My Musings

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 ...

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.

..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...

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)...

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...

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 hos...

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 som...

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 ...

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 compose...

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.

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

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?

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 o...

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 prob...

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...

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 re...

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 ...

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™

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 ...

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 ...