Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Celeb spotting

So I was at the salon and I saw this person walk in. She had short hair and said she wanted it trimmed since she had a family function to attend tomorrow. In the course of the conversation, she asked how come the place is rather empty to which my hair stylist said it is because it is a holiday. She said, "ohh my I forgot, we are working today, see". Then I figured that she might be some big exec in one of the nearby companies since it looked like she hopped in from work and was going to hop back (no hand bags etc). I did see her before and then I started wondering. Leela has Huawei in its premises, but I was not sure if she was from Huawei, then I kept thinking, Titan, Britannia..and suddenly when she was leaving it struck me. Of course, this was her! I then remembered seeing a very small thumbnail of hers in one of Cisco's Women's network thingies that they do, where she was a guest speaker on career and women or some such topic. So when Arlene came back, I asked, that person, she works for Britannia, right? She said yeah, she is GM, I added yeah, she is MD and CEO. Vinita something right? And she said, yeah, Vinita Bali!

It took my breath away, my realization. This CEO was sitting right next to me for a full half an hour and I was a dud enough to not realize this earlier ;)

One more addition to my celeb spotting (other famous ones include our very own Wim Elfrink, Vivek Oberoi's grand-mother-in-law etc).

Monday, August 29, 2011

One hour

I thought I saw the worst traffic in my life on 880 (237 E to Dixon Landing moving towards Fremont) at rush hour. Today came very, very close to that nightmare.

Left campus at 4.40 PM and reached the other end of the Kadubeesanahalli junction at 5.50 PM! This stretch is 400 mts! Effectively it is just like crossing the road (earlier there was a signal where I could just go straight, but because of construction I have to turn left, go further, take a U-turn and come back to the same spot where I started on the opposite side. And this took 70 minutes!!!

Outer ring road was bad last week in the morning when I landed there by mistake instead of sticking to my shortcut from behind the airport. It took me 40 mins from Marathalli to Kadubeesanahalli (<5KM). And I thought that was bad!

Also, today, there was a couple of places where the median sort of broke down and I could have turned but I did not. To go 200 mts and come back to the same point took a painstaking 53 minutes! And I was stuck at the official U-turn, just 3 cars behind, purely because of senselessly created human deadlocks for a whole half an hour. Just 3 cars away!! Can you imagine how much I cursed myself for not chucking the rules out the window and just taking a U-turn where I could?!Thankfully the son got very cranky only in the last few minutes and I was able to do damage control by giving him my phone with some videos playing.

To compensate for the one hour delay in reaching home though, today Subhash was at home to welcome us, he took care of giving the son his milk while I changed and started cooking so that effectively, I was just 5 minutes behind schedule for the son's dinner! AND he ate so fast today that I wish I was stuck in jams like this every day as long as they promise to ensure son's dinner is done so fast as compensation!! ;)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

10 years..

Today is an important day in my life. Whether I say it aloud or not, I always remember it and quietly acknowledge it to myself.

Today is the day I left home, flew out of the nest to test my wings so to speak. Literally too. I boarded a flight from Hyd to Chicago and life has never looked back or looked the same again.

It is 10 years today since I flew into the US. The reason was a Masters degree. But the experiences and quests and events have been manifold and it is hardly right to call that journey a mere university education one!

I don't associate with the US anymore, albeit it is the only country I have ever immigrated to and have spent a good chunk of my life outside India in. It was a harsh reality, followed by a dream run, a pleasant experience to have had overall. I am glad I immigrated and also glad I moved back :)

But more important than the destination is the source. I flew out of my parents home and I knew at the back of my mind that there probably would never be a returning back. I chose today to fly out since I wanted to make sure I spent my Dad's birthday at least, at home with my family(my entire family is August born, dad, mom and sis). I could anyways not spend time with mom and sis on their birthdays (I would be too late for school) so I decided to fly right after my Dad's birthday. And bad as the intuition was, it has been so right. In all these 10 years, I have never once been "home" for Dad's birthday again (even after moving back!). My mom and sis visited in 2005, and their birthdays were spent there that year, so my Dad's one somehow stuck out I guess ;)

When I see young folks at work who commute from their parents' home, I feel jealous. In some aspects. I have never ever experienced completely care-free life after 2001.  The kind you have when you are still fully under your parents' roof. I was always entirely responsible for at least 1 life, mine. How I fed myself, how I spent my money, how I chose to spend my time etc etc :) All the same, I grew up a lot too :) And it gave me a taste of independence which I cherish a lot and would never want to give up for anything.

I cannot believe it is already 10 years though, I feel rather old. But hey, it is not 20 years yet ;) So maybe I am still young? ;)

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Sweet SIXTY!

My dad turns 60 today! Happy Birthday Dad!! I hope you have many more great years ahead :)

Monday, August 08, 2011

Movies and more

OK, one last try at this. Last time I wrote a post and it published a blank one, I had not copied the matter and it was lost forever. I re-wrote a second time and (duh! still didn't copy) and it again published a blank post. Frustrated, I gave up!

So we got this DVR (TataSky) around 8 weeks ago and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I recorded all the movies I wanted to watch but couldn't in the last 3 years and its been great catching up with Bollywood. I am a movie buff, at one point in my life I was watching 30 movies a month and feeling very happy about it ;) (this was when I was 12!)  I usually schedule recording online and catch up with the movies much later whenever I have an hour or two to spare from work/home chores/baby etc. Usually when I have my dinner after the son sleeps before my share of work calls start at night. 

I watched Action Replayyy recently and needless to say it was a stupid movie. But I finished it nevertheless and the one thing that kept me going is the curiosity of how it would be if the son were to travel back in time when he was older and meet me when I was about his current age. I think it would be exciting especially if I knew he was my son ;) To meet as contemporaries bringing down the barrier of a generation is mind-blowing as a mere idea :) Whenever the son meets Aishwarya in the movie, I invariably thought how it might be if me and the son met. I was not so excited about the son meeting his dad though ;) Its meeting the mom part that made me curious and the piece I thought was most interesting. 

Anyways, lots more movies to catch up on..