time out

So he has the deadline sitting on his back. And given my talent as a drama-queen, he thought it best for me to stay with my sister as he would be coming home very late everyday. Which is smart on his part. Because i would have fumed and spewed fire and smoke! i protested at first – i felt like i was abandoning him in his time of need. But he pointed out that knowing that he has a fuming female waiting up for him was not exactly going to help him meet the deadline. Touché!

So i am with my sister and living it up while he is probably starving and dying of exhaustion! Such fun, if you ask me.

So we watch those silly soaps on TV and fight for the remote. We even had a competition yesterday to see who can flip through all the channels faster!

Oh hail the goddess of compilers! For the past two hours, i have been trying to get a program compiled and it keeps returning me errors – for something i have to turn over tomorrow – until it had me wondering whether i should actually resign. But i changed one declaration and viola, it compiled correctly! Why the hell can’t the compiler return me an error message that exactly tells me where i went wrong instead of trying to be all cryptic?

Anyway, i think i will make the deadline, as always!

Distance is good for relationships. Sometimes you tend to take each other for granted. It helps to step back a little. And loosen the bonds a bit. It helps to realize that we are not creepers that need to be twined around each other to survive. It feels good to just love without expecting to be loved back.

the last straw

i talked to Ema the other day and she told me she was just about to go take part in the sit-in demonstration against the kidnapping of children. This has been in the news for quite some days now – not my mother in the sit-in protest but the kidnapping of children.

Apparently, some militant outfits are kidnapping kids to train them as child soldiers. When i read about this, the first thing that crossed my mind was, well, this has to be the last straw. The camel’s back must break now. i think the people of Manipur should now wake up and see the monsters masquerading as do-gooders.

How would anyone justify anything as inhuman as this? That you can snatch school going children and train them to fight their cause. And what is their cause? What are they fighting for? Independence? From whom? From what? In their so called fight for independence, they have taken away the freedom of the common man – the freedom to live life without fear. They say we are being given step-motherly treatment by the Centre. Who is going to help a society that cannot help itself? And these very people who steal the money that the Centre allots for the welfare of the people cry foul that we are not being looked after.

Once upon a time, when i was young, i used to think the “naharols” (militants) are good people who are trying to cleanse our society of the many ills that plague us. And now, i know better. They are no better than parasites feeing off the society. And we have fed them enough. Now it is time to purge them.

My sister told me the parents are scared to let their children go to school. She told me she does not want to stay there in Manipur anymore, that things are getting out of hand day by day. It is like a cancer spreading. I worry about my cousins and my niece. I worry about the kids back home. About the kids who have been kidnapped – just imagine the physical and psychological trauma. No child deserves this. No society deserves to be at the mercy of such people.

Every day i hear new stories of their atrocities. Once, i asked my mother to ask my brother-in-law to set up some business. She told me it would be of no use. They would be there to extort money if he even makes a little profit. She told me that they demanded Nokia mobile phones from the shop-keepers – people who are trying to earn a livelihood. They have to appease the parasites first before they can think of their family.

Let this be the last straw.

passport to hell???

i have got my passport - which will last me another 10 years. i have a feeling my passport might outlive me. i had to go to the passport office which is on the other end of the city and wait for 4 hours to get it. Such patience is unbecoming!

i went there blissfully unaware of the fact that my patience would be tested. Lunch-less, i reached there exactly at the time the agent specified (I am sooo punctual!) and the agent told me to sign on some document. That done, he asked me whether it would be possible for me to come back the next day to get the passport. I said no way. So he told me i would have to wait till 6. i said fine, i will wait. So i waited. And waited. And waited. Looked around. Observed people. The notice boards. The counters. And i finally got bored. And hungry. Bad combination if you ask me. So i went out, saw this guy selling used books, bought one and a bottle of Pulpy orange (as if anyone is interested in the brand of orange you endorse) and went back. i sipped, read, looked around. Read, sipped and looked around. And finally they started announcing the names. Another one hour and still my name was not announced. i had finished the book. So i had nothing better to do than look at the other unfortunate souls waiting for that elusive booklet.

When i least expected it, the guy called my name. Thrilled, i went to stand in the line. And at last, i was handed my new passport – mint-fresh.

Now, i have to carry two passports with me for the rest of my life. As if the burden of safe-guarding one passport was not enough.

this and that

i think i have too much time on hand to brood and fret and fume. He continues to struggle with his deadlines and i continue to struggle with my temper and impatience.

i am not an understanding person. i am not even a nice person. As i grow older, the little niceties I posses seem to peel away. Now, what is left is a grouchy hag who seems to get a kick out of being mean.

The weekend was good – hail the lord! Saturday was spent on the kitchen design and getting the verification certificate for my passport renewal. He wanted to have pork and drink a peg or two. i don’t like either. i mean, i am not too fond of pork and since i don’t drink anything stronger than coffee, i don’t like him drinking. Talk about being a bitch in the manger. i gave my permission, albeit reluctantly. i pity this guy sometimes for having fallen in love with me – if he is still in love with me, that is! i am a hypocrite. i go on and on about how we should never curb other’s freedom but i am guilty of the same crime.

Sunday started off good. We went for the weekly marketing, got ilish. Cooked. Indulged in a bit- ok, a lot – of passionate loving. Ate. Slept. And then went out for a movie. Which is an event in itself considering the fact that the last time i watched a movie in a theater was “Rang De Basanti” almost a century back. We went for Kung Fu Panda. i am an animated movies junkie. So i enjoyed it a lot. We came back and since it was too good to last, we had a tiff.

On the work front, well, we had to defer one of the loads because QA reported multiple dumps during testing. We had not given much importance to this change as it was a preload. Only to have it sorta explode! Serves me right. i am growing old.

The training for another batch of joinees has started. As always, SC tried to coax me into taking as many classes as possible. i escaped with three classes. i think i have improved as a trainer. Now, if only i can improve as a person.

Block of a different kind

Uncharacteristically, i am in no mood to log any thoughts. My mind is brimming over with all emotions and thoughts but i cannot bring myself to pen anything. Blogger’s block. That must be it.