There is something that I have figured out in my long association with submitting reports to my seniors and getting them checked.

The aim of the study is to find the best time to get your reports checked.

For my study I have divided the day into three time zones -

1. Morning – Just in, raring to go, destructive mode

2. Afternoon – Just after Lunch, laid back mode

3. Evening – Stressed, eager to complete work and leave

And I have experienced all these time zones first hand!

Submitting a report in the morning, when your manager has just come in and is raring to go, is all pumped up and is in the I will achieve everything mode, is not a very good idea. invariably he will look at your report and tear it into pieces. He will want to change everything. The concept, the idea, the formatting, content everything. Not a very good time for report submission

Submitting a report in the Afternoon, just after lunch when your manager saunters in with that content feeling of had lunch, is satisfied. His/ her body is going into relax mode, he wants to now get a nap or two on his desk. He wants to take it easy, this is when you go and show him the report. There will be hardly any changes, he will be happy with it, might even congratulate you on a job well done.

Submitting a report in the Evening, when he is hassle, people are gnawing at him for his attention. He wants to complete that report that he has been working on for a while and wants to go home. There is just too much of stuff to do and then you come it with your report and he thinks of it as a Oh-God-Not-Now thing and so he either does a quick scan with minimal changes or takes out his frustration on you by tearing it into pieces.

This has been my experience so far.

I had forgotten the joy of travelling in a bus.

I used to detest public transport (past tense). 

In the recent past I had chauffeur driven car and now i drive on my own and on rare occassions do miss the public busses

For the past one year i have had no opportunity to travel in the  the delhi DTC busses, the low-lying ones of course,  but yesterday I did!

And my god the public has increased there were of course the shoves and pushes and surprisingly more “excuse me’s”! that was a major surprise …. or maybe it was just me looking very corporate ….

And the icing on the cake was the weather, it was nice not the usual sweaty Delhi ki garmi… so i didnt mind standing in the bus for a good 20 mins while being thrown left and right depending on the rash turns that the bus took.

As i stood (u are lucky if you get a seat) i noticed two ladies who looked like they had just walked in from the heartlands of India. With their colourful sarees, bangles, bindi and that “I am from rural india and I am very comfortable with my body and I dont care if I have my feet up on the seat … cause really it is not big deal you urban maniacs … cause all you do is slog it out in the office and have no life” …. look and ” I am going to chatter in my heartland language and point fingure at you and smile and snicker while you try to figure out what is soooo absurdly amusing” look

So there I was standing and being snickered at but I didnt mind it in fact i was curious and happy! (?)…

Community travel is interesting … in a car you forget that joy of holding on to your dear life while the bus maneuvers at death speed and that crazy ticket guy who will take his own sweet filthy time to punch holes in your ticket while you stand there waiting for your majesty to give you that ticket which took you a good 8 minutes to get after a lot of shoving pushing and elbowing people.

 You forget that there are people more similar to you only from different places with different languages …

You forget that yours and the rest of the 58 people in that bus unconsciously trust the driver a little too much … who is being reckless as hell with your lives

You forget that its okay if someone is snickering at you in an unknown language

And you forget that the bus tickets are still damn cheap! (though that will change soon)

Me goes to boss after working on a presentation all day and all night.

He flips, reads and looks out the window.

Then he says – “Excellent first draft!”

Pheww

And then he goes ahead and rapes it …

Oh well …

How to travel in Gurgaon if you dont have a car of your own.

Since the time i have shifted to gurgaon, I have had a harrowing time commuting. This city is a disaster when it comes to public transport. There is nothing in the name of decent mode of transport.

Thankfully i live very close to my office, a distance of 10 odd kms that are quickly covered in a car. It takes about 10 minutes in a self driven vehicle. Unfortunately i dont have a car of my own right now, so i am stuck taking rides and mostly the pathetic gurgaon public transport.

My experience has made me identify few of the modes that can be used to travel in Gurgaon (Government do something about this shoddy place)

1. Green Line Busses/ DTC Buses

These buses are a rarity. And more rare is when they actually stop at a bus stop. And bus stops there are none, people stand on the sied of the road and wait endlessly for a bus to turn up. They are ofcourse driven by high speed ex-truck walas, who are living their dream of mowing down people on the road. The few buses that I have encountered in my 7 months stay here, run at a speed of 80+ kms and are jam packed with people.

They never come on time and their frequency is an hour plus. They also dont run on the NH 8 road section and usually are more for the inner gurgaon or old gurgaon. Hence quite useless for me.

2. Short Distance Seven Seaters

These are a marvel. I could write a book on these amazing piece of engineering. They have been designed to seat a maximum of 8 people comfortably. But these seven seaters dont move an inch untill and unless there are 16 people in it (and that includes the driver, thank god for that!). It is shaped as a bigger autorickshaw that are very common in delhi. Four people in the back slab of the rickshaw, 8 in the middle and 3 more sharing space with the driver in the front.

The driver mostly is an underage kid,  accompanied by someone, who keeps calling the customers. These seven seaters are mostly frequented by the lower class of people but I have quite often spotted well to do people also travelling in it (ofcourse out of desperation). As nobody in their right mind would like to be squashed from all sides and keep that position till the end of  their journey and ofcourse not meet eye to eye with 8 people who are pretty much breathing down your neck.

It give a very “We are the world, we are the children” kind of a feeling that I would rather avoid. I was once sitting next to a lady with a kid. Shoulder to shoulder, leg to leg and the kid kept playing with my chunni and that just shows how close you are in that confined space. Ofcourse i couldnt care less about the chunni, all i wanted was the ride to get over.

Desperation makes you do a lot of things you rather not. The fare for these short distance seven seaters are Rs. 5. I used to take them regularly but avoid them like the plague now. Aviod if you can afford to.

3. Cycle Rickshaws

These are the cycle rickshaws with a driver paddling in the front and mostly with a covering in the back for the commuter. These rickshaws are very common in the Chandni Chowk Area of Delhi and will charge you anything from 20 – 150 depending on the distance. They are a big no no for me again as a distance of 10 kms on a cycle rickshaw is ridiculous. They are quite frequent in gurgaon as well and you can spot one anywhere on the road.

4. Random Taxis

The Random taxis are actually illegal and a lot of time it has happend that hte Haryana police has stopped them and told the commuters to get down while charging the driver some 200-500  Rs as a fine. But these taxis are effective. They are basically random taxi walas that are going from one distance to another and have a bit of spare time and would rather ferry people than go the same distance and not make money.

So these random taxi walas will pick up people and drop them according to where their destination is, like Dhaula Kuan, Nehru Place, Shankar Chowk (Gurgaon) and even Noida and ofcourse the starting point is Gurgaon. They charge anything from Rs. 5 – 20 (but not more than that). I usually take these.

5. Car Pooling 

Car pooling is ofcourse the best option. I use it quite frequently, though the only issue here is that I take a ride more than I give a ride. Me and my friends are trying to get in a Corporate Car Pooling Service that will benefit a lot of people and make our roads less congested. Lets see how that works out.

FYI- The stretch that i travel on is on the NH8.

For a while i have been comfortably numb.

Taking in everything that comes my way, with a smile.

I have let the course of my life be directed by the decisions made by others and not get angry not get pissed off if things didn’t go my way and not be disappointed when I didn’t get what i want.

This is the stage when you know that you want more, but you rather not as the fine balance that has been created will break and wont get back to its initial stage.

But does it have to break? to grow? am i hindering it? Should i just let go? Should i just do what i want? or should i just be in the comfortably numb stage as long as i can? should i “break free”? But break free and then what? Do i need another option to let go of this one? 

Should i keep concentrating on the things that i feel are important and just move with the flow??

Am I waiting for Divine intervention AGAIN?!

I feel its drink time … and more than one will do.

Me1- I cant believe its for life

 Me2 - What?

Me1 – This marriage thing … what else?

Me2 – Yaaa neither can I believe it is

Me1 – So what to do now?

Me2 – Run away

Me1 – It is tempting

Me2 – But you will have to take the public transport … you know

Me1 – Umm … yaaaa …. That wont be nice

Me2 – Not only will it be crowded but also too much stops and then you are not even sure, if you want to run away that bad

Me1 – I cant believe I am still digesting the fact … womaaaan!

It was around 6:30 in the morning, husband and me in the bed taking in the view from the window.

Sun just peeking in from behind the clouds, birds chirping and the slight winter chill in the morning that makes you want to snuggle in a bit more.

Yes i had a bus to catch, he had to drive to office and of course it was still mid week … with no escape.

He snuggled closer … I did too … warm embrace.. no inclination to leave … time ticked by …

That’s when husband jostled me out of my senses saying ” I love you” (the three words… oh god!! …)

… my right eye brow went up …. “Oh yeah? What did you say?”

The filmy guy that he is … he said … those three words that every girl wants to hear in the morning…

I thought for a moment … I asked did you just say … “You want coffee?” With as much as a straight face that I could muster…

Am i a complete party pooper or what?

Couldn’t help bursting out it giggles though ….

As the Satyam controversy takes a new turn and the blame game starts. There is a tension in the office air. A silence peppered with the keyboard clicks. The whooshing of coffee machines and the hush talks in the corners.

 I feel a bit depressed with my phone ringing off the hook enquiring all is well? And my boss (oh he is so sweet!) rattles away on the phone -

Life must go on … until physically hanged … virtual hanging toh ho gayee hai …

I pop a disprin … mull over the media frenzy … 4th cup of coffee … (i wasn’t this tense at my wedding… i wonder)

I feel small … little … insignificant … a pawn in the bigger scheme of things … a small speck whose destiny has been decided … all that I can do is try to be happier or just throw a bitch fit!

My end is near, so i am doing things that I wanted to (how bollywood can i get?!)

Met up with my x and told him all that I wanted to. So it is out of my system and into his. And doesnt feel so bad cause now it doesnt matter

Today I will run on that green patch in the embassy area. Have been passing that patch for a year now and havent done that so weeeee …. I shall run!

Met up with my model friend, she made all the mistakes she wanted to in life and now at 30 she stays alone looking for Mr Right. Felt a bit sorry for her, but I know that she is having a blast doing it her way. 

Will be eating lunch at the dhabba outside my office, its dirty, filthy and all the drivers come there but I have heard the food rocks… reason enough to go

More updates … as I go along …

Doesnt matter how wonderful it is … cause i dont want it