Musing Moments

Nostalgia

2010-01-20T11:49:00.000-08:00

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!

Ecstasy

2010-01-19T16:44:00.000-08:00

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.

Dumb Gets Dumber

2009-03-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Spring has arrived

2009-02-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

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.

Epitomes of Irony

2009-02-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

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 :)

Is it Spring already?

2009-02-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

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.

Drained Brain - Tried walking in a Sagittarian's shoes

2009-02-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

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.

An inflated ego and a pin-prick

2009-02-10T13:42:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe the attitude on some women, well, I should call them girls because they obviously aren’t grown up, smart, or mature enough to be called women. However, that doesn’t change the fact that they look older than they act. They are those girls who just grow old, but never grow up. Sad! Sad but true!

It doesn’t take a psychology degree to decipher that someone who is so damn obviously just an average looker boasts about being “hot” and flaunts unrealistic compliments (which probably were made up) in networking sites, is suffering from serious bouts of superiority complex. I feel so sorry for them.

What makes it worse is when they try to put down others. Typical expressions of jealousy – they so badly want your life and are trying to sound like they don’t. It just makes me wonder why we’re even dealing with such people in the first place – if you’re wondering why none of this makes sense, it is about someone I haven’t met or known for a long time, she’s just someone I know through someone I’ve met a few times. And I, along with several others, feel sorry for that ‘someone I’ve met’ for he could have surely ended up with someone better than this. Well, who cares as long as they’re happy with each other!

The other day, we were at some friends’ place and this lady asked me to guess her age. Since she was with two kids and some basic math was running in my head owing to some details I had gathered in our previous conversations, I assumed she was somewhere between 28 and 30. Then we figured she married immediately after finishing high school and she was just 26, a whole year younger than me! And she thought I was 22. No kidding, I’m three years away from 30 but don’t look that way. Every time I go out with my college going cousins in India, I’m assumed to be their friend, not older sister. Probably kids these days look older than they're supposed to, who knows. But this someone who hasn’t even met me goes “HA!”, and I think, “In your face, I know you so badly want that compliment but too bad it doesn't suit you. And you haven’t even met me, you narcissistic woman. Besides, you don’t even look hot and there’s not a single good feature in your face. So you should first try working on your attitude to camouflage that face”.

And then I realise I shouldn’t bother wasting my time and bandwidth on such wannabes. At least she’s a little more popular now than she claims to be – with this blog post and all.

I cannot understand what goes on in the minds of such narcissistic people. Another friend of mine very recently met a guy for matrimonial purpose and the narcissistic that he turned out to be for an overweight, short, average looking guy, he had a problem with her looks! How ironic… And everyone felt all the way long that she was making a compromise by willing to take things forward. At least in the first case, he is happy with her looks and attitude especially, irrespective of what the whole world thinks. I couldn't survive a day with someone who possessed an attitude like her - I'm glad no one I know and like being with is like that even if they completely had reasons to be proud of themselves.

I hope these people just realise what they’re worth and grow up someday, before it’s too late. Coming from a family of amazing achievers in various walks of life, it makes me want to laugh out loud seeing such people walk around with haughtiness when the ones who really have reasons to be proud of themselves and show it off are truly modest and simple.

In Absentia

2009-02-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

I haven’t posted anything since December 15th and I have some excuses for that. S and I have been through trying times and now things are looking brighter and better.

So in the last couple of months, here’s what happened –

- We went to Richmond for our nephew’s first birthday

- Travelled to Washington, DC and stayed at an expensive star hotel in the 11th floor, a room with a gorgeous view indeed. Had a wonderful time turning 27

- Had our flight to Richmond re-routed through Detroit and landed in DC, and drove all the way to Richmond! Our flights were cancelled due to a so-called ice rain that never happened, in our opinion. At least not while we could have still flown out.

- Took a bus to Chicago, and flew out of O’hare instead of our original flight, and we stood in the cold since the bus was late. A nice university cop opened up one of the university halls and we waited there. School was closed for Christmas at that time

- Went to Excalibur, Chicago, for New Year’s and gave up drinking and non-veg since then – no, they aren’t directly connected, it was just a resolution

- Woke up on the 3rd day of the new year to the worst possible and most unexpected news ever and have been in stress since then – the Satyam fiasco

- Began a food blog with cousin and mom and have been blogging there more regularly than here.

Finally, our prayers were answered and Satyam allowed rebadging as an option for S’s client. So S is joining a new vendor, an American company, on Feb 19th, and is resigning from Satyam on Feb 18th. Whew! Good times are surely ahead.

"You guys make a cute pair"

2008-12-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

I've noticed this phrase in many couple's albums. I might have blurted this phrase out myself many a time. Lately I've been wondering, what the hell, everyone says this to each other irrespective of whether they mean it or not!

"You look great together", "You make a cute pair", "Sweet looking couple", "You guys are the perfect couple" - jeez, what a bunch of crap, especially when the guy has six packs and the girl has a double chin, or when the girl is a skinny short middle-school looking person and the guy is tall and mature. Sometimes it's an obvious mismatch, yet you hear people say "Ooh you look so good together".

When I recently blurted this out to a couple I know (they definitely did look good together), I was wondering out to him, and he had a good theory. People are mind-washed into saying things especially when the couple is a newly wed. Makes sense. But hey, I've seen some pictures of people well into marriage, and there again I find the same old hypocrisy - lies.

No offense to anyone, I sure have meant every compliment I've given, but if I haven't given you a compliment, then you know what I mean! *wink wink*

Memoirs of a part of me

2008-12-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

It's gloomy and cold. The eerie silence is broken by the sounds of sleet and hard rain against my window. I close my eyes and see visions of home, back in India. Beautiful summer vacations at my maternal grandmother's home. I imagine the aroma of hot fried "medu vadais", a staple snack at Paati's home, made especially for me. I relive those precious moments of laughter and playing with my cousins at Paati's terrace.

I can clearly see a younger version of my grandfather travelling all the way from Tambaram to Besant Nagar to spend time with us. They never had the comforts of luxury and always travelled by bus. I'm stricken with guilt that we never visited them often when we should have. There's a tear drop in my eye for all the times Thatha came home in a crowded Chennai bus.

And I open my eyes to the present, where my mom warns me over a Yahoo! chat window that they're getting older and older and that Thatha had fainted in his living room. How I wish I could visit them! I haven't forgotten a single beautiful memory with my precious grandparents. My grandmother is the most amazing woman I've ever known - gentle, kind, generous, and so hard working. At this age, they still live alone - she cooks, cleans, shops... and she's so kind hearted she couldn't wish the worst even for an enemy... of course, she has no enemies.

I miss them so much. Married and now in the US, when I can't fry a "medu vadai" properly, or when I don't want to venture into deep frying "bakshanams", or even when I'm just generally getting accustomed to this new role in life, I always think of these wonderful people who passed down everything they know to my mom, and she in turn to me.

We love you thatha and paati, and we'll pray you won't give up on us and will be around when we come visiting India next time around.

Noisy Neighbours!

2008-12-10T16:59:00.000-08:00

No one, not anyone out there, can have noisier neighbours than us! Having a fireplace is a nice thing, but the biggest con is having to sit in your living room listening to all the muffled crap that goes on downstairs - predominantly Hindi crap. As I type right now, they're being atrociously loud. I wonder how none of our American neighbours have complained about this to maintenance yet.

Sometimes, S and I feel like banging on their door and asking them to keep it low. Sometimes I just feel like rattling at the fireplace and scare the living daylights out of them...

Just to get some payback, I'm going to have a baby and make my kid jump all day long, giving them a perennial headache... watch out noisy neighbours, my kid's going to bring you down. *muahahahhahaha*

Poker Night

2008-11-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we've made the move. Crossed continents. Chosen this temporary lifestyle. So, we decided to learn a little more that was something American, Poker! We love card games. S and I have played trump way before we met, with our families. We rock at Rummy. So we though it was time to try our hand at Poker.

We're hosting a Pot-Luck Poker Night tomorrow! Whew! We owe H for teaching us this game. I think there should be tremendous improvement by the time we decide to visit Vegas, let's see. We're looking forward to the weekend and round after round of royal flushes.

Will you fight cyber crime?

2008-11-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

I was rummaging through some blogs I usually read to kill time and this is what I found right now. Go through this post when you have the time - this could happen to you or someone you care.

Obamania

2008-11-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

Finally, the United States sees an interracial president - something that seemed utterly impossible decades ago. And he's not just interracial, part of his name is Hussein! Next, it'll be time for the first ever woman president of the United States and then all taboo will have been lifted.

In one of his speeches, Barack Obama said that he would never forget one particular voter for obvious reasons - she was a 105 year old African American woman. After having lived through a terrifying abduction from her homeland, slavery, racism and every other by product of being a coloured person in the United States, voting Obama to presidency must have been the day she had been waiting for in a very long time. This simply took me back to Alex Haley's "Roots" which I thoroughly enjoyed reading several years back.

There is a multitude of races in the US - Mexicans, African Americans, Indians, Chinese, Europeans, Native Americans... while most of them made it to this "land of opportunities" out of their own will, two races were put through tremendous trauma. In my opinion, when a Native American or an African American ranks the most powerful, it is indeed an achievement worth gloating about.

We recently heard from some American friends that the cops in Illinois were levying heavy tickets on people speeding by over a 5 mile per hour limit. Five hundred dollars for a speed that's five over the posted limit! Atrocious! Then we were told that they were running out of monetary resources and were therefore trying to replenish themselves. Sounds just like India, only, it's all made to look legal here, huh! Now why wouldn't this happen if this country spent so much on troops in Afghanistan and Iraq! Hopefully, when Obama retrieves his troops and backs off the war, we will pay less taxes and spend less on gas.

Either ways, we miss India and the dirty politics, dirty roads, bribery, pot bellied cops, expensive vegetables, smelly public toilets... it amazes me how the same Indian man can stand and pee on a compound wall in Chennai, while act dignified here... some things never change.

Misconceptions of the Malinformed Mind

2008-10-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

S has been here since December and one of the most frequent questions he comes across from American/Non-East-Indian friends is how he gets to speak such good English! Sure, ignorance does prevail, but construing India to be a non-English speaking country is slightly unacceptable - considering the number of revenue generating working Indians and students out here. Sure, we owe them credit to this thought because a large percentage of Indians here are the world renowned GOLTIS. Now, that gives us a reason or two to understand why this misconception was born.

Golti: "Haaee. Whaat ees yuvar naam ra"
Mallu: "Halthy commooonicasion are yimbordant".

No offence meant, but most from these groups switch to their vernaculars and stick to their peers - this is the general feedback at S's workplace.

The other day when we were heading to Richmond from Atlanta, our co-passenger in the flight, Mr. Paul Woody, seemed rather amused that we spoke flawless English. He didn't seem to know where India was. He couldn't believe that we learned English in India.

P.W: "So which part of the world are you from?"
Me: "India"
P.W: "And which part..."
Me: Drawing a blank - that's when I realise he doesn't know where India is.
"It's far east... near China"
P.W: "Ahhh ok. You speak real good English, how did you learn that!"
Me: I'm tempted to say, "Well if you have the Poms ruling you for decades, it sort of rubs on you", but then I resort to "We have a real good education system in India and I'm just an average speaker. You should listen to some of the people who are mindblowing."
P.W: "So where do you work here?"
Me: "I'm not allowed on work, I'm on a dependent visa."
P.W: "What a waste of talent! With that smile and personality and the way you talk, you should be in marketing!"

Flash! S thinks he's flirting. But then, he's an old man. So we thought he was one of those MLM guys, since he was asking S way too many questions about wanting to set up his own business. Then he reaches to his briefcase, fishes out a card, and to our relief, it said Certified Public Accountant.

Then the conversation drifted to his political views, and he seemed completely enthused with us. When we finally landed at Richmond he made me meet his family that was receiving him. In Tamil, we have a friendly phrase called "Reyil Snegidam", which denotes a friendship that commences in a train journey. This is our "Flight Snegidam" :)

The next time someone gets amused with Indians who speak good English, I should probably introduce them to some Arundati Roy, Anita Desai, Shashi Tharoor, and The Hindu!

Here's to a happy, scary and eerie Halloween.

Bitchslapped By The Cold

2008-10-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Whew, we got back to Bloomington on Monday, Diwali Day, after spending the weekend with family in Richmond. What a drastic change of topography! Richmond is pretty, big, elite, and gas prices are real cheap there :) On a serious note, it's a lovely place to settle with family, not too cold, and is beautifully adorned with lovely huge trees that are sporting an amazing fall foliage at the moment. We missed going to Shenandoah because of bad weather, but there's always going to be a next time. Shenandoah is supposed to be amongst the top rated places in the US to visit during fall. (You must remember John Denver's 'Take me home, country roads')

When we got back to Illinois we were welcomed by a cold slap of gusty wind. Our palms froze before we could reach our car that was parked just right across. Curiosity made us want to check the weather then and there, and it turned out to be 5 degree C with a freeze alert warning issued! That evening, I saw the first ever snow flake of my life. It was snowing off-season.

S usually withstands the cold pretty well. I was amazed to see him shudder underneath his jacket, that evening. I was clad in a saree with no jacket, gloves, or ear plugs and the people around me must have thought I was one crazy Indian who knew nothing about living abroad. Talk about a cold Diwali! We haven't even tried lighting our sparklers because of the constant cold wind.

On the brighter side, I am now a little confident that I'll be able to survive the notorious Illinois winter. Let's hope I fare well for a beginner.

Looking forward to our first ever Halloween party this weekend. There's a likelihood that S will be dressed as Jigsaw and me... uhmm, I don't know.

Happy Halloween.

Cold and Windy Diwali

2008-10-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's raining here, crackers are banned unless it's the fourth of July, and worst of all - it is NOT a national holiday! Nonetheless, we are on our way to Virginia to spend our grand thalai deepavali with my ma and pa in law, and sister in law. We're eager to cuddle and coochie coo with our darling little nephew whose first ever Diwali it is too. And I just finished cutting out Kaju Kathlis...

If we were in India... Change of scenario...

- The Diwali spirit would already have been in the air... crackers, sky works, sparklers
- Messy roads with debris from all the fireworks and smoky skies
- Crowded movie halls with all the Diwali releases
- Ads on TV that start weeks in advance, about special Diwali programmes
- New clothes, sweets being exchanged, temple visits
- Best of all, a holiday and being with our entire family - considering it's our special thalai Diwali.

We're doing ok, we have mom and pop here, so it's really not bad. We have new clothes. I've made the sweets. We're going to go to the temple on Monday. I guess what we're really missing is the currently slushy, muddy Chennai with cracker stalls in every corner.

Happy Diwali to everyone out there. No matter what part of the world you're at right now, your heart belongs to home on Diwali more so ever than any other day.

One Lazy Wednesday in October

2008-10-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

It's a lazy day today. Since it's getting colder here with the onset of winter, cooking takes an unusually longer time. Some blame the cooking range that I have, some agree with me. Either ways, I know for sure maintenance is NOT going to give me a new cooking range. So I started cooking the next day's lunch the prior night. I packed a lunch box for S and I have some food for myself... so I'm just sitting with the laptop, munching on an apple, looking out the balcony... It's so sunny, but extremely windy. The weather is 7 Degree C and if THIS is windy, I can't imagine how Chicago, the windy city would be... A two hour geographical difference isn't that huge, I agree.

We're prepping up for our upcoming Diwali trip to Richmond to celebrate with the family. It's going to be our first Diwali together as a married couple - in local jargon, ''thalai deepavali''. I wonder how I'd look in a silk saree and a jacket and gloves on Monday, while boarding that plane back home from Richmond!

It's getting tougher and tougher to get up these days... this weather makes you want to laze in bed with a good book, or watch an outstanding movie cuddled up in the couch underneath plush fleece blankets.

A part of me is waiting for winter so I can get to build those abominable snow men (and women with big snow boobs ;))... but part of me is dreading the cold. You can take the girl out of Chennai, but you can't take Chennai out of the girl.

Looking forward to the weekend we're going to spend with loved ones. And yay, it's already Wednesday!

Weekend at Wisconsin

2008-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

S and I have been taking the roles of nomads every weekend, since Summer. We're looking forward to being at home in winter to keep away from Illinois's harsh weather. So, once again we hit the road to Wisconsin last Friday. We went to Door County to enjoy the Fall colours.

S and I both enjoy driving and love long scenic drives, but this time it was tiring - we rented a dreadful car that made us realise we had parts in our body that we never knew existed before! But those beautiful colours made us forget all the pain, and once we reached back home, we started feeling all the stress.

Door County is one of the most beautiful places in the US to visit during fall. Fall, in Chennai, is usually a bunch of dried leaves gathered on the streets, which people nonchalantly call trash... and you can find the corporation sweepers using a bamboo broom stick and basket picking up those dried leaves. We sometimes think that God has been a little too partial towards the US in terms of scenic beauty.

There's a score of trees lined outside apartments and homes... so imagine, if you owned a home out here, you'd be mowing your lawn, cleaning the porches and sidewalks off these fallen leaves, and shovelling the snow in winter, all by yourself. This country is the mother of all DIYs. And then, that's what shows us how pampered we've been in India, and the kind of things we take for granted back home... God Bless India!

P.S - We clicked plenty of pictures and some cousins thought S smiled like ''Chandler'' in a few snaps

5 Months!

2008-10-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

I just realised that 6 days back was our 5th month together as a married couple! Does that qualify to be called newly weds? I don't know! But I sure do know that S and I haven't felt like newly weds a single day of our lives, post May 11. Right now, we feel like this is our 3rd year together, minus the kids, the smelly diapers, the messy house, and the broken toys!

This time last year, we were shopping for Shiploo's birthday gift... Happy Days at Rage. Of course, S was already in my life. We were engaged and trying to be good kids :D And now, everything has changed. I'm doing things I've never done in my life before. I swore I wouldn't marry someone who lived abroad - and now look at me - to my defence, S was in India when we met and he wasn't sure of coming to the US back then.

Some people strongly believe that nothing changes when you're in love or married. The truth is, there are changes, but we just choose not to notice them or make a big deal out of them. If you look real hard, everything has changed.... yes, EVERYTHING. And change is good. Keeps you away from boredom.

To my dearest darling, here's wishing you a slightly belated fifth month anniversary... I don't think we went out to dinner like we traditionally do every month :P (Now that explains why I've gained some weight :D) And I'm not complaining about the changes that we've had to make :)

Ta Daaaa - Guess Who's Back

2008-10-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

Push, prod, pinch, force, request, order - All of those were used on me by friends and family. Yes, oh yes, Musing Moments is back. My previous blog spot which I murdered one fine day at the spur of a foolish moment is now gone. So the more interesting, sort of newly married, living out of India with the love of my life ''me'' is now back as ''musingmoments-revival''. With too much free time on hand, I shouldn't have an excuse for not being regular, but let's see how my blogging statistics go from here on.

Thank you RDX for the constant pushing, which you eventually gave up.

Thank you my love for always asking if I made the blog already - I finally did. And it is now going to be your job to help me blogroll all my friends and favourites.

To a new beginning.