Friendship at Work-Nuggets of my Experience!

I earned some of the best friends in my work life. I have few close college pals with whom I spend every alternative weekend till today.However,out of many friends in school and college, I am still close with only few.The reason may be I was not a very outspoken or neighborly kind of person till my college. I was plagued by the fear of rejection and suffering from over dose of poor self-esteem.It was only when I debouched from my school and college life to the corporate world, my personality underwent a sea change.My performance in my very first job and the name that I earned among employees boosted my self-esteem.Consequently, I could come out of the shell and mingle with others easily. As a result, I had(have) many close pals in my previous office.Due to our varying wavelengths, the girls at office were in two different groups.Some of them, who were very homely and traditional formed a group.The rest of us, who were quite forward in our thinking formed another group. I cannot forget the days when we used to chat loudly in the pantry with a cup of tea/coffee in our hands. I really miss those chat sessions ( and of course, that delicious tea from the vending machine) that we had during our break time.

We used to experience power-cuts very often in my previous office. They didn't have a generator for whatsoever reasons. So we cannot work during those black-out days.However, even then, we (girls) were not suppose to go out and expected to remain inside the office premises. This was the general opinion of the management and other employees. But we felt that unsaid rule was really kiddish and oppressive.We started going out like other (men) employees and gave a damn about the dirty glances that was exchanged by the rest of the employees.Had we committed any felony for these men (and some women) to make a hue and cry out of it? We used to visit the nearby shops and would get snacks to kill the rest of the time. We used to go out for lunch once in a while and stay in office after working hours in case of pending assignments ( as if it is a big achievement). Sooner or later, we became trend setters.

We were bold and outspoken.On the other hand, we were also sincere and hardworking.So everyone accepted us for what we were.What I shared with you all is just a tip of an iceberg.We had far more pleasant moments and also fights and disagreements.Not to mention,we were also supportive to each other and extended helping hand during difficult times.A friend in need is a friend indeed!What's more? This is not only a story of friendship but also a description of how a relatively reserved girl turned out to be a chatter box!!So folks out there! If you think that college life is the end of your joyful or gala time with your friends, change your opinion! In fact, I have my best time with my college friends itself only after becoming a working professional!

Why I Like late 80's and early 90's movies?

As an IT employee, I lead life in a fast lane.My favorite pass time during weekends is watching movies. I either visit a theater with my friends or watch movies at the comfort of my home. I have realized from my years of movie watching experience that cinema is nothing but the reflection of society.Today's movies reflect the same society that I live in. Yes, a society where people lead life in a hurry just like me.They don't live life to the fullest. Whereas, in late 80's and early 90's, people should have lead a relaxed yet active life. The movies thoroughly capture the essence of the lifestyle of people lived in that period . How movies of late 80's and early 90's are different from present days' movies? There was more attention to the details , the movies were quite far from the reality(it depicted the ideal self), the songs, fight, location and props created a kind of utopia.It gratified the dreams of the audience.In other words, those days audience lived their dreams through the movies.
In contrast, the present day audience would like to see themselves in the movies. They would like to see the real-self, not the ideal self. They dismiss ideas that are far from reality. But the late 80's and 90's movies portray a kind of dream-like world in a detailed manner with a little use of technology.Moreover, those days' movies were much creative than the present days. Even today, I buy DVDs of 80's and 90's movies.Just like those days audience, I gratify my wishful dream to live a peaceful life by watching those movies. It is needless to say that I don't merely fancy the movies of 80's and 90 's but actually adore the peaceful lifestyle of the people lived in that period.

Nostalgia for My Childhood Days

If I get an opportunity to relive, I will choose my childhood days.Those times are very sacrosanct. My hey days way back to early 90's when I was in school. Though I had sad school days, I had far more gleeful moments at home.I was brought up in a joint family set-up, so finding companions for playing was far easy. My sister, cousins and neighborhood friends were my playmates and the games that we used to play were so different and unique. We used to play with kitchen set, Barbie dolls and Teddie Bears. But what's different is the way we used to dress up.We will wrap one piece of towel around and put another one like a duppatta to emulate our mothers those who wear Saree. We used to stealthily take salt, water, tamarind etc from the kitchen and try our hands in cooking(?) in our dummy kitchen.

Another interesting game that we used to play is hide and seek.It is not like how rest of the world plays. We used play hide and seek in a low temperature room ,which would have been packed with margarine cardboard boxes (my father was into margarine trading then). Even the staffs in my father's office used to participate in our game. It goes like this. We used to turn off the lights in that room and ask one person to catch others. The rest of us would hide ourselves in between the roof-high margarine boxes and keep shifting our places whenever the person was likely to catch us. The person who was caught should catch others. Interesting indeed?
Another game that we used to play was temple game. Though it was a game, we used to perform it with full faith. We used to use a cardboard as our temple and place godly pictures and photo frames in it. We used to buy flowers, fruits , camphor, fragrances and alike and put kolam ( a traditional drawing that is put by using rice flour).We used to chant religious verses that we had known.Intrigued? There is lot more to come!

Though there are numerous games that we used to play, the most exciting ones are the in-door games. The game of life, Scotland Yard, the game of business and trade, cards, snake and ladder are some of the games that engaged us during our holidays. The best part of the indoor game is even adults used to join us. we also used to play shuttle cock, throw ball and alike once in while.Not to mention the trouble that we used to give to one of our neighbors by putting the ball every time in their terrace and making them to open several locked doors to get our ball back.

Also in our summer games, our best companion was our pet sophia. We used to put a tilak( an impression made in the forehead by using saffron powder) in its forehead and dress it up with a pearl-like chain and alike. Our summer pass times do not stop here. They include homework and assignments from the elders at home as well. Myself, my sister and cousins used to be assigned with hand writing assignments every morning. we had to write three sets of hand writing assignments, viz,English, Tamil , and Hindi. Apart form that we should also memorize and tell arithmetical tables orally. Based on our performances, we would be either awarded with a visit to a movie or hotel or punished by having made to sit in the loft. Nice ride down memory lane indeed!