My Love

Today I saw her again,
She was all drenched in the rain.
Her sigh of relief made it clear and plain,
That the showers washed away all her pain.
Once an old friend from a state far away,
Came to visit me for a day.
He saw her with eyes so cold,
That I wondered how on Earth are we friends, truth be told.
He went on a triad and described everything that was wrong with my love.
She looked old, tried, and over worked, my poor darling dove.
Mumbai is glitzy, Delhi has it's fast pace,
Bangaluru has it's high package deal, your girl is simply out of the race.
I smiled at the face of his childlike ignorance,
And took a page out of her epic tolerance.
To show him my City of Joy, Books and Smiles.
We walked for miles and miles.
And took in the heritage sights of old.
He seemed speechless, when he stood there and my hand he took hold.
I love her too, he said almost like he was in a trance.
I gave him a superior look, Me looked arrogant at a glance.
But inside I was glowing like a proud momma told,
Her kid just won the celebratory gold.
I love my city, Calcutta or Kolkata, she is both alike.
One has the grace while the other is child-like.

Poem Diaries ( An Ode)

Sorry cause I like an idiot took you for granted.

But the way you extracted your revenge is demented.

You were right in front of me, thinking about it now makes me crazy,

You were the very reason I could breath so easy.

You tried your best to stop toxicity from coming my life and harming me ever,

But I ignored the warnings of trusty care giver.

I am sorry, I really am if truth be told.

And now you should forgive me, cause you have a heart of gold.

Please don't make our relationship problems a thing of public knowledge,

I know I was in the wrong, see all my faults I acknowledge.

Stop this constant reminders of my wrong doings against us,

We are a strong team, this problem too shall pass.

Lets get some more warmth in us and share a cuppa of hot chocolate milk together,

Cause it's gonna be you and me for ever.

An Ode to my runny Nose.

Review Diaries (Black Suits You by Novoneel Chakraborty)

bibliophile

noun

noun: bibliophile; plural noun: bibliophiles

a person who collects or has a great love of books.

synonyms:book lover; 

 informal -bookworm; 
rare -bibliomaniac, bibliomane, bibliolater

Yeah that's what I am. Guilty as charged.
And before I start writing this "review" diaries I would like to say something about myself, I am loud, brash and very opinionated. And have extreme emotions, either I love(then I will kill for them or it) or I simply hate (then I will bake marshmallows on them if they self-combust in front of me).
So yeah that's me and normally I blare my likes and dislikes to my own people on all things social media. And these tatti people of mine(quick note Bae is Danish for poop, so my bae people are my tatti people, my people are mine to love and mine to name).
So one of these dear darlings was going gaga over the author and since we have almost similar choices in our reading material (read we share our love for Sylvia Day, wanting to be Mrs.Cross and Beni Madhob) I thought I should give it a try too. Thus began my search for the perfect book to start with and me settled on Black suits You. And boy was I in for a surprise. I got the sample read from an online reading portal, while I was still in the office and what a mistake that was!!! But I am happy to report no mishaps happened, I, Manali Dey was not caught reading a psycho sexual thriller in the office.
Now if someone goes by the "don't judge a book by it's cover" moto they will not understand me not liking the fact that the cover had so much of green in it, but I gave it a try cause the blurb that I was suggested to read had already caught my attention. So, me with my new found money from the new job(at times adulting rocks) bought the book and started gorging even before my office day was up. And the story was cathartic, in all the right ways. Its one of those tales which takes you such a roller coaster ride of emotions that you fell spent after finishing it and experience peace within. In one word this book was not only soft smut but its a complete bookgasm material. The protagonist gave me butterflies in my stomach every time he smirks, his wayward ways made me wanna pull a Joey on this book by freezing the said offending book but I couldn't do for it was a PDF on my phone you see. Then when he gets in deep soup I cheered my head off(but silently cause I was in the office). In short I really loved my love-hate-lust-and back to love relationship that I shared with him, truth be told I am looking forward to cloning him in the near future for a friend with a few changes here and there(well what can I say I know what or whom I want to have around *major wink wink*)
In short I really loved the book.
It's not only emotionally arousing but also makes you feel and that I personally think is a star quality for any writer.
So I, Manali Dey, will give Black Suits You by Novoneel Chakraborty,
4.8 stars out of 5 and a big XOXO, cause I really enjoyed the mind trip.
Till next time, toodles!!!

Office Diaries (When your dream job changes color)

What do you do when you love books but are too broke to buy them?

1. You can steal them from other people (bad you)

2. You can steal from stores (yeah good luck with that, get caught and go to jail)

3. Steal from the author (in short piracy)

And I know the last one sounds the easiest but its the most unethical one too. Your heart breaks when you read that even though your favorite author wrote like the meatest work you have ever read but it doesn't become a best seller you think to yourself that may be that pirated copy you got lessened the sales and that is why this happened. (cue in the sad tunes).

So I get an idea, a genius one if I might add.

I join a bookstore. The idea was I will get to read my heart out, considering I will be in the bookstore throughout the day. No human interaction - all day long, it was like a dream come true for closet introvert of a heart. The whole day I will be surrounded by books and no one disturb me. The books in my hand, book-boyfriends in my heart and with the smell of new books in my lungs I will live my happily ever after every single day. No work day will be the same and all will be merry-merry all the day.

With this beautiful dream in my heart I go for my interview and tada I crack it too.

But it wasn't what I imagined it to be. Firstly, I wasn't working at the bookstore, so no to the books, no to the book boyfriends and no happily ever after. Secondly, I had to work with people. Yeah, the horrors!!! The entire day I was surrounded with people, had to talk to them and smile when all I wanted was to curl in the corner with a book and forget everyone. And the only good thing would have been getting free books cause working in a bookstore should have perks like this. I thought may be I will be getting paid in books. So I wait for the salary day with bated breath, but alas I get money. Oh it was so disappointing. 

So now I am broke, working all day, have to talk to people and I am without books. Why is this world such a hater of lovers and love storries. WHY!!!???

Office Diaries (Stabby Special)

5 things to do when you feel stabby in the office-

Rule number 1- Don't. Yeah you heard( read it right) Do not and mind you big emphasis on the not, do not stab anyone in the office, irrespective of the fact how much they deserve it or are asking rather begging for it. Trust me jail food ain't nice, and there is a very high chance that your fellow cell mate and jailor will be a lot more irritating than your colleague.

Rule number 2- Drink water. I can tell you all the magical things you will experience when you drink water. Your body will feel lighter, you will not feel sleepy any more, your mind will be clearer. And if none of these impresses you, well you will have better skin cause all that water is bound to flush out all sorts of toxins out of your system. So. it's a win-win from all sides. You get great skin and you don't kill your irritating office-mates. I am so proud of you.

Rule number 3- Listen to some music. My office has this rule that if you won't disturb anyone else then you can have a few tunes on. Some of you might just not have this opportunity but don't ya worry I got the perfect solution for you too. Hum a little tune in your mind, it can be anything that makes you smile. Play your happy tune in your mind and do a little jig if you want to. Just remember one thing try and control the dreamy expression,that is the only problem with this solution. You see I had once made a dreamy face while humming in my mind and I didn't even realize I was at that time in the office. So yeah I gave my full blown dreamy expression to this guy in IT and till date he gives me an extra side-smile every time I see him.

Rule number 4- Count backwards. Again this should be in your mind. Your boss is screaming at you for no apparent reason or may be he or she has a good reason(so what you screwed up, shit happens kid. Don't worry next time you will do better) But currently your boss is tearing you a new one, so what do you do? Do you take the gold letter opener, that is the crowning glory of your boss's desk and stab him with it? Or do you take the pen you are holding and stab your boss in the eye? The answer is none of the above. You take a calming breath, keep your mouth shut(cause giving lip helped no one) and you count backwards. Trust me it will calm you. I am from a joint family and get tortured by my relatives a lot, this rule helps me in staying out of jail for mass murder. A point I would like to mention is that you could do rule number 3 in this case too, but I think 4 is safer when it comes to handling bosses. You will not want to give your boss a dreamy expression in the middle of a talking to or hum out a tune. This might lead to a call from the HR or worse termination. So rule 4 is safer, like a lot safer.

 

And the final Rule number 5- Affirmations. Write or even imagine all the things you will be able to do if you curb your desire to stab a fellow work colleague or your boss or may be your client. You will get sent to jail and won't get to hang out with your loved ones, or get to see your favorite team beat their arch enemy or eat your fav soul foods (I mean I could have said gourmet instead of soul food but come on soul food wins any battle, hands down always) 

So people do not stab anyone when they get on your last nerve or they skip work and flirt with your office crush while you slog on or when they steal your due credit for your work well done. Cause it ain't worth it.

(Quick note - You can stab people if it is for self defense. If it is for self defense, then you should totally stab, bite, kick, maim)

Wish you all a very happy day.

Toodles.

Office Diaries (Cough and Cold special)

How do you know if an event that you have been a part of is a success or not?

By the kind of reviews you get?

Nah those can be biased, bought and superficial.

Or may be by the kind of footfall the said event got?

Oh hells no, cause that number is based more on the availability of the other good events around you.

(Let me guess you now wanna know who kicked my cereal bowl that now I am in such a bad mood. Well the answer is no one, now stop distracting me and let me tell you the reason for this post)

You know your event has been a full blown success if even after two days of the final event you don't have a voice and all that comes out of your mouth are air sounds.

And that is how I know that the last event I was part of was such a huge hit.

Moving on, I came back to the office on Tuesday, for Monday I was on my sick leave.

And boy oh boy do people notice my lack of voice.

I have many well meaning colleagues offer me pearls of wisdom like drink hot tea, keep ginger in your mouth and many others. But even though I wanted to say thank you to all of them I couldn't cause I have lost my voice. So all I could do was make some whooshing sounds like the ones kids make when flying aeroplanes. Yeah I am preety sure I will be crowned at the Queen of Rudeness.

In comes my savior in dress-shirt and sheepskin shoes, one of my bosses whom if I may add I am dying to adopt as my brother. And the first thing he says is "Oh you poor kid, you got no voice" and voila!!! The rest of the village puts away their pitchforks and fire. I stand and give everyone a polite smile and go ahead with my work. 30 minutes in the office day my second boss comes in.

Her- Oh Hi Manali, how are you today?

Me(makes whoosing noises)

Her- Oh you have lost your voice.

Me(nods my head vigoriously)

And that is how may day has been so far and it's only 12 and my work gets over at 7:30 today. So yeah me!!!(heavy sarcasm)

PS remember the creepy guy I told you about? Yeah turns out he ain't creepy, just a bit snobby. But since he didn't judge me for forgetting his name every morning let's call him cubie, cause he sits in the opposite cubile to mine.

PPS a friend joined this office and she has a huge crush on cubie, let's hope it works out for them. For now I need another coffee. Off I go in my hunt for coffee, Oh Bless me Coffee Gods.