"Is there any problem?" I knocked on the door of the ATM room and asked the 2 ladies who were inside. For the past 5 minutes I had been watching them go round and round around the machine.

"Where do you insert this card?" one of them asked me.

I wasn't sure for a moment if I had heard the question right but then I took the card from them, put it in the slot and went back to wait outside.

In another 2 minutes the ladies opened the door and declared that the machine had eaten up their card. 'Yeah, it will spit the card back out when your transaction is over' I assured them while debating whether to wait there or not.

They went inside and almost immediately opened the door - again. 'The system is stuck'.

I went inside. Sure enough, the screen had gone blank. Praying that the machine will spit the card out, I pressed Cancel repeatedly. When the card came out I asked the lady nearest to it to grab it as if her life depended on it.

By then the system had recovered because I could see the normal welcoming message on the screen so I inserted their card again and beat a hasty retreat outside.

I must have waited for 2 minutes before the ladies were back. The screen was acting funny again. This time I didn't take any chances. Hitting Cancel button I got their card safely out and directed them to another ATM nearby.

Needless to say, I didn't dare withdraw any money that day. So much so for technology making life simpler!

In India, we almost never mix meat with vegetables except for onions, tomatoes and maybe, capsicum. So I was a bit taken aback while watching Food Safari's episode on Egyptian food. There was a dish containing lamb and okra. What's more surprising is that the lady cooking it added whole okra without cutting off its ends.Wow! Had never seen anything like it before.

I felt the same when I saw Vicky add chopped mushrooms to red poha in yesterday's episode of 'Vicky Goes Veg' (NDTV Good Times).

Who knows? Such combinations might taste good but I for sure am not very keen on trying them out for myself.

I chanced upon Big Boss while surfing the channels last night. I guess the nomination process was going on. One lady was explaining that the reason she was nominating 2 particular inmates was because she had never heard of the other 2 contestants and thought that if they stayed in the house they would get more exposure. Funny thing is that I had never seen this particular lady before in my life. When I checked the official site, I came to know that she is one Mandeep Bevli. Nope, didn't ring a bell! :-)

अर्ज है.....

मिलना आज एक बार चाहे मुझे बदनाम कर दे
ये चर्चा बेशक इस शहरमे आम कर दे
कुछ इस तरह तू मुझे रुलाके जा फ़िरसे
मेरे आंखके हर आसूको निलाम कर दे

(From the internet)

Way to go, Trinidad and Tobago!

I am not sad (or surprised!) that Mumbai Indians lost against NSW yesterday. The way the team has been playing in this season of CLT20, I think they would do all of us fans a favor by crashing before the semis. That way, besides getting fewer ulcers, we will also get a chance to cheer for those who have been playing good cricket.

But I am very glad that T&T thrashed CSK yesterday. Finally, their efforts have translated into a win! Daren Ganga hopes that they will make it to the semis. I hope so too.

Way to go, Trinidad and Tobago! :-)

To see or not to see

To see or not to see - that's the question. I was about to say 'Million Dollar' but I don't want to remind you of the state of Dollar, Euro and the world economy in general.' See what?', you may ask. 2 movies - John Abraham's Force and Shahrukh Khan's Ra.One.

True, I haven't been known to spend my hard-earned money on Hindi movies. Like I have mentioned countless times on this blog, the last Hindi movie that I saw in the cinema hall was 'Kabul Express' (another John A starrer, you say? Well, he IS my favorite, you know!). But the temptation to watch John play a cop has sort of got the better of whatever meager supply of common sense that I have. The only problem is that no one, absolutely no one (including my female friends!), is willing to come with me to watch it. :-(

So I have made a pact with the Devil Himself - i.e. my brother. If you have been blessed with a brother (or brothers!), you know (and will agree!) that brothers almost always never help you without thinking about what's in it for them. My brother is no exception. The truth is that he needs someone to watch Ra.One with him. Now comes the best part - I cannot stand the sight of Shahrukh Khan and my brother almost hates John Abraham.

Still, he has assured me that he will watch Force with me if I promise to watch Ra.One with him. Ever suspicious of his motives, I argued that I cannot trust him - what if he makes me watch Ra.One and then refuses to watch Force with me? He calmly replied that Force has already released while Ra.One is slated to be released in the last week of October (Of course, I cannot be expected to know that. I hate Shahrukh, remember?). Then he gave me a look that plainly said that he was thinking very seriously about getting it in writing from me.

So now I am in a fix. I will have to tolerate Shahrukh if I have to drool over John. It's almost like selling your soul to the devil!

John, I hope you read this some day and know what your fans have to go through to watch your movies :-)

I thought of a Mumbai cabbie on two occasions this month - once, when a Saudi woman was sentenced with 10 lashes for driving despite a ban and again when the King overturned that sentence. I don't remember the face of that cabbie because it has been a few years since the incident.

I was going home from office and the traffic, as usual, was pretty heavy. At some point, one of the cars nearby swerved dangerously close. The cabbie swore under his breath and looking at the woman driver inside said aloud 'Why do ladies have to drive?'. Had he looked at me in the rear-view mirror he would have caught my expressions - angry at first, and then distinctly amused. I must agree that the woman driver made me question the sanity of the RTO officer who gave her license. But I didn't think that she represented the attitude and skills of the driving women population of the country in any way.

Of course, the males in this country are prone to generalizing a lot when it comes to us womenfolk. And we, on our part, ignore their viewpoints on this matter, as on most others :-)