(A)Musing - # 2

Products like fairness creams, lotions or moisturizers, hair dyes (?!) or colours, breakfast cereal, shampoos, etc. are becoming distinct - with 'For Men' and 'For Women' types available.


Products like footwear (chappals), watches, bags, jeans, trackpants, etc. are becoming unisex.

Amusing, isn't it?

(A)Musing - # 1

Mouthwash
Facewash
Handwash
Hairwash
Bodywash


Washup, ooops! Wassup next?

Thoughts

STOP IT! But it didn’t. It never did.


The harder she tried, the more persistent it became. It never was an easy thing to tame – the thoughts (or the mind, whichever you prefer). She never did realize when it became a part of her natural being – this excessive obsession of thinking… too much, too often. No good comes of it, they told her. She knew as much! And yet… and yet, she could not help herself - the incessant train of thoughts barging across her mind tracks, sparing nothing in its way. She was fed up of it herself… the habit of ruminating the cud of thoughts that kept re-surfacing in her mind whenever it was disturbed. If only her will could stop the chatter that always ran in her head, if only it would clear her mind and make it blank like a clean slate, if only it stopped scrutinizing details back and forth, if only she could press some switch and turn it off… she would find some peace of mind.

Alas! It did not stop… It never did. But she hoped it would... some day...

WTF!!

GE!

AFAIK most of us are aware of acronyms. IMO (or IMHO), that's true. I thought so too. That's until I joined Infy and saw the BB. FYI, BB means Bulletin Board in Infy. (BTW, I see that I gave that one away. LOL!)

NOM to anyone, but this is crazy! ATM I am quite taken aback by what all can be 'acronymized' (if there can be such a word). So, JLT I thought - why not blog and make you go crazy too?

FYA - Find out what these acronyms mean and decipher my post completely. (It's simple. IOW - Google. HTH). But still DIY. You will enjoy it. I expect most of you might get to it ASAP. And I hope to see 'reactions' B4 EOD. TYT...I'm sure this has got you intrigued. FYK - Me too!

If you're pissed off by reading this message and are thinking "DND" or "MYOB"...NP. AFAIC, I'm enjoying every bit of it! And yea, TTYL. :-P (Of course, it's TBTILV)

To the others - LMK about it.

If you can get most of it on your own - WTG!! For the others who give up - I guess I will post it in Comments L8R on.

Hmmmm...TMI, yea? I think so too!
Anyway, BBL. HAND. TYVM and yea... YW! ... JK!

*****

P.S. 1 - I've tried to keep the message as coherent as possible. HYA!

P.S. 2 - The title was just to get you interested. That's all. Maybe you said that after you read this post. Doesn't matter. :-D

P.S. 3 - What with all the shortforms (or "initialisms"), this is my shortest post! (So far!)

Shopping Woes

As strange as that may sound, that’s the case for me. Shopping and Woes? Shopping is supposed to be a ‘feel-good’ factor, right… Retail therapy?? If you want to even begin to comprehend my concerns or sentiments, you need to be above a certain size-range (or personally know such people). Ah, yes…Now you’re beginning to get it.


To whoever who says “size does not matter” – You gotta be kidding me! Have you tried shopping? For clothes? For footwear?? It’s a sad but true fact that many of the stores do not cater to ‘heavier’ or ‘bigger’ people (what those terms mean is completely subjective, I agree). Whenever I go shopping I face this problem (not like I am that huge) – whatever I like is not available in a size that fits me, and whatever is available in my size need not necessarily be to my liking. C’mon! What’s with these people? Can’t they make clothes and footwear for a wider size-range?

When I go shopping for (ready-made) clothes, the first thing I check is for size. What’s the point checking for prints or designs I like, only to find that they don’t have it in my size? Then comes the pain of trials. Yes, pain. Carry a few to the trial room and then see if it ‘fits’. If yes, good. If not, back to the racks. That’s part of shopping for anyone, you might say. But when you have fewer options, each rejection can be more disappointing. And the whole funda about sizes itself is boggling. I mean, they say S, M, L, XL, XXL, but by now you also know that one brand’s XL is L in another. So when you go for trial, thinking it fits you, you are surprised to note that that is not the case. Again, back to the racks. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a little particular about how a dress fits me either - it should not be tight. I mean, I see a lot of heavy women dress really awkardly – things bulging and bobbing… (*shudder*). I’d rather be never seen like that, thank you. And when I see women much heavier than me who’re pretty well-dressed, I think to myself  “where did SHE get clothes from?” and have this inexplicable urge to run upto them and ask “where do you shop?” ! (Of course, it’s just an urge, I really don’t do that!) Come to think of it, not finding dresses your size maybe a little motivational… to shed some weight (a silver lining in the dark cloud philosophy). But then, that’s not going to solve the problem entirely either.

I happened to visit aLL (Future Group’s answer to plus-size fashion). The variety was very limited, as must be the case with many such stores. (I agree that not all clothes look great on heavy people, but not all look bad either). It was actually funny. I first visited Pantaloons and tried on some kurtas. The size (XL) was pretty ok, but maybe the next size could be better. Since that’s all they had, I walked across to aLL (right opposite it). And the lowest size there was big for me. So, where does that leave me? In an ‘uncatered to’ between! If I were to really say, manufacturers are losing out on a huge opportunity (quite literally too) by leaving out a growing segment (the pun is hard to miss, huh?). It is plain to see that many people visit stores and leave them reluctantly only because they can’t find garments their size. And I’m surprised to note that all this while nobody has done anything about it. I’m not talking of opening ‘plus-sized’ stores that are poor cousins to stores who cater to ‘normal’ people. Only if all the Levis, Pepes, Wranglers, Provogues, Pantaloons, Fashion Bazaars and many more would just make/stock outfits in two-three bigger sizes, they’d see a significant difference in their sales. Happily for me, I did find a couple of kurtis that fit me in Lifestyle. (You see how they’re going to earn my loyalty now, can’t you?)

Footwear – ditto. Maybe, it gets worse than clothes. I walk into stores to see these small sandals and shoes that are meant for petite, nimble girls (or women). Hello? What about me? I have large feet (atleast compared to what women are ‘supposed’ to have) and shopping for footwear makes me feel like Big Foot! “I like this, but do you have a bigger size??”, I almost always plead to the salesman. “No”, pat comes the reply, with a sheepish grin. Sigh!

I’d always think to myself, if I were to EVER open a store that sold clothes or footwear, it would definitely have larger sizes. But I don’t see THAT happening. So here I am, waiting for someone out there to try.

(P.S. Believe it or not, people at the other end of the spectrum - those who are too thin, also have ‘shopping woes’. But, of course, I am not the apt person to comment!).

Food Fixation!

Those who serve you everyday know better about your food preferences – whether it be your own mother or… the bhaiyyas at the Food Courts of Infy!

Now there is this (breakfast) food that’s typical of Mangalore, called the Mangalore Buns or simply Buns. Of course, I did not know of such a thing until I came here (to Mangalore). One day I tried it out of curiosity (the menu said ‘Buns’ and I assumed it was the bun we usually see in bakeries and wanted to see what they served it with). And instead got this.

Pic courtesy Googling.

It was served with Sambhar and coconut chutney. Interesting. I tried it and absolutely liked it! It was only ever so slightly sweet, had a mild flavour because of the jeera and it must’ve been made of maida. (Upon googling now, I find that it usually has mashed bananas in it, though I don’t think they add it in the ones we get here). So, in effect, it means that whenever buns is on the menu (which is usually Tuesdays) I don’t even think twice about what I'm going to have for breakfast… And so also another person. The bhaiyya who serves! Lol. Initially I used to waste the Sambhar they gave along with it (because chutney is what I like having it with). Then once, I told him that I didn’t want it. The next time around he asked me, just to be sure. From then on, he never serves Sambhar for me when I order Buns.

Then he took it to the next level. If he’d even as much as see me coming from the billing counter towards the serving area/food counter, he’d be ready with a plate of buns. He’d check for my bill (to confirm) and hand over the plate to me. Today was the limit – as I approached the food counter, he gave me my plate of buns and only then did he collect the bill (to verify)!! And all I could do was give him a knowing grin.

I had this kind of experience at the Hyderabad DC (during training) as well. We were in the habit of ordering cornflakes regularly. There was a young fella there. Same case. He had to just see us approaching the counter, and he’d already be filling the bowl of flakes with milk.

Talk about being predictable! Anyway, it’s a nice feeling you know… A lil’ bit of a personal touch.

I Hate You!

This ‘hate story’ started a few weeks back. I have had no issues so far (or atleast it was manageable). But what can you do if deliberate effort is made to irritate you and you begin to lose your patience? What if the persistance begins to get on your nerves?? I tried my best to ignore. But, I simply give up! I hate you… ants!

Yes, ANTS… those tiny creatures you barely notice… until it begins to make your lives miserable, that is. My apologies to the crew of The Ant Bully (2006; animation movie directed by John A. Davis) because I don’t think that’s gonna change my view on them or make me like them. It began a few days after we began buying food at our place (in Mangalore). The ants began to 'make their presence felt'. Ants are attracted to anything sweet. Everybody knows that. So the sugar was kept safely in an air-tight container. Ha! Out of reach from their prying antennae! And so was anything sweet (obvious, isn’t it?). Then it occurred to me that ants are attracted to oil or oily stuff as well. So we ensured that the coconut oil would be stored in a sturdy bottle. Done! I believed that it would be the end to this ant tale. But, boy was I wrong!

We once bought Maggi (4 x 200g pack) and made two for the evening. So yea, two slabs remained. We left it (in the packet) outside, on the upturned drinking water can, and didn’t give it a second thought. What happened? You got that right – ant attack. We returned from office, only to find a trail of ants running from over the kitchen counter to the top of the water can. The packet was full of ants! Argghh. Made a mental note to self: Sweet, oily… and now, starchy stuff too. Don’t leave anything in this category outside. Fine! I thought that was the end of it. Apparently not. Whatever we bought, the ants would ‘find’ out. To the extent that they’d chew through the unopened packets (of mixture, biscuits and the like) kept in the cabinets and nibble on it (leaving those distinct small heaps of powder). The container with semolina was not closed properly and they did not spare that either! Bananas also figured on their radar (in fact, by this time a second kind of ant had appeared). One day we made chapathi and had one left over. We kept in a vessel, covered it with the lid and left it like that over-night. Checked it in the morning – no problemo… so did nothing about it. That day when we returned, we saw the ants marching their way into it and having a nice meal. Hmmmppphh! Where were they last night? Sleeping??! They can be constantly found in the kitchen dust-bin as well, rummaging the left-overs.

The ants are taking us to new levels of frugality and cleanliness! Now everytime we make something or buy something we’re forced to think – Will the ants get to it? Where can we store it? Should we keep it in the fridge? and so on. And I’m not one to quit… the battle is on!

Me Too!

How many times have you heard someone say/describe an incident/experience they’ve had and you go “me too!!”? These are not great things that have any significant impact whatsoever… but all those tiny instances that we come across as part of our daily living and, though we may not realize it, is fairly common. We discover these during conversations… Our “me too!” moments...

These are few of the instances that occur fairly often to me. If you’ve had the same, feel free to say “me too!”...

Waking up with a song in your head  – This happens to me quite often. I don’t know how or why, but some days when I wake up it’s like somebody has already turned on a tape-recorder inside my head – a song is just playing. It’s usually not a song I play often or even heard the night before. It could be random songs – just like that. These are mostly songs that I’ve not heard in a looong while, and I’m pleasantly surprised to find that I’m able to recall the lyrics (because I didn’t even know that I knew the song that much).

Waking up a few minutes before the alarm goes off – Yea. This one pisses me off! I’ve heard that our bodies are the best clocks we have (and I don’t need proof). This is a matter of everyday occurrence. I always wake up a few minutes prior to the alarm, and it irritates me no end. This is because when I open my eyes the first thing I do is to check the time and… Damn! I have 3 mintues to sleep!! Irritating, isn’t it?! If you think that it’s because I’ve a habit of waking up at a certain time everyday…it’s not that. I’ve tried and tested it myself. If you don’t believe me, try it out yourselves. Tell yourself you’ve to wake up at a certain time (and don’t forget to set the alarm, of course!). You’ll most probably find yourself awake before it goes off.
(Disclaimer: It may not hold true for everyone. Sleeping behaviour and pattern varies from person to person.)

Feeling sheepish when you wake up – This one is pretty common. Let’s say you’re sleeping where people are around (your home, a bus, hostel room, railway station/train, etc. etc.). When you wake up you instinctively look around to gauge the situation, see if people are noticing you, avoid eye contact with anybody for a few mintues…All because you feel slightly embarrassed that you look awkward right after you’ve woken up. And then you primp yourself – adjust your hair, pull your dress, etc. … Something to reassure you that you look ‘normal’.

Attending calls in between your sleep – You THINK that you can manage to answer a call in between your sleep. You take the phone and (with your eyes still shut) talk to that person. The person at the other end makes out from your broken voice that you were sleeping, and asks as much. “It’s ok”, you say. You THINK you’ve got what s/he said, all the while fighting sleep and trying to remain awake (let alone being attentive). Then you end the call and go back to sleep. When you wake up, all that you remember is someone called (maybe even that seems like a dream). If somebody asks you what the matter of the conversation was, you manage to give bits and pieces of information, nothing coherent. And things can get worse if somebody had called you with the intention of letting you know about something YOU had to do (because you have no clue what it is!). Happens, right?

(Tip for those who call and find out that the person at the other end has been sleeping: Don’t bother. Cut the call and inform later).

Ideas popping up at the wrong time – Most of the times you have ‘Eureka!’ moments when you’re in no position to jot them down somewhere. It could be those last few moments before you’re going to fall asleep (you're sure you won’t remember it when you wake up); or maybe you are standing in a bus that’s really stuffed, etc. You WANT to put it down somewhere, but cannot and begin to think of ways to commit it to memory or panick.

Starting to do something – You get up and go in some direction or somewhere. Half-way there you don’t even remember why you’re going there, or what is it that you wanted to accomplish. You think some, and can’t figure it out. Never mind, you say. You either go there anyway and do something (else), or just go back; only to be later reminded of what it was. By then, whatever it was cannot be done or won’t make a difference anymore.

Original or not? – This is when you write or say something (smart, witty, interesting, etc.) and then begin to think you’re very familiar with it. Maybe you read it somewhere; or someone told you? You’re not sure whether it’s something you came up with (on your own) or is actually somebody else’s influence. Anyway you’d like to believe it was your idea all the way! ;-)

Of Points and Corners

What’s common to starting a business venture, having a child, and building a home? Sure, it involves considerable thinking and planning (and pangs even!). But something, an urge, more fundamental that accompanies it? Naming. Naamkaran. Simple. ;-)

Most of us are aware of branding and brand names. Those who’ve done their MBA would’ve had classes on it and the importance of having a good name for your product/brand. It should be simple; possibly with two syllables; it should be easy to pronounce; should not have undesirable meaning in other languages; it could possibly convey what the business stands for or indirectly indicate it… Not that I’m going to give you branding gyaan or advice over here. For all these discussions on branding, naming and the like, you’ll find that for some it’s a much more simple affair.

Think about the shops/stores in your area or town. The big ones or the small. Many, you’d notice, are more concerned about running their business and making something out of it, rather than breaking their heads over fancy (and sometimes unpronounceable and seemingly meaningless) names for their shops. That’s the Points and Corners I’m talking about. It’s pretty simple right? Affix a ‘Point’ or a ‘Corner’ at the end of what you sell/do and voila! You have a name. Cloth Point, Stitch Point, Net Point, Cyber Point, Juice Point, Laundry Point… You see! Replace all these with ‘Corner’ too. You’ve another set of names that are good to go (not that these stores will be located near a corner as such). These are the most generic suffixes you’ll see for shop names. There are more. Some of them which I happened to notice are –

• Point, Corner, Centre - Now you begin to wonder whether geometry and naming are connected!
• Café - Doesn’t matter that you don’t sell anything related to food there, it’ll still be called a café. Talking of which, wonder who coined the term ‘Net Café’.
• Shop - Can't get simpler than this!
• Shoppe - It means ‘shop’ and is pronounced that way too (not shop-i or shop-ay), but I guess it gives it a classier touch!
• Mart – of course, made famous by Wal-Mart (you see why they took a simple name)
• Bazaar – made famous by Big Bazaar (ditto)
• Mall - not 'moll' (those who've sat in MRS's class know what I'm talking about!)

I’m always on the look-out for such simple generic suffixes (or prefixes even). If you happen to come across some, let me know!

Do I Know You?

Yea, I often ask this question to myself (not aloud) - when I open a social networking site (Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn…).

The other day I happened to be checking Orkut after a while. And I felt like I was back in 2004 (the year I joined Orkut). There were close to 10 friend requests. Barring one (who happened to be an old friend from school) the others were all strangers. You might ask me - What’s the big deal? Click on ‘no’ and forget it. Yea, I have been doing that all this while. (It has been like a ritual for me ever since I joined Orkut, you know). But there are these things, which if it occurs often/constantly, begins to get on your nerves!

I cannot fathom how people go about this “friendship gathering”. I mean, how do they narrow down on their ‘targets’? How do they go about searching for one, in the first place? Do they stumble on them by accident or do they search for them by certain criteria (interests, location,…)? What makes them think that some form of compliment; or trying to sound desperate; or even resorting to obscenity will win them “friends”? Someone please tell me, I’m completely lost!! (And it would also be interesting to get views from the other side.) I wish I had saved some of the hilarious, corny, mushy, and plain idiotic messages I have had the (mis)fortune of seeing (along with the requests I got). Ah, if only I’d known that I would be blogging about it some day! :-P I’ve been complimented on my smile, my beauty (??), my snaps (two albums containing nature pics are public) and my (“interesting”) profile as such. Thank you very much, but all that ain’t gonna get you nowhere!! And what bugs me THE most is that one sentence that seems to be passed around like it’s gonna make all the difference – “I want friendship with you.”… Uggghhhhhh!!!!! There was probably a time when I would’ve talked to total strangers online, if I thought they might be interesting; maybe returned a scrap or two…but I am over it now. Doesn’t make sense, you know.

Coming to the next category of ‘Do I know you?’. These are people who you are slightly (or a little more) familiar with. Could be your batchmates (other classes or branches); juniors or seniors at school/college; friends of friends (of friends…); friends of your sibling(s); cousins or relatives (who you probably don’t come across often); neighbours (or ex-neighbours); children of your parents’ colleagues; tuition-mates; etc. etc. (This list is quite endless, isn’t it!). Now, this is the category I’m undecided about. When I get friend requests from this category, I wonder - to add or to not add… that is the confusion! It’s not like I’ve talked much to them when I had a chance to (works both ways, by the way). But they send you a request nevertheless. And some also remind you how you know them. Isn’t it rude to reject them? Or is it ok? S/he didn’t really make an effort to connect in any way when there were opportunities, so why now? Networking, some may say. But I’m a skeptic about these things. I find it a little odd, to be frank. But, having said that, I have connected well with a few people this way. So I guess it goes both ways. But you’ll find that a majority tend to be people who add you and then forget all about it. Sometimes it’s their updates that may remind you that they’re on your friends list! (And maybe even the excess of that, which may start bothering you).

The third kind of ‘Do I know you?’ are relatives. I know I did mention them above. But the thing is, you know them by a certain name, or rather pet name. You don’t know their official name. They send you a request and you wonder who it is. Recently I got such a request from my cousin. He is all of 13 years of age and (thankfully) had mentioned his pet name (the name we all know him at home by) in brackets. Otherwise… there was nothing in his profile that suggested that I know him! He had this ‘muscle man’ pic in his profile and all. I would’ve rejected that request with no second thought, deciding it was the usual bit of ‘wanting friendship’ requests (had it not been for that name in the bracket!). But yea, there is the ‘mutual friends’ you can check out in the profile too (but you’ll soon give all that up and just click yes/no right at your homepage. I mean, who has the time or inclination to check out every requestor’s profile??). And then that got me thinking on another tangent. It’s true that all this 'social networking euphoria' has worn away for me. I’m no longer excited by friend requests and scraps and all that. But still, each generation is slowly getting acquainted to this online media (at even younger ages!). Very impressionable minds those...things may go wrong (and they do). That’s why we still have accidents and deaths due to online alluring. Hmmmmmmm…

Anyway, now I have some 400+ odd friends on Orkut and some 290+ odd on Facebook. (Not bragging about numbers here. I KNOW there are people who’ve got way waay more!). And I think it’s time I ‘weeded’ them (or atleast set different levels of privacy). I plan to, when I get a net connection. No offense to anyone, but I really don’t see why they should be in my list. I know it’s a way of passing time, getting to know about all the ‘action’ in other people’s lives and all that. But one thing we must all realize is that we’re, in turn, unwittingly letting them in, into our lives as well (and maybe you’re not comfortable with it). You really don’t think twice before posting stuff on your profile (pictures, taglines/status messages, etc.), do you? Most people are harmless and probably won’t mess around with any information they happen to come across. But… can you be sure? From now on, I know that I will think twice (or more) before adding people. No point adding people for the heck of it, right?

How about you?