Reflections

Nothing much...

2012-01-30T10:22:00.001+04:00

I don’t have anything in particular to say. Life is going on the same as usual….tests, projects, church, hectic weekends, birthdays, DSF…u know, the usual stuff.

……

……

……

….

Seriously, that’s all there was.

Leaving you with a very valuable tip on how to get rid of houseflies...

Naina is a genius, isn't she;-D

I've been awarded a Tag:-))

2012-01-18T12:16:00.003+04:00

Deeps thinks I’m this very resourceful, adaptable, nifty, useful, flexible kind of blogger. What other reason could be there for her to award me “The Versatile Blogger" award;-D.
Thanks Deeps, love my award & am going to put it up immediately. There is also a tag attached to this award called the random tag. I’m supposing the ‘random’ has been added deliberately to show how ‘versatile’ one can get in a single post;-P. Anyways here goes….

The rules of this tag:

 Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your Blog Post
 Thank the Blogger who nominated you
 Share 7 Random things about yourself
 Nominate 15 fellow Bloggers
 Inform the Bloggers of their nomination

I always thought almost all the posts on my blog are kinda random but now I’ve got a hepper word for it.....Versatile........I’m a Versatile Bloggah...….haahhh.

Alright let me get randomer than usual…..

First things first….

Update on the chess learning: I already told u about beating Naina but guess what, last week I also managed to win against Nikita. And it was a convincing win!!!! But now nobody wants to play chess with me anymore;-(. Nope haven’t mustered enough confidence to challenge the better-half yet;-P.
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In the inside is a cycling track

I found a park, quite close to where I live, which has a good walking track. It shows us how many metres we have covered and I just love that….as of now I’m covering around 1.5kms in 30 mins…everyday…..cool huh.
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Just realised, shdn't have clicked it against a white bckgrnd

One of Nikita’s classmate's father had to be rushed to India for an emergency surgery in December. The child missed almost a month of school. When her mother worried about the notes I got her to send across some of the child’s notebooks with Nikita. Whenever I had a bit of free time I would update all the books. When the child came back she[and mother] were thrilled to see her books……. all completed. She got Nikita some knick-knacks from India and one among them was this cute little keychain of a zoozoo. And her father is fine now and well on the road to recovery:-). ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Can't wait to try out some of the recipes:-))

The Gulf News[newspaper] has this Magazine called Friday which we get every friday[duhhhh…]. It has 2 competitions in which I faithfully take part every week: the crossword and a quiz on Books & their Authors. Every once in a while I win a Dhs.100 voucher[from the quiz] to spend in any Jashanmal Bookstore. I usually get books for the kids with the voucher but this time I picked up a book I had been eyeing for a long time. The kids were not very pleased;-D.
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Barun Sobti as Arnav Singh Raizada

I’m going to tell u a secret now….. I have fallen hard for a fictional character called Arnav Singh Raizada. I chanced upon him in this show called Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon on Star Plus when I went home to India last August. In real life I would ~~probably~~ run a mile away from him; ASR treats the female protagonist with scant respect. He mocks her at every opportunity and manhandles her all the time. His excuse: he has a PAST. He stares, glares, smirks, ….at her and does everything a hero of a show shouldn’t. But he's got attitude… ..one small smile from him and I’m ready to tolerate another 30 episodes of the same nonsense;-(.
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The Virgin Store

Went to one of our favourite booknooks one weekend & I noticed they had changed their layout a bit. I was looking around trying to get my bearings when I saw some books piled up on the floor. The book on the top had a very interesting title “Books for sitting”. How very novel, I thought & tried to open it. I tugged and tugged thinking it was stuck. I know, I know I can be so dim sometimes;-/.
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I spent 15 minutes trying to make this pic vertical;-(

The shopping festival is going on full swing. Visited the Global village last weekend. We did the usual rounds and guess what I picked up amongst other things….a trolley shopping bag from the Chinese Pavilion. I've seen so many people on the Metro with these trolleys and kept thinking it would be very convenient for times when I went shopping for groceries alone. So now I don’t have to wait for taxis anymore, simply load my trolley[it can carry upto 40kgs....just saying;-D] and get back home on the Metro itself.

Phewww…….and that’s it….7 random things about me.

Now I would like to award and tag...…

Amrita

An Open Book

Anita Jeyan Sandeep

Destination Infinity

Horizon

Jyothi

Lan

Limenlemons

Lostworld

Nilu

Snow

Swaram

Tharani

Uma

Vaidegi j

The Backward Pawn

2012-01-09T12:14:00.009+04:00

Nobody around me knew how to play chess when I was small. My parents didn’t know nor did my friends. Atleast I think my friends' didn’t because if they knew, you can be sure that I would have learnt it by default;-D. That’s how I learnt to play most of the games like scrabble, carroms, chinese checkers, Uno, bluff, roller-skating, riding a geared bike….I can go on.

What????

Oh please Snakes & ladders & ludo were kids stuff. Even now I mentioned it only because you asked;-/.

And whatever I knew I was quick to teach my kids. So they knew how to play Carroms, Chinese checkers, Scrabble, Uno…no, not bluff[ I havent introduced them to playing cards yet], before they even knew how to read.

Alright alright Scrabble came after they learnt how to read.

Gosh u guys nit-pick so much;-S.

Now chess is the one game I never learnt but heard lots about.….

Not everybody can play Chess….
You need to be good at maths to play chess....
People who play chess are very intelligent...
Chess has to be learnt young….
Eating lots of okra helped chess players….

If I tax my memory some I’ll definitely recall more useless information. But as a child & even in my teens I swallowed all these stories verbatim.

When I was in my 20’s one or two people offered to teach me seeing my interest but I shrank back from…..I don’t really know what. One reason could be that I thought it was too complicated and the person teaching me will think that I’m a fool. I had also convinced myself that it was too late to learn.

Vishwanathan Anand was a genius in my book. I never missed any article about him in the sports section. Much of the jargon on chess would have gone over my head but I still read every word on him. Chess was not like cricket or football. It was about mind games….. and Vishwanathan Anand battled against the BEST in the world and came out tops. In my mind he seemed invincible....one of the few celebrities I idolised.
Oh for goodness sakes, let’s just leave Salman Khan out of this conversation shall we. Sometimes I wonder why I tell u guys all my secrets;-/.

During the shopping festival here, some malls put rows and rows of chess boards for people to play. No prizes offered just pure entertainment for the players and the crowd. I would have no clue what was going on but I’d stand there and watch. The facial expressions of the players, the tension in the air, their fingers deliberating over the next move, everything fascinated me.

The kids playing on a life-size board

And then there are these life-sized chess boards which are put on the pavements…..mostly monopolized by little children who play the game with their companions or parents. It is heart-warming to watch little geniuses carefully considering their next move & then manfully dragging the huge pieces across the board.

The better-half taught the kids how to play the game 2 years back. I was so thrilled when they grasped the nuances of the game & began playing on their own. But soon was disappointed because they didn’t really concentrate; they played but often abandoned the game over flimsy reasons. And because I didn’t know how to play I couldn’t guide them or judge who the offender was.
The tragedy was that unlike the other games they never took the chess board out on their own to play; I had to coax and cajole them into it and they played like they were doing me a major favour;-(. Naina especially was so irritating. I would often hear her ‘Chechi look, you can kill me if you do this’. Even though I didn’t know chess I definitely knew Naina was not going to win matches if she was showing people how to score over her. After sometime I too lost interest and the chess-board was carefully packed back into its cover & stowed away.

Recently the kids went to a birthday party & Nikita won a chess set as 1st prize for some game they had played. Interest in chess returned tenfold and they spent a lot of time setting up the board and walking around the house with it. My elation dipped when realisation dawned. You see it was a magnetic chess board. They walked round and round the house with the board & its pieces facing downwards to the ground basically to test the magnetic pull between the board & the pieces;-/.

When they were finally convinced that the pieces were not going to crash to the ground they settled down to play. Their father helped them renew their memories and skill and soon they were playing with a lot more interest than what they showed last year.

“You don’t know how to play chess????” queries Naina incredulously recently when I tell her why I can’t play with her.

I shake my head mournfully.

“I’ll teach you mama” says Naina excitedly.

“Not now Naina maybe someother day, go play with chechi now” I reply absent-mindedly, my mind occupied with mundane matters.

But Naina had made up her mind she was going to teach me. She followed me all around the house with the chess-board and went on and on about the game.

I admitted defeat after sometime and sat down to let her teach me. I had to get her off my back somehow. As soon as we started Nikita appeared on the scene and competed with Naina to teach me. They then proceeded to argue, debate, shout eachother down while each tried to educate me about how chess should be played. I held my head in despair and tried to think clearly thru the din. My 1st instinct was to walk away but I knew the kids would be so disappointed. And I always wanted to learn how to play didn't I??
I finally restored calm & issued a direct order that both were not to open their mouths until I asked them to. I then asked all the questions to each of them in turns.

2 hours and 3 games later I was beginning to see the light. I was royally beaten by both of them but I got the hang of how the game worked. The very next day I beat Naina and felt like a world champion. I haven’t been able to beat Nikita yet though I scared her once or twice [yes she’s good at it but I could be biased;-D].

Honestly I was taken aback at how easily I took to it……all my life I thought that chess was some complicated labyrinth which required super powers to understand. At the ripe old age of 38 I finally learnt to play Chess.

It was all in my mind….the mental block which made me think I'm a dimwit who would not be able to grasp the rules even if somebody taught me. I’m so glad my little one bullied me into learning it. Though I pretend to be very reluctant about playing[reverse psychology…… to get the kids more interested in the game;-)] I am hooked.

Things I don’t understand I clarify with the better-half. I haven’t played a game with him yet. But one day I will. In the meantime I’m secretly practicing my moves to knock his socks off.

Oh get your mind out of the gutter people, I was talking about my chess moves;-D.

Are there any valuable tips you want to leave for this blog friend and chess enthusiast??? I need all the help I can get. I’d also love to hear about your experiences with chess.

Edited to ask: Just suppose I am at a point where I have to give up either my Bishop or the Rook, which one should I sacrifice: the Bishop or the Rook???

My New Year Resolution...

2012-01-05T10:44:00.000+04:00

to learn to play Chess:-)

[click image to enlarge]

Just thinking.....

2011-12-28T10:47:00.000+04:00

It’s back again!!!!!!

The end of the year I mean. It keeps coming back with monotonous regularity and too fast for my liking but I have never complained….till recently ie. Infact I have always looked ahead and ushered the new year in with a lot of fanfare. Then it was exciting and there were lots of possibilities. But now it sort of…I mean the end of the year depresses me when I think about it.

Years are just flying past. And I’m not so sure I like it.

Actually I don’t. Not one bit.

Stop. Slow down. What’s the big hurry dammit????

I really don’t know why I’m panicking. I’m so afraid time is running out on me, afraid that I’ll die without achieving anything. Accomplishing nothing. Achievements & accomplishments not measured in terms of a good job, position or status, more like a need within me to give back to Society what I have received. To make a difference. To feel worthy. To satisfy a hunger clawing at my insides….like it’s something I need to do.

It gets a 100 times worse when I think about it at night. Especially when I can’t sleep. Every fear is magnified and the darkness makes me feel like I’m all alone even though my loved ones are all around me. But well….they are sleeping.

Daylight brings with it a clarity wherein I console myself there is time. Lots of time. Like decades and decades stretching ahead of me to do whatever I want to. Why, take my mother who is in her 60’s……. she’s so in her element now. Almost half of her life she stayed home & took care of her family. I used to wonder secretly how she could be so content to play homemaker when she could have put her teaching degree to good use. But she says she never regretted it and just look at her now, always busy with her church meetings, conferences, voluntary work and her friends, not to forget her determination to stay in shape. I’m just so in awe of her. I hope to be atleast half of what she is when I reach that age.

Most of the time I’m content with what I have. I know that compared to many others I’m so blessed. But there is this niggling thought which refuses to go away. A thought that reminds me that I’m capable of much more and am probably wasting away the best years of my life. Alright there are no regrets when I look at it from the point of view of a mother; I’m so glad I have the choice of being a hands-on mother. I have no lofty ideals for my children; if they grow up to be grounded beings with their heart in the right place I’d consider it a job well-done.

In a couple of years I’ll be four zero. That’s like half my life over. And nothing to show for it.

Atleast that’s what it feels like.

….
….

Then again I pause to think….

Why can’t I be satisfied with what I have????

Why I am not able to convince myself that to reach out for more is not a crime???

Am I looking at the whole picture or missing out on important details???

Why do thoughts have to be so conflicting???

Wishing U All....

2011-12-24T01:14:00.000+04:00

A Merry Christmas:-))

Sister Symphony

2011-12-13T10:29:00.002+04:00

I’m at the bus stop watching my kids alight from the bus.

Nikita walks up to me and says excitedly “Mama, meet my new sister” pointing to her side where I can see only empty space.

I’m puzzled and turn to look at Naina who is walking behind us at a snail’s pace with a very grumpy expression on her face.

Not again I think to myself wryly. They’ve made it like a fashion statement to fight in the school bus and come home with grouses.

“Mama, mama, look at us…..my new sister is waiting for you to say hello” says Nikita tugging at my arm insistently.

“Hello new sister” I say obediently and wink at Naina at the same time.

Naina marginally brightens up at my expression and joins us.

“My new sister is the best. She listens to me and likes everything I have to say. She doesn’t argue with me or fight over silly things. I’m going to have a great time with her” announces Nikita with a quick sideways look at Naina.

“What’s your new sister’s name???” I ask.

“Pakoda*” says Nikita grandly. “I have named her Pakoda and she’s going to be my bestest ever sister.”

I coughed to hide my laughter and even Naina couldn’t help but grin.

As we walked up the stairs Nikita was very dramatically showing off the neighbourhood to her imaginary companion.

“Pakoda, this is where we live, this is how we walk up the stairs, see this is our front door and this is my living room…….come on I’ll show you all my toys and we are going to have lots of fun together”.

For the next 1 hour she didn’t let up…….it was all Pakoda this and Pakoda that.

And inbetween she’ll look at Naina & me and say with the most innocent expression “Pakoda is the best sister I have ever had in my life. She is so much fun and I JUST love her”.

I found the whole thing amusing but couldn’t help feeling sorry for Naina who had no sense of humour when she needed it most.

Naina who was silent all this while couldn’t bear it anymore and announced her decision to have her own imaginary sister.

Nikita who was acting like she was super busy with Sister Pakoda had her ears trained in our direction all the while.

She was at our side in a flash and firmly stopped Naina’s plans from taking wings.

“The imaginary sister thing is MY idea. You can’t copy MY idea” she says authoritatively.

“Yes I can”

“No, you cant”

“Yes I can”

“No, you cant”

“Can”

“Can’t”

“Mamaaaaaaa…..”

“Stop it u twooo…”

“Naina if u copy my idea then I’ll copy ALL ur ideas for the rest of our lives and you will not able to stop me.” says Nikita resourcefully.

Nikita leaves the room leaving Naina to mull over the statement.

Naina who knew the consequences of that left it wisely alone. She retreated for the moment and sat down to think of new strategy.

Just then Nikita calls out “Naina, can u get me my library book, it’s on the bed”

“Ask Pakoda to get it for you” says Naina without missing a beat.

There was a resounding silence punctuated by me trying to muffle my laughter.

And for the rest of the day Nikita was royally ribbed by both Naina and me.

“Nikita, ask Pakoda to get me your lunch-box from your bag”.

“Chechi** will Pakoda play with me if I ask her nicely”

“Pakoda lay the table for me please”

“Pakoda I like u more than my real sister”

By the end of the day Nikita looked like she wished she’d never started it but very good-naturedly endured all the teasing;-D.
The next day the teasing continued and in desperation Nikita put Pakoda to sleep from 2 to 6pm.

Naina & I were so bothered about Pakoda ‘s sleeping pattern; we kept urging Nikita to wake her up because she won’t get any sleep at night if she slept too long.

And the next day when no mention was made about Pakoda till evening I was dying of curiousity.

“Where’s Samosa??? Errr....I mean Pakoda" I ask.

“Oh Pakoda stayed behind at school to help with the chartwork. She’ll be there till night” says Nikita very casually avoiding our eyes & had a small smile playing on her lips.

Naina grins at me from behind Nikita.

And that was that I thought with relief. The better-half when he first heard about the imaginary sister had reacted very differently from me. He was very upset and asked Nikita why she felt the need for an imaginary sister when she had a real sister who was so much fun and who thought the world of her.

Nikita who looked guilty and mutinous at the same time said that Naina was not treating her with respect and not listening to her or doing anything she asked her to do. So then her father gently explained that only if you treat her well and give her respect will she also give you the same. Just because she is your sister she can’t be expected to obey you blindly. And even after that Naina treated her with disrespect she was to tell us about it & we’ll soon set her right. I don’t know how much Nikita gleaned from the conversation but she didn’t argue anymore. Naina was also given a warning that she was not to forget that Nikita was her elder sister and that she’s not to get over-familiar with her especially in front of their friends and schoolmates.

After a few days we forgot all about it and then yesterday….

Both get off the school bus and run up to me….

“Mama, may I introduce my sister to you” says Naina excitedly pointing to Nikita.

“Meet Pakoda, my new sister!!!!!”
Chechi stayed back in school to help with the chartwork”

And they walk off hand-in-hand talking excitedly about their plans for the afternoon.

Here we go again……

@picture above: Nikita’s new found hobby. She found an old church directory and decided it was going to be her comic book. She stuck colored paper on the front & back and illustrated it on her own. At the end of each day she cuts out the cartoon section from the newspaper and sticks it in the book. Initially the book had only her name on it but one day when Naina was sad about some incident which happened in school, Nikita magnanimously added her name below. I was sooo touched.

p.p.s: Before you go all awww…..
…when Naina does anything to irritate her the first thing Nikita does is threaten to scratch her name off the comic book;-P

*Pakoda: a small, spicy fritter containing pieces of vegetables, made usually with a batter of chickpea flour and deep-fried.
**chechi: elder sister in Malayalam

As far as I can see...

2011-12-07T11:10:00.003+04:00

I’m checking mail, commenting on blogs, playing christmas carols…….the sunlight is pouring through the window and my screen was reflecting some of the light.

I couldn’t see clearly. Sighing in irritation I go to the window to block the light.

I pause while drawing the curtains…

And see….

The blue sky…..

The plants bending in the direction of the sharp wind…

The birds huddling together to keep warm…

It was cold….

And I think...

I’m so blessed…

To have a roof over my head….

To be able to serve hot meals for my loved ones….

To have a family who loves me….

Friends who care….

I have a laptop…

An internet connection…

I can read….

I can feel….

I have a body which follows my bidding…

I can sing…

I may not have seen the world…

But I can dream…

I can see.

Hah....tagged ya:-)

2011-11-30T12:05:00.003+04:00

It’s been a looong time since I attempted a tag & so when I came across this somewhere on the web I felt like taking it up. Its called the 7 meme post. Basically it’s all about the different types of posts you have on your blog…..and a chance to show it off;-D. I thought it would be fun to to take a walk down memory lane remembering times when I put up like 8-10 posts a month[hawwww…..;-o].

What this is about:
To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

Rules:
1) Blogger is nominated to take part

2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
The links are:
- Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of

3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.

4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers

5) And so it goes on!

Only after cutting & pasting & writing the intro and formatting the text to my liking did I realise how tough it was going to be to choose for each category. No not because I have so many options but because I didn’t feel any of them made the cut.
Since I spent 45 minutes already on this I can’t think of back tracking & scrabbling around around for something else to post;-P.

So here goes…..

Your most beautiful post- The Unwanted Third

I wrote this in my early blogging days so you may find the words & sentences not so coordinated but I chose it simply because it was a post written from the heart. It is about my neighbours who’ve moved away now…..it is about a little baby whose face still is so clear in my mind even though I haven’t seen her in years.

Your most popular post – The baddest word of them all

I got over 100 comments for this one but that’s not why I say its popular. Every single day my stats shows me keywords like ‘baddest word’ ‘world’s baddest word’ which have been typed into google and reached my page. But I doubt my post satisfies the curiosity of the people who are searching for whatever they are searching for;-D.

Your most controversial post – Hot and Happening

Controversy and me…..hilarious*Nancy wiping tears off*. I never deliberately go out of my way to court trouble either here or real life. I do realise putting up a controversial topic on my blog can get me a lot of comments but it goes against my grain. ‘Judge ye not’ is my motto. Life is too short reallyJ. Even here in this post I was just talking about the weather…..atleast I started out saying it was too hot for words & the rest just happened;-D

Your most helpful post – How to Blog

I’m this really very helpful person in real life….so helpful that people start doubting my intentions after sometime;-(. So nowadays I act most offhand when people ask me for help. And you know what…it works. Everybody is so grateful now even if I just tell them the time. Oh yes my helpful post….I reluctantly direct most of the new, full of doubts bloggers to this post and they ~~rave, exclaim, jump up & down and~~ claim to find it very helpful;-D

A post whose success surprised you –

I scanned thru a lot of posts & wasted maximum time on this link……to tell u the truth, the response I used to get for every post used to be surprise me all the time. When I got up in the morning & checked out the number of comments I received I would be like “Wow, do people really relate to it this muccchhh….;-o”[note: don’t go by the present scenario, I’m talking about the golden era when a whole lot of us used to live and breathe blogs;-D ]
Take the post I have selected for example……even today I shake my head all puzzled when I see the huge response it had generated. I mean how can people can get so excited about ‘How I met my husband" sagas…..;-D.

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved:

Nope I can’t think of a single one….like I told u I’m always surprised at the attention my posts get that I keep scrutinising my posts to see what is it exactly that all of u find so interesting out here;-P. But since I’m obliged to put one up I’ll choose a personal favourite - My Fathers (S)cars

The post that you are most proud of - Layali Dubai
I wrote this post on the Global village after going through a 100 links[atleast it felt like that]. When I was finally done it was time to make lunch and so closed the word document WITHOUT saving it……I had absent-mindedly clicked on the ‘don’t save’ option and the whole post just vanished. I stared stunned at the monitor in shock and then just put my head down on the keyboard and wept. Unlike most posts this post had not come out of my head, it had taken me 3 hours and then some more to get 2 pages of material.
The next day I sat down and waded through pages and pages of information again….can u just imagine how boring it must have been. Under any other circumstances I wouldn’t have bothered & would have convinced myself “Maybe it was not meant to be…”. Not really proud of the post as such, more proud of my determination to see it posted.

And that’s it guys, I really hope you’ll go thru the links…esp the old posts…..I really feel I had written some of my best posts then. Unlike now I had soo much to say thenJ.

The 5 bloggers I’m going to nominate here all have been in the blog world for more than a couple of years now and so surmising that they have enough material to choose from…

Anjuli – One of my favourite bloggers…..we go way back in cyber years and haven’t looked back sinceJ. Her posts make me go all wistful…….did u know she has done this overland drive from India to England in 1985 in a 1958 Morris Minor.

Kala – She’s Indian, born & brought up in Malaysia & lives in the US of A. She makes handcrafted jewellery especially with beads, also makes beautiful paintings and…yep very artistic and her writing reflects her personality.

Preeti Shenoy: She needs no introduction….writer, artist, mom, blogger all rolled into one. I love all her posts except for the ones where she posts her pictures. I tell you nobody has the right to look so sexy when they are touching 40;-(. And nope, before u ask..nope she wont be mad at me for telling her age. Atleast I think she won't. She's not like that. I'm very sure she won't. Oh dear.....

Roshan: The resident Doc. And writer. And philosopher. And Aquarius…like me;-D. Don’t tell anybody I told you this…*nancy furtively looks around & whispers*….he holds full-fledged conversations with God.

Smitha: She’s so darn friendly that when you read her posts it’s like having a face to face conversation with her. Anybody can make out when I’m reading her posts….I’m like nodding and nodding my head all the while:-).

My weekend went like this, what about yours....

2011-11-22T11:13:00.001+04:00

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Naina drew this picture from one of her story-books

Nikita: u should have come for the movie with us Mama, u really missed it.

Me: I know but I got you some good books didn’t I.
[Raising voice slightly]Nainaaaaa, have u kept your timetable for tomorrow???? And Nikita, what about you????

Nikita: I already kept mine Mama. Captain Haddock was too good, he made us laugh soo much, I had the best time of my life today. Papa when is the next Tintin movie releasing???? You must take us for it.

Me: Naina what are you upto….have u or have u not kept ur books ready for tomorrow??? And you have to go for your bath after that. U know[directed at better- half] if I had hung around for some more time I could have met Shobha De & MT Vasudevan Nair. And Shashi Tharoor is going to be there tomorrow. [After a pause]Gimme a word for ‘one of the radial rods which form the centre of a wheel’???

Naina[a faint impatient voice from another room]: I’m keeping, I’m keeping it in a moment.

Better-half: How many letters??

Nikita: Mama, Naina cant find her Science project book, that’s why she’s taking so much time. Snowy was really cute but he doesn’t talk like how he does in the comic books, he doesn’t even have speech bubbles with his thoughts in it and Professor Calculus wasn’t there at all in the whole movie.

Me: 5 letters & ends with an ‘e’. What about Thomson & Thompson??

Better-half: Try Spoke

Nikita: Oh yes they were there, they were soo silly & made us laugh so much. Papa got us nachos with cheese & salsa & also a huge bucket of popcorn. It was so yummy.

Me: Righttttt ‘spoke’ fits in perfectly. I suppose you are full now after eating all that junk. NAINA if I get there & find out u haven’t started on your time-table.......

Nikita: Look mama I know how to wipe a smile off my face…look, look.....

Nikita plonks herself right in front of mama & smiles widely. Then places her hand on the top of her face & brings it down sharply to reveal a face so very serious. She did it 2-3 times[up, down, up, down] in quick succession making us shake our heads in amusement.

Me: Now u go change & come back to clear the table for dinner. And check what Naina’s upto…its awfully quiet in there. The Arabic books aisles were so empty whereas the Indian stalls were so crowded. And you know, there was a cooking demonstration by Sophie Grey. She showed us how to make Whoopies from her book. There was a good selection of childrens book also. I didn’t want to pick up the usual Enid Blyton books this time… how are the books I got for the kids??? Good na.

Better-half who was idly scanning through the books nodded.

Nikita: MAMAAAAAAA…..Naina’s not keeping her time-table, she’s sitting here and reading a bookkkkkk.

Me: Nainaaaaa…..u have 5 minutes to pack your school bag, have your bath and present urself at the dining table otherwise no dinner for u. I’ve finished the crossword, hopefully I’ve got all of them right, don’t forget to fax it tomorrow.

A loud THUD & sounds of a scuffle reach the living room and the better-half goes to investigate. Loud protests & complaints were heard before the matter was sorted out and peace restored.

Conversation resumes during dinner.

Nikita: And u know mama Tintin screams ‘put out the fire, put out the fire’, Captain Haddock pours some water from the bottle he was holding & it goes BOOOM. You know what he did, he poured whiskey instead of water……hahahaha.

Naina: Look at me I’m a Walrus.

Everybody turns to look at Naina who had 2 rib bones from the mutton curry sticking out of her mouth. She really did look like a walrus.

Better-half: Stop playing with your food and eat Naina.

Nikita: Papa what if we watch the movie on our TV…will we still need 3D glasses???

Papa: If we buy a 3D copy then we’ll need 3D glasses but I’m sure they’ll sell normal copies where we don’t need 3D glasses to watch them.

Naina: Whats the meaning of 3D????

Nikita: 3D is when the cartoon figures are life-like….

Papa: They'll have depth.

Nikita: yes…and 2D is like Tom & Jerry…they are flat figures….we cant see their backs....no depth like papa says.

Naina: What about vondy???

Nikita: There is nothing like that Naina.

Mama[who had blanked out the rest of the world to concentrate on her dinner suddenly came to life]: Yes there is, Vondy means vehicle in Malayalam.

The family burst out laughing. U see Naina was asking if there was anything called 1D.

[Incase u r wondering what all that was about……Nikita was discussing the Tintin movie she and Naina had seen at the cinemas along with their father. I was talking about a book fair in Sharjah my friend & I had gone to. Time-tables, crosswords, arguments, walruses all comes with the territory]

Cold light of day

2011-11-14T12:22:00.001+04:00

Been neglecting the blog I know. But you know what, for the first time I have not been overly worried about it. Earlier if I didn’t update atleast once a week my mind would have been preoccupied with it. Time to take a break u think;-o????

Thanks everybody who messaged and mailed me. I’m good, doing good, sorry about disappearing like that, been busy…..not the rushed busy but sort of the ‘occupied’ busy. Have been reading a lot of books, tending to my plants, gone back to solving crosswords & Sudoku, baking a lot…..basically doing a bit of everything except blogging. To be honest haven’t looked into my blog for the past 1 week. No particular reason I can think of. Been sort of just pottering around and taking it easy.

And guess what, the weather has changed for the better out here finnnnally though the papers say that stating today it's going back to warm for another 10 days. But that’s ok…after 9 months of blistering heat & humidity, 10 days of moderate heat is like….like a breeze:-). Just like the British, we here in the Middle East also obsess a lot about the weather. The other way around but. While the people in UK keep hoping to catch a glimpse of the sun we longingly wait for the drop in temperature. The sun which rose at 5.30am now shows itself only around 6.45 and the darkness which set in after 7pm envelopes us around 5pm itself. We just love it.

A slight drop in temperature and the whole lot of us are out in the sun. The parks are filled with families and kids running wild, the roads jam-packed; simply nobody wants to waste a day sitting inside the house. It’s another matter that some of these people maybe heading to the nearest hospitals & clinics as all sorts of infections viral and otherwise are dutifully doing their rounds. But that doesn’t stop any of us from making the most out of 'winter' we so affectionately term it as.

I have started going for early morning walks again. I had missed them so much. Nope not because I’m a health freak. No way. Oh alright initially I had started going for them thinking I’ll lose some weight. But now after 2 years I know better. It will take more than walks to shrug off the lard clinging so faithfully to me. I love my morning walks for many reasons; I walk to breathe in the crisp morning air. To watch the early morning rush swirling around me….just imagine this.....me in slow motion & the rest of the world in fast-forward. To watch a fat cat[no, it’s a really a FAT furry cat] sunning itself on the balcony. To not feel guilty about investing in a pair of expensive running shoes. To feel the cold air stinging my skin…..yesss that’s the real reason, to feel the morning chill biting into me. I just love that.

Was planning to post something here yesterday. But on a sudden whim went shopping. All alone. Leisurely checked out the whole store. Picked up a few items and brought it till the cash counter. Hesitated. I didn’t really need any of it did I. Went and kept them back in their proper places. That’s it, didn’t buy a thing. I just loved it. I saved so much money. Makes me wonder why I don’t do these things more often. Have it all planned out, I’m going again next week.

Please tell me I’m not crazy.

Did u hear about when the.....

2011-11-02T16:49:00.000+04:00

1: Govt. of India declared 26th Oct as public holiday to celebrate the end of Ra One promotions...!

2: Govt of India just announced Rs 50,000 relief to all those who watched RA1 and Rs.25,000 for those who left at interval.

3: Breaking News...! Crocin, Disprin, Combiflam, Adol Panadol, Diclomol and all Headache Tablets out of Stock after RA.ONE's release

4: Salman to SRK after watching Ra.One, "Mujh par ek ehsaan karna, dubara aisi movie mat banana"

5: Rahul Gandhi to meet people affected after seeing Ra.One.

6: Even Ra.mu doesn't wanna waste time by watching Ra.one...!

7: Nahi chala RA.ONE...! Ab SRK bolega buy one get one aur ek week ke baad bolega, RA.ONE coming soon on Sahara.One and Star.one.

8: All bachelors must see Ra.One to understand what PAIN means to married men.

9: Get RA.ONE under Lokpal bill...! Put people behind bars who made such movie.

10: As SRK hates losing & hates messages he is surely going to take a break from Twitter. Now we came 2 know why he joined Google+ before RA1 release.

11: Faking News: 100 people committed mass suicide after watching Ra.one!

What's in a name????

2011-10-31T12:59:00.002+04:00

How many of you have seen this fruit??? Eaten this fruit????

I had some for the 1st time a week back and it tasted terrible. Then I had some from the same basket around 2 days back and it tasted quite good.

What’s with the change of heart you are wondering????
Even if you are not…wondering I mean, I simply have to tell you.

I’ll start at the beginning.
A very good place to start.
When you read you begin you begin with ABC….

Fine, fine I’ll get on with it.

Every year our church celebrates something called the Harvest Festival. Back in the olden days when our forefathers were farmers and grew everything they needed from the earth they dedicated a day at church where they would give to God a portion of their fruits of labour. The Harvest Festival reminds Christians of all the blessings God gives them. And the idea is to share them with others who are not so fortunate. The day was also spent singing, prayer and giving thanks to God.

Cut to the present. All the above still happens but there is a carnival-like touch to the whole thing. The fruits of labour which we give the church is generally picked up from the supermarket and auctioned off at 3-4 times the actual price & the proceeds go to charity. The women organise the food stalls & the delicacies sell like hot cakes & the money goes to the needy. Not to be left out the youth install game-booths which again makes a lot of money and the proceeds….you get the drift, right.

Coming back to what I wanted to talk about…..the fruit in the picture. The auctioner holds a crate of this fruit high for everybody to take a good look at it & announces the fruit name & price & I was like what fruit did he say it was????

“Its called the kaaka fruit!!!” says cousin who was with me, very helpfully.

“What kind of fruit is that??? ” I ask.

“It’s very different, very tasty” she tempts me.

I had already picked up boxes of blackberries and mangosteen & thought I was done. Curiousity won.

So we join the circle of bidders once again. After some good-natured competitive bidding we bag the crate of kaaka fruit. They were bright orange in colour and looked just like tomatoes but with a thicker stem.

"Kaaka fruit, what a funny name Mama" say the kids eyeing the fruit doubtfully. I so badly wanted to agree with them.

When we reached home I cut a bowl of fruit and placed it on the table. The blackberries & mangosteen were so delicious it disappeared off the plate within minutes but the kaaka fruit remained. The kids made faces when asked the reason. I tentatively tasted it. On the surface it tasted okay but a sort of bitter taste followed & filled my mouth.

I went back to the kitchen and looked mournfully at the rest of the kaaka fruit. There were atleast 3kgs of it. How on earth was I going finish the rest of it? I muttered uncomplimentary stuff about my cousin’s taste in general, planning to call her & give her an earful.

I couldn’t bear to throw it out & so it languished in the fridge for around 1 week. Every time I saw it I kicked myself for being so impulsive. But I still didn’t throw it out. I couldn’t bear to….it didn’t look the least spoilt…infact it was a bright red now.

This weekend when I went grocery shopping I caught sight of a familiar fruit piled up high in the fruit section. I went across to check it out. Oh yes it was the very same kaaka fruit.

The board read:

Khaki fruit
[France]
Dhs.39.95/kg
[works out to rs.420/kg]

I’m not sure how long I stood there. I had never seen it before in the supermarket. Or maybe I never noticed it. A lot of people were standing around and buying them. Seemed like it was a seasonal fruit & not found all year long like the others and quite popular too.

Came back home & googled it.

Persimmon also known as the Kaki fruit is a deep orange, waxy fruit which is similar to a tomato in shape. Persimmons with light-colored flesh have astringent taste until they soften. The astringent taste is due to the presence of a large amount of tannin, the same substance found in tea. As the fruit ripens and sweetens the tannin disappears.
It is advisable to remove the skin before eating the flesh which, too, is bright orange. The best way to remove the thin skin of this fruit is by placing it under running water while scraping off the skin.

Health Benefits of Persimmon:

* Persimmons can help prevent cancer because it is high in vitamin A.

* Astingent taste of persimmon can help stops diarrhea, reduces sweating, and slows or stops bleeding.

* It is use as a traditional Chinese remedy for hiccups. Take 9 grams of calyx of the persimmon fruit and 3 grams of fresh ginger. Add water and steam for a few minutes and eat.

*It contain compounds known as shibuol and betulinic acid that are thought to have anti-cancer properties.

* A study conducted in Japan showed that the peel of the persimmon contains phytochemicals known as proanthocyanidins which may protect cells against oxidative damage associated with aging.

Buying Tip: When choosing persimmons look for ones that have a deep red color, plump and without blemishes. Avoid ones that are hard if you plan on eating them immediately since the immature persimmon has a bitter taste. Ripeness is usually indicated by softness.

So yeah I’m eating them everyday. They are actually quite tasty……honest.

And I'm sure there is a lesson in it for me somewhere.

*I got the info about the fruit from here.

She's all mine

2011-10-20T11:22:00.006+04:00

We brought the new laptop home last weekend and I am soooo busy nowadays. I'm spending all my time caressing it lovingly and admiring it from every angle. I just dont have time to do anything else. Every time I look at it which is all the time, a beautific smile fills my face and my hands keep making these multiple namaste motions upwards. Looks like Khushi and her Devi maiyya movements are contagious. Ignore previous sentence if you don't watch Star Plus. Every morning my 1st thought is of my new laptop. The 1st two days I wasted so much time opening the laptop bag at the crack of dawn to check if it was still there.

It was;-D.

But the school bus wasn't;-(.

So now I content myself by blowing a quick kiss in its general direction before rushing off to attend to worldly matters. All through the day I'm preoccupied with the laptop or thoughts of it. At nights I carefully pack my heart’s desire into the neat looking bag they gave me and carry into the bedroom with me.

The old Compaq was everybodys. It still is.
But this baby....she's mine, only ma-ma-ma mine;-D.

I clean my new laptop like every 20 seconds. Nope I don’t do any other work. I have made other arrangements for that. No dust or germ is going to get a chance to sit on my precious. I have already kept aside a special scrap of cloth[umm…the soft cloth you get from the opticians for your glasses] for the same. So when I'm not admiring the features I'm gently dusting away non-existent dirt from its body. I used to smirk at the better-half when he forbade all of us from touching his new 42 inch LCD & would clean it all by himself. Now I know exactly how he must have felt. I have my heart in my mouth when the kids are man-handling my dil ka tukda[piece of my heart]. I have given them the strictest instructions...

* no carrying the laptop from one room to the other.

* no eating or drinking allowed when you are using it

* no laughing loudly and passing envious comments

* You will get the laptop only after u finish your studies, keep your time-table, clean your room, clean the house and the bathrooms, water the plants, feed the dog........

Whaaat...we dont have a dog???

Okay then feed the fish, have your bath and finish your dinner. By which time I'm fervently hoping that they are exhausted and just want to crash into bed.

You think I'm over-reacting.....huh if only you knew. When we did the initial rounds to check out the range of laptops I had no particular brand in mind. I just wanted a something, anything which was faster than the one we had at home. And yeah I wanted a windows OS, thats it. Gradually the sales-pitch started making sense to me and I was now very keenly observing all brands. One brand stood out; both looks and features-wise. And the price reflected it;-(. The more we checked all of them out the more I kept loitering around this particular model.

The better-half by now had it all planned; a Toshiba was a good buy he said. Seems like it was the Nokia of Laptops; it had a good lifespan, even if it fell somwhere it will not affect the working of the system. And the price was so reasonable that we could also pick up an ipad2 and still not cause any undue stress on our budget.

The kids whooped in delight. And I had to agree reluctantly. I didn’t have anything concrete against the model except that it looked big & bulky & the colours were not really attractive.

Alright so I was biased.

My eyes kept turning to the other corner where my heart’s desire was beckoning me. The better-half took one look at my expression and knew. In hindsight now I realise how badly he wanted to pick up the ipad. He tried his luck one last time; took me all around the room asking me to pick any other brand. We saw Dell, HP, Packard Bell, Samsung, so many others in the same range. They all looked good; I knew he was talking sense & finally told him to pick up what he thought was the best. Nope not bitter or anything, just resigned, disappointed and a little sad.

And just like that the better-half gave up and soon we were back at the counter where the one I wanted was displayed. The sales guy at that counter grinned knowingly. My hero doesn’t know it but I had very James Bondishly told the guy 'I'll be back' earlier. Or was it Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator who said that. Anyways…

I was now feeling all guilty and wrestling with my conscience....

Good Nancy [dressed in white flowing gown & with beautiful wings]: Listen to him, he is right.....Toshiba is sturdier, even if it falls there is no lasting damage.

Wicked Nancy[robed in black, bald with red horns]: So??? You are not going to be making a habit of throwing your laptop around the place are you????

Good Nancy: If you buy this the ipad won’t happen.

Wicked Nancy: Studies are priority, an ipad will only distract the children. Not buying it is not the end of the world.

Good Nancy: They'll be disappointed.

Wicked Nancy: Ohhhh yes that they will be and they won’t let you forget it anytime soon and I'm soo going to enjoy that buahahahaaaaaaa.......

Was jerked back to earth when I felt the kids pulling at my hands & jumping excitedly....

Huh...what the….

Seems like the laptop came with a free MP3 player, a Cross Pen, a 16GB vault and 1 yr free McAfee anti-virus + a neat looking bag for the laptop…..courtesy GITEX.

You are not going to believe this but the kids forgot all about the ipad when they heard about the MP3 player. I know, I know. They are weird. ~~Just like me.~~ Whoever chooses a music player ahead of an IPAD. The thing is...the kids have been asking of an MP3 player for a long time now because all their friends have it. So the thought of getting their dream gadget completely obliterated thoughts of the ipad. The better-half’s heaven-ward look of disbelief was hilarious.

So it was one happy family which trooped back home that night. Oh yes even better-half was. His funda is simple; if family happy, he also happy.

Yup thats my funda too....if I'm happy, my family also happy.

Here’s a glimpse of my beautiful, beautiful ……machine.

No particular reason

2011-10-12T16:19:00.006+04:00

Feeling very sad.

No particular reason.

Restless.

Wandering room to room.

It’s so quiet.

Feel like having Bebinca*.

Ages since I had some.

Laptop is sooo slow.

Have nothing much to say anyway.

Nobody called me today.

Better-half did though

for some mundane detail.

Ate a squishy kiwi.

I want to climb a mountain.

Summit.

Breathe in pure, unpolluted air.

He called again.

Asked me to check out laptops.

I sat upright.

Sometimes I think he can read my mind.

Gitex** or not,

He’s the best, the better-half.

Mamma mia played in the background.

Sang along.

Loaded washing machine.

Music

Invigorates,

Calms the soul.

Jagjit Singh, we’ll miss u.

Time

Changing weather.

Must start going for walks.

Mornings

And evenings,

maybe some skipping too.

Yeah right;-S.

The Phone.

It was my Friend.

Laughed together.

Rebooted laptop.

Waittaminute.

Dare I pass it off as a post.

[if anybody is looking for rhyme or reason in the above post let me assure you there is none. Just told u about my morning, the short-cut way].

*goan delicacy

** GITEX is an annual consumer computer & electronics trade show[read massive discounts & freebies] which takes place in Dubai

TP, CT & PT*

2011-10-04T10:17:00.003+04:00

Dear Manu,
Hope u guys enjoyed dinner at our place!!!! I'm sorry I didnt serve too many snacks as I was afraid you'll be stuffed and won't eat the dinner I slaved over. From where I stand I pronounce it a success...well the kids didn’t approach us with their grievances even once;-o.

Dear Baskin Robbins,
What is the neccessity to set up shop in every corner???? At any given location the kids sniff you out and then proceed to make my life miserable until I agree to get some.

Dear Jigsaw puzzle makers,
I've completed 80% of your puzzle but am going all crossed eyed trying to piece the sky together. There simply has got to be an easier way.

Dear mama,
Do your exam well. Don’t waste time looking here & there. Answer every question whether u know it or not. Dont forget to recheck your paper to see if u've missed anything. If u come back with less than 80% I'll not be very pleased.
[My mother was attempting an exam in church....I got the CT's repeating the same dialogues I heard all my life;-D]

Dear Pineapples,
I know I got you for a very low price but that doesn’t mean you have to all ripen at the same time;-/. My fingers are bone tired googling for all kinds of recipes.

Dear Maid,
Lifting the mats and vacuuming underneath will cost you only an extra minute of your time. What do you mean How???? Just bend, pick up mat, shake it, vacuum underneath, put mat back and vacuum over it.
Seeee it's so simple isn’t it. What???? Yes you have to do that way with all the 15 mats around the house. YES that will be 15 minutes.

Dear Blogger creators,
When are you going to settle all my complaints???? There are too many issues to mention, though for a start you could offer us a facility wherein we can respond to each comment individually.

Dear School authorities,
You guys are the best. Thanks for the tracking device which helps us follow the school bus all the way home. Now I don’t have to wait endlessly in the HOT sun for the bus to arrive.

Dear God,
You know me, a regular complaint box………..was just airing out a few of my grouses, and entertaining my blog friends with the weekly update. Thank You for all the blessings you have bestowed on me. Amen

Errr....Pineapple Trifle anyone???

* Title of the post : Time-pass, Cheap Thrills & Pineapple Trifle

First things first

2011-09-26T12:39:00.008+04:00

I know I cribbed so much about the vacation but lot of interesting things happened too. It was also a holiday of many 'firsts' and I'm going to generously share my experiences with u.

The kids & I were so tickled when we caught sight of this lil guy. It was the first time we were seeing a real live snail. We reluctantly left to go have breakfast. When we came back it was nowhere to be seen; who ever said snails were slow need to check up on their facts.

That’s the Mysore Palace. I have already seen it before. Twice actually. But I have never seen it lit up like this. Did you know it’s illuminated only on weekends....and only for an hour. It was beautiful…totally worth waiting for.

Now you’ll say ‘Huh puhleeeese don’t tell us you haven’t seen a crow before’. Ofcourse I’ve seen crows. But this is my FIRST picture of one;-D. Now this crow didnt seem like an ordinary crow; it was standing there & quietly staring into the sea for atleast 5 minutes. Me thinks it was thinking philosphical thoughts. Unless it had a constipation problem.

My mother-in-law slipped and fell; dislocated & fractured her left wrist two weeks back. The first step from the bottom was the slippery culprit.

Clicked this from a moving train. The path looks so inviting doesn’t it???? Oh the temptation!!!! If I decided to follow my heart I’m sure I would have felt like the first woman on earth walking down that particular road. Oh all right, I'll cut the crap......I was just looking for an excuse to show off what I think is one of my best photographs.

I had slipped off my flip-flops and was walking barefoot on the lovely green grass when I was introduced to this bird. Her name is Rosie. The guy who introduced her to us said she was a Macaw. She walked up to my footwear and snapped the straps neatly into two with her sharp beak. "Shoo-shoo" I waved my hands trying to stop her, then she turned & started walking towards me with this crazy glint in her eye. I backed off in a hurry.

Oh ya I forgot...

First time I met a bird named Rosie.

First time a bird destroyed my footwear.

First time I heard of a Cockatoo being called a Macaw

My sister clicked this picture of me at the Zoo. First time I find myself in the same frame as a rhino.

If I continue I'd probably be tempted to add I was the first person to conquer North-pole and I have no photographs to prove it. So I'll conclude here and request you NOT to write down the first thought which occurred to you when you finished reading this post. Unless you want to compliment me on my superior insights & complicated thought-process.

Just the other day.....

2011-09-20T10:47:00.005+04:00

Naina[7 ½yrs]: Mama can we get married to our classmates???

Mama[very sweetly]: No!!!!!

Naina: But Ron & Hermoine were classmates & married eachother didn’t they????

Mama: They married when they grew big.

Naina[eagerly]: So does that mean I can marry Joe when I'm big.

Mama looks stumped for an answer.

Naina: I so badly want to go live with him. His mama makes yummy fried rice.

*************************************************
Naina was grumbling away about something. I crane my head from wherever I am to see what she was so upset about and watch her shaking her fists at someone outside the window.

Concerned I move closer and hear her complaining “Oh you bad sun, stop shining on my face and disturbing me, just go away will you????????

All she had to do was close the curtains but the lazy bum didn’t want to get up from where she was sitting;-/.

*************************************************
Naina[wistfully]: How I wish I was a cow!!!!!

Mama[curiously]: Why?????

Naina: When I’m coming back from school I’m so hungry!!!

Mama[bewildered now]: So????

Naina: I’m so bored sitting in the bus & doing nothing; if I were a cow I could chew some cud and then I won't be so hungry!!!!

Mama is really impressed with Naina’s logic.

Nikita[10yrs] who is listening to the conversation starts giggling……..she was imagining Naina as a black and white spotted cow with her pink Barbie school bag on her back standing in the aisle of the school bus chewing cud;-D. Soon all 3 of us kept adding to it and laughed uproariously.

*************************************************
This picture was drawn by Naina almost a year back. I fell in love with the drawing as soon as I saw it and kept it away safely. So safely that later on when I wanted to have a look at it I couldn’t find it. When I found it last week I left everything else and sat down to admire it, admire myself in it to be more precise.

Just look at me everybody…..

I look so GOOOD!!!!!!

Well ok just ignore the hands which look like forks.

And the eyes which are looking in different directions.

And the feet.

Just look at me….ME

Check out the figure;-D

Dressed in a hot pink number.

With thick black wavy hair till the waist.

Scanned the picture to show u guys, then put it in a place where I can take it out & look at it whenever I'm down in the dumps;-)).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any idea at what age children ideally should start reading Harry Potter????? I gave Nikita the 1st book when she was around 9yrs and Naina[almost 7yrs then] begged me so much that I gave it to her thinking she wont understand or like it. She loved it. She has since then read the 1st 3 books and is after me for the 4th. I'm so confused that I have the rest of the series under lock and key.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A different beat

2011-09-12T18:19:00.008+04:00

The first I heard of it was when the better-half was asking a friend[who was going to Kerala, India] to check the price of a chenda.

“Chenda, what’s that??????” I ask puzzled.

“What do you think it is???” the better-half questions back.

“”Noooo ideaaa…………. the only chenda I can think of is the one they use in the temples in Kerala, you know those long drum-like thingies which they beat with sticks for temple festivals. But you were not talking about that, were you???” I joke weakly.

“I’m talking about the very same chenda” the better-half says happily.

“Okkayyy…..so why are you asking your friend to find out the price” I was totally mystified now.

“To buy it” says better-half casually and walks out of the room.

I stare at him open-mouthed trying to assimilate the information.

*************************************************
I always knew he was crazy about drums. Within a month of marriage I found out that his dream from childhood was to be a football player & to buy himself a state-of-the-art drum-set. Injuries and a back-problem ruled out a career in football[thts the story he sticks to;-D] but he was determined to realize his other dream come what may.
Since he didn’t know how to play the drums and plus we really didn’t have the required space in the apartment he decided he would buy it whenever we moved into our dream house in India[whenever that was].

Right, all this was cool with me. I cherished a secret fantasy myself to bang on a drum set…….. diding dish bang BOOMMMMMM tish-tinsh tadum dish tidding tish TisHH TISHHHHHHH.
Which is why I was so bewildered as to why he was opting for a chenda……a chenda for goodness' sakes.

A chenda for your information is a …..a…....actually I had no clue what a chenda was all about other than the odd glimpses in the Malayalam movies where the actors portraying simple village life, play it very enthusiastically in their temples during festivals & such-like…..oh let me just google it for you……
….
.....

Ok here it is….according to Wikipedia….. “The Chenda is a cylindrical percussion instrument used widely in the state of Kerala. It is mainly played in Hindu Temple Festivals and as an accompaniment in the religious art forms of Kerala like Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Theyyam and among many forms of dances and rituals in Kerala.”

So you see what I’m getting at….

*************************************************

I followed him into the living-room “You are joking!!!!!”

“Nope, I dont want to wait anymore. Since we have no space for a drum-set in the apartment, I’m going to get myself a chenda and start practicing on that."

On that note he started beating an imaginary chenda with accompanying sound…….
“Tan-tan, taga taga taga, taga taga taga,
Tan-tan, taga taga taga……………....”

I shook my head in bafflement; I mean whatever next.

In the following months I heard the......
“Tan-tan, taga taga taga, taga taga taga,
Tan-tan, taga taga taga……………….....” every now and then and couldn't help smiling.

Then when we went to Kerala recently I heard him telling his father about it. I quickly positioned myself so that I could watch my father-in-law’s face. Then ducked away & laughed so much; I understood his incomprehension & bewilderment so well. Why did his son want to buy a chenda of all things[now all of u please don’t mistake me….a chenda is beautiful instrument and we have nothing against it. Its just that nobody else in our whole family or acquaintance or anybody(in my knowledge) ever expressed an interest in it. So many of us send our kids to learn to play the piano, guitar, violin and even the veena & tabla but chenda.....we know next to nothing about it, the closest we've seen it is in the movies]

Anyways my father-in-law found out places where they sold musical instruments & off they went together to check them out. Before going the better-half armed himself with some basic knowledge about the chenda from the internet[can you just believe this???] so that he could converse knowledgably.

I found the better-half’s obsession with the chenda very endearing and the situations centred around it hilarious. I mean he is such a practical & sane guy most of the time;-D.

When they came back they had different emotions reflecting on their faces. The better-half was disappointed that the chenda cost more than double the price in his home-town compared to districts like Trichur & Ernakulam[the hub of art & culture] and his father was relieved that better-sense prevailed.

I did empathise with the better-half at this point. He was the kind who never splurged on himself. This was actually the 1st time he showed so much interest in something which he didn’t really need in his normal day-to-day life. I was like “Just get it” but he shook his head. He wasnt that far gone yet;-D

The “Tan-tan, taga taga taga, taga taga taga,
Tan-tan, taga taga taga……...............” tune was still hummed at odd intervals but very mournfully now.

Soon it was time to go back to Dubai. In all the bustle and the shopping I forgot about it but just once saw him wistfully looking in a particular direction[while we coming back home from a shopping trip] and I glanced curiously in the same direction. It was one of the musical instruments shop which he had gone to earlier. He hadn’t forgotten.

Reached Trivandrum airport and found the flight cancelled. It was rescheduled for 11 hrs later.

I thought it was a Sign.

All the way upto the hotel my eyes unconsciously searched the shops we were passing. Reached our room & I found the yellow pages right on top of the shelf which gave me some information. When I casually questioned the head-waiter at the restaurant, within 5 minutes he got me all the names of the stores which specialised in musical instruments and directions to boot.

I tell you it was meant to be.

The waiter asked us to hurry….all shops closed by 7.30-8pm & it was already 7pm.

The kids[they were excited too] and I tore out of the hotel with the better-half following hesitantly. He had other things on his mind now[the flight delay had played havoc with his appointments for the next day]. We caught an auto and the nice guy took us around the whole town; the 1st shop was closed, the next shop had a piece which was not tuned[will take a day to tune it], the next shop had a damaged piece, the third shop had moved, another closed……….we were rushing from 1 shop to the other to beat the closing time. The auto driver finally dropped us back at the hotel around 8.30pm.....we had come back empty-handed.

The better-half was resigned but I just couldn’t understand it. The signs were all in our favour but we were beaten by time I supposed miserably. If only we had started off half an hour earlier we could have made it to all the shops. Just then, right next to our hotel we see this old board which read “………..Sports and Music equipments”. It had some sad looking crickets bats & badminton racquets on display. Not very reassuring, I looked at the better-half & mouthed “just one last try”.

The shop had only sports equipments but the shop-keeper points us to his other shop down the road which had the musical instruments & warns “We close in 10 minutes.”

The kids by this time were totally grumpy. According to them we rushed all around the town for nothing; we didn’t stop at even one book or stationary store which was downright unfair. They were also hungry and tired.

I rashly promised them everything they wanted and we took off in a run. Reached the music shop and found it very different from the old & dusty sports shop. Impressive-looking instruments[Indian & western] adorned the walls and the sides of the room. We found our beauty almost immediately. There were just 2 pieces and ours was the one with white ropes on it just like how we wanted[the other had yellow]. It was perfectly tuned and just waiting to be taken home. The price was a little more but not as expensive as the one in our hometown. Still there was no harm in trying is there??? I hesitantly asked them to reduce the price and what do you know; we got a discount. Paid up quickly, got it carefully packed and brought it back with us to Dubai. There was a bit of a heart-stopping moment when a customs official tore thru all the wrapping and wanted to open the drum to check the insides. Luckily another official intervened and they let us off.

As of now the chenda stands proudly in its special place in the apartment; the better-half has downloaded a few chenda tunes from the internet and is practicing very conscientiously. My advise to go learn the basics at a kala-kendra* is treated very disdainfully. The kids watch him very interestedly and try their hand at it under his supervision. He gave a marvellous performance[only for us ofcourse] on the occasion of Onam...... well it sounded pretty good to my inexperienced ears.

Everytime I walk past the chenda I marvel at how it all fell into place, I told you it was meant to be….I knew it the minute I heard the flight was cancelled, I just knew it.

Here's a picture of the prized possession......

“Tan-tan, taga taga taga, taga taga taga,
Tan-tan, taga taga taga………………………….” **

*institutions which specialise in art & cultural dances

** our version of how the instrument sounds

Vacations are overrated

2011-09-06T10:05:00.001+04:00

This year’s Vacation is something I’d like to forget as soon as possible.

# First my mom falls sick and ends up in hospital.

# I land up in charge of the kitchen by default and was super busy trying to feed 6 hungry human beings 3 times a day.

# When my mom finally recovered it was time to go…to kerala.

# There I find that my mother-in-law had fired her maid just the previous day.

# I spent the rest of my vay-cay-shon around the kitchen sink washing, cleaning, peeling and making tea/coffee atleast 8-10 times a day[record numbers of guests this yr] and back to washing up.

# Nikita got 4 injections at one go…..the doctor praised her for being so brave. She came out of the clinic, burst into tears and threw up all her breakfast on the pavement. She was then sick for the next few days.

# Went shopping and managed to lose my purse along the way. The purse had money, all kinds of id/debit/credit/membership cards and an iphone. Found it after 45mins and I don’t ever want to relive those moments again. The better-half and I were on the brink of initiating divorce proceedings.

# The tailor misplaced the material I gave for stitching and I was at my wits end. I finally got it on my way to the airport. She made me go to her shop innumerable times and I did not murmer my disatisfaction even once.
Now why on earth do u think I was so patient with her????

You see she was the one who found my purse and kept it safely for me;-D.

# It was raining lightly and the roads were wet. I was striding up the road while the better-half and kids held eachothers’ hands tightly and walked very carefully. I shook my head at them and asked them to walk faster; its only a bit of rain not a natural calamity for heavens sakes. Right then I stepped on a slippery patch and fell flat on the ground. Yup I fell right outside Blossoms. Got up quickly and fled inside the book store[Oh this happened in Bangalore.]. My back still aches on and off.

# Finally it was time to get back and I was actually looking forward to getting back to the hot and humid and sweltering Dubai. We reach the airport[it takes 4 hrs to get there] and find out that the flight was cancelled. Somehow I was not very surprised; the whole trip nothing had really gone according to plan.

.....

Wait, its not over…

# Came back to Dubai and started cleaning the house with a vengeance. Collapsed after 2 days with fever and severe body pain. Self medicated crocin for a few days. No good. Went to the doc and was prescribed antibiotics. It took another 5 days before I was able to think clearly.
As of today I’m feeling good; a bit shaky but good.

# Now the kids are showing symptoms.

# And oh did I mention we have term exams happening in a week's time and havent studied a thing.

Its that time of the year again

2011-07-23T17:14:00.003+04:00

The summer hols are upon us. Two whole months. The kids are ecstatic and I’m walking around in 2 minds. Ofcourse I’m glad that the exams are over, I can now get up at 7.30 instead of 5.30am, no freaking lunch-boxes to be prepared[I waste so much time thinking what to send;-(] and NO homework yaayyyyy.

On the other hand having 2 kids under my feet for 2 WHOLE MONTHS is not my idea of fun. I have children who act like teenagers already, squabble like jackdaws[you have to hear it to believe it;-/] and are forever hungry but complain about the quality of the food when it comes to them. By the end of the day I’m all ready to run out of the front door. Thank goodness for vacations.

Went over to the neighbour’s house today and asked her tentatively if she could look after my plants when I’m traveling. She moved in last year but I met her for the 1st time just 3 weeks back. She graciously invited me in. Nothing prepared me for the vision before my eyes.

Her living room looked like something out of an interiors magazine. I was slack jawed. The whole room was done in pure white with splashes of red and green[plants] and minimum wood work. The rest of the apartment looked even better. I hastily told her I’ll find some other house to keep my plants. She looked at me puzzled. I was like ‘my plants are going to ruin your decor’. Honestly my plants were going to look like country-bumpkins besides her designer flora. She started laughing and told me that her husband was an architect and it was he who designed their interiors.

Came back home and spent an hour sprucing my greens; cutting away all the dried foliage, wiping the dust off the leaves and spraying them with plant shine and even scrubbing the pots . Hah they look so good now;-D.

The better-half is sooo amused;-P

As I prepare to go home I realize that unlike earlier where all of us used to rush back to home country, most of us now take off to other destinations. The urge to see our parents and family members and bask in that warmth is no longer that compelling. Times sure are changing.

Anyways came here to tell you that I’ll be out of the blog circuit for a month or so. You guys take care and wish me luck.

For what????

My sanity, remember!!!!!

After the questions

2011-07-18T12:02:00.004+04:00

After almost a month of asking questions I’m having trouble writing a post. I’m penning this but my mind is still on the questioning mode???

What did you guys do this weekend???
Me??? Oh dont ask, the bitter-half & I argued & I impressively arranged myself into a corner and sulked.

See I told u…..my mind is trying hard to focus on a post but my fingers are on their own trip. Or is it the other way around???

The post is primarily to thank all of you who played along with this marathon; which reminds me, I never asked the original question.

What did you have for breakfast today????
I made some sad looking pancakes today…..no idea why, but somedays it turns out an unhappy mess.

Ufff as I was saying, the marathon was a spur of the moment idea which didn’t take into consideration my kids exams which neatly fell inbetween and I had to devote a lot of time to that which meant I wasn’t able to reply to many of your comments.

Have you replied to all the comments which you have received on your blog till today????
Me???? Nope I haven't but can safely say that I have replied to atleast 97% of them.

I don’t mind telling you that I felt a bit let down when many of the regular bloggers carefully kept away from the whole marathon.

Have you experienced something like this????
Meeee??? nope, not up till now….maybe that’s why I was so disappointed.

When was the last time you snarled at your fingers to just shut up?????
Me???? Just NOW!!!!

The stats showed so many regulars who walked in & read the questions but did not comment on any of them…….not even a measly ONE.

Tears rolled down my cheeks in sorrow.

Oh alright I’m exaggerating but I want you to feel a little bad.

Like terribly guilty.

Like ‘how will I ever look into Nancy’s eyes ever again’ guilty;-/

On the other hand I never expected anybody to answer ALL the questions but SO MANY of you did. Thank You Bindu, RS, Ramesh, Sulo, Tan, Uma. You guys were fabulous….coz you didn’t have to but you entered into the spirit of the game and took it to the next level. Even when I wasn’t around you guys just had fun[most of it at my expense but I’ll magnanimously overlook it for now] in the comments section.

Everybody who commented in the marathon, Thank You guys.

I love you all so much muaaaah, muaaaahhh…..

Ok, ok I’ll knock it off.

But really THANK YOU:-))!!!!!

Now I’ve got some books for the bloggers who commented on ALL the questions[names mentioned above]. Please excuse me if the books take some time to reach you because I’m at present tangled[did u watch that movie??? Me??? Yup, liked it a lot, my girls loved it] in the logistics of getting the books autographed by the author herself.

Special eh…..well special gifts for special people;-D.

I also did an elaborate calculation on an Excel sheet[Do u know Excel??? Me??? Ofcourse learnt it all by mysemmmmffffhhh] and have to tell you that a total of 59 bloggers participated in the quiz.

I’ve taken the next 15 names whose comments were the highest…guys will you mail me your postal address within the next 2 days, I’d love to send you one of those jhinkichakka ‘Dooobaii Postcards’;-D.
The bloggers are Anusha, Anjuli, Elizabeth, forgottogrowup, hitch writer, Jane, limenlemons, Maddy, Prabodh, Preethi, Renu, snow, Sunshine, Swaram, Vaidegi and WannabeWriter;-D.

Something just occurred to me…..some of you may not want to share your address for personal reasons. So I’ve specified a time limit, if I don’t get your address in the next 2 days I’ll totally understand :-)). And this way I can mail the postcards all at one go. So for goodness sakes don't delay if you are planning to send me ur address.

Do U have a tendency to procrastinate????
Me???? All the time...what do u think the ~~bitter~~ better-half was giving me a lecture abouktraaaaackkkkkkk*

*the sharp sound of Nancy rapping her fingers

I'm just praying...

2011-07-13T19:50:00.001+04:00

I was just about to post the last question when I heard about the serial blasts in Mumbai. The familiar feeling of fear & dread creeped in, everything else suddenly seemed superfluous.

My brothers & sisters in & from Mumbai, keep your calm; the entire nation is with you!!!!!!!

21st Question

2011-07-12T18:10:00.000+04:00

How would you describe yourself????????

Qstn Twenty

2011-07-11T15:20:00.000+04:00

What's your guilty pleasure?????

Is it.....

Chocolates

Cocktails

sleeping

working

Television & Movies

Shoes

Gambling

The Internet

Or is it something else?????

Questn 19

2011-07-08T17:02:00.000+04:00

If you could open your own business what would it be?

[Money no object]

Q18

2011-07-07T17:54:00.000+04:00

Have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper????

17 Questions

2011-07-06T17:10:00.004+04:00

Are you more…

01) Uptown or downtown?

02) Country or rock and roll?

03) Extrovert or introvert?

04) A cool cucumber or a hot pepper?

05) Pitcher or catcher?

06) Prone to bark or meow?

07) Spider-Man or Wolverine?

08) A bowler or a golfer?

You prefer......

09) Chocolate or vanilla?

10) Catch of the day or the house specialty?

11) Letter or Email

12) History or Geography

13) Boredom or Suffering

14) Stairs or Escalator

15) Blogging or Tweeting

16) Angelina Jolie or Meg Ryan

17) Childhood or Retirement

Qstn Sixteen

2011-07-05T21:56:00.000+04:00

Think baaaack……now tell me which is the earliest song you remember???

What memories do you associate with it????

Qstn Fifteen

2011-07-04T15:40:00.004+04:00

Do you read books????

What kind of books do you prefer????

Name one book which you’ve read and think everybody must read it atleast once….not because it teaches you something or has broken any records…..only because it pulled at YOUR insides.

A few funny Book titles I came across......

Question 4teen

2011-07-01T12:22:00.000+04:00

What sport have you/do you play(ed)????

Which sport would you like to learn if you get the chance???

Q12

2011-06-29T12:46:00.001+04:00

Have you ever seen/met anybody famous????

If you could choose to meet one face to face, who will it be????

p.s: Tomorrow is a religious holiday here. There is a good chance I may not post[everybody and their relatives will be there at home u see]. So please consider the above questions as the same[questions for tomorrow also] and come back and tell me about the celebrities u forgot to mention yesterday[ie today];-D.

No questions, only answers

2011-06-28T13:39:00.003+04:00

I baked a pie the other day, a cherry pie….it came out all golden crusted and perfect. The aroma was intoxicating; I floated around feeling very pleased with myself. It had been a long time since I had baked a pie. The last one I baked was an apple pie…. almost 5 years back. Why ever didn’t I bake more of them, all these years???? I wondered curiously.

The kids ooohed and aaahed over it when they came back from school but hesitated when it came to taking a bite. They are like that…they do that to my cakes, muffins and macaroons too. They take it to school in their snack-box because they have no choice and stealthily distribute it around in class.

How do I know about it???

The mothers of the classmates' call and ask me for the recipe, thts how;-). Whatever I make is popular everywhere except inside my own house.

What about your husband you’ll ask me. Oh yes how can I forget. The better-half pointed to his tooth…rather to the blank space where his tooth once was; he just got a tooth removed. He is not too fond of the sweet stuff anyways and it was a perfect excuse not to hurt my feelings.

I looked at my pie in melancholy. Nobody wanted to eat my pie.
“Don’t take it to heart” I told my cherry pie, patting her gently.
She sat there looking so beautiful even as some scarlet filling dribbled down from the edges.

And I remembered why I didn’t make pies anymore.

*************************************************

Today is a special day….because it is the half-anniversary of our Q&A marathon!!!!

Grab a chair, I'll serve some pie and we'll talk.

Nope I'm not going to ask any questions .......feeling totally generous....

......you can ask the questions today:-).

Question No. Ten

2011-06-27T15:56:00.003+04:00

How effectively do you think you manage time????

How good are you at multitasking???

Famous Clock Towers around the world

London, UK

Moscow, Russia

Poros, Greece

Mumbai, India

Rome, Italy

Perth, Australia

New York, USA

Dubai, UAE

Shanghai, China

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff that life is made of.” – Benjamin Franklin

Cool huh but my favourite one is....

“If it weren’t for the last minute, a lot of things wouldn’t get done.”
– Michael S. Traylor

Question Nine

2011-06-24T11:55:00.004+04:00

What kind of a vehicle do you ride/drive????

Have you ever paid a fine for violating traffic rules?????

English is a funny language. Take a word, any word and you'll find it can be used in a hundred different ways or context....well ok maybe not hundred but you know what I mean.

Now take the word 'fine' itself; We are aware it can be used with different meanings but did u ever think it had more than 25 ways of using it in a sentence. Take a look....

Fine

1. excellent or choice in quality; very good of its kind a fine speech

2. superior in skill, ability, or accomplishment a fine violinist

3. of weather - clear and dry

4. enjoyable or satisfying a fine time

5. [Informal] quite well; in satisfactory health I feel fine

6. satisfactory; acceptable that's fine by me

7. of delicate composition or careful workmanship fine crystal

8. of precious metals - pure or having a high or specified degree of purity fine silver gold 98 per cent fine

9. subtle in perception; discriminating a fine eye for antique brasses

10. abstruse or subtle a fine point in argument

11. very thin or slender fine hair

12. very small, fine dust fine print

13. of edges, blades, etc.- sharp; keen

14. of paintings & art – fine arts

15. good-looking; handsome a fine young woman

16. polished, elegant, or refined a fine gentleman

17. morally upright and commendable a fine man

18. Cricket - of a fielding position, oblique to and behind the wicket fine leg

19. [Informal] disappointing or terrible a fine mess

20. [Informal] quite well; all right that suits me fine

21. Billiards, snooker - of a stroke on the cue ball, so as to merely brush the object ball - cut it fine

22. to make or become finer; refine

23. A certain amount of money exacted as a penalty a parking fine

24. Music - the point at which a piece is to end.

25. Fine is also a French word for Brandy.

=================================
Have a good weekend everybody:-))!!!!
=============================

Question Number 8

2011-06-23T12:39:00.003+04:00

Have you ever broken any bones????

Yours or anybody else’s????

When/Where/How?????

Cool facts about bones:

# You’re born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206[as you grow older a few of them fuse together to make a single bone].

# Over a period of about 7 years, each bone in our body is slowly replaced until it is a new bone.

# Gardening is said to be one off the best exercises for maintaining healthy bones.

# Human thigh bones are about as hard as rock and stronger than concrete.

# The only jointless bone in your body is the hyoid bone in your throat

# Your funny bone is not actually a bone. It's actually a really sensitive nerve. And hitting that nerve isn't funny at all! Then why is it called funny bone??? I guess they meant it like 'funny' as in odd.

# The sound you hear when people crack their knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

# The strongest bone in your body is the femur (thighbone), and it's hollow!

# Without bones you'd be just a puddle of skin & guts on the floor.

Question 7

2011-06-22T13:02:00.000+04:00

How do you react to new gadgets in the market??

Does it take you a lot of time to get adjusted to them???

And how tech savvy are you??

The ones who say they are[tech savvy ie] please help me sort this out…

Even the not so tech-savvy people can tell me what they think could be wrong:-)

My blog is giving me problems….for the past 2 months now.

As soon as I enter my main page it gets stuck mid-way & shows me this dialogue box.

When I click the 'ok' in the dialogue box, it gives me the screen shown below.

Sometimes[only sometimes] it gives me this screen....if I click ok the whole window shuts down.

In case of pic (b), what I do mostly is click the back button & go back to the dashboard and click view blog again. It again gives me pic (a). But this time when I click OK the screen remains as it is & loads the rest of the items on the page. The only portion which doesn’t load is the followers section which stays blank[see red circle].... which makes me think that whole issue is because of something in my settings which has a problem with this particular section. I can't see the followers section even from my dashboard.

Even my comment section gives me problems. I have lost my replies to comments so many times when I click submit & get this box shown below;-(

I dont think its anything to do with blogger and more to do with my Internet Explorer[ver7...I knw, I knw its outdated but its an old laptop;-D] because when I access my blog thru my iphone everything is good.

I get the feeling if I adjust some option in the settings it will be ok [I could be wrong ofcourse] but have no clue how to go about it. Who can give me some ideas here??????

Qtn Six

2011-06-21T12:36:00.003+04:00

A totally random question today:
What is the 1st thought which comes to your mind when I say 'Polka Dots'????

Earliest recorded titbits about Polka Dots: It is said that the gypsies in Spain had this fabric with uniform & spaced out dots on it which supposedly represented the moon and had religious connotations. But ofcourse it was not called Polka dots then. The earliest recorded use of the term "polka dot" is in 1871 in Godey's magazine.

These dots may seem to rise and fall in popularity but never completely go out of style. It is said that most fashion conscious women have at least one polka dotted item in her wardrobe.

British singer Cheryl Cole

Paris Hilton

Victoria Beckham

Kareena Kapoor

They are very becoming on kids. I personally love them on childrens' clothing.

Suri Tom Cruise

Polka Dots on a Saree....I guess we call them 'buttas' this side of the world;-)

Madhuri Dixit

Would have never thought Polka dots will look so good on a cardigan :-)

Cameron Diaz

Men wearing Polka Dots is very rare unless its on a necktie or jackets[yes jackets]. I did get pictures of Rishi Kapoor & Akshay Kumar in awful looking polka dotted shirts but I guess they were wearing it for their films. Hrithik Roshan though looks hauuute here:-).

Hrithik Roshan

Polka dots are fun and versatile. Most people like them but if you are afraid of polka dots, then you are suffering from trypophobia which technically is a fear of holes:-).

Question 5

2011-06-20T12:20:00.000+04:00

How creative are you????
And what is your favourite pastime???

Do you paint?

Have a green thumb???

Like working with wood???

Knit????

Do u like read/collect books???

Sleep...

Do jigsaw puzzles...

Look carefully..u'll find the QM

Collecting/making money..

p.s: ummm....I was kidding, there is no QM in the puzzle. I was just showing off a little, it's a 1000pc puzzle u know:-).

Question No 4

2011-06-17T13:56:00.000+04:00

Tell me your favourite joke….preferably something you found very funny when you were younger????

Something to ponder over:

Happy Weekend everybody:-))!!!!

Question #3

2011-06-16T13:28:00.001+04:00

How far was school from home????

How did you travel to school???

Any particular incident which stands out when you think about this part of your life????

Some trivia: Did u know there was an American rock and roll band named "Question Mark and the Mysterians" (known as ? and the Mysterians on the record label) formed in 1962.

The band's main songwriter was ?. His name & eccentric behavior helped make the group famous. He claimed to be a Martian who lived with dinosaurs in his past life, and he never appears in public without sunglasses. He also maintains that he has traveled into the future and visited other planets.

Question No 2

2011-06-15T12:53:00.002+04:00

What is your mother-tongue?

In which language do you think????

What are all the other languages you know???

If you had the chance, which language would you like to learn??

Did you know: The Spanish use ¿ to show the beginning of a question. Just like in English how you put the ? at the end to show it's a question, in Spanish you need to put the ¿ at the beginning of the question as well as the ? at the end.

Want to know how to put the ¿ mark using the keyboard?
Simple, just press Alt/Ctrl/Shift/? and u get ¿

Question No.1

2011-06-14T12:53:00.000+04:00

I'm going to start at the beginning......

In which city were you born?
Where do you live now??
Can you measure the distance between these 2 places, in kms or hours???

A question a day....whadayya say?????

2011-06-13T12:13:00.005+04:00

I’ve decided to do a month-long marathon……..the one-post-a-day kind of marathon for the next 30 days. Before you hit the palm of your hand flat against your forehead, hear me out. This is not that kind of a marathon. Take that long-suffering look off your face Rakesh & Hitchwriter;-/.

Like I was saying…it’s not that kind of marathon. You know me……will I ever sic something like that on you???? Come on…I like all of you and want you to be my blog-friends for forevaa;-D

Okay so what makes me want to do this? The thing is…..I want to know more about you. It’s been more than 4 yrs now on Blogger but I don’t know so many basic details about my blog buddies. Yeah there is FaceBook but since I hardly go there, there is no point talking about it.
Now I do understand the fact that most of you rather be anonymous on Blogger….but please note I’m not going to pick your brains on anything controversial like the 'Syrian unrest' or the 'Govt. strategy against Anna Hazare'. I’m just going to ask you normal stuff like what you had for breakfast & then walk around feeling like a demi-goddess for the rest of the day for I alone know what 40 different people from across the globe had for breakfast this morning. See that’s how much shallow I am;-D.

Aaaah see, now U are also getting comfortable with the idea;-)).

I want ALL of you who pass by this page how ever innocently, to participate…. more answers equal more fun don’t you think. So starting tomorrow there will be 22 questions for 30 days. Noooo I’m not cheating already*indignantly*. I was thinking about you, you guys deserve 2 days off every week for all the hard work you’ll be doing. So now that we've agreed; Saturdays & Sundays are rest days.

Now to make it more interactive the 1st answer in the comment box will be mine. But please don’t feel constrained to follow my cue……tackle the question however you feel like it.

Some gyaan………
# There is no right or wrong answers to anything here. But do try to stick to the truth. Sense of humour an added bonus:-)

# There are no restrictions on the number of words. Your answer to my questions can be a 1 word answer or a long-winded explanation. However I’m very partial to long-winded explanations….details, I want details.

# Ummm…. sometimes[only somedays] the question for the day could mysteriously multiply into 3 or 4 of them…….but don’t panic, it will be on the same subject only.

# Comments containing bad language will be moderated unless ofcourse I specifically ask you what your favourite cuss word is.

And not the least.....
# Lurkers, this is your best chance to introduce yourself. Because if I track you down first, I’ll embarrass the life out of you.

I start the marathon tomorrow. So are you IN????????

Last thursday...

2011-05-26T11:34:00.005+04:00

We put the kids to sleep early and planned to watch a DVD together when the landline rings around 10pm. It was my neighbour from downstairs telling us that his kids, wife & her parents[who were visiting] were involved in an accident, could I please come downstairs and keep his mother company while he went to them.

My neighbour left immediately after I walked into his house and I smile comfortingly at his mother who was looking terribly worried. I lead her to the armchair and reassure her that everything is fine and they will all be back soon. She refused to be comforted and kept worrying loudly. Nothing I said made any difference coz she had convinced herself that the kids were injured.

I have known this old lady for the past 7-8 years ever since the family moved into the apartment downstairs. She is a petite, pretty looking woman who I thought always dressed very neatly for person her age[in her early 70’s]. I used to see her taking the kids out to play and we spoke casually whenever we met. According to her DIL[I’ll call her Sophie here] she was perfectly alright until she went and stayed 9 months with her elder son in London around 3 yrs back. She found it too cold there & so came back to stay with them in Dubai. Now it seemed like she was not the same anymore as she was always forgetting things and acting vague.

I was aware of some of her eccentricities and attributed it to the vagaries of old age. Even as I was thinking all this she stops her mumbling and asks me sharply where my kids were.

I was like “They’ve gone to sleep”.

She questions “Without having dinner???”

I was like “They had dinner and then went to sleep”.

She looked at me measuringly ‘You made rice and curry and stir-fry and everything’[her tone had the ‘I bet you just gave them bread and water’ ring to it]

I nodded my head briskly and echoed ‘Everything’[we had a takeaway actually, huh catch me cooking at the start of a weekend]

She changes track again ‘Ohhhh I hope they all are fine and the kids are not hurt’

And I replied positively ‘Don’t tense yourself unnecessarily, everything is fine, they’ll be back before you know it.’

I engaged her in conversation for sometime so that she didn’t get time to think but as soon as there was a gap in the conversation she jumped up ‘I’ll just go check if Meryl is ok’ she goes in the direction of the front door and I can see her murmuring something in a low voice there.

She comes back and says ‘Meryl is also worried you know. Where are they??? Why haven’t they come back yet???’ wringing her hands.

I was afraid to ask who Meryl was. Instead I focused on her question ‘Its been only 15 minutes since your son went to pick them, please sit down.”

I sensed that this was not going to be as easy as I thought “Come, sit down…we’ll watch some tv”

Who the heck is Meryl?????

I switch the tv on and sit back secretly relieved that I didn’t have to make conversation anymore.

‘Chee what is she wearing???’ she comments disapprovingly.

Oops some women on Zcafe were dressed in too little, I quickly changed the channel.

click

“Ohhhh my Francis punyaala*, what all they show on TV”

Heck now it was a couple in a compromising position on Star Movies.

click

No wonder Sophie kept saying she hardly watched any TV

click

Aaaaah good it was a cookery channel which had nothing discriminating; there were 2 male chefs fully clothed very seriously discussing some dish. She can’t find anything to complain here, can she? I think triumphantly.

“Cheee why is he staring at us like that, poda patti**” she bristles.

I turn and look at her incredulously. She was adjusting the nightdress modestly.
I turned back and looked at the men in the tv. Hmmm she had a point, one guy was looking directly at us and smiling flirtatiously, trying to seduce us I bet.

click
click
click

Finally found an animal channel and we watched 2 roly-poly bearcubs comically gamboling around.

Just to keep her occupied I kept talking and mentioned what one could do if one happened to be chased by a bear and had no way of escape; just tumble on to the floor and play dead. It is said that bears don’t attack what is already dead, just sniffs around for a while and goes away.

There was no response and I turn to look where she was…..she was back near the front door talking and gesturing. I followed her and realized there was nobody; she was facing a glass cabinet and talking to her reflection. I just found out who Meryl was.

Now I was beginning to get a little nervous.

I got back to the couch and stared blankly at the tv wondering what I got myself into. Then turned back to look for the old lady and found her right in front of me with a mean-looking knife in her hands and a hard expression on her face.

I jumped up in fright.

“Have something to eat” she holds out the knife and a single mango in front of me.

I hadn’t seen the mango at all.

Words were trapped in my throat and wouldn’t come out. I weakly pointed to my stomach and indicated it was full and watched her as she went to put the mango & the knife on the dining table.

As she went back to complain to Meryl that I refused to eat what she offered I scooted forward and hid the knife under the nearest laptop.

My hands & legs took awhile to stop shivering.

I had already called Sophie once earlier but she didn’t answer or return the call. But now I single-mindedly kept redialing, I really needed to talk to her. Most importantly she needed to soothe this parent’s fears and put her at ease. There was no telling how much pressure she could take. But Sophie didn’t pick the call nor did she call back……not for the next 2 hours anyway.

And so it went on every 5-10 minutes…

I’m sure the children are injured….

I hope my son has not had an accident….

Where are your children, who is there with them???

What did you make for dinner????

I’m going to the toilet, do you want to go????

Why are they taking so long to come????

Something is seriously wrong……” the old lady[OL] went on and on alternatively to Meryl and me.
I was beginning to fear that it was true…. ‘something was seriously wrong’, why else was Sophie not picking up my call??? Dear God I hope nobody was seriously injured.

All my excuses were beginning to sound very fake and the OL knew it. She now started giving me strange looks like as if I was responsible for the whole mess.

I changed channels in desperation and landed on a Malayalam News channel and knew I hit Gold. No Malayalee however senile they are or pretend to be can resist the News. There was blessed silence till the news program ended.

When she started off again I had a solid excuse ready.

I told her clearly & firmly that the vehicle they were traveling in was damaged badly and they were waiting for it to be repaired. Once it was repaired they’ll be back home.

“But why can’t they come back in my son’s car.” she argues logically.

“They can’t because all of them won’t be able to fit in 1 car, right??? Right???” I look directly into her eyes and will her to agree with me.

She nodded reluctantly; she knew there were holes in my story but couldn’t make out where. I repeated the story atleast 3 times and started believing it myself by the end of it.

I got up led the tired lady by her shoulders to the couch and told her to lie down.

She didn’t.

Well I didn’t think she would but it was worth a try.

Almost 3 hours were up and I was really worried now. The accident had to have been serious for them not to have contacted me by now. I didn’t have her husband’s number otherwise I would have contacted him. Just when I decided to call the better-half and tell him everything Sophie calls and profusely apologizes for not calling earlier. She explained that they were at the hospital in the XRay division where calls were not allowed. All of them had injuries; bruises, sprains and bleeding but no fractures or internal injuries, thank goodness. But just to be on the safe side all of them were being given a thorough checkup & that is why they were getting delayed.

I asked Sophie to calm the worried parent[who was now sitting opposite me and boring a hole into my skull, trying to see inside my head as I was talking inaudibly]. In-between I could also see her gesturing to Meryl to be patient; she was coming over as soon as she had some news. Sophie then spoke to the OL, reassured her everything was alright and told her to go to sleep as they were going to take some more time.

Finally she lay down on the couch and tiredly closed her eyes. Every once in a while she opened her eyes and & narrowed them at me very suspiciously.

I sat back and waited. The night was not yet over.

*St. Francis of Assisi

**the word ‘Poda Patti’ in Malayalam language actually means ‘Go away Dog’. But it can also be used to shoo off creeps, romeos, lotharios, characterless beings, irritating pests…..…you get the drift, right.

Keyed up

2011-05-15T10:12:00.000+04:00

I’m feeling fine now thank You for asking, though was not so fine last week and the week before that. Like I’ve said before, I detest going to the doctor and am prepared to go to any lengths to avoid it. And so what could have been cured in 1 week took a fortnight to sort out.
With the season changing I caught a terrible cold which I thought would blow over in 3-4 days but when I was getting dizzy all the time and a busybody insinuated it could be Good News I thought I better get expert advice before people look at my paunch, put 2 & flu together and pronounce it a baby bump;-/

The doc said ‘Sinusitis’ almost straight away and gave me enough antibiotics to keep me occupied for the next 10 days. Sinusitis sounded like a very hep malady and so I was announcing it to all & sundry when the better-half kindly explained that it was a term referring to a head filled with flem;-/.

And so I got mad at him. why??? Oh I don’t need reasons to get hyper when I’m sick. And during this phase all the world’s faults are usually laid at his door. And so I was super chill with him last week. But I’m not the kind who sits in a corner and sulks. Instead I morph into a superwoman; I go into this frenzy and start cleaning all the corners in the house, cooking really tasty goodies 3-4 times a day and everything to do with the kids [like homework, projects]will be ship-shape. Do I talk to the better-half??? Ofcourse I do but you’ll find a very gracious and politically correct ‘Wife’ who will extra politely enquire how his day was??? Smile ambiguously and ask what the score is[IPL]??? Or graciously invite him to his own dining table for dinner.

As he has been seeing me in action for the past 11 yrs he is not easily cowed and gives me the space to play the righteous witch; in return enjoys the peace & quiet it provides him with[I suppose]. But he has his own weaknesses…..though a very quiet and calm person himself he got used to a noisy household filled with banter and laughter. So after a day or two he gets fidgety and starts initiating conversation which is like highly unusual anyother time[again I'm assuming here]. Otherwise why else will he say something like….

“Rajnikant is going overseas for treatment” out of the blue while having dinner and look expectantly at me.

And I’d be like “Oh that’s wonderful news” very brightly and get back to counting the number of mustard floating on the moru curry.

The head going all wonky on me was a new thing. I was almost finished with the antibiotics but the dizziness was still there everyday. I was not sleeping well and the back of head was always heavy. Was it just Sinusitis or the beginnings of something else…..more and more young people are dying nowdays without showing any outward symptoms. What if I didn’t get up one morning??? Who will feed the kids??? Who will tell my blog-friends about the tragedy????

It shows the extent of my husband’s patience that he didn’t take me to task when he found my house keys which were used to open the main door the previous night, still hanging in the key-hole until the next afternoon. Abandoning my lofty pedestal I fell to earth with a thud and looked at him most contritely.

The head sort of miraculously cleared after that. So I’m good, feel much better now, thanks for asking once again.

So now we are back to a messy house with curries being stretched to 2 mealtimes and homework being completed at the last minute, like seconds before the school bus arrives in the morning.

All izzz well in this part of town, what’s happening at your end???????

p.s: But what about the door you will ask. I now walk around with a sharp knife tucked into my belt and keep sachets of chilli powder within hands reach…..just in case you know. And oh at night we place the shoe cupboard in front of the door.

I'm just soooo beautiful!!!!!!

2011-04-13T10:53:00.003+04:00

Naina walks into the kitchen & asks “Mama, have you noticed that chechi is singing the same song over and over again????”

“Yes I did, she made it up herself didn’t she???” I beam.

Naina didn’t quite like my 'brimming with maternal pride' tone.
“Have you heard the words of the song???” She demands.

“Eh……no, why????”

“She just keeps repeating one sentence and its beginning to irritate me” Naina expostulates. Its always about “I’m beautiful, I’m sooo beautiful……”

I stare at her taken aback. Naina looks satisfied that she has rattled me out of my comfort zone & walks away. It was true; I never quite listened to what she was singing. So I walk casually to where Nikita was grooming her doll lovingly all the while crooning “I’m so beautiful…”. The whole of the 5 minutes I stood there she went on and on “I’m so beautiful…..just soooo beautiful” experimenting with different variations and tones.

After looking around furtively to see if Naina was anywhere around I let myself smile. It was actually very funny. After that every now and then I would hear Nikita humming, singing and performing the “I’m so beautiful” ditty. And there was this one time when we all were playing Uno and when she won the game she shot upwards and roared the “I’m so beautiful” lines, like a rockstar strumming an imaginary guitar. We couldn’t help laughing at her exhilaration though Naina looked part amused and part aggravated.

I wondered whether I should be worried. After all, narcissism should be nipped in the bud right, atleast for the sake of the people who are going to be around her in future. Maybe any other time I would have but there are reasons why I didn’t. Years back, I was not a very happy kid. The hard fact is that I didn’t have a very good opinion of myself. When compared with my friends I found myself lacking in everyway…..it affected my self-confidence and sometimes still does. It’s a baggage which is not very easy to shrug off.

So when Nikita was born I didnt want my daughter to go thru the same and tried in my own way to make sure she didn’t harbour any doubts like these. I always tried to make her feel good about herself. For instance after giving her a bath I would dress her up and make a big fuss of her, open my eyes wide and ask “who is this beautiful little girl???” And she would delightedly say “I’m Mama’s beautiful girl” and so on.

Time passed quickly and before my eyes she has grown into a very loving & positive 9 yr old. In spite of all this she is still very timid……actually she is very self-assured among family & friends and even assumes leadership but if the teacher lets say, asked her to read out aloud in front of the whole class she’s petrified. She was given the chance to be monitor of the class but she gave it up after a week saying she didn’t want to be. So many times there are impromptu competitions held in the malls or at the get-togethers we go to and all the children there fight each other to be called out but my child always holds herself back. She once admitted to me that she gets tears in her eyes when she has to do something in front of the whole class or strangers.

My heart goes out to her coz I know exactly how she feels. But I can’t show that I sympathize and so advise Nikita to just concentrate on doing the work the teacher gives, not the surroundings and her nervousness will vanish. She is not very convinced.

I know I’m handling it casually but I don’t want to give it too much attention and make the child think that something is really wrong with her. At the same time I’m concerned. I keep hoping she’ll grow out of it if the problem is not highlighted all the time.

But instances like these[see below] make me think there is nothing wrong & its all in my mind:-).

At any given point of time the kids will have a favourite dialogue, advertisement tagline or joke which they’ll keep repeating until a new one takes it’s place. The latest dialogue doing the rounds in our house…..

Scene description: Nikita will make a dramatic entrance at the doorway, will place one hand on the jamb and the other on her hip, her feet very elegantly positioned.

She will give us 2-3 seconds to admire her and then she’ll gracefully lift her hand & blow kisses in all direction and say “To all my fans out there, muahh, muaahhh, muaaahhhh”.

I will clutch my heart & pretend to swoon in excitement;-D, Naina will look on digustedly & say "Oh puh-leeeze!!!!"

Get on one's hobby horse

2011-03-28T14:06:00.001+04:00

The ‘most exciting 2 minutes in sports’ in the American calendar is the Kentucky Derby, in the UK the Epsom Derby though it is the Royal Ascot Races which is more popular as the Queen attends it every year. In UAE we have the Dubai World Cup, a thrilling by-invitation only horse racing championship held at the Meydan race course. The brainchild of the Ruler of Dubai Shaikh Mohammad, the Dubai World Cup is in its sixteenth year now and remains a fitting tribute to his love of horses and horse-racing.

The Dubai World Cup 2011 had been grabbing all the attention the whole of last week with even the world cup cricket news coming a poor second in the sports pages. A fantastic 8 hour extravaganza last saturday had all the glitz of a bollywood movie……it had action, derama, emotions and masala, lots of masala and it culminated into a exciting finish with Japans Victoire Pisa galloping first past the finish line to take home a prize money of US $6 million of the total prize of US $10 million. The winning jockey was brilliant on the horse inspiring the animal from a bad start[the horse had hit its head on the starting gate just minutes before the race] to the forefront.

Victoire Pisa riden by jockey Mirco Demuro

And how does Nancy know all this???? She reads the papers ofcourse, keeps eyes and ears open AND………she was KEY witness to the whole event. The better-half & she went for the Races on saturday and she just can’t stop crowing about it. Upto 2 weeks back, what she knew about horses could be written on a single piece of paper which is Black Beauty, colt, big, filly, pony-tail, bill from Malory towers, horse-shoe, the highwayman, trot, gallop….well ok make it ¼ sheet of paper. But now you better treat her with a little more respect. She can give you history, statistics & tips on which horses to place your bet on. Why, even yesterday except for Kinsale King almost all the horses she predicted as winners…..ummm lost miserably;-D….but that doesn’t mean anything, even the most seasoned horse enthusiasts sometimes get them wrong you know.

[Getting tired of referring to herself in the 3rd person she gently touches ground]

I gave the 1st two races my all but after that my attention started wandering. The thing is, there is around an hour's gap between each race and how long could one be glued to the guidebook they provided. Shifting focus, I started clicking all the women who were dressed so elegantly with the traditional head gear associated with these do’s. Here have a look…..

Very few children were seen about & the only one I spied was busy playing some gadget.

I watched men smoothen down the turf and remove all obstacles inbetween races. After they finished their job they got into the back of that pickup & were driven away

There was a march-past in prelude to the stage show going to be conducted. A novelty for many of us as this was the 1st time I was seeing all-arab member march-past;-D

And how can I forget to mention……..the food was delicious. It was not the typical fare, more like hors d'oeuvres, tiny pies in ramekins and itty-bitty sandwiches. The desserts were sublime….baby cupcakes bursting with flavours, divine cheesecakes, tiny tarts & assorted cakes. I’m actually kicking myself for not taking any pictures here. The drinks were flowing freely and it reflected in the upbeat mood which prevailed. I have to tell you this funny thing which amused us to no end….there was this Malayalee waiter who was hovering around us from the time we sat at the dining table till the end. At first we felt a bit weird & then it dawned on me…..he knew we were malayalees & tried to look very busy serving us so that he was not needed to serve at the other tables where most of the diners were westerners. Why…..my guess is that he was not very confident or maybe he didn’t quite grasp their accent. So while every other diner was trying hard to catch the eye of the busy waiters we just had to look up & this sweet guy would come hurrying;-D

Towards the later part of the evening there was a beautiful stageshow in the form of a float with the history of UAE and their connection with horses interweaved.

There were also contests held for the best dressed woman, best hat, best couple and goodness knows what else with some fabulous prizes. If interested, you can view them all here.

And amazing fireworks, though I got the feeling it was a bit toned down this year. For the first time I wished I had a DSLR to capture the fantastic effects.

An evening well-spent, I went to sleep that night with a beautific smile on my face:-).

It was more difficult than I thought....

2011-03-21T13:13:00.001+04:00

Been away for so long now that I’m finding it almost embarrassing to pen a post here…..I feel weird like I've never done it before. But I was determined to put up atleast 1 post before calling it quits. Seriously, I was cringing every time I went on somebody's page and saw my link with the so-very dated 'Merry Christmas' showing up;-P.

After nearly 25 minutes of trying to frame propah sentences I was just about ready to give up when I thought I’ll just keep typing whatever comes to my fingertips[a tip I always used to encourage fellow bloggers with;-P].
I remember Ashwini of Thoughtful Train warning me that taking a break was the worst decision I could make. According to her very few get back on track; well she should know coz its been almost a year since she has updated;-D. I have to reluctantly agree with her….I almost didn’t make it. Honestly if it wasn’t for Sulo, Bindu, lan, Manisha, Sakshi, Swaram, Uma and Preeti/Ramesh team hounding me I would still be dilly-dallying around. As of now I’m not sure how long I’m going to last but am going to give it a darned good try. So there!!!!

I’m trying to recall how in the world I managed to write stuff earlier & then again why on earth did I stop? It’s not like I achieved something earth-shattering during the time I was not blogging. When I look back there was no particular reason just a combination of things like the kids’ exams, visitors, vacation & trying to be a one-man army which made me think a break wasn’t a bad idea at all.

Getting back to what I did in these 8 months [gosh 8 months]….. nothing much really. The same ole stuff….sheesh thts sounds so very depressing. Oh yes my sister & family visited us….finally I tell u. Every year they would tell us that they were coming & then call it off. It was only when I talked casually about relocating back to India within a year or two that she panicked & took the first available days off to come over.

I was so thrilled that I spent a busy week sprucing up my house and scheduling ‘things to do’ so that they got the maximum out of their visit. And what an anti-climax it turned out to be. Totally non-adventurous types I tell u. After the 1st 3-4 days they were perfectly content sitting around & talking at home. The only place my sister asked to go was the zoo......and I was like "there is a perfect zoo in Mysore & so many spread all over India but trust her to travel all the way to Dubai[desert remember] of all places, to show her daughter a zoo;-/". Sisterly love warred fiercely with 'my unruly tongue' but sisterly love won[oh well she was here just for a week]. So we took them to the Al Ain Zoo and she was happy with that. I then had to literally drag them all over town showing them rest of the sights and then spent another 10 days trying to recover from it all after they left. I actually sobbed loudly & clung to her[my sister] when she was leaving. I feel like an idiot now when I think about it…. we as in, our family prides itself on not being those 'emotional types' you know.

And ooooohhhhhh how could I forget to tell you this, guess what the better-half gifted me on my birthday….a course in cake decorating and just not any course; it was the ‘Wilton Cake Decorating Course’. I loved the gift ofcourse but everybody else to whom I mentioned it looked very puzzled and had a ‘okkkkayyy but what are you so excited about??’ expression. The children on the other hand were ecstatic coz they thought they were also included;-). When they realized they were not[we did try to get permission but they said only US had the facility where children were included not Dubai] they kicked up a minor fuss. They contented themselves studying my course material thoroughly & second guessing me at every turn & correcting me on every mistake I made;-/. I also had to demonstrate to them everything that was taught to me in class after I came back.

So yeah, I now know how to decorate a cake…….with roses and all, cool huh. Before you think I’m an expert let me tell you I was one of the worst ones…..too slow for one & clumsy, though the instructor & fellow students kept encouraging me with ‘there is room for improvement’…..lots of roooooooms if you ask me. My children, blind to all the inconsistencies, gave me fulsome compliments and I was so pathetically gratified;-D. Posting a few pictures of my efforts below……..at that time I didn’t think I was going to display it on my blog otherwise I would done a better job clicking them….…you know zooming in & taking pics of only the good parts & conveniently blurring the rest;-D.

My 1st effort

Cupcakes were fun to do

By the time I finished this much the rest of the class had already presented theirs & left

Err.....

2011-03-16T08:12:00.000+04:00

Merry Christmas Everybody:-))!!!!!!!

2010-12-24T17:44:00.000+04:00

Still on the BB, just couldn't resist this Gender Tag:-)

2010-07-08T11:00:00.004+04:00

I’m still on a break; that part of it hasn’t changed but I did take some advice to heart where many of you advised me not break away completely, to post an odd picture or a forward or do any tag which comes my way. It did make sense to me. And when Masood and Deeps tagged me with this gender tag I was thrilled. I really didn’t want my archives to show July 2010 as zero.

Now this tag originated from IHM’s page and the past week saw this tag on almost every bloggers’ page this side of town[as in within our circles]. And I was not going to let it go without a try.
The tag is called ‘My Sins against Gender-Stereotypes’. We are supposed to list at least ten things you have ever wanted or done which your gender is not supposed to.And you must tag twelve blogging friends or else you will be cursed to wear blue clothes pants if you are a woman and pink shirts if you are a man – for next twelve years. So here goes……

# When I sit down to watch TV, the remote control will be in my possession. Heaven save anybody who takes it and tries to change the channel;-/.

# When I was younger I had a Hero Puch[a GEARED bike mind u]; while I didn’t mind the bigger vehicles overtaking me, woe betide anybody on a TVS or a sunny who overtook me. I would be incredulous at their audacity and within minutes fly past them to mark my presence and then turn back to smirk at them before speeding away into the horizon.

# I am more partial to the fragrance men wear….I find most perfumes for women too fruity or ‘sweet-sweet’.

# I make the lamest of excuses and am genuinely perplexed when others look at me with raised eyebrows.

# Only when somebody calls my name out atleast 3 times do I answer. The 1st 2 calls just don’t register, honestly.

# I don’t mind cooking but it astounds me how I manage to use up every spoon and utensil to make a single dish & oh how I hate the cleaning up afterwards.

# I love receiving flowers but would never think of buying them for somebody. What a waste of money really!!!! Instead I’ll buy them expensive cake and hang around hoping they’ll share it with me.

# I don’t mind splurging on the latest electronic device but will think 10 times before buying a frying pan.

# Other minor details like washing cars & huge water tanks, taking care of utility bills, splashing in the dirtiest puddles, ~~taking apart~~ fixing electronic gadgets, flying kites, driving the family everywhere, joy-riding on a Yahama rx100 when my friends father was having his siesta[my best friend Neetu & I would stealthily push the vehicle to the corner of the street and then take turns riding it], bringing friends home without warning are all the other crimes which I am guilty of.

I enjoyed doing this tag and had a grin on my face the whole time I was penning this down. I do realize this isn’t exactly what IHM meant when she created the tag but my fingers wouldn’t cooperate with my brain and let me pen awesome stuff about me and the result is before u;-(.
Meanwhile, majority of all the 12 bloggers I’m tagging here on various stages of Blog Breaks or posting very sporadically, I'm trying to interest them back in with this tempting tag:

Amrita[I really hope u'll get back with this tag:-)]

Anita[Go on, unleash the truth on us;-D]

Blunt Edges[Get back soon, waiting to read ur take on this;-D]

Dil se[Do take it up:-)]

Horizon[It's tradition; I always welcome my 'newest' visitors with a tag:-)]

ISH[please dont make ur blog private...I have no other way to get to High Heel confidential;-(]

Lostworld[I'd like to read ur take on it;-D]

Ramesh[please make it a sunday post.....I've no doubt u'll make it worth our while;-D]

Samvedna [I'd like to read ur experiences:-))]

Suma[high time u got back on the wagon;-))]

WannabeWriter[If u dont do this tag I going to be 'katti' with u for life;-/]

Wanderlust[Why do u keep disappearing;-(]

And dont forget to paste the signature image onto the tag:-))

On a BB

2010-06-23T17:08:00.002+04:00

There’s too much happening in my life right now and I feel so terrible that I am not able to post regularly. Earlier I used to post twice a week but now I find myself putting up a post once in 2 weeks…...that too with great difficulty.

The realization took a few weeks to sink in and especially after the exit of my lifeline read maid;-(. Past 2 months have been hectic; been busy with guests, the kids’ exams and housework. I feel like a total jerk when I go to the pages of blog friends & realize I hadn’t been there for weeks. Where is all the time flying???
It reached the heights when Anjuli mailed me saying that she was going to mention me in one of her posts & I go to her page in the last week of May to see her participating in a month long blogathon which had just a few days left. I didn’t realize it had been that long I visited her. ~~And I was hopping mad at myself for missing out on the prize she gave away.~~ And what’s worse now is that I realize the lethargy I feel reflects even in my commenting; and that’s really getting me down coz I pride myself on being good commenter.
Blogging was something I started when I had a lot of time on my hands…the company I was working for was going downhill & there was no work at all on some days. It was fun then. I felt privileged when people came on their own and started commenting on my posts. There was so much to say then. Once I left the job the number of posts dwindled but I bravely plowed on. Infact I must be the only ‘regular’ blogger out here who’s been at it for almost 3 years and still not reached her 200th post.

At first I thought I’ll end it all as in stop blogging but I just couldn’t bear the idea of a total termination. I have ‘met’ so many like-minded people out here who have become good friends now. Nope, no way was I going to give it all up.

And so now I’m toying with the idea of a blog break. The summer hols are coming up and I’m going to be terribly busy anyways; nope, not going to be specific and say that I’m going to be away for 2 or 6 months but just hope it’s not going to be for ever;-(.

It actually breaks my heart to do this but I need to get a few things in order. I'm not going to take ur leave and all that jazz coz I wouldn't know how to....so in short, take care everybody, be good, work hard, party harder, drink lots of water and dont do things that I wouldn't do. I hope to be back as early as possible.

And oh, just an afterthought; there are so many of u out there who pass this way, read and go away. Do drop a line, it will make me feel really good and who knows it may be just the inspiration I need to get started again:-)).

Dune Bashing is so cool really!!!!!

2010-06-03T23:33:00.002+04:00

My friend was here in Dubai last week with her son on vacation. They were here for a mere 5 days but the amount of activities we packed into those days left me with no time for anything else. And after she left I needed around 7 days to recover; that’s why no posts for 2 weeks;-P

It was lovely having Chaitra staying with me; though we’ve known eachother for almost 15 yrs there were so many firsts. I have tasted her cooking many times in the past but she never had what I made until now, we spent hours talking and discovered surprising changes in eachother, old times were discussed and reminisced in detail as was marriage and motherhood. And when the children took to each other easily we were overjoyed.

We did the usual sight-seeing and among the experiences was the Desert Safari which stood out; now this is a trip which is a must-do on a tourist’s list to get a feel of Dubai. It is a half day trip where we are taken into the desert and shown what desert-living is all about. Well ok not that ‘real’ but close as they come and they focus on the good bits which makes it bearable. But even then it was summer for goodness sakes.

So when my friend requested me to go along I told her an emphatic NO….for many reasons. For one I like to take my trips in comfort and spending ½ a day in the sweltering heat was not my idea of fun. Secondly there is something called dune-bashing wherein before reaching the camp we are taken into the ‘proper’ desert[where for miles you see only sand and sand-dunes like in the movies] and the 4 wheel drive you are traveling in is made to thrash up & down the sand dunes. The driver deliberately jerks the vehicle up & down and the passengers get a kick out of it.

Now this is what scared me the most. I’m a poor traveller with a motion-sickness problem; infact I’m so sensitive that I get funny feelings in my stomach if I rock too hard on the recliner in the living-room. Yes really;-/. When I was a child the problem was so bad that I always had a plastic-cover tucked away in my school-bag for emergencies. Now I’m like sooooo much better but the fear is still there. The only vehicles I can breathe easily are in the auto and the train, the rest are just tolerated for their uses.

Oh well coming back to the main subject at hand……dune-bashing was precisely the reason why I never wanted to go on a desert-safari in these years. My friend was disappointed ofcourse but understood my fear & didn’t make a fuss & so I call the one person I know in this area of expertise to arrange this trip. In spite of the short notice he agreed to arrange it but was aghast to hear I had never been on one in these 10 years I’ve lived here. And he literally ate my head….he coaxed, cajoled, waxed eloquently on the exhilarating desert-safari experience and made it sound like I would not have lived my life fully if I didn’t go on one. Inspite of my fears I wondered if I was missing out on something all these years. Then suddenly something he said just overpowered all of my doubts and I recklessly agreed. I thought what the heck…..in those 7 hrs of supposedly pure unadulterated fun what’s a mere 20-30 minutes of dune-bashing. Right?????

So armed with a light lunch, anti-motion sickness tablets and plastic covers we boarded the vehicle. My better-half who has a bad back and my younger daughter opted not to come. My elder daughter and my friend’s son were so excited. On the way the vehicle stopped to pick up a Portuguese couple and soon we were on our way. After an hour or so when it didn’t look like we were reaching anywhere soon I gave into my thirst, opened a can of Mirinda & took 2 tiny sips.

Almost immediately we reached a camel farm where we clicked pictures of camels & fed the curious animals with bread and the rest of the Mirinda[yep they love fizzy drinks] after which the dune bashing started immediately. It didn’t take me 3 minutes to come to the conclusion that drinking the Mirinda was one of the idiotic decisions taken in my entire life. I bravely pasted a smile on my face but went a deathly white. While the rest of the group shouted “Whooo-hoooo” and “faster, faster”[show-offs, they were all slying looking at me everytime they were saying it;-/] I was grimly hanging onto the thoughtfully provided handles on the top. The driver, a Syrian had this curious habit of saying “bye-bye” in a sing-song voice everytime he going to plunge down the side of the dune; the car would then slide down the slope almost like as if it would topple over and my stomach would plummet in the same speed making me swallow uncomfortably.

My daughter was laughing delightedly and shouting “Faster, faster” with a half-crazed look on her face. I looked at her wryly wondering how she could be so different from me, then narrowed my eye-brows suspiciously and thought back to the time she was born. After all she did lie in the nursery along with many other kids, was there a possibility my own flesh and blood got switched with this brat. Goodness I really have to discuss this with the better-half….maybe a DNA test…..

And I puked, but not before I fished out the plastic cover and buried my face into it. Just when I was congratulating myself for hitting it right into the cover the vehicle bucked & it spilt. If you are thinking “yecch, ewwwwwww……sick” just imagine me. The vehicle stopped, there was a deathly silence filled with pity, guilt[u know coz they were enjoying & I wasn’t] & a sour Mirinda stink….I was so embarrassed & hopping mad at myself. Everybody scrambled out eager to get away. My daughter loudly criticizes “Mama, you didn’t hold the plastic cover properly, you should be more careful”. Giving her a piercing “wait till I get you alone” look I stumbled out & cleaned up. The rest of them walked around clicking pictures and I breathed deeply drinking in the surprisingly cool breeze in the middle of the beautiful barren land.

They were standing at the edge, contemplating sliding down the dune and ran the idea by us. We vetoed it ofcourse.

The rest of the trip went off fine. We reached the camp, witnessed a glorious sunset, rode on camels, got henna tattoos on our bodies, carried falcons on our wrists, watched a documentary on Sheikh Zayed[the founder of UAE], gorged on Arabic food, watched belly-dancing & other curious forms of entertainment. The belly-dancer was gorgeous and not at all like the thin fair creatures you see on tv; she was a mature, dusky Moroccan woman whose graceful movements mesmerized us from the start. I could see Nikita watching all her moves closely and had to hide a smile when she whispered sadly that she wont be able to do a particular dance-step; well I had to agree coz the belly-dancer was balancing a long stick horizontally on her generously endowed upper torso;-D

When I think about it now I’m so glad I took Nikita along. I almost didn’t coz I didn’t want Naina to feel bad[Naina[6yrs] I knew for sure wouldn’t have enjoyed the dune-bashing, and so when I explained how it was going to be she willingly stayed back with her father]. Nikita threw herself whole-heartedly into having fun and reveled in the whole experience. She even got up to join the belly-dancer along with the others at the end of the performance. And in the middle of everything she found time to make a sand-castle too; I smiled in indulgence at her boundless energy but it was wiped off almost immediately when I realized she was using up all the water in the unattended Aquafina bottles, to make it;-/.

As for me I’m glad I went for it. So many times I say NO without thought and miss out on different experiences. I doubt I’ll ever put myself thru another round of dune-bashing but I don’t for a moment regret the one I experienced and there is this decision I made that I will open my mind to all ideas and experiences and give them a fair chance. Who knows I may even end up enjoying a few like this one. All but for one thing….it will be a long time before I drink Mirinda again.

And as to how the friend finally convinced me to go on this desert safari…..

…

…

He said something like “Just think about it, you can blog about the whole experience when you get back” and believe me when I say, that very minute all my reservations went flying out of the window;-D

The Long and Short of it

2010-05-25T01:01:00.003+04:00

Sometime last week UAE got her first GOLD ATM and is the first country after Germany to do so. Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace Hotel became the first hotel in the world to install "gold to go, a gold vending machine," The exterior of the machine is coated with a thin layer of gold and offers customers 320 items to choose from, ranging from gold bars that can weigh up to 10 grams, to customized gold coins. The Gold rates are constantly updated[every 10 mins] inside the shiny machine courtesy, a built-in computer connected to a dealer which sells gold online.

We discussed the news here in surprise and delight…….I mean, what next??? Imagine pushing money through a slot and getting gold in return. A definite jump from the age-old method of visitng a jewellery shop and selecting a piece after hours of careful scrutiny. Most of us got a kick out of it and are hoping they'll place a few of them in Dubai too......u bet 80% of the population will want to try it atleast once;-D.

Now that I think of it, UAE is always in the news for one record or the other. For a country which was just a desert in the 60’s to transform into the most happening hotspot of the Middle East in mere 20-30 yrs is a record achievement by itself. While the late Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan is credited with both holding the young United Arab Emirates together after the British withdrawal in 1971, and overseeing the development of his own state[Abu Dhabi] during his 38-year reign, Dubai is treated as the brainchild of Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum and his visionary son, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the current ruler. Honestly, it’s hard to pick another country which has experienced such rapid changes in modern times.

Most of us are aware of the World’s tallest tower Burj Khalifa which was inaugurated early this year; at 2716.53 feet (828 m) high the Burj Khalifa located in Dubai has 160 floors & more than 500,000 sq m of space for offices and apartments-setting the new world record for the Tallest building.
It's about twice the height of the Empire State Building; you can see its spire from anywhere in Dubai[95km any direction] & lays claim to the highest occupied floor, the tallest service lift, the world's highest observation deck - on the 124th floor & with the world's highest mosque & swimming pool located on the 158th & 76th floors.

Spending more time on this line of thought I was staggered to find out so many biggest, largest, tallest, richest and fastest records of UAE that I simply had to put them down here…

Biggest man-made islands: The Palm Islands, Dubai are the world's biggest man-made islands and form the shape of a palm tree when seen from the sky. It houses a variety of tourist attractions like restaurants, spas and theaters, as well as residential homes.

Tallest hotel: The Burj Al Arab now synonymous with the image of Dubai is the tallest hotel in the world, standing at 320.94 m (1,052 ft) high from ground level to the top of its mast; built on a man-made island, the hotel shaped like a sail, has 202 suites, 28 'double-height' storeys and covers a total floor area of 111,480 m². It’s the world’s only 7 star hotel and every tourist takes atleast 1 picture with the imposing structure in the background as proof that he’s been to Dubai;-D.

Highest Date Palm cultivation: The UAE is recognised as the leading cultivator of date palms: In 2009, UAE received the Guinness records certificate, which reads: "The world record for the most palm trees planted in 10 years is 42 million and was achieved by the UAE."

World’s richest city: In March, 2007, the Forbes Magazine declared Abu Dhabi the richest city in the world. Its 420,000 citizens, who sit on one-tenth of the world’s oil, are worth about $17m apiece.

Fastest growing city: Dubai has been declared one of the fastest growing cities in the world; 15% of all building constructions during last 10 years in the world were done in Dubai and about 15 to 25% of the cranes of the world have been playing with 70 billion € have been currently invested in building projects there.

Among the other note-worthy records ….

The largest seashell mosaic: On 17 January 2010, Guinness World Records® was present in Dubai, UAE to adjudicate the record attempt for the largest seashell mosaic. The mosaic which was made entirely from seashells resembled Dubai’s police logo which is a dhow sailing on sea waves. The 60,000 seashells mosaic was built in 32 days and 59 persons took part in gathering and classifying the seashells.

Largest Acrylic Panel: The Dubai Mall aquarium was awarded the Guinness World Record for the World's Largest Acrylic Panel; at 750 mm thick, the acrylic viewing panel is built to withstand the enormous pressure of 10 million litres of water used in the aquarium, but transparent enough to give visitors clear views of the 33,000 plus marine animals on display.

Largest awareness ribbon of flowers: The largest awareness ribbon made of flowers was 28.71 m (94 ft 2 in) long and was made of 105,000 pink carnations. Unveiled on 16 November 2007, in Dubai, UAE, it was created on behalf of the Dubai Healthcare City to raise awareness for breast cancer research.

Largest inflatable sculpture: The largest inflatable sculpture in the shape of a bottle was 1500 m³ (52,972 ft³) in volume. The bottle was 25 m (82 ft) high and 11.9 m (39 ft) wide and was created by Vitaene C at the Dubai Shopping Festival in Dubai, UAE, on 28 January 2007.

Largest parade of Mercedes-Benz cars: The largest parade of Mercedes Benz consisted of 153 vehicles and was organised by Gargash Enterprises with the support of their customers. The convoy started in Dubai and ended at Endurance City, Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa, UAE, on 21 April 2007.

Tallest Flagpole: Abu Dhabi has a flagpole staking its claim as the tallest in the world, at 123 metres.

Costliest License plate: Another record-breaking feat for the capital came in February 2008, with the sale of the most expensive car plate in the world. License plate No. 1 was bought at auction for a staggering Dh52.2 million by Abu Dhabi businessman Saeed Al Khouri, breaking the previous record of plate No. 5, which was sold to his cousin for Dh25.2 million.

The world's largest cylindrical chocolate bar - weighing 370 kilos and measuring 2.25 metres in circumference and 82 cm in height was unveiled at Hamarain Centre as part of the Dubai Food Surprises event in Dubai.

The Not-So-Remarkable But Nevertheless Records……

Largest Cardboard Box Pyramid: Lulu Hypermarket in Dubai has built the ‘World’s Largest Cardboard Box Pyramid Display’ out of thousands of Air Wick Automatic Spray units.

Largest Kandoora: At 2008's Dubai Winter Shopping Festival, millions flocked to see THE WORLD'S LARGEST KANDOORA

Most clothes pegs clipped on one hand in one minute: is 48 and was achieved by Mohammed Ahmed Elkhouly (UAE) at Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai, UAE, on 21 April 2007.

World's biggest shopping trolley: Measuring 639cm in length, 250cm in breadth and 900cms high, it took 15 people five days to build it, and was constructed by Century Mall.

Largest Banner: The world's largest banner measuring 20,000 m² (215,278 ft²) was created for Sorouh Real Estate PJSC (UAE) by Ad-Air Group Plc (UK) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 22 October, 2007.

Largest mattress & bedset: Intercoil International who make beddings and orthopedic sleep products in the Middle East, won an accolade by the Guinness Book of World Records for manufacturing the largest mattress in 2000 and the largest bed set in the world, during DSF 2007.

Longest chopsticks: In April 2008, the Guinness Book of World Records sent a certificate to Dubai's Marco Polo Hotel confirming the hotel's entry for the longest wooden chopsticks in the world. At 22.5 feet long, the pair of chopsticks in Dubai beat the record set by China's Shenyang Province.

Highest amt of Cans crushed: The Coca-Cola Company sets the 69th new Guinness World Record in UAE for having the highest number of Burn energy drink cans crushed[61,106 cans in three minutes] during a monster truck show in Dubai, UAE, claiming a record announced by Guinness World Records.

The future records in store:

The largest Airport: The Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai is planned as the world's largest passenger and cargo hub, ten times larger than Dubai International Airport[this one is impressive by itself] and Dubai Cargo Village combined. With a 100,000 parking slots this air facility will also bear the distinction of having the largest parking facility in the world. It is 50% complete and if everything goes according to plan it will be fully operational by 2017.

Rotating Tower: The Dynamic Tower is due to be up and running by the end of 2010 will be the world's first moving building! This amazing 80-story tower with revolving floors will give the building a shifting shape, and will house 80 different suites and will never look the same twice, according to developers.

Longest driverless train: The Dubai Metro launched into operations in September last year is now only partially working; once both the red and green tracks are complete, Dubai Metro will enter the record books as the world’s longest as in lengthiest driverless train system.

UAE maybe a tiny dot on the world map but there’s no doubt about the fact that she’s keen to make her mark. Money has never been an issue in this part of the world; dearth of a good idea the only holdup. As of now the recession has been hard on the real-estate & automobile sectors but there’s no doubt that it is only a temporary hitch; the best my dear friends is yet to come.

P.s: I got some of the information from here, here, here and here. There could be a few records I may have missed out, so if any of you who know more drop me a line I’d love to add it here.

Aaa bayle mujhe maar

2010-05-13T12:25:00.011+04:00

I don’t have a single thing to tell you other than the fact that I’ve been cleaning and scrubbing and mopping and washing and rinsing and……..yeah, yeah I know you’ve heard it all before and its beginning to get boring listening to the same ole ~~nonsense~~ sad story again and again.

And oh to crown it did I tell you that I’ve got a cold again…all that working in the water you know;-(…ok…ok…..no I’m not, yet again going into detailed explanation of my symptoms.

But other than these 2 things I really have nothing to write about….infact my fingers are vigorously protesting against being forced into typing simply to fill the page.

Most of the time if I’m not complaining loudly about my misfortunes to the better-half I can be found using my broken vocal cords crooning & trying to needle him. Tell you what, I’ll sing a song….like I said I love singing when my throat is bad and walking around pretending to be a duplicate Usha Uthup. Now the thing is I have no clue how to upload it into blogger. Let me google it and see if it can be done. I know videos can be embedded but no idea how to make that video….in this case audio.

[An hour later]

You know it took me so much time to read up all the stuff on how to record and embed it in blogger. And guess what, when I'm adding the audio file what I'm doing is making a PODCAST....sounds hep huh;-D.

Goodness the things I do to make a post, I wanted to sing Dumaro dumaaaa but the thing is I just know the 1st 2 lines.....gimme some time.......

Ok here’s the song….now don’t laugh, it’s a very special song for the better-half & me actually. The very 1st [or was it the 2nd] wedding anniversary, the better-half and I spent it apart with me in Bangalore & he in Dubai. We were quite heart-broken naturally. When he called to wish me I told him to switch on the computer & play a particular file…….he called me back after sometime & the response was very gratifying;-D.

It’s a .wav file around 4.3mb, sorry it so big; I did try to convert it to an mp3 but the laptop kept insisting that the system administrator had to give permission[to download the software] & the SA is right now working hard to bring in the supper, somewhere on the other side of town;-P.
Ok go ahead and listen but before that I need to convince u that .....
...if u find the song off-tune, please go immediately and get checked up. I'm sure there's something wrong with ur ears.
...if u find the lyrics all jumbled up..... u r way out of touch with the new stuff, u bet I'm singing the latesht remixed version.
...and the ~~trembling~~ excitement in the voice, its pure ~~stage-fright~~ adrenaline, I assure u.

p.s: Honestly this is the best thing about blogging; I learn something new everyday:)

p.p.s: The few of you who’ve come here the 1st time & didn’t follow what I was rambling about I need to tell you that this post is a sort of continuation of a previous post…infact 2 posts.....yep its a never ending story;-P

p.p.p.s: The title is a proverb in hindi which loosely translates to...."U r asking for it"

p.p.p.p.s: Bring in the brick-bats gently…….if you didn’t like it, start of with “Nancy it was ‘nice' but......”.

[20 mins later....]

p.p.p.p.p.s: Ummm......the much-hyped podcast is not working........while I figure out how to fix it, u can listen to the song here[if u want to ie;-P].

[a day later...]

I still havent figured out how to do it.....I mean the links are added as per instructions from 'Blogger Help' but it doesnt show on the main page, no idea why;-(. Is there anybody who can throw some light on this?????

Alister Cameron says blogging is not about writing posts....

2010-05-06T09:59:00.002+04:00

I was frantically googling “How to maintain a spic & span house, especially when guests are arriving in 15 minutes“ when I came across a few quotes on Blogging. Entranced, I did some digging and came up with some more interesting and candid views about blogging. Some were astute while others were plain hilarious. Here, judge for yourselves:

“Your blog is your unedited version of yourself.” – Lorelle

"The heart of blogging is linking...linking and commenting. Connecting and communicating - the purpose of the Internet." ~ George Siemens

"Blogging is hard because of the grind required to stay interesting and relevant." ~ Sufia Tippu

"Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining 'blog' is a fool's errand." ~ Michael Conniff

"Bottomline of a successful blog is what else but solid contents" ~ Partha Bhattacharya

"The ease and appeal of blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world." ~ Unknown

"Blogging is not rocket science, it’s about being yourself, and putting what you have into it." ~ Unknown

“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” ~ Brian Clark

“People have often described me as a blogger. I generally shy away from the term because, to me, bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives.” ~ Anonymous

“I believe the term “blog” means more than an online journal. I believe a blog is a conversation. People go to blogs to read AND write, not just consume.” ~ Michael Arrington

“But there’s a bigger trend I’m seeing: people who used to enjoy blogging their lives are now moving to Twitter.”~ Robert Scoble

“The bottom line is that blogging is like sex. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.” ~ Kevin Anderson

“It should feel genuinely good to earn income from your blog — you should be driven by a healthy ambition to succeed. If your blog provides genuine value, you fully deserve to earn income from it.” ~ Steve Pavlina

“The more popular a person thinks he is in the blogosphere, the thinner his skin and the thicker his hypocrisy. This should be exactly the opposite: the higher you go the thicker the skin and thinner the hypocrisy.” ~ Guy Kawasaki

“In China, blogs enable millions of citizens to express their opinions with reduced political risk simply because of the sheer number of like-minded opinions online. Facing these independent voices, the old ideological machine starts to crumble.” ~ Xiao Qiang

“Yes, blogging is entertainment. It is performance. Each blog post a show, sometimes an opera, sometimes a 30 second commercial. Like a show, it may start with a bang, lead you along from song to song, have a great climatic moment, then leave the audience wanting more.” ~Lorelle Van Fossen

“As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.” ~ Alister Cameron

“Unless you restrict your reading habits to a really small segment of the blogging population, or you are a blogging machine like Robert Scoble, a feed reader is only going to give you a small window of what is happening in the blogosphere.” ~ Andy Beard

“I read blogs every day, for all sorts of reasons, but I turn to blogs especially when I want to hear alternative viewpoints — for example, information on a particular medical treatment from the viewpoint of patients receiving it, rather than doctors administering it; reports from the battlefield seen through the eyes of soldiers rather than politicians; thoughts on a particular technology from the standpoint of engineers rather than executives.” ~ Jim Buckmaster

“Blogging is an art, same as any other method of self-expression. Some are better at it than others.” ~ Hugh Macleod

So many people, so many views, I simply enjoyed browsing through them. There were lots more but my guests were arriving like in 3 minutes so I reluctantly closed the window but not before saving the links. U know me, always considerate;-D. So if you are interested, you can check them out here, here and here.

Now you tell me, what does Blogging mean to You???????????

oohh meri phooti kismet

2010-04-28T13:22:00.006+04:00

I'm in trouble, deep trouble.......the last week has been a nightmare. I'm freaking really!!!!

Sometime last week my friend’s maid got caught by the police and they[the police] inturn called M & husband to the police station. There they were given 2 options: pay up the fine or stay in jail till the case is tried. The maid was working illegally for them u see. Dammit 98% of the maids are working illegally here, everybody knows that & are still using their services.

You may proceed directly to the next para but for people who are interested, some gyaan about how the system works here: There are 2 ways to get maids legally working for you in Dubai or shd I say UAE.
One, we sponser one from our home country or any country but it works out very expensive & not only that we are totally responsible for her[if you hear a few horror stories from employers you’ll never feel like sponsoring one ever].
The other way is to recruit one from a cleaning company and they may send any nationality…….again they charge per hour and are quite expensive compared to the 3rd option which is illegal but the most popular option.

Here we put an ad in the newspaper[all this is illegal mind you but around 90% of the population has done this atleast once in their lifetime] stating our requirement & our location and wait for response. Now, there is large number of women who would have come under a maid’s visa after paying a lot of money to their Arab sponsors. Ideally they should be working for them but they have an understanding with the sponsor where they work independently & make more money this way. These maids work as part time or fulltime help for a nominal amount[compared to the other 2 options]; they are happy with his arrangement and we are also happy but the fact remains what we are doing is illegal but we don’t think too much about it until something like this happens.

Coming back to the topic, now M & husband had no choice. They paid up the fine and were allowed to get back home on the same day. My poor friend sounded shell-shocked when she called me to tell the whole story. The fine was bad enough and on top of it all she saw scenes like people being led into different cells handcuffed, how the policemen were doing their duty and making good amount of money legally, how she who had never been to a police station in all her life felt being treated like a criminal.

The only thing which set them apart from the rest was that they had the money[no cheques, only cash] to pay upfront and get out of here without spending too much time in the suffocating environment.

What does all this have to do with me???? Dont ask, just dont ask I might just start crying in self-pity. All this happened on the better-half's birthday. I was actually planning to get a cake & get the kids to decorate the house when M calls me & tells me all this. I was totally shocked to say the least. Yeah well, all of us know that every now and then the police do an over-all cleaning of the society where they round up all the unsuspecting souls standing at the bus-stop, etc. The ones with valid visa's are let off & the rest are carted off to jail. And there they languish till either their sponsor’s pay the fine and bail them out or they are sent back to their own country. But this is the 1st time I hear that even the people who are employing them have to pay fine.....and that too a hefty sum of dhs.51,000[works out to 6 Lakhs+ in Indian Rupees] is not an amount the common man will have lying around in his house or even in his bank account.

And so there I was sitting in shock thinking about how it could happen to anybody when the better-half walks in & He could make out something was amiss & within half an hour got the whole story out of me. And that was it. If I had any inkling I was going to set off a chain of events I wouldn’t have ever told him this. His reasoning, he doesnt have dhs.51,000 to waste on something which could be avoided….the maid had to go, Period. So here I am in front of u, a tired, haggard looking Nancy with wrinkled fingers[all that washing] sitting and typing a post hurriedly before the kids come back from school... oh pleease overlook all the typos.

I'm so desperate really.....and I see no way out. When I picture myself mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, washing utensils, changing bedsheets, taking trash out, doing loads of laundry, ironing, watering the plants + what I was already doing and that is cooking, getting kids to study, taking them down to play, squeezing time to write posts inbetween & looking after the family's needs as a whole, my heart squeezes in terror.

Long ago I made peace with myself when realised I'm not one of those people who can multi-task and finish up with work ahead of time. I'm clean, I'm thorough but I'M SLOW. So slow that even if I’m given me a head start the tortoise will end up winning the race[now u know why my rate of posting is so low].

So I hired a maid and never looked back. When I was working she used to work fultime for me & now since I'm at home she comes in for 2 hours & takes quite a bit of weight off my shoulders. Both she and I were heart-broken….it was a typical parting scene in the end with both of us holding each others hands & reluctantly letting go. As the tip of her fingers left the tip of my fingers I realized how much I loved her & how crushed I was to let her go..……honestly she was worth her weight in gold;-(. Years ago I had written about her here.

And do you know what the funniest bit is …….nobody else, simply NOBODY ELSE sacked their help after hearing M’s story, JUST US. The only satisfaction I derive from the whole fiasco is watching the better-half walking on eggshells around me. And oh yeah he finally got around to taking me to get new furniture for the living room and our bedroom. Buttering me up I know, but I'm not going to let him off the hook in a hurry. And M, I'm not going to forgive you for a looong time.....and I absolutely forbid you to confide in me your problems esp the ones which have the potential to create mayhem in my life. And if anybody of you dares to comment how the better-half is right, u better watch it.

And, and I've got guests[remember holleyland] coming to stay over this weekend.........ohhhhhh somebody wake me up from this nightmare!!!!!!

*Title of the post: roughly translated as 'ooh my rotten luck' in English

Have the last Laugh

2010-04-19T15:50:00.005+04:00

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~Yiddish Proverb

Were you aware that April 2010 celebrated the 34th anniversary of the National Humour Month????? Seems like a dude named Larry Wilde, took it upon himself to declare it as such sometime in 1976 and it has remained so to this day.
"Since April is often bleak and grim and taxes are due on the 15th, it can be one of the most stressful times of the year," says Wilde, author of 53 books on the subject of humor. "Besides," adds Wilde, "it's the only month that begins with All Fool's Day -- a day which has sanctioned frivolity and pranks ever since the 1500's."

Just think back and see if you can remember when it was last you laughed and laughed till your belly ached and tears were running down your cheeks. For me it was during my teenage years with my equally crazy friends in college. Actually my teenage years were a very difficult phase and unlike many people who say ‘I wish I was back in school’ I never want to go back there but the fact remains that when I look back it is the laughter I remember more than the tears.

We laugh for many reasons…..mostly when someone or something is really funny but sometimes we also use laughter to hide our pain and to avoid ugly situations. Psychologists believe that laughter is a releasing emotion which powers out pain; it does not change the facts or the circumstances in our life but alters the way we relate to it. Like psychologist William James says “We don’t laugh because we’re happy. We’re happy because we laugh.”

Even Readers Digest’s been saying it for the past 40 yrs and they are right; Laughter is the best medicine, the antidote to all ills. Unfortunately it is an emotion which has not got its due. Did you know its been proven that a lack of a good sense of humour leads to loneliness and depression; which is why Laughter therapy and other related rehabilitation methods are much ‘happening’ nowadays.

Within my friends’ circle I was always the comedian and had this knack of making people laugh with my one-liners and expressions. I particularly remember an incident in my final year in college where we had a sort of a beauty contest within our class towards the end of the year. There were around 15 categories and the idea was to nominate all students atleast once; with titles like “Ms Beautiful eyes” and “Ms Enchanting smile”, each category had 3 nominees. Around 4 of us sat together to write down all the names amidst fun & laughter. Just as we were almost finishing up with the work I could see the other 3 looking vaguely uneasy and avoiding my eyes. They then leave me to tie up the loose ends and scurry out of the room together. I had no clue what was wrong. They come back in 5 minutes & say ultra casually that they want to add 1 more category to the contest. It was the “Ms Humorous”[or some vague title like that] category. Then it dawned on me that it dawned on them that my name did not feature any of the other categories and so they dreamed up a category where I would not look too out of place & fitted me in. I won that category easily ofcourse…..like 48 votes out of 50. 49th vote was mine where I had politely voted for somebody else but I’m still hunting for that 50th person who thought I was not funny.

TV serials like ‘Everybody loves Raymond’ and ‘Two and a Half Men’ are a riot and I keep aside everything to give it my undivided attention. I love watching ‘America’s funniest videos’ too though my amusement here is tinged with a bit of guilt. I even sit along with my kids and watch “Tom & Jerry” and “Bugs Bunny”; though I enjoy the show I love watching the kids’ laughing more. Jim Carrey is a favourite with the better-half and I just don’t understand why. I agree he’s funny ~~looking~~ but how long can one watch a person pull faces in the name of acting.
The only humour(???) based programs I avoid are those ‘bakra’ kind of stuff which ~~sometimes~~ almost all the time makes the common man look like an idiot.

Laughter and humour have more benefits than we’ll ever think….

# We make friends easily

# It’s contagious

# It defuses potentially tense or violent situations
# It lowers our stress levels
# Enhances relationships & can improve productivity at your workplace
# Get u more comments on ur posts;-D
# Burns calories & reduces blood sugar levels
# It’s even supposed to boost our immune systems & relieve pain.

But more importantly to be able to laugh at our own self, to see ourselves with all our failings in the right perspective, is the ultimate victory.

Going Home or should I say, Coming Home

2010-04-08T11:33:00.003+04:00

You know what……I have this weird feeling that the better-half knows more about my blog than he is letting on.

There I was minding my own business and tearing out the hair on my sparsely populated head alternatively, when out of the blue he asked if I wanted to celebrate Easter with my parents in Bangalore[and mind you this happens after I wrote my previous post about the kids giving me a hard time].
I looked doubtfully at him…. “Everybodys’ saying it’s really hot out there in India”.
He holds my gaze & says casually “I’ve got a deadline coming up at work so I can’t come.”
My eyelids dropped to hide my expression & said carelessly “Alright, the kids will be really thrilled”.
I then walk sedately to the bedroom, close the door, let out a silent whoop & do an uncoordinated war-dance. I’m quite considerate that way; he’d have been so hurt if I did it in front of him.

A few days later we were packed and on our way. Quite honestly I was looking forward to a few days without the better-half. I don’t know how it is with most of you but most of our vacations to India are very hectic with 15 days in Kerala[his parents stay there] & 15 days in Bangalore[my parents]. Atleast 2 weeks whizz by with dentist appointments, medical checkups and Bank work and Insurance and goodness knows what else. The rest of the 2 weeks will be spent visiting all the relatives, neighbours, ex-collegues, acquaintances and SHOPPING. In all this halaboo I hardly get any time to spend with my friends….actually I do manage to make time but the better-half will look at me so mournfully like I’m abandoning him, making me feel so guilty.

So this time I was looking forward to lot of ‘stretching late into the night’ conversations with my mother, shopping with my sister[I select the clothes, she pays for them…heeehaw], leisurely lunches and chai conversations with my friends; not that I drink tea but you know what I mean.

One thing I realized as soon as we reached Bangalore[dunno why but I just cant say bengaluru] is that my mom was not joking when she said it was hot. The kids and I hardly slept thru the 1st night coz we spent all the time dragging the bed from 1 corner to the other for the best position where all 3 of us would get equal amount of cool air from the old rickety fan. And just when we were dropping off to sleep an army of dogs[sounded like it really] decided to bark at the same time causing the kids to jump up in fright. I myself was quite startled but put on a calm façade and explained to the kids that the dogs were having a birthday party and were singing Happy Birthday for one of their friends. It was not possible for the dogs to hold it during the day as people & vehicles kept going up and down the road, right. It was the right track to take for they calmed down immediately but it boomeranged on me coz I spent almost 1 hour after that answering questions ranging from what flavour the birthday-cake was and where they got the money to buy party-hats.

The 1st few days we hardly ventured out of the house but even then it was not at all boring. Elections for the civic polls were going on and I quite enjoyed the aggressive way each nominated party were going door-to-door campaigning. One of the popular candidates fell at my fathers feet[yes, like in the movies] and pleaded with him to give him the vote. Another candidate, a lady told us we could contact her for any problem anytime of the day/night and she’ll be at our gate within ½ an hr. Some of them were accompanied by bands which played loud music. The children watched all the drama goggle-eyed while my parents and I lazily discussed merits of each party over snacks and coffee[nope dont drink coffee, I gorged on Mama’s delicacies].

I realized the extent of their[candidates] single-mindedness only after the elections. That night the electricity went for 2 hours….and after that everyday our houses were plunged into darkness for atleast 1-2hrs. My heart went out to the SSLC students who were preparing for their final examinations the next day. Most people have invested in inverters and generators but some stubborn old-timers like my father still hung on to their candles and emergency lamps ;-/. In a way it was quite nice coz we used sit out on the verandah and talk about old times and new. My kids after the 1st day preferred to stay indoors. The mosquitoes were after their blood and left more than a few marks on their legs, hands & face.

The worst was when the electricity went off in the middle of the night. As soon as the ~~grrring~~ whirring fan wound down I would be up alert and hurriedly hunt around for a newspaper to fan the kids. I rather wave my hands side to side for 5 hours continuously than have them wake up and continue with the conversation about doggy birthday parties.

My friends were thrilled to hear from me but for some reason or the other we weren’t able to meet up all together. I met them just once on a one-to-one basis but spent a lot of time talking on the phone. It’s not the same anymore; what with kids and additional responsibility but our affection for eachother is unmistakable. We call eachother 15 times a day and still have so much to talk about[my mum gets so irritated even now;-D]. We can cut a conversation abruptly without explanation and call back to receive the same warm response. Girl-friends are the best, really.

I really have to tell you something here……I didn’t miss my blog as much as I thought I would. My parents are not connected to the net[it’s a long story] and I did wonder how I would live without checking my blog ~~every hour~~ everyday for comments. Honestly it was not so bad but yeah some nights when I didn’t get sleep my thoughts were not about God or my husband, it was about how best I was going to explain my taking off suddenly without letting u know. Yeah well ok so I'm contradicting myself;-P

Easter was wonderful with my parents and sister but dunno why my heart was not in it. I had this dream that morning that the better-half arrived at my parents’ home and gave us a lovely surprise. Spent the entire day jumping everytime the doorbell rang. I did call him to sneakily check and didn’t quite believe him when he said he was on his way to office. Easter Sundays are like any other working day in the Middle-east you see.

As days passed I realized I was missing the better-half more and more; mainly when I was doing some tedious paperwork or standing in some queue or the other. Even the kids who so eagerly looked forward to their vacation were now talking about how they’ll greet papa at the airport when they get back. When he pre-poned our flight date by 2 days I didn’t quibble at all. I even teased him about his eagerness to get us back without letting him know how I felt.

And at the airport yesterday when the kids hugged him tight, waiting for my turn I beamed at him inwardly thinking “I can get a good night’s sleep finally”.

Now coming back to what I wrote earlier…..any idea how I can find out whether he is reading my blog??? And before you ask, nope I cannot ask him…..a year or so back I swore on my refrigerator I’ll never again ask him directly.

Just some random kids' stuff

2010-03-22T15:33:00.005+04:00

Naina: Mama I had a nighmare last night.

Mama looks at her concerned.

Naina: Mama, do u know what a nightmare is???

Mama: Yes i know, shall I explain???

Naina: Ofcourse I know what it is, I wanted to know if u knew.

Mama looks irritatedly at the all-knowing 6 yr old who thought her mother didnt knw the meaning. Nikita snickers, understanding her mothers indignation very well .

Mother[a bit worried now]: Tell me wht u nightmared about

Naina: No...no...no...

Ma: Why, why cant u tell me...was it so terrible?????

Naina: No no it was a nice nightmare.

I wish I had one of those eyes rolling emoticons to express my feelings. I didnt ask further abt the nice nightmare since I knew for sure it would be a long-winded description of a prince who fought off demons to win her hand and they lived happily ever after;-/
************************************************

Nikita goes for Arabic tuitions but Naina doesnt but she needs to learn too. Since Naina just needed to know the basics I ask Nikita to teach her. Nikita doesnt show the slighest interest. So to awaken Nikita's interest I tell her that just like how I pay Sabha didi[Arabic tuition teacher] to teach u, I'll pay u to teach Naina.

Now Nikita is interested. And we agree she'll get Dhs.10 per month if she taught Arabic to Naina. So she starts to teach Naina...soon Naina is not very happy at her sister's bossy ways and refuses to learn under her guidance. Nikita is depressed and approaches me for a solution.
I tell her "If u want the 10dhs u must find some way to make her learn".

After a while I find both of them peacefully doing Naina's arabic lessons. I was impressed with Nikita's capabilities and curious. Later I ask her how she managed to get Naina to sit thru

She replies sheepishly "I told her I'll give her half of what I get if she allows me to teach her"
*************************************************

If I have 7 oranges in 1 hand and 9 in the other what do I have???? asks Naina to her sister.

Mama who overheard this was very happy that her children were studying even before she told them to take out their books. "My children are growing up and recognise their responsibilities" she thinks fondly and moves closer to listen to the answer.

"It means u have very large hands" Nikita answers and both fall back onto the couch and laugh gleefully.

They were quizzing eachother from a Tom & Jerry jokebook;-/
*************************************************

After 45 minutes of heightened activity I order the kids to take a break from the wild games they were playing. So they flop down on the floor and rest.

After 2 minutes.....

Naina: Its so boring

1 minute later..

a deeeeep sigh indicating boredom

after a minute

Naina: "I wish we had 2 brothers."

Nikita nods understandingly while Mama raises eyebrows

Nikita: We could name them Phineas and Ferb

Mama: Huh!!!!

Naina: Havent u seen their cartoon??? For them "there is no such thing as an ordinary day"

I looks up & silently thank the good Lord. Our days are extraordinary enough without adding 2 boys & creating bedlam

Nikita: Or I wish we had 10 sisters...then we could be the 12 dancing princess.

Mama[gets up agitatedly]: U two have too much free time in ur hands. Go get your holiday homework both of U.....NOW.
***********************************************

Nikita is engrossed in a book & I make the mistake of passing by...

Nikita: Ma, can u scratch over here please......[pointing to the portion between the 2nd and the 3rd toe]

...not there, a little bit to the left,

...no no no a bit lower

....higher, higher

Nikita[exasperatedly]: uff not like that........u r so old, its high time u learned how to follow instructions[in the same tone we use to tell her off;-/]
************************************************

In normal households mothers will sit their children down gently, point to a globe or an Atlas and tell them about different places and facts abt the world. In our household.......

Location: Bathroom

Activity: One of the kids will be sitting on the pot to pee

Mama[impatiently]: Finished???

Child: Not yet

Mama: I dont have the whole day, I've got work to do

Child: Its on its way.

but even after 30 seconds..... nothing

Mama: U r not doing potty are u???

Child: No Ma..I just need to pee

Mama[at the end of her tether]: How long doesn it take to pee??? Anybody will think its coming from the Himalayas???

Child[interestedly]: Himalayas???? Where is that???

Mama: Himalayas are mountains found in the northern most parts of India................detailed explanation follows.

And this is how they learnt about Africa, Australia, China, Sahara Desert, River Thames, the Ganges........
*********************************************

To keep them out of my hair I organised a story-writing competition and this is what Naina wrote...

One day when it was snowing Tom went out to post a letter he saw an enormous sight. He saw a bundle of cats sitting on chairs and it looked just like a party. He began to join in but the cats pushed him out and Tom became very sad.
Then Tom had an idea. He went to them and said " Please" and the cats said ok.

Moral of the story: Always say please before doing or taking something.

;-D.......dont miss the words in italics; incase u r wondering Nikita didnt have the patience & gave up half-way.

*************************************************

The Final exams are finally over and the kids have 1 whole month of holidays before they start their next session. I have my hands full and am running around like a hen without a head. Wish me luck.....there's another 3 weeks before school starts.

Please excuse me while I clear my throat

2010-03-15T15:36:00.005+04:00

Ever noticed this peculiar habit of mine…everytime I’m sick I take great pleasure in describing my symtoms to you whether you want to hear it or not. As usual it’s my throat the infection attacks; no cold, fever or blocked nose just a throat pain and this irritating need to clear the throat all the time. And ofcourse with the throat rubbed raw the voice sounds like….like…a baritone minus the timbre. Called a restaurant to order some lunch & the waiter eagerly replied "ok sir, I’ll send the order right away". I hadn’t the energy to correct him……clearing the throat every 10 seconds is tiring business you know.

While the better-half was channel-surfing 2 days back I happened to glimpse Usha Uthup & gestured frantically[my throat’s bad remember] at him to stop there. When he looked enquiringly I rasped how I was just thinking about Usha Uthup that afternoon and voila she popped up on tv at night. What an amazing coincidence!!!

“And why were you thinking about Usha Uthup???” asks better-half curiously.
“Oh just this afternoon I was singing this song and thought I sounded like Usha Uthup." I croak airily.
He didn’t say anything and I took it as an invitation to perform.

I clear my throat and croon “Dum maro dummmmmmmaaaaaa…….” and look at him triumphantly.

The better-half looked like he wanted to say something but he knew me too well and the mood I was in…….and quietly changed the channel. I ferociously chomp on some crystallised ginger to ease my urge to chew his head off.

[Cut]

A few days back my mom’s friend calls from Bangalore and tells me she was going on a trip to Holleyland and wanted to visit us on her way back from there.

I was like “Eh, I’ve heard of Disneyland and Al Naser Leisureland….….but what is this place you are talking about………..oooohhhh you mean Hollywood”

She was like “No, no Hollyland”

And then it clicked, she was talking about going on a trip to HolyLand…....about visiting Jerusalem, Israel and other places where Jesus lived and preached.

The better-half who understood immediately was laughing at my bewilderment. Ignoring the ruckus behind me I got into my best host-mode and croaked “You are welcome to visit us anytime Aunty, we’ll take care of everything. You just tell us the date and flight timings”

“Oh I know you don’t have any problems about me visiting you, just thought I’ll warn you I’m bringing 4 friends along with me” replied Aunty blithely.

A fit of coughing attacked me and I limply gave the phone to the better-half who also didn’t find it quite funny anymore. Entertaining 5 old ladies for a week was no joke, was it;-D

[Cut]

Surfing thru the channels uninterestedly I chance upon a pretty looking starlet mouthing a long dialogue. I paused to listen and was thinking to myself that if she was the heroine then how is that I haven’t seen her around before. The actor facing her trying to look suitably puzzled asks “I don’t understand what you are trying to say, Nancy” and I knew immediately that she could be essaying any role but the main role.
No character named Nancy in a movie ever had a leading role. If it is a Malayalam movie all Nancys' were the hero’s sister or friend who either had a dreaded disease or got raped in the middle of the movie. If it is a Hindi movie she probably was the vamp who performed 1 cabaret song and died[from a gunshot] immediately afterwards and if its an English movie she usually is the housekeeper or a lawyer.

"Why couldn’t my parents have named me with more thought? Why couldn’t they have named me Meghana or Nidhi or Niveditha….I soo like those names." muttering to myself I make a mental note to tackle my mother about it when I next speak with her.

I'll get off here and let you watch Usha Uthup singing "Dum Maro Dum Aaaaa"…….I quite enjoyed watching her after a looong time;-D

p.s: Ummm....I may have exaggerrated a bit here and there but don’t waste precious time wondering what the post was all about. Most people rest when they dont feel well but I get all charged up and attack. I was not at all in the mood to blog today but somehow if I don’t put up atleast 1 post a week…I feel guilty. You see, I love to pretend that all of you miss me. Now if anybody wants to disagree with me, feel free…..I’m just spoiling for a fight.

How Blogging helps me…

2010-03-08T17:45:00.001+04:00

It’s been a mere 2+ years but it seems like I’ve been blogging for ever. Blogging has taken over my life in such a way that I now look at my life in 2 categories; Life before My Blog and Life after My Blog. *And my subconscious produces an image of my better-half looking at me incredulously* well ok I’m kidding but you know what I mean, right!!!!

When I think about the person I was before I started blogging and how I am now……nope, I’m not going to say I’m a completely changed person but there’s definitely been a difference. And I proudly list them out below:

Blogging has resulted in Improved Writing: Initially I started out writing for myself and so didn’t bother too much about legibility, syntaxes or continuity. But gradually the fact that many people were reading my posts started to dawn and that did make a difference to my writing. I became more careful about how I presented my subject and tried hard to bring clarity in my thoughts which I feel has resulted in improved writing; I can’t say for sure though, the only person who can tell me that is YOU.

Blogging made me more focused: I used to be somebody who had problems concentrating on a task to the finish but blogging is something I have not tired of even after 2 years. I pride myself on the fact that I complete what I start…..all my posts have concluding paragraphs don’t they???? Infact I never realized how much patience I had until I clicked NO on the word document I wrote on Global Village & watched the whole post disappear into nothing. I put my head down and wept. Unlike most posts which come out of my head, I had gone thru a hundred links for this one. I sat down the next day again, hunted out all those links and wrote the whole post painstakingly from scratch. I don’t ever remember putting in this much effort even for school exams.

Blogging helped me accept compliments more gracefully: I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is but compliments make me uncomfortable. Say for eg, somebody complimented me on a particular dish I made I would go all flustered and immediately explain that the vegetables were really fresh, how the masala was handground and brought all the way from Kerala and thats why it was so good. The better-half would time and again tell me there was no need to go into long-winded explanations and just accept the compliments at face value. When I started getting compliments for the posts I wrote, for a long time I never really believed them. I would scrutinize the post and shake my head in wonder; they made me feel happy ofcourse but I thought all of U were being kind. Gradually the realization dawned that people would not keep coming back again and again if they didn’t like they were reading. Now I have begun to accept them gracefully both here and in life.

Blogging helps me with my children: I never interacted with small children in my teenage years; infact I remember deliberately keeping my distance from them. When I had 2 kids of my own I’m not going to say I was awful at child rearing but reading many mama blogs gave me innovative ideas how to keep them occupied, make interesting snacks they’d like to eat and helped me reach them at their wavelength. Inshort blogging about my children, their perspectives and inturn receiving valuable input & compliments from ALL of you boosted my knowledge and confidence.

Blogs keep me updated: There are days when I don’t watch the news on tv or read newspapers. But reading blogs really help me keep up with both technology and current affairs. And the links provided at these places give me all the information which I’m sure I would not get in any newspaper.

People & accomplishments: Reading about ordinary people & their extraordinary achievements always leave me inspired. There is something about reading it in blogs….sort of makes it more real than reading what is written rather dryly in the papers.

And finally….

Blogging is restorative: Honestly in many ways it’s been rather therapeutic for me. Blogging about people, places and ~~Pluto~~ myself really helped me express myself & in some vague yet definite way I’ve learned to appreciate the few redeeming qualities I have. Now if I weren’t blogging imagine how much I would have had to shell out for a psychologist to arrive at the same conclusion;-D.

Now you tell me, how has blogging proved beneficial for you?????

Every Woman is Special!!!!

2010-03-01T17:12:00.007+04:00

Butterfly, Lakshmi and Varsha tagged me to write something for International Womans Day on March 8th. I racked my brains the whole day to write appropriately and went to the main site to check their rules when I saw that the contest was ending the same day. I gratefully grabbed the straw and decided it was not possible to do justice at such short notice.

Contest or no contest the thought refused to go away, I idly googled for information and International Women's Day website said

“International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.”

The difficulty was that I personally didn’t know anybody who matched this description and just as suddenly it hit me how blind I was. I was searching far and wide for inspiration when one of my closest friend’s life-story was something which always touched me.

We were a group of eight in college and Chaitra and I were part of this big noisy party. As years passed the numbers dwindled and it became a smaller group of 5. Chaitra and I were the only ones who took English literature and so it was not so strange that we became very firm friends by the end of our college-days.

Immediately after college she found a job in an educational centre and soon found a vacancy for me in the same place and our friendship only became stronger. She was a very good-looking girl, looked years younger & one could always find boys hanging around wherever she went. But she was much more than a pretty face; even in the early days of college she was determined to make something out of her life. But a bit confused, I felt or else why would she have gotten out of one broken relationship to jump straight into another. I didn’t approve at all but stood by her when she had to take the extreme decision to go against her parents’ fierce disapproval and marry the boy. I remember shaking in my boots when she dragged me to her parents’ house after her wedding as she couldn’t face them alone. Her mother broke down and demanded why I as her best friend couldn’t have advised her against the relationship. I felt terribly guilty then as I too felt my friend who had everything going for her could have waited for better things.

Everything which had to go wrong went haywire after marriage. Her father-in-law who was a strong support passed away, her parents refused to forgive her for going against their wishes and she found herself pregnant earlier than she planned. She had a terrible delivery and swore she was never going to put herself thru that ordeal again. All her dreams of climbing the corporate ladder fell thru when she was forced to leave her job after her child was born. Her mother-in-law made her life miserable and to top it she had put on so much weight after the delivery that her self-esteem fell. Imagine almost 80kgs on a 5’2 frame…….she once told me in tears how she hated looking at herself in the mirror. It was a hopeless situation, I remember thinking.

Once the initial shock of being confronted with one bad thing or the other passed, she grimly charted out a stringent plan. She was determined not to let circumstances over-whelm her. Her 1st objective was to lose weight; she joined a gym and under the guidance of a trainer exercised single-mindedly and ate all the right food. She lost all the pregnancy fat and achieved her objective in just 6 months flat and never slipped again. Next she looked for a job and found one after a lot of effort[nobody was keen to hire a new mother you see] and stuck thru it even though it was not what she was looking for as she needed the experience it offered.

Meanwhile the situation at her in-laws place where she stayed with her husband was deteriorating from bad to worse. She received absolutely no support from anybody and her husband had his own constraints. The biggest blow was when they were asked to leave the parents home and told to manage on their own when they didn’t have the means to do so. Her husband who part-managed the family business till then was suddenly out in the cold.

I can only imagine what my friend must have gone thru. She by nature is a private person and did not make friends very easily. She never let me know anything[I’m here in Dubai remember] and filled me in only when I went home for vacation. Not that I would have been of much help but atleast I could have lent her some support.

She was shattered but didn’t break; they moved into a small house near her parents house[by now her parents were on speaking terms with her] and she entrusted her son to her mother for the time she was away at work. Her parents were not very happy about it and shouldered the responsibility reluctantly . Chaitra knew about her parents reservations but couldn’t afford to let her pride talk so she pretended not to notice…..atleast her son was in the hands of somebody she could trust.

The next few years brought many life-defining moments both happy and sad and she took them all in her stride. She worked hard and learnt from her mistakes. Breaking away from the family proved to be a blessing in disguise. Her husband who had a casual attitude towards life woke up to his responsibilities; what’s more, recognized her for the woman she was and provided her with all support.

Now I marvel when I look at her. She is a poised and confident woman; nobody believes it when she says she has a 9yr old son. She stood by her mother when she underwent an open heart surgery and helps her father out financially. She is her parents’ strongest support, an irony really as all their life her parents were pinning all their hopes and aspirations on their son and sidelining her. As of now she is working for Dell as their ‘Regional Sales Manager’ and has 45 employees reporting to her. Need I say anything more???? And oh she won the 'Best employee of the year' 2 times consecutively.

I am so proud of her, my heart sort of swells when I think of her and always remember her when I need motivation. In the end I didn’t have to go far at all to find a woman who inspired me….she was there all the while, just within my little world’s reach.

This world is filled with amazing women like Chaitra who is somebody’s mother, daughter or wife. I am so glad she is my very good friend.

Layali Dubai

2010-02-18T16:27:00.004+04:00

Last weekend we spent a whole evening at the Global Village. As you are aware of….oh you were not???? You are kidding……simply everybody knows!!!! You don’t…..Ok then I’ll start at the beginning –

Dubai is a shopper’s paradise alright, but a month-long extravaganza more famously known as the Dubai Shopping Festival[DSF] has millions of visitors flocking to Dubai between January & February every year. What started off as an initiative by the government to boost trade in the country has now transformed itself into an annual event; almost every shop, every Mall and souq in the city participates enthusiastically by announcing genuine sales and exciting promotions with the intention of enticing customers into emptying their pockets then and there .

And mind you its not all about shopping, there are also carnivals, street shows, concerts, children’s entertainment, fireworks, film festivals, extravagant raffle prizes and the famous Dubai World Cup horse race all offering a welcome break from the shopping frenzy.

And one of the major attractions is the Global Village[GV] which in 1996 was a small area along the Dubai creek which housed a mere 10-12 stalls selling handicrafts & wares from different countries. The novel theme gained so much popularity that now 14 years later around 45 countries from all around the world participate to showcase their merchandise, culture and cuisine. Like they say here; it’s probably the only place in the world where you can buy an intricately-woven Indian pashmina shawl, a Japanese bonsai and fresh Canadian Maple Syrup all from the same place.

Since the Global Village opens only in the evenings[4pm-1am] it is simply not possible to cover all the pavilions & enjoy the entertainment provided all in one day…..unless ofcourse we hurry really fast but then you end up more tired than a happy tourist.

The most popular pavilion - Chinese Pavillion

The most widely- accepted among all the pavilions are the Chinese and the Indian pavilion, which ofcourse is always crowded; people throng these pavilions like as if they’ll never get to see anything like it again. Though Africa, Thailand, Iran, Vietnam, Egypt and UAE do come a close second in terms of popularity.

The African Pavilion; the cheetah's mouth was their stage where they performed their traditional arts

It’s really fascinating, once inside a particular country’s pavilion you are sort of transported into their world. If one side of the pavilion has traditionally dressed traders selling clothes, handbags and footwear, from the other side yummy and exotic aromas will be enticing us to try the special dishes from their country. Another corner could be selling anything from paintings, dried flowers, intricately carved furniture or cleaning mops. And the outside of the pavilion will have a stage where performers will showcase their country’s traditional dances or arts.

They had these lovely Egyptian paintings on papyrus here, ready to be framed

Even though the Indian Pavilion is a must-see place we give it a miss due to lack of time or leave it till the end as we are familiar with most of the merchandise they display. And the fact that many media channels lie in wait to thrust their mikes into people’s faces to ask silly questions & riddles, all the more make us want to stay clear of the place;-P. Every year my mum will ask “I watch the DSF special on tv everyday and I keep searching for u. Everybody is there except u" she accuses me. And I’ll be like “Ma puh-leeeeze”!!!

A traditionally dressed tea- seller outside the Syrian pavilion

The children ofcourse start out enthusiastically from home but run out of steam half-way thru because of the amount of walking we have to do. Luckily there is this huge amusement park right next-door with all the wild rides & games which succeeds in rejuvenating their tired spirits;-D.

I don’t shop much, usually am just content to soak in the electric atmosphere but there’s one thing I always end up buying in dozens every year……magnets…yeah those fridge magnets….they are a major weakness;-(. Half the time I end up buying the same stuff what I pick every year and then studiously avoid looking at the better-half’s wry expression the rest of the way home.

No clue which pavilion this is but the picture was looking so good I had to include it

And then ofcourse we all crib……about the outrageous amount[dh10 per person] they charge as entrance fees when in the initial years we could wander in and out as we pleased or the fact that a simple shawarma which costs dhs3.50 in the bylanes of Dubai is a whopping dhs7.50 inside the GV. But it doesn’t ever stop us from going there again and again. Honestly the DSF doesn’t feel complete without a trip to the Global Village.

Years back in 2000[I think] the better-half & I were at the Global Village watching the Red Indians in their traditional attires sitting around, idly strumming their curious looking musical instruments, when a group of Arab men came and stood beside us. The leader of the Red Indians quickly got his troupe together and they gave this impressive performance on the spot. Curious at what prompted the spectacular show we turned to look at the Arab men and immediately recognized the present Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum standing tall and regal among the group of men. Although he was the crown prince then there was no fanfare or body-guards announcing his presence; he watched the performance for a few minutes and left like how he came…quietly and with no fuss.

This whole concept of the DSF and the Global village is actually The Ruler’s brainchild….he has pulled out all the stops to ensure that DSF remains a memorable occasion for everyone who participates in it. Every year there are more & more exciting events & prizes added; today it attracts more than 3 million visitors to Dubai every year. There is a lot more than I mentioned above like the Carpet Oasis where you’ll be spoilt for choice as you have over 150,000 carpets from different parts of the world to choose from. And the Gold Souq is a place you wont forget in a hurry, it is said that the Gold traders here sold jewellery worth Dh10 million each day and what’s more they give away 1 kg of Gold as Prize to a lucky winner everyday.

If any of you are planning to visit Dubai, do try to make it during this time when there is excitement in the air and the weather is at its best. I assure you that you’ll never go back disappointed.

Most Indians are familiar with the gulf countries but years back I remember meeting an American who never knew there was a place called Dubai. What about you, have you heard about the Dubai Shopping festival earlier???? Have you been here for it???? Are you planning to?????

*The title 'Layali Dubai' means DSF in Arabic
** 10dhs - $3.50