Life's Little Lessons!!

What with life being hectic, my blogging has definitely taken a back seat. It doesn't mean I haven't been having a great time. It is just that I have not had enough time to just stand and stare at a beautiful scene or  smell the flowers. I have not had the time to take a breather. Not even to post pics of my recent travels on FB!!!! Yeah! Really! :-)
While I am yet formulate the rich experience I had on my first trip out of country, in a faraway foreign land into beautiful words and sentences, there is one experience that I would surely want to share here for the world to read!

Recently in May we went on our first trip abroad. I was all excited running around for the visa, last minute shopping and packing! Oh! But wait! All this is for another blog. I was talking about this experience??

We spent a lot of dollars on taxi fare. On one such taxi ride, we rode in a neat looking Bentley which is a luxury vehicle there. When we flagged it down and sat in it, I saw that the driver was very smartly dressed in a suit and did complete justice to the car! He was a encyclopaedia of information about the local place and was full of knowledge. He said he was 51 but nowhere looked a day over 25. He said he had a son who was 21. I am like really?? Then he showed us the famous landmarks in the 4-5 mile stretch and a mall where we could shop for electronics. He said he had seen a lot of life and the best part he had learnt was to keep his wife like a queen and his daughter like a princess. He said if you take ur wife into your confidence- life would be a super sail.
Happy wife= happy life. He said you need to live life to the fullest otherwise, the life will leave you.

It was a very enriching experience and we never got to know his name even but I am sure i came away from it a lot richer than I was earlier!

First Official Bike Ride- Nandi Hills

My brother has been doing it for 2yrs now. I got a chance to do it this last Sunday...
Yeah! Go on a bike ride with my hubby and his mean machine.
We were 23 of us who went on a bike ride to Nandi hills which is about 60kms from Bangalore.
We left the house at 4am and met up with the rest of the gang in front of Town hall. There were 11 bikes and 2 cars.
We gunned our mean machines and took off burning the tarmac and rubber. It was a good ride and the roads were empty. There was a chilly nip in the wind and we did good time till the foot hills, parked the car and took the passengers as pillions on the bike for the climb uphill.
The view was very scenic and beautiful on our ride and there was a light drizzle as well adding to the serenity and setting the mood for an early Saturday morning!
We saw quite a few vehicles going uphill and just about 2kms to the top, there was a traffic jam! Yes! Even there :-) By the time we made it up to the top, looked like Bangaloreans had thought that there was no better place to be early in the morning than here! Murphy's law in action here! The thick fog actually saved us from the crowd as we couldn't see anything a few feet ahead of us... We bought tickets and climbed up- it was a good early morning, energising trip and fantastic company with our group keeping up light banter and a lot of laughter!
The boys and girls, the ride, the climb, the chocolates shared, the photos clicked all made this one hell of an awesome trip!
Thank you guys!! Looking forward to more......

Cool Carmelites Reunion 20!!

so...

A lot of thought has gone into this post. I had to prod my mind for the 20year old memories to get these details from my 16year old mind. There is also a disclaimer- this is just view of how I saw myself and my classmates all those years ago...this is not to hurt anyone's sentiments. I a sure we have all come a long way from then...we have matured, bloomed into  beautiful flowers from little colourful buds. When I created the whatsapp group almost 2 years ago...I never knew we would up here some day...it was just friendly banter and information exchange for a long time. One day, suddenly we realised that we can all be much more to each other than just virtual friends- we can be a great support system too.. Emotional and sentimental!!                                                                                                   So, thus started our virtual journey which ended in the real world!!                                                            When Nithin suggested we all get together as he was flying down to India for some personal work, we thought why not? This gave us an opportunity to meet up face to face.                                                    The date and time was for our meeting. Saturday, 14th March @ UB City.                                                 We were all so excited that most of us could only manage just about 40 winks for the night!! All in all it was 14 of us who met. Nithin, Hari, Santosh, Bharath, Vicky, Anil, Gokul, Manju, Sunil, Navada, Prasad, Usha, tej and me!!!!                                                                                                                      I am sure all of us had a little apprehensions and trepidations for meeting.                                                A summary of all of us then and now: Nithin and Hari were always friends. Hari has been like this for ever, cracking jokes with a straight face and when we double up laughing he looks so serious that people think we are mad. Now, Nithin is the type who was behind every colourful girl in school, who was kind of a Casanova of our class. We didn't have much to say to each other in school but post school and during college days, we became good friends and so it continues...       And then there was Manju, who was the silent types in school whom I have observed more during PU when he used to roam the corridors with his best friend. May be we did not talk much in school at all except in Sanskrit classes. I met him only now after almost 18yrs for the first time after school.       There is Sunil, who stayed very close to our house. We all used to walk back home together talking about sometimes, important and sometimes very inconsequential topics.     Santosh---again not much interaction during school as he was a back-bencher only spoke in the last few years when we bumped into to each other on and off in the banashankari  area.      Gokul was also a distant guy in school twirling a notebook on his finger all the time, was a relative of mine...he kept to himself much and already had a celebrity status due to his dancing skills. Now, Anil was one of those naughty boys always making trouble and getting into trouble himself... Teachers first choice during a commotion. The way he used to regale us with his renditions of what the whole deal was about and why everyone was after him.          Bhatta was my best friends biggest admirer. Coz of him, we have had some best chocolate parties in school. He and Vaithy had bought me nutties as the kismi toffee bars were over! Vicky now, I should say  is a very pleasant surprise packet- have never spoken to him at all in school as he had this arrogant air about him. The only time I started talking to him was after the group was created. And the girls, I have been meeting on and off for the last six years or so...Prasad: is the same hehehe Prasad! Tej, I met for the 1st time after school some 5yrs ago...she was transformed from a tomboy to a beautiful woman and a gorgeous mother of 2.....Usha: came out from her hiding a few years ago and got us girls together with her enthusiasm. Thanks Usha....Navada: now I can write a separate post for her but I will suffice it to say she did a 360degree turn from PU to college and then from there to MCA. And she lost our earlier Rashmi in the United Kingdom---I was just telling her on the way back home today that she earlier couldn't stand people who enjoyed life!!! Really Navs?????                                                         Folks, this is just my take on the entire episode!! But I will suffice it to say a very good time was had by all!!! Whoever don't like the summary please try not to kill me!! Love you all!!!!    

Valentines Day

Valentines day is around the corner and there is a lot of furor about it! The brands are advertising with all their might to make the biggest sale for the year! those programs on the TV, Radio - all the FM channels doing special programs that has rent the air with a lot excitement, butterflies-in-the tummy effect. After being married for 11 years, i truly dont know what to expect from my better half??
I know, I had wriiten about my love story 2 years ago in a competition on MSN and won a gift for myself! those were the days....should i say something has changed from then to now? or should i wait for the surprise to happen??
in the meanwhile, there is a heated debate going in our whatsapp- all the ladies expecting magic from the men! and the men looking the other way and blatantly ignoring the conversation their wives are having....
I dont know may be the media has spoilt us for choices - Valentines day sales : where they give u a discount according to your BF or GF's height & weight! or buy for yourself & get some percentage off on the mens edition in the same brand? win the biggest soft cuddly toy or the largest valentines card?? - these are some of them!
The radio & TV not to be left far behind - have special programs for the season, special requests pouring in??
if this is an example, there is a better one!

My middle-aged boss requesting me to postpone his travel to a day later just because the earlier date was on Valentines!! (How sweet is that?)
now, I call that love! - hugely impressed!!

I guess for people who are really in love this day is just another day to pamper their loved ones!for them everyday is valentines day!!

to everone their own! this is not an open invitation for a heated arguement but just my personal view!