Dinner Tag

Have been tagged my Jaguu. I have to list 6 people who I would like to take out for dinner and why.

• Malika - She can order wine for all of us. And I have this slight discoloration on my wrist and I would like her to take a look at that for me.
• ROS - She is my blog friend turned friend. I would love to meet and actually I would love to cook Aviyal for her.
• Sayesha - She is just a fun person to be around. Plus she can hang around the cold weather here.
• Silverine - She has such great sense of humor and I feel everyone at the table will love her company
• Virdi - Just because if I don't invite him, he will be calling Sayesha and ROS every 10-15 minutes. So how is it going? What are u girls taking about? Plus he can increase his Girl Gyan.
• Vikram - So that our poor Virdi will have company.

PS: Jaguu, since I already met you for dinner at Rumbling, I'm not inviting you here.

People I would like to tag
ROS
Virdi
Vikram

A Journey to Remember

I'm a very careful person, unless I'm with someone older than me. If I'm traveling with Shekar, parents or Veena (Didi) I tend not to pay attention to anything. One such trip was my India trip few years ago where Veena and I traveled together. Veena being the older was in charge of everything and all I did was tag along.

We had our all trip planned out. First visit family/friends in Trivandrum, stay there for 2 days and then take train to Tamil Nadu. So we come to Trivandrum, check all our bag (other than the ones we need for our Trivandrum stay) into the clock room (its a place in train stations where luggage gets stored) and go one our merry way to visit folks in Trivandrum.

After our stay in Trivandrum, we were ready to go board the train and go to Tamil Nadu. So we come and board the Island Express all happy as this was the first time our parents let us come to India alone. Veena and I are sitting in the train, I get the window seat and we brag about how responsible we are and all. The train leaves the station and that is when Veena says "Our luggage is still in the Clock room." We both panic (I panic more – me being younger and all), Veena goes, "O K you go get the TT and I'll pull the chain to stop the train." I run around the compartment looking for the TT (I saw him pass by earlier, so I know he is somewhere around us).

I find him and I tell him what is going on. He comes over, and my sister is still pulling the chain. TT goes, "Chain doesn't stop the train, as people keep pulling it so we have applied brakes to the chain." Veena and I stare at him with open mouths. He tells us that there is another crossing coming up in the next station (For those who are similar with Trivandrum, it was Kochu Velli station), and the train is stopping you can get out there.

The train comes to a halt and Veena and I get out and we make sure we take all our luggage with us. Take an auto rickshaw back to the station we boarded the train from (Thambanoor).

We get there, get our luggage and then take the next train (K K Express) to Tamil Nadu. It is during our wait for this train we met Rajat.

Over the Christmas weekend Veena and I met and we were talking about all the things we had done when we were younger and this incident brought smile to our face.

A - Z

Tagged by ROS

A- Age you got your first kiss:
Have got a lot of pecks on the cheek. First kiss - too private of a moment for a web blog.

B - Band listening to right now:
Nada

C - Crush:
1 - back when I was in 11th grade.

D- Drink of Choice:
No particular drink, Huge water drinker though

E - Easiest person [people]
My didi

F - Favorite band at the moment:
Don't have a favorite

G - Gummy worms or gummy bears?
Bears...

H – Holiday:
Spent a summer in Europe mainly Spain.

I - Instruments:
Can't play anything, but love guitar and drums. And Violin too..

J - Juice:
Like Mango juice, but drink more of the Vegetable juice v8. It doesn't taste all that great, but a good substitution when I skip a meal.

K-Kids:
Love them as long as I can return them to their parents when they are crying.

L - Longest car ride ever:
Took a week long road trip with friends. Covered 2200 miles in 4 days or may be 5.


M - Major:
Comp Sci

N - Nicknames:
Podi means little one in Malayalam. My parents still call me this, they are the only ones who call me this.

O - One wish:
All my family to have a long sickness free life.

P - Phobia[s]:
Cats

Q - Quote:
"All generalizations are false, including this one." Mark Twain

R - Reason to smile:
Having people to love you not regardless of all my flaws, but people who love me for my flaws.

S - Song you sang last:
kannukku mai azhagu
kavidhaikku poi azhagu Beautiful tamil song. Google it and read the translation, it is a very beautiful song.

T - Time you woke up [today]:
6:30 AM after like 10 snoozes finally woke up at 7.40

U - Unknown fact about me:
I can never climb/get down the stairs with out actually looking down at them.

V - Vegetable you hate:
Broccoli

X-rays you've had:
Dental were the recent ones

Y - Yummy food:
Love Dosa and Sambar.

Z - Zodiac sign:
Taurus.

PS: Folks, I'll be out of town for few days and will be back on Dec 27th.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I know this guy

There are lot of perks about being married, but my favorite one is I do not have people (more like people I hardly know) coming to me and telling about this great guy that would be a good match to me.

I was 20 and an uncle (anyone older than me that I can not address by name), comes over and tells me about a guy.
Uncle: There is a Doctor in my family and we are looking for a girl for him.
me: (shocked this was my first proposal, I'm 20 for crying out loud) I don't wanna get married yet.
Uncle: That is the good thing, by the time it takes him to get to this country, you will be all ready
me: Then I'll marry him when he gets here.
uncle (smiles and walks away).

Never again has he approached me with any guy.

I was 22, there was this guy Binu who used to work with me and then he moved to Boston. One day he calls me from Boston.
Binu: How are you?
Me: (All surprised, its been six months after he left and now he calls me out of the blue): Good, what a nice surprise. It must be so cold in Boston (We were not that great of friends so I didn't know what else to say).
Binu: One of my colleagues, Shiju, is a nice Malayali guy and he is looking to get married.
Me: (Rolling my eyes..not again)This is so strange, I know a guy named Shiju too, who is looking to get married. I think they should meet.
Binu: Oh Come on..
Me: Hey I don't really wanna get married now.
Binu: At least talk to him and you might change your mind.
Me: That's ok Binu I really do not want to. ( I was 2 years older from the previous incident, so was more mature and hence the courteous reply)

Never has Binu called me after that, and what a relief.

I don't know when people see a single girl working, why they think "Oh, she is ready to get married and I know the perfect guy for her". What used to annoy me the most was that my parents never said anything about "we met this guy the other day", then why others.

So these days when I go anywhere, I flaunt my wedding band and Minnu and my beloved Shekar and no one comes to me with "I know this guy...."

I already have my guy and he is the BEST.

It's OK to talk to strangers

It was one evening when Didi received an email from a Rajat Thomas, who was currently working in LA. It was some random guy who got her email id from somewhere and emailed her. The courteous person that she is, she responded and they became email friends. They used to email like once a week and he emailed her a link to his personal website where she saw a picture of him. Like most sisters we shared everything so I knew who Rajat was, what he looked like and all.

2 years go by

Didi and I take a trip to India. We are standing in a train station to board a train to go to Tamil Nadu. Didi says "Don't look now, but the guy over there looks like Rajat". After few seconds I casually turn and look and I confirm that hunch. So I tell Didi, lets go ask if he is Rajat. Didi gives me the stare like I am crazy.

Between Didi and me I was the gutsy one, so I try to rationalize it for her.
Me: Let me go ask.
Didi: You are crazy, shut up. I knew I shouldn't have told you.
Me: What do we have to loose, if it's not him I'll tell I'm sorry.
Didi: I will not let you talk to random guys in train stations

While she is saying these words I walk over to that guy. Didi turns around acting like she is not related to me.

Me to Guy: Excuse me
Guy (looking all shocked):Yes
Me: Are u Rajat Thomas.
Guy (jaw drops, eyes pop out, he stands up): Yes and you are?

I beckon my sister to come over, she comes over.
Me (to Guy): This is my sister Veena who emails you.
Didi: Hi I'm Veena
Guy: Oh my god, I can't believe it.
…….. (they both start talking like long lost friends)

We ended up taking the same train and traveled half way together.

It is such a small world. When 2 people who meet here in US to be in India at the same train station at the same time I believe it is more than a coincidence.

Exams

I am not usually big into posting forwards on this blog.

This was an exception. It is just too funny not to share.

Have any of you done something similar on an exam?

Traffic Violations Anonymous

Hello I'm Thanu and I am a Traffic Violation addict. Well at least that is how it seems. Driving for almost 10 years I have accumulated almost 7 traffic violations.

1. Like how it is said the first kiss is the most memorable, same way the first violation is very memorable. I was going to college and was driving at 38 MPH in a 25MPH zone. Above that it was a school zone, so speeding is condemned. Got a ticket for speeding $70.00
2. I was stopped at a traffic light, light turned green and I took my car, only thing was the lady in front of me was still stopped. So I hit her car. Got a ticket for following too close $90.00.
3. One evening (April ard 7 PM), driving and a cop pulled me over. This time I didn't even know why he was pulling me over. Then he came over and told me that I was driving without headlights. And my response was "Its not dark yet." Got a ticket for driving without headlights $30.00.
4. I was coming back from work (used to work 3pm-11pm) around 11.30 at night, light turned yellow and I sped by. Got pulled over for running RED light. (The cop wouldn’t believe me that it was yellow). Then I couldn't find insurance card in the glove compartment. Got two tickets running a red light, no proof of insurance. I went to the court and showed that I did have insurance during that period , just couldn’t find the card. Fine $70.00.
5. Coming back from work one Sunday afternoon, switched lanes without signaling. Lo and behold another ticket, Improper Lane Changing - $60.00
   

That is when I decided to reform and drive very carefully and obey all rules. Plus had turned like 20 and I was becoming more mature. Four years went by and I was traffic ticket sober for all that while. Until one day:

• Few months ago, it was my last day at my previous job, and I was going to work. My car was already moved to west coast, so I was driving my dad’s car and got pulled over for speeding. This was my most expensive ticket. Speeding $200 +

Last few months I’ve been pretty good, but then again I rarely drive other than total on 10 miles to and fro to work. May be this is the reason Shekar drives me around, he is just scared to let me go by myself or to be in the passenger seat while I’m driving.

PS: This post is inspired by Parth and hopefully after reading this parth, you are feeling a lot better.

Running Low

I am one of those people whose car always has gas (petrol - I dunno why they call it gas here). When ever my fuel gauge shows quarter tank, I pull into a gas station and fill her up. This has been my habit for the longest time I remember.

Then I got married.

One of privileges that come with marriage is Shekar takes complete care of my car. He fills her up, takes her to all her services and washes her - the whole deal. The only time I drive these days are to work. I am liking this luxury too.

Shekar is the more logical one between us. He doesn't get panicky when the gas tank is 1/4 full. He can drive around with peace of mind.

So the other day I had to go somewhere and I turned the car on and the warning light turned on. Warning light - it goes on when the gas is low, but for some reason I brain sees the warning light and goes "Oh Oh the empty light is ON".

(Notice the warning light by the E on the Left hand side. )

My car actually has a trip computer that tells me how many miles it will go, it said 27 miles or something. But, I do not trust these things, I know strange but true.

The place I had to go was hardly 10 miles but still I'm little nervous driving there. To add to all this plight it was raining. I hate driving in the rain. First thing I did was pull into a gas station and get out in the rain and fill the tank, that is when I realized, "I haven't filled gas in my car for the so long"

I love you Sally

We all have immense love to something materialistic. For some it is their purse, shoes, or computer or anything. For me it is my car Sally-I. All through out my childhood I have never been in love with anything like this before.

I was 17 when I got the keys to Sally. It was a brand new car, but not an expensive one. I used to call her my baby. I would wash her every week and take utmost care of her. Even a small scratch on her would hurt me like crazy.

Sally has seen through the high times and low times. She took me to jobs where I made minimum wage to my real job years later. She took me to college everyday. All together after 6 years of driving I put almost 100,000 miles on her and she still ran well. Not once was I stranded anywhere because Sally gave up.

Then one evening, we were driving and one lady was changing lanes and she rammed into my car. The whole passenger side was dented, both the doors and panels. The cost to fix the car was more than the value of the car, hence the car was declared salvaged (car will never be repaired, but the Insurance company will give us the value of the car and take the car). This sounds like a deal to most of the people but I was not ready to give Sally up.

Finally I had no choice and I ended up with a check and the insurance company had Sally. I used this check as a down payment towards my new car, so I think a piece of Sally is still with me.

I miss you Sally.

The day I Won

I have the worst luck when it comes to drawings. And by drawings I do not mean the one with pencil and paper but the one where a winner is selected out of pile of people. This has never stopped me from buying these tickets or entering any contests.

At my previous job our group (60 people) had a company meeting. In this meeting they bring all of us together and our CEO briefs us on what is going on and all. Usually they have a drawing and the winner gets $500. This time they did it a little different. They passed around envelopes to every one, and they said the winner will get the one with cash. One guys jumps up saying he got a 100 dollar bill. Then I open mine I see a 100 dollar bill and jump up saying (actually screaming)"I won I won". I was so excited because this was the first time in my life I had actually won something because of luck. So finally lady luck did smile at me. Then I look around and I see that everyone got a 100 dollar bill in his/her envelope. According to HR everyone was a winner this time.

I just stood their blushing, and waiting for lady luck to smile at me again.

I left this job 6 months after this incident and there wasn't a single day in those 6 months that someone didn't remind me of this incident.

High Five

Tagged by Div

Movies I like the Most

• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Score
• Ek Haseena Thi
• Jewel Thief
• Rush Hour (I & II)

Five things I can never live without

• Family
• Sally II - My Car
• Laptop
• Friends
• Rice
  

Five celebrity crush..

• Shashi Kapoor - I do not recall the movie name, but where Rakhi is playing as twins, Kanch and Kamini. Sashi Kapoor is an Army officer. That is when I started a liking towards uniforms too.
• Dev Ananad – In Jewel Thief and lot more.
• Jeff Goldblum – Right from Jurassic Park.
• Matt LeBlanc – Joey from Friends. How u doin'?
• Aamir Khan (only in QSQT)
  

Five things I miss now

• Parents, they are in another state
• College days
• Lack of Responsibility
• Mom's food
• Sally I - My first Car

Five things I plan to do in near future.

• Go back to college to do Masters
• Travel to Europe (Italy)
• Bungee Jumping
• Learn how to swim
• Go on a Mission trip

Last movie I borrowed to watch & still not given back.
Paycheck

Five books I love

• Any thing by Mary Higgins Clark (Have read all her books)
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• Sons of Fortune - Jeffery Archer
• The 11th Commandment - Jeffery Archer
• Sue Grafton Books (A is for Alibi ... till N is for Noose)

Five people I pass this HIGH FIVES to
- Like to end the tag here.

PS: Folks,

I'll be out of town till after Thanksgiving. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving.

Fy Phenomenon

Growing up in India, one definitely has the benefit of learning few languages. Average Indian at least knows 2-3 languages (just my observation). But it gets tricky when we speak, we combine these languages with one another.

We used to do Englishize everything in Tamil and Malayalam by suffixing "fy" to the end of the respective word. Here are few examples

Thukku - Means hang in Tamil.

You can Thukkufy the picture here - This is a complete English Sentence.

Oddu - Means run in Malayalam

I had to Oddufy to get the bus - This is also a complete English Sentence.

The past tense for "fy" is "fied". The usage is as follows for the past tense

Who Thukkufied the picture here? - Who hung the picture here?

I Oddufied all the way to school - I ran all the way to school.

Unlike "fy", "fied" is commonly used in Hindi too.

She was so rootified with him. - She was mad at him.

Are you all familiar with Fy Phenomenon or you guys are thinking that I just made this up?

PS: Thanks ROS for the email you sent asking what rootified meant.

First Paycheck

Tagged by Jaguu

I have been working since I was sixteen. I have held various kinds of job (this is another blog topic) and at all these jobs the first paycheck is always special.

I remember my first paycheck of my first job, my parents got a good percent and I gave some to church. Years went by got more jobs, but still the first paycheck always went to my parents and church. After college graduation I got my first real job. This time again, after parents and church I used some to get me a digital camera.

I got my first job after marriage recently and this time the first paycheck went to my parents, Shekar's parents and church. My dad was so surprised and happy that I sent him a part of my first paycheck. It not like he needed the money, it’s more like a token of love. No matter how many jobs I change, I hope I can keep this tradition on.

Will you love me, if I told you the truth?

Over the weekend Shekar and I were driving to one of our friend’s house. Songs from Aaiyutha Ezhuthu (Tamil version of Yuva) were playing over our sound system. Shekar doesn't understand Tamil, but he still listens to them. So most of the time I translate the songs for him. Not that he has ever asked, or cared or even remembers the meaning the next time we listen to the same song. I feel bad and that is why I translate the songs for him.

We were driving and having conversation that is when this song started playing

uNmai sonnaal naesippaaya
manjathin mael mannippaaya

Loosely translates to "If I tell you the truth, will you love me. Will you forgive me in bed?"

I just stop talking and uttered the above translation.

Shekar turns red; his eyes get big and they stare at me. All this while I'm shocked and surprised by his reaction. Then it hit me, he thought I was going to tell him some secret that I was hiding all this while. I told him with my most innocent smile "I was just translating the song".

He just burst out laughing when he heard that (he was relived...).

Falls are Funny

Yesterday I was at work, working my way. Whenever I sit comfortably I curl my leg on the chair and then sit on it. I do this all the time regardless of home and work. But yesterday when I got up, my leg fell asleep. When this happens I usually put my feet flat on the ground and I bend it at my ankle and I'm back to normal. Yesterday I was wearing 2 inch heels and when I bent my ankle I lost balance and THUD I feel on the floor.

All my colleagues came over to see if I was doing okay. I was just lying on the floor laughing. Finally I got up and they were all like what happened. Half of them giggling, the other half trying to suppress their giggles. I was laughing out loud. I told them my leg fell asleep. One guy from the corner asks "Huh what?, You fell asleep?"

Had to correct him, Izat ka saval hain, so I explained it to him again that my LEG fell asleep.

Above all while I was lying on the floor I was thinking, "Aah aah, I can blog about this"

Survival Kit

Most of the girls walk around with a purse, and guys with a wallet and it serves the same purpose. But we have a lot more stuff in our purse than in a guy’s wallet. When a guy can survive with a wallet why do we need a purse and all the things in that purse?

Most of the guys will have a wallet that has some cash, few credit cards, few receipts. But, in their pockets they also have cell phones (some wear it on their belt -- uggh), keys, Chap Stick and some more receipts.

But a girls’ purse is more like a survival kit. Here are all the things in my purse and the reason why I carry it.
Wallet - Mainly has cash, credit cards.
Hair Brush - I have long hair and as I leave it open, needs to be brushed frequently.
Lip gloss/chap stick - Lips get really dry here regardless of the season.
Powder-Cover girl powder.
Pocket tissue - Small pack of pocket tissue, just in case I get a runny nose or cry for some reason.
Dental Floss - Hate food getting stuck in my teeth after eating out.
Gum - A pack of Extra sugar free gum.
Lotion - Small tube of Nivea lotion. Hands get dry a lot.
Pen - Have like 2-3 pens and don't know why but I have a pencil too
Check book - I carry this all the time just in case I'm at a place that only takes check. These kinds of places are getting extinct these days.
Cell phone - Don't we all have this
Keys - Another thing that we all have
Medicine - I have Ibuprofen and Benadryl with me always just in case a headache or allergy hits me.

So a purse for us girls is a survival kit. If we get stranded anywhere we will have things to last us for a day.

Like most girls even I get teased about carrying my purse with all these things everywhere. But when Shekar sneezes turns over to me and ask do you have a tissue? And I gladly open my purse give him a tissue and ask “Is it the allergies I have Benadryl?”

Story tree...

Tagged by j'adore

A Journey Begins...

He thought it would be an ordinary journey. Standing behind the pillar he watched the train snort arrogantly into the station. With each snort he was reminded of his grandfather's words "You will fail in the city and return penniless"; with every heavenward whistle, he heard his cousin, "Don't worry. Come here and I will get you a job at the construction site." Now he had a 34-hour journey to prove one of them wrong, and he expected the excitement at the end of the journey. He looked at his ticket once again: compartment S9 berth 23.

He would preserve this ticket. When he would succeed, he would frame and hang it for all to see, as a reminder of the fact that greatness had humble origins, of the day when he set out to seize his destiny. His lips quivered with emotion as he carefully counted the money in his wallet, yet again. Four crisp hundreds and two crumpled fifties. At seventeen, it seemed like a fortune to him. He would carefully plan his expenses. He felt as energetic as the strong breeze that hit his face. He stumbled backward, as the wallet slipped from his hands.

Turag watched it fall, with the fingers of both his hands curled—one gripping the steel bar and the other gripping nothing but air. The wallet settled, the second time it touched the greased stones. It was diminishing in size and moving away from him like an open-mouthed balloon propelled by the gushing air. He knew, well enough, the events that would follow if he pulls the stop-chain. In fact it was a stop-chain that brought a wind of change in his life. Getting off from the thought-train that the stop-chain had evoked, he rushed towards it, with uncurled fingers."

Don't do that." said a voice from behind him. The command in the voice, more than his curiosity, made him stop and turn around. The first thing he noticed was her eyes which also held the finality her voice seemed to convey. He was still staring deep into the depths of her beautiful eyes when he realized that he had been stopped. He closed his eyes for a second, shook his head to clear out the image -as if wiping the slate clean- and reopened them."I drop my wallet.", he said.

Despite shaking his head, he couldn’t free himself from her gaze. She looked straight at him as if worried. He saw strength in her dark eyes, but he also saw sadness in their depths. Furthermore, the dark shadows under her eyes betrayed fatigue. Her face was classically beautiful, betraying little of her age. Guessing the lady’s sari alone cost several times the amount his wallet had contained, his childlike naiveté made him wonder why she seemed so troubled. He thought, ‘Here I am without a penny to my name, and more concerned about the woes of a stranger!’

It was always in his nature to help the needy so he couldn’t walk out from the sadness he saw in her eyes. He stretched forth his hand and said “I’m Hari”. She smiled and replied, Sheila. Hari was not ready to let go of Sheila, he wanted to help her, he wanted to wipe away the sadness and bring a smile back to her face. He stood there helpless, with out a penny to spare but a heart full of feelings. Feelings that even he had never felt before or even knew existed.

==============================================

(Everything below the dashed line above should be copied and pasted with every accepted tag)
This is a Story Tree and is best nurtured as follows:
1. A blogger can add only 90-100 words (not more or less) at a time.
2. All previous snippets of 90-100 words need to be copied before the new set of 90-100 words are appended.
3. Each entire snippet should be linked to the respective author (and not just the first sentence or so)
4. Characters, scenes, etc. can be introduced by an author
5. Bizarre twists, sci-fi, fantasy sequences are best avoided.
6. A tag must be accepted within 7 days else the branch is a dead branch
7. After appending 90-100, the Story Tree can be passed on to at most 3 bloggers.
8. If more than 1 branch leads to a blogger, s/he is free to choose any one of them but cannot mix the snippets of the individual branches.
9. The Story Tree is best left to grow than concluded
10. Please attach the image of the Story Tree below with each accepted tag (the link address can be copied and used).



Sorry guys, I hate to do this, but I tag Jaguu, Parthy and ROS

Talking ...

As a kid I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton books. I read all the books our local library had back then. One of my favorite characters was Amelia Jane. Amelia Jane was this doll that came to life after dark (or when so one was around - something to that effect). So I used to believe that when I went to sleep everything in my house would come to life, like table, chair, books and what not. So I started talking to these things like they had life. My parents found it amusing may be they never stopped me. This went on for a while.

As I grew older, I continued talking to inanimate objects. Since everyone started looking at me funny, I only talked to these things when I was alone.

Years went by and I forgot about this habit. I don't know if I stopped doing this or I just did it so often that it had become common to me. Yesterday, Shekar and I car pooled to work and when I got back I asked my car, "How are you today? I missed you." Shekar just stared at me, that is when I realized, I still talk to things.

Friend in a Stranger

Recently I read a post of ROS's blog about meeting a stranger. That is when I realized I have a very similar story. Thanks ROS for the inspiration.

It was the summer and I was coming back from my India. I had to get to college so I left India before my whole family did. Flying by itself is bad, flying for 20 hours is worse, but nothing defeats flying for 20 hours alone. So that is what I was in for. So I boarded Kuwait airlines from Cochin airport. The flight to Kuwait from Cochin was maybe 4 hours, so I had my Jeffery Archer book and I was all set. I was in the Aisle seat (I like aisle seat better, as it has more room) and the window seat next to me was empty.

That is when I saw a guy dressed in suit, by suit I just don't mean the regular blazer and dress pant, but vest and tie the whole nine yards. My first thought was why someone would want to fly dressed in a suit. My flying wardrobe is always jeans, full sleeves shirts, sneakers, and a light material jacket, just incase I feel cold - in other words something very comfortable. As luck would have it he sat right next to me.

Before the plane took off we started talking and I found that he was an MBA student and was going home (some where middle east) after completing his degree. We got talking and he said that when he was done packing that is when he saw his suit. He didn’t have enough room to pack his suit so he chose to wear it (Note to self: don't pass judgment on people at the second they pass by). That short flight we shared our life stories. In Kuwait I had 4 hours lay over to go to London and he had 6 hours. We spent the other 4 hours at the airport talking. We exchanged email ids and I left for London.

This happened 3 years ago and even now we email each others regularly and received an email form him today, hence this blog.

As someone has said, "There Are No Strangers Here, Only Friends Who Have Never Met".

Kal bi Aaj bi - Yesterday and even Today

Yesterday after I got out of work, I went to grocery store to buy some garlic to make Fish curry. When I got out of my car I realized I left my purse at work. Work was hardly a mile away, so I went back and got my purse. Then I finished my shopping and went home.

This morning I came to work and after like 30 mins I needed something from my purse. I looked for it and it was not on my desk. I figured I must have left it in the car. I walked over to my car and still no purse. Hopefully it is still at home. Strangely I had my cell phone and keys (these items are usually in my purse).

So today I'm penny less and driving around with out a license.

Sleeping Place

Last night I couldn't fall asleep right when I hit bed (may be all the self reflecting I did earlier - read my previous post). That is when I went to my sleeping place.

Sleeping Place - is a mental image of a place that I picture myself in. I used to do this since I was a little kid. My sleeping place is still the same as it was back then. My sleeping place doesn't have a name but for blog sake lets call it "Aven". Aven is a completely made up place and I have never been there physically. Aven has huge mountains, full of lush green trees and grass. I'm the only one in whole of Aven. There is a small house in the valley of the mountains. There is a tree in front of the house and I have a hammock tied on it. There are waterfalls near by. I have never seen them but I can hear them all the time from the house. Sometimes I lie in the hammock swinging, or under the tree reading a book, or inside the house painting thing I see around me. And most of the time I'm asleep after this.

Aven works like magic for me every single time. I used to think Aven was my little secret that only I am allowed to go to. Till the other day I was watching Friends and Monica is having a hard time sleeping, and Phoebe tells Monica about Phoebe's sleeping place and it sounded a lot like my Aven.

I was so shocked because I thought I was the only one that had a sleeping place. But now I see Phoebe has a sleeping place, that too very similar to Aven. Nevertheless, Aven is still my sleeping place and it can put me to sleep even to this day.

Am I weird or do you guys have your Aven?

20 Things about ME

Jaguu has tagged me to write 20 things about me. So here they go.

1. I can not sing, but am a huge bathroom singer and love songs.
2. I am a huge fan of Friends, seen each episode like million times, and still when I'm flipping through channels and I see Friends I watch the whole episode. I know everyone's lines. Can I BE more crazy (Chandler is my favorite) .
3. I make really good fish curry (don't we mallus all do).
4. I love learning languages. Can fluently speak Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and English. Can understand Telgu and Gujrathi.
5. I have been working since I was 16
6. I love cars – In future I wanna own a Corvette.
7. I make an extra effort to keep in touch with friends.
8. I’m a bull headed taurean.
9. I hate to shop - I know it is quiet shocking, but I can never spend time at a mall. I only go shopping when I need something. I go to the mall, get what I want, maximum 40 mins.
10. Used to be a tomboy (I used to defeat guys in arm wrestling back when I used to be in school). Shed my tomboyishness after I started working (I dunno why)
11. I don’t like the color pink and hate people associating girls with pink.
12. I’m very aggressive, goes back to No. 8.
13. I don’t have stage fright.
14. I can not play any musical instrument. I always wanted to play the guitar. (Jithu are you planning on selling yours)
15. The Shawshank Redemption is my favorite movie.
16. Have a very short temper – I’m working on this.
17. I’m a people pleaser.
18. I can’t stand when girls use their girliness (cry, flutter eyelashes, smile ...and not restricted to only these) to get things done.
19. I am very organized; my buddy list is organized as school, college, work, family in my Instant Messengers.
20. I can not be mad at anyone for a long while.

Phew.. I'm done. But was a nice way to spend my Sunday afternoon self-reflecting.

Yeh Kya Haal Bana Rakha Hain?

Yesterday evening I was watching TV and I saw Aishwarya Rai in L'Oreal ad. Even tough this as has been out for a while this was the first time I was seeing. This led me to think about the first ad I saw her, it was a Pepsi ad. This got me thinking about all the ads in India. Here are the few ads I remember from when I used to live there

Bororlin - They had this great ad that showed grandmother and grand daughter and played a nice a song, I just remember the ending "Borolin antiseptic cream, Borolin.

Bajaj - Aaj bi, kal bi, kal bi aaj bi. Inn yaadon ka safar ruke na kahin. Hamara Bajaj

Coldarin - Yeh kya haal bana rakha hain? kuch lete kyon nahin? Colderin li?

Dabur amala hair oil - Gane mulayam kale baal, kille kille mathvale baal, Dabur amala kesh thel……….. Cherra kitna kaaz lage

Eggs - Meri jaan meri jaan murgi ke aande, Meri jaan meri jaan murgi ke aande
Sunday ho ya Monday, roz kaaye murgi ke aande.

Glycodin - Naya nau din purana sau din, kaasi ke liye baz glycodin

Hajmola - A little boy is jumping over dirt and an old lady passes by. He gives her hajmola and she jumps with him. Hajmola Candy, jo bi kaaye dost ban jaaye

Hawkins - Hawkins ki seeti baji khushboo hi khusbu phaili mazedaar lazzatdaar khaana hai tayar aji khaana hai tayar... (Neena Gupta stars in this)

Lifebuoy - Tandurusti ki rakshaaa... karta hai Lifebuoy, Lifebuoy hai jahaan...... tandurusti hai wahaan..Lifebuoy

Milk - Doodh doodh doodh doodh, doodh hai wonderful, pi sakthe hain roz glass full.
Doodh mai dalo ice, doodh ban gaya very nice
Piyo daily once or twice, mil jaayega tasty surprise

Nirma - Nirma Nirma, Washing Powder Nirma, Doodh si safedi Nirma se aaye
rangeen kapda bhi khil-khil jaaye, Sabki Pasand Nirmaaaa,
Washing Powder Nirma, NIRMAAAAA!!!! ( a little girl twirls... then she becomes the image on the cover of the washing powder)

Pan Parag - Pan Parag, pan Masala, pan ka swad pan ka Masala, Pan parag. (Shami kappor used to be in this ad)

Pan Pasad -
Girl (angrily): Shaadi!! Aur tumse?? Hmph! Kabhi nahin!!
(eats pan pasand)
Narrator: Pan pasand ghazab ka swaad, ghazab ki mithaas!
Girl (sweetly): Shaadi, aur tumse? Kabhi naeee...

Santoor -
Guy:Excuse me, App kaun se college main padthe hon?
Lady: College aur main, heheh
Kid comes out running "Mommyy"

Vicks - Vicks ki goli lo kech kech door karo

Vicco - Vicco turmeric, nahin cosemetice, vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream.
Jadi buttiyon ko aapna kar, Vicco ne banaya vicco Paste (ting ting - music in background) Vicco powder

And my all time favorite.
This ad came out when the movie Jurassic Park was running.
BPL - Little kid is home and animated dinosaur comes, they make popcorn in microwave, watch TV, popcorn falls on the floor, they vacuum it with vacuum cleaner. All these products are BPL products. The main reason i liked the ad was because it showed all BPL products in one ad. Very creative.

PS: All these ads have been reproduced from memory (from 10 years ago) so they may be incorrect. Please feel free to correct them or even add new ones.

Innu Onam annu - Today is Onam

We live a good part of our life based on our memories that we have gathered in yester years. How old should a child be to remember things in his/her adulthood?

My first memory was when was 3 or 4 years old. I was in Kindergarten, and Didi was in 3rd or 4th grade. It was a Monday and I was wearing this white frock that had red strings to tie it over the shoulder. Dad had taken the day off and Didi was off from school. We went to different schools so I had no chutti. As never before dad came during lunch and asked my teacher and took me home. I still today remember standing in front of this scooter excited about getting out of school.

We got home and mom had Vayzha ella (bananna leaves) laid out on the table and lots of dishes. She said monne, Innu Onam annu and we all had a sumptuous Ona sadhya.

After 22 years now, when Onam comes, this memory is still fresh. Since then Onam is not just about Maveli coming, but to me it is about family. Being with loved ones, letting loved ones know you are there for each other.

After all these years, this Onam was the first time I was away from my parents but was with Shekar. I made the Ona sadhya this time and Shekar and I had our first Onam together and that is when I realized that we do have great memories from our past, but we are just moments away from creating new great memories.

Leggo of Ego

There are few people in our lives who we know and can not stand them. May be because he/she talks too much, hard to get along with,has to comment on everything or something else. But we have all met these kind of people. Or we may be this kind of people to someone else.

One such guy I know is Aamir. I met him during my college years. He was one of my friend's (Priya's) friend. Priya and I used to hang out a lot together which meant I had to be around Aamir.

Then one day I lost my college ID card and to get it replaced it was 20 bucks. ID cards were quite important in our campus, swiped them to get in our parking deck, used them as Debit cards all around the campus and lots of other reasons.

So Priya tells me, Aamir works in the college ID card office, tell him, he will get you a new one for free. I usually do not prefer asking other people for favor, especially Aamir, someone who I dislike. So I went to the ID card office, made me a new card, paid my 20 bucks and promised myself that I will be very careful from now on.

Couple of days later I run into Aamir. He tells me "See what I found?" and hands me my old ID card. I asked him where he got it. He said one of his friends Ravi found it in the parking deck and since Ravi has seen Aamir talking to me, Ravi just gave it to Aamir to give it to me.

I said "Thank You" and I walked away with the thought, "My ego, I just couldn't ask Aamir for a favor. If I had asked him, I would be 20 bucks richer and still had my old ID active". But all said and done I like the picture in my new ID much better than the old ID, so that is a 20 dollar well spent.

Prints in my Heart - Conclusion

Bhavya - I strongly believe that friends we make in college last our lifetime. That is where I met Bhavya. We happened to take the same class a semester and then started studying together and became very good friends. Bhavya was 5 years older than me, as she was pursuing her second degree. So more than a friend she was like an older sister. After the first semester we met we would register for the same classes every time. While we were in school we would spend the whole day together. She introduced me to lot of things I have never done in my life. She was gujju, so she taught me garbha, took me to garbhas, made me realize that there are vegetarian dishes that tastes well, taught me gujurati (not that she taught me, but all gujjus speak gujurati regardless of who is around, so I picked up the language just to feel included in their conversations. Now I can understand gujurati quiet well). We used to pull all nighters together working on assignments, studying for exams. I survived college because of her. We did disagree and have our parts of arguments but we always patched things up. This was the first time I had an older friend, and it was great. I used to go her house all the time, knew her family pretty well. Our parents became real good friends. Now both of us have moved to different states, but my parents are still close to Bhavya's parents. Bhavya has a daughter year and a half old and I can not wait hold her. I haven't seen Bhavya since April, but every Saturday a 30 min conversation with her makes me feel she is right here.


These prints in my heart are going to stay for ever. Years go by, people go by but memories stay alive. These few lines from Yaadein are the best conclusion I can give to this series.

Duniya mein hum saare
Yaadon ke hai maare
Kuch kushiyaan, thode gham
Yeh humse, inse hum
Yaadein, o meethi meethi yaadein
.
.
Baatein bhool jaati hain
Yaadein yaad aati hain

Prints in my Hearts - II

Poornima - She was one of those girls that I used to love to hate. We were never friends more like rivals. All the girls in the class were divided into two groups; they were either friends of Thanu or friends of Poorni. This started when I was in 6th grade (so I was around 11 years old) and continued on till I left that school. We would compete against each other for everything. I remember this incident where we had to color the map of Africa and my main reason to do that real well was because I wanted to be better than Poorni. (sounds silly now, but that was my main drive in school years). She was mainly book smart, so I took part in all kinds of competition speech, skit, sports to be just better than Poorni. She always got better grades than me, but I comforted my self saying, that all she does, but I do so much more like sports and extra curricular stuff. Now that I look back at all these sounds so silly, but I guess if it wasn't for Poorni I would just be a book smart kid. Thanks to her even now when I am amidst a huge crowd I don't feel intimidated. I can MC a whole show for 3 hours in front of 500+ plus people and not get a ounce of stage fright. I guess what I am trying to say here is THANKS Poorni for making me aim higher and reach those goals. If it wasn't for her I would have turned out very different.

Sushil - After 9th grade I moved to a new school. Sushil was the first person to talk to me in that school. So he was always special to me. Whole of 9th grade and 10th grade we were friends. In 11th grade we became very close friends. We would talk about anything and everything. He would come to me with girl troubles and I used to help him resolve these. Then again, I switched schools but we kept in touch. He is working somewhere is Banglore these days. All my India trips, we make a point to meet up with each others and share our stories. Recently I told him that he was the first person to talk to me in our school and that is why he was so special to me and that is when he knew about it. We do something simple and for the other person it means the world. Sushil - Thank you so much for being there when I need a friend the most.

To be Continued...

Prints in my Heart - I

We meet a lot of people in our life, but only a few holds special place in our heart. Years can go by, but still our memory of these special ones always stay alive. These are the people who left prints in my heart

Dheeraj - I must have met him in first grade but my earliest Memory of him was somewhere in 3rd grade. We were not great friends, but we were friends. He was great in academics and I guess he was the drive for me to do well in school. I admired him so much, I was 8 and all I wanted was to do better than Dheeraj in everything. It was such a healthy competition. But to my memory I never did better than Dheeraj, he was always class 1st and me 2nd. His dad got transferred and he moved to .. I don’t know where. I missed him a lot after he left. Then 2 years ago I got an email from him, and I was the happiest person on earth that day. We still email each others, both of us are 25 and we went different ways when we were 10 years old and after 15 years we both are fresh in each others memory. Just that thought makes me happy


Dhvani - First real close friend I had. I met her in 5th grade, I don't recall how we became friends, but we were very close. As we got older, we got closer. We would do sit together in class, have lunch together. Our Birthdays were 10 days apart and we felt that was such a special thing. When she was sick and missed school I would go over to her place and write my notes again for her and vice versa. Even to this day I have not shared that kind of friendship with anyone. She was a great dancer and I remember staying after school while she practiced so we could walk home together. I changed school after 9th grade (due to my dad's transfer), and I still remember how we hugged each others and wept. We shared letters back then, and now we share emails. Things so special happens once in your life time and I am so happy it happened to me with Dhvani.

To be Continued...

Why do we take so long?

Last weekend Shekar (my husband) and I were invited for a friend Seema's wedding, as I was getting ready for the Saturday evening wedding, Shekar was all ready and watching football on ESPN and waiting on me and that is when I realized, why do we girls take so long to get ready and why do guys fail to understand this.

So I decided to put this blog up to explain it to all guys "Why do we take so long?"
Here is why I take so long, most of the girls could probably agree to this.

1. One month before the event date (ED) I talk to mom/sister/friend about what I should wear for this day. Should I wear a saree or salwar or Lehanga/lacha - what ever the long skirt outfit is called? Once decided what kind of outfit I should wear(in my case saree as I love sarees), then choice is given to the above mentioned characters and mom says "wear the nice yellow saree, it looks very rich". Didi says "please don't wear yellow, you will look like egg's yolk, wear the maroon one". Friends says "Arre yaar, pink is so in these days, you should wear your pink one, but few months ago for Suman's baby shower you wore pink na, phir you wear maroon then". As always didis rule so I decide on maroon.
2. Week before the ED, I try on the blouse to make sure that it still fits, and drape the saree casually and parade it for by Shekar. He says "Its nice." Me all happy now
3. Day before the ED, wash my hair, blow dry it and straighten it (I have hair below shoulder length) so this take almost 60 – 90 minutes. Then I pick out a nail color that matches my saree and paint my nails. Iron my saree, have to be very careful as the saree has lot of bead work.
4. On ED, we have to leave home at 5.00 as we have an hour long to the wedding place. So I start getting ready around 3.30 (1.30 hrs sounds pretty good). I start with draping the saree - came out well in the first try. First thing I do is pull all my hair back in a clip so it doesn't interrupt the makeup process on my face. Put moisturizer, then foundation, then powder, curl my eyelashes, then eye shadow(I have to make sure the eye shadow is a shade of my saree's color), then eyeliner, then mascara. Apply tad bit of Vaseline on my lips and then lipstick (this also should be the shade of my saree's color). Face DONE. Next hair. I usually like to wear my hair down, and pull back little hair in a clip, so I brush my hair down and put a clip and now I'm 90% done.
5. Next is jewelry, have to pick something to go with the work of the saree. So pick a small necklace, few bangles. Finally footwear. This can make or break the whole outfit. So I carefully select a sandal that has a small gold flower in the corner. My favorite perfume and I am all DONE

The above was my timeline now a list of what Shekar did to get ready.

1. At 4.30 of the ED, comes over to me and ask "Do you think I should wear a suit or a dress shirt and pants?" For which I respond "Suit pehana". Next question "Blue, black, grey"? I say blue and he nods his head and walks away.
2. Shekar shaves, puts moisturizer on his face, gel in his hair, combs his hair, takes him a minute to decide what shirt to wear with the suit, wears the shirt, wears his suit(dry cleaned already, so doesn't have to iron). Then a pair of black shoes. Viola he is done and time is 4.50, 10 minutes to spare.

Now with both of us dressed Shekar pulls out the car and I get in and he looks at me and says "Why are you so decked up teri shaadi nahi ho rahi (you are not getting married), why didn't you wear the cream salwar you wore at mama's house for dinner". I roll my eye and bite my tongue so I do not burst out on him.

Blogger’s world is a singles world

Recently I have become an avid blog reader. Especially after Google launched blogsearch. I have noticed that most of the blogger’s are single. Don’t get me wrong there are few married ones, but majority are single.

Is it because married people do not have anything blog worthy happening to them, or they just want to share things/feelings/questions/.. to the significant other and not to rest of the world. Or is it that a majority of married people blog as single people to increase the hits to their site due to the universally accepted truth that married people are boring.

This leads to the next question – why do single people blog?

Is it because they are lonely and want to share their feeling with rest of the world? Or is it just a way to keep in touch with friends far away, to keep them posted about what is going on. Or is it just a way to make new friends or even find a life partner.

Just wondering

College or Work...

I recently had a conversation with my cousin, who had just graduated college. She was so excited about starting the working world. That is when I thought is Work all that exciting?

I graduated college 3 years ago and have been working since then. But has work been all that fun? Or is work expected to be fun? This led me to make a list.

Things I miss about college...

Vacations - Number of days I did not have to go (choose not to go) to college

Friends – Closeness with friends and meeting them for lunch/breakfast/late night dinners. Staying up with them till wee hours of the morning talking, watching movies.

Schedule – The flexible schedule, like having your first class after noon, or having classes just few days of the week.

Structure – I know what I am doing, where I am going when I am in college.

Food Joints – Favorite little food place that served the best food and was always open when you had a craving for them.

Don’t get be wrong. I also love working. I have been working since I was 16, but real jobs after I graduated. I love what I do, BUT it is not college.