New Year @ Home

It’s said “well begun is half done”!! This year has started with all the right notes. We had bought a flat last year and on the 1st day of this very new year.. we moved into it. Our own brand new home.. :-)

There were a few minor hiccups at the beginning .. with our families saying just 10 days before the ‘Griha Pravesh' to wait for 15 more days and go after ‘Maker Sakranti’.. but we had given notice to our owner that we would be vacating our rented house on 1st.. he had even finalized the new renter.. this made it really impossible to delay it further.. And then both our dads came to our rescue.. Being the sweethearts that they are both my father and father in law said to go ahead on 1st itself; this being the 1st day of the new year and a Saturday on that.. nothing could be better.. Since we had already done a puja last year, even M and I felt good to move in and had no reservations about the date. M believes that if something good is happening on a day, it must surely be a good day. If it wasn't, that good thing would not be happening in the first place!! I totally agree with him!! (this is a rare case.. as in me agreeing with M.. :D)

So finally we shifted on 1st.. it was a nice sunny day (it is very very cold this time around in Pune and even a small glimpse of sun is most welcome). When the movers & packers guy came and started packing, I realized we have hell lot of stuff at our home. Removing all the non-essentials out of this was my first To-Do task in the new home. By the time we shifted all our stuff to the new place, it was 7pm. While this was going on, the electrician had also come and had set up fans, tubelights, etc. With all the basic things done, we were Set!! (for the time being.. ;-))

As luck would have it, there was a person with the Movers & Packers guys who turned out to be well qualified Brahmin shashtri; he even has a degree in it. He told that this 1st was a really auspicious occasion to shift in and he has already performed few ‘Griha pravesh pujas’ in the morning. He agreed to do a havan at our home too.. So M went with him and got all the Puja samagrees.. by the time we did the Puja, bhoomi pujan, havan and sat for dinner, it was already well past midnight.. :-) We had to wake up early the next day as we were going on a trip; so we dragged our tired bodies to bed and dozed off. Thus ended our first day at home.

Even with all the running around we did, we were pretty much set on the first day itself. It was an amazing feeling.. being at our own home. :-) I still can’t believe we bought a flat here. It’s been 1.5 years since we moved to Pune.. With no plans whatsoever of settling here; we now have a home here.. Go figure!! :-D Life really has very different plans for you!! They may not be same as yours.. but many times they are even better than yours. :-)

Wish you all a wonderful year ahead!! Have fun!!

If I were..

Another tag from Amu.. :) If it wasn't for Amu and her tags I guess I would not have even half of the posts in my blog.. :D

If I were a month - April: A little of this is because I was born in April :) but mostly coz I feel my most active (or shall I say least lazy) in April. I do not suffer from cold during this season due to the warm temp. I can eat as many ice creams, mangoes and cold drinks that I like without worrying about falling sick. And how can I forget chilled water melons!! :)

If I were a day of the week - Saturday: I just love the way Saturday starts.. lazily lying on the bed.. dragging myself out and preparing some nice brunch. Reading paper in my sweet time.. just relaxing. The morning sets the tone for the entire day.. :D Even on the days that we plan to go for a trip or smthg on a saturday, its more of a relaxed and lazy getaway!!

If I were a time of day - Night: I feel my most active self during the night time.. maybe coz I was born after mid-night..;-). My mind just gets filled up with so many ideas (most of them crazy) during the night.. and everything that I am supposed to do and should do, I remember during the night time only.

If I were a season - Rains: I love the rainy season. Its one of my favourites. Everything gets washed in the rain water and looks all fresh and full of life. Even though i get sick pretty often in rains, i love getting drenched in it. You can savour the real taste of hot tea and pakoras only when its raining. :D

If I were a planet - Saturn it is for me too. As Amu mentioned, its feared in the Hindu pantheon, however He is my rashi God and I have always found him generous and kind.

If I were a sea animal - No idea..I think I prefer being a human being. :D

If I were a direction - East

If I were a piece of furniture - Bed: A lazy person like me can not like anything more than a Bed. :D

If I were a liquid - Water: The elixir of life. To be more specific, fresh lime water or roohafzah. I just love both of them.

If I were a tree - Neem tree: When I was a kid, we used to go to my maternal uncle's home during summer vacation. There were 3 really big neem trees in our front garden and I used to love it. It used to provide really nice cool shade during the summer and the breeze u feel while sitting beneath the tree was really fresh and rejuvenating.

If I were a tool - Scissors: Again I will agree with Amu, it has to be scissors. This is one tool I use pretty often.

If I were an element - Fire - from the five elements.

If I were a gemstone - Ruby

If I were a musical instrument - A violin: Love the soulful and melancholy notes which come out of it. Touches my heart.

If I were a color - Red. :D

If I were an emotion - Love.

If I were a fruit - Mangoes for me too.. :)

If I were a sound - I like the faint sound of a ringing bell (temple sort of)… also the splattering sound that rain makes, etc

If I were a car - Ford Mustang: A red colored convertible one, to be more specific. :D

If I were food - Rice: I love all the rice preparations.

If I were a taste - Salty & Tangy: Both of them together are my favourite tastes.

If I were a scent - Scent of fresh lime: I love all citrus smell.

If I were a pair of shoes - Sneakers for me too..

If I were a bird - A cute little sparrow. :)

October reading..

After a long long time, I am once again soaking myself in another ‘elixir’ of life: - Books and I am just quenching my thirst a little too fast.. :) In the last 1 week, I have finished 3 novels. All 3 are love stories – a co-incidence let me add.. :)

PS. I love you – Cecelia Ahern: I had already seen the movie and loved it. Had heard about the book, but don’t know why I did not try to find the book or read it. Anyways I bought it during my last visit to landmark and I was very surprised to find that the book and movie are quite different. The main plot is same - a young widow tries to start living again with the help of letters that her husband wrote before dying. There are many incidents in the book which is also in the movie however I found the treatment of the movie very different. The book is more subtle and the emotions more real. The movie was a little larger than life. (I still like the movie though.. Gerard Butler and Hillary Swank rock!!) The book is easier to believe; the movie is more ‘romantic-romantic’. I guess most people like larger than life romances.. preferring it to the more subtle ‘love’. The movie score there. As the norm is the book is better than the movie. Though I have liked them both. I wish I had read the book first.

Anything for you, Ma’am – Tushar Raheja: This is a light read; you can make that out from the punch line ‘The love story of an IITian’.. :-D.. The author writes well, being humorous at times, however the problem with the book is that it has too many great co-incidences making it way too filmy to be true. The author has tried to acknowledge it by calling it the work of ‘Mr. Fate’; however it’s still all too much. Overall it’s a book you can read (only if you must) in between some heavy reading. You would not be missing anything if you skip it altogether.

At first sight – Nicholas Sparks: This is the first time I am reading a Nicholas Sparks novel. Have already seen 3 movies based on his work – The Notebook, Message in a bottle & A walk to remember; each a beautiful love story. :) As the name suggests, ‘At first sight’ is also a love story. I started reading it expecting another warm love story, however the detail on how exactly Jeremy & Lexie (the lead couple) fall in love is sadly missing (I learnt later that this novel is a sequel to ‘True Believer’, where they actually meet and fall in love). As I continued reading, this one seemed more and more like a suspense novel. Halfway through it, I started doubting the choice of the book title - ‘At first sight’ did not seem appropriate at all. I personally do not believe in love at first sight. Its more of attraction at first sight and not love.. As two people interact with each other this attraction may eventually turn into love. Here both Jeremy and Lexie fall in love at first sight and decide to marry soon after. Later on all the doubts surface -maybe they have rushed into things without knowing much about each other, there were trust issues, adjustment issues, et all.. There was a mystery also which made me curious. The novel had started with some crisis that Jeremy was facing and I was interested in learning what it exactly was. As the story unfolded, I was hooked into it and by the time I finished the book, I was literally crying. The ending is tragic and I felt so sad for everyone; for what each of them missed. It is a beautifully written book. The dilemma that a couple can face, the ups and downs of a relationship and the effort that is taken to make it work has all been described well. I guess if I had read the ‘True Believer’ first, I would have better understood their bonding. To sum it up, it is a well told story and worth a read.

I am back..with a Tag

Its been ages since I posted anything on my blog. This time around it’s not just my laziness… have been falling sick on and off since last month and a half.. it turned out to be a pretty serious matter.. had to be admitted into a hospital for about a week.. my first stay in hospital and my brush with IV salines, needless to say it wasn’t an enjoyable one.. :-( It’s something I hope to be a once in a lifetime experience only.. (Btw I have had an eye-opening experience with government hospitals.. maybe I will write about it some day..) Today let me get this blog alive again with a post. Amu tagged me once again and thus saved me the effort of searching for a topic.. :-) Let me focus on it today; this one is a gender tag. “You gotta spill 10 facts about you which do not fit the stereotype of your gender.”

Hmmm.. you know before my wedding I always thought I am a little ‘non-girly’ (borrowed from Amu. :D ) however now I realize I am a little more girly than I thought. For example, I used to think of myself as a very logical person which I am, most of the times, but there are many a times when I think more from my heart than my head i.e. a classic case of emotions driving logic. Anyways there are still few things about me that may not fit into the ‘traditional’ gender stereotype but then these stereotypes are changing everyday and I am sure I am not the only one with such aberrations..

1. I am excellent with numbers.. Maths was one of my most favorite subjects along with physics. Don’t get to apply all that school maths now however I have managing the financial aspect of my project since long and am proud of the fact that they have been impeccable. Even my seniors highlight it as one of my key strengths.
2. I love adventure and traveling.. any new place that you want to explore, I am always ready with my bags packed. I still remember the time when in our friend circle, I would be the only girl who would say yes to a trip but then had to back out in the end since no other girl would be willing to join us. :-( On one such occasion, my friend H convinced his friend P who was at Mysore to join us in Bangalore. Together we started for our holiday destination. It turned out to be a blessing as it gave me a chance to make friendship with a wonderful girl P.. we even went for girls only trips together..Anyways those were the times, I realized marriage has its positives too.. u get a companion for life..:-D
3. I don’t understand hints and don’t know how to give them too well either.. if you want me to do something, better tell it directly. I am too much into myself to understand subtle and not so subtle hints. Same is the other way round; I tell directly what I want.
4. I am not into make up at all!! It’s not because I don’t like it; it’s more to do with my lack of knowledge about it. I don’t know how to apply make up; the most I can do is apply moisturizer and lipstick. After combing my hair, I am done.
5. Same with accessories and jewelry. **I love collecting earrings, jewelry sets and other such stuff, however when it comes to actually wearing matching/contrast stuff, changing into new ones, I am very very lazy. There was a time some 3 years back or so, when coaxed by my roomies, I started wearing matching accessories with my office wear. Used to go to office, a little decked up. And you know what, few of my colleagues, actually thought I had gotten engaged and started even congratulating me. :-O Anyways I still love collecting beautiful jewelry sets especially gold ones. I consider gold a very good investment. Got many awesome ones in my wedding.
   Hey.. there’s one accessory that I love wearing and that’s ‘Bangles’. I always get matching ones for my saree and wear ‘hands-full’ of them. (**PS: Not sure if this one will still fit into a female stereotype as I love collecting jewelry)
6. Like Amu, I never used to like flower bouquets. I used to find them waste of a gift. However I have loved receiving them from my fiancée since our engagement and continue to like it. M still gets me a lot of flowers. If not more, at least once a month. I still like flowers more on plants but till I get a flower garden for myself, I am not complaining about the bouquets. :-D
7. I also function more in a Do-It-Yourself mode. If there’s something that I can do myself, I go ahead and do it instead of assigning it to someone else.
8. I have a loud voice.. :-( .. I don’t have the sweet feminine voice that girls usually have. When I am excited, I talk really fast and a wee bit loud. There are times when even I cringe hearing my voice.
9. Although I might not be as logical as a guy, however I still am more logical than a typical girl. Most of the time, I go by logical reasoning. However I have found out that for a few things for example my family, I can even compromise on logic. Hmm.. for example.. my belief in God is unquestionable and way beyond logic. Same is the case with my adoration for Sachin. :-D
10. I am very forgetful. Even when I have a fight and I will be angry at someone, it’s more a case for forget and forgive. After sometime, I will totally forget that I had a fight with that person and will go and talk to him/her. Even if I get angry, I cool down really fast. My anger is gone in a few minutes. Both I and M take equal turns (almost equal :-D) to manaaofy each other.

Phew!!!! Finally I am done.. both with the tag and a post after long time.

You know what M said and I am quoting him verbatim.. “All my positives (caring, loving nature, positive attitude, good cooking, etc) are feminine and all my negatives (loud voice, laziness, etc) are masculine in nature.” :-D

The 'moral' drama

I always get irritated seeing this drama that our politicians (I won’t call them leaders as we don’t have any) carry on everyday. Especially when they offer to resign on grounds of so called taking ‘moral responsibility’. The latest in the line being our honorable aviation minister - Mr. Praful Patel. In a crisis situation, he should actually be taking control and investigating the matter. However instead of assuring the Public, he chooses to offer to quit. And especially since he knows he is not the direct culprit and obviously our PM will not accept his resignation. I would love to see him make the same offer if for example he is caught in a bribery case or if there’s a criminal case against him. But you won’t find a minister taking ‘moral responsibility’ when their morals have been compromised. What a shameless lot!!

PS: Btw on a separate note, I do think our Home minister should take some ‘moral responsibility’ and quit before more people die. When I learnt about the Naxal attack last year, I thought he needs time to work. But what has he been doing?? Not sure if he is just not interested coz none of the states suffering from Naxalism are congress-ruled (I hope I am wrong).

Another Tag by Amu

Have logged into e-blogger after a long time.. was busy with some professional as well as personal chores.... I guess its more than a month now when Amu had tagged me.. Finally I am now able to take it up. Here are my answers.. :)

1. What is your current obsession?

Our home or more specifically the home loan.. ;-). We have just bought a flat here and have been busy with getting home loan quotes from various banks and breaking our heads together in order to finalize one.

2. What are you wearing today?

Right now, a T-shirt and a 3/4th.

3. What’s for dinner?

Stuffed veg parantha, pickle, tea and some fruits (pineapple, water melon & banana)

4. What’s the last thing you bought?

Registered our flat. :-)

5. What are you listening to right now?

With or without you – heard this yesterday on TV and got hooked to it all over again.. :-D

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?

She is my best friend with whom I have shared and continue to share all the eventful and uneventful moments of my life. Someone who provides me guidance & support whenever I need it. Love you tones dearie & thank you so much for being such a wonderful & beautiful friend. Muaaaah.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Hmm.. practically speaking I would want it in Bhubaneswar but as long as I am dreaming why not get a beautiful bungalow in a hill station furnished with state of the art things inside and beautiful trees and plants outside. ;-)

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?

Cotton clothes..

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

Go to meet my youngest sis, Twinkle. Her board exams are going on.. would like to be with her.

10. Which language do you want to learn?

I am very poor in learning languages.. but if I can, I would like to improve on my Oriya and learn Marathi – it would be very helpful here :-).

11. What’s your favourite quote?

Hmmm.. I have many fav quotes.. :-) But for sake of putting one, here’s something that I have in my signature: "Carpe Diem”

12. Who do you want to meet right now?

M – Waiting for him to come home. :-)

13. What is your favourite colour?

Red

14. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you.

Hmm.. Difficult question.. let me list something down..
- Have all kinds of color in your wardrobe: vibrant as well as sober.
- When it comes to Suits, cotton clothes look graceful. In Saris, I think georgette looks elegant.
- Always have a smiling face. It adds warmth to your persona.

15. What is your dream job?

The one which pays me a little more than the norm and make me work a little less than the norm. At the moment I have exactly opposite job. But I still like it…. Go figure!! :-)

16. What’s your favorite magazine?

Used to love comics as a kid (I still do.. :-D) My dad had got us subscription of many different magazines.. Now a days I don’t read many magazines. The only one I regularly buy is Reader's Digest.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?

Go out to a restaurant, shop for clothes.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?

I have no idea what ‘Fashion’ is so can’t really comment here. I can differentiate only between what looks good and what doesn’t. To each his/her own; just wear something that suits your body style and is not indecent.

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?

Right now the only over-rated person I can think of is AB and his family. I think we are seeing just a tad too much of each of them. I find them all utterly irritating.

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?

A Step cut with frizzles – I only wish I had jet straight hair.

21. What are you going to do after this?

Cut the fruits.

22. What are your favourite movies?

Mannnny…. Here are a few: Andaz Apna Apna, QSQT, LOTR series, Life is beautiful, Roman Holiday, etc, etc, etc.. :-)

23. What inspires you?

Anything & everything. Any good act inspires me.

24. What do your friends call you most commonly?

Mostly Ashma only.. just a rare few call me Ash. Some friends call me Ashu too..

25. Would you prefer coffee or tea?

Depends on my mood and time of the day. Love to have tea in morning and evening.. But if it’s after dinner, I like to have coffee. .. especially if its raining and I get to share it with M. :-)

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?

Hmmm…. Call up and speak to my friends (Amu, Ashwani, Vivek or Rachana). Talk to M Or talk to my sis and aunt. Don’t generally tell Mom till it’s under control as she tends to worry about it even more.

27. What makes you go wild?

No comments.. ;-)

28. Which other blogs do you love visiting?

There are a few I regularly read. Among my friends, there’s amu’s & ashwani’s blogs. There are some bloggers like sayesha, sunshine, etc whose blogs I happened to read and got hooked.. I read them pretty regularly now.

29. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?

Gulab Jamun, Gazar ka halwa, Jalebi & motichur ke laddu. And of course Icecream.

30. How many tabs are turned on in ur browser right now?

3

31. Favorite Season?

Rains :-)

32. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?

Palak Paneer, Kofta (if you don’t like Paneer), Veg Pulav and Parantha. Accompanied with curd, salad and papad. I just made Gazar ka halwa all by myself for the first time a few days back and it was awesome… so maybe I will make that too in case I have time.. So when are you coming? ;-)

33. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?

Ignore them. If you know they are purposefully hurting you, why get hurt!

34. What are you afraid of the most?

At the moment, whenever I think of child birth.. :-D I can not bear pain and the thought of all that pain scares the hell out of me.. :(

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

Same as I did yesterday – I am putting on weight. :-(

36. What brings a smile on your face instantly??

M and a “Smile” from anyone.. :-)

37. A word that you say a lot?

That’s ok

38. What would you do if you were made President of India for one day?

Make littering a punishable offence and enforce it strictly.

39. What is that one thing that keeps you going?

Not one but the following do: God, My family and friends

40. What’s one thing that you used to love that you left

Nothing.. frequency of few things that I love to do have reduced but its all still there..

A year to remember

The year 2009 has been a memorable year for me.. It started with a high and even ended with one - and everything in between was mostly on a high too.. :-). During Jan time, I was a newly married bride at my in-laws place soaking in all the attention. And come December, I was in the company of my in-laws again (brother-in-law, bhabhi and the kids) enjoying the love being showered on the ‘choti bahu’ and ‘chachi’... :-) (Of course, it goes with out saying that during this time the lovely wife was also basking in the love of her loving husband ;-) )

I had welcomed 2009 with M.. at that time we were working in different cities and our plans were not yet concrete. When we parted in mid Jan to report back at our respective offices, we weren’t sure about how much time it would take till we set up a home together. M was planning to move to Bangalore, however with the recession in IT industry being at its peak at that time, there were not many opportunities to look forward to. Meanwhile both of us initiated internal transfers in our company to move to Pune (luckily both his and my company has a branch here).Initially the chances of transfer getting approved also looked slim owing to dearth of project work in the new location and N number of internal constraints. However by God’s grace, all the pieces fell into place and by mid April we were together - in time to celebrate my birthday with M (a perfect gift for me.. :-))

Setting up a home together has been fun and a little exhausting. :-D The time and effort that went in setting it up and all the stuff that we have added to our home, moving in to a different place is going to be LOT of work. While doing all this, we have had our share of differences, fights, ruthana-manana, rona-dhona et all... but most importantly there has been lot of love. Even the fights have helped bring in more love into our marriage. (Fights between married couples is a must I say.. ;-) ) We also bought a car.. A lovely bright Red beauty.. I am still to start driving it but I am immensely enjoying lounging on the front seat listening to music and giving instructions while M drives. ;-p

2009 had a lot of ‘with-family’ time in it. :-) While I was in Bangalore, first my in-laws and then my bua aka elder sister visited me. Then during Holi, my Mom came with my kid bro to celebrate Gangaur Pooja. By April, I was in Pune with M. Post this, every month we have had someone or other from my parents or in-laws place visiting us. My sister was with us till mid of the year and then went to Noida to join her new company and begin her professional life. Anyways with so much time spent with family members, the time just flew by and before I realized, the year was over. 2009 ended on a perfect note, with bhaiya & bhabhi being here with us to bid adieu to the year gone by and welcome the New Year. They were here during the kids Christmas holidays. We were really looking forward to their trip and with 2 long weekends falling in between and a few leaves that we took; we had ample time to catch up on things. Their stay here was simply awesome and it just strengthened our plan to settle near home in Orissa.

Overall the year has been extremely good!!!! After being apart for a good 3 months, M & I are together and would you believe it since then we have not been apart even for one single day!!! :-D We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary in December. And even though we have our differences, M is just perfect for me. (M, In case you are reading this.. I am just too perfect and good for you.. ok!! ;-) ) Icing on the cake - we won the best couple contest held in our society for the New Year celebrations. Hehehehe… Touchwood!! :-D

I somehow don’t think anything can be better than the year gone by but then all I want is everything.. so here’s hoping for an even better 2010. Wishing everyone, a beautiful year ahead!!

PS: I know I have written we have been together, we are together, M & I, etc.. 'N’ number of times in this post…. so as of you can see it has been the highlight of the year for me.. :-)

D(iwali) Day

I am just back from a much awaited trip home. This being my first Diwali after marriage, everyone back home was waiting eagerly for this. Both I and M had not made a trip home after marriage and were really looking forward to the Diwali vacation. We had planned to start from Pune on Oct 15^th so as to reach home by Oct 16^th-on time to be a part of the Choti Diwali pujan. Since we could shop only on weekends, we started shopping 3 weeks prior to our departure day. A lot of goodies were bought for all the kids at both my and M’s place - altogether 10 kids in the age group of 3-12 years with one more on the way.. J. I also got some gifts for my brother in law and bhabhi. We also got decorative Diyas, wall hangings and rangoli colors for our home in Pune as well for our home back in Orissa. Once all this was done, we finally shopped for ourselves - M got new shirts, trousers, etc and I bought a saree. Again as this was my first Diwali at my in-laws place, I wanted to get a good fancy saree and accessories. The one I bought is golden brown colored Georgette Saree (with a tinge of orange in it) which has very beautiful and intricate zardozi work all over it. Made quite a dent in M’s wallet…:-D

While we were busy shopping and packing our luggage, it wasn’t even sure if we would be making the trip. You see both M and I had critical project deliverables and getting leaves approved was turning out to be a difficult task. In order to avoid our family members getting disappointed at the end, we started communicating the same to them and setting the expectation that we might not be home for Diwali. Anyways finally M’s leaves were approved, however mine were still tentative – something which got approved just 2 days prior to the journey date. The train journey back home was fun… met a real nice and fun loving Gujarati family; the journey passed sharing food, singing songs, playing cards..I love train journeys especially all the eatables that you get in various stations that are on the way.. I made sure that M got down and brought me the specialty of each. J (No wonder I am putting on weight.. I just have N-O control when it comes to food.. and it’s showing.. L )

Finally we reached home.. it was around 9.30 pm and after quickly getting ready, all of us started the choti Diwali Puja. It was awesome being at home again after a gap of 10 odd months. Though both my parents and in-laws had visited Pune in this duration, the feeling of “being-at-home” is quite different when you are actually at your home.. your entire family.. your relatives..your neighbours.. your staff and all... J J After the puja, we all sat together for our dinner.. At my in-laws place, the four of us (I, M, M’s bro and bhabhi) always take our food together in a platter.. (its something I feel really good about.. I know little stupid but it makes me feel good. J My bro-in-law and bhabhi are really chilled out and so our equation is not at all like you will find in a typical Marwari household - if u have bro-in-law who is 6-8 years elder to you, you are generally not that free with him, however mine is simply superb.. One thing which is really great about both bhaiya and bhabhi is the sense of belongingness that they make you feel.. Since I got married, I have never felt as if these are new relations that I am building.. it was like they are mine and I am theirs since the beginning.. J And this is something I can say about my FIL and MIL too.. I thank God every single day for getting me married into such a beautiful family). After dinner, all of us sat together and opened the gifts that we had bought. By the time we retired into our rooms, it was already 3 am.

Diwali day started early for me, thanks to Amu who called me up at around 6.30 in the morning. Since everyone gets damn busy on D day, it was good that she caught me up in the morning itself. J And thanks again to her, this was the first time I got ready early in my sasural. ;-D As expected, Diwali was a hectic day.. the basic rituals performed at my sasural is same as what is done at my parent’s place, however there were few additional things that I had to do as this was my first marital year. In the evening, I and bhabhi made Rangoli in front of the entrance to our home. A cute little & extremely colorful Ganesha. J Bhaiya had bought some floating candles which I kept in a vessel filled with colored water & decorated it with flowers. Meanwhile Bhaiya and M got ready and started decorating the Puja room. It was already 7 pm by the time we completed our rangolis and everyone except I and bhabhi had changed into their new clothes. So we went running to our rooms, had a quick bath and got ready for the Puja. Along with the saree, I wore some of my wedding jewelry J (since these were pretty heavy, I hadn’t gotten a chance to wear them since my wedding day).

After the Diwali puja and dinner, we went to the houses of our close relatives (who stay in our neighboring houses) to seek blessings from the elders in the family. It took about nearly 1.5 hours to get this task completed, even though all the houses are very nearby. After coming back, we started bursting crackers. The kids in the house as expected were by my side, asking me to burst crackers with them. I used to be in a fix as to which group do I go to.. it was a tricky as well as funny situation to be in. J ... As always, bursting crackers was fun.. btw it did feel a little weird doing that in Saree.. :-D. All in all, a great Diwali celebration.. a perfect 10 for a first Diwali.. J Enjoyed it immensely.

PS: This post has been in my drafts folder for ages now.. I was thinking of writing about the entire trip home however I haven’t been able to complete it - want to post it before next diwali.. ;-D. Anyways it’s quite a long post already. So I am gonna just post it as it is. Feeling too lazy at the moment to write more or edit. Below is a picture of the rangoli we made.

Congratulations on the 20!!

I had to write this post... even though I am too occupied with many personal and professional chores and most importantly feeling too lazy to actually think and write something.. However Sachin just completed 20 w-O-ndErfuL years in international cricket and I don't have any other way of showing how delighted I am. This is a remarkable achievement considering the amount of cricket that's being played since last decade and India being in the forefront of the cricket business, we have the most busy schedule. With the amount of injuries he had had and the constant burden of expectations that he has to live up to, its a-m-a-z-i-n-g that Sachin has always been consistently great and plays with the same passion today as he did 20 long years ago. He is someone who has been loved by the whole country and admired all around the cricketing world. As a famous saying goes, "If cricket is my religion, than Sachin is my God".. he is indeed the One!! Congratulations on your wonderful journey and thank you for keeping the faith intact!! :-)

PS: The only thing that makes me sad is that it will all end one day. :-(

Enjoying the rain

Loving the weather outside.. it has been raining NON-STOP here since yesterday. :-) I am enjoying steaming hot Teas in these cold rainy days. If only, there was no office to attend to. :-( But as they say.. you don’t get everything!! So I am enjoying with whatever is coming along.. :-D

Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi

The Ganesh Chaturthi celebration this year was a fun filled affair. My family always celebrates Ganesh Puja by installing Ganesha Idol at our ancestral home in IB, a small village near my hometown. We pray and perform Puja for 9 days and bid him farewell with a fond request to grace our home again next year. This is something that we have been doing since ages now and I have loads of good old memories associated with Ganesha and his birthday celebration. :-) Now that I am married and have set up my own home, I wanted to bring this tradition along to my new household. Also being in Pune during Ganapati Puja just helped make the whole idea all the more appealing.

Last Saturday, I and M went out in the evening to get clay Ganesha Idol. The market where the Idols were being sold was just awesome. You could see Ganesha in all kinds of forms, colors and sizes. I don’t think I have ever seen so many Ganesha statues before. After seeing thousands of statues, we got a cute replica of the “Dagdu Seth Halwai” Ganapati - one the oldest and most famous Ganapati of Pune. After finalizing this, we went on a frantic shopping spree to buy variety of things for the Puja – clothes for the Ganesha, ingredients for preparing sweets, fruits, flowers, colorful papers, streamers and lights for decoration, et all. As soon as dinner was done, we started decorating the puja room. M also downloaded many Ganesh vandanas and aartis from the internet. It was 2 am by the time we crashed into bed.

Sunday started earlier than usual. Our plan was to get up at 6.30 or 7ish, however by the time we woke up it was already 8.30 and we hurriedly got ready. Since I do not get many chances to wear Saree, I always look out for excuses to wear one. This was one perfect excuse. :-) After getting ready, we began preparing the Prasad & Panchamrit, decking up the Aarti thalis, and other chores along these lines. M switched on his laptop and played the Ganapati vandanas to create a festive mood. It was 11.00 by the time all this was done and we could start the Puja. We had invited our next door neighbors too. No elaborate puja ceremony was conducted – just few Aartis and small prayers. It felt great doing the aarti with M. I was thinking about last year’s Ganesh Chaturthi – at that time M had come to Bangalore to meet me. We had gone to the Ganesh temple in Koramangala, the first temple we went together. :-) Doing such pujas together with M has always given me a sense of peace – a divine blessing for our togetherness.

By the time puja was done, it was already past 12; we decided to skip breakfast and directly have our lunch. Mom had made missi roti for lunch. Accompanied with alu tamatar sabji and curd, it was delicious. We ate to our heart’s content. The only thing we could do after eating so much was sit and talk. We celebrated Ganesha’s birthday for 7 full days. Everyday we used to do morning and evening aarti. It required little planning to place it in our hectic work schedule but it was fun nonetheless. Even with all the planning and numerous last minute changes, those 7 days were spiritually satisfying. After visarjan, the puja place looked very empty. :-( M really didn’t like the whole idea of visarjan; he has decided that we will not do visarjans again. Maybe we will get a permanent Ganesh Idol and deck him up during Ganesh Chaturthi. So let’s see how the celebrations are gonna be next year. Anyways our first experience was an amazing one and we would surely like to up the ante next time. We have requested Ganesha to come soon next year too.. “Ganapati bappa moriya.. agle baras tu jaldi aa” :-)

Here's a pic of our "Ganesha"

My food blog

With the amount of cooking that I have started doing post marriage, the idea to create a food blog seemed very attractive. I have been experimenting with food and this would be a platform wherein I can share my experiments with you. Don’t worry not all the food I prepare are experiments. In fact, in most cases I go by the recipes that I have seen my mom cook. So it will mostly be tried and tested stuff. Hmm.. now the only thing I will have to do is to remember and take pics before the food gets over. :-)

Here's a link to my brand new blog -> Food blog

And just like this blog and the picture blog that I have, I will try to make the food blog too into at the least once a month affair.

Picture Tag

I have been tagged by Amu and here are the rules: - I have to pick a picture from my collection and post it here along with the story behind it.

I was checking out my pictures folder to choose a pic for this tag. I narrowed down on quite a few pictures where I had a story to tell – some pics of my little bro, some of my sisters, a few of my trips with friends and few with M. It was really difficult to choose one out of the lot. Anyways while I was still contemplating which one to put, I came across the one below and choose it instead.

The way I got this photo also has a small story to it. When we were kids, as was the norm at that time, we only had hard copies of photographs. And whenever my Mamas or Mausis came to visit us, they used to flick one or other picture from the album to take along with them. This was one such pic – it was taken by my Mausi who stays in Pune. A couple of months back, Gaurav, her eldest son and my bro, got this pic scanned and mailed it to me. I can’t tell you how delighted I was on seeing this photograph – felt pretty nostalgic and happy thinking of old times. So here is the picture:

I am sure you would have already guessed that this is a photo of mine with my sis and my handsome dad. Anyways I won’t tell here as to which one of two kids is me. :-) Since my friends are the only ones who read this blog, if you are reading this blog it means you have already recognized me. Now for the story behind the pic, here it goes..

This pic was taken during the “Rath Yatra” also known as the Chariot festival. It’s the most famous festival celebrated in Orissa (my home state). As a kid, I used to have a lot of fun during Rath Yatra. Our house is situated on the main road in my hometown and during Rath Yatra, the chariot carrying the deities passes in front of our house. On both sides of the main road, variety of vendors set up makeshift stalls where you get different kinds of toys – plastic, metal and wooden, kitchen sets, doctor sets, small gadgets, balloons, eatables et all. When I was small I used to love buying these things during Rath Yatra. In the evening at around 5ish, I and my sisters used to put on new dresses and get all decked up for an outing. My dad used to take us for a trip down the entire stretch of the main road. He bought us everything that we wanted to get. I especially used to love miniature kitchen sets, cute wooden furniture and bright, colorful plastic watches with cute designs & accessories. I and my sisters used to buy lot of such stuff. And invariably, we always used to buy helium filled air balloons. We used to love watching it float in air while we were happily going home holding papa's hand.... quite a mighty task considering that we were holding all of the toys and other such treasures in our little hands too. Once inside the house, we used to tie a long thread to its end and leave it free... The balloons used to go up and touch the ceiling. After playing around for hours, we used to release it outside and watch it go up, up and up.. :-) Those were some wonderful days!! This picture is of one such Rath Yatra celebration. Post shopping, my dad had taken me and my sis to a photo studio for capturing the day in print and here I am sharing it with you. :-)

Marriage and yours truly

What’s diff b/w ideology of single and married women?

Ok so this is what a friend of mine suggested me to write about saying that I haven’t written something in my blog for ages. My first reaction on reading the topic was “baba re.. dhamakedaar topic hai”. Ideology is a pretty heavy word. :-) I don’t think there are any ideological changes that have come in me post marriage.. just that a few priorities change which impacts your outlook too. It may as well be applicable to guys. Anyways I can’t speak for women in general but can definitely write about the changes that I see in myself. Let me jot down a few here. Strictly based on my experience. :-)

1. As already mentioned, your priorities change. I am a working woman who stays away from home. My work life always had my undivided attention since I started working. This is not to say that my family wasn’t important for me – they are and always will be the No.1 in my life. But in the day to day routine, my only interaction with them was over phone. So my days were mostly dedicated to my work. After marriage, it has changed. My husband has become my first priority now. Ok now don’t go to the extreme thinking that all my ambitions and professional goals have been disposed off. They are still very much there - I am still working on pursuing higher education and excel in my professional life. It’s just that I will balance it with my family life. I know such extreme scenario won’t come but if I have to choose between the two, my personal life would win hands down.
   
2. Earlier when I used to think of marriage, I had a very pessimistic picture in mind (even though I am essentially an optimist). You see life has always been good to me (Touchwood!!) and I was pretty sure that the law of averages will catch up and I am going to have a terrible married life. Thankfully, it’s not that way at all. Life is indeed beautiful.
   
3. My patience gets tested almost everyday. :-) Oh I have never had so many differences over minute trivial stuff with anyone as I have with M. This is really mind-boggling considering that we think very much alike and are always in agreement over each and every major decision. If anyone can help unravel this mystery, I would be indebted. Anyways even with all this, it’s not like I am becoming more patient or that I hate these disagreements. To be truthful, I find them exciting. Making up after a silly argument is fun. Married life without such arguments would be so damn boring.
   
4. A very noticeable change that has happened in me post marriage is the amount of weight that I have put on. :-( :-( :-( :-( But I being what I am (read “Super Lazy”), I am not doing anything about it except thinking of ways to keep it in check.
   
5. I really used to doubt if I would love some one so much that he will matter to me more than myself, some stranger who will become a part of my family, someone whose safety and life would mean more to me than my own. I know that I already would do that for my family members but that’s different as I was born into my family and intrinsically & unconditionally I love them. I can do anything for my parents and siblings. But adding a total outsider to the equation and applying similar rules – I used to think this would be next to impossible. How wrong I was. :-)
   
6. I have also learnt that marriage is work just like any other relationship. Being the most important one, you have to work all the more harder on it. Trust me it’s so much worth it.
   
7. Talking about work, I never knew there were so many chores involved in running a household. I have stayed in flats in Bangalore sharing it with friends. We used to do all the things you do in a house like get the grocery, vegetables, pay electricity bills, rent, maid, and other such n number of things. So I thought it would be the same way once I get married and have my own home. But the chores have multiplied. I think it’s more to do with the fact that it’s no longer a bachelor house but a family home. And hence not having a pickle or papad or having unmatched cutleries and a little unkempt house is no longer okay. Now I am a little more careful in making sure that things are available and in their proper way. Thanks to my ‘efficient’ maid here, I wash the non-stick utensil myself – even after repeatedly telling her to use the soft brush and not the steel one on them, she has left quite a few scratches. :-( Anyways there are innumerable chores in a house and luckily for me M, a dear empathetic soul, helps me out. Moms are really great yaar.. considering our Dads are from a generation who think men earn and women do household work and the two shall not meet.
   
8. Just seeing M makes me happy. I know.. I know.. it sounds pretty mushy/corny.. whatever.. But at the end of the day, when M comes back from office and I open the door, my lips automatically form a smile and the world just brightens up. :-)
   
9. I always used to wonder why people marry - for love, family pressure, peer pressure, frustration, etc.. Anyways for whatever reason people marry, I think now I know why married people want the unmarried ones to get hitched. At least I want my younger sisters or some bachelor friends to get married. It’s FUN and beautiful and everyone should enjoy it for sure. (PS: And later, we can all sit together, crib about our married status and remember the good old single days:-D)
   

I had heard this dialogue in the movie “Shall we dance?” Something that Susan Sarandon tells the detective she had hired to check on her husband. Here she is explaining why she thinks people marry. “We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'”

I found it very romantic. :-) And hence got a witness for my life.. ;-)

A lengthy Tag

Disclaimer: Picked this tag from a blog.. a pretty long one. Want Amu to definitely take this up, anyone else who wants can take it up too.

1. Last drink: Water

2. Last phone call: My hubby M.

3. Last text message: ICICI bank.. salary got credited.. yipeeeeeeeeeeeee.. :-)

4. Last song you listened to: M shouting.. ahem.. I mean singing old Hindi songs yesterday night.

5. Last time you cried: yesterday.. I get tears in my eyes when I laugh a lot..:-D but I don’t think that’s what is being asked here.. :-p

HAVE YOU EVER...
6. Dated someone twice: does going out with your fiancée count? :-) Anyways went out with a friend once.. didn’t realize it was supposedly a date until very late.. went extra careful dealing with him going forward..

7. Been cheated upon? Not really.. or maybe haven’t found it yet. Be careful dear.. m gonna check your wallet tonight.. ;-)

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? Nope

9. Lost someone special? Yes my grandpa.

10. Been depressed? Yup once.. my friend Amu was a big support helping me tide over it. Hadn’t shared it with my family. It’s something I won’t wish upon even my enemies..

11. Been drunk and threw up? Nope

LIST THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS:
12. Red
13. Black
14. White

FIRSTS :
15. Made new friends: Yes. First friend I made were my cousins.

16. Fallen out of love: Not yet. There were a few crushes I fell out of though.. :-)

17. Laughed until you cried: loads of times.

18. Met someone who changed you: Yes.

19. Found out who your true friends were: yes… I am blessed with some really amazing friends.

20. Found out someone was talking about you: Hmm.. nope.. don’t remember if I have heard anyone talk about me.. anyways I have a bad memory. :(

HAVE/YOU:
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: M was on my friend’s list before we kissed.. will it count? :-D

22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life: Except a few, all are known from my real life.

23. How many kids do you want to have: None.. can’t take the pain.. I want to adopt kids.. Anyways I would like to have 4. :-). I know it’s a big number but 1 is too less.. 2 means the younger one will feel lonely when the elder leaves the nest.. 3 means 1 pair may gang up against the 3rd.. so 4’s perfect!! I know.. weird logic.. but then it’s me! :-D

24. Do you have any pets: Naah.. :-(

25. Do you want to change your name: No.. I love it!!

26. What did you do for your last birthday: First b’de after our wedding, celebrated with hubby dear.

27. What time did you wake up today: 7.20am

28. What were you doing at midnight last night: listening to M’s serenade

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: going home.

30. Last time you saw your father: about 5 months back.. loooooooooooooong time. :-(

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: not life as such but I would like to change the way I am continuously gaining weight now a days.

32. Most visited web page: google

Whats your:
33. Name: Ashma

34. Nicknames: None.. except for some endearments that M uses. One of my friend used to call me Aish..

35. Zodiac sign: Aries

36. Male or female or transgender: Female

37. Elementary: Siksha Niketan

38. School: Same as above

39. Colleges: NITR

40. Hair color: Naturally black.. recently got it colored to reddish brown

41. Long or short: Average

42. Height: a little less than 5’5”

43. Do you have a crush on someone? Yeah.. Hugh Jackman and George Clooney.

44. Ever been in love? Yes.. m still in it.. :-)

45. Piercings? Yes… ears and nose.

46. Tattoos? No. I would like to have one though.

47. Righty or lefty: Righty

48. First surgery: None yet.

49. First piercing: Ears..when I was in college

50. First best friend: Reshma Aunty

51. First sport you loved: Dunno about sports but in Games, Indoor – Playing cards. Outdoor – Badminton.

52. First pet: None :-(

53. First vacation: Don’t remember.. must have been my Nani-ghar.

54. First concert: Hmm.. I think it was Euphoria.

55. First crush: Ajay Jadeja.

RIGHT NOW:
56. Eating: Not eating but I am chewing a gum.

57. Drinking: Water

58. I'm about to: complete this tag.

59. Listening to: two of my colleagues talking about some CMR data and all.

60. Waiting for: my team to send the latest tool for baselining!

YOUR/FUTURE
61. Want kids? Yes

62. Want to get married? I already am.

63. Careers in mind? Already into one.

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
64. Lips or eyes: Both have their own appeal.. ;-) But if I have to pick one, it would be the eyes.

65. Hugs or kisses: Depends.. can’t have either from everyone..

66. Shorter or taller: Taller.

67. Older or Younger: Older.

68. Romantic or spontaneous: Romantic but who is also spontaneous.. planning all the time will kill the romance I think..

69. Nice stomach or nice arms: both but arms rate a little higher..

70. Sensitive or loud: sensitive

71. Hook-up or relationship: relationship.

72. Trouble maker or hesitant: Neither.. someone in between but leaning more towards the trouble maker side

HAVE YOU EVER :
73. Kissed a stranger: Nope.

74. Lost glasses / contacts: Yes.. first time I wore contacts, it went down the washbasin while I was washing my face.

76. Broken someone's heart: Hmm.. Sad but I think I have.

77. Had your own heart broken: Not in a romantic way.

78. Been arrested: was flagged down by a police car, got a speeding ticket and had my license suspended.. Does it count?

79. Turned someone down: Yes.

80. Cried when someone died: Yes.

81. Liked a friend that is a girl? Majority of my friends are girls..!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
81. Yourself: Yes.

82. Miracles: Yes.

83. God: Yes.

84. Love at first sight: Nope. Attraction yes but love no.

85. Heaven: I think we get to experience both heaven and hell here on earth based on our deeds and when we die, maybe its just all over.

86. Santa Claus: No.

87. Kiss on the first date? No.

88. Angels: Yes.. know a few people and some friends who are like angels in disguise.

89. Devils: Yeah.. a few friends are that too.. ;-)

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
90. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Yes.

91. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? Not in the way its meant here.

92. Wanted to kill someone ever? Yes. Sometimes feel like killing M :-D

93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss? No one that I haven't kissed already.. hehehehehe.. ;-) I meant M.

94. Committed a blunder and regretted later? Yes. Many..

95. Wanted to steal your friend's boyfriend / girlfriend? Nope.

Associate with something you wear:
96. White: Sandal and T-shirts.

97. Black: Jeans.

98. Red: T-shirts and Saree.

99. Pink: Shoe. I have a pink shoe. :-D

100. Posting this as 100 Truths? No...as a looooooooooooooooong tag with a disclaimer on top about it.

PS: Just realized question#75 is missing. So its 99 not 100 facts.. :)

Bye Bye Bangalore!

Today is my last day in Bangalore. Tomorrow starts in a new city. After being in Bangalore for a long time now, the decision to move away was a big one. I started my professional life here a little more than 4 and ½ years back. Apart from the 1 year stay at onsite, I have not lived and worked in any other place. I have grown used to Bangalore and have come to love it too.

Few days back, I was chatting with one of my best friends Vivek and he asked me ‘So tell me what you liked the best in your stay in Bangalore?’ It made me think about all the things that I have liked in my stay here. My first response to Vivek’s question was I have had a great time and enjoyed each and every moment in Bangalore.

· I held my first (and as of now only) job here. Learned about the corporate world and my role in it. I work in one of most reputed S/W Company in India and the world and thanks to the project I have been allocated to; I have met some really talented individuals. Lucky for me, I have been surrounded by such brilliant people; it makes me raise my standards too. It’s really amazing that I have had the privilege to work with so many of such people.

· Thanks to the same set of amazing people (especially Shashank and Vivek), I feel the need to challenge and extend my potential. It’s happening in phases. Phase I completed. Phase II in progress. :)

· "Company makes the feast". The most important thing that makes a place endearing is the company you have. I have made some great friends here – both from my personal as well as professional acquaintances. School and College friends are the forever ones that I am sure everyone cherishes – the level is just so different. However some of the friends that I have made here are also the forever types.

· There are few people that I met for the first time in Bangalore and have formed a small bond with – Ashwani, Saurabh, Harish, Anil, Rohini, Milan, Sunil, Alka, Sweta to name a few. I am definitely going to miss them but then again I am sure we will be in touch.

· Some friendships went to greater levels, for example, Rashmi my schoolmate became my friend once we started staying together in Bangalore. It’s a different matter all together that it just crossed all levels and went kaboom.. :( Anyways it was the best while it lasted. Sameepa aka Sam, Lisa and Preeti are few of my college mates who became good friends as I got to know them more.

· My first onsite travel also happened in between. Let’s just suffice to say it was a beautiful experience that I enjoyed to the hilt.

· I love the Bangalore weather.

· In Bangalore, I have stayed just in the Koramangala area and that too only in 4th block. I love this locality a lot. Have loads of fond memories. :-) Some of my favorite hang outs are here. I have become used to the area – I get grocery from the same shop, get milk from the same dairy, eat panipuris from the same stall, have juice from the same juice junction, take Tea from the same Teashop.. :-) It’s a very safe locality - Me and my roomies have gone for late night walks; till as late as 12 – 12.30 at night. The area feels like home – has that my Adda feel to it.

· I lost weight and subsequently gained a lot of confidence when I came to Bangalore. I was a chubby slightly overweight girl in college. I used to feel pretty conscious wearing Jeans, skirts, etc and hence stopped it altogether. However thanks to my time here, I am a little more confident of myself. (PS: Never mind that I have gained weight in the past 2 months and am now back to my former self. :-( The confidence is still there though :-) )

· I tasted liquor for the first time while I was here too. But then when I say tasted, it means tasted! Never had more than a couple of sips. People say you need to drink more to develop a taste for it but I fail to understand that if I didn’t like it in the beginning only, why the hell would I want to develop a taste for it!!

· I discovered the adventurous side of myself here. Suggest any traveling and trekking trips and I am game.

· I loved the weekends spent with Sam and Milan. Sam and I absolutely love food and every weekend, we would go to some restaurants or the other. All of our weekends involved: movie, food, shopping and long drive in Sam’s car. We used to do things on an impulse. On one such weekend, while we were driving home, we decided to have Tea at Sam’s place. Since Sam didn’t have Tea or Milk at her home, Milan didn’t have Tea at his home and I didn’t have Milk at mine, we decided to get Tea from my home, Milk from Milan’s and prepare Tea at Sam’s place. It didn’t really matter to us that it was already around 12 in the night. So we executed this crazy plan of ours and had a gala time doing it. It was 2.30 by the time we were done. Oh I will miss doing such crazy things!

· I found my love and married him. And now leaving Bangalore to pursue him further. :)

· Hmm.. let me think.. what else is a new thing that I did while in Bangalore .. Started this blog!! :D

Today is my last day in this beautiful city and I still don't believe that I am leaving it for good. Maybe it will all sink in only once I have actually left the place. Will miss Bangalore for sure and especially all of my friends here. They are the ones who made my stay memorable. Hoping that I keep meeting all of my friends sooner rather than later.

A Special Holi!!

It was a working day for me this Holi. Holi fell on a Wednesday and since it was exactly in the mid of a working week, it was pretty darn colorless. This was the first time in my life that I was not playing with colors on Holi. Considering the fact that I had played Holi even while I was in US, that too with just a handful of friends/colleagues, it was pretty disappointing not being to play it this time around. This being my first Holi after marriage, I wanted to celebrate it with M and have an extra special and memorable day. Anyways with M being in Baroda, the prospects didn’t look that great anyways. So as things turned out, I didn’t even get to see Gulaal, let alone play with it. :-( To feel a little better and not miss out on the fun part, I told my friends that let’s have it on the coming Sunday. How does it matter that it’s not Holi.. we all can get together, cook some delicacies, play with colors and have fun.

Ok so after deferring Holi celebrations to Sunday, everything continued as usual. On Saturday, I got ready early. That’s only because I am doing a Puja called “Gangaur” :-) (All married girls in our community have to do it in the first year of their marriage. It starts from the day Holika is burnt and continues for some 16-18 days. As it turns out I find this puja very interesting.. definitely worth a separate post). So I woke my roomie (Can’t do the puja alone. It’s supposed to be done with an unmarried girl :D) and both of us were doing the Gangaur Puja. I completed the Puja and came out of the Puja room. As soon as I was out, I hear M’s voice shouting “Surprise!!” And I see him standing there, with his face smeared in Gulaal and more Gulaal in his hands. I was so happy (and surprised too), I actually went speechless. I couldn’t form a single coherent word; I was just silently looking at him for a long time. Only when he put color on my face and hugged me, did I actually speak out. And the entire time M was laughing like anything – gloating over the fact that his plan to surprise me was successfully executed without a single hitch. :-D It seems everyone in our family and my roomie knew about this, while I was caught unaware. Great plan dear!!

Since we wanted to avoid our apartment getting colorful.. :-), all of us moved to the terrace (we have an amazing big private terrace on our floor). We played holi for sometime.. Since I don’t actually understand dry Holi.. I went to the bathroom and got a bucketful of water, mixed some color into it (had to make do with Gulaal) and poured it on top of M. A round of Holi with colored water followed which was in turn followed by a round of photo session. After this, we took bath and got ready. (Thanks to M and his surprise, I had to take bath again.) By this time, everyone had built up a solid hungry stomach. I made Tea and Paranthas. And all of us had Tea and Parantha with Pickle. Some mixtures and mathari’s were also thrown in. So we ended up having a very late and very heavy breakfast – ideal for a lazy Saturday, don’t u think? :D The lunch prepared by our Cook is something that we had only at 5 in the evening; we ate it not coz we were hungry but coz we should eat it.. :-) With lunch done, we went out for an evening walk. Target - to make our bellies a little lighter; Result - Ended up having Pani Puri’s and Fruit Juice in our favorite snacks joint. :-)

Came back home. My cellphone has not been in working condition since last month or so and I wanted to buy a new cell and hence made M take me for shopping (Bought a Nokia Expressmusic series phone – I like it.. as of now). M and I drove around Bangalore for some time. After the amount of food that we had since morning, no one was looking forward to Dinner. But again we had to eat coz we had to eat. :-) Greedy us!! This time around M offered to make noodle sandwich. We all were ok.. go ahead.. but the name “noodle sandwich” itself made me more than a little apprehensive. As it turned out, it was our fav good old maggi (dry prepartion) stuffed between two slices of bread and tawa-toasted with big dollops of butter. It was yummmmmy.. :-) We had bought a 1.5 litre Thums Up bottle (a favorite of M) in the evening which went really well with the sandwich. With everyone eating 2 sandwiches each, the plan to keep dinner light backfired.

Anyways soon the dinner was over and chit-chat session followed. We retired into our rooms after sometime as we needed to get up early the next day. Mom was coming to Bangalore to help me with the Gangaur Puja :-) and I & M had planned to go to the station to pick her up. So next day when mom arrived, it was a great get together involving lot of food, laughter and fun. It can be a new post altogether – especially the laughter all of us shared watching the videos that my Mom got. During Christmas, I and M had gone to Brajrajnagar (my first trip home after marriage). We made some gr8 memories during that period. Most of it was captured by my sis in the handycam and Mom had bought the handy cam with her to Bangalore. Watching my family members (and that means everyone including my grandma) dancing on 25^th night, watching my sis getting terrified of drowning while boating on IB river, watching M wincing while giving blood for blood test – pure unadulterated fun. Watching the videos was the highlight of Sunday for sure.

All in all a great weekend!! My first Holi with M turned out to be even more memorable and special for me than my expectations. Thank you Honey!! I will always remember how special you made me feel this Holi.

Unveiling me..

Tagged By: Amu

Rules : Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.

Caution : Long post coming your way. :-)

1. I am a complete foodie. I just love food (by that I mean veg food). However recently M told me that it's a misconception that I have about me. I am not a foodie but simply ‘greedy’. :-( :-D
2. I am supremely optimistic. Okay some ppl that I know will probably roll their eyes on reading this - mostly coz I blurt out all the negative things that I can think of when facing a situation. For example, while going to book a movie show, I might say that we will be late and tickets will be over or while watching a match I will say India will loose. But that's mainly becoz I like to keep in mind what all (-)ve things can happen. However deep in my heart I am always sure that things will be good. My friends can vouch for it.. many friends call me when they are down in dumps to get a dose of my (+)ve energy. You see I am a happy person. ;-)
3. I am an Arian to the core – pretty impulsive, sometimes naïve, sometimes stubborn, and sometimes moody - good thing here I am generally in a good mood.
4. I simply love rain. :-)
5. I just loooooooooooove traveling - anytime, anywhere I am always game. Caught this bug from my father. He always used to take us some place or other during winter vacations. We would even have some or other small picnic in some quaint little place near our hometown. My main or shall I say sole reason for going onsite was to see new places. My stay in US and all the bucks that I made there, were spent on traveling.
6. I am a movie buff especially when it comes to Hollywood. I am the owner of a small collection of DVDs of some really good English movies. Building a large movie library is one goal that I have set for myself.
7. I love reading. As long as I can remember, I have always loved and continue to love reading. Thanks all to my dad who is an avid reader. We used to have monthly/weekly subscriptions of all types of magazines and comics in our home – be it India today, Chandamama, Champak, Nandan Kaanan, Outlook.. anything that was available in the small town that I come from. Add to this the 3 newspaper we used to get – Telegraph (English), Sambad (Oriya) and Nav-Bharat(Hindi). Comics of Super commando Dhruv, Naagraj, Pinki, Chacha Chaudhury, Billu et all were a welcome addiction. Slowly and steadily this love for reading extended to novels. It has reached a stage that if I don’t read something before sleeping, I think something is amiss. Reading has introduced me to a whole new world and helped give me an outlook. Can’t thank you enough Dad!! :-)
8. I love Tea - again anytime, anywhere.. but it gotta have some flavoring in it either of Elaichi or Adarak - I just hate plain Tea. Btw my Tea is always very very milky!!
9. Like most Maarus, I can have Chai (Tea), Achchar(Pickle) and Parantha anytime of the day for any number of days and still continue to love it.
10. I am laziness personified. :-(
11. I say ‘Aur Kya’ /’Aur bolo’ a lot. It is always and I mean always a part of all my telephonic conversations (except official ones of course).
12. I love the color RED. Actually I like all colors but red occupies a special place in my heart. There was a time when most of my T-shirts and suits were red colored. Even when I went to buy luggage, everyone who knew me had already guessed it's color. It reached a stage when my friends had to stop me from buying anything that even resembles color red. Let's just say my wardrobe has more variety now. :-)
13. I don't like changes much. I always get worried thinking of all the adjustments that I will have to do if I see a change coming mostly because I always find my current situation very good and hence don’t want to disturb the water and start ripples. But then again I am very flexible and adapt to everything pretty quick.
14. Since starting my professional life, I have fallen in love with Microsoft excel and all its features. I am very organized with the way I manage my projects. (At least I think so.. :-D ) For my portfolio, I have an excel sheet created with all relevant info, contacts, timelines, budget info etc in one single xls logically divided into different sheets. Extremely useful.
15. I am good with numbers – not excellent but very good indeed. Math being my favorite subject could have played a role here. Also I can add, subtract numbers faster with pen and paper than with a Calculator.. I am very bad in using calci; it just slows me down.
16. I have a very bad memory. However I guess it’s a little selective and extremely good in a few cases. Like for studies and all, I don’t have to read things twice. I used to study only a day or two before my exam and get good marks. People who know me used to be really surprised coz they would always find me either watching TV or reading novels and hence used to be amazed by my rank. Anyways I find it extremely difficult to remember small things and To do’s.. If it was not for the alarm and reminder features in cell phones, I don’t know what I would have done. I put reminders for every little and big thing.
17. I am very cool. (I just noticed this is exactly the same numbered bullet as Amu’s :-) ). Btw Amu has quoted me wrong there- I say “Isse zyaada cool honge toe freeze kar jayenge”. This was said when AOL classes were beginning in our college in order to make u less tension free and calm/cool you down. And my reaction was we (as in I, Amu and Basu) don’t need it.
18. I am allergic to dust. One tiny particle of dust and I go all sneezing n sneezing. And it’s not like one or two sneezes.. it’s like a long marathon with few seconds breaks in between. This makes cleaning the room or relocating (in short anything that get’s me in close contact with dust) an actual sickening activity for me.
19. Even on the hottest summery days, I generally don’t feel the need of switching ON the fan. I am very susceptible to cold and one daft of cold air is enough for me to break into “Sneezes”. Before I was married, I was like what if I am married to a guy who can’t live without fan. This was one of the first things I had said to M after I got to know him better. He does love his fan but poor M.. he has been made to live without it by yours truly. Btw in case I say it’s hot, it is actually damn hot.
20. I am a big fan of Lord Ganesha and his dad, Lord Shiva. Actually I love the whole family. I have always thought that you should have a husband like Lord Shiva and a son like Lord Ganesha, the cutie pie.. :-) (And per M a daughter like me.. ;-) ). My friend Amu’s belief in Lord Ganesha is also something that gives me strength. It’s very spiritual and real. I am not an overtly religious person but I do perform all the rituals that I can. I have kept the “Solah Somawaar” fasting a lot of time.. (Before u even think about it, it was never to request Shivaji for a good husband.. I don’t know why but whenever I tell anyone I do “Solah Somawaar” they are like “It must be for a husband”.. jaise ki aur koi kaam nahi hein mujhe.. (rolling my eyes)..) Anyways when I am at home doing this fasting.. I need to have each and every required puja ingredients with me. However then again I have done this fasting while I was in US and there I just used to light a diya and pray. So it’s like I do what I can, knowing that He understands.
21. According to my friends “Mujhe sab achche lagte hein (I like everyone and also everything..)”. :-) If anyone asks me opinion about someone else my first statement is he/she is good. Even if I think they have some –ve, I will state that but then tell all the +ve things that I see in the person and end in a +ve note :-) Except for a few (very few) people who give me –ve vibes, I generally give benefit of my good opinion to everyone. Nearly a year back I lost friendship with someone who I used to consider one of my best friends. We parted on very bitter terms and I am unlikely to ever forget all the things that she said to me.. However to anyone else I still say she is good and just that we two didn’t hit it off.
22. I am a strong believer of the phrase – “Whatever happens, happens for good”.
23. I have great FRIENDS. Touchwood!! I am blessed with friends that anyone would kill for.. My friends are so amazing; they just make my world merrier by the second. My family is just PERFECT. To add to this, my in-laws are so nice, I feel more like a daughter than a bahu. My cup runneth over with all the love and care.
24. I have a wonderful and very dependable support system in my friends and family, whose opinions I value a lot. Before making any big decision, I like to know their take on it. The decision is mine but I like knowing different points of view. Sometimes we don’t even think about a certain situation and discussing things with others just broadens your horizon.
25. Hmm.. lets end this tag with a goal – Personally, I would like to learn swimming and play tennis. On the professional front, I would like to learn more on how to manage people better.

Phew!!!! I completed this in 3 seatings and gosh.. it was tough..

I tag: Ashwani, Chitra, Mukesh and Vivekanand.