The Sublime Comic Genius

A Ring for Jeeves
Stiff Upper lip Jeeves
Right Ho! Jeeves
Bachelors Anonymous

If the above mentioned words don’t ring a bell, then you are free to browse to another blog..This ones not for you….

** I suggest you to read his works though**

For the others who are familiar with all the above names, and actually have the sense to appreciate these works, welcome to the Wodehouse Fan club….

P.G.Wodehouse, an English comic writer, has reined as King of British comedy for several years….With his common place characters; he describes everyday incidents as a cream pie, with class and comedy served as toppings. Well, why am I writing about him??…that’s coz I adore his works….He is the only author who can make me laugh out loud with the subtle comedy interwoven in his works…

Betram Wooster, Monty Bodkins, Tuppy Gallasop, Aunt Matilda, Galahad, Pelham Grenvile, Lord Earnsworth and finally the inimitable Jeeves, are all part of the Wodehouse world and have effectively captivated many a reader…..

I guess you must be well aware of the P.G.Wodehouse fan clubs…For those who are not, click here

Though a good book can never be replaced by an e-book, here’s a treat to all who have read my blog. Enjoy with “My Man Jeeves”


This is a small tribute I pay to the great comedy king….

De-Bugging

The computer shows 2:00pm…yawn…bugs and more bugs to fix…God!! These bugs are really bugging…My eyes take the hint from my fatigued brain and all of them together perform the non-cooperation movement, in which they strike against all the bugs in particular and any kind of work in general….Aahhaa…So, I stifle another yawn…Drink a cup of coffee to bribe my senses to work…but, to no avail. So, I decide to blog…my favourite pastime…


*Mental Block*


What do I write about? Thankfully while blogging I don’t face this predicament as the thoughts just flow and nothing is pre-conceived….But, this was an exceptional case where I was blogging to keep away boredom, sleep and bugs!!!

I looked around me for my savior who would give me something to write on. I gladly noticed that my colleagues were suffering a similar plight. Some were e-chatting with friends…(yah through meebo…no firewall can stop us from chatting… “e-chatting, mailing aur IM mera janam siddh adhikaar hai” is the slogan of IT professionals)…Some of them chatting with colleagues in the opposite cubicle..(what a pathetic state of affairs)…Orkut, gmail, raaga.com, and many such sites are the ones most frequented by us…

O Shucks!!! Here’s my PM…minimize all the windows and open project related website and sit staring at it as if you were immersed in it for hours. Ok..whom will he stop to talk to for updates…Oh!! No it’s me…Why don’t we just bell our PMs (as in “belling the cat”)… just in case…


*5 minutes later*

I : electrocuted by my PM’s artillery of questions and management policies
PM: very pleased with the effect produced on the target.

Reeling under the conversation I just had, I staggered for yet another coffee..all the coffee planters remember us software professionals in their prayers….”Thank you God for making vunerable idiots likes software professionals who feel that problems are solved with a cup of coffee”…

I take the elixir of my life (i.e., coffee) and perch myself on my colleague’s desk and try to do small talk…Let me tell you we are really bad at small talk…we just can’t talk about the weather, the serial we watched last night and the annual budget…atleast not at the age of 22…when life has much more to offer…So, we settle down with our very favorite topic… “ Mera pyaar PM aur uska project”…This is done in obviously hushed tones, heavily accented voices and a kind of sign language and ofcourse, all this is done only after ensuring that the PM is at out of earshot distance.
After this refresher, it’s a load off my chest. So, plan to get back to my bugs…After about another half an hour of struggling with bugs…the comp shows 6:00pm…time for French lessons..

“Je vais au cour the francaise. Au Revoir!!!”
(Meaning: I’m off to the French class. Goodbye…..)

I promise to be back with more bugs…

This is a special dedication to Sameera, who has been braving out bugs, for the past two days..Hey Sam, this is the early bird prize you bagged for having survived my previous post- "I have changed"

Speechless

This tale starts with an innocent desire to eat ice-cream. Chocolate, mango, raspberry, blackcurrant and orange flavors were inviting me to devour them. I ogled at the sight of each of them and my face took a grave expression as my mind whizzed to make a choice. Eventually, I settled done for the raspberry flavor. As I put it into my mouth, the iciness of the ice-cream tingling over my tongue, I experienced a joy and satisfaction with no bounds.

The next day I had to pay a little price for my utopia. A sore throat! The stubborn girl that I was, I refused to take antibiotics and tried to cure it by some simple home remedies. Well, I toughed it out and fought the fever, the headache and the cough. But my friend Mr.Sore throat got the better of me. It was as if it had decided to punish me for my callousness towards medication. As a result, I lost my voice completely.

Initially, it wasn’t that bad, as I could at least speak in a hoarse voice which seemed so heavy and unnatural for a girl to possess. As the day progressed the hoarse voice left me and I started speaking sentences with squeaky endings. Strange coincidence, that it may seem, I got the maximum number of calls that day and of course numerous advices laced with sympathies. The next day had to go to the doctor and had to tell my tale of woe in sign language. He said: “Don’t talk and strain your throat”. Haah!!! It was easy for him to say that.

I wouldn’t classify myself in the chatterbox category, but that particular day when I was asked not to speak I felt a surge of restlessness in me. I wanted to speak to my friends, I wanted to fight and argue, I wanted to go and say a “Hi!!” to everyone around. I wanted to sing, I wanted to mimic the birds, I wanted to swear at my enemies….. I wanted to do all this but my voice failed me…I tried to utter a few words, which were lost as wisps of air from my parted lips. I had played Dumb-Chareds before, but, least had I expected to use it in my life to convey my point. A humorous streak that I had, I thought that, in circumstances of losing my job, I was sure to get the post of a news reader for the afternoon- news for the impaired.

The next few days were hell for me as the initially enthusiasm of sign language wore off. I had now reached a point where I avoided my friends and stuck to my loneliness. I couldn’t answer my calls so switched off my mobile. I started finding a big margin between myself and the people around me.

Salt water gargling was done at frequent intervals, milk with turmeric; honey and tulsi were administered diligently. My throat slowly but surely responded to these home remedies. I earned my voice back with great effort and a lot of patience. This incident also brought an important learning with it. I, for the very first time, could understand how difficult it must be for the people with impaired senses to communicate and how essential communication was in life. At least, this was a temporary phase in my life, but they had to deal with it throughout their lives. Suddenly, all the unfortunate ones, who were devoid of the gift of speech, rose to the status of true warriors in my mind, constantly battling out all odds of life and still managing a smile.

This stunner of an incident surely had left me "speechless".

I have changed

My friend dug up my wallet to find an old relic called “the bus pass” with a
tiny snap of mine. He just looked at that and passed a casual remark saying “You
are so different now”. I didn’t think much of it then. But later the truth of
that carelessly made statement dawned on me. Now that I think of it, I do feel
that I’m different now….I sat down to make an analysis report (AR- This one is
dedicated to Shilpa).. not to worry I won’t start with the cliché “Once upon a
time”..

@@The childhood years

I’m afraid, there won’t be much to write here, as I can hardly remember things that I did. So, with the aid of few sources I was able to compile this up.

I was a timid kind of a girl, who loved to go to school. Yah, yah go on…call me a geek…coz then I was a geek..I loved my teachers. I specially remember my kindergarten teacher-“Shanti Krishnamurthy” and her mother- “Amma”. She was the first one to have laid the foundation to my education ( I owe her a lot). The lovely dosas amma made deserve a special mention. I had this friend called “sonu”, who used to pinch me everyday, and me, a fool that I was, used to get pinched, used to make a caster oil face and weepingly complain to my mom. This was our daily ritual. I can’t wait to get my hands on her as I have to repay her with pinches cumulated with compound interest. So, sonu bach ke rahe na….

I was always dad’s daughter..his pet (like he had much choice..I was the only one). Since I was the only one and that too a girl I was over protected. I never had the chance to rough it out. Even small little things…. I was not to go to my friend’s house unescorted. I didn’t have my first cycling lessons till I was 13. There was never a time in winter that I left the house with out a sweater and a scarf on. My mom used to feed me even in class 6…I guess that habit didn’t leave me..even now at times when I’m running late for work, I have my mom behind me with a plate in hand. Well, well… I was pampered alright, but never a spoilt brat.

I was not mischievous at all, which is very rare for a kid of that age. There was not a time when I broke a glass pane, not a time when I pulled a prank on any soul. I had very few friends, used to hardly go out. Wait a minute……was I really that boring?? But, I had a treasure with me and they were my books…I grew up reading David Copperfield, Enid Blyton..they were more than just characters in a story…they were my only childhood friends….Wait a minute now I sound like “Matilda”….Noooooooooo,…..Ok…I know by now, I would have lost half my readers, but to all those brave hearts still clinging on…I hope you like the other half….Ok…resuming…Years rolled by and I was already in my plus two…

@@College Years

Well this was short lived…All the exams, entrance tests, IIT coaching institutes, EAMCET training centers and college consumed my college years. So, this phase of my life just started and then ended…..

@@Graduation Years

Welll…Now we come to the cheesey part of my life…These four years in my life were an eye opener in one sense and the biggest lessons of my life were in these years of graduation. Till now I was the topper in my school, class, group and other crap…Here I met people much more capable and intelligent than me…So, I was made to give up that top place…I was not way behind in class, but atleast I was not that topper..So, the post of the geek was taken by someone else…Strangely, I was not upset by it..Infact, I was relieved, as now I didn’t have the responsibility to keep up my rank/position in class…

Lesson 1: There are people better than you. Don’t be jealous of them, but learn to appreciate their abilities. But, yah if they act snobbish wring their neck..

Till now I was caged….I simply enjoyed my new found freedom…And as I told you I’m a normal girl..So, was bound to misuse this new found freedom….I got the worst score of my life in my 5th semester….I just cannot forget that day…I had written my papers so badly….that it was a mixed feeling…I mean… I was happy I passed and was terribly upset that I scored only a measly 68% (Let me clarify, that in the University I studied in getting 80% was pretty easy and you had to put in a bit more effort to get 90%)..So, for those standards, it was a pretty low score…But, now I find the topper of my class and me working together for the same firm in a similar designation…..

Lesson 2: Never judge your self based on marks….These exams are only to test your receptivity to boring lectures…nothing more..

I had my friends..I had enemies.. I had people to whom I was neutral…I was never in the limelight again…because again I was the shy and timid girl with inhibitions…

Lesson 3: It’s not always good to be in the limelight…there are times when you simply have to act as a support for combustion

But, I had my set of crushes and heart breaks…(that was bound to happen, as I never dared to go up to that guy and tell him how I feel)…

Lesson 4: Crushes are not to be taken seriously and it’s ok to ditch a guy and go around with his friend.

So, when I got out of engineering, my life was rich with all kinds of experiences, these years had toughened me as a person…So, the over protect child finally faced the world….And now with all these experiences in my kitty, I entered the corporate world…

@@Work Years

Uh!!! Let’s make that title “Work Months”…coz it’s just 6 months since I joined…Well, I heard that work life is totally a different ball game, where the stakes are going to be high…Well, my experience here is too short to comment…But all I can say is that I’m lucky enough to have good friends, helpful colleagues, guiding seniors, smart guys around me…All I can say is so far so good…

I’m now no more that shy and timid girl…I don’t know whither to she has vanished…I recall her many times but just can’t find her…She is lost some where in my childhood…I don’t want her to re surface…as she cannot survive in this world…I guess that, this transformation in me, is merely human psychology…the more you are pushed to the wall, the more you retaliate…The obedient girl is now a rebel…the quiet girl is now a chatterbox…The timid girl in now bold….The shy girl is now expressive….A caution to all those people who have not seen me for a long time: “I’ve changed”.. All these changes are pretty evident in me, else I wouldn’t be writing this at all……….


PostScript:
Ok….all the people who have snoozed..wakey wakey!!! It’s rude to doze off when some one is talking…errr….writing…

And people who have not reached this far and have browsed to some other blog.. what can I say…u missed it..I was going to give the people who survived this, a reward…Better luck next time.!!!

Lets play 50 questions!!!!!

Hey Sameera…Thanks for tagging me on…It’s been quite some time since I played tag…It was a nice interospection..Frankly, I never thought so much about myself…

I hope people who read this don’t doze off…Espeacially Sameera…I don’t want you napping on mine when I didn’t nap on yours. So, read through it….

1.Were you named after anyone?
Uh!! No…I’m glad about that…coz my parents held their parents in great reverence and please I wouldn’t want to be named Sitamma…no way..

2. Do you wish on stars?
No…That’s meant to happen only in Bollywood movies with Shahrukh in it.

3.When did you last cry?
Can’t remember…maybe in class 5 or so….

4. Do you like your handwriting?
I adore it…Especially the way I style my D’s

5. What is your favourite meat?
Wrong question…I’m a vegetarian

6. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf?
One of Anamika’s album…It’s in some invisible corner of the CD rack…I just couldn’t help having it as it was a present…….

7. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Absolutely…That’s obvious

8. Are you a daredevil?
No

9. How do you release anger?
I don’t get offended easily and the times I do I shout at the person who has caused it…Infact, I think “shout” is a very mild adjective…

10. Where is your second home?
My office…like I have any other choice…Man…I spend more than 12 damn hours in this place

11. Do you trust others easily?
Yes

12. What was your favourite toy(s) as a child?
I loved beheading my toys..I had a pussy cat…I couldn’t term it as a favourite, that was the only one I was left with, as it’s head wouldn’t come off.

13. What class in school/college do you think is totally useless?
Geography…I couldn’t understand why we had to know the major and minor crops of Mediterranean….I surely was not planning for farming as my profession or for a hobby..Even if I had to grow crops I wouldn’t go to Mediterranean…

14. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Not much…atleast never with an intension to hurt anyone

15. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
Uh!! …..

16. What do you look for in a girl?
Not applicable

17. Would you bungee jump?
Yes..That’s one of the things I want to try..It’s on my TODO list

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Yes..I do..else they won’t come off…

19. What's your favourite ice cream?
I’m not icecream crazy…but generally I go for chocolate flavour

20. What are your favourite colours?
Green

21. What are your least favourite things?
Smelly socks, things in disorder(messy), possessiveness, jealousy, lies

22. How many people do you have a crush on right now?
One

23. Who do you miss most right now?
My Dad

24. What are you listening to right now?
“You say it best when you say nothing at all”

25. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
Green.

26. What is the weather like right now?
Well….I’m in AC so it’s cool

27. Last person you talked to on the phone?
Arjun

28. The "first" thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Let me make that things…
a) eyes
b) sense of dress
c) voice
d) their socks…if I can (Please don’t have the weird idea that I’ll go around smelling socks)…But, I feel it’s a mark of personal hygiene.

29. Do you like the person who sent you this?
Yes. I do…I don’t have anything against Sameera..She is a sweet girl and fun to be with…And I love reading her posts…

30. How are you today?
Comme ci comme ca (In French it means “not to good not too bad”…Guess just couldn’t resist flaunting my little vocabulary in French)

31. Favourite non alcoholic drink?
Lassi

32. Favourite alcoholic drink?
Didn’t try any….Intend to taste all the varieties someday…

33. Natural hair colour?
Brownish black…But mom would say “initially they were black but now brown coz she has stopped applying oil since ages”

34. Eye colour?
Ditto

35. Wear contacts?
Nope..My doc says won’t suit me, for the high power I have…Ok…now don’t picture me to be a geek with thick glasses…I’m no way close to that description.

36. Siblings?
None…unfortunately

37. Favourite month?
October…That the month I get max presents…

38. Favourite food?
Chocolate cake…Actually anything chocolate


39. Favourite day of the year?
Oh!!All the national holidays and the annual leaves we get

40. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out?
Never encountered such a situation.

41. Scary movies or happy endings?
None…I can’t relate to either

42. Summer or winter? Spring or Summer!
Summer…for the mangoes…

43. Holi or Diwali?
None…I hate the sounds and the fumes diwali brings with it and I hate the chemicals holi tags along.

44. Do you like your name?
Absolutely….But I hate it when it’s “thi”…It’s “ti”
Oops!! I guess I’ve given away something…

45. What book/magazine are you reading?
Currently reading “The Bachelor of Art”- R.K.Narayan

46. What's on your mouse pad?
My company logo..

47. What did you watch on TV last night?
I don’t get to watch the TV

48. Favourite Smell?
Freshly ground coffee beans, the smell of rasam made by mom

49. Have you ever regretted breaking up with someone?
I haven’t had a boyfriend…so I guess question not applicable

50. Most tiresome thing you’ve ever experienced/done?
Answering all these questions….Well whoever started this.. “It a good one..but 50 questions are exhausting…when you have to type out all those answers…especially for IT professionals like us who are experts in Cntrl+C Cntrl+V”….