BOOKS

Books, books, books......Well what can I say about his most enchanting thing I've ever come across in my life. My acquaintance with books dates back to times when I was a toddler I guess..Yeah that's right, TODDLER....My mum actually is the one source appreciation for getting me into this habit of reading...All thanks to MUM, there has been no looking back....

I was a kid when I first got the hang about books.. I started my tiny venture with books which had more of pictures and less of words.. The animals looked so real to me, that I used to look at those books for long hours.. Then started off with small books containing small strories.. I was just too excited for words.. Being the only child, I did not have brothers & sisters to disturb me too.. Started devouring books on a regular basis.. From tiny books to a little bigger books, I got my promotion.

I came to junior school, the addiction was only stronger. I started with ENID BLYTON. Fell in love with MALORY TOWERS. It is my all time favourite till today. Then came FAMOUS FIVE, FATTY SERIES, SECRET SEVEN. I used to be so lost reading books. It just continued. The urge to finish books was so strong that I used to polish them off in a day. Man, what a delight they

used to be.

Than came the High School days. Like all the reading gurls, I also entered the world of NANCY DREW. Started loving her Prosche cars too. I practically finished all her books. Never had a keen passion for HARDY BOYS... Then swayed into the enigmatic world of SWEET VALLEYS. You see in my school, SWEET VALLEY was a huge rage. All the girls, who read, wanted to read SWEET VALLEYS. You would actually find an Elizabeth (or LIZ in short) , or a JESSICA everywhere. I'm sure most of you who read will know them. But for those, who are alien to the Paper world, these 2 girls are the twin sisters of SWEET VALLEY books. Then from SWEET VALLEY HIGH, I moved up the ladder too SWEET VALLEY UNIVERSITY. I still fondly remember, in my Bio classes, I used to keep a novel in between my text book & read. Then moved to THREE INVESTIGATORS.....(What an impression right!!!!) My maa'm never found out.

Alas!! the end of good ole school days.. Time to move on...

I landed up in college now.. Yup, college.. Started off with ROBIN COOK. A whole new wrold of science fiction unmasked. My favourite was INVASION. Then started off with AGATHA CHRISTIE.. Loved all her books to the core. Then it was SYDNEY SHELDON. I still used to read ENID BLYTON at times. Time for JEFFREY ARCHER.

Then I got into Enginnering. Well, I never ever gave up reading. I was just far too addicted to quit reading. I continued. Back home mum is an avid reader. We used to dicuss a lot on books. she used to tell her favourites, & I used to tell her mine.

I started with VICTORIA HOLT, Gothic romance you see. Then moved on to MARY STEWART.

GEORGETTE HEYER. Though not one of my favourites. Of course how could I miss, POTTER MANIA!!!.

I was also a maniac. Just loved the books... I have the collection from U.S.A ( Courtesy: Ma' bro)

I was lost on Hogwarts... Actually forgot B.M.S.C.E for sometime.....LOL....

Then came the era of ASSORTED AUTHORS, as I call it. Paulo Coelho, Men R from Mars, Women r from Venus types.

Then I moved up the level. Joined Masters program.

The most unbelievable thing started happening. I was entrapped in Management & Non- Fiction books for a solid 2 years. Fiction seemed to be losing its essence. I started off with JACK WELSCH. Loved his book STRAIGHT FROM THE GUT. A whole new world opened up in front of me. I was kinda elated with the change. Built to last followed. A whole lot of other books.

Now after college, I have started loving Fiction as well as Non - Fiction.

But somewhere down the line my heart still voted for Fiction. ( Childhood days - Old habits die hard).

Books have always been my favourite. Jut to name a fw authors that I read,

1. Agatha Christie

2. Sydney Sheldon

3. Jeffrey Archer

3. Paulo Coelho

4. Victoria Holt

5. James Hadley Chase

6. Barbara Cartland

7. Mary Stewart

8. Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow

9. Sudha Murthy

10. Jack Welsch

11. Enid Blyton

12. J.K Rowling

And many more to name.

Books will be books. The Constant Factor in my Life.

Thanks MUMMY. All the credit for widening my data base goes to you. Hats off MOM!!!!

Imitation at its PEAK

This one is....Read on to know which category it falls into....
After college, my first job.... or to put it more precisely ma first job after MASTERS.....Here, in that very place I came across lots of people, actually all types & kinds....Some really sweet, some haughty, some boring, some wierd etc. etc., you know the set that takes to float a REAL company & so called ASSESTS....Anyways I came across a house keeping lady who had this wierd way of calling people AMMA.....Her tone, pitch , intonation & whatever nitty-gritties goes into callin AMMA was peculiar...She used to use the very word in every sentence. Actually, her sentence used to start & end with AMMA...Here was ME trying to HONE my imitating skills (For those newbies, I'm pretty good at it...LOL....).. I started to imitate her way of callin AMMA jus the way it was....I got really good at it....Can you guess where I tried it & what the implication was...READ ON....
I had just mastered the word to its utmost perfection....Usage wrong place....
At home, at times my MUM is addressed in different ways, MUM, MOM, MUMMY, MUMMA & AMMA ( Yup, that very word)....Can you guess what could have happened...Well..Well.....Well...
Here i was one morning, trying to call my mum & Heaven knows why i called out AMMA... AMMA....Twice, not once ...and here was my mum telling, MUNDE HOGUMA....(Yup, the very thing you tell beggars....) My mum tellin me....
THAT was the end of me ever trying to call in that particular tone, pitch etc....
I'm sure i wouldn't wanna call that...Right... to get that wonderful a reaction from ma MUM......

CIVIL in Me

Well, well, well hope the very title doesn't beat ma pals......CIVIL, well thz what my ENGINEERING Degree is in....Took it up because I wanted to be in B.M.S.C.E...Course never mattered to Me...Strange i guess......Ok, here I was with the course, but never ever ever actually got into depths of appreciating it...Actually kept appreciating the college more than poor course...Neverthless....Something is better than nothing, if it holds good here.....Four years of college life, went by and i was more than happy to be out of CIVIL....True in every sense...

I was never keen on applying for a job and working in the same line....So, me bein me took up Masters and was more than happy to forget the very four years of acquired knowledge....I'm sure you will understand the level of happiness in moving away from something you jus don wanna be in....That was how I felt truly & modestly.....

Two years of ma Masters Life flew by and there I landed myself in a job...Job right, the very word makes you traverse all those long years of yearing to EARN....U bet!!!! Money..... Yes, I was on top of the world to earn. TO EARN N SHOP mind you....For those of you who don't know, I'm the BIGGEST spendthrift one could come across..(You'll agree, if you know me really well)....

Anyways crap apart....The job was awesome....I was happy...At the end of the month, pay packet in my hand or the urban way, CHEQUE/CHECK in my hand....What a feeling!!!!

After sometime my bubble burst soon...Yup you got it right....bubble burst...Here i was stuck in a PMC and given a CIVIL project to do apart from my Masters skills.....

Got nothin more to say now....Somethings best left unsaid...What say????

P.S: CIVIL never seems to be getting away from ME......ME...Poor ME.......