I Wish I Wasn't a Kid Anymore

So as promised here is my part 2.

1. Corresponding to the point 1 below, I always used to have bruises. My elbows and knees we always scrapped. I have so many scars even today from all those falls. The reason I hated every time I fell and scrapped my skin I would go home bleeding. Before getting any sympathy from mom I would get yelled at, hten she would wash that wound in Dettol. I call still feel the burn all that feeling comes back when I see a bottle of Dettol.
2. Hand me downs: This was one thing I hated the most. Having a sister older, who kept her things very neat and clean meant it would be passed down to me. In the earlier days my parents thought it would be so adorable to see both their kids dressed alike, so they would get us the exact same dress. Later we were told this was done to avoid conflict. So which meant when we outgrew our dresses I would get Veena's which was not a bad it, but it ended up being the same dress I wore years ago. Now after so many years, Veena and I are the same size so when we visit each other's we raid each others closets and take what we like.
   
3. Competitiveness: I used to be so competitive back when I was a kid. I had to win in everything I took part, be it sports or giving speeches. It has worked to my advantage now that I think of it, but I wish I had taken it slow back then and enjoyed school days than overly cautious about making sure I was the best (or at least tried to be) in everything I did.
   
4. Sunday School: My parents took us to church every Sunday, which was okay. But what I disliked was going to Sunday School (Sunday school is classes held at church before or after the service where kids are taught about the religion). Going to classes, learning new songs were all fun, but we used to have exams and competition which I wasn't much of a fan of. The main reason was none of my non-Christian friends had to do this, so every Sunday I remember complaining to my mom so and so doesn’t' have Sunday school why should I. But these days when I got to church I feel so happy that my parents sent me to Sunday school.
5. Curfew: This was more of a teenager thing. I was supposed to be home before 10.00 PM no matter where I went. When I was in college all friends would hang out till late at night, but my parents would never let me. I have had so many arguments with them regarding this. Now when I come to think of it I would act the same way when my 17 year old would ask me about staying out late at night.
6. Unable to keep in touch - I had so many great friends back in 3rd grade, 6th grade and most of us moved around so we never kept in touch. 9th grade and 10th grade we started writing letters. I so wish when I was younger I had a way to keep in touch. I'm able to track most of them now on orkut, but still am looking for a dear friend from 3rd grade.
7. School Uniform: We did not have a fun uniform, navy blue skirts and white shirts. But what I hated about the uniform was that fact we had to wear read ribbons. My younger days I had short hair, so it wasn’t much of a deal, then my hair grew longer and I hated those pig tails I had to wear to school with red ribbons at the end. Who wears ribbons anyways?

I could come up with only seven…(this too I had to think for a week)

If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older - Tom Stoppard

This is a two part tag, tagged my Silverine.
Rules
Write 10 things you loved about your childhood
Write 10 things you hate about your childhood
Tag other people.

I put together a list of things I loved and I seemed long enough to be a post so the things I hated will be a post by itself.
Things I love about my childhood:

1. The amount I could play. Everyday after school I came home changed my uniform and played with Veena and other kids outside till our mom called us. No I get back from work and need a huge motivation to even go to the gym. It used to be catch, then skipping, then Badminton. How many of you remember help sister? Even school had designated periods to play.
2. Friends - It was so much easy to make friends and keep friends. Nothing I said upset his/her feeling. We would be do (Katti) for a while then palam (batti) soon. Its not that I don't have friends now, I do but one has to very cautious what one says as one gets older
3. Food - The amount of food I ate had no bounds. I was never an obese child but I ate a lot. Not having to worry about carbs and sugar was definitely better times, all I had to do was munch munch munch
4. Sneaking and Eating - This is something that Veena and I did regularly. We would sneak into the kitchen and steal food. It was not because mom never fed us, but it was mainly for the rush and thrill one feels. Things that we ate were Maltova, Thenga (coconut), sugar and not just limited to these. Above all was the joy when mom woud take the Thega and see bite marks on it and ask who it was, we would both together say it was a mouse.
5. Sibling - Veena was the best sister one could as for, we are still close, but we both have lives of our own now. As a kid she watched my back, she stood by my side even when she knew I was wrong. In private she would come and tell me what I did was wrong. She played with me everyday, even though I was 3 years younger than her, she would play all my games with me patiently. We still talk everyday but miss chechi a lot.
6. Energy - Not once I remember getting tired as a kid. I can not even recall complaining to my parents that my feet hurt as opposed these days something or the other is always hurting.
7. Festivals - Be it Christmas, Easter, Onam my parents always made sure it was celebrated. Dad always took days off for Onam (Christmas and Easter were holidays) every year and he would tell us the same story over and over again. For Vishu our neighbors would come and wake us up take us (with eyes closed of course) to their house to see Vishu Kani.
8. Ela Podi (rice packed in a banana leaf) - After summer vacations when we travelled back to Tamil Nadu in train mom would make this Ela podi. It had Choru (Rice), Chuttu areche samandi (Coconut chutney), Etheykke mezhukuperrati. We were told we can eat our podi when we get to Ernakulum as that was the mid point of our journery. It is still fresh in my memory how Veena and I used to bug my mother from Kottayam asking is it Ernakulum yet, how far is Ernakulum. I haven't eaten a Ela podi for so long.
9. Time - As a kid I was never busy. I had time for everything, study, play, read and eat. Now I hardly find time, did the days get shorter as I grew up? I don't study or play these days, still rarely find time to read a book.
10. Passion - I had loads and loads of hobbies as a kid, stamp collection, currency collection, sticker collection and I used to be so passionate about them. I used to trade them with friends. It was all showcased in a book or album. Thinking about it, I believe it is still in storage somewhere. Now I can not think of one thing that I’m so passionate about, I do have new hobbies now but not the passion I had back then.

Part 2 to continue soon

Tagged again..

Rules of this tag:

1. Name the person who tagged you.
2. 8 things about you.
3. Tag 6 people.

EU has tagged me, she rarely tags me so I had to get on it right away as opposed to my 1 month to do tags. In the beginning these kinds of things were easy. Now to find 8 things that no one (almost no one) knows about me is hard, so here it goes.

• This is one thing that will come as a surprise to all, I do not like to cook. I can do all the dishes in the world, fold all the clothes, iron all the clothes. If I did not have to eat I would never cook.
• I never gamble with money. I think there is no point in loosing hard earned 5 bucks at the slight prospect of getting 10 bucks.
• I hate to loose, be it anything. During school years I had to win in everything that I took part, so I worked very hard and most of the time I did win. This leads to the next point.
• I only bet when I know I'm 100% right. I almost never bet money, especially these days most of my bets are with Shekar and I bet chores these days.
• I'm very good at giving space. If I even get a slight hint, that the person needs to be left alone, I would not mind leaving them alone.
• I'm very good at keeping in touch, be it on phone, emails or personal visits.
• I can not sing to save my life, but that doesn't stop me I still sing.
• I love to pop bubble wraps.

6 people who I tag

• Archana - She reads everything I write.
• Deepthi - She is purani reader of my blog, but I have never tagged her.
• Jaguu - usi ka line, I do a tag and you don't, yeh kabi nahi ho sakta.
• Shilpa - Like to know more about you, that simple.
• ROS - If I don't she will jabardasti make me do it.
• Wolf - My first tag to him.
  

Amma Veshakunnu - Mom I'm hungry

Warning: This post has a lot of Malayalam in it.

Jaguu and Jiby tagged me this a while back to write about 10 Things I Miss Of Mom's Cooking. When I read his tag, I decided I'm gonna keep a list (me and my obsessions with lists) at work and home and when ever I think of a food I will it down. Today as I sit to compile these two lists together I have more than 20 dishes, so I'm going to put down 10 among those twenty.

• Achapam - Mom is the queen of snacks, she would randomly make snacks. Achapam is something she used to make often and she would make loads of it too. Now all her snack making schedule coincides with Veena or my visit. So dad asks us to visit more because he only gets to eat these when we girls go home.
• Adda - Adda is again very easy to make but requires bannana leaf that I have not managed to find it close to my place. Mom used to put little extra sugar in Veena's and mine and she would mark the banana leaf so we could spot ours.
• Appam - Doesn't matter Pal appam or Velyappam, mom used to make these so regularly on Saturday morning. She used to make mutton or potatoes stew to go with this.
• Beef - Don't get me started on mom's beef curry. I make beef curry too, it is no where close to what she makes. My beef curry's gravy is never enough to eat kappa, by pieces are usually bigger. Above all mine has an orange color and hers has a nice dark brown color.
• Chakka Kuru mezhukupurrati* (Jack Fruit seeds)- This is something that she used to make it when we were in Kerala, due to abundance of chakka kuru. It takes lots of effort as there are really small and to individually peel them is very time consuming. Veena, mom and I would sit around a heap of chakka kurru and peel. Veena and mine combined heap of peeled chakka kurru would be always less than moms.
• Kappa(Yucca/tapioca) - This is a favorite dish of everyone who has ever tasted it. It is not the fact that I don't know how to make kappa (yellow color, not the white one), but it never comes out the way mom makes. Sometimes it is over cooked and sometimes it is not even cooked well.
  
• Koorka mezhukupurrati* (I don’t know the translation for koorka, I googled it and saw some references to Chinese potatoes) - This is also very similar to the above, very time consuming to peel. This was my favorite; even to this day I can just eat this as a meal. Now here in US we get frozen, peeled koorkas that one can buy. So when mom hears that I'm going to visit she gets 2 packets and makes this. 1 packet for me and 1 for rest of the family.
• Parupu Vada - This is a snack, Uzhunnu vada is more famous and u get them in all eateries but only few offer parupu vada. It is little hard to make, because we have to get the right texture so that it stays together when it is dropped in oil. I made it last month and as I dropped it in oil and it disintegrated, I served them as mini and micro mini parupu vada.
• Puttu and Kadala - (Kalada – Chole) Puttu is very easy to make and back when I used to stay at home I used to make it under mom's guidance. These days breakfast has changed to cereals, waffles and bagels, as I do not have time in the morning to make elaborate dishes. Mom says to make it in the evening, for which I reply who wants to eat puttu for dinner. My Kadala curry is good to be eaten with roti and not puttu
• Upperi (Banana Chips – Should be called plantain chips) - This is a mixed effort from both my dad and mom. Dad is the one who slices all the plantain. When we were kids, the weekend before Onam dad and mom would be making upperi. Upperi has become a tradition (detailed post on it later) in our house now. Anytime when we visit or when my parents visit they bring upperi.
  

Other day I made some rasam and I told mom that it is not as good as hers for which she responded, "I have been cooking for more than 30 years and you for less than 2 years". She also added "when I started cooking my food never tasted as good as yours do now, so don't worry you will be just fine". She then says "Your cake and Ethyekka appam is so much better than mine."

* mezhukupurrati - The vegetable (in my case, both are starch and not vegetable) is Julian cut, then cooked in water (80 %), salt, turmeric, chilli powder. Then tava is heated with oil and the vegetable is sautéed. We cook almost all vegetables like this.

All the above links are just so that my non-mallu readers can get a rough idea about the dishes. These are not my mom recipe's.

A-Z Tag II

I have already done a A-Z tag , but this is a little different, so here it is.

Tagged by

• Jagu
• Jiby

My Accent: While I'm talking to folks here I have an American accent.

Booze: Not huge on booze, but living in wine country, have wines occasionally.

Chore I Hate: (thought so much about this) There is nothing really I hate. I don't love to do any chore, but I don't mind doing them.

Dog or Cat: Dogs, cats I fear.

Essential Electronics: Microwave

Fragrances: Heaven from Gap, Mambo from Claiborne, Curve from Claiborne.

Gold or Silver: Silver, but I wear gold.

Home: Currently California.

Insomnia: Been blessed with the ability to sleep through anything every time.

Job Title: Blogger

Living Arrangements: With Shekar

Most Admirable Traits: Helpful

Number of times in hospital: Never been admitted *touchwood*

Phobias: Cats and snakes, fear of loosing a loved one.

Quote: "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out." -- Vaclav Havel

Religion: Christian

Siblings: I older sister Veena

Time I Wake Up: Weekdays 8.00 AM....Weekends - do I have to wake up?

Unusual Talent or Skill: Can always strike up a conversation with anyone.

Vegetable I Love: I like them all, maybe everything other than Broccoli

Worst Habit: Short Temper

X-Rays, Last time: Dental almost a year ago.

Yummy Food I Make: Fish Curry

Zodiac Sign: Taurus - Now that explains a lot.

Secret Fives

Anil, Geo, and Jaguu tagged me to reveal few of my secrets. So here it goes.

5 people who top your shit list:

• I did think a lot, but I don't think anyone makes it to this list. I can never hate anyone so much.

5 Close brushes with death/danger

• I've never had any of these, thank god. I have had my share or fender bender, rear endings (of my car I mean), but nothing major

5 Preferable modes of suicide

• Again, I'm totally against suicides, I think is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. But, then again I have heard arguments that it is a solution. I can never understand what can be so bad that one needs to end his/her life.

5 Guilty pleasures

• Desserts Tiramisu, Creme brulee, Flan Just to name a few.
• Sleeping in
• Crime Dramas - Spike TV has CSI from 7pm till 11pm and I can spend the whole evening in front of the TV.
• Banana Chips
• Meen Varathathu (Fish fry)

5 things you never want to forget

• I have a list of 10 things

5 things I wish to forget

• Nothing really, may be I already forgot.

5 really exotic dishes you have tried

• Anything from Bahama Breeze
• The best seafood from Atlanta Fish Market
• Mango Glazed Thai Ribs - Had this at a Thai place. It was so good.
• Chicken Scaloppine from Macaroni Grill
• Beef Achar - My mom makes the best beef achar. (All you people going ewww at the sound of this, you have to taste it to believe it.)

5 crushes/loves in your life

• Shekar
• Shekar
• Shekar
• Shekar
• Shekar

(me being married and all)

Strangest dream you ever had

I dreamt that I became disoriented and couldn't understand anything, so woke up Shekar in the middle of the night and asked him to say something. He said go to sleep and I understood that crystal clear, and was so relieved.

5 most valued personal possessions - this is hard so I'm going to stick to Materialistic things

• Minnu and Wedding Band
• Our Car and bike
• Our Wedding Album, it weighs like 15 pounds.
• My collection of photos
• My music collection

5 favorite superheroes

No favorites, I like them all the same way (I don't know what that statement means, but my mom used to say that when I used to ask her, If she liked me or Veena more?)

Dus

Tagged by Jaggu The tag is to write about 10 things that I miss the most

1. Childhood: I had one of the best childhoods. I would come back from school and eat and then play and then do my home work and study. Veena and I were allowed to play till it got dark. Then mom would come out and call us. Having an older sister meant I always had someone to play with. I am blessed with the greatest parents who were supportive in everything I did. The most I miss is I can not get back from work and go out and play and come home and all I have to do is study. I miss me not having to worry about things as they were always provided to me. Miss my summer vacations when mom used to take us to Kerala and we would spend two months in visiting friends and families.
   
2. Grandfather: My mom's dad passed away when I was nine. He was one of the best people I have met so far. That was the first death I saw and I always wished that he would come back to life once. Veena and I were his first grand kids and so he always told us that we were very special. The sad thing is, only Veena and I remember him among all our cousins.
3. Dhvani - She was the first real friend I had. She is married and settled in Chennai and is busy and we rarely get to talk. I haven't seen her since 97, but not a days goes by when I don't think of her.
4. Sally I - My first Car
   
5. Short Hair - Life was so easy with short hair, shower and get out of the house, now it more like blow dry, straighten and by that time I'm late. People ask me why do I just chop it off and I just smile.
   
6. Mom cooked food - No food tastes as good as one's mom. I miss the way how everything she makes tastes just perfect and I know I'll never get there.
7. Following Cricket - I used be a huge cricket fan, during the days when Sachin had started and Azar was the captain. I used to always have a tummy ache and stay at home when Indian played. After I moved to US I rarely watched a game (should I call it a match) and now I have lost complete interest in the game.
8. Being Engaged - That is the best period in one person's life. I was engaged for almost half a year, and Shekar used to come visit me once a month (he lived in west coast and me in east coast) and we used to have a great time. Even now I tell Shekar, I like engaged Shekar more than married Shekar.
9. Riding a cycle - I used to love cycling to places, I used to go to school on a cycle everyday and it used to be so much fun. Now when we go visiting new cities, we try to rent cycles and ride them around. This summer we are planning to buy cycles and go ridding over the weekend.
10. India - I miss being India and everything about India.

Thank you so much Jaggu for bring back these beautiful memories

People I tag
ROS - I have too nahi tho she gets upset, Just kidding re I know you will love doing this.
Nina - She is all about memories, and has a great way of putting them in words.

Attack of the 4s

I have been tagged with High 5 which is somewhat similar, so all the items here are things other than what I have specified before. Been tagged my new reader Kusum and here it goes...

4 Jobs that I have had :

• Cashier at a coffee place
• Cashier at a grocery store
• Front desk staff at a hotel
• Customer service

These were all jobs I held when I was in high school and college, but these jobs are more fun to specify that my recent jobs.

Jobs that left me:
None as of now.

4 Movies I can recommend to anyone:

• Italian Job
• Finding Nemo
• Ice Age
• Kilukam - great Malayalam movie

4 Places I'’ve lived or linger in my memory:

• Spent a summer (3 months) Europe
• Kerala
  
• Tamil Nadu
• California

4 TV shows I will remember: Remember being the keyword

• Malgudi Days
  
• Chitrahaar
• Wagle ki Duniya
• Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapne
• Dek bhai Dek
• Gul Gulshan Gulfaam
• Nupur

I know the list said 4, but I couldn't narrrow it down any further.

4.Vacations I will always remember:

• All Vacations to India
• Again Europe
  
• Singapore
• Skiing in Tahoe

4. Foods I love:

• Banana Chips - It is not a snack, I eat it like it is food
• Fish Curry
• Pani Puri
• Anything Mom makes.
  

4.Places I'’d rather be:

• Venice
• In Tahoe Skiing
• Hawaii
• Houseboats in Kerala

Tagging - ROS

The Perfect Tag

Have been tagged by Divya and Silverine

Rules:

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. Need to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there’s no need to post again.


So here it goes.

The Humsafar/Lover tag has been going around for a while and I wasn't tagged by ROS as I already have found my humsafar, but finally got tagged. As most of you guys are aware that I'm married to Shekar. So instead of listing qualities of how I want my humsafar to be, I'm gonna lists characters of Shekar that I admire.

1. Love for cars - I love cars and take utmost care of my Sally II. Shekar is also very particular about keeping the cars clean and driving cars that make the experience memorable. So most of our money and time is spent on our cars and we never argue about it. By default he knows a lot about cars than me and he explains to me how things work internally and I love learning about it too. He tells me what engine oil we use and what those numbers mean.
   
2. Patience - Be it with teaching me how to ski to listening to the millionth time about an incident that happened to me, when was a kid. I can tell the same story over and over and he will never say "You have told me this before" because he thinks I have so much fun telling the story.
3. Maturity - He is way more mature than I am. So I can be irresponsible at times (I'm usually responsible). I don’t have to be all like “Did you do this?” , “Did u finish that?” I never have to baby sit him and I can be a baby in this relationship.
4. Faith – Faith in God is another great thing about him. It is so important for me to have faith in God and also practicing the religion. I need to go to church every Sunday and it is wonderful when my partner has similar needs.
5. Family – I’m a believer of “Marriage is between two families and not just 2 people”. I love the way he treats my parents and vice versa. Our families get along so well and I so at ease with his parents too.
6. Resourceful – All I need to tell him is that I need a new phone, Tada and he will get me the best phone available in the market for the best deal. He has tremendous patience to read reviews and then make a purchase. Not just phones, be it Camera, Guitar or anything.
7. Helpful – We don’t have a 50-50 relationship where I cook and he eats, I vacuum and he lifts up his feet, but we have a 50-50 relationship where he actually does chores around the house.
8. Looks – Last but definitely not the least, he looks great (It is not a biased opinion – he is very handsome).
   

I could go on and on, but the tag says 8, so here I stop.

Everyone I know has already done this tag other than Jaguu, so hence I tag Jaguu.

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 - 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.

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.

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.

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

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.