Monday, July 5, 2010

Growing up with Mumbai!


She did not really know what was waiting for her. It was not just a city. It was Mumbai. Mumbai stood in all its glory and was the only city that lived up to its unapologetic hype.

Then one day, with four bulky bags- what she called as non-emotional baggage, she started for Mumbai. Little did she realize what would it mean missing fresh home cooked food & lazing on weekends.

Finally she made it to a swanky office and an amazing set of people to work with. She felt a little out of place at first, but like the millions of other first timers, Mumbai welcomed her.

14 hour work schedules with 5 days a week, made her go ‘yawn’. But gradually got the hang of it. Travelling, working, eating, talking finally she became one of them. She learnt the right way to add little moments of fun, partying and good food & wine to her strenuous and demanding life. And bingo, she made a rocking package of the little things around her.

But, then there were days when she accidently locked herself out of her room in her furnished apartment. With friends finally coming to her rescue.

Hunger, and hunger in Mumbai can teach you a lot. Especially when it comes to experimental culinary skills. And then came the rains. Packed in all sizes and at all times. Bright colored umbrellas, capris and happy sandals worked round the clock to keep her away from the rains.

But then, the Mumbai rains won. And she was not complaining.

Hail Mumbai!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Raise a Toast to Toastmasters.Now in Bhubaneswar !!

Please click on the poster for more details.



“Boy, do people look at their watches when you’re speaking? Or worse, do they start shaking them to make certain they are still working? Have humming, hawing, and hesitation become your “graces” while speaking?” Well then…….

A Toastmasters Club could just be your solution!! After all, even the lion needs the “roar”! Toastmasters will not only give you the “roar”, but we at times suggest the lion the right places to use his claws as well!



A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing session! Participants practice their speaking and leadership skills in a friendly supportive atmosphere. Typically, a club has 20-30 members who meet weekly to practice public speaking techniques. Members are given responsibilities and asked to lead - no lectures here! Further details are available at www.toastmasters.org or the wiki article here.



So pals, for better speaking, thinking and listening skills, check out our Bhubaneswar Toastmasters Club. You can attend as a guest and observe how we learn to communicate effectively in a fun-filled, supportive environment.



We’ll be holding the launch session of Bhubaneswar Toastmasters on the16th of Aug '09, Sunday and if you are interested, we would request you to fill in your details in the form here. (It just takes a minute!)



Time : 4-7 PM. Guests are advised to be there 15mins in advance to register

with a session fees of Rs.30 only.


Venue : RoboticWares Pvt Ltd

N4/F25, IRC Village

Near I.D Market

Bhubaneswar - 15

For further details visit our blog here and if you have any queries, then we’re just a call away at the numbers given below.

We sincerely wish your reply would be in the affirmative.

Best Regards,

Core-Team

Bhubaneswar Toastmasters

9437933035, 9853878546, 9853856918

bbsrtm@gmail.com


Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Who Me...??



Branding.For a teeny-weeny girl like me, "brand" is something that revolves around a classy sophisticated logo and comes with a really heavy price tag.But after my bit of delving into it, I am amazed to know that branding is much more than what we know about it. A brand is an idea perceived by the people about the service, product and culture of a company.

With just a few years left for me to step into the corporate world, the question that often troubles my mind is "What am I an expert in?" and I manage to innocently answer myself "Just because I am talented doesn't mean I am an expert!".Its very much like just because you can do a somersault, doesn’t mean that you’re a gymnast. Frankly,I was left with awe at the thought of branding Myself, to ponder over my USP and value of Me as a brand.The thought definitely gets scary for someone like me who don't feel they are experts in their field quite yet.

The best part in branding oneself is that there is typically no other brand to compete with Me-the brand. It is all about consistently being good at what we do in our daily lives. Influences of Me as a brand- on people I meet everyday, their testimonials and opinions about the brand ME is the value what they perceive about the brand within us.

But the most difficult part is to discover the brand within Myself. It is stupid to brand ourselves just for the sake of doing it.A good amount of time should be spent to find the passion within us.Setting goals , creating a development plan and a vision to promote the brand Me.Once I know what I want to do and have claimed a niche, it's time to promote Me-The Brand and to consistently keep adding value to it.


Now, let me take a deep breath and start nurturing the brand within Myself.The Brand that is going to make a Difference in the near future.

P.S:Any free publicity errr... comments are welcome. :)

Friday, January 16, 2009

my FlinG with the SUN & co.




I can't exactly be called an 'early-riser', but social-obligations like education and others, wake me up early. So, unlike most well mannered and nice girls, the Lazy-Bone within me is a total monster. She just does'nt wake up.

To do a little more justice to the title of this certain post, let me talk about the Sun. Sigh! the Sun.

:)

I narrow my sleepy eyes a little, open enough to see the mild morning Sun peeping at me from the green balcony. How smoothly the Sun would come up to my room, quietly through the yellow curtains to say a "Hi!!!". When the still mild rays don't hurt my eyes... just warm enough to convey that..."Yeah, um there for you".

Then post my yet another mini-snooze session, streching my hands with semi-opened eyes, I manage to stand.And then again the Sun whispers, this time in a little more firm voice, "Well done Preeti! Great job...just grab the tooth-brush now"


Wishing me loads-n-loads of bright SUNNY DAYS!

P.S:Sun..as we all know is dear to us for reasons...but there is another Sun that has made its presence felt in my life..Yes..it is SCJP-Sun Certified Programmer for Java.



Tuesday, April 15, 2008

PRINCESS DIARIES



Category:Movies
Genre: Independent
A socially awkward but very bright 15-year-old girl being raised by a single mom discovers that she is the princess of a small European country because of the recent death of her long-absent father, who, unknown to her, was the crown prince of Genovia.poor girl!!... She must make a choice between continuing the life of a San Francisco teen or stepping up to the throne. While Mia makes up her mind, she's pressed into taking princess lessons from her grandmother.Mia, (Anne Hathaway) an awkward San Francisco teenager, has just learned her deceased father was the crown prince of Genovia. To keep the royal reigns from passing to another family due to a broken bloodline, the queen (Julie Andrews) seeks the favour of her estranged granddaughter in hopes that she will take her father's place as the crown princess. While Mia contemplates her future, her grandmother insists on turning her from a social misfit to a lady fit for the throne. What these two discover about each other is that blood is more important than bloodlines....well this is the basic summary of the movie..now wut I genuinely feel about this movie is...."MIA the protagonist of this heart rendering tale is one character who is closest to my heart because sumwhere deep within I could identify so much with her"...she's confused,nervous and WYSINWYG (What You See Is Not What You GET)kindaa girl ....but at the same time renders a b'tiful heart ........and i luv the way the story unfolds her ground wishes and simple girlie desires which do not change even after she walks away with her princess attire.she does not forget her ground upbringing,her mother and her good old school friends without whom she believes she possibly can't do anything....."ALL YOUNG GIRLS ARE PRINCESSES INSIDE,ALTHOUGH MANY DON'T KNOW IT AND MANY NEVER WILL..."Hats off to you MIA...I wish i were half as beautiful as u are...........love u.........!!!

for someone who kept pestering me to blogging...



I remember days back I had jauntily promised you to write something out of my own creativity and start blogging because you were always concerned about my writing skills and building my vocabulary,expressions but I never literally gave interest into that. Now keeping that promise in concern I just thought of giving u a little surprise .now this is something that I have written for you my dear brother. And please I do want u to take it seriously. If even half of it makes sense to you, if even a few make you pause and reflect, every bit of the effort that has gone into writing this would have been worth it...
now being just a 18 yr old, its the only gift I can offer as a sister...or even value to a brother who's so bigger than me....!!!
Hmm..... ok den.... lets get started. Now since there are so many people who are also reading this..lemme give u a basic intro----"anniya" as I call you,you are the eldest of the three of us (which includes me and didi)that makes up our family. I know it has always been a BIG responsibility. The age difference between you and me is 9 yrs and with akkiya(my sister)I guess its 4.
Well...growing up surrounded by 2 girls at home ,you have probably taught yourself to deal with our moods and demands.Mainly,you had learnt to hang on to your sanity and sense of humour,even under annoying circumstances, like coming home and finding your room overrun with our clothes, scrap books, abandoned shoes, geometry boxes, Harry potters, crayons and paints. I remember when you used to lose your shirt a few times and hollered, but at most times, you have chided us gently.Despite such a huge age difference that we share, you have always indulged in my kiddish prattle and put up with my pranks....!!!!
I remember all those times when I drove you mad.... badgering you for a small change, pestering you to drop me at my friends' place or asking you to convince Mum for allowing me for the sleepovers at my friends' place that I used to enjoy eventually (thanks to u)...those days when two of us used to run to catch our school bus.We and what I can never forget was visiting book fairs every year with all the little money that we gathered.huh...!!what fun we used to have...!! .


I know many a times ,being a little girl i have invaded your privacy but you never lost your cool that makes you simply "charming".

I know things have changed past few years when you left home in the process of finding your niche in the overcrowded job-market, equally preoccupied and self engrossed .Remember ...you hadn’t even recovered from that fateful accident which had brought dark clouds in our lives and probably for the 1st we sensed the panic of losing sum1, losing you. Although it was not that serious but still the site of you in that hospital bed haunts me till date to see my strong brother in unbearable pain .It did disturb me to an extent of feeling helpless...
Whatsoever things have taken a wide leap since then.... It was just a bad phase that all of us strived together.
I know these days we don’t see each other all that much anymore.And there was a day when I used to cum from school looking for you.....I do miss those afternoon conversations we used to have ...while you used to be seated on the computer while i kept jabbering about my day in school making sure you were listening to me. i miss those days that we spent preparing debates elocutions for my competitions.he... ! he...! I used to be seated on the scooter and you used to prepare me "papa!! extempores are not at all scary...you can say anything...give it a chance..i know u can do it..!!" and how often I used to argue that going against the motion of a topic is not going to be impressive but that itself was always the key of my winning part.You always took the path that was less travelled and thats the most important thing that I have learnt from you.


Besides your notorious side and where you never missed a chance bullying me, eating away my share of chocolates or slice cakes,losing my pens again and again, pulling my blanket when I used to sleep till late morning.....With this side of yours I have also seen an affectionate, protective streak in you, the one you so successfully hide from the world.
Beneath that nonchalant facade ,I glimpsed the sentimental and emotional side of you-the day i saw those wet eyes when you were leaving for BBSR while you bid farewell to your 9 yr old sister as she stepped into an entirely new school NPS(National Public School,Bangalore)far from our warm hometown. How can I forget that you accompanied me to the school on my very 1st day of it and you were there outside throughout the day to make sure I was fine.
Now coming to the thing which embarasses us the most...I know within 2 or three years, you will find the right woman and move into a home of your own. And me and akkiya will always take the pleasure of teasing you about it..But for Mum you are still the same mischievous kid ,the awkward little boy with funnily shaped ears and a shy smile, who has since grown into what girls describe as a "cool dude”, lean and fit.
"I know that charming, notorious brother hasn’t entirely disappeared -he's just cleverly disguised..!!!"
At work you are an entirely different person -a MAN.Your colleagues may have known sum of yr aspects which we never will. And i don’t have any issues with it..
You know that you represent our family, I always turn to you for wutever I might need --advice, moral support or just familiar bantering.
I don’t give a second thought if I feel like talking to you....just give you a missed call. and however busy u may be-if u r at gym,yr own office, partying with friends or yr MBA classes..u always make sure that we talk at the end of the day...and because of that I don’t feel as if we are ne far.
U always wondered why i dint have many friends and that i always restricted my friend circle within 2 or three just because .........I always had u as my "best friend" and akkiya as it is she's our mentor in terms of everything...
wutsoever ,on the contrary we haven’t only derived strength from one another, but we have also had a great deal of fun. we have taught ourselves the art of peaceful co-existence. To date-I can’t remember a single ugly encounter that has threatened the bond between us and certainly differences of opinion, temper tantrums, spontaneous outbursts exist between siblings in any family and I guess.... even we have had our bit of not being in talking terms for days together(remember the tikki anna episode…).
My childhood friend Dablu tells me that when we were in class II... i went up to him and announced,” I have seen God” and when he curiously asked,” how does he look like?”. I said-"he just looks like my Anniya-big and strong”. Now that’s an image worth living upto.wont u say?
Well there's another thing that’s very important part of our lives that is "Raksha bandhan".The two of us are not very religious unlike our dear sister but we still follow this b'tiful ritual invested with a lot of sentiment.
subah subah ...as i prepare the thali for the aarti,my own mood changes. A certain solemnity gets into me. I light the diyas,make sure there is kumkum and a few grains of rice in a tiny silver container, keep some of yr favorite mithai handy,,and u always look embarrassed .U did so even when u were an awkward adolescent who found it very silly and u do it even today when u realize its importance .U sit dutifully enough, and stare into the flames while i revolve the thali 5 times around yr face in a clockwise direction. Nobody speaks. Its a still and sombre few minutes we share. and not to 4get i always keep bullying u into giving me presents, specifying exactly what i want and i think u have fulfilled all my desires to a certain extent.(he he!!!)
Now i think i have written enough good about u..U know wut was that dat irritated me the most i.e when u roam about the entire house dripping wet in that stupid bath towel of yours after u have taken bath and how irritated akkiya and i used to get. This guy doesnt even wash his hands after eating cause he wud often b glued to th tv.I hope u get rid of that habit of yours.
All in all-

Hopefully, all of us will continue to be as close and loving towards one another as we are at present. but things cant be predicted. Who can tell what lies ahead? To you...Mum n Papa entrust the well-being of me and akkiya.I m sure you will do what needs to be done by me when the occasion arises.....
I WONT TELL U THAT I LOVE YOU................BECAUSE THESE 3 GOLDEN WORDS HAVE LOST THEIR SHINE THESE DAYS .....AND I GUESS THINGS WRITTEN ABOVE WOULD HAVE SAID IT ALL..

Yours lovingly,
….u know who