Blurb on Aids poster competition in WB

December 1^st was fast approaching. And Staff Association Chennai decided to increase awareness and more involvement with a one of a kind poster competition. Chart papers were given to all the teams, and were asked to come up with innovative ideas to depict the theme “Getting to Zero”. We had one week’s time to complete this.

This is when Vibha decided, “Anisha, Akshaya & Pavithra are very enthusiastic and are quite jobless (??) too at this point. If they can exercise their mouths non-stop, they should be able to put their brains to some creative use as well, surely? Why not involve them so that they are kept occupied?” That’s like a true Team Leader!

And so… here we were, the three of us sitting down together…. giving some work to our tiny little brains while our mouths rested! Now that we had to do some constructive talking and productive thinking, the brain was working at a slower pace. So it took us almost 15 minutes to come up with three different ideas. (Yes. We were quite slow)

The next step involved putting those ideas onto paper. Responsibilities for bringing paints, brushes, print outs, cutters, slogans were assigned to each of us. However, we promptly forgot more than one item in our list, and it finally took us almost a day to get started on the poster. There was no looking back from there….

The first Poster was meant to depict a tug of war between elements that caused AIDS versus elements which help avoid AIDS. So, with a great zeal coupled with constant encouragement from all quarters (only the house-keeping staff seemed to grumble about the idea of messing up the place with papers, scissors, glue, brush and paints inside the office), we decided this poster was going to be in 3D. In about 4 hours we had completed almost 15% of the chart. Trust us… it was quite a tedious work! If creating 3D in paper was so tough, we can imagine the effort it takes for making 3D movies (since it’s sinful to compare our presentation with movies like avatar, we move on…) So we roped in more help and finally completed one chart within a single day. Improvisations, touch ups, ideas & suggestions kept pouring in and the poster was finally ready. This called for a celebration and we decided to finally call it a day!

Now, you must be thinking, “Didn’t they say 3 posters”??? You would have assumed that we did it the next day right? Haha, You’re wrong!

We forgot all about it. (we are kidding…. actually not… or maybe we are… but again, maybe not!!)

And so we ended up having only half a day to finish up the other 2 posters!!

Creative thinking, excessive brilliance and lack of time are great friends indeed. With just 4 hours in hand, the three of us sat down and created a poster in the form of a flier that was meant to induce more people to sign up for a world where “Getting to (Size) Zero” is the new fashion! With the latest craze for Size Zero, this poster created ripples instantly. And with just 2 hours remaining, we created the poster with banners,ribbons,and slogans that supported:

1. ZERO new AIDS cases

2. ZERO discrimination

3. ZERO AIDs related deaths.

Isn’t it amazing how lack of time spurs the best creativity?? No wonder this poster was finally adjudged third best in the competition from among 17 other entries. The 1^st and 2^nd places were awarded to HRSSC & CTRLC/LG respectively.

We are sure you must be scratching your brains about the third poster.. blame it on the time, who knows may be for next year..haha!!!

Pictures of the posters are attached for your pleasure viewing.

Chrysanthemum VS Kanchipuram

Most people in general have an idea about how they want their most special day aka Wedding to be. People to be married soon, those yet to find the right one, those yet to pass class 5, most people in general do have an idea. And a big misconception is that, the women race usually has a better hand at planning and visualizing their (real or imaginary) wedding then men (technically women have a better hand in most things in life than men. But that is for a different post). Truth is…. Not all women are made the same way.

Some women dream about their wedding even before they understand what it entitles. Some start their planning and visualizing even before they know who the groom is (How does it matter right?). They would already have a rough idea of what color Sari to wear for which occasion; what color vesti should the groom wear; what will be the spread; How many items; Who will be the make up artist; what will their parents wear; what should be the color of the middle flower in between the zillion flowers…. you get my drift right?? Yeah… so moving on…

Some women do not plan THAT ahead. They prefer to wait until Mr. Right walks into their life…. in a shining armor no less and sweep them off their feet. And then they are able to imagine the colorful wedding in its finest glory with the laughing relatives and amused friends in their blissful moods for a romantic start to their wonderful life ahead (woo hoo… I learnt new adjectives)

Some women have no such plans at all. Zilch imagination. UNTIL that is…. their fathers randomly choose 97 random men from hundreds of random odd profiles and almost force them to choose a random one among the random others. And the woman starts to get random thoughts of killing random people in random methods. And even in all the randomness they don’t randomly think of HOW they want their random wedding with the random groom to be. Note: Random is the key word here.

If you know me well enough you also know where in the above category I fall. If you do not know me well enough you should still know where I belong.

So there I was… Randomly (Note to self: Learn new words) trying to figure out my life when Mr. Right happened :) Bliss is coming… shy still uncoming.

And then the rest did follow. Like the meeting, the talking, the discussing, the smiling, the teeth biting but still smiling (only Ashwin. Not Me) the agreeing, the disagreeing, the planning, and finally the Wedding .

And I STILL did not have a clue of HOW I wanted my wedding to be. Of course I knew I wanted to get married. But the hows and wheres reallllllllllllly did not crop into mind at all. My mind did not pop up this particular dream color that I should choose for my Sari. It refused to tell me if I should wear a gold earring with a pink stone or a pink lehenga with gold embroidery (I hate both colors anyway). I was not sure if I liked to have it grand or small or whatever. I din’t wake up with the perfect secret recipe to be served. And I most definitely did not know what color the cook or his assistants should wear. All I knew was I was happy. Technically this blog should end here……

But no………. I happened to chance upon and be a close witness cum participant to a Goan Christian Wedding. And that is it!

The cheer magic of the White Christian wedding made me realize a lot of things that I now want to have in my wedding. And this post is about how I am going to incorporate all that into my wedding ;) Ka Ching (Note: Most of the things I want in this list is impossible. But let a girl fantasize no….)

1. Wish - I want flower girls. (I even have one singled out :)). Small cute little girls wearing the same color angel dress with matching flowers in their baskets and matching clips in their hair and a dazzling smile to make everyone want to crush them into hug. (Ok maybe not EVERYONE….. But still). Reality - Technically this can be incorporated into my wedding. But I might have to adjust to having the flower girls wearing ching chang multi color pattu pavadai and I should be content with multi color flowers on their hair. (Note: the multi colors of the pattu pavadai is not the same multi color flowers on their hair.) And they will not walk in front of me to announce my arrival. They will be scattered around the hall trying to evade their mums. So therefore… No clips. No baskets. No matching dresses. No announcement. Nothing. Which is how it would have been anyway. So……….. Point ruled out!

2. Wish - I want Bridesmaid and Best Men. I want them to do a slow waltz before I join them with Ashwin. Reality - Urm…. Imagine this… “Dear thatha…. My Friend so & so and Ashwin’s friend so & so, who do not know each other will kattipudichify each other tightly and dance. Then I will also join with Ashwin and also kattipudichify him and dance during my reception. Is that ok with you???????” By the time I finish my sentence the in general population concerning my marriage might have reduced. And this is in spite of the fact that I will be legally married and can WHAT I WANT by then. But still…….. Sigh!!!!

3. Wish - I want to wear a gown for my wedding. A White / cream, glittery, flowy, off shoulder, gown with Lace and stones and a veil. Reality – Huh… let me see….. Eight sari’s in two days. Urm… can’t chuck that… can’t chuck this…. Huh….No not this either…. Oops....can’t do that either…. Oh no wont happen…. Ok…. I am having a slight mathematical problem trying to figure out how to shrink 8 into 1. But essential point is this; Wish = Not happening!!

4. Wish - I want a wedding which starts and gets done in 2 hours flat! Reality – I am having a wedding which will not get done less than 48 hours from the time it starts. Can I try talking to those around me and jus have a normal wedding??? Urm… This is like asking if I want my tooth extracted by a dental student who flunked all 10 semesters continuously! (On second thought…. The tooth extraction might be easier)

So where do I stand now?

Back to square one! A lot wiser though!

Why wish for a different wedding when you can have a dream wedding in your own way right? I am super happy with the entire way my wedding plans are going. I am excited about the rituals and the other things associated with it. I am looking forward to the fun and the happiness i am going to share in the two days. I am quite satisfied and more than glad with the nitty gritty details of my wedding being planned. I give complete trust onto the planning people and love everything even before I’ve seen them.

I may not wear a white gown. But I get to glitter in my own kanchipuram. I will not get to slow waltz with Ashwin, But I can still crush appalams on his head and have rice thrown on me. I will not have flowers girls with flowers baskets, but I still get to crush the cutie pies with my hug. I get to be with my near and dear ones and pull their legs and make fun of them and in general be in the spotlight, even if it is only for a day or two.

And most importantly I get to cherish this day with someone way too special in my life! What more can I ask for????? :)

Unemployed!!!

That was how ashwin referred to me this morning! (he is gettin punched for that anyway) But sadly.. That is exactly what i am right now!!! I have been workin since i was 18 and never once have i ever imagined that the day would come where i would have to search for a job!! And more importantly NOT find one. I could be rambling here for no reason cause its hardly been 2 days since i quit!! But i have been searchin for another one for almost 3 months now with abso no luck! (Grrr.. I hope ur reading this cha!!!)

I actually fought with one of my good friends for this very silly reason! The reason being I need to chill out and not keep cribbing bout my state! But considering how I have actually never known what it is to sit at home ideally, its gonna take a while getting used to. I might need to get used to pretty quickly before I snap at more people around me.

Got major planning and all for my jobless state at the moment! Go back to dancing, follow a hobby, take the much deserved break, go outta station, meet with friends who live far away etc etc etc... All the ones on my pending list for ages! But i guess unless my mind is at peace with the knowledge that i shall soon be clicking away at some computer somewhere hopefulle cause i work there i shall be this way (whatever way this is)

Point being, If i am being unreasonable stupid, please put up with me for a while!!! :D

Wish me Luck!!

My exams are starting this weekend.... Been wanting to wake up early every day... I do wake up actually... After the alarm goes off for like some gazillion times.... But once awake the bloody weather does not let me study!!! Why would anyone want to wake up at like 4 or 5 in the freaking morning when all you wanna do is curl back and sleep?!?!? Ah wel... My bloody exams :( .... And to top it my dad wants me to do M.Phil or Ph.D after this (after i convinced him I do not wan to be an IAS officer) I'm convinced he can either crack a joke with a extremely straight face or he doesn't know me at al and I'm adopted!!! I also missed a nice vacation for these exams!!! I better do wel...

Anyway... Point being... Wish me luck and pray I ace these exams! :)

Happy :D

:D I am Happy!!! Just generally happy!! No particular reason why.... And i realised that i haven't been happy in a long long time. Which made me ask myself what could be different now?! Why the happiness?! Wel..... I jus realised why.... The reason was mostly cos i dint let myself be happy. The eternal worrywart that I am... I was convinced I would never be happy for long and would definetely be plagued by some sort of bad luck to compensate for my every smile!!! I'm still worried.... But this time I cease to bother!! I wan to be happy....

:D

Random observation of self!

1. I am very scared of a lot of things in life. Quite the contrary to my bold / tough image
2. I am quite an irritating bag of bones. I end up irritating myself the most.
3. I hate crying. I especially hate crying in front of others.
4. I hate letting others know what I am thinking. Including my moods or opinions.
5. I have a little too many secrets with myself. Not dark ones or anything. But little little ones. Things that I would never tell anyone.
6. Not a single person in this world knows everything about me. Not one.
7. I am very insecure. About me, about my relationships, about everything around me.
8. I worry a lot. For absolutely no reason.
9. I am quite an un-emotional idiot. I think I came without that fitting. Manufacturing defect must be.
10. Actually that is not quite correct. I get hurt very easily. No one will know it but me though.
11. I have been wanting to live alone all my life. I don need people around me. I need my “ME” time.
12. Actually that is quite wrong. I need people around me.
13. I’m confused. All the time. I really don’t know what it is that I want. Or don’t want.
14. I’m scared of doctors. Have a feeling they are all out to cause pain and kill people. I would probably bear the pain than see a doctor.
15. I am very stubborn. Even if i know I shouldn't be doing somethin and if i make up my mind, I still end up doing it.
16. I hate hurting others. It sometimes makes me lie just to ensure they aren't hurt.
17. I am scared of laughing too much or just being too happy. I think it might retaliate and make me sad.
18. I hate my smile.
19. I love my friends and would do absolutely anything for them.
20. I decided to write this when i was at my all time high and then realised I really cannot boast much with these traits. So I am gonna decide to change a bit... Shall let you know how that goes very soon...

Ooops!! I did it again....

When I was a kid I knew I wanted to be an architect. I was one of those kids who had grown up seeing my dad bring home blue prints and images of huge huge houses, which looked quite fancy. So I decided that I’ll be one of those cool architects who’ll build a huge house and settle down. This was at a time when I dint know much. I grew up to figure out that I needed money to be able to BUY those kinda houses and that just cause I build them they’ll not become mine! Damn! Imagine shattering a small kid’s dreams. So I decided to read so much that anyone I’m working for will have to pay me a lot. That required me to do some actual STUDYING as such, and having seen the results of my report card I refused to dream further. So I decided to choose any field where I would not have to exactly study as such but still get paid pots and pots of money. [Yes, I had not given up my dream of that beautiful house] So I set my sights on some extra moolah earning no work doing jobs. Airline industry seemed a pretty easy option... That is till i heard bout wat exactly those pretty airhostess get upto... (Or so i heard) and that option also went down the drain... Whoosh.... My next option was to probably become famous somehow. Luckily i got into media line and also landed a job which involved a lot of talking (which came naturally) and yellin and gossiping etc... Sounded good... But i had to land in bad waters within 2 years... And i also realised that being famous has nothin to do with the amount of money one makes. Cos finally at the end of the day you still get paid only peanuts!! So i decided to not concentrate on the mansion in my mind and take up some work that i would like. Seems not too long an order one would think. Well mistaken... Cos i DO NOT know what i like. Its been almost 5 years since i started working and i never cease to bitch bout my co workers and my work!!! And somehow i feel this might continue.....

There was this one friend of mine who keeps remarking sayin i am never gonna find peace!!! Somehow i vaguely believe him.

The point of this blog is very simple... I still have not been able to decide what i want from my life.. And i want to know if I am the only one this way???!?