The first thing you notice when you walk into my office (which you won't) is the whiteness (or call it 'seriousness' in better words), and, aslso please add, the mind-numbing chill. It certainly wouldn't be wrong to call this place Mini Moscow. The moment I sit on my desk, I can feel all the evil AC ducts directed towards me and my poor nails start turning blue in 2 seconds. Even my lime-green jumper (yes, there are certain advantages of working in a sourcing company) fails to keep me completely cozy. It's of no use even when I try to stretch the poor sleeve down to my hands. Seems like I might need to buy a pair of woollen gloves real soon.

Believe it or not, this cold literally jams everything! My brain, my hands, my feet, my cellphone! *shivers* Trust me, typing becomes a real challenge in this mind-blowing chill. My feet freeze even when im wearing woollen socks and shoes. They become so numb, sometimes it feels like I don't even have feet :( Scary! And that's not just it. My cellphone can also feel that chill and it has now stopped functioning properly. Poor thing can't send txt msgs anymore. RIP, my dear N82. :( I hope I don't get any serious ailment during my stay here :(

The most striking thing about this place is that everything is so white, so dry and so very plain that sometimes I just wish I could paint all these walls in lilac-and-pink stripes (or any other color, if you want). I've planned I'm going to personalize my desk real soon. And I'd make sure it has more colors other than just lime-green (jumper) and yellow (post-it notes).  

Enough rants for today. If they can't let me paint the walls, I can just make my desk colorful. And I'm sure I can then start loving work here ;)

Cheerio folks!

PS: I'm writing this post in my lunch break. Promise!

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"I hope you never hear those words. Your dad. He died. They are different than other words. They are too big to fit in your ears. They belong to some strange, heavy, powerful language that pounds away at the side of your head, a wrecking ball coming at you again and again, until finally, the words crack a hole large enough to fit inside your brain. And in so doing, they split you apart. "


I'm an incomplete person for more than 2 years now. And it's still hard to digest.

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Our media is continuously coming up with crazy, senseless, baseless, and irritatingly long advertisements these days. Ads like that of Ufone that lack clarity and of Sooper Cookies that seem more like a trailer of "So you think you can dance?", the creativity in making ads is going far below standard. Oh, and how can I forget the famous Chaika ad, which was of a similar sort. With an outrageously insane jingle like that, who would be willing to try this product out.

I love watching ads - the good ones actually. And it pains me a lot to see sub-standard Pakistani ads which are more focused towards the models and their moves and less towards the actual meaning and message. The reason I never liked (rather, hated) Zong since the very beginning was that they always blamed one competitor or the other to snatch the market share away in a childish manner. Even if they come up with rock-bottom prices, I would still not go for it. Such ads show poor marketing efforts and the dearth of talent in advertising agencies. One can add a lot of different ads to this list easily. All these ads are not only spoiling the image of the brand, but of our cultural values as well. Why do we have to make ads like Ufone Utune, where the son can set a Utune of 'library environment' and make his dad believe he's in the library studying and not hanging out with friends. Ever thought about what are we promoting here?

I can hardly recall any Pakistani ad where I was awestricken with a WOW. But that day while channel surfing, I came across the following ad
                                                         






 The message is clear, the product is identified and the idea through which the message has been conveyed is quite commendable. Imagine the impact of this 30-sec ad on so many millions out there. Why can't we learn positive things from others and implement them in our environment? Why can't our ads be such decent, concise and complete?

We need to promote our values and must create a sense of ownership among our masses. And since TV is the most common medium of communication, why not use it to become better humans and better Pakistanis!

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What to do in class when you aren't even allowed to use your laptop? Start playing Tic-tac-toe? But that's a kiddy game. So in my Saturday's class, a classmate of mine suggested we should play Hangman.

UA: "So I'd think of a movie title and you have to guess it"
Dinky Mind: "No way please. I'm worst at memorizing titles. Try something else....Umm, as in brand names of chocolates"  [I had Lindt in mind] :P
UA: "Pleaseee NO. I don't know all those tongue-twisting names. Why not try out city names?"
Dinky Mind: "Arright. You think, I'd guess"
*UA thinking of some alien city name when a cool name popped up in my head*
Dinky Mind: "I've thought of a city. You've to guess it"
UA: "Fine"

*DM starts sketching blanks*

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


UA: "Is that really a city's name?"
DM: "Yep. Seems like a big city"
UA: "Okay, A, then"

_ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _

UA: "O"
*DM makes the head of the poor guy deemed to be hanged* 
UA: "Dang! Okay, 'I'?"

_ A _ _ _ I _ _ _

UA: "Good. Now N?"
*DM makes the left arm and tiny fingers*
UA: "Is that really a city or are you just fooling me with all these blanks?" :O
DM: "It is a city. And now I doubt you've ever heard of it"
UA: *throwing another aimless arrow* "C?"
*DM makes the right arm with tiny fingers*
UA: "Grrr. You know if I say 'A' once it means you have to fill all the blanks that might have an 'A'?"
DM: "I'm not that dumb. Another shot?"
UA: "Ermm, T?"
*DM makes the body of the puppety-man*
UA: "Darn!!! H?"
*DM makes the left leg with a shining shoe* 
DM: "I'm enjoying this drawing now"
UA: "Ummm... P?"
*DM makes the right leg with the shining shoe*
DM: "Last chance before I tie the rope around his tiny neck"
UA: *lazily* "B?"
*DM very happily makes the rope and pulls it* 
DM: "I is the winner!!! Muhahahah"

And later after that class I found out UA dropped the course. Maybe he was too afraid of losing another Hangman game with me :P And who knows, next time we might play Ludo or Monopoly in class.

Anyway, now you guys have to guess the city's name. And you've got enough clues given above to help you :)

Happy guessing ;)

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1- You respect my needs for chocolates
2- You outwit me many times
3- Your choice in giving gifts is superb ;)
4- You don’t prolong fights
5- You know how to keep my temper in limit :)
6- You know how to cook breakfast! That’s such a BIG relief for me :D
7- Your ability in keeping me at ease is such a blessed thing.
8- I love your sense of humor
9- And your respect for others :)
10- Oh God, I’m out of words now *teary-eyed* :P

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Wishing a very very joyous Birthday to my fiancé, UY :)

I just hope I succeed in making your birthday as wonderful as you made mine :)

 

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The new year started with all it’s zeal and Dinky Mind didn’t write any post. Please blame my studies and my ever tied-up schedule. The avid readers of this blog know how much crazy this Dinky Mind is for cooking/ baking/ eating! And when I’m studying I need something to eat; most preferably something sweet.

For me, the sweets category only includes ice-creams, cakes, chocolates, pies, cookies, mousses, desi mithais, only halwa-puri wala halwa, vermicelli and kheer etc. I am, please don’t kill me, Not a fan of gaajar/mooli/kaddoo ka halwa! My question: Why do you put sugar in veggies? Please eat veggies the way they are. What if I make spinach halwa, would you volunteer to taste it? Now don't go all 'Eeek' at the sound of it. There are people like me who don't like the traditional sabzioun ke halway, and there are also people who try to make almost everything sweet. My mom once told me people eat meethay samosay!!! Now that’s a bit strange for me, but IMO this is no way to innovate food.

Now coming to the zarda story. Why, oh why, do you put sugar in rice?!? For a long time I had been zarda-phobic. But now I just have no choice when people look daggers at me. So, just to let them know I'm sometimes one of them, I take a tiny morsel or two of that colorful zarda thing. Oh, and you might argue why do I then regard kheer as a sweet dish which also has rice in it. Then, my dear readers, it has milk in it too, and sugar as well, so it doesn't harm much to add in a few, like really few, rice in it. So, in short, kheer qualifies!

My terribly horrible exams ended two days back, so I hopped outside into the Ice-cream world to have some wholesome scoops of my favorite Blueberry ice-cream. I was highly disappointed cuz the standard of that ice-cream parlor had gone awfully down. It was not ice-cream, it was ice-frost :/ And he had drizzled such a tiny amount of blueberry sauce on it, it made me hate the ice-frost even more :( Anyway, the pineapple ice-frost was the same. So later at night, I went out to a different place to try some other flavor. And upon my Momma's recommendation, I bought peach ice-cream. OMG!!! It was a super delicious thing to have! I had never tried that flavor before, though I love love love peach-flavored milk. So, next time I'm gonna pair up my peach ice-cream with some other cool flavor and have the most content 30 minutes of my life again :) That day, in short, I tried 5 different flavors of ice-creams and rated Peach to be the best one!

Hmm, so the point remains, I can't appreciate veggie halwas, no matter how crazy the whole world might be for them. I'm simply not a halwa person at all. Mithaies: yes, Ice-creams: Yes, Cakes: YES, Chocolates: Yahoo! 

So, 

Mein meetha kaisay boloun

Jab chocolate mithaie mein ne khai nahi.

Cheerio folks =)

PS: Try a new flavor of ice-cream today :)

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Disclaimer: This tag game is meant for girls only. The reason for having this magic wand tag is that guys only work from 9 to 5 a day, whereas the girls work from 9 to 9 and another 9 to 9, so we need magic wands to help reduce some work load.

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Wish # 1: If I had a magic wand, I’d instantly swoosh it and make my room tidier. I’m so bored of always seeing my room in a mess that I want to give it a new look – a sparkling, neat and tidy one maybe. And is there any way I can plastic coat everything so I don’t see any tiny stain on them, is there?!

Wish # 2: Oh and also to have a solution to this overflowing closet of mine. I wonder where did all these clothes and socks come from. Maybe I need to hire a person to somehow manage this thing – like the one who could make pairs (or triplaires) of them and hang them neatly inside. (No, I won’t provide extra hangers). Cuz you know it sprains my muscles every time I try to push that truckload back in its place. And then it all comes back falling on me. God, is there a spring inside or what?!

Wish # 3: For the past couple of days I’ve been desperately wanting to have a violin (and of course knowing how to play it). Imagine how cool it would be if I had an occultist wand and I’d magically twirl it in the air and have the finest of violins right on my shoulder and a brain all tuned to play it! Wow. [Not to forget some cool breeze to help sway my long, straightened hair – only if they don’t get stuck in the violin strings.] Sheesh! That’s scary now!

Wish # 4: Okay. So this thing is bugging me the most! I’ve been reading the last book of the Shopaholic Series and I really want to track down darn Luke and bash him for being such a treacherous husband! I mean look at Becky, she’s so nice and understanding and he’s taking advantage of her! Stupid meanie jerk! So what if he’s so smart and handsome and such a successful businessman, I still want to tell him what a moron he is! I just wonder why all these men (excluding my fiancé) are such jerks?!  Grrr.

Okay, enough with this Luke-Brandon bashing session before I totally lose control and forget my other important wishes.

Wish # 5: I so wish to own a chocolate factory :( A few years back I made this tiny little wish to have atleast a single box of chocos in the fridge ‘at all times’. And it has always been granted – be it in the form of cooking chocolate or in the form of Hershey’s, or Ferreros, or Dairy Milk, or Snickers, (no, not Bounty) or Galaxy, or Dove, or…okay I stop! Getting back to the wish, I just realized that I can’t have so many refrigerators in my home, so why not go for just a single little chocolate factory. No harm in it, right?

Wish # 6: Right now I’m so madly badly craving for…for nothing else but mangoes! I mean why can’t we have mangoes all round the year? I so want to have frangrant, neatly cut squared pieces of mangoes right now. Or even a mango milkshake. Or a mango mousse maybe. Or anything mango! And no, I don’t want to have mango icecream! Icecreams should only be made of chocolates and of course Blueberries, but not of mangoes or strawberries. Eeek!

Wish # 7: Okay, so here comes the real wish. To cut the above-mentioned mangoes in neat square pieces, I’d be needing a huge, stylish, state-of-the-art kitchen, with all the gadgets one can dream of! I’d practically love to have a kitchen that has things ranging from an Eiffel-Tower cookie cutter to a huge, stuffed pantry – the kind Nigella Lawson owns. *Droooooooooools*  Oh, and there should be this exclusive, glossy, round table where I could put my iPad and scroll through all the yummy recipes I’d be trying. Wow! [Shh, the little iPad is just a tiny wish I need to get fulfilled with a bigger one. I hope I do get it]

Wish # 8: Like yesterday I was passing by a home and I saw this nice little aquarium with the most darling fish in it. [For me, the plural of fish is fish. You may go calling them fishes, but I like fish! Like sheep; sheep and hair; hair, so fish; fish! End of story!] Okay, so I want this aquarium of mine to be the size of Indian Ocean with a small island in the middle. After all, I’d be needing a place to view my fish from!

Wish # 9: God, before these 10 golden wishes of mine end, I just want to swivel my wand for a DSLR. Yes, DSLR is one thing I’ve been craving since birth. I mean, not exactly, but … you do get the point, right?  So, a DSLR please?

Wish # 10: NOW WOULD SOMEBODY GET ME THIS DARN MAGIC WAND BEFORE I COMPLETELY FREAK OUT?!

I tag:

Huda

Atiya

Asma

Qurrat

Sania

Sana

=)

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