Back to work

Have now gotten off my lazy ass and now am sitting on a plush chair, in a one person cubicle, with a thin LCD monitor and enough leg room to be comfortable enough to doze. Yup, for me this is as good as it gets. Plus, as the water cooler is a few cubicles away, I get enough traffic to keep me awake.
I love getting up in the morning and dressing up for work and then sitting at a computer, clicking and typing away to glory ;)

And, now I get lots of stuff to ruminate and maybe write about [he he]. All the colleagues, downright weird to downright interesting (sometimes both), all the people I bump into (literally and figuratively) on my way to work. But that later, when I gain more fodder to write on. I am going to present to you a much more interesting subject: me. Yup, ah, me, myself.
Picture this, here I am, very happy to get back to work, get money in hand, do something other than watch TV all day (like watch the monitor all day), shop with the aforementioned money in hand, feel like I am doing something worthwhile, and wear formal togs to office (which, after hanging out at home in pajamas all day seem like heaven, or is it self important?). So, I walk into the office the first day and what do I see? Everyone, every single one of them, in casual to informal clothes (read cotton casual trousers to jeans). On a Monday!! Here I am dressed to the nines in my western formals with a smooth chignon and all in an office where everybody believes Friday dressing is not confined to only Friday!! I actually felt let down!! Me!! Yup, me, who only 4 months back (when I was working) used to wish that the next company I would join wouldn't have a strict formal-wear-only dress code!! Shouldn't I be jumping with joy?? Ah, but see, being a human being, am a creature of habit. And so, I routinely - no, habitually- find the best laid plans and expectations washed away.
Expectations!! Now that is a tricky thing, ain't it? They are time-bound, see, meaning they change with time. What you would loved to have yesterday seems not so great today, and you go like 'oh but yesterday was different'. When, oh when are we going to be ever satisfied and go 'Yay!'?? Soon, you say? I think, never. Or you wouldn't aspire for more, would you? Many people talk about giving up expecting stuff and hence staying away from the certain consequent disappointment. Duh!!! Don't you know that expectations are sweet? I mean, you expect and expect and expect and then you expect some more. Simple. It makes your life interesting. Or else it would be just another day. And there is no such thing as no expectations. I mean, I walk into the office without having ever given a conscious thought to how the interiors will be and I stop short. The scene greeting me makes me gape. And such a reaction is only possible if you had expectations right? Isn't that what makes the beautiful spellbinding and worth a second glance or the ordinary, well the ordinary?? Ya, ya, I know I should stop the abstract and tell you what had me gaping. Well, I saw cubicles. Single seaters. Spacious ones. In Mumbai. In this day and age!! Wow!!! Did it make my heart go pitty-pat?? Yup, you guessed it, I was like - 'oh no, this seems so lonely!! What, you just sit in your cubicle alone typing and clicking your day away?’ Ah, nature!!
Do you want me add on to the list of stuff I am a tad unhappy about? I won't be able bring my iPod or a pen drive into the office. So, it’s a very silent, lonely cubicle for me. Don't you pity poor me?? Well, then instead of sending Symonds or Tata Nano forwards and arguing at the water cooler on what would be a better torture for the Auzzies, keep the comments and mails coming and keep me sane. Or get me an iPhone ;) Till then, am going to keep my eyes taped open and try.

Hallelujah!!

Yup, my first attempt at muffins and such a success!! Had made cake a couple of times during the last few months but never muffins and they turned out yummy. Damn good, if you ask me. Two plum muffins and two cinnamon ones. Eat your heart out!

Help - Domestic and Psychological, both

Its funny how some things just sneak in and become habits right? Or should I say they become a necessity that you can't do without. Case in point, your mobile phone. I mean, till about what, 5-6 years ago, we managed to do without them just fine. Now, the day you forget your mobile at home or lose it, it seems the whole day is ruined. Its an indispensable commodity that you don't remember when you got habituated to and now you can't imagine how you did without it. I recently discovered another habit/necessity that I have come to rely upon. A maid.

Except the last few years, have been relying on a washing machine to do my laundry and when I lived as a paying guest we used to take turns at the chores like scrubbing dishes, mopping the floor and dusting. And in the space of just a year, I find a maid essential!! I mean, I don't know when that happened and how. Now that we are moving to Mumbai, it dawned on me that I will have to find a maid anew!! I have a great maid here who is, well, great and now I have to ditch her and find a new one, hopefully as good.
I realised that it is a big deal for me now on an promisingly perfect day (read great weather for the relaxing day you had planned). You take the first heavenly sip of coffee and in comes a messenger to say that my maid won't be able to make it and has no replacement to offer. Other than planning ways to torture her the next day, it seems like a ruined day.
Am still mad at myself for letting this become such an issue!! I mean, I always termed all those who talked about their maid crisis, over the hill. Does that make me one now? Or is this the uncomfortable, uncanny feeling from walking that maid-less road in someone else's shoes???