A wedding toast to chomu-giri

After days of grumbly, angry, frustrated posts, it's time to look on the bright side. My best friend is getting married.

My official best friend is Smita. But I have a bunch of other best friends that I can't do without. There's Madhurima and Roshni and Shutapa and Shreya and Amrita and MoonMoon and Nancy and Eugenia and Roy and Rocky and Kohi and Moo and a couple of more people that I suspect I've forgotten. But I've only one chaddi-buddy (even though we've been friends since only class 11) and that is Rahul, better known as Chomu Kunda. The label 'chomu-giri' is an ode to him, as is this post.

Pic of Poojo and Chomu:


Chomu Kunda is special. Very very special. He's my favourite boy ever. Even now that he's put on even more weight and looks like a man (He is 25), he's still my favourite boy. Boyfriends have come and gone, but Chomu Kunda has remained a constant. Using the most colourful cuss words when he realized my first guy was a jerk that was Rahul. Seeking consolation on hearing the tragic news of my breakup with the second, that again was Rahul. He's not the King of Good Looks, but he cleans up nice and is a total dude. How many guys do you know who get on to a bus from Lake Town to Mullickbazar, exchange numbers on bus tickets with a chick, and have a girlfriend in hand a phone call later? How many guys do you know who walk into a movie hall with a guy friend and emerge out of it three hours later with a girlfriend?

I know one of those. Rahul Chomu Kunda. And the boy is getting married. I'm so proud. The last time I was so proud of him was back in Class 11 and 12. He was the school football team's goalkeeper and we (Madz, Smita, Shutapa and I) his biggest fans. Smita and I had our respective boyfriends on the team, but Kunda was our No. 1. Even when he let go of that one easy goal between his legs... That's one embarrassing story we will never let go of.

He can't play dumb charades though. Not to save his life. But if you're ever in the mood to ride the Flying Saucer at Nicco Park, I'd recommend Chomu Kunda. He won't get pukey and if you put him on the outside, it's a nice cushiony person to fall against.

I love the guy. Did I mention it? And he loves me. He's the only non-boyfriend guy friend that I say 'I love you' to on a regular basis. Of course, he's said 'I love you' to millions and zillions of girls. Mitali, Diksha, Payel (the first), Priyanka, Esha, Pamela, me, Smita, Natasha, Payel (the second and the bride-to-be)... and these are just the ones I remember off hand. :) The guy has spirit. And fight.

I guess I've seen him through more relationships than vice versa. I've also seen him sitting on a chair on my terrace with a towel wrapped over his school shirt, while my Ma stood with scissors trying to salvage what remained of his hair after a particularly disastrous haircut. It looked better after. That was the day Shutapa's birthday party was held on my terrace and short skirts were the order of the day.

My first drink was with him. As was my first smoke. He's the one who'd wake up suddenly and realise that somebody or the other had changed. I remember the time he kept looking at me, shaking his head sadly, and muttering occasionally, 'Pooja, you have changed'. It was hilarious then, but perhaps he saw something that even I missed. I think he saw me growing up.

But I'm not sure if I noticed him grow up. He did though. Suddenly, stupid, idiotic Chomu was all adult and talking sense. Sure, he still had an eye for the ladies. Sure, given a chance, he'd still add water to the bottle of sauce to dilute the damn thing while cooking. Sure, he had a talent for finding the most Bong people in Maharashtra. Sure, he'll never lose weight. I hope he doesn't. Sure, he'd still steal the chicken off your plate if he smelt the slightest chance. But then that's Rahul. If he didn't do all those things, he wouldn't be very chomu after all, would he?

So this is my ode to Rahul Chomu Kunda. May his chomu-giri survive the tempest called marriage.

And finally, a picture of the happy couple: Payel Rani and Rahul Raja ;)


With love, Poojo

Surprise!

Sometimes you think you know somebody inside out and then they spring a surprise trait on you that you would never have guessed they had. It's nice. Two fishy people have done the 'Surprise' routine back-to-back and I'm quite pleased about it. One lies through his teeth like a professional, the other has a fascination for green because that's the colour of the house she belonged to in school.

You think you know people... The question is, 'How much?'...

Btw... 2 latest stories:
1. A first for Bengali animation
2. Lal Kalo: Going beyond red and black

PS: Made a major goof-up on the review. A small but major one. Thanks to Coffee Stain who corrected me.

Belated Happy Birthday Parcel

My sister's happy birthday parcel is planning to get sent off today. Her birthday is on the 17th. It takes a week or so to reach. Procrastination is my middle name. Call me Poojo Procrastination C. starting today.

Pampers

Pamper Poojo spree by Poojo.C is on. It's expensive by her standards, but it keeps the stress away and brings on the smiles. A good deal I would say.

PS: The title of this post should in no way be confused with the Huggies competitor.

De-stress Now. Ask Me How.

I'm looking like Jon Bon Jovi today. The pretty version. It's the hair I tell you.

From stressed to destressed... That's the wonder of bookstores and credit cards. A thousand rupees of pure joy + another 80 bucks for Blended Mint Mocha (+ tax + tip) and another 44 bucks on commuting via cab (What's the point of spending 1000+ bucks if you scrimp on commutes. Scrimp days should be separate from splurge days).

In case you didn't notice, today was a splurge day.

And it made me happy.

Book-buying is my best mood uplifter. It has always been. Beats the occasional Dairy Milks also. Whenever chocolate isn't working on my stress points, send me off to buy books. It could get a little expensive, but given that I limit myself to a 1000-odd rupees at a go, and stay away from bookstores for the rest of the month, bankruptcy is a little distance away, even in the face of a global financial crisis which threatens ICICI bank (shudders).

I bought 3 books today.

• A volume called 'The World's Greatest Short Stories' priced very reasonably considering the thickness.
• 'The Wednesday Letters'. Priced at 375/-, it was a little extravagant by my 3-digit-prices-starting-with-2 standards, but the epilogue is actually a letter (a Wednesday letter) placed in a sealed envelope on the inside of the back cover of the book. How could I ever resist.
• My favourite. A book of poems by Ogden Nash. 'Candy is Dandy'. That's the name. And it's given me my latest blog idea. Dunno how long this one will last, but for what it's worth, I'll add a Quote of the Day with every post and try to post daily like I once used to.

Today's Quote of the Day (is actually an entire poem of 2 lines):
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nousiance.
-- Ogden Nash, 'Introspective Reflection'

And Happening of the Day:
I am now a fan of Mountain Dew. Having officially disliked white/colourless fizzy drinks on the whole till today (which happens to be Amitabh Bachchan's and my first cousin's birthday), I have finally tasted the champ of all white/colourless fizzy drinks. And my newest motto comes from there: Darr ke aage jeet hai. :D

And Moral of Today's Post
Books make this babe happy. Very very.

ScroogeSpeak-I

Life is officially fucked up. 'Officially'.

poojo.c is officially Scrooge starting yesterday. Puja fever? Bah! Humbug!

More ScroogeSpeak posts coming up over the next few days.

Boss bastion

I caught my boss watching Love Guru when he should have been working. Taking advantage of the big boss' being away and having passed most of the work to us, his poor cursed subordinates, he had happily put on his headphones and was watching Guru Pitka impart his copyrighted knowledge to all who will listen. And having seen him watching the movie, I did what I do best -- practice diplomacy by offering him a mini-review of the film.

Being a boss is a good job. You don't have to work. If you're sincere, you just make a show of doing a lot of work. And that's all you need.

Sometime ago this same boss had dozed off, with his head half under the monitor. Us giggly subordinates had tiptoed all the way to his work station to check out the scene.

And he's not the only one. Soon after this dozing off session, we spotted the big boss with his head down on his table. A colleague went over to ask him something, and he raised his head, eyes red with sleep. Of course, this boss works kinda hard, so a nap is forgivable in this case.

There's this other loudmouth senior chap in the office. Thankfully, he isn't our boss and belongs to a different department. Now this guy is something to see, and hard to miss with his protruding belly and loudspeaker-like voice. And all he does throughout the 9-hour work day is read the New York Times website, advise people on everything around the sun, ask over-worked people unnecessary general knowledge questions till they are out of polite answers just so he can show the world how much he knows, and show off the photos he has taken with his 80k-rupee DSLR and posted on his blog just so you have the wonderful opportunity to praise his creativity.

As I was saying, being a boss has many, many perks. Sometimes I feel I'm stuck in the wrong job. I should be a boss too.

Life in (not-really) Bullet Points

The other day, my auto-wala got caught by the cop for going the wrong way on a one-way street. I felt bad for the dude -- he did drop me closer to office, but then... I didn't ask him to go that way... he chose to on his own. I just sat tight for the ride.

This morning, my auto-wala dropped me still closer to office. I suspect he was hitting on me... but I can't be sure.

I saw a very ugly cat on the road today.

My office-buddy-cum-colleague is sick. Now is the right time to go tsk-tsk.

There's this bunch of movies that I want to catch:

• Rock On!!
• A Wednesaday
• Tahaan

I don't know when I'm going to get the time. Sigh. There's also an Arabic movie playing at Fame... but that's a lil outta the way.

This is another of those meaningless posts that ramble on.

Wish for the day: A trip to the zoo would be nice.

Wish for the month: Nokia N73... you are going to be mine.

Wish for the year: 120 days -- get over fast!

Tyred

Another of those supremely tiring days. I wish I could have a few slices of a large Chick'n Supreme. Pizza Hut is it?

I need to go to a spa. A nice spa with chirping birds and much greenery and the sea nearby.

I also need to stop falling asleep with the light on and the book on my nose.

I wish there were monsoon vacations (and summer and winter and Puja vacations) for people who can't go back to school unless they have tonnes of money.

I'd like to buy a good pair of jeans. My existing ones look sad... one has no pocket anymore... just a hole and its been hanging like a coat from a hanger.

I wish there was chocolate in the fridge. I really need to start stocking up on snacky stuff. Starting tomorrow.

Black & white and weddings

Black and white movies are really not my thing, but fairy tales are. And as far as fairy tales go, it's hard to beat a Cinderella story -- no matter which era it is set in, it touches a chord.

Audrey Hepburn was the Cinderella in this movie with Humphrey Bogart playing her Prince Charming. Personally, I think he makes a rather ugly Prince Charming. I preferred the guy playing his brother (who originally got the hots for Audrey -- the good ol' love triangle to bring in the twist).

Everybody around me seems to be on the brink of marriage these days. Chomu from school and Chandannagore from work are the latest victims. The first dude has had his parents and her parents set the date for the wedding but hasn't popped the question yet. The diamond ring is yet to be bought. The second dude has spoken to wifey-to-be over the phone over the last two days and seems very very giddy and blushy about it. It's kinda cute to see a guy go all red in the face talking about his wedding.

No wedding bells for me in the very near future, though there was this joke in office about my getting hitched that a certain much-liked intern and my boss fell for. It was all very funny till it seemed like one too many people know. But I did discover that the two ladies who sit beside me at work, love to overact when it comes to pulling the wool over other people's eyes (or spectacles). The fool-your-colleague questions I had to answer included:

• Is the boy's brother coming down from the States?
• How is the mom-in-law?
• When are you going jewellery shopping?
• Will you be buying gold? (If you don't like gold, go in for rodium-polished jewellery)

I don't have enough money or time to get married just now. And the whole shopping bonanza thing and crowds of unknown, smiling, judgemental faces gives me nausea. So I'll just go to other people's weddings and eat like a pink pig for the time being.

Batman

He's good-looking and super-smart and very-very-very rich. He's the only super-hero whose chaddis, even if worn on the outside, aren't glaring at you all the time aflatoon style. He doesn't have any supernaturally provided superpowers. But he's as strong as superheroes come. Plus, he's got this sexy batmobile that turns into a bike in his latest movie. Did I mention that he's bagged the starring role in a bunch of movies about him beating the bad guys to pulp? In fact, he's so good at his villain bashing that the chap playing the bad guy in the recentest Batman movie actually died a mysterious death in real life. And here is a picture of Batman himself:


Did I mention that he's dating my best friend?

Day 67

This should serve as inspiration for engineers who frequent this blog and harbour dreams of giving up corporate whore-ism.

Work has been long and hard. Almost an 11 hour day. But Ma has bought me four 10-buck packets of Kurkure -- which should last me four wonderful days. :)

And I'm happy.

I do wish that one of my two dogs would double up as a footrest, but well, you can't exactly have everything. Can you now?

Shreya is running away to get married today. Groom unknown. But at least she won't have to waste money on unnecessary relatives.

Onn wants a different post perhaps. Apologies again :P What can I say? I'm a chomu.

Day 65

As I was just telling Madz... I have had a very boring day, and so have nothing really to say. But daily blogging is now a habit. So here goes a short life-in-bullet-points post:

• Woke up at 7:12. Am supposed to leave the house at 7:30 every day, but I only manage to get out a little before 8:00. Today, I got later than that, so I coolly took a cab. In defence of my unpunctuality, I am rarely able to leave office before 6:00 during my 8:00 to 4:00 shift days.
• Breakfast was different from my usual porridge and boiled egg routine. From today onwards till I get fed up of it, my breakfast menu will be French toast, fruit and milk.
• Finally gave my happy budday treat at office today. Ordered too much food. Brought some leftovers home, and had for dinner.
• The lights have been coming and going all day apparently. And they decided to go just as I took dinner, and stayed away right till I had finished it. That's when it decided to come back. But I'm not complaining.

It's been a dull day. As a result, I have a non-functioning brain today. Was feeling exhausted but didn't want to cheat on my daily blogging thing by writing "Good night and God speed," even if just for today. See, such a good, conscientious girl I am. :D

Day 59

Today started off well. I slept till almost nine. Ate a good breakfast. I have pinky sworn to Onn that I will not blog about food so often. So I will leave the breakfast menu for some other day.

Post breakfast, I did some writing. And listened to Banana Pancakes (the song) at least 7 times, back to back. I get obsessive about favourite songs.

Work at twelve. That's when I heard I have to go cover Dabur Gulabari Sananda Tilottama '08. And since we lost the other invite, it would have to be just me. Sigh.

I was supposed to take a lot of pictures also, but my camera conked at the last minute. Flash wouldn't come on. So no pics of the event. But that's what the photographers are there for. To click away.

On the bright side, I got to sit in the Press seats. And I got a pad, a file, and a pen. All free. :D The pen I am most happy about :D

Pageants are not for me. I don't like the clothes or the questions. The girls are mostly not half as goodlooking as you'd want them to be. Even girls like looking at pretty girls, so if a beauty pageant just has a bunch of cute girls from next door, even I end up looking at the exit and wondering if I'll get a cab home if it gets too late.

The Bombay Vikings singer was there to provide the entertainment while the babes all went to change from one sequinned outfit to another. But he messed up 'Kya soorat hai' and I was very upset with him after that. He sang a bunch of other songs, but the man from Sweden kept drinking water and going off-key a little too frequently.

The last two rounds were a breeze with no super dumb answers. I was pleasantly surprised. And then, once the winners were announced... my favourite came 2nd, Shreya's favourite came 3rd, it was time to move. The guard outside The Sonar very sweetly caught me a cab.. I suppose that's part of his job. And I came home superfast.

I have decided to not be a journo for too long. It doesn't go with the temperament. I have also decided not to participate in a beauty contest ever. Not like they are waiting with bated breath to select me, but in case they were, I would not try out.

Day 49

My blog turns a year old at 11.45 p.m. tonight. I turn 24 as soon as the clock touches 12:00 a.m. (though according to the birth certificate, the auspicious moment is after 1:00 p.m. sometime). So it's b'day time for GGG and PjC.

I've got lotsa gifts over this past one week -- all leading up to the happy budday. There's been a very cool-looking bag, a guitar lessons DVD, a smiley-faced clock, a night suit, a wallet, and tomorrow I'm getting clothes. 2008 is proving to be a good year.

The only problem this year is that work seems to be taking precedence over everything else. And that isn't by concious effort. In fact, Shreya said a very deep, philosophical thing today. She said that "Everyday seems a xerox copy of the other these days."

Shreya and I have been grumbling about having to go to work on bandh days when it rains cats, dogs, elephants and blue whales. Bandhs are supposed to be holidays when you sit at home and crib about the political parties that call the bandhs but not move out from home while munching on popcorn and chips for in-between meals and khichudi for lunch.

Yes. I am a lazy Bong. And I'm proud of it.

Btw... I have already been wished thrice. And it isn't my happy budday yet. One guy thought it was D-Day today and sent me a very sweet 'Many happy returns of the day' message. Then I got all happy and changed my status message to: ' Just got first budday wish'. This confused Ex-bf No. 4 who also sent a 'happy budday' IM. Both have promised to wish me tomorrow again. The third one knows my bday is tomorrow, but felt like sending greetings in advance. Plus, my school principal just Happy-Birthday-ed me on Orkut. Pretty cool in a nerdy way.

Day 47 and 48

This is to bring the blog up-to-date. Missing a day is usually not a problem unless the day is an overpoweringly happening one. And Days 45 and 46 weren't the types that you can dispense with in a paragraph or two. Thankfully, the last two days have been fairly boring. I worked so much and so hard yesterday that I was actually wondering what I did with myself last evening. The answer: I worked myself to amnesia.

Today was a bandh. This morning it rained. Normal people would have woken up in the morning, shut the window to keep out the rain, smiled in sleepy joy, then turned over and gone back to sleep for three to four hours.

I am not normal people. I woke up, shut the window to keep out the rain, smiled in sleepy joy, then turned over and slept fitfully for barely another hour. Media whore you see. I had office. The white ambassador with a press tag came to pick me up from the police station a few buildings away. And off I went. Wasted the whole day (from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) at an air-contioned (Read: freeeeeezing) beige-painted office room with a lizard peeking out from behind Shreya's computer. Some day, a future prospective employer shall ask: "What challenges did you face in your last office?" Answer: "We had to deal with slimy reptiles of various kinds... Not all of them were human."

Day 41

So I met Dreamy, Coffee and Moolah in a very tiny blogmeet. Onn was stuck in 45-minute traffic jam in Shyambazar that jammed phone signals as well. T3 sucks when it comes to food. Don't have their chocolate cake or their pineapple juice or their chicken burger. The french fries (soggy ones) are easier to gobble up.





Yesterday, I went for the football match starring Oliver Kahn who got honoured by everyone who was anyone in Kolkata. All this during half-time. See if you can spot him in this picture:

If that doesn't work, try spotting him here:


As I was standing at Park Circus last evening, looking desperately for a share cab to Salt Lake, I saw truckloads of keora public headed for the stadium. Surprisingly, the public at the stadium were not that keora. And the goodnatured ribbing of Mohunbagan fans by East Bengal supporters was very heehee type. Plus, things like a dog running on to the field, one player kicking another, the Germans playing giants to Mohunbagan's lilliputians, chocolate bombs and pretty fireworks, dozens of men peeing in one long row, etc etc.

Kol is like a furnace today. Hot and sticky. I no like :(

Day 39

Last night was loadza fun, and it had me wondering why I don't plan frequent-er Girls' Night Outs. For one, we get to dress up in things that we would NEVER be able to wear otherwise. Then (and more importantly) we get to enter pubs, nightclubs free of charge. We have tonnes of fun minus the male species. And, we lose some of the flab while dancing non-stop (ignore the feud between the two left feet in my case). It is nice being a girl.

I don't know if I'll ever get used to calling myself a woman. I don't call myself one anyway. I'm still a girl despite being 23-going-on-24. And so are most of my chick friends. Most of the guys I know are barely men, though the protruding bellies might lead you to believe otherwise. Currently, my list of guy friends is fast decreasing. Sadly so. And not for any single reason.

I'm sleepy today, having got 4 hours of less sleep thanks to partying into the wee hours and then reporting to work before 9:00 a.m. But I'm not quite in the mood to sleep. Sometimes it seems like such a waste of time.

Speaking of waste of time, check this out:


I find the yawning kitkat very cute.

In the meantime, I'm seriously in love with the new guitar. Seriously seriously in love. I was actually missing it last evening and spent every elusive free moment at office today staring at its picture on my blog. I like that initial rush. :)

And that's all for today's episode. Good night and God speed. :D

Day 33

The thunder and lightning kept me away from the computer last night. But what I want to know is how Prasun Mukherjee got himself entangled in the plastic sheets. I wasn't watching the match yesterday, so I would really like to know how on earth he got there.

I'm really not in the mood to type today. Though my story finally got approved. It will probably get uploaded tomorrow. Will put up link then.

Am wondering what to read next. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Though I am kinda veering towards the pulp writers of the world. Light, quick, and more-or-less brainless reads are what I'm looking for. But don't suggest Chetan Bhagat please. Have a mental block against his books for some unknown, inexplicable reason.

Day 31 and TGIF

A 31-day month since I started posting. Nice. And Thank God It's Friday. I just get the Saturday off, but beggars have to make do with whatever they can get their hands on. From next week, I'm off on Thursdays.

Today was a good day. Tiring, but not as long. Met Ma for soup and Chilli Pork Roast. How I love the day before a holiday. The holiday itself is not as good as waiting for it to arrive. Aaah.. the joy of opekkha...

Had a very heehee-type day in office. This guy (the one who brings the biscuits) brings his whole cupboard in his bag. Yes -- the bag is actually an almari in disguise. Not only does he carry biscuits and ajwain, but also a big, fat newspaper (despite working in a media house which is overflowing with newspapers anyway... and then too... he subscribes to the competitor!!!), a big, black umbrella, an oily tiffin box, a shirt or two, pens, pencils, a folder, a packet for the tiffin box, a packet for the big, black umbrella if it gets wet in the rain (and it's summer now), and so much more. We've planned to have show-and-tell at office one of these days so that we can learn more about the portable-cupboard-cum-bag of his.

I have cracked a few good situational jokes over the last few days for a change. Usually I have a stock of PJs to harrass well-meaning people with.

Today's been a hot day, and the sudden gust of wind threatening a storm hasn't brought any rain and the city is still sultry (not in a good way). But I did see this old man very happily drinking cold Coca Cola through a white straw. It was a Kodak moment, but as usual, my camera was sitting in the drawer of my cupboard.

Ooooh... I'm listening to Marathi after ages: "Tumcha call hold var ghyunar rahet ahe. Kripya line var raha." (I'm on hold while talking to a friend from Pune... the Marathi I typed may be wrong.)

Off hold now, and on conference call with friend who's getting engaged and another who has never had even an inkling of a boyfriend. This is such fun!