2010_The decade that was

By and large, 2010 was good. Memorable in some ways and well, as I look back.... I will cherish this decade.... :) for a lot of things...

For starters, I began with the 2nd year of my engineering at Dhule.....3 years of my hostel life....made some wonderful friends :-)...and even more amazing enemies...:-P... some enemies became friends and some friends become enemies... and well - some - fell in almost categories.

Now that I have started writing, I feel I have so much write... so much to tell.... that makes me think I will divide this blog....

2003: The year I became an Engineer from SSVPS COE, Dhule

2006: The year I completed my MPIB (Finance), Pune

2006: The year when Munish and me decided to spend our lives together

2006: The year I lost Puneet, my 19 year old star brother.

2007: The year I left Deloitte to join ICICI Prudential AMC.

2007: The year I got engaged to Munish

2008: The year I got married to Munish

2008: The year we honeymooned in Dalhousie and I formatted the camera by mistake and lost all pics in the process

2009: The year we went to Goa

2009: The year I left ICICI Prudential AMC to join Universal Sompo GIC

2010: The year we went to Ladakh. The most awesome ('est) trip.

2010: The year I went to Goa for the 2nd time. Realised Goa is no fun without Munish :-)

2010: The year my brother Mayank got engaged.

Planning to divide it in 2001-03, 2004-06, 2006-08 and 2008 onwards.

:-)

Adios!!!

Till I post again!!!! :-)

2010_The year that was

2010 was a decent year.... A couple of trips, some events on a personal level... but nothing much professionally..... In short, it was Maska Chaska - 50-50 :-P. Guess that was a poor joke.

It was a year of nothings I guess!!! But yes - there is a silver lining to a dark cloud....there were a few wonderful highlights.

My brother's engagement  (December 2010) was like a milestone achieved in our family history. With a background belonging to a of very traditional "extended" family, it was a huge task of convincing almost everyone in the family to agree to a proposal of him getting engaged to a girl belonging to another community!!!! Especially my 90 year old grandfather... But looking back now, feel that he had more common sense than most :-). Had it not been for the diplomacy of my dad and my adamant mom and of course my undying support to my brother's decision, it would have taken another couple of months !!!! But all's well that ends well I guess!!! :-)

The trip to Ladakh was the best thing that happened in July 2010 A lot of firsts in a lot of regards... The first road trip....The first trip at 17,500 ft without any major health issues of puking or fever or symptoms of mountain sickness...The first time, we (Hubby and me) took more than 2000 pics from our first DSLR Olympus E520. It was an awesome trip, which gave me a taste of what travelling "seriously" would be like....It gave me a feeling of being so small and insignificant in this world, the magnificence of the Himalayas.... the different cultures... people, food, language, art, dance, climate, landscape...the beauty struck me... never seen anything like that....never been exposed to something so enriching and wonderful. This trip also introduced for the first time to joys of capturing pictures...it introduced me to the world of photography.

Only regret is not being able to visit Nubra Valley (the Aryan civilization) 

Guitar (Since July 2010) was an instrument which I had been meaning to learn to play since I was like 13. Finally, after a lot of deliberation, I have started to learn to play the guitar. Have learnt scales, now working upon it. There has been a slow progression to chords as well.

One of the regrets being I had thought of appearing for the FRM certification but in the end I dropped the idea... now I regret it... Will be appearing for the Level 1 of the certification in May 2011 now.

There have been a few learnings as well. An easy, stress free job is good but not for a long time. It does not add value to you professionally. Its very important to be a bit agressive when one is young in one's professional life...can take it slow when old. Learning being, there is no gain without pain. Also, this year has sort of been a differentiator in a lot of ways. I have realised the important of family ties, learnt to discriminate and differentiate between acquantainces, fair weather friends and friends and professional buddies. There are some ties which you do not label. They just are....

By and large, 2010 was good. Memorable in some ways and well, as I look back.... I will cherish this decade.... :) for a lot of things...

My new Guitar

Needed a new guitar....Hubby decided to sponsor it as a Christmas and a New Year's Gift :) Yippeee... Well, first things first...JustDial came handy... asking for information on all guitar dealers in the suburbs. Pat came all the smses...:) and also a call of Musician's Mall, Khar. The dealer was hell bent on selling me a guitar on phone...and went out by criticizing my choice :-X which I didnt like one bit. Hence, he got a curt reply and the call disconnected :-O. Well, we went to Raghuleela Mall, Kandivili (W). A nice gentleman had his store on the 2nd Floor. Par afsoos, the options weren't enough...We chit chatted and left :-).

Some more R&D later, we decided to go to town... Yikes... on a sunday afternoon... Now I am at my laziest best on Sunday afternoons...had it not been for the instrument, I would not have moved my lazy self. So, we went to Town...South Bombay or SoBo as it is now known - sometimes... Shalu Musicals (http://www.shalumusic.com/) it was... the Dealer had a range of guitars.... electronic, acoustic, semi acoustic, amplifiers, the works..... tried my hand on each of them... and finally settled on a beginners guitar... Hobner... :) Yay!!!! I then became the proud owner of my first NEW guitar :)

Will get it tuned by my music teacher.. hehehe...dont want to experiment by pulling the strings especially when I dont know how !!!!!

Check out the images....

The broken guitar

:-( Broke my guitar... bro's guitar to be precise....:-( sigh... he's a follower on my blog and I know for sure he does not follow me that closely.... :-( Well, just 2 weeks I had gone to the guitar dealer, got the strings changed, cleaned it up, got new plectrums... and now its broken from the neck.... and as always, its not my fault... some random 8 year old just tripped on it and it fell .... and since the wood was old, it twisted... and when i pulled a few strings, it broke :-(

Hence, after mourning over the week, I am going to get a new guitar over the weekend....:-) hehehe...

Online Shopping

Its all very convenient and comfortable and easy - Online shopping.... but its highly addictive.... You dont even realize and you've already hoarded a lot of things which you dont need...

Hence, as a measure of precaution and as well as a self control exercise, I un-registered myself from all the online shopping websites especially the ones offering a combination of deals and lot of discounts:

 

www.snapdeal.com

www.mydeal.com

www.99labels.com

www.fashionandyou.com

www.secretsales.com

www.homeshop18.com

 

etc etc etc...

 

Well, my inbox is relatively free of clutter and ads enticing me to buy something or the other....

And I am a much more peaceful person.... :-)

MAYBE!!!

Dinner Hassles!!!!

Its dinner time (in my case, 11 PM).... Hubby and me lay the table... with the usual, daal, subzi, curd, chapatis and salads. There's some random movie on HBO.
Hubby: (*frowns)...hmmmm...... lauki again....yellow dal.... chapatis ......hmmmmm
Me: (*defensive)...dont expect me to cook chappan bhog at 9 PM....I am really not in the mood to cook after work....
Hubby: (*a sheepish smile)... no - not that....but LAUKI.... I hate LAUKI.... and TINDAS....BEANS....EGG PLANT.... LADY'S FINGER....PALAK....
Me: o-O .........and what should I cook then your royal highness..... I repeat "dont expect me to cook chappan bhog at 9 PM....I am really not in the mood to cook after work...."
Hubby: What about potatoes? Why dont you cook potatoes more often???
Me: Potatoes????!!!!! you are what you eat!!! ahem.. .and you have started looking like a potato....
Hubby: Here's the weekly dinner menu:
Monday: Aloo matar
Tuesday: Aloo gobhi
Wednesday: Dry aloo pyaaz
Thursday: Aloo methi
Friday: Paneer (for the wifey) and leftovers of thursday
Me: what about other nutritional needs? what about the green leafy veggies.....
Hubby: What about them?
Me: Ever heard about the concept of "Balanced diet"
Hubby: I have that at lunch in office?
Me: :-O whatttt?
Hubby: wada pav
Me: (*eyes popped out) Whatttt?
Hubby: Why ask the same question twice?
Here goes the lunch menu @ office
Monday: Wada Pav
Tuesday: Misal Pav
Wednesday: Bhajiya Pav
Thursday: Bhaji Pav
Friday: Idlis At RBI  (since its a friday)
Me: Thats it then....
Hubby; Whatttt????
Me: Eat the lauki....
Hubby: So (* with a triumphant look) ... so we have agreed on the menu....
Me: YES- WE have agreed on the menu
Hubby: Since tomorrow is a Tuesday, Aloo gobhi it is (*glee)
Me: Yes, Palak it is!!!! (*sighs)
Hubby:(*sighs)
So much for our agreement!!!!! :)
Hubby: hmmmm (*sighs).....
Me: hmmmm

A Musical Note

The light breeze, the stars above

The cheer of the crowd,

The music so sweet...

Touched a note...
A memory long lost...
In the rigamarole of life...

Of someone...A vision appears....

Standing right next to me...

Cheering with the crowd...

Of someone...

A friend she was...

A soul sister

Of a fellow co-traveller...

Lost...




Image: www.corbis.com