Century!

Thanks a ton Ashu for giving some exercise to my grey cells. :) Here comes a very lenghty tag.. Brace yourself.

1. Last drink: Coffee

2. Last phone call: With Mommmmy

3. Last text message: Some Airtel promotion message

4. Last song you listened to: Something on in my gym maybe Britney Spears crooning "I was born to make you happy"

5. Last time you cried: Last weekend maybe. I was boredddddd cos K would nt give me the laptop. I still cry if I am bored :D A trait that has remained since I was a toddler.

HAVE YOU EVER...
6. Dated someone twice: K who else.

7. Been cheated upon? Cheated - Guess no.

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? Hell no

9. Lost someone special? Hmm I dont think so.

10. Been depressed? Of course!! And I tell you its an awful feeling.

11. Been drunk and threw up? Nopes

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

FIRSTS :
15. Made new friends: Yes :) Luckily started it in school when I chanced upon Sameepa. She was a friend to stay.

16. Fallen out of love: No - Am too level headed for that

17. Laughed until you cried: That's not me :)

18. Met someone who changed you: Changed me a little bit? - Yes. My friend Swapna did bring about some changes in me. Again I am too stubborn to bring in a whole lot of change.

19. Found out who your true friends were:Yes during graduation.

20. Found out someone was talking about you:Yes in school :) We were silly girls then :)

HAVE/YOU:
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: K is very much on my friends list :P

22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life:There are 4 whom I don't know. Rest all I do.

23. How many kids do you want to have: 2

24. Do you have any pets:No

25. Do you want to change your name: NO

26. What did you do for your last birthday: Went roamie roam with K :)

27. What time did you wake up today: 9:45 technically though woke up umpteen times for the milkman, open door for household help, close the door once she left, answer a phone call from - Log sunday ko sone bhi nehi dete hain :(

28. What were you doing at midnight last night: Reading Love in the time of Cholera

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: My parents to make a visit here

30. Last time you saw your father: In March

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life:One decision I took in my professional career

32. Most visited web page: Goooooooooogle

Whats your:
33. Name: Amrita

34. Nicknames: Cherrie, Amu, Moooo, Moosie, Chubby,Bunny

35. Zodiac sign:Sagi

36. Male or female or transgender: Huh. Female

37. Elementary: St. Annes Convent School

38. School: Carmel Convent

39. Colleges:NIT Rourkela

40. Hair color: Jet Black

41. Long or short: Longish :)

42. Height: A little less than 5 5"

43. Do you have a crush on someone? Hugh Jackman, Sachin Tendulkar :D

44. Ever been in love? Still am :D :D

45. Piercings? Ears and they suffice

46. Tattoos? Are you talking to me?

47. Righty or lefty: Righty right

48. First surgery: Will the ear piercing count? :P I got it done at a pediatrician

49. First piercing: Those ears are coming in a lot of answers

50. First best friend: A girl name Ranjita in school. We were such thick friends.

51. First sport you loved: Badminton

52. First pet: A doggy named Ramu :) Ram Jaane how his name came :)

53. First vacation: We used to make yearly trips to my mom and dad's native place during summer vacations. But a real vacation which I remember was a trip to UP and Delhi with 13 other member of our family.

54. First concert: I attended or I gave? :D

55. First crush:Mel Gibson and Roberto Baggio :) I had a crush on Baggio more when he missed the penalty stroke. My heart just went out to him.

RIGHT NOW:
56. Eating: Nothing.

57. Drinking: Nothing again.

58. I'm about to: Make lunch

59. Listening to: K blabber his suggestions on how to answer the questions

60. Waiting for: Him to shut up.

YOUR/FUTURE
61. Want kids? Of course

62. Want to get married? I am. Not again :D

63. Careers in mind? Oh manyyyyy Full time mom, teacher, librarian, financial honcho.... lotsss

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
64. Lips or eyes:Eyes undoubtedly

65. Hugs or kisses: Warm tender hugs

66. Shorter or taller: Tall. Short men don't make much of a statement :D ( Sorry no offense )

67. Older or Younger:Older

68. Romantic or spontaneous:Spontaneous. Romantic is so filmy

69. Nice stomach or nice arms: Nice arms only they can give the nice hugs :)

70. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive

71. Hook-up or relationship:Relationship dude.

72. Trouble maker or hesitant:I love trouble :)

HAVE YOU EVER :
73. Kissed a stranger: And why would I?

74. Lost glasses / contacts: Don't need either

75. Broken someone's heart: Nay I am not a heart breaker

76. Had your own heart broken: It broke when I heard Mel Gibson has a Russian girlfriend :( :( :(

77. Been arrested: Noooooo

78. Turned someone down:Yes

79. Cried when someone died: Hmm yes

80. Liked a friend that is a girl?Like? :S I dont think this like is in the right sense

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
81. Yourself: Everyday

82. Miracles:Again everyday

83. God:Hes my pillar of strength

84. Love at first sight:Of course not

85. Heaven:No. Everything is right here on earth.

86. Santa Claus:Hehe no. It was a Mrs Udita Kapoor in school who used to dress up as one. So I always knew who he is :D

87. Kiss on the first date?No.

88. Angels:Yes. Moms are.

89. Devils: Yes :) Many kids are. :)

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

91. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time?No.

92. Wanted to kill someone ever? Oh yes. Sometimes I wonder how are suparis given :D

93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss? Ewww no one.

94. Committed a blunder and regretted later? Are nt all blunders regreted later?

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

Associate with something you wear:
96. White: Kurta

97. Black:T shirt

98. Red: Saree

99. Pink: Shirt

100. Posting this as 100 Truths? Was fun :)

Now I tag Renu, Shalom, I'll try 2 be truthful,Satish ,Abhishek Khanna(I know you hate doing them and would make a complete nonsense out of this - but i am being optimistic here that you may just write it ) and Shylu

Mera time kuch kharab chal raha hai :(

Yesterday was a very long day for me. Yesterday I was pick pocketed. Yes - you guys heard it right, and I am bad at keeping suspense and revealing at the very end as to why yesterday was a very long day for me - I was robbed of my wallet. Of the zillion + 1 things I carry in my big as a rucksack purse, the small cute navy blue wallet was what was chosen by the disreputable thief. And with it went 800 odd rupees, one ICICI platinum card, one ICICI silver card and 2 debit cards :( Thats why I said, mera time kuch kharab chal raha hai :(

Now back to the basics, how did it happen. Well yesterday I chanced to get into a bus to commute to office. As per my habit I paid for the ticket and went ahead to read Love in the time of Cholera. When I alighted from the bus, my purse felt a teeeeeny weeeeny lighter and I checked - the wallet was MISSING! Now till then I gave no thought as to who, when, how - I ran to the nearest auto. The urgency in my tone was sufficient to convey to the auto driver who knew no other language but Tamil to go ahead and chase the bus. He could have given any Hrithik Roshan a run for his money by the Dhoom ishtyle in which he drove the auto rickshaw. We reached the bus in the next to next stop and when I got in and checked, there was no purse to be found :( First I thought, maybe I was careless and had dropped the purse and the driver or conductor took it up. Crestfallen, I asked the auto rickshaw driver to drive me home, promising him to pay once we got home. On the way back itself, zip zap I got 2 messages of transactions worth Rs. 2840.50 and Rs. 6293.00(within a span of 15 mins of loosing my wallet). Then I was certain, that none of the bus operators had picked the wallet, cos they would be still on the route. It must have been someone who took it deliberately - and I had quite a few people who chanced to sit beside me and there could have been any number of opportunities for someone to pick pocket :(

I must commend the auto rickshaw driver for the awesome help that he was. I later discovered that he was infact waiting for someone to come when I came and approached him. But rather than waiting for that person, he chose to drive and help me. His other passenger in fact still owed him money for the onward trip. I called up that person to speak to him, since the auto driver did not have balance in his cell phone. The other gentleman said that, he had picked the auto from near his home and would pay him surely in the evening.

Once home, I had to go through the long, unnerving and extremely irritating process of cancelling 2 credit cards and 2 debit cards. My God, how ICICI bank made me wait wait and wait phew! I have gotten allergic to the theme tune of the bank grrrrrrr.... It took from 1220 to 1445 to get the 4 things blocked. Then since there had already been some transactions on my credit card, I had to file an FIR in the nearest police station and fax the same to the Fraudulent Department of the bank. When anything has to go wrong it will most definitely go wrong. Today being election day in the state, most police men were on election duty and the rest present were munching mutton biriyani clad in white vests ( believe me thats what they were doing ) When I saw the sight I thought I wonder if anything will work out today :( But I think the writer recognised my face ( Yes I had come to the same police station 2 months back to inform about the loss of my cell phone, and he obliged to take the complaint. Thank God! As we were coming out, we heard of another case of a girl having left her credit card in the ATM machine itself! Someone withdrew 4K cash and used the card to shop for 15K odd! She had left the debit card in her office ATM machine, means someone well educated was into such abhorable task. Maybe there should be more plastic money :(

FIR logdged, we came back home. I was dead tired not only with all the scurrying around but also because of a reprimands I got from K. He was hyper, tensed and very very anxious. And my dad being his replica, I had warned my sis not to tell him. When I reached home from the police station at 1530 and was about to have lunch, my dad wanted to speak to me! I was nearly narrating Hanuman Chalisa. I was too happy to hear "It happens dont worry" rather than a face a rampage from him. He was so chilled out!! I was amazed! Maybe he thought I must have got a heady dosage from K and could do without a repeat telecast from him. Lunch done, I lied on the sofa and dozed off for an hour and my mil who was with me through and through (poor dear she ) too had a cat nap.

Evening was full of analysis of how, why, when, destiny, karma, God. We called up the store as well to find out what had been shopped and it seems the spurious person had bought vessels and a fan! My dad was like " Arre why did nt he/she buy and ac!" I was like "Dadddddd!! " My manager being the good samaritan that he is, offered any sort of help needed even monetary :) When I informed my onsite counterparts, I was touched to see their empathy and concern. One of them retorted, the fiend should be made to do allllllllll the documentations of our projects, not once not twice but thrice and should even be made to answer some questionnaires :)

Frankly speaking, I was having a very ominous feeling since the morning. One thing or the other was going wrong. I had a strong sense something very wrong was going to happen. So when the theft happened, I was relieved in fact, that okay, if this is what had to go wrong, its fine. Whatever happens happens only for the good....

We have moved on and How!

Some days back I saw the wedding pics of a college mate of mine. I was kind of close to her at one point of time, but over the years our alignments and affiliations changed, and we formed our own distinctive circle of friends. Thanks to orkut, we kept getting updates on whats happening in the other person's life. When I saw her wedding pics 2 days back, I felt 2 things - first nostalgic - yea this was the way I had wedded some 15 months back and secondly - I thought how much we have moved on.

Most of my friends are married. Some nearly for half decades now, some in the seven year itch state :). Some are mothers! And most on the lookout for alliances or waiting for their turn to tie the knot. Some of my friends had improbable demands - and I saw them acquiesce real timidly to the charms of the guy and the whims of destiny. Some had long time sweethearts turned into soul mates. Some had difficult conditions and heavy baggage to carry but ended up getting the perfect person to share the burden. Some are still on the hunt for the perfect one - and I hope they get the partner of their dreams..

Today as I look my one year old neice and hear her mom say, I have to start saving for her wedding - I feel thats how maybe my mom would have said for me. And see now I am married, my parents are done with probably one of the greatest responsibilities. They still are waiting to do a lot more for me, but I am sure, getting a child marriage was something they will always feel proud of. When I see wedding pics of my friends, the thing that wows me most, is the expressions on the parents. I think its unfathomable the physical strain they would have underwent while arranging all the stuff and the less said of the mental anxiety the better. So on the wedding day, the eyes filled with love and concern for their wards yet a strange satisfaction is what makes me feel - we are blessed. We are blessed to have such parents.

And life does go on post wedding. Many things change, many for the better, some remain the same and some we struggle to keep the same. But the flux is really interesting. I was talking to my dear friend A yesterday who has lately gotten into full blown domesticity. And I was asking her hows life treating her now and all. Topics veered and we were reminiscent, how dark a picture we had of marriage. So unsure, so frightening. What if we ended up with the wrongest man on earth!! How might we go on? Touchwood - till now nothing that untoward has happened. (Hope our spouses have the same to say ;) ) During our student life, we saw married folks, but that was just passe. Today we are leading those lives and sometimes I think - hows married life for a particular person, how do so and so spend their time together, how do they manage to run the house. Nothing voyeuristic. But just like when we look at a house from outside and think about the people inside or hear about a profession and are curious as to what people actually do sitting in those place, similarly, I feel how others lives are. ( I am not sure how many people "look at a house from outside and think about the people inside" - but I do :S )

And then I feel how much I myself have transitioned. Today my answer to "hows married life?" would be different from what I would have answered in Feb 2008. And it will be so different in Feb 2010.

Mazdoor Union

Zindabad zindabad!!

I hate communism. But I Lourveeeeeeee them for giving us Labor Day! Chuttiiiiiiiiii!!

This was a weekend I was awaiting with bated breath. This year since its inception has been damn hectic; and all my plans of taking breaks, vacations, time offs have been going for a toss. I have had to work on weekends- many times on my own volition, on holidays, work from home after office hours and all that jazz. I was anticipating something untoward to happen this long weekend too - upar se election vilection ka time hai bhai - one never knows.

But then I think good Lord looking over me from the high heavens thought, ok let the sloth sloth around this time. And I ended up having the lazzzzzzzzzzzzzzziest 3 days possible.

Friday I lazily woke up at 8 ( very late by the standard of a good bahu) Once done with the morn chores and seeing K off (he had office all the 3 days) and done with an early lunch - I hit the bed. And i dozed a good 4 hours! Evening I caught up with some blogs, orkutted, chatted and generally browsed. Saturday was spent equally leisurely in the company of magazines and books. Evening we had invited Ks newly wed cousin and his bride for dinner. Mil and I were scurrying around in the kitchen, me busy with matar paneer and she with kolambu. Luckily both the dishes came out yummy yum. The couple wanted to get some shopping done and I escorted them to some areas near the beach to get the stuff. We never realised how we just like that passed 2 solid hours going from shop to shop.

And it was really endearing to see the newly wedded couple. Theirs is again a love marriage and the guy is head over heels over head in love with the gal. There he was playing the perrrrrrrfect hubby. Running to open the doors, pulling out the wallet zap as soon as they reached the billing counter, buying gifts secretely for her and asking me to hide them and to the extent of running to pick the shopping trolley for her too. I was like Dude, till 2 days ago she was doing all this on her own, and you get married to her and treat her as if shes some princess from Egypt. Then the girl was like, I swear, 2 days into marriage and hes like this - let a year pass, then I would have to remind him who I am. To this he solemnly replied - I wont change. I was like, touche :)

It was a real pleasure hosting them over. And sunday, mil and I bonded over the tv. Random we were watching shows all over the place :) End of day we made two bigggggggggggg jars of musk melon milk shake and mango milk shake - gulped a good amount (WOW) and kept the rest for the bebe of the house.

A gooood lazzzzy longggg weekend. Bring on the monday now. Am not afraid of it :D