Languageu lessonsu

I've learnt a fair amount of Telugu in the last three years, no credit to the book that I bought soon after I moved to Hyderabad in 2006. Not only was the vocabulary useless (the first word in the list was 'causeless') but also the presentation was just terrible. Anyway, it turned out that the better source for Telugu lessons were my house help teaching me more slang and dialects that would turn out to be more useful on a day-to-day basis.


But my 'unending quest' to continue to learn made me go back to the vocab page in this book. Among the many other useless words written up, I came across two that made me 'rofl'. The words for telephone and principal. In TelugU and just like the title of this post!

Any guesses?

Profile pic

It's been about a year and a half since I created an account on Facebook. I've probably changed my profile picture at least ten times. To keep up with the changes in my life, no doubt. Similarly all my friends' pics have changed too. I don't think even one has the same picture that they started out with (except for those with the old question mark).


Is it possible to find one picture that can be a constant? Not necessarily of the person itself but of 'something' even. Something that when a known person looks at makes them go "Oh, that has to be X". Is it humanly possible to identify with a few things or even just one thing for all of ones' life?

Or is life too random to prevent that?

Second wind

Boring, tiring, same old beat going on in my head, huffing and puffing and not enjoying any of it. That's me on a treadmill. Hate it...always hated it. Then this on my shuffle! Catchy beat and imagining thalaivaa dancing (his version of dancing anyway) made me smile and get going with great gusto! Too bad that it lasted only until the song did but an extra 5 minutes is not too shabby...a much-needed 5 minutes too.

Soup split

1 by 2, 2 by 3, 4 by 5 and anything else by anything else. It's all possible. When you order soup in India, that is. A very common practice that experts say results in more soup per serving per person than if one were to ask for an extra bowl and split it themselves! In fact, I even know people that do this for takeout!

Can you imagine the restaurant doing this though? Will they actually fill out two bowlfulls, then take a 3rd one and evenly split from the other 2? Or are they so used to this strange request that the guy is a pro at it and knows exactly how many ladles go into each? Whatever it is, the request has never fazed anyone in any place that I've been to. The only requirement is that the person doling out the soup has to be a math whiz...how else would they understand 23/30 should such a request come by??

On a related note, I wonder if this tactic would work with alcohol. Margheritas please...3 by 4 but all for 1!

Going bananas!!

I've always paid Rs.10 for 6 bananas. Since I've moved back to India that is. Irrespective of weather, inflation etc in the last 3 1/2 years, this is what it has cost me. Apparently not anymore. Reason? Still not weather or inflation but just me (not driver) in car buying the fruit! How ridiculous! I must have IDIOT plastered across my forehead because all the vendors were quoting me a higher-than-usual rate! Thinking that the supermarket can't cheat me (because prices are fixed and not because I look smart or anything) I walked into the store and was thrilled to see a 'buy 1kg, get 1kg free' offer for bananas. There is a God I thought momentarily but before I could thank Him I noticed that my total was Rs.25 because that was the cost of 6 bananas (1kg) at the store!

Rahman, Rehman whatever

I finished commenting on Atma Gyan's post and went in front of the TV when ARR won the Oscar for best song. I noticed that the presenter pronounced his name as RAHMAN which validates my theory that it is indeed his belief in numerology that made him change the spelling from the time of the nomination to the presentation.

Interesting that even the best of us believe that we need something more than just our talents to win!

Another one bites the dust

10. That's the magic number. Finished. No more. The entry in my cell phone for 'Driver' is now gone. May it rest in peace.

I surely will.

Adaptation - Part 1

So many aunties and uncles have been a part of my childhood. There was the aunty next door, the uncle down the street and the innumerable uncles and aunties all through school and college...my friends parents. Every new friend brought a new aunty/uncle into my life. I never thought of calling them anything else...which is why I used to wonder why Archie, Jughead and the rest of them called each other's parents Mrs. or Mr. xyz. I couldn't even think of saying Mrs. Vasudevan or Mr. Nichani. It sounded simply strange.

As strange as it might be to picture Archie calling Mrs. Jones 'aunty', right? Imagine my surprise when I went to a birthday party of a kid that studies in an international school and I heard one of the parents saying to their kid "Say goodbye to R aunty (said with an American accent...like 'ant'y) and K uncle"! And the kid didn't bat an eyelid either. She even came up to me and said "aunty, make sure to take a take-home gift for your kids"!!

See who's calling!

Hi maam, can I help you?
No, not really I'm just looking at the cordless phones available.
Let me show you the latest models.
No, its fine. I want a basic model, nothing fancy. This one seems ok.
Oh, but that doesn't have caller id. In today's world caller id is a must. We have to see who's calling before we answer!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right Choice?

January 20, 2009
2230 hours

Getting to bed early or watching history unfold.
Getting to bed early or watching history unfold.
Getting to bed early or watching history unfold.
Getting to bed early or watching history unfold.

It's never easy to choose...especially when its between two men!