Sunday

This place is about 35 km from Bangalore, on the route to Mysore. The idea was to chill out in the pool, play cricket, badminton, table tennis, squash and whatever tickled our fancy. 18 of us turned up, including three spouses and one cousin. (Came to know later that the cousin was actually the CFO of a company, which probably explained why he brought along the Economic Times for the trip and didn't play anything apart from Scrabble)



The bus drive was irritatingly slow and ardous both ways, mainly because the bus seemed to have just two gears - the first and second. It refused to switch to higher gears and simply didn't acknowledge that it could move in reverse. It took a lot of coaxing from the driver and the navigator before it agreed to chug its way up the road to Eagleton.



Once there, we started on cricket and then moved to the pool. Cricket was good fun, the match ended in a tie between the two teams we had formed. Pool-time involved walking on the pool floor, throwing a ball around and splashing water on everyone else. Sindha spent a bit of time throwing a frisbee and then switched to scrabble



Lunch was pretty good, which forced us to take a small nap afterwards. There was a tree strategically located so that its shade spread on the grass, giving us enough room to lie down and sleep. Played a bit of frisbee after that followed by a short round of badminton, on Sindha's insistence.


We were dead tired by the time we reached home. But the day was fun.

Mainly about money

Distributed the salary revision letters yesterday. Was tough going. While most of the folks were ok with the raise (mainly because their expectations were not high), a few others were quite disappointed. The next few weeks should show the impact. Its tough being a manager in these times.

I remember an old post of mine where I talked about my stock predictions and how each one was a winner. Well, I'm lucky I didn't move on to manage a mutual fund, or I would have been lynched by investors. The only stock doing ok on my portfolio is BPCL. And they are down today because of the opposition to divestment. My list of errors:

- Infy at 3,350 was too good to let go. Grabbed it. The stock moved to 2400 the next day
- Steel was looking up, or so I thought. Bought TISCO and SAIL at fairly high levels (SAIL was on a whim, really). Both tanked and are at close to their year end lows right now
- HLL at 159 was money for jam, or so I thought. Stock plummetted to 145. Cleverly placed a buy at 140, looking to recoup some of my losses. Stock touched 140, moved up to 143 and then promptly went down to 135 the next day.
- IOB...sheesh, why bother.

I've now started thinking of myself as a long term player, not concerned about these lil movements in the market. I'll be counting my savings two years from now. Yeah, right.

And oh, my visa came through, valid till Oct 03. So I guess the trip is on. Not too kicked about it, really. Sindha could use some TLC right now and leaving her in mid May is not something I'm looking forward to. Then again, I don't think she is getting enough TLC even now, with me reaching home at 9pm every day. *sigh*.

Appetite

At times, starting a book is like peeking at the dinner table to check whats on the menu. I began John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany yesterday night and thought it looked like your traditional Onam sadya. Rice, Pappadam, Avial, Thoran, Pickles and chips on the side, etc. In a word, yummy. I had tried this book out long back and had stopped after the first few pages, mainly because I was put off by the WAY Owen Meany SPOKE. I didn't really understand nor like the church references either. However this time round, it does look good. The first few pages have whetted my appetite; I feel I'm in for a good sumptuous meal.

Extending the meal analogy further, The Feast of the Goat was like biting into Tandoori Chicken which has been cooked quite well, but was left out in the open for a while. The meat was good and tasty, but a trifle cold. King's From a Buick Eight was a quick shot of Pepsi, nothing more.

No, I'm not hungry right now.

More on my live-journal

Funny how this journal thing turned out. When I started off, my intended audience was mainly myself, though the inspiration came from and . too started to post and it became a way for real life friends like us to update each other on the latest and greatest. Nice and cozy.

The first real invader was . He added both and me to his friends list, which caused us a lot of confusion and worry. Who was this guy in real life ? We were sure he was one of our college mates - who else would be interested in reading our journals ? Enlightenment dawned when we realized that you don't need to be friends in real life to befriend another l-jer. A-ha ! , the grand-daddy of all India based l-jers was next, followed by , , , , , et al. I went out and searched lots of journals, went on multiple adding sprees. Removed some, retained most.

I've been consciously trying not to post for any specific reader in mind. This journal is exactly what it should be, IMO - an online diary. Its been fun and I don't want to stop. However my target audience remains the same - myself. This is being quite self centered I guess, but what the heck ! My previous post was intended to convey this. It wasn't an angry outburst against anyone or anything in particular.

One very pleasant outcome of the entire l-j experience has been meeting a bunch of extremely nice people with similar tastes. I've met folks here who share my passion for movies, books, quizzing, trivia, beer, beef, asterix, kerala, sheer cussiness and what have you. You folks know who you are, take a bow. And thanks for making this a great ride.

Thoughts about my live journal

One thing you will never find on my journal is syrupy cuteness. I hope not.

I will not write *hugs* or (((((hugs)))))) in response to anyone's comment.
I will not drool over your new shirt nor your new makeup.
I will not ask you for your opinion on the war.
I will not mind if you add or remove me from your friends list. I do the same anyway.

And oh, this privacy thingy has been bothering me for a while. Most of my posts are now friends-only. A few have been private and a couple have been for just a few friends. So sue me.

Hello World

I'm here, alive and well. Just been too busy to post.

A few of my favorite things

All right, time to try out the Sound of Mucous Music stuff. I'm still feeling pissed. So, in no particular order and not set to the music, here we go:

• Dark bottles of Old Monk consumed in a dimly lit bar, omlette and mango pickle on the side


• , Sreeji, Beladev, Ashok and Soman round the table, sharing the above


• A big fat juicy Stephen King novel read in my bedroom, gentle breeze blowing in through the windows, ARR in the background and Sindha reading John Irving, at my side


• Sindha and I vacationing in Leh, Jaisalmer, Kodaikanal, Matheran, Munnar - any of the places we've been to


• Asterix and the Normans


• Dire Straits playing Sultans of Swing


• Alistair McLean's Fear is the Key. I need to be ten to enjoy this fully, though


• Dark clouds on a Kerala sky, the onset of monsoon. People hurrying to reach home, wind beating against their faces. The first drops falling as they reach shelter


• Serious Sam, Age of Empires, Doom, Half Life, Heroes of Might & Magic, Black & White

This is starting to look like my interests page in l-j, but let me go on a bit more.

• Posts from , , , , - always worth the wait, never disappoint. (There, now you guys have some extra pressure)


• Snail mail. A birthday card.


• Parents. Brother


• Above all, the wife. And, let me admit it, the upcoming summer blockbuster, The Kid

I feel so much different already. From being pissed, I've passed into melancholia.

*sniff*.

Updates

Been busy at work. Suffice to say:

• The weekend was spent burning cds from . Thanks, buddy !


• Kichan left for Delhi yesterday, for his civils interview. All the best, brother !


• Salary reviews at office. *sigh*

EW no more

Sheesh. The one movie site I used to visit regularly after Mr Showbiz closed down, ew.com, has gone pay. I need to be an AOL member or a subscriber of the mag to read articles and reviews online. Now where do I go ? *sigh*

Rumours about rain in Bangalore. Haven't seen a drop yet. Came to office on the scooter today, so I'm pretty sure it will rain. Murphy is a rain god, too.

And folks, please welcome to the fold !