Of this and that

The last post for the baby month :) , which also reminds me of the fact that you me and our blog, are all of 1 :).Well , maybe a few days older than that BUT still 1 ...YES ..we saw it a little too late , so what? Thought that counts and all .Which is why we are going to present the blog with some more.

This is going to be yet another mixed bag.

About a couple of weeks back , the parents paid a visit to Tirupati , for some weird(and I could bet my life on it) reason , I couldn't make it.Now , i pride myself of being the parents' translator cum interpreter.Why,you ask ? Let me tell you why. A normal conversation would go like this ...

Amma : "And then I thought we could go there by 12 Pm because of him who is actually your cousin thrice removed. So shall we do it?"

Appa: *Nod Nod*

Seren: "BUT Appa! Didnt you say you had to go there now? And do you know his number?"

Appa: "When"

Amma: "Seren , shut up , don't interfere in our conversation"

Seren:(smiles to herself) *That means I'm not old enough to be married..heehaw*

*Turns to Appa*

Amma:" What did you think I was saying all this while??"

Appa: "Err.. the neighbor or wait I know this one.. your brother?"

Amma: " Raama , how have I managed to be married to you all this long , I deserve the Nobel Prize"

Appa: " You know what PPP , apparently they're suggesting APJ's name for the award"

Yes , which is why it came as a shock to me that both of them managed to get back together in the same bus , there was just a small instance of Amma having to yank Appa's collar in order to prevent him from offering his place in the queue to a "old frail lady" who my mother claims most definitely wasn't. All this to get to the point that I had a good time while they were out. Vi slept over and I had a nice time playing hostess to her , and I could see she wasn't complaining either :P , spolit little brat.I did visit Sethji's behind 100 feet road , Indiranagar to wolf down yummy rotis , dal, aloo sabji and raitha.Try this place sometime , its a good place to go to when you want to taste authentic home made North Indian food.

The day of the stay-over , the red bike is mine , the pinky pink is Vis

Now, I have this junior at work , lets call him M.It was his sister's wedding and he gave us all a personal invite and very enthusiastically asked us to make it to the event.When he returned from the wedding , he was sweet enough to place huge bags of wedding snacks and sweets around his table and a send a mail to the entire building!That's like 700 hungry wolves!And whats more , add a link to his sister's wedding snaps! I mean , who does that! Most of my colleagues send out e-cards even when they've known me all their working lives and barely bother to share snaps!So , I've decided to like this junior and shower my seniory love on him.
Boy ! is he in trouble.

I did it! I finally decided to do away with the locks.One fine Saturday morning I took it into my head that I needed one , Vi suggested a place called Talking Heads in Brigade road ,pretty good I must say , it all went as planned ;A nice hair cut , the perfect hair setting,600 something rupees,a hair serum for 400 followed by the wind in my hair and the dust in my face.

More later , I am under too much pressure to publish this post before its March!!

Of Carr(bb)iages and Kin(g)kades

There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.
Unknown

Jigsaws have always been a favorite with the family , especially for Mom and me.It all started when Altoid sent us our first Thomas Kinkade Jigsaw puzzle.It was quite an innocuous looking box that read "Sweet Heart Cottage - 1000 pieces".Now , I had seen 50 , 100 piece jigsaws , but this was 10 times that ,and it was an oil painting for crying out aloud ! That too by Thomas Kinkade who is referred to as the "Painter of Light".But the saving grace was that these pieces were the one-time-lock variety.That is to say , you couldn't sort of force two wrong pieces together , the pieces were cut so each would lock into the correct piece.The parcel was brought to us by Altoid's colleague and while he forced yet another plate of Mysore pa and coffee while complaining about his India visit and the effect it had had on his digestive system, Amma and I beamed at the new arrival.That night , we cleared out the study table (I was in my final semester then) and we poured out all the 1000 pieces on to a sheet of newspaper.And then put them all back in.We were never going to get it done.It was just a humongous waste of time!

Altoid calls up the next morning to ask about our progress.

Ma: " Hello , did you take your digestion medicine?"
Altoid: " Did you two get started on the jigsaw , I want to see it framed on my next visit"
Ma : " Why did you waste your money on a jigsaw! You should've sent me some poplin material"
Altoid : " Look at S's bro , S sent him the same thing and he's finished it in 2 months flat!"

That night , Amma and I held conference. While I fumed over S's brother's superior intellect and jigsaw piecing capabilities , Amma sorted out pieces by color ; into little plastic boxes that we received for Shankaranthi. It was bad enough having to compete with friends and classmates over marks , but the goddamn misery of it! All for a measly piece of jigsaw , pun and all that! My ego had been suitably woken up, stirred and bashed up.From that day on , Amma and I used to sit at the table ,every day for an hour after dinner.We started off with the corner pieces , probably a rule of thumb for all jigsaws , and worked our way towards the center.The most exciting pieces were that of the cat , the heart shaped gate ,the portrait at the window and the chimney with the N on it. The N is a Kinkade trademark , found in all his paintings , after his wife Nanette.Working on a jigsaw is akin to life , you have a preconceived notion when it comes to what should fit where , and that wont happen how much ever you try , then , an unexpected piece will find itself in your hands , fit in and make total sense ! :)

Sadly, we didn't frame this jigsaw (Imagine! After all the trouble!) and hence I'm left with just this image.

These are the ones that we actually framed and shamelessly show off to all our guests.

Evening at Swanbrooke Cottage, Thomashire


The second time around , we were more aware , and more experienced.The maid was strictly forbidden from sweeping away anything that remotely resembled a jigsaw piece.Our friends who dropped in for a cup of coffee would helpfully piece in some more pieces and ask us the status periodically.



Country Memories













Our current project is a 1000 piece Clementoni by Degas called "The Dancing Lesson".We have gotten as far as the frame , Vi has laboriously pieced the right most corner whilst laying a pink cheek over the frame and looking dolefully at the myriad brown pieces.Much thanks , Vi :P.Sigh.We just have to be content with the ballerina's shoe as of now.

:)






Update to add : As it turned out , S's brother had set off to do it , but he gave up half way , apparently he said "It was a humongous waste of time". Ahem.

ನೂರಾರು ಮಾತು

Was listening to this song for the first time on my way back from work. First listen and I had goose flesh.Wonderful lyrics and Sonu Nigam sounds simply amazing!

Simply sakkat!

You can hear the song here

Love ke liye kuch bhi karega

Last night , I watched an episode of "The Great Indian love challenge". The idea is , you need to write into the show professing your undying love to someone , and then NDTV would don cupid's costume and interview the object of (abject) undying love in an extremely discreet manner.That is to say , they'd ask " What would you want your Girl/Boy to gift you with".This time , it was a girl who gushed and rolled her kohled eyes while saying "Oh!!! A diamond ring!". Sniff .. I could swear to God there was a moment there.

So the bakra.. errr the boy was introduced to Yudi who was to be the official undertaker err the host of the show.The plan went thus , Ba..oy was to perform 3 tasks(in increasing order of stup..danger) after which he would be awarded a diamond that he could present to Ms.Kohl.No , I don't think she had a choice when it came to design , caratage etc.This , when it comes to us fair species , who don't like half the things we choose!Its like being superman and having no powers.. anyhoo back to the story.

1. Boy sings in a crowded mall

The boy was given a pair of bright red underpants and he was painted from head to toe like superman.He was also given a guitar .You would think the strains of the guitar would sufficiently drown his voice , but no , he turned out to be a visual and a vocal nightmare.
Hmm .. considering the idea was to pose him a challenge.

2. Boy wrestles with professional wrestlers

Boy has to wrestle with 5 beer bellied well-oiled(:D brains , you would think? but naah love challenge and all that) bodies.The idea is that the wrestlers need to pin down boy in chaddi(how much of this boy's chaddis we get to see!) for at least 10 seconds.If men in chaddis manage to do that , boy loses.In what seemed like a nail biting India-Pak match , boy gets pinned down 9 times.Boy , desperate to win that diamond at any cost , as otherwise he would need to start all over again . i.e gel his hair , wear jeans below the waist , sport yellow shoes , come up with newer cornier pick up lines , you get the drift.So , with a final flourish , the boy starts running around the pit with the wrestler in tow.If you can't catch me , you can't pin me down.Boy wins.

3. Boy needs to walk 100 yards while being set on fire.

The cherry on the icing.Ms.Kohl is present to preside over the event.

Yudi : "He needs to walk through these fire rings while being set on fire"
Boy : *I need to fight the Kargil war brave look*
Ms.K: *feigns unconsciousness*
Boy : "I will do it to prove my love to you"
Ms.K : (In a not very convincing way , its a DIAMOND at the end of the day) "Don't"
(Looks at him again .. *Don't take that too seriously*)
Bakra :*Looks on resignedly*(What is it with men?)
If he does it , she'll be happy .. for some time , he would have in fact raised the bar for himself.
If he doesn't , no self respecting girl would be seen with such a loser

Boy does the stunt.Comes out in flying flames.Girl has tears in her eyes.Happy Tears , considering she convinced the dweeb to pull off the stunt.

Subtexts running in my head ...

-Boy sings in a crowded mall
wearing a pair of under-pants.What kind of a man strips at the drop of a hat!

Boy wrestles with professional wrestlers
-My man has the brains of a louse and sadly not the body of a wrestler.

Boy needs to walk 100 yards while being set on fire.
- If this stunt went wrong , I could be sued by his folks ...

Or maybe , the truth is , I'm really growing old ...