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 :)

In sync

I think I have written it on the wall how much I adore my beautiful mom! Not only I adhere to a lot she says, I also relate to her a lot. 

She and I are married to men who share the same birthdays so temperamentally they are very very alike. We both endure the same kinda situations cos of the men in our lives. Its the same kind of reasoning that works with them, its the same kind of pampering that works with them and its the same kind of scolding that again works with them. I always thought I could handle someone like dad very easily because I was the one who handled him best in the family. But then handling someone like a daughter and handling someone as a husband is an entirely different ball game. So now I can understand how my mom would have been tempted to put a gun on dad's temple and make him acquiesce to certain decisions. Or why she would go completely ballistic on some issues when my dad would be blissfully drowned in the editorials of some newspaper. She was always the one who knew the pulse of the any scenario while my dad was the one who preferred taking the path of least resistance. I have increasingly felt that K and my machinery also works the same way as it does for my mom and dad. With this I have begun to identify even more with my mom.

We also share the same moonsign! We kind of go through the same phases during the same times. Now, as I am in a proper limbo with respect to my career and personal dimension, exact same is the situation with my mom. Her personal side is taken care of, cos more or less everyone is settled (Touchwood) but her professional one is in doldrums. Ever since I came down to Bhubaneswar, we have spent hours on end speaking to each other. We would sit with glasses of the most delicious coffee and go on discussing stuff. Its really wonderful and enlightening talking to her. Sometimes shes the real expert who gives the most deft suggestions. At other times shes like a girl herself aye ayeing to whatever I suggest. There is absolutely no generation gap between the two of us.  Maybe she thinks too ahead of her times or I am with old age thoughts :) -- any which ways neither of us is complaining. How time flies with both  of us just lazying on the balcony and talking about all the things under the sun simply amazes me. 

I still remember a day I came back complaining from school, "I don't have any friends." I am not sure what led to me proclaiming that, but I remember making that announcement. And my mom took me into her arms and said, "Come on I am your best friend. Who said you do not have any friends?" No matter how I have moved and where I have moved, I think this remains the same still. There have been times when I have completely thought poles opposite to her, when I have defied her (and believe me every single time I have repented it, no matter how absurdddd her idea might have seemed to start with) and when I argued with her till the last tooth :D , she has been the one I have returned to always.  Mummy - you are the best!

PS. I am not sure what made me write this post, maybe the realisation yet again of the extent to which she still plays a vital role in shaping me every day.

I cant even think a suitable title!

I guess I am really, badly out of touch with blogging. Cos earlier when I got down to write anything, the first thing I would have in mind was the title of the post. Now after this span of inactivity, I am not even able to reach a good title to the post! Huh! How pathetic is that!

I would not say I took a break from blogging, because a break is timed and with a purpose. I just could not compose myself for blogging. Every single time I sat down to write anything, I used to be a scatter brain. Too many thoughts, too many worries, too many choices, too many dilemmas kept me too fickle. There were things going haywire in office, with there being work pressure plus some people pressure too. Things were very far from perfect on the home front too. And with K being away, I was a literal zombie. Yea, I did have my traditional vent in the form of my mom ( God Bless her!! Shes been my guiding angel carrying me through the troubled waters with her incessant support) But then keeping things from K ended up in me off loading it to him at the wrongest of times and the whole nine yards of being upset and patching up.

To make matters worse, I was getting choices, especially on the work front which were driving me against the wall. Some were such, they would meet my near term goals in a jiffy and make me reach cloud nine, but in the long run, my family commitments would go for a toss. There were others, which entailed a lot of hard work initially but would cut out my long term aspirations like a charm. There would be nights on end, when I used to cry myself to sleep, not seeing any end of any of the problems. There were days when some prospect would make me go mad with glee thinking, ah! finally I reached the end of it all. Fending all this without K near me, was simply not my cup of tea. I so so so many times thought of writing this or that out here. Or at least declaring I am off on a break. But then, a break was not my idea at all. I was rather on a roller coaster ride and never took the time to compose myself. It was being like ping pong ball, getting beaten up both at professional and personal life. What cant be cured must be endured, so there I was swallowing what ever came my way.

I do not want to sound like a martyr here, nor want to loll in self pity. Tough times come up on any one and everyone. A saying goes, "You never get anything before time, you never get anything more than destined" I had no other go but to wait for the time to get whatever was destined. I know the time has not yet come, nor has my prize been etched out for me yet. The only thing I was supposed to do was wait patiently. (IMPATIENCE is my middle name - waiting quietly is a toughie for me) I used to see people who were having completely different genres of problems and used to think, thank God, I dont have that on me. And I had the wonderful support of my friends, Ashu( You have handled me superbly, I have divulged my life to the tiniest granule to you, and your earnest help is something I am grateful to and will remain forever!) , roomie dear (The positive vibe that swells from you, sweeps me over and keeps me pepped up like a cuppa ginger tea! :D ) and one of K's friend who really took care of me like family. My mom was forever the Pole Star :) and then there was a cute set of colleagues who actually poured a lot of shimmer into moribund work! I cannot thank you guys enough, and I know you dont read my blogs :) but A, D and S, thanks for unknowingly being the help you were.....

Boy, this is sounding like an Oscar speech :S Yieeeeksss.... Did anyone fall asleep?? I was waiting for the month of May to make a trip to my recharge zone - Bhubaneswar. So here I was 2 days preceeding my sister's birthday with wonderful gifts for her, mom ( for momma s day) and dad ( he will be senior citizen July this year!). And yes though I am still worrying, I am in the midst of all the dilemmas ( I think I keep getting one per day) , the choices are still looming (I live by the Matrix Mantra that the power to choose is just an illusion but then when you get a choice, you feel as if you to exercise your right :( ) ... but I am in my ultimate comfort zone where no one judges me, where I don't measure what I say, when I am quintessentially just Me. And I am loving it :) So here I am in the lighted phase of the tunnel, garnering my resources for I am not sure whats up at the next bend on the road :S . So help me God.