My Musings

Current Need

2011-06-09T06:45:00.001-04:00

.... to be able to emulate this song and imbibe it into every pore of my body ... I am at a very very low level of self-confidence at this point in time !

Sigh!

2011-06-08T12:56:00.002-04:00

I lifted the 'cover' from atop the 'dairy' and volumes of dust and grit poured out ..... Sigh! Underneath lay 'My life' - 'My Space' - the place where I shared my thoughts, my opinions, shared my moments ... Sigh! It got lost ... admist the burdens of 'motherhood', 'wifehood' ... 'daughterhood' ... 'lifehood' ... It pains at times to be unable to find that one iota of space that is just me and not shared with anybody else ... maybe it is time i stopped waiting for the time for that space to open up and tear my way through the shroud of moments and find it .. even if it is a millisecond !!! ... that satisfying land that is just mine!

And in ode to that and in the hope that I will continue to find that micron of time ... here goes my re-opening post!

She is all Grown up ...

2009-08-18T09:13:00.003-04:00

... The other day D and her husband stopped by home to give us some Mysore bondas that she had made. They were taking one batch to R's place and said - We will take Maya there with us, if she will come. We said okay go ahead and see. This little lady cool-ly waved bye to me and the Mr. and off they went. The Mr. remarked "Parthuko rendu nimishathile amma amma koopitindu varuva" (In 2 mintues she will call "Amma amma" and come back). We peeped through the blinds on the french window to see them retreat and still no sign of crying from her. After a while we even dared to step onto the balcony and she turned back and kept waving to us. And that's it - she was gone .. 5 mins later I started to squirm - Maybe I should just go to R's house and check on how she is doing? Do You think I should call D to find out how she is? Do you think she is crying or asking for us? The Mr. seized the window of opportunity to experiment on a grasshopper that he chanced to see in his garden.

Every 5 minutes I would step out to check if I could see a tiny figure running towards home, but nope there was no call, no sign of the little imp! Finally curiousity gave way and I called D - who told me that Maya was having a GREAT time. She was playing with R's kids and was totally unaware that the Mr. or me were not around.

hmph! So much for my hoping that she would have atleast asked for me once! Then it so suddenly struck me that one day she will be gone - studies or marriage - leaving us behind to deal with our own lives ...

SIGH! My little one has already grown up?

Free (?)

2009-07-27T13:31:00.001-04:00

Amma on the phone ..." ... she said she got 3/4 kg Lady-Finger free for purchasing 1000/- worth of clothing ... @ Pothy's ....". The Mr. and I had to ask her to repeat it again! Is there no limit to the things that they offer in free to lure people to come shopping?? Well, the Mr. says, given the rate at which vegetables and daal is being sold, I am sure people would not complain. After all who cares for "free" towels, bedsheets or even gold coins anymore???

Bunked Again ...

2009-07-23T12:14:00.008-04:00

...9 years ago, one Thursday afternoon in the month of March, I bunked class for the first time in my life - to go to see a movie with - um, how do I put it - "the would-be Mr. in my life" (not very good, but chalta hain description) . And what movie would that be? "The Runaway Bride" (ROFL!). Couple of his friends we met at the theatre commented - " not the best choice for a movie with her".

... and Yesterday the Mr. & I did the same - "bunked" work (let me put that politically correct - took half day off) and went to see Mr. Potter as he battled the "half-blood Prince". Oooh! The very thought of the similar situation made me feel so "youthful" and all "girlish giggly" hee hee. There we were holding hands like teenagers and running towards the People Mover station (running - only because we were late for the movie) and my mind could rewind all the way back to that incident 9 years ago! Ah! to feel young again, if not "be"!

Okay enough mooning!

Well the fact that we 'SAW' a movie in the theatre is a big deal - because after Maya was born and my parents left for india, this was the first movie we could see in a theatre. It was a big loss , because the Mr. and I are ardent fans of animated movies and some nice "non-animated" movies too and would never miss the opportunity to watch one in a theatre. So, when Potter came along - die-hard potter fans that we are , and added to that the fact that we never missed a potter movie in a theatre, it was kinda getting difficult for us.

The Mr. said we need to give it a try and so there were went , last Saturday, taking the 'memsaab' together - and hoping she would settle into that one little nice afternoon nap of ours letting us to peace with our movie. But as luck would be, she choose just that afternoon to be absolutely bright and sprightly - measuring the length of the halls in the theatre, again and again, with her two little feet. Grumbling and mumbling - we came back - the battle was lost even before it could start! I should have atleast donated those 14$ - that would have brought more satisfaction.

While narrating this pathetic incident at lunch, my colleague R mentioned about the theatre inside the GM head office (no wonder GM was losing business!) and then we got the brilliant idea of how we could go to a movie and still not wonder where we would need to drop Maya off :).

Coming to the movie - well, let me talk of the Pros first. It is a well made movie. As the numbers are increasing on the potter movie count, the quality of the movie, the finesse of graphics and the "acting" of the actors is getting better. There is no question that this is probably the best of the potter movies so far.

But the biggest flaw has always remained the same, right from Movie #1 to Movie #6 - the incapibility of putting the entire book into the movie (mind you - i dont blame the director at all - it is not possible - just that it frustrates me to see them attempting it) ; and missing the most important part of the story, while concentrating on unwanted parts - just because they provide more "thrill" to the movie-goer.

"The half-blood Prince" seems to be an answer to the latest Fad among teenagers - "Twilight" - it has more romance sprinkled in the story, than what was described by Rowling in the book. Well, as the Mr. says, you cannot blame the director for wanting some commercialism. Now there did that whole gimmick about the weasley's house burning come? I dont remember reading that in any page of the book - or should I re-read it to refresh my memory.

The most frustrating part was how the most imporant theme of this book - understanding "what" Voldemort is - was totally lost. None of the important memories were shown - no brainstorming as to what he would have done to the horcruxes - absolutely nothing. The Last scene - the killing of the dumbledore - really killed the beauty of the episode.

Sigh! I cannot help feeling so let down after seeing the movie, but then it is like an addiction. I cannot also stop myself from going and seeing the movie - so much is the Potter pull.

The kids have grown up to be very very handsome and beautiful teens. Though it would have been really really GREAT if Potter was the tallest of all, as opposed to be the shortest (snort!) of all.

As the Mr. remarked - they should have made a serial of Harry Potter series - not movies! But then they might not have raked in the moolah for all the effort spent!

Maya - the Toddler?

2009-07-13T10:55:00.002-04:00

It is Maya's first day in Toddler class today.
Yes she has got her "Promotion".

The Mr. and I grumbled last Thursday that we had to spend most of our hard-up-for-time weekday evening shopping for this little tot - moving from one class to another - cupcakes and crackers for her "big party" (ah well - a "party" consisting of 2 infants who do not know the difference between a cup and a cupcake , another whose idea of eating a cupcake is squashing it between his chubby hands and smearing it all over his face, and the little missie (Maya madam) who would rather have the cup than the cake - can hardly be called a "party" right? - but yeah well she DID have one! - the big "Graduation" party), thank-you cards for the 3 teachers and getting prints of their photos with Maya!

And today finally dawns - and Missie is as usual bawling and wailing her head off the moment we step into her new class. Well! Hello - where is that little girl who was skipping steps and shouting in glee just 2 seconds ago ?? I always have a feeling she does this crying bit just to break my heart ... to punish me for waking her up from her deep slumber at 7:30 and dragging her to daycare. Hmm....

I am just as apprenehsive as the teacher Ms. Cathy looked. Wonder how her first day is going? Will she be fine? Will she eat and drink fine? Will she have fun? Let's see...

Motherhood

2009-06-10T12:00:00.003-04:00

The Joys of Motherhood

you wake up and on seeing your Appa, curl your hand and say "Amma" as if to ask "Where is amma?"
seeing your little jaw move up and down as you chomp your idli or bread early in the morning.
you come running and jump on me and give me a tight hug..
you come and rub or lean against my leg while I am coming in the kitchen.
when you give me a sudden wet kitchie on my cheek because you heard me saying to your appa "Chumma irunda bore adikaradhu" and you heard the "umma" in chumma and you know that means to kiss.
when I enter the store and nearly everybody who crosses our path stops by to look and you and remark that she is "so cute", "so adorable", "precious".
when you learn a new word everyday and try to repeat all that we ask you to in the sweetest voice I have ever heard.
when I see you sitting on Appa's legs and swinging about, grinning and refuse to get down as if to indicate it is the best place to be.
when early in the morning when I make you stand on the wash basin slab to brush your teeth and you look at your reflection and give the sweetest smile while saying "Maya"

... and many more ..

The tears of Motherhood

when I have to drop you off at the day care with you wailing so loudly that you break my heart.
when you want to go back to sleep and yet I have to wake you up at 7:45 in the morning to take you to day care.
when at times you just wont leave my side at home and I cannot come to play with you because I have to cook for us.
when I peek through the door in the day care and see you reading some books and playing and I want to come in and hug you tightly, but can't because you would cry your eyes out when I left again.

Masakali ....

2009-02-05T09:38:00.003-05:00

It is ages since I blogged. Well I almost thought my blogging died.... Till yesterday night when I heard this song and I felt that I HAD to write about it somewhere.

I have been quite busy for a long long time now .. yeah you guessed the reason right - the 4 lettered inexhaustible bundle of energy that I have in my life now - MAYA! .. Well, not that I dont get any free time at all. When I do get some free time, there is already a big list of things to be done and the leisure of blogging, I am afraid, does not figure anywhere in the top 50 :( ... Well, that is "Family" life I guess....

Okay, as usual, the queen of diversion - I have diverted from what I wanted to write. It is long since a song captured my attention so completely - that all that roams inside this confused brain of mine is - Masakali ... Masakali ...

Trust ARR to come up one such gem song once a while, that captivates you completely ... The last one I remember was Marhaba from Jodha-Akbar. I would just listen to that song for days together. Before that it was 'Rang De Basanti' - the title song...

The credit for Masakali does not go just to ARR - but to the singer Mohit to ... For the casual way in which he has sung, as if the song just sprouted from his own being and he is actually FEELING what he is singing. It gives an exhilarating feeling to listen him skimming thru the lyrics in great pleasure, giving my feet a small pair of wings and taking me up and up as I go from the beginning to the end of the song.

And inevitably when the song ends, I stopped all that I am doing only to scramble for the back button on my Windows Media Player - once again to be enthralled.

Masakali ... Masakali .....

Miracle...

2008-11-21T11:26:00.008-05:00

Miracles rarely happen in life, and when they do - they leave you with a feeling of ever-lasting gratitude and happiness.

I have been lucky to have miracles happen twice and that too with the same object - my purse. I lost it twice, with absolutely no clue as to where I could have lost it and both the times I have got it back in the most strangest of circumstances. And when I sit to analyze the process of how I got it back, it makes me feel that it is nothing but a miracle that happened to me...

Two weekends ago, on a saturday morning, the Mr. casually asked me where my purse was. I casually said, it should be in my bag. We looked for it there and it was not to be found. Then began a search for it in the house and I could not find it in any of the usual spots. Finally half heartedly we agreed that it might be at my work place. I could not even remember the last time I used it. For about a year now, I have been going to work with the Mr., so I rarely have to use my purse anywhere. I never go shopping on my own, so no chance of operating with money on my own. In short, it is on rare occasions that this black jewel of mine comes out. And after my lil princess has been born, my memory has gone off on a long long break. There was a time, when I would speak in pride about my memory - i could remember every small thing that happened a week ago - the meal that was cooked last monday, the major conversations we had and so on. But now, alas, I cannot even remember what happened last evening!

Monday came, we came to office - and there was no purse. I searched all sorts of places, asked all sorts of people and nope - it was not to be found. The worst fact was not knowing where I could have lost it too. With great difficulty I traced back my mind to think of all possible shops/places I had been to the last week - but no luck. It seemed that I had not been anywhere at all. The Mr. checked online to see if any suspicious transactions happened with my credit card and he noticed a posting of about 4$ from a shop called Bellaccino's and then it all came back to me, like pieces of jigsaw puzzle fitting together.

On Thursday the previous week, I was feeling hungry in the evening and went to get some stuff from this shop. After buying the things, as is my habit, i dropped my purse into the bag from the shop. On reaching home and seeing Maya, I forgot everything and started to play with her. After the in-laws and Mr. had finished eating, the Mr. without looking to see the other contents in the cover just threw the bag out into the trash bin.

Okay now we knew where the purse was - but the problem was that in our apartment complex monday was the day the trash can was emptied. We asked the in-laws to keep a look out for the big trash van and asked him to not empty the trash can if it came. It was a strange miracle that the usually prompt van did not come that day. As soon as we rushed home, we ran to search in the huge 6ft by 5 ft bin. As luck would have, it was full till the brim. With a small hook like stick, the Mr. searched and searched. After gaining a full blown knowledge of what are all the possible sort of things people would throw into the trash, we found this bag at the very bottom of the trash bin... The Mr. just had to put his hand in the bag and lo! there it was - my sentimental purse :) ....

3 years ago .. about the same time(I wont be surprised if the dates too matched, unfortunately i dont remember them now), we had been to Guruvayoor. The in-laws, Mr and me. We reached there one evening, did dharshan and stayed over at a hotel. The next day, we woke up early at about 4 and got ready to leave for the temple. The hotel owner said they provided free compliment drop-off at the temple and that a taxi was waiting right at that moment. I asked the Mr. to hold my purse while I got into the car and forgot to take it back from him. We reached the temple, got off the car and started walking towards the sanidanam. We stopped to drink tea from a shop nearby and then I realised my purse was missing. All of us got panicky for we could not remember what happened after I handed the purse to the Mr. My FIL and the Mr. went back to all the way that we came walking, in search of it. MIL and me were standing there, chanting all sorts of prayers and hoping we would get it back. About half an hour later, the car we came in came back in search of us. The driver told us that he had gone back to the hotel, taken some other passengers to another temple (Mamiyoor - for those of u familiar with guruvayoor)- about 1/2 hour drive from there- as those passengers were getting off, they noticed this purse on the floor of the car and gave it to the driver. The driver came in search of us to give us the purse. I could not thank him enough for his honesty. That was also something miraculous to happen.

Guess this purse is indeed a lucky one for me then :) ... I hope there wont be another post to report a 3rd miracle anymore... ;)

Maya Says ...

2008-09-29T09:27:00.002-04:00

.... Amma did you know - an apple a day keeps the doctor away...

Onam , a farewell and a Welcome

2008-09-22T16:13:00.006-04:00

hmmm... so what's happening lately ?

It was Onam a little more than a week ago. As usual I wanted to post a picture and wish ppl on my blog that day, but - no time (it is time i cooked up a new excuse i think).

Well, one is never too late. A very Belated "Happy Onam" to you all ....

It was a special one for me - because in a small way, it was the first time I celebrated it. I put a small Pookalam and amma made Payasam.

Then the day that I had been dreading for long did dawn - the day amma left for India. It was the singular most painful thing, after my delivery(;) ...) - of course this one was an emotional pain and the other was only a physical pain, but an emotional happiness. Maya gave Patti a wet kichie at the airport. Paavam kozhandai did not know she was saying bye to her best friend.. She did realise it later though. For almost a week, she would not babble much, not cry much, not laugh much - just simply sit and stare at us. I was nearly heart broken to see the little one in this state. Pavam - she was feeling something which she could not share or tell out too ...

I was very glad when in-laws came... Atleast with the chel-pehel in the house Maya started to get back to normalcy. At first she cried a lot seeing them, or whenever they attempted to take her in their arms, but within a day or two she became quite comfortable with them.

Today is the 5th day she has been alone with them at home, and she is doing quite fine. She loves being swung on Velliamma(Grandma)'s legs ..

or being held by Velliachchan(grandpa)

So, another chapter in Maya's life and mine begins ...

Weekend With Maya

2008-09-08T09:07:00.012-04:00

It is amma's last week here in detroit. It pains me to even write that line. I know I am going to be a lot affected once she leaves, but there is no choice. That is one thing I hate about living in this country - Visa - the evil monster! If it were in India, I guess I could have made her stay with me or near me forever. Amma and Appa have been the greatest help we have had with respect to Maya. Right from delivery till now, they have really really slogged for us - I could never do enough for them in return. I just hope that I have always shown my gratitude to them enough, and that I am there for them when they need me.

After a couple of outings with Maya which turned out to be sort of fiasco's, we were wary in taking her out. But for the past weeks, she seemed to have grown up and not behaving as cranky as she did before. So, we decided to 'experiment' once again. After all who could resist the last few sunny weekends of Michigan?

So, we ventured into the downtown of Birmingham. This is one of the posh cities around and the downtown is quite lively and entertaining. Shops lined on both sides of the narrow Woodward avenue and Maple road provide good Window shopping opportunities - but they are most harmful to the pocket for these are some of the most expensive botiques. This is the favourite hang out for teenagers, so we got to see

some nice 'kuttis' (babes) in 'kutti' skirts and tops :) - the latest and weirdest fashions too.

We showed amma the city hall where we applied for Maya's passport - and of course this warranted a photo (there ... in the distance you can see Amma with Maya)

What did you say .... you want a close up - okay here goes ...

Maya was most well-behaved that evening. Though the Mr. always maintains that she is most well-behaved when outside... all her 'true colors' are limited to inside the home. As soon as we landed in downtown, it was here feeding time and she promptly dropped to sleep even before she completed her bottle. Which gave us some free t

ime to go around looking at the shops in 'peace'.. We 'binged' that evening, sauntering into chocolate shops and cupcake stations - sampling and eating all the goodies we laid eyes on...

Greedily the Mr. and I ordered Thai takeout and also went into Panera Bread for a soup and sandwich(I had been wanting to take amma to Panera Bread since a long long time) - which of coursed proved to me much more than we would eat, so the Thai served as lunch next afternoon. (Good one less time to cook .. hee hee).

Maya, in the meantime, had a wonderful time -trying to pick all the flowers she could lay eyes.. oops maybe hands on. See her trying to do a back somersault here.

Soon, the cold winds started to creep in and it was time to leave. So, after making sure the little madame was snug and warm,

we started back home .. It was a nice and fun outing. Maya earned some nice compliments too..."Oh! she is a precious isn't she?" ..."Oooh! look at all that lovely hair!".

I hate coming back to work on a Monday. I miss her so much. It is so much fun these days being with her, playing with her and listening to her non-stop jabber. Oh! she "talks" so much that her dad has to ask her to keep quiet to speak to anybody in the house... ha ha ...

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi ...

2008-09-03T14:54:00.002-04:00

There could be no better day to re"Start" my blog writing. Vinayaka Chaturthi - the birthday of the beloved elephant-faced god - who is prayed to at the beginning of anything and everything good.

Well the reason of my hibernation in the middle of Summer is - the arrival of my little one - Maya.... A week after she was born, I could not decide which was a better situation - having her in my tummy and grumbling that her constant movements never let me sleep or having her in the crib next to my bed and still grumbling that her constant movements never let me sleep ha ha ha ....

Life has never been this "interesting"... Motherhood is something that you always feel that you are absolutely prepared for, till the moment the nurses hand the baby into your hands and say ta-ta .. as you leave the hospital - that is when you realise - SOS! SOS! I need help ... who the hell said I was prepared to be a MOM :) ....

I read somewhere - "Just when you are done with almost everything that you can do to calm your fussy baby and are almost ready to throw him out of the window, he will flash that most irresistable charming smile and everything in the world will seem to be right!" .. That person could be no further away from the truth ... All those tiring moments, frustrating minutes where you dont know how to calm your infant, frustrations of sleepless nights where all you want is to drag that blanket over your head and zzzz while your little one is shrieking in pleasure as if that were the most active part of the day - all flies off in a second when she gives that drooly, toothless, tongue-hanging-out smile ... and i go all goooey and just hug and kiss her ...

Okay - now that was a good start .. was it not? Hopefully I can be more regular now ... A beginning on Vinayaka Chaturthi should not go vain ...

What "Pooh" Character am I?

2008-02-28T14:47:00.002-05:00

Whenever I want to take a chmaal break from the monotonous work, and don't feel like writing something myself (which usually is the case), i got blog hopping - mostly on the list on my blog itself.
Today I happened to notice something on Preethi's blog ( am not sure if it was there earlier itself) and could not stop myself from taking the "100 acre quiz" myself!

Winnie the Pooh is my favorite Disney character (Guess my blog background says it all - sheepish grin!). I try to catch the 8 AM EST - "My Friends Tigger and pooh" show most days and just love repeating the "Super Sleuth oath" or the "Sthink , Sthink , Sthink" song ... much to the Mr.'s chagrin!

The first thing that I purchased when I came on my very first onsite trip was - Pooh Bear soft toy! I mich him - he is way back in india.

So, here are the results of the Quiz I took:

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

Hmm.... now I have to "sthink sthink sthink" about the results .... Do they descrie who I am ? What do you say ?

The Man who used the little Grey Cells

2008-02-22T11:48:00.010-05:00

She has always been my favorite author and he my favorite fictional character. In the past two years, her novels that were made into movies have become the Mr.'s favorite and the man who portrayed this character has become our favorite actor.

If you were among those who watched the TV programs that were relayed on DD on Sunday, without fail, I am sure you would have watched the half hour episodes of "Poirot" - that started with the most haunting music that I have ever heard.

Yes, I am talking of Agatha Christie's Poirot - the British Television seires that was aired on DD somewhere in the early 90's.

If only Agatha were alive today, she would have been proud to see David Suchet play the part of Poirot. He very well could have been the "actual" Poirot in some Janam, if a character did exist. He dresses, acts and also sports a moustache that fits to T to that of the actual character described in the book.

I love the way this particular TV series has captured every single nuance of the little Belgian detective, who is just so unlike anybody you would have ever met. There is this one episode where we are shown Poirot having breakfast - he applies one dot, exactly one dot, of jelly/jam on 1 square inch sized crackers, and pops them right into his mouth delicately and dabs at his mouth with a napkin - it is as if that particular paragraph in the book comes to life and acts. I am amazed at how much Suchet would have studied the character of Poirot to have done that one simple act.

When one, who has read most of Poirot's books, watches these episodes or the movies which have cast David Suchet as Poirot, one is amazed just how Suchet manages to do every single quirky habit of Poirot's just as the author has described. Scenes where his displays his voilent abhorrence for crime and crime doers, scenes where he obliviously raves on about his intelligence while insisting that he is quite modest, scenes where he brushes and touches his moustache with great care and love, scenes where he arranges stuff on his desk or the scene of the crime with utmost carefulness, scenes where he puts the perfect expression of digust at finding sand on his carefully pressed suit, or on finding sorrounding that are not most perfect and elegant. There is little doubt left as to how Poirot would love and behave had he been alive.

They would have coined the word Meticulous after he came into existence you could say. Neatness being his first name, middle name and last name. Despite having lived in London for the most part of his adult life, he is one who never liked or got used to the "typical" english routine, especially food. The best of this ingenious character which I liked the most, is his study of the human character and behavior. Most of his analysis often revolves around the analysis of the human nature, which he stresses more on than easy-to-find evident clues.

The best example of this is the book - "Five Little Pigs" where Poirot solves a crime committed nearly 20 years ago, just by studying and talking to all the principal characters involved during the time of the crime.

There have been couple of others who have acted as Poirot in a few movies - Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov; the latter having done quite a number of movies as Piorot - but they have not been able to do even 1/4th just to this impeccable character.

These days every evening the Mr. and I long to be back home soon, to cosily sit in our couch sipping hot tea and enjoy Mr. Suchet's company as we 'drink' episode after episode of Poirot.

Miracle On 34th Street

2008-02-19T16:19:00.006-05:00

Thanks to my friend - S's recommendation , I got to see this movie - which has got added to my list of all time favorite movies. A Little late to be seeing this movie - the best time to have watched it would have been during the X'mas season.

I love movies that re-iterate the significance of some holiday season and show the importance of sharing, giving and human feeling.

It is a warm tale of how one person goes about spreading joy during the best season in the US of A - Christmas - by believing himself to be Santa Claus and stressing on the message of goodwill above commercialism. In the process, he also manages to melt the stubborn won't-believe-in-fairy-tales-or-imagination heart of the heroine and her daughter.

It all starts when Doris walker - in charge of the Macy's parade - hires a Mr. Kris Kringle on the spur of the moment as a replacement for her drunken Santa Claus. He becomes a hit in the parade and the head of the Toy department hires him to be the Macy's Santa Claus for the season.

Mr. Kringle believes and tells everybody that he indeed is Santa Claus and true to his word behaves like one by telling people where to buy the choice of their toys, even if is selling at an opponent's place. The customers are shocked at this behaviour of a Macy employee and start praising Macy's for its act of goodwill over commercialism.

Though Kringle makes good friends in the process - Mr. Macy himself generously donates a huge sum to him, for his contribution in making Macy store popular; the owner of Grimble's adopts the same policy in order not to be left behind, Alfred the cleaning boy - who himself loves acting as a Santa Claus for the pure feeling of goodness that fills within him while doing so; he also makes a very big enemy in the form of the Macy psychiatrist - the evil Mr.Sawyer - who is jealous of the good nature of Kringle and tries to paint a black picture by stating that Kringle is insane.

He tricks Kringle and puts him into a Mental institution and books a case against him too. Now it is upto a young lawyer - Mrs. Walker's neighbour - who starts to like Kringle - Fred Gailey - to fight and prove that Kringle is indeed sane and innocent. In the process, the question of whether Kringle is indeed Santa or not comes up in the court and it is nothing but a "MIRACLE" actually that decides the verdict of the case.

The show stealer without a doubt is Edmund Gwen - who plays the role of Kris Kringle. There are often times when I wonder - how in the world do the casting team always find the most perfect person for a role. I cannot imagine anybody else in that role. It is almost as if he is indeed Santa Claus. His manner of speaking, physique , the beard and the warm warm smile on his face - it is just impossible not to love this "Christmas Thatha".

The Mr. scored one more point in his arugment that Britian indeed produces some of the most finest actors of hollywood. Edmund Gwen is a Brit!

There are some moments in the movie that made me really teary eyed and all gooey inside.

One of them is how patiently Kris explains to Mrs.Walker's daughter Susan about what "imagi"-nation is. It is such a simple but meaningful explanation.

All the scenes in the mental institution and the court, after Kris is accused of being unstable are very touching. The scene where the prosecutor's 8 or 9 year old son innocently states that he does believe that Kris is Santa claus because his father said so and his father never tells lies pulls at your heart strings.

A Must watch movie - one must see it with one's family , preferable holding and hugging each other.

I got Something 'Special' in my email while watching the movie - especially when the movie was coming to a happy end - which made me feel all aglow from inside too - A kind person left a very nice comment on one of my very old old posts - she need not have done it - but the fact that she did made me feel so nice. Thanks Srikala...

Thanks Preethi - I was blessed :)

2008-02-06T13:53:00.001-05:00

A Blessing in Time...

2008-02-05T15:09:00.000-05:00

I have been lately caught up with loads of work at office and at home. Due to reduced energy levels these days, doing my normal stuff is slowly turning tedious. So, have not been able to keep up with any blogging at all.

My very good friend Preethi, whose blog I keep visiting and with each visit chide myself that I still have not completed her tag, gave me a very nice and a timely surprise today here.

It comes at a very important juncture for me - for a very personal reason. I am awaiting some test results from my lab and am hoping against hope that the results are in my favour. So, this blessing comes as a very good indication for me.

I am one who believes a lot in 'Signs' (something akin to what is described in The Alchemist).

Thanks Preethi for this wonderful blessing.

Strangely I never made a huge list of blogging friends. Guess it would have been possible, had I been more punctual. The few that I have - are getting more 'lazier' than me in posting stuff. Yet I would like to write about a few here ...

Prathibha - She writes wonderful travelogues and every trip of her always made me envious - thinking I am not there to be with her to enjoy them as well. I pass this to you dear with lots of In touch times - for I know you need this more than anybody else now ...

Venu - A very nice blogger who also happens to be the husband of a dear friend of mine. They are embarking on the biggest journey of their life in a couple of weeks if not earlier , so my small contribution to that.

Ram - I have given up on you to restart blogging. Somebody else has captivated every millisecond of your time and I don't blame you. These are for you, G and my SIL ;)

Cultures and Traditions?

2008-01-29T14:24:00.000-05:00

One of my New year resolutions was to be very very regular at blogging. Huh! Guess new year resolutions are meant to be broken! I just have not been able to find time to pen down stuff. I am already lagging behind on a tag Preethi gave me (now it seems centuries ago).
This is something that has been on my mind since a few days, so I thought of writing it down here.

R in my office is also an immigrant in this country like me. She, of course is a first generation immigrant – meaning she was born and brought up here. She comes down to chat with me at times. Our acquaintance started with her inquiries on the colorful photos that were up on my cubicle. She was impressed when I told her it was taken my the Mr. – she also being an ardent photographer – we found common topics to discuss. Very recently, she came to me and said she had a whole lot of questions about my nationality and things like that – she had seen ‘The Namesake’ and wanted to clarify some things.

This led to some very interesting conversations between us – about life of immigrants in the USA – what they think, how they behave, how they live so differently or similar to their culture and tradition. In one of these talks, she mentioned the movie ‘The Big Fat Greek Wedding’. When I told her I had been meaning to see it since a long time, but never got around to – she brought the DVD copy she had for me to watch.

3 weeks after borrowing it from her, the Mr. and I finally got around to seeing it. And it was a wonderful pleasure to see that movie.

I would love to be born as a Greek in my next Janam. Be a part of a huge, loud and loving family. A family where there are no boundaries defining personal space – of course I agree that sometimes it is a pain – just as the protagonist of the movie Toula feels; where everybody is there for you anytime you need; showering more than necessary affection on you. It is just too good to be true.

In one of the conversations with R, I realized just how similar our issues were; regarding our stay in the US, what we miss of our motherland; and the happiness and sorrows in bringing up kids in US. She is from Lithuania, a country that is so far from my own and of whose culture or tradition I never knew. But the more we discussed we found just how similar the basic problems are. And when I saw this movie, it made me realize just how similar to my culture is all that is shown here.

A Greek girl wanting to marry an American. It is so similar, if not exact, to what I went through for my own marriage. We were not from two different countries, but castes only. Yet still – all the apprehensions the parents face, the reasons provided, the reactions and support or disagreements of the relatives, the confusions in the actual wedding ceremony and finally the acceptance of the parents and relief for the bride and groom. I felt a deja-vu seeing the movie.

Then came to my mind, one of my all-time favorites – Father of the Bride. As I was watching that movie also, I felt – oh! This is so typical of how an Indian father behaves about his daughter and her wedding. I could swap Steve Martin and picture my dad in many of those scenes. So, I guess deep down people all over are just the same, the feelings and the bonds that tie us are just so similar.

The Year that Was .... 2007

2007-12-31T14:26:00.000-05:00

So, another year comes to an end. WOW! that one went by pretty fast - seems like just yesterday that it started. And it is already that time when all those "top 10" lists are popping up. I also have one such "list" to make - thanks to Preethi's Tag. I will come to that shortly - maybe tomorrow - starting a fresh year with the "what I want to dos and bes".

Now is the time for thanks and reminiscing all that went by in 2007.

It was a very nice year for me and my family. Loads of happenings - all good ones, with out major loss - which was anticipated but left a vacuum like none.

The Year began with us moving to this apartment where we are - a smaller one in comparison to where we lived before, but one that definitely made us more happy. Who ever said "Size Matters"! The Late winter and early Spring months saw us enthusiastically planning for our upcoming India trip.

The summer months just fled by - April and May - partly spent in India - with one of the biggest events in our family - my BIL's Wedding. I got a very cute little sister - not co-sister. It was so peaceful to see the satisfaction in my father-in-law's face - seeing his two sons settled in life. Made me wish god that I also be blessed with a "full" life like he had - one where he is contended with all that he has been blessed and not keep cribbing for what he never had.

It was very painful coming back here, but it was lessened to a lot by the knowledge that in 4 days my parents were joining us - for a short trip. Finally, one of my long pending duties was about to get done - getting my parents to the US and showing them places around. It was one of the best quarter we ever had in the US - when they were here. 3 months of fun - at home during weekdays and on weekends roaming around the country - and amma's tasty tasty meals every single day.

It was during their stay here that we got the bad news. My beloved Patti passed away on the 12th of May. She was in a bad state - so death was definitely a relief for her. Though we knew all this- her loss leaves a vacuum in us that probably nothing will ever fill. All family members would joke saying that somebody should make a chip out of the memories in her brain - a wealth of information it would contain. Now all that is gone with her. She was that one bonding factor which brought the scattered members of a huge family tree together - some willing some forced - but now even that driving factor is gone. It saddens me to think of that each time.

When appa and amma left in August - it left such a huge void in our lives that it took us nearly 3 weeks to get back to normal. Life seemed all the more dreadful staying so far away from close ones. It made us want to wrap up things here soon and rush back.

Both the Mr. and Me changed jobs this year - went to places that were much better than where we were - giving us good joy. I got to do the work I always wanted to do finally and also had a good "gang" of girl friends at work.

August also saw the birth of cute lil 'S' - my dearest friend 'S's daughter. October welcomed the son of R and G. All happy newses and cute pictures floated around.

God blessed us both with good health and the needed wealth to keep us going this year. All our family is safe, healthy and happy - giving us the needed assurance. My in-laws' dreams came true. My parents' were satisfied with their trip here. So, in all a good year. With loads of thanks and gratitude to the Uparwala!

I take this time to thank all those who were part of life this year and are continuing to be a part the next year. Thankful to all those friends who were there for me in times of need, there when I wanted to share a happy news. And thank god for good health, peace in the family and contentment in the heart, and for helping us out anytime we faced an issue or problem.

So, with a happy heart I close one more year. A year filled with zillions of memories, some stored in pages of diaries, some in "forever memory", some on calendar pages, some as photos on our scrap board and some on my blog.

Snowed In

2007-12-16T11:22:00.000-05:00

It is snowing or rather blowing snow very hard outside. For probably the first time this winter, we have had this much accumulation (about 5-8 inches of snow, says the weather channel) - I beleive them - don't want to confirm it by testing.Seeing this - no Kohls, no Meijer, no Namaste Plaza - the Mr. said with a stern face.

So, we let out creative juices flow and the result ...

Mine

The Mr's Master Strokes

I took a couple of pics from the balcony, braving the strong winds ..

What was once our "Hara bhara" garden.

Am I glad to be on this side of the "Post" and not the other. Who ever said "Grass is always Greener on the other side"

Want to come home? Have a Seat?

My Second Tag

2007-12-12T15:30:00.001-05:00

Sorry Preethi, for the huuuuuuuuuuuge delay in getting to this. I am sure you understand and forgive me .... after all isn't XMAS the season for forgiveness :) hee hee ....

Okay now moving on to my Tag. This probably will be the most quirkiest thing I have ever written on my blog . LOL.

1. How do you feel after a one night stand?

Oh! I would looove it if it was anyone in the list .. Yesudas, Asha Bhonsle, Shreya Ghoshal, KK, Sonu Nigam, SPB ... the list goes on..... Wait - hold your horses, before you get me all Judged up - according to Wikipedia .... one night stand means ... A one-night stand is originally a single night theatre performance (usually a guest group on tour) ........ and i did not bother to read beyond that ;).

2. Do you ever get used to wearing a thong?

Nope ... would not want to try one too :)

3. Does it hurt?

Would not know ..

4. Do you know when you are acting crazy?

What do mean by "Act" ... ain't I crazy all the time ??

5. Does size really matter?

Well depends on the "thing" whose size we are talking of :)

6. When the bill comes are you still a feminist?

After marriage, I carefully choose to ignore that word for a lot of "beneficial" reasons .. hee hee

7. Why do you take so long to get ready?

Half of the charm is in the anticipation .... so make them wait :)

8. Do you watch porn, too?

"Too" - does that mean you watch it ????? Preethi - you never told me !!!!

9. Will something from Tiffany’s solve everything?

Depends on WHAT needs solving ..

10. Are guys as big of a mystery to you as you are to us?

Why even give that much of a thought about them :) .... Too much time waste to think...

11. Why do you sometimes think you look fat?

Sometimes ???? these days it is alwaaaaaaays and no matter what i do ;)

12. Why are you always late?

See Answer 7.

13. Does it bother you when we scratch?

Yewwwwwwwww .... the mean thought gives goose bumps..

14. Do you wish you could pee standing up?

Never ... i love sitting when given the chance :)

15. Why do so many women cut their hair short as soon as they get married?

Nope - no idea... never done that before.. Well actually i think - guys give us enough trouble and it falls off on its own, why bother cutting it ?

16. How often do you think about sex?

No Comments ....

17. What do you think of women who sleep with guys on the first date?

hmmm... are you that desperate??

18. Would you?

Nope!

19. Do you realize every guy wants a girl just like his mom?

I know for sure he does not "want" a girl as old as his mom....

20. Why does every woman think she can change him?

hmmm.... no answer - guilty as sin !

21. Does it matter what car I drive?

Nope ... as long as you let me drive it too :)

22. Do you ever fart?

Shhh ..... some things are best unsaid ...

Phew..... that was some Tag :) .... I enjoyed it though ... thanks Preethi...

Photo Sharing

2007-12-12T08:46:00.001-05:00

It is ages since I have been wanting to scribble here and have not got time. I wanted to write about our Thanksgiving holiday in Miami and Key West, wanted to complete the Tag Preethi gave me and many more ... but have been so very busy at work and quite ill with the temperature change (miami was 85F , Detroit is 25F) ... Anyway, this excuse of busy is always there in everybody's live.
I think despite being caught in domestic and official affairs , you should take out some little time for yourself - that time where nothing else but you and you alone matter.
Since a very long time, I wanted to write about this - Photo Sharing.

There was a time, say about 5-6 years ago, when the only photographs that people every had of themselves or trips or families were the printed ones - and it was a pain scanning these photos to share with friends or relatives. But with the advent of the digital cameras - sizes ranging from ones as big as a watermelon to ones as small as lemon - sharing photos has become the most easiest thing in lives. And with free photo sites and chat windows that enable file transfer being every so common, there are probably millions of photos being shared and viewed right at this moment.

I keep getting photos from friends atleast once a week, if not at a rate more than that. There are some very small things- pretty annoying things which I wonder why people don't even bother to pay attention to. They are a bit time consuming tasks but then without these I feel that the whole purpose of the photo sharing is lost. They are:

Half of the photos will not be rotated - so when you transfer your photo from the camera and it is upside down or oriented in the right side direction, you just upload it the same way. Is the looker supposed to get his head corrected or lift and rotate his laptop to view the photo ? Do you really think anybody would look further down the snaps if he/she finds such annoying snaps often in the list that you send ?
There is not one word of caption - describing where the photo was taken and who are all the morons smiling at the camera in the kodak moment ? Not everybody who knows you - is acquainted with every single human in your life - but maybe if you put a line there -"My sis", or "My friends" .... it would make things more interesting and maybe more meaningful.
The whole purpose of having a digital camera is to be able to click 4-5 snaps so that one of that might be a good one. But when you transfer all the contents to a website hosting your pictures, why don't you spare a moment to take out the "trash" ones. Often you will find snaps where there is probably only 1/4th of somebody's leg showing up or everything else being in focus other than the intended subject. Is it too much to ask that you remove these and only upload the good ones ?

I am not a 'Great' professional photographer - nor do I proclaim to be an expert at the art of renaming, filtering and rotating photographs. But when I do share photos with somebody, I take the pains of doing the above 3 - because I know that if am to generate atleast a spark of interest in the recipient - these are the minimum I should do - else my email would also go to the most common place where most emails are found - "TRASH".

Tagged!

2007-11-19T14:49:00.001-05:00

Yahooo! Finally I got tagged. I never thought this day would come. For more than 2 years I have been blogging but nobody has every tagged me..... I am so happy.... Thanks a tonnnnnne Preethi.

Rules of the game: Link to the person that tagged you, and post
the rules on your blog.Share 7 random and/or weird facts about
yourself.Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links
to their blogs.Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving
a comment on their blog.

Okay now for the Tag. Well, it certainly is a tough one - 7 weird/random things about me. Hmm... I really don't know what to write. They may not be weird things - in the sense that maybe everybody does or have these things, but then here goes.

Okay the first thing that comes to my mind is my weird obsession to "note" every single happening in my life. I always have this insatiably desire to write down almost every single thing that happens in my life. Right from when I woke up, to what I ate, whom I met, what I spoke, what I am feeling, what I am wearing.... oh! it just goes on. I took to the diary writing habit - much to the dislike of my parents when I was about 14 years old. Even today when I read those diaries I feel there is probably this one part of me that has never changed. Even those days I would start off "I woke up at 6 today ..." or " the vendakai upperi today was fantastic..." or "I am feeling so depressed today" or "I wore the red skirt I love so much". And this one line too " I have been wanting to write down sooo much but have not found time. Wish there was some way that every thought that goes through my mind gets recorded on paper somewhere automatically"! I think i will find this line no matter which year's diary I read.
I am scared of darkness. To this day, I need a light somewhere in the house (which I can see) when I go to sleep. I get scared of ghost movies, ghost images and all. I saw one ghost movie when I was about 11 or so, where this ghost springs from a box - and for many months to come I was scared of the flush tank in my bathroom. About 3 or 4 years ago, I decided to be extra-ordinarily brave and went to see "Raaz" in the theatre. For 6 months, the very few inconsequential (from the perspective of a horror-movie lover) scenes, where i kept my eyes open while watching the movie haunted my dreams and waking moments.
I am my worst enemy. I can preach to thousands of folks about confidence, can boost anybody spirits, can talk for hours about other's issues and try to provide solutions - but don't have an ounce of self confidence. I cannot convince myself to be able to strong in doing anything. I always need somebody who can tell me - Yes you can do it. Each exam day morning in college, found me sitting near the telephone in the hostel - amma pouring "energy tonic" into my ears. Later it even came to a situation where my juniors would come to wish me and tell me that I would do the exam well.
I find it very difficult to be "interested" in some hobby for a long time. There was a time when I read books like crazy. In school, I was the only one who would borrow books from the library during exams. But then suddenly I seem to have lost all interest in books.
I love anything and everything related to "girly" stuff. I love dressing up, wearing matching stuff, shopping for matching stuff. I love decorating my books with cute patterns or stickers. I love putting up nice posters in my house, cutting out images from magazines and scrapbooking them. I love wearing jasmine flowers in my hair (I miss them soooo dearly here in the US). I love pattu sarees and jewellery (mostly costume and a bit of gold). I love wearing bangles - glass, plastic, metal. I enjoy being a girl/woman and love the vibrant colors that we have in our dressing. In fact I think I played with dolls and choppu for the longest - even when I was in Class 6 or 7 !!! That is one reason I have never been able to like western clothing where all colors seem so bland to me. If you have been reading my blog for long, you should have read this.
Oh! Have I written only 5 till now ? It seems like I have been writing for ages....That brings me to another weird thing about me. I love elaborating. I cannot be poetic or write like writers do, but with my very limited vocabulary I can elaborate on a situation, event of a feeling. I used to write long long letters to my amma while in hostel and loved getting her letters as they reflected my nature exactly. I would describe everything from the menu in the hostel to all conversations we had, to all activities that we have planned and so on. (Does this look like Point#1 itself?). I guess I got it from my grandmother (amma's amma) - who could describe about a single room for nearly 30 minutes - and a room that she probably never even visited.
I hate to write this about myself - for it is something I am really trying to change about myself. But then a blog is a place where I need to be candid - what is the point in sugar coating things and exposing only the "BEST" part of me - right? I - don't know how to put this - think I have some fixed set of ideas - mostly driven by regional/caste/gender prejudices. Let me try to explain - okay stuff like - Malayalis are this way, bengalis are this, tam-brahms are this - they do stuff like this ... and so on. Many a times I have been proved wrong - and learnt my lesson. So, I have stopped judging people based on where they come from, what they eat, where they grew up or what gender they are.... but old habits do sometimes kick in. Well, to be fair to myself - it is not always the "wrong" thing that I think - I even think of the positives.

Well there - my life is a open book now.... naah! not really... just how do you know all the above trash is true ... hee hee kidding... But boy - this is probably one post I really really had to think a loooot before I wrote.

It certainly was so nice to be tagged - thanks again Preethi.

Now to tag my friends...I would like to tag Chandrika, Kumari, P.Sirisha, Prathibha, Ram, Venu , Deepthi , Sarada and Subha to write 7 weird/random things about themselves.

Chrisma - Task#1

2007-11-15T15:06:00.001-05:00

Ah!..... Got it - Got reminded of one of the tasks. It was given to probably the laziest person in our group - my dear friend R.
He was asked to go to each and every body's desk, early in the morning, ask respectfully if they wanted tea or coffee and bring them their choice and serve it on their desk.

We all derived great fun pulling R's legs and had great rollicking fun seeing him do this. Each one of us ordered werid things - horlicks, boost, bournvita - of course none of our wishes were satisfied :P .....

Chrisma

2007-11-15T14:40:00.001-05:00

The Christmas season has already begun here. All the streets in downtown detroit are getting dressed up with the finest of wares - trees, wreath, lights, bells and what not. In the Mr's office lobby - they have cleared up the entire area and set up about 20 christmas trees each one decorated uniquely and brilliantly.

As I walked past the fine exhibits, I got reminded of "Chrisma" - the game I played only once in my entire life - the christmas of 2004. I got to know of the existence of this game about 10 years ago, when I noticed and very beautiful statue in my cousin's room and she mentioned that her "Chris child" had given it to you.

In the December of 2004, our team members decided that we would 'play' this game for a week. There are various variations of the game and you can create your own rules. This is what we had decided. One morning the names of all the team members would be written down in chits and each one would pick a 'chit' - that person would be our 'Chris Child'. We had to give 'tasks' to the ChrisChild and if he/she performed it, we were also to give a gift to our "child" - the catch being - all this has to be done without the Chrischild knowing who is Ma/Pa is. During that one week, each one could take one chance at guessing who the Chirsma/Pa is. If it turned right - then that pair of Chrisma/Pa- ChrisChild were out of the game and the Chrischild earned a "brownie" point. If it turned wrong - the Chrischild would only get tasks and no gifts.

That was probably one of the best Christmases I ever had. We had such wonderful fun. Initially people were not being sportive and giving tasks, but once the heat caught on - it was like - who could think of the most ingenious task for their ChrisChild.

I had planned for this game very lovingly and my Chrischild turned out to be somebody who really did not appreciate the beauty of my gifts and it turned even sour for me when he guessed my name before the game was over. My ChrisPa on the other hand turned out to be a good surprise.

Strange I always prided on my memory to be really good, but now it fails me badly - I can hardly remember what tasks I was given or what were some of the best tasks. Maybe in time I will remember a few and then will jot those down.

Thinking of that wonderful week brought a smile on my face today morning and for a long time I thought lovingly of the fun days spent in that project - which till date has been my best one in all my years of experience. I doubt if I will ever get a team as good as that - or a time as good as that.

Happy Diwali!

2007-11-08T11:39:00.000-05:00

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous diwali. May this festival bring joy, light and happiness into your lives.

An Evening in Paris - no Detroit!

2007-11-07T16:15:00.001-05:00

For the first time in the nearly-2 years that we have been in this city; we went out for a night event in downtown. Detroit downtown is very notorious for the unsavory crowd that it hosts. There are dark tales out there of numerous shootings, muggings and what not. Till about 6 months ago, the Mr. would not even venture to step into the downtown, even during daytime, even if he was paid a million dollars. Of late, the air that comes from that part seems to be nice. We keep hearing of how "good" things are getting, how friendly the surroundings are being made, how the burnt out buildings are being replaced by something that is close to normal.

It was when my parents came here and we had no choice but to tour them the city we lived in - that we visited the downtown for the 1st time. It was not that bad - but then it was mid afternoon on a warm summer day too. A month or so later, my company arranged for a tour-de-detroit one warm fall evening - it was this tour that gave us a bit more confidence about the sanity of the place.

When the Mr.'s buddy gave news that Russel Peters was going to be in town and the show was in downtown - I guess our fears no longer mattered. We were "introduced" to this stand-up comedian by a friend of ours who played one of Russel's videos for us. We laughed till our sides split and became instant fans of this Canadian born Indian 'racial' comedian. Majority of his comedy is based on the different races in the world. If you are not too touchy, it is wonderful. He makes fun of just almost all the races in the world - particularly Indians.

So, there we were - the first to arrive at 7 PM - in Music Hall for the "live" comedy show. Till about 7:50, there was hardly any crowd in the hall. We began to wonder if it was a good decision - this sudden braveness! We did not want to be caught alone in the huge hall - just with a few unwanted characters. But within the next 15 minutes, the entire hall was filled - mostly with "ABCDs". We were probably the only Indians ( born and bought up in India and been here just for a couple or more years). Gosh! I never knew Detroit hosted this big a crowd of Indians.

Needless to say, the show was fantabulous. My stomach and throat ached badly that night and the next morning to - from all the laughing (in case you were wondering about something else). The drive back was also not scary - as the downtown was crowded with folks.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T15:27:00.001-04:00

Gosh! I cannot believe that it is a year since last Halloween. I got reminded of it when we visited S's house two weekends ago and saw a teeny-weeny pumpkin waited to be painted , in their balcony. S's daugther ran to us saying - I am going to paint my "punkin" red. I am going to paint a black "punkin". Oh! kids are so adorable...

The Mr. dutifully got out the trinkets that he had purchased at the $ store last year and so cutely arranged them. He even 'created' cobwebs. See this!

These are some of the 'rich' houses who celeberate Halloween in a really big way! We captured these while we were attempting to do some "fall" photography in a really "posh" neighborhood nearby.

Happy Halloween to you all!

Why the Cashew nut grows out of the fruit?

2007-10-19T14:46:00.001-04:00

The Mr. and I are supposedly photo freaks - it is almost mid October and we have not got a single "Fall" photo - can you believe that? I guess "Fall" is falling behind time this year. Well with temperatures still in late 60s and early 70s what do you expect. For two days it was in the 50s and a couple of over-eager Maple's started to change color - but that is it! No forests of "flaming" trees or lawns covered with mounds of red, maroon and yellow colored leaves....

Every day when I drive to work, I see these 3 single trees proudly displaying their colors - each one alone admist all other lush green ones. It reminded me of a story that I read in Tinkle as a little kid - how the Cashew nut came to be outside the fruit!

One of the many blessings that my lovely parents gave me as a kid - was my reading habit. There was no dearth for books as a kid. Amma would ensure I got one of my most favorite book as one of my birthday presents. And every fortnight I would get the new Tinkle. Ah! I miss those thick bound Tinkle books in my bookshelf. I would read, read and re-read all those stories for years together. Okay, enough of straying off the point. Now to the story.

In a bit forest there were all kind of trees, Oaks, Maple's, banyans and so on. There was also one Cashew tree. Every year when winter melted and spring start, the trees would slowly start to bloom. All the trees would start blooming at the same time, except of the Cashew - which always bloomed first. The trees were angry at this. They felt that the Cashew was trying to steal limelight by blooming first. They complained to the Forest King - who chided the Cashew for not being a part of the group and blooming along with the others. A sad Cashew said he would try and bloom along with the others next year.
The year ended, winter swept in - robbing away all tress of their leaves. Soon, the last of snow melted away and lo - the Cashew was already in full bloom, the other trees had barely managed to start regrowing their leaves.

The forest god was furious! He said that he would not take the Cashew's impudence anymore. He plucked one of the Cashew's fruits and stamped on it. A small seed popped out. The forest god threw the fruit at the Cashew and said - "Let it be remembered that you disobeyed my orders! May your seed always grow outside your fruit!".

So, that's how the Cashew Nut came to be living outside the fruit!

Mmmm.... let me go and grab an handful of those spicy Masala cashews that we bought last week!

Boys and Girls

2007-10-09T09:34:00.001-04:00

Often I wonder how is it that god has made boys and girls as unique and separate in nature as they are. When we are born we are just two human beings - then how does that distinct "boyishness" or "girlishness" come into us on its own. I don't think parents teach the toddler of a year how to "behave" like a boy or a girl.

Couple of weeks ago we had a couple over for dinner. They brought along their 1 year old son. Within seconds it became evident that all of the Mr's precious plants and our beautiful decorations that were within his reach were in grave danger.
Despite taking all sorts of precautions we ended up with two broken souvenir glasses. The kid would not stay still for a single minute - needed constant monitoring and would lay hands on anything that was within his reach.

Couple of days ago Mrs and Mr C dropped in for a little chat - and brought along their cute 3 year old daughter. All the 3 hours that they were at home, this doll just ran around , making conversations with me, playing by holding my hands or jumping up and down on the bed. She admired all the beautiful artifacts in our bookshelf and commented on them, but did not even touch them. There was nothing to be cleared or cleaned when they left.

Makes me wonder just how do boys and girls be so different inherently. Mom-in-law's reminisces - She had to tie the Mr to the sofa when he was a toddler to get even the minimal of work done - else he would break up everything he could lay hands on, or stuff anything that would go into his mouth. I can't recall my mother complaining anything of that sort about my childhood.

Ever since I can remember we have always had toddlers in our house - all the while we lived in the quarters in vizag. First it was the twins - Ramu and Shamu - not a moment of peace when they would come home. I would always have to run behind them to ensure they were not upto any destructive - to themselves or the house. Then there was Sravani - docile as a lamb - all she wanted was the Vessels basket and she would quietly spend them time on her own, with small conversations with us in between.

The way boys and girls think is also so distinctly different. I am sure all would have read the forward about how a man and woman think diametrically opposite about the same situation. Here is how it goes -
The husband comes back home in a very pensive mood. The wife is worried and tries to cheer him up but he hardly responds. She begins to think of how their marriage is doomed, and that the husband is tired of her and probably wants to end the relationship and so on. She backtracks all the incidents between them to identify where she went wrong. She writes down pages of this in her diary. There is just one line in the diary of the husband's that night - "India lost the match!".

It is no wonder that books like "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" are so popular...

A small snippet of conversation that evening that Mrs and Mr. C came home - Mrs. C came into the kitchen talking to me about something when we heard Mr. C asked my husband - How much did you pay for this? Immediately Mrs. C asked - What are you asking about - the couch, the tv stand, the bookshelf ... so on? Mr C looked at her puzzled and said - No, its the Time magazine - did they buy new furniture ?

We had a good laugh at this "boy" and "girl" thing!

Dhamaal

2007-10-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

I think the creativity in me, if there was any, is slowly dying. I just can’t seem to think of anything to write about. The moment a small idea strikes my tiny brain, some big wave crashes it off dismissing it as something non-essential.

Ah! Well just because it pains me to see the blog I so lovingly nourished until now empty for more than a fortnight – I thought I would write about the nice movie that we saw over the weekend – Dhamaal.

I cannot recall the last time we saw a hindi movie and truly enjoyed it. I stopped reading reviews of movies on Rediff – because almost every movie that is being churned out these days seems to be getting only a 1 star or max 2 stars. I could not bring myself to see ‘Chak De’ for the fright of having to bear him for 2 and half hours; though colleagues gave excellent reviews of the movie. This one, we bought (yes – these days the concept of renting seems to be lost in our grocery store – because there was only a 50 cent difference in renting and buying the n number of DVD copies that he made), because more than one person had vouched for its ability to make you laugh so hard that your stomach ached.

Well, my stomach did not ache – but I did laugh a lot while watching the movie. And as usual, no credit for originality here – the movie is a mish-mash copy of two very funny English movies – ‘It’s a Mad Mad World’ and ‘Rat Race’ – but one definitely has to give it to the 4 stars for bringing the best out of a copy. Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffrey and Ashish Chowdary are brilliant comedians. Not many praises for the last one – but he tags on well in the group. I have grown to love Ritesh’s comedy – each and every movie I have seen of his – he has given a superb performance (no matter what the state of the rest of the movie is). Arshad – his award for the Munnabahi series speaks for himself. His timing and dialogue delivery are too good. Javed Jaffrey is a brilliant star who has not been given enough recognition I feel. As the bhondu, always-speaking-the-truth, innocent younger brother to Arshad – he gives a wonderful performance. It is his simple performance that steals your heart. No ‘acting’ this guy does. You just feel this is what he is.

Sanjay Dutt provides the ‘brawn’ and star power to the movie. Asrani is a bit loud and could have done better than just slapping and yelling.

Vijay Raaz (well known as PK Dubey) comes in for just a small scene – but steals the show – undoubtedly. His dialogues and the way he has rendered them is hilarious!

There are very few moments in the movie where you are yawning or feeling – what the hell am I watching this movie for – which according to me is one of the best credits that can be given to a movie being screened these days.

A very nice timepass movie!

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi!

2007-09-15T11:10:00.000-04:00

Wish you all a wonderful, happy and prosperous Vinayaka Chaturthi.

Some Prasadam for Puliyaar(i love this name of vinayaka a lot) at our home.

Oh! I miss home so much today. Called up home with tears in my eyes, missing amma's kozhakattai (why can't mine come as nice as hers ! ), appa's poojai, the whole atmosphere at home.. I would help appa make the poonal and dress for the mann puliyar that appa would rush to buy first thing in the morning. Amma would hurry through making neividyam, while continously prodding appa to get ready and do the pooja. After giving one final "bark", he would go to bath, come out fresh - viboothi, veshti and all and settle down for a full one hour pooja.

In the evenings, we would visit one or two pandals where they kept huge huge vinayaka statues, end the day by visiting a couple of relatives and exchanging kozhakattai.... Oh! I miss home.

Disgusting!

2007-09-06T10:53:00.000-04:00

In conversation with my in-laws today morning, Amma gave us the ‘Disgusting’ piece of news – that J’s (J is the son of their family friend) wife is 2 months pregnant. Well, I am not the hard-hearted kind of person to hate kids and such “good” news – but why do I call this disgusting? Listen to J’s tale.

J came for vacation from the eternal mallu paradise “Gelf” (one of those Middle Eastern countries – any place in the Middle East is called “Gelf” in Mallu land) for about 45 days. Our wedding happened to fall in those 45 days. Exactly 20 days after our wedding, we got the news that J’s wedding was to be held in 2 days time – we were pleasantly surprised! Chat mangni Pat byah – we were not even aware that J was looking out for a bride. Ah! Well – all’s well that end’s well. He got married, stayed with his wife for what – 2 weeks and then flew back to his land of freedom!

Another 2 weeks later comes the news – she is Pregnant! Oh! Well – the boy ‘did his job’ right! Now there would be no pressure from anybody to take his wife to Gelf with him. “Intelligent Bloke”! While waiting for the kid to come out, the Mrs joined an MBA course in some god forsaken college in her mom’s place – Coimbatore. As soon as the baby was born, she handed it over to the dutiful in-laws in Mannarkkad (about 2 hours travel from Coimbatore) – and went back to her safety cocoon – the excuse was a perfect one – She is studying – the “poor girl!”. For about a year and a little more, the father (J) did not see his son – did he really care?. The mother was busy studying – she was to become the next CEO of the coconut factory that was to take Kerala by storm!

The kid grew blissfully unaware of his parents. The poor old in-laws – of course loved bringing up their grandson – despite aches and pains did all for the little kid.

For their second anniversary, J decided to be generous and sent for his kid and Mrs to join him in Gelf. We were there at J’s house when this news was shared with us. The in-laws were telling us that the Mrs was going to get ‘trained’ on how to handle her own son in a crash course of 15 days before she flew to Gelf. It was like the orientation session when you join a new work place – getting to know each other – Mom and son. Hopefully it must have gone well, for the next thing we heard was that by early June she was in Gelf.

After 2 years of marriage and a kid – the Mr. and Mrs. finally felt the need to spend life together. They must have visited Bodha Gaya!! Guess they did not like the joys of a family life – he got her pregnant and chucked her back to India again!

I just don’t get it. Why the hell did they get married? To just produce babies like hens produce eggs? India’s population is already high – it does not need your productive contribution!! People have babies – but don’t get married just for that reason. And if you do decide to have a kid, take some responsibility for it. Not just produce one, throw it off into your parents’ hands and have a ball of time.

What kind of maturity has been displayed by these two adults? It takes ages to get to know each other, plan and decide what you want to do with your future, take good and mature decisions that enable you to have a happy life. All they have spent together is probably 4-5 months ( in bits and pieces) – is that enough to make such big decisions as kids?

I may not be the epitome of the best life led of earth. I may have made many mistakes myself. But atleast I believe in the fact that ‘Quality’ in life is more important than ‘Quantity’. Marriage is not only about two people getting together, giving birth to an offspring and go about trudging thru life’s path. But yeah - all said and done - what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

2007-09-05T09:59:00.000-04:00

Never ever try to cut this nasty piece of thing and remove the seeds inside with your hand. I don't even think i would have touched a couple of seeds yesterday while trying to make the "Mirchi ka Salan", but the damn thing burned my entire hand - the whole night!
Uff so much for trying new recipes ... !

Thanks ...

2007-08-30T13:22:00.000-04:00

When I first started blogging, I had to ping the Mr. everytime I posted a new article, asking him to go and read it.

Then I sent the link of my blog to a couple of close friends - who would often mention something about what I had written in their emails. It gave me a lot of happiness - to know that there was somebody who regularly visited my page. In fact, they would "bug" me to write if I did not write for a week or so - I love you girls for sticking by and inspiring me to write more ...

Slowly I started to visit other blogs, dared to leave my comments on a couple and was so elated when she regularly visited my blog and dropped a comment or two.

Then came Jihva food events and the few times that I would shrug off my lazy shroud and cook up something to participate in it, I would have a few visitors dropping by and leaving sweet notes on my blog. That is how I got to know this lovely lady, whose food pictures and unique recipes are just out of the world.

And today, she gave me my first blog award! I am soooooooooooooooooo happy ... (add more o's to that so) ... Thanks dear friend for this honour.

I would like to share this and pass on the happiness. I would like to give this to
Kumari - she was the reason I started blogging.
Ram - a dear friend who writes good articles
Hampa - the organised nomad
Gomathi - who writes from her heart.
P.Siri - she keeps dropping rare pearls on her blog.

Firsts ...

2007-08-30T12:31:00.000-04:00

"Firsts" in life are so special and will always remain a dear memory. Suddenly today I got reminded of many of the Firsts in my life.

The earliest "First" I can remember now is my first cycle - which I got when I was about 8 years old. I can recall very clearly appa teaching me how to ride it, how i would take the bike out when we moved to a new place in order to "impress" people and make friends with them.

The first "thing" that I made - of course with appa's help - was a kaleidoscope for my S.U.P.W(don't ask me the expansion - it was just a "timepass" class we had in school) class, when I was 10.

Strangely I don't recall a bit of my first flight alone when I was about 8 or so. Those days it was cheaper to take a half ticket for my flight, than appa or amma coming to drop me at Chennai (for vacation) - take a week off and then come back later to pick me up.

I remember my first trip alone in the public bus - when I was in Class 8 - to amma's office which was at the other end of the town.

My first Barbie came a bit late in my life - in Class 8 - because that was when amma and appa could afford to be a bit extravagant - but it was welcomed very lovingly though late.

I remember noting the date (i think it was March 25th) of the first "ring" our first telephone gave in my dairy. Those days having a phone in your house was so rare.

My first scooty - when I close my eyes, I can picture it exactly as it looked - i got it on July 12th (the b'day of a close friend - who became a close friend during that year).

My first BPL taperecorder came home when I was about 15 or 16. It was the best companion I had through the 4 years of college.

College gave me two of the most lasting firsts in my life. My first touch of fame(like I never knew before or have known after), and my First (and everlasting) Love ...

It was a Thursday morning - the second class of the day - when the marks for the Chemistry paper were given out - the 1st set of exams I wrote in college. This mark decided the fact that I topped the exams - I was #1 in college. I was so elated - I wanted to shout out loud - call my parents - jump around in joy - and all I could do was write a few "Thank you" notes on the last page of my book to God and my parents with shaking hands. This started a series of firsts - and I left college with 4 grand medals and a photo on Page 3 of "The Hindu"! To this day, I don't know what the hell happened to me in those 4 years of college, which made me perform well in those exams. Some say - I was just purely lucky - and had no real talent! Hmm... I wonder...

I don't remember the day when I saw my first love - how strange - we interacted with each other in such a causal manner, talking about the time for a class that we attended together - not knowing that 3 years later we would become the most important person in each other's lives.... I remember our first fight - over a silly red shirt he wore one day. I remember the first time we held hands. I remember our first movie - the first song we heard together....

There are some bad "first" memories also - which teach you the most important lessons.

I remember my first "lie" which landed me in huge trouble - when I was in Class 6 or 7. It embarrassed me in front of my mother and taught me a very big and important lesson - it is always better to speak the truth and face the consequences that tell lies and get caught in a tangle of more lies trying to support the first one.

Sometimes life becomes too busy and I don't make note of a new "First" and it slips out of my mind too. It saddens me later to think that I missed on it. Life is just one - every single thing that happens in it is so remarkable - I wish I could make a note - a written note of every single thing that happens to me.. Atleast all my Firsts...

Blue Blue Blue ...

2007-08-30T10:00:00.000-04:00

I am just so tired of feeling blue since about two weeks. Just nothing seems to be giving constant happiness (guess there is nothing of that sort). The Mr. has started saying amma's dialogue "Why do you have to overanalyze things so much? Why do you think that things have to be so special for you? People lead lives just like this . Wake up, eat , get ready , go to work, come back, cook, spend time with family and sleep. Why does this have to be so difficult for you?"

I don't know .... Sometimes I feel it is my own self who makes myself feel so miserable. I always have this "something missing" sort of feeling. What is it - I can never put my finger on it! Grr.... I am beginning to dislike my own self...

I am missing folks at home, missing my childhood, missing andhra , missing telugu, missing college.... just practically everything. Amma and appa who have gone back to india - don't exactly give me a comfort feeling of wanting to go there and 'settle' down. (I wonder - will we ever get 'settled' in life ? What is settling in the first place?) . And there seems to be no point - other than money and a personal comfort life - here. But are those two things not the most important in life ? I don't know ...

A friend of mine - could say - ex-friend - called me 'Ms. Polambal' (Ms. grumble). Guess that is what I am - a big crib-pot .... TCHA! What a stupid post!

What’s in a Name?

2007-08-23T12:52:00.000-04:00

Quite some months ago, the Mr. got a forward about “The Secret of Mallu Christian Names”. We laughed and laughed and even today it is a standing joke at home. You can read it here.

Over the weekend, we were browsing some sites and came across a Mohanalal program being organized in many parts of the US. As we scrolled down the site, we came upon the names of the Contact persons and broke into a riot of laughter. Why? See this:

Why in the world would any set of parents name his or her child this way? People who know the meaning would not. People who don’t – well I don’t think it is such a fanciful name that anybody would yearn to name their baby.

One evening as the Mr. was signing out at the security gate, the guard asked him how he would pronounce the name of the person who had signed out just before him. The Mr. read it – “Ishith”. The Guard said – Yeah I wondered why would somebody call their kid “I” “Shit” ! Americans generally don’t care for the extra “h”. So, I become “Vidiya” instead of “Vid(H)ya”. I am sure Ishith’s parents would have never dreamt that he would grow up and go to the US of A and he would be made fun of for his name.

Reading all this – I guess it is safe to go with time-tested and well known ‘existing’ names, instead of being smart and trying to come up with new ones that might fire back on you sometime.

Upma Kozhakattai

2007-08-20T21:35:00.000-04:00

It is long since I participated in a “JIHVA” event. When I saw that the ingredient for September was Rice – I knew it would be too bad to let the chance to participate go by.

Rice is the staple food in most of the South Indian homes. Personally I feel that there is nothing to beat the smell of freshly cooked rice – the whiff from the white pearly steam that comes out when you open the lid of the vessel containing rice that you put in the cooker or from the vessel that you cook directly on the Gas. Ummmmmm heavenly. When it is hot, just plain rice with a dollop of Ghee mixed in it also taste like the best food on earth. Rice that has been stored for a day, eaten with thin curds is considered one of the best ‘cooling foods’. Then there is my all-time favourite – Thair Chadam (curd rice). There would probably be no Tam-Bram who does not like this ‘symbolic-recognition-of-tamilians’ curd rice!

Rice is also considered as an auspicious food item. In Kerala, it is the first solid food that is given to a child. When the Child is 6 months old, there is held a ceremony called “Choorunu” – all the family members assemble in a temple (usually Guruvayoor) and feed the baby solid food for the first time – rice and paruppu.

The recipe I am going to share is a snack made out of rice primarily. It is one of my favorites. Thanks to amma’s trip to the US – I was able to get the recipe from her, in person.

Ingredients

Plain rice (eg. Sona Masoori) – 1 cups

Thoor dhal – 2 Tbsp

1 Tblsp Pepper seeds

Soak the two for about 20 minutes, wash clean and spread it out to dry on a towel. Add Grind the dried rice and dhal coarsely.

Note: If you want to store this powder for using it later, make sure the rice and dhal are bone-dry before you grind them.

For Seasoning

½ cup grated coconut

Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

Split urad dhal – 1 tsp

Red chillies – 3-4

Salt – to taste

Curry Leaves – 4-5

Asafoetida – to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Heat oil in a Kadai. Add the Mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add the split urad dhal. Fry them gently till they turn brown. Add the curry leaves and split red chillies.

Measure 2 cups of water for each cup of the mixture and add to the kadai. Add asafoetida to the water and let it boil. When it starts to boil, add the coconut. After a minute, add the dry mixture. Cook on medium heat. When the rice and dhal mixture is cooked well, take it off the stove. Cool it a little and then take small portions of the mixture and roll into small balls.

Steam the balls in the cooker, like you would steam idlis. After steam starts to come out of the cooker, reduce the flame to medium and cook on for about 4 minutes. Hot Hot Upma Kozhakattai’s are ready.

Customer Service

2007-08-18T09:20:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer - This article in no way is aimed at throwing opinions about a particular race of humans. It is solely based on my experiences and my version of the events.

I always thought i did not like Italian food. But during our endeavours to get amma-appa to sample different cuisines I found that I did like the Salad , breadsticks and Eggplant Parmiggiano - a bit too much - and even started to have a craving for it.

So, I dragged the 3 of them to Olive Gardens yesterday evening to satisfy my palate, when this incident happened.

We had often heard of excellent customer service in most American restaurants - we got our chance to experience one yesterday.

We had ordered , amongst other things , a veggie pizza. This was the last item that the waitress was due to get. When she first brought it, I saw some wierd moulds of things on it and got a slight suspicion and asked her - She apologized and took it back and came back immediately. Kneeling down in front of our table, she apologized profusely that the cook had made a mistake of giving us an "Italian Sausage" pizza and that they would take the pizza off our bill and give us a free pizza. After ensuring that it would not affect her own salary, we said Yes.

About 10 minutes later, she came back with another pizza and a big smile "Hope this one looks as good as what you wanted". It looked fine. When the Mr. started to cut slices, we realized they had made a mistake again - this was as a Pepperoni pizza ... Guess it just was not our day. She was appalled at this and took it back. She came back and after apologizing profusely asked us to choose some desserts which they would give us for free. We were already so full and did not really want anymore, but still we took a "Tiramasu".

Seconds later, the manager came back - took up a chair and sat in front of us. "I am so ashamed of what has happened. It is not as if we run a French restaurant, we must know how to make a good pizza atleast. Please give us another chance to serve you better. The next time you come around, just call me personally - my name is Betty - I will make the pizza myself for you. I am going to take the whole bill on our name, however since Michigan laws prevent us from taking off the Wine charges, you will have to bear them".

We were so impressed by the honesty with which she spoke. She took the entire blame on herself and made amendments for a loss which we actually did not incur. No doubt , we were not entirely satisfied with the whole episode - but the way the waitress and the manager behaved did not leave any black mark about that restaurant in our mind. We knew that any other time we would not hesitate to be back there again.

This incident brought back to mind a couple of others that had happened few months ago.

The first one was at an Indian Grocery store. This one served Samosas and Chats to be eaten there itself. We ordered two samosas and instead of taking it home decided to eat it there. They had not given us any sauce with the samosa. Since they had chutneys prepared for the chat, we asked if we could get some. The owner rudely said that they don't give free chutney for Samosas. The Mr. said he would pay for the chutney. The owner got annoyed and said - There is so much hard work that goes into preparing those chutneys, we cannot spare them for giving it away with samosas just like that. We tried to explain to him that we were willing to pay - but he just would not listen. It put us off so much that we decided never to go there, even if we were lured by the good chats that he made.

The second one was at an Indian Restaurant. We had ordered Masala Dosa - the dosa he gave contained huge chunks of potatoes that were only half boiled. We did not complain during the meal - put aside the potatoes and ate the dosa (Enna pannaradhu thalai ezhuthu ... kya kare apna kismat kharaab tha). But when the waiter came to take away all the plates, the Mr. could not hold himself and just casually mentioned the same to the waiter. Immediately the waiter turned defensive and said - Masala dosas are supposed to be made that way only. ( The other statement he did not say, but was evident on his face was - if you did not know this , then you morons should not have ordered it). We were not complaining or making a fuss, neither where we looking at getting our money back. All we were doing is making a suggestion to him - why could he not have taken it a bit more graciously? All he had to say was - Oh! is that so ? Sorry sir, we will take care of it next time - he does not loose anything right? After all he runs a restaurant to serve us customers only - he does not do any charity to me?

A Customer will be willing to pay the money, if he feels it is justified and worth it. No person would want to cheat and get free food or service. All he expects is to be treated good and be given his money's worth. Why is that so difficult to understand? Why is it so difficult to give a smile to your customer and apologize if something went wrong? Don't we do that ? If you made a mistake in your work - don't you say sorry to your boss or co-worker?

Expressions

2007-08-14T13:25:00.000-04:00

Carried stopped by at my desk today morning and gave me a cute little “Thank You” card.

All the ladies in the office – which was quite a number , about 20 or so, got together and arranged for a ‘Baby Shower’ for her Last Thursday. It was lunch in this place called “Country Buffet” – where you can “eat-all-you-can” for just 9$. Unfortunately, as usual, the choice for Veggies is limited – though the dessert table pretty much compensated this deficit. All of us were quite generous and had given her really good gifts – a Stroller, a rocking and musical swing and couple of dresses.

What I loved about the whole thing was – how eagerly she opened all her gifts and how she did not hesitate to show her real feelings. She had tears of happiness and gratitude in her eyes and she looked at each one of us when she said her thanks. Often I have noticed this about Americans – they do not feel ashamed to show out their feelings in public – especially the good ones. If you are wearing a nice dress, or some piece of jewellery that they liked, they will not show their appreciation with big expressions and loud “Oooh!s” and “Aaahs”. If they are happy about something that happened, they would talk in length of their happiness with animated faces. If they meet somebody after a long time, they would not hesitate to give a warm hug and shout out loud. If they are too happy, they would not mind crying out in the public – warm happy tears of joy.

Coming to the act of today morning’s – when was the last time you saw somebody hand you over a “Thank-You” card for something that you did? It is such a small thing but it makes so much of a positive difference I feel. There was definitely a smile on my face when I got that card and read that hand-written note that she had put in it.

Expressing oneself is so vital for relationships to bond further, I feel. Mostly Positive expressions . Sometimes it is better to keep negative expressions in check.

Movie Weekend

2007-08-13T13:23:00.000-04:00

It was Amma-Appa’s last weekend in the

. The depression has already started to sink into me slowly – a week from today there would be so much emptiness in the house. I guess this was a hidden reason why none of us wanted to do ‘Something’ over the weekend.

I took them around for a round of last window-shopping and we all sat and watched a couple of movies, while munching some tasty and crispy vadas that amma made. Ulundhu vadais are my favorite. This time for a change we added crisp cabbage into the dough and it was so tasty. It was probably for the first time that all 4 of us were sitting at home and watching a movie end to end. Just shows how busy we had been the past 3 months, ha ha, because before amma-appa came to the US – watching a movie at home was almost like a daily ritual.

The first one we saw was ‘Prestige’. I have been wanting to see this movie since a long time. Of late I have become a huge fan of “Hugh Jackman”, so have wanted to see this movie for that precise reason. And it turned out to be a really “Magical” experience. One of the often used dialogue in the movie applies a lot to the audience – “Watch Closely!”. Yes, you must watch closely else you will miss the essence of the movie. It is a tale of two magicians, their magic tricks and bids to out-do each other to declare their “Prestige”. The movie starts off with the explanation for what “Prestige” is all about and why it is so important for a magician - A magic trick involves 3 parts : ‘The Pledge’ – where the magician shows a simple thing and promises to turn it into something extraordinary; ‘The Turn’ – is when he performs the extraordinary ; but that is not enough for it can be done by almost anyboy – what matters most is the last part ‘The Prestige’ – where the magician performs something so shocking that it holds you spellbound and makes you acknowledge his “Magic”.

The movie shifts between the present , the past and, the past in the past. So, be sure what you are knowing what you are watching J. I have always felt that there is a mystical feeling in stories that are told as a flashback. The lead characters have played their parts marvelously and pretty convincingly. The role of Scarlet Johansson seems to have been patched into the story. Well actually that role is quite significant to put across one “Particular” point (I won’t divulge that – for it will give the movie away) – but the director did not utilize it well. The director has built the suspense in the movie very well, surprising the audience with the explanations at every stage in the story – giving one piece of the jigsaw puzzle each time – and finally revealing that one most important heart piece at the very end.

If you are the kind of person who loves to guess what happens at the end, there are enough clues sprinkled all over the magical journey to comprehend what is cause for the “Prestige” of the actors. A “Must-See”.

The second movie is one that the Mr. and me have seen quite some time back and we liked it so much that we got it for Amma-Appa to watch. A fantastical comedy called ‘Groundhog Day’. The tale is all about how one day keeps repeating again and again and nobody but the grumpy, self-centered protagonist can realize it. The first 25 minutes of the movie is very puzzling, but it slowly sinks into you. He attempts, initially, at finding out what is happening and then moves on to unsuccessfully ‘use’ the situation to make his producer fall in love with, then sinks into frustration at not being able to change the situation, and finally decides to utilize the golden “Opportunity” given only to him to “Do good for others” – something which was never a part of his personal agenda before. A very heart-warming tale set in a small town in Philadelphia, with all simple real characters – is what the movie is all about. Bill Murray plays the lead character – does a good job of it- though I wish his face would show more emotions instead of wearing the same expression for every scene. Andy Mc Dowel is the cute little producer he falls in love with – her “Bunny teeth” grin and Cotton candy hair just manages to charm you. A Feel-good movie, this one is.

Oh So long!

2007-08-07T11:10:00.000-04:00

It has been ages since I wrote anything here. I somehow am facing a huge block in getting a topic to write about here. Just about anything I think of does not seem inspiring enough to write about – or may I am not even thinking of anything … Everytime I visit those wonderful bloggers who regularly update their sites, I feel so ashamed of myself – for letting those friends down who open my blog atleast once in couple of days to see if I have written something there…. But it just is not happening… Anyway I decided to shake myself up and atleast write about what’s been happening in the recent past to me..

I finally did it! I changed jobs – got rid of all the murk that had got over me in my previous work… remember these “Queen Crib” posts? I quit my last job on Jul 27 2007 – a very significant and remarkable day in the calendar of my life’s events. I bid farewell to the place – not physically – that I was working in for the last 6 and half years. Though I had been wanting that for – oh so long a time – when I finally put in my 2 weeks of notice – it all seemed quite strange. I was feeling a bit nostalgic and sad! I guess no matter how bad a thing is, if you have “had” it for a long long time, you feel atleast a small twinge when you let it go. And it was not as if my company was Bad – just that I happened to be at a wrong place at the wrong time and working under the wrong person. Pity unlike Maths, two negatives could not make a Positive … no wait I have 3 negatives – so there you go – that proves that I did the absolute right thing by quitting that place.

Wish I had had a break – alas! – I had to join work on the Monday after itself – Jul 30. In a way I am not complaining. The new place, like anything new in life, seems fine – for now (oh! Oh! Hope the Mr. does not read the last two words … hee hee). A Small firm – giving one more visibility – loads of Indians around – all the more to chit-chat with. Works looks ummm fine for now. Come on – my inner self tells me – you should grown up and be mature… drop that “for now”. Because there is nothing in life that is “Forever”! What is “for now” is what is needed. Who cares about “for later” or “for ever”!

On the Personal front – things are pretty much the same – wonderful …. Early mornings start with all four of us sipping delicious teas, sitting on the couch, and watching “Putham pudusu” and Solomon “Pappaya” (as the Mr. calls him) – on Sun TV. Then the rush hour to office – while appa so sweetly packs fruits for us and amma makes smacking breakfast. Then starts the counting –down to time to leave for home – evening tea and snacks – arratai arrangams (our discussions) – walks around the apt complex to shed calories – or appa-mappilai’s swimming trials . Ah! Life is bliss!

In all this, I am stuck with the problem of not being able to think of anything to blog! Upon popular demand (read as request from 2 loyal friends) – I am posting this … hoping that this would act as the needful “kick on my butt” and make me write more ..

PS - the Garfield image is how I am behaving right now!

Fruit Picking @ Blakes Farm

2007-07-06T11:04:00.000-04:00

The last weekend was a very memorable one. We had a very unique experience, which I was unaware of for the past one and half years. We had been to a place called Blake’s Farms. It is a family owned farmland where visitors are allowed all year round to visit and pick any of the seasonal fruit/vegetable(s) that is (are) growing there at that time. These are available for purchase at a reasonable price. Thanks to the Mr.’s friend – P – we came to know of this and went to experience it last Sunday. The Strawberries were almost at the end of their tenure, the cherries were starting to catch the attention and the raspberries and sweet peas were in their “mid 30s”! What a ball of time we had.

It was the first time any of us were seeing a strawberry or a raspberry plant – so that itself was more than half of the excitement. And the other half was the sheer joy of plucking those wonderful fruits from the small shrub like plants – and occasionally popping one or two into the mouth and biting into the juicy berries. They were so unlike the ones that we buy from the store. They were much softer, juicer and sweeter than any that I ever had eaten.

I have never seen my parents so happier in any trip. After coming back home, appa remarked to the Mr. that he had the best time of his life and that he would prefer any such ‘natural’ trips than the ones to visit concrete jungles. Seriously what nature has to offer, not even the best creations of man can beat I guess.

After having “worked hard” for nearly 2 hours in the warm young sun, we sat down to have the best picnic lunch in the world – Amma’s Lemon rice and Thair chadam. Why does food always taste so much better when eaten inside a park or beach or some outdoor location? There was a small shop there at the farm selling doughnuts, cider, some picked vegetables, fruits, jams & jellies and fudge. This was the only place giving as little fudge as you wanted to buy. All other places I have been sells only big slabs of 1 Lb and nobody is interested in “intaking” that much of calories!

We are hoping to go there every month to catch the latest produce and relive this wondrous experience. See our booty for this time.

And this are the muffins I made out of the raspberries.

VIBGYOR

2007-07-06T08:35:00.000-04:00

This year's summer has been strange. June is only the beginning of summer, but it was hotter than July (which is supposed to be the peak summer month). There is hardly any rain on a day when there is prediction for severe thunderstorms. 60% precipitation looks like 6%. In all this mish-mash of the weather, we had a spectacle yesterday - the most unexpected pleasure - a Rainbow - not 1 but 2!!!

I don't understand why - but sometimes just seeing a very very beautiful natural thing gives so much pleasure that one just keeps smiling for a long long time. Maybe this is why people ask us to go for a long walk when upset over something. It certainly cheers you and lifts the mood up so well. For a long time we four stood there, grinning and just watching the miracle of colors spread over the bright sky.

As I waved bye ….

2007-06-22T11:24:00.000-04:00

..to amma today, I was feeling so bad to leave her and Appa at home and go to work.

It is not something new, I agree. For nearly 5 years that I was in Chennai before marriage, every morning I left for work at 7:15. Amma would wake up early and cook for me. Appa would cut fruits for me and pack them. Amma would plait my hair and appa would drop me at the bus stop. And then Amma would be alone at home, waiting till I returned home – if I got lucky I came early at 7:30 in the evening, otherwise it was usually 8:30 or sometimes even 3 the next morning! Yet she would never crib. Whatever time I returned she would have something nice for me to eat / drink. All the house work was done and I would nothing but chat with her, see TV, eat and sleep.

Ever since they came to the US about a month and week ago, life has almost got back to the same routine. They get up and pack fruits for us for lunch. Appa sometimes irons our stuff for us. They make sure all things are ready there for us to leave and when we come back all goodies are on the table for us. They do all this without expecting a single thing in return from us. Even if I were to fight and say I will help – they won’t let us do.

The Mr. and I try to spend every single minute that we can get with them, so that they don’t feel lonely that much. When the Mr. was in a job that let him work at home, he took every of those opportunities to be with them. We spend weekends with them, taking them out showing them how our lives are in the US, share all small things about our life with them, involve them with our jobs and friends – so that they don’t feel left out. But still I feel we have not done enough.

Parents are probably the world’s most unselfish people. Right from when you are born till they die, they do things for you without expecting a single thing from you. Oh! As I write there is a lump in my throat – I do get emotional sometimes thinking of these things. Today is one of those days.

I should have maybe just taken the day off and been with them today. We left home early at 7 because I had a doc appointment. So, that meant that after waking up, I spoke probably 2 sentences to them. Appa remarked – “Neena ippo ponna saangalam thaan varuvela? Romba bore adikkume!” (If you leave now, you return only in the evening. We will be so bored) – In a very jovial way only. But that made my heart squeeze a bit – oh! Why could I not be with them for more time?

It all happens in cycles. My parents left their parents in Chennai and moved to Vizag for a life that was good for their kid and themselves. My in-laws stayed 1000s of Km away from hometown to provide the best life to their sons and themselves. And today we are doing the same!

But the only consolation is that – if it were any city in India I would have not been able to even spend 2 hours with them on any working day, but in the US I have the luxury to be home by 6 the latest – so I have the entire evening to be with them.

'Man Date'

2007-06-21T16:36:00.000-04:00

The Mr. listens to radio everyday when he goes to office and often shares some tit-bits from the news or programmes he listens to. The day before after dinner when we four were walking around the apartment when he told us of a new meaning emerging for the word “Man date”. We all know “Mandate” – means ‘a Must’. But did you know “Man date” these days means – two Gay men dating!

Some ways of finding how a meeting between two men is a Man Date(MD), according to the Radio channel.

If two men are walking in a park instead of jogging – it is a MD. If two men are sitting at a bar and there is no beer in front of them or a TV with sports channel on – they are Man-dating!

Gosh! Just imagine the plight of ‘Straight’ Men who have probably been doing some such activity for years together with a Man Friend or Confidiante of their’s! No two men can ever even sit in a public place and discuss a private conversation without a thought running in their minds that they are being branded as Man Date (ers)!

I googled and found this article . I could not even imagine that simple things as these would ever be interpreted! Poor Men in the USA!

I Dread the day when such meanings are going to be associated with Women too (not that they are already not done). Imagine meeting a friend after years at the airport and not being able to rush and hug her in front of everybody or kissing her cheek in sheer happiness on meeting her! Or not being able to hold hands while walking along a park and sharing the news in our respective lives, without people thinking of us as 'Lesbians' ...

I am stopping any further imagintion. I would rather live in a world ignoring such things - for now atleast.

Vaji Vaji ...Vaji.. Sivaji

2007-06-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

16th was the D-day – the Mr’s bday and also the 1st weekend after the Big BOSS’s movie was released – so all the more special , as it gave the Mr. the “right” opportunity to watch the movie he has been waiting for since about 6 months. Did we 3 have any other choice but to lug along to watch this masala mish-mash that defies any kind of logic that you can ever think of – but always fails to impress audience like no movie ever.

Every time a Rajni movie releases I wonder why audience of all kinds go to see the movie, even if it is just for once. The more intelligent audience would crib after coming out of the theatre but will still land up there the next time his movie releases. Guess one cannot explain the spell this actor holds everybody under.

Tickets were sold at an atrocious price of 16$ and yet the theatre was almost full – for a morning show! I have never seen more than handful of people come to a movie in the mornings in Novi/ Livonia and here was a big queue to just get into the theatre! Thalaiva – un Vazhiye thani vazhiye!

Appa rightly put it – one can buy a ticket and walk into the theatre after the intermission, having read a bit of preview on the internet. The first half almost begins to bore you – when thankfully the intermission sign comes up. The first half shows nothing that is “Rajni” special – it is just an ordinary boy woos girl drama , sprinkled with visually stunning songs and not so-great chords struck by ARR. Vivek dominates the 1st half with his wonderful one-liners and rendition of Rajni-dialogues. Sets by Thotta Tharani are stunning – they make your Jaw drop with amazement.

The 1st song in the movie -Hey Balelakka Balelakka Kaviri is sung by SPB. The tune and music will not fail to remind you of ‘Devuda Devuda’ and the visuals are so reminiscent of ‘Azhagana Rakshashi’ (Mudhalvan) and ‘Konjum Mainakale’ ( Kandukonden Kandukonden) – paintings on the bodies of the side artists, grass that looks greener than it actually is (nice filters have been used), bright costumes and such a huge group of dancers that it took us about 1 minute to even realize that the fairest one in between is Nayantara!

Vaaji Vaaji – is very beautifully pictured. I could not stop but gazing admiring at the beauty and grandeur of the sets and the color of Shriya’s costumes. This is the only song in the movie that I liked.

Sahara pookal – I really cannot understand why at times music directors stick with people like Udit and Sadhana sargam for a song – when they know very well that there are some scales that their voices cannot reach. There is no doubt that Udit is a very accomplished singer – I love many of his songs – but there is a limit to everything. A song that could have been very melodious is reduced to nothing but meaningless shouting by the male singer. I wish they could have made somebody else like Hariharan / KK/ SPB sing this one.

I would rather not even talk of the last song that pictures in the 1st half – “Oru koodai sunlight”. It is best left not discussed.
The second half of the movie is all about Rajni, his gimmicks, his dialogues (though this movie hardly has any of Rajni’s trademark punch dialogues), his looks (the mottai Rajni). He dominates the screen totally. This movie supersedes all his previous ones in the utterly senseless things that this larger than life hero can accomplish – he comes back from death!!! Unbeatable!

The magical creation by some of the biggest names in all spheres of the kollywood industry – Shankar, ARR, Rajnikanth, Vivek, AVM, Thotta Tharani – is good for a one-time watch. And of course Rajni fans are going to love this starry presentation.

Remembering ....

2007-06-11T12:18:00.000-04:00

We were classmates in XI – in a big class of nearly 100 people. So, our interaction was pretty much limited to the acknowledgement of each other’s existence. At the end of the year, she was taken in by a premier institute because of her sheer brilliance and wonderful academic performance – sponsoring for her Class XII education. A Year later I read about her in the newspapers as she had secured a brilliant rank in the common entrance exam.

About 2 months later – fate bought us together. We both had joined the same college and arrived by the same train to the college. We recognized each other and enrolled into the hostel at the same time. She arrived at the hostel before me, so booked the same room for us. Then began a relationship for the next 4 years – one of friendship – that was not the closest but was always there. We were not the best friends, but were in constant touch always – knew pretty much about each other’s lives and families, talked almost every day in those 4 years at hostel, traveled together to home and back for nearly 2 years, participated in a few competitions as a team and kept in touch even after moving into Adult life. The 1st year of hostel was vital as we were room mates – we shared a lot about our dreams, aspirations, our likes and dislikes. I liked her neatness a lot. She was a very methodical person and was very tidy and did things in a very regular manner. She was very hard working too.

Her best talent which made her very famous in college was brought out when the competitions for 1st years starting – her golden voice. I still can recall that evening when she saw the telugu version of “Awara Bhawnre” in the auditorium. There was pin drop silence when the audience was just captivated with that melodious voice of hers. She could just sing almost any song and with such perfection that it was unbelievable.

We kept in touch after college through emails and occasional meetings at weddings of friends. She called me on my wedding day – I was so happy that she remembered and called me.

She is no more. One cold morning about a year ago I received the news by email. I could not believe it – it would just not sink in. There are days when it still does not.

Today morning, I was listening to “Telimanchu kurisindi” and just could not stop thinking of her. This was among one of her favorites and one that she sang excellently. I decided to write a few lines in her memory. It made me miss her a lot and feel that god was too unfair to take away such a nice person.

Pillow Mints

2007-06-05T13:25:00.000-04:00

Thanks dear friends – for your support and encouraging words in response to my frustu post. I am better now and am looking at the really worthy and nice things that I have in my life and slowly forgetting my pain points. After all that is life na? Not everybody has everything.

Every morning I sent inspirational Good Morning mails to a few friends of mine, but sometimes I think I forget to read them for myself :).

L a colleague of mine got these for me today – Pillow mints. I ate them for the first time in a restaurant here called Rangoli – they place a bowl near the cashier and you can pop a few in your mouth while leaving. Remember those Phantom cigarettes we used to get in India – ages ago – I was mad after them. My parents had a tough time getting me to stop eating them. These mints reminded me of those.

After a long time I saw them again at L’s daughter’s graduation party. I inquired with her about them and she very sweetly got a big packet of them for me. Thought I would share some with you guys… How are they?

Stuck in a Rut

2007-06-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

Sometimes life gets stuck in a muddy rut and it feels so difficult to just get out of it. That is how I feel when I am at work for the 8.5 hours that I am forced to put in. I had hoped that after my trip from India, I would try to open a new window to let a fresh breath of air that would blow off all the stinky stuff that is wrapped inside my brain, due to near hibernation in these deathly hollows, devoid of any spark of brilliance or creativity; but alas life had something different in the plan that I was so unaware of.

Seconds pass into mintues in agonizing slowness - that is how I pass my hours to freedom. I console myself thinking of the other pleasures of life that I have been granted which probably few others only have - but sometimes that is just now enough.

I want to blog a lot. Everyday I open a few blogs that I really admire and feel why can't i be like them - post new and refreshing stuff daily. Where will all that come when my brain feels like mushy oatmeal cereal with nothing nice in it. It is all covered with thick layers of dirt that hardly lets a new light of idea come out of it.

Oh! God - are you there anywhere listening or rather reading this post? Did I exhaust my pot of luck already? Mera number kab aayega!!!

Phew! What a Frustu post!

Cheeni - Zyada ya Kum?

2007-05-22T10:16:00.000-04:00

Has it just been two weeks since I returned from India? Seems like much longer. Maybe because life has become doubly interesting in these two weeks, and will be so for some months to come. Reason – there are more than just 2 voices at home. My parents are here with us. There is some discussion or talk going on all the time – the dutiful son-in-law indulging his in-laws in various snippets of talks, patiently clarifying all their childish doubts about this new country they are in, enthusiastic planning for all the trips that we want to go, snatching each moment of the weekend to take them out to each of the grocery store or restaurant that we have been lining up for their view since some months now. More to come on this and my trip to India.

For now, it is about the latest tune that has been playing in my head since Sunday – “Cheenikum hai Cheenikum hai”. The latest hindi album released by the Maestro Iliayaraaja. All the 5 songs in the movie are remakes of old tamil hits of the composer, jazzed up with some new peppy music – 4 of them brilliantly rendered by Shreya Ghoshal and 1 by Vijay Prakash – who is he I wondered and looked up and stumbled upon “Poo vasam” (Anbe Sivam) in the list of his songs list – of course – how did I forget this guy?

It is so very difficult not to get reminded of the actual tamil song as one listens to these new songs. I would have liked it much better if Iliayaraja had come up with new tunes – yet in these days of dhadam dhodoom nonsense mechanical noises that has captured the bollywood musical stage – these tunes come as a whiff of fresh spring air. Very light and fluffy notes played on the melodious vocal chords of this amazing femal – Shreya. Each time I hear her latest song I am amazed with variation that she can bring out. Each song of hers is a gem. There are many singers whose songs I have often felt sound the same – mainly because of their voice – but this lady is just truly fantastic – no two songs of hers sound any similar at all. It is as if she sings each song directly from her heart – as if she is emoting the song. Her playful tone in “Baatein..” , slight seduction in “Jaane do”, playfulness in “Chennikum” – are all so melodious and soothing to the ear.

I love the version of “Baatein” which has Amitabh dishing out some very nice dialogues. I am always a sucker for voices of two people in any song – Amitabh and Kamal Hassan.

“Sooni sooni” – is the only male song in the album – sung well by Vijay Prakash – his voice reminds me so much of Yesudas – though as I listen to the song I cannot but help being reminded of the great SPB’s “Mandram Vandhu” … (song from Mouna Ragam on whose tune “Sooni Sooni” is based).

There are two musical pieces in the album – small bits and pieces of music from various Iliayaraja songs (all Tamil songs) – which are a delightful hear.

Quite opposite to the title of the album – the songs are “CheeniFull”. A must hear for all Iliayaraja fans and music lovers. Having seen some visuals of this movie here and heard these songs, I am waiting eagerly to see the movie.

Vandhutten(Am back)

2007-05-11T14:15:00.000-04:00

I am back .... After a 3 week well deserved respite from the humdrum of our routine life here - after a trip to my motherland. Loads of stuff to write here, may experiences to share - but all in good time. Somebody wisely said that it is a person who has just come back from vacation is the one in need of a break!

Piles of work to catch up in the wake up timings provided by my jet lagged body. So many blogs to read up and catch up on. I am not even back on my regular track! But am not complaining ... because my loving parents are here with me. And that superseds anything upsetting.

More soon.

Cheerio...

2007-04-13T13:46:00.001-04:00

Bye for 3 weeks my dear blogger friends! I am off on a much much awaited and well deserved vacation to India.

Fruit of Labour

2007-04-06T14:49:00.000-04:00

I have been at this for the past 1 week. The Mr. teases me - you are like an old lady always sewing your beads .. if you get 2 seconds you sit on. It definitely is fun and enjoyable .. and of course the end product decked your neck certainly gives a lot of pleasure...

How is it?

Health is Wealth

2007-04-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

Patti complained of joint aches for the first time only when she was 70. Amma started to fret about not being able to do things as quickly as she did before when she was at the end of her forties. And I have back-aches, leg pains in my late twenties!! What is the world coming to?

Two close friends of mine, S & B had Slipped Disc issues, just months after their marriages. A friend of mine passed away at a very young age – stress. My neighbour’s husband – aged 33 – had a heart attack one night – out of the blue. The cause was found to be stress.
Many of my friends complain about hair loss and aches and pains so often – so do I. Whereas I remember amma having long, black and thick hair even when she was in her forties. On one side I keep reading about how ‘Life expectancy’ is increasing over the years and on the other end, the more personal end, I see how the ‘Quality’ of life is decreasing.

My father never got his blood / blood pressure / cholesterol checked till he reached the age of 40. M’s husband P has very high cholesterol at the age of 29. And I cannot think of a day my father refused Puris for the fear of increase in cholesterol.

Amma or Appa never counted the calories they consumed, not were they bent upon walking on the treadmill every single day – they did not even know what a treadmill was. On the other hand if the Mr. or I miss out on a single day’s workout, we panic and get depressed further. What is happening to us? Before eating a single sweet / tasty item, the Mr. reads off from the label at the back to see how many calories he is consuming. Even before hitting 30, we are so conscious of such things – I cannot imagine what we will be eating at the age of 40 or 50. I am not against healthy and good eating, but the whole fun of having something tasty like a puri or a cup of ice cream is lost if the conversation is laced with topics like ‘cholestrol’, ‘aging’ , ‘ heart attacks’ and so on.

With increasing life expectancy, increased comforts, and increased income levels – we were supposed to be more ‘healthy’ right? But that does not seem to be the case.

The necessary EVIL – software industry seems to sap out every healthy bone/muscle/tissue in our body. Sedentary occupational environment and long working hours seem to be taking a silent toll on us. I cannot even remember when was the last time I walked to a grocery store to get provisions – reason – after having a long day at work, I simply cannot think of walking to a place to buy stuff. All her life amma would walk 1 or ½ km from home to station to get fresh vegetables or groceries – thus getting all the exercise she needs in a fresher environment than the stuffy gym where I struggle to lose calories.

All of Mr’s fingers are broken – excessive usage of mouse and keyboard! I pay more for medical bills than what my parents probably paid their whole life. The money that I earn is much more than what both my parents earned together ever – it allows me to buy all the ‘material’ things that I want – gives me the opportunity to visit exotic places that they would only dream off – but at what cost? But then do I have a choice?

Every time we talk of changing our profession, we draw a blank. I have to admit it – which other profession gives me this much dough? And more importantly what else am I skilled at? Zilch!

Wise men wisely said ‘Health is Wealth’ and not ‘Wealth can bring health’.

Wedding Gifts

2007-03-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

Usha, one of my favorite bloggers, has a written a very nice post about Giving and Receiving gifts. She writes about the custom of gifts at weddings. She cannot be any truer.

Traditionally in the Mr’s customs people don’t gift anything to the bride and groom during weddings. Close knit elder relatives give a pre-defined amount of money to the bride and groom, that too not at the Kalyana mandapam or at the reception – in one of the pre or post visits to either house. The reason why no gifts are given is this – if you were to gift somebody some article; then the receiving party will take care of noting the article and will have to seek an occasion to compensate you with another article of the approximate price. This is an unwritten rule. So, giving and receiving gifts is considered blasphemy.

Now, on my side of the family the story, though similar, is presented in a different way. If you walk to any wedding without a gift, it is considered very bad. This too, has started to cause a problem.

Amma’s view on this - About 30 years ago, gifts at occasions meant a lot. It was often very useful for the couple starting their married life. Back in those days, the money earned by people often was just sufficient to meet daily needs and there was nearly none to satisfy wants; so gifts given at a wedding covered those wants and were highly regards. A wall clock, a water filter, a frying pan, a cooker, a decorative wall hanging, a sari – were all received with much gusto and were put to right use. Then people started growing rich, had more money – so were able to buy any ‘want’ thing on their own; and gifts received at weddings became too much of redundancy. They just lie around in the attic of most houses, waiting for another wedding / grihapravesam to be disposed off at.

In some cases, I have seen a new trend emerging – the concept of giving money or gift cards. That to larger extent seems to be what most people are appreciative of. Your ‘gift money’ may not be big enough for me to buy something, but it helps me to add something to it and get myself something I like – is the philosophy.

Personally I have never been able to decided for sure - gift or ‘gift money’. I always loved the ‘gift opening activity’ during weddings and would tag along with the group doing this activity in almost every wedding. There is so much pleasure is unwrapping a gift box, all the while trying to guess what would be inside it – and to end the task with a “Oooooh!” or “Ohhhhhh”.

But then when you have a big pile of things that you would rather not add to your personal collection and are at wit’s end not knowing what to do with it – I think ‘gift money’ is a nice option. Having personally experienced this at my wedding, I can safely say that, except in 1 or 2 cases; it was the ‘gift money’ or ‘gift card’ that proved to be a nice “GIFT”.

A Visit to Toronto

2007-03-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

It is rarely that working people get to go off on a vacation on a week day. I got lucky a week and half ago to take a good break – when the Mr. had to get his visa stamped in Toronto. I tagged along to make the best out the excuse.

Sometimes I feel that the Mr.’s life is all like a Hindi movie – in the beginning everything seems to be fine, then a bunch of problems crop up – and finally it is a happy ‘The End’. I cannot recollect any such episode that happened to him without any hitches at all. But then I am glad and thankful to God that the ‘The End’ is always a happy one. Following Suite, the stamping for a Canada visa had a hitch. We landed at the Canadian consulate (about 2 weeks ago having readied all our papers couple of weeks earlier, being prompt and getting the M.O. for the amount and all) on the dot – 8:30, were 2nd in line and were just about being quite pleased with ourselves – when the guy at the counter said the Fees has been dropped down by 5$ , so the MO would not work and we need to go and get cash. Hey! I am willing to pay you 5 bucks extra – why don’t you just accept it! Well, I sat there for about 20 mins while the Mister went in search of an ATM and got cash – by which time the line had about 10 or 15 people! Grrrr…. Talk about Early bird getting the worm!

I should have guessed when things at the Canada border went too smoothly; that there was something ‘BIG” going to happen! I was at the wheel for the 1st half of the journey. The Canadian border is about 80 miles from our place. As I reached the booth at the border, I pulled up at the drive thru counter – the fat chubby ‘moron’ smiles and jokes with us while inquiring about why we were going to Canada and ends the conversation with a ‘You know where you are going right?’. Assuming that he was asking me directions to Toronto , I nodded , smiled , waved good bye and started off towards the signpost that showed the way to 401! Girl – did you never hear ‘Assume’ means making ‘An ass of you and Me’ … Get that into your brain atleast now!

I had driven only a few feet forward when a siren sounded – I slowed and looked around but there seemed no indication that the siren was for us. Commenting on that strange incident we went on our way – rejoicing at the fact that we were again on a trip – noting the landscape and all. After nearly traveling for 40 km (yes Canada measures distances in Km, weight in Kg …. Well there ends the similarity with India hee hee), a cop car pulled up behind me and started to flash lights. I was dead scared and so was the Mr.

At this point, I would like to point out the Mr.’s affiliation to Cop Cars. As long as I am behind the wheel, we would never see a cop car and the moment the Mr. takes over from me to drive, suddenly there always has been a flurry of the ‘Mamu’ (as he is fondly called) cars.

I pulled over to the shoulder. Neatly dressed, wearing a nice furry cap – he walks and knocks on the Mr.’s window pane. Very politely he inquires why we never entered the ‘immigration building’ (pink one) at the border. We were surprised – hello! – were we supposed to go there? Then why did not Mister Fatty at the booth direct us properly? After taking all our documents, he went back to his car and came back about 20 mins later. In all that time, you really could not imagine our panicked state! With the same smile he told us that we would have to go back to the border and do some paperwork at the immigration building. Did I have a choice? So, royally escorted by the colorful and most dreaded ‘Cop Car’ , I took the next exit – joined back the freeway in the opposite direction and drove back all the way. I might have as well gone home and come back! We lost about 1 and half hours in all the process. So much for starting early to avoid driving in the dark. Well, at the immigration building , we were given ‘royal ‘ looks – even escaped convicts get looked at better – as if it was all my mistake. After the paperwork – well that was nothing but a scratch across the Canada visa and a valid end date for the visa – she should have only told me, I would have made a neat scratch with a felt pen! , the Chief Policeman had a ‘chat’ with us about our ‘language communication problem’ at the booth. Wait ! We had A LANGUAGE Problem! – tell that stupid fat person at the booth not to talk in puzzles and spell out the rules clearly. Anyways, what could we say – he did apologize for the trouble we were put thru. And then again we started back towards the signpost that said 401.

Needless to say we both were no longer bubbling with enthusiasm. One of my colleagues had had a very bad experience in Visa stamping at Ottawa. His name appeared on a black list and the authorities asked him to stay in Canada till the matter was cleared – which took about 2 months. This was one of our major fears – what is something like that happened to us. Now that this stupid incident happened, we were all the more worried. After about an hour of driving, the Mr. took over and a miserable rain also started. Driving on the 402 and 403 freeways at night is a pain because of the large number of gigantic and never-ending-long trucks, who don’t seem to care about any speed limit and just whiz past you or tail you so close (indicating that you change to another lane) that soon you wonder if your car’s length also will get added to its. Slowly our spirits lifted as I opened boxes of food that I packed from home. The Mr. who makes fun of my habit of eating curd rice after every meal, himself remarked after completing nearly ¾ th of the curd rice that it was the best meal he had had! Just shows how some traditional stuff that we ignore in life turn out to be the most comforting things in the toughest of times. As we approached Toronto, it was as if the day had started again at 9:30 PM. It was bright as a day in the dazzling lights emanated from the skyscrapers. It was awesome driving by the side of those tall buildings , zooming past at 120 kmph! I guess I sound like a ‘gawar’ – maybe because for the past 1 and ½ hours the tallest building I have seen is the 4 storied office I work in!

For a change, we managed to reach our destination without losing the way. The Mr. and I have a penchant for losing way especially while driving at night. Tucked away, just two blocks from the heart of Toronto downtown called ‘Yonge Downtown’ is the B&B (bed and breakfast) called Alan Gardens Bed & Breakfast, run by a very charming middle aged ukranian lady – Nadia. When we had searched for hotels in Toronto close to the embassy, we found that the cost of a hotel and having breakfast was more than what we would pay for a day’s stay at a B&B (breakfast included in the deal as well as the name). Besides, we also wanted to experience staying at a B&B – and let me tell you, it is worth the stay. A totally difference experience it was. When we stayed at a hotel, we cared very little about how the room was, where our things lay, who the person at the reception was and so on – it was all so impersonal. But here, it is like staying in your own home except that you don’t have to cook breakfast or make the bed , there is a person who will make you feel at home in a new city – be more personal to you. The breakfast was not elaborate but a very tastefully designed one. Nadia is a remarkable person – at the age of , can’t say exactly but she must be about 50, she runs a B&B with a capacity of about 3 rooms and also does part time acting. She explained us all about the city, what sights we could see and how we could reach there. What we loved most was how much attention she placed to small things – her breakfast ensemble was most admirable – cutlery very tasteful in decoration – fruits cut in thin slices and arranged well, the toast perfectly done and the best was the steamed egg (it looked exactly like an idli). She took pains to make the eggs differently on both days, when all she could have done was do the same thing daily. She would inquire if we liked the stuff or should she make it differently or what we wanted the next day and so on. Overall, something I would definitely recommend to anybody traveling to Toronto.

Toronto downtown reminded me of Manhattan, though the streets seemed narrower and more crowded because of the tram/street car as it is called. After having lived in a place where public transport consists of only the 1 bus that is seen once a day, going to a place whose lifeline is the public transport is a big relief. The two lifeline of downtown Toronto are – the street car and the subway train. A day pass for a family costing $8.50, during holiday season – is probably the cheapest amount that you ever paid to visit a new city for a day. All the attractions are reachable using these two modes of transport. Toronto is a very Cosmopolitan city in all aspects. You will find people from possible all countries in the world here – Chinese leading in the numbers. 1 out of every 3 people we saw was a Chinese – and their English was very good unlike the broken statements of the Chinese I meet in Detroit. There are a lot of Indians also in Toronto. On one street you can find restaurants catering to almost all the cuisine in the world - Thai, Chinese, American, Lebanese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Greek … you name it and it is there! The food is also superb. At every nook and corner you will find one Hot dog vendor making really ‘hot’ business and I was very surprised to find all of them selling ‘Veg Hot Dogs! – though did not dare taste one (I am a very big skeptic when it comes to tasting new stuff – I leave that all to the Mr.). There are plenty of very tall skyscrapers all around – mass produced buildings as the Mr. put it.

Many parts of this city reminded me so much of India – the best being the Chinese market. Shops selling all kinds of wares – just as the ones you would find on the streets of Mambalam – plastic wares, clothes, shoes, decorative show pieces – all crammed into one small room and hanging outside the shop from poles or racks.. Fresh vegetables being sold on the streets, shops selling only nuts and variety of other stuff – just like the ones you see back at home. And definitely it was one of the dirtiest places of Toronto downtown – no doubt about that too. What struck me strange was – whenever you see an Indian grocery shop you will notice that the title is written only in English and not in Hindi or Tamil or Telugu right? But all the Chinese shops had the name written in Chinese as well as English. The variety of these shops – the wares they sold, the services they provided just amazes me.

The downtown boasts of two very large and old fresh produce markets – the Kensington market and the St. Lawrence Market, the latter having a history of 200 years of existence. The Kensington market is partly like the Chinese market made up of many small shops, but the St. Lawrence market consists of all shops inside one single large complex. It is said to be the most crowded on Saturdays when the Market opens at 5:00 AM! Nadia told us that if you went to the place at about 10 in the morning, it was difficult to even find room to put your foot in. The Mr. commented about how he had never seen fresher meat / fish, as the ones there.

Royal Ontario Museum is one of the 10 most popular museums in the world. It is definitely worth a visit. Since it was Spring break for the schools at the time we visited, the museum was brimming with kids of all ages. And there were so many activities conducted by the museum authorities for kids. This is one museum which was far from being quiet and boring – as one always says museums are. The current special running there was the ancient Peruvian display – which was very informative and pretty.

The Bata shoe museum is one of the different kinds of museums that I have been too. It is all about Shoes, their history and stories attached to them. The museum is very well –laid out in terms of the presentation. Starting from the history of when man started the concept of shoes to depicting the shoes of different cultures of the world and ending with the imaginative creations of man using one of the most indispensable attire. This is one of the Must-See’s in Toronto attractions.

CN Tower – You just cannot miss this tallest tower in the world. And you won’t find a single person who has gone to Toronto and not gone to the top of it. It is right there staring at you no matter which part of the downtown you go to. Towering over you, with a height of 1815 Ft, 5 in; it has held the record of the tallest building in the world for 30 years now. At a height of 1,122 Ft is built the Observation deck and a very unique attraction called the ‘Glass Floor’. A small part of the floor is made of see- through Glass. It is a mind boggling experience to stand at the centre of the Glass floor and see down – it feels like you are suspended in the mid-air. I was bitterly disappointed to see that the observation deck was completely covered with mesh windows and there was absolutely no chance of a good photograph.

We did not have enough time to visit the harbor front of Toronto. We were planning on taking the ferry to the island across the downtown for some photos, but the sights above itself took up most of our time. It always is interesting to visit a new place, see the local sights and gather a bit about the lifestyle of the people around. I really did not want to come back to the bland and boring Michigan after the hulchul of Toronto – but … can’t help it, can

Weather-o-rama

2007-03-19T11:33:00.000-04:00

Just When I started to believe that Spring has finally started , this nasty day of snow and sleet had to come up again! Boy! I am really puzzled with the weather in this place. Just yesterday though the mercury hovered around the late 30s, there was dazzling sunlight and the sun just would not go down even at 8:00PM – I was so frustrated to be cooking in the kitchen with the blinds on – and today morning we woke up to find the most morose weather. Snow and rain at the same time – causing the worst conditions for driving.

It all starts with having to brush about 2 inches of snow off your car – showering your freshly laundered and ironed black pant to all turn dirty white-black.
And then comes driving on the freeway at a speed of 50 MPH with hardly a visibility of 50 ft and that too only in the front. Through the back windshield you can atleast manage to make out glowing spots of other car lights, but the two rear view mirrors on the side might as well not exist! I must give it to the residents of this country – no matter what the weather, no matter how much you can see or can not, no matter whether the entire road is covered with slick ice that can cause a skid at any point, they have to rush like their tail is on fire at 70 MPH. Hello! Can you not be normal at drive slow – you MORON! Not only do you cause my heart to race at a high speed fearing that you might skid and crash into me any moment, but you cause my wipers to operate crazily to remove all that slush you spew on my windshield and yet I cannot see a thing!

The other day there was a discussion as to which of the two evils you like better – snowy conditions but a temperature around 25- 32F or no snow but extreme cold with mercury refusing to acknowledge the fact that there could be Temperatures on the +ve scale also (meaning a constant -10 to -16F). I choose the former. I am fine with able to see the road thru one tiny corner of my window and yet drive , but can not watch for 4 mintues in mind numbing , life sucking cold , thanking god each day for making thru the 5 minute walk from the parking lot to the office – ALIVE!

International Women's Day

2007-03-08T16:16:00.000-05:00

Here’s wishing all the great and unique women friends I have – a Happy International Women’s ! I have always been a sucker for these kind of ‘Days’ – Valentine, Mother’s day, Children’s day … so on. The idea is that you take time out atleast on this one day – to ponder and do something about the ‘thing’ that the day stands for.

On this day, I would like to celebrate all the great women that I know in my life. Starting with the ‘bestest’ women in my life – my Mother. Her place in my whole life is the topmost and most unique – the great lady who gave birth to me (ya ya my father was also a part of it, but then he did not carry me around for 9 months right?). No matter what happens, I know amma is always there for me. In the most difficult of times, where I was even at war with her, she did not let me go. In her own ways, she always showed her love to me. What I wanted was against her will, she tried to reason, cajole, force me – but in all that she never turned away from me. Some of my most happiest moments in life have been spent with her. All those rides on our two wheeler – initially it was her at the front and then, very soon, it was me in front and has always been that way – chatting away nineteen to dozen; her plaiting my hair in the morning rush – while I spoke non-stop about this and that, much to my father’s annoyance at not being able to read the newspaper in peace; the evening tea times, when I would sit on the little foot stool near the spare gas in the kitchen and re-account all the happenings at work, pour out my frustrations as she poured a hot glass of the best tea and made a muru muru dosa for me; those fun-filled, adrenaline pumping hours of ‘porukkal’ in the streets of T.Nagar; the typical women-women talk about colors of sarees, jewellery, local family gossip; all her energy boosting talks each time I felt low and depressed…. and so much more. I miss amma so much.

The woman that I admire second in life is my Patti (Mom’s mom). Almost reaching 90, she is an epic by herself. The mother of 9 kids – she has seen and borne so much in life. She is bed-ridden and needs help with every single activity, but whenever you go to meet her you will see her with this big broad smile on her face. She will ask about every single thing about your life. There are 3 generations after her that are alive today and she remembers everything about each of those people. She knows how long it takes me to go to office, who my colleagues are – even met a few of my colleagues in India, how big my apartment is, which area in Mumbai my cousin lives, what is the name of her kamwali bai – all this just sitting on that bed in one dingy room in Adambakkam. It is always a pleasure to talk to her – someone who genuinely cares about you. If you tell her about something you are going to do , say, 3 months later and go and meet her after that – you can be sure that she will ask you about the thing that you were supposed to do. Rarely do you find somebody who is interested in others than always talking about themselves. I miss you Patti – wish there was something more I could do to ease your pains.

And then there are scores of wonderful women I have met in life – my Friends. Each one unique in herself, each one has been or is a significant part in my life, each one with many admirable qualities and each one from whom I have learnt a lot.

So, here’s an ode to all of the womanhood – for without you there would be no ‘Life’ and no meaning in it.

My Tastes ...

2007-03-05T13:49:00.000-05:00

I was blog hopping on Friday and found this on a blog, so decided to put in my choices too.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

What was I busy with ..?

2007-03-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

So, as promised in my last post - I am unveiling the activity that I was busy with for the past 3 weeks or so.

TADA .... I was making this chain - it is made by weaving beads together.

The Ladies in my office learnt to make various adornments out of beads quite a while ago. When about 6 months ago, my Boss showed me a chain she had made, I was so impressed and asked her to teach me. She did - and the result is this!

I feel so happy at having done this. I am not a very 'arty' person. In fact I was very clumsy at this initial effort - could not put the thread through the eye of the needle, my hands would slip while pulling the thread out of a weave, I would cut the ends of the knot too close and the whole pattern would unravel and so on. But patience made me stick on and finish this piece. It is a gift for folks back at home. So. Shhhh... don't tell them about this. It is a surprise!

This chain would probably be available for a thousand rupees or so in India, but I realised there is so much pleasure and joy in making one and pride in wearing it with the thought that ' Yes! I made it on my own!'.

Jihva of the Month – Potato

2007-03-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

I have been quite silent here for a while. Have been a bit busy – at work and otherwise (see next post), and also not in the mood to write anything new – because everytime I opened my blog, I would see the post of Bertie and feel low. I have a bad news to share – we lost our Bertie on 21st of Feb, 2007. We cared for it well, changed its water often, never forgot to give its meal – and yet! A freak accident of nature I guess. I don’t want to dwell much on it. It was my first ever pet in life and losing it like this in just 3 and half weeks after we brought it home is indeed painful.

I saw the new Jihva event on Indira’s site and that cheered me up. It is based on one of the most favorite vegetable all over the world – Potato. There is probably no cuisine that does not include this very staple food item. It is one of the simplest vegetables and its taste appeals to all alike – kids or grown-ups. It is one of the most wonderful of vegetables that can be cooked in a million varieties. If nothing, just boil it with a little salt and it is just as tasty! C, my American colleague, once remarked in one of the team lunches – how many Americans just hated vegetables, but the only one that they really can have is Potato. By the Way, is it Pot(A)to as in ‘Apple’ or Pot(A)to as in ‘gAme’? Remember the song ‘I say Potato, you say Potato’ from ‘When Harry Met Sally’? P, an ex-colleague, prided about knowing atleast about 80 dishes to make which this 4th largest fresh produce in the world, also called ‘Apple of the Earth’ in more than 3 languages.

Okay, over to the dish! When I first saw the Jihva event – I began to run in my mind all the dishes that I would like to post – there were numerous! Finally I choose one, which I started to make recently, after having taste it in a friend M’s place. Clearly it has become one of our favorites.

Aloo – Capscicum Subzi.
Well, there can be really many ways to make this one dish itself, this is one of the many.

Ingredients
1 Big Capsicum
1 Big Potato
1 Medium sized Onion
1 Tsp Corriander Powder
½ Tsp Jeera Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
Salt to Taste
Mustard Seeds, Urad Dhal seeds – for Tempering.
Oil – to cook

How to Make?

Slice all the 3 Vegetables into very thin slices. In a Wok, heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the Urad dhal. When the seeds start to turn brown, add the onions and sauté. When the onions turn translucent, add the capsicums, potatoes and the 3 masala powders. Cook on low to medium heat with constant stirring. Ensure that the pieces don’t get burnt. In about 15 minutes, the Capsicum and potato pieces will be nicely coated with the masala and will be moderately cooked. Sprinkle a little water and add Salt. Cover the Wok and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Switch off the gas and open the lid to let a wonderful smell into the Kitchen. Tada! Your dish is ready!

PS. This is dedication to a friend A - who would teasingly call me Potato Face(which I hate - becuase my face is indeed round like a Potato and I always wanted an oval face).

Valentine Day

2007-02-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine Day to all my friends! The traditional day where lovers express their love – as Wiki puts it.

I love this ‘love’ly day. As Usha puts it , anything that adds happiness to our joy is always a Welcome. This is also how I feel about this day! That one special day etched on the calendar, where you take off time to tell every loved one just how much you love them. I feel that it is not necessary that you should wish only that one special person in your life this day, but just anybody that you ‘love’ – your parents, friends, siblings, neighbour (???).
But to be spending the day with your ‘special person’ is indeed the biggest ‘special’ of this day!

As a kid, Val’s day did not mean anything at all. My parents were not of the romantic sort to wish each other on these ‘days’ – or probably they were even not aware of it. It all started as I stepped into my late teens – with stores like Halmark and Archies coming into prominence and putting up big posters around the city. Those were times when we would shop for small gifts – in the limited allowances given to us – for cards to be given to our dearest friends.

This was a BIG day in college. When I was in 1st of Engineering, I vaguely remember somebody telling me of it being a ‘Rose Queen’ day – the girl receiving the maximum number of roses from boys would be crowned the ‘Rose Queen’ – oh! I imagined it being celebrated in the Audi and the girl being crowned and all that – alas! Nothing of that sort happened – my romantic teen heart was disappointed (ha ha). This day was even fun in the 2nd year – when a bunch of us would sit near the entrance and tease all those girls who had ‘boy friends’ and all those girls who would get ‘calls from guys for roses’, and then would sit speculating who is the most prettiest girl , who would get most of the calls and sorts.

I still remember the Valentine day of 2000, it was just before our final exams, so the celebrations in the girls of our year was kind-a restricted. My best friend then L, the sort who gets tensed before exams, was so upset that the day had to be just before exams and grudgingly gave half an hour time out of her busy schedule to meet her boy friend S. About 5 of us crowded at the window of her room and boo-ed loudly when S came to meet her, embarrassing them! He was such a cutie –gave her a big bunch of balloons and her favorite – chicken dish. Oh! Those mushy times of college!

The Val day of 2000 was something special to me too. I innocently wished this best friend of mine a happy val’s day, while parting at the hostel gate (we had met each other ‘accidentally’ at the bank). Little did I know that 8 days later we would realize that it was not just friendship but love that we felt for each other! To this day, the Mr. pulls my leg saying that I was the one who lured him into the chakravyooh of love, by wishing him on Val’s day! Ever since that year, the importance of Valentine day has increased 100 fold in my life. Since then every year, the Mr. has surprised me with a special surprise gift on this day. This time, it was a long stemmed rose and a special edition of ‘Scrabble’ – something that I wanted to buy since a long time. It was utterly sweet of him to remember this and bring it as a surprise for me. It is not in vain that my friends say I am lucky to have such a wonderful spouse.

As the pressure of grown-up life increases and weighs upon us, we tend to forget these small pleasures of life – taking time off to celebrate one day for Love. Some people argue saying – Oh! I love my wife/husband every day, what is so special of this one day. Oh! We are way past that time of giving surprise gifts and celebrating days. For those, I would say – just for fun’s sake try taking your spouse out for a nice dinner/lunch, get him/her a rose or a their favorite drink/food item or just something small that they love in daily life and just see the surprised happiness on their faces and then you will know why this day is celebrated.

Pretty Ms M in office distributed Hershley's Kisses and cute little valentine cards to everybody in the department. It was terribly sweet of her to do so. Upstairs near the lunch room, they are selling heart shaped cakes and you can get your message iced on it. Ms Mo is rushing through her work today, so she can go home early to spend time with her Hubby dear. Ms C's husband got lucky - he got to come to visit her at office on an official work - thereby having a romantic Valentine lunch. Umm.. the day definitely seems to be "love"ly!

Bertie

2007-02-12T15:40:00.000-05:00

We added a new little member to our family two weeks ago – Meet Mr. Bertie (named by the Mr. after his all time favorite character Bertram Wooster from the PGW Series) – our goldfish.

After about three to four visits to three to four pet shops, I gave into the Mr.’s insistence and we bought Bertie home on 3rd February. And I must say, I am really happy that we made that decision.

When we started the topic of having pets at home, the Mr. is one great animal love and I am very inclined to think quite the opposite, I was not so very fine – until I saw the little parakeets in Meijer (the local grocery store – which somehow seems to have everything under the sun inside it – just like most grocery stores in the US do – food, household items, pharmacy, beauty products, clothes, furniture … whew! I am exhausted even naming them). I was lured into the trap that the Mr. so cleverly laid. But after talks to 2-3 pet shop folks, we were discouraged – as keeping birds takes quite a lot of effort and commitment. The temperature of the house has to be constantly maintained at 65F, and with the Michigan winter causing mercury to dance between 0F and 7F for the past 1 week, that posed to be a big issue – especially when both of us were at work. My good intentions dropped an inch lower when the big hunk there, who owns about 17 pets – some of which include a couple of lizards (hello! Did you ever hear of anybody loving those yucky looking creatures that I so dreaded, that I would refused to go to the toilet/bathroom as a kid, fearing the one tiny one sticking on the very corner of the roof.) - showed us the minimum size of the cage that we needed to have to own the minimum number of birds that we could have (which is Two) – it was half the width of my Kitchen slab – my bedroom would shrink to 1/4th of its size if I kept the cage there. And added to that was the pain of finding somebody who would be willing to take this load into their place for 3 weeks when we were gone to India (a trip is in the offing). So the wings of our dreams were clipped.

Then the focus of the Mr.’s keen eyes (which can never find a single item lying just in front of his eyes) landed on the gleaming gold flitting about in its water haven. I tried arguing with him a lot – What is the use of a fish that will remain in one corner of the room and will not even interact with us. We will get bored with it in 3 days – and so on. But his “puppy look” finally sealed the result of the discussion and one very proud and smug Mr. walked back to the apartment holding his precious aureate Bertie on a very cold Saturday.

And I was wrong – we have never been bored with our little fellow. There he sits on the TV Stand, swimming crazily in his bowl. Every Morning we wake up, the 1st thing the Mr. rushes to do is wish Bertie a very good morning before rushing to the toilet. Fish, somebody told me, are not very social animals – meaning they can live alone and really don’t respond much to human company. Either I was misinformed or the said person was wrong. In these two weeks, I can say that our company does matter to Bertie. If neither of us is around, he swims lazily or sits in one corner of the bowl eating and spitting out gravel. But the moment we put on the TV and are in the front room, he swims like crazy and does various antics. When I go and tap the bowl, he comes closer to where I am – opening and shutting his mouth as if talking to me.

It is very soothing to just look at Bertie, at the end of a long and boring/buzy day at work. He fills our house with peace, just with his presence.

An Ode to Chai Time

2007-01-31T16:08:00.001-05:00

The amount of pleasure that can be derived from “small” things in life are the “biggest” achievements of one’s life. I sincerely believe that it is the more “small” non-consequential happiness you fill your daily life with – the more fuller a life you have lived. The definition of “small” is upto the individual.

One such “small” thing that has been a part of our life for about a year now is our – Chai Time. The Mr. and I religiously have this “Chai Time” 10 minutes in the morning and about 30-40 minutes in the evening. The Morning “Chai Time” is more like a pick-me-up event where we start with a crib “Why does Morning always have to follow the night? Why can’t it be night after night?” rubbing out the sleep in our eyes and Every day while in office, we long for the clock to strike “Time to go home” , so that we can rush back home and spend the best moment of the day, savoring the pleasure of each other’s company + tea + the latest DVD that we got from the library – interposed with tidbits from the day at work, gossips, frustrations and happy events. The ‘Snack King’ – the Mr. – spices up the these moments with his wonderful snacks – pani puri, chaat, chevada, Mudi-chana-choor(also called Bhel puri), pakodis ….. He is the quickest snack maker I have ever seen. Even before the water for tea gets to boil he is done with the most tastiest and crunchy snack. Of course, none of those would taste half as good without my special “Kadak” chai. We would get all our goodies to the table in front of the TV, settle comfyly in the soft couch, and inaugurate the best time of the day by dipping our respective biscuits (the Mr.’s changes every fortnight – from ‘Milk bikis’ to ‘Good Day’ to ‘Rusk’ to ‘Sunfeast’ before starting another cycle ; I am true and loyal to only one biscuit – “Marie”) in the hot and piping tea. As I stretch out my legs, while sipping the refreshing concoction, occasionally thrilling my palate with a spoonful of the Mr.’s preparations and watching an episode of “Friends” – I think – “This is Life! No matter how bad my day at work has been or no matter how bleak my career looks or no matter how many personal issues I have, I am thankful to God for this moment in my life. I ask for nothing but continuity of this ritual!”.

I am not a poet; so this is my ode to my “Chai Time” with my bestest friend – the Mr.! My Pre-valentine gift from the Mr. – this tiny play china tea set – adorns one small, warm corner of my “show-shelf” aka showcase.

"Hot" Blog

2007-01-30T16:19:00.000-05:00

The Year 2006 was a good “Blog” year for me. I made some really nice Blog friends – one of whom –Shobha- is now also a personal friend. She gave me a recipe of a dish that was a total hit with all her friends – I tried it out over the weekend and it was indeed a knockout one! So, with her permission I thought I would share it on my blog. Bisi Bele Baath.

My very first recollections of this dish go back to 16 years ago. There was a new shop that had opened in the Dwaraka Nagar signal. Those were times when Appa, Amma and me would eat out almost every Saturday – the hotel industry was in its infancy in Vizag and the quality of dishes were truly good. We were delighted with the bisi bele baath that was served in this new hotel – a small but clean place. The dish in itself was delightfully prepared , garnished with cashews and soaked in ghee; and to add to it were the best potato chips that I had ever had. We were addicts of this place for a long time and then suddenly it closed. Our Palates were severely disappointed. But there was hope in the far horizon. We bought an electric rice cooker and along with that came our Maseeha – the cook book which contained the recipe for this wondrous sambhar-rice! And lo – re-started the wonderful Sunday lunches of “hot” bele baath!

One day while ambling thru the aisles of ‘Aditya’ , I picked up the MTR bisi-bele-baath mix. And as usual the Mr. liked the meal I prepared whereas I could not really relish the sweety taste of the masala and swore that I will never make it again, till Shobha’s mail came. So, the weekend that flew by saw me buying the necessary ingredients and making the dish. Even the Mr. who had swore not to have lunch – a stomach ache from the previous day’s dinner of fiery Thai fried rice – could not resist taking a cup of the delicious dish!

So here goes – in Shobha’s own words –

Ingredients

Rice – 1 Cup
Toor Dhaal – 1 Cup
Veggies (Potato , brinjal, peas, carrot , beans, capsicum, drumstick … ) all minced well – 2 cups.
Tamrind – key size – boil it and take out the juice.
Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoong
Hing – to taste
Salt – to taste
Ghee / Oil

For Masala

Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Red Chillies - around 8 to 9 – according to spice needed.
Coconut – 1/2 cup
Poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon sticks - 1 or 2 (depending on how well you like / hate the cinnamon smell)
Cardamom - around 4 pods
Cloves - 6 to 8

How to?

Roast all the ingredients for the masala and grind them into a wet paste.
Cook the Dhaal and Rice together.

In a Pot take the tamarind juice salt & turmeric powder and bring to a boil. Simultaneously - in a pan, add ghee & put some mustard seeds and curry leaves. When they splutter, add the veggies saute them & add the contents to the tamarind water. When the veggies get boiled & when the tamarind juice gets thicker, add the wet-paste mixture and mix. At this point the mixture will appear thick like sambhar.

And then add the cooked rice-dhaal to the pot. Add 1 to 2 tsp of ghee. Simmer and allow the rice-dhaal to get fully soaked in the sambar-kind-of-thing.

Garnish with cashews lightly roasted in ghee.

So, is your mouth watering already! Even as I write this mine is – guess it is time for my tea

I am Back ...

2007-01-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

Okay! Enough of postponing writing a blog – I told myself today Morning!

The New Year is only 25 days old and I have already broken one of my resolutions – being more regular in writing my blog. I had resolved this year that I would try to find out if I have a “creative me” and make her wake up more often; and if I did not find one – try and develop one!

So, where I have been? Kinda busy – sounds a nice way of explaining the break; but that is not entirely true – I have been plain lazy also in betweens. We shifted apartments as the new year dawned – that way I got to leave all the ‘old dirt’ literally behind me. I liked our new place – it is a single bedroom (the previous one was 2 bedroom) and seems quite spacious. In 4 hours of shifting the Mr. drove 42 nails in the house and magically set up all the decorative items. The best part of the new place is “GAS Cooking”!!!
Well, for all those friends, not in the USA – please don’t think I have gone mad to be pleased about “Gas” for cooking. Because in the US of A, getting gas cooking in your apartment is nothing less than a blessing. I am posting some pictures of our house here.

Finally, I got to satisfy my religious desires two weeks ago with a long pending trip to the “Tirupathi of USA” – Pittsburgh temple. It was a long 6 hour drive from our place – the Mr. and me took turns to enjoy the smoooooth Ohio Turnpike – for folks who drive on the broken and hardly existing roads of Detroit – driving on this newly laid(I think so), extremely smooth and silky road in the state of Ohio is like wearing a silk shirt! One word of Caution – if you are driving via Ohio to Pittsburgh – please take a food break before you leave the state of Ohio, because once you get into Pennsylvania State till you reach Pittsburgh (which is about an hour’s drive) you do not have any Food exits at all.
We visited the temple twice – Saturday evening (as soon as we arrived in Pittsburgh) and then again on Sunday morning to attend the very beautiful Suprabatham sevai – enough dharshanam to last for a year maybe.

What amazed me most was that just like Thirupathi this temple also has been built on a steep hill – well not as high as the 7 hills of Thirupathi but definitely on a one small hill. If you are tad too fast you will miss the discreet and conspicuous left turn that leads to the temple. Narrow winding paths lead up to this small yet very beautiful temple. I have visited two other “big” temples here in the US – one in NJ and one in California, so I really had great expectations for Pittsburgh and was a bit let-down to see that it was much smaller than the other. There are very less idols also inside. But it was the sheer beauty and exact resemblance to his counterpart in India, of Venkatachalapathi that held me in awe. I am thinking that since it was the one of the very first temples to be built in this Alien land it is so famous. The best part of visiting any temple in the US is the unlimited amount of time you get to stand just few feet away from the main deity. Visuals of huge monsters yelling “Jarangadi” in Thirupathi and “Veru Veru” in Guruvayoor came into my mind. Every time I visited these places I have complained that I could not even see the deity from top to bottom. But this time, I had no complains for I stood almost 20 mins just 2 feet away from the Lord!

The Mr.’s favorite thing in the trip was the Temple’s food. That was probably the best Prasad I have ever had. Tasty and hot Pongal, sambhar rice, pulihara and curd rice and the sweet boondi, which I wished were served as Ladoos instead.

We choose the wrong weekend for a trip – it was raining all through. After having lost our way in an attempt to reach the Pittsburgh downtown, we gave up all our photography dreams and ambled back to the cosy confines of our hotel – which shockingly had 3 Indian channels! I must say – I was bowled over with surprise to see Star TV, Vijay TV and ETV on the 27 inch idiot box in Days Inn. Globalization is definitely on its way!

Here is one of the two pictures that we clicked in the whole 2 day trip.

The next day was Pongal and since it was Martin Luther King’s day – I got a day off. While the Mr. went to office, I behaved like a typical house-wife and made Chakara pongal and b’fast for him and saw him off at the door with the apron round my waistJ. Here is some pongal that I offered as naivedyam.

So, there is a recap of what I have been doing for a while now. I had been wanting to write this since a long, the longer i postponed the more hesitant I felt to write it all down. But then I somehow keyed it all in. Hopefully I will continue blogging often from now on.

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T22:38:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends and fellow bloggers,

Wish you all a wonderful and happy new Year! May all your dreams come true and you be blessed with all the happiness in the world.

Holiday Photos ...

2006-12-29T17:21:00.000-05:00

Finally the lazy me is publishing the promised photos. Well, there are not exactly as many as I would wish. Especially after the Mr. scared me with "Invasion of privacy" being considered too seriously in the USA , I did not want to get into trouble just for a couple of photos. It was mostly houses that were beautifully decorated, and the Mr. was too lazy to drive down to a couple of the downtowns. After many persuasive talks(by me), 2 heroes(ahem 1 was a heroine) all covered up, braving the cold winds and sub-zero temperature went, on one dark shining night, to take these photographs. So here goes ...

This is the house round the corner from our apt complex. It is a beautiful pink house, that the Mr. and me have always liked.

This is the place that we jokingly called "Auburn hills downtown" because of its cobbled streets. Well, the sign-post in between is not exactly "beautiful" but I could not avoid it.

Now this is an interesting snap. When shot at very low shutter speed, the passing cars showed up thus - yup! those streaks are those made from the lights on the passing cars. Would seem as if the cars were zooming past at about 140 MPH right, but there were only ambling at 25 MPH.

This is my favorite snap . We had taken a snap at the same spot 7 months ago in Spring. Just see the difference.

And finally, the Xmas tree set in the Auburn Hills "Downtown". Well for some reason the mid section was "bare" that day.

Entry for Jhiva: Mangai Kootan

2006-12-29T13:28:00.000-05:00

The holidays are almost coming to an end, and so is the year. But none of my plans advanced even so much as a millimeter - Gosh! I do so hate myself. The only good thing about this week was watching old episodes of "Friends". We got the 1st season and the 10th season from the library - and it was probably the bestest thing ever - to sit with the Mr. and laugh till our sides split - watching the spontaneous friends ... Awww... why am I not one of the "Friends"?

About the title of the blog, Well I happened to "food-browsing" - when I found that there is going to be a new Jhiva event- and this time it is one of my favorite food ingredients - Coconut. Being born in a palakkad based family, I guess it is really difficult to have grown without having to eat this delicious "fruit"?? every day in some form or the other. In fact it was only after marriage, and due to the stubborn insistent of the "cholestrol" conscious hubby, that I have reduced the usage. But when I saw the blog on Jhiva - for coconut , I could not resist and so decided to blog on one of my most favorite "liquid" dishes - Manga kootaan or Manga kootu.

My mom-in-law makes it with ripe mangoes, but amma would always choose the most sour mangoes for it - only because I love sour mangoes , much to appa's disgust. So, here goes the sour and tangy dish...

Ingredients

1 Big mango - cut into uneven pieces (the uneven pieces give it a nice look )
1 Cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup curd
4-5 green chillies
1 tbsp Jeera

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder

Pinch of red chilli powder
Curry leaves

Mustard and Methi seeds for tempering.

How to cook?

Boil the mango pieces in little water and a pinch of red chillies (Amma - kai kki konjam karam pidikarathukku - for the pieces to get some karam). Grind the coconut, chillies and jeera into a thick paste. Once the mango pieces are slightly soft, add the coconut paste, salt and turmeric to it and bring it all to a boil. Once the mixture starts to boil, add the curry leaves and reduce the heat. Beat the curds with very little water and add it to the warm mixture - make sure the heat is at "Low" else the curd will break into small lumps. In a while a small froth will start to form on the top - switch off the gas. In a small utensil heat oil, add mustard seeds - when the seeds start to splutter add methi seeds (this gives a very good fragrance and taste to the kootan). Add this tempering to the kootan and there you have - one of the best dishes in the world :).

One of the best meals is - Hot rice, ghee, manga kootan and nice deep friend kathrikai (brinjals)... Yummy - my mouth is already watering. Oh! did i forget to mention papadam?

I became quite popular among the bachelor circles of the Mr.'s Friends due to this tasty dish. It was indeed nice to see one big bowl full of manga kootan getting emptied within seconds at one of the lunches at our place. But no matter how well it turned out, it was and will never be half as wonderful as my darling amma makes it.

Holiday Season begins ...

2006-12-22T13:54:00.000-05:00

I don’t want to work . Today is the last working day of 2006 for me. For about a week now there has been practically nothing going on in the work front. The holiday season began pretty early here – almost a week before xmas. All around you see beautifully wrapped gifts, tied up with pretty bows made out of shining paper, candies & cakes, people wearing colorful holiday patterned sweatshirts. All of this week I feel I have been only eating and eating in office holiday lunches – some sponsored and some BYOL (buy your own lunch), each colleagues taking turns to bring in Christmas cookies and today to end it all was the biiiig tri-department lunch. The Dessert section was indeed yummy –aleast 5 varieties of cheesecakes, a huge strawberry cake, a monstrous carrot cake and tons of Belgian chocolates. Boy ! I think my new year resolution is staring right at my face – go to the fitness center every day !!!

I really like the holiday season here. All around the place you feel cheer. Everybody just seems to be so happy – nice big smiles on their faces – wishing people you know and don’t know alike – and of course no work J… Guess working in the Auto industry has this one big advantage of a week’s shut down! I love seeing big boxes packed with glittering paper lying all around, and of course love getting gifts too. One of the ladies in my department “J” made beautiful beaded necklaces for all the other ladies – you would probably pay atleast 100$ of them if they were every available in the market.

The streets are decked to their best. It is dark almost anytime I try to leave home – be it as early as 4:30 or as late as 8:00 and in the night the glittering lights on trees are such a wonder to look at. I have been pestering the Mr. to get his snow boots and coats and move his lazy bum to come out and take some good pictures – but he has avoided it so far. Hopefully if I can make him do it this weekend, I will post them here. People take so much care to decorate their gardens with lights and beautiful blowups. I am told that the malls are also mightily decorated – I must go and catch some of the beauty before it is lost.

Well then again round the next corner (weekend) is that well-known time of the year – to look back and see what you have achieved, what you have not, what went right and wrong, what was happy and sad in the days bygone – and make up resolutions just to be broken the 2nd day of the year J…

Happy Holidays folks!

PS . This picture above is from Google – the best invention ever made by man (as I feel). Have you noticed how google adorns itself on occasions? I always have been amazed by the imagination behind these logos. If you have some time – you can drop a visit

Doctors...

2006-12-12T17:35:00.001-05:00

Hmm… Quite some time since I posted anything here. Was Quite caught up with some work – for once in life huh ? And then there was this really stupid exam that was mandatory as per the new rules laid down by the ‘breadgiver’ – so after almost 6 years I did a “One-day” batting again! And was I glad to manage to scrape thru it J(kudos my brave gal – Pat on my back). Wonder how my father ever manages to write all those exams for insurance even at this age. He really is a “superman” I say!

I was very upset today morning. Amma’s BP shot up recently and she has been having problems with head heaviness, feverishness and all. So, she decided to get a check-up done with Dr. X , who is the doctor that appa regularly does his check up with. Now this X is a very renowned doctor and his diagnosis is very much respected and appreciated. All is well – but just as everything in nature, he has a very bad aspect to him. He does not talk much, will not respond to your questions, not give you any assurances. It is really frustrating – you visit him with a problem – he listens to all you have to say, write down a prescription and ask you to visit him again in some days. Won’t say if your current problem is due to XYZ illness, it will go away in so and so days, nothing of that sort.

I feel more than anything a Doctor has to be compassionate, try to boost the morale of the patient who is so depressed already with his physical problem, give him the right facts and try to re-assure him, instead of just scribbling a prescription and asking him to leave. No doubt his prescription works, but where is that comfort feeling of I-visited-the-doctor-and-he-made-it-all-fine. Accepted that in a day probably he sees about 200-300 patients, but did he did take the profession conscious of this fact right? In my opinion, a doctor has to be as good as empathizing and making the patient “Feel” better as good as he should be in his medicinal abilities. Remember “Munnabhai MBBS” ‘s jadoo ki chappi.

The Personal touch is what is missing. My experience with a doctor here makes me shudder to even think of visiting one. After two visits to him , he can hardly even recognize me and makes me go through my entire case twice before he can even recollect what it is that I came to get cured of? How can I even trust this person to give me the correct medicine?

Birthday Memories

2006-12-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

One day in the week that went by was truly blessed – because “I” celebrated my Birthday. GOSH! I am such a humble person hee hee.

My birthday was made one special day – all because of the Mr., Amma, Appa and all the loving friends who remembered this day and called me/emailed me/orkutted me & last but not at all the least, Jai & his sister(one of our newer acquaintances). The day before, my boss gave me a beautiful set of beaded jewellery that she herself made. The Mr. was an absolute sweet – took me shopping the weekend before and also on “the day”, decorated the “birthday corner” (it got its name when we decorated this corner of our living room on the Mr’s bday) with loads of balloons and baked(with my supervision of course) a carrot cake for me. Jai & his sister, Bindu, surprised us with a cake that evening when they came home for dinner. He had bought candles also (he got less number, as he was unsure how old I was , I felt sooo nice that he thought I was just that young hee hee) and after the cake was cut and we all had our share, he shocked me by applying some of the cream of my face – took me back to those days in college! I had not had this “treatment” on my bday since what 7 years? Guess it pays to have somebody young around at times! Over dinner, the topic was all about our college, how the Mr. & I met – the journey to our marriage – which stirred up the old precious memories and long after they had gone, the Mr. & I kept talking of those good old days. 2 days after the D-day when I opened my mail-box to find a gift from ex-colleague, the Mr. remarked in “J” – “Oh! Onnodu bday innum mudiyaliya” (Is your bday still not over?). 3 days later when I came to office, another colleague gifted me a beautiful chain and hand made pendant – when I went home, the look on the Mr.’s face was priceless – “How come the entire world keeps giving gifts and wishing you even after your bday is over?” The color of the week was “Green”

Days after the incident, the fond memories of birthdays in college & before keep coming back to me – so I thought I would jot (ahem! Type) some of them down.

Amma tells me that we had a birthday party for me when I was about 3 or 4, but I can hardly recall this party. That was probably the only birthday in my childhood (school days) when they had got a cake for my birthday. In school days, the most special thing about birthdays was being able to wear “civil dress” to school. I would hate it if my birthday came on a holiday. Then later I devised a new trick – we would celebrate two birthdays – the actual date & the “Nakshatram” (the day on which my star comes in the calendar of that year). So, I later start “choosing” the day I want to celebrate my birthday in school, based on how many of my favorite classes feel on my ‘date’ or ‘star’ birthday. I always liked Friday in school (don’t remember why I did so), so always eagerly hoped that one of the two dates was a Friday.

There was a “ritual” for bdays in my school. Now, I don’t recall if it was the same in all schools in Vizag or just in ours. I would bring a big bag of toffees (75 or 100 count) (my choice – some that I remember having taken are coconaka, coffee break, éclairs, melody – don’t even know how many of these are still available!) to be distributed to the kids in my class and every teacher who would teach on that day. If I had my class teacher’s session that day, I would stand up in that period, everybody would sing for me and then I would distribute the chocolates. If there was no class teacher’s session, I could do it in any of my favorite class. After distributing to the students in my class, I could take one of my best friend and go around, distributing the chocolates to the teachers in the other sections of the same class, teachers in the staff room and the principal. Now this created problems if you had more than one “Beeeest Friend” and you had to pick just one! Remember those kiddie days when the position of a “Best Friend” was the most zealously guarded and coveted one. As we grew vertically and academically this practice was slowly abandoned, maybe because we became more ‘mature’ and conscious and it was kiddish taking chocs to school or wearing ‘Civil Dress’. In fact most of us stopped even wearing non-uniform dresses on our birthdays. Growing up takes off the charm in small events huh?

From school days there is one birthday that I fondly think of. When I was in 9th class, I had a nice trio of friends – Rajani, Sowjanya and Usha. We were the inseparable back benchers in Class 9 and 10. It was when I was in 9th that my grandparents acceded to my father’s long time request and came to stay with us for a couple of months. That was probably what made this birthday all the more special. It is strange how elderly people manage to communicate even when they have a language barrier. My Patti did not know a word of Telugu or English and my friends did not know Tamil, but by the time they left she could tell us almost all about their background! I still remember the white plastic plates (they had been recently purchased) – the ones with partitions for placing different food in each portion, the laddoos that amma had made and the scent of the single rose that Sowji had given me! I would give anything to relive that 1 evening of my life.

In intermediate (ie 11th and 12th), Science students were so busy and lost in their own world of books, that in any college you could distinctly identify them. It was told that if any student had rough, unkempt hair, and oil face and crumpled dress – it was sure to be a science student ; and all students wearing make up , modern dresses, smart shoes were Commerce students! Birthdays were hardly celebrated then. There was one birthday I can recall – Smitha’s. We had the privilege of enjoying this, because it came appropriately after we all had given all sorts of entrance exams and before the results were announced – the right time when we were all in uplifted moods. It was probably the start of the many celebrations we had in the recently opened “Hot Breads” in Siripuram Junction. It became quite a landmark for teenagers for a long time after. 7 of us that day – all decked up well, girlish giggles at seeing some guys that one of us knew approach us, wild teasings and loud conversations.

The wildest of birthday parties I have been to were in the 4 years of engineering hostel. We would celebrate the birthdays at the stroke of 12 with lots of gusto. Money was limited, so the cake was small and each one got only small pieces, but they tasted a whole lot better than huge chunks of cake. Maybe it was the atmosphere and the company. In our room, we always made it a point to decorate the room for the birthday gal. Small gifts were exchanged, the cream from the cake was adorned on the birthday baby’s face, snaps were clicked, the food disappeared seconds after the clock struck 12 and within no time the room was cleared for the dance floor! We would dance to good music for a long time before retiring to sleep. I have loads of snaps of these birthday parties at home and each time I look at them, there rushes through me a warm feeling of mushy memories. One birthday stands out in my memory – for which Lalitha (my room mate) and I did some really crazy and whacky. Two of the girls had their birthdays in the month of May and so we never got to celebrate those (May was off for College). So, in the Final year, we decided to celebrate “Half Birthday” for them in the month of November. For some reason, we wanted to be “different” and so Lalli and me bought weird gifts for them – 2 tender coconuts, 2 Mangoes, 2 Apples and some other stupid eatable stuff. How we laughed after making those purchases.

Hmm… these are just small incidents in my life, but each one holds a special significance. In each of thee incidents itself, I have forgotten the minor details. I fear that someday, with age, I will forget all these incidents and will no longer have the chance to give that half-muse smile thinking of these. The lovely girl in “Rebecca” remarks : “If only memories could be bottled like perfumes and I could remove the stopper to smell them whenever I want to”. Wish this could happen, the moment I smelt the perfume , I could go back into the memory ; or better still wish I had Dumbledore’s Pensieve!

12 Angry Men

2006-11-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

This is what I think I am best at writing – reviews of movies that I have watched. After coming to the US of A, this has been “THE Thing” that we had been doing most of the time. Read up about old movies on the imdb website and place holds for those movies in the public library and spend all free tea-times, lunch/dinner times and weekends watching these movies.

One movie that I accidentally placed hold for was “12 Angry Men”. We were in a comedy spree watching Jack Lemmon’s movies and somehow I misread that this movie featured Jack Lemmon. But, after watching this movie I felt that I was so lucky to have made a “mistake” else we would never have watched this absolutely superb and gripping classic tale.

The whole 1 and 34 minutes of the movie, except for about 3 minutes, has been short in a small, dingy and closed room. The tale begins on a hot and sultry summer evening with the judge requesting the 12 jurors to come up with a unanimous decision based on the proceedings that they had been a part of the past 7 days. The case is about a teen kid of about 18, from the slums beaten, trodden upon and ill-treated all his life, is accused of murdering his tyrant father. All the men come in shuffling into a room, few of them muttering that it should be a quick decision to make. One of the jurors takes up the responsibility of consolidating the decision and suggests that they take a quick vote. The mode of the entire movie sets-in , as 11 men vote the accused “Guilty” and 1 person “Not Guilty”. The other 11 are shocked to find that one of them could even consider the possibility of “Not Guilty”.

Henry Fonda plays the role of this juror who believes that there could be a “Paasibility” (it sounds like this when he keeps repeating the world possibility all thru the movie) that the boy could be “Not Guilty”, with great elegance and absolute conviction. He is not sure if the boy is Guilty and at the same time does not have proof to his innocence, so he requests that the other jurors participate in a discussion by which they can confirm their decision with facts. Reluctantly the others agree and the narration proceeds to show how each single clue presented in the case is analyzed to check its validity. The initial apathy of the jurors changes slowly, as does the audience’s, as each lost point in the trial comes to light in favor of the accused.

What I liked most about the movie is how close it is to real life. The characters of the 12 people are so realistic that you can easily identify yourself or your friends in them. Juror 1 is the calm cool person who acts as a mediator and keeps the group in harmony – a born moderator. Juror 2 is the typical shy type who will give into accepting another person’s opinion instead of standing against a group of bullies to put in his point. Juror 3 is the typical arrogant, loud mouthed person who feels that all he knows is right and that if he pronounces the verdict Guilty it cannot be that others disagree with him. Juror 4 is totally convinced by the facts of the case that prove that the kid is Guilty – he is emotionless and is moved only by the truth of facts. Juror 5 is prejudiced against teen kids because his own turned out to be ungrateful by running off. Juror 6 & 7 are the ‘i-don’t-care-what-is-happening-I-will-just-support-the-majority-group’ type.

The fact that a person’s life is totally dependent on their decision does not sink into the heads of most. After all, they are not related to the person in anyway and he is just one another slum boy, whose race itself is full of murderers and robbers. One or two of them are more concerned about a game ticket that they purchased for the evening or getting home in time for dinner.
The director and script writer have done a great job in bringing these small faucets of characters to light.

I am a sucker for character analysis & suspense, which is why Agatha Christie is one of my favorite writers. For somebody who is like me, and for all others also, this one is a MUST SEE!

Shell

2006-11-27T15:01:00.000-05:00

It is nearly a month since I blogged. We had been to a “Dream” vacation to the happiest place on Earth – Walt Disney World – Orlando & SeaWorld for about a week (3 weeks ago). After coming back from the vacation, instead of feeling rejuvenated, I started feeling depressed, home-sick, dull and whole lot of other negative things. I guess it was as one of my friends rightly put it – “A Person who is back from vacation is the one who needs a vacation the most”. I went into some kind of a stupid shell and hibernation. There were scores of emails to reply to, dozens of calls to return to, zillions of photos to organize and upload for those eagerly waiting loving friends – but the heart was not set in doing any of these.

Then finally I gave into the persistent inquires of my lovely friends as to why I was not blogging! Thanks dear ones – your inquiries made me feel so much wanted. I felt so happy that here are these darling friends who visit this URL often and want to know more of my thoughts, it touched me a lot. And so here I am, re-inspired, about to embark on another journey of keys & html Pages (aka papers and pens) to ramble about happenings around me and what I feel/think of them.

Strangers And "Apne Log"

2006-11-01T14:20:00.000-05:00

He drives the big machine in the corridors of the place where I sit and never fails to give me a broad grin and call out “Happy Monday/Tuesday…” (based on which day of the week it is). I don’t know his name; just know that he is a mechanic working in the same area where I sit. He might be an American, Mexican or some other race – I don’t know. There is another “he”, who waves or slightly nods in acknowledgement when he crosses my place and catches my eye. On Days when I am sad / blue / thinking of something bothersome when one of these two smile/wish me – for a moment there I feel so cheerful. I have heard often and got many forwards that say “A Smile can change the course of day / A Smile is a curved line that sets things straight” – it is in these moments of cheer that I feel all that is so true.

And that sets me thinking – there are zillions of Indians working in this place (in fact at lunch you see such a crowd that you wonder if Americans are at a tourist spot in India) – and atleast 10 people in my area whom I cross almost every single day – but not one of them has ever smiled at me or said so much as a Hello. I always thought that belonging to the same race/religion/state/community gave one a feeling of togetherness. When we lived in Vizag, we would often find so much solace in finding a fellow Tamilian. But, coming to the US of A made me realize that it is not so – or atleast from the experiences I had, or my friends shared with me. Why do Indians run away from fellow Indians in this country? Why are they so wary to even share a small courteous smile or “Good Morning”?

For nearly 90 days, I took the same ferry from Newport across to New York and each day I would see this trio of Indian girls – talking and giggling. I am not a person to go out of the way and start a conversation – I am too terrified to do that. But, after a month or so – I decided to take the bold step (especially after hearing snatches of conversation in Telugu from them) and talked to one of them – that too in Telugu. All I could get out of them was a “Yes” or a “No” – close ended answers that were hinting – “why the hell are you still standing here making a stupid conversation?” I was not asking them for money, nor was I threatening them and neither do I look that bad/dull/boring – then why this cold shouldering? Even the other day, here, I tried smiling at 2 girls who walk past my suite for lunch – and then tried to squeeze out a half baked smile before hastily turning away their eyes.

When we trekked in Smokies, every single American/Chinese family that crossed us said “Hi” and few of them would smile and remark – “That is one wonderful trek”/”Boy! You have a long way ahead”/”Hang on – you are half way up already” – something nice, polite and charming. Then comes this Indian group/Couple and the moment their catch us, they either start furiously searching for something they “lost” on the ground or start admiring non-existent flowers high up the trees. Hey! Mister/Miss – why happened suddenly? Don’t I look familiar? Coming from the same mother land as yours? Will smiling at me reduce your bank balance by 1000$? Oh! I give up! A couple of years ago – on my 1st and 2nd trips to this country – this bothered me a lot – but now I guess even I don’t care!

My day started off well today. This German person, Michael was trying to take out something at a Vending machine, close to where I sit, and his Dollar would not work – so he caught me on the way back to my seat to ask if I could exchange my Dollar for his. While walking to my place, he started a conversation – inquiring which part of India I was from. He told me about his visits to India – where he went and how he liked the place. He is never going to meet me again for all that I know – what was the need to talk to me? He could have just taken his dollar and walked off! But that small conversation with him was nice – just humane.

Before I end off – though I have seen this typical behavior of Indians avoiding unacquainted fellow country men, I was pleasantly surprised one day in the Gym – when this elderly Indian person started a casual conversation with me – of this and that. Maybe things are changing .... for good.

My Time Capsule

2006-10-31T16:17:00.000-05:00

Usha has written a very beautiful article here about a Time Capsule that has been created by Yahoo. It is a memory Engine kind of thing , where you can post almost anything – photos, scraps, blogs – anything at all about anything and everything you think/feel/know – This Time Capsule will close itself in a couple of days and be lost in the sands of time – to be reopened maybe a decade or so later. The assumption is that things might be changed so much by that time, that the artifacts you are going to store in it now will become relics. And I definitely thing it might be absolutely the truth.
The rate at which life in general is growing, some event/custom/ritual that happened 10 years ago is no longer a part of our lives now. Usha asks – if there were to be a time capsule that would open say 100 years later what would you want to put in the time capsule. Here are some of the things that I would like to write down about for generations a century later to be reading about.

I would give a write-up on what a sample work-day would look like, in different professions – a teacher, an engineer, a software professional, an ad agent, a housewife, a musician and so on.
What are the sports that a Nation loves – eg. Indians are crazy about Cricket, Americans rave about baseball or basketball.
A Write-up on each festival that is celebrated in a given state/society and what is done in on a festive day.
Some pictures about the current trend in fashion – short sleeved salwars, churidars, long skirts, tight muscle t-shirts for guys, off shoulder dresses for little kids.
The menu in a traditional wedding. Well, that I must say has changed quite a lot – no longer do you see “Ela chaapadi” in many wedding receptions – it is all ‘metro chapaddu’.
What are the modes of communication – E-mails/ blogs/phones/cell phones?
What are the most sought after places of travel?
The TV serials that people are most crazy about now.
What hobbies are kids mad about?
The most popular food items in the town – Mexican ? Pav Bhaji? Road-side chatt/puchka?
Current views on UFOs, what kind of governments should we have, robots

Oh! I could go on and on … but for now yup! These are what I can think of for now.

My Puja Room

2006-10-27T07:34:00.000-04:00

This is on Usha's request! Some photos of my puja room, with our new idols - Saraswathi and Radha-Krishna.

Autumn in Michigan

2006-10-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

The winds of Change are blowing. The trees are shedding all their apparels (leaves). Fall is “falling” off and winter is slowly creeping in.

The first thing I loved about the US of A when I arrived here for my first visit was – Seasons. If you have ever lived in Chennai, you would know of only one season – Summer, though you would read in your text books that there are 5 seasons. It is in this country that I could see the varied differences in these 5 seasons – spring, summer, Monsoon, Fall/Autumn and winter. The two seasons I love most are Spring and Fall.

This Fall Season we decided to put our big $$ investment to some use – our Nikon digital camera (for which we spent quite a buck). When I researched on the best places to visit in USA for Fall colors, I found that almost all of them were very far off from where we stayed, and we could not afford to “fly” at this time. So, we decided to drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan state to visit the Tahquamenon Falls.

After some rounds of “Are you interested/will they join us”, finally the participants of this ‘Program’ were decided – it was just two families – ours and Monica-Prasad.

So, on Friday(10/6) we started from here in their Camry(this was the deciding nail in the coffin to buy a camry). About 5 hours of masti filled journey ensued. This was the first time we were going out with them and were really surprised to find just how easily the two of us couples gelled well. Probably since we were in the same age group, faced similar issues during marriage and worked in similar kind of environments – we had plenty of things in common, to discuss, debate, laugh over. The last 100 miles was ruled by the boys’ best topic of discussion – how much their wives trouble them!

We stayed over at Mackinac city. It was 11 by the time we reached our motel and we were pretty tired already, but still we decided to go and see the Mackinac Bridge which we knew was decorated with lights by night. And were we glad that we made that trip. See these photos – what do you say?

After a scrumptious breakfast of golden waffles with maple syrup, boiled eggs, toast, pastries and orange juice we started off for the falls. The breakfast was provided complimentary by the hotel. There was an elderly lady making waffles for everybody and helping out in getting things that got over or anything else we needed. And she was making cheerful conversation with about anybody in the room. I was thinking – for something that was given free, she was doing such a great job. There are places you go where you pay out of your pocket and still hardly get a smile out of the people who serve you.

There are two falls in the Tahquamenon state park – the lower falls and the upper falls, separated only by 4 miles on road. The Tahquamenon state park itself is about 2 hours from the Mackinac City. We were forced to stop on the way to admire the beautiful colors on the trees, golden yellows, bright oranges, and glowing reds. After a while my jaw ached from shouting “Oohs and Aahs”! The Lower falls is a very small fall and can be viewed from a far off distance. One can hike for about an hour to reach to a point that is nearest to the falls (we did not do it). We Monkeyed around the place for a while clicking snaps. The best part of going with another couple on a trip is that you get somebody who can click snaps of both the partners together. This was something which we never had in our earlier trips – so all snaps would either have the Mr. or me, and very few that we were lucky enough to get people to click one of both of us would have either one of hands cut of, or trunks chopped and so on. The upper falls were more interesting and magnificent than the lower falls. It is more like a miniature version of Niagara only that it is pretty dirty. The local guy there explained that dark murky wood color of water was because of the dilution of the pigments of the fallen leaves. There was so much foam coming out of the water. This place is also one of the most famous fishing spots for whitewater fish.

After spending some leisure time there, and having a nearly-good (for vegetarians getting good food in typical American spots is kinda difficult) lunch we left this place and rushed to make it to the “Pictured Rocks” cruise about 2 hours from Tahquamenon – we just had about 2 and half hours in hand.

The “Pictured Rocks” cruise is a 2 hour 20 mins cruise on Lake Superior that takes one around rocks that have been shaped, scrapped and deformed by nature. There are huge caverns scooped off the sides of huge cliffs containing deposits of various minerals causing the walls to glisten with different shades. Some natural formations of the rocks are very beautiful to watch like one shaped like the side profile of an Indian. It was pretty windy and chilly to sit on the top of the boat. While returning back, we returned to the warmth of the inside of the boat and slept off. The end of the cruise is a small fall called ‘Spray Falls’. One amazing thing we saw was this tree, which is standing on the edge of a small cliff and derives its ‘food’ from another cliff by the way of its extended roots. Amazing ways of nature na?

The next day we went to Mackinaw Island. It is a very beautiful place. The only means of transportation on this island are rental bicycles or horse driven carriages. There is an 8 mile road around the island where one can rent bicycles and drive around, stopping at the different vantage points. It was a good exercise as much fun it was. Mackinaw Island is full of fudge shops. Americans usually say that Indian sweets are too sweet for them – then what about their fudge? The Mr. – who has a very very sweet tooth – could hardly eat one half of a fudge stick all by himself!

After a hearty ride of almost 3 hours, filled intermittently with loud Antakshri, we started back on the boat back to Mackinac City and back to the daily grind of life. Ah! What would I not give for a weekend like that again?

Happy Deepawali

2006-10-22T09:39:00.000-04:00

I am always a day late in wishing :) , but then I write the post after the day has passed!
Wish you and your family a very happy deepawali. May the year be filled with good news, cheer, good health and hope.

Diwali (or deepawali as it is called at home) for me was always associated with 2 things - the "nalla ennai" bath early in the morning and distrubuting sweets (wearing new clothes) to all neighbours. I am not much of a cracker person - been always scared of even the tiniest vedi and after sometime the smoke starts to bother me much. For Diwali this was the routine - we would wake up early, at about 4 or so, amma would apply the "nalla ennai" (gningely oil) on appa's and my head, take an aarthi of us and shoo us into the bathroom for a nice "head bath". After the bath, appa would hand over the new clothes to amma and me (i always love getting new clothes hee hee) and then we would go down to burst the crackers. In Andhra diwali is celeberated in the evening. So, for all the years that we lived there, in our street we would be the only ones bursting crackers in the morning! It was a competition (unwritten) between us and the other mama living 2 streets away - as to who would be the first to burst the crackers in the morning ! Then would come the best part for me - "showing off my new dress" - as I would go around distributing the sweets and "karam" to all neighbours. Appa was so good at this - arranging all the sweets and savouries in correct proportions in individual bowls (based on the number of family members). After we moved to chennai, there was one more step added to this routine - packing stuff in little plastic covers for the multitude of relatives we would be visiting in the day.

This is probably the first diwali(other than those 4 years of college), that I am away from home. It was so lonesome yesterday morning - both of us missing home and all that. In the evening, we had a couple friend at home - it was the lady (Swathi's bday) - so I invited them over for some snacks. We bought a small cake for her and I made "Bread rolls" (recipe below). We got talking of this and that and our moods lifted up a bit. They insisted that we go out with them for dinner - so we made a quick visit to the temple and then went for dinner. By the time we came back home, we both had nice smiles on our faces and felt it was a good diwali we had had :)....

One of my friends fowarded this to me. It feels so nice to see that Indians are so much honored in this country - why not - they are closed to being the largest non-american population in the USA. At office also, all our non-indian colleagues were eager to know about what diwali was and ensured that they wished us before they left home on Friday evening. It gave such a nice feeling :).

Okay - now for the "Bread Rolls" recipe. This was my first attempt at them and they came out quite well - so I was really pleased :)

Ingredients

2 medium sized potatoes - boiled and mashed well.

Salt, Red chilli powder - to taste

Corriander leaves - finely chopped

garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon.

8 large bread slices

Oil - for frying

Procedure

Add the chopped corriander leaves to the mashed potatoes. Heat a little bit oil in a kadai and add this mixture to it. Sprinkle the red chilli powder and salt and mix well so that the entire mixture gets fried a bit. Just before removing off the stove, add the garam masala and fry for a minute or so.

Keep this mixture aside.

Dip the bread slices in water and squeeze the water out well. Spread them on a tissue so that it would take off the extra water. Place a little bit of the mixture in the centre of one slice and roll it and seal off the edges by pressing them together. Make sure you do this process one by one and not dip all the bread pieces into water at once, as bread absorbs water very quickly and it becomes tough to roll it if it becomes too soggy.

Place these rolls on a plate and refrigerate them atleast for 2 hours. This will harden the rolls slightly so that when you fry them, they don't stick to the sides of the kadai and also don't soak much oil.

Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the rolls while slightly turning them from time to time.

And voila ! bread rolls are ready. You can prepare them in advance and heat them for a mintue in microwave when you need to serve them.

Our New Car

2006-10-19T11:33:00.000-04:00

We bought a new 2007 model Toyota Camry yesterday – fulfilling one of our dreams ever – a long black car!( it all started when I saw the ad of Chevrolet Optra – the karva chauth ad)

The Mr. remarked – there is so much pleasure in materialistic things also :D… Definitely yes! We both were grinning ear to ear all the 13 miles back home from the dealership – for no reason. The Mr. drove in the new car and I followed him in our old Corolla – smiling at the way the bright shade of the Fall colors reflected off the shining black hood.

It was a thought was there in our minds since a long time to own a new car. In India, I would have never even given this wish a thought – because of all that I have seen in India – owning a car is a pain – and that too a shiny black one – it is a crime to own one! Within days of buying it, there will a couple of scratches, blotches of mud everywhere and the car would rattle badly within months (unless you lived in those suburb areas where they have laid road for the first time).

But US is the land of opportunities indeed! Added to that fact is that a car, in the parts where I live, is a necessity and not a luxury. So, when the Mr. had to change his workplace to a place about 40 miles from home, we longer could share the single car we have (I refuse to come early to work and leave late, especially when most of the days I sit swatting the imaginary flies).

The decision to buy such an expensive car and that too entirely on loan is something very scary – for me – somebody who never has taken any expensive decision in life (who took the decision to marry then?? Was that no priceless!). The Mr. did sufficient research, backed up his findings with facts based on real life experiences – I was nearly convinced – and then came the trip to UP(Upper peninsula) in Monica’s camry – and I needed no more convincing that Camry was what we needed!

It has sooooo much space – was my first reaction! We test drove the new Corolla just to see if it had anything different from our ’98 Corolla and the moment we sat in it we were disappointed – it was the same thing, just a bit more power and little elevation. No Sir, I want a Camry. Okay, kya lena hai who tho decide ho gaya, now kahan se laayenge paise? This is where I was amazed at the credit system of the US of A. No Questions asked - no layers of paper work - no down payment!
A simple background check and we got our pre-approved check for the entire amount of the car.

Now came the third and toughest part - bargaining with the dealer for the price. I must say that I really underestimated the Gemini hiding inside the MR. – is he a smooth talker and a tough person to beat in the duel of words? Gosh! There I was sitting open mouthed amazed at his verbal prowess, while the salesperson tried to convince him, coax him, anger him, and insult him to budge from his low price. Finally after 2 hours the salesperson had come down by 1000$ from his initial quote (he even brought the manager in between who even went to say – Sir, I don’t think you can afford this car ,you should be buying a lower end car only – the chit of that guy), we were only 250$ away from our mark. We walked out leaving our number on Saturday. And on Monday, the first thing the Mr. gets is a call from the salesperson to tell that he was agreeing to our price. Oh! What a sweet news that was. In two days, the deal was finalized; we got our car and are happy as can be.

7 Cup Cake

2006-10-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

The past two weekends and the week between have been really hectic, so did not find time to pen down anything. The weekend of Oct 6th we had been for a “Fall Tour” to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan(more on this in next post). The week between Oct 7th and Oct 14th was strangely busy (considering the fact that I am “Vetti” most of the time at work). This weekend was also satisfactorily busy – Saturday was spent at a friend’s house and yesterday we had a couple over at our place ( this was nice because 1) we like the couple a lot and they are good fun to be with 2) I got a chance to experiment on my culinary skills).

So, Friday night Reliance India earned a lot of revenue, when I was on phone with amma trying to get some recipes for “quick” sweets that I could make. I wanted to move away from the “comfort zone” that the easy-to-make MTR Gulab Jamun pack gave. So, I decided to make this very simple-yet-very-tasty sweet that amma would concoct at the shortest notice – this 7-cup cake. I would like to submit this recipe for the “Jhiva for Diwali sweets” held here.

Ingredients

Besan/Kadala Maavu/Senaga pindi – 1 cup
Coconut – grated fine – 1 cup
Ghee melted to room temperature – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Sugar – 3 cups

Method
Mix all the ingredients, except ghee in a kadai. Pour ¼ of the ghee into this mixture. Mix all the ingredients well and cook on medium flame. Keep stirring intermittently for 30 mins or so later (the time is based on the electric coil heater that we have in the apartments in the US). Now the mixture will start frothing and start to come off from the sides of the kadai. Slowly pour the rest of the ghee into the kadai, while stirring continuously. Within few minutes, the entire mixture will harden a bit and become thick. Take it off the stove and pour it onto a flat greased plate/vessel and let it cool for about 15-20 minutes. While it is still hot, draw the lines with a sharp life to make small diamonds/squares. After it is cool, you can take out the pieces and store them in an air-tight container.

Lage Raho Munnabhai

2006-10-04T17:55:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write about this about 3 weeks ago, when I actually saw the movie, but never got to doing it. Now it is a bit of stale news, but then no harming in jotting what I wanted to say.
In a movie-world that has lost the meaning of comedy, amidst the hotchpotch sex-based comedies that the bollywood industry churns out every two months – comes a breath of fresh air – a neat “family” comedy called “Lage Raho Munnabhai”. Right from the first scene where the unsuspecting no-name character gets trapped in the parking lot, the giggles started in the theatre. The crescendo reached peak when Arshad Warsi so casually remarks – “Abbe Tu andhar aa raha hai ki bahar jaa raha hai”.

I felt that the movie outrightly belonged to Arshad Warsi – his dialogue delivery, timing and facial expressions. Not a single line of his missed the laughter-applause that the audience had to offer. I found his devotion to this “Bhaaai” so endearing. Wish I had a friend like that, who would do anything for me.

Sanjay looks very nice when he does these comedy roles that the action ones like Vaastav or the romantic ones like Saajan. I feel he is bearable in the Munnabhai role. I felt that he had more to do as a hero in Munnabhai MBBS, than in this movie – which has no center character that deserves applause.

Boman Irani IS ONE Good actor huh? Reminds me a lot of Utpal Dutt. He shines, as do his silky jazzy bright fluorescent clothes, as the “Villian” Lucky Singh.

Vidya Balan is like the fresh seaside breeze. Chirpy, bubbly and a wide innocent smile! She makes you heart smile when she fills the screen. Though I personally feel she suited traditional roles like the one in Parineeta more than the modern Jhanvi(that was a nice screen name). I was mercifully thankful that they did not disrobe her like Preity in Salaame Namaste. I also felt that never ending “Mummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbai” could have been a bit shorter.

The best surprise package of the movie is “Baapu”. I later came to know that the person who played this role –Dilip Prabhavalkar-is a renowned Marathi theatre artiste. Wonder why nobody made a “Gandhi” movie starring him, I think he fits the bill to the T, more than the “Gandhi”Ben Kingsley.

Another real surprise package was the music – it generally happens that when you have these kinda tapori songs, you seldom remember them after you leave the movie hall. But this one stumped me – why else would I be going “Pal Pal” or “Aane Char Aane” from Morn-Eve and till the Mr. got crazy!
“Lage Raho …” has a very very catchy whistle tune and the casual tone of Rathod is simple superb. You can picture Sanju baba in your mind oh!so easily when you listen to this song.
The latest-craze-in-my-life Shreya is captivating as lyrically waltzes in “Pal Pal”. A friend remarked that this is a lift from an old Engligh song – well I am glad Shantanu decided to “lift” it, for I would have missed such a wonderful tune had he decided otherwise. Sonu indeed tends to become “ronu sonu”(the Mr.’s nick name for Sonu) at certain parts in this song. And sometimes he jumps over the edge when he says “Paaal Paal” rolling his tongue a tad too much.
“Aane Char aane” indeed makes me wish I could wear a hawaiian shirt and run around the sands of some beach. A nice jiggly-jig song with a lot of meaningful lyrics.
“Bande Mein” is a nice ode to MKG.

A very very entertaining movie that comes with a wonderful hidden message. Hats off to the director to have thought of such a unique plot. It is not often that you leave the movie hall smiling and at the same time pondering over what the director implanted in your brain. It brings a feeling into me that, if only we tried – nothing is impossible. I really wish somebody would do the feat in a government office (the one the old man struggling to get his pension does).

And ... oooh! Did I miss the "treat" in the movie ... Jr. Bachchan!!! I almost fell off my seat with surprise when I saw him. The look on the Mr.'s face was priceless. All he could say was "Yeh saala yahan bhi pahaunch gaya ... " hee hee .... Boy! I did love "LRM" ...

Happy Vijayadasami

2006-10-02T17:10:00.000-04:00

Happy Vijayadashami to all of you and your family !

This year’s Navarathri was pretty much inconspicuous – more so because I really have never celebrated one entirely on my own. But it still had some of its special things – like the beginning of the 10day festival – with Kalpana’s Kolu. My boss at office, Kalpana, sets up Kolu every year (or so I am told – for this is the first time I went to see it), so she invited us home on the 1st day of Navarathri. The Mr. was all excited after seeing the Kolu and extracted a promise from me, that we will do something next year. I caught up with a colleague who recently quit our workplace and two-three other ladies also. It was nice seeing all sarees, beautiful bangles, jewellery – took me back home for a second . Kalpana’s home itself was so beautiful – it made the Mr. and me want to set up a house of our own soon – wonder when at all that will be. Well, in order that we don’t disappoint ourselves, we decorate our rented apt quite beautifully.

Yesterday was Saraswathy Pujai. Under amma’s instructions I put some books and tools in front of the Devi and the Mr. and I successfully completed a short pooja, stuttering out the slokams out of a tamil book that amma had given me. I tried my rusted vocal chords a bit and was so disappointed to realize that I hardly remembered any of the musical pieces that I once upon a time could recite at a moment’s notice. It made me want to rush back to Chennai and join music classes once again. Oh! I hate myself for not practicing all these years.

Today is Dasami. Brings back fond memories – every year I would run around applying chandanam and kumkumam to all the appliances in the house – the fridge, washing machine, sewing machine, the almariahs, mixie, grinder, TV, VCR, a couple of our shelves, the doors and wait patiently for the puja to get done, before rushing out to the Cellar to do the pooja to our vehicles (sometimes 3, sometimes 2). As a kid, I would love it when appa would give me a chance to take the scooter off the stand and run it a bit to crush the lemons placed under the tires. When he would start the car, I would love to hear the Squiiiiiish sound of the lemons and would circle around to ensure all 4 lemons were Squished.
In a hurry to come to work, I forgot all about applying chandanam to appliances. I made vella payasam, did small puja and rushed to work.

The Mr. called me to tell that one of his colleagues has given us a Saraswathi idol – how sweet of him. We hope to make it to the temple to close the Dasami on a nice note and to pray for new beginnings filled with nice things.

Tring Tring! Hello Moto

2006-09-28T08:15:00.000-04:00

This post is “OnDemand” for one of my very dearest and long-term-been-always-there-for-me-friend – Sowmya.
Happy Anniversary to you dear – Sorry for goofing up on the date every single year! This is to make up for that!

We – the Mr. and I got our new “Chell” Phones on Thursday last – Moto Razr the talk of the town(I hope it is still the “TOT” – with electronics items you never know how soon one thing gets outdated). My fascination of owning a flip phone goes back very long. When we got our chance to come to the US of A, I had told the Mr. that one day I would get the 0$ (or money return) deal on a good Flip phone. Till date there was absolutely no need for a Cell phone for me, so my dream just lay there in a corner of my heart – till I started driving. Driving in the USA without a cell phone is sorta dangerous. So, one day we decided and ordered ours-after much debating my the Mr. on whether he wanted a Sony Erricson/Blackberry and so on… I was the loyal one – stuck to my black Moto since the very beginning. Here are our phones! Since they both are the same we stuck these stickers on the back for identification – Piglet for the Mr. and Pooh for the Mrs.

About 5 years ago, I was a cell phone hater- for no particular reason. It was during the times that Mobile phones were starting to become a craze in India. Despite the gadget-loving-Appa’s plea’s I refused to take one. The Mr. and I debated the possibility of taking one, as it would be the only means of us keeping in contact (these are pre-marriage times when the Mr.-n-I were at war with parents), but dropped it like a hot iron when I realized that the bills would come home and the hawk-eyed-wont-miss-a-detail appa would question on why I called a certain number in B’lore always. I also thought it to be a waste of money, and unnecessary sophistication. The will-always-wait-for-a-bus-and-not-be-luxirous-taking-an-auto Amma was also on my side.

Soon things were to change! I was given a mobile by my office as part of “Production Support”, and other than “Supporting” my personal needs there was practically no official use put to that 1/20th Kg instrument.
But that showed me how I could receive calls from the Mr. much more easily. Then there was text messaging and those single-rings-to-say-i-miss-you also. So, when I moved to a different project, I felt like an arm was broken when I had to return the cell back. So, a very sweet-will-always-listen-to-you daughter went to the always-an-yes-to-buy-a-new-gadget Dad and chose a Nokia 2100(though there were other models I chose only this because the Mr. also had the same).

Cell Phones changed the world dramatically, as did Internet. It made communication so much easier. There was a time when for months together we could talk to each other, he could not call at my house number and his home did not have a landline! And then during trainings in office, you did not have a seat number also. And then there came a time – as soon as I got onto the office bus – I gave a single ring and got a call back pronto and the 35 mintues of journey to office just flew by. For almost 2 years I was known as the girl-always-on-phone on Route#10.

I am depressed

2006-09-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

I have been depressed about this “issue” for quite some time now, intermittently sometime, and sometimes for a longer period. The “issue” is my job. Ever since I joined my present organization which is about 5 years ago, I have not been satisfied. I know that 5 years is just too much time to put with up with a lot of heartburn, but at every stage I had some personal issue which prevented me from changing my job.

Sometimes I begin to wonder if I have become so dormant that I no longer have the urge to even change my “sick condition”. Slowly, very slowly I can feel my self-confidence slip off, my enthusiasm towards anything new wane. I wallow in self pity almost all the time, which saps all positive energy out of me. I don’t look forward to any of the things that I love to do anymore – books don’t interest me, songs seem toneless, everything seems so bland.

I am so sick of my situation. At times I really wonder if I have a mental problem, and that I should get myself treated. I wish I could drop off everything as it is and run off somewhere else.

Even as I write this, I don’t want to publish this in my blog – because this seems just too personal to write. What would the people reading my blog think of me? Won’t my image fall off in their eyes. They might also think of me as a loser – a grumbling person as this friend of mine refers me as (Ms. Polambal). I don’t want to lose the little friendship and goodwill I gained through my blogs.

But then today I care for nothing. I am too depressed for words.

There is a new opportunity in my organization. The higher ups are planning to get a new person for that, plucking somebody off his current work – but when I requested for the same, they refused. That added all the fuel to my anger and frustration.

Amma says that a job is only something that provides me occupation of mind for 8-9 hours, and a paycheck at the end of the month – If I think of it this way, then I need not be worried. I am not a great career minded person – I work for a living and want to do good in the work I do – earn good respect from my colleagues and sleep with a smile at having done something well , in the night. My current job robs me off all of the above, so I am not even able to apply amma’s advice here.

I crossed the 100 blog mark two days ago. When I was at around 95 or so, I was thinking that my 100th blog should be special. All the blogs I visit, the authors have felt so much happiness in writing their 100th blog. And yesterday when I looked up, I saw I had already crossed 100, without my notice.
I am a person who does not forget these small things. But lately this pre-occupation of “the issue” robbed me of this happiness also.

I don’t know if this post even makes sense, but I do feel a small relief writing it all off.

Meeeeowwww

2006-09-26T18:08:00.000-04:00

I am not by nature a very superstitious person. But sometimes when things are going really bad, to get a hold onto something – I can start believing in some stupid things – anything to tide over the bad phase in life I feel. The Mr. does not believe in anything that cannot be scientifically explained. He believes in God and has faith in the fact that if you do well, you will always be taken care of. But what happened on Sunday, make him really smile and think for a second if there was something called superstition which was true.

It was one of those days when I was having a miserable Migraine attack and nothing I did seem to assuage the pain. So, in the evening we decided to go out for a drive for a whiff of fresh air. Just as we were about to leave the apartment complex, a gorgeously black cat ran across the road. I was a bit scared and told that we would better go back. The Mr. consoled me and said a Cat is just another animal – we don’t get scared if a squirrel/beaver/groundhog crosses the road rite? We had driven only for about a mile or so, and were about to get out of a gravel path that was a temporary detour when we heard a metal scrapping noise. I turned and gave a glare to the vehicle behind for making such a bad noise! The Mr. pressed the gas a bit more and the noise persisted – the car behind us was trying to overtake us and glaring at us – and it was then that it dawned on us that it was a problem with our own car!

We pulled over and saw to our dismay that our exhaust cabinet was dangling on the ground. The exhaust is fitted to the body of the vehicle using a metal strip that is fastened on both sides with two screws – one of them had fallen off causing the metal strip to give way and making the exhaust fall almost to the ground. It was our luck that we had taken a AAA membership just 3 weeks ago. AAA is a company that takes care of any such emergency problems with your vehicle for a yearly premium – people say that it is one of the most beneficial things in the US. We called them up and within 10 minutes the tow truck was there. The ‘tow-er’ was a Mexican called Eddy – a very cheerful guy – he looked at the exhaust and said he can fix it temporary for us and that would be helpful to us, instead of just being towed and dropped at home AS-IS. There was however just one issue that we had to go with him to another place where he had got a call about a broke down Mercedes. Well, what did we have to lose? So, he towed our car up – this was the first time I was seeing a car being towed – Boy! Are these machinery sophisticated!! We sat in the front of that huge monster truck while our darling car rode in the back. (I was thinking – if our car could speak like the ones in the animated movie “CARS”, it would squeak and say – please don’t let me go, I won’t break down anymore).

We drove to a sub-division that had really HUGE houses! Guess all the trillionairies (if there is one such word) lived here. Each house had atleast 3 cars and no brand lesser than a Cadillac / Benz / Lexus. Eddy even remembered this house as soon as he heard the complaint and remarked that they even had a boat-car (I had read about these only in Fantasy comics) and here I was seeing one. Now, this Benz car also had to be towed to the garage – so he hooked it to the back (like cars are towed back in good old India) and there we were driving off with 2 cars. Eddy remarked, as he hit 50 Mph – that must be the fastest either of those cars drove without gas! Enroute we collected some nice info – Eddy got a call and apologized saying it was his voice , when my Mr. joked “is she asking you when you are home” – to which the Mexican replied pretty casually – “No we are getting divorced! It was a bad choice – we rushed into marriage. But that’s fine we have been married only for 6 months now”. I found it so strange – here was a guy who was getting divorced, there was no single feeling of remorse about him and he was talking very lovingly to his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Poof! This kind of attitude is just too much for me to handle. I got reminded of “Jhankar Beats” where Rahul bose’s lawyer says “Mujhe mere client ke biscuits wapas chahiye” , instead of asking for “Tapes” (hilarious scene).

Finally 2 hours later, after Eddy had temporarily fixed our exhaust fastening, we crossed the same corner were the “black cat” effect had attacked us. For a long time after we came home, the Mr. could not help smiling about the “Black Cat”.

Chappad Phad Ke

2006-09-22T10:07:00.000-04:00

There is a saying in Hindi – Bhagwaan jab kuch deta hai Chappad phaad ke deta hai – When god gives something, he gives in enormous quantities! Remember my “Socialization” – a month prior to that I was complaining almost every alternate day to the Mr. that we don’t have any friends here at all, we are a lonesome twosome and that he did not care and blah and blah …. And now, we are not free a single day! Gone are those glorious days when we basked in the soft blue light of the TV for ages in the evenings, sipping tea and drinking in all the dialogues from the zillion movies that we saw. Aaj yeh halat hai ki we hardly see the movies that we get from the library – and the funniest part is all those movies that I placed “Holds” for about 4 months ago are all getting “Available for pick up” now! No – I am not at all complaining. I am loving this action packed life we are having. After all, getting to see other humans is always something nice – is it not why we all live in societies? And “touchwood” all the company we are having is so nice – none of those “formality sake” types.

I thought it was only the MR. who had extremities of nature and now find that God also is in the same league! Guess God must also be a Gemini!

Problems....

2006-09-21T15:55:00.000-04:00

... they never seem to end. Just when I sit back and let out a big "Phew", even before my back reaches for the back-rest of my chair - another problem pops his head out of the ugly hole in the road of life. Problems definitely make you stronger and each time you solve a problem and look back the previous one, you feel "Poof! that was so much simpler to handle". When I talk of this to somebody about 10 years elder to me, she says similingly - "You just wait baby - you ain't seen nuthing!" ... Oh! is there more ???

Well, all that thing about problems making your character strong, preparing you to fight the worst, blah blah is all fine - but for the sweet lord's sake - can I get a small popcorn break atleast??

Baby Times

2006-09-20T14:46:00.000-04:00

These are baby times. Either about babies that I have never met, or babies that are to be born! Of course I am talking of babies of my friends. Recently one of my very close friend, Vindhya, sent me the snap of her nearly 2 year old – Tharun , and in the same week another close friend of mine, Meens – as I call her – sent the latest updates on her daughter Praks. Looking at them, I felt as if I was missing something big in life. These two girls were very much a part of my adult life- sharing daily happenings, consoling me in the darkest times of my pre-marriage life, laughing aloud with me over a funny incident, sharing my indignation about some politics at work, reveling in my happiness when I was getting married – and today each one of us is at a different physical location, busy with our own lives.

This is Tharun. Oh! How much I would have loved to see the rotund belly of the reed-thin Vindhya when she was carrying Tharun – how much I would have loved to be with her and force her to eat every morsel of the food on her plate as I did for so many afternoons in the office canteen! I wish I could see this little bundle of trouble – as she calls him lovingly – pull his cheeks, hold him close and play with him.

This is cutie Prakrathi – aka Praks. Look at her inquisitive eyes – she is an exact carbon copy of her mom. Meens is one darling of a person. She was with me all through my troubled phase before marriage – listening patiently to all my woes, advising me and helping me in taking small decisions. She had her fair share of troubles before lil Praks was born. I am sure she would have been glad to have a friend at hand, and – I was never there for her. Wish I could do something for this dear friend of mine.

Rollicking Weekend

2006-09-18T16:10:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you know that a particular weekend is going to be good on Friday itself. The one that swept past yesterday was one such for me. Friday was pretty cheerful because it had only 3 working hours :D. We had our department picnic that afternoon – and to our utter happiness, the boss sent a mail in the morn stating that folks can go home after the picnic and need not come back to ensure the 8-hour working time. After an ice-breaking game of finding a person in the group who “Owned a rabbit” or one who “wore toe rings” or one who “did polka” and so on; we had a lunch of Pizza and Salad.
One of committees in our department is called “Morale” – the responsibility of this team being – survey the morale of the department, take inputs from all the employees and come up with suggestions on how to improve the morale of the team.
It was the responsibility of this team to conduct some games/team building activity on that day. They did come up with some good activities and we all went back home smiling.

One of my colleagues was talking about the weather being fine at Cedar Point, an amusement park about 3 hours drive from our city. So, that evening – the Mr. and me made plans, called up one family that we know of and 2 bachelors and were all geared up for an outing the next day. I am not at all one for such sudden trips – but this one I must say will be always remembered as one of our best trips to any place, not only for the fact that we had grrrrreat fun but also because I did my first 3 hour driving trip – Yes! Yours truly drove all the way to Cedar Point and half-way back also! It indeed is some achievement for me, considering that the maximum I have driving on freeway is from home to a mall that is 10 miles away! And the icing on the cake was to be complimented for it, and when the two bachelors – Jai and Amitav, who were in their own car behind us – said that it was tough catching up with me as I drove faster than the Mr. (I was all smiles).

Upon entering the park we were stumped by the gigantic roller coasters and monstrous rides. We were sure we would not even want to step into one. We took one roller coaster ride called Blue Streak, assuming it would be a small one – the first vertical drop of 72ft had us all rattled and searching for our stomach in our throats. Thereupon, we decided to be more cautious and so took the rotating Matterhorn – it was this which gave us the needed boost I think, and also the ambience of the place maybe.

We ventured on a ride called “Iron Dragon”, which I think was the coolest in the whole place. You are seated in a chair like thing and hang from the main line of the ride, and it twists and turns around a pool of water – the view is what makes it all worthwhile I felt. We rode this ride thrice, till we got bored of it! The best part was since it was a normal weekend, there was hardly any queue. This place is reputed to have waiting times that go upto 1 and ½ hour for each ride and all we had to wait was for a max of 10 mins!! After the “Iron Dragon” all the males in the group had become really enthu and were raring to go on all the rides they could lay eyes on. I ventured on most of them and dropped off a couple when I heard that the sheer vertical drop was more than 150 ft or so.

We had a new food item at this place called “Elephant Ears”. It is nothing but our local Bathura – of gigantic size though and with a bit of cinnamon and loads of sugar sprinkled on it. A nice new food item!

This park hosts the ride that is currently the world’s number 1 – Dragster. Folks are strapped to a car that is shot off a track and reaches 120 MPH speed in just 4 seconds and shoots upto a vertical height of 450 ft along a path that is twisted at an angle of 270 en-route and drops back to ground at the same speed. The whole process takes only about 8 seconds and like somebody remarked – even if you scream on this ride by the time the scream is out of you, the ride is done! I could hardly stand next to the place, and wondered what is it that made people even venture for the ride. When I stood just below the contraption, just looking up made me dizzy, and here was a small kid of 8-9 years who was boastfully talking of how he was going to take the ride – I don’t know if the ride had age restrictions.

The last of the rides that we took was the “Raptor”, where the passengers are made to sit with feet dangling on hanging chairs – dropped from a height of nearly 100 ft and rotated 360 degrees, nearly 6 times! It was a mind blowing and thrilling ride, one I am going to remember for ages to come.

Our throats are sore today, with all that screaming – but it was a trip worth remembering. I might never even venture near any roller coasters in my life, but I am glad I had this experience.

Thanks & An Apology

2006-09-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

My Second class of Swimming yesterday was much better than the first one. We arrived a bit early, so that I could mentally prepare myself. I was able to get inside the water and go in completely without fear and able to float holding the wall/ the instructor's hands/the Mr.'s hands :)... There is one elderly lady who is one of the instructors. She is such a dear (I need to ask her name next time around). She gives me so much encouragement and if I just do a small thing fine - she praises me, gives a good smile and urges me on to try more. Oh! Thanks to god for sending such wonderful people on earth.

Many of you blogger friends and other friends have sent me so many encouraging mails/comments on my post. Thanks to all of you for the support - it makes a world of difference to me to receive those words of support from you.

I would like to write a note of apology - maybe I was a bit harsh on commenting about Ms J in my last post - but then I was miffed by the way she commented on my attire, so I guess being a human I was not entirely wrong in getting angry at her - anyways, I want to mention that she was sweet to me yesterday. She did not laugh at me when she saw that I was not even able to float when she could oh-so easily! And instead offered me her glasses and suggested me some small ways that would help me overcome my fear. She is indeed a dear too! So, this apology goes to you Ms. J for the "Sprinting" joke.

I am a sort of person who has very low confidence on herself. All my life- appa and amma had to keep telling me to do something- they would know I can top an exam, or win in a roller skating competition, or manage on my own in a new country - but I would never have the confidence. After marriage, the Mr. took over that "Job" and is great at it. I was scared to tell about the swimming classes to my in-laws wondering how they would react - and was so happy to see them also urging me to go. I feel I am terrifically lucky to have such good people all around me. I think it is high time - instead of being an idiot - I get some confidence in myself, look upon my past to see how I achieved small things or big and go on to learn swimming well !

Swimming Classes

2006-09-14T13:24:00.000-04:00

After much thought and debating and convincing from the Mr., I finally decided to get over my inhibition of the swim-wear and decided to join swimming lessons. So, with great enthu I went to shop for a swim wear on Monday (classes were to begin on Tue) and was so disappointed to find just a couple of itsy-bitsy bikins. With much great effort(and patience from the Mr.) and spending close to an hour at two shops, I managed to find something that decently covers me up – why in the world can’t they have swim shorts for women also ???? Beats me!

Of all the days, it was only on Tuesday that the Mr. had to come late. After a hurried bite of the Pori that I made, we rushed off to the class at 8:30 PM. Driving in pitch black darkness and in pelting rain, we managed to find the Community center. While the Mr. filled out the forms, I stumbled around trying to find the changing room and was flustered not knowing where to put my stuff and landed near the pool –a towel wrapped around my waist, my winter jacket on me – looking like an absolute idiot. I was glad that all the people enrolled in the class were elderly people and no lechers (And moreover as the Mr. rightly puts it – if there were to ogle they would at all those beautiful American instructors and not us Indian ladies).

I was just about to relax and not let my obsession with my attire work on me, when this other Indian Lady (lets call her J from now on) had to remark – I wonder how you could bring yourself to wear this! And that was it – all the confidence I had went down the pool – she herself was drabbed in an athletic track suit as if she was assuming that we would be sprinting in the pool lanes and not swimming.

And as luck would be, I was not exactly like a fish in water – in fact I was the exact opposite. I could not even get myself to dunk completely into the pool, which was only 4ft deep. After much struggling with trying to float, I gave up and ended up struggling for breath. So much for my wish to be able to swim in 8 classes, I will be glad if I can atleast float at the end of this entire ordeal.

The Mr. was a great support in all this – calmly listening to all my frustrations and urging me to tryin breathing out - inside water, and holding my hands while I tried to float. He even enrolled in the class just to be with me (he swims quite well already). All the way back home, he was there giving me gyan on how to calm myself and boosting me up to think of how I struggled on my first day of driving and how I driving casually with only one hand on the steering wheel today (2 months since that disastorous first day). Oh! What would I do without this sweet angel husband of mine!

Today is the 2nd class – ppl wish me all the luck – I should atleast be able to float holding onto the pool wall.

Dependency

2006-09-12T18:11:00.000-04:00

I hate living in the United States for this one particular reason - dependency on somebody for transportation! You cannot go to any place without your own car. We have been managing so far with one car, inspite of people warning that you will sooner or later need one each. Guess it is for these kinds of situations that you definitely need one of your own - when your own work is done, and you have browsed all the possible internet sites and are desperate to go home to cook for the evening or do some house work; and are stuck in the office waiting for the MR.

It is all the more tough for me, one who does not have any friends in the area where we live - despite the fact that all of them work in the same firm as mine (just my bad nature that nobody wants to be pals with me - I guess!) - and you have to ping each one and ask if he/she can give you a ride!

I hate these situations and I detest them when they keep coming again and again in my life! Why ME!!! I am going to get the car to work from 'morrow and pick the Mr. at my convinience. He would not mind even if he were to asked to stay in the office 24 hours - 365 days a year.....

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr.........................

Lures of the Tinselworld

2006-09-12T11:45:00.000-04:00

Two of my favourite film stars, in Tamil industry, got married to each other yesterday – Surya and Jyothika. Ever Since I came to know of the “Kissu-Kissu” between them, I was kinda hoping this would be the end. The Mr. says I cannot understand why you are excited about their wedding/ love affair. Well, neither can I explain, but that is that! And, I was so happy to receive umpteen numbers of forwards with their wedding snaps. Somehow they felt RIGHT together. Jo, was looking much beautiful at her wedding, than she ever looked in any of her movies (Oh! I forgot … she was absolutely stunning in Kaakha Kaakha).

I remember having got a forward, or read about it somewhere on the Net – I am not sure, a photo of Ajay Devgan and Kajol. They are also such a nice couple I feel.
Another couple I rooted for was Junior B and Rani. Somewhere in the between there was some gossip about their link up and then it all fizzled out. I was so disappointed when those rumours about Junior B and Aish came up. I wished of all the people he did not marry that snooty, nothing-but-a-pretty-face-yet-world-famous model (can’t bring myself up to call her an actress).

Hmm… Sometimes I find myself being silly about these interests in the Filmdom. But then again, I feel – I am okay. Talking of all these brings back good old memories. While in college, I was made the “Reading Room Representative” of our LH(ladies hostel) in final year. Well, this honorable position had nothing to do in contribution to the improvement of reading abilities of the inmates, not taking care that there was proper and impartial distribution of the magazines that were delivered every month to me – it only had to do with the fact that after about 20 days into the month, I was at liberty to tear up all the posters that I wanted from Filmfare & Stardust and stick it on the walls of my room. And this I did religiously for a year. It was so heart rending when I had to leave the college and that room of mine , my ‘work of art’ – I took off some of my most favorite (believe me it was really tough to choose a few among those treasured clip-arts) clippings and have them still stuck on my scrap book!

The two large posters of Shah Rukh (when in the world did I ever like him – I cannot even recall – I must have been really insane then) and Aamir Khan (my chudli loo favorite actor) ,and the tiny one of Madhu kutty(Madhavan) on the walls of my room at home endured years of abuse from Appa – who would chide me for not growing up at all – and finally had to give in when the room was painted.

Someday, when I settle down in life in a house of my own, I am going to put back those posters up on the wall again. Maybe my kid would give me a helping hand.

Socialization

2006-09-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

I am not going to write anything about the above headline in general. It is just about how this became the “Season Smartie”. This phrase is a patented coin by the Mr. If something has had absolutely no significance to your life for ages, and in an hour/day/week it achieves the utmost attention that there is nothing more than you can talk about – it is called “Season Smartie”- as was socialization in our lives.

The weekend was splendiferous. For about a month, I have been cribbing to the Mr. with the obvious lack of socialization in our lives – who maintains that THAT is the last of his worries. And it was this particular activity that hung over us like a warm blanket for the last 2 and quarter days.

It all started on Friday evening. Sometimes, for ages you try to meet up with a friend/colleague and it never works out and then suddenly out of the blue it happens in the most unexpected of times. For ages, we have been planning to meet up with Preethi and Ganesh, who just live about 10 houses away from us, and it never happened. On this day, Preethi took a lift from us and I asked her home for tea – and she cameJ. For about an hour and hour, we sat there blissfully – the three of us – discussing this and that – it was certainly a very enjoyable beginning to the weekend. Thereupon we rushed to dinner at a Thai restaurant – which served the world’s best Veg. fried Rice (according to me only) before they closed for the day.

Saturday began well. The match between Federer and Davy davydenko was like a damp squib. Wonder how a player like Davy could even make it to the Semis – guess he got lucky at the drawings. Anyway, I was happy that Federer won. As the commentator rightly put, he had 1 hour 40 minutes of tennis practiceJ. The match in the latter part of the day – Roddick vs Youzhny was SOMETHING. I almost disliked Youzhny because he put a stop to Nadal’s progress to the finals, but this match changed all my opinions. I simply started liking this guy as did the American crowd who were seated enjoying this marathon game between two tigers on Saturday evening. He put up a good fight against Andy Roddick and did not give up even until the end. Towards the end, he would start cheering his own good shot, which humoured the crowd a lot. When Federer took on Blake, an American, the patriotic crowd would hardly clap for a shot played by Federer – but today it was an entirely different story! Youzhany probably got better appreciation than Roddick!

This day was also the time to meet new friends – Monica and Prasad (the former is a new colleague of mine). We caught up with another couple (old friends) and had a wonderful game of bowling. The game bowling is a wonderful thing I think – it can be played by just anybody – no age/sex bar. Almost anybody I know of likes it. The six of us gelled so well, that we wanted more of the company – and proceeded to make plans for the next day. As soon as we came home, we rushed to the laptop and were mightly pleased to hear the news of Sharapova’s win. The pleasurable evening had a good end!

Sunday saw us laughing till our end’s split, and crying from the heart at the same time in Novi – while watching “Lage Raho Munnabhai” (more on this in another post). It was a after a long time, we felt, that we had seen a really splendid Hindi movie – maybe the best after RDB(I liked Fanaa – but that was because I like Aamir and Kajol). The icing on the cake was when we found that there were absolutely no detours on M-24 and 696. There has never been a time in the past, when I have taken either of these two roads and not landed on a detour. We ended the weekend watching the match of the season – Federer Vs Roddick. After a slow start by losing the first set, Roddick came back with such ferocity in his shots that I was almost sure Federer was out. But then I realized, it is not just good serves or good forehands that make a champion – it is something more than that – called Consistency. Winning a game is not about hitting sharp swift returns or driving a couple of aces – it is the ability to turn a losing shot into a winning one and being consistent about winning! And that is what federer displaying. Almost at the brink of losing, he turned the rackets(sorry tables) forcing Andy to accept that he, Roger is the BEST. If only Roddick had changed his game style according to the need; as often as he changed his 3 T-Shirts. Hee Hee (evil grin!)

There is a saying – Bhagwan jab deta hai Chappar phaad ke deta hain! Couldn’t be truer! After quite some time, I had a good weekend – one satisfying in many ways; and the tomato that refused to turn Red for all those weeks when the sun was shining brightly found this rainy and gloomy weekend to turn Red. Ah! the ways of God Almighty!

What do you think?

2006-09-08T14:04:00.000-04:00

Found this on the net today -

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

This is going to be my new excuse when Rajesh tells me that I am such a bore - cannot adopt to new ideas. Howzzzzat ?