I am here again.

Hello everyone
(though I am not sure after such a long break how many people would be still visitng my blog)

This has been my longest break from my blog....almost 9 months...looks like I had taken a maternity leave from my blog (sad joke, I know!). If you ask me what was the reason for not contributing any junk to the blog servers for so long...I have just three little words to say......"I was lazy".

While I was away all this while, my blog went past one year of its existence. So a very Happy Belated Birthday to you my blog. Though I was not around you all this time, I still love you a lot....mwaah!!! :)

Sometimes you are just too self consumed and detached to take out time for things that matter to you. And thats what has happened in the past 9 months....when I decided to pen down my thoughts a lot many times...but something just kept postponing that ritual.

I had been meaning to write a lot about my life post marriage.....the marital bliss that I have been enjoying....which includes a lot of fun moments....and a few painful ones as well. But it has been an amazing rollercoaster ride. Thanks to my sweet hubby....I travelled to so many wonderful places....experimented with different cuisines....started taking some interest in physical activities like swimming, TT, adventure sports etc. and even became a mature and (hopefully) more understanding individual.

There is so much to write....yet I dont know how should I frame everything in one single post. So before this draft post also goes into oblivion, I better post it. The latest updates are that I am back to Bangalore...Neeraj has taken up a job here and we have permanently shifted to India from US. As of now, I am completely vella and berozgaar and on the look out for some decent job in this recession period. And this berozgaari has made me a complete couch potato. So next time you need to know about the developments in serials like "Baalika Vadhu", "Bigg Boss", "Dill Mill Gayye", etc. etc., you know whom to contact.

The next post wont come after such a long break hopefully, and my love affair with my life would go on forever and ever.

Till then....enjoy the Indian cricket team screwing up England in the on-going ODI series! :)

Some things just don't need a title!

In exact one month from now, we would be tying the nuptial knot! There was a time when we both had not even met each other...and still it seemed as if we knew each other so well. At that time I was waiting for my Prince Charming to meet me and sweep me off my feet...and now, I am waiting for him to make me his princess!

The following lines were apt and true then...the following lines are apt and true now also. It was dedicated to him then...it is dedicated to him now also!

We both haven't completed this poem...coz certain things are better left unfinished...forever...

Initially strangers we were,
Overtime became friends dear,
In spite of the unknown fear, my heart is going through...
A feeling that is very early, very strange, very beautiful!


The wait is becoming long,
The bond is growing strong,
It doesn't seem any more wrong, that we are savouring...
A feeling that is very early, very strange, very beautiful!

Weekend tidbits

If you happen to be a privileged resident of Bangalore, I am sure you must not have missed the amazing treatment that the autowallahs give you here (sarcasm very much intended). They actually feel as if the entire working crowd in city of Bangalore are money minting machines having loads of money. They just don’t think twice before charging exorbitant sums (Sometimes I feel that this is latest kind of extortion mechanism!).

Just penning one of the innumerable experiences with the autowallah…
Last weekend I had to go to Forum (a mall) which is from my place a minimum charge by a rick (Rs 12). It is just 4 in the evening and I stop a rick

Me: Bhaiya Forum?
Autowallah: Ummm…theek hai. Only 30 rupees
Me (Muttering under my breath): What the..!!!

My roommate has a brilliant punch line for these autowallahs. She will approach them and say…

Roommate: Bhaiya waise toh hume pata hai ki aap xyz jagah par nahi jaayenge. Phir bhi hum aapse pooch hi lete hain kya aap xyz chaloge?
(The autowallah gives a confused and surprised look, and sometimes outta this confusion he reluctantly agrees to take us!)

Jai ho Bangalore ke autowaalon ki!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It has been so long that I left Mumbai. But it still seems that I belong there. Remember those good old days when people used to get something or meet someone from their native place and immediately felt a bonding towards that thing or person, thinking…”arre ye mere gaon ka hai!!!”

Something similar happens to me when I come across someone or something remotely related to Mumbai in this alien city down south.

So it was simply a moment to cherish when after months, I decided to have Vada Pav last weekend. I was all alone at that time and usually hate eating without a company. But surprisingly, I enjoyed my Vada Pav a lot. To tell you frankly, it felt as if:

I relished Mumbai again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ahhh…..I have moved and traveled so many times from one place to another in the past couple of years that I have almost become quite comfortable with the trauma of packing and unpacking every time. (Given the optimistic person that I am, I have started seeing it as an alternate career opportunity….having my own Packers and Movers Company. Tell me if you are looking for a job change. Don’t get me wrong dude…I won’t hire you…I’ll come and help you pack!) :D

So it did not bother me much that I have to pack a cupboard full of clothes and other stuff before moving from Bangalore to Calcutta. My dad was after me for last two weekends and every time he brought up this topic, I would assure him that this weekend I’ll finish most of the packing (and no prizes for guessing, I would postpone it every time!).

But last Sunday, I decided to take action on my dad’s advice (phew! finally!!) and started packing at 11 in the night. Boy! It turned out to be more tedious than I had thought….and then, I started feeling hungry. Cooked up something in the middle of the night (wanna use the phrase “I was burning the midnight oil”…hee hee). After satiating the rats in my stomach, I started packing again.

And after three hours of slogging, the moment finally came when I took a deep breath and calmly said:

Khallas!!!

I have fallen for "him" coz...

• He is a Maths wizard and still we hardly talk about Maths! :O

• He understands my PJs and cracks equally sad PJs!

• He tries to complete my half-baked incomplete poems!

• He would say “I feel like maaroing a cheesy line” and then doesn’t say it!

• He likes to hear my stupid, silly, sleepy voice! (haha)

• He is a Ph.D. in Comp. Sc. but plays Doodle with me on Yahoo messenger and draws huts and sceneries! (lol)

• I call him names and he simply laughs it off!

• When I say something really stupid and then regret about it saying “’I would mind my words”, he says “I would mind you minding your words”!

• He wakes up early in the morning simply to click snaps of snow to send to me!

• He searches for my photos in my parents wedding album and then realizes his mistake and yet confesses about it! (cho chweet)

• He talks about his awards and recognitions with utmost humility and embarrassment!

• He makes an attempt to write mails in Punjabi coz I am fond of Punjabi!

• He changes his schedule to complete his paper reviews and other work before I come back from office so that he can chat with me on all useless topics!

• He sings for me and with me!

• He is the most lovable dodo! (He’s gonna kill me for this)
  
  

and the most clichéd one yet most special…

He loves me and cares for me a lot :) :) :)

Bachpan ki yaadein...

Writing is a weird thing. The last time I posted, it was after a long long gap. And this time I am posting again within a span of few days. My previous post inspired me and I just felt this urge to write about my childhood days.

Got this pic from a cousin of mine a couple of weeks back...it was in her Orkut album. I had a look at the pic and said....
"Gosh!!!! Ye hamaari photo hai???!!!! This is so cute!!!" and asked her to send it to me immediately.



(I am the 2nd from right)

This pic reminds me of the cute, carefree childhood days. Days when we played together....fought with each other...got scolded by elders for drinking cold water and running in and out of the house....when the biggest worries we had in life was that we have to complete our homework before we could be allowed to play again.....when ludo, ghar-ghar, hide and seek used to be really important activities...when we asked innocent questions without the fear of sounding stupid...days when we would not bother about spoiling the crease of our clothes...when we got haircut at the local barber shop....and when a birthday party used to be a really important and exclusive event in our lives. The list is not exhaustive!

A couple of lines reminiscing those good, "young" days....

beet gaye woh din...bas yaadein chod gaye...
hamaare hothon pe...chand muskuraahatein chod gaye :)

Just kiddin' :)

First of all, wishing everyone a Happy Children’s Day...now you’ll ask me
“Why are you wishing everyone on Children’s Day?” coz our logical and social senses justify people only upto a particular age group as children and refrain to believe that there is a kid in each one of us.

Kids are indeed the most beautiful creation of God. A twinkle in their eyes, a cute smile on their face and a sense of absolute self contentment in their hearts make you believe that the world is still a lovely place to live in.

It is so much fun to behave kiddo at times….don’t trust me, then try these things...tickle somebody unexpectedly…splash water ferociously on others when having an outing on a water front...lick and enjoy an ice-cream cone…drink tea holding your cup in both hands and making a ‘slurrrp’ noise...laugh heartily over a stupid joke…get wet in the rains and feel the drops drench your body and soul.....just a few things to find happiness in those little and non-materialistic things.

That’s the whole idea....we adults are way too mature to take pleasure in such crazy stuff, too occupied to revel in the marvels of nature, too unsatisfied to appreciate the little achievements....always waiting for something big and extraordinary to happen that would make us happy....always sulking and grumbling about the things that we cannot change.

So for a change....keep your adulthood aside…take a break from your hectic schedules…and let out the kid in you. It will surely make a difference.....and I am not kiddin’ this time!!!

Yayay!!! India - the new World Champions!!!

In a country where cricket is a religion, any cricket crazy person would have not remained aloof from the frenzy of current T20 World Cup series. The good part about the matches in T20 was that they only lasted for 3 hours. So it was like watching an amazing suspense-thriller movie where no one can predict the climax. The tables were turned when an obvious favourite like Australia had to face defeats from the likes of Zimbabwe, Pakistan and eventually India in the semis. And of course, who could have thought at the start of the series that the two teams which were knocked out in the 1st round of World Cup barely six months back would go on to play the finals.

The paragraph above looks like I have copy-pasted stuff from some English newspaper. So now I’ll switch to more informal, more my-like tone. I watched almost all the matches that India played (except for the one against New Zealand….and now I proudly go about claiming that India lost that match coz I didn’t watch it…hehe). And you know what, I watched most of these matches in the comfortable warmth of my office canteen (yeahhh ….my office canteen has a nice big screen television and with lots of eating options around, it makes a perfect setting for watching India playing (and beating) one team after another). What makes it even more fun was that I had the company of many colleagues who were even more crazy about cricket than me.

So it was so very normal to cheer, shout, yell, clap, hi-fives, whistle and more such crazy stuff inside the office area whenever there was a match. No irrationality withstanding, we would not even refrain to curse the players when they would play bad. But there was always an optimism, a silent prayer on everyone’s mind, that India should win.

All the cricket fans are quite superstitious when it comes to cricket. Coincidentally our group always sat on a specific table while watching these matches together…therefore, when India could not amass a huge total in the final against Pakistan (we were sitting on a different table then coz somebody had already occupied “our” table)….so after Indian innings was over…and most of the crowd dispersed, we quickly captured “wo wala table”. Needless to say, that table was lucky again and India went on to clinch the trophy.

I dunno why, but I was very optimistic about India performing well in this World Cup. In fact, I would change my gtalk caption every single day during T20. When India’s first match against Scotland got cancelled coz of rains, my gtalk caption read as:

“Scotland ki kismat achchi thi jo baarish ho gayi, varna India uska band baja deti”.

One of my colleagues read it and asked, “Bahut bharosa hai India par??!!”

“Of course”, I replied.

The day when India was supposed to take on Pakistan in the finals, I changed my caption to:
“C’mon India, It’s your day today!!!”

(I had secretly started believing that even changing my gtalk caption before and after every match has something to do with India winning every single match. Well, didn’t I say that all cricket fans are quite superstitious)

I love watching India play. In fact, during the match against Pakistan and India in the initial round, I had a tough deadline at work. But I just could not afford to miss the match. So I first saw the thrilling clash between the two titans and then went on to work till 6 in the morning to finish my deadline.

On the day of the final, the euphoria in the office was palpable. We were finishing all the urgent work so that any last-minute deadlines should not prevent us from watching the final. At the given time, our entire group gathered in the canteen, with lots of other colleagues too. In fact, we had run short of chairs in the canteen and many people were simply standing and watching the match. India had won the toss and elected to bat. No matter what, but the excitement and craze for India-Pakistan clash in a World Cup final just could not match anything else. Gosh!!!! It was simply amazing!!! We were yelling and clapping and shouting on every boundary. There would be a collective “Oh no!!!!” when the ball would go a lil high in the air, for the possibility that there might be a catch.

After Indian batting innings, we moved to “our” table and waited for other group members to gather. One of my colleagues suggested bottle-banging, so we collected all water bottles from our desks so that we can add to the cheer and noise quotient. And then, Pakistan wickets started falling, and totally oblivious of our managers, team leads and other seniors around us, we simply went berserk. We banged bottles on the table, shouted slogans, clapped, hi-fived, whistled and yelled at the top of our voices!!!

Lekin Indian team bhi kam stupid nahi hai…..aasani se koi kaam nahi karti…..apne fans ki jaan nikaalne ke baad hi match jeet paati hai. When Pakistan had lost 7 wickets and India’s win looked so obvious, there was suddenly a twist in the tale. Our own “Bhajji” (Harbhajan Singh for those who are less acquainted with our team players) threw quite an expensive over. 3 sixes in one single over. And the format of T20 is such that one good or bad over can change the shape of the match. There was more to come. In the next over, again there was a “six” on the 1st ball itself. These expensive overs brought the Required Run Rate for Pakistan to win to quite a manageable figure. We all went into a mourning mood.

But the best was yet to come. Dhoni handed ball to “much hated” (at least for me) Joginder Sharma in the last over. And his “outside the off stump” ball…which had yielded way too many runs in the previous matches, paved way to a catch out of last Pakistani batsman. WHOA!!!!!! India had won the cup!!!!! We went MAD (literally!!!) Lots of cheering, slogan shouting etc. happened post match too, but I won’t mention the details here (coz it was something to savour, to experience, to soak in, the feeling that no words can describe)

Kudos to Indian team, hats off to Dhoni for amazing captaincy!!!

India is World Champions…..and we are here to stay….watch out!!!!!