Now time for some action

I was tagged by Reflections many moons ago to do the gender tag. You gotta spill 10 facts about you which do not fit the stereotype of your gender. And I read some posts executing the tag..and boy o boy some girls simply kick a**!! Phuh! Some had climbed trees, others were gadget freaks, and many many more. I always prided myself in you know being a little 'non girly' (maybe Kajol's rendition of "ayeee mujhe ladki mat bolna haan" in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai glamorised the idea so much more that I tended to believe more in it. Sadly KJo made her ultimately become very "ladki" type before she could charm SRK back :( Damnnn stereotypes :(  )
But now as I sit to do this tag, and I had been thinking about it for quite a while, and I am still fumbling to find mere 10 facts about myself which would not fit the gender stereotype :(. Here is a me who loves house work, simply adores cooking, wont step out without a dab of lipstick and eye liner, splashes perfumes like egyptian mummies (a college mate wrote that about me in the slam book, still aint sure whether to take it as a comment or a compliment :S) andddddd I am rotten when it comes to numbers :( (Maths is just so not my cup of tea) . So much so, I am shaped like a pear, that I even look better in the "feminine" Indian attires and skirts than in trousers and the like.
Well, with this sad story as the background, let me start my feeble attempt at making through this tag.

1. Ahem, I am logical.
Long time ago, I had heard in a session back in school, that "As men have reason women have intuition". I would not champion the veracity of the statement, but if that is some general wisdom, then I would have erred against my gender. Cos I buy nothing but logic and reason. You can even make me take 3 steps back after seeing a black cat, but give me one solid, logical reason. Emotional hulabaloo, religious sentimentality, superstitious mores - nothing, none of them can make me do something I am not convinced to do. You gotta convince me with reasoning only. Thats why I prefer Hercule Poirot so much more than Miss Marple :)
2.I am the one who goes to the fridge to fetch the tomato and then spends a good 10 minutes wondering at the open coldness thinking what did I come to get there in the first place.
3.I cannot gossip. Talking about someone is more of information per se. So and so got married to so and so - cool. That person changed a job - awesome. That aunty did that - too bad. It kinda just ends there. Between my friends and family, its more like whats happening in our lives, analysing stuff and discussing some major events. Swapping in laws stories and husband idiosynchrasies and backbiting colleagues or school mates just does not come naturally. There was one time I spoke some 30 minutes with my friend about project management and my mom once took 15 minutes to explain hawala to me. Go figure.
4.I love the color blue! Black comes a very close second,nearly tied neck to neck with red.
5.I can drive and 'park' the car with dexterity :)
6.I do not understand flowers. As in, I love seeing someone holding a bunch of flowers for me and even like holding the same for sometime. But then I dont know what to do. They seem like such a waste. I feel they should be left to adorn the plants they are supposed to :(.
7. In the same vein,I hate teddy bears and other stuffed toys. The only thing that strikes me when I see any stuffed toy is the humungous amounts of dust they can trap and the lovely sneeze sessions they can give! (A teddy once made me sneeze so much, I was nearly paralyzed huh!)
8.Fascinated by the yellow metal - thats so not me. "Mujhe sone ke kangan chahiye" is something K will never ever hear from me. The love affair women have with gold completely beats me.

Two more to go,I am inching towards the finishing line :D
9.I am a D.I.Y person. I would not wait for K to reach for stuff in the highest shelves but would prefer putting a chair and elevating myself to reach the thing I want. Same goes for stuff gone kaput be it a telephone chord or the ipod.
10. I HATE(underline hate, make the font real big,scream  it out from the roof tops) Love stories. Yessssssssssss......is this a winner or what. Reading/viewing love stories gives me an uneasy feeling in the stomach and at the end of the exercise I am so tired, I dont even get sleep. So please keep away from the DDLJs(I like it just cos its an SRK movie), the You have got mails and Sleepless in Seattles. What makes me feel good? Liberating movies like Ab tak Chappan, Black, Kill Bill (Oh how I love that movie!) and even something as slapstick as American Pie would also do. I have read 3 Mills and Boons and they are some waste of time. Long long time back, I migrated to more realistic stuff.

I did itttttttttttttttttttt. Now I would like to tag Renu, Ashu,Satish, Shylu and Abhishek (Bahut time ho gaya tumhe tag kiye hue *evil* )

The last lap

When I was back in Chennai,the last week with my parents and sister were one of the most fulfilling and fun filled ones. It was going to be a long time before we would be together again, so we decided to make the fullest of it.

My mom comes to Chennai and I don't take her to T Nagar for shopping is just not done. So we had the customary trip to T Nagar which resulted in quite some heavy shopping. I tend to loose my patience with such stuff but then anything for mommy dear. Along with this we also had the trips to make to K's office which was far far away from humanity. I had to make 4 trips to the office to get all the travel related stuff done,and boy I did notch some kms in my car!Again, it was going to be quite a while before I drove the beauty again, so I was not AT ALL complaining about the time spent with her. Now also even though I have the most ravishing cars serenading on the streets, my heart longs for the Red Beauty parked in our apartment back in Chennai. :(

By the grace of God, my mother in law and mom get along like a house on fire. (Touchwood) Ironically there are times when the ladies gang  up against me! This time too was no different, with both of them pampering me when I got tired of running here and there, helping me a lot with the packing, suggesting what to take and what to skip and equally reprimanding me if I lost patience. It was also heartening to see, both of them cook side by side. Mil making the south Indian delicacies and mom cooking for her finicky husband :). They also did chores together, mil putting the washing machine,mom drying the clothes and folding them, cleaning up some of the mess the packing used to create and all the other pesky work that creeps up. I really miss the two moms I have :(

My dad was way too busy those days. There was the Soccer World Cup, Wimbledon, Twenty Twenty between England and Australia if I am not mistaken and some other series. So while the whole house zip zapped and zoomed, my dad was the stationary figure, completely glued to the TV. The one time he moved muscles was during the morning walks. And I was not the one to miss the walks with him. All the while, I used to walk all alone and with the ipod plugged in. This time it was going to be with my dad. It brought back old memories of when I was in school and dad, sis and I used to go on long walks. Suprisingly, my sister, not one to wake up before 0800 also jumped in to the prospect of walking even though it entailed getting up a 0600! Three of us had some enjoyable walks around Besant Nagar and I will always cherish those mornings.

The gang of girls went out for a dinner one night which will always remain one of my favourite outings. We went to a place called "Once upon a Pirate" near the Besant Nagar beach and had a splendid evening there. We gorged on some delicious food and took all the time in the world chatting about this and that. Dad decided to put up at home itself since,he did not want to budge an inch from the TV front.

Mom,sis and I also spent a lot of time walking in the evenings to the nearby stores. We used to spend the evening running small small errands, someday for the rolling pin, for safety pins some other day,some evening it was a trip to the parlor for some pampering while some other time it was a temple visit to thank chubby God.We just needed an excuse to step out of the house and do things together. Towards the fag end of my days in Chennai, the times became more action packed. There was purchase of new luggage, some clothes for K and other some other knick knacks. The list that was made was big, but it was awesome fun, checking off things which had already been purchased, striking out stuffs which we felt were not necessary, weighing the suitcases and then again rearranging the stuff all over again. There were some things which I wanted my sister to take back since she would be able to use them atleast. There was fervent packing of those items as well. Now as I reminisce, there are so many many instances I can think, when we rolled over laughing over some silly joke, got all hyper on some instance, raised voices over some difference. But one common thread that ran through all the 5 days the 5 of us were there, we were in it "together". Everyone was thinking in the same direction. I thank God for making me pass through the difficult times that were and in the end showing me how much my entire family rallied for me and K. Touchwood. And Thank God! 

The stuff great weekends are made up of

Disclaimer:Mildly mushy post ahead from an unromantic person. The post may have ridiculous metaphors, so kindly curtail any instinct to throw up when they come.

Last weekend was simply amazing, just the right ingredients which make up a near perrrrrrrrrrrrfect weekend. Biggg Touchwood to this.

We made a trip to Liverpool, so there was the basic and the most enticing element of all - travel!Being a typical Sagi, I am nearly ever ready for a trip. And since I came here, this was one proper travel that K and I were making. I who was spending all my weekends at home back in India, was getting a chance to travel with K after so long, that I was giggling like a silly girl at the mere thought of it. Moreover, Liverpool is a World Heritage City, so the element of history added on to the travel, was like an extra dash of ginger in a warm cuppa tea :D(Boy my love for tea takes my stupid sense of poetry to new heights! )

By 0545 we were up on Saturday morning,and packed breakfast which consisted of sandwiches and fruits. I made tea for both of us, after which we were all set for the walk to the railway station. The city was a sight to behold, but what I liked best was the long walk K and I took across the Albert Dock. With the River Mersey lapping the shores and sea gulls flying overhead and pigeons abounding on the streets, it was a hmm...what I deem,a romantic walk :) What would have made the thing perfect was - Sunshine! It was cloudy and I am like Jadoo, just cant do without sunshine. Thats why I so adore Chennai weather, I can never complain about the lack of Sunshine :D. And when everyone cribs about the hot and humid weather, yours truly will be basking in the superb Sun :) Walk done, we sat  over a bench and had the sandwiches. K's idea of a perfect trip is he should eat there and sleep there. He loved sitting and eating on the benches, and if I would not have stopped him, I am sure,he would have gone ahead, asked me to kindly sit on some other bench, and enjoyed a niceeeee nap.

We took a ferry over the River Mersey, and thanks to K's choosiness, we ended up missing some seats which would have given us a good view of either side of the river. So there was a bit of roothna from me and the splendid manana from K came in the form of him getting a "corner stand" for  us (Corner stand, is like when you get a corner place for standing, and can just lean against the railings, rather than having to hold anything for balance. I loveeee window seat and corner stand :D ) Who then cares for historical sights when there is a "corner stand" and K to lean over.

The cruise done, we came to the city center for lunch. Lunch was pasty and potato wedges. I did not like it so much, I still want the onions, dhaniya powder, jeera powder,little chilli, turmeric and decent amount of salt to be part of whatever I am ingesting. Cheese, white colored food items, boiled vegetables, sauces and ketchups still do not reach the spectrum of "palatable" on my tongues spectrometer. But K's concern at seeing me trying to somehow "eat" the pasty(adj) pasty(noun) was very cute, and took the outing a notch up.

Lunch was followed by a trip in the hop on hop  off bus around the city. We killed an hour like that,but better still was the  hour we killed sucking orange popsicles at a park. Idyllic. But here, they make those popsicles out of pure orange juice, which does not leave the Oraaaanjeee color on your tongue! How pathetic is that! The whole intention of getting a popsicle is to get the color on the tongue. There is a lesson or two in adulteration that Indian Chuski makers can teach these guys, hmpf!

By the time we got home and hit the bed, we were dead tired.

Sunday....was another treasure trove.


Sunday, the intention was entirely to take it slow and low. K hit upon the idea to take me to a store which hosted a lot of Indian stuff. It was a solid 25 mins walk after which we reached the departmental store. Seeing vegetables like palak, methi, karela, raw banana- and the likes, I was all agape. Yea since I have come down here, I had not even chanced on seeing these vegetables.

When we started, K took a travel bag with him. I was like why travel bag? His answer was, you will see. And true to his words,I was mega carried away with all the Indian fares. And I did end up buying enough to stuff the entire travel bag. Shopping done, K took me to Yaadgar, a place which you wont forget in a hurry, cos the chole bhature there are to dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee for!A Punjabi granny sitting nearby, got all pally with us. And I could not help but get reminded of my dear Punju roomie dear :D I wanted to have jalebi too, but they said, they prepare jalebi in the afternoons only. Anyways, the stomach was all tubby with the delicious lunch and we trekked back. Gluttonous that we are, we saw a place which sold Paan. And as daane daane pe likha hai khane wale ka naam, the place sold jalebis too! We purchased them, and happily munched on the paan and scooted home.The splendid sights and sounds and tastes of the trip, filled me with nostalgia and longing. Cant thank K enough for taking me there.

Sunday, also luckily happened to be the day when I got the right mix to make the perfect South Indian filter coffee. Here the milk is different, the measure of sugar to be taken is different the only thing same is the coffee powder I carried all the way from India. So after 2 failed attempts, I was third time lucky.Since the coffee in the morning had come out so well, K and I were majorly tempted to have a mug full in the evening also. It was simplyyyyy divine!!!!

We again took a small stroll in the evening. And wrapped up for the day with all time movie of ours -  Kill Bill :D

The runup

I am now living up to the life of a homemaker to the hilt. I surprise myself, as to how I am able to keep myself sane without the 8-12 hours of office work which used to so take up my time.

But before I got to this phase, it was quite a roller coaster ride getting here in the first place. With K leaving India in Feb, with everything being unsure, the duration of his stay, my plans of getting there, our home in Chennai and the whole 9 yards, we were way too much in the dark. I was getting opportunities at work, which I was unable to accept with K's tenure being unclear. I did not want K, mil and I to be spread across continents. I was with mil at my own home, this was solace enough.Yeah somedays were real real bad days, when roomie dear and Ashu darling used to bail me out. Seriously you guys simply rockkkkkk!!!!!! :D But then many a times,the thought of not working and just being with K, sacrificing a "career" used to ding me so bad, that I used to go crazy. Anyhoo, I somehow managed to scramble through the dilemmas and it kinda got clear,that K was gonna be there till the end of Feb 2011 atleast.

With this clarity, I ventured across and started processing my release formalities from the new account I had joined. God bless the manager with a zillion happiness for being understanding enough and going ahead with my release without much ado.When I was at the fag end of starting my Loss of Pay leave, K blurted out something in  a meeting,and was going to be honored with a return to India albeit with a better role and designation. But again the $^%$&^%^&&& managers were going to take a while to "finalise" the move. They were still a bit uncertain. And I was supposed to SIT and WAIT for people across the seas to make a %$£^* decision and then prepare myself and "act" accordingly. Amazinggggg!!!!!

The wait was dragging on. In the midst of things,K and I decided that we would go forward (again using the office lingo huh) and personally process my tourist visa to the UK. It would burn a biggie whole in the pocket, but then somethings gotta give. The limbo was too much to bear.

Ironically, the day we were jumping the gun and I was exactly 10 minutes away from filing my papers in the consulate, K called and said,the decision was that he would stay put, till the beginning of 2011. It took the "$%&%^* management ^*%£^! 4 weeks, which is one month to pass this through. Well,with the kitty cat finally out of the smelly bag,all things seemed restful, with me needing  to step up on finalising the loss of pay leave,asking my parents and sis to come down to Chennai to see me off and also make some itsy bitsy purchases(mostly K's demands).

Those days there seemed to be nothing moving. Unsurity ruled the day. Things are not very farrr from different now. Yes,I am  with K, which is blissful. But then we have a lot of things to iron out, how long can we put up with a single income?How long  am I not gonna work?How do I restart my career after the long hiatus?And if K decides to stay here longer, would I be returning?Would mil be joining us? Brrrrr....  I should grab some ginger tea :)

Be careful what you wish for...

Cos.....it might just come true.

I remember talking to a college mate  of mine who was serving notice in the firm he was working with. It so happened, that his notice period got over 2 days before his joining in the subsequent firm. That technically made him 2 days without a job!! When he told this to me, I was like life must be idyllic eh? Wake up when you want, have a lazy breakfast, stroll around the house, enjoy a leisurely lunch, a siesta, then a warm cup of tea in the evening made by the better half followed by some hours lolling in front of the television and then dinnerrrrrr. Hmmmm...its such a pleasant dream that soch ke hi aakhon main paani aa gaya...And I blurted...."Oh I so wish I was a proper homemaker some day".

And my prayers have been answered (not that I am dying out of joy, human nature we never ever appreciate what we get huh) But then for all practical purposes, I am a pukka homemaker now. Morning involves waking up (ahem leisurely), having a lazzzzzzzzzzzy cup of tea with biscuits (the cup  is so lazy that I have to drag it to my lips) (My jokes are getting sorry-ier* by the day).Then I take alllll the suuueeeeet time in the world to cook lunch. And like a proper pati vrata naari in Madame E.Kapoor soaps, I wait for hubby dear to come from the khet(ahem office).The only thing missing is a silk saree, which is generally replaced by the most worn out pyjamas or wrap around skirts. After lunch is done with the man, I get cleaning the kitchen and washing utensils. This is followed by thinking about what to make for dinner and getting a list of stuff to be bought if my mind hinges on a particularly elaborate dish to cook. I enjoy a brief siesta of some 90 odd minutes after which I venture out on some errand or the other. I take close to 45 minutes getting back home,cos those thunder thighs sure do need some workout(damn them ). Thennnnnnn its cooking again, followed by eating and cleaning. 

The brief moments away from kitchen are filled with calls to mommy dear and chatting with friends. Also a bit of reading and surfing the net. Then of course, there is cleaning the house, washing, drying, folding and ironing clothes, generally gazing out of the window :) and till date it also had been what to put up in my blog :D

Welll............ now that the last one has been done, I have a hugeeeeeeee responsibility off my shoulders :)

I will surely be more regular going forward (Damn office lingo! Going forward was something we  used at the drop of hat or for that matter at the drop of anything :D. No more using "going forward" going forward :) )

*I don't think there is a term like sorry-ier :S, but see not using the grey matter enough does make one hallucinate words :S

The words that sum up beautifully what I want to write

This song is my all time favorite! One of the rare occassions where I prefer the movie version than Eric Segal's Man Woman and Child.

The lyrics loosely translate like this

I am not angry with you life, I am just surprised

Your innocent questions distress me

I never thought that to live, I would have to take care of sorrows

I never thought that everytime I smile, I would have to repay the favour of the smiling

Now everytime there is a smile on my lips, I feel as if there is a debt on my lips

Life, your sorrows have taught me new relationships

Sometimes I have got the respite of shade under scorching sun

If today the eyes well up, the tears will flow through

Tomorrow, maybe I will not even have the tears to shed

I had kept one tear, but am not sure where did I let it flow

(The translation is to the best of my auditory perception and Hindi knowledge. Any mistakes may please be pointed out :)  )

The doldrums do not seem to end, hoping God gives me strength and the patience to go through this. For.... this too shall pass :)

The sinner is back again

I would rot in hell for the sins I commit :( God Bless my soul :S

No this time around apart from the usual gluttunous streak, I committed the other sin of SLOTH. Yes, yours truly spent more hours being horizontal than being vertical. The very next day of my landing in Bbsr had me travel to my granny's place, which is customary. After spending the weekend there, I had the Monday all by myself. And guess what I did - I slept. Yes just plain and simple spent it sleeping. I had hit the bed the previous day at around 0030 hours and was up at 0830 in the morning. I saw my sissy off to office and then put on the air conditioner at a lovely 24 degrees Celsius and by 1030 hours, I was in sleep's arms. I woke aroung 1430 and then had the lunch and by 1530, guess what, I was sleeping again. This routine continued for nearly 4 days! I was myself amazed at how much I could sleep. But I simply love sleeping, and my mom was  of the opinion I had lost weight (ahem ahem, moms and their eyes). I am bloating like a toad on a rampage :(   and mom wanted me to get all the (ahem ahem ) rest!!

The week did have me doing some office work at tight schedules, during the evening hours, more because I was sleeping throughout the mornings. The next week, I was more human in my sleep durations. And was slowly limping to normalcy. But then the Thursday of the week had K throw a bomb at me. Without divulging the ugly details, I would say, it had me spend 4 utterly sleepless, tear soaked nights (sniff, sniff) To make that up, after the fourth day I was back sleeping like a log, all the time :D The time bomb that K dropped is still ticking and we are still waiting on the casualities, but till then.... Mujhe mat roko mujhe sone do :D

Well "The Mask" always asked for somebody to stop him, but here I am and something is stopping me from going back to Chennai and leading a normal life with normal sleep. First I had the tickets cancelled due to Madame Laila, who made an announcement with much pomp and glory, but was a damp squib. Then the AI officials chose to go on a "flash strike". And I ended up having an extended holiday in Bbsr. I had to run helter skelter to get the alternative arrangements, cos it was imperative to be in office on the 31st. After a lot of scurrying around, I finally paid through my teeth and managed a return flight ticket for Sunday. Now that the worry is over.... lemme zzzzzzzzzzzz again :)