What I carried for work yesterday!

As I started for work yesterday, I carried the weirdest set of items to the office, none of it relevant to work.

• Pair of running shoes, running shorts and a bright yellow running T-shirt (which friends from my earlier company can't forget and will miss forever!)
• Quarter kg of lady's finger (Okra) and a piece of Brinjal.
• A frock that would fit a three-year old, a T-shirt and a pair of trousers that would fit a five-year old
• A pair of formal pants, T-shirts, towel, tooth brush, soap box and under garments! 

We had a sports event at work in which I participated after which I was going to my brother's place to stay over the weekend. Conspicuous in its absence was the laptop! I forgot it at work the previous day! :)

Homely vs. Ugly

I am a member of my company's Toastmasters club which is a platform for developing speaking, and leadership skills. If you think you can talk and command others well, you can always take to providing finding faults in the name of "constructive feedback" to those who are practicing it.

Anyway, in one of the meetings, a speaker used the phrase "a homely girl" intending to mean "a girl-next-door". The speech evaluator took the stage after the speech and said "The word homely is a commonly misused word among Indians. Homely actually means ugly." Then he almost landed himself in a soup while trying to explain the roots of the word. He said "The word is used to say that the girl is better of staying at home than coming out in public". While the male section of the crowed started laughing heartily, the female section started blinked with an uneasy smile on their face clearly trying to swallow their words of retribution. But one of them was in a mood to spit it all out. "Why is it only for girls?" she exclaimed and now the guys shut up and the girls were smiling glad that one of them went after the guys! The speech evaluator threw his hands up and could only make funny faces in defense not knowing what to say to get out of the Amazon's attack. Then in a flash of a second, one guy from the crowed answered.

"Oh be glad that girls have a euphemism. Guys are just plain ugly"

And now the laugh was louder and evenly participated. The speech evaluator was relieved but still had a foolish smile on his face!

Curious about carnatic music

Ladies in my in-laws' family are experts-of-sorts in carnatic music. Actually they are experienced academicians too, but so are gents in that family. So that doesn't count! :) To the contrary, I am almost a zero. I say "almost" because, my sister had trained as carnatic singer for a few months and I learnt one song from her! So that counts!

Anyway, their presence has brought me in proximity to a lot of carnatic music as they watch all the music concerts in TV and start discussing its nuances and technical details. That has made me notice a few things that I would otherwise never notice and ask questions that I otherwise wouldn't have asked. I surprise myself with my power to observe and surprise them with my power to question. It gives me a "second to none" feeling. Here is a sample of a few such questions.

• "Why don't percussion artists ever sit in the middle and lead the concert?"
• "How do they select those people sitting behind everyone with the tambura? Do they actually know carnatic music or do they pick anyone from the studio at the last moment?"
• "Do the string instrument players bleed through their fingers?"
• "I have never seen a "naked" mruthangam.Why is the mruthangam always wrapped in a cloth?
• "When the Veena artists wear the metal thing on their fingers, do they miss to vibrate the string because they don't get to feel it with their fingers?"
• "Why do the artists always appear in traditional sarees and dhotis for the concerts? Why don't they even wear a salwar or a kurtha?"

Off late, I find that my wife tries to stop me from asking questions to my mother-in-law. I think she is getting jealous of me getting closer to her expertise in carnatic music. Something reminds me of the famous Sidhuism. "Wickets are like wives, you never know which way they will turn"

May or May not

I was bumping my head with a technical training yesterday and I found a hint, that is supposed to help me wade through materials that were for practical purposes Greek and Latin.

"Hint: The datasheet may or may not be useful to you"

Now I was thinking,

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? That is always going be the case right? If there is a datasheet, no matter what you are trying to figure out, the datasheet is going to have only two roles to play!

1) It may be useful to you!

2) It may not be useful to you!

Besides, isn't it enough if it is just "Hint: The datasheet may be useful to you"? Doesn't the word "may" add enough uncertainity? Why go for the "may or may not" overkill? Just so you confuse the reader to the maximum now that you have started of with it anyway?!

Whoever wrote it must have been thinking, "If I wrote just "may"... oops I have just given too much away with the hint!. Buuuuuuuuut if I had just used "may not", I would have turned the user away from the datasheet and that robs me an opportunity to play with his mind. So, I will say "MAY OR MAY NOT!" How delicious. Now that is going to put a spin on his head! Haa Haa Haa"

Now, if I ever meet Mr. May O'Maynot, I would say "I may or may not throw a rock or lathe on your head or toe while you may or may not be sleeping or awake! How about that!"

Animals and friends!

A friend and colleague of mine recently became a member of Toastmaster's club in my office. For the unaware, once a member one is supposed to deliver a series of talks refining each aspect of communication skill with every talk. The first one, the ice breaker, is always a talk introducing oneself and providing a brief personal history to the rest of the club.

What she said (hopefully didn't intend) during the course of her speech got me to thinking on "what I really am!". She said.

"I like animals a lot. I like to surround myself with animals. Ask my friends!"

...and I sit next to her at work!

Ethiopia

These days no matter what I do the conversation naturally slides to how I am lost because I am preoccupied with something (rather somebody) else in mind. :D I try to fend them off as much as possible. But it is only a matter of time before I give up and let my colleagues walk all over me with their taunts! What is the point anyway? They are not always wrong quite honestly! :)

But today was a little different and for once I got off the hook fast! I was having lunch with three of my colleagues over some trivial matter when I got a reminder from my mobile. As I paid attention towards it I fumbled up with a reply. Assuming that to be an SMS from "Her" my colleagues grabbed the chance.

"Now there is no point talking to Badhri", mentioned JJ

"Ya, he is in his own world", giggled RS!

"Ya, Ethiopia", said RVD

I said, "Its Utopia not Ethiopia! and look who is lost!" :)