Mini's Scripts

Six steps to rid boredom/sadness/restlessness 1. Start by cleaning up and clearing your surroundings (As boring as it may sound it is very therapeutic)  2. Talk to your near and dear ones (Nothing beats the feeling that someone cares for you, and if no one is there, talk loudly to yourself. Your Mind always listens) 3. Go for a walk outside (Listen to any upbeat music; it always lifts the mood. I also listen to music from different parts of the world... its refreshing and catchy) 4. Indulge in serious self–pamper (Scrub-Rub-Massage your face, skin, hands, feet, hair-care) 5. Shopping (Well, I don't prefer spending money during this mindset as the decisions behind the items purchased are mostly made in spite) 6. Cook a meal from scratch (‘Made by me’ is a great feeling) These are few of my many tricks or tips that have worked every time I was at my wits end. Hope they help you too. xx

Oh! How I hate going to Southall here! I wish I could tell! Although people call it- Little India, I dread if most of them have seen the real India! After going for the first time, I had decided that I will never visit again. It reminded me so much of Janpath , Lajpat Nagar and Sarojini Nagar markets in New Delhi, India, minus the stray. :) Yet, the memories of having mouth-watering Indian dishes weakened my determination. Reaching Southall , we went to a temple which was within walking distance of the rail station. Unlike regular temples in India where for a rule, I never saw Durga ji with Ram and Sita ji's statues in the same room, I was taken aback when there were 6 of my fav gods ( in their own rights) , darned in their finest. In this particular moment of Godly confusion- I bowed to Radhe - Krishna - as it was my grandfather who had introduced him first from an array of pictures of Gods and Goddesses, while I was a kid. I felt happy inwardly as I had done j...

The Times UK edition carried a shocking headline - High-skilled foreign migrants entering Britain to halve, Jacqui Smith says - leaving me to turn my dentures into organic paper shredders while saying WTF whenever finger breaks came in between. In brief, this is what was said, by the mighty Ms Smith, “All workers now coming to the UK from outside the EU have to meet the requirements of the Australian-style points-based system, which allows us to raise or lower the bar on who can come here. We recognise that migration continues to play an important role in the UK, at the same time as we are giving greater support to domestic workers so that we can all come through the recession stronger.” She has also asked the Migration Advisory Committee to look at the economic contribution made by dependants of all migrants entering under the points-based immigration system. Ms Smith confirmed that skilled jobs will have to be advertised for a minimum of two weeks in Jobcentre Plus branches bef...

I do not mean to be rude or even praising the whole affair of Valentine's day, but for a confused mind like mine, I simply thought and thought and nothing happened and the next day, I was raising a toast to St. Valentine. Guess! On-way cronies like me never change. Am still a die-hard Barbara Cartland fan! Leaving the refreshing weather and dash of red in everything around me, I suffer from my daily attack of joblessness. After almost 5 months, I have found out some of the few important things to do before one comes to UK. A NIN (National Insurance Number) must be top priority, get it and then you are ready to job-hunt, next is a bank a/c and the last is a JOB. But as said, finding a job is not easy during recession. To be eligible to work with great names, you must have a greater Indian corp experience, else most of the recruitment agencies play the same flute- You need to have atleast six months of UK experience! Huh! After working on the same set of keys on the keyboard, using t...

Celebrating one month and exactly 10 days of my arrival to this country otherwise a vast refriiiigeratorrr….. My teeth is not getting relief from constant clattering as the omnipotent cold has surrounded me from all sides… my poor nose that begins to run after spending 20 minutes outside the home, and then there are its cousins- my big ears and little palm that become numb in the process…again my friends, mind you, even the famous Levi’s cap and muffler cannot stand the Fridge’s deathly cold pangs. As understood, it’s that time of the year when the temperature fidgets between 0-5 degrees, with the minimum pointing to an early morning snow or even frozen dew.

Finally... Here I’m! Coming to UK was never in my 'to do' lists. I was working like a robot on instructions about applying for passport, applying for visa, medical tests, journeys, farewell parties, until the final moment came when I bid goodbye to my parents at the Kolkata airport at 4:15 am on 17th Oct 2008. It was a day of 'many firsts' - my first air travel, my first foreign trip, my first aerial view of earth and clouds...hmmmm...what bliss. During the eight hrs flight, I was either sleeping or eating or watching whatever silly stuff the monitor could offer me. And before I could realise, it was landing time. I was glad and shocked that I had come so far from home. There were many surprises in store. Like a curious kid, I was always pulling my window shutter up to see outside and lowering it when sunlight reflecting sharply, blacked out my vision for a while. I know that I must not be biased, but Kolkata sure looked all dirt and gravel, and poor Ganga, she look...