I chose to make it a Happy New year

This time I am getting the same response from nearly everyone - the new year never made an impact. I am not sure if each and every person has taken a beating because of the economic meltdown :S but somehow everyone seemed to be giving me the same response.

Every year, I generally have some travel plans, to or from home, which makes the new year day or the days close to it(depending on the which part of the calendar I am traveling)pass by happily - if I would be going home, I would be at my chirpiest best, if I would be leaving home, I would be surrounded by relatives and hugs and kisses and with the wishes of seeing each other soon, that would make me brim with hope. But this year, it was for the first time that I was static.There was no trip in the offing. Thus it resulted in the new year not being accompanied with the fizz that it usually has.

Since our client offices were virtually vacant, work was nearly non existent. This prompted a lot of people to go forth on vacations or french leaves :) The empty chairs and just 60 minutes of work per day kind of made me feel, ok something is different, new year is coming up etc etc.

I had planned a dinner outing for K, mil and me for the 31st of December. But then mil suddenly did not seem to be in the spirits to go for it. K also being recently inducted into a high pressure assignment was not so game for any action :( And doing nothing special would have made me feel that there was nothing special. I know I know, as K remarked, it was just a change of calendar, but then, if we ignore the relevance of some days and carry on as usual, we might as well end up obliterating birthdays, holis, diwalis, christmases, anniversaries from our calendars. Cos, technically speaking, each one is just another day. It is because we chose to celebrate the occasion that the charm comes in. So I chose to make the new year, a happy one.

Since there was nothing much to be done, I scooted out at 1600 hrs on 31st evening. Seeing the bright twilight itself pepped me up. Was able to reach my area within an hour. The Ganesha temple which I adore a lot, was resplendent with flower decorations and I went inside and wished Chubby God to keep his benovelent eye on each one I love. On the way home from the temple, I picked some veggies - I had gajar ka halwa, puri and aloo subji in mind.

By the time I reached home, mil had convinced K to take me out for dinner. She wanted us to not spoil the program because she was not feeling up to it. But then I was all set to make dinner. I deferred making a call on the dinner plan till K returned home. Meanwhile mil and I savored ginger tea and watched Shrek 3 :)

K was stuck in deep traffic, which negated his chances of getting home before 2100 hrs. So I got on to making the dinner, and thankkkkkkkkk God! It came good. I was in the celebration mood already. After savoring a good dinner, I went on to watch RNBDJ yet again, to savor SRK :) Deliberately stayed up till 0000 hours, when I could do the functionary pranaam to God and zzzzed peacefully.

Come 1st, I started feeling a bit bored and nostalgic. All the while I kept remembering how vivacious things would be at my parents place, with mom cooking elaborate dishes, incessant chatter, telephones buzzing around, my sister prancing around. The day here at Chennai seemed very drab with K on with some office chores and mil generally mulling over family issues. Then I suggested lunch outside. Mil had had her fill at a havan she had attended and was more into having a simpler affair rather than lunching out. So she prompted us to eat out, while she rested her sleep deprived self( she had woken at 0400 to attend the Ganesha havan! )

Food was not out of the world, but the fresh air and winter sun and the sight of the decorated shops satiated me. Once back, I chose to drool over John Abraham and Bobby Deol in Dostana. Evening was spent talking , attending to some guests, having the remaining halwa and later having some serious discussion with K (Some times some remarks about news, views, current affairs, celebrities result in us having good quality discussions even at home. Yesterday it was something SRK had said in an interview :) ) Once that done, we watched Ghazini for an hour within which I dozed off and K wrapped up the laptop and cables.

The 1st passed off, without making a mark, but I will remember it, cos I had good food and caught up on some time pass movies - I felt all New Yearish - as a saying goes, you feel what you want to feel :)

The year 2008

Last year when I posted this I had scant thought that yet another year will pass by andddd it will be time to post another year ending thingy.

Hmm.... the end of this year does not seem like the end of a year at all. Partly I can blame it on the fact that TAMIL NADU SARKAR DOES NOT GIVE LEAVE ON 1st of JANUARY COS THE NEW YEAR BEGINS WITH THE TAM NEW YEAR. Grrrrrr......
Another reason might be, there were many things which were evened out in the year that I don't have any thing to anticipate in the coming year. There is nothing that I have planned and have to execute it next year. There is nothing that I have executed and have to await the results next year. Most of the rough and tumble happened in the year itself.

• I got married
• 2 of my closest friends got married
• I was able to trot around the country with my better half
  
• I had a splendid and a pretty educative year with my in laws ( education about the traits and quirks of the people who are to be my family hence forth :D )
  
• I moved in to a new firm and got used to it pretty decently.
  
• Got to spend awesome quality time with my parents and had helova lot of fun
• And the bestest I had a neice, the cutest thing on earth currently :)
  

Touchwood to all that ( I am superstitious in this) I hope I am able to post a placid post next year too. Wish all chancing upon this post a wonderful and glorious year and hope the new year with a new government down the line also brings in a lot of peace and prosperity to the country.

Take control

There is one thing I sternly go by - your life is your own and you should take full charge of it.

I lately heard some instances about a close acquaintance having some problems with her in laws - mostly mother. Its the usual, but way too trivial. The mother in law seemed to me a typical mother in law straight from the movies of the genre of Lalita Pawar. Now she does not help an iota in the house work, expects daughter in law to do everything from kitchen to clothes along with juggling an IT career. She goes to the extent of not taking proper care of her little 8 month old grand child. And to add insult to injury, lady goes on to blame daughter in law for everything, accusing her of not managing the house properly and to top it all accusing her of "torturing" her.

What I felt most unbecoming of a woman is she goes ahead and talks ill about her daughter in law and the alleged ill treatments heaped on her to all her relatives.

I was C-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y appalled by all this happening even today. I was shocked and felt very shaken. One thing that struck me was - what is the son of the house doing? Yes point taken the lady on one side is your mother, but cant you see the person being victimized is your wife? Yes it is but obvious to not notice the minor mistakes of your own mother, but come on is nt there a thing called conscience which says - Woman you are wrong there. I seriously wonder if the guy (and I feel many guys) is bereft of this sense because of the loyalty towards the mother. But I personally feel, if the guy chooses to turn a blind eye to something that is so blatantly wrong, he is a complete wuss. (Excuse my language, but I guess I am way too angered)

Even if not the son, at least the father in law should curtail his wife and speak out when she over steps the border. But no, I wonder what made this "educated" retired man take cover under a newspaper. I wish a lightning would strike him.

If not any of them, then I feel the girl should stand up - for her, for her child. Shes got a career, got independence, and got a life of her. Its mandatory for her to respect elders and in laws, but its not written any where to take allegations lying down. I am not sure why some girls agree to some things when their heart is not into it. I feel its your own responsibility to lay things straight from the beginning. My mother always advised me, never treat your mother in law any different from me, else you will always feel the difference. And never be a different person there, else it will never be a home for you.

Every one should be aware of a daughter in laws individuality and respect that. I hear complains from some of Ks friends who are girls, that their mother in laws don't help at all and they find it real tough to handle house and work. I feel, ya feeling drained is ok, but if you are not able to take it then say it. Unless you tell there is a problem no one will get into ur psyche and pump it out. If cooking twice a day for husband and in laws is taking a toll on you, either ask your mother in law to help a bit, and if she is not in a position - GET help. Hire a domestic help. Do something. What good is coming out of bitching about your mother in law and complaining. End of day, you go tired to an unhappy domesticity.

This is not the adi manav age that girls dont have an existence. No asked you to follow the rules of Manu Smriti which says a girl should be depended on her father in childhood, a husband when married and a son in widowhood. If we choose to have such a life, we have no one but ourselves to blame. Seriously, if you dont assert you have a backbone, people will assume you have none and walk right over you. Take control gurll.

Ps. I am not sure if I am writing a politically correct post, so the views I hold in this post are entirely personal one. I am not being judgmental. But I welcome the views of other, if they can help me see the issue in a different light.

Spreading some Christmas cheer

Christmas is just 2 more days away. The roads are resplendent with shops selling the stars, the lights, the Santa caps. Office is gearing up as well with most afternoons having one game or the other.

I also thought of spreading some Christmas cheer.
So here s an award for my favvie bloggers (and the names are in no particular order)

1. rENU- I love your blog for the conviction you bring into it. Your posts resemble my thoughts to a great extent and I also love the small instances you quote, the details you write about, the mundane actions which reflect your thoughts, I love your blog for the nuances they hold.

2. rAAJI- I loved your blog since I read destinations unknown. I hope I got the title of the post correct. And have loved it ever since, cos its a blog which gives me the intermittent dose of love. :) Your posts about love, college, friends open the window to a thoughtful, sensible and sensitive soul and I simply love your posts.

3. aSHMA-My best friend, how would nt I love your blog. :) Your blogs reveal a self of you which comes only when you write. I would call it the writer self :D where you are much less impulsive, much less stubborn and much more eloquent. I love your blog.

4.sHALOM- Our association has been very short, but still I have been hooked onto your blog since I read-The making and breaking of besan ke laddu. I dont remember how I reached that particular post, but thank God I reached it. :)

5. cHITRA- You post hmm... once in a blue moon. But they are equally eagerly awaited as the regular posts. Your posts ring of reason and logic - 2 things I simply adore. Post more often cos I love your blog :)

Okhay...
Now your turn to spread some Christmas cheer. Go ahead, share the award with people whose blogs you love :D

Picture this!

Been tagged by Renu & Shalom -
The rules are simple:
Answer the questions below and do a Google image search on your answer,pick a picture from the results on the first page, with minimal explanation

Get Set Go!......

1. The age you will be in your next birthday:
Hehe acting coy for once ;)

2. A place you’d like to travel to:

Dunno why kinda have Jaipur in my to be visited list. It crept in maybe when I was studying Rajput history in Class VII. Over time the desire to see the place has taken firm roots.

3 . Your Favorite place:

Would have preferred a better definition of place. Among the places I lived in would rate Hyd as the highest.

If by place it was meant spot its this -


4. Your favorite food/drink:

You guessed it! Ginger tea :)

5. Your Favorite pet:

6. Your favorite color combination:

Red and black :)

7. Your favorite piece of clothing:

8. Your all time favorite song:

9. Your favorite TV show:

Currently

10. Full name of your significant other:

Cookie JAR :D thats what I currently call him. Earlier he was bebe :)

11.The town in which you live in:

Chennai :)

12. Your screen name/nickname:

13. Your First job:

IT Professional :|

14. Your Dream job:

Inspite of such headlines somehow the job of an IAS officer is a dream job for me. May be because seen how much power (for good as well as bad) one can wield. You can actually serve the country and make things better (Needs a lottttttt of spirit to be true to the profession but then... )

15. Bad Habit you have:

Seems like a esoteric answer eh? Actually I made a search on "show all my emotions on my face". Liked this pic the most of all that came on the first page :D

16. Your worst fear:

17. The one thing you’ll like to do before you die:

18. The first thing you’ll buy if you get $1,000,000:
A B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L house right in the lap of nature

Abbbbbb kaun kaun karenge yea tag???

Ok.
Shylu
Satish
Rajesh
Ashma
Niceguy
You are the chosen ones :D Dont ask why I chose to punish you guys :) Thats my discretion.

Tagged by Satish

Quite an interesting tag by a fellow blogger Satish. This is how it goes -

These are the questions which I got to answer......

1. Your Oldest Memories
My memory is veryyyyyyyyy weak but there are quite a few of them - bitter sweet ones. But here I will narrate one that is I suppose the oldest of them all.

One of them was being bitten by a dog. Well yes I have been badly bitten by a dog - And here is the story of how it happened. I was at a neighbors place, and was 4 years old. I was playing on a swing in their house. Close to the swing was their pet dog, I do not remember the breed of the dog. All of a sudden, the dog pounced on me, bit me on the leg and pulled me from the swing. I fell with a thud and let out a wail which caused the family to come rushing by and rescue me. Post incident, I remember the gauges, bandages, the 14 injections, innumerable trips to the hospital and me loosing a lot of weight and sheen. I have a snap of mine in that stage and I look like someone suffering from malnutrition.

PS . I have a scar in my leg where I was bitten and I still love dogs a lot.

2. What were you doing 10 years ago
Hmmm 10th December 1998, inspite of being just 2 days away from my budday, I think I was studying for some exam :(

3. Today - Your first thought in the morning
AH! I slept well. It was 5:30 in the morning but still I strangely felt well rested. Maybe office work, the absence of the house maid as well as mother in law tires me so much that I sleep like I have been drugged. I had hit the bed at 2330 but still woke pretty refreshed. Touchwood! Hope the trait continues.

4. If you build a time capsule, what would it contain
My favorite books, some of my favorite snaps of family and friends, my blog in print version :D

5. Tomorrow - Next year, same day
Again making plans to celebrate my birthday maybe :)

6. What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now.

FOURTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN years did you say? You mean Lord Ram would have completed a fultu vanvaas!! Well 14 years from now, on this date I would stilllllllllllll be planning on the celebrations!! But this time not just with my family, but with friends and their extended family and by extended I mean with their hubbies/wiffies and kiddus.
I would love to see myself in an occupation rather than a job 14 years from now, but my attempts to go on an alternative path have failed. So I believe IT is the way for me maybe.

Ab meri baari meri baari :)

I would like Ashma, Renu, Abhishek, Daydreamer, Sanjay, Nitin,Ekta, Raaji and I'll try 2 be truthful to do the tag.

Daag acche hain

Yesterday was a funny day. It started with a big quarrel with K and that too for a petty reason. The reason being - my cell phone had gone kaput!

My Sony Ericsson W580i had been giving me lot of troubles. It used to hang intermittently, mostly when I needed it most :| - so much so that many a times I had to remove the battery to re start it. Removing the battery itself was a tedious task and a separate story in itself. Sometimes removing the battery and re inserting it would not work, and we had to take it to some store for repair. Some pricks and pokes by the mechanic, and it used to come back to its senses. As I am writing this, I remember, the very first day I carried the phone, it got stuck by the time I reached office! After some months it had stopped charging from the ac charger. Well, not a problem, I used to get it charged from the USB charger - a process that used to take 10 times more time than a standard ac charger. But me being lazy and the cell phone being pretty much indispensable, decided to go ahead with the arrangement.

But................ yesterday the cell chose not to get charged from the USB point. It in fact decided to get discharged when connected to the USB port! ARGH!!

I lost my cool and was fretting and fuming about loosing my communication channel. Since the phone was a recommendation of K, he took it personally that I was indirectly blaming him for all the inconvenience. This lead to a war of words, some hurtful some sarcastic.
We started for office after the peace resolution was passed.

But then, the whole incident had kinda bummed us out a bit.
Evening coincidentally, we were able to meet up at a common point. And guess what, K had got paan for me - something which I have a weakness for :) And as we were walking to our home, K said shall we have dinner there? And by there he meant a street side place which served noodles and other dishes which could be made in a jiffy. We were an oddity there, in our formals and office luggage, and sitting on run down plastic chairs with most of the other clientele being there for the pricing of the food ( which is very pleasing to the wallet ) was a good experience. It was an impromptu plan for us and the food there turned out to be too palatable. It was a treat worth having.

After savoring egg fried rice, cauliflower manchurian and one plate of scrambled eggs, we marched forth home. Thats when K gave me the choc he had bought. :D A walk through the streets of Besant Nagar while munching on a choc - Awesome is the word for it.

Sometimes if minor tiffs end up in such superb evenings - I think its worth the pain. You see Daag acche hain!

PS : This post was meant to be posted on the Thursday - the 4th of Decemeber. But work at office held me back. So yesterday in this post refers to 03.12.2008

Recent update - I have given my cell phone for repair, I miss it tremendously :( Am using a Nokia oldie model and that in turn makes me realise how used to I was to the facilities of the other phone: seems water had gone inside the charging pin and I will hopefully be getting it tomorrow.