Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

I have read this poem so many times and just love the way it goes....
For the want of putting up a blog, this is a salute to women!

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me!

Avarebele Mela

In Bangalore every year around January, closer to Sankranti (pongal) there is this event that happens in the Vishweshwara Puram, Sajjan Rao circle area which is also called the "Eat Street" of  the city. It is called "Avarebele Mela"- where they prepare different variety of dishes from Avarebele. Like, sambar, vada, dosa, upma, paddu, pulav, biryani, bonda, even desserts like, Jamoon, jalebi, holige (puranpoli) etc.. You name a dish and it is there but only vegetarian!
There is a huge rush of the Bangalore crowd to this place to taste these miuthwatering dishes.
My colleagues in office comprise of a team of non-bangaloreans and they have been wanting to go to this place during this time for over a year now. :-)
So, finally this Friday we decided to go there and I was their guide and translator for the evening. We got stuck with work and left only at 7.15pm. The Friday traffic wasn't that bad and we did the 6.4kms in about 30mns. The place wasn't really crowded for a Friday evening. Some of them had reached early and had ordered Twisters. They said they were having it for the 1st time. :-) really??
Then I took them to the chat store where my favourite is Pav Bhaji. They ate Pav bhaji, Dahi puri, Alu tiki and kachori masala. From there we went to eat Avarebele vada and bonda. This guy was struggling to even pronounce "avarekayi" so, I went and bought it finally ending his struggle. After this, they had goli soda to digest whatever they had eaten till then ;-) Then they had dosa with avarekayi curry, avarekayi dosa, Jamoon, holige. I was asking them for the next dish they wanted but they just threw up their hands and said they had enough. We had a good binge and went our separate ways....

Kirik Party + Rakshit Shetty

In the morning, I told my friends that I would compensate for the 5 days of blogathon and only 2 posts so far....but hardly had any breather at work to do this.
This Kannada movie, Kirik Party released on 30th December. I actually tried to book tickets for the same day but alas! Most theatres around our area was either going almost full or sold out :-(. As I was off on a trip for New Year's Eve, I consoled myself saying I will watch it as soon as I get back to namma Bengalooru...
I got back from the trip on Monday night and started trying to book tickets on book my show but could hardly find tickets for Tuesday evening and the theatres were almost running full in the old Bangalore area comprising majority of Kannadigas. I was really sad and to top it all my daughter watched the movie on friday, my sister on Saturday and my friend on Sunday. But, I didn't let go of my quest for the tickets. Finally on Wednesday morning even before leaving for work, I searched again and finally booked the tickets for Thursday night that was yesterday....
This movie Kirik Party, directed by Rishabh Shetty is an absolutely brilliant "Masterpiece".
Rakshit Shetty is a such a versatile actor. He has been on the screen from 2010 till date. He has acted in 6 movies till now out of which I have watched 5. Now, Ricky has become a must watch for me....
Now coming back to the movie, I was wondering how the movie was going houseful for so many days continuously. The crux of the matter is, that the movie is about college days. So everyone who watches it is glimpsing themselves briefly and going into flashback mode of their own college days.
Two different looks of his-I loved!!!
All his movies have been very differently conceptualised  but somewhere reaches the deep recesses of your heart and you can connect to it on a base level.
That's Rakshit Shetty's Magic! You need to watch out for him in the near future coz I am sure he is going to churn out one super hit after another with that magical act of his!!!
Totally in love with him for his acting!!!

Travel Tryst

I was born bitten by wanderlust and my parents only nurtured it some more with the bi annual trips they took us on to far corners of the country! Thanks to them for putting the world at my feet. Some wise person once said, world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. It's so true! I realised very early in life that I wasn't the kind to stay put at home for too long. Then the open road, the Tarmac leading away from the concrete jungle either to a beach, a mountain or a real jungle beckoned to me and shout out my name and I would just pack and go.

thankfully, my husband shares my interest of travel. We have done a lot of small trips and 1 trip to Singapore but I keep complaining in good humour that I am always stuck in the 5 states. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and of course Goa. In the last year itself we did 2 Goa trips 5 months apart. December'15 Goa, April'16 Coorg, May'16 Yelagiri and Goa, July'16 Nilgiris, August'16 Gandikota and Belum Caves, October'16 Goa and Hampi, November'16 Munnar and Kochi and for New Year's Eve Mudigere, Chikkamagaluru.

My friends keep taunting me how I manage to get so many leaves for these trips :-)) but except for Goa in May, Nilgiris in July and Munnar Kochi in October, I have only taken a day off in a long weekend. But, I want to make it clear here that I still have 28 days of leave left. This is all that I had collated over the 5 years that I was in the earlier role at work.

Blogging again!!!

Hello all I came to the blog and I see that the last 2 posts of mine have started with- I just realised its been so long since my last post. The last post was in Nov'16 and one before that was in Jul'15. That's the gap between my last posts. I have almost become extinct in the blog land :-) and I wrote my 1st post 6 years ago. I feel I have always got inspiration at all the  wrong times....where I don't have any means to jot down, topic nor points. I wrote the last 2 blogs of mine with lots of good intention but now you know how it has played out....:-)!                                                                                                                                                   A few days ago, when my long time friend R told me about the blogathon, it set me thinking and I was finally convinced to give it another chance. So, here I am trying all over again. I don't want to disappoint myself this time.
I have a lot many topics to write about out of which I want to list a few of them here:
1. Year end Goa trip of 2015
2. Then 3 uneventful months
3. 8 odd trips I did over 2016
4. Reunion of us four besties
5. Our circle being complete with the arrival of the twin angels
6. All the upheavals in between
7. Our impending Goa trip in 2020- 16 years anniversary from when we did it first time ;-) oh yeah! I love the idea already
Thanks R for pushing me towards blogging again. I hope I do not disappoint.

Diwali destruction!

I just realized it has been more than a year and a half that I came here to pen down a little something.

I have seen so many Diwali festivals in my life... I could count the numbers though... But that would give away my age?? :-)  yeah! Exactly!

When we were younger Diwali was all about taking a head bath, wearing new clothes and bursting a few crackers.... Those days the crackers would be rationed and distributed between my siblings and me.  We would be happy with bursting a few small crackers and some bombs and then in the night,  light a lot of diyas and some sparklers, flowerpots and rockets. Those days that made our Diwali.

As we moved along our chosen path in life and grew up to be responsible adults and lost our childhood, we realized we had to repeat the same Diwali tradition with our kids.
But now the firecrackers had become bigger and better... We could afford to give it to our kids but at what cost? We are polluting the entire atmosphere. We are scaring animals and killing birds.

When will we understand the damage we are causing mother earth. Hope it's already not late!

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!

Children's Day!!!

It is Children’s day today and I am very excited – not just because I am a child at heart but also because I have a reunion with my childhood friends. Its been 27yrs since we have known each other. Its like they are my sisters from a different mother. We were barely babies when we met and today we have crossed childhood, teens and today women in our own right. We have gone through a lot of ups and downs together. God knows how many Dussheras, Diwalis and Christmas holidays we have spent together….we have had a gala time. We can sit, chat and while away the whole night and then sit together and not talk a word but still come away like we had a long fulfilling conversation.

 

From the silly fights we have had over trillion small things to the innumerable sorry notes we have exchanged. From the experiments we have done in the kitchen to the scientific experiment during Diwali…from beautifying ourselves for the first time to the burning of eyebrows, we have done it all.

 

Its been 11yrs since we got separated but the bond still definitely hold strong. Even after all our personal commitments, moving to different continents, and moving right back in – we fit in so well together!! I am sure we are going to talk about much more when we get together tomorrow with the missing link as well. Its been 8 proper years when all 4 of us were together.

 

It will be much better this time. Even though we met on & off for the last few years, it was never the same without the missing link – now it is a Full Circle and I am so looking forward.

 

I can bet my last penny that this will be the best Children’s day gift I have received just to have all my bestest buddies in the same room as me- added bonus? They are all at my house!! J

Beyond the Horizon!!

Well! I have been contemplating penning down this little piece here for about a month now!! While all the right words were there in my head, I was not able to string them into lines - something like a writer's block should I think??? :-)

Often in life, you think and dream of something... Not sure at all that it will be fulfilled or if there is something else that is totally the opposite in store for you...just waiting for the right time to reveal to you....

It is the same with people...in life, you meet so many interesting characters not knowing if they will be good or bad, whether they will bring out the best or worst in you, whether they will compliment your personality or just the opposite... Whether they will be a positive influence or not... The yin to your yang. Whether they will be a medley of interesting colors on your plain white palette or the sinister black that will eat away all other colors.
With some people, they come with much hoopla and fanfare, just to fizzle out the same way without leaving any mark to show they were there... But with others, they silently creep in to your life and when they go away whether permanently or just for a little while, they leave such an eternal etching it is very difficult to erase all those memories!!

To that handful of people, who have made that difference in my life- this goes out to you!!!!

Masala puri to Mojito- A Decade of my life!

C & I were talking just now- out of the blue, he blurts out- you were eating masala puri and I got you till mojito :-))! This got the wheels in my mind turning. Anyways it is soon going to be a decade of my wedded bliss! Have been mulling a lot over completing 10yrs with him:-)
Seriously, at times I think it has taken me eons to reach this place but sometimes I feel its passed by me in a jiffy..the best gift I got out of all this is C and my darling Neethi.
My mom sometimes says, I know you were looking out for someone like C, who will let you do what you want in & with your life :-D!!

There is a saying that goes...if you really like something or some one, let it free...if it comes back to you, it was meant to be otherwise, it was never yours to have!!
C has given me that freedom always to do as I please!
The journey from masala puri in 15A bus stop to Mojito in Skyye has indeed been truly memorable - I cherish every single memory attached to this journey...one more milestone to this trip next is a little nest to call my own!!

Mmmm..(a contented sigh)!!

The rainy days!!

The aroma emanating from the heated earth when the first raindrops kiss her flesh... I love that scent. I wish some perfume company would bottle it! They would definitely find an endorser in me! I have always found it refreshing and enchanting and with it comes innumerable memories of the rainy days...when the skies would open up just at 4pm when we were about to be let off for the day...we would curse the rain gods but in fact we really enjoyed it! RS, RN and me trying to rush home, while taking turns to push the bicycle with all our bags on it! Trying to watch the puddles and vehicles that conspired to splash us with muddy water. With our long raincoats covering us from head to toe...carrying an umbrella that's big enough for 2 of us to go till the bus stop to have corn on the cob and got gappas... Carrying the same umbrella 2 of them to go and drop RN to her house which was 3 roads away...going to eat the hot hot chilly bhajjis. The dancing on our terrace in the drizzle. The most classic of them all is, sitting in our balcony shielded from the downpour and watching the world go by in all their drenched glory

Busy weeks & Hectic Weekends!!

This time of the year is usually action packed at work as well as the home-front. We have a lot of events at work and life events as well. So, you never know how the 2nd qtr goes...:-)!!
We have 4 birthdays and 2 annivesaries during this time which ofcourse burns a huge hole in the pockets ;-)
On the professional front we have our yearly townhall in April followed by our team offsite in may with a couple of senior leadership visits thrown in for good measure.....and these 2 months being the holiday for schools, one trip atleast needs to be planned....it doesnt help at all that I am the one who needs to plan for this trip as well as the team offsite (I am one of the Spocs)
This time also, it is no different- both my parent's birthday, their anniversary as well as my birthday in march...one family dinner at the end of march on my father's birthday is a family tradition...
Then my birthday as well.

In April, we have the townhall, one team offsite with the visits and Aptril has gone past me...
In May is the hubby's birthday, our anniversary,  a trip and with all this our team outing with a training.....before you can even say blink! It is over...

Another year gone by...

Another year has zipped past me!! So true they say- time & tide wait for none!! It feels like I just celebrated my last B'day. But another one came and went- interesting part was the special time coincided with M traveling for 2 weeks on work and Neethi finishing her last exam for the year on the very same day....I was all ready to party! A small problem, it was Thursday. I did not want to go to office on Friday, bleary eyed! (Wink wink)...
So, S, A, R, Ap, K and S & D- we decided will have a night on the town, live it up and party hard!!
We started the evening with slow music at  Skye and continued it with Bollywood night @ I bar, the Park then ended the night @ S's place...then we did a movie the next day.

The week went by and again yesterday we decided we will go out for Thai food and ended up at Benjarong. Had a lovely time with the kids as well. Hope the year goes by in the same tone..all about living it up!!  :-))

Reminiscence

In the wee hours of the morning, when you are restless and cant go back to sleeping. When you can feel it in pre-dawn air just when the sky is turning to a light share of golden orange, There is a flutter in your stomuch which is an indication that it is that time of the year again when you take a trip down the memory lane to almost 2 decades ago..wen you were studying for your final exam and you knew the holidays were just around the corner- The season for the king of fruits and unlimited supply of lemondes and soda to quench your thirst! It is that time of the year!! Yeah!!

We have a watsapp group with my school gang which has opened doors for 20+ yes worth of super memories...
Its fun to just think about school days...how much fun we had!
The best part of this fun is we are all together again, at least most of us.

Below is one of the messages from the group but it is so true...

"Missing school life"  pls must read 

Ek hi color ka dress pehen kar hum lagte they kitne achay,

School lagta tha poultry farm aur hum sab murghi k bachay,

Mujhko samaj na aya aj tak teacher ka ye funda,

Hume bana deti thi murgha or khud copy pe deti thi anda.
Jab bachpan tha ,
to jawani ek dream thi
Jab jawan huye ,
to bachpan ek jamaana tha.

jab ghar me rehte the,
aazadi achi lagti thi ..
aaj aazadi he ,fir bhi
ghar jaane ki jaldi rahti hai

kabhi hotel me jana ,
pizza, burger khana pasand tha ..
aaj ghar par aana aur maa
ke hath ka khana pasand hai

School me jinke saath 
zagadte the ,
aaj unko hi Internet pe
talashte hai..

khushi kisme hoti hai,
ye pata ab chala hai...
bachpan kya tha,
iska ehsas ab hua hai..

kash badal sakte hum
zindgi k kuch saal ..
kash ji sakte hum,
zindgi fir se ek baar..... fw to all ur friends all over world

Some more awesome stories in the next few  blogs coming up. Watch out!!

International Women's Day

We celebrated International Women's Day at work yesterday... I know it is a special day for women- but do women really need a special day? I believe every day is special to men out there whose life we touch! Whether as a mother- who gives them life after enduring so much pain! As a sister who shares her toys, her food, who as an older sister takes care of her brothers and dotes on them...the girl friend who thinks the world of you...the wife who leaves everything and everyone that she loves which is a sea change for her and starts afresh a new life for herself as well as you! Then finally the daughter who dotes on you, who thinks of you as a role model! Her father the hero!

We do all these and what do you give us??? Trying to kill us when we are infants? Or ridicule us every step of the path we take?? Why should woman be the one to make all these changes and adjust to all the shit you throw at her??

You are ignorant in your own little world??
Today's women are strong and resilient. She is gentle and caring. She has a firm head on her shoulders and knows what she ultimately wants out of life...

Kudos to such strong and versatile women that I know of- Happy Women's Day!!

Dark Hunter Review!!

The Dark Hunters- most enigmatic, majestic, powerful, mysterious and sexy as hell....I have only been reading about them and their fights against the ultimate evil to save the world and mankind. I started reading about them in August and I am here totally and madly in love with them after 6 months & 20 books. Starting with Kyrian & Talon to Zarek and Valerius to the Ultimate Harbinger of destruction, Acheron Parthenopeus to Vane, Fang, Fury to Sundown and then Time Untime with Ren- they are absolutely fabulous men of character and strength... It will take me a considerable amount of time before I pick up another book without the Dark Hunters in it! (a big heartfelt sigh!!!) It has the gods, demons, daimons, lycanthropes, demon-slayers, gaint men and their mean machines and women with strong character and a backbone. From Amanda & Sunshine to Astrid and Tabitha to Sooteria to Bride and Aimee to Abigail and Kateri Dark Hunters, Were hunters and Dream Hunters. It all starts 11000 years ago in Atlantis when Appolymi curses her whole clan for getting her son Acheron killed. The victory of good over ultimate evil, Yin for Yang, the True Balance between the two. And the way Acheron strives to save the very race his mother is trying to erase with her pack of daimons. All about a scheming goddess who is always trying to get Acheron to do her bidding for 11000 years!! Artemis is a total bitch....truly!! Simi the Charonte demon who matches her horns with color of her dresses and loves to shop on TSN with the plastics that Acheron has given her, his daughter and is always waiting with a bottle of barbeque sauce for him to give her permission to eat the bitch-goddess. Finally Nick - who was a human and Acheron's best friend. One small mistake takes everything and everyone he loves away from him and he turns dark hunter with the help of the bitch goddess.   He is now purely evil - The Malachai- Thank the gods I still have him to read for some time. Hats off to Sherrilyn Kenyon for a brilliant series!!!!!!!!

The Year That Was- 2013!!

Another year just whizzed past- surely time doesnt wait for anyone.
It feels just like yesterday wen we Welcomed 2013 with a core group on a close friend's terrace having barbequed food and bid dancing farewell to 2012...
And already half of the 1st month of the new year has gone by!

For some reason I have not written anything in 2013- hoping 2014 will work better for my love of writing.
There are a lot of things that happened last year

January: we welcomed the new year with much fervour.

In February, one of my best friends got married and I travelled for a weekend to Kundapura, near Mangalore. It was good trip except for the train journey which took us forever to reach  & the best part was R's wedding. We have known each other like forever now -23years!!! She is going to celebrate her 1st anniversary soon.

March: was birthdays galore- starting with my mum in the 2nd week, with mine, one of my best friend S's, then V's and ending with my Pa's....with my parent's anniversary thrown in for good measure

April: was for work and work related fun!
We had the usual annual workplace offsite- this is a 2day event where we have a team building on the first day and then totally unlimited, endless fun. Also, a colleague of mine was getting married in Chennai. 5 of us colleagues decided to do a Pondicherry & Mahabalipuram trip clubbed with the wedding and we took our kids along. We had a blast except for the peak summer cooking us.

May: is my wedding anniversary- completed 9 years! Hard to believe it feels like yesterday that we took our vows.
We had a very memorable trip to Tranquil with our friends and  the kids absolutely loved it!
We had the EA team training, offsite clubbed with the Townhall. We had a blast.

June: I went on a trip to Teerthahalli with my cousins gang just before the monsoons began and it was a very memorable trip.

July: not much I guess!

August: 1st august, I was off again on another trip to the Moyar Valley in TN with 2 of my girl friends from work. Deep into the jungle we went and it was serene & peaceful...
The remaining part of August and beginning of September went in a haze....there was so much trouble...but it righted.
Mid-August we made an auspicious start on our house, which is coming along really fine now

September: I remember absolutely nothing to put down. Zilch!!

October & November: were also very dull months except for end of November wen one of my friends delivered a cute little bundle in blue...

December: we were ready to bid farewell to 2013. We went on a good trip to Goa for Christmas with the kids and all of us loved it to the hilt. 3 full days of sun, sand and the surf. It helped that we were right on the beach. Anyways, I will continue on this trip in a separate blog.
We had quite new years eve at a friends and just 3 of us girls....
We made olive, cheese, pineapple,  Sangria, ordered chinese from outside. Watched movies back to back and slept at 3am on 1st.