Desperately trying to catch up!

Hi all,

How have you been doing? I’ve been preparing myself to get into a suitable job for which i have to complete a research fellowship. I regret that i am unable to spend hours together here as i used to. Yet i manage to read some of my favorite blogs. Some friends reply back through blurbs when i comment on their blogs . But i am aware that certain friends scarcely use the blurb section. I didn’t want them to check back my blog space only to find that i haven’t posted anything new. So i had to refrain from commenting on their blogs, in spite of reading and enjoying them, to save their displeasure of not being able to reply.(Or, am i giving it too much thought?) I am quite unhappy about this. My comments might not mean much. But to me, comments are the only way to communicate with them. I realize that I’ll never be able to make myself regular here at least for the next 4 months. Despite being regular to almost all the posts, i earned only a few but great friends. So, i am apprehensive about losing the few that i managed to find. Hence i request my dear ones here to bring this good old friend to mind once in a while. OK. Let me put an end to this lament session.

Last night, i decided to give a whirl to gourmet cooking and clicked some pics too. The end result was this.

Planning to post this recipe as a food blog when time permits. Until then, happy blogging friends. Keep rocking as usual.
image ^� viosno

Posted in 1 | 29 Comments

Pics from the short trip.

   A three-day trip was’nt enough to indulge and get lost in the elegance  of nature. So here i am, back again to share with you some of the enchanting moments.

  A huge cloud was in love with Matterhorn the whole day so much so that it never gave me a chance to get a clear glimpse of it’s love interest.

On the way to Glacier Paradise. Shadow captured from the cable car.

The Klein Matterhorn - the highest panorama platform of Europe. 

View of the largest summer-ski area of alps from the Klein Matterhorn.

The cross of Jesus Christ on Klein Matterhorn.

 Way to the world’s highest Glacier palace, 15 metres below the surface of the glacier.

Ice sculptures.

Ice Buddha 

On the way down.

The picturesque village Zematt at the foot hills of Matterhorn.

  Zermatt

View of Matterhorn from Zermatt (Impervious cloud. Isn’t it?!)

Hotels of Zermatt that provide comfortable sojourn.

Chalet houses

   My li’l one Chris, on a forest trail in Zermatt.  

Whoever said photoblogging is easier? Hope the ordeal is worth it. However, i find the original quality missing after uploading. Anyways guys,hope you all liked it. In this life of utter uncertainity i enjoy the magical moments as they happen, for tomorrow always remains a mystery.

Posted in My Life | 64 Comments

Holiday Haiku

Haiku in a Hurry!!

Off to cold mountain
All thanks to the long weekend
Matterhorn that is

(Image-googled. I’ll try to post the images captured by me once i’m back. Will be missing you all) 

Posted in My Life | 33 Comments

My Haiku

I am inspired by Deep da’s Haikus to try my hand at one. I haven’t closely adhered to the rules though.

Extremism:

Famished vulture is curious

About the muttering and blubbering

His grub everywhere.

Posted in Other Categories | 21 Comments

My Humble Vote Of Thanks To My Dear Friends!!

So Vio, How does it feel to be in HOF? – The question posed by few of my blogger friends in the blurb section. It feels fabulous. It feels great to be amidst great minds. Can anyone deny that? But, seriously, I never expected this. This gets my wheels turning. Am I even worth it? OK.as far as ibibo is concerned,” Hall of Fame showcases the bloggers who have been actively contributing to the ibibo community.” (answer found in HOF-FAQ). If not by active blogging, I am actively contributing by visiting and commenting @ blogs frequently. So I whole heartedly accept this recognition. I read almost all the blogs. I avoid commenting on certain political blogs because of my inadequate comprehension in that area and I securely keep my mouth shut to cover up my ignorance.

   First of all, I would like to thank those dear ones who encouraged me when I first tried my hands on blogging. Life is fun, Dr. Keerthy( missing you dear), Arnie and Sonia.

   I am obliged to thank those kind minds who nominated me to HOF. Rajib, Santhoshji, Arnie, Surya Pratim and’ ?’. Out of the 5 times that I got nominated, one missed my knowledge, as at that time, I was on vacation in India. Honestly, I need to thank that generous soul. Kindly let me know.

   I have memory like a sieve. Yet I remember and cherish the moments when veterans of ibibo first visited me. I would rather say ’visited me’ than ‘visited my blog’ as I consider my space as my virtual home and its me that they visit. Inkie visited me when I wrote about body language. Idle visited me when I shared some funny quotes. Santhoshji visited me when I shared few photos and Deep da visited me when I posted my second photo blog.  I was elated to find their comments in most of  my blogs then on. I nearly stalked Inkie until he visited my blog. Happy that he took it in good spirit.

     Once again I would like to thank Idle, Santhoshji and Sonia for giving me the right amount of boost to get back and keep writing whenever I did the vanishing act. I adore Sonia’s concern. She is concerned about every other blogger in this space

    Comments do raise my spirits. I am entitled to thank my dear pals who took the time to visit and comment. Umbrella,Suparna,Priya, Swati, Sneha, Rashmi, Savita, Miranda, Madhuvamsi, Guru, Ramesh, Some one, Surya, Srihari, Janam, Simran, Sanvi, Subra, i2i, NB ,dr.rudhran, Gopa, Vijayraghav, Violet hue ,Moosje, Iona, Charlie Gulla, Charlie, Rakhi, Nikhil, Cindy,Muktadhara, Vida writer,Dinu.p, Vidhyaji, Babukris, Mridul,Tingtong,Himali, Sathyakam, Nithi, Joice Jacob, Raj Khanter, Sundariji, SunilT, Sunil xyz, Ramachandranji, Iyer Raddhakrishnan, Rama sss, Rashi, Indian, Akruti, Avipsha Pavazhamani, Second coming,Nil,Santa, Sojan and Arunaji(@ arunaji-I regret the lack of my comments @ your blogs, curse my meager Hindi)

    My blurb friends made life@ibibo even sweeter. Umbrella, Inkie,,Someone, Santa ,Pavalamani, Priya, Charlie Gulla, Babukris Ramesh and Vijayaraghav.  (@Vijay-your daily thoughts made my days)I share jokes with Umbrella once in a while. Besides her fume over political adversities, I am in love with her sense of humor. The other day my husband gave me that weird’ are-you-nuts’ look when I almost burst into laughter thinking of the,’ popping-bags’ game that she loved  playing while she was alone.(I peeped into one of your older blogs umbs!!!)

  Jokes apart, I am indebted to thank Vijay kayal who enlightened me with his blurbs, blogs and comments. There is a lot to learn from his experiences.

    Ibibo has become an integral part of my life. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I get reminded of a fellow ibobian.  For instance, during a recent shopping spree, my impatient hubby reminded me of Arnie who would take hours together to select a black t-shirt. My recent flight to India reminded me of Idle’s Carla Connection. The shower last evening reminded me of Santhoshji’s grandiose umbrella.  Eventually, such thoughts bring a smile to my face and needless to say I get back those bizarre looks too.

   Apart from what I’ve said already, there is a list of ibiboians  I envy

Writer   - I envy your command over the language.

Violet hue    - I envy your femininity

Sugar    - I envy your style of writing.

Nikhil and Cindy  - I envy your spirit.

 I2i   - I envy your compassion (Savita said it right.    You make us feel special)

Savita and Guru         - I envy your dedication.

Ramesh and Rakhi   - I envy your amiability.

Nisha        - I envy your passion for ibibo.

Thank you all once again for the appreciation.   My apologies if i’ve missed out a few dear ones here. It’s genuinely unintentional.

[The You tube video:- I have no idea who 'driss' and 'ginette' are :). Please ignore. I dedicate the rest of the song to you all.]

Posted in My Life | 35 Comments

Chewing Gum.

My greatest stumbling block is shyness. All my efforts to grow out of this have  proved vain. This has led to a milder form of social phobia which is intrusive to an extent and disrupts normal life. I had to take my son to school and then pick him up. Just a 5 minute walk from home to school and then way back. Back home, i was comfortable putting my head down while walking to the destination. However, In this part of the world that is perceived to be rude. Yes, each and every time you encounter a person on the way, you have to look into their eyes and greet them with a pleasant ‘Gruezi’, ‘Morge’ or ‘Abig’ depending on the time of the day. A simple thing to do. Yet to me it seemed complicated. I was concerned that my posture or gesture might disclose my shyness. I found something that came in handy to deal with this -The chewing gum .

 I popped it in while i started to school and kept on smacking it until i reached home. I believed  it was a great tool to conceal my shyness and to look cool. The problem started here. My son wanted to try it too. I thought he was too small for that and would swallow it by mistake. He insisted and so i had to look for one which is kid and tooth friendly.  I found a sugar free  junior gum. I warned him that its solely for chewing and not for eating. You might be reminded of the childhood used-to-believe things like…  it sticks to the vital organs and stays there for years..blah blah..I didn’t emphasize much on the perils of swallowing though. We became the  mommy-boy pair cooly chewing gum all the way. Finally, my boy did it.  He was so carried away by the flavor that he swallowed it. "Amma, it went in and look I’m still alive" said he. From where on earth did he get this idea!. Now he is allowed to do it in moderation and i do it excessively when i am left alone in the public.

For some chewing gum is the bane of their existence. You get to see, some even get to stamp on splotches on the side walk. Quiet disgusting. You must be aware of the fact that in Singapore chewing gum is strictly banned. Have lived there for a brief period. But then the lack of chewing gum didn’t upset me thanks to the comfy put-head-down-walk method. There is an interesting gag related to this which goes like this..

A Singaporean was  having his coffee with bread  and jam at a Café.
A Malaysian man who was chewing gum, sat down next to him & started a casual conversation

Malaysian: "So you eat the jam with the bread?"

Singaporean: "Of course."

Malaysian (chuckling): "We don’t. In Malaysia, we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds and other left-overs in a container recycle them, transform them into jam, before we sell it across to Singapore."

Needless to say, the Singaporean had to retort.

Singaporean: "Do you have  protected sex in Malaysia?"

Malaysian: "Of course! We wear condoms."

Singaporean: "And what do you do with the condoms once you’ve used them?"

Malaysian: "Stupid question! Of course we throw them away."

Singaporean: "We don’t. In Singapore, the government collect them and secretly melt them down into chewing gum and sell them across to Malaysia… Now you know why  chewing gum is banned in our country!!! ;):0

Now something about the manner in which the act is done. Some chew it like a cow chews it’s cud so annoying that people around could hear the incessant gum smacking. Some do it with special effects of popping, snapping and bubble blowing.There is nothing wrong with chewing gum if it is done quietly and discreetly.

Here are a few chewing gum etiquettes:- If not for us, these are of some use to our crazy  li’l chewers. Of course my son is through with a big boring lecture on this.

1. Limit your gum chewing to times when you are alone.
2. Chew your gum with the mouth closed.
3. Avoid chewing gum in a meeting,  while talking to elders or when talking over the phone.
4. When you dispose your gum wrap it in a paper and throw it in a trash container.

OK, these etiquettes sound familiar. 
Found an interesting etiquette from the Etiquette school of Ohio.
5. Never chew gum in the theater. Even though you may be chewing it quietly, the motion of your jaw may be distracting in your neighbor’s peripheral vision.- Does that sound familiar? Not to me.

OK pals i will stop here. I have info about health benefits and innovations related to this topic. I’ve thought of sharing it in the next blog. Let me know if you are bored to the core and can’t take more.

Posted in My Life | 53 Comments

Crazy sign boards and more…

Sonia’s blog "Entry from backside only’ inspired Writer to share with us some hilarious leave applications. I had the luxury of time this weekend to browse through this topic using crazy search terms and landed up on these images. For God’s sake - you give them a language and they go and mess it up..  I find myself doing it too, all the time. But then you don’t have to be a  writer or expert in English to distinguish between good and broken english. But most of my friends here are experts in the language and so they get to enjoy the whole lot. So  come on check out the images below and have fun…

 Hope you didn’t miss the mockery on the wall.

‘Neat’ cake indeed!!

So, will you be coming!!!!he he 

 As opposed to…?

Mind you..Don’t make them sick! 

So the message is loud and clear now.

Posted in Humour | 20 Comments

Cry Babies of Euro 2008

Cry Babies of EURO 2008

I am definitely not a soccer snob but I can’t avoid it as I live in the country which co-hosts the tournament with Austria from June 7-29. Euro 2008 is a massive social event here in Switzerland. Whether you love it or loathe it, you got to live it. I was quite excited to see up close the phenomenon that is European football. The public screening of the football feast with huge screens is popular. This is primarily due to the demand for tickets exceeding supply and the enjoyment that can be gained from watching a game with thousands of others. Flags of favorite participating countries decorate houses and cars. Almost everything here is soccer- themed. Kids adore the official mascots of Euro 2008, Trix and Flix.

  Trix and Flix.

This otherwise calm and dull country which is only good for honeymooners, hikers, skiers and film makers has become way too noisy and colorful  over the past few weeks.

Austria and Switzerland were chosen to host the third-biggest sporting event in the world – and the biggest in Swiss history – on December 12, 2002.

The 31 games were scheduled to be played in four cities in Switzerland (Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich) and four cities in Austria (Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna). The final will be held in Vienna on June 29.  

Take a look at the picture below. Who do you think is good enough to win the cry baby contest?

Without any doubts, my vote goes to Switzerland’s team captain Alexander Frei

  Alexander Frei

Euro 2008 has come to an end for Switzerland - Here’s a look back at the highs and lows.

These were the headlines that dominated the Swiss webpages and newspapers since the clock started ticking for Euro 2008 (Few of them are translated from German Newspapers Hardly we get to read English news papers and websites.)

May 28, 2008

Swiss national team coach Koebi Kuhn has named his final 23-man squad for the European football championships, which kick off in ten days.

     The Team

June 6, 2008

 At 6pm on Saturday the five-and-a-half-year countdown for Euro 2008 ends and the action – and reaction – begins when Switzerland face the Czech Republic in Basel.

June 7, 2008

Switzerland have been beaten 1-0 by the Czech Republic in the opening game of Euro 2008 at the St Jacob’s Park Stadium in Basel.Frei admits ‘dream is destroyed" and the Injured striker  has urged Switzerland to fight on without him for the European Championship after admitting that his own Euro dream was over.

           Injured and emotional Alex Frei

June 10, 2008 -

Switzerland meets Turkey in must-win match

Switzerland has all to play for in their game against Turkey in Basel on Wednesday, which takes place against a background of painful memories of past encounters.

June 11, 2008

 Switzerland have been beaten 2-1 by Turkey in a crucial group match at the St Jacob’s Park stadium in Basel. Hence, it is eliminated from Euro.

     Turkey vs. Swiss

June 12, 2008

"Stunned" Swiss regroup after Euro elimination

The Swiss football team were struggling on Thursday to come to terms with how years of preparation had gone up in smoke in just four days.

        Dream Destroyed.

June 14, 2008

  Swiss aim to leave Euro 2008 with honor

Already eliminated from Euro 2008, Switzerland will nevertheless be looking to leave the tournament with their pride when they meet Portugal on Sunday.

June 15, 2008

Swiss leave Euro 2008 on a high

Hakan Yakin has scored twice to give Switzerland their first ever win at a European Championships with a 2-0 victory over Portugal.

          Hakan Yakin

June 16, 2008

Last and only win a "farewell gift" for Koebi

Feted by calls of "Koebi, Koebi" by the fans in Basel, Koebi Kuhn ended his tenure as Swiss national coach on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Portugal at Euro 2008.

           The last wave

Yet  the elimination didn’t go down well with the feverish home crowd…

     Not a happy ending indeed (At least for the Swiss)

[ All images used here were googled except the first one]

Vidhyaji has  a valid point there(comment). Cud anyone beat our own Desi Cry Baby- Sreeshanth????!!!

Posted in Cricket & Sports | 39 Comments

Vio’s crazy invention - IWR

 Tired of hanging on to your laptop or computer to get updates on your blog entry?This marvelous piece of invention, a revolution in the world of gadgets, ‘The ibibo(blogs) wireless receiver(IWR) comes to your rescue. Use your computer only to post blogs and then shut it down, forget it and walk away.The rest is taken care of by IWR. As simple as that. Carry this sleek gadget in your  pocket or bag. Keep it under your pillow while you try to get a nap. Sleep tight, clutching it with all might through out the night.  Get updated on the go.

Product specifications:
Colour LCD display.
32 MB
96.3 gms
Colours:  Idle Silver for Machos.
   Violet hue  for Femmos.

Polyphonic alert tones.

The  user manual: When you hear the alert tone, hurry, grab the IWR and this is what you should do.

When the green light blinks: Some one has rated your blog. Press the green button next to it. The details are displayed on the LCD screen.

When the orange light blinks: Someone has commented on your blog (Hurray). Find out the details by pressing the orange button adjacent to it.

When the green+orange lights blink: Needless to say, rated and commented. Press both buttons simultaneously to find out the details.

When the purple light blinks: Someone has viewed your blog. Not rated/commented. The purple button next to it is a vexatious button indeed.

When the red mini light  blinks:  The  red button next to it the tempestuous button  as it indicates that someone has referred to you in their blog, but in a negative way..Its time to resort to your computer.. Find out what it is.(The LCD screen of IWR is designed to display/send, comments and comments only).

When the green mini light blinks: Someone has referred to you in their blog but in a positive way (Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrray). You can’t wait to read it. Can you? Run to your computer. Read the particular blog n number of times until you are pleased.

http:/blogs.ibibo.com/girlalone/crazy-contest.html?readcomment=1?ffflg=ffi

THANK YOU.

Posted in Fantasy | 41 Comments

Fight from home !

 05/06/2008 - World environment day. I think it would be appropriate to jot out few basic tips to fight global warming from HOME.

  Lets fight global warming and save energy..

1) By unplugging microwave, blender, chargers and other electrical appliances when not in use.

2) By selecting the 30 degree wash cycle in the washing machine.

3) By running a dishwasher only when it’s full.

4) By cleaning the air filters of the air conditioner regularly.

5) By replacing atleast one ligt bulb with energy saving CFL bulb (compact fluorescent).

6) By using solar water heater instead of the conventiontal one.

7) By using hybrid cars (atleast by planning the next car to be one)…

By having one meat-free day per week.

Oh no, my list becomes complicated now..i’ll better stop here.. Please feel free to add your input too on such basic steps.

Here’s clarification on how food choices affect climate change. (Thanks: Dipankar da)

Producing meat emits more greenhouse gases than growing crops. The “one meal with no meat” diet assumes that everyone eats 350 fewer calories from meat each week.

Few more tips on how energy could be saved.(Thanks:Sonia, Savita)

9)By teaching our kids to respect nature and make them sensitive about the same.

10)  By using public transportation as far as possible instead of enjoying the luxury of private vehicles.
11) By carrying a cloth bag from home to shop so as to avoid the usage of plastic bags.
12) By tryinig to segregate the garbage at home  into Kithcen waste, Recyclable waste and other waste..

Posted in Other Categories | 14 Comments