I just have to talk about Vals....
It was one of the best experience I had, ever!
This is a place I definitely want to take Balu to amidst all the other places I visited w/o him this October.
Picture this scene from your patio - morning mist clearing just enough to give a peek of the absolute GREEN mountains!


Well, things were not this simple...it so happened that my room mate Jenna,( I got along so well with her) and me decided to get up at about 7 ish to hit the "Therme"
http://www.therme-vals.ch/bad/index_en.html
we didnt have an alarm so we decided to rely on my instinct/built in alarm that had been working like...what do I say? CLOCK WORK!
So, the morning came and my alarm went off! I checked my watch and I saw 8:30! wow, so my alarm didnt go off right after all! anyway, I woke up Jenna and we were a little sad about the time as at 10:30, the therme opened to public and the ambience wasnt just the same!

It was only after long long soaks in the waters and then some more after that and then some more, did we realize that it was 8:30?? so what time did we get in? and what time did we get up? how we laughed after that, anyway we having had an advantage of an early start and extra time at the spa, felt so rejuvenated ( I finally know what it feels like)

The spa itself can bring you back to life; grey walls of stone, naturally varied temperatures of spring water; all the way from HOT to pretty HOT to WARM to COLD!
Personal favorite being the hot water which opened to nature, a large pool of hot water that had openings framing the mystical green mountains of Switzerland.
The skies, the air, the views almost everything about the place screamed of purity.
This pool was shallow enough for non-swimmers like me to wade in and rest my back on the walls and stare eternally at the beauty around.
Everybody in the Therme respected silence voluntarily, somehow as if noise would disrupt the beauty we were a part of. I now knew what "Tranquility" meant.

A hearty breakfast at the spa, then I set off on my own, I walked along the river, stopped so very often to sigh at whatever I saw.


I walked through the village, catching my breath now and then, reminding myself to write about everything I saw. The fact is no matter what I say, what adjectives I use, I just cant even get close to describe what I felt or what I saw.

I knew that Switzerland is beautiful, thanks to the umpteen Bollywood songs and movies showing it, but nothing, absolutely nothing can do justice to the beauty you can feel there. It hits you like a sledge hammer, makes you want to just keep going on. The beauty pulls the ground beneath your feet, and yes you do fall, fall into some abyss that is still breathtakingly beautiful.

I kind of feel like Ive eaten too many sweets after reading the above said...so now I stop and let the photographs do some talking, lest I make the whole experience overwhelming for everyone!

Break time!

Technically, this was my first semester as a full time student!
and boy, was I a full timer or what! the schedule I had was tight and the subjects in hand were phew, tiring...but worth every sweat and tear ( many of the latter)

I kept complaining to Balu how I wanted to quit, how I missed the Law & order marathons, the re-runs of all my favorite sitcoms I had watched a zillion times already! and the non-stop snacking at whatever I laid eyes on!
Well his reaction, as you can imagine was "whats wrong with her?"

But now, having done with them all, and when I get my marathons and reruns for as long as I want....all I can say is "I am loving it"
I love getting up as late as I want, eat anything for breakfast, for as long as I want, not having to cook lunch, eat leftovers ( Oh that's another long topic to discuss) junk, junk and more junk...and hot tea on a snowy afternoon with Parle-G. I hope I dont get used to this for long for my next semester starts in 2 weeks!

Diamonds are not always girls best friends!

Just so that my clothes fit me when Im back from a 2 month vacation to India, I decided firmly to forgo the most important element of my meal......BREAD.
A huge (understatement) fan/devout/consumer of this simple thing, a fetish of mine for ages, and I stopped having bread for about a month just to help my so called diet go full swing.
The results, yes it did help but that is not the point!
Today, on his way back from work, Balu stopped by the bank for some official work and my fav Great harvest bakery is right beside. He got a whiff of freshly baked bread and without thinking twice, paid a prompt visit that was due for so long!
He surprised me with 2 loaves of bread!!!!
To me its like getting home a hand crafted Birkin bag or a pair of red hot Jimmy Choos.....well, Id like the latter too, but this gesture gave me such joy that I had to be extra sweet to him.

ps;People who find this silly have NO idea how much I like bread........and I'll finally get to see my niece come Wednesday!

Of snakecharmers & magicians!

Today morning, I was watching the local news and there was a bizarre report of babies being dropped down from a rooftop and caught on a bedspread! For me it didnt take much time to realise it can only be from our extremely colourful country that we can get such reports, but why on earth, rather HOW ON EARTH could these guys get this report? why cant they get this thing........6 Indians in Forbes list of 500 highest-paid CEOs, which is headlines in an Indian news site.

As for good times, the last interesting bit of India I got to see on our local news was when TATA took over Jaguar!that was something to celebrate, especially when shown on local news...I managed to get Balu out of the shower in 10 mins (a record) when I told him TATA was next on line in news!

I sometimes wonder what image do people have of India? people find it surprising when I say my medium of education was English, and that is the case for majority of my peers.
Is it odd that 2+ centuries of British rule brought such a drastic change in our culture and moreover, has it benefited us?
What are the odds that India would have reached the same level of sucess w/o the Queen's influence? It has been recorded historically that we invented the '0', and we've had many scholars in diverse fields ; technology to medicine.
So maybe we would have been sucessful afterall, minus this language.
May be we would have fought over the choice of language that would have to be the common medium then!
Maybe I stop thinking aloud now and end this crap.
Maybe no one reads my blog so it really doesnt matter!
Maybe I can manipulate Balu to get me an icecream again tonight!

....I like him & he doesnt mind....

About my Library

Books are truly a great company. Everyone is approachable when they have have a nice book in their hands. Ive made lots of short but memorable conversations with strangers just because they were reading something that caught my eye or I was reading something that caught theirs!
For instance, on one of my 60 minute ride back home, my silent neighbour was reading Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" I am yet to read that but have read and totally love "The Kite Runner". I waited patiently for her to put down the book or just look away for a minute to strike a conversation. You see, Im not a big fan of speaking to everyone who sits beside me, this lady was reading a book I plan on buying soon hence I was a wee bit curious!
She just didnt pull her eyes away, not even once...she read all the way till her stop and finally she asked me..."Will you be getting down too?" phew!
"No mam, the next one's mine. By the way, sorry for bothering, but how is the book?" she seemed happy I asked, and gave the obvious answer...
"Oh its lovely, its about this...woman"
"Oh really, Ive read the Kite Runner and its amazing, I plan on reading this next" "Oh have you? Im yet to read it"
well, our conversation went on about books;you get the picture right.

There was this other time, while waiting at the bus stop reading "Nicolai Gogol's short stories". The only other guy was this typical hooded high school/Freshman with an i-pod, playing LOUD rock. The bus came, I shut my book and as I was climbing, he pulled his ear plugs off, exclaimed..."Nicolai Gogol!man, I so rarely get to see people read Russian literature!I love all of his works, what do you think of it?" there was the start of another conversation and another interesting bus ride!

Ps; Once at an interview, "Shantaram by Gregory Davis Roberts" fell off my bag and that was one fun interview, well atleast they did feel bad they could not hire me!

So whats going to fall off your bag today?

Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams has done such an amazing job with "The Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy" I think its one of the only Alien / outer space related book I could digest! Cant wait to read the rest of the series....
Babel fish, such a cute lil thing. If you havent read this book and plan on doing so, Im not giving out anything that can spoil the interest. Babel fish as introduced in the first novel of the series is a species of fish that can instantly translate any language to any other language:
Its a good read, Id say a must if you have the capacity to digest some serious fiction or is it really one????( Nowz when you hear me laugh like a witch )

Happy B'day

Its the 3rd of April and Samhita aka Lola aka Lolsie and many many more akas.....who is also my niece, turns "1" (please read it as an excited Oneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee).
I have always wanted to write about her and the very reason I havent seen her yet (sigh) has caused this delay!Every aunt has her day and so will I, so will I.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART...HAVE A WONDERFUL, FUNFILLED FUTURE.

My mad hatter!

This is the only reason why I tolerate Balu singing
"Dont you wish your husband were a cook like me?"
(sigh, like the Pussy cat dolls themselves!!!!!!)

Yes, all the potrayed dishes are his experiments in the kitchen & freakishly delectable!!

A case of mistaken WHAT ?

The idea of pregnancy is scary but pregnant women are adorable! It is the last thing they want to be told...besides the fact that people go ahead feeling her womb, unannounced!Well, anyone would gloat and bask happily in the attention they get...but well, there is a limit to that! First of all its the hormones giving you the angry bursts, to top it the questions...."Oh are you pregnant? how cute...."

I am such a wrong person to talk about this...but have seen people complaint about this and have managed to stop myself from asking these questions to people I suspect are pregnant!

Coming to this, it once did happen that I met this girl at a gathering and she introduced herself, said she's been married for over 3 years and only had her hubby accompanying her. She did sport a slight paunch and dont blame me for assuming that she might have been carrying. She sported no signs of being fat, no place but for the paunch! at least I didnt go on to pop that question! but did make her conscious by constantly looking at her ahem...

Hey, couldnt help...I had to know, wanted to congratulate her; that is if she were pregnant! so I went over to Balu and confessed my doubts only to be pushed away and silenced instantly....bah!as if he could stop my mind from working away!

I tried to pry on every conversation she was having ( I was seated right next to her so thats not evesdropping ) and no one seemed to have my doubts. This meant only one thing...either they all knew that she WAS indeed pregnant or otherwise!That was all I left with that day, the whole even seemed unfruitful because of what I call my "Reasonable doubts".

As for you all, my doubts were needless, she wasnt pregnant & I could find that out only after a couple of weeks at another gathering where she was present too, in a different attire ( after a lot of gym sessions I presumed ) where she was obviously NOT pregnant!

Boring became a thing of my past...I remember my 2007 and will cherish that year to be the only one where I did almost NOTHING! well, actually I did improve on my culinary skills and got used to the everchanging climate here in Utah!

2008, right from the start became an interesting one ; for starters I am back to school! yep complete with a backpack ( waterbottle, tiffins inclusive and a coffee flask as the only upgrade )
while we are reminiscing the typical school days of 80's, 90's...let me tell you, I also have bus-pass provided by my University!

The last time I got to have a first day in school/college was way back in 98' so what do I have to say now that Im doing it all over again?
-------------"Im loving it"

TRUST ME, THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN MAKE YOU MORE HAPPY THAN....

1. LISTENING TO "KEH DOON TUMHE" (original or remixed) IN A UNIVERSITY LAB AMIDST UN-SUSPECTING LOCAL STUDENTS ( I obviously mean Goras & head phns on )
2. CHAIN MAILING YOUR BELOVED HUBBY IN AN EXTREMELY DRAGGY SEMINAR/LECTURE.
3. A NICE REFILL OF HOT COFFEE/CHOCOLATE FROM THE CAFETARIA ( refills are a buck cheaper ) BEFORE GETTING TO A MORNING CLASS! MOREOVER, EVERY 10TH ONE IS FREE!!!
Update;To hell with the free coffee, the management removed that system with the free 10th one crap!
More to come soon on this list.......