I'm still around

We date back to when you were a little kid
With an innocent smile under which that devil hid.
We looked out for each other and kept ourselves busy
And had an incredible time doing things real silly.

A jump in the puddle or a brawl on the field
We were best buddies and always up to speed.
We had our share of contests too
But back then, I was just as big as you.

As time went by you became a young individual
One with big aspirations and dreams more factual.
But I couldn't grow along, it was not meant to be
For I am those little things in life that made you glee.

Just take a moment out of this overwhelming craze
And look around with your innocent gaze.
I'm still around and just the same
With tiny little laughs for you to claim.

I'm not some material that you can acquire
Nor some emotion you can conquer.
I'm just that simple happy moment in your busy day;
I'm still around, in every little way.

Surpriiiize!!!

About a month back one of our team mates became a proud father of a baby boy. We being scattered all over the building and engrossed in our own little worlds didn't find the time to formally meet him as a team and share his joy. Today we finally managed to do so and had a surprise party arranged. Little did I know that there was a surprise element for all of us as well. We had a cake, a card which we had signed so long ago that some of us actually forgot if we signed it or not and a gift voucher. Those were the things I knew about. But then some people from our team (who were actually planning the whole surprise party) had more than just that. First up, they got us to fill out these sheets which asked us to share our advice for the new parent. It had sections where we had to fill up how long we have been married for, how many kids and how many nephews and nieces and such. I was kinda amused to know that I had zero experience in every section and I was the only person who actually filled a zero everywhere. But anyway, they read out each of those sheets and asked Badhri (the proud father) to guess who wrote each one of them. Once the guessing game was over the second game was unveiled, and this was a big surprise to me. It was not a surprise because of what the game was, but more because of what I experienced during the game. For this game they laid out nine tiny jars of baby food, each a different flavor with the labels ripped off. All we had to do was look at it, taste it or smell it do what ever we wanted to do with it and guess each of those flavors. Ah, this should be easy! I thought to myself. I thought that I was pretty good at this kind of stuff. As the first jar came closer I had the impression that baby food would be all fragrant and sweet tasting and all that and with that in mind I sniffed the first jar. Phew (just imagine a big hammer head hitting you and you were passing out), WHAM (written with that blast splash used in cartoon strips). I actually didn't know when the jar hit the desk and I was left staring at the roof. I couldn't believe that baby food could smell that horrible. It actually smelt like the mehendi which my sister used to mix and it totally grossed me out. All I knew about baby food till this day was cerelac, but this, this jar of baby food was like a lethal formula to get the baby sleeping with one sniff. All my thoughts of baby food being nice and sweet and fragrant were smashed so hard that I couldn't match smells anymore. Then again, this was just the first out of nine jars, and this one was green among all the yellow and orange and red coloured ones so I still had hope of the others helping in restoring my sense of smell. One by one each jar came to me and as I smelt each of them I felt sorry for all those babies who had to go through this phase of life. Oh poor little things, were you guys still developing the sense of smell or were your taste buds all hidden like your teeth that you didn't know what you were being fed. All these jars smelt so funny and some so horrible that I started feeling a little uncomfortable with those jars around the table. That's it, at that very instant I decided that if I am ever given a chance to go back in time and be a baby again, I WOULD NEVER OPT FOR IT!!!! Just to avoid eating that stuff.I wonder how many of you know the different kinds of baby food available, but if you have no idea and are in a stage where you need to start buying it, then please sniff before you buy because they could be pretty lethal. :D
And yes, while I was guessing stuff between bananas and mangos and peas there was this one guy who had written grass and feet among the other things he could figure out.

Where does this go?

Recently a few of us colleagues decided to watch a football (american football) game in one of the most advanced and expensive stadiums ever built (The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium). We had watched a couple of games on TV since the start of the season but didn't quite understand what was happening. All we could see was a team which at one instant would be pushing, pulling, pouncing and pounding the other team would land up in a dog pile over the guy who had the ball in the very next instant and keep doing the same thing repeatedly for about three hours. But thanks to the internet, we got to know the rules that put method in that chaos. With that covered, we bought tickets for the next game to be played in that stadium and were looking forward to witness what made the game and the stadium so special.
The stadium was about thirty miles away from where we lived and in territories we had never ventured in before so one of us took directions and the rest made copies of the same and hit the road. After going some distance we realized that the directions we got along were taking us more into residential localities than major expressways. Something was wrong. The destination was the same but the route was way too complicated. But since we didn't have much of a choice we went along with it. To add to the complications of the route, we were getting misguided by road names that had north or south tagged to them. At one point we realized that we went about five miles in the wrong direction and had to do ten miles in the opposite direction. But then, amidst all this confusion, we came across this road which had a really startling name. On reading it the first time all of us were like "What the hell!!!". The guy who was driving started cursing the road naming convention big time but at the same time was thankful that we didn't have such roads on our route :). You must be wondering how bad could the name be. Well, i'll give it to you, but you will have to leave a comment with the first thing that crosses your mind after reading it. Ready?. The road was named "North Great South West Parkway". Yup, the only direction missing there was East :P. How i wish there was something to do with east in that name :P. Now don't act too smart and try to explain what that name means. I figured that out already :) But just for kicks, do let me know the first thing that crossed your mind :). I was truly concerned about the plight of people with poor direction sense making their way though a town filled with such roads. Would they be able to make it to their destination without correcting their route? I can only imagine.
Oh, by the way, the game was good fun even though we got seats on the top most row from where the players and cheerleaders looked like tiny lego blocks moving around :). We were more than content watching a screen 180 ft wide by 72 ft tall suspended directly above the field with HD quality picture showing us every detail of the game. Just being part of such an electric atmosphere with about 95000 people and witnessing a screen that big, made the whole experience worthwhile. And of course, I don't think i will ever forget North Grand South West Parkway ;)