Five reasons why you should forget mobile phone at home

The other day I rushed to office in a hurry and forgot to carry my mobile phone along. Initially I felt handicapped. I was missing the ringtone (Wham's song - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go). But then I realised it was a blessing in disguise.

Need reasons to believe me? Here they are:

- No calls from spouse to inform that his friends will drop in for coffee

Perks: Party time. No unexpected guests. Roam around in your shorts. No need to put on make-up, that plastic smile and the urge to look pretty all the time.

- No calls from cook to tell you that he'll not be showing in the evening

Perks: Time to chill. If the cook shows in the evening then enjoy. Else, hop into your jeans and head to the neighbouhood eatery. You were not notified, right?

- No calls from relatives to share lousy wedding tales. After trying to reach you many times, they will try to reach your spouse/in-laws to enquire if all is well with you.

Perks: You'll be saved from their eternal gossips; you may miss on some spicy hearsay though. At the same time, family will call you on office number to pass on the freaky messages.

- No calls from parents/in-laws to check if you have had lunch

Perks: You can dump the home cooked lunch and pick the tangy lunch snack from the canteen. There's no one to check if you have had food

- No calls from siblings to remind you about their birthday gifts (like my bro, who will happily choose a very expensive gift for himself and insist that I present it to him)

Perks: Saved from the expenses for a day. No call, no reminders to dole out cash. All Izz Well, at least for one day.

There are few fallouts as well. Here they go:

- No body will try to sell you homes via SMS

Fallout: You'll have no reason to crib, "why do these people keep selling me houses when I can’t even pay the rent for a decent 2BHK accommodation ".

- No body will call you for personal loan requirements/insurance policies

Fallout: This may hurt your pride, "No body calls me to sell loans. Am I not in the radar of the banks. Am I poor?"

Have more reasons? Share in the comments section. 

This Alice doesn't live in wonderland anymore

Warning! This isn’t a review of the film released recently. Please do not expect any critique on film here. This post is purely a personal note.

I did watch the film yesterday. While the film is based on Lewis Carroll's novel - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it takes on a different tangent on screen. Our little girl has grown up but is still haunted by her hallucinations of the Wonderland. She goes back to settle some scores.

When I was in class three I borrowed the book from school's library. I could find some commonalities with Alice. We both were young. We wore little pink frocks, had curly hair and wandered around in gardens - except that I roamed around in my orchard. We both lived in a wonderland.

My wonderland was of different shade than Alice. I certainly didn't talk to blue caterpillars but I did conjure a fantasy world.

I wondered what it would be to grow up suddenly. Had many questions - how will I look, will I be doing something (like job etc), would my brother still bully me, would my friends still be collecting colourful ribbons, would my class teacher still be the incharge for 3A (I liked her and didn't want to go to another class ever)?

Some 20 years later, I have answers to most of the questions.

This Alice has certainly grown up. Colouful imagination has given way to harsh realities - some sweet, some bitter.

I'm busy working, cleaning, cooking, learning, blogging, twittering - doing zillions of things that didn’t even exist then. My brother has grown up and doesn’t bully me, my teacher isn’t working with school, don't know where she is. My admiration for her vanished over all these years. Don't know where most of my friends are.

But one thing is for sure. My real world is far better than the illusions I had of it. Some incidents, some happenings may not be what I wanted it to be but I'm still happy with my real world.

Don't know about Alice, but I surely don’t want to live in Wonderland anymore.

Bakre Ke Nakhre!!!

Checked out a home delivery menu yesterday.

It had indeed some very interesting captions. Beginning from Bakre Ke Nakhre (to describe mutton dishes) to Murg Lajawab (to describe chicken delicacies).

Looks cool. Aint it?