excuse me

Funny things happen to me. It’s moments like these that make life so loveable. You never know what’ll happen the next moment 🙂 You may decide on one thing, but may end up doing another, just because of a split-second change in mind 😉 Anyway, one such thing happened yesterday evening.

I’d left work in a hurry, willing it not to rain till I reach home (so I can get drenched in peace!) 😀 Had a million thoughts running…weekend trip, tuscan wine, workplace issues, uncle’s heart attack, aunt’s fall, bro’s fever, mom’s BP and a lot of other things I don’t remember. You know how the mind works, don’t’ you!?

Well, what topped the list was Amma’s BP. She’d spent a tensed 5 days in Bangalore before she could get a ticket to rush to TVM to see her brother, my uncle who had the heart attack. He’d had 4 blocks and had to go through angiogram (which is damn dangerous; life-threatening, if not done by the expert of experts) and angioplasty…and had been in the ICU and everything. He’s totally fine now.

Anyway, all that sent her BP shooting. She reached back yesterday…and was all tired out and a bit low because of the BP and the pills. I’d been worried for her and wanted to reach home soon and cheer her up. Little did I know there’d be such a wonderful story to give her 😀

Anyways, here’s what happened.

There was a light drizzle when I left work, which was awesome and transported me into another world altogether. Rain can always do that to me. I was so lost in thought, humming a song I can’t remember now, thinking about unrelated arbit stuff…and trudging down the unbuilt road in that state of mind, I actually said “Excuse me…” to a dog lying on my way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said that in the most serious, polite tone.

And, what did the dog do? It actually got up and made way for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn’t realise what I’d done, until I took another 5-6 steps. Then, it struck! I’d said “excuse me” to a dog, which actually responded by making way! Now THAT was too much, and I burst out laughing, right there!

Of all the things, to have said “excuse me” to a dog. Unbelievable, Priya!! 😀  The dog probably got up and moved when it realised I would walk right over it if it didn’t (after giving me a quizzical look, am sure).

How hard I laughed. God, I was clutching my sides within 5 seconds! Got a few really quizzical-concerned looks from a few passers-by…making me double up further! 😀 😀

That’s like the funniest thing I’ve done all my life. Or so I think.

But am sure I came across as the most polite human being to that dog. 😀 😉 😛

One for me, from the dog 😉
One for me, from my mom who couldn’t stop laughing.
One for me, from my bro who’s down with fever, all alone in the UK… and had a good laugh.
One for me, from the dad who built up on the now-famous ‘excuse me’ to create his own PJ!
And, one for the husband, from me, for giving me one of those typical “you’re impossible” looks on hearing this and making my day 😉

“Excuse me”, but such is the way of life. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

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E.T.A.:  UmaS commented here, saying I’m a very focused person, who plans well! Do you still think so, Uma? 😀

How to lose about 300 people in a matter of minutes.

Yea…you read that right: not pounds/kgs, but people!

I had had a long day at work yesterday, and had asked the husband to come all the way to my office and pick me up! The princess that I am, I refused to go home in an auto/bus. I had to have my chauffeur! Fed up of work — or rather, the lack of it — at a good-for-nothing office, he was already in a bad mood. Having to drive that extra mile amidst unrelenting traffic, and then, waiting for me outside my office forever (to which he’s become accustomed) did very little to cheer him up!

Which is when the thought of food came in—always the catalyst for a cheerful time!  So we went to a much-hyped Mallu restaurant near our place in Koramangala, Bangalore. Bad food, pathetic service, big-time delay and a high price tag. Did nothing but drive the husband deeper into the dumps!

A pack of VCDs had arrived earlier the evening (a few classic Mallu movies the husband had ordered from Moser Baer over the Internet), and i thought, “what better than a good movie to cheer up my movie freak” 🙂

So we reach home, settle down and decide to watch a movie — when he starts groping around in his pockets, beneath the cushions, under the sofa…and asks, “Where’s my mobile”?

The husband, when assured that the mobile is safe, usually does not budge from the sofa once seated, unless it’s a life threatening situation (like my heading for the TV with a hockey stick, maybe). But now, he’s up and about, searching for his mobile in all possible places a Sony Ericsson K710i can fit.
We call to his number from my phone and it says “The Airtel customer you’re trying to reach is currently out of reach…”. Momentary solace, hoping its way under the thick cushions of the sofa. Until I say that I’d heard a ‘thud’ when we turned the corner right after leaving the restaurant.

And then, pandemonium. Quick call to the restaurant: negative. Quick trip to the restaurant: negative. Not-so-quick survey of the entire lane: negative. Mobile lost: positive! And that was it. He seemed to have lost all interest in life (I wonder where I fit in 😉 ).

So, here’s how you lose about 300 people in a matter of minutes! Simple. Lose your mobile phone! 😀

Am sure the husband won’t be empathetic to my ‘simple’ analysis. He had to learn it the hard way, poor thing 😦 The thought of having lost about 250 odd contacts, many photographs and close to a million “I love you” messages I’d sent seemed to paralyse him 😦  How many contacts have I lost? How will I get back all those numbers?

And I say, “Call Airtel CC and  block your SIM. Ask them if we can get your mobile traced…isn’t there some IMEI number we can use?” The number is duly blocked and he promised to issue a duplicate SIM immediately, but the smart CC guy says the ‘Trace your lost phone with the IMEI number’ service is not available in India!

More depression and irritation. “Suraj, the sun” had set for a while 😀 [Perhaps this is what a baby goes through on Day 1: the world knows its identity, but the poor baby knows none!]

Which then made me wonder how much we all rely on that little gadget called a mobile phone (“we” does not include me; i rather believe mobile phones should be left wherever you please…and allow it to ring till it dies)

We no longer remember the phone numbers like we used to (of course, it’s much tougher to keep track of 8 digits compared to those cute 5-digit numbers :D); we no longer jot down numbers on quaint, alphabetical diaries; we no longer rush from our seat to attend that call on the phone resting on that antique corner stool (we’d rather the mobile phone rush to us: it’s ‘mobile’ for a reason!); we no longer scribble our loved one’s birthdays on our wall calendar; we no longer have use for that round little thing lovingly called an ‘alarm clock’; in fact, we’re in a stage where we wish everything could be located with a “missed call” !

Biting nails when boredom strikes are a thing of the past: it’s the mobile phone we play with.

Reading random magazines at the dentist is passé: why that, when we have games on our mobile phone?

Receiving no calls for one full continuous hour could only be because the battery has run out; not because you’re indispensible 😀

Owning a mobile is mandatory for anyone who wants to fall in love.

Etiquettes matter only at meetings and at the table; whoever said mobile phones come with a set of etiquettes? (Of course, I got a thick free etiquette book; but I sold it along with a stack of old newspapers! :D) If you are the proud owner of a mobile phone, the following are OK:

• Letting it ring insistently with that irritating ringtone (while you grope for it in the darkness) at the theatre
• Talking on it while in a flight (endangering other passengers as well) unless the pilot threatens to jump out with his parachute
• Fiddling with the “End” button, only to change your mind, accept the call and brawl into it with a “In a meeting; will call back later… Oh, that! Man, that was funny…hehhehehe…ooops…in a meeting; will call back later!”
• Waking up people from their sleep to say “Oh…did I wake you up? Sorry, didn’t notice the time… So, how’s life?”
• Talking animatedly on the mobile phone while crossing the road, and getting (not just oneself) others too into danger
• Talking loudly (not to mention the loud ringing) in libraries, hospitals, air-conditioned public vehicles and everywhere else!
  ………..
• And a dozen other irritating stuff!

For someone who’s damn careless and absented about all things, and mobile phones especially, I’ve never lost one: so, I don’t know the agony of losing it. In fact, on those days that I forget to carry it along to work, I experience a particular sense of peace and calm — of not having to attend calls, respond to messages and ensure it’s not misplaced 😉

I wonder how we (rest of the world excluding me) lived when the mobile phones didn’t exist! 😉 It’s a ‘maaranam’ (evil) we can’t live without, now!

Any special mobile stories, folks?

yey! happiness is happening!!

Very little had been happening in life to be ecstatic about — of course, I’m generally a happy soul, so it takes unbelievably lovely news/things that’ll make me feel like I’m feeling now — about to burst with happiness!

What do you think could be better than a mail (comment, in this case) from a friend you’d thought you ‘lost’, saying:

I need yu beside me no matter what(I/Yu) do, for I kno il never find another yu…..;)

Yey!!

Jaya, I  just cannot tell you how happy I am….how happy those words have made me. I had almost given up on being forgiven…and while I never expressed it much, it used to tear me apart that you’d lost that ‘connection’ with me! But now! Wow! I…I love  you! 😀 I am just so happy! 🙂

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For all you people who gave me consolation, chided me and assured me “it’ll all be ok” when I wept about what it takes to lose a friend…here’s what she said…here’s how she forgave 🙂 Yey!

Its not everyday that you get a friend who thinks like you, acts like you, eats like you, sleeps like you, talks like you and what not like you… But when you know the other person like yourself, its hard to be angry with the other person for long. But when you do get angry, its even harder to get over it…. Cos, for my wedding I dint really care about the 1000-2000 ppl who came ter (I din even kno half of them). And above all my friends it was yu who mattered the most, cos it wos yu who i told first when I went bonkers for the guy, yu wer te first person to kno when the dates go t fixed for te wedding and yu wer te first person I expected to be at my home b4 te weddin. ……….…………………But I also know that I was tooo rude to you even though you tried a lot of ways to make it up. But I guess wot tey say bt time healing is true  Cos I just wnt to say I am all over it now and I am reelly SORRY for being so rude. Im taking back all tat I said n yur still my best friend.
Cos like te song goes,’I need yu beside me no matter what(I/Yu) do, for I kno il never find another yu…..;)I kno im bein a lil mushy here, but I don care.Lov yu loads diiii….;);)

I’m just so so soooo happy today, that I could even be convinced into liking Bangalore! 😉

Yey! 😀