From Maa's garden...

During a recent visit to my parents house, Maa collected these fresh produce from her garden.

Lemon :- fresh lemon juice for breakfast

Banana Flower - Known as thur in my native, it was cooked with raw papaya, a fistful of daal and dry fish

Curry Patta - used as a tempering in a few dishes cooked that day

Tender Banana Stem - sliced thinly, it was cooked with chicken skin

Raw Banana - was combined with other vegetables to make a medly

Henna Leaves - also known as Mehendi, I made a paste and applied on my hair

By the end of the day it was a happy me :)

Turning back

1st of January is not exactly the time to turn back, but I have decided to do it. Been ages since I dropped to my own page and now that I have finally done it, it feels terrific. I can come up with a long list of reasons why I have not been active on my page, but the fact is that I am solely responsible for this. I let those numerous reasons stop me but now I have decided to make a move. I don't know how long this love and hate relationship will continue but I am not giving up without a fight (try).

Also 2015 has been a cruel year, but I am still standing tall. Here is wishing to better and happier tidings for everyone in 2016. I am confident this turning back (co-incidentally) on 1st January to my page is leading towards something really big and great. I just have to stick around long enough to find out what it is. Cheers!!

His and her tale

The meeting had a purpose, so respective families accompanied both of them. She saw him for the first time and thought ‘Really?’ His first thought was ‘Oh, we were on the same flight yesterday’. Of course none of them had a clue that they were going to meet the next day. (Btw if you have not yet figured it out, this was their first filmy moment!!)

As it happens in numerous such first time gatherings, general talk took over followed by food (the venue was a restaurant). After sometime someone realized that he and she should be left alone. So, their time finally came and then they talked and talked (he did most of it). For whatever reasons it did not work out and they went their separate ways to different cities. In their busy lives, everything was forgotten.

But destiny clearly had other plans for them, so it meant that their days as single were numbered. Out of the blue an email lands up in her inbox and as they say ‘the rest is history’. Then began a incredibly beautiful phase – she phoned, he phoned, she emailed, he emailed, she pinged and they chatted like there was no tomorrow! And finally they decided this is it! Different cities meant no more face to face meetings before the D-Day.

She left everything in God’s hand, but that lingering doubt somehow found its place in her mind, sometimes. Finally it was that day and everything happened almost smoothly. Hey...what kinda big day would be without some glitches that people could narrate and laugh their heads off till eternity! So, they had their share of stories from this day.

She was going to his home which was about a couple of hours away by road. The heavy jewelery, clothes, customs, rituals, etc took their toll on her. She stopped the car and puked her guts out. Not an ominous sign, they all thought, scratching their chin!!

He came to aid her and then when she sat on the backseat and he on the front seat – he just looked at her and a silent message passed between them amidst the mini crowd. This was the moment she knew that she had taken the right decision; they were made for each other!

Sometimes all that is needed is a nod or a smile from the right person at the right moment! This can change lives forever :D

The day when (almost) everything went wrong!

Well some things went right towards the evening, so that (almost) bit. By the end of the day, I was thinking if I had this story, back in my school days when we had to write never ending essays on the topic ‘The day everything went wrong’, it would have been a real help.

It was a Sunday, my uncle and aunt (in-laws) were scheduled to come to our house (my first meeting with them) they are pretty aged, uncle above 90 and aunt definitely over 85. Since morning I and hubby were busy trying to finish all our works, including cooking, so that we would be free, when they come in the evening, their flight was scheduled to land at 5 in the evening.

I was cooking lunch, dinner and also something for lunch the next day, as I could not miss office that day. Now just as I finished cleaning and chopping all the vegetable and started to cook, the first disaster struck, I ran out of gas cylinder…..I swear there were no advance warnings, suddenly the flame just went off and not matter what I tried, it just stove refused to light up again!!!

Getting a filled-up cylinder on a Sunday afternoon, is something almost unheard of! It was then my neighbor came to our rescue (god bless her!!) She gave me an electric heater, to temporarily (till I got a cylinder) take care of the cooking, so first disaster taken care of.well at least somewhat!

The next disaster was just lurking in the corner, waiting for its turn to happen. I was washing some utensils, and suddenly I felt as if I was standing in ankle deep water (well almost), a glance downwards confirmed my worst fear…the sink drain was clogged, so water flooded the kitchen. Within minutes, hubby and I were down on our knees and hands, trying to soak up the dirty water and dry up the kitchen…..ugh, what a disaster.

After that things were strangely calm, but little did we realize that it was the lull before the storm, alas!!! We were sinking into a comfort zone now, thinking what else could go wrong now. We reached the airport 10 minutes before 5, bought 2 passes to get inside. The display board inside said, the flight from Silchar (that’s where they were coming from, on their way to Dhaka) had arrived. We waited for about 30 minutes, still no sign of them, anywhere. The luggage counter was right in front of us, so absolutely no chance that they are still collecting their luggage.

Now, we were seriously worried…..there was absolutely no sign of them and the board continued to flash that the flight has arrived. So, we decided I would go out and look for them, while hubby will try to find them inside (they did not have a phone with them). I was made at least 5 rounds to and from the domestic airport to international, which took at least 5-7 minutes, every time. We kept calling each other over the phone repeatedly, but so signs of them. Just then my father-in-law called, but I did not have the nerve to take his call. I mean what do, I tell him...hello, we can’t find your brother and sis-in-law; well I simply did not have the nerve to do so.

After another half an hour, hubby came out and we made some other rounds again, domestic-international-domestic-international….it was almost never ending. We thought they must be nearby, but…!!!!

Finally I spotted them coming out of the airport, grinning widely…..after about an hour! Apparently the flight was late, but those idiots at the airport never bothered to correct the display messages….uffffffff!!! Thankfully we brought them back home and things were pretty much ok after that, but we had more than our share for the day!!!

Money Trouble……..When I fell short by a mere rupee!!!

When I first read a Mills & Boons novel, I was simply blown over like any other starry eyed teenager. I had seen many novels and heard many a stories from friends, but I never actually bought one for a long time. The cover pictures that I saw warned me in advance that my folks are definitely not going to like me reading one of those books…..but the lure of the forbidden was just too much to resist, so I decided to buy my first Mills & Boons, I was perhaps in class 7 or 8….. :-))
Now arranging for money was the tough part, surreptitious inquiries revealed I needed 50 bucks for this! Back in those days, getting hold of 50 rupees was kind of impossible! So my partner-in-crime, my younger sister decided to pool all the savings we had. We searched all our secret hiding places, all the piggy banks were emptied and all we could manage was 29 Rs….sigh!

We then sat down and began scratching our heads, splitting our hair to find a solution to THE biggest problem of our lives at that point of time…..we just needed 31 bucks more and we could lay hand on that DREAM BOOK….ohhhh so near yet so far!!!! BINGO….suddenly I remembered about twenty rupees that I had inside one of my long forgotten books. Wow…..I finally had the money to buy the novel….well that was what I thought before I counted the total money…!!!!

It was exactly 49 Rs…..unbelievable and total filmy, but I swear this is exactly how it had happened! And finding that 1re took eternity…..in fact I remember we could manage the one rupee only on the next day. Whenever I muse about this incident, it never fails to bring a smile to my face and give a tug at all my heartstrings! We all have our personal filmy moments in our lives I guess…..Finally we did manage the fifty bucks and the excuse to go out of the house to buy the book was an innovative (according to me) ‘I want to go to a friend house in the neighborhood, her family is moving out of Kohima’....hehehe!!!

I remember the protagonists of the story were named Mel and Jade…….and probably the name of the novel was Man Trouble….well in my case it was no man trouble at all, it was plain and simple money trouble….:P

Awri's Story.....at last!

The first blow hit her just as she was bending down to pick up the broom! Stunned, she whirled around to see what or who had hit her and her sight rested on Awri! He was a good for nothing drunkard, did small works during the day and with the little money that he earned; he drank his day’s share of daru in the evening. She did not know how to react…..Awri regularly used to beat up his wife, but this was certainly the first time he had hit her!

Before she could fully stand erect…more blows landed all over her fragile body. “What the hell is wrong with you, why are you hitting me”, she shouted! But there was no relief….he now picked up the broom and started hitting her and abusing her! Her screams brought out the others of the family and they were stunned by the sight….“what the hell are you doing, have you gone mad?” shouted his mother!

He was taken aback.....no body had ever dared to shout at him, but today everybody were shouting at him, even his meek wife......what was happening?? He tried to focus on the people around him and figure out what the fuss was all about! After a few moments it hit him and hit him really hard, he almost reeled with the affect.....he was hitting his elder brother's wife instead of his wife...huh so much for trying to tame his wife while he was drunk!!!

Btw this is based on a real incident, the names have of course been changed!

Still reeling with disbelief!!

I was in the midst of one of those moments when words magically flow in your mind! I was in the middle of writing an incident about Awri that had cropped up in mind just a few moments ago, I was typing furiously…….did not want out to miss out on a single thought! And then the most unlikely thing happened to me…!!!

Suddenly I heard a sound ‘Plop!!’…..something accompanied with a foul smell (ughhhh) fell on the floor just next to me. Actually it has brushed my arm on its journey to the ground. Automatically my sight traveled towards the floor….initially I could not make out what it was. After sometime realized it was some kind of shit…….still I was not very sure. I mean what kind of shit hits you inside your room??!!!

Automatically I looked up and saw a lizard looking down at me with a grin and seemed to say ‘awrite it was me’. Instantly all thoughts flew out of my mind……actually for the next few minutes, not even a single thought or legible sentence about Awri came to my mind.

So, now here I am writing about lizard shit instead of the drunkard Awri about whom I had sat down to write in the first place! The so called “writer’s block” (not sure if it applies to lesser mortals like me…sigh!) had hit me many times….but lizard shit bringing about the proverbial writer’s block was certainly a first for me….huh! I still can’t believe it….done in by LIZARD SHIT!!!

PS……I guess Awri’s story will take some more time!!!

The Rickshaw Van!

At first sight I was not very sure how people could comfortably sit on it.....but as soon as I sat on one I fell in love with it! The 'Rickshaw Van' is such a delight to ride on when you are surrounded by beautiful greenery all around! The ride through Bakkhal village on a rickshaw van is a completely out of the world experience! I was wondering what is so different about this ride....I mean the landscapes are pretty similar to the ones I see back home in Assam? About 2 minutes into the ride I got the answer.....its the ride coupled with the gentle evening breeze in a distant land, with beautiful low roof huts, greenery all around, the pollution free air topped with of course great company!!

Just tuck in you legs or spread it out if you wish (there is more than enough space) or better still you can lie down if you wish and see the sky......it is a beautiful sight! The conversation with the Rickshaw Van wala about his livelihood, family, village, food and everything made it even more memorable. The people in Bakkhal are a hardworking lot....they are either out with their fishing trawlers catching fishes...or driving rickshaw van taking tourist on a sight seeing spree of the village.....during winter they collect dates (Khejur) and make gur (jagerry)...then they have the land to cultivate...build or repair their huts whenever needed.....they are busy throughout the year!

Bakkhal is such a pleasant and lovely place, that you will immediately fall in love with it. So if anyone happens to go there in their own vehicle.....I recommend they take a rickshaw van for seeing the village.....it is such a joy and you do not know what you are missing.....that is if you do not try it out! Watching the sunset from the beach is simply amazing.....you can just laze around in the beach or go and get completely drenched in the waters......it is such a stress buster, nothing like it!

Caught in a downpour

Angry strong winds lased out as if to say 'enough of the heat'......and the rains followed soon after! The drops came down heavily, furiously and non - stop. Those who were caught off guard thought might as well get drenched and enjoy the downpour.....some were more mindful, didn't want to catch a cold in this festive season, the swine flu scare was also working on their mind!

The chaiwala and chatwala were surrounded.....some wanted a hot cup in the rain, some wanted a spicy plate of chat, others just needed temporary shelter from the angrily lashing rains. We ran out in the rain, got completely drenched and by the time we resembled wet crows......we went to the chatwala's temporary shed.

We hailed one taxi after the other....but none was willing to take us home. All our gadgets was secure inside a plastic bag.......running out in the rain after every couple of minutes was so much fun! A girl decided this is the best time to sell her book....she was constantly running after people trying to show her book, but no one seemed interested!

Rains should soak you to the skin.......to me an umbrella has always been a useless accessory!!!

Drawing dread

As a kid I used to dread that I will fall behind a year just because I could not draw, I was terrible at it! Erratic heartbeats, sweaty palms, palpitations, butterflies in my stomach, feeling like going to the loo every five minutes….I can compile an entire list of things I used to feel in my body as the drawing exams approached. I was always an average student, not a very big fan of either mathematics or science, but I used to score pretty decent marks there which were usually about 50 or 60, but drawing was a sheer terror!

Stick figures were my saving grace if at all I had to draw any human figure. I remember the assignments of the drawing exams that year required us to draw the scene in our school playground during the lunch break. Now what on earth could a poor soul like me draw, my hands used to shiver even when I attempted to draw a straight line! Stick figures were clearly not going to work here…

I can imagine a thousand things in my mind, but to translate them into pictures by drawing is beyond me, I just cannot do it! I remember frantically looking around, trying to peep into my friend’s paper to see how to go about doing it. After about 1 hour, my paper was practically blank! I was sure that I would be detained in that class (I was in class 5) and I was sweating profusely!

Suddenly a classmate who was sitting nearby took pity on me and offered to draw for me. But then I did not know how to react, Moral Science classes always taught me cheating in exams was a bad thing to do. After giving a lot of thought to the biggest dilemma in my life at that point of time, I decided to pass on the paper to my friend. I reasoned I will pray to god a thousand times ask for his forgiveness, god understands everything and he is all forgiving after all.

Undoubtedly one of the happiest moments in my life as a kid was when I learnt that there would be no more drawing exams for me to pass! Sometimes I just sit and think of all the things that we dread as a kid and all the innocence that goes with it. The more I think about it, the more I miss being a child and my childhood!!

Some Judgment, huh…@#%#$!!

The Supreme Court yesterday gave the verdict that a mentally challenged girl who is pregnant (after being raped) can give birth to the child and it is the responsibility of the state to look after the baby. Apparently she was raped by two caretakers of the shelter house in Chandigarh where she was kept by the STATE. Hell they could not even come up with the name of the father of the baby and the court expects that the state will look after the child!

The counsel for the victim apparently pleaded "A child is not allowed to be born; a woman has to come to the court with a plea to allow her to have her baby". When pointed out to the judges that the victim is not in a position to take care of her and is unable to understand the concept of pregnancy and subsequent birth of a baby, the judgment said “Nature has its own methodology”, ya rite!!

According to psychiatrists her mental age is between seven and nine years with an IQ of children in that age group. I wonder how her counsel came to the conclusion that the victim wants the child to be born! How can the STATE take care of the victim and its child when she was raped in the very institution where the STATE had put her in!

I am scared very scared to think what will happen now both to the mother and the child. What future will the child have? What is the guarantee that the victim will not be raped again by a sick pervert? What happens to the person who raped her? Will all this madness and chaos ever stop???

Ahhhh that feeling…..

I must have been in class 3 or 4…….don’t remember exactly! All I remember is this happened while I was studying in the neighborhood school where I studied till class 4 before getting admitted to LFS. The teacher was talking about India’s neighboring countries in the Social Studies class. The conversation naturally veered towards the President and Prime Minister of those countries.

“Who is the Prime Minister of Pakistan?” she asked the girl sitting in the front bench. Not having a clue about the answer, she stared mutely at the teacher. Not getting a reply, she asked the next girl and got a similar response. She got blank stares from all the students she put the question to.

I was sitting the back bench….( I was a backbencher for most of my school life) I knew the answer, so I was waiting for my turn, but I never expected that none of the students in the class could come up with the correct answer. It was around that time that the then PM of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was in news…..probably she was elected the first women PM of Pakistan or something like that!

When my turn came, I answered the question. Even after my answering it, nobody in the class could get it right. The teacher told the class…..It is shocking, in a class of about 50 she is the only one who could answer the question correctly. So from today onwards she is the queen and all of you are her slaves…..:), you will listen to whatever she tells you….the teacher made the whole class stand the entire period and I was the only one sitting down, naturally I could not stop my ear to ear grin!!!

Ahhh…the joy and pride that I felt then nothing has ever matched up to my feelings of that day till date. But I live in the hope that someday something bigger might happen that might surpass all the feelings that I had experienced that day…!!!

Country under siege!!!

I don't know what I am feeling at this point of time......I have become numb....it has been 2 days now to this madness! I felt so ashamed to see the CM on television channels claiming that about 20 terrorists came on speedboats and entered the city.....what was the Government doing?? What kind of security measures do they have in place for people like us, where do we go, whom do we turn to for support? As a layman all I understand is they have been elected by people like us and we pay taxes to them.....the least we can expect from them is to to be secured and move around freely!

It is time for all of us to wake up.....after every terrorist attack be it in Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Gujarat or any other part of the country all I had heard and have been hearing is the so called 'Resilient' spirit of the people. I have never understood this resilience and have no intention of understanding it! How long will people ignore all this....till it strikes close home, till someone we know or love is a victim? I don't know if this post is making any sense.....honestly I don't even care, I am just putting down whatever is coming to my mind!!!

I have always refrained from from making general statement about people......but now I think I can safely say that all politicians are a 'bunch of losers' who have no morals! All they want is votes...trust them to come up with an ad the next day blaming the other party for all that is happening!! I just can't understand that how can a group of 20 odd people kill, injure or take over 500 people hostage.....how can they hold an entire city to ransom? Any person walking down the road knows that situations are not ideal this days and the so called professionals claim that they did not have intelligence information about terrorists attacks on Mumbai.....what kind of information are they looking for....someone calling them up up and telling them 'hello...we are going to attack this place at this time?'...@#$%@#$....is this the intelligence they are waiting for??

I have so many things to say.....but I just can't find the words to put here......It pains me, makes me angry, makes me sad, make me feel frustrated, helpless and makes me very very scared..... How long will this madness go on, is there no end in sight???

Lessons from my debut!!

It has almost been four years in Delhi, but somehow or the other I always missed out on watching a cricket match at Kotla. I guess there is a time for everything and my time had not yet come till of course the 1^st of Nov, 2008. I made my debut in watching cricket matches on the ground!!! Entry glitches was bad......they don't allow cameras inside if you are an Indian! Yes, if you are a foreigner with white skin or any other you can take a camera and click away to glory!!!

I asked the security guys why was camera not allowed inside?? He says it is possible to blow up a stadium with the memory chip in a digital camera..!!! But I just fail to understand what made them think that foreigners will not think of blowing up the place...weired!!! My friend had a wonderful idea, he said just drop the camera in the bag of the Aussie guy standing in the Q....once inside we can just take it from him....huh so much for security!!!

Poor me and my friend, we did not have a car.....so had no choice but to deposit our cameras in a room just outside the stadium!! How much we asked?? 200 bucks for two cameras..!! The guy said this is just a small price you have to pay for keeping your expensive stuff with us for a few hours!! Thats not all, he wanted the money then and there!! I said see we are keeping your camera with you and we are definitely coming back to get it, you can take the money then. In case we do not come to get it, you can always keep the camera and only then he agreed to take the money at the end of the day!!

Two important lessons learnt from watching the match at Kotla....first dye my hair blond or some other exotic colour, speak with an accent and dress casually like tourists..... it will get an entry to the stadium with a camera without any questions asked!! Second get a room on rent real close to the stadium.....you can easily pocket 3000 to 5000 bucks on a match day by keeping cameras for a few hours!!

I am mulling what to do before the next match is played here!!!

Guys n gals any suggestions on this!!???

Mantyhose....ewww!!

Ok....this report is lifted straight from TOI, I circulated it among some colleagues and friends and got some very interesting responses. Just wanted some more views on this, so put it up here.

My take on this, it is plain revolting....ewww, what happened to manliness!! As Sukanya aptly puts it 'since when did guys begin to have great legs, Huhhhh???' The pictures were too revolting to put here....people have threatened to kill me for that :(

Here goes the report,

Mantyhose: A must-have for men

Men have invaded ladies' fashion domain a little further, for after 'man-bras' and 'manscara' the latest must have for men is "mantyhose." "Mantyhose"or pantyhose for men have become a popular sheer garment from truck drivers to cowboys.

A self confessed male hosiery-wearer, Harisnya is so passionate about the issue he set up e-MANcipate, a website which he says aims to "accelerate the acceptance of male pantyhose as a regular clothing item".

The website offers men a step-by-step guide on how to wear pantyhose without damaging it. Harisnya declares that the website, based in the United Kingdom, is "as serious as fashion can be". He is adamant that both males and females should be allowed to wear the sexy sheer garment.

"Men have great legs and hosiery is a great way to show them. It's quite practical in some ways. It prevents chafing, for example, when horse riding or cycling, but it's also a good alternative to bulky underwear if you need some warmth,"News.com.au quoted Harisnya, as saying.

"Going to work on a cold autumn day in regular trousers with 20 denier hose underneath helps to avoid getting cold. Plus you won't ever have to worry about loosing or matching your socks. It's fun, but no joke,"he added.

The men's pantyhose come with a "male comfort panel"that better fits a man's shape, and sometimes offers a convenient fly opening.

Harisyna's love of pantyhose is backed up by testimonials from truck drivers who swear by nylon hosiery for its circulation benefits and cowboys who don them under their Levi's for warmth.

He believes that men's pantyhose is an easy way to dress differently.

"Not all men like to hide in grey uniformed clothes. It's an easy way to dress differently, pairing the colour or pattern of your pantyhose to the rest of your clothes just like you do with the colour or pattern of your tie.

"It's relatively easy, too, as hosiery goes easily with almost every kind of shorts and shoes,"he said.

The e-MAN-cipate campaign is the push for companies to produce pantyhose made specifically for men.

"Don't buy female pantyhose at all. Don't strengthen those companies who don't produce/sell male pantyhose. Buy male pantyhose. Do help with your purchasing power to those who are on your/our side,"said the website.

The GREAT rivalry !!!

My earliest memories about the rivalry are from my school days.....so it was school vs school. My school Little Flower School (a girls school) was of course the best and all the guys wanted to be seen with LFS gals!!! We on the other hand thought that kids in the other school (DBS, KES, etc....) were big time losers....any inter-school contest had to be won by our school, more so if it was a beauty contest!!! We had to hog the limelight at all the youth festivals with with our charming/graceful/elegant hostesses, singers and potential models in the fashion show segment....it was huge fun!!!

Within school rivalries were just between the sections. So, if you were in section A, then section B gals had to be the over smart and dumb ones! Back then, it used to feel that this was the biggest thing in life, your entire life used to revolve around that.....if only we knew the truth!! In college the rivalry was of course between the students of the arts section against the students from the commerce, science sections. Everybody used to guard with a hawk's eye, one mistake and students were scarred for life....:)

When I joined the university the rivalry was between departments. Mass Communication was the most sought after department, apparently it was the most glamorous deptt..! Of course the computer science deptt was kind of an unspoken enemy......funny cause I have many good friends from that deptt. I remember once during the social week, I had a huge fight with my friend Rocky over something very very trivial!!!

After that we were not on talking terms for about 2 or 3 months!!! Now when I sit back and think about it all that comes to my mind is what an absolute waste!!! All my very good friends are either from the other section in school and college or from the other departments in university. Thats not to say that I do not have gr8 friends from my section and department....!!!!

I am sure all of have gone through all this or are still going through these rivalries, if you are a student till now!!! It is extremely emotional while it lasts, amusing when you think about it later and definitely brings the smile back on your face....:):)

Glorifying terrorism...???

The front page headline in Times of India this morning saya 'Jehadis may get nukes, warns PM'....it caught my attention no doubt! So, I read the report very carefully word by word, thrice! And I did not find the mention of the word Jehadi even once in the story....yes there was mention of how the PM was worried about the country's nukes falling to the wrong hands, read terrorists. The report says that the PM 'sounded a chilling warning about the dangers of nuclear technology falling into the "dangerous hands" of terrorists and called for greater vigil'.......

I very much endorse the PMs view and ya if it falls into wrong hands, the consequences will be disastrous, no doubt. But I have certain issues about the headline and the story. Jehad is an Arabic word that means Holy War and jehadis are those who wage the war. So, is Times of India trying to say that terrorism is a holy war, by calling the terrorists jehadis?? Did the PM actually use the word Jehadis in his speech.....I was not present there nor did I see it on TV, so I do not know what exactly was said by the PM (I have a feeling that the word was not used...) Or did the reporter think that the word Jehadi will aptly describe terrorists??

Just because some morons use the name of religion to justify their evil acts does not mean that the entire world should accept that!! Those morons can name their act as Jihad, Honour Killing and such other names, but at the end of the day if the media and the public endorse the terms used, is it not showing acceptance about the whole thing at some levels?? I really do not understand the why that word was used in the first place. Terrorism has no religion....thats what everybody says....but the use of this word in the front page of the leading English daily of the country certainly does not reflect so!!

Bundle of joy......

I am on cloud nine these days.....the next generation of my family has arrived!!! My niece (brother's daughter) came to the world on 2nd of June at about 11 in the night. Right from the moment I came to know that Bhabi was expecting, I was wishing from the bottom of my heart for a daughter....now my prayers are answered!!! Everyone in the family is extra excited these days days!!!

All of us came with with our own choice of names and now we have more than 10 names to choose from.....bhaiya will have to draw a name out of the hat....she is going to be the 1st one in the family to be named through draw of lots!!!

My choice of names are Riffat (high).....Falak (star) and Nayyab (very rare, exclusive)....will have to wait and see if any of these names come out of the hat or not. All of us were looking for names that start with S, Z, T,P...definitely not with A.....we have had enough of being the first one in the line for exams, viva, injections, practicals and many other unpleasant things....we don't want that for her!!!

Definitely not looking for a daaknaam, specially after all I had written about daaknam's in one of the postings.....but I guess she will invariably end up having one. One of my friend rightly puts it by saying daaknaam's are so much part of our culture.....somewhere or the other one is bound to spring up!!!

Welcome to the family....here is wishing her a very happy, successful and adventurous life ahead....go girl, the world out there is waiting for you, make us all very PROUD of you!!!

Getting even with a narcissist.....

Some people live under the illusion that the world owes its existence to them, I have done this.....I have done that......had it not been for me ....blah blah blah!!! I had to interview this guy (professional hazard you see!!!!) and once he started shooting from his lips, he was not stopping. Trust me even a tsunami, earthquake....nothing could have dented him. I was sitting there wondering how on earth can someone actually say something like that????

The day did not start very well for me, got a vehicle that sucked big time in the heat to reach the place. Finding out the place took a lot of time.....well if this much time needed to find out a WORLD FAMOUS location, I never even want to be famous, forget about being world famous!!! Mister Big Shot.... was not in by the time me and my colleague landed there....guess you do not qualify to be a big shot till you keep people waiting to meet you without any evident reasons.

Sample of some of the things he blabbered about......he runs an organization and on being about expansion plans to other cities, his response was 'people go to worship religious places, those places never come to people'. All people those who matter in Bollywood miraculously are associated with him, in other words owe their staggering success to him alone.....what would we ever do without Bollywood, huh!!!

He had the gall to claim that certain areas in the city were planned and developed by him.....they were just very thick jungles before he actually decided to take pity on us mortals and plan out that place. Next he started rattling 'out of the world' figures to put across his success story.......and in between all this crap talk he complemented me on my looks......so now you can guess where his concentration was all this time!!! No I am not even getting there about his crap......I have heard better compliments in my life!!!

After about a week of this disastrous interview, I was traveling with my brother. It was extremely hot and I was not feeling well, so I drank tender coconut water from one of the roadside vendors......suddenly I had a wicked idea and I did not throw the outer covering of the tender coconut water after I had finished drinking. We has to pass through the area that the man had claimed he planned and developed.........once inside the place, I asked my brother to slow down the car and I actually dumped the coconut husk just in front of his building.....yes, I did it.........ohhhhh! It felt so good, just can't tell you how much.

So, next time you are really pissed at someone and cannot do anything about it, trying doing this.....it gives you a kick, a heady feeling I must say.....just throw caution to the winds....... do it and ya do lemme know how it feels afterwards!!!

Caught off-guard....completly

The shirt with multi-coloured fishes printed all over suddenly, caught her attention, it fascinated her.......she examined it for sometime and asked me why the fishes are out of water and not moving! I told her they were printed, so doesn't make a difference anyway! 'Huh....as if printing things makes all the difference', she muttered....clearly I failed to convince her.

Now she wanted to know why was the second shelf in the cloth rack empty.! 'To let kids get inside and play', I said...... she wanted to get inside and see for herself. I warned her, if you get inside once you cannot come out. She was going out with her family, so she decided not to risk going in....

She wanted to know where was I headed, I said the same place where she was. 'I am going bowling', she declared, daring me, now what do you have to say? 'I will go with you' I said.....'do you know what it is and how is it done' was written all over her face. I had absolutely no clue about any blowing alleys in Delhi.....I bet she read my confused expressions!!!

Suddenly she had another thought, how will you go there? 'I will go with you' I said.........no chance she counters, papa is driving, mama sits next to papa, dadi, Puneet bhaiya, Rishu and I sit at the back, so there is no space for me! She has a valid point here, so I suggest she I can take her place and she can sit on my lap. No ways she says....kids do that!

I suggested that I could follow her in another car. She looked around for sometime searching for some divine intervention to keep me out of her plans with her family........... .and suddenly she had it!!!! She turned and told me why don't you get inside the clothes rack........huh, serves me right for so much of arguing and putting ideas into a kid's mind....!!!!!

Btw...never got across asking her name!!!