Monday, March 31, 2008

Pet craze!

Conversation at office today:

Me : Hello, How are you?
Colleague 1 : I'm fine. Thank you. So, What did you do over the weekend?
Me : Oh, I had gone to Regents park. It was a beautiful place. Had a good time..
Colleague 1 : Oh, Thats nice.. I was at home but the coming weekend is going to be a busy one.. My sister and her husband want to go out over the weekend and i will be going to babysit their dogs!
Me : Sorry??
Colleague 1 : I said i will be going to babysit their dogs.. They have 2 cute Dalmations and they cant be left alone at home u see..!!
Colleague 2 : Oh, Thats lovely! So are the dogs coming over or you will be going there?
Colleague 1 : No.. I'll be going there and staying there for 2 days.. Okie, Catch u later.. Got to get ready and leave early.. They'll be waiting for me..

Me (To myself): Who? Your sis or the Dogs?? :-)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

My Experiments with cooking! ;-)

I must admit, I’m a pampered girl at home.. Mama’s princess.. I’ve never had to enter the kitchen until now.. The only exception to this being making a cup of coffee or to prepare Maggi noodles because mom doesn't like preparing it and when I feel like having something I get a little stubborn at times.. :-)

Having landed in London and having tasted English food for the first 2-3 days, I started realizing how important it is for one to know cooking.. he he.. :-) The problem is that I’m a vegetarian and London is quite expensive.. So I decided, come what may, I’m going to begin cooking at home..

Completely excited about my idea I rushed to the nearby mall to pick up vegetables for my first attempt to cook.. Purchased lots of fresh vegetables and came home completely enthusiastic.. Wanted to prepare a hot cup of coffee first.. Hence, went to the kitchen and started looking for the knobs to switch on the gas.. Searched for almost half an hour and then realised that the gas stove here works on electricity.. and I didnt know how to operate it.. :-)

Wonderful! Sat down for a moment and started wondering what to do next.. Like I told you, when I feel like eating something, I just have to have it.. Then struck a wonderful idea.. took a cup with milk and added the sachet of Nescafe that was available and added sugar to it.. Took the glass and put it in the microwave.. he he.. 2 minutes and the coffee was ready.. Heard of someone prepare coffee in a microwave? Silly me! Felt quite proud of myself though! Survival of the fittest they say.. ;-)

Had the cup of coffee and then came the dilemma of what to cook.. Now that I didn’t know how to operate the gas, i had to find a way out.. Stood in front of the microwave and began wondering what to do.. Slowly I was losing my patience as my mind was going blank.. Out of frustration I banged the black shining slab in front of me and Lo! I heard a series of beeps and some numbers with lights flashing on the slab which scared me for a moment.. Moved a step backward due to the fright and then realized.. It was the gas stove.. :-) Yahoooo.. Finally found out how to operate it.. he he..

Now, time to tell you what and how i cooked.. hmm.. Lets keep that story for another day.. But for now, Recipes most welcome.. :-)

My First flight!

Something that I never gave so much importance to all my life – Travelling abroad.. Right from my childhood, I have seen my friends going crazy about travelling abroad… feeling great about seeing new places, meeting new people.. But I was this total introvert who used to hide behind my grand mom when there used to be guests at home.. :-)

Hence, this travel to me, was more of a nightmare than something that I should look forward to.. The moment I got to know that I would be travelling abroad, the questions that popped to my mind were “How would I manage staying alone without ma and pa?”
How do people manage to leave their family and friends and spend so much time all alone… Would I be able to manage such a big responsibility that’s been given to me?

My mind filled with so many questions, I somehow managed to convince myself that this change was really needed and it would help me in a lot of ways to develop myself and i was so correct..

Reached office and got to know that my flight tickets are booked and that I would be travelling by British Airways – Business class! Told my parents and friends about it and they were really happy for me.. Not many from my family has travelled abroad for business and this was a very BIG thing for all of them.. I should say, some of my friends were even jealous that I am getting to travel business class and not economy class..!!
Yes! First flight and I was going international.. Not many get such an opportunity and I’m grateful that I’ve got such a good chance.. So, then I began planning for my journey and stay at London.. Friends, family all of them began helping me shop and pack things for the trip..

The day finally arrived when I had to leave for London.. My uncle came and picked me up from home to drop me at the airport.. Reached the Bangalore airport by 4 in the morning.. As we were nearing the airport, I screamed with excitement, “Hey, we r reaching the airport” and my sis almost fell down laughing at me..


Anyways, after all the baggage check, I waved goodbye to dad, uncle, sis and R and got ready to get into my first aircraft.. Was totally amused and impressed at the way I was treated by the lovely air hostesses.. My friends had scared me regarding how I may throw up or feel giddy during the take off.. But guess my excitement was greater than all that.. The Plane took off and it was such an amazing experience to fly..

Very thrilling to see the land beneath you and just endless blue of the sky all around.. It was beautiful.. Never experienced something like this before.. As the flight progressed and I looked out of the window, I could see the clouds so clearly.. Felt like they were cotton balls hanging in the sky.. So cozy.. Wish I could just hug them.. :-) Saw the varied amount of beauty in nature, like the mountains, sea and water all of them from a different view.. and travelling above the clouds was something that I just cant express.. Had an amazing time.. 10 hours seemed to have just vanished in no time.. Here are a few pics of what I saw.. Hope you enjoy it too.. :-)






Saturday, March 1, 2008

Here I am..

Here I am.. With stories of my adventures and of course Misadventures in London.. :-)

This trip definitely comes with a lot of firsts.. First time being away from home for something like 3 months, First flight, First travel alone, First abroad visit… Will take you through all of these in my coming posts..

How it all started was like this:

Was out with my best friend for dinner one night and both of us were just discussing about our life and work and suddenly I get a call from office saying that I’ve been chosen to go to London for a process transition. It would be for 3 months, I would have to learn a process completely and come back to Blore and implement it here and I would be accompanied by a colleague during the trip.. For a few minutes I didn’t realize what was being said and I casually said “No Problem, I’ll be there..” Before I could even complete the call, my friend was super excited about the whole thing and she was screaming in joy.. You are going to London? Wow… That’s great news.. call up mom n dad n tell them.. You must be feeling on top of the world..

I was still lost.. wondering what had happened and how I would manage staying away from home for so long.. Then called up home and told mom and dad about the trip and they were very excited too..

Slowly It started sinking into my mind.. Felt a little happy but at the same time was nervous and excited and sad.. Too many feelings at a time.. :-)

Felt really grateful for such a good opportunity to see a new country.. Experience a new culture, see different people and their lifestyle.. Then Came back home.. Still a little lost and a little unsure about the whole thing..

Then just decided, I’m going to enjoy myself in the coming few months completely.. Was always waiting for a chance when I would get to be on my own.. Completely independent and taking decisions on my own and living my life.. This is the chance! The phase when i would be able to live my life to the fullest and experience something that i had only seen people dreaming about.. Getting ready to face one of the most interesting phases of my life.. :-)

Sango Londonwali! ;-)


It sure has been a great month.. Right now, am sitting beside the window looking out at the cold and foggy streets of London.. Yes! London it is..!

I'm in London on a project from my company for 3 months..
Its been a lot of firsts and am slowly learning a whole lot of things and seeing and experiencing different things.. Will update details of my travel and experiences in the coming posts..However, for now.. Here are a few pictures that may be of some interest to you all.. :-)