scared me again. This freaky artiste experience some paranormal phenomena’s and starts painting Nanditas portraits, each depicting her in some form of trouble and eventually dead…and then the paintings start coming true..

Poor Nandita is at her wits swinging between belief and disbelief and finally when she does believe, she has to take Emraans help to solve the mystery of her pending death…
Freaked out??? The movies great, with some good cinematography, beautiful songs and a good performance from Kangana ( Though I think she is getting repitative) and Emraan. Finally when the RAAZ does unfold, there’s a subtle message for the audience.

My Ratings * * *

Ghajini 2008- worth a watch

Ghajini is an out and out masala film meant for people who enjoy action that lacks basic logic… If not for Aamir, I am sure the fate of this film wouldn’t have been half this good.
The story is predictable and thanks to the publicity, the aam janata knew that Kalpana (Asin) gets killed, Aamirs character suffers from short term memory disorder where he can recollect only the last 15 minutes f his life. Despite this shortcoming he seeks out her killers with a precision that would have put any intelligence agent to shame . We all more or less knew the ending too but thanks to Aamirs brilliant marketing strategies; it still pulled people to the theatres. Aamirs played the character of Sanjay Singhania with such finesse that we tend to overlook a few loop holes in the storyline.
The film has some serious flaws. Starting with the fact that Sanjay is a business tycoon, it’s surprising that there isn’t a single picture of his released in the media. This despite that fact that he is shown giving interviews on national television and gossips about his affair are printed in magazines…Very elusive character;) Even when he attends a new year’s party as a chief guest where he’s majorly clicked by the paparazzi, miraculously his image doesn’t appear in the media. Very convenient for the story to progress! There’s also another question that’s pestering me, for a cold blooded villain like Ghajini who can pull a trigger without batting an eyelid leaves Sanjay Singhania after a few hits on the head and doesn’t bother going all the way to kill him. By the way, it’s the first time that I have seen a villain play the title role. Quite an honor! Pradeep Rawat as the lead villain seems like a distant relative of Bappi Lahiri complete with gold rings, chains and the works. He is menacing with an over the top character, more like the villains who ruled the silver screen in the 90’s.
Aamir Khan flaunts a toned body, but what’s hard to digest is that he survives an iron rod thrust straight into his stomach, but the baddies die with a single mighty punch. Long live the action of 90’s. Anyway, if you don’t want to put your grey cells to extra use, you can sit back and enjoy the flick that has Aamir Khan delivering the performance of a life time. Asin has played her part well as the happy and kind Kalpana and Jiah, well too much of clothes with too less acting. Luckily you don’t get to see much of her.
The music is good, especially the slow song that comes as a refreshing change from all the other romantic numbers from the recent films. The movie is worth a watch though beware of a few gory murder scenes. I rate it on 2 and a half on a scale of 5.

Rab ne bana di jodi

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down for this movie. Only two things pulled me to the theatre, Shahrukh Khans brand new moustache and the Yash Raj banner. Bad reasons!!!

The story is different…too different... Surinder Sahni is a recluse. This simple, humble chap works for Punjab Power. A complete contrast to the Raj of DDLJ, surinder is more real.In fact, anyone and everyone can connect with him. Turn of fate and he finds himself married to Anushka Sharma AKA Taani (I heard this name for the first time), his late teachers naughty daughter. She’s everything that Suri is not -loud, happy go lucky, cheerful with an infectious smile... or rather was, as post marriage there’s nothing much left of the old Taani.

The story progresses to Suri trying to charm his wife by being here ‘hero’. He reforms himself as ‘Raj’ and starts being a loud, flirtatious guy who first irritates Taani but later befriends her. What’s hard to digest is that poor Taani has no idea that the mustache less Raj is actually her hubby Suri. For all you know, she might be having a vision problem, or maybe she kept forgetting her specs at home. Never mind!!!She eventually falls in love with Raj and then falls out of love with Raj cos she sees 'Rab' (god)in Suri(you will have to check out the movie to understand this part of it) and realizes that her husband is her true love. Confusing??? It is, especially when you get to know that Aditya Chopra is the director of this movie.

Anushka is a downer, severely lacking talent and possessing average looks. Shahrukh Khan has potrayed the role of suri brilliantly, though he does seem to overact while playing Raj. The only saving grace of the film is Vinay Pathak. His character Bobby is bizarre with a heart of gold, extremely loveable. Complete opposite of his character in Bheja Fry, he is loud, dressed over the top, and has funny ideologies about being ‘macho’ yet cares deeply for his best friend Suri.

The music is catchy though it takes time to grow on you. The movie is long, losing pace at some points. Even Shahrukhs Midas touch doesnt help the movie. Suri’s description of his honeymoon in Japan, at the end of the movie leaves you with a smile. Watch the movie only if u are a diehard fan of Shahrukh with oodles of patience to sit through it.

Dostana Review

Any Dharma Production is always awaited with abated breath and Dostana is their latest offering. The promos made people sit up,what with Priyanka Chopra flaunting her assets in a golden swim suit and John Abraham walking out of the sea with a body like greek god. A few promos later I realized that Abhishek Bachchan was also in the same frame;)

The movie started well with Shilpa Shetty flaunting her curves, but John and his body made me drool. I could hear a few other women sighing throughout the song as the camera captured all the moulds of the 8 pack abs and the shorts being pulled up, leaving little to the imagination. Well that’s enough about John, though I must add that he’s never looked this delicious. A script well woven, its targetting the younger generation. Its story is about Kunal(Jhon),Sam(Abhishek) and Neha(Priyanka) sharing an apartment where the two men are ‘suppose’ to be dating each other. The subject of a gay relationship has been well handled especially with Priyanka adding that we all have the right to our sexuality. The message reaches home, and how!!!

The scenes depicting their friendship is filmed so well that it can make anyone’s heart yearn over the good times that they have spent with their friends...but as the saying goes, a girl and a boy can never be friends as the hormones always manage to take over and cupid strikes… If that wasn’t enough to complicate their lives, Bobby Deol enters also competing for piggy chops attention (Lucky Dame).

Most of the scenes are hilarious, they make you laugh so much that you run the risk of choking hard (I did). Kirron Kher was brilliant as always, playing a loud Punjabi lady traumatized by her sons(Abhishek) sexual preference. But the scenes where she accepts John as her bahu (or whatever) are completely out of the world. Abhishek has deliverd the second best performance of his life (I think he was brilliant in Guru). The scene where they show him running like a gay was stupendous. He has done full justice to the role, slipping into the character with ease.

John. Well!!! He was the eye candy (Sorry Priyanka). Though Priyanka looked awesome but the camera seemed to be following John in gray shorts very,very closely. But it was quite obvious that he wasn’t as comfortable being a gay as AB baby, its quite understandable. For a man as HOT, HOT, HOTTTTTT like him, it’s very hard to bring any feminity to the character. Nevertheless, he did a fair Job…

Priyanka. Well I could give a hand and a leg to be in her shoes, what with three hot men(I had to include Abhishek, dint wanna be rude) eating out of her hand, life couldn’t be better. Though she must have lived a very lonely life before John and Abhi arrived, she dint seem to have any other friends but them all through the movie. Shes looked good in the film though I think she looked the best in ‘desi girl’.

Over all, its handled homosexuality very well, complete with humour, glamour, romance and above all, friendship. A must see for all film buffs…

Karz...Review

KARZZZ
My friends ridicule me for loving movies so much that I can even sit back and watch duds…In fact over time my reputation was further tarnished by repeating a few movies that I liked,the ones that were unanimously declared flops. Despite my meager pocket money, I have managed to head back to theatres for a second round of so called bad films like ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge’ and ‘Dil ne jise apna kahaa’(I am sure quite a few of u haven’t even heard about the latter) .I loved both the movies…What I wanna put across is that it takes a lot to make me dislike a movie…and then Karzzz aka Karz happened. Since I have seen its posters splashed with two different spellings I still don’t know how to spell it correctly :)
I can think of a lot of monosyllables to describe this movie. Shall I call it torture? Actually no, It’s a perfect cure for insomnia (What with the three ZZZs…) Even worse, I call it SCARY, what with recession, I can’t believe that they want the public to spend their hard earned money on seeing Himesh sport tight t-shirts, low waist jeans, a hair style that covers half his face (actually that was the saving grace, the less you see, the less you suffer) and women who are fainting during his concerts. I was able to identify a lot with them. I almost passed out half way through the movie…Puhleeese..
The movie…I don’t know what were they thinking while making the movie, minus the fact that Ravi Verma was killed differently in both the movies, everything else was the same. Actually no, I apologize…it wasn’t the same. We missed the natural charm that Rishi Kapoor added to the character of Monty, of the elan with which Simi Garewal carried off the character of Kamini and the freshness that Tina Munim added to the whole story. In this movie, Urmila Matondkar wore minimalistic clothes, tried to mouth off some English dialogues once in a while (even these one or two liners made me cringe) and Sir Juda (Gulshan Grover) chose to play dumb, communicating in a weird form that I failed to decipher( He wore a metallic hand which he tapped to produce some really irritating notes…weirdo!!!)
Danny. Well!!! The guy did a better job than the rest of them put together. He brought Integrity to the role of ‘Kabira’ mouthing dialogues from old films, managing to make us smile once in a while. Shweta Kumar seems promising, she’s done a decent job for her first film and with a delicate frame and a filmy background, she has a long way to go…
Sitting back for the 3 hours was like watching ‘chitrahaar’ on doordarshan, I mean a few dialogues and a song, and again a few dialogues followed by a few more songs. Though this was expected, being a Himesh Reshammiya movie, it got bit too much over time. Some of the songs are good, though I found it hilarious to see Himesh jumping up and down in sync with the hint of a paunch on an accented ‘Hari Om’. Of course the paisa vassol was seeing Himesh jump in the air and punch the life out of the baddies. That scene had me in splits for hours.
For people who are smart, please buy a DVD of the Subhash Ghai ‘Karz’ and enjoy the journey of Monty where he mesmerizes you enough to believe in rebirth. As for Karzzz, watch it only if you are forced at a gun point.Not recommended:P

The iPhone-as it is

The iPhone is touted as the perfect balance of music, browsing and cellular features. Due to a 3.5” multi touch screen, operating the phone is simple yet interesting. Basically being a music phone, it also sports a 2MP camera and an enviable browsing speed. There are two handsets available in the market, one that supports an 8GB memory and the other has 16GB memory. Here we will analyze the phone step by step.
Display-
The 3.5” TFT display with multi touch technology is a pleasure to operate. You can just glide your hand over IT and watch the screen come alive. It’s mesmerizing to watch the display come alive below you fingers. Be it enlarging a picture or zooming in, all can be done with a pinch or a tap. It also has brilliant sunlight legibility. It’s also sensitive to light where the brightness is adjusted accordingly, which helps save battery.
Music
For all iPod fans, the music section will be fun and easy to operate. The audio quality is out of the world (we couldn’t expect anything less from Apple). The album cover is very pleasing on the eye as you watch the pages flip by. One area where they could have done a better job would have been to provide a feature to create playlists. In the absence of that apple has come up with the option of creating on-the-go playlists that’s a temporary playlist.
Internet
Those who have used the browsing features of this phone are impressed. Not only can you view sites in the landscape mode but also open multiple pages. You can also smoothly zoom in and out of the pages with the flick of a finger. Downloading data is simple and fast. As the phone is also Wi-Fi enabled, you can also listen to songs on line.
Camera
The camera stands out like a sore thumb. For a high end phone, a 2 MP camera seems a bit incompetent to keep up with the other brilliant features. It also lacks basic camera features and video recording.
Phone features and messaging
The phone features are just average but the sound quality is good. Though you can send and receive SMS and emails, the phone lacks and option to send and receive MMS.

Over all, the phone is slowly gaining a lot of popularity, especially with music lovers and internet savvy people.
The iPhone is exclusively available with MobileNXT.com where they are delivering it straight to your door step.

Blog Flux Directory

My mobile and me

All of us are in love with our mobiles, but not me, cos what i feel for my mobile borders between obsession and infatuation. It’s my solace for the 3 hours that I spend commuting from my home at Navi Mumbai to my office at Goregaon. As of now I own a Nokia N73, and no matter how many iPhone’s and the likes flood the market, there’s none that’s as good as my baby. It has a 3.15 MP camera, an MP3 player and above all a speaker phone that ensures that I enjoy my music, even when the head phones are not stuffed in my ears.That doesnt mean I play my music loud esp.in trains, cos I personally dislike such rude behaviour of slapping music on other harassed commuters irrespective of the fact that they may like it or not.This feature is enjoyed the most at home,when I am preparing my self for office. I am using a 2GB card that’s sufficient enough for my data needs, in fact more than sufficient as I have stored all my ‘top’ favorites and still there's space for more. This phone has also addicted me to clicking away and then uploading those photographs on my PC, my very own collection. The FM is a downer in the trains, as there is no signal;of course, at that point i switch on my MP3. All in all, I think more that the comfort of keeping me connected, my mobile ensures that I get to play DJ even in the hustle and bustle of Mumbai locals. I love it:)

Meeting Ayesha

I just about managed to catch the direct train from Andheri to Panvel...and only people who commute via the same route as me will understand that this was no less than hitting a jack pot. If catching the train was good, then acquiring a seat was luxury. A luxury that I relished.. Breathing a sigh of relief, I fumbled through my bag to find the novel that I had been trying to finish. The train sped off and I relaxed my limbs by taking off my footwear (a typical Indian habit) and prepared myself for a journey that would last for an hour and a half.

The gentle bumps that marked the train catching speed were accompanied by cool breeze that rushed in to mess up my already messy hair. Some relief from the heat of humidity of the evening! An hour later, I looked up from the book only to see a foreigner in front of me. As I took in her rich dark skin, the fat god chain that hung around her neck and a heavy locket that threatened to make the lady bow down with it weight, she shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Realizing that I was staring and remembering my mums instructions that staring was rude, I looked away…Briefly...Then looked at her again. I found her interesting. I mean it’s not every day that you get to sit with a foreigner especially in a local train.

Out of the blue, I felt a flutter up my nose and started sneezing…Actually it was a train of sneezes one after the other. A few minutes later I leaned back, tired of the effort of sneezing and being the stubborn fool that I am, I looked at her again and saw her smiling at me. I smiled back and that broke the ice. I asked her the one question we all love asking outsiders...'How do you find India', and she cringed...caught my disapproving expression and hurriedly straightened her face to clarify,"You all don’t like dark people, whenever I enter the train, you all push and women especially, they call me dark, ugly...start wiping their hands if they touch me, I don’t like it." I was surprised, not just at her tattered English but also cos this was the last thing that I expected. I dint know how far she was being honest, but we Indians are suckers for fair skin, seeing the rate at which our fairness products sell. 'It’s not that bad', I retorted'may be you met the wrong people'. 'Don’t know, but not nice to be like this’ she added and then chose to stare out of the window. There was an uncomfortable silence. 'How do you like our food?' I asked. I thought it was safe to discuss our cuisine. 'Too spicy' she answered wrinkling her nose 'but I enjoy kheer and gajar ka halwa' she added with a smile. 'Whats you name?' I asked,'Ayesha.Whats yours?'she replied'Suneeta' I asnwered.'So where you heading?' I continued. 'Don’t know the name of the place, but one station before the last.' The train had almost reached my destinaton.‘Can I click you?’ I asked hesitating a little."Oh sure!" she answered, all smiles. Enthusiastically she struck a pose. She asked to see the image, not satisfied with the result, asked me to click her again. Happy with the next pic she said that she wanted to click me as well.She fished out an iphone from her bag (it was the first time that I had see one and I stared at it with such lust that she tightened her grip on it...hehehe).A few clicks and I boarded off the train, waving to Ayesha, a guest in our country who wasn’t happy with us…We,Indians who are enraged if any one of us has to face racism. Had she been a blonde, may be her reception would have been better. Staring at the dusky skin on my hand I started my short walk home…

shopping time

i had just received my salary.was i thrilled?i mean it was the beginning of the month and i wanted to shop for a few things..never mind that i had bills to pay, installments that had to be taken care of and a few friends who had loaned me,awaiting their much deserved money ..but i still had to shop..

being the mindless and impulsive fool that i am , i thought that i had to treat myself(once again) and i did..One of my friend, whose one of the worse shopoholics known to mankind decided to help me out...and man she did. We ragged her husband into driving us to the near by malls(even though i was feeling rich, i wanted to save on the rickshaw money). We land up at shoppers stop. I just wanted a wallet from here. Thats it!!! just a wallet.The rest would be shopped from some place else. A walk between displays of wallet,few minutes of debate and the three of us finally zeroed on a wallet. Breathing a sigh of relief i 'almost' made way to the cash counter. That was till i heard a squeal of delight.Based on curiosity i turned around only to see my friend glide breezily towards the shoe counter.'Class apart shoes, and that to at such a huge discount' she giggled,'lets buy a pair each'. Thats how i landed up with three pairs while she realized that she rather buy perfumes. Okay!!We once again headed for the cash counter till i heard the familiar squeal again. This time some an offer on perfumes got that sound out of her. Well!! the discounts were tempting enough to buy a perfume or two(though i had indulged in 2 bottles last week and since i rely more on deos, i dint really need anymore). What can i say?Greed has no fullstops only commas.Ten minutes later a perfume bottle joint the list of my purchases. Somehow i was still happy. For just a few grands i had bought myself quite a few goods. Talk about a great sale and friend who eats sleeps and breaths shopping.True friendship.

My good luck dint end here. I met similar fates at Provogue(they also have a great sale) and linking road(Yupp!! i do buy off the road.They have some great bargains). Now i was glowing with happiness despite almost seven hours of shopping(we also managed to squeeze in some time for lunch) . I was rich with some great collection of not-so-needed products(but great buys nevertheless) poor by a few thousands and those bills.....