welcome our little angel

Our dearest little angel,

You came to this world on Nov 2, 2006.
You are our angel, who has come to our family with blessings and joy.
We are very fortunate to have you here with us today and forever now. It is a blessing to watch you grow.
Welcome to the family, welcome to the world.
God Bless you with a long, healthy life filled with all the colors in the rainbow...
May you be blessed with knowledge, love, passion, joy and successs in this world.

Celebrating you,
your loving family


[ There is a new addition to our family, the first child in our family,
my sisi's cutest li'l daughter :) ]

Release Racket

Scene 1:
She knows that she has to spare half an hour more for getting dressed up traditionally, if she decides to dress up. It was decided by colleague friends. There was a Diwali lunch arranged by non-cafeteria people (Thank God!!)
Midnight phone call from overseas for an hour and half, she doesn't want to wake up at 7 today, and also previous day swimming- another excuse to sleep longer. Waking up at 8 means, 9:30 at work! 9:30 is too late for the release today, but what the hell!

Scene 2:
Everyone is hovering over via all possible communication avenues, what is happening, what is left to be done, how much testing is done, what labels have been tested etc. She finds testing a mindless job! She kind of felt proud in passing the testing job to subordinates, it's their learning, and three's a company too! on the D-Day 3's a company finds out that the latest labels highly needed to be tested have some critical changes! This needs to be dug down, a laborious job, but has to be done! Someone wants her to close inspections for prev day release, someone wahts her to look at the change requests, in the middle of the her release racket! And the documentation work is still pending! and guess what, everyone else started at 11, for the Diwali lunch!


Scene 3:
Hurriedly she arrives, handling high heal pumps and a long walk(!!), a small car ride with her colleague and even longer walk(!!!!). A rare scene was in act- chit-chatting, casually mingling with work people! The work here has no space for casual casualities here when you join a group well known to be the busiest in the company. Being a center of attention is a piece of cake for her! The FOBs in the company were on a roll.
N: btw, it is A's birthday today!
Everyone: "Happy Birthday", "wish you Happiest Birthday"... Hap. B'day... B'day..
A: "Thank you".. "Thank you...".. "TY.."
N to everyone: " Did you know, he was born on the day Ravan was killed?"
Everyone: "Oh Really? That is Dussera!"
Everyone: "Hmmm, Diwali is the day Ram had entered Ayodhya, and Dussera is the day Ram had killed Ravan!"
N to A: "Don't worry A..., actually, you are making very good progress every year, your b'day's almost there, just a day before Diwali this time!"
N: "Good Job A...!"
Everyone had a good laugh.
"Say Cheese" here and there.

Scene 4:
She had to rush back for the royal finale! Prepare FAQs, a user manual, coordinate subordinates and resolve any issues they are having while testing.
AND, IT WAS OVER, FINALLY! And she, who likes to plan things ahead, had not even thougth what she'd do on friday evening! A friday date with self had been very relaxing, get unwound, have dinner, wish Diwali overseas, watch movie, and dream about the unusual Diwali celebration next day - Hiking, witnessing nature's the most beautiful colorful incarnation! I will cover this next episode of be-with-nature trip in my little sequel later:)

Happy Diwali!

Happy Dussehra!!

On this auspicious day of Dussehra, let our goodness, morality, righteousness win the evil.



Dhanlaxmi,
Dhanyalaxmi,
Dhairyalaxmi,
Shouryalaxmi,
Vidyalaxmi,
Karyalaxmi,
Vijayalaxmi,
Rajlaxmi,
May all the Ashta Laxmi shower Blessings on you on this Fortuitous day of Dussehra!

The Fifth Mountain:

These are my favorites what Paulo has put in words in this book:

"everything will happen as was written by the lord." replied the prophet.
'there are moments in when tribulations occur in our lives, and we cannot avoid them. but they are there for some reason."
"what reason?"
"that is a question we cannot answer before, or even during, the trials. only when we have overcome them do we understand why they were there."



"i am afraid," the boy said insistently.
"that proves that you find joy in living. it's normal to feel fear at certain moments."


"why does he who made the world prefer to use tragedy to write the book of fate?"
"thou knowest not whereof thou speakest," the angel replied. "there is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. everything hath its reason for being: thou needest only distinguish what is temporary from what is lasting."
"what is temporary?" asked Elijah.
"The Unavoidable."
"and what is lasting?"
"The Lessons of the Unavoidable."



"Fear exists until the moment when the unavoidable happens," he told Elijah. "After that, we must waste none of our energy on it."



"If you have a past that dissatisfies you, forget it now," he went on. "Imagine a new story of your life, and believe in it. Concentrate only on those moments in which you achieved what you desired, and this strength will help you to accomplish what you want."

I DID IT!!!

I did tandem sky diving on Saunday!!
it was AMAZING!!
One mile of free fall in the air at the speed of 120 mph !!!
It was just AWSOME, I'm gonna do it again..
I was not nervous or feared at all, just the first moment when the instructor opened cessna's door and asked me to peak out without holding anything, I overcame my resistance, and then I was all ready to fall :)

Have video taken, just have to figure out how to capture pics out of it..
will post pictures after I figure it out :)

Silver's Plicture Post Tag

Pictures speaks louder! A very unique tag by my dear friend silverine ..

1.Most desired celebrity:




William Henry Gates
Comment: He is a living Microsoft God! I adore him for his success, his smartness, and his business foresightness, world's #1 businessman, world's the most richest person, he has many #1s! He inspires millions to be successful, though everyone envies him ;)



2.Want to do this some day:



Exploring the Himalayas (Again): I need to take a looooong vacation for this :)
Comment: Himalayas always fascinate me, I love mountaineering, and No other place is better than the Himalayas for sould rinsing...




Solo Sky Diving: It might happen this year!
Comment: The ONLY thing I am afraid of is my ears.. My eardrums can not cope up with atmospheric pressure drop easily, It reminds me of the near death experience, I feel like my brain will pop out of my ears, the worst pain one can imagine...


3.Want to visit this place




The Parthenon:
Comments: One of the seven wonders of the ancient world! History has been my one of the passions, I want to witness how our ancenstors lived, want to just sit quitely and stare at one of the most thoughtful and complex architecture, want to remember the people for whom this place was a part of their daily routine, want to remember the history this building has witnessed..




The Eiffel:
Comments: I want to wander through the streets of Paris at night, a date on a bridge on the river Seine after the sun has set, a stroll at night at the eiffel tower. Paris has been one of the most romantic places I can imagine of..



The Australia:
Comments: On a pristine, unmanned oceanfront, watching sunset and sun rises on shorelines, backpacking in the austrailian forests, an opera at the Sydeny Opera House.. and lots of pictures!

4.Random Favorite




Serenity:
Comment: I love this picture, imagining being this kid, with closed eyes on a luminous summer afternoon, with splashing water all around..
That is why I gave a title to this picture - Serenity :)


5. I was tagged by Silverine




Comment:She is a very sweet and interesting girl, I like being tagged by her :)
Post the picture of the place where you were tagged, and if you picked up the tag yourself then the picture of the place you picked it from.

I tag anyone who wants to take this tag!

Terror Strikes, Again in Mumbai

My sympathy and prayers with all the Mumbaiites..

Lucky enough my brother that he was not in Mumbai on the day there were blasts.
And Lucky enough our families and friends in Mumbai that everyone is safe.

United We stand.. I am so proud and delighted that strangers helped strangers yesterday in Mumbai.

I hope Mumbaiiites get justice soon.

May God Bless Mumbai.

A Tribute to My Dadima...

LabhKunvar was born in 1919 in Jamnagar, the first born in the family. She was the eldest of 6 sisters. Back then, education for girls was not that popular, but she did go to the school, upto highschool. She was gifted, she sang quite well even without any formal music/singing training. Once, she sang a welcome song for the king of the Jamnager from her school, and the king got so happy that he gave her a gold ring with a precious jewel. which she proudly wore for rest of her life.

LabhKunvar got married at the age of 15-16. Her husband was from another state. Back then Surendranagar was another state! She went to her husbands place after 1-2 years after the marriage. He was a scholar, very close to the king of Surendranagar. He accompanied king everywhere. He went to Oxford for studies, while his wife was back home with his folks. LK was quite bold and of contemporary thinking. No one could mess with her. She was the most assertive and strongest woman I have ever seen in my life which I till date admire. Her husband was not always home, since he was studying in UK with the king, and here, she could not take her in-laws anymore. She wanted to move out and have an individualistic lifestyle. I totally support her decision. I am an individualistic person, I believe in having privacy, and having a freedom to do whatever and whenever I want.

She had a baby daughter. Her husbad comes back after a year or so after she was born, and this baby girl was his the most dearest possession, he used to take her on bicycle! after a couple of years, LK was expecting again, and when it was almost due, her husbad passed away at a very unfortunate young age... people sometimes say it was a political murder, with some kind of slow poisoning. Her husband was very loving, simple and simple minded and very intelligent man. He was a PhD in Psychology from Oxford. He wrote couple of books too. Will write on him some other time... If I would imagine myself in LK's posion, I would feel devastated, in early 1940s. Her inlaws asked her to move back with them, she did for a while, but she did not find it very encouraging. She moved back to Jamnagar with her children to her parent's place, she sharted studying again, she did PTC, and became a teacher. After finishing up her studies, she came back to her destined place, the same place, she had left. She was teaching History, geography and Guajarati to primary and highschool school kids.

What I remember from her saying, they had a very tough life, you have to wake up early in the morning, go out in the forest for your disposing off your body waste, Take a bath in river before people wake up, wash clothes on the river banks, fetch water from the well located at the end of the town/village, fill up your water for your daily needs, come home, cook for family. Back then, everyone had brick and clay mortar houses, with tiles on the roof. The floor was of cattle dung. They have to go and fetch cow dung, for multi purposes- you can dry it up and use it in a oven klin for cooking. The economic structure was not this much classified back then, everyone had every skills to survive. She used to floor her house herself! with cow dung!, she used to re-tile her roof, herself! It needs lot's of inner strength to survive like she did.

She was my Grand-ma, we called he Dadima. I lived with her for 25 years of my life, in the same house. She passed away last week...

We used to sleep with her, for so many years! She would tell us stories. I remember my brother, when young, always on her back to tell him stories. We used to tease her with 'Dadi amma, dadi amma, maan jao' song to get her to do whatever we wnat!

She was our savior when someone would bully us! I remember all of us three asking dadima at different point of times, if she would come to school with because someone was bullying. She was the rescuer! Just her presence was enough for the bullying kid! I remember, once, I was not aware that my dadima was visiting school, probably she stopped by to just to see our teachers,a nd get updates may be. And someone from my class saw her, and told her that some girl was hitting me. and that's it! I was not even present in my class, was next door or somewhere for some reason, she came running to my class, asked for that girl, and asked her why she was hitting her grand daughter..!! and I don't remember her hitting me again ever after!

She would take us to children's plays, bakor patel, chako mako etc. She was our outdoors companion! She would take us to the magic shows. I still remember having fun with her. When my mom-dad would not be home, she would make 'Bhajiyas' and chutney. She was a master in making bhajiyas! I remember, she would sit on the kitchen countertop, on a wooden step, called "Patlaa", dipping sliced vegetables into gram flour batter, and frying bhajiyas, serving us warm from the wok!

I remember, when we would go out in the city, she would take us to her fvorite ice-cream shop, and we will have at least two different kinds of ice-creams! I also remember, whenever she would come back from any trip, out of town visit, she would bring a dozen of cadbury chocolate bars for us kids. I can not forget how we- my sis, brother, mom-dad and I would go to pick her and her 'sakhi'- cousine sister from morari bapu's katha. (katha is reading of religious books, may it be mahabharata or ramayana or purana.) The katha usually goes on for days, morning to evening, and she used to go very religiously.

During summertime, we would make mango juice, it's a very traditional process, without using any electrical appliance. we would squeeze mango without making any cut on a mango skin to make it softer, until u feel it's all juice inside the mango juice, and then squeeze it in a big pot. after squeezing all the mangoes, she would take over, washing mango seeds and the skin. the water in which she would wash mango remains, we heat it up, and add spices, anf make a gravy, called 'fajeto'.

she would play cards with us, during our summer vacation. Her favorite card game was 'satya' which she would call 'satyo'. after we grew up, we had separate rooms, and before going to bed, she would do her 'sayonara' ritual. all of us wish good night, and godbless each other, and to my dadimaa, we would wish one more, sayonara, that is what was her thing. I don't remember when this tradition started..

My parents didn't believe in pocket money. So, during my school life, we never had pocket money to spend, and neither did we ask, we didn't feel need to, since, my parents were fulfilling all our reasonable wishes. Sometimes, my dadimaa would give us Rs.2 to have samosas for lunch, back then, we used to get 1 samosa for 50 Paisa. So, ideally if we would have spent money, we would get 4 samosas, but I liked multi colored, inexpensive local candy. I used to buy this candies, and have it while teacher would teach us, it was an adventure for me, since eating in school was not allowed except lunchbreaks. The amount stayed Rs.2 regardless of inflation. Later on, the samosas were selling for 80 paisa or even Rs.1! and she was still our favorite bank!

She had diabetes later on, but she took it quite well, she required to take insuline injections, and she learnt how to inject herself! I can not even look at a syringe, when someone else is poking it into my arms, she would do it herself! My dad, mom, sister would help her too. I don't remember her being bed ridden for long, even when last year when I visited home, every morning, she would take her walking stick, and walk around the house in the garden around, sit under the mango tree shadow, read all three newspapers, sipping her tea. She would go to temple in the evening, she was very regular about it. Since last few months, she did not walk to the temple, my dad or my brother or my sis would drop her off and pick her up to and from the temple. She was quite religious. When I was young, I remember her in front of a small temple in our house, and performing pooja, chanting, and doing rosary.

She was very innocent. I particularly remember this incident- I was not putting oil in my hair on at all, so my dadimaa asked someone about it, and someone just joked about it saying they punish you in USA if you put oil in your hair! And she believed it! She asked me once I ws visiting home if that's true.. I was laughing and explained her how someone fooled her. She took it well, she also started laughing!

In our house, she was the one who would be an authority of Vikram Samvant (calendar), any day, festival, on what day, date, it is falling, she was our google. We all would ask her, when is Diwali, when is Navaratri. We also called the calendar she used to get, dadimaa's calendar!

Dadimaa left this world on early morning of May 25, around 2 am.. remembering all of us.. she was satisfied that all her grand kids are happy.. I regret, I could not speak to her before she passed away.. my sister, dad and mom were with her when she left this earth.. Only satisfaction I have is she didn't suffer much, unlike many.. she had her last dinner herself, sitting in her bed, and eating with her own hands, with a satisfaction of living her life at the fullest, and satisfaction of fulfilling all her responsibilities.. She knew she is going to leave, she refused to take any medication for her last two days, and refused to take insuline, she refused to go to the hospital, she wanted be at home, she also told my brother that now, it was her time to go to god's home.. I am having hard time to believe that she gave up on herself.. she knew this time.. she prayed with my whole family around (except my brother who was out of town, and myself) before going to sleep, she also had holy water- Ganga Jal. Before she went to sleep, she called my sister, and spoke to her about all of us three kids, and showed happiness that everyone is happy and settled, though away from home. My dad witnessed her last breath.. Her mother or father whoever you may call, was LabhKunwar, and she was no more... I miss you dadimaa, very much.. we are very proud of you.. we love youvery much.. we always will remember you dadima, wherever you are, you are still alive in our hearts.. we will always seek your blessings, just like oldtimes.. May you rest in peace, in god's own home..

my 5s!!

My top 5s, it's tagging season, and I am also not spared :) thanks to Alexis Leon and Geo :)

It's a looooong post, so hold your horses :):D

As Silverine has pointed out, these tags are kind of confessions, which, I believe, brings us human beings together.

here it goes:

5 people who top your sh*t list….. and why:

1. one jerk I knew who manipulated any relatinship for his own selfish purpose, who constantly lied, I would never forgive this one human aka monster being. It's so difficult for me to believe that this guy has no conscience. Earth would be much more lighter if people like him never existed. Funny coincidence is the meaning of this person's name if spelled in english also means sh*t !!

I usually don't hate anyone, but sometimes, I can have situational hate for a person, and usually it's temporary. the rest of my list is not on one specific human being.. And i would not call hate, I would call them my dislikes, or annoyance. Hate would be too harsh of a word for these:

2. I am a staunch capitalist, I believe people make as much money as they deserve, I don't like people who blame riches for their poverty. I believe that they are poor, because they don't earn it.
3. any undeserving person getting to the top in politics just because he/she is a wife/son/daughter of someone successful.
4. I hate anyone who is driving at or below the speed limit just to play smart in the left most lane when all the other lanes are empty>> this really irritates me, these grandpas MUST drive in the rightmost lane, it's for them!
5. anyone who keeps 1 mile distance between his vehicale and the vehicle ahead of him in the rush hour traffic, this really pisses me off.

Close brushes with death/danger:


To be frank, i feel i have had many brushes with severe danger / death. I am quite an adventurist, and I am not feared of anything, and if I come to realize I am feared of something, i would put myself into that fear purposefully, and will try to overcome that fear.

1. When I was 10 months old, my pediatrician had asked my parents to do whatever last rituals they wanted to do for me. I was put on an ice slab, since my body temperature was not budging from 105 deg F for a few days and my stomach was swelling up of fluid retention, and I was not eating anything!

2. When in my 2nd grade, in the evening when my mid year exam just got over, just a day before diwali vacation, I was busy celebrating freedom from studies with firing fire crackers with other kids. At the same time, some great uncle decided to give his scooter to his 14 yr old nephew to try it out, and guess what?? he tried it out on me, dragging me for a couple of feet with his scooter! I was severly injured on my face, on my cheek, my upper lip got teared in two halves, my nose was cut in two halves... god knows for how long I had passed out.. my parents had gone to the market for groceries shopping, and our neighbors took me to the hospital. My parents later told me that they were praising me that I did not cry inspite of such a grave injury.. and I cried only when I saw my parents.. I very clearly remember that I didn't and don't remember anything that happened to me. All I remember is a faint image of a lit up sparkle stick in my hand, and next image I have is of my head in someone's lap on some kind of a seat, don't remember if it was a car seat on the back or ambulance or a nearby dispensary bench. the next thing I remember is I was in a specialist hospital where I asked my mom to show me my face in the mirror. upon my parents' asking the doctor how many stiches he took on my face, he said that even he didn't count them! With God's grace, I still have my beautiful face inspite of 14 yr old's scooter adventure :)

3. I have had many more accidents, I don't know, there's something with me and any vehicle I drive (oops, my secret is out :( ) None of them were as severe as above mentioned though. My all knees and elbows and feet are at least 2 to 3 times injured from all sides! these were now my fault, believe me! per say, once I had to choose between a herd of buffaloes, a truck and a huge ditch in a huge water puddle, and I made the same decision any sensible driver would make, since, any two wheeler would not go in a reverse direction, I decide to steer to the big ditch with water puddle!

4. when I realized that aforementioned toplisted in the hatelist son of a b* also played with me. I had never felt so helpless in mylife, and I swear to god, I will not feel like this ever in my life, I will rather make other people helpless when it would come to making me helpless. This is not really death brush, but I put the severity of my feelings in this category.

5. This is also not a brush with death, but I put myself in grave danger on my first day in USA, with deciding to chage my university at the port of entry, with no one to receive me at a deserted domestic airport at my new final destination, with 39 hrs of straight air travel+waiting, starving with severe ear pain during and after flights, and no sleep, I chose to go with a visibly south asian origined father and a son strangesrs, though knowing that they were from our dearest neighborhood, instead of some huge african american fella dragging my luggage to god-knows-where with realizing more of his buddies around. At this moment, I used the principle of known, at least i knew what pakistan was!


5 Preferable modes of suicide, in descending order:

I don't believe in commiting suicide, it is running away from the reality. But, this kind of thoughts may come to one's mind when person is really low, and feeling hopeless and helpless. I would rather seek some professional help instead of commiting suicide if I ever get into this mode. I believe in fighting, not accepting defeat without fighting.

but, whenever I had thought about diff modes, the sleeping death always sounds better option, taking lots of sleeping pills.

no more to add here..

5 Guilty pleasures:

I have never felt guilty of anything I have done or anything I have been doing! No Regrets! And, I am proud of it!

5 things you never want to forget:

1. My Family. I can never forget my family. My family is my the first priority, no matter what.

2. The day I graduated in the presence of my parents, with already having a well paid job. I had never felt this successful and happier in my life before :)

3. The day my sis got married, but I do want to forget crying part of the wedding..

4. My diwali celebration in the year 2005 with my family after a very long time.

5. Our family road trips to diff parts of India during my school years.


5 things you wish to forget:

1. I feel that I did not play my role as a friend cum sister to my sis, I was a shy, reserved, ambitious girl, and by my not creating a comfortable environment with my sis to share everything in her life with me, and that she had to seek friends to open herself :( :( and when she needed me the most, I was all the way in a different part of the world, when I always cared very much for my family.. I am being very careful of not repeating this again now!

2. As a part of training, and also convincing my sis, we enacted how someone would grab a kid from behind and kidnap- with my li'l brother, and the poor soul started crying and sobbing on the road... till the date, I feel very bad about this, though I had good intentions behind this..

3. Once when I was probably in 1st or 2nd grade, I had stolen a unattended lipstick which belogned to someone else, at a family function. My parents found it out and to my surprize and grave scare, I got a good scolding when I thought I was gonna get a corporal. I wish I would have never stolen it. since then, I have never stolen anything. It took me lot of courage to say this btw..

4. My time, I wasted with the aforementioned selfish jerk, I wish, I would have never met that jerk.

5. 2nd day after I had a abdominal laparoscopic surgery, when I was in grave pain, I could barely speak, and could barely get out of my bed, one of my close, respected relatives who was implying that I am not helping them in housechores enough. I moved out the very next day and I managed everything by myself and with some help from my friends alone.

5 really exotic dishes you have tried:

1. Anything I cook :)

2. my loving dear friend's spinach+coconut+garlic dish... mmmm yum yum!!

3. My mom's many of the speciality dishes :)

4. The pizza we used make at home with loads of amul cheese!!!

5. I's not dish but it gives me a kick like any other exotic dish whenever I have it; sweetlime juice.. :)


5 crushes/loves in your life… in chronological order

1. Salman Khan, I still like him, He has the perfect looks, dances really well, and he's quite stylish.
2. My classmate kid from my highschool, he also had a crush on me, which couldn't go any far, since he moved out to another country very soon.
3. Saif Ali khan in Parineeta, looks so goood in this movie..
4. John Abrahm, recently, he looks very dashing, good height, square jaw, long hair :)
5. keanu reeves, tom cruise, russell crowe.

Strangest dream you ever had:

Oh my god, I wish I will never have to see this dream again :(
I woke up with a dream in which the last scene I remember was- I was crying, sobbing in a very lonely but green place, away from city, in some balcony on a farm filled with dried crop, for my dad.. ( I, right at this moment, also feel very bad even to say this out :(:( ) on the news that he was no more :(:( And the freakiest coincidence was, when I was watching this dream in one part of the world, at the same time, in the other part of the world, my dad had met with an accident... It was soooo scary... I pray I will never have to see this dream again...


5 most valued personal possessions:

1. My family
3. my car.. now, I'm getting used to scartches :(
3. phone- any, cellular, land-line or work.
4. my friends
5. my clothes and accessories, love it! sometimes, it can take 20-30 mins while rushing to the work in mornings to make a perfect dress up to suit my mood :) I dress according my mood. One day, i can be as sharply dressed as a hollywood actress and on other day, I can be a senselessly and tastelessly dressed lassie who does not want any attention, more like, leave me alone!

5 favorite superheroes….. and why:

I am not into magical or mythical characters, neither am I into cartoons, I find it childish. but I don't judge anyone as childish who is crazed about 'em. I rather don't judge anyone. So, my list of super heroes goes this real:

1. Bill Gates - how he became the richest man in the world, though themost of us, including myself support no-microsoft thought-line.
2. Warren Buffett - How smartly and toughtfully he invested, and made his fortune.
3. Mahatma Gandhi - inspite of coming from an average background, he could manage the shrewedst, lead the entire country and even mohammad ali jinnah followed him! He got us freedom with a concept of non-violent resistance!!! He mesmerized the masses with his one word! The Most Successful Leader ever in this world!! I have not known any other such a great leader, though I feel he had made a few mistakes. but I can undermine them, he was a human being, not god, and may be if I were in his place, I would have taken the same decisions.
4. Atal Bihari Vajpayee - The best orator I have ever heard, and the best present day politician I have known.
5. Narayn Murthy - starting with $10000 bank balance, how successfully he has made his dream- infosys come true.

I am tagging and jithu :) (I know, what's coming next from you... ohhh Nooo, not again :P) and anyone else interested into this self revelation!

Another Tag!!

Here is another tag...thanks to Geo :)

1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
Composite Index, is quoted nearly as widely as the Dow Jones Industrial Average

2.Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
yeah, I did.. and now I feel like stretching even more, and now thinking of doing yoga :)

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Havn't watched tv in a while.. but, I think last time i watched was 3-4 days back, when I could not sleep in the middle of a night- some episode of Fresh Prince of Bell-Air.

4.Without looking, guess what time it is?
8:30 AM?

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
8:35 AM
Yay!! pretty close :)

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Nothing, absolutely nothing :(

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
last evening, went out to a south indian restaurant for dinner

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
my hotmail, yahoo and work inboxes to see if it says: 'you've got mail' from someone i might get.. and noooo I did not get any email from anyone :(:(
And ofcourse Geo’s blog to copy this tag…

9. What are you wearing?
I'm still in PJs, itz Sunday !!

10. Did you dream last night?
Don’t remember anything now…

11. When did you last laugh?
was yesterday when I met my friends from prev work, and were discussing about getting Farmer's insurance for my post accident car insurance shopping. They send mags on tractors and cows and all other farm related stuff. hell lot of laughs on why vibes should get a cow sell off his mazda miata, and not worry about gas or environment, and biodegradability!! and how he can make an exclusive deal wih Farmers insurance so they can not insure Lalu Prasad Yadav, and how he can go to multiplex on 'chal meri cow' and park it in a preferred parking spot :D:D

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
A greek male and a female characters in a painting, and a poster to boost myself :)

13 Seen anything weird lately?
Nope

14. What do you think of this quiz?
hmm.. it's fun, thanks to Geo :)

15. What is the last film you saw?
Taxi 9211

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Good question… mazda 6, I already have it :)) so the list goes like this:
around the world trip,
a charter plane so that I can hop into it whenever i feel like visiting india :)
and some business to invest and make more money :)

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
I was a topper too.
Any success has not come to me easily, I have rather earned it.
I appreciate good people, things that comes along my way

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
I am not very opimistic that one person can change the entire world, so I give up, I can change only myself, and I'll start with that!

19. Do you like to dance?
oh yes, vey much.. love it!

20. George Bush.
to sum it up- George W Bush, the president of the un-united world

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Haven't thought of a name yet

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Haven't thought this either :-S

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
I am living abroad, but not sure if I wanna stay here for ever..

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
My child, I love you, come to me and give me a big hug

25. 5 people who must also do this meme in their journal.
Alexis Leon,Jithu, Silverine, Lorena, Sid, and anyone else who is interested :)

chewing gum- call it the STICKY gum!

A chewing gum, how much fun can it be?

well, health mags say that it's good for your gums, breath and teeth, and to be frank, chewing gum helps me stay awake when i'm driving late sometimes. but what they never tell you is how bad/worse/worst it can be!

An accident because of the legendary "CHEWING GUM"! Yes, it's the chewing gum, and I ended up being in fault, when it should be this gum!

I had to give up on one of my formals once!
Innocent I believed that all the place in the world are 'chewed' gum free, and I sit on a step at a very happening place in the summer, and guess what! My 'stark' black skirt was not just black anymore, my skirt did not want to get separated from the concrete steps I was sitting, and the cementing element was again, the legendary- chewed wrigley, contributing to wrigley's wealth, and showing off the execution of the univeral right to free spit!

on my carpet, I have this wrigely, never letting me forget it's existance, thanks to it's journey from nobody-knows-from-where to my shoes and to my carpet!

Well, back to the accident caused by this wrigley-
the cop thinks it's my fault, and he also issued me a ticket :(
it was wrigley, but the cop is not ready to listen to me.

somehow someone's free gum spit right execution ended up under my right shoe sole, which is the only foot I use for driving my auto/manual transmission mazda. I was getting annoyed by my sticky foot a.k.a. sticky gas paddle/break paddle.

I approach a stop light, seeing from far, was red. nearer I get, it turns green, with another car in front of me, with good safe distance between us. He slowed down, so did I, and since he was the only one in his lane with no one in his front, I presumed that he is going to speed up, since, the light is now green, and he will match the speed limit of 40mph.

How wrong my judgement was! I decided to give a quick attention to my anoyance without increasing my speed, the shoe sole, to find out what is going on with this stickiness, why this stickiness! And rest is not at all golden history :(

my fault, the first "TICKET" in my 3 years of driving history, a crack on my front bumper on my 2.5 yrs old car :( and a small dent on rear bumper of the other car with my insurance going higher next year..

you tell me now- who should be prosecuted?

Right Judgement?

What is right and what is wrong? It's the question disturbing me today. One thing I have learnt is that when you are confused, and in a moment, DO NOT DECIDE. I don't trust my decisions when I am confused or in a moment, I also start doubting my past rationality, My own logic would prove my past decisions very non-rational, emotioanlly taken!

What seems right to me , does not seem right to other people. And I get shaken, because, I have been proven wrong at times (and I still don't believe I was wrong! Heights of positivity, or ego??)

But still, I am of the personality, I can not rely on others' judgment. I can not follow others perception, I get suffocated even if I think of following it. Not even my parents' !

I am in a middle of this moment rightnow, thinking, why world is not simpler, why things get so complicated..

I would remember what my favorite cousin, my big sister, keeps telling me- There is no right or wrong thing, it's just a choice, you can choose better! I like that. But again, it is a very difficult job- to choose better.

I bet, you got this very right- that I am a gravely confused mind righnow.. will get over it soon though.

His Universe

My first poetic piece:

HIS UNIVERSE

I just can not take my mind off
and feel so embellished
and so fortunate
that I have him
that how he greets me
off the work,
recommence our day
cold winter out
flurrries dancing in the wind
two arms wide open
waiting to embrace his universe
his universe, me

Women of the World

I used to wonder when I was younger that if everyone sees things just the way I see, if everyone thinks like I do, if everyone has feelings like I do.

I realized it later that yes, everyone can, at that moment I realized I got matured! It's such a beautiful realization! Realization that you understand more than you used to! you don't need any proof for this, it just comes to you, with experiences, with age.

I was very fortunate to get showered with love, care, fun we can think of during my childhood. Not many women are so fortunate in this world.

I was reading Jithu 's blog and started thinking on being a woman in this world. It's not easy to be a woman! I hear from many guy friends of mine that if they were given a choice, they'd have selected to be a woman, because women's life is so easy and simple! These dear friends of mine have not seen all the facets a woman has to go through, that's all I can say.

We just celebrated women's day a few days ago, but this world needs much much more than that. I just read about this little lady- Gulsoma, I was tearing by the time I reached the end of the ARTICLE. These women need our support, I can not even think of the things she went thru during her 4 to 11 years of age period. May god bless her.

I was watching Dr. Wayne Dyer's Inspiration lecture series on TV recently, they had a woman- Immaculee Ilibagiza from Rawanda in the spotlight, who survived the Rawandan holocust for 3 months without any physical movement, starving in a bathroom.

Eleven-year old Gulsoma from the above mentioned article, Immaculee make us realize that the world is not a dreamland we think of.

The least we can do, contribute to a cause of woman's day is send some warm supporting words to them..

Quotable Quotes

The secret to success is consistency to purpose

-- Benjamin Disraeli


For they can conquer who they believe they can.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

-- Helen Keler


"Everything works out right in the end. If things are not working right, it isn't the end yet. Don't let it bother you, relax and keep on going."

-- Michael C. Muhammad


"When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness, and accommodate everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil, while fretting and fuming only serves to increase your own torments."

-- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President


"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."

-- Martha Washington, First American First Lady

the secret behind victoria's secret?

question - posed by a man - who else?

If there were no men on earth - would there still be a Victoria's Secret?

My Perfect Love

Geo has passed me this baton. I usually don't get into this passing the ball game, but recently I had been reviewing my own ideas on my dream guy. And, it's a nice co-incidence that when I was thinking of what I'm looking for, I was asked to present my views on my blog, and that's why I decided to write!

1. Patience patience patience - lots of patience - Anger is the worst enemy
2. Caring and loving - I should be the first priority, no matter where, what, when, why, how
3. should be a good listener and a talker which would be very good combination.
4. Should be independent and confident - should not depend on others to decide for himself
5. Should enjoy even a silliest joke we share, should also be able to savour even a smallest moment with me; sharing is the key, should share with me as much as possible.
6. should be quite flexible. should not feel ashamed in saying "I'm sorry" if he has to.
7. decent looking, original, respecting others, with clear mind about what he wants in his life, and of course, earning!
8. sensitive to my feelings and needs. A quality time with me is very important to me.

In short, a guy, who makes me feel like his queen! :)



I came across this last week, and it's quite interesting:

Perfect 10
"My great-aunt wrote a list of the 10 most important things in a marriage, and she gave it to me. It read:

10. Patience
9. Kindness
8. Patience
7. Communication
6. Patience
5. Caring
4. Patience
3. Patience
2. Love
1. Patience

First of all, this couldn't be more true. Second, an 80-year-old woman made up a top-10 list; how funny is that?"
--Beth Power

I'd like to pass this on to Lorena and Sid, but, no hassle, only if they wish to get tagged.

even a queen needs company

Weekends, here in the US, people live only for these two days, two days that start on a Friday night and end on the Sunday morning. And, then the poeple go back to their anticipation of the coming week ahead and to the next wekend and to their next instalment of Monday blues - already from Sunday morning!

And so here I was all alone with one more of these 'Sundays', the supposedly 'fun days'! I was expecting it to be a funfilled day, with a few close friends, cooking and having dinner with me. The day started late with the hangover of the previous saturday nights' fun - with me waiting to hear from the invited.

Routine weekend cleaning chores were in motion, and here I was - also running out of patience. I finally decided to call my guests to get headcount for the evening. Since I was multitasking, I continued on the one hand with my cleaning sweep and on the other hand, conversing on the phone.

And all the while with the phone in my hand, I ws thinking why I should be the one to call? I mean, if I were invited to a dinner, I would have felt honoured by the very invitation itself! And the least I could do or, even, would do is to respond to the invitation - with a yes, no, even a simple 'maybe?' Something?

Anyway, the absence of a call was an answer by itself. Their drop out rate was 60%- too much for me to take. It made me feel that people did not respect invitations any longer, and I would seriously have to think the next time before I would invite them for a fun dinner or, for that matter any dinner at my castle.

Somehow, later, in the evening, their absence did not even matter. Because the 40% that were present had an evening that was jazzing, rocking, hard rocking with feel good chitchatting. And, this 40% were composed of about 77 and one half chips of tortilla scoops that were interacting with a bowlful of the legendary guacamole and about thirty separate musicians - each trying to make us believe that their song was better than the one we had just heard!

But we were not bothered. Each song was better than the last because it was not the songs outside of us that made the evening alive but the songs within.

within our hearts and in our minds and in each and every one of those chips [tortilla, remember?] that I have mentioned before.

believe me - when the heart is happy even tortilla chips can sing...

and the queen was no longer lonely...

My heaven on the earth

A Gateway to the Heaven, my heaven!





A Dusk at the Vindhyachals





A lone tree amid waters





Thumbs Up!
Taste the Thunder!

A small hiking wonder :)





some day, someone was waiting here for someone..

A world haritage monument near the same small wonder.