Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Nostalgia

After having killed my old blog in a moment of weakness, I realised that a lot of beautiful memories went down with it. I had written a somewhat similar post before, in my older blog and I just had to re-write my thoughts right here, right now.

How far back in time can your memory go? Sometimes, having an elephant’s memory is a horrid thing – you just can’t get the bad instances out of your head until time does its magical healing bit and comforts the wounds. Otherwise, it sure is a phenomenal blessing – to be able to remember everything good that happened in your life, especially your childhood!

I remember the time I was perennially perched on Mum’s hip, even in the kitchen while she was cooking. I would sway my tiny little legs back and forth despite her constant warnings. Like all mothers, she figured I would only learn by getting hurt – and I guess that was my first lesson in life. My baby foot touched the hot iron pan that was on the stove and I never again was on Mum’s hip when she was in the kitchen.

I remember the first time I fumbled with the number ‘5’ and Mum had to cruise me through with practice. I was just not able to write the number for a while – yeah, partially dyslexic. I had given up, at a meager age of all but 4 years, with copious tears flowing down my cheeks.

I remember the time when my brother broke his wrist while playfully jumping over my uncle’s outstretched leg and accidentally landing on his hand. I remember falling sick after hours of weeping, sitting huddled with my 4-year old best friend, Mehnaz, wondering when my family would return from the hospital. I remember not being able to eat a morsel of food until I saw my brother again.

I remember rummaging through a dark and ramshackle alley, which now that I think of, must have been a dump yard! The kids flung a ball out there and everyone conveniently pointed at me, asking me to bring it back. I remember reaching for what I thought was the ball, only to slit my thumb on a sharp piece of glass from a broken bottle. After running up perhaps 3 flights of stairs to Dad, I still remember the expression of dismay on his face, which slowly turned into one of disapproval. I will forever remember the only tight slap I ever got from him in my growing years. I didn’t once step into that alley again.

I remember the time we got back to India and I was very unfamiliar with the neighbourhood I lived in, yes, I was a 6 year old then. Some older girls took me with them to play with and I left without letting Mum know. I remember the chaos and crowd that was looking for me, when I finally got back home after sunset. I will always remember the tears in Mum’s eyes, who for a while thought she lost me forever!

And after all these years, I remember every precious moment growing up with the most doting brother anyone could have, the most loving and generous parents anyone could ask for. Luckily for me, I have begun a new journey of memories – I will always remember the first time I met S and fell head over heels in love with him. The first time we went out, the first time we began our lives together… And now a new beginning, a fresh kind of ‘firsts’ that makes me understand and appreciate my childhood better … An exciting journey lies ahead for us!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Ecstasy

How did 2009 end, and what kind of a New Year did S and I walk into? Unbelievably the best - uh huh! After having celebrated the best of all birthdays in 28 years, better than the birthdays anyone out there could have had, being bestowed with the most priceless gift amongst several valuable and cherished goodies, there's no denying that December 23rd, 2009 was the best day of both of our lives :)

I'm ecstatic, delirious with happiness, fulfilled and infinitely in peace!

I've been gone a while, yes, but I'm going to be back with a bang when the time is right. I promise!

Till then, Adios Amigos.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Dumb Gets Dumber

Funny – when someone who devours non-vegetarian food joins groups like ‘Adore All Animals’, ‘SPCA’, ‘Stop Cosmetic Testing on Animals’ and the like, do you call that irony or is that being a sycophant to fashionable moves?

When someone who can dress in nothing better than a ‘wear-to-the-gym’ sweatshirt and sneakers feigns disgust on the rest of the world’s fashion sense while considering herself to be a fashion guru, do you call that downright preposterous or extremely retarded?

When someone who is obviously accumulating layers around herself, growing horizontally while simultaneously shrinking inside her head, calls others ‘plump’, is that pretentious or wait a minute – is that because she’s so dumb she can’t look into the mirror? Such disgusting scumbags do not realise that what they say to people would make a big U-turn, come back to them and bite them hard on their exponentially increasing posterior. Sad.

Well, it’s time to redefine blonde moments, because this one’s a black-haired-bimbo-wannabe, who of course thinks she looks French (Oh what an insult to those French beauties). Yes, such retards walk around us. They’re around you, and they’re everywhere. They multiply and make friends with like-minded bimbos. And they ooze with oodles of attitude like they’re no less than Miss. Universe. To be fair to all the Miss Universes galore, at least they don’t have an attitude that would piss the most peaceful person on earth off. I feel sorry for a certain cousin of mine who largely agrees with me on this particular case, that she might have to run into this nut-crack sometime in life. Poor her! I hope she survives the thunderous shower of stupidity and attitude and gets past that, if and when it ever comes to that point. Spending time with such dishonourable discharges is just going to make one feel like they’ve lost their brain… I’m glad I wouldn’t have to be around her and her intellectual disability, pretence, dreadfully unsuited attitude and all that. Whew!

That’s why they say, growing old is not an option – but growing up is. And people like her have chosen not to. My sympathies and condolences are with the guy who’s destined to spend the rest of his life with her, I hope some qualities of that guys rubs off on her… sometime at least! Probably then, she’d be a better person and good company to be around.

To her, the only ‘whomsoever’ it concerns - Attitude makes you look like a tramp, a bitch, and like someone who lost a vital organ. Work on it, and perhaps then we can see your inner beauty which is most likely the only thing you have. And remember the really primitive proverb, what you sow is what you reap. Good luck with understanding all this, I know it will take eons considering your constantly self-depleting intellectual stimuli, but I’m sure you’ll get there some day before you turn wrinkled and shapeless.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Spring has arrived

It looks like spring has finally arrived. We woke up to a dense foggy sky, and right now it’s showering thunderously. After what seemed like ages, we saw our neighbor barbecuing last evening with an oh-so-obviously-summer-tee on. His kids were out in their lawn, playing in the swing. Finally – yes, finally, we could hear the cheerful, gleeful noises of children, birds chirping, dogs barking – yes, how I missed all that!

I’m going to have to buckle up and fix a date and time for my road test. I’ve been managing excuses all winter – I guess S will whip me if I procrastinate any further. Luckily, my Temporary Permit is valid till October this year. No, I’m not going to wait that long. I can’t wait to have my license issued so I can begin dropping S at work and using the car for myself – grocery shopping, gym, guitar lessons… ah!

I’m so famous for never getting a route right. Some of my friends in Chennai had to draw maps and give signal counts in order for me to reach my destination. Yes, signal counts, that is when I count the number of traffic lights and turn accordingly, pretty much like Gatlinburg roads, huh. And now, I’m pretty familiar with the roads out here. In my defense, I get to memorise routes the more I drive, and I haven’t driven a lot yet. Of course, expressway driving doesn’t figure in this.

That apart, this has been a good and bad week so far. One of my very close friends delivered a beautiful baby girl, as beautiful as her. And one of S’s very close friends lost his job. After all, no one can understand that trauma better than S and I, considering all the emotional stress we had to go through in January.

Here’s to a silent prayer to the beautiful soul that has just arrived and to another who is in anguish.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Epitomes of Irony

Sometimes you want to stitch your sides after laughing at all the incredibly funny things some people say or do.
Quote Unquote - I hate it when nice looking (even though a little plump) girls wear hideous clothes and take fashion disasters to the next level !! i want to give them a piece of my mind.. but then.. there would be no one to make fun about !!

This comes from someone who wore what looked like a 100 kilograms of gold jewelry and jazzy, ugly, disgusting looking sarees on her wedding day! Yes, you guessed right, one of those Mallu weddings similar to the ones you get to see in email forwards. And then you see funny looking outfits that probably she construes as front page Vogue fashion. Well, if someone could dress herself up in such clownish clothes on her wedding, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to imagine what her taste is like. Now, this is what is called irony. Well, in her own words, as long as she’s around, we’re going to laugh to death. Oh well, if she looks plump she blames it on the camera angle – now that’s a riotous way to go down laughing.
Quote Unquote - Funnier i understand... ironic is what i dont understand...

Well, if you’re slow on the uptake it ain’t my fault, chica. I know you plagiarize my phrases after reading my blog posts, you know that too. So when you read this, I hope you get your definition of irony in place. Where do these people come from? Beats me! I hope her better half soon gets her a Belgian Mirror and monster magnifying glasses, she should wear them, take a look at herself in the mirror, and then use the magnifying glass to take a look at her wardrobe. Jokes apart, it’s sad to see people like this still exist. And this poor girl probably doesn’t know that her husband once had the hots for me, even until the time before I met S. So if she's right, that says what she's probably like, LOL.

Well, like I always say, I don’t like fighting a battle of wits with the unarmed, and this one is way too unarmed in the wits department amongst many other general departments. So, as the old adage goes, ignoring works best. I hope she gets the picture soon. I don’t like dealing with immature people, unless it’s a 2 year old or someone with a handicap. Boy if she’d caught the younger me, she sure would have had to buy a dictionary of mean, stinking, riotous comebacks just to cross-refer what I would have meant. Lucky that she’s caught me at a rather mellowed down phase – I cannot afford to look as foolish as her in forums where friends from work (both S’s and mine) and several high IQ people are regulars.

Having said that, it was a wonderful weekend that just snapped by. Time spent well with real friends. A complete contrast to the hovering witchy images you get to see through such girls throughout the week.

Tip: Learn to spell well, type correctly, and get a copy of Wren and Martin before you want the whole world to read the grammatically erroneous crap you type. Conceited indeed, as one of your friends rightly said :)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Is it Spring already?

Whatever happened to the notorious Illinois weather? It’s early February, it’s sunny, and there was a thunderous downpour yesterday – signs of advanced Spring? Well, no, the trees haven’t begun leafing yet. And weather.com predicts colder temperatures for the next week. But largely, it is going to be warmer in the coming weeks. Global warming, tsk tsk, has taken its toll on formerly spine-chilling-weathered states like Illinois. Apparently, last year, it was white all the way till late April! S left to India last year on May 4 for our wedding, and he said it was cold and white till the day he left.

Well Spring calls for a lot of cleaning – who’re we kidding, we’re always cleaning. I’m not complaining though, early Spring, early Summer, we get to go out and bask in the warmth, enjoy our outdoor routine and catch a cool-looking tan. While I dream about a green and luscious Spring and Summer, I’ll have to face the fact that it might snow this weekend in Chicago… there you go, the notorious, unpredictable, ever changing Chicago weather…

Here’s to a Happy Valentine’s Day, a heartwarming Spring, and beautiful days to come.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Drained Brain - Tried walking in a Sagittarian's shoes

I’ve been up at the computer for the last three days, downloading GMAT and PMP preparation material for S. Yes! Now that his work situation looks less hazy, and now that he’s joining a pretty renowned and fabulous American firm, I’m trying to push him into achieving his long term desire.

My brother is the most intelligent guy I’ve known since childhood. Mum boasts that he could spell ‘albatross’ at two, well I believe her, despite the fact that I wasn’t around to witness that miracle. Bro was always ahead of his peers with a double promotion during school. He is one of those who has a logical brain and can always think rationally and calmly. He moved on to IIT and then to the renowned ISB and is now sky soaring in his career and making me wish my kids take after him and not anyone else.

S is also very intelligent, but sadly, he thinks he digressed from his goals when he should have stayed put. S is finally getting all that he deserves, I’m sure I am his lucky streak. Hopefully, with all the pushing and prodding (and support) he gets to score well at these tests. A friend, Major K, who is with the Indian Army, recently scored the highest I’ve heard of till date, in the GMAT test. He shared his work material with us and that’s precisely what I’ve been downloading the last few days.

Besides that, S and I purchased Kaplan’s Math – we think that’s one area he’s going to have to work on real hard! I wanted to try my hand at the verbal section which was completely manageable. The math was alright here and there, but after a point, I thought my brain was hurting. This is basic CBSE 10th standard mathematics and arithmetic – papers I scored real well at in the past. But now, it’s completely different! Scary! Probably because of all the stress, the lack of practice, and being tired after endless ongoing mundane downloading … nice excuses, but I know even with a clear mind I can’t do this shit! Hats off to K, R and all the others who’ve managed unimaginable scores – I wish I had a little bit of each of your brains – that’s all that it takes, I’m sure.

Having said that, that’s why I want my babies to be Sagittarians, lol. Bro, Major K, Pa in law, Bro in law V… these are just a few of the people that I know who are November born Sagittarians that are laudably intelligent. There’s a good chance if we try at the right time, with double genetics working our way. Now, I’m proud I’m at least half a Sagittarian, whew.

Here’s wishing S all the luck with his tests, whenever it is going to be. This is going to be a new kind of trying time for us.