Formula1 and TATA

I was introduced to Formula1 while studying Engineering - it helped that back then to hang out with a bunch of sports crazed enthusiasts and F1 happened to be one of the sports the boys in my group followed to death. And so the Formula1 fever caught on. The first race I watched and I was hooked. Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher were at it and how! Oh and the expressionless, stone faced David Coulthard!

Those gorgeous shiny machines, sexy tires and that sound of rubber on the track, gear locks and driver camera angle views! My eyes would stay glued to the TV screen while lap after lap, I'd watch breathlessly to see who'd win. Even though I was always torn between Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher, I would eventually cry myself hoarse for good ole Schumi. Till date, I remain a Ferrari fan.

A friend and I would mimic Alan and Chris (then commentators) in college and I'd be so proud of showing off my knowledge on F1 as well :-) It used to be great watching races with the guys. I continued following F1 till the season Schumacher raced his last race and retired from the sport gracefully. I spent 2 years in the US and missed the Indianapolis races both times. I still cherish the Ferrari mug a dear friend got for me from the race. I slowly stopped following Formula1 completely and it was only this year when the very first F1 race took place in India, did I get back to following it.

I'm no longer a die hard fan - yes the shiny cars and the screechy tires still make my heart race, though I've gotten over the F1 obsession. Today when the TCS in-house magazine was delivered, I read quite a few articles of the TATA association with Ferrari. Pages and pages of that scarlet red and the prancing horse and the TATA logo on those beautiful machines, made me feel proud that I worked for a company that associated itself with one of the top racing companies of the world!

My first children book

I'd been toying with the idea for a while. My writing has generally been accepted well and I can stir up an interesting literary piece of work. So I thought, why not try writing fiction? And then I thought I'd get super bored if I wrote a novel. Its just way too much of an effort, way too many pages and even though I have a good imagination, I doubt I'd be able to make a book flow. 

The ideas for books were all there; drama, mystery, romance (Totally the Mills and Boons kinds :-) ) and ideas for a kiddo's book.

image from: talesofabookworm.com

I finally settled with writing a book for my niece. I understand her likes and sensibilities well enough and I've been able to cook up a story or two on demand. So I thought, why not try write it down? The draft of 5 stories was in place by mid this year, however, I was not comfortable with the product. What really pushed me was that I wanted to do something special for my niece for her birthday - and the book would be it. A book written and dedicated to her from her beloved teju masi.

With barely 3 weeks to go for her birthday, I pulled up my drafts, realized I could use only 2 of the stories and started working on it all over again. Its not been an easy task, I did have writers block, but the imagination continued and bit by bit, with a lot of support from my sister and some friends, the book started taking shape. Story after story, drafts done and re-done, grammar checked, Google images used to the fullest (God bless Larry Page and Sergey Brin for Google!), sent to and fro between my sister and I and finally I was done. I could not believe it - I had 5 stories, 46 pages and beautifully done up graphics by a friend. 

The book was printed and bound a day before my niece's birthday. Some dear friends helped get all of it together and I had it gift wrapped on time on D-Day. I prayed that she would like it and appreciate the effort that went behind it (too much to ask from a 7 year old). My sister called that night after she put her kid to bed and said one line - "Your niece has some lovely gifts this year and the one she has absolutely loved is your book". Over the next few days, my niece had devoured the book - she loved it so much she wanted to keep reading it. 

I sent my book out to a limited audience and some of the feedback I got was mind-blowing. Most have recommended I work on the book a little more and publish it! Something that I'm way to apprehensive to do. This is a work of love for my niece and that's what matters the most. I have written my first book, and had such an awesome time while at it!

I'd be happy to share my book with you. Mail me if you'd like a copy of it, pls feel free to pass it on but do so with keeping me in the loop :-)

December wishlist - wishing you pleasant memories

And its the last month of the year! 2011 has flown by for me - its been an interesting year to say the least. The highs have been great, the lows have also been good - after all, I did learn a lot from them as well.

Some super successes have happened as well, which make me feel proud. Its been a challenging year and I feel good about it. So as we near the new year and have resolutions made for the coming year (2012 promises to be quite a "dhamakedaar" year according to most!), my last wish list of the year ends in wishing you'll pleasant memories of the year gone by.

This will be the last of the wish lists; I doubt I'll continue this for the coming year. For all of you who have been following my blog and writing to me, encouraging me to pen (well, type ;-) ) my thoughts, thank you for being such wonderful readers.

May you always have work for your hands to do

May your pockets hold always a coin or two

May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain

May the hand of a friend always be near you

And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.