Shopping spree

Having spent close to 6 hours at a stretch, shopping at Bangalore central all by myself for two consecutive days has been a pleasurable experience. Shopping on the second day at the same place was not insanity but inevitability for the reason that blunders need to be corrected. Half the apparels, I purchased the day before had to be exchanged. Thanks to Ajith for willing to baby-sit the kids for the whole day which gave me ample time to spend hours in the trial room without having him around to hurry me up which has been the case otherwise. This is not the first time I have been out shopping on my own, and each time I have been back with a bill that can electrify Ajith. This time I was impressed with myself for having been able to strike some good discount owing to rational shopping but that didn’t let Ajith get carried away. The bill was still a smash!! Hmmm looks like I can never please him in this matter and I am not trying anymore hehe.

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Adi’s first wishlist to Santa

Merry Christmas to all!

Adi believes that Santa exists despite my frequent effort of trying to prove that there is no such person as Santa. However he came up with his wish list yesterday which goes like this...

My Christmas List of Gifts

1. Bakugan battle brawlers-ALL (WHAT IS THIS!!!)

2. Ben ten Toy omnitrix (God I didn’t know he was this technical)

3. Power rangers toy-all (I am sick of companies that make these toys only to get our kids throw a tantrum and blackmail us into buying a tiny one for big bucks)

4. Eon Kid Wrist (He has two already)

5. Mechanic – BIG (he messed the previous one and the screws are spread around waiting to be picked)

6. Hot Wheels – Tric Trac ( The ones at home have collected dust)

7. Baby’s Feeding Bowl - 10 bowls (He was feeling guilty that he didn’t order for his little brother until now and this was what he came up with – good brother hehe)

8. Mad Origami and craft (He has 5 of ‘em - all return gifts)

9. Power Rangers toy sword ( Never even try to get this stuff close to my home after that incident of chasing some girl with this sword he got from his friend)

10. Bakugan battle brawlers shooters (Hmmm...)

11. A PET RABBIT (I like that)

Ok Santa - Do me a favour if you truly exist. Don’t visit here...

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Hooked On

I have been on a novel reading spree for a while now. The other day we went out for dinner to MG road and before getting into one of the restaurant, we did a wee-bit of window shopping. I stumbled upon a book store which happened to sell second –hand books and spotted one of robin cook’s novels. During my college days, I was a novel freak and a big fan of Robin cook , Sidney Sheldon, Mills and boons(in my teens ofcourse) and the likes. However after marriage, this hobby was on lowest priority and didn’t get much attention especially after kids. Looks like the visit to the book shop managed to hook me back to my favorite pastime and this time I picked Robin Cook’s Vector. Considering that I love fictions, this book managed to capture my attention for two days at a stretch. But I wish R-Cook could manage without our hero Jack Stapleton and come up with a new character next time. His fiction always revolves around Doc jack and his intuitions.
Lemme give you a jist of the novel :
The book is about a war in which there are no guns, no bullets, no cannons, no weapons that you can see. (Now don’t visualize Mahatma Gandhi and Ahimsa in this novel). In its place the weapon is the air you breathe and you drop down like a dead fly for no apparent reason at all. We are talking about biological weapons and that’s what this book is all about. Jason Papparis , a Turkish carpet dealer dies mysteriously in the hospital’s emergency room after severe bouts of coughing. None knows the reason except Dr. Jack Stapleton a medical examiner who stumbles upon it just by a hunch. It is anthrax and is being prepared by a disgruntled Russian taxi driver who is disappointed by America and wants revenge. As he was working in a Biological weapons factory in Russia, he possesses the technical know-how to make such weapons even in his rat-hole basement. Along with the People’s Aryan Army which is an occult skinhead group he plans to kill thousands of Americans by releasing the deadly agent into the ventilation system of the Jacob Javits Building which is the largest FBI headquarters outside Washington D.C.
The only one who is on their trail is Dr. Jack Stapleton and his colleague Dr. Laurie Montgomery. Apart from their daily official crisis’s and turbulence in their private life they work together tirelessly to fight this unknown enemy.

After this book I read, Sidney Sheldon’s “Tell me your Dreams”. That was a rocking novel and now I am into Robin-cook’s contagion.

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Classical Music and Me…

… don’t get along. But I seem to have caught the music fever. What the hell, I am giving it a try and that way I give myself a chance to prove me wrong What if I have an hidden talent and at this thought, I laugh my ass off . My first class has been a disaster since I didn’t understand a word of what the man was saying. It involved a lot of music literature and it took me two days of browsing to comprehend the difficult words in adi’s terms. I was a bit more relaxed in my second class and this time the greek and latin made some sense. Thanks to my home work. Infact my intention was to give Adi company and make it easier for him just in case he needs practice. However Adi seems to get restless given that he can never sit still for more than 10 minutes although he picks on the music. Now that is a problem that I need to work on. Making him sit still for an hour would be like trying to get a monkey sit still for an hour. Any suggestions would help!!!!

BTW for the pro am on sarali varisai (lesson 3)
raagam: maayamaaLava gowLa
15th mElakartha
taaLam: aadi

For the illiterates ROLFMAO!!!!!

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Media choosing to be ignorant ….

Following a chain of politician bad booking which I consent to, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan is just another man in the bad book of Indians since he happened to pass an insensitive statement in response to the behavior of the martyr’s father. Somehow I am not able to comply with the other Indians in this matter as I understand the language spoken by the martyr father. To those who are not aware, the fact is that the martyr’s father called the CM a dog in the first place and since media is sensationalizing only the statement of the CM who said that not even a dog would visit their place if it was not for the martyr.
The Chief Minister was stupid enough to make such a statement in a delicate situation as this but the martyr’s father calling the premier representative of a state a dog was also equally unfair regardless of the kind of situation he was in. If he was unhappy about politicians visiting his home, he could have reacted politely instead of resorting to cheap words. In this case media is assuming a lot of things without understanding or choosing to be ignorant only for gaining some media mileage, by taking advantage of the situation. We Indians tend to overdo our sentiments by getting carried away with what the media thinks without doing our homework. This being a typical situation where a martyr’s father calls CM a dog in front of a large crowd just because he didn’t approve his presence there justifies the CM’s reaction

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Memories flood back…

as I watch Mumbai engulf in fear while the terrorists manage to spawn another massacre after the 1993 blasts .When the famous 9/11 episode happened in the US, we were stuck in Chicago as our flight back to India which was scheduled that day got cancelled. Fortunately we were in our cousin’s home, while we watched the second airplane bring down the WTC, I stared at the TV in disbelief and horror when the WTC came collapsing down. Few weeks later we were glad to be back to the safety of our home in India but….
Right now I watch the prominent Taj hotel’s dome in Mumbai engulfed in fire and realize we are never safe anywhere. It’s all in the mind. The nightmare is not yet over.
As for some statistics

• Explosions at Taj, Trident, Oberoi Hotels and the Nariman house. As I watch flames being doused down by the firemen who are multitasking by rescuing the trapped people, I salute them with respect for risking their own lives to save others.
• Three top cops succumb to the encounter. It’s sad that these men chose to lead while they should have strategized the operation and stayed on until the end. Hope would be lost if leaders die early.
• Terrorists ran through, checking passports of trapped people to check if they were foreign nationals to take them as hostages. This is to clearly create doubts in the minds of foreign nationals by disturbing the peace in India
• More than 100 killed and 350 injured. I express deep sorrow at the loss of life in Mumbai. Terrorism chairs no value on human life or innocent core. While these innocents are being murdered, I pray to God that these people die an equally brutal death.

Terrorism is using this tool to bring down humanity and we should unite together to fight this foe regardless of religion, caste or creed. As I write this post, I watch TV helplessly as people trapped in the hotels are screaming for help...

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Parting ways and

…getting-together after a gap of 11 years was a pleasant happening. We girls (ladies now) have been in constant touch with each other but that has not been the case with the guys (men now). Years back when we said goodbye to each other to pursue our dreams, we knew that this would be the case. All of us got caught up in the rat race and never found time to think of each other. Each one struggled to get to where we are now considering the fact that we din’t have a computer background which was a basic necessity in the IT world. Money was an important factor and we had to gear up to equip ourselves to take the computer guys head on. This meant putting the cream on top of the cake. Yes! Am talking about the lousy computer courses we had to take up. They have all managed to pull it off in style and I was so happy to see that all of ‘em have done well for themselves. Good job, married and settled with kids .To think of the care free days we spent on the college campus, none of us could imagine that we were capable of being responsible adults considering the fun and frolic we had. Thanks to orkut for knitting the men back to our gang. Venkat had come down from the US and suggested on meeting up with whoever are there in Bangalore, which meant just the 5 of us with our families. Though Bangalore crowd was limited, the fun was just the same .We never felt like we were meeting after such a long gap, the topics were still the same, the theme was to pick on each other just like the old times. For a moment we stopped thinking about our age and laughed our hearts out at all the jokes cracked by Dubey and Ravi. Dubey enlightened us with the 250 acres of land that ravi got as dowry which was located between two mountains with a river flowing in-between in the beautiful place of krishnagiri. Well! Ravi denied it though he wished it was true. Ladies and men in the US needn’t complain since we did think of you guys and cracked up some comical bits at your cost. Shan, din’t we have a great time! Will post some snaps once shan uploads them.

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Frog Killing and the after effects

Off late Adi has been developing an interest in animal planet and discovery channel. He has been fascinated by men especially ex-Steve Irwin who catch animals and enlighten their anatomy. I am not sure how kids digest the information or what exactly limits their understanding of how far they can go. Can they go to an extent of killing an animal just to explore its anatomy? Well I have dissected four frogs in my zoology lab. His old man has killed several species in his home town including snakes and he knows his limits now. Looks like Adi has some in-born instincts which am sure will mature over the years to come and I hope Maneka Gandhi will not be intimated about it until then.

Regarding compassion towards animals, I am working on it but this doesn’t come naturally to us being the non-vegetarians we are, as we have seen and eaten anything that does not bite us back. Another fact being that Adi’s old man hails from a town where they kill and cook the animals as opposed to the fancy packets we get in supermarkets now. Can we close our eyes and talk about compassion just because we don’t see them getting killed?

The other day Deepa called me up to say that she saw Adi brutally killing a frog. He did get his share of punishment and things have been better until few days back when I saw some kids teasing him about it and not letting it go. It was clear that this was being discussed in their respective homes by adults which prompted the kids to do so. This enraged Adi and he got into fist fights with them. When someone wants a person to change for the better genuinely and if that person has been trying hard to do so, things can go wrong if they are reminded of their wrong doing time and again. So in this situation my sympathies are towards Adi and I would like my friends to co-operate by not making a big issue out of it i.e. if they really want to see some positive changes in Adi and his friends.

PS: I am not the kind who will always defend my kid’s wrong doing at the cost of other’s sentiments and most of the time it is Adi who is at the recieving end when it comes to getting punishments from me or rebuke from other moms for the silliest reasons but this really got on to me!!

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33 year old!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!! I am happy to be in the thirties because of couple of reasons. I don’t have any deadlines to meet and am free. Being a housewife and mother was definitely easier than being a *working*mother and wife partly because I feel I have done justice to my family as opposed to the guilt that many working mothers feel at the end of the day for not having *enough time * for anything in their lives. Atleast I can say that I am enjoying everybit of Adi’s childhood and don’t have to regret that I missed even a minute of it though it meant catfights with him .No! I am not saying that I am right by taking this choice but that it’s been a priority issue for some while a struggle for living for others.
In my thirties and after Atul happened, I have changed a lot in the last two years in terms gaining of maturity to realize that parents get crankier as they get older ,being a bit more diplomatic in handling relationships, letting go of things that I cannot handle like the maids taking off without notice for days together (I crib a lot about it), Ajith’s money management half of which is beyond my grey matter, adi getting into trouble time and again even after repeated warning , Atul’s stubborn seizures, stopping to please everyone, no more living the way other’s would like me to as opposed to the way I want to by doing things that make me happy.
OK, let me stop my philosophy and talk about what a wonderful day I had yesterday. Thanks to Anjana and Linda for initiating it and putting it all together. We arranged a potluck with 8 of us coming up with our specialties. I must admit that I never had such an eventful birthday after my marriage with ajith with all the fun, laughter and jokes. The last was during my college years when all of us would go out and spend time in dabhas situated on the outskirts of the city. Let me thank the lovely gang I have here which never makes me miss my college life. Thank you Anjana, Linda , Bindu, Deepa, Radhika, Archana, Jaya and Seema for making my day and I hope that you guys had fun too. Thank you Adi for giving me that lovely card you made in school. Let me leave you all with some snaps.





Thanks to Deepa for positioning the camera so well with the autoclick option

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Diwali Night

I never had this much fun in the recent past. Diwali night in our apartment was a major hit with the remarkable program that was lined up and the yum yummy dinner as a finale. The rains did hamper with our program venue as we were forced to perform in our club house with limited space disparate the lovely stage with lighting we had invested in. However our outfit provided the fundamental glitter for the evening. Our dandiya performance was enjoyed by one and all as praises showered in after the show. Not to mention the kids (including adi) who rocked to the tunes of the latest bollywood numbers. I leave you all with some videos of our program …enjoy.

Diwali Dandiya

Unfortunately this video is not very clear.

Bachna Ae Haseeno by adi and gang

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Poof! The job is gone…

NO! I am not talking about my hubby’s job but yes! 7 years back, the lay off terror in the US affected us when Aj faced it, But then we were free birds with no responsibility of kids and it was easy on us since we din’t have a housing loan or anything else to pay back. We just returned to our homeland !! where we were always safe. I am so GLAD we did that then. With the US market recession and many more lay offs now , I am sure I would not deal with it the same way I did 7 years back owing to the situation I am in right now .
The highly paid investment bankers are the prey to the situation now and it’s sad to see the BIG banks close down leaving thousands job-less. Getting laid-off in a country where there is no family support is bad. I feel sad for the Indians (and other global workers) among them with a H1-B visa or pending green card, who are especially vulnerable to layoffs. How does one sell the home, pull the kids out of school and flip over one’s life at such short notice? It’s also sad that many think that the I-bankers deserved it.
The joke on i-banks is that being an i-banker means working long hours. First you work long hours to make money and make MD, then you get divorced since you didn’t find enough family time and lose all the money so you work harder to make even more money, only to get laid off like this someday.
Thankfully for us , we have a roof on our head with no loan to pay back and no high interest rates to be bugged with. A decent investment and a check on spending too much may save our situation even if it meant losing job again. Fingers crossed!!!!
The recovery seems to be a long lug.

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4 movies in a day …

…is not too much to watch if you enjoy them all likewise. Three Malayalam movies and one hindi movie this Sunday was a treat though I must confess that it was pirated CDs. We settled our bottoms at 9 A.M, took a break for lunch and continued the movie mela until 9 P.M thirsty for more. When the start is good only to get better with a gratifying end is time well spent even if it means a headache towards the end obviously as the heat from your bottom has transferred to your head after being a couch potato for 9 hrs at a stretch. Though the Hindi movie didn’t match up to the Malayalam movie themes which are usually more realistic, it definitely had a breezy effect towards the end.

Bachana ae haseeno with Ranbir aka raj( wonder what’s with the kapoor family- addicted to the name “raj” ) in the lead role who plays the flirt .The lady cast includes the dashing Bipasha, Deepika padukone and Minissha. The flirt dumps two women only to get dumped by the third women who manages to turn the man into a saint. The saint realizes his folly, wants to make an apology and heads back to the two women who by now have lost their conviction in love and are leading a mechanical life. How the guy admits the guilt is bakwaas!! However the first half is funny but the second half is pathetic with a dull climax.

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I want to go out….

...is the mantra that Adi chants directly after breakfast. 10 days at home and the brat cannot think of anything else beyond loafing with friends day in and out. When I say NO, he gawks at me like am his foe, runs into the room right away where I have buried heaps of white paper, pulls out couple of ‘em and gets busy painting his heart off. The end result being a colorful mess on the floor and a bowl filled with black liquid. He does know the recipe to irk me. One look at the mess and I say “OUT YOU GO”. Out he goes and even before I breathe a sigh of relief, he returns with couple of other brats and says “they want to play with my toys”. OK! I have to be a good mom and so I smile the most gentle smile to fake a good image in front of the other kids and say ”WHY NOT”. Come in and have fun. Then I run into the room to avoid nagging them with NO es only to come out later and find all of ‘em sprawled on each other after a virtual earthquake.

Dushera holidays have always been fun for Adi. It’s either having a ball at home with a range of options like swimming and hanging around with friends or like always visit Ajith’s home in Kerala where all the cousins wander around the greenery,go fishing and frighten the snakes off their hiding once in a while. The list goes on until they tire themselves out only to get a good sleep which prepares them for the subsequent adventures the following day. However we missed it this time as Atul is not geared up to stay anywhere other than our home. Hope we can make it next time.

My holiday begins when Adi’s holiday ends which is 4 days from today[]

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An Award

...for me by the ever so sweet Jasmine.Its very sweet of her to have considered me eligible for these awards and am so honored.

1. "I Love Your Blog"

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The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Previous awardees: Mabelle, Prily, Ate Norma, I Love Philippines Too, Shenga, Nova, WebbieStuffs, Nancy, Webloglearner, Pinay Wahm, and My So Called Life, Let's Spice Things Up, Beauty and Shop, Idealpinkrose, allin, kimchiland, Korean Food, The Paper Vision, Embrace Simplicity, Me and Mine, A Window To Our World, A Grateful Heart, Can of Thoughts, A Mother's Stuff, http://housewifeatwork.blogspot.com/, MommyAllehs Up-Close and Personal, Glossa~licious, The Spirit of Blogging, Help my novel save the world..., A Great Pleasure, Listening, Learning, Living, Rainbows,Arbitrary Thoughts

ADD YOUR LINKS HERE.

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2. "Spread the Blog Love"

(Pls. don’t remove)Credits: Elements/Paper by Dani Mogstad/ Layout by JennyLRules:
1. Don’t remove the credits when you post the image

2. Please link back to the person who tagged you and pass this tag to many of your friends

3. If you have more than one blog, please post this to all of your blogs so your other blogs can be listed to the master list too.

4. Remember to come back here at A SLICE OF LIFE (pls. don’t change this link and leave the exact post url so I can add you to the master list to help increase our rankings and improve our Technorati Authority.

6. Spread the BLOG LOVE FEVER!!

BLOGGERS:

1.Jenny Said So2.Simply Jen3.This and That4.Bargain.Sales.Deals.5.A Slice of Life6.Aussie Talks7. When Mom Talks8. Me and Mine<9. Creative in Me10. For the LOVE of Food11. Little Peanut12. Pea in a Pod13. It’s Where the HEART Is14. Around the World15.SugarMagnolias16.kathycot17. buhay misis 18. when mom speaks19. walk on red20. kathycot cooks21quicker822. Eds Mommy Life23. My Precious Niche24. Just Me.. Eds25. Can of Thoughts26. Designs By Vhiel27. Vhiel's Corner28. Anything and Everything in Between29. Good things in life...30. Precious Moments..31.Beachlover 32.beachloverkitchen. 33. Little Corner of Mine. Rainbows,Arbitrary Thoughts

Your blog is next.

3. "Beautiful Site Award"

I am glad I recieved it and I pass this on to
Suchi
Sumee
Thanu
Anjana

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Continental with love

That was my gift to the old man on his birthday!! When the taste buds get bugged of customary food, I thought it best to cook up something different. While the norm was to go out for dinner to some elite bistro for either of our birthdays, I thought of giving a personal touch to the gift and the outcome was this


Mashed potato and gravy, grilled chicken and tomato, boiled veggies


Look at the blissful look on the old man's face :)

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Happy Birthday Sweet Heart

Atul turned two today and I spent the day answering phone calls from near and dear ones who cared to remember. The most touching moment of the day was when Andrew, Shreyas and Sirisha came by to wish him and kissed the sleeping Atul. I watched them with tears in my eyes.

I didn’t plan a party for Atul but when you’re a mother, nothing seems enough. When few friends came down with gifts, I had to excuse myself for not having anything to give them in return. So, to begin with I decided to make some Payasam. Not all the effort in the world seems enough to celebrate the day he entered your life! Not all the words on earth can explicate the pure joy he brings to your life!! Me, Atul’s slave got around to do a bit more and that included cake and bread bondas. Now I had to party, but since it was unplanned, I just collected the kids who were playing downstairs with Adi and treated them to an informal party.They were more than happy to sing the birthday song for Atul and all of 'em dived straight into the snacks after having cleaned their mucky hands and legs leaving a muddy pool in the bathroom.Hilarious!! Finally when little Shourya - who is a month younger to Atul - came down I had little left but watching him gobble down the bondas was sheer joy.

I wish Atul knew that he has his parents wrapped around his little finger. Glad to be his slave
- A happy Momma

P.S : Daddy-the old man celebrates his birthday tommorow and Lazy Mama wished both birthdays fell on the same day.

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Atul turns two on 30th of September and ...

...whew what an year. Atul was dx with IS at 6 months and has been on 7 medicines so far. His seizures have managed to overpower them all and my dream of seizure free days are getting grim. As of now he is on 3 medicines and still having more than 30 spasms a day. There has been no upside, he is still floppy, arches his back constantly and shows no interest in his surroundings. What I am concerned about though is wondering if he will ever be able to focus or learn new skills. I realize this is very much a waiting game.

The Infantile spasms group has been a huge support for me in this journey and they have helped me cope with the situation I am in. There have been plenty positive and negative stories in that group. I noticed that kids with DS and IS or kids with MSC and IS have recovered well as compared to the irreparable idiopathic cases like Atul. Every kid with IS is different. While some have responded positively recovering to an extent of near normal kids, others have departed to be one of the angels.
While Atul’s IS cause is still a mystery, I wish there was a way out for him in this vast ocean of IS. However excluding the numerous issues with him, his medicines keep him knocked out most of the day only to lighten up with occasional laughing seizures once in a while and I have begun to enjoy that laughter even if it meant another seizure type.
This was a difficult post for me again and this blog is a place for me to vent...

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Aditya’s stories

Adi had a habit of writing stories in his kindergarten years and today as I was cleaning up old stuff, I found his class rough note book in which he had written few of 'em. Note the spellings as you read. It's comical...

Once upon a time there was a little boy and a biger girl. the boy was 3 year old, the girl was 7 year old. the boy was noty, the girl was very good. One day the boy said "I want to go to a jungle, but his sister said no. I want to goooooooooooo. Noooooo. but he went. A tiger paunst on him and he dyde.

Once upon a time there was a hunter named Andrew. One day he decided to go hunting. He vent. he saw a lion "let me shoot that lion". he said. he tride to shoot the lion but the lion escapte.
The end

Once upon a time there was a rat. one day he rat saw a cat. Ven the rat saw the cat, the rat said let us become friends. The cat said yes. They yoost to play together all the time. One day the cat forgot the friendship and chased the rat. The rat said, did you forget the friendship?. the cat said no and they lived happily ever after

I'll keep adding more as he comes up with new ones.

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The Wood Apple

Yesterday Deepa and I decided to go in for an overdue visit to the beauty parlor located in the fifth floor of Big Bazaar close to our home. However we reached a wee bit early as the bazaar is scheduled to open at 10 A.M. We were one of the first customers and the parlor wasn’t open yet. So we decided to hang around the vegetable segment of the bazaar until the time, the parlor was ready for customers. Now you know WOMEN, we never hang around when we have cash. We BUY and in the process I spotted The Wood Apple in the fruit section. It struck me that I had eaten something similar in my teen years and that pressed me to try it again. The label said Rs 6 for an apple and I bought two. Now Deepa was curious and she asked me if I had tasted it before. I told her that I vaguely remember my Dad getting this fruit for me when I was young and the taste resembled that of a pear in my mind. She took my word for it and reluctantly picked one. After shopping, we headed to the parlor and spent two hours of indulgence.
That night after dinner I stared at the wood apple longingly imagining something promising inside. For the ignorant, (that includes me) wood Apple is a whitish spherical fruit, will a hard woody pericarp and aromatic (offensive will be my term) pulp. Breaking the shell is HARD and I begged my mom to do it for me. She used a butcher’s knife for breaking it and cursed me as she did. I kept encouraging her as she broke the hard shell and as it broke into two halves, I was surprised to find something unfamiliar in there. It was seeded and as I tasted it, I was speechles (sour, felt like puking). I threw both in the dustbin and as I did that, it struck me that I had hauled deepa into the same boat. I thought it best not to call her and invite reproach and I waited and waited and waited for that CALL. Well, finally the rebuke was in the form of SMS

“ Thx 4 ur valuable advce. Wooody apple was really atrocious :p”
Saji

Uh oh, I called back for details about their experience with woody apple and here it goes “Thank you for the suggestion, Me and my husband have plasters on one of our left hand fingers. The trouble of breaking the filthy shit matched with experience of tasting the same. We will be careful not to take your advice in future”
Well! I was short of words to convince them then…
For some literature about wood apple, check this link http://www.goodhealthnyou.com/hot/teacoffee1.asp?id=1137&aid=62

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In honour of Lord Mahabali...

...we celebrated Onam with packed vigor despite my handicapped right hand. For a change Ajith was home this Onam, thanks to my hand. He inaugurated the day with a beautiful pookkalam that he laid out with immense care. Adi had to go to school as he could not afford to skip his monthly class test. However we promised him a surprise after he returns from school. The surprise as usual was a sumptuous lunch we planned earlier that day. The highlight of the day was the extravagant pot luck dinner thought-out by a couple of friends. With the help of my maid I managed to get things in order by noon. It's a custom to wear new clothes on this day and we call it Onakkodi.

Check out our get-together pics.

The Onam Sadya was quite elaborate with Parippu, Sambar, Erisseri, Pachadi, Inji-puli, Kaalan, Olan, Aviyal and two types of Payasam along with Pappadam, Pazham, Chips, Moru, Pulisseri, Pickle etc. Thanks to the efforts taken by Deepa, Prasidha, Bindu, Ajith and Me.




The Ladies in the traditional attire


The men in the traditional attire


The kids enjoying the sadya


The men's turn


The ladies final shot

The Onam celebrations at our apartment complex is scheduled for next week, which we are all eagerly looking forward to...

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THE LUMP

With a sling on my right hand and temptation to write, I just could not hold back on blogging until my hand was free from it. I didn't realize until now that typing with my left hand was this hard.

It's been over a year since I have been postponing the project lump. I noticed this little friend at the base of my right thumb a year back. What started as a peanut sized cyst soon became the size of a gooseberry when the orthopedist finally declared a deadline for eliminating it. The last time the doc asked me to get rid of it, Atul was too young to be handled by others and hence I was allowed to postpone it as long as it wasn’t posing a problem. Surprisingly, the lump did not trouble me at all and I decided to put it off indefinitely.

But all good things come to an end and so did my lump. This time it took a sprain on my leg to return to the orthopedist who promptly noticed the gooseberry on my thumb and said "GET RID OF IT". Ok ok, no more excuses! Three days later I was in the surgery room feeling sad that the little friend of mine was parting from me for GOOD! - Crippled blogger @ blogspot.com

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After a long gap...

…An old friend of mine called and as we were catching up on old times, lots of spicy news about our common friends slowly began to unfold. Well! Nothing great about that right ! but wait until you hear the gossip. We blah blahed non stop for an hour with lots of O-MY-GOD in-between. Now you guys must be prying to know what it’s all about.

Disclaimer: This post is strictly for ladies who love gossip.

Case 1:

Mr X married Miss Y two years back and got divorced 6 months back.

Reason: The two families did not get along. Nosy in-laws never missed the slightest chance in influencing even the most trivial decisions taken by the couple.

Result: A little kid who will never get to enjoy the combined love of parents.
2 cents of mine: Some things be left best to the couple especially in matters involving the two.

Case 2:

Mr X loved a girl during his college days. Unfortunately she got married to someone else in her final year of college. Mr X could not get over her and never married. But things turned in Mr X’es favour or did it?
Reason: The girl could not get along with her hubby and divorced him after two years. Mother of an 8 year old now has reunited with her teenage love. Live- in relation and unmarried type.

2 cents of mine: Why did she waste two years of her and another person’s life if she didn’t believe in it(marriage) in the first place.

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Salsa

I never considered that I would learn salsa at this point of my life. At 32, dancing to the tune of Hips Don’t Lie is like dream come true. Not that I ever dreamt of it since I never heard of salsa until my hubby told me about one crazy guy in his office who exhausted more time on salsa than on his job. I shared the same view as Ajith about this guy wasting time or rather spending time at the salsa club, when he should be coding his a$$ off. I guess I have changed my attitude now since I know what salsa can do to you. It can gobble you and your time. When an amateur like me can spend hours practicing the basic steps of salsa, I don’t blame a pro. I have been coaxing Ajith to be my partner for quiet sometime now. He is ready and is a bit more tolerant to that guy who is a salsa freak. Thank to my influence
Check out this salsa video



Check out Hips Don’t Lie for which we are rocking to.

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My Grandmom’s cricket team

Yes! My 93 year old grandmom is a proud mom of twelve children and by god’s grace she is still alive with no ailments in contrary to her eldest daughter who is bed ridden as of now.
Can I associate her good health to the unavoidable active life she endured in nurturing her kids? Also the pollution free, healthy climate in Kerala would have had a key role to play.
When I ask my mom about her childhood days, she has plenty tales to narrate unfolding their fun filled days of climbing trees, eating fresh fruits straight from the source (the organic way), playing in their own pond (swimming pool in modern terms), the fights ,the gossips, the jokes 24/7 etc . They didn’t have to find company elsewhere unlike us since they had enough and more right at home. I failed to mention that my mom has 8 brothers and 3 sisters. Sadly two of my uncles passed away in the prime of their life due to mishaps. While one of them left behind a family, the other was just engaged when he lost his life. The one who left behind a family died in a road accident and the other died by accidentally falling into a drain at workplace (Bhilai steel plant). The rest of them have done well for themselves and am sure my grandmom is one proud mama. She was lucky to attend the marriage of 9 grandchildren and if she gets luckier there will be 10 more to go. I would like to add that, she is still young at heart as she never fails to mention about the way an old man offered her help when she waited to cross a road.

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Cousin........

...And fly are here. They are relocating to Bangalore after their 12 year stay in US. It’s undeniably a shrewd move from my point of view. My cousin says

“If it din’t happen now , it may never owing to the fact that the kids are young and ready to follow their parents unlike the few who got stuck there with rebellious teenagers.”

The move has been thorny initially with finding a rental apartment which has been settled as of now and the next major milestone of getting kids into a good school, midyear is yet to be met.
I wonder if most Indian parents feel the same urge of relocating to homeland with the prime motive of bonding kids securely to our Indian culture. I could definitely assure them that once they settle down with everything in place, they would never regret the fact that they came down to a filthy place filled with lot of manual HELP and LOVE around which is unavailable in THE US of A.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Off topic…right now my toe is swollen with a broken bone (may be) and I need to hurry to the doc to check if that can be repaired. Like Ajith puts it, lots of pending things to be repaired, and this is top priority kekeke.

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And the Indepenedence Day was a huge hit.....

Here are some videos of the dance programs that we (ladies and kids) performed. Unfortunately hubby dear ran out of memory space in his camera at the right moment and could not record our dance completely. He never seems to learn from mistakes :(


Mehndi Ki Raat


Pappu Can't Dance

Other videos and snaps will be posted later.

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Independence Day Celebration at CG

Too much to handle and very less time. Independence Day is fast approaching and couple of us are coordinating in putting up a cultural program. Right now everything looks hazy since we have sacrificed food and sleep to get things in order. Too may kids and too much of confusion. Handling toddlers has been the toughest part since most of ‘em suffer from separation anxiety. They are putting up a fancy dress show where each one will represent a state in India. Lots of color and am sure they will look adorable in their costumes and people must be ready to accept the disorder when these kids howl for their moms. Another set is the 6 and above age group .To get them to practice their dance is like chasing behind a set of buffaloes. On the other hand, the 7 and above are the serious types who never stop once they begin to dance. Finally it is us ladies who have left family far behind to pursue an interest devoid of taste but have the courage to try. Yes! We are formally dancing on stage at the age of 32. Whoever dares to show their teeth on that day will be dragged to stage and asked to perform. Beware!!!!

Snaps of independence day celebration will soon follow.

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Commercialized temples

Last Wednesday my MIL (Mother In Law) called up to remind us about my FIL's (Father In Law) death centennial. She enquired if there was any temple here in Bangalore where we can offer our prayers for this occasion. I was not sure and so I assured her that I could check and do the necessary. I verified with my sister and she informed me that it can be done in any of the Shiva temples. It stroked me that there was one in Ulsoor and so we decided to go there. Let me remind you that my hubby dear is an atheist but he would do anything for his father (including a visit to the temple). So we set off early on the auspicious day which was the day of solar eclipse. The elders believe that by offering prayers to the departed soul on this day (new moon day of this particular month), we get bulk blessings for our future generations (28 precisely) by warding away the evil spirits. So, we set off early to do our bit in the benefit of future generations. The incidents that followed almost drew me to close to atheism. I will narrate them in scenes

Scene 1: The foot wear booth
Its early morning and the atmosphere outside the temple is serene. We leave our foot wear at a little booth in front of the temple where the sleepy guy gives us a small piece of paper with a number written on it. Mind you, if we lose it, we get to go back home barefoot. So it's a precious piece of paper and Ajith quickly shoves it into his pocket.

Scene 2: Entry to the temple
As we enter the temple an old lady passes by looking at us intently and even before we begin to ask her, she says it's an auspicious day today. The little temple in the corner is offering special pujas and hence the huge crowd (all this info provided without being asked for). I have to mention that this temple houses 5 little temples in all the four corners with one large one at the center. I ask the lady if we could offer prayers to the departed here for which she points her finger to a man who is busy screaming at particularly nobody and asks us to check with him. We quickly walk towards him and enquire about our necessity. He appears impassive and without answering us, squeal at some pujari (priest: the man who offers prayers for us) to come over to where he is seated.

Scene 3
Without waiting for an answer, we walk in the direction he was howling at, assuming the pujari would be there and we see one of them hurrying towards the source of squeal. We quickly stop him and tell him that we are the one who need to do the offerings for the departed and he smiles broadly at us showing off his toothless mouth. He must have been glad to get a potential prey early in the morning.

Scene 4
The frail pujari is an old man and begins to instruct us on the list of things we need for the prayers. His first line is "You have to offer me dakshina (donation)" get some flowers (don't forget the dakshina), a coconut, some bananas (the dakshina hehehe), some grass stressing the fact that people usually plan earlier for such occasions in which case he is offered clothes and cash as dakshina and since we have not planned earlier, we are given the option of donating entirely in cash.

Now we begin to wonder if the pujari forgot about the puja so we remind him if there is anything else we need to get for the puja other than the dakshina. Oh yeah, the beetle leaf and the nuts, he reminds us. We frown and walk deep in thoughts wondering if we are in the right place.

Scene 4
We step out of the temple where we see couple of people selling the above listed items in a packet. I buy that and realize that the beetle leaf is missing. I check with the lady and she says "not available anywhere". We check with the lady beside her selling the same items and she says that she has it but can't give it to us until we purchase the whole packet from her. Now that's mean!!! I begin to retort but realize it's futile. We walk away and check with another lady who seemed a bit more considerate. So off we return to the pujari with the packet in our hand.

Scene 5
The pujari upon seeing us leaves the gathering he was tending to excusing himself by convincing that something important has come up and he has to leave.(I am sure you guys may have guessed the reason behind it). He approaches us and makes us sit in a corner and quickly recites some mantras. It's over in a record breaking time of 2 minutes and he quickly asks for dakshina. Ajith thrushes a 50 rupee note at him and the man stares in disbelief (He had difficulty in reading the number there).

Pujari : I cant accept that
Ajith : I have no change
Pujari : How much have you got?
A : 500
P : I have change for that

A gives him 500 and P hurries inside to get change. He gets 100 rupee notes and gives them to Ajith

P: Now give me what you please?
A gives him 100.
P: that's less
A gives 200

P frowns, takes it and says
P : People give me more than 500.
A : BOLT OUT OF THE BLUE

Meanwhile I avoid looking at Ajith since he is all the more convinced that he has chosen the right path. He advices me that people lack a pure mind in the first place. Having a pure mind and not believing in GOD is better than having a crooked mind and claiming to be a believer in GOD. Its worse when people meant to act as a median between common people and God bribe in the name of GOD.

To top it all we got to see another incident in the temple where another pujari who was initially impatient with the devotees for crowding the temple became a saint as soon as he saw one of the TV channels videoing the event. He ran towards the spot in a hurry and started off with a fresh 'organized' prayer and continued it religiously until he was videoed. WOW! Do we really need these kind of pujaris to act as median between us and GOD or is it better to offer our prayers personally with a pure mind and heart.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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The comprehension passage

Adi's monthly tests have been going on and to get him to sit down and practice his lessons was a taxing task. To find ways of gaining his interest was my primary aim and one such opportunity chanced upon me yesterday. It happened to be his English test today and English has always been easy for him. He tends to get bored easily if I try to overdo it. I wanted him to get used to reading a comprehension passage and answer questions regarding it. It was a Sunday night and we had ordered food from outside. All of us had a sumptuous dinner and were sprawled across the couch while an idea struck me. I asked Adi to write a comprehension passage on the dinner we had. The output was stunning. Here it goes...

Ajith orderd food from spice and curry restorent. The menu he orderd was 4 items. The four items were chily chiken, fried rice, soup and fried chiken. After sometime the delavery boy delaverd the food at our door. Ajith unpacked the food. We ate the starter and then dinner.

My mother drank mirinda and my father drank some dowels.

Pardon Adi's spellings. The last line must have kept you guessing about the dowels drink. For men the answer is a cake walk and for Adi it's still a mystery!

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Psyches

I have been watching CNBC from the time Bangalore blasts occurred closely followed by Ahmedabad. But the latter was not as lucky as Bangalore in terms of death toll and the nastiest being the blast in a hospital in Ahmedabad as I could not stomach the sight of the little boy with a burnt back crying out in pain while his brother was just about dying in the next bed unaware of the fact that their father has by now said goodbye to them and the world. Thanks to the psychic people who masterminded the blast for whatever the motive, I pray they suffer big time in hell. The dirty politicians here seem to take advantage of the situation by trying to politicize the event. Like Kiran Majumdhar pointed it’s about time Indian intelligence use technology efficiently to track these antisocial elements. If I were a judge, I would have penalized these people by placing a bomb in their A**.

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Careless doctors !

I had done a post on this topic earlier. To add to that I found this news which has shocked me

In 1997, his two-year-old son fell into a bucket of lime wash, burned his left eye and was rushed to a private hospital for surgery. The doctors operated the healthy right eye and botched things up further when the oxygen cylinder finished midway through the surgery. His son not just lost his vision but also suffered brain damage. Continue reading...

Another one...

Hi, My name is Nivedita Bhandari and I am 29 years old. I had a serious car accident 4.5 years back when I went into coma for 3 months. When I came out of coma, my knees could not bend at all. The doctors had inserted rods in both my thighs but those lead to a slow infection which spread through my thighs and hips.Continue reading...

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Confession

Every so often I seem to get angry with Adi for no fault of his and I yell non-stop at him though the voice inside me keeps reminding me to stop. For instant, today I saw this fat kid chasing Adi for no reason and the situation got completely out of control with the boy pushing Adi as he fell hard on the tough facade and the boy landed right on top of him with Adi’s finger getting jammed due to the impact. I could do nothing to stop the boy since he was too fast for me. My instinct was to shake the boy hard and tell him that he cannot scare others by chasing them just for the fun of it which seem to be an easy task for many when it comes to defending their own kids. But all I did was to drag Adi home and discharge my anger, helplessness and frustration on the poor soul for not being able to take care of himself. After I was done, a sense of guilt engulfed me when I realized that Adi had not uttered a single word of defense. Fault has always been mine, since I lack self control and the art of defending my son. Well! I am not here trying to prove that Adi is an effigy of politeness since he does receive more than his share of yelling for his naughtiness but most of the time I feel sad when I realize that he may have never started it in the first place but by then damage has been done. Poor Adi with a blue finger 

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Dinner at D’s Domicile

People have always been finding excuses to get home early from work and this time the excuse was a blast. Yes! Serial blasts in Bangalore have proved that the city is no longer safe and people have to be cautious which is not viable. Adi managed to shock me when he saw me panicking for not having been able to reach A on his mobile by saying ”Gone case! I guess you have to marry someone else now”!!! However the only plus of the blast being that it was a Friday and people are in a mood to party, but the rains put off outdoor partying and hence many suffice by partying at home. So, was our case when SK called A to check if we had other plans? Well! That was a promising call and A checked with SK if we could potluck.

What started off as a two family get-together ended up in a three family fun with P and Di joining in. The kids as usual had their fun by constantly drawing our attention with each one trying to outdo the other in the game of “Who is worse”. The men vanished amidst the chaos only to return with wine bottles. Laughter poured in when the six of us sat around D’s dining table draining down the wine and listening to the witty narrations of two men (SK and Di) who went to Sabarimala only to revive the experience of their bachelor days and poor ‘A’ feeling bad that he missed the chance (cursing himself for claiming to be an atheist). SK the car fanatic made the most when A hinted that he was planning for a change in passion (car). His options for us came down to a stage where we may be driven to poverty with a classy car in a slum. The other gender could not budge away from the preferred topic of “whose maid is the worst” and nobody won.

The grand finale was D scrubbing all the soiled plates in a record breaking time with a strong belief that her maid may not turn up the next day owing to her prior incidents. Nevertheless it was fun. Thanks to SK and D for hosting it, thanks to the blasts and thanks to P and Di who joined in to make it livelier! And I feel sorry for S and B for having missed it!! I am sure anonymous will be available for comments :)

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Kids say the darnest things!

The spontaneous statements that kids innocently blurt out can be very funny sometimes. I will list a few here from what I got to hear from Adi and his friends.

To begin with Adi’s (6 year old) latest:

Arranged marriage v/s Love marriage

Adi: At what age did dad get married?
Me: 29
Adi: You?
Me: 24
Adi: So shouldn’t I be marrying at 29?
Me: Ahem! Yeah
Adi: So where is my girl now?
Me: (Getting a bit uncomfortable now) I guess she is not born yet or may be she is one or two years old. And you may never know her until you are 29. So don’t waste your time thinking about that right now.
Adi: Are you saying that I should get married to someone I don’t know. Never! I will find on my own.
Me: (Open-mouthed and suddenly thought of the perennial arranged marriage v/s love marriage topic)

Shikar rocks!

Adi’s school organizes a lot of competitions right through the year. They have an option of participating in these events. Adi’s friend Shikar (6 year old) is in the same grade and school as Adi’s. There are couple of others kids in our apt who are also from the same school and grade. Whenever there is a competition these kids ask each other if they are in or out. They got used to the word "participating"!!! Not participating became the Hip thing and one day...

Shilpa (Shikar’s mom): Stop wasting your time and study for your test which is coming up next week.
Shikar: I am not participating
Shilpa: (bolt out of the blue)

Gayatri’s super-hit dialogue when she was 5

Bindu (Gayatri’s mom): We cannot go for your haircut today as there is a bandh (general strike)
Gayatri: What is the bandh for?
Bindu: Because Dr. Rajkumar died…
Gayatri; Oh! Was he supposed to cut my hair?

ROFLMAO!

Adi when he was 4...

Adi: Mamma, why did they name our apartment Gopalan Enterprises? Is it because if we enter here we get some prizes or something??

Adi has so many friends in this community that everyday I get to hear some good humor. I will come back with more of their jokes in the next edition...

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My longing

...of learning dance has finally materialized. Last Saturday was my first shot at it and my attempt was pretty decent. The dance trainer is a pep young lady with neat build, which in itself was a motivation for ladies who have blown out of proportion. However she dared call us aunties and I snapped back saying that we will ditch the class if she persisted in calling us that grrrr... Hey, we are no AUNTIES! We are 30–35 year old, young, vibrant ladies who are willing to give jazz a shot before the trainer strikes us with the word "grandma". She did admit that we rocked after our first round of Jazz steps though couple of them trained in classical dance had trouble figuring out the difference between bharatnatyam and jazz. Well, the combination was hilarious. To keep our spirits up, the trainer devised a plan for us. First would be to tone our bodies, which did enthuse many of us visualizing in our teen stature. This did prove the fact that, however old one may get we definitely want to stay young and the trainer played with the right card. Good start, huh? The second plan was to sprinkle our bodies with some grace, which can be achieved by rotating our hips (not tummy as most of us have buried our hip under the tummy). Now the trainer is faced with some real challenge ahead. If she succeeds, I will give you all her email ID.

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20 girls brooch for 2 guys on MTV Splitsville

"All’s fair in love and war" and Splitsville on MTV tries to prove that in the most disgusting, degrading, shameful, cheap way by getting the girls to go all the way to grab the attention of two absolutely hopeless, worthless men who are given the power to vote them out in case the ladies fail to please them. How demeaning for the ladies to do that for a prize (5 lac) that may not last even a few years considering the chunk of expense needed to up-keep themselves. Why suffer public humiliation at the cost of getting mortified.

The guys play their part by sparing no effort in humiliating these ladies at the drop of a hat. One episode was adequate to put off my day considering the fact that 5 lacs is too cheap to sell one’s self respect.

The episode that I watched

Introduction of the girl: I am xyz, My vital stats are x-x-x!!!
My sex appeal lies in my xy! I will win this 5 lakhs.

Like MTV puts it "We are going to be lucky witnesses to some unbelievable drama, treachery, sabotage, cat-fights, politics, back-stabbing, bitching and scheming. Watch the girls undergo stress, fear, exhaustion, and depression. Watch them try to outdo each other with their womanly wiles (flaunt their stuff and how!) as the two lucky guys sit back and enjoy the show."

Arrrrrrrghhhhhhhh... too much to handle. I would happily murder the ladies for this.

Actually this show is meant to find true love, but I guess they may end up finding a good politician. Reality shows in India have definitely managed to play with people’s emotions and feelings by creating unhealthy competition. The fear of getting voted out takes a toll on their personal health too. It also poses a question as to what kind of people are suited for these kind of shows. Never can an anxious person who is emotionally vulnerable participate, nor can a less intelligent person take part since he/she can find themself in a difficult situation not knowing how to deal with it.

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Atul update

Atul is 1 year 9 months now! Sigh! Time flies. It’s always hard for me to do this post but writing about him is a pleasure. I could write loads about him since he is my heart and my life, as of now, revolves around him absolutely. The sad part is that the daily physical therapy does not seem to help his physical development and now he is officially having CVI, seizures, hypotoned, and hearing impaired. In short he is my sweet little vegetable. We are working with the only sense that is left which is smell and with this he manages to fill our world with his cute smiles and babbles when he senses us near him. Adi’s smell seems to be the dearest as atul babbles non stop when Adi hovers around him like a mosquito. Right now Atul is on his fifth medication as he successfully overpowered the rest and emerged a winner. Seizures have become a part of his and our lives. Looks like it is here to stay with us. The docs consider his case grim, as they don't see much improvement (both motor and intellectual) since seizures have taken control of his brain and he is not responding to any medication. However he is still a happy, quiet, non-fussy child compared to the typical ones thus giving me lot of time to do other work which includes not having to hurry my lunch, not having to run out of the toilet unlike the clingy toddlers etc. There are times when I miss the typical toddler but when I see Adi getting into trouble, I relieve myself thinking that at least I don’t have to handle complaints in Atul’s case. As days pass by I realize that it's going to get tough on us physically but seeing him give that wholesome, blissful, charming smile will keep us going.

Many of my friends would like an update about Atul and I know they ask out of concern, but I do get uncomfortable talking about him so I prefer they rather not ask than see me in tears. I wish they all read about him here which could spare me the trouble of having to explain the same things over and over again to different people. Anyway I'll try my best to provide regular updates. Here is Atul’s latest video

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Leave letter

Adi was moderately sick with cold yesterday and this is nothing new, the only exception being that I was feeling a bit laid back or plain lazy. I declared a day off for him on his pretext though he didn't wish for. Today he insisted upon writing a leave letter and since he saw me procrastinating, he settled down to write one. This was how he put it...

Dear Teacher
I was not just having a cold. I was having ear infeksion.
So I could not come to school and cobon park.
I am very sorry.
Now my face is



TO

Awww...such a cute letter and it sure made me feel guilty. Incidentally this is his first letter to the teacher. Fortunately I was relieved to see his dairy today which said field trip is postponed to tomorrow.

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Nostalgia

...sets in today and I jog my memory to the four years of my engineering course, something which I always thought was not my cup of tea. However I enjoyed every bit of my time there, with THE GANG. The girly gossips, bunking classes, watching movies just few days before semester examinations, the dhaba expeditions with three of us on a tiny Sunny scooter, the dutch parties, the heartbreaks upon spotting the handsome guys accompanied by GFs, the constant air removal of our computer maam's scooty (the best revenge for her ruthless gaze), the hours of gossip in front of the chat bakery covering everything form wishes to politics, the incomplete song we sung for the insignificant competition, the laughter after that, the wonder at how few of 'em managed to top the class even after having double the fun I had, the antics we indulged in trying to imitate all our lecturers - the most famous one being the lady who came to our class to just dictate notes (I still wonder how she got her PHd), the crazy new year party where we experimented our first take on alcohol and the fact that I spit it out wondering how guys enjoyed it though things are different now ;) courtesy hubby. SO what did I learn during those four years in summary will be anything other than instrumentation.

Thank you GANG for making it such a memorable time. To be frank I don't remember my last moment there. Was it walking out with my final year mark sheet happy with at least a first class???

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Suspense

No! This incident was not covered by NDTV. My sis was the reporter and it happened near her home. Her son was playing cricket with a couple of boys, which included a 4 year old. All of a sudden an SUV emerges out of the blue and almost collides with the boy. A man leaps out of the car, grabs the boy, dumps him next to him and speeds away. All this happens within a fraction of a second and one sensible alert boy among the gang notes down the number on the number plate. A few minutes later the little boy’s grandfather comes in search of him and the bewildered gang hastily pour out their heart. The grandfather listens carefully and returns. Now all of them contemplate that the old man would have headed to the police station when suddenly the boy who noted down the number realize that he forgot to mention about it. So, the gang, along with my sis hurries to the little boy's home to provide the precious information. To their surprise, they find the grandfather reading paper and the rest of the family members busy in their own world. My sis approaches the grandmother and enquires about the boy. The grandmother happens to exchange meaningful glances with her daughter while trying to convince my sis with a suitable answer. From her conversation my sis realizes that it's the father who kidnapped the child. I am sure you guys must have guessed the cause.

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The swollen with pride music tutor (SWPT)

This specimen comes to our apartment complex twice a week and terrorizes the kids and adults to learn classical music. She claims to be "THE BEST" and never forgets to mention that "some or one" playback singer(s) in Kannada film industry are being trained by her. The two invisible horns on her head get prominent when she demands to empty our parking lot for her car if she doesn't find a lot in the visitor parking area. An year back when Adi was not yet 6, we got to meet this rare breed. She agreed to come down and grace us with her knowledge after a wee bit of compelling. She declared the cut off age as 6 and those below will not be allowed to join. However I decided to try my luck and I dragged a dispassionate Adi to meet her. There were couple of other kids and mums around as I got into the clubhouse. To my utter dismay I saw the SWPT auditioning the kids. Whoa! this is going to be tough as I had to get Adi to sing. It was Adi's turn and I asked him to sing a rhyme. Adi did complete justice to it and the lady said she wants to hear a movie song. What the heck! I begged Adi to sing Dus Bahane (that being the only song he knew then and only 3 lines). Adi plainly declined and so did she. A year later I get to hear tales about the way she intimidates the kids if they forget lines or cannot articulate the hard lyrics of a Sanskrit song. But the adults do claim that it's helping a few kids who otherwise tend to slack. Hey, what about the humiliation? Does the kid suffer from that? I am not sure if anybody thought of that since kids are sensitive when it comes to getting shamed in front of public. Should she not be using the terms good, very good or best to convey her opinion in a constructive manner? Couple of days back my friend mentioned that she is contemplating on starting another batch. Adi is 6 now and the brat needs to be tamed??? Questions pondering in my grey matter!

Will Adi get tamed to an extent where he will hate music?
Will the SWPT influence him in a positive way as MIRACLES do take place??

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Devil's Advocate

Starring my hubby!! On a lighter moment contributing for his office magazine.Click on the image to zoom for those who have vision problems :P

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NDTV talking about the brave new world of blogs

Barkha Dutt of NDTV discussed about the new world of blogs in her talk show yesterday. It was graced by the presence of some popular bloggers across India. (Unfortunately I was not considered popular and so I dint get invited .I am angry about that barkha) .). The aim of the talk show was to ponder on whether blogs could be regulated.. Now without a debate, I would say that it is impractical and I would recommend readers to make a choice of blogs they like to read or ignore, so they can regulate it from their end. I would not like an external medium to regulate something that was basically created for the sole purpose of personal expression.
There was this girl who kept her identity anonymous and discussed intimate things on her blog and many read it , revisited her and wrote sick comments though they enjoyed her blog for a fact. I entitle this group as cowards. Barkha claimed that some blogs did engage in fabricating stories on people and I would say , it’s upto the people to make the right judgment after reading such blogs. A young gay blogger finds it easy to express his feeling on his blog than sharing the same with his parents or friends. A journalist in the show said that he is bored of saying stuff that others want him to articulate and so he finds blogging a means where he can express his own thoughts about something he strongly feels about be it discussing about his neighbour’s refrigerator or some other lame thing whithout worrying about getting edited. Like barkha put it, “Blog is definitely a small car with a bigger pollution”. It does have many advantages and drawbacks .To strike a right balance is the query here and as far as I am concerned, I still haven’t had the courage to blog something that I strongly feel about. Few years from now may be different.

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Meet the class teacher

And finally I went to meet Adi’s class teacher for the first time after school began. I joined Adi in his van along with his friends and our ride was fun err hassle filled with adi and friends busy drumming each others head followed by complaints pouring in from all sides about ruining each others hairdo. I was the targeted object for coming up with justice, which I badly failed at since I also ended up drumming everybody’s head. While that was done, we reached school and we were a bit early. We said bye to the others while Adi led me to his class. His class teacher hadn’t arrived yet, and as I entered the class few students who were already there, stood up and said good morning. Ah! Now I can play class teacher for a while I thought .I smiled and mumbled good morning while they sat and I was contemplating about what to say then.. Adi was not aware of my plans and he was leaping around while others were watching him with wonder. Just then another student came in and she stood near the door and said, ”excuse me maam”. I said “YES! GET IN”. Whoa! That was fun. A swift sense of power tickled through my body and I wanted to play a bad teacher. I started asking everybody their names and they meekly responded one by one. Another student stopped near the door and I looked at her and asked “why so late”. Her face was a mix of uncertainty and alarm. I made her stand there for a while since she was figuring out the best excuse. Just when the fun began, a smiling tall hefty lady walked in and unanimously the kids stood up and said “good morning” whilst it was my turn to be puzzled. I figured she was the class teacher and I talked to her for a while letting the kids in a “guess who I was” mode while I took leave. FUN!

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