Toddling into the Arena of Photography :)

My friends and family are quite familiar with this popular and sometimes annoying trait of mine....my love for photography!

And with an ever supporting DH cum subject cum inspiration cum critic by my side, I could not ask for more. He gifted me with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Camera....wooohooooooo! Thanks Honey ;)

So, I kicked off my pilot project with the annual Ugadi celebrations here at Toronto.

Finding it a bit difficult to hold the camera steady as it's quite heavy with the complicated zoom lens. The pictures are not perfect but not bad for a starter, I think. Moreover, I want you all to drop in your detailed comments, tips and suggestions to hone my skills.

Wish the diya was a little more focused here...


I soon realised that I loved clicking portraits...and I did just that, the entire evening. My positioning has gone wrong in the below pictures. Perhaps, I should concentrate more on that one.


These young girls performed so well! Caught their expressions post-dance.


Though not focused properly, I somehow fell in love with this picture. This girl also played drums..Believe me, it was mindblowing!


And this girl was the most interesting subject for me. She had beautiful, expressive eyes.


Wish I could capture the complete mudra :(


Happy her and a more happy me :D

Virodhi naama Samvathsaram

Hey!

A very Happy Ugadi to you all :)

I remember way back in school days, how Ugadi was celebrated. We used to wake up to the song "yuga yugaadi kaledharu Ugadi marali baruthidhe" on Doordarshan. After a detailed head bath, Mom used to deck us up like little dolls with new clothes and matching bangles, earrings, bindi and what not. Dad used to perform puja in his usual manner after cleaning all the idols and photoframes. By then, inviting smells from the kitchen would have already started and we would make rounds to the kitchen to catch a glimpse of the delicacies! Of course, mom would not let us even touch the food and insist on waiting until naivedhyam.
Meanwhile, Dad used to serve the most- awaited "Ugadi pacchadi", a combination of sweet(jaggery), salty(salt), sour(raw mango pieces), bitter(neem flowers),and hot(chilli powder)tastes. I used to love it so much and I still do...:D

The combination of all the tastes in "Ugadi pacchadi" represents the different emotions/phases in life that we come across and signifies the acceptance of all situations with the same spirit :)

After naivedhyam, we used to have this lavish feast with wide variety of eatables. Besides the food part, it was the "Panchanga Sravanam" which was more exciting. Dad and mom would delve into the new panchangam and read out the famous "aadhayam, vyayam, rajapujyam and avamanam" for each of our birth stars and also the yearly predictions. I still can't figure out how the predictions are so normalized across different age groups, genders etc but for the star sign. No two people have the same destiny. Talking about astrology takes up a new dimension and a different post. We'll do it some other time :D

For now, let's hope that this Ugadi brings in happiness and good luck to all of us...much needed especially during this recession!

This and that

And so, where was I?

Yeah..I was at India for 4 weeks and met over a hundred people that includes just family and friends :) apart from travelling approximately 2000 Kms by bus, car, auto, train and plane. Oh...i did manage to watch about 5 movies as well. Nothing short of a roller coaster ride..eh? Probably, that was the reason why I felt that it was a very short trip!

A few memorable/funny incidents happened during my trip. Let me share them here :)

All this while when I was here, I would send pictures of dishes prepared by me and mom would be surprised. But when I prepared vegetable biryani at home, it turned out to be a complete disaster!
Result: Mom is feeling very sorry for her Son-in-Law and she firmly believes that I still can't cook.

There were all sorts of comments pouring in from friends/family about how I looked/ had changed over the year. One such comment was from one of my mom's aunt (technically, my grandmom). She told me that I had become a bit taller. geee..I wish I could :D

All thanks to Kingfisher Airlines and Bangalore International Airport. My birthday blew up in air, literally. I was supposed to be celebrating my birthday half day at Hyderabad and half a day at Bangalore. Kingfisher screwed my day with some unnecessary stuff (which I don't even want to talk about). The flight was delayed and I reached BIAL very late. And traveling from BIAL to home was another plight...It took much more time than the actual flight duration itself. I was all tired and dead by the time I reached home!

Surprisingly, this time tirupathi darshan was much more relieving. I just love the serenity of this place. There's something about this place that gives me a special feeling of gaiety. The place has changed so much since I last visited. It looks much cleaner, spacious and all the more beautiful.



I happened to visit one of the temples near Warangal. Goes by the name, Ramappa temple. The detailing in the sculpture was fantastic. Posting a few snaps of the temple.









I shopped and shopped and shopped so much that finally, I think I have gotten over the urge to shop :( Feeling sick at the look of sale boards here. Can't believe that this is happening to me! Ok...let's change the topic now :D

Movies...movies...Welcome to my adda :D

A brief HBO rating of the movies that I happened to watch over the last couple of months.

Ghajini : Honestly, Surya was better.. I give a TGW
Billu : Again a TGW, only because of Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta
Delhi 6 : I'm gonna give a YEM coz I didn't enjoy it but I saw a lot many others do!
Luck by Chance : It feels like a dejavu especially after watching 'Fashion'...I give it YEM
Raaz - the mystery continues : What a joke..where is the mystery, infact it's a misery..I give it a SNH

Slumdog Millionaire : BSI (If slumdog could win so many Oscars, I think every good Indian movie should)
Confessions of a shopoholic : Such a cute movie :D I give it a TGW
He's just not that into you : Terrific casting and superb performances. It's a straight BSI
Vicky, Christina, Barcelona : oops, saw this one on my flight back to Toronto. We laughed until we almost choked when we discovered that S watched the same one, when he travelled back. It's SNH. I bet you can never appreciate the movie if you are normal :D
High School Musical: Very very Cute...God, the guy in the lead role is so charming. Watch it for him ;) it's TGW!

For telugu audience,

King: a TGW because of Nagarjuna's unexpected role
Arundhati: YEM I should say as some people enjoy the graphics. Anushka was a total let down in her role.
Sasirekha Parinayam: TGW only because of last performance scene by Tarun. You can skip it, if you want to.
Koncham ishtam koncham kashtam: abbaaa..naakentha duradhrushtam :( A YEM, found it very boring.

Ending my rather lengthy post with belated Valentine's Day wishes!

Posting an interesting picture from my India trip album. This was shot by my sister. She loves to experiment with me and S!

Now, do you spot a resemblance to taj mahal somewhere or is it just my illusion ?

Back to Pavilion!

And now I take a deep breath, relax myself to recover from the most busiest month that just blew off like a whirlwind! Will soon put up a post about the amazing places that I had been to.

Meanwhile, here are a few snaps that I clicked at Tirupathi. These signboards really caught my eye. I truly enjoy the native feeling in it's every sense...where else can we find it :)







Err....a very happy and happening New Year to all you people out there!

The ill-effects of extreme Shopping!

The untimely phone calls just freak the hell out of me. Now, anyone would be when their phone rings at 4 AM in the morning! I got all tensed up when the phone rang this morning and more over it was S's phone. He picked the phone and I almost think, I saw him pick the phone and then there was silence. He had put the phone on silent mode and gone back to sleep..and then the conversion was something like this...

Me: (with eyes half-open and still sleepy) Who...who...who...called?

Him: Some guy in HOLLISTER shirt!

Me: (with eyes wide open) what ??????????

Him:(off to deep sleep) HOLLISTER...

Me: (trying to wake him) Hey, did you just say HOLLISTER???

Him: zzzzzzzzzZZZZZ...

This freaked me out even more and with great difficulty I picked the phone and checked it out myself. I couldn't see a missed call number for some reason, but that person had left a voice message. Good...I thought. I quickly checked the voice mail and this is what I heard from an old lady..

"Oh dear, I think I have called a wrong number...sorry about that. Bye!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Why would you put a voice mail when you know you have called a wrong number...just to apologize? :(

Anyway, the story goes something like this....S had been bent upon buying this Hollister branded Shirt from a long long time (say a year) and I would talk him out of this, everytime we walk into this ridiculously expensive store. Come'on, I wasn't gonna spend $70 for a single T-shirt!!! We had gone there to see if there were any christmas deals/holiday discount yesterday and we didn't find any, especially when every other store was offering 50/60/70% off. So, naturally we walked out yet again. Didn't know that S wanted it so badly that he start dreaming about it too :O Have to think seriously about this now...Can't blame him because I myself have been dreaming about beautiful draperies, bed spreads, decoratives and what not!

Well...We have been shopping non-stop for over a month now, visiting each and every mall in Toronto. I guess, it's about time to wrap up shopping and start PACKING as our travel dates are soon approaching!!!

INDIA...here we come :)

S is still asleep...I'll make him read this post, once he wakes up. I'm pretty sure, he has no clue about the phone call and his mumbling :D Hez gonna kill meeeee...
Aah...the devil in me..

dhin-thanak-dhin

It was our friends' Sangeet ceremony, last weekend. Preparations for Sangeet were on since almost a month. All girls were practising for a skit with dances inbetween. It was a very well planned skit, targeting the guys and their mannerisms. The guys were taken by a pleasant surprise with this performance. Of course, they enjoyed every bit of it. I was one among the dancers. Well, I can't hold myself from dancing, no matter what. I am not so great at it but my passion lies in dance.

Interestingly, I had pestered S to dance with me. His dancing sense is very limited (as compared to me..:D) but he's been a good sport. He agreed to it, after giving it a thought. We practised over a couple of weekends and there we were ready to perform! Just before our dance S felt a bit nervous, but but but....he did a splendid job :-) Though, he forgot few steps here and there, he covered it up quite conveniently. The cheering that we got made us more confident. S is all geared up now to give a much refined performance in the future events and so am I!

There was a certain 'priceless' moment that I had to incorporate in our dance due to some last minute changes (You know how to cover up the music between lines, when you don't wanna dance!). Being a fervent admirer of the charismatic drama in the movies, I was always fascinated by the-guy-bending-on-his-knee-and-proposing-love-act. Obviously, I stole this opportunity to make one of my secret crazy ideas come true. Yeah, S bent on his knee and popped a rose to me in front of over fifty people (read friends, who know us in and out....!) The crowd broke in oooohs and aaaahs and whistled in loud shrills. I couldn't stop but blush..:)

I simply can't get over the fact that S did the whole thing in a very romantic way, just as I had imagined :P (Right out of Mills-and-Boon). But then S had only one regret that he could not get a diamond....save it for the next time Honey! Are you listening?

And so I strike out an item in my secret wish list....zuck!!!

Shattered Mumbai

Feeling very emotional and helpless as I type this out. The terrorist attacks that have been gripping Mumbai seem to be endless as the ordeal drags onto third day. More than the media journalism, it's the public journalism that has been quite active, genuine and extending possible help. I'm posting few of the links below that are carrying up-to-date information while the crisis continues.

http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/

http://mumbai.metblogs.com/

http://helpmumbai.pinstorm.com/

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mumbai

Twitter link is believed to be followed by terrorists as well!

http://flickr.com/photos/vinu/

http://arunshanbhag.com/

http://www.gauravonomics.com/blog/real-time-citizen-journalism-in-mumbai-terrorist-attacks/

Hats off to Mumbai Police, Fire Fighters, Army, Navy and the NSG Commandos who have been working non-stop since over 48 hours.

We have already lost many high ranked officials and more than 155 reported civilians. The weak infrastructure of Indian Government is to be blamed for the on-goings. A crisis-management team is lacking and we are totally unprepared when such attacks happen.

My deepest condolensces to the families who have lost their loved ones.

Salute to the Officers for their valor and sacrifice. May their soul rest in peace..




Peace ever !!!

Dasvidaniya

Dasvidaniya is a sweet and simple movie that touches your heart. Brilliant work by first time director, Shashant Shah. Also, Vinay Pathak's first movie as a producer. We have seen Vinay Pathak in Bheja Fry, Khosla ka Ghosla, Aaja Nachle etc. With his strong theatrics background, this guy has only the best to offer. Vinay Pathak has done complete justice to his role as 'Amar Kaul' in Dasvidaniya.

The story is about a common man, who leads a very normal life. Due to unexpected turn of events, he takes a jolly ride with life. As the movie proceeds, you'll fall in love with this common man.

The comedy in Dasvidaniya is light hearted. Ranvir Shorey did his bit marvelously, in a cameo role. Saritha Joshi in the mother's role, slightly over did her acting in certain scenes but she managed to portray delicate emotions in the scene when Amar sings for her. Neha Dhupia comes as a pleasant surprise. Never knew that she could act. I am not sure who played the role as the salesgirl. But she was so very natural. Rajat Kapoor and Suchitra are just adequate. The entire casting has taken the movie to a different level.

Music by Kailash, Paresh and Naresh is good. Alvida song is melodious. The mamma song is simply cute.

The movie does have some loop holes here and there. There have been mixed reviews too. But overall, it's a winner.

I'm sure you will walk out of the theatre with your eyes moist.

HBO Rating: BSI

BSI : I Bet you can't Skip this Item!

Dostana..jaldi se bhagonaa...varna tumhe hain pachthaana

I am deeply inconsolable for having to inaugurate my HBO with such a pathetic movie..tut tut!

My profound insight tells me that Karan Johar wants to familiarize our society with the so called gay concept. Things were fine up till Kanta ben. We didn't need a whole movie concentrating only on this!

I think Karan had to spend money only for Kirron Kher and Sushmita Mukherjee's wardrobe. Others really haven't worn much. Effect of global recession, I suppose. Thanks to our Bollywood Babes for the bikini marathon, we are now comfortable watching them in the tiniest of dresses. With dostana, the trend slowly moves on to the guys. We have seen Salman, Shahrukh etc flaunt their six-pack, but this movie has more to offer. Sadly, it leaves us all the more embarassed.

As the movie progresses, you just realise that every other person in the movie is gay. Your roommate is gay. Your boss is gay. The guy you bump into is gay. Your visa officer is also gay!!???!! ,it just gets into a wild slapstick comedy.

With such hot and happening bunch of actors, it's really disappointing to see the ultimate outcome.

AB junior is just wasting away his talent. There are better things that he can opt for. Not movies like Drona, Dostana! Wait a minute, I see a connection here, D and D. AB, I think you need a numerologist. Make hay while the sun shines, Honey.

Priyanka is good. For girls who love John, you might enjoy watching him in Dostana. He's much much much better than what he did in Paap. Bobby Deol...do I need to say anything at all! Oh, you didn't know that he was there in Dostana? Don't worry, you'll not know it even after watching the movie.

If Karan Johar wanted to portray a message of social responsibility towards the gay community, Dostana certainly does not make it any better. Madhur Bhandarkar, is the right person who can elegantly deal with such subjects.

HBO RATING: RAQ

RAQ: Run Away Quickly

The child in you

I totally believe the saying that there is a child within all of us, irrespective of the age. While I ponder over to re-discover the child in me, I just realized that I have never grown – up! Really, I feel haplessly childish when:

• I am Eveready to watch re-runs of Tom and Jerry/ Popeye / PoGo, basically anything that appears colorful

• I run to the swing in a park, just at the sight of it

• Quite often, I oblige for gifts such as chocolates, cakes, muffins, brownies, donuts, Danishes and what not

• I am habitually seen in the Children’s section of the Library, trying to grab a sneak peek of fairy tale books

• I pride about the collection of DVDs on the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more.

• I can never share my 3D Fairy tale book containing beautiful castles, horses, chariot, parties, princess in her huge dress etc. I am completely possessive of it. Remember, it’s 3D!

• Water colors, crayons, color pencils, sketch pens….these have been my fantasies and are always on my wish list.

• I effortlessly walk into any Toy stores and treat myself with the sights of Barbie or Dora or the soft toys.

• I feed my nose while I eat an ice cream and it feels utterly incomplete if I don’t drop it on my dress.

• I believe that every toy deserves a name. I call my dog Snoopy.

• You have to agree that Angel is my Best Friend and it can listen to all the crap that I say (btw, Angel is my huge white adorable teddy!)

• I don’t know what table manners are!

• I make my way in a crowd shoving, without even saying ‘excuse me’! Honestly, who cares?

• I drop and break things with ease. I master in making a puppy dog face and getting away with it.

• It takes forever for S to feed me everyday with all the pampering and bullying.

• I assume that I deserve a treat everyday, just for nothing

By the way, I should treat myself today because it’s children’s day! What say?

I am sure you are all sailing in the same boat as me. Go get yourself, a heavily layered double chocolate cherry sundae with nuts and get blessed…A veRy HaPpY ChiLDrEn'S DaY!


Image Courtesy: Flickr

Yeh hain Big Boss ka Ghar!

Somebody's watching you..it's the BIG BOSS!

If you haven't been watching this, good for you! You remind me of myself, when I was very new to this reality show concept.

14 celebrities...24/7 on camera...no contact with outside world...nominations and evictions...plotting...the GAME! All this sounded too tempting for me and I gave in. Little did I know, that it would turn out to be this ugly and disgusting! Of course, I did enjoy watching the dirty game in the beginning, I confess :P

But now it is getting on my nerves. You might say, stop watching it! haha....I am addicted. Now, I pity myself!

The show seems to be highly biased. Big Boss has favorable rules for his favorite players. When Raja was supposed to be evicted, he was sent to the secret room. Again when Rahul, Raja, Monica were nominated, they were saved from eviction as a Diwali gift. Sambhavana and Payal are back inside the house to create more havoc. Gimme a break!

The characters in the show are really larger than life and they prove to be so. What kind of person is this Rahul Mahajan? He flirted openly with Payal and now he is repeating the same with Monica! Dude....is this the kind of image you want to project, especially when you have opted for a political career?

And what's wrong with Monica? She has been outside and witnessed the drama between Rahul and Payal. And now she is back to herself.."raaahuullll, tum kab sudhroge?" is that enough to keep him away? Strange!

Fayal...oops, Payal! The most camera-conscious, image-conscious girl. She was cornered big time in Pooja Bedi's Aakhri Salaam. She is unable to defend herself sadly. She has become quite popular with the masses for her "special" acts. Farah Khan was right when she said that Payal's name should be Khaitan. She always goes "mere producers, mere directors, mere fans"..Girl, we didn't even know you before Big Boss. Come out of your dream land.

Sambhavana...should I even mention? She is the only one who is having fun at the cost of others' weaknesses. Miss big mouth is always bent on irking either Raja or Payal or Rahul! Whenever she speaks, we get to hear only beep...beep...beep! She is solely responsible for the show TRPs.

Raja...with his massive anger is driving everybody crazy. He ain't better than Sambhavana in his language. We get to hear quite a lot of beeps from him too. The other day, to my horror, he kicked a flower vase. Isn't that cranky? We don't do that at our homes! Being a celebrity comes with it's own package to deal with, I guess.

Zulfi...this guy makes me laugh. He is always seen lazing around in the house, on a bean bag. Zero Energy. I haven't seen him doing anything extravagant to add to the spice of the show except when he sang 'ye mere pyaare watan'. But still he is managing to hang around. This guy over analyses the game strategy. Who knows, he might walk away with the 75 L prize money!

If you see any shirtless man walking around with goggles ON in the BB house, it's none other than Ashutosh. He really entertains with his language and Akshay Kumarish mannerisms. It was quite hilarious to see him act as the school principal and as a servant in the drama. I was literally rolling on the floor when he brought water for the guest in 'asthik kalash'. S didn't find it that funny though :| Hema's astrological predictions say that this guy might end up in our own Bollywood, as yet another Rajpal Yadav.

Diana Hayden, I wish she weren't in this show. She is too good to be in Big Boss. I really love it, when she shows her attitude to Rahul. oh btw, she got evicted today! She was the most sane person among the insane bunch. But that made her very boring to watch on the show.

ehsaanji ehsaanjiiiii....jab aap gaye baaahar,
tho BB house mein aa gayi bahaaar!
My silly poetic tribute to the comedian who used to come up with such funny rhyming lines every now and then. Mind you, nobody enjoyed it except him.

Ketki ji sabse pehle chai banathi hain..I can't remember anything significant from her other than that. She did ruffle a few feathers when she criticised Raja and eviction was the price she had to pay.

'Pehli nazar mein aisa jaadu kar diya...' Debojit used to always sing this song. Poor thing, he sang through his way out of the house. He remained aloof without involving in any planning nor did he serve any masala. No wonder, he's gone.

Rakhi Vijan was way better in Hum Paanch. and what's with her blush? She had simply overdone it.

Alina...the cry baby of the show! Her twin sister seems to have got the most footage from Big Boss.

Sanjay Nirupam, What was he doing in Big Boss?

It would be wrong if I don't mention Shilpa, the heart of the show. But her laugh is wild, strangely. I heard someone say, that it takes a while to get her lips back together. Isn't that funny!

Pooja Bedi, grills the contestants once they are out. But she seems to be biased too. She is planning to compete with Oprah Winfrey. Is that true? how is that possible?

I think, by now you must have already figured out as to how much I am addicted to Big Boss. I have even picked up few words from the show like, 'footage', 'TRP' , 'tilli lagaana' etc etc...

I will be really happy to enlighten you, if you are interested to watch Big Boss :D Any takers?

Popcorn and Coke

Well, what else could popcorn and coke mean? Yeah...am talking about movies, movies and movies! On any day, I just love to munch on butter popcorn (I know, butter!!!), slurp a strawful of coke and get lost in the magic spinning onscreen. A magic that can cast spell at times, but most of the times it doesn't! Sadly, our hollywood, bollywood, tollywood, kollywood...whateverwood have been churning out thousands of movies that are "leave-your-brain-at-home-while-you-watch" types.

Cutting out the crap, now what I want to say is that I might be of some help to you. How?.. In here,I'll rate the movies in my Blogsville section "HBO" nah...it's not the Hollywood BO, you got it wrong! It's "Hema's Box Office" silly!

No..I'm not Raja Sen's sister or Jeevi's cousin but just for the heck of it! Oh come'on now, when Himesh can become Monty, I can become pretty...I mean, pretty critical!

So, here I define my scale.

STAR : Sizzler Treat to All, for Real

BSI : I Bet you can't Skip this Item!

TGW : Thank God, it's Watchable!

YEM : You'll Enjoy it, Moron!

SNH : Strictly Not recommended for Humans

RAQ : Run Away Quickly, or you shall repent, GUINEA PIG!

Now that the groundwork is done, HBO is soon to get into showbiz..watch out!

Note: Let me make it clear to all Producers/ Directors/ Actors, HBO doesn't accept gifts/bribes. Strictly no biasing, not even to Aamir khan or Farhan Akhtar or Siddharth, for that matter even Madhavan(sigh)!

Me and my S - Part 2

February 2007:

In the Karnataka weddings that I used to attend, I was always fascinated by the colorful decoratives displayed. A coconut wrapped and designed to make a peacock, a colorful handfan. There are gifted to the groom during the kashi – yatra ceremony. I wanted to make them myself with a unique design.

Mom, me and my sis paid a visit to the famous “raja market”, where we bought a wide variety of crystals, zardosi, stones, kundan etc for saree work. I used the same decoratives for the peacock and handfan. Of course, mom and sis helped me in getting a proper framework. Well, the final product was something like this..not very clear though.



Not to forget the bride and groom dolls made of wood. I dressed them up in rich wedding dresses and jewellery. Will try to get a picture of it, if possible.

It had been really a long time since I had met my college friends. I took some time off on one of the weekends and visited my friends. It was just so delightful. Probably, that was the last time when we got to spend some quality time. It really surprises me that all of us are in different countries now, as if thrown away across the globe. Wonder when we would really meet again…!

Most of my evenings went in decorating my wedding sarees. I had fallen in love with the rich colors and intricate designs on my sarees.

During lunch breaks at office, I had also started taking ‘car’ driving classes. My teacher was Waseem. He used to concentrate more on his girl friend and less on the teaching part. All the while, he kept handling the gears and clutches and I was under the illusion that I was a very good learner. I still remember his dialogue….. :D

“dheere se..dheere se…..varna gear haath mein aa jaayega”

My experiments with car driving are worth a post….will soon share them here!

In the last week of February, I and my Sis went to Hyderabad for some more shopping for S’s dresses. Believe me, we spent about 5 hrs in a mall to finalize his dresses. With so many brands around, S drove us nuts trying to make all possible combinations. My sister was on the verge of fainting by the time we completed the tedious shopping process. We also went to Charminar to purchase a ghagra for me. I had never seen such pretty ones in my entire life! It was so difficult to pick just one…but I had to!

S had bought a gift for me for V Day. A pair of cute earrings. I was pleasantly surprised as I hadn’t expected it. I saved it up for wedding :)

Me and my S - PART 1

I think, it's appropriate to fill in my blog from where I left it.
So here goes my Saga to reach my "S"weetheart!

Things had started rolling between me and S, when we had first met in November, 2005. But we chose the Wedding to be after atleast 2 years as we had other important things in our priority list. Our families were more than glad to accept our decision.

On December 17, 2006, I moved back to India from Seoul (after a stay of 2 years). Enjoyed a complete full fledged vacation with my family until my birthday on 1st of January . S turns up all the way from hyderabad with an unexpected gift on my birthday. I was meeting him after three months. Celebrations and celebrations! The year ended on a good note. We knew when we were getting married. We had something to tell our friends and the ever inquisitive relatives.

January 2007:
A month in which everything got back from fresh to normal. I was driving to office on my bike as I used to before. I had new challenges at my workplace, but was not a herculean task as all my colleagues were there to help me out. Of course, they were also my friends. Apart from the oldies, there were quite a number of new faces. They all thought that I was new to the company! I started mingling with the newbies as well. Best part was my lunch breaks with Sum and Suma. We would chat about all the things on Earth. Take a nice long walk in the office premises and get back to work.

Meanwhile, I had chalked out plans for the wedding preparations. It was about 12 weeks time. And I had plans for every weekend from then!

First thing that we did was buy sarees for the wedding. We had to do a lot of stone work on those in the coming months. We had bought almost 6-7 beautiful silk sarees. I had started my facial beauty cycle too. A woman is said to be most beautiful on her wedding day. Hence my attempts to make it true!

I had started missing S terribly. We used to talk over the phone during nights. But the time spent for each other in a day had gone down miserably due to the new changes. Which was not the case in phone bills. I had a pre-paid plan and had to rush to the recharge center very often.

Valentine's day was coming up and I had to make some plans to surprise S. It's not that V day is any special, just another reason for us to celebrate :D There is this new plaster of paris idol trend in Bangalore these days. They have a huge variety of boy and girl figures with really cute expressions. I bought an idol which had a girl and boy looking into each other's eyes sitting on a tree branch with a heart shape. Got it packed neatly and couriered it to Hyderabad along with a beautiful card. I just love those greeting cards. Wonder how they make such pretty ones with such hearty messages! Given a chance, I would want to meet the people who design greeting cards :)

To Be Continued..

A fresh start

My dear friend,

After many many many many days, I am back to rekindle my passion to love you, to adore you, play with you, to decorate you and feel proud of you.

The time spent away from you has been so full of colors and wonderful memories, which I do not regret.

I did miss you. At times, I stumbled over the guilt of not updating you about the happenings in my life, friend.

I always knew that it's a small world and we would definitely meet again. I am here to ask you a favor which I know you won't deny. Please allow me into your world and give me a chance to pamper you and fall in love with you yet again.

Love you dear blog,
Yours Truly

Autumn updates

They called it “The survival”. It was a fun-game planned by my team. I had no clue what it was all about even when all of us in my team reached the picnic spot. Obviously because I was the only Indian girl apart from 2 other Indian guys in a group of 22.
The Korean instructor received us and made us do exercises for warming up. Then he started explaining the game. All three of us (Indians) would just blankly look at each other and burst into giggles while others laughed at the instructor’s jokes.
I wonder why the Koreans assumed that we understood all of what the instructor had told us. This went on for about 30 min. Later on, the instructor gave us T-shirts and jackets to wear. And of course, plastic helmets. It was all very funny for me actually. Little did I realize that the gun would weigh over 2 KGS! Yeah….it was like a military game where two teams would spread over in a forest set up and shoot at each other. What was even more interesting were the bullets. They were made of paint! The moment it hits you the ball bursts and the watery paint would splash over and you are considered dead. The forest set up was way too cool, spread over a hilly region and realistic with tyres , drums and stuff behind which we could hide.
Since I never understood the instructor, the first round went in vain. I hardly shot a bullet or two as I didn’t know how to operate the gun :D Later on a Korean girl in my team told me how to use it. Yet again in the second round even before I could aim, I was shot right on forehead :( and my helmet was splashed with blob of green. OK…then I was not gonna let go off the last and final round. I entered the battle field and shot continuously for about 10 minutes with great enthusiasm (Dunno how many were hit !!). See what happened….I ran out of bullets! All my teammates were presumably dead and I was left alone on my side. Now without bullets I was just hiding behind a faint sheet and everyone were trying to shoot me. I couldn’t escape for long and surrendered pretty early :P
On whole, it was so amusing and was quite difficult running through woods with that heavy gun. Soldiers’ life seems like a nightmare….alas.

More updates from my side:
Missed Sum’s big day….waiting for ma’am to get back! So much to gossip and ponder over :P

Trying to come out of ‘DOR’ hangover. What a movie! Feel like watching it yet again….atleast for the photography and for Ayesha with her innocent little face.

Yuppie! 5 more weeks to reach home. Enjoying my last few autumn filled days at Seoul….

Last but not the least Happy Children's day!

Good times

I very well remember the way me and Sum were having a ball around the same time last year at Seoul. Things have changed drastically in the past one year. After all that’s what is life all about :) I really wonder how it would be the next year and the next and the next…….! Am really looking forward for that…..
Now coming out of the nostalgic mood, it was a really pleasant week for me. Especially when the thought of visiting home tingles my mind and soul, it’s an awesome feeling. I just can’t wait to meet my loved ones. It’s the countdown time!

Things that made my week cherishing:

One of my dear friends took pain to post his wedding card all the way to Seoul. I hadn’t received any posts since a year or so. This one made me happy!

My close friend revealed that she is going to have a baby soon. Just couldn’t resist having a small party at home with my roomies! Isn’t that a cute moment?

And I was not ready to let go off the opportunity to celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi this time as it fell on a weekend especially. I am totally surprised the way things fall into place when we want to celebrate this festival. On Saturday evening I just remembered that I had some clay with me. And that triggered the idea of making the Ganesh idol. We weren’t sure as to how it would turn up. But definitely wanted to give it a try. As we proceeded making it, it slowly started shaping up in a lovely way. Then, I got more eager to apply colors to the idol. Finally we had spent a good 6 hrs to make it and it indeed was nice! The next day morning we set off on the flowers and leaves hunt just as we had done the previous time. Later on, we performed the puja in a truly traditional manner with all mantras and songs.
After the puja it was the food preparation. We managed to cook quite a few dishes. In the evening few of our colleagues joined us and we had a small tea-party at home. Haldiram’s Bhujia Pav, Pudina Tea and a bunch of mouth-watering hot mirchi bujjies added to the fun of the party. The most interesting part was the Ganesh Nimarjan. We performed it in cooker as that was the biggest vessel we had at home and that too with lid! Check out the snaps below to find out more….. :)

Peek-a-boo !

The tricolor tends to rejuvenate the spirit of patriotism no matter where we are. I was mesmerized by the same feeling when I recently paid a visit to our Indian embassy on the occasion of Independence day. I had a great time there as I watched many Indians flock to the embassy as a small tribute to their passion for nationalism. I was much more surprised when a middle aged woman beside me was asking her 10 yr old son if he remembered the national anthem. Well, no comments about that :) People did make mistakes when they sang “Jana Gana Mana” but the sense of devotion towards India that persisted in the Hall was strong enough to overcome all such minor flaws. I was keenly attracted by a few Indo-Korean couples…it’s cute to watch the way they gelled amazingly. The Korean ladies were seen in Indian outfits which added to the cuteness!

The Indian Ambassador addressed the gathering and read out a few excerpts from President Mr. Abdul Kalam’s speech to the nation. Our president has framed a seven point Oath for the youth of India in a beautiful way. We took the Oath as the Ambassador read out to us. Here I am quoting the points again which are definitely worth a glance.

1. I realize, I have to set a goal in my life. To achieve the goal, I will acquire the knowledge, I will work hard, and when the problem occurs, I have to defeat the problem and succeed.

2. As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.

3. I shall always keep myself, my home, my surroundings, neighborhood and environment clean and tidy.

4. I realize righteousness in the heart leads to beauty in the character, beauty in the character brings harmony in the home, harmony in the home leads to order in the nation and order in the nation leads to peace in the world.

5. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a righteous way of life.

6. I will light the lamp of knowledge in the nation and ensure that it remains lit for ever.

7. I realize, whatever work I do if I do the best, I am contributing towards realizing the vision of developed India 2020.

These points do sound simple but have much greater impact when put to use by each one of us. An excellent proposition from our President.

Ok…coming back to the my sweet little world, there haven’t been many adventures of late...I wonder why! Oh yeah…we are on an experimenting spree in the culinary section these days at our apartment. I should tell you about our Gulab Jamoon Saga (why a Saga…you will know now). It was the first time we were actually making it. And obviously the output…:P. Particularly, it was the sugar syrup that created the trouble. We started making the sugar syrup with some water and considerable amount of sugar. The sugar melted away easily, but we couldn’t figure the thickness in the liquid. So, we went on and on adding the sugar. It was too late before we realized that we had emptied about a KG of sugar in the process of preparing the syrup. Ahem….well, after that we fried the jamoons and put them in the semi-solid sugar paste which became hard (as hard as a rock) after cooling down. I must mention that the jamoons tasted real good except for the digging part to bring them out.
As part of fixing-the-bug procedure, we diluted the syrup again and shared the jamoons with our fellow Indians (yes….they are pretty much alive :D). The remaining syrup lasted till yesterday and was used to prepare coffee/tea/juice and yet jamoons again every weekend. Thanks to the microwave for helping us melt the rock down everytime!

To be precise, we elevated from the “how not to make jamoons” stage to “how to make mouth melting delicious jamoons” stage over a period of 2-3 weeks. Isn’t that a smart way of learning?

Bangkok yet again

She bought me some delicious thai food (I forgot the name) and an ice cream candy on our way back to the Airport. She even had a raincoat for me just in case it rained. She kept apologising for the untimely traffic jams at that hour. Finally, she gave me some discount coupons for shopping inside the airport and bid goodbye to me. A sweet lady in her mid-forties. Ms.Rada was my tourist guide at Bangkok. Well...the story goes like this.
I had about 8 hours of transit at Bangkok this time. I had planned way before hand that I would go out and get a glimpse of the city. I had collected information from the internet regarding this and was all prepared to freak out. As always, I was travelling alone this time too. Once I reached Bangkok, I got in touch with the Transit Tour desk and discussed the tour details. In no time, I was taken for transit visa stamping by this gentleman who was assisting me with the tour plan. Soon, we cleared the immigration and were outside the airport. He introduced me to Rada and left me with her from there onwards. Rada took me to a huge car and we set off. From the airport, into the city it was all highways and I was already cherishing the conversation that we struck upon. Once we were in the city, I found it so much like India with colorful Auto-Rickshaws and Taxis. She took me to a couple of Buddha temples which were magnificent. Will post a few pictures in here. The amazing part was these huge idols of Buddha that I saw were made of gold. The best one was the sleeping buddha which I loved a lot. Adding to these, the Pagodas that the kings constructed were artistic and exceptional. The river seperating 2 cities was a beautiful sight to watch. The width of the river was hardly few meters. By the time we covered these places we had spent about 3 hrs. Later on she took me to the world's largest jewellery store. I could see the workshop and the adjacent store. I only bought a diamond studded silver ring for Him(*blush*). It was getting dark and we quickly moved on to the highway leading to airport. On the way back, I saw the huge King's palace and also the men's university spread over acres of land.
A very short trip indeed, but a pleasant memory:)

Check out a few snaps!