Is that possible??

My Dad had just received his order from India Plaza and was rejoicing over the latest edition from Deepak Chopra.

SynchroDestiny. I read the Summary at the PaperBack and shrugged. Books? Not my cup of tea.


He took it along to our Kerala Trip. He was with it while he slept. He was reading it when we were watching TV.

Ok. FINE!
"Whats it about Dad?"
He smiled. He LOVES being asked questions. He's so knowledgable. Not only does he love talking about various topics. He loves building a complete story, scene and climax around it. As he got into the concept of the book, I laid down next to him on the bed. Yeah, he likes it slow-paced and descriptive.
Basically, the book talks about all those nice lil' things that happen around us. The Magical things. Which...supposedly, we busy people, don't notice!O.K. ... was it going to be this 'usual', take a break-relax-smell-the-roses concept beaten to death(TOO CLICHE'd).. or so I thought.



But, Mr. Chopra speaks about those miracles which happen everyday and go unnoticed. We end up living all our lives and sometimes fail to appreciate even a single one of these. I smiled as Dad finished and carried on with my activities.



I was in the bus to my office when I saw a lady carry her miniature-thing-of-a-child across the road. I suddenly remembered my colleague who'd been on maternity leave for five months now. Her baby would almost be this size now, I thought and smiled. I should call her sometime. Its been ages since we caught up.



It was before I sat down at my desk that I saw her name flash on my cellphone screen as it rang.
I was gaping at it thinking OMG...Did I message her?Or, is she back in office?? I received the call striking an ear-to-ear smile in disbelief.
"How come you called??All well??CAN YOU BELIEVE it I was JUST THINKING ABOUT YOU!"


To her, it may have sounded like a "usual" greeting...you know! how people saying.. ohhh.. i was just gonna call you.. or , Ohh.. I was juuuust message. Although, in my head it was clearly a different picture.



She had called to invite me to her baby's naming ceremony. :)
After some loose talk, I hung up. Called up Dad. And I think its anyone's guess what I had to tell.

Losing.. The Faith..

As I started my work today..I recalled I was supposed to call up one of my friends.
She'd been on leave for the last three days and none of our common friends knew why. Usual Bangalore Viral.. I assumed.
She answered the phone, a very meek voice replied. That was her usual, being the polite yet giggly girl that she is. But this time, it sounded unusually low..it rather sounded choked. I tried to pull a joke asking if she ate any ice creams to make her throat go haywire.

There was no answer.

Something had happened...my heart suddenly sunk imagining all possibilities.
When I asked again, she said she'd lost her brother-in-law...the father of her 17 year old nephew.. her elder sister's husband.
I don't know how long I was speechless, I guess my brain just did not know what to ask, say or suggest. I ended up asking, "What are you doing in office then!?" She said she was short of leave and that she couldn't afford to take any more off-s.

She really needed to talk. Rather, I needed to talk to her and tell her that I was there and that things will lighten up. In fact, while I walked to her, I did not know what to say..what CAN possibly make things look better.
I was greeted by a pair of swollen eyes. She'd clearly been up for many days.
But, with my first sentence of condolence she replied saying, "Its fine. I have gotten used to this."
I was gaping at her.

She went on, "I had lost my father 10 years ago, then my first sister's husband 5 years later and now my second sister facing the same thing...Deepti, I know its part of life..but doesn't this sound a little too unfair?"
I kept looking at her face not knowing where to start. I had no idea she'd faced all this in the past. I could feel a lump in my throat.

She just forced a smile saying, "Its fine. Please don't feel bad. I myself don't know what to feel. Its scary that I don't feel anything anymore. Its kind of an overdose."
These words of hers froze me into my chair. I did not know what to say or how to react.
If I am right, she is few years younger to me and she has faced so much misery. I know, we all know, life and death is all a cycle. But, at such a time, no belief can comfort you.
She said, she had faith in God and that things always did light up gradually. But I could see that these unfortunate incidences had now formed a paranoia, that all men left the family in a mishap. It was daunting.

I spoke to her for a while and could see that nothing helped. She needed time. I told her I was right by her whenever she wanted to talk.
As I walked back to my seat, I prayed for her. But I will always remember her eyes, swollen with fear, grief and the worst... the loss of faith.

The Window Seat is Mine!

There is an unspoken bond between kids and a window seat.
Be it car, bus, train, aircraft, classroom...anywhere. Its the window way or no way.
It was almost an art how we would throw in our bags from outside the school bus, to block the Window Seat.

(Pic for representation only)

Somehow, I have always been the compromising one on this front. With friends, siblings, classmates; I prefered rather being squashed in the center than being smashed up against the window in the car rear seat.

(Pic for representation only)

I just don't get it.

Some people say, they love to feel the fresh air on their face. Umm, can't be JUST that, coz nope, aeroplanes don't allow that. Some say, its to see the scenary around. I really wonder, HOW much can you grasp out of that small window in a moving bus! So, I compromise to the center seats again.

Although, I figured, Window Seats ARE better, for they give better support to take a good nap. Nevertheless, I still catch my travel naps. They are slumber-icious!!...especially since the bus is is rocking your cradle. What more can you ask for?


As fate wanted, I ended up near a window seat at my office too.
Well, geographically AND ergonomically, I must say that its one heck of a place. Its right near the pantry, very close to the loo ( far enough to keep the intoxicating aromas away), near the aisle where people keep their sweets n' snacks on any occasion...Its right next to the Window. Basically, its the seat everyone envies. Its a definite keeper.

I loved it too. Until...it become the Adda..you know..the place-around-the-corner-where-everybody-who-is-anybody-hangs-out.

Now, what I don't get about this Human-Window relationship is its huge impact on the work culture in scenarios like mine. It is baffling to see that people can't stay away from the Window!

1. They get a call, its gotta be attended near the Window.
2. They wana sip on caffeine, gotta be the Window.
3. Gotta catch up on friend-cum-colleague, Window.
4. Exchange few notes on work, You know where.

I mean, we have like 40 conference rooms and like 20 phone booths. Nope, the Human-Window liaison overpowers this and draws the Homo sapiens towards the light..the pane.

Such a strong force of nature has made me re-think my choice of Seat over the past year. With the ever-reducing call rates; The ever-growing open communication channels in groups in work culture; these must be nice fancy terms but to my brain, they are just directly proportional to the number of Window visits...which in turn is directly proportional to ever-increasing hours of blethering!! :\

I am very well aware that my dear friends must be following My Squiggle and I request, do not get astonished ; PLEASE do not take offense ( cause I don't intend it :) ); Do Not feel bad; JUST...Get the hint. ;)

(Pic for representation only)

The (Perfect) Jeans?

You ask ANY of these celebrities on any of these talk shows, "What are you most comfortable in?"

Pat comes the answer, "My old blue jeans with a white tee". (Of course except some happening hotties who prefer to say.."My skin" ;) )

What is it about Jeans that has got the WHOLE world wearing them. I think they are second only to undergarments, in being the most popularly and widely worn apparel!

I think I got my first pair of Jeans when I was just 5 or something. Although, back then, it was just something that I had to put on. Now, Oh..Now, its Whole lot MORE.

Its incredible how these Jeans companies have managed to fit in the Entire population of the world into these two-some pairs. I agree we all came into this world, looking Pretty Much the same. But, no matter what shape or size we're as adults, we always end up finding a pair for ourselves! Its literally commendable.

(Picture courtesy Google search. Just for representation purposes)
Everytime you've to pick up a pair of Jeans, you undergo a dilemma of which One? These Jeans companies make sure that they lure you to ALL the brands, putting up advertisements of these absolute stunners who look even more hotter in those amazzzing pair of Jeans! You end up feeling that particular pair is The One. Your Soulmate.

(Picture courtesy Google search. Just for representation purposes)

But ordeal starts when you enter the Jeans Store.

Now, lets face it. Jeans companies are no fools right. They gotta earn their bread and butter. They make sure, somehow, that the jeans that you feel like your second skin today...tomorrow, you are bound to be wanting to shed that layer of snake skin! I don't have evidence to back that up. But, its true.

(Picture courtesy Google search. Just for representation purposes)

I have found many pairs like those. I look a fanta-bulous in those that day. The very next day, I catch a bug in its design. Not just me, I have met many fellow-females who've encountered this issue for years.

Solution: Buy more pairs. As many different ones as possible. Each one will have its day. Trust me.

Result: Happy You. Jeans company happy too. :)

Hug-Me-Not

A Hug; Wikipedia says, is a form of physical intimacy that generally involves closing or holding the arms around another person or group of persons. The hug is one of the most common human signs of love and affection, along with ....etc etc.

You can see the whole definition at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hug with some pretty descriptive Forms of hugs. ;) Some VERY familiar ones would be the Pound hug; " Hey dude!" guyish hug,

... and THAT is not it.. :)

The Bear Hug; You MUST have seen this in WWF, the wrestling one. Better not try that at home ;o)

Thinking on the same lines, I had caught this hilarious episode in Seinfeld where Jerry and George are waiting at the airport for Jerry's friend, discussing how Jerry should interpret how the woman will greet him. If she shakes his hand it's bad, says George. If she hugs him, that's good( like Wohoww good ;) )...Just so long as it's a proper hug and not the 'shoulders touching but the hips are eight feet apart' hug.

Finally, the way she does it, its worth watching...

Since childhood, Hug for me has been an integral part of life. We have always been a huggy- huggy family. Always hugging. {))} <-- Thats symbol for hugging on SMS, I guess most of the SMS-addicts would know.

But as I grew, the various forms of hugs that I came across were actually quite amusing!

1. The Friends-in-college hug; you really dint know HOW long to continue the procedure? Who goes first? Do you hug every friend? Or just the ones who first make the move? Quite complicated. Just glad that phase is over.

2. The Aunty-in-weddings hug; a. You are caught without notice, b. you really don't know WHY? Why you? c. You stand their like a pillar, smiling, not knowing if you should too put your arms around or just be her pillar of support. Waiting...for it to be over with passage of time. This one, I will never get to know.

3. The Kiss supplemented hug; I never felt I would be the type of girl who'll kiss her gal pals when they meet up for shopping. You know the kinds! Not me...

But, with time, I did that too. This one is like a custom, then a ritual, then a habit, it grows on you. :)

4. Then of course, The Memorable ones;

5. The Senti meeting-parents hug; Now that we've been staying away from parents. That precious hug when we meet, or part, says it all...

6. The "Excuse Me! Stranger"-Hug; Apart from these people you get comfortable with, a hug from just anyone is not appreciated. Well, you don't want any random individual jumping into your space bubble. With common consesus, this holds good for everyone. Even my Lizzy. She expresses that by growling back.

(this is just for representation, courtesy Google Search results)

Well, I won't really snarl, but, end up going with the flow with a forced smile. :o\

(this is just for representation, courtesy Google Search results)

So, take my advice, the next time you plan on going for this physical act; run through the above checklist in your head and make sure you're not in one of those creepy ones.

JUST .. another ..Saturday..

Good old stress-tested alarm snoozed for the fifth time, begging me to get up..
Why should I? I still have time. I had made half of the things for my tiffin last night itself.

Hey! wait a minuuute, today's saturday.. I dont NEED tiffin.. aaaaaaaaah.. More sleep.

Maid came in a little too late herself. On workdays, that would have meant greeting her with a twisted smile, but now, I just smiled, with an unspoken consent, its Saturday!

The routine started, the ritual of ginger tea for others, simultaneously, the vegetables being cut, while the milk boils. Straining the tea I realized, what all things I had to get done, the kitchen looked unusually greasy, the clothes stack for ironing seemed monsterously large. The fingerprints on the fridge seemed to pinch into my eyesight. Better got started with the breakfast and the lunch preparations. Where did all those cobwebs come in the porch from!?? Arrrrrrrghh...The dining table also could also use some..hmmmm...its gonna be a Long day.

Surprisingly, the long To-Do list got over by ten. :O

Now what.

Thought of giving myself some MY-TIME. Did that too. SMSed all friends waking them up. No reply. I guess its not even morning for them yet.

The newspaper seemed to be interesting today. Although depressing stuff in the first page itself. Well, thats usually most of the days. Looked at the watch. Has it stopped??? Nope. Working just fine. Its never THIS slow when the alarm is snoozed in the morning.

Walked down to the tailor, for some pending work. Whiled away time gaping at other customers there. Walked back.

Phew...

Finally, I get to watch some TV.

.......

.......

SOMEHOW, at THIS particular twilight zone hour, NOTHING worthwhile seems to be coming! On the contrary, when I have some work on hands, the programme which I have waited for all my life, seems to be on air!

I guess its a day I asked for, a Realxed Saturday, a Relaxed Saturday with no work.

But, somehow, it just doesnt seem to do the trick, does it. :/

Hypnogocic Myoclinic Twitch

I saw my darling Lizzy, my 7 yr old german shepherd twitch in her sleep. She was sprinting in her sleep. I had seen her pups and even grand-pups doing it. They even suckled and whined and woofed in slumber. It was hilarious and adorable.

I guess any of us who've had pet dogs would have surely seen this too. I knew its known fact that dogs dream too, just like us. I have grown with pets and my curiousity about canines took me to the Google nirvana.

R.E.M or, Rapid Eye Movement. Just like us, when dogs too enter the Deep Sleep phase ( after the SWS/ Slow Wave Sleep phase), they experience R.E.M. phase. This is when they Dream, just like us. :)

In fact, little tangentially; for those of you who don't know, when your pet dog is looking really cozily curled up, he/she is mostly not into the R.E.M. phase. Because, in this phase, his/her entire body has to get relaxed(...remember your own body, the final pose that gets you snoring is not the rolled-up-around-yourself one!). Thinking about that, I rememebered those INNUMERABLE times when my cousin would fall off the bus seat snoozing/ banged his head on the window / slept on all the fellow-passengers' shoulders/ woke up startled...obviously scared everyone with his blood-shot red eyes/ shook with a jolt while sleeping . All the others were side-splitting except for the last one. That one seemed to be an interesting one.

Again, Google to rescue.

Hypnogocic Myoclinic Twitch. I had read about this in Femina few months ago. A small mention. Even now, its was really weird that I found only ONE HIT IN GOOGLE on this!

Being something that I am sure 99% humans would have felt in their lifetime. It IS surprising, you see. This particular phenomenon is seen when your body gets into the R.E.M. phase and your muscles tend to relax. But, sometimes while you enter this phase, your response system in the muscles send a signal to the brain which is very similar to the one that happens when you're free falling. Thus, brain sends a sudden responsive signal to the body to pull together the muscles! This is seen as the Twitch/Jolt which we experience.

Being such a mysterious and vague fact doesn't stop it from being amusing for the onlookers of the victim. Thanks to Youtube; I found some comical and some eye-catching videos;

You can watch them too;

Dog Twitching in R.E.M. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKouAUIFkaw

Cute baby- funny expressions in R.E.M :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZm5MzO5m8I

The Untouchable Vs The Touchable

Water we ALL know is the universal element, blah, blah.
But the most fascinating thing about this fluid is how we love it as well as discriminate against it. All depends on WHERE the H2O is! So basically the "situation" in which it is present decides what respect it receives from us.

The water (although salty) coming from our eyes; and you see your friend wiping it for you. Nevertheless, the poor salty water lost its way and came outta your nose...God forbid, wipe it yourself Snoty!!

We ALL know how much we need that precious water in our bathrooms, right? We pray in the public bathrooms..."Dear God, let the water last atleast until I am done!!". Don't we? And BANG! The very next second, the underprivilaged water on the floor becomes our object of despise and we go.."Good Lord! Why are people so gross, spilling water on the floor!"
To the extent, that in my house, we loathe this untouchable water so much that we've kept the "Mop Rule". Anyone who bathes or, spills any water, MUST wipe off that forbidden fluid off the floor. No exceptions.

We have managed to remarkably divide the same fluid into The Touchable one and The Untouchable one. We do this discrimination ALL the time. But recently one thing, put me into a major fix. I was viewing this show on TV about what all people do to collect water for survival. Now, I am not sure if this was a mockery or what, because, they DID say, do not try at home!!

These two young..ummm..should I say researchers? ...They were trying to convince the audience that the human Urine, yes, you read that right, the human Pee, is 80% water, pure water, so that can be consumed, if the other 20% is removed!!
Thats easy. So they just showed a tiny experiment where the Urine is heated and the vapours are collected into a container. They did Cheers and gulped it down. Thats H2O for you!! :)

Now, Ok. I agree, science is science. We DO have scientific reasoning for everything.
Science says; Pee-Bad things=Water. It must be true! I believe in science. In fact, maybe some day we will be SO short of touchable water that we would be doing this experiment as a part of our routine life, in our kitchen maybe.

Nevertheless, I prefer to believe, thats far far far away in future.
And all said and done, No Thanks! But, I can't raise my toast to Pee. :

The Hair-Do Metamorphosis

Somehow, any hair-do has never been The One for me.

When you're a kid. Your hair is pretty much your mother's territory. She decides what looks good on you. Rather, what is worth-keeping or chopping.

My entire infancy went as a small boy. As you can see in my previous posts, I was a boy wearing a hair band! Well, I guess the little girl in me, wanted to do that stuff, be it, minus the hair. I'd say it was "cute" though. Although someone told me once that "cute" meant, ugly but adorable. Now, I wouldn't really argue on that here. ;)

Nevertheless, over the years I grew, my hair grew too. I had my own chance of R&D in that department as well. By the end of teens, I had tried cutting my hair, growing it, coloring it (twice; burgundy and brown), straightening it and curling it. So you see, I am quite a learned in that domain.

But, teen years also taught me some memorable lessons that these things were not really THAT good for hair as they claimed in the ads! I remember I had many stories to tell through those times, which usually sounded like;

"..Malaika Arora's burgundy hair DID sparkle when she walked that carpet in the ad.. I got the color, alright. Where the he** is the sparkle?"

"...That Simone Singh told in her ad; Try karke Dekho! I took her word for it. AND?
...She didn't say what happens next ! I am still trying to figure out!!"

"...I got those curls right. Neverthless, they say; you gotta feel the pain to gain. Oh I did feel the pain piercing through my skull into my brain in the form of those curlers giving me sleepless nights."

".. My Straightened hair was a hit. So I don't really care about that little burn I got all over my ear from the straightening rod...my straight hair should hide it. :) "

Years have gone by but my quest for the perfect hair-do has still not gotten over.
Just looking through my yester years' pics is so much fun seeing what all stunts have been tried on my head. Aamir Khan's ad said, you should never resemble your passport size photo for more than 3 yrs! I can beat that. I have the photographic evidence too!!

I dug out my 1st standard onwards passport size photographs (obviously, some really non-viewable links in the series have been voluntarily censored ;) ) .

Nevertheless, scan the Hair-do Metamorphosis for yourself :) ( I know some of them make it hard to believe that its ME. Well, all I can say is every Frog was once a Toad. :) )

--> --> --> -->

--> --> --> -->

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-->And the search goes on :)

The Impatient Patient

Have you experienced those few frustrating moments while you wait before the microwave door, as it beeps, beeps, beeps, beeps. So that you can barge in and get your food out of it. Why did they have to make those Four beeps! Why not the conventional oven-type Ting! and voila..you can grab your food.

Is it just me or everyone is lost in those Two Whole minutes you put the conditioner in your hair and you really don't know what to do in the mean time, coz;
1. you're in the bathroom,
2. you're cold and
3. you're pretty much not in a condition to do anything else but stare at the walls, any cob webs present or the imperfections in your physique.

Its pretty much the same feeling that runs through my head when I have a mouth-watering, steaming hot delicacy in front of me and I gotta wait for it to cool-down enough to be gobbled down my mouth. I don't know what else to do in those few fractions of seconds, not try to eat it, look elsewhere-well thats not possible :) , eat it anyway and suffer with tongue burns for next two days. I do the last one, you see, I have the problem of an impatient patient.

The Impatient Patient; who is in the hospital. She was ill. But now she's Ok. Nevertheless, doctors refuse to let her out of the hospital. She feels absolutely normal. She begins to wonder if the doctors love giving her those sickening medicines, or maybe its the nurses who love administrating those painful IV into her veins. It could be the latter you see, sadistic pleasure. Hard to believe, I know, but could be true. Or, its just those house-keeping maids who love cleaning up her garbage everyday. Nah, they couldn't be the villians. If at all, they are the victims here. Don't think she's paranoid. She's just impatient. You know.

Anyway, this Impatient Patient begs the doctor for her discharge from the hospital, on every pretext and likes to believe she is fighting fit. She tells all her in-mates about how well she is feeling and that she doesn't belong to the hospital at all!
Finally, she is discharged.
She comes home.
She is at peace now. And thinks, Ok, great, now what?
:)

Is it twelve o clock yet!??

It was birthday of a person very dear to me.
As usual, by the time the clock struck ten, my eyelids were carrying the weight of 10 sand bags. I managed to not look at the watch for an hour.
I just had to do it. Wish at SHARP twelve.
Saw a little bit of TV. All talk show hosts started to hypnotize. Every direction seemed to lead to the bed. I gave in. Set the alarm on my phone for fifteen minutes to twelve. I can almost swear that I was snoring before I touched the pillow.
Trust me, every blood cell of mine blessed me and got lost into deep slumber. I slept like a baby cuddling up with a doll. Just that my phone played the doll.
But, no. If only things could be that simple.
My subconscious brain was screaming its recital..Is it twelve O clock YET? Is it twelve O clock YET??

Alarm rang. Snoozed it.
Alarm rang again. Snoozed it again.

Brain: Wake up.
Me: I'm trying to force open one eyelid..wait..

Brain: WAKE UP.
Me: OMG! I have Ten Whole Minutes to go!

Brain: WAKE up!
Me: I think just five minutes would have past..

Brain: WAKE UP!!!!!
Me:I.. I... I....

I accepted my defeat to this conspiracy of the Brain and the Alarm. Gave a call. Guess what! I was the first one to wish. I was so glad I made it that we started off with a little chat about what's next, what plans for birthday and before I knew it was twelve!! *<:D
Spoke for around ten minutes.
And yeah, by the time I hung up...FINALLY, I wasn't sleepy anymore.

Twenty-five bucks for Two Aloo Paranthas!!?? My Gawwd!

I know! I can't help it. Thats the current market price.

With that sentence, my gasping Ma shoved Yet another parantha into my plate. You see, my household has had paranthas as integral to the menu, as salt to food.

We have never believed in the outside food. Or so we have been brought up to believe. Everything that is there in the market, can be produced in our kitchen. Now, I will HAVE to give the credit for the authenticity of that fact seeing the list of paranthas alone!!

We are offered;

1. Aloo Parantha (Potato)

2. Gobi Parantha (Cauliflower)

3. Paneer Parantha (Cottage Cheese)

4. Mooli Parantha (Raddish)

5. Gaajar Parantha (Carrot)

6. Pyaaz ka Parantha (Onion)

7. Methi Parantha (Umm, what's this called in English? : Basically the end product is a soft green-brown parantha, topped with a soft boat of butter, side-lined with a scoop of yoghurt and cream.Is that drool in my mouth?)

8. Dal Parantha (Lentils; there are too many different lentils! Result; different colored paranthas! + the previous description :D )

9. Then My fav; Cheese Parantha :)

10-21 Ok. Lets not even get STARTED on the "modified" ingredient stuffings. The above ones are the "plain, straight-forward" ones.

So you'll have to agree on the variety my Lady Chef has worked out to keep her kids from eating the nasty food from outside. Leave alone eating, she has managed to engrave the fact into our brains that, outside food is equal to trash..pure trash. OUTSIDE FOOD~=TRASH.

Starting from Pizzas, Chinese cuisine, North-indian tandoori stuff, South-indian grand meals...she offers it all. To the extent we have named our kitchen; Mummy da Dhaba. The drool-provoking, feel-good scents have had us go beyong limits of hunger. Trust me when I say that. The amazing aromas from The Mummy Dhaba have our nosy neighbours also asking what the Heck is cooking! Thanks to her exhaust fan.

While I finish my post, its already luncheon time...Bhindi Fry (Roasted Lady's Finger) and Raita (Curd with seasoning & cut cucumbers) on its way!

Bon Appetit' . :)

Moms will be Moms

M.O.M / Mom - Who would have invented this word? M-O-M...

Maybe someone who wanted to address "Mother" was going by the rhyming of S.O.S. ! I mean, they literally convey the same message!! From cleaning poop, to helping cut nails, to tying shoe lace, to endless times of spoon feeding; the lady does everything, you see. Thats why when a kiddo falls ill, its her who ends up with the racoon eyes.

Now, the most incredible feature of the M.O.M. is that she always believes that her offspring is The Most stunning creation by God, even though the little ugly duckling is fluttering right in front of her. Take me for an example, till date, my M.O.M. votes for my two-year-old portrait of mine than my present-day-hey-gudlukin'-kinda picture. See for yourself,

Me then...

Me now, with M.O.M;

You know the other fascinating characteristic of the M.O.M is her methodology of bringing up her duckling. She'll feed it-even if it's half asleep, clean its ears...after baths with those cotton buds, eat filthy unrecognizable remains from it's plates, never let ducky eat stale food- but will pretend to relish it herself! And then, tell the duckling that it needs to grow up and be independant! How see you're really confusing that little one there.

M.O.M. spend their entire life span trying to nurture the duckling into a beautiful swan. Only to see it fly away one day. Now, in today's world with people relocating abroad, I mean that literally. But, somehow, I think I will never grow out of this state. 24 years of my lady's hard work, 24 years of wanting the duckling to ACTUALLY GROW UP; I might have got some physical changes in myself ( hopefully, apparent from the pictorial proof)...

Nevertheless, everytime I start getting a sore throat, I dial in... S.O.S. :)

Custard-Apple Burp

One more cup of tea and I will feel much better. Or so I thought when the fever started shooting up again that day. It had to be Bangalore’s erratic climate or just plain food poisoning, perhaps. Something didn’t feel right about those inexorable fever bouts and well, the not-so-pleasant burps.

My thoughts where honked back to presence while the moron behind us blew his blasting horn. Excuse the profanity, but the wretched and persistent headaches had got the best of me. Still, my brain refused to agree that “I” might be hospitalized. Hospital; to me, just meant my dad’s work place or, somewhere other people went, when they were ill. Not me, I am born to a family of doctors, you see.

We reached hospital at midnight. Got blood tests done. Got admitted. I was found to be carrying the notorious bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. I know! Sounds like a scary one and causes, Enteric Fever or better known to us as Typhoid.
Well, now that I google-d on this ailment, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever, I seem to have had ALL those symptoms!

The fact that the doctors try to “hide” your illness from you, makes it look worse than it actually is. I was hospitalized for about a fortnight and trust me, when the fever wasn’t bothering I looked hail and hearty as ever! To the extent, that I had to see my IV drips to remind me that I was still there. But then, I did not really have strength to move a limb so I wouldn’t know otherwise.

The worst moments were only when I realized my appetite was dead :(! It aches right in the left chest, to imagine a person of my eating caliber, have NO appetite. Despite of my small frame, I have left a “lot” people gaping at my plate. I was asked to eat light, simple and boiled food to save some agony to my digestive system. So I decided, anything to get done with it!

Nevertheless, God’s favorite child got out of the hospital and now is on its way to recovery. :) I was welcomed back to office a month later, with my same half filled cup of tea, with all sorts of colorful vegetations in it.

It put a silly grin across my face while I just burped (excuse me) 'cause hey, custard apple shake did taste good at lunch! I’m back in the game! :)

Misaligned truth..

"Stinkoo! Brush fast!!" . I smiled when I heard my mom's ritual scream in the morning while a misaligned lower tooth line grinned back at me in the mirror.

When I look at my little cousins...maternal, they all have such beautiful pearly whites. I think its to do with the genes. Mom has them too. So does Mom's Mom. It HAS to do with the chromosomal conspiracy. Then what the heck happened when I was being designed?

I wont really degrade my God-gifted naturals. But, its a funny way they are set up. The top ones are really neat. HUGE, but neat. :D Its the lower line, that is decked up in a peculiar "floral" pattern, you see, seems like God was trying to make a flower out of them and half way through realized that it was supposed to be part of a homo sapien. Not just that, somehow my teeth always had a knack of being attracted to cavities.

Finally, my youngest cousin made me proud. He was my sole companion to share this fate. At tiny three, he was proud owner of a quite disfigured tooth set, stained with the relentless munching of chocolates.

Nevertheless, he appears cute to us. With his big head , round eyes and the adorable little nothings, no one seems to mind the minor detail of his missing incisors.

Besides, I don't think he himself really cares right now. It will only be i think a decade down the line when he'll ask his mom that who the hell gave him all those chocolates!!?

The Blog Shri-Ganesh..

When the whole Blog thing came up, it took me a while to understand how people can "openly" express themselves! With even Laloo ji starting his own blog and people from the Bwood becoming top bloggers, I was REALLY forced to think what the whole deal was about?

To be honest, my grey cells were put to work on this only recently. I wrote an article in my office's newsletter and interested people began asking me for "the url of my Blog". Hmmm...So now people made it sound like a You-are-from-iceage-if-you-don't-have-it thing. Grey cells put in a fix.

Now looking back, I did have a horde of write-ups but I never thought of a Blog. After a number of times of opening & closing of this page, I decided to do Shri-Ganesh of my "own" blog. :)

Some of them are my prior articles, some close to my heart, some just plain thoughts, I would love to see your comments / feedback on these! Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I loved jotting them down. Happy reading.