MellowDrama

so I said the last time that I will tell you guys about my work. I work as a journalist. Now that is supposed to be a very interesting and adventurous job. Journalism is also a field that gives you the freedom to be creative like the work that i do. i work on two papers. one is for kids and second for teenagers. Being a journo (that is the slang for journalist and slang is very informal usage of vocabulary) is a lot of fun because i get to write and express myself as i want to. working on the kid's magazine which unfortunately will be closed now was great because i could design it any which way. there were no set rules, nthing that was to be done week after week so there was no monotony- which is lack of variety. the mag (slang for magazine) was called YO! It stood for Young Ones. Though I did not like the name much, I had not given it this name, what I liked was the name of a mag on similar lines like YO! being made by some people working for aMumbai-based newspaper DNA. It was c...

I have been meaning to talk to you about this one thing for quite a while but the I had not been doing any raeding myself to be able to tell you how important is it to spend times with book. You guys will get busy with a lot of stuff as you grow up but I would wish that you always have a book by your side. Books can be your best friends. Also writing, so a diary or a notepad as well. Books entertain you, guide you, help you learn. They teach you without testing you. Writing helps you gather your thoughts and make sense out of them. There will be times when a lot might be happening around you and inside your head as well, so if you write all the thoughts coming to you, you will get a better picture of circumstances. Writing also helps you learn quickly and forever. Writing also helps you to regain calm and control when you might be feeling a little lost in this big world. How you write will reflect what all have you read. Writing can be so much fun. ou can write stories, poems, your wo...

I had thought that I would write to you daily and talk to about various things but i haven't been able to keep at it because of my own laziness, which means due to the lack of an effort. But I wanted you to know that even though I might not be writing stuff here, I love to talk to you. I hope you know that. Like last night I was talking to you of birthdays. Birth days are always special and we should make an attempt to make the birth0-day-person feel special and good. Last night I was thinking that as your father's birth day will be soon upon us and it would be good fun to arrange a surprise party for him with a couple of his friends and couple of mine. After I had this thought I began to think of friends. Friends are people with whom we can share good times and bad times alike. They are the people who stick to us even though they know about our bad habits or even if some of opur ualities irritate them. They are the people who keep a check on us if we are going down hill, whcih...

Some of the qualities that I would want them to imbibe Common sense Ability to listen with Patience Perseverance Hard work Sense of humour Love for the outdoors, adventure Respect for traditions and heritage Appreciate art Agility Integrity Courtsey Courage Stamina Voracious readers Generous/ Giving Affectionate Forgiving

Bored: To make weary by being dull, repetitive, or tedious What happens when we get bored? All our senses and sensibilities tip towards falling off asleep. Our brain is clouded with thoughts of hoiw hard work we have worked, how early we had had to climb out of bed and how unusually rough the circumstances are. It all makes me yearn to get home and fall asleep. Today I read in a magazine that it helps if you take a nap after lunch during summers. Bless the intelligent man to say such a lovely thing but I wonder if the bosses also come across facts like these.

I dream up stories every night and when I pray, I only concentrate on requesting the Gods to give you a safe and sound passage into this world. I have also become highly superstitious. I no longer check out stuff for myself or even for daddy dearest but for you guys. Last night we went to fun Republic, that is a multiplex near our home. A multiplex is where you go watcha film, eat and shop. So I went into the stores that stock clothes for kids like you will be. I saw this cute little pink skirt with frills with whcih i fell in love instantaneously. I also saw a pair of shorts and an adorable pair of jumper suit in green colour with a frog sitting neatly near the shoulder. We will pack you both in something like that for your aunt's wedding. Oh! didn't I tell you about it? Your aunt will get married in coming February. February is the second month of a new year. We all are looking forward to your arrival and then your aunt's wedding. It will be so much fun! We will all dance...

Well the kids saw their first ever flick in a theatre yesterday night. Bheja Fry- the movie, the cast, the screenplay, the background music rocked. Lovable he is not but Bharat Bhushan grows on you. The very sight of Asif Merchant is repulsive but his James Bondian ways and sulky face on discovering his wife is sleeping with someone else earns him huge laughs and some sympathy as well. The movie is largely shot inside a room and a couple of shots have been taken here and there- at a car dealer's showroom,a bus, a recording studio etc. The effort that the director and the writers have put in to noticing the details of how babus function, the small things that bring them joy- make the film touching. You understand every character completely by the end of the film and can predict Bhushan's next move. He is one of those people who genuinely want to help others without waiting or wanting to know how they may do so. Vinay Pathak as Bharat Bhushan is just amazing. The movie is aptly t...

How does it feel to give a call to your patronising ex-boss and hear him praise your current work to earth's end and then tell him you are just incorporating all that you have learnt under him. Great!!! I must say. Just happened with me. It was so much fun. I could not stop giggling. What a kick man!

I saw this over some website ya on flickr and liked it. this title gives you the freedom to write anything. i dnt know what is happening inside me but its nothing very comfortable. My tummy makes unheard noises and i feel so sleepy all day long. i have never liked to cook, now i detest it all the more because i cant tolerate the smells and the fumes and also because i dnt feel like anything that i cook. joints at my hips have become super loose and i think my legs may fly away in different directions. at times i do get a little scared but then the reminder of how badly i wanted babies puts me back on track. shall come back for the rest later

My maid was regaling me with one of her fights with her husbands. This one less violent than the others in terms of the topic. She had packed potatoes for a meal for him. She had forgotten to serrve him some sort of curry or dal. The man cribbed that when she was fasting she treated the rest of the family with contempt. And so we launched a lengthy discussion on how careless we women are with ourselves rather than treat our men and families with contempt. While fixing a meal if anything, say for eg dough, finishes we don't tell our men/families to eat a chapati or two less to save for ourselves rather make do with bread or left-over rice. Tell a pregnant woman that she should include iron in her diet for the benefit of her to-be-born child and she won't ever forget to eat that. But tell it to her otherwise or say that it would do your body a great deal of good, she will come up with superb excuses tro have forgotten. Are we women plain, simple stupid?

Everything is so temporary. Everthing is changing. Nothing remains same- the moment you realise this you will be happy. I tried to reason with myself along these lines yesterdy night but today in the morning when I had to put it in practice I failed miserably. When I was told that the only trainee left has decided to leave I was shocked. The intensity of the shock was very rude. It hit me hard and I had thought I was beyond being hit so hard. By the evening I had managed to pacify myself. What helped probably was removing the 'I' from the entire situation. The trainee had not quit me, she had quit the paper. The trainee had not behaved disrespectfully with me but had cribbed about the organisation. She was thankless to the opportunity of work and learning that she got here and not to me. In the end, that is of the day, I realised the wisdom of my earlier attempts and decided that it paid to be distant and detached, especially from the breed called the trainees.

I saw Black Friday, last Thursday, on my birthday. I mentally prepared myself for a lot of blood and gory details, chappals strewn all over the road, limbs, wailing men and women, lonely child- kind of images. I was carrying a tissue with me to keep the tears in check. I had even taken a few deep breaths before the film began. BUT…I was speechless through the entire length of the film. It did not evoke any pity or pathos. The film told the facts as they were. It did not take sides, rather it said so much of both the sides. The best thing about the film is that it said much without speaking. I am not talking about messages. The message is loud and clear and in the very first frame- ‘An eye for an eye makes the entire world blind.’ I am talking about the way the scenes were constructed. Inspector Marya’s angst, Badshah’s distress and disgust with running from place to place, the hotelier who kills his family and commits suicide after witnessing the harassment meted out to two Muslim wome...

Saif Ali Khan is doing it now and that too for potato chips but Anubhav has been earning his bread, butter and more by teaching people salsa for more than five years. It’s been three years since he has been boarding Shatabdi in the mornings to come down to Chandigarh on weekends for… “just dancing some more.” “All you need to learn salsa is high heeled shoes and a single piece of clothing,” says Anubhav, who was just your regular lad before salsa took over his life. Salsa in Spanish means sauce and in this context, Anubhav explains, it refers to the flavour or the style. Some more gyan comes our way. “Salsa patterns typically use three steps during each four beats, one beat being skipped. However, this skipped beat is often marked by a tap, a kick, a flick, etc. Typically the music involves complicated percussion rhythms and is fast with around 180 beats per minute,” says Anubhav. Anubhav went to learn dancing as a hobby after finishing college in 1997. He joined Fitness Planet in Panc...

Neena Singh, Senior VP, Head Branch Banking (North), HDFC Bank Right now, on her table, you will find Jack Welsh’s Winning, Amartya Sen’s Identity and Violence; Bimal Jalan’s The Indian Economy and Undercover Economist by Cim Harford. She is reading them all. Well, she is also reading Bachchan’s Madhushala and keeps sprinkling couplets during our conversation. Neena Singh is the only female regional head in the HDFC Bank. A senior vice president, she has been in banking past 28 years. We stole some time out of her busy schedule to give us an insight into banking. What is the current scenario in the banking sector? The kind of banking that is gaining ground is retail branch banking. Because it is broad-based as a customer gets all kinds of products under one roof, it is being largely preferred. HDFC Bank is among companies with the lowest attrition rate. How do you manage that?Our objective is to become a world class bank. That can happen only when our efficiency level is very high, we ...

The point which I was always had against a job with a BPO was that you have to compromise on your nationality. But the good news is that this is changing or rather has already changed. Now that outsourcing is being accepted as a global phenomenon, call centres have decided to drop the aliases and accented English has given way to global English. Says Akhtar of Vision Unlimited, “Handling sdervices for clients from different voice cultures is tough. Everyone understands the need for global English. With time American as well as the British clients have accepted the fact that India can provide quality services, so they do not mind speaking to an Indian.”“Now everyone knows that they are speaking to an Indian. Companies abroad realise that it is more important that the message reaches across to a client rather than stress on developing an accent,” feels Sanjay Bhartiya, who has been involved with training people for BPOs for past four years.And just what is global English? Says, Sona a tr...

Aanandika Sood What are winners made of, what is the secret of their success and what sets them apart? We spoke to a few of those who had made it to the IIMs and to our surprise, they were very much human, like us but their determination, realisation of their own potential, their hard work and their faith in their abilities were what made them stand out.Kenny Heish who got a call from all six IIMs says, “I had this somewhere at the back of my mind but I got serious about it only a couple of years back.” Others also pitch in. Says Shipra who is doing engineering in Telecommunication and IT from UIET, “I always wanted to take up a managerial job. For me the biggest inspiration was that I did not want to end up as a programmer.” Kiranjyot, who is pursuing engineering in Electronics and Communication, had also known her mind forever. She says, “Look at the current market scenario. If I am able to combine my technological know-how with an MBA, it is a lethal combination.”Yagneshwar NV from ...

John Tulloch is professor of journalism and director of the School of Journalism, University of Lincoln. He is also involved with the Chevening Scholarship’s ‘The Young Indian Print Journalists Programme’. Aanandika Sood spoke to him about good journalism and all that is new and happening on his campus What is a good journalism school about? A good journalism school has to have a definite approach to journalism. It has to believe that journalism has more to do than just acquire a skill-set. Our philosophy at the School of Journalism, University of Lincoln is based somewhere in the middle of English and Humanities. We are interested in the links between journalism and writing. We are interested in finding out how has journalism changed, its future, its role in the world. A good journalist reaches out to the people. Good journalism embraces issues that people are concerned with. In our School the visiting faculty is a source of that. We have links with the BBC and the regional press and ...

I have been thinking of ways to save my articles with me and thought who not post them on my blog!!! I know it is not the greatest idea bu whatever...here goes the latest se pehle wala The North India Programmes Officer, Embassy of the USA, Clayton A. Bond will soon be taking over from Robin D Dallio, whose tenure in India as the First Secretary, Cultural Affairs, Embassy of the USA is coming to a close. Clayton says, “I went to the University of Hampton and studied Political Science and Environmental Studies. I was always interested in travelling all over the world and meeting new people, so I thought of taking up a career in the Foreign Service.”For Robin, who has been working as a diplomat for the US government for the past 12 years, the decision to join the Foreign Service just happened by chance. She says, “I always wanted to become a veterinarian. I was also very interested in learning languages. I joined the Peace Corps and on various assignments went to various countries as an ...

Yesterday night the real meaning of the phrase generation gap dawned on me. For the first time ever I accompanied Sachin to one of his bank meets. It had been organised in a disco and I did not know that. Now the prospect of an outing, that too in a disco should have sounded purrrffeeeeeeeeecccccct to me because the tv had broken down and all the guests who had been staying with us for quite some time now had left. The house would be unusually quite. So you would think that an evening out would have been a good change. But it happened so that I had a very usual day at work and was very hungry. All I wanted to do was go to an empty house make a basic dal-chawal kind of meal and play Ludo afterwards. The only good thing was that I would not have to cook and so I agreed to going with Sachin. When we reached the place we were guided to a disco. DISCO!! I should have been happy about the music and the lights and the works but it just managed to put me off in a big way and that is when I rea...

The writer in me does not want to write news stories. It wants to write something to which I an lend 'my' touch. Now I have often been criticised for being obsessed with 'my' self but well, there are some things we can't do anything about. So, now when I look at people who are happy with getting a byline and their salary, the halo of my happiness gets disturbed. I can't fathom how can they be happy about their stories being brutally mangled and changed. The fault is not with the people at the desk. Ok may be to an extent. And that too of only those who think of themselves belonging to a superior breed. Reporters don not know how to write. Largely they are not concerned about writing a story. They simply get the facts and like a postman deliver them at the doorsteps of the subbies. I have been a sub and was very unhappy in the job because of my obsession with 'my'. While editing those copies I could not get myself to feel proud of the improvements I would...

This is the ninth day of 2007, which is the 7th year in the 21st century and in the third millennium. It has been designated: International Polar Year International Heliophysical Year Most of 2007 overlaps with the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar. Children born under this year will be perfectionists, say Chinese astrologers. anyhow this blog was not to be about astrology and 2007 as such. It was just to be a top angle view of how have these 9 days been for me. The onset of the year brought lot of phlegm and cough in its wake, so much so that I would be breathless for a while- a while that became longer than it actually was. Well in any case Subu's timely intervention with a glass of lukewarm water and salt, my gargles and Sachin's insistence about steam inhalation saved my life. mum was here and that was the best thing to have happened, that too as the year started. Then the next remarkable thing to have happened in these nine days is cricket. not the keeda that rubs i...