Christmas vacations-Day 6- GOA

We got up in the morning and went to our host's place for breakfast. Reshma had made Bhaji with a lot of sprouts for us with Pav and the breakfast again was yummilicious.
We went aginn to the Colva beach and today there were too many people there. It was crowded what with the water sports and all that happening there.
We sat in one of the shacks and then went to play in the sea. It was so much fun to be in the water with the sun giving us heated stares ;-). Came back home and freshened up and got ready to leave Viva Goa wonderland and go back to the bruhad Bengalooru concrete jungle. We bid adieu to Raghu who was a wonderful host, asked him to catch up when he is in BLR.
We dropped the others to the Sea bird bus stand and went on our way on the high way. We reached BLR at 5am after stopping on the way for dinner and 2 teas.
Such a fitting end to a week long hoilday in the sun, sand and surf!!!!! It will take me a little while to come out of day dreaming about one of the bestest trip I have had till now :-))))))

Christmas Vacations- Day5- GOA

We got up in the morning at 7.30am got ready to go to another beach in South Goa - Covallasem Beach on the same stretch. Our host provided us with good breakfast - Pav Bhaji. It was yumm! we loved it. we left the house by 11am. went to covallasem, which was a quite a long drive from where we were staying.
Sat in 1 of the shacks with a few drinks and lunch for the kids. The kids went to play in the sea. I had 3 vodka shots and was quite high on the drink. On the way back home we stopped at a Baskin Robins outlet and had icecreams. I rode the bike back home - and 3 of us on it. It was reaally awesome time riding wen u are a little high with the wind in your hair, salt on your lips.
Came back home, freshened up a bit and went to Majorda beach but the beach was not completely accessible by car. We had to park our vehicles and walk quite a bit to the beach. It was dark and with 3 small children we did not want to risk walking in the dark. So, we went back and went to Benaulim beach - which was awesome yet again with very little people.
I was so high that i remember the way I was laughing so loud that everyone sitting close to us was staring at me. We had a running race on the beach. I fell down so hard and was laughing so hard that my eyes were tearing up. We called it a night and went back home to crash at 11.30pm.

Christmas vacations - Day 4 - Karwar

After yesterday's activities, we had decided to just relax today as we were supposed to leave today and travel back to BLR. At about 12pm we were waiting for lunch to be served after a successful bout of fishing wen my husband came up with this crazy idea of going to Goa from here instead of to Bangalore and we were all like why not if we get accomodation and if all works fine we will. we started making calls and enquiring about a place to stay in Goa and my husband got in touch with a friend and got us free acco. in a friends place. Wow! we were almost there. we hired a cab from Karwar to Goa and we reached Madgaon at 7.30pm. That is where we were staying. I had never been to South Goa earlier and this was my first time here. After freshening up we went to Colva beach, stayed there for some time had dinner, came back and settled in for the night.
P.S: on the way to the main land from the Island in Karwar we saw 3 big brown dolphins. We had not seen any on the Dolphin ride only seen some from high up on the hill into the far below ocean. It was a good end to the Karwar trip.

Christmas Vacations- Day3- Karwar

We were 11 people alltogether. 7 adults, 1 boy and 3 children. They had water sports at the resort. snorkelling, banana boat ride, tube surfing etc. 4 of them wanted to do snorkelling. so, they went at 11am in the morning on 26th december. the remaining members went for a dolphin ride around the island and tried our hand at fishing but were not lucky. By the time the team returned from snorkelling it was time for lunch. we had lunch, waited for some time and then went to the beach again. Had a great time going on the banana boat ride (not me - once was too much for me when i did it 5 yrs ago in Goa). then we went tube surfing which was really good. Speed boat ride and by the time we finished all this it was so dark, the sun had set in the horiaon leaving behind a bright orange-pink sky. The kids were also tired for trek back up. So, we took a speed boat to the jetty as it was easier to climb a few steps. Had a lovely dinner and the kids went to sleep early as they were really tired after a full day and playing in the water. the adults got to sit and chat late into the night and we ended the day with a lot of fun & frolic.

Christmas Vacations- Day2- Karwar

We left Dandeli at 8am on 25th Dec to go to Karwar. We had our booking done in "The Great Outdoors" private Island resort. We had a group of friends whom we were joining there. They came by sleeper coach as the kids were too wired to travel by car. We had breakfast on the way and reached Karwar at 11am. We went to the jetty and the boat was waiting to take us to the island. Our friends who were with us in Dandeli had not got the booking in the island but someother resort. They dropped us to the boat and went on their way. The boat ride to the island was about 20 minutes. We reached the island and our friends had already settled there and gone to the beach. I just fell in love with the place at first sight. Wherever u turned, you just saw a vast expanse of clear blue water. It was so calm and peaceful there like the time had stilled completely. I never checked my phone for time for the 3 days we were there. We had sumptuous buffet lunch, rested for a while and went trekking to the beach. we had to walk across and down the island to go to our own private beach. It was simply out of this world. it was more like a small beach with huge rocks on both the sides and there are no huge waves and the water is not salty at all. We could just leave the kids also to play without any worries. We were there till about 6pm and then started the trek back up which was really tiring with 3 small kids in tow. We finally made it to our tents and took bath and changed. There was a camp fire and gud food. The kids were also on their own. It was very easy for all of us to feed the kids and be done with it. finally we settled in for the night with the sounds of the night which is difficult to find here in the middle of the concrete jungle :-)

Christmas Vacations - Day1- part 2

We got refreshed after the night journey and my hubby had to have a nap as he had driven the whole night. We had lunch and were resting there in the guest house till about 2pm in the noon. We did not do the white water rafting as we had small kids with us. We went to see the Synthery Rocks falls which was about 20kms from where we were staying and the drive was beautiful with narrow, winding roads. we had to go down for about 150 odd steps and the falls was simply breathtaking. Synthery rocks are huge rocks which are carved over time due to the water force. It was an awesome place. The climb up was very difficult. From here we went to Ganesh Gudi which is the place where people go to do the rafting. Some of the best resorts are there. We went in to the Bison River resort to check if we could atleast go for a coracle ride but they had just finished the last ride for the day.
We went back to our guest house and those people had organized a camp fire and the temperature was freezing cold. We had dinner and slept a little early as we had to go to Karwar next morning.

Christmas Vacations- Day 1- Part 1

In my earlier organization i used to have shut down during Christmas. Unfortunately after changing my job to a different company I dont have any holidays. So, earlier in the month i had decided I would take a few days off to coincide with my daughter's holidays. My friends told me in the beginning of December that they were planning a trip during the Christmas weekend and they were off to Karwar. So, I had a brilliant idea as usual and suggested my husband that we shud travel on friday night and go to Dandeli as we had never been there. So, the day finally arrived and we left on friday night at 11.30 from BLR to Dandeli. We made it to Dandeli by 7am in good time.

right now, my husband is taking rest as he drove all the way from BLR to Dandeli. so, we are also kind of resting now after the journey. Not planning to go rafting but we are going to check out a few places of interest after lunch. So, I will update the 2nd half later

Chao

My New Nikon D3100

2 weeks ago, on sunday - the day of my cousins wedding. The festvities were all over and we were sitting and chatting away. Earlier in the morning, was telling hubby dearest that if we had a SLR we could have clicked real good quality pictures. So, when we are all sitting & chatting he suddenly says -"come, lets go check out an SLR camera"! I should have known better after being with him for almost 8 years, the meaning of checking out -
1. The model has already been checked and researched on the vast internet
2. It is also checked out from various outlets
3. Not less than a week has been spent on this exercise
4. then the final verdict has been reached to buy the camera
5. That is why all this - "come lets go check out for a SLR" :-)
So, Off we went to the nearest Croma outlet. He goes to the camera section directly, looks at the Nikon D3100 nothing less and says we will buy this. Gets it packed in minutes, comes out and says - "here, this is your gift - advance valentine's gift!!" :-)))))
I am the proud owner of a Nikon D3100!!!! hurraayy!!!!
Now comes the most difficult part. I NEED A TUTORIAL!!! QUICK!!!!!!
Anyways, the wedding is over and there are no more photos to click so everything is left to practice. I see the manual which is like 200 pages. 200 pages??? are you kidding me? I cant possibly read all that.......I need a tutorial quick as I am off on a holiday - Christmas weekend! it is almsot around the corner now!

Mother-Daughter Dinner Out!

The other day, I came back home from work and on the way called hubby to ask what time he is back from work so we can go to the gym early? he tells he might need to go out of town right away on some urgent business. So, I was put off and decided my daughter and me would go out for dinner. Just the 2 of us. We decided on "Eurasia" - the veggie Italian Reatuarant closer to home. We took an auto as I was afraid that she would fall asleep on the bike, on the way back. But still she had her 10 minutes of zzzzzzzzz on the way to the restaurant :-)!
We went into the restaurant. I ask her what soup she wants and she comes back saying, "TOMATO SOUP" - same old, same old I say, just like her father - doesnt want to try anything new at all!!!! Then inbetween all this, she goes and stares at other's plates - I mean really!!! what should they think?? that I dont feed her and so she does that!!
I had to get up from my seat like thrice to bring her back to her seat in a span of 30 minutes.
For main course I ordered the 4-cheese Risotto on a friend's suggestion - and it was super yummy!!! both of us enjoyed it a lot and got a doggie bag home as i couldnt completely finish it on my own.
We went to Polar bear after for an ice-cream and then went back home - 2 hours well-spent.
Qualitywise!!! I am thinking we should do it often now that she is growing older!!!!

"Ghazalon Ke Kaynat Ka Chamakta Sitara"

The title is how the 94.3 radio one folks described Jagjit Singh. He has been gone on for journey towards the after life. May his soul rest in peace!
Its been a few days since Jagjit Singh passed away but he has left us all with treasure trove of beautiful songs to depict our soulful moods and melancholy...
I was thinking about the rich songs of his and thought I should give an Ode to him by picking some of my favourite songs from his collection.
1. Hoton se choolo tum mera geet amar kar lo -
2. Hoshwalon ko samajh kya
3. tum itna jo muskura rahe ho, kya ghum hai jisko chupa rahe ho
4. Jab koi baat bigad jaaye, jab koi mushkil badh jaaye
5. tum ko dekha toh yeh khayal aya
6. Shaam se ankhon mein nami si hai
7. jhuki jhuki si nazar
8. Kiska chehra ab main dekhoo tera chehra dekh kar

An Awesome Day!!!

Are you all wondering what am i doing up at 7am on a saturday morning?? no school, no work?
I thought the same thing too when my eyes opened this morning...but i was in a kind of a mood today. You see it all goes back to 3 days ago, when suddenly my hubby sprang it upon me that he was going on a trip to Coorg with his factory workers and I had big plans for this weekend!! It was the last day of holiday for my daughter and I had thot we cud atleast take her to a day trip somewhere... So last night I said bye to my husband and in the last 2 days I planned all sorts of things to do - spend some really good quality time with my daughter. But yesterday my cousins came down from my native and finally settled on taking the kids out to Cubbon park like we were taken when we were kids. We had some wonderful, joyous times then and we would look forward to holidays just because we were going to cubbon park...we would carry lunch and make a picnic out of it. Those were some fantastic times.
So, today I am going to follow in the footsteps of my mum and my aunts and take the kids there for a toy train ride. I am actually really excited! I hope the kids are too...
So, I got up at 5.30am in the morning, really couldnt go back to sleep...sat up reading a novel till 6.30. Then went for a long walk in the park, came back home and brewed a cup of tea for myself, all the while listening to music and I really wanted everyone to know what I was upto...So, sitting down and putting it on the blog.
Now I am going to make breakfast and then wake my daughter up to a wonderful day, like I did!!!

C u all!!

TV Serials of the 80s and 90s!!

These days there have been major power cuts in our area. Today was also just another day in the same order.....I was tied down with so much work that by the time I left office it was 7.45pm. Then came to mom's to discover there was yet another power cut and I had so much work pending for today. I was going home and just took a de-route to go to my aunts house that is just a few minutes from my place. again, there was no power. So my cousins were there at home and we got talking. My aunt was lamenting that she could not watch her serials as when they had power the cablewala wouldnt and vis-a- versa :-). So, the 3 of us started discussing serials on TV and how there was just one channel a few years ago and lovely programs that were telecast. As we were in school and the quality and the length of the serials were just enough....they were telecast once a week and get over at about 13 weeks. That was the golden era of the TV serials..
When we are talking about serials, we started counting some of the nice one we were fortunate enough to see...
1. Bharat Ek Khoj - this was such an epic serial of its times and so much knowledge. and i remember this from school - we had a classmate of the same name and we would call him by this name
2. Buniyaad - was one serial which was about the Indo-pak partition and it was a bit over my head at that age. but all the characters were so poignant that they stood out as though they were real. Kanwaljeet Singh was so smart in his hay days and he is as smart now in Mere Brother ki Dulhan..
3. Chanakya - I know there is a new serial with the same name but the original version is always better.
And next come the detective serials-----
1. Byomkesh Bakshi - a Rajit kapoor starrer was as gud as the detective serials that came in those days
2. Tehkikaat - vijay Anand (Dev anand's brother) as Sam D Silva and Saurabh Shukla as Gopichand - i still remeber the song that gopi would sing, "yeh mera prem patr padhkar ke tum naaraz na hona"
3. Karamchand - eventhough came at the end of these serials much later left its own fan following in its wake and Pankaj kapoor as Karamchand Sushmita Mukherjee as kitty wow! classic. Though at that time who knew Pankaj kapoor had such a handsome son in the making...;-)
Later ones were the comedies - there were innumerable ones
1. Flop show
2. ulta pulta
3. Dekh Bhai Dekh
And the horror shows of all times -
Khiley ka Rahasya -as soon as i say it the tune comes to mind -do u get it??
Zee horror show
Aahat - started after all these

I know there are many more : if you guys have any favourites do let me know...............

chao!!!

TV Serials of the 80s and 90s!!

reminding you I am very much here!! :-)

Its been quite some time that i visited my blog! i have become so infrequent that I hardly have time to check on comments and to comment on my friends's blogs. But what the **** i am trying to....work is heavy, to top it off no access to these sites. If you are blogging it really helps to have the system and access handy when, how and where you want to write!!!

Am I A Bad Mom??

Howmuchever u try somethings never go the way you want them to in life! Parenting is one of them. You work so hard to give a good, comfortable living for them but in the process loosing out on precious time (their wonderful, growing up years) :-( the future looks very bleek for a mother especially. You try so hard to make them good humanbeings. But your efforts just goes down a huge black hole. You try disciplining them and the father and the grandparents pull the kids the other way and in turn you become a devil. I had read an article in a magazine, no a poem a long time ago in school when I truly did not appreciate the sacrifices that my mum had made to bring me up. Only after I had my little girl do I truly recognize what mountains she has scaled...she must have really bled when i would do exactly the opposite of what she had asked me to. I realize now how she would have felt when I went ahead and defied her.... My mum is the greatest in this world there is none to stand up to her image. I guess my daughter also will understand this some day for I am hurting right now... I dont know if i should seek an expert's opinion on how to bring my kid up. But I am holding on tight to the dream that one fine day she will finally recognize me for what i really am... HER MOM!!

One Fine Sunday!!

This last saturday, my impulsive husband suddenly (as usual) decided that tomorrow was "The Day" that we had to visit our family deity at Nittur. The temple is about 3.5 hours from Bangalore about 40 kms from Tumkur. But, I had my aunts housewarming ceremony on Monday and the pooja was also on sunday. It was all a little bit rushed. We left here at 8am in the morning on sunday. We stopped at Kamat restaurant on the way to have breakfast. The best part of the drive till Tumkur was the very pleasant and cool weather and the 2nd was the lovely, melodious songs on the FM.
They were putting awesome songs one after the other...starting from 'golden oldies' to the 'naya daur' songs. It was a wonderful drive alright!
The pooja there went on from 11.30am to 2.30pm then it poured like the sky opened up to rain so heavily that not even a grain of mud escaped the rains!
I would still say the best part of the whole day was the FM...there was a time when I used to listen to radio everyday non-stop for 3 hours - Sheetal's show. Now, I really miss listening to those lovely songs!

Eternal & Evergreen - Kishore Kumar

I was sitting in the office yesterday morning almost bored to tears and I came to know it was Kishore Da's birthday and i had chosen this day not to get my earphones.
So, this blog is what I wrote like a small tribute to him -

Today is Kishore Da's Birthday...and they are paying a tribute to him on the radio by playing his songs the whole day :-(....i am sitting in office working with no access to listen to those beautiful songs.

To top it all such lovely weather outside just perfect for the mood the songs set. I just wish i had a cup of hot coffee/tea/chocolate milk. With a plate of some munchies and a real good book so i could curl up on the couch at home without any disturbance and listen to these melodious mood lifters.

The song he sang for the movie "Padosan" in the year 1968 - Mere saamne Wali Khidki mein ek chaand ka tukda rehta hai was a kind of anthem for all those boys who fell in love with the neighbourhood girl.

he is one of the finest singers of all times that the hindi cinema industry was fortunate to have.... he might have written and sang a lot of songs but some of my all time favorites are here below in not any particular order.
1. Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si
2. haal kaisa hai janaab ka
3. Eena meena deeka
4. Zaroorat hai zaroorat hai
5. gaata rahe mera dil
6. ek chatur naar karke singaar
7. mere sapnoki raani kab ayegi tu
8. roop tera mastaana
9. yeh jo mohabbat hai
10. pal pal dil ke paas

There are hundreds of more songs that have given me perfect company throughout my teenage years during the phase of my innumerable crushes.

This is just my small tribute to the greatest singer ever for giving us all those beautiful, soul-rendering numbers for listening to on just perfect days like today.....

The End of The Magical Saaga!!!

I dont think J K Rowling had even imagined in her wildest dreams that she would be creating a master piece when she started off on Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived!

Whichever ways she created a Wonderful, magical, mystical world of Hogwarts and everything else seized to exist..
This world that contained magical creatures, the finest wizards and witches who zoomed off on their firebolts, gaints and trolls, muggles and death eaters, chocolate frogs and vomit-flavoured candies, gaint spiders, basilisks, hippogriffs and thestrals. The best of it all was the game of QUIDDITCH!!!!

This story was about Harry Potter, his friends and his enemies. The boy who lived, marked by the darkest wizards of all time - Tom Marvorlo Riddle - Lord Voldemort!!! Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts who had a special bond with the boy. Sirius Black who went to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. Peter pettigrew, the rat that was!
Ron & Hermione - his best friends
James and Lily Potter - the parents who gave up their life protecting him so that he could live to kill he-who-must not be - named!
Hagrid, the gaint who was there every time for this boy.

The Order of the phoenix who united to fight against the dark Lord. His very dramatic return

I have laughed with the lot of them and cried every single time one of his friends died.

Right now, I am wallowing in an all time low because it is over......

My Angel Soon To Turn 5!

Soon, my little angel is going to turn 5. I still remember the first joy of having her in my arm and literally tearing up listening to her first cry...

I asked the daughter what baby it was and she said - "A GIRL" and i was over the moon and I had happy tears in my eyes and the doctor thought i was crying coz I wanted a boy.She couldnt have been more wrong about it. She is who i wanted in my life and in my home. I had always wanted a girl. She was such a tiny bundle and now, suddenly she seems all grown up and drives me up the wall with her crazy questions (no wonder They have come up with a big hard back book about childre's question).

I am celebrating these wonderful joyous five years of mommyhood with her.

I did not realize when 5 months became an year and then a year beacme 5 but yes soon she is going to turn five.

Oh! she is very smart alright knows how to ask the right questions so she gets her answers. She is so manupulative and cajoling until her needs are met ASAP.

She is so possessive of her father and he plays along with her so well...and i am "The Demon", "The Dragon" and "The Outcast".....feels a little sad-bad at times but i lurk in the corner there for the right time when she is going to be mine more than his. only thing i need to practice aplenty is the patience..............but I am Waiting!!!.

When she turns 15,16, 17, 18 I know she will need me more......I just gotta wait another 1o years! 10years??? i am resigned to it :-) :-)

pure co-incidence - continued

@ RS - i have this picture already on facebook but i thought let me put it up again...the accessories are from Soul Santhe and Dastakaar Mela in Chitrakala Parishat that Navs and i had been on my birthday :-)

Beautiful Memories!

Writing on SimpleConcoctions triggers of myriads of pscycadellic memories -
1. Like calling out to each other from the window
2. Calling Ch-ch from our balcony to S's house
3. all those early morning walks and kind of cross country cycle rides
4. walking to school with a bycycle and all our 3 bags on the carrier of the cycle and taking turns to push it to & from school
5. waiting for the power cut at 8pm so we cud run out of home and on to the roads to play i-spy in the dark?? ( we were plumb crazy)
6. sitting in our balcony till late in the evening chattering away to glory
7. keeping crazy names to people whose name we did not know??
8. walking till the bus stop to eat churmuri and stopping every few steps to talk to people we know
9. Studying till late in the night sitting in our balcony
10. palying shuttle batminton in the evening and when it was slightly windy, trying to push the wind away from us with our bats
11. playing cricket with shuttle bats
12. drinking tea at 11pm in the night so we could be awake till 2pm??
13. Running back home from school to Watch Swabhimaan??
14. sleepovers at all our 4 houses
15. Going till S's house from our house just a few metres and asking her for water to drink like we had walked miles ;-)
16. watching movies like Enter the dragon, police story, rumble in the bronx and Gods must be crazy on saturday afternoons
and many many more that i can keep writing all night, may be continue even in the morning! ;-)

Pure Coincidence!!

Over the weekend I had been to Shopers Stop with hubby, daughter and a gang of his cousins. We went there...and the 3 men decided that they will ditch us ladies and go off to drink on their own. So, me who had planned on a little shopping was left stranded in the crowded SS and to top it all off the kid of one of the cousins also had to tag along with my daughter and both of them were going around in circles screaming and shouting drawing the max attention to themselves and ofcourse to me.
i was checking for formal shoes in my size and it was frustrating to not find one pair that fit me! In the middle of checking for styles and sizes and keeping an eye on the running toddlers, i was hanging by a small thread of patience and was irritated with my husband for deserting me.
A lady walked towards me and said - "hi! I love the accessories you are wearing! they are so beautifully unique and are going perfectly with the attire". I told her - "thanks! I picked it up from one of the exhibitions." So, she was like - "from where did you pick it up?" I told her, i picked it up from Chitrakala Parishad. Then i was trying to find the right size of shoes still and She was like - I understand your dilemma because i have the largest sized feet.
Then she told me - Ok! I guess i should be going and it was nice talking to you and lo! she introduced herself as Chaitra- as is my name...we were so absolutely thrilled to be sharing the same name and the same interests! Then we exchanged our #s and i have promised to call her and let her know when the next exhibition is on!
We parted ways and a thought of bumping into each other on another day and another time!
It was the best thing that happened that day!

Friends, dinner & reminiscence - Contd

We finished dinner at Eurasia at about 9pm. S & N claimed they had stuffed themselves more than a stuffed turkey at Thanksgiving. I was cajoling both of them to take the bus back home but, S came back pat - chai I will pay the autofare..meaning she did not have patience nor strength to go home by bus.
Ok, so we crossed the road to flag down aa auto but no luck and we kind of slowly started walking towards the bus stand. Still no luck nor auto. we waited in the bus stand for about 5 minutes. There were a lot of busses but not towards our home.
So, N Brilliant that she is, said - "let us walk" by then S had also kind of warmed up to that idea and we started walking home. We took about 45 minutes to come back home for a route which would normally take us 15 minutes in the ric.
But it was an immensely enjoyable walk back home and we got some extra time to spend with each other.
our respective moms thought we had gone out of our minds but we were really happy in our hearts!!!

Love & Romance - Overrated??

What is love or romance?? I ask you...can anyone really tell me the exact meaning of these words? sometimes i just feel it is a over hyped word in the dictionary that sells a million little thingies and gets a huge profit & turnover for the vendors.
But me being silly little me - I have literally grown up reading Mills & boons for a little more than half of my life and i am kicked by the idea that it does happen in real life too.. :-) my mom blames these books till date for my getting into a love marriage of sorts (cos it was later arranged). But i remember all those days in my teens and adolosence when i would just curl up with one of these books and would read 3 books back to back in a day, when the Tall, dark, handsome, brooding hero of the book would give me a fluttery feeling in my stomuch like a de javu as if i was waiting for him to come and carry me away on his black beauty of a horse to this far off land where there would be just the 2 of us..
I dont know and have lost count of the number of books i might have read till date in the last 16 years or so..but all this said and done, I can still immerse myself in one of them and loose track of the time ONLY if my daughter allows me a little time ;-) OK! knock! knock! reality has come knocking on my door, I need to go open it right now!

Of childhood friends, dinners and reminiscence ;-)!!

Yes! it happened again after 3 months. We met again on the excuse of using a gift voucher from Splash which was about to expire today.
We met in Spalsh on MG Road. RN & were already there when i went. S used her voucher and i had used mine way back in May itself. S picked up 2 tops & a pant then we walked to trinity circle where S's father was waiting for us and he dropped us off in J'nagar - we had decided earlier that we would shop and then go back to our side of the town for dinner. So, we went to Eurasia for a yummy meal of Pizza & Pasta. We started off with awesome Crostinis and progressed to pizza that was so light & tasty and simply out of this world. The Chefsdon Pasta was the chef's special which was a gooey pasta with all the veggies thrown in with creamy cheese sauce. We decided to forgo the dessert as we had already overstuffed ourselves. between all this eating there was constant free-flowing chat punctuated with hoots of laughter ;-). yes, now coming to the topic of the blog - the 4 of us have been friends for ages now - may be early 90's hmm..to be exact - for 22 years. so the 1st point is covered. ( We miss you cats!) and ofcourse i covered the 2nd point in the beginning. coming to the 3rd and last point of the topic header when you have been friends with someone for so long that you dont remember how many fights and tiffs you have had with them, then you will have so much to talk,refresh and reminisce about. so, the chat went to all the places and back again. we started off from the time when we met S for the first time, she was on the bicycle and was a pretty little girl with 2 plaits. she was all of 8 yrs and her aunt got her to where we were playing on the road and introduced us asking us to include her in our evening play time. RS and I (we were neighbours)took an instant shine to this girl and RN we met in school. RN just lived 3 roads down and the curious cat that she was, wanted to know where we stayed, which school we were from and what we did in our free time etc., this to be put in 2 words which was our life history.
Now, about RS and me. In the beginning RS was such a snobbish little creature with greenish blue eyes and she was very cautious with this girl who was her neighbour whether she liked it or not! i would stand in my compound and see her do stuff but as soon as she saw me observing her she would run inside and lock the door. It took a lot of time on my part to thaw her out but in the end we have all stayed real good friends for most of our life and hope we will remain the same for the remaining years. only RS is not here for the last few years where she has been in Singapore for 7 years and now is in the US. but we still miss you especially during times like these when we meet once in a blue moon!
I can put up more posts with all that we reminisced over dinner. May be I will!!

The 7-year Itch!

First of all before i start let us try and de-code what is "The 7-year Itch"...
1. I think according to the scholors, it is the inclination to become unfaithful after 7-years of marriage.
2. It is the title of a 1955 Marilyn Monroe movie which is even now famous for the image of her white dress blowing up over a subway grating (white dress, red lipstick, super hot blonde) wow! what an image...
but in this super fast day & age when marriages & divorces are going hand in hand, the 7 year itch has lost several years..has also become 1,2,3,4,5 0r 6 years. :-)
for me it is not so much an itch to look at something or someone new but it is an itch to just have some breather or space away to spend on my own.
I keep threatening my husband sometimes ( all empty threats ofcourse) ;-)
I am 100 percent sure i would not want to swap him with anyone else as he is what i would have wanted and had the good sense to go for( even in the face of all the opposition and people breathing down my neck - hey R2 & S are you guys listening???). He doesnt question me, doesnt stop me from doing what i want and he is such a good one that he comes and picks me up from wherever & whenever I go drinking and partying with my pals. :-) ( this is a huge bonus)
And also there is this major thing - to get to know someone again in the smallest possible ways and understand...I am too old for all these games.. I think! and that is what i keep telling him all the time.
So my version of the 7-year itch is actually just an empty threat when i get irritated that things are not going the way I wanted.

The much awaited get-together!!!

We ladies from school have been planning a get-together for some time now...and it only happened a fortnight ago! After discussing for what seemed like ages and many fone calls later, we had decided to go to a resort with our respective kids in tow...but again a last minute change..had to happen with the five of us from different parts of town trying to meet at one mid-point so it will be easier for all of us to commute and make good time.
We had decided to go to a resort for a day outing 5 ladies and 3 kids, but the weather had changed so drastically that there was incessant rains everyday of that week.
Finally on the day before in the evening we decided that we will just meet (only us no kids!) in the morning go for much needed (think shopping) and then may be have lunch somewhere nice.
Even after all these discussions there were still last minute changes and 3 of us met in the morning at 11am in Com street, and were roaming the streets in the hot sun (of course we shopped-those details will make for another blog itself ;-)]
We went to Splash on MG Road insearch of some good stuff...one of my friends ended up spending a bomb there( did you not R??)
We took an auto from here and went to UB City for lunch....we were ravenous by now that we could easily have eaten a horse.
We went to Toscanos and there was a wait of about half an hour there.
Finally the other two ladies joined us here. We had stimulating conversation over good wine and melting-in-the-mouth watering food. After all this we were still not satisfied with the conversation we had or the topics we had yet to discuss so we went to Corner house for yummy ice-creams. After an hour here and so much more talks we went our separate ways promising that we shall meet again soon!!!!

Its Holiday Time Again!!!

I have been thinking of this holiday for 2 months now planning everything behind hubby's back (this is supposed to be a surprise for him) I have told him to take off 2 days from his work schedule. I had to tell him that much atleast as you cannot try and ask a business man to take off just like that without prior notice....I will be more surprised when he says he cant make it :-)
So, finally after a lot of dilly-dallying I decided to arrange this outing for our anniversary but then again advanced it to a week early and thought it will be a good birthday gift for dear hubby and a much needed and awaited break from the concrete jungle..
So, i am off tomorrow to this jungle and also trying to cover a beach when we are there. My hubby did not ask me where we r going or what we r doing? so going really good till now!!
Anyways I am going to have a great holiday by letting my hair loose and the best part is no cooking this weekend ;-)!!! c ya all

Peace Within!

When you feel like you are going to scream, take a few moments to get away from it all if you can. Breath deeply, try to see things in perspective and come out and face the world again when you are ready----
At the pace that i am going screaming my self hoarse, i dont think I will be ready to face the world again for some time...
I am trying to kind of balance things out but how much can you try too..it is extremely frustrating to play both the roles without anybodys help especially when you have horrible people around you who are always frowning and dont appreciate what you are doing for them...
I am truly irritated with the whole thing but I cant change it anytime soon
I feel like I am going into this deep vortex of depression from where i dont think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel let alone the end of the tunnel :-). Will i ever see it in the near future. I always thought I am an optimist but i dont know anymore..... these things always happen in a cycle so should i console myself and say there will be better days????
May my distrubed and distorted soul find peace soon! Amen! to that.....

Foot (Wear) - Fetish!!!

I am kind of in a daze these days and being pulled by colourful and cute, fancy footwear. So, I thought I will write a blog on them with some pictures of course!!

The first set of chappals that started off this fancy for me was one purple braided chappal that Anu was wearing one day. I was so impressed by it that the first picture was taken for this blog but unfortunately i dont have the picture anymore.. She took us to this shop - "The Shoemaker" which has branches in the city. We went to the Jayanagar shop and i was mesmerized and bowled over by the collection they had in the smallest sizes (my size). Most of them fit me!!! the tiny little feet of mine I was overjoyed and decided I will go there soon. Shoe-Maker here I come!!

So here are a few sets of feet in a variety of chappals..... May the foot fetish continue!!!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Ice-creams in different flavors (usually late in the night :-)

1. Spicy corn on the cob in the rain


2. Playing with my daughter


3. Going on a walk early in the morning with my MP3 player plugged to my ears


4. listening to soft soul-rendering music


5. Chatting with friends over a big mug of coffee


6. Clicking and posing for pictures :-)


7. Wearing big shades that cover half my face and feeling like a celebrity


8. watching exotic locales on TLC


9. Yummy Italian Pasta


10. Watching a movie starring Julia Roberts


11. My hips dont lie - Shakira


12. All songs from mamma Mia and the location the movie is shot in


13. traveling a weekend in every 3 months


14. Standing on top of a mountain, breathless after a long trek and feeling on top of the world


15. colorful clothes


16. Watching a movies in 2nd show


17. Nail polish in bright colors, mismatched:-) havent worn them like this yet...


18. Masala puri with a lot of green chutney (hot & spicy)


19. Fixing a mid-night meal of MAGGII!!!!


20. Playing in the water - Sea, river, lake, stream, Swimming pool or amusement park (you get the drift right??)


21. Long rides in the night


22. Shopping - loads & loads of it!!!


23. Reading books


24. Watching romantic comedies

Not necessarily in the same order, but yes they are some of my favorite things!

Bright knick-knacks

In my last post about the arty stuff i had said i will do a foto post about all the little knick-knacks I picked up from the Soul Santhe & Lepakshi in CKP so here it is finally.....

I picked up just a few little things from the Soul Santhe.

This set of 3 bangles in multi colors is made of papier mache. It was in all shades of blue and little green and purple & green. I liked it at first sight and had to have it.

I also bought a big bracelet in plastic in brown color which has polka dots...so very retro and went ahead and bought it.

Also bought this owl pendant and after going crazy looking at all the owl pendants around from Forever 21. I just 'heart' it & now i can rest content.

These were the stuff from Soul Santhe...but now comes the best part.. ;-) from here we went to Chitra kala Parishat where they had an exhibition going....

I bought silk thread bangles in 9 colors - 1 of them complimentary from the stall keeper as he knew my friend. He gave me one extra because I was her friend. Thanks R!

I also bought another chain in blue color which had a mirror done with crochet and had little shells and an earring in dull brown color.

I bought a really nice necklace made from metal and beads.

I bought a colorful Jaipur juttis that would go really well for summer. I dont have a foto of it though... It is a beautiful mix of colors and has a mix of blue, green, pink, orange & purple. Awesome isnt it??

I bought a nice summery printed top in lovely hues with dull gold metal embroidery and another flowy Kaftan with white color as the base and has pista green, peach & light brown abstract design on it.

But, these clothes i will only wear and take pics to put it up....until then watch out for it...!!

Arty Stuff!! & new chapters!!!

Last week when I went to the Soul Santhe, we noticed this exhibition happening at Chitrakala Parishat...my friend and I thought if we finish early at the Soul Santhe we would give a flying visit to this exhibition too...We finished at Palace Grounds by 4pm and from here we went to CP.

We entered, Lo and behold- it was an entirely different world. I bought so much stuff here (much more than what I bought from the Soul Santhe), I have been wanting to show it all off!! i have been wanting to do a photo blog of it. I will do it first thing tomorrow morning! So, after all the euphoria of the World Cup where WE WON!!!! yooooohooooo!!!!!!!!yippeeeeeee!!!!! i am just counting the days till this chapter of my life will be over and new chapter with fresh pages will begin!!! Though i dont have any breather between the 2 chapters...hope it will be much more interesting and enlightening than this one was.....

Massage A Thon

I went for a 15 minute reflexology massage last week..It was simply out of this world. I could just lie down there with my feet up when I was gently being massaged... I almost dozed off. The feeling of my muscles un-knotting was equisite pleasure ;-) anyways i just had to lie there and my whole body was tingling with the effect. The masseur started with my feet working on the balls of my feet when I could feel all my pain & stress seeping away and then progressed to my calf, lower back, back and then came the next best part my shoulders & neck...ummm!! that was awesome, fantabulous!!! then the head. All this was happening during the office hours but who cared all this experience was unlike anything from this world!!. All this and I did not even have to step out of the office....had to just climb up 4 sets of stairs and go to the cafeteria where we had organized 5 massage couches ;-) what did you think?? I wanted to buy the chair...when I asked for the price, I came quickly back to earth with a thump!!!! But, all in all this was a very good uuummmm experience!!!

Aha Summer!!!!

I have been thinking of writing this post from the day 1 of the summer but somehow never got around it.. :-) I love summer for a lot of reasons: 1. early summer mornings, when it is reaaly bright and you think it is late but when you see the time it is just 6.30am in the morning. 2. you get a lot of time to either sleep some more or wake up & go for a walk in the park. ( you can do this pointer only if, provided you are not married and even if you are then you dont have a kid who goes to school or has holidays - mine is the latter. 3. its good to go for that walk which will keep you fresh and bursting with energy the whole day. 4. by getting up early you have a long day where in you can get to do loads of things (work & fun) 5. you can go to the mountains for a lil fresh air if you get off work that is 6. it reminds me of my school days all over again, where we had to study for the exams and wait for it to be over so we can all have fun 7. even now if i think of exams, I have butterflies in my stomuch :-) 8. I remember all those days wen 3 of us would walk to school in the afternoon. we would carry either chutney powder or pickle to eat on the way... Oh! what fun those days were...wish i Could re-live it again. I would give an eye and teeth for it!!!!!

"Soul Santhe" - for the arty & smarty!!!

Sunday last was my birthday & for want of doing something different and memorable rather than doing the same old...same old, one of my close pal and I decided to visit the "Soul Santhe" that happens periodically at the palace Grounds. It was an awesome and a very unique experience in itself.... It was supposed to be 3 of us who were planning to go in the first place but only 2 of us ended up going but, we thoroughly enjoyed the place. It was so colorful and vibrant. i guess that is why it is aptly named... it indeed is something to soothe your soul. Also you will have an added bonus: "People Watching" (I love)! We were 2 of us that went there...it was quite a long ride on my bike in the hot sun...but the santhe was a reward in itself. The theme is more like the flea market from Goa - it starts at 2pm and goes on till mid-night wow!!! i had a camera with me but unfortunately could not take any pics with those many people milling around but I am planning to go for the next one.......may be I will manage some pictures then just to give an idea to all those people who are interested in the arty stuff!! All in all I had a wonderful blasting birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

Age - just a number??

My birthday is just round the corner which has kind of put me in that mode...where i am thinking am i getting old?? or is age just a number???
I have lived so many years of my life!! crossed most of the milestones :-)
1. hopefully i have been a good daughter, sister and friend
2. got married to the one I love
3. had a cute little baby girl
4. in the meanwhile have built up quite a career for myself ;-)
but the question here is have i done justice to my 31 years! have i really lived more than half my life???
I have always been someone who has thought that age is just a number.....but may be completing 31 and stepping into the 32nd is really taking a toll on me.
i sometimes feel i want go back and start afresh do things that i couldnt do earlier but there are also days when i truly feel that i have seen nothing yet!!! ;-)
did you get the drift???right now i am a very confused to-be 32year old!!!!
Should I wish myself a Very Happy Birthday or feel sad that I have finished 1 more year of my life!

Saturday Noons with Chan

Last night I watched Rush Hour 2 and was bowled over all over again by the charms of the man I spent most of my saturday afternoons with, when in School. Those were some of the best saturdays of my life. I would literally count the hours before i got back home so I could immerse myself in his world. Yes! if you guys have not guessed who I am talking about or you have any doubts that I am rambling in my old age ;-) then let me tell you I am talking about the one & only Jackie Chan!!! my love for the action-comedy goes way back to his days of the Police Story...I loved him then & I love him now! ;-) ;-). I have watched so many of his movies over the years and dont mind watching even now (back to back).