The Pondicherry Trip

Alright!!! So its been a long while….and I am back from a short vacation and it was superb… Well! had been to Pondicherry during the long weekend and it’s a nice town especially the French part of Pondicherry is neat. We left home at around 8.00 am, went to the Vinayaka Temple, broke a coconut, took lord vigneshwara’s blessings to make our trip hassle free and then had breakfast at a nearby fast food restaurant. We got stuck on Hosur Road for quite some time and it was so very frustrating to be stuck amidst all those big and small vehicles. When traffic jam cleared it was 9.40am. We entered Tamil Nadu State and thereafter missed a turning thanks to no signs being placed at the right places. We went extra 20 kilometeres only to realize that we had come on a wrong route. After help from a few locals who guided us in their own little ways we managed to take another route meant to take us to Pondi. Well after lot of asking about and stopping for direction and stopping by for an hour for lunch at a very crowded restaurant we managed to reach Pondi sometime after four.

We checked in at the hotel and were not very happy with the room although it was not bad either. After freshening up we went to Adayar Anand Bhavan for some coffee and then to a famous vinayaka temple where we took snaps of a cute elephant all decorated with anklets and stuff. The temple being very close to Nehru Street which is supposedly the shopping centre of Pondi we went on the lookout for the right things to buy. And very soon we found them in the form of paper products. We purchased a lot of this stuff and picked up a lot of incense sticks. Although I had no intention to walk out of the shop finally I was forced to do so. We next went to the beach which was only a walk away from our hotel. It had gotten a little dark by then but that didn’t stop us from clicking snaps. We walked down the beach road and then came back to our hotel only to find that the restaurant attached to the hotel was jam packed. We decided to try out the roof top restaurant which was good in ambience but not good enough when it came to the menu. We were shocked to know that they did not have sea food (prawns, squid, and crabs) inspite of the fact that it was a coastal area. Well we had to be happy with whatever we got….and left the restaurant with a firm resolution of going coming back especially for food.

Next day being a Sunday all the shops were closed and we were a little disappointed at the fact that most of the shops were closed. After having a brunch at Adayar Anand Bhavan we left for Auroville and were excited to see a line of shops selling crafts and wood work on the Easst Coast road. Auroville was not as exciting as I thought it would be. We could not gain an entry to MatriMandir as we reached the place after 12.30 pm. Apparently they don’t issue entry tickets after 12.20. We shopped a little in the boutiques out there although most of the things were overly priced. In fact some of the stuff that we picked up outside Auroville was being sold there for three or four times the price.

It was four by the time we came back to our room and gulped down some Beer (and it felt amazing). After that we went to the restaurant at the hotel which was supposed to serve Chettinad cuisine. We had rice, prawns(less than average), crab (curry was superb where as crab pieces were only shells and no meat), fish curry chicken curry etc. Later we took rest and then went to the beach once again to click some more photos. There was a rock show happening at one of the restaurants on the beach side. After enjoying it for a while we got back to Nehru street this time for some more shopping. Came back to the hotel room had Dosa and chicken curry for dinner and crashed into the bed.

Monday-It was time to leave and Oh!! I felt so bad…So bad that I could do so little shopping….So bad that I coudn’t buy all that I wanted to……I think that’s one good thing about women, we never get tired of shopping…and nothing is good enough to satisfy us… We want more

The Great Fall..........

It is wih immense sadness that I write this.....The fall of the IT giant...Yes! I am indeed talking about 'Satyam'....Satyam meaning 'truth' in sanskrit...Ironical isnt it??? Lot of people have written already about the technical aspects of the downfall or fraud that has brought Satyam crashing down... But what I am thinking of is about Ramalinga Raju...The man behind the drama...Was he alone in this mess...can a fraud of this magnitude be committed by a single man....Is he smart enough or crooked enough to carry off such a game for so long a period without anyone in the organisation coming to know of it..........I really doubt it and I do strongly feel he was not alone in this game of lies.........

But I must admit, I do feel strongly for a man who till yesterday was at the pinnacle of glory but today he is a fallen bird, with wings that may never again gain the strength to fly that high again... A man who till yesterday was called the Entrepreneur of the year is today called the "Fraudster"...That is life...All of us have to go through that phase...although in our own ways......

I have a feeling Mr.Raju is a happy man today...I like to imagine that after many many years of sleepless nights he must have slept last night rather peacefully. That is the power of truth...it can relieve you from all kinds of chains and bondages....Only a true man is a free man...I believe thats exactly what Mr.Raju wanted to achieve...freedom...freedom from the falsehoods, lies that he has been telling the world for the last several years...freedom to look at himself in the mirror and say.."hey you! You are not a liar anymore"...I think Mr.Raju has achieved that with his resignation letter. This whole episode is indeed a huge setback for our country and various people associated with Satyam including the employees and shareholders and law must take its own course in dealing with all the persons responsible. But I must say that in my opinion Mr.Raju has seen the worst, for this is probably the greatest fall of his life..and I am sure now he is in a position to clear his conscience of all the past burdens and lead a life where he can chose to be honest...and also move on in his life..

A stitch in time saves nine.........

Lots of pending work........Trying to sort it out one by one.......Morning I had an argument with my husband...He wanted me to go to a dentist and sort out some of my dental problems over this weekend...some dental issues like tooth decay ( a few of them), gums coming off etc..( I know it is a little gory to read). Well then as usual we ended up arguing over it. I as usual found and invented reasons for not going to a dentist. He as always countered these reasons with more valid and reasonable ones. Finally I gave up and agreed to visit a dentist at sometime in the future.

I have always had a deep rooted fear for 'Dentists'. I always imagined dentists to be one bunch of cruel people who not having been able to secure better marks and subsequently medical seats have taken up their profession so that they may get back at the world in general. Well the truth is that I am shit scared of the pain that I have seen so many people go through and all the horrendous stories people have had to say about the things that happen inside those rooms. So I had always chosen to rather suffer the pain in silence than get grilled in my mouth by strange and funny looking instruments.

But now things must change...Its new year ...year of new hopes...I must do things that I have never done before....I must be bold and beautiful this year...I must do an act of courage that will put me up there. This is the year for new starts..for new beginings. So the dentists shall be given a chance to prove they are not as nasty as I imagined them to be....we must give everyone a chance....including ourselves....

As my hubby put it 'a stitch in time saves nine'............So let me see how many of my teeth I can save.......

New year blues

Oh its awful coming to work after a new year party.........wish I could just stay at home and sleep away to glory. Coming to work and having to work on a friday is so very irritating....Not that I am doing any work.....(Although I am supposed to).... Somebody had rightly said "life is all about choices"....if you make the right choice one you attain peace and happiness else you are doomed. So I have made a choice today, to make myself happy...I have chosen not to work..........to chill out and pile up my work for tomorrow. After all tomorrow is another day........

Alright So what do I do now???? Now that I have temporarily said goodbye to my work, I think I will make a wish list for the new year, of all the things I want to do this year of all the things I have craved for and havent done yet............

Alright what is that I want to start off my new year with.........Well I guess I want to buy shares.. I have been thinking about this for a very long time... Although I must admit I dont earn a lot, I earn enough to be able to save a little. Inspite of that I keep blowing up all my money..... So this year I am going to open a demat account and start investing 10% of my disposable income in shares and mutual funds......(sorry to all those who lost a huge chunk of their savings in the market crash, but I was very much haappy cause recession has made it possible for small time prospective investors like me to enter the market)

Nextly I am going to learn driving (Four Wheeler)...... I want to confess here that I have a fear of driving on roads. The fear is so immense that I get nightmares of me banging into someone on the road....So this year I ought to get over that fear and learn driving. Driving is certainly very important for any person these days...else u become totally dependent on others like uer spouse, friends, parents, siblings or worst autorickshaw drivers........ (I shall write separately on that aspect some other time...as auto drivers demand a different kind of attention)

Nextly I want to go on a holiday to an exotic place and pamper myself royal.....................

I want to read a book every month.....and thus by the end of the year want to have read atleast 12 books.

Also I want to become an active blogger........

Oh I forgot I want to learn cooking.......I want to cook different varieties of food and feed my hubby (who I must admit is a complete foodie) but sadly other than a fried rice I havent cooked anything for him after marriage (we will be completing one year of marriage very soon). So I want to learn to cook prawns, chicken, chinese food etc..........

I am feeling so sleepy.........I can see some of my colleagues outside in the balcony chatting over cups of tea.....Well I think I will go chat up with them.........................
Ba bye