shopping at Chickpet

Shopping at Chickpet was an experience I guess I delayed due to my ignorance. After hearing some of friend commenting on this place I knew I had to just venture out. Only time feasible would be when my hubby ji is not there coz he would let me drive to places I dont know. So on a saturday just set out after getting rough directions from my friends.
It was real fundu. We went shop hopping and the choices available there were real good . All you need to do is do a good bargain to your best and the prices are really remarkable compared to bangalore prices. I just couldnt help myself from buying a big deal from there .

In bangalore the spirit of the malls have spoiled the basic definition of quality and prices. Just becuase of the money spent to build the mall !!! the prices there would be exorbitant and choices limited. I know one the sarees I bought from this place was 1/2 the price of a showroom price.

For any kind of designer sarees you would get it lesser than the amount spend in a showroom. There are sarees available in all ranges from 3 - 4 - 5 digits but everything at a better price than showroom.

We could spend some 3-4 hours there and cover just 6 shops but had a good deviation from my typical foolish decisions of buying from bangalore malls.

So any of you interested in variety go to chickpet ... all size shops, all size designs and abundant choice.

Life in begaluru mall

Well visited forums , central , garuda, big bazaar !!!! . If on a weekend you want to stress out yourself. Ensure that you are in one of these places. There you can see crowds who dont want anything in particular. You can hear the continous ringing of some mobile. Some friend shouting out for a friend right ahead. The IT crowd showing their parents the happening place of bangalore. Parents wondering as long as I dont loose myself in this crowd !!!!. In the shops there each person is worried about 2 things, one is the price of the commodity and next is the where should I place my feet next . In the shops like khadder you can see a minimal crowd mainly coz there are so few exhibits people cannot waste much time window shopping. You would have heard of bombay subways you will be carried along with the crowd, here also we can experience the same.
It is good that malls are coming in a place like bangalore where there is nothing else to vile off your time in the weekend. But in the process of bringing in a lifestyle influenced by the west.
We have tried to emulate only that part of a mall lifestyle which will get us money. What about the parking reuirements , the air reuirement considering the number of people per cubic cm.
whooops that all dosent come in our economic consideration afterall !!!!!!!
Finally you want a peaceful outing for your weekend. Catch somebody working in the Ecity campuses. You can get good food , rest, walk, peaceful time with your loved ones and to top it all .... enough fresh air for your share

And it rained again in bangalore

My dad is very meticulous when it comes to train timings. For our journey we had planned 3 months before the time when we would start from home. The DDay finally arrived and all of us my dad mom sister daughter all ready on dot time for the trip. Then came our great bangalore rains. The taxi whom we had called at sharp 5 for the 8 PM train didnt arrive on time and after calling him3 times finally told us at 5. 30 that they cant come. That was the great SRS taxi. Anyway rather than fighting with them our first aim was to find the next taxi. Gor a number and they finally arrived by 5.50. And then started the traffic jam from one red light to the next , to add to it our taxi had a smoke coming from the carboreter. Got that settled and my dad had a genuine point just lets go back. It hopeless in bangalore dont expect miracles to happen. My mom scoled him for not having a positive attitude in life.
Anyway the positive attitude didnt help we reached 20 mts late.

I wonder if the only practical and sure way to reach bangalore stations is take a room next to the station. Well we had a nice family gettogether in the taxi. Since the occasion was important managed the next day by bus.

Next time we had to catch the train my daughter was commenting 'Dont worry mommy we will not be late we can always catch a bus !!!!!'
Thats how expectations get set !!!

Creativity at its best

Creativity at its best when you are not polluted by the thought process of the world. Well just got an experience with my 4 year old daughter excercising the same. Believe she is full of creative ideas , I just hope that the process with education does not block the same !!!! ... It goes like " I was born intelligent but education ruined me"

I will tell you her creativity gone too far ...... When she was 2 I asked her to make a small drawing , well at that age she could draw a sky and small flowers. She started with flowers 3 of them and then came the sky... First a light blue and then white over it !!! and then orange and then finally to make it complete a full black all over....

I got crazy and asked her why did she spoil it all and she innocently told me ... Mama . White is the morning sky, Blue is the afternoon sky, Orange is the Evening sky and Night is the night sky...... !!!!!!!!!! I was stumped for answer .....

From bangalore to New york

This was a vacation plan a long stays at home for higher quality of life !!! Believe me you can never achieve the comforts you get at your home anywhere else. With cost of living near NY zooming high. I was living a comfortable life in my house and in Newjersey in a rented 1 bed room house, somehow could not balance the same.
Well there was a couple who stay next to us and their aim was to achieve " Quality , They left their job in India and relocated to New York well well not to say they got a shock of their life when they found themselves in the subways or office for a major part of their life.
It was such a tough decision to relocate and somehow an irreversible one for atleast 1 year.
Anybody well settled in India do not go to New york for quality of life.......
I did enjoy seeing all the places around , the beauty of nature was immense as we went touring around. Well building never interested me so NY as such was not an attraction but the cruise around NY was good, relax in a boat and just watch around.

stop dreaming

I have started living now
How can I stop dreaming
I have started singing now
How can I stop dreaming
The dreams have given me wings
to be what I am what I am not
I have started dreaming now
How can I stop living

A lady gets her dream

I dreamt all night I would meet him some day , it was a new moment for me . We were married for 5 years but I love to live life in my dreams. I went to meet him at the airport , I could see the shine in his eyes not because he know me for years, its because I meant a lot to him. His eyes showed he valued this meeting his eyes showed his desperation. All of went to meet him but it was our way we would just communicate with our eyes. But first time oblivious of our surrounding he just took my lips and kissed it. The suddeness of the act was more beautiful. We reached home and our daughter was jumping on him. Finally she slept off everybody in the house slept off . And we kept talking and kissing all night. And then I got up the next morning , need to go and pick him in the airport. Its our fifth aniversary today.

Searching for something close to life

Life has given me flowers
But I am searching for thorns
A flower we remember and forget
But the prick of a thorn is close
Close to my body my heart
A flower poses no goal
A thorn makes it a passion
to go for the flower
Feeling it closely
its pain so intimate
yes 'close' something in life should be close
yes 'close' without it you feel it
with it you go away from it
A feeling so intimate so close just mine

What could this feeling be which makes me stumble
its so close to life - its death
so far yet so near
would man want to live hadnt he to die
yes it close to life its death

so close you hate it
so painful you hate it
so intimate you love it

line as lips

When the two lines departed
They changed their outlook
they changed my life
the words came out
sounding sensible to me
but the world heard them
Wouldnt leave me for free
I was put in chains
a barrier put by myself

The key was in my hand
But I couldnt set myself free
God free me from myself
Let me have this wall broken at this instant

Let me walk free
Let me take my breath free
Let me talk free
Let me live free
Let me die free

Uncertainity

There is a moment when you rejoice
When in the world there seems only to be your voice
Then comes a feeling unwelcomed
Which makes you feel week and doomed
Is this success your worth
You could have got a better berth
Unhappiness forms a thick cloud
Never realising that work and success are parallel
Never meet but move together
To get happiness cant sacrifice either
Now guess what the feeling was
Which made you feel bleak
You will find it ...come on seek

you have found it .... its the uncertainty in you life
uncertainty about your success
uncertainty about your future
uncertainty about your ventures
uncertainty about your life

you have got to conquer it
make your way ahead

In pursuit of myself

A time for myself is certainly one of the rarest gift on earth. A a married , working mother you tend to lose your own life . But I tend to make myself happy saying what I have gained is far ahead of what it would have been otherwise.Its tough when you mind is still young you desires your aches are all different and you tend to blend with time to your world which is thankless .Your spouce loves you and cares for you but he has his world as a parent with responsibilities , work , future howering around him .You cant a imagine a vacation without your family but your definitions dont match .My vacation is time for myself , talk , hugs, kisses and relate and his vacation would be a good drink , nice TV , planned outings . And my kids need not talk about it .How and when do they converge or do they ever .Is it that after marriage its tough to find time for yourself or even the twosome you would have started as ..Is it that after marriage our dreams are just ours , Once life starts in this pace when do we go back or look back to our life .... when do we feel happier !!! Or is it that we are happy but how to you define happier.

One suggestion would be everybody should have a definition of kick in their life. One activity which takes you to yourself. I need to find mine........... Do you have yours

Woman ... you want to drive

Well you know how can a women learn driving well get all men in your life who care about you away from you venture. I learnt it that way , with my hubby he restricted me to one lane. And then thankfully he went to US one day and well next day I was out with my car on the busiest road. Now certainly a inspiration to women in my workplace who want to kick off their driving spree , just one advice dont let your dad, brother , husband , boyfriend be sitting next to you ................ and you can just zoommm.
I remember my trainer telling me " Chalathe raho koi nahin martha " means keep driving, nobody will die :-0
And one more statistics, it takes an expert to cause a serious accident.

So all who want to learn driving, get the driving license and basics right and then experiment on small road and then just take off on the busiest road without a man by your side ..... thats to boost your initial confidence.

Little bird in the sky

Little bird in the sky,frightened as she takes her first try
wonders what all may come her way
will i fall, will i soar , decides to go past even if the thunder roars

mama bird tells her fly high but keep my say
there are humans who may take you away
'
in four walls their life is, they feel they achiement is through
will put you in their state not knowing your woe

All chained up in invisible misery
What to us is captivity is their definition of freedom and glory

Great Service Is a Matter of Choice

Very inspiring piece of thought
(Excerpted from The Simple Truths of Service)



Great Service Is a Matter of Choice
No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice. Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed my friend a laminated card and said:
"I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement ."
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally's Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, "Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf ."
My friend said jokingly, "No, I'd prefer a soft drink."
Wally smiled and said, "No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice ."
Almost stuttering, Harvey said, "I'll take a Diet Coke."
Handing him his drink, Wally said, "If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today."
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. "These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio ."
And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air-conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
"Tell me, Wally," my amazed friend asked the driver, "have you always served customers like this ?"
Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. "No, not always.. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It . Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd .'"
"That hit me right between the eyes," said Wally. " Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more ."
"I take it that has paid off for you," Harvey said.
"It sure has," Wally replied. "My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action ."
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about you?

No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice.

Laaga chunari mein daag -- too much dosage

Well we all set out to watch Laaga chanari mein daag. Main incentive being lets watch the Abhishek- Rani pair and their chemistry. Forget about chemistry even in the geography they were not together. Well well that means they were hardly together in any scene together . But still the end you should have seen the constipated passion which Abhishek reflected when he said you are GANGA JAL. Well all the red light street ladies will be now waiting in hope for what generally dosent happen. But whatever be it there is no conviction in the story nobody can relate to it. Rani was not able to strongly represent why the changeover. All she had was a dazed look all through the movie.
We just went YUK seeing the story flow. God we really felt we had an overdose of the same. The only saving factor being Kunaal kapoor. He was spontaneous and more enjoyable on the screen. But the movie effect couldnt still be surpassed with his presence.

And to save us from effects we got we went into the next hall where Dhamaal was going on . Had some laughs recovered from the dosage.

Mekedatu danger

5 Deaths in a week - Is it a small number

We would like to bring to your notice the deaths because of drowning
in a place called Mekedatu. You will see the mention of this place in
young peoples’ blog, some who would have not faced the rages of the
river. This is the place where a tragic incident took place and
Kishore our friend was the 5th victim in the same week. Though the
place is beautiful, it has very uneven river-bed, very strong
under-currents and even crocodiles. Despite all these, there are no
warnings or sign-boards that would alarm the visitors about these
risks.
We expect the forest department and the police should have some
responsibility towards such cases, the least being putting a warning
sign.
Death is taken for granted in that place; even to retrieve the body
of our friend the attitude was just another ‘body’ by the police and
the localites. After a day long ordeal we were able to retrieve the
body, but only after shelling-out thousands of rupees (to the
localites and to the so called public-servants). It was
heart-breaking to observe how one man’s grief becomes another man’s
business. We can’t change the attitude of people who face this thing
day in and out. But we certainly have every moral responsibility that
it doesn’t happen to another human being. We have requested to the
forest department to post a warning. Well they said they would
approve if we would fund. Now we are in the process of collecting Rs
80,000 to put a warning sign there as a tribute to our friend. We are
struggling and getting people involved. We should rather be helping
the family with this money and the forest department should be
putting the board. But the mother herself offered hope nobody else
loses their life.

My baby goes to school

Well I have heard many people who would write about my first day in school etc well for me its different I just want to write about my daughters experience.

Well it started with her enthu long long before she would see children going to school and that was her aim and that too only in school bus !!!. And then started the process of evaluating certain schools ......... we knew she needed a place to vent her energy .. The selection was made it was St Peters School. The first criteria for selection was it was near. And I didnt want my Baby to travel in school bus ... all my life I had gone to school in Car with mummy ... In this changing scenario I could not comprehend how it could be otherwise ..... well yes she is still a baby for me.

He school would start on Jun 12th. Early june there was a statement from her which made me feel she is desperate to go to school.
Her friend Dhanu went to a new Playshcool which was just opened downstairs . She was playing with her Nanny and insisted she wanted to go to that school. The only genuine excuse which her Nanny gave was that we havent paid fees. Anyway that after she asked me if I could give the school lots of money so that Anjali could go to that school. Anyway that just made me say God when will her school start !!!!!

So finally June 12th came . She is very very excited calling us from the house door to hurry up and come fast . And she reaches school accompanied by Mummy and Achan goes inside the class in full enthu and she was very disappointed to see lots of children crying and that just brought her enthu down . Well I wanted to complain to the Teachers my kid was all enthu and your school has spoiled her enthu. But then they told us about the seperation anxiety and it is better she goes through it ASAP and realises she is safe even in school and not just as mummys baby .

Well my baby I didnt want to see her crying and I had decided Ok leave school when she is bigger I will send her. When I went to the park to play with her I discussed with all mothers and everybody had the same thing to say from different schools and playschools. So was I acting paranoid and overpossessive.
Well Sunil also was telling I was overreacting the first days and 2nd day even he was concerned ...
She got up at night the 2nd day and said she will not go to school. Sunil was so touched and concerned ... He agreed to me and we were going to teach principles of negotiating with children to the teachers the next day. Does that sound like a IT couple .

Anyway I loved my Boss statement the best. That relaxed me a lot ... They should cry thats the relation between you and her ...

The 3rd day was also Ok in the sense she didnt want to go inside leaving me . But once inside then it was just ok ....

Well today is her 4th day and I am relaxed and writing because she didnt want to actually leave the school and I literally had to pull her out . She went in crying today but I dont know what a changeover , she was so engaged in playing with other children and she even started her fights today. She was full of some colours over her hands and face and her school uniform was really dirty for the first time. So I am so happy very happy

I think everybody has to face this changeover so dont take it to your heart. Anjali will like this school and she has just started her journey ... its a long way to go but she will always be my Baby :-)