Got The Keys!!!

Yeaaaaahh!!! I got the keys to the apartment today!!! And with it a list of all the things provided by them In addition to a bed, a sofa set, cooking range, a washing machine, a dinner set and a cooking set, I also get a TV and satellite!!! So its back to TV watching for me after a break of, oh, 5 months??
I did go to the flat today, but the key didn't fit. Maybe I entered it into the wrong keyhole. Will go again tomorrow morning. Will shift in tomorrow itself. Today morning, aunty called me, and tried selling me the old stuff that she has, like the nearly broken down bed, the already broken dressing table etc. I have to pay her the one month advance that she had forfeited when I moved in, and also this month's rent. Expenses, expenses...
This calls for a little celebration. After office, I will head down to the City Center, and have a pizza maybe. Or maybe some Portuguese at Nando's. Speaking of City Center, the next attraction at the cinema there is Adaptation. I have been wanting to see this movie, but could not find it here. I see good times ahead...

Cautionary Tale Of The Day: The news of my 1000 bucks pay hike has spread. I had nothing to do with it, but people in the office know. Makes me feel that I am being watched.

No Key...

No keys today. The Adm head, N has washed his hands off the entire thing, and now I have to head-butt with the financial head, H. He is another headache. He has said that he will have it ready in two day. Lets see...
Yesterday, after I N had given me the news about the house and the raise, I thanked him and left. After I left, he called me back and mockingly told me that I was a true 'Hindi' (I wonder what he meant by that, but that was meant to be a bit derogatory), cos I just upped and left after he gave me the good news. What did he expect? That I kiss his hands as a show a gratitude? Or grovel at his feet, saying,'Main baap, aap to bhagwaan ka avatar hain!!' So anyways, today when I meant to meet him, I took some sweets along with me to give to him. I think that was a fitting reply, cos he first laughed a little, then said thank you and went back to his work.
Yeah Rajesh!!!
Two more purchases today, two cut price cassettes - R.E.M (Reveal), and an assorted blues album. According to All Music, this is not the best of R.E.M's albums. Will find out soon enough. But if it was going for a song at the shop...

Rant Of The Day: A female colleague, H, has put on some strong perfume today. Not a cheap smelling one, but rather a decent one. But the life of me, I can't figure out which one it is. But that's not the rant. The rant is, SHE HAS PUT SO MUCH OF IT, THAT I CAN SMELL HER EVEN WHEN SHE PASSES TWO METERS WAYS FROM ME!!! WHAT DO THESE ARABS USE FOR MEASURING THE QUANTITY? OIL BARRELS???

Rejoice!!!

Rejoice!!!!! I got a raise!! A 1000 bucks one at that!!! Woo hoo!!
Also, I have got an official accomodation now!! The gods are really simling at me now. What have I done to deserve this? Please God, let me know, 'cos I'll do it again!! This calls fora litle celebration. After office, I'm meeting injinuity for a chat. Not bad, maybe I'll have some cakes as well...
And to think that today I went to meet our adm. head, all ready to quit if he evaded a proper answer to me. Yesterday, I had decidedto call it quits over here. Now, I think I will stick around for some more time. Tomorrow I'll get the keys...
Maybe its the fact that I have now started drinking tea again. The tea God smiled at one of his flock that had returned, and decided to reward him...sounds like a possible explanation to me.
But things are not all that hunky-dory here. I still have to get a reply on the status of my holidays. No word on that so far.
But in the meantime, REJOICE!!!!!!

Decision, decisions...

The only decisions I make nowadays is, 'Tea or coffee?'
And if its coffee, then its, 'Make my own or buy?'
And if its buy, then its,'From where?'

I think it can be developed into a decent joke, but sadly, this job has totally sucked the ability to make jokes out of me. I still od laugh like a moron, though.

Cruisin'...

No Spidey 2 yesterday again. It was not playing in that time at all!! Looks like injinuity and Spidey really do not gel!! So instead, we went to play billiards. Neither of us had played in a long long time, and we were afraid we would make asses out of us in front of other people in the pool parlor (and it being a Friday night, it was crowded).
But surprisingly, we didn't!! Yes, both of us managed to get in some decent shots. That, and the fact that people were not paying any attention to us and concentrating on their own games saved our faces. We played two games, and each of us won one. We pick up pretty fast, I think.
Later, I went cruising in the city, just to have a look at the night life and was quite impressed by it. Its becoming more laid back and settled out there. People minding their own business. And the radio was cranking out some nice tunes. Speaking of which,

Surreal Moment A Couple of Days Ago: On the night I had momos with Jinu, I went for a spin round town, listening to radio. Its just playing some remixes (how I hate those @#*&^%$#). I decided to get myself and ice cream, and as I was driving and eating the ice cream when I suddenly flipped. The reason? The radio was playing a remix of 'Aap jaisa koi'. And a guy was singing the song.
Now, firstly, the original song is peppy enough and does not need to be remixed, and secondly, a guy singing that song??!!??. What, homosexuality finally coming out of the closet in Indian music? I doubt it. The singer was just plain stupid.

Which brings me to a deduction, namely, that if you want to become a pop musician, the first step is to undergo a brain removal surgery.

Humor Post...

Here's a couple for really bad, groan jokes that I found on the net. Enjoy if you can!!

What is red and goes up and down?

A tomato in an elevator
---------------------
Two ships, one carrying red paint and one carrying blue paint, collided. All of the sailors were marooned.
---------------------
In the news: "A Cessna 152 training aircraft crashed into the cemetery. 253 bodies recovered so far."
---------------------
What'd the fish say when he swam into a cement wall?

Dam!
---------------------
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in a hole?

Phil.
---------------------
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in a pile of leaves?

Russel.
--------------------
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in a backwater?

Eddy
--------------------
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in space?

Anything you want, but it won't matter. He can't hear you.
--------------------
There's these two goldfish in a tank, and one turns to the other and says...

So, do you know how to drive this thing?
--------------------
What do you call a fly with no wings?

A walk!
-------------------
What do you call a fly with no wings and no legs?

A look!
-------------------
What do you call a fly with no wings no legs AND no eyes?

A raisin!
-------------------
What do you call a sheep with no legs?

A cloud.
-------------------
Why did the chicken cross the playground?

To get to the other slide.
-------------------
Why did the frog cross the road?

It was stapled to the chicken.
-------------------
How can you tell if an elephant's been in your refrigerator?

Footprints in the peanut butter.
------------------
How can you tell if two elephants are in your refrigerator?

Two sets of footprints, side by side.
------------------
How many giraffes will fit in the refrigerator?

None. There are too many elephants in there.
------------------
How do you get an elephant into a Volkswagen?

Open door, insert elephant, shut door.
------------------
How do you get four elephants into a Volkswagen?

Two in the front, two in the back.
------------------
How can you tell if an elephant is visiting your house?

There's a Volkswagen in your driveway with 3 elephants in it.
------------------
Why did the Eskimo wash his clothes in Tide?

Because it was too cold to wash them out-tide!
------------------
What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?

Where's my tractor?!
------------------
What would Marilyn Monroe be doing now if she were alive?

Clawing at the lid of her coffin.
------------------
what do you call a fish with no eyes?

fsh
------------------
what do you call a pig with three eyes?

piiig
-----------------
What is a foot long and slippery...

A SLIPPER!


And finally, no Spidey 2 yesterday. Looks like Spidey 2 is jinxed for you, pal.

No Spidey, But Games...

Didn't go for Spidey 2 yesterday. Looks like yours and spidey 2's stars don't get well, injinuity ol' pal. You are not destined to watch this movies!! It's your destiny, not to watch Spidey 2!.
Instead, we caught a few subway sandwiches and coffee, and headed to find a lost tanker!! Yeah, injinuity had some office work, locating a missing tanker, and we were all over the route of the tank, searching for it!! Later, we went to a gaming cafe, where we played Counter Strike. Or to be more precise, we were the dummy targets for the other players, who were waaaaaaay faster and a lot more accurate than us. Did I mention that they were also younger than us?? The young guns beat the life out of us. I died 21 deaths, and scored 1 point (I have this feeling that hte lone person I killed was injinuity's avatar). Gaming continued till 2:30 in the morning, and then we split.
Gaming after such a long time (more than two years?) made me realize that I had completely lost touch with them. It was like the first time all over again, with me feeling pukey and getting dizzy. But the enjoymeent was definately worth it.
We will try to catch Spidey 2 again today, lets see...

Sucky-Yucky...

Had lunch with injinuity today at the sushi place that I had discovered, only to find that they don't serve sushi unless its for a very large order, like 50 or 100 pieces!!
Instead, we settled for a chicken teriyaki, a fried squid something, and a suki yaki soup.
Now, teriyaki, you already know. This one was equally good, thuogh the quantity was less (so was the price).
The Squid was a revelation, thuogh. I had prepared myself mentally that it would be weird, and I was just experimenting it. But the meat was quite good! A little tough, it didn't tast too sea-foody. And the spices were good too.
And then there was the Suki Yaki. Or rather, Sucky Yucky. It was sea food soup, with crabs, squids, noodles, onions and a few leafs. And lots and lots of water. So I ended up tasting crabs as well. Imagine, me a sea food non-enthusiast having a go at no one, but two new sea creatures!! The crab meat was, again, quite good. Very soft and tender. But there was not much to it. Most of it was a shell, and then there was little meat in it somewhere.
The Sucky Yucky was the worst, but the squid and the teriyaki were good. The bill was a little steep, but no qualms.
Also, yesterday evening, I introduced injinuity to the pleasures of a Nepalese momo, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. More power to the momo!!! Too bad only the mutton momos are available here. would have loved to try uot the veg andthe chicken ones as well...
I am catching up on Spidey two again, with injinuity (again). Hmmm, we seems to be spending too muc htime together. What say, bro?

Feelin' Good...

I don't know why, but I feel good today. Maybe it has to do with the cruising around the town that I did today...
Also, teh mystery of the fine cup of coffee at the restaurant on the Al Khor-Doha road was revealed to me by injinuity. It seems that they put a little ice cream in the coffee!! Vanilla coffee!! Now howzzat!! That surely explains the unique taste of the coffee, and also the slight lump I felt in the coffee when I stirred the coffee... Not sure I want ot try it at home or in the office.
Talking of office, the big boss and my immediate boss have left for interviewing people for the office. This is just great, I am being denied a holiday, cos they can't find another Hindi person. Makes me so, so mad!!
A new development in the office. We have a brand new authorizing thingy in our office, and this one uses our finger imprints for granting access into the office. The down part is that it is quite sensitive, and since people tend to leave their imprint on the screen, the machine goes conkers. As a result, at any given time, half of our office is stuck either outside trying ot get inside, or inside trying to go outside!! Even when it works properly, it takes 15 seconds to open the door. People are missing the access card system already.

Coffee Odyssey...

My coffee hunt continues. The place on the Al Khor- Doha road where I drank the good coffee has lost its lusture for me. I went there again yesterday, and the coffee didn't taste so good. And it's not that I have gotten used to it. I think it's just that the coffee is not a mystery to me anymore. When I first drank it with injinuity, it tasted really good. I thought it must be some other coffee, and not the nescafe that is usually served here. But when into the restaurant the next day, I discovered that they serve it from a coffee vending machine, and that shattered my illusions. It was just another cup of coffee to me.
After returning from watching Spiderman 2, I decided to get a cup of coffee again. So I pulled up to a random mallu restaurant that look decent, and ofdered a cup of coffee. The coffe I got there was strictly by the numbers. Very predictable, could be had anywhere, with lots and lots of sugar. So far, the best coffee I had was at The Coffee Cottage in the City Center, and the coffeee I make for myself in the office.
I really put in a lot of effort for the coffee in my office. I add a drop or two of water to the mixture of sugar and coffee, and I stir it for nearly nearly 20 minutes till its color changes from dark brown to a very light shade of brown (mulatto?).
Then I add boiling water, and milk that I have specially purchased for this purpose. Regular milk, not full cream milk or double cream milk. They tend to make the coffee unduly sweet. Then beat it, don't stir it. This will make the froth rise even more. Yand Yenjoy tha caafi, saar!!!
On a separate thought, given how I make my coffee, cna I go to a cafe and ask for coffee,'shaken, not stirred'!! ;)

Spidey 2...WOW!!!

So I finally saw Spiderman 2 yesterday, and all I cna say about the movie is, YES! YES! YES! The movie is FANTASTIC!!
Right from the first frame till the last, its one big thrill ride! Sam Raimi has outdone himself with this movie. But let me just make it clear that any comparision between this movie and the X-Men franchise is unjust to both of them. They are unbeatable in their own way. While the X.Men franchise is a study of society and the prejudices it levels on those that do not ift in it, Spidey 2 is all about facing up to your resposibility. With great power comes great responsibility. And add to that, the thrills. Those are the reasons I went to watch the movie, and it didn't disappoint.
The movie begins with Peter Parker struggling to juggle college, work and superhero duties. Surprisingly, it found resonance with me. I really don't know why, but when Peter Parker runs from one thing to another, I could empathise with him. Maybe it had to do with my experiences while I was working in India. I was never in time, and so I always had to rush!!
Also relate worthy was PP worrying about money. I have begun to do that lately!! And the rent issue in the movie!! Its the biggest issue in my life right now!!
One thing about I like about these superhero movies is that they manage to put in some sort of wisdom in all the unbelievable things that happen on the screen. consider, for example, the quote that with gret powers come great responsibility. And then there was a moment in the movie when Dr. Otto Octavius (soon to be the villian Doc Ock) explains to PP about intellligence being not a gift, but a talent, that needs to be nutured (at least thats how I remember it). Dumb, but really profuond for such a movie.
And I totally agree with all the critics who are praising the character of J. Jonah Jameson. He was really a good highlight of the film. Just like I remember his character from the Spiderman cartoon that I saw.
Also worth mentioning was the entire train sequence. Masterfully done, IMO. And the part when Spidey has a power relapse, and has to take an elevator to go down. Humorous.
The best part of the movie, in my opinion, was the fact that I had the same treatement as I had when I saw 'Main Hoon Na', namely, I was the only person entire threater!! Not that I ran around the cinema hall, but it feels grand that one is the only person in the cinema hall. In fact, I think that I was the only customer in the entire mall, cos after the movie (I saw the last show) when I went out, there were only two cars parked there, one mine, and the other had to be of someone working there. So it's no a bad deal, being a kind for just 30 bucks!!

Reply to injinuity

injinuity said...
oh nooooo I wanted to ruin it for ya again today....

Muwhahahaha (evil laugh)

Spidey 2....

Couldn't watch Spiderman 2 again yesterday, and all due to injinuity again!!@#$%^#@#$. We met up, and were talking till 11:35, in the night. The movie had already started, and so I did not want ot watch it midway.
But I made up for it today. I have purchased the ticket for the movie already, and will now have to watch it. Incidently, hte movie begins at 11:45, so I could have still caught it yesterday!!

Spidey again....

Boo hoo hoo, I didn't get to see Spiderman 2 yesterday. *sob sob, sniff sniff* All my plans went into disarray when injinuity called me up and asked me if I wanted to accompany him to Al Khor. So, I being a cruier, and in love with the Doha-Al Khor stretch of road, agreed. I had it all worked out; I would meet him at 10:30, we would go to Al Khor, and be back by 11:25, just in tiem for me to catch the 11:30 show at the Landmark, or the 12:00 show at the City Center. But things jsut went haywire after that. injinuity was not in a mood for speeding yesterday as I had hoped, and so we cruised at around 80, I think. injinuity, it seems, discovered the joys of driving slowly yesterday. A verrrry fine timing, pal. ^$#^$%^$%&$^$.
So anyways, I am hoping to catch the show today, at the Landmark again. I have tried out all hte cinema halls here, and Landmark is the only one that remains.
While driving with injinuity yesterday, I had a very good cup of coffee at a small restaurant on the Doha-Al Khor road, courtsey injinuity. In fact, it was so good, I was there again today in the afternoon for the coffee. Yesterday, I had the cuppachino, and today it was the mocchachino. But to tell you the truth, both tasted the same. But the taste was good, so its forgiven.
This discovery mad me realise that I have completely sold out to the big restaurants here. I no longer search out the newer places or try out newer cuisines. Like when I am in the mood for momos, there is only one place I go to. Must become an explorer again.

Reply to Bunny..

b mamu,
i did check it and my acoount is aruna_rulz4ever@yahoo.ca i did't find it on bubujiji.
could u write it on sweet demon itself pleaseeeee!!!???.

Bunny, below is the link for the site from where you can download the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Its free, just fill in the form, and click on 'continue'. On the next page that comes, click on 'Download'. The file size is about 8 mb, so it will take time. All the best!

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Sea Trip

First fo all, and observation. Summer is fading, and winter is arriving. I say this because there is a slight chill in the wind nowadays. Even at noon time. All this makes it rather confusing, actually. The sun burns you, but then the wind is at hand to soothe you. Its nice in a crazy kind of way.
Today I went to the seaside at Messaid. And like I said, the summer is passing, but the water was still good. I reached there at around 5:30 in the morning, and left at around 8:30 in between, I sawm for around two hours.
Well, not swam actually, I just stood in the water for two hours is a more apt description of what I did there. As I stepped into the water, I realised that I had forgotten how to swim!! I could float, paddle with my arms and feet, but I was still at the same point where I satared. I know that because I was noticing my position with respect to my car which was parked on the shore. No matter how hard I paddled, I always was at the same angle to my car. I tried backstroke, breast stroke, free style, but to no avail. In the endd, I finally gave up and started doing what I call, the head-above-the-water ballet, which is clasely realted to the underwater ballet, which I could not do cos I am a hopeless swimmer.
The head-above-the-water ballet is basically stretching and striking positions in water. Its really good, cos you can strike the weirdest positions, and people will not know, cos your body is submerged. I realised that I can tough my knees to my chest while standing on one foot! I cannot do it on land without my head later touching the floor with a loud thud. so whadda know, I am a latent ballet dancer!
Andd speaking of ballet, do you know, that there is no word for a male ballet dancer??? A ballerina is a female ballet dancer, but a male is only a male ballet dancer!! This is injustice!!!!!
Tonight I am going to watch Spiderman 2. Yeaaaaaah!!!! Finally!

Reply To Bunny

dear b mamu,
are you deliberately ignoring me?????.
i am anxiously waiting for your reply!!!.
take care
love
bunny

No Bunny, I am not ignoring you in any manner. In fact, You are ignoring to check your email, because I have replied to you by mail. Pls check the bubujiji mail, not arunarulez mail.

B Mamu

p.s. In case you didn't read that mail, buy the MS Office Suite, Home Edition. There will be Powerpoint in it. As for reading pdf files, head to www.abode.com, and search for the acrobat reader, and download it.

Hate oppression, but fear the oppressed

A gem of a quote from Sir V.S. Naipaul:

'Hate oppression, but fear the oppressed'

A classic two minute bite, one would be tempted to think, but when you go below the surface, you find that it is a really profound observation.
The oppressed do not need to be pitied, but rather, they deserve some amount of fear.
Now, Sir Vidia is a person whom you either like, or you loath. You can't be neutral about him. One can be amicable about Salman Rushdie, but not Sir Vidia. I am on the latter group. I have read a couple of books by him.
There was 'A House for Mr. Biswas', which I feel, started really well, but towards then end, he just speeded it up. Also, towards the end, he was talking more about Mr. Biswas' son Anand than about Mr. Biswas. It seemed to me that he just got tired with the novel towards the end, and decided to finish it as soon as possible.
Then there was 'India: An Area of Darkness', about his travels in 1969. I really loved this book. Naipaul has managed to capture the essence of India in the book. Of special note is the part where he hitches a ride from a family traveling on a hired bus. Just brilliant.
His sequel of sorts to this non-fiction, 'India: A Wounded Civilization' was less of a travelogue and more of his meandering thoughts. Also, he screwed up the Indian history royally in this book. There was an article about this in rediff by William Dalrymple, author of 'White Mughals'(which I intend to read), where convincingly pointed out the errors of Sir Vidia in his book, and I agreed with him whole heartedly. It was this book that pushed me towards the other camp, so to speak.
I plan to read the third book on his trips to India, 'India: A Million Mutinies Now' soon. Jiji has recommended it highly, so it should be good.
And then there is his last book, 'Half A Life'. What can I say, what can I say about this book, other than that its a complete rot. Naipaul deal with displacement and search for a home in his books, but in this one, he took them to a new height - that of absurdity. I could not fathom what the hell he was trying to say in this book Utter crap. And to think that it was released around the time he got the Noble Prize!! The irony of it was not lost, at least on me!
Now, Sir Vidia is coming out with his latest book, Magic Seeds. Again, its about displacement, about the protagonist from his last novel, Willie Chandran, fighting a Maoist battle in India, and wondering what he is doing there. I am intrigued.
All in all, whatever your opinion about Sir Vidia, one thing everyone agrees is that he is a gifted observer, and is bold enough to speak his mind, unlike Salman Rushdie, who I think is quite media savvy. The last bold thing he did was 'Satanic Verses', and that got him in a thick soup. Case in point to Sir Vidia, this:

Indians victims of their own civilization: V S Naipaul

I have to agree with all the things that he says.

In a final conclusion, Sir Vidia Surajprasad Naipaul is like Karl Marx. Love him or loath him, but you just can't ignore him. More power to him!!

Moving on, here's a nice blog by a lady who follows news stories usually ignored by the big media. It's called Flogging The Simian. Of particular interest is her coverage of the Jonathan Idema case in Afghanistan. Read it.

And finally, some good news at last. SPIDERMAN 2 WILL BE RELEASING THIS WEEKEND!! Yes, Spidey is finally coming to Doha. I have been hearing nothing but rave reviews of this film online. It has outdone X-Men and X2 as far as movie adaptations comics, and that's really saying something. I love the X-Men franchise, and their quality is good indeed. If Spidey has overtaken them this time, then it's worth a dekho. So Friday night, I will be at a theater nearby. Rejoice, folks!!

Idiots....

My search for a jounralist foolish enough to take up a job as a translator is still on, but no sign of success. Even Ashwin Honawar rejected it!! I am not surprised, though. But how to explain to these idiots who happen to be my bosses? "We specifically want journalists", they say. Look around you, fools, no one among your employees is a journo in the truest sense of the word. If you guys want to live in your world of false grandeur, where professional journos work for you, be my guest. But when you start sending me on search odesseys for the same, I digesss. [Beatles]Very strange, indeed[/Beatles]

Moving on, I forgot to mention a real treat I had yesterday. I mean musically. The radio was doing a Dharamendra special, and the list of song they played was really good. Started off with main Jat yamla paglaa deewana (woo hoo!!), then came rafta rafta, followed by pal pal dil ke paas, aaj mausam bada baimaan hai and lots more. Now, I like Dharamendra, but I never payed attention to the qualitiy of songs that have been picturised on him. Look at the song, arent they tempting? I enjoyed a full hour of Dharam Paaji. Sweet.
And speaking of Dharam Paaji, have a look at these,



and



Now tell me, who is more roman? Who is the true gladiator? Who is more Achielles? Tell me, huh? huh?

Not Good...

Things are not turning good for me. First, it was the rent increase that aunty talked about, and today, my boss tells me that I cannot take my annual vacation in Oct!!! Some problem that they have at the top (no substitute), so they cannot allow me to go till Nov. Chotu's chances look very slim, since they want a real journalist. Do they know that they don't have a real journalist working for them right now???
I am not impressed by all the recent advances. Bad. Very Bad.

injinuity said:

I thought you finally stopped listening to junk hindi songs and started listening to some good old rock bankds like Queen

Pal, what do mean I started to listen to Queen??? I am a Queen listener since I was 10!! You take back what you just said or else.......
BTW, I am currently listening to Rolling Stones, and 'I can't get no satisfaction'

The Queen...

I finally had some work today!! Two pages about the queen talking about he importance of education at a UNESCO conference. With proper editing, the two pages could have been reduced to two, maybe three paragraphs. But who cares...
And talk of the queen, do you know what Moza/Mouzah means in Arabic? It means a banana!! Just think about it, her parents named her banana!! And now she is Queen Banana, daughter of Nasser from the family of Al Misnad!!! *snort*
I am not enjoying gymming nowadays. No particular reason, I just am not.
And yes, an obcious observation- I am a masterly fabulous cook.

Money, Money, Money...

An uneasy development today. Aunty hinted that she will be raising my rent from december onwards. Already, I paying my rent out of my own pocket, and if she raises it by 200 bucks, my finances will be severely dented. The prices of houses are generally going up in Doha, and she says that she isgetting offers from prosons who are willing to pay up to 1,500 bucks. Naturally, I can't afford it, so I will have to search for a new accomodation. A bachelor accomodation. Costing less. Less than 600 bucks. Sigh.
A completely no-work-day today.
In the usual blog news, Prof. Juan Cole offers some nice insight to the current status on the war on terror in this piece.

Hot News...

Hot news, Arun has bought a house!! In Mumbai!! Yeah, I know, it came a shock to me as well. I haven't confirmed it as yet, will do it soon.
This news really forces me to think. My friends have started thinking about life and investtment, and here I am, being a bachelor (read that as being a jerk). Must think of the future. Hmmm...I'm thikning, I'm thinking, ok??!!??

Jason Bourne Moment of the Day: Yesterday, I gave a lift to a Bangladeshi worker. He comes up to me and starts talking in Arabic. I ask him to speak in Hindi, and he is surprised at first. Then he asks me if I am from India. I say yes. He replies, "I thought you were from Lebanon". What the...

There were more fun quotes from this guy. He asks me if I am from Punjab, and I say yes. So when I drop him, I ask him his name. He replies, and then mentions that he is a Muslim. I say that I am a Hindu. He says,"I know that. Since you are a Punjabi, you must be a Hindu" (????) Again, what the?????

Cars....

Second post, same day. Sort of like making up for my missed day. heh.
I got my car serviced, and my free service over, it cost a bomb (before yo usay that I am being gujju again, injinuity, let me clarify that spending money on cars or motorbikes is useless, IMO. Better to learn how these gizmos work and take care of them yourself. But I am lazy, and thats another thread, another time). But I suppose I should be grateful to them, cos they told me that I had got a discount (didn't show on the bill). The car runs smoothly now.
I was without a means transport for two days, and I came ot realise the changes going on in Doha. First and foremost, the taxis are being phased out. taxis that are older than 1985 are not being renewed. As a result, the taxi drivers are going jobless. I travelled with some of these persons in a shared taxi, and they were all pretty sad. And it is sad, that the ogvernment takes away their right to earn a living in a legitimate manner, just cos it sees an opportunity to earn money itself.
The other bad news of this whole sad incidnet is that the newer taxis will costlier-minimum charge is QR 3, and it shoots up after that.
A consequence of all this is that there are lesser taxis on the road, which is bad when you have to go to office at two in the afternoon, in the sweltering heat. The private car owners seem to have become part time axi drivers. I took these for two day, and they charge WAY above the meter. (again, injinuity, I am not being gujju here, its just he principle of the matter).
Sad.
There is anotehr car story, but that is really tragic. It has the ingredients of dream, hope, missed opportunities, all the ingredients that go to make a good soap opera. It really tears my heart apart. Will post it one of these day, cos this story will employ all my literary skills to tell it. (Spoiler: its about a Beetle)

Birds of a feather...

A thousand apologies again for not posting yesterday, but it was not my fault. Blogger didn't update my post, which is why people didn't see any new posts from me. But my last post lame anyways. It was me bitching about my colleague, S (a different one, this time). He is the office smart ass. Came up to me, and started bitching about the office in general, about how things here were done so unporfessionally and about how didn't feel inspired to give his best, and had now given up on producing a quality work. On my part, I felt like I was watching my self a few years ago. My outlook hasn't changed, but I now keep quite about such things.
Now, this is not the first time that a colleague has confided such things with me (what is it about me that people want to empty their frustrations before me?). Previously, S (the woman) has also spoken about the office ineptitude to me, but for her part, being the super efficient person that she is, she has a point.
And then there was L, who has since left and joined Al Jazeera. He was the first one, actually. Called all his colleagues in the office parasites!! But I don't know what he was so frustrated about, he seemed to be sailing along as well like the erst of us. All this makes me realise, brids of a feather do flock together!!
Spiderman has not yet released. I was hoping it would be released today, but no. OTOH, Dhoom has released. But I don't really want to watch that one. Very iffy. But I am very pissed off that Spiderman has not yet released!!
Oh yes, final observation for today- I AM A FABULOUS COOK!! But a little unadventerous. Will try something new now. So heres looking at you, gutsy gourmet

In the News...

Peace with India possible despite Kashmir: Pak

Encouraging.

Keeping fingers crossed.

On other news,

Does Krishna personify the modern man?

Pfffttt. The downward slide of the Times groups is evident in this peice. Worth a read, if ony for its sheer stupidity. I left a comment on this. At teh time of my last check, it had not been published. Pls check it. I am show_off

The Wise One...

From my horoscope on www.astrology.com:

"Pearls of wisdom fall every time you open your mouth"

And I say, [Keanu Reeves in Matrix]"I know Kung Fu."[/Keanu Reeves in Matrix]

Or better still, [The Kid in The Sixth Sense]"I see dead people."[/The Kid in The Sixth Sense]

Cool!!

[u]Witty Moment A Few Days Back:[/u] So on the night I had my emotional loop, I was working till late in the night, till two hours after my shift. My colleague, S comes up to me and asks,"Why are you still here? Why haven't you left?"
Me: "Still working"
S: "Lots of work?"
M: "Yeah, all those Independence day reports to be translated"
S: "Oh"
M: "Yeah, Qatar celebrates its independence day, and I get bonded!!"

Now tell me, am I funny or WHAT!!!

And yes, on Janamashtmi,


(मईया मोरी, मैं नहिं माखन खायो)

Isn't it cute??

Emotional Loop

A thousand apologies for not posting yeaterday. I had a lot of work to do, and was in the office till late in the night. As a result, I couldn't post.
so, anyways, moving on, I must mention the emotianal loop I was in day before yesterday. Let me explain.
In my last post, I explained about my financial health, and that got me worried. I resolved that I must save money. But all that talk about less money was really depressing. So after office, I headed to the City Center, to have some cinnamon rolls to cheer me up. Once, there, one thing kept leading to another. I had a cinnamon roll, went past the theater, and bought a ticket for School of Rock. A few stpe, I passed the restaurant Nando's. So I think,'Lets have some Portugese today, but lets stick to the less expensive items'. I later find that the restaurant is expensicve all the way. Even the water there costs more. A chicken sandwich for 16 BUCKS!!! But I had it nonethless. It made me happy. So, in order to drive away my financial blues, I go ahead a spend like abandon, even though I had no intention of doing it. This is what I mean when I talked of emotional loop. And take note, readers, [solemn voice]MALLS ARE EVIL[/Solemn voice].
The movie was quite ok, thuogh. I don't think I like the Jack Black brand of humor, but this movie was quite nice.
Yesterday, I again ate out. I had some coupons remaining, and it felt bad, just to let them go. So of I headed to Pizza Hut and had a small Chicken Supreme, with Fajitas in it. When I ordered just the pizza and no drinks, the waitress view me like I was a freak :-)

Oh, and I almost forgot,

HAPPAY JANAMASHTMI!!!

I am fasting today. So far, so good.

Low on vitamin M

Yikes!!! I checked my account yesterday, and discovered that my finances are running a little low. Now readers, don't panic. I have enough to last for an entire year. Its just that I had go to used to seeing my finances swell up on a monthly basis when I was living with Papaji and Mummyji, that the negative effect that living alone has on them is a little hard to swallow. And this month's expenditures were a necessary - a mobile phone. But that's all it took for me to go into a shock. What's that line, 'Ek machchar...'??? Looks like the laptop and the PS2 will have to wait...

Moving on,

"LOl stumbled on ya site by a common friend been reading its hilarious the color combi r kool go on pen ya script u r prompting many others to do Imitating is the best compliment u can ever get

cHEerS Angel"

I don't know who this guy is, but I will say, I have been blessed by an angel. *sniff sniff*

Oh, and there is another thing that I usually forget to blog. Remember, how I blogged once that everyday, one of your wishes does come true. Well, it happened to me two days ago. AND HOW!!! Read on...
See, two days ago, after returning from office, I wondered to myself,'Hmm, its been a long time since I saw a Mithun-da film'. Now, believe me, readers, this was not exactly a wish, but merely thinking out loud.
So anyways, I decide to watch the Saurabh Shukla directed flick, Mudda. After rewinding the tape, I turn on the TV, and yes, you guessed it right, A MITHUN FILM IS PLAYING ON TV!!! It was a perfect 80s film, starring Mithun, Dimple Kapadia and Mandakini. Arrrrrgh, the agony, the torture of watching the film!!!$%$&%^&%^**^&*^&*^. imdb informs me that the name of the film is 'Pyar Ke Naam Qurbaan', and that it was released in 1990. I think they have got it wrong about the release year. But who cares. The moral of the story, if you must know, is:

[solemn voice]Be careful what you wish for, for it may come true[/solemn voice]

Another thing, yesterday, I went to a restaurant with my colleague A again. He was in the mood for Indian cuisine again. So I had a repeat performance of "Indian cuisine goooood!!" again. And he was fascinated by the Nepali waitress there, insisting that she was Burmese. How he came to that conclusion, I don't know. So I called her over and asked her. She clarified that she was Nepali, and he was silent after that. On her part, the waitress was very gracious about the whole thing. And A paid, though I had to chip in some money cos he was short of cash. Boo hoo, my standing offer for dinner in a French restaurant goes up in a tandoori flame, boo hoo!!

Lots of work...

Had lot of work today, for a change. Two pages full of translation, and if that's not enough, try two full pages of typos adn gramatical errors. I was scratching my head half the time. Grrrr.....
Went to do some photography today, since its been a really long, long time indeed. So I drove the car all the way to Umm Said, and took pics of the sand dunes. It was 12 noon, the sun was blazing, the heat was intolerable, but I felt good. In fact, I will go there again next Friday, to swim this time. The water was reeeeeealllly inviting.

Evil Deed of the Day: I showed off my new mobile to uncle and aunty today. Uncle was espically impressed by it, and now is secretly lusting for it. But aunty said that though uncle needs to buy a new mobile himself, this one's too expensive. But I did my duty, and put a spanner in their plans, so that when they go out to buy, uncle will be in two minds. Mu ha ha ha ha ha ha

And yes, injinuity pal, I am leaning on buying a PS2 myself. Let see.....

Purchases

I made a purchase today. I GOT A NEW MOBILE!!!! Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!! Its a Nokia clam shell (the latest). It was a long time in the offing, actually. My last mobile was gradually breaking down, losing signals, going off the network for no apparent reason. So I had to get a new one. The new one is a camera phone, and also a video phone, though I can record only 20 seconds worth of stuff on it. And it cont me a bomb. 1,300 bucks. My finances are looking weak. And if that is not enough, I have planned some heavy expenditure for this month. First, I am planning to buy a comp, a laptop, preferably. Scanners are going pretty cheap, and I do need to upload some pics. And the laptop will also be needed to build Tin's website. Fortunately, there is a back-to-school sale going on right now, so I think I will get a good deal on comps. Was also planning to buy a printer, but am not to sure, since I don't think I will be printing anything. And yes, the PS2 is going for 675. Might just buy it, but am in two minds. You see, if I have a comp, then I don't really need the PS2, since comp gaming is powergaming. And console gaming is, well, console gaming. But I have lusted for the console for so long (more than two years), and now that it seems attainable, I have doubts. And yes, another plus point is that some cool titles like 'The Getaway' for the PS2 are also going on sale. That's a big bonus. Lets see...

Another new thingy... I had some spoilt milk sitting in the refrigerator, so today I made doodh ka halwa. I am getting adventurous, yeah!!

Jason Bourne Moment of the Day: As I was paying for the mobile, the lady at the reception suddenly asked,'Are you Filipino?'. I flipped,'Noooooo, I am an Indian. Don't I look like one?'
On a more contemplative note, Who Am I?

Odds and Ends

It's freedom for Indian hostages, finally
Finally!! Some good news from India!!! Its about time.
But looks like it came at a cost:
$500,000 paid as ransom

Meanwhile, things are not good for our neighbours. I feel sorry for the 12 Nepalese drivers. My sympathies with them.

Moving on, I committed a sin. I gave in to gluttony and lust. Let me explain. After I got my GMail account (thanks again, buddy), I happneed to go to a forum, where a person had many GMail invites, and was giving those away. My rational self tried to reason that since I already had a GMail account, I really didn't need another one. But then, me evil side kicked in, and said that its always good to have a few extra accounts. After five minutes of mental torment, I finally gave in to the temptation. I have lusted afer the GMail account, and one didn't seem enough. So I got another one. But right afer I had got those, I was struck by pangs of guilt. I couln't undo what I had done, so I posted a message on the board, offering my six free invites to anyone. So far, I have given away three, and three more to go. Its my penence.

Other than that, I really don't feel like blogging today.