Its her day!

She can kill with a smile
She can wound with her eyes
She only reveals what she wants you to see
She can lead you to love
She can take you or leave you
She can wait if she wants-
She's ahead of her time
She's also one hell of a sis,
And I'm glad she's mine !



Happy Birthday , Ems ! Here's wishing you all the good things in the world !:)

These are a few of my favorite things!

Usha has tagged me to do this tag (terrible sentence eh?) , here goes!

Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:
Err ... Chak De (I KNOW that it was eons ago and Shah received awards of all sorts , one even from the makers of Vicco Vajradanti)

What Book Are You Reading:
Finished Palace of Illusions by CBD.Draupadi sounds so terribly cool that I'd probably lunch with her if she were my colleague.We'd be discussing one husband a day.And she'd go "Kunti is such a slave driver that I had to pluck the fruits , wash the veggies and light the hearth before I got here.."
"Arjuna got another promotion , he now the patent for Pashupata astra.."


Favorite Board Game:
The MAD game.The idea was to lose all you had!

Favourite Magazine:
Hmm , don't like any

Favorite Smells:
Rain , Amma when she emerges from her bath all "cinthol-y", the smell of babies(powder and milk), coffee

Favorite Sound:
"Seren , breakfast is ready!"

Worst Feeling In The World:
Guilt.

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?
"Do you think Amma ran away without giving me my cuppa? Ok , lets bug Alto!"

Favorite Fast Food Place:
I'd rather not talk about food right now (terrible bout of stomach infection)
But then , there's this awesome place in RangaRao road -Brahmin's Coffee bar

Future Child's Name:
Sparsha

Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”

BUY A FLAT IN SOUTH BLORE! And buy John Abraham and Bips too if she'd like to come along :D

Do You Drive Fast?
Not anymore , Airport Road's traffic has successfully numbed any signs of it

Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?
NO.They'd probably scare me in the middle of the night.

Storms-Cool Or Scary?
Storms are super-cool!

What Was Your First Car?
We'l' change that to a scooter.A Kinetic

Favourite drink:
Coffee

Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....”
Get Married :D


Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?
I choose not to eat the Broccoli , is that a choice btw?

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?
Blue!

Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In.
Mangalore , Secunderbad , Hubli,Bangalore

Favorite Sports To Watch:
Figure Skating

One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
She's ageless and she bonds like hell

What's Under Your Bed?
Errm my keys , my purse(?), a dustibin

Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Depends on whats going to happen , no?

Morning Person Or Night Owl?
Morning

Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?
Hard Boiled :D

Favorite Place To Relax:
Home

Favorite Pie:
I hate pies


Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
Rum n Raisin :D


Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?
I haven't the foggiest! This tag is open to anyone who'd like to take it up ! :)

JC

Hi all ,

A long week this was , what with project releases and features , it was also one of the saddest weeks of my life , one that I will take to my grave. It marked the demise of my Dad's younger brother. One day , I could hear him coughing outside my window , the next day I went to see him at the general ward , the next I heard he had been wheeled into the ICU and the fourth day , he had passed away.In all this what makes my blood boil is the fact that he brought about his own end.35 years of excessive drinking did no one any good.Anyway , we will let that be.Dearest J chittappa , I love you , and I will pray for you , and when you meet Paati ,please tell her everybody in H's wedding told me I resemble her to the tee.

So a little background on J chittappa , ok now , stop with all the sniffing . This blog is my happy place and we shalt discuss only happy things out here , Ok? Ok.

Altoid was J chittappa's only niece for a long time to come.A long peaceful period of time at our ancestral home before the hurricane brought in the rest of us.His ways of playing with children were quirky like you will find out...
Place Altoid atop the chest of drawers.Altoid's face crumples as she contemplates JC's next move.She puckers up.JC goes forward to pick her up.Altoid's blackcurrant eyes dance with joy.Altoid coos and rests a pretty head on JC's shoulder.Altoid opens her eyes.She's atop the Almirah now.waaa AAA HHHHHH.WAAAaaaaahhhh.
JC says : " You ?? An army man's niece??"

Here's a bit that Altoid aka "Shoni" (the skinny one) has written about JC ..

........the fridges of the 70s? Hugggggggggggge, tall, massive, bulky, White! The one in our Bangalore home was one such. Almost 6ft +, it was a novelty in those times. Also my nemesis. When both my chikappas came home for their annual vacation, J from the army and V from Air Force- J chikappa's pastime was to lift me and sit me up on the dirty top of the fridge. Dirty, cos it was too high to clean. Scary, cos then I was scared of heights- all of 3 or 4 or 5 yrs old.

I would scream and cry and J chikappa would go about his business. Carpentry was his passion. He even made me my own wooden toy train. And so many other beautiful toys. A WW2 enthusiast- the WW2 memorial in DC always reminds me of him. A fighter in the 1971 war between India and Pakistan for Bangladesh. Stationed at Kashmir for some very tense years in the 90s. The innumerable Double Deckers and Cadbury's chocolates that were showered on 'Shoni'- that was me, meaning the skinny one.

J chikappa may you RIP.

~altoid

Coming back to our narrative ,

Next in the hitlist came along Seren , aka Jokali (swing), why was i named thus ? Coz this time around JC got innovative.
Hang Jokali from the entrance to the *Bhuvaneshwari hall.Give her frail 3 kg frame a push from the back .She swings sadly much too scared to cry.Bring her down and watch.Her face crumples.
She deposits some poop on him in generous amounts.
Touche`

*Bhuvaneshwari
About some 100 odd years back , apparently the room at the center of the house had no ventilation.Hence , this room had a skylight.And our hall was called Bhuvaneshwari.

Then came along his son A.The typical boy.Loved Lego bricks and had a massive train set with realistic looking station masters , bogies , goods trains , passenger trains et all.JC's son to the tee.While the rest of us became software engineers , he joined the export import industry in Africa!

Then came along my cousin D.My partner in crime.Someone who thought nothing of wearing my tie-around sarees and wearing lipstick.Someone who was in awe of his J Perippa. I still remember one incident when all of us were playing hide n seek inside the house .D was chasing me and I jumped over the tea table , picked myself up and ran screaming into JC's room whilst he was having his afternoon nap.Out came an angry head from under the blankets(It was SUMMER then , even if Bangy had been cooler than it is now , it was no excuse to be sleeping under one!) and roared into my face
"Get out Get out! OUT!".Out I ran crying, vowing never to speak to JC when he was up.

After that came along R , his daughter , a tom-boy then.Now she sports waist length hair and can barely be seen in anything shorter than a kurta.If anybody has ever cared for JC and really looked after him , it is her.

Last but not the least , the recluse in the family , D's brother - D!
(Blog lingo truly kills the mood at times!).

A lot of JC's cousins and friends came home and shared snippets about him.N uncle says JC had tried to electrocute N uncle .Just to see what it "looked" like.N uncle , barely 5 then was just about to stick his finger into the socket when Paati burst in and slapped JC ...

P maami related one wonderful story . JC, while he was in Bangladesh paid P maami a visit in Calcutta.The sun had set and JC asked for a cup of strong tea.While he was sipping the tea , he looked into the distance and very calmly told P maami , that it was just yesterday that his best friend got shot through the heart while they were returning in the army jeep.The next day dawned bright and early and P maami asked him if he was alright and whether he was still depressed.Pat came the reply "Depressed? Why?"

JC , may you rest in peace.I hope heaven has a good workshop.

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

This day , that day

Circa 1996

I belonged to a dance troupe called 'Drishti' , called so simply because it had the starting letters of everybody in the troupe.
There was a dance competition(amongst many others) that was being held at the Gymkhana at IISC.Then , IISC to me was just a painfully far away dance venue.It was the perfect day to bunk classes , get toasty inside a blanket and read a book.Instead, I was dressed in a light blue Lavani Saree and sitting in an auto to get to IISC. Make up et all.With a shawl covering whatever the Lavani saree didnt.And that, was saying quite a lot.
Picture this.Bangalore torrential rains , a short girl in a weird electric blue (which D had ensured was a lovely peacock blue) attire, sporting fake jasmine flowers(they're light on the head and pass off beautifully for the real ones) around an enormous fake hair bun and with a face that resembled Chandramukhi (the only difference being , it didn't go 'Ra Ra..').You'd think the horror show would end there.No it didn't.When the apparition got down from the auto in front of IISC , it had blue coloured rain water dripping at its feet, the bun had taken a walk sideways(much like Narada's) , and the face looked more like Chandramakhi now than ever.
Anyway , coming back to the purpose of the post , our group was asked to be seated in the front rows to await our turn.A singing competition was going on.It was then that I saw him.Err , didn't I mention it? That HE was the purpose of this long winded post?Tch Tch,well , now you know.
He strode over to the mike and began singing "Rim Jhim Gire Saawan .." from the Amitabh starrer Manzil.All of 6 feet , tall dark and handsome.Not Amitabh , HIM.And he also sang like no man's business.
It was our turn to perform.The stage was in darkness , we took our positions and the lights came on.The familiar song started playing.And my bun fell.IT FELL.In front of thousands of hooting hooligans.Most importantly , in front of HIM.I composed myself as the rest of Dhrishti cast worried glances at me , wondering if they should stop dancing or if I would stop yanking at my hair first.I did.I bunched up my hair into a high rise pony , and danced.Albeit shakily.
Today , on my way to work , I remembered all this.Because the morning looked cloudy and romantic , and there was 'Kabhie Kabhie mere dil mein' playing in my iPod.

PS: I wonder where he is now.Married?.A father?

Sigh.

This day

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song,read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.

-Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

Today is an ordinary day. And that is the best part.

Right at this moment , I have BSNL sending me a cryptic message , for the 10^th time that the PillPopper sent 3 days ago.It goes “if u can get one kg each of potapotato onion and tomato”. Yes very mother-daughterly , almost poetic.This is the poem part of the quote.

I went to Jyothi , our kind Insurance Rep to claim Pillpoppers dental bills.The claim needs a letter from the doctor.So enter Pillpopper the English Teacher.The letter reads thus “ This is to certify that Pillpopper had a fall due to which she suffered severe mental trauma because her tooth fell out(40 years back when her brother pushed her!And it didnt fall out , it weakened!).This is the reason why I have prescribed a bridge for her teeth ..” It has been duly signed by the dentist to whom this might as well have been a plea to write his rather large stretch of property in the PPP’s name , how else could he have missed out on the trauma part , I fail to understand! PPP in her hurry to make best use of the company’s reimbursement policy had faithfully attached two homoeopathy bills.

They read

Kali Bich for sour throt

Acid Nitrate for hasthma problems

____

30 Rupees only/- (An avid cheque writer, our friend)

Kind Jyothi peered into the bills , giggled and placed a cute little finger at the Kali Bich part. “We don't reimburse Homoeo bills Seren , Mummyji ko bol do”

This morning, when my Sister made her usual 7 Am call, I ranted to her about marriage, work and such-like. She decided that the marriage part of the rant could be worked on today. The first mail in my Inbox was from Minu (I write her nickname ‘cause I didn't think referring to her as a random M would be fair).She had taken time from her busy schedule (that would include cooking , cleaning , packing off her daughter to school and then getting into work ) to write to me a long , lovely, warm mail.

To quote from the mail ,

I think that is all I can think of. Do note one thing though - there is no such thing as a perfect anything. Perfect parents, perfect friend, perfect marriage .. they are all good in books and movies, I am yet to see one in real life and that imperfection itself may be the one that makes life worth living”

….

I certainly understand that if you think marriage is a challenge and there is no need to get into a challenge right now, but, just because it is one, maybe you shouldn't shy away from it. It definitely comes with a lot more than just challenges

All I can say is Thank You :), you didn't really have to, but you did. :).This is the reasonable words part of the quote.

To Quote a chat :

SRC says:
thrs this korean chap / girl by name 'MyeongSoo Choi'
RM says:bah
RM says:is she the one screeching on the speaker?
SRC says:wait, thats not all, his/her email id is..
SRC says:oh no that is from a different team
SRC says:'imustdo@yy.com'
RM says::D
RM says:hehehhee
RM says:what fun to be at lg
SRC says:and msn id is 'choimustdo@xx.com'
RM says::D
RM says:heheheheheheheh
SRC says:if i had to choose email if i'd choose 'LadyShirsha'
SRC says:wat'd u choose?
RM says:ummm
RM says:iwontdo@lg-nortel

:D

Every day is a little life, and our whole life is but a day repeated

- Bishop Hall

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 ...

Partners in Crime

There’s a new couple at work . Lets call them Ms Coochie Coo and Mr. Ravana. Coochie Coo is coochie coo ‘cause she’s extremely pretty and she has guys wrapped around her Ujala white chiffon duppatta. Ravana walks like , well Ravana

Yes , you are right. Being in the software industry kills your grey cells (Not that that's a prerequisite for you to get in but oh well , the point is they get killed if they were present , you know , being in this pair of braces reminds me of the underpass that runs between platforms in the railway station , no , I don't mean it in the smell way, but the being in it way … choke time to get out ) Hmm … fresh air. Ok , so where were we? .Yeeees , CC and R have been spotted in various questionable circumstances , to elaborate , who in the world would take a flight of stairs from the Ground floor to the Basement? See? You’re thinking someone who works in the G Floor? N-Uuh! They both work in the floors above ! Tis the hour of twilight , tis the hour when Mata Caterers serve yesterdays Bhajjis as snacks , Tis the hour of moonlight ! All soft and still and fair!

Tis the time to coochiecoo under the stairway!

Remember that episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S in which Phoebe pretends she has a crush on Chandler ‘cause Chandler and Monica are hiding it from everybody else? Whats a serial if you don't imbibe something from it , eh? I ask of you

So now , SRC and I are giving Ravan a lot of coy smiles.

*Coy smile*

*giggle*

*Coy Smile*

It so happens that Ms CC is SRC’s car pool friend.

SRC: *Sweet Smile*

CC: *Sweeter Smile*

SRC:*Why isn’t she mad at me smile*

CC:*Guess who else watches F.R.I.E.N.D.S smile*