Peeping toms unite....

As I enter my housing society, I suddenly have a sinking feeling that I am being stalked. Wherever I go, i feel few pairs of eyes piercing my back . I turn around to catch the stalker but alas i find no one around. I almost sound like the protagonist of Sidney Sheldon's "Tell me your dreams", but in reality this is not MPD( for people who must be wondering whether I have completely lost it :D )..

This is what I call OCN . It usually strikes when I am sprinting faster than P. T. Usha to catch my 9:30 Madras Mail office shuttle ( see I leave my house at 9:28, so you can just about imagine the scene). I am almost lunging for the finish line and lo, I am struck by a virulent attack of OCN. Unlike other viral infections, OCN usually begins with a pleasant smile so initial reactions are mild.

This is a conversation between me and OCN virus, yeah the virus talks too :D

OCN : So Deepti, you leave for work at this time daily?

Me: Yes Aunty,

OCN: So you are late today?

Me: Just a little (No, I am running the Mumbai Marathon next year, hence the sprint :( )


Before the attack becomes more intense, I smile my brightest smile and run off, knowing very well that this is only a temporary relief .



Scene 2:

My weekend had just begun, and my long suffering mother who secretly suspects I am turning aethist, coaxed me to atleast put my attendance at the nearby Ayyappa Temple.

Sadly, she doesnt know its not god i am againt but some of the viral attacks I am subjected to each time I go there, each being more vicious than the other.



OCN: How are you Mole? Visiting the temple after quite a few days?



Me: I am fine aunty ( big smile to avoid the questions).

OCN:How is work?

Me: Fine

OCN: So when are you getting married?

Me: Smile ( Actually gritting my teeth), No idea aunty, amma and acchan are looking out. ( And they also think they are running out of options)

OCN: I am looking forward to a sadhya ( wedding feast in malayalam) soon...

Me: ( I almost mumble the name of nearby mallu restaurant for sadhya) Silence...

I have never prayed as intently as that day and on many days when this strikes me ... God , why single me out for all this torture?



Now the incident that triggered this blog,

Last night one of my friends came down to borrow a book. I had just finished handing it to him , when he told looked at the top floor balconies and exclaimed " Deepti call the fire brigade"
startled I looked up, and to my horror, OCN had struck again. In the process of having a good look at my "male" friend , OCN had got tangled in the balcony grill. With great difficulty, the fire brigade rescued the poor soul. ( But I am sure she must be grinning at the breaking news she had at hand, isnt breaking news worth all the pain folks .. wink .. wink.. )

Long live OCN .. Overtly Curious Neighbours .. atleast they keep the fire brigade busy with their antics.. and I am seriously planning to run the marathon .. or maybe the obstacle race next Olympics as I practice daily .. dodging and running away from OCN :D

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Kimi Rules!!!!

The Formula 1 season has been one of the best I have seen.
To have a 3 way fight for the title is the stuff dreams are made of. The start of the race was the best Ferrari could have asked for. The moment Kimi edged out Lewis, he went into top gear and then there was no stopping him . Looks like Kimi's usual bad luck with the gearbox got transferred to Hamilton ( wasnt that really wicked of me.. but I am so delirious about his victory)...
The 3 pit stop strategy of Mclaren proved to be their undoing. Even the Ferrari haters would agree that ist their strategy and team work that got Kimi here. Alonso dug his own grave with his chronic "foot-in -the mouth" disease. Looks like its back to Renault for him. Massa.. boy you are some team player .. but please dont go the way Barrichello did .. you need to win too ...
But i feel for Lewis , he drove really well for a rookie and maybe with little more luck on his side I wouldnt have been writing this post. Better luck next time Lewis...
and to end the post, here's a quote from his post race conference

"People will probably try to make up more stories about me but I'm not going to change myself, I never did before and it's not going to happen in the future," Raikkonen added.
"I lead my life as I want and that's it."

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Chak De India

I had almost forgotten I have my blog until one of my friends reminded me of my erratic posts(glad that people keep a tab) ... Last couple of month have been too hectic, loads of new things to learn and work on simultaneously...( who would have dreamed that oracle and UNIX have more compatibility issues than an average married couple :) )

Weekends just seem to fly past and before I know.. Lo and behold it’s Monday again... as the famous lines of the poem Leisure,
“What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare" :)

While on the topic of social networking, good o'le Orkut seems to be in news all the time and for all the wrong reasons too. People need to learn that it isn’t possible to monitor what every individual does, if not Orkut (which they threaten to ban daily) , the country's tech wizards will come with something else. What all will they ban??

There is one thing though that brings a real wide smile on my face these days, the sports scene in the country these days. Sania is in the form of her life. The hockey scene is picking up with India reaching the semi-finals of Asia cup. the cherry on the cake is the Nehru Cup win. For all the football fans, finally we could scream for our Indian team. The self belief shown by the footballers was heartening... hope this is a beginning of a new era (already dreaming of India making it to next Football World cup :) )

Hockey, the name itself floods me with a sense of deja vu. The school days hockey practices, playing in the slush on the school grounds, exemptions from exams .. the list is endless. Chak De India just took me back to the best days i spent in my alma mater. Its so wonderful to see people take hockey seriously now. Hope this is just the silver lining needed to improve the players' conditions and the playing conditions ( trust me the training camps are actually like refugee camps :) ). I am sure Dhyanchand must be smiling proudly in his grave too.
So here's to Indian hockey ... Chak De India...make us proud always :)

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Walking sticks and Indian Presidents....

After the fantastic weekend ... with the amazing race at Indi and Real winning La liga .. the week started on a bouyant note. Hamilton is actually improving with each race.. the way he matched up to Alonso's pressure was amazing ... for a change Kimi's engines lived till the end of the race and did not succumb to heart failures as it always does. The competition between Kimi and Massa was superb to say the least. As i write this , I am already dreaming about Silverstone.
Since i have a soft corner for Hamilton .. just hoping he triumphs on home turf.
The whole of this week has been so hectic that I dunno how the 5 days flew. More so because I was almost buried in work.
With the presidential polls looming over India.. I am dreaming of a day when Indian presidents wouldn't need someone to hold their hand in order to even walk ... ( remember Shankardayal Sharma ) .. our present nominee also isnt far behind .

The Sivaji fever has caught up to me tooo .. hope to watch the movie this weekend ...
Singning off the week that was :)

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Somber Saturday

Saturday started out as all normal weekends do .. on a lazy note ..
As my bro had his paper in the afternoon, the first half of the day till 11 had to be spent in forced silence ( he doesnt like any noise in the house when he is studying & for me its kinda difficult).
My cousins came in the evening and Deepak got me the amazing iriver X20 MP4 player from Dubai ... its actually my gift to my bro as he goes off to join his job in August at Schneider Electric.

The latter half of the day was just normal as i caught up on my reading ( reading Fontainhead again... cant seem to get enough of Howard Roark ... I hope God still makes guys with the same mould :D.. but even if he does, where are they? ). Missed the F1 qualifiers coz i read the schedule wrong :(
Saturday however ended on a somber note, there was a phone call at 1:30 on our landline. I dread late night calls, always get bad news. This call was no different, one of our family friends expired suddenly. Just got me thinking on how life changes in matter few minutes. So many times , we take people especially our loved ones for granted. We forget to tell them we care and when we want to.. its too late anyways ..

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Return of the prodigy

Being a huge Ferrari fan, the racing season has been quite a disappointment, but for the rise of Lewis Hamilton. I vouch for the fact that there is no harm in acknowledging genius even if it happens to be your competitor. His colleague, a certain Mr. Alonso though has some difficulty in accepting this fact. His insecurity shows in the form of his silly gaffes ( which I dont mind anyways :) ) . Kimi Riakonnen is blessed with good luck which seems to just increase each season ..and he does make it a point to share with his team too :) .

I miss Schumi but the competition just got tougher for Alonso from the least expected quarters ... just in his backyard.
Guess there is something between me and Spain... Nadal, Alonso and Barcelona to just name a few. Like the popular ad punchline says aptly "And the battle continues....."

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