The Ashram

in a nutshell, was interesting..
(Not gonna explain it anymore)

Although we took some real nice pictures and became a very good friend with the daughter of one of the Ashram employees..Such a sweet girl, such a model..she'll become a film-star someday at the rate she is going.



Okay, bad lighting..but it was such a nice place to chill.



Me, eating a 'Singapore Cherry'..When I was about 5 and living in India, I used to eat this berry-like cherry which you can just pluck outta the shrub. Such a nostalgic taste I got from eating this fruit. Didn't know at that time that it was called a 'Singapore' Cherry..Can't believe I ended up in the country from which its name has been given. =p



Okay,a lot more pictures ! (with Iman, Rianne, Joanna [my rommie], Shanti, Father Surya, Little Hannagratia and the Calf-which,-according-to-Hannagratia,-doesn't-have-a-name-yet)

~The calf's Mom's name is Sita (not in the picture)

Autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore

Blogging does this to you: it makes you observe the world a lot more. 'Cos you tell yourself, for everything that you see around, that 'you're going to blog it'..and when you actually get to this Posting page at blogger.com, you can't remember what you wanted to write about in the first place.

But today, i remembered!

My workplace is like 7minutes away from home by Autorickshaw..the fare can be anywhere between Rs15, or Rs27 (depending on the route i take, and how much the driver wants to cheat me [i.e.manipulated meter].

So whenever I want to go to my workplace, or get back home, I end up asking at least 9 drivers to take me to 'Coxtown', or 'Infantry Road-Medinova'...those characters always give me a 'you-gotta-be-kidding-me' look and say No (which is annoying)..the funny ones say, 'Ok, but 1-and-a-half times the meter' (to which I laugh and say NO to their faces).

BUT, i found a way to get around it..by using a portion of my girlish charm of course =) That means, 1. to talk in Tamil (even if they don't know tamil, i don't care, i'm practising).. and 2 and more importantly, to say Please, It's getting late..WORKS LIKE A CHARM

I am however, gonna attempt taking the bus soon..the moment i get a more comfortable (and with that i mean Practical) pair of shoes.

Taika Thursday

Every Thursday, the AIESEC interns meet up in a club called Taika. BIG bottles of Kingfisher Beer for 130Rs (5SGD), and good music..suuree, we complain that the DJ sucks 'cos he plays the entire song for all songs..and that he plays reaaally crap songs at times...but it's a nice place to go back to every Thursday...and the Cops always escort us out at 11.45pm..(seriously)

Finally some pics of what I've really been doing the past 4 Thursday nights in B'lore..and many more to come!

Featured in this collage are my housemates and friends.



The chicks are my housemates (ex-, current and future): Iman, Rianne, Joanne, Mahima and Dasha. And the guy's Rishab. And the second pic: that's me teaching them how to dance like the Rockers in Mat Rock Cafe, Singapore =p



Also, today's Friday 23rd Sept..that means, the Jungle Night Party (organized by the AIESEC interns) will be on tonight @7.30pm on our company building's Rooftop...Time for some fun babbbyyyy!

Pics to arrive soon =)

And for Saturday night/Sunday, Joanna, Rianne, Iman, Mahima and Myself will be cleansing our souls at an Ashram just outside Bangalore. Hehehe...let's see how it goes =)

Pics...finally!

Pics of Mysore and Our new workspace



Mysore Palace--Lit-up for 1 hour every Sunday 7pm



The girls @ Mysore Palace (camera was a bit wonky)




Our new workplace!


Yams =)

'With a desk and a phone line, your limits are boundless'

That's what my brother Kiran told me this evening when I mentioned to him that I finally got my own desk (with drawers!) and a phone line. LOL..he's da best!

So this morning, a portion part of our company moved to our new office space, which is about a minute's walk from the other main office. You know those days in school, when you've finished all your exams, and you;ve got nothing to do in class but sit around and talk? Today felt like that day, well..until up til 3pm at least..We took lotsa pictures, goss-ed, even had a Pooja (prayers with 2 priests and all) for the new office..and then work started again =p

But it was such a nice feeling to come to this new place as a team...and since a few other recent joinees and myself haven't been having a proper work place for a loonngg while, we were VERY excited about having our own desk and phone line and drawers and WHITEBOARD..hehehee

Our limits are indeed boundless now =p

A Presentation on Singapore

Today for our company's Friday meeting, I was asked to do a presentation on Singapore.

My colleagues were mighty amused by Singapore..hehe..I'm so happy I did the typical @ thing of bringing my local culture to my host country.

Points of interest about Singapore:

1. The highest point (Bt Timah Hill) is 164m. (seriously, I www.sg-ed it).

2. There is a roof-top pool in Changi Airport for transit passengers (how world-class is that?!)

3. We import soil and sand for our land reclamation and beaches. (they were seriously amused by this =p )

4. Death penalty for trafficking heroin ....yyuupp

I'm glad they enjoyed the Singlish part of the session =D I just enjoyed looking at the Mee Goreng picture.....damn i want some of that stuff!




Oooohh..and next Monday, our team moves to our new office. Yay! I get a desk! (i hooppee)

Here's To the weekend!

Today's Manjunath's birthday

So he gave everyone of the 80 employees wonderful ghee-laden Indian sweetmeats..(a typically Indian thing to do if it's your birthday)..

He's 20 today, looks like he just turned 17 infact. So young-looking and always with a smile on his face =)


It's great to discover India, It's even better to re-discover it (as the latest AIESEC addition to our company, David, put it).

Fun people

Just completed my 3days of induction training in this company. The new joinees are so fun and the company culture is great =D And I'm quite sure I've been having up to 4cups of coffee each day, in our 'bonding sessions'..India's coffee heaven, and I'm on a perpetual sugar and coffee high !! wooptidoooo

And I gotta thank NUS and AIESEC for training me up so well, you know, pulling the all-nighters...almost-proper work started on Tuesday for me, and I've been juggling induction and my project for the past few days..enter office at 9.30am, leave at 8.30 or 9pm..hit the clubs right after =D

Bangalore just got itself a new police commissioner, and he's pretty strict over when the clubs close..so check this, clubs SHUT at 11.30pm...which turns out sweet for me, 'cos i'm in bed by 12.30am (sufficiently buzzed), and up by 8am (sufficiently sobered up). And the day starts again! calls for another Wooptidooooo!

Unfortunately my Canon has been going whack lately, so no pics for now..but soon!

Eagles Smeegles

Bangalore has a lot of eagles..Look out of my window on the 4th floor, and at any one time u'll see 6-7 eagles flying about. (unfortunately the digi-cam ain't working, else i'd have had a pic or two)

I learnt in my Animal Locomotion course that birds (particularly birds of prey that scan the ground) enter thermal convection currents and ride on the updrafts, which take them high up..They don't have to spend much energy flying this way...and effortlessly rise up. Coming down is a matter of stepping out of the convec circles, and letting gravity do its work.

Physics does get kinda cool when Biology comes in, eh?

Ok, end of lunch break!

Panic in Naidu House

Naidu House (a.k.a El Crappacio) is turning out to be lots of fun, as long as u don't enter the kitchen..it's always loads entertaining when you're living with a bunch of girls who can chill out, goss and be as girly as they want. It also helps that there's a 'boys' house just a minute away from the 'girls' house, where the boy-@ trainees live..so it's supposedly not strange to see a tall martial-arts-loving german guy sprawled on the couch in the evening, reading Cosmopolitan.

So it's also *supposedly* fairly common to have guys come around looking for girls in our house..which is why when last night a scrawny bandanna-wearing indian boy (barely 19) came a-knocking asking for geoffrey from delhi, we weren't too concerned..a girl from delhi was moving into our flat at that same time, and we (unfortunately) assumed it was her middle name or something..This Bandanna-boy breezed through our house, looked into our rooms (Achala told him to butt out and sit in the living room), sat down with us on the couch, drank some water and watched television with us..tired of waiting, he politely shook our hands, waved bye and left.

Right after he left though, Rianne raised panic..apparently none of the girls in our house knew him..and we realized that he could be the neighbourhood burglar scouting around our house..and it dawned on us that we could be the next target....

Then Chennai, Now Bangalore--finally settling down

First day at work for me..my 5th hour has just about begun!

Exactly a week ago I arrived at Chennai..After a marvellous session at the Indian beauty parlour, I picked up Triin from Egmore station and heard all about her amazing travel stories! She's one wicked chick, i tell you.

My family (entire extended family..as many as there could possibly have been) met Triin and were SO IMPRESSED by her! (well, d-uh, of course!) Needless to say, they finally were astounded by the power of AIESEC. Yay!! And needless to say again, my family is just as crazy as they ever have been..I love those guys =D

The wedding of Nisha and Bala was soooo fun..dancing-dancing, eating-eating, being treated like princesses indeed, eh Triin??

Late Monday night, I bid my see-you-later to Triin..was really really sad..'twas a depressing train journey to Bangalore on Tuesday indeed..not to mention that my reception officer didn't pick me up until 4hours after i reached!!! Once the hyper-ventilation ended, I was all nice and pampered in Kavya's beautiful house, enjoying the Kannadiga hospitality very much indeed!

Wednesday 31stAug afternoon, I met two other AIESEC trainees (Johannes and Patrick)..and a whole bunch of @ers..crazy fun..but i don't think i've ever spent that much time at a coffee bar! (3.5hrs, mind you..i was all talked out). Got my SIM card, and headed to my new abode..my place of stay for the next 10mths..freaky shite..especially since it is NO El Palacio! more like El Crappacio..but i'll survive somehow..Wonderful thing is that my roomies are such fun chicks!

After moving in and chatting with the ladies, we headed for a trainee party at a trainee house that was 5mins away..and this was at 10pm, mind you..not bad, the trainees in Bangalore. =)

Headed home and prepared myself for Day Uno at work..and here I am now! (Apparently, someone at my workplace has already come across my blog..(my CEO told me so, imagine that! hmmmm...i wonder who..the investigations shall begin =D )

Now that I've woken up a bit, I shall get back to my readings..i like being an Intern =D

Hope everything's going A-OK in Singapore..missing chicken rice and chilli sauce SO SO SO much.....

Yams xx