Mac Vs PC

as is evident, i waited a long time to buy this laptop, and one of the biggest uncertainties was whether to go the Mac or the Windows way. there were so many arguments pro and against each. and frankly, until u’ve tried a mac, how do u even know what u might be missing? i was sorely tempted for a long time to spend the extra bucks. but as time passed, and i got the chance to try my hand at a few mac notebooks, i realized how much easier it is to stick with what u’ve spent ten years getting to know and perfect. windows might be irritating sometimes but it is familiar and i know how to fix stuff and where to find stuff and generally to be able to accomplish all the major tasks i need my laptop to perform. buying a mac would have taken me back to the bottom of the learning curve. i’m not sure if i’m ready for that and whether the gains will indeed be worth it. be that as it may, i decided to shelve the issue till some benevolent employer decides to gift me a mac, and went for a windows laptop myself. and with the latest windows software, i must say there are many pleasant surprises and complete user satisfaction.

home, sweet home

i guess i never really knew how to feel about returning home. a part of me was expecting to find it v different after the experience of living abroad, but frankly, i didn’t. i settled right back in like a fish in water. and i love being back. in fact, even tho i went half-way across the world to one of the coldest countries in the world, it didn’t feel like it was any different from my own country! apart from the weather, of course. superficially of course there were differences, but fundamentally it was almost as easy to settle in there as it was here. but our level of engagement in oslo life was almost nil, and we kept feeling like outsiders just biding our time before we went home. so i guess it’s not surprising that i’m feeling so glad to be back home. now we can continue with our life where we left off instead of living in limbo just waiting to go home.

loving the windows live writer for my blog! i’ve literally never posted this much! so convenient.

more on my laptop

first of all, thanks inkspill for, in a way, facilitating the purchase of this laptop. if it weren’t for u, i’d probably have held out a lot longer before buying this super-cool machine.

it’s a dell studio 14, and i must say, the post-purchase satisfaction is tremendous! not only is it sleek and stylish, it’s fast, intelligent and in many tiny ways just a delight to work with. we didn’t go far out of the box in terms of configuration, which was pretty great to begin with. it does become pricey if you throw in MS office and antivirus subscriptions, but still nowhere as expensive as apple, which was the only other serious contender. i was v keen on apple for a long time, but two factors held me back from taking the plunge: 1. price, and 2. compatibility issues with various services. it might be a super-intelligent machine to work with, but until it can satisfy me on both these issues, i ain’t jumpin’ into the deep end. and that’s all i’m gonna say about that.

My very own laptop!!!

it may seem ridiculous to be so excited about getting a laptop, but i’ve waited so long and saved so hard for it that it really, really means a lot! :) having so much fun customizing it! :)

i'm going back home!!!!!!!!!!!!!

finally the time has come to bid oslo adieu! it has been a fun year and half, oslo, thanks for that, but you cannot believe how ecstatic i am to go back home! it would have been nicer, maybe, if i could have worked here. or if i could have had family close by. but i made some nice friends, had a great time traipsing around europe a bit, and generally got to live somewhere outside india with minimal fuss. oslo is a peaceful, uncrowded town with wonderfully polite people. we've genuinely not come by such good manners and such nice smiles anywhere else in europe. it's clean and beautiful too, especially in summer. but gimme hot sun any day! and to think i always thought of myself as a winter person till i came here! i guess it's difficult for indian people to adjust to the long, cold, dark winter months, and to think it's a hot day if it's 17 degrees C!
and so it's back to the mad rush and struggle of life that is india - yeh jo des hai mera! :)

pink chaddis zindabad!!!

hahahahahahaha i can literally not stop laughing! finally a movement i can relate to! maybe some of you know, maybe you don't, but every year on valentine's day the religious fundamentalist groups (all hindus, mind you) get up to condemn the celebrations in their own peculiar ways. there have been face blackenings, reports to parents, arrests, parading the guilty parties, even violence! this year the sri ram sena in bangalore visited pubs and slapped all the women there for being loose! and they are going to catch valentine's day-celebrating couples and forcibly marry them off. why, you ask? because celebration of teenage love is against indian culture, if you please. wait, you haven't heard the best part yet! so what did the loose, pub-going, forward women do??? they formed a consortium to collect pink underwear and send it the sri ram sena chief as a valentine's day gift!!!!!!!!!! this is the best idea EVER! i've heard protests and complaints before, but i've literally never been more thrilled with retaliation to blind, cow-minded, 12th century fundamentalism.

you can also be a part of this - just visit their website for more information.

25 random things about me

i got tagged with this me-me on facebook, and since i put in so much time and effort and soul-searching in it, i thought i might as well make it permanent and put it on my blog. :) so here goes:

I've been tagged with this twice now - I tried to hide from the first one, but the second one... well, I give in.

1. I'm scared by this. Blank pages scare me, make my mind go blank.

2. I hate capitalizing alphabets. this is how i prefer to type. :) i love typing. my speed is nearly 84 wpm with 100% accuracy.

3. i've written a diary since i was 12 years old. now it's a blog. i don't write very often. unfortunately i seem to write only when i'm upset and need catharsis, so my diary only contains unhappy moments. i rarely re-read it.

4. i love my family. when people complain about their parents, it upsets me to the point of outburst against them, even though i get irritated with my family too from time to time. i've lost friends because of this.

5. i don't know how to deal with death. my mind goes numb and i don't know what to say or do. i've lost friends because of this too.

6. i have few close friends, but they mean the world to me and i wouldn't know how to get on without them.

7. i was the happy recipient of an amazing good fortune, which i don't think i did anything to deserve - i met my husband when we were both young children, and yet we managed to fall in love and get married as adults. he is the best thing that ever happened to me.

8. i save everything, from movie ticket stubs (the special ones) to old bills to every card or letter i've ever received. it's only when i run out of space in my home (and my parents' home, and my inlaws' home) that i actually throw anything away.

9. i love it when people remember my birthday. and secretly get upset if they don't.

10. i can't remember birthdays so i have a reminder for every single birthday of every single acquaintance on google calendar. now it's slowly growing to include anniversaries and kids' birthdays as well! it's a work in progress.

11. i am hyper-organized. i don't remember anything so i make lists for everything. i hate forgetting things behind when i'm traveling. i don't like things to be out of their place. my husband's teasing keeps me human, or i could easily become a cleaning control freak.

oh man, 25 things is a LOT of things!!!

12. i love working. i need the mental stimulation. balancing my family's needs with my work is one of the most difficult decisions of my life. i continue to have angst about whether i'll regret this 25 years down the line, when i look back on my life.

13. i love reading. anything and everything, it used to be, but now i screen a bit based on past experiences. also, reading on the comp is slowly taking over from reading actual books but i still cannot read a whole book on the comp. i love turning the pages.

14. i have strong feelings about everything. no matter what they are, this way or that way, they will be strong. i'm very black and white, and i feel that makes me too quick to judge sometimes. i try to keep a hold on this, and talking things out with my husband keeps me more balanced.

15. i like sewing, in theory. i always have needles and threads and all the paraphernalia lying around in my house, no matter where i am, but i never end up actually doing anything about it. ditto sketching.

16. i love gadgets. anything electronic will hold my interest. but once i know everything about them, i get bored and move on. my husband refuses to buy me any more phones. or laptops, or cameras, or... you get the drift.

17. i don't like cooking. as an everyday chore, i mean. i'm not bad at it, i just don't love it.

18. i'm a foodie. i like salads. and steaks. and chocolate. and coffee. and chinese food. and greek food. and spanish food. and turkish food. and i could go on and on. yummmm!

19. i like watching all kinds of movies. except horror. i get so scared by even the most laughable of horror movies that i literally cannot sleep at night. for several nights. apart from that, i love movies and i'll watch anything once.

20. i get very conscious when i use the word 'i' because i read somewhere that the more i's you use in a sentence, the more self-obsessed you are. i've noticed with discomfort that most of the above sentences have started with i. but then, this is a me-me, so i guess it's acceptable.

21. i don't believe there is a god, as in a divine creator of life. i think the natural process in which this world has evolved is much more of a miracle, and i don't want to lessen the play of evolution and survival of the fittest by entrusting it to the random whim of a humanoid divine entity. the current religious polarization of the world scares the bijeezus out of me. but i do believe that there is a core spirit within us that we have to be true to.

22. i believe you can tell a lot about people from who and what they surround themselves with - their friends, their home. i don't believe there will be a particularly nice person with really bitchy friends, ever. or vice versa.

23. i'm very self-conscious and under-confident. being among people who are not my type makes me very uncomfortable.

24. i love traveling. it broadens my horizons.

25. i used to enjoy talking about myself but now i just feel tongue-tied.

PHEW!!! that took me 3 hours!

we mourn

Can anybody explain to this boy why he is attending his mommy and daddy's funeral after they were killed by terrorists in Nariman House, Mumbai and his whole life as he knows it came to an end? At 2 years old, this baby will never feel the embrace or affection of his parents ever again, and maybe will not even be able to remember them! Why???

ab dilli door nahin...

yippeeee only ten more days before i fly to india!!! it's been a year and a month since i saw u last, my beloved, unique country, and i have missed you so, so much! excited, frenzied presents shopping for all and sundry going on at present. the day is drawing so near so fast! :) the only bummer - hubby can't come along, so won't see him for a month. :(