Work tally

I'm making a tally of how many days in the week I hate work, and how many days in the week I kinda like it (Note: "Kinda like" as opposed to "love"). I know what the answer will be. And I know how this year will end on the work front. But still, a little scientific data never hurt anyone.

PS: Interestingly, all my labels today start with "W". Not intended at all. :D

Monster.com time

I feel stuck in the wrong job.

But then again, I'm one of those people who will always feel stuck in the wrong job, 'cause the entire 'job' concept doesn't rest easy with me.

On the bright side, my writing skills have been seeing an upward curve. A little button mushroom soup wouldn't do any harm though.

I'm not looking for a new job. But I adore complaining about my current one. It's one of my favourite hobbies. :D

Wedding bells (Not for me)

I have a job. I have to convince one close friend to go to the wedding of another close friend in Pune who will be paying our way (Air tickets in these times of skyrocketing air fare! Whoohoo!). The villain here is a Boss who doesn't know (which kinda reduces the charges on him) and work pressure that refuses to go away.

Sometimes I forget I'm 24. I still feel 23 somehow. And when I'm thinking 'how-old-am-I?', the reflex is '23'. Then comes 'Nyaah. That doesn't sound right.' And a quizzical look at the dude/dudette in the auto (It's happened twice), and a question, 'How old are we?'

The answer, sadly, is '24'.

But if it's all in the mind, and it's all the same to you, I still feel '23'.

I do I do.

It's been awhile

I've been avoiding the computer chair (which is in fact not a computer chair at all) because it gives me backache. Age and grey hair - the troubles they bring along. And because I've been avoiding the computer chair, the computer has been getting the royal ignore too. But today I decided to catch up with people I've been out of touch with. This included a Cousin Dadi (who I spoke to), an aunt (whose phone was busy) and Mr. Computer (who has kindly forgiven me without a word of reproach).

I've written a lot today. I've also finally submitted my latest article (this one on the Russell Peters show in Kolkata last week) at work. Here's the link: Laughing out loud with Russell Peters. This caused me a lot of insecurity while I wrote it. I constantly worried that I wasn't doing a good job, but despite all the worrying, it's turned out well enough at the end.

I've been telling everyone that I'm reading a bad book by Hemmingway (the same dude who wrote The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls). This one is called Fiesta, and I have only about 20-odd pages left, and I would like to say that it has finally turned interesting. As in, this is no thriller. That sense of chill anticipation is absent, but the last few pages have been an improvement over the first 150-odd pages. I guess, even Mr. Hemmingway had to start somewhere. Nobody's perfect.

Except my father, by his own admission.

After a long time...

I'm whistling at work again. That's a good sign.

No love lost anymore

My first job. Aaah... now that was love.

This is just a marriage of convenience.

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.

Adventure postponed

Passport adventure postponed to Monday. Hopefully, given that it's Mahalaya and all, the office will remain open then. I would appreciate some company if anyone likes standing in queue from 4.30 in the morning. :D (Notice the winning smile)

I think I'll spend the rest of the morning reading. Eye issues still persist, couldn't meet the doc yesterday. Sigh. Chaap e chaap. Will somebody exchange lives with me for a few days please?

Sigh of relief

Been stressed and worried and really really stressed and worried of late. Thankfully, I was mostly worried about a-little-more-than-nothing, and am heaving many sighs of relief just about now. The moral of the story is: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. I will probably start procrastinating once again when this sudden bout of worry disappears into the carbon monoxides of time... but for the time being, I will be a good kid, and do all my work on time. I have to stand in line at passport office really early tomorrow morning. Pray that I get my token asap.

Latest story

Here's my newest story. For a change, I'm quite happy with this one: Saved by the off-screen Bachchan


I have an eye infection so am avoiding the comp at home for a while. I wish I could avoid the one at work too :'(

Will return with a big bang once the eye issues clear up.

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.

My latest story

http://www.ilovekolkata.in/index.php/My-City/Soccer-Stars-from-Kolkata.html

I would've preferred a lot more editing, but what the hell, it's up finally.

One reason

why I dislike having a job is because it forces me to ask other people for the use of time that is rightfully mine.

Putting out the 'Welcome' mat

So I'm the man of the house now... pretty much. And I made my first purchases as man of the house:

• 6 eggs & 1 pound bread
• 100 gm butter
• 3 Metro Dairy chocolate ice-creams

Interestingly, I bought each of those items from three different shops 'cause I was scared the shop closer to home (Kaku-r dokaan) would be shut by then (It wasn't).

It isn't that I haven't bought stuff from the store before. It just felt different this time. 'Cause I knew that this time, I couldn't pass the job on to anyone else or fall back on an excuse (however much valid) like "the store was shut".

Yeah, it feels different. Just two days into the new state of being. I'm liking it so far.

I chased a story today about Yasir Arafat (not the dead Palestinian leader) being signed up by the Kolkata Knight Riders. This involved a total of 8 calls. 3 of which involved finding the Knight Riders' Kolkata office (Got lucky on the third try -- the number I called for info was the KKR office :D). Calls 4, 5, 6, and 7 involved finding someone (anyone!!) who could give me some info. Call No. 8 saw me being passed from person to person to person till I finally got a dude who didn't know about the news really... but sounded like he knew something (unlike the first guy I called and asked if the report regarding Yasir Arafat's joining KKR was true. The dude exclaimed, "Really?"... Boss, if I knew the answer, why would I be asking you?) It was lotsa fun though.

I like. I like.

Today's the first day that I feel not-so-reluctant to be a journo. :)

Unnumbered post

Due to lack of ideas and a relatively dull life, this blogger is henceforth on a one-week blogpost sabbatical. Be back next Monday, unless something exciting comes to pass in between.

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 64

One long off-day this.

Was woken up by call from boss who wanted to send me to a movie premiere, which I agreed to go to, but later realized coming back would be a problem. So from 7 to 10 I vegged out in front of the TV and then the computer. Finished watching What happened in Vegas. It has Ashton Krutcher and Cameroon Diaz in the lead.

The day began with a hilarious dream involving Madz, me and Rishi. Here it comes:

Madz and I were going around the city in a cab in search of a loo. This was at night, and by the time we found Rishi, it was morning. Luckily, he found us a loo. Smelly, dirty, and you had to queue up to use it, but a loo is a loo is a loo after all. Funnily enough, this 50-yr-old-ish Bong lady and her husband who were obviously travelling, were trying to drag their humongous, black VIP suitcase into that tiny, smelly loo -- for fear of theft we assumed.

After our loo trip, Rishi could not be found. As it turns out, he was standing atop a concrete structure which consisted of several flights of stairs leading to nowhere. Imagine a car park in a mall where there is no place to park, just a path to go up or down. Kinda like a concrete suicide point. Of course, Rishi wasn't contemplating suicide; he was enjoying the breeze.

We were tired, Madz and me, so Rishi decided to take us to relax at his place. Importantly, 'his place' was a storeroom in the mall behind the concrete suicide point. Not high enough to stand up straight in, though Moo might just about manage. Surprisingly, the mall management had no idea that our Rishi Roy had moved in to one of their unused storerooms. Plus, it had an attached loo.

Once at Rishi's place, it was time for a movie. Madz made a movie request and headed to the loo. (The loo seems to be the star of this early morning dream) I asked, "Can't we watch Who framed Roger Rabbit?" And Rishi said, "Sure we can, except that Madz has already chosen a movie." "And which movie is this," asked I. And he flipped through some CD covers to show me our movie of the day: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

That's pretty much when I woke up, grinning.

Okay, so the dream was much funnier while I was sleeping, but the first thing I promised myself was that I'd record it here. So here you are.

Did meet Madz today. Ma, me, sis and Madz went for lunch together. New Cathay. Coke, fresh lime soda, mixed chowmein (gravy) and chilli chicken, followed by sundaes at Hobby Centre. Then there was juice and puchka (I had just one puchka though). Dinner of aloo-potol bhaja followed, with mishti doi landing up at the fag end of the day.

This is a very long post, and I will stop now, but not before announcing that I finally have my official email ID in place. Yay.

And while you're at it, read this: Oh! Kolkata takes some getting used to (It's by the new English intern at office. She writes pretty darn well if I say so myself. I'm jealous.)

Day 63

Blogging daily is practically a habit now. I feel a little incomplete... adhoora sa... if I don't blog for a day. Plus, I jet off on an instant guilt trip as well.

Today has been a long, but surprisingly, not terribly tiring day. In fact, even though Wednesdays are my Saturdays during a six-day work week, I feel like I'm on a sprightly Tuesday. (That make sense?)

Did I mention that I've been singing in the auto and while walking down the road of late? I must be happy.

My best friend bought a guitar. A Grenada. Now we are best friend-best friend with guitar-guitar and don't know how to play-play.

Ma called me single-minded the other day. Which equals to focussed. This is the second time somebody has said that about me. To think that all these days I thought I was a scattered, flakey chick who wore torn Oshos and carried a jhola everwhere. If it wasn't raining, and I wasn't headed to office, I would still wear my Oshos everywhere.

The free makeover thing seems to have sprung up several look revamp-seekers. ILK (abbreviation for ilovekolkata, if you were wondering) is planning to have a makeover feature regularly. Keep an eye on this blog for future happenings.

I had puchkas today, after ages. I will sleep till 9 a.m tomorrow morning. It's my day off.

My horoscope yesterday said that my dating life is collecting crickets. It told me to join an online dating website. I haven't and I don't intend to. I like cricket and crickets.

Now, this may seem like unnecessary promos, but ILK has 2 good stories today (neither by me). One is Colour TV Day in Kolkata 'coz June 25, 1951 was the day the world’s first commercial television programme in colour was transmitted. The other story is Remembering the World Cup glory -- the take of city cricket buffs on the historic winning of the 1983 cricket World Cup, almost exactly a year before I was born.

Tomorrow Ma, Anjali, Madz and I are going for lunch to New Cathay. Expect a report on what I ate there.

Day 61

I have so much to write today, but I really have to (have to have to) go to sleep early tonight. Have to fill out my contract -- I've been putting it off and putting it off, and now I can't put it off any longer. I'm not usually scared of filling out forms, but there are just too many pages and too many questions. Most of them more or less unnecessary. Some more than others.

I'm feeling too confident of my form-filling abilities right now. I need some moral support. Will get Ma to sit with me and answer my rhetorical questions about the form bright and early tomorrow morning. And I have to leave for work by 7.30 a.m. tomorrow, so unless I wake up at 5:30 or 6:00, the form submission will be postponed by yet another day.

I do have a lot to ramble on about today. But I'll keep it for tomorrow. Wish me luck with filling the forms that will make me a permanent fixture.

(Just re-read. This is THE worst post ever.)

Day 60

Another working Sunday slithers past.
Another manic Monday creeps in.
With every day, a little older.
With every day, so much more to do.

I could go on with the unhappy poem that doesn't rhyme. But I won't. What I will say is that I'd like a portable hug machine. Press a button, get a hug. Something like that. Coz invariably I feel like I need a hug when I'm squashed into a thin line in the auto, and I can't exactly ask one of those ugly men to give me a hug, though some of those perves would be happy to.

My Tilottoma story is up on the 'My City' section of the ilovekolkata website, if you feel like checking it out. It's just a report, but it would be nice if you dropped by.

A friend of mine is in 'lurve' -- he made me type out the name of his latest crush while we were chatting this evening. You are allowed to guess who this guy is. Not that tough to figure out either.

Have an 8 to 4 shift starting tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll manage to sneak away from office on time.

I've eaten too much dinner. Now I cannot move. Barely.