Our 'Green' tree

Given the Pollution, De-forestation, attack of the plastic 'Christmas trees', a little bored me decided to do my little thing this season :-)

What do you think ?

The start of Globalization.....

So we owe it all to Raj Kapoor ?

Jootha - Japan
Pataloon - England
Lal Topi - Russia
Dil - India
And all this he managed in 1955.....

Ps : If nostalgic, click on the link above for the song we all know :-)

Who does this?

Imagine this scenario...I see my friend Nagaraj (Lovingly called Nagulu ) online after 3 years and excitedly try to chat:

Me: Hiii Nagulu....hengidiya?

He: Hi, I'm fine how are you?

Me: Eno madtidiya dabba? college mugeeta?

He: silent...
More silence, and then some more....

Me: Is this Nagraj?

He: yes

Me: My colleague from OSSA, B'lore?

He: No Shilpa, I am Sudhi's (my BIL) cousin.... Raja, remember?

Me: Awkward!!!!!!and apologetic for a zillion times then give quick regards to his wife and kid, say bye!

Why do these things happen to me? I called my sis and she laughs and says the same thing,
"Why does it happen always with you??"
Well, I don't even remember him on my chat list!!so I am not to blame :-(

Kudos Chile

No words to describe the commendable efforts of each and everyone involved in this whole rescue operation!
And also to the courage of those 33 trapped and their families,
Its all a beautiful lesson to be learnt for sceptics like me. I've as far as I can remember, been so impatient, prejudicial of all good things that can happen.

We can all wait just a little while, enjoy our life as it is and move on savoring every single moment, only hoping for things to turn out right, its all in making it right.

Such a beautiful day today :-)

An ode to B'wood

Have you ever observed there are 2 types of people ( ok, ok I'll do it the right way AB )

"Is duniya mein do tarah ke log hote hai"

1. Ones who adore/love/drool/like/whatever  "Shah Rukh khan"(SRK)

2. Ones who  adore/love/drool/like/whatever "Amir Khan"(AK)

I know there are more khans, but to me "Liking" any of the above two  have very much described the type of person I am with!

I was an SRK person. As an awkward teen, I had his postcards (no posters, mom was never to know) 

And I have to say why!

Mom strongly believed that infatuation with stars brought trouble with everything. 

Apparently, she was a Rajesh Khanna person, and was distraught seeing young girls (her friends?) tattoo his name on their hands, commit suicide when he got married and the whole nine yards!! she believed I'd end up in some kind of trouble having SRK posters/magazines cut outs or anything with me for a very long time!

which was until I got caught.

Getting back to the topic, yes his super cute postcards were always in my backpack, admired by co SRK fans in high school. The same thing was parallel with AK fans (how dare they?) and they never understood why we liked SRK, we didn't even bother asking them anything further!

Something like this was happening in our room at home ( shared the room with sis until I moved to Hassan :-P)

She was an AK fan....oh yeah she was, and she loved blue while I was the pink maniac! such opposites under the same roof, so much tension in a 150 sft room??

Well if you ask me how you ever manage? Oh, life was hard...she broke my tooth, I almost cracked her skull, 

But you know what, we are ok now, sometimes we even manage to put the past behind and talk like grownups; Deepika Padukone vs Sonam Kapoor you know, the normal things!

 What kind are you readers??

Sin 4 - Pride

Started B.Arch, hosteled up, got my bank account, paid my fees etc faced success & Failures on my own, in other words, I almost became independent in 98'.

Started work, paid for my insurance, fuel bills, travels, clothes, gifts, saved some moolah in other words, became independent in 03'.

Married homemaker,  distant probability of 2 years of school, Joint bank account with darling hubby (Internet banking sucks*) in 07'.

Maybe the first 2 experiences were so much about ME, I pretty much was depressed all through 07!
I blamed B for everything (Including super fun trips to Vegas, Moab, Portland??)
I promised (Crying hysterically) that I'd repay everything he was paying for, I made vague accounts how much I'd have to pay B back ( Furiously threatening )
I  took pride in hurting sweet B and letting him know blatantly that he was responsible for everything!

This weekend, he remembered everything and was only glad I didn't complaint anymore :-D 
He hopes I don't become the whiny monster again when this job's gone! 

My pride's sobered down, I have changed, really thank B for the wonderful life he's given me ....


* Internet banking = all details where I swipe my card, meaning no surprise gifts :-(

Apparently....'Marias' is the Mexican/South American version of our very own 'Marie biscuits' :-0
But with the Indian store a few blocks away stocked up on all the Indian 'cookies', did I really have to feel this excited?
Ah the luxury of "Freedom of speech/thought/information?"

It's Ganesha's D-day :-)

Issues in general

I read blogs when I get bored of working from home :-)
I know there are many more things, productive things I can work on like wash the dishes or mop the floor or press the clothes in the basket (been there for umm.. 3 months now honey?) but no,
I decide to read random blogs and get inspired for a new fight with B.

I conjure up images of the similarity B has with either the blogger or the blogger's spouse, ONLY similarities that irk me mind it!

I read a blogger complaint about the 'Color identification syndrome' he suffers from, and voila I remember B calling our 'Oh SO green' towel blue!!
I say 'Peacock green' and he says, no it maybe Peacock but 'Peacock Blue'
Oh I know I can let the reader decide the right color it is, but I know I'm right ;-)

Well, I cannot for obvious reasons find the same fault with Moi, I am pretty perfect in my own eyes...sounds familiar?

I do get complimented by B himself that ever since we got married, his wardrobe has a 'Summer', 'Winter' & 'Fall/Spring' collection that is notable!
Also according to him, his tastes have improved and he understands the importance of a 'Sale' or an 'Outlet mall'

I try people, but every once in a while, we have a 'Floral Hawaiian' or a '10 reasons why Beer is better than a woman' find its way into our wardrobes.

I really wouldn't mind it if he wears them with pride, but no.... excuses include 'We will go to Hawaii (1st class) and I'll wear it' or 'My friend's Bachelors party'

What friend? all of them are married, most of them have kids!!

Hawaii??we might as well fly to India with that budget!

I now strongly believe that it is these little things that make us the couple we are,
Now, what that is, I really haven't figured!

I love you B, and the fact that you'll read this and leave no comment...
lets say, Ive made my peace with it :-)

No more Coffee parties :-(

Just got diagnosed with 'Peptic ulcers', very painful I tell ya!
So, the minute I think (not drink) of coffee or tea, my intestines cringe, burn and I almost puke!
Well, maybe a blessing in disguise?
sigh, no fun at all!
The worst part is I always dreamt of working seriously with cups and cups of coffee, and yes I do have a job offer in hand (yeaaah) and will start the minute my OPT kicks in (anytime now USCIS, patiently waiting here)but w/o my coffee
I will be drinking cold soy milk instead, with horlicks most probably :-(

My visits to the doc have increased drastically, drishti agide mostly :-)

Sin 3 - Despair

While on a shopping spree, I spotted this colorful small flowered (small flowers=slimming) summer frock and fell in love with it, bought one for me immediately w/o thinking twice (the fact that it was on sale at around 5$ was the key)
I know that the label 'Miley Cyrus' should have been a clue, somehow I overlooked everything after the price tag and was like a happy pup the whole ride home.

Like any good girl, the first thing I did when I got back home was try it on...but the dress was just wrong! no it fit me very well people, it just wasn't right, why?

The label read 'Miley Cyrus' remember? it is meant for teeny hoppers(B calls them so), people between 11-15, maybe 16! *&$#% and I am almost @$^&)*%

Oh God, this post is useless w/o a picture...so I go ahead embarrassing myself in public yet again..... It is a disease I tell you!

I wear it at home, praying no one knocks on the door, get laughed at by B, sis and mom on Skype, hate that I have to remove the entire dress to pee and yet....here I am still wearing it!

what is this but despair?

Raavan Raavan!

Why Maniratnam, why???
well, the last few segments were kind of....heh not bad!

Sin 2 - Extravagance

B & I were on a stroll this Saturday, the "stroll" was in a plaza, which conveniently hosts a shopping arcade :-0

Among the various shops, was a "Victoria's secret"
I usually have a walk through this one and pick nothing until.....that evening, tried one on and man are they comfortable!

Sometimes for a girl, a little indulgence is OK and hey, men do benefit from this ;-)

Extravagance : YES

TMI : Most definitely :-)

Sin 1 - Gluttony

Did I mention, there is a desi in the apt above ours? I hear the whistle of steaming idlis...
Time to go visit her :-)

I am laughing way too much even as I write this one!
I met up with my very good friend Stephanie, who's from Brazil for coffee last week. Her hubby Jorge was in B'lore for about 3 weeks last months (Oh yes he LOVED it there :-))

Anyway, Steph tried to call his hotel some night and while getting pass the reception, there were glitches which she owes to her Portuguese accent (Its so beautiful though)

Smart that she is, she translated something like "can you connect me to room ####" to Hindi and ....
(I'm holding my stomach now) played it on her computer,
To the phone speaker
For the guy in the reception to understand!!!!!

Oh mother of all reasoning, she tried this about 3 times, and finally decided to try her English again :-) and yes she did make it through somehow :-)

I almost choked on whatever I was eating when she said this...and to make matters funnier, I translated this and decided to blog this one.

Another little quirk

Prime numbers are my favorite, so you should be able to understand that I favor odd numbers to even. '2' is the exclusion, it being the only even prime and all!
So everytime I am asked to pick a number or asked to pick a slot for my jury or anything to do with numbers, I always, always ask for a prime number.
No, I have never been a nerd, never a geek but this has caught on somehow!
My favorite numbers are 3, 7 and 13. I also like 2 and 9. When asked to present for a crowd, I like to go 3rd usually :-)
So, what is your favorite number?

Me and my Dentist!

I finally visited my dentist today,"My dentist" ante, my foot! this was my first visit to this clinic I picked as it was about 25 minutes by walk, and Megha, my friend 2 floors above us recommended them, and also, we constantly receive their brochures by mail even when we do not request any!
This was definitely my 2nd choice....my first one being a "Dental Spa" or something like that. The reviews they get are awesome, I believe they give you a paraffin wax hand massage/manicure the first time you visit, also make a caffeine beverage of your choice (yes any latte you ask for) as you leave!.
Why I didn't pick the spa thing? it all sounded way too fishy, as if they make you feel this good while they milk your money?
Anyway, I made an appointment with this other dentist, kept up with them and got the verdict......(drum roll please)

a. 5 cavities ( 2 filled today)
b. 1 RC (Root canal treatment for the healthy teeth freaks who do not frequent the dentist)
c. A stupid 'Crown' or what we call a cap in India to top that RC!

well, with what the billing people at this dentist's office call "Awesome Insurance"
I will end up paying 900 to a whooping 1000 &%$#@)^ dollars!!!!!!! please don't hate me B, please and others reading, please pray I get a job soon (I would love to treat B for all this right)

I now take this very special opportunity to thank my beautiful Mom, handsome Dad, Grandmas, Grandpas, uncles, aunties and any other wonderful soul who has passed on this amazing gene of having pathetic oral health!

Ps: No, I am not to blame just because I brush at least twice a day, rinse twice a day and brush again after coffee/tea/sugar I consume....Period, I am NOT to blame.

Home science :-)

As I clean my charming little apartment for a 7 month old and his family coming tomorrow, I see in my cupboards loads of leftovers from a 3 year old's visit :-( (the sad face coz I miss my Lolsamma) there are chocolate covered gummy bears, strawberry jam, goldfish and I have no clue what to do with it all!
If you are wondering why I cant finish chocolates or jam, my teeth have pathetic cavities and with my dentist appointment on the 7th, I don't want to take a risk with anything sugary and gold fish gets boring after a cup.
With school done, I'll get to invite more people over and this means regular cleaning, dusting and related activities.
Full time school meant we had very few guests aka
1. Classmates for group projects ; coffee/tea with cookies
2. Close friends ; close enough to not clean up thoroughly or even ask to bring snacks on their way as we only had frozen meals or Parle G at home.
It feels like a new start, this social game of having people over, cooking for large groups.
I love the fact that my fridge is always stuffed, my pantry has everything and my house is always ready for surprise visits. So come on people, pour in and make "Mi casa su casa"

Graduated :-)

Yes I am the new graduate in town :-) had my sister, BIL and Niece over to celebrate and did we have fun or what?
Destinations in 2 weeks; Vegasssss, loads of malls, Park City, Bear Lake and the famous Salt Flats.
The time we had driving, fighting (Inevitable btw sisters), hogging (unmentionable pounds) and goofing around with the little one....sigh, totally precious.
With B at work, I now end up avoiding our living room, our beautiful sunny patio just because they remind me of the last 2 weeks of fun. I do miss them all terribly but now wonder why we do this to ourselves, move away from the most important things in life like family and friends?
I still call Bangalore my home, speak in any Indian dialect I manage at the drop of a hat, fell super satisfied after a hot Indian meal and miss my friends and family at home like CRAZY!!
I also like the fresh air here, the beautiful valley I live in, to bike w/o being run over, the school I got my Master's from, new friends I've made and the cozy apartment B and I live in.
I cannot, atleast at this point decide what I want for the future, all I know is we have to find a way to feel contented wherever we are.
As for my niece, I get to spend a couple more days with her this weekend before she crosses oceans, if I take a 4 hour, very expensive flight (courtesy B)
.....will I do it?

Oh yes I will, cant wait to hear her yell "Shillu" :-D

Rantings of a bored girl

I always assumed that B was not the type to go gadget crazy, not bug me around like my dad, trying out stuff or goofing around with fancy new products etc. I do like gadgets, very selectively...like a nice camera lens or a nice apple product, well coming to the topic of discussion,
B was driving this new car from his work (he is into automobile safety stuff) which was quite well loaded. This car I believe had blue tooth connectivity that helped drivers connect the phone automatically to the speakers. I realize this has been there for quite a while in the market now, but we haven't really tried this before.

Anyway, with this feature, B has been driving me crazy by calling me incessantly, trying to call me from the steering wheel, then with his voice command then again with the dash board...sigh, he then asked me to call him several times to try pretty much the same things! Later he found some other feature and unable to figure out how to work that one, he had to call me a couple more times to see if it worked.

The reason why I sound like I am frustrated is he was doing all of this while he was parked! The car doesn't allow him to play around while driving and so his highness had to be parked....in office.....for over 30 minutes on a day he thought he would come home early!

Its summer time here, and I will be having lots of fun in the sun!
Now that school's done,(whoa...wait a minute,the above said rhyme)
I have my Masters, and no job (yet) but a loving hubby and a sister who'll visit...it all screams FUN!

My new neighbour's a desi(Punjabi) and hoping she doesn't get to read this blog, I wish I get a cuppa chole the next time she makes some, for that matter, any yummy dish Punjabi's make would be well appreciated.
And in exchange, I'll promptly share some upma/idlis (yeah Balu cough away, but I will soon make idlis at home). So, now it gives me a total of 3 Indians living very close and yeah, time for chai parties :-)

Well, I did invite the new one home for tea today and there is not a drop of milk at home...I just finished the last drop for my morning coffee and now hate to get dressed to go the the grocer to buy some.
The only way to skip away from this engagement is to go to school to finish my last assignment! ha ha but have to get ready for that too...so here's my evil plan, I'll take the old neighbour to the new one's house, and with that, I don't have to really get ready and get my afternoon tea too :-)

This really happens in my head, I really am this mean and sometimes wonder if anyone else thinks anything as mean as this?

What is it with the train of thoughts, the way one stupid thing leads to about 30 minutes of rubbish in my head?
I see someone wearing SUNGLASSES and I go from
'Oh I need to buy new ones' to 'Maybe I buy it online' to 'Amazon is pretty good' to 'Oh the name Amazon comes from the biggest river Amazon, no wonder' to 'God you took so long to figure it out?' to 'am I that dumb?' to 'Should take an IQ test' to 'What if others see and realize your dumbness?' to 'he he I said dumbness, reminds me of Highness' to ' Your Highness, how do you do?' to (in an English accent)' I am fine, thank you Mademoiselle' to 'Oooooooh I should learn French' to ....I guess you get an idea
This is just a glimpse...
I later waste a whole lot of time trying to figure out what I was thinking about in the first place!!!!!!!!!!

This behaviour of mine is tolerable as long as I am traveling or sitting in a boooooooooring class or watching a game with B but, Heaven forbid it happens again,
it strikes even during exammmmsss....oh yes it does!

I remember, songs from 'Rangeela' were running in my head during my board exams(10th) or a single (don't remember what) sentence kept repeating in many other exams.

When I try to meditate (hoping to get better concentration) I try to blank out my thoughts but my head keeps yelling 'blank, blank, blank, blank, blank'

I have finally given up trying to change, I take this quirk of mine as something cute and live with it, it has to be common,
I hope the comments read, 'Oh don't worry I do it all the time with me'

PS: I hate the fact that my dramatization of words by adding extra m's for the word 'Exam' is considered a spelling error pffft!

Books that scream 'Blah'

Reading fiction is an amazing stress reliever. It is important for me to know for a fact that the author I read has taken enough or a lot of his/her precious time to create a masterpiece that is worthy of being read by thousands or millions of readers.
Come to think of it, a novel takes anytime between 4 hours to say 2 weeks to finish. That is a lot of time when you consider all the people reading!

So, my point now is how, simply How on earth can someone like James Patterson come up with so many novels, in a single year ?? This very thought deters me from reading any of his books.
I usually like to own the book I read and hence, the monetary value has to mean something.
I'd never pay good money to buy an author's work when he/she has taken no consideration for the quality of writing or more importantly, the reader's precious time.

I mean no offense to his ardent fans (if any) and these views are rightfully mine to publish.

I was on a class tour to CA last week and got to befriend quite a few nice people, who thankfully will be my classmates. As you know, to become a good friend, you need to get a little personal, talk about family, origins and as for us desis, have to answer a few curious questions too...you know the drill!

Anyway, during one such dinner talk, I was asked how I met Bala. For a moment, I was tempted to lie like many I have seen do;

'Oh, we met at a party' or 'It was love at first sight at a friend's wedding' etc...

Instead, I braved the consequences and the need to explain something unexplainable and said....we had an 'Arranged marriage'

Suddenly.....
'Boom,pow, stars, eyebrows, Oh's, wow's and many other hard to perceive expressions'

I decided to cool the scene, bring down the air and said it was more like a dating service that paired us ( hard to say that B's dad was a colleague of my dad's brother or we found him on 'The Hindu' where unsuspecting B's parents put his name up....lol)

It was only when I said that we spoke for 6 months, met personally, decided patiently & carefully agreed upon each other
that they realized the arrangement wasn't all that 'Arranged' after all!

I swear I heard heaves of relief when I answered 'yes' to their final question
"So you could have said 'NO'"

I went on to make my stand clear by proclaiming 'I did say 'NO' to a couple of guys I so called dated for a couple of months' and vice versa....

Man was I uncomfortable the whole time!
But then, I at least feel true to the beautiful bond I share with B and more importantly, don't have to worry about stories that do not match!

My haunted tales!

Very so often, out water closet decides to flush by itself.
Sometimes its the minute I open the locks and get inside and sometimes its midnight, waking a very disturbed me up!
We already have a noisy water heater that clangs its way routinely anyway but now its as if the W.closet is a new addition and the heater wants to hit on the WC, they sometimes clang and flush together!
Not that I believe in ghosts (shit scared of horror movies which I watch very religiously)but there is fun in talking about a hypothetically haunted bathroom!!!

While in hostel, we architecture students who were always spread over a large table/drawing board had trouble finding our eraser that just a few seconds back was in plain sight.
After a minimum of 10 minutes search for that, maybe after borrowing our neighbour's eraser, we would come back to find that dammed eraser right under our noses!
This happened primarily to erasers and sometimes to other stationary. We did come up with a theory that we had invisible ghosts/pixies (hopefully friendly) lurking around that loved teasing us and hid our stuff momentarily!
Oh those tales, wise old tales...but come to think of it, I am not ready for any other explanation that can solve the little mystery of escaping erasers :-)

And the best part about the search was that it gave relief from work, gave me an excuse to run to Peelu's room which was conveniently and intentionally right beside mine, have a little gossip, suddenly remember I was there for a reason, run back to mine, find my eraser and run back to return hers!!!!!
lol....miss those frivolous days :-)

Happy New Year

Welcome 2010 with a wide smile, loads of good wishes and the aspiration for a world filled with love, peace & harmony.