Question #3

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

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

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?????

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...

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

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!!!!!!

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

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....

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.....