Flashback Years

As I roamed around the streets A grew up in, surrounded with people who have never forgotten him despite of all these years and distances, I silently envied his childhood today.


A has spent his childhood years in Mumbai, has tons of friends who found him back, thanks to the social networking sites, while as per all of them, he had conveniently forgotten them. Stories of long cycle – rides, of building brick houses for stray pups, of stealing coins from mom’s purse to bring the pups some milk, of jumping on to grab fresh berries from trees during summer vacations, of unending hours moving about aimlessly and playing pranks on people of all ages and temperaments – it all came alive as this bunch of storyteller friends circled around me and kept going on and on. The film reeled in front of me as I shifted to a flashback movie like thing.

A week ago, when the news to my Mumbai Trip was broken out to A, he was definitely less gloomy compared to what it has been like in cases of my past work-trips. Why? He instantly started planning how I was supposed to spend my Sunday there! Though I only had a few hours, he came up with a long list of places he wanted me to see… his home, the play ground they never wanted to vacate, his school, his friends- young ones, old ones, remembered ones and forgotten ones…

While I was getting ready to step out of the hotel, I started feeling empty from within. I came to realize that while all thru the evening, everyone would be talking about him, A would be at least 1400 kilometers away, if not more.

The only way to reconcile with my heart was to sooth him by saying my eyes would still see him, jumping around in the park wearing that naughty smile on his face and with a mischievous mind. He could be running away from mom or hiding at a friend’s place so dad can never find him… so he could escape a beating!

While I went around to see all the places of his choice with his friend, he followed us virtually, with those flashback years reeling thru his mind…

Sweety.

30 Days & 30 Ways

Time flies away when you really dont want it to!

The other day I realised I had completed 1 month in the new company I recently joined. That made me ponder on the events of past 1 month...many things changed, many new were commenced...here's a point by point detail of my 30 days in TPL:

1. TPL has made me diary-gal. I cant do without my daily to-do list. I go off to sleep and something I need to do the next morning crosses my mind - I'm up the very next second and scribbling notes in the diary, with dreamy eyes and shaky hands!
2. My job puts me in a place where I screen people on every stage, starting from their joining our projects till the time they survive there. I hold myself responsible for rejecting "infinity plus 1" people so far... cant say how many more will follow...
3. This job has changed my perspectives a lot. I've turned sides now, I get a two-side view of things now.
4. I used to work 9 hours and travel 4 hours before I joined TPL. Now I spend those 13 hours working!
5. My phone works over-time too. I used to charge the phone battery once in 2 days - now it gets fed everyday.
6. This ones a bad one - I was so used to falling asleep with A's pats on my head. Now since he's moved to decent morning hours, he sleeps off before I do and I dont get those pats I so miss in life :(
7. There's another thing I miss... seeing him sleeping next to me the moment I get up... but I make up for that by calling him while I am still half-sleep.
8. For the first time in 5.5 years, I'm trying to get into a day schedule - the 9-6 routine.
9. Another bad one - the weekend I used to be so crazy for - has gone half - yes, I work on Saturdays, too!
10. I still travel but way less. And I get to travel in Metro sometimes too - makes me happy, reminds me of old days, when I was a regular with Metro.
11. I am a regular with home cooked food, too. Working from Home job has some merits, at the end of the day!
12. But at the same time, eating out hasnt gone down. If I'm travelling, I'm eating out...and eating a lotttt!
13. And that shows when you look at my Tummy. Its never been like it is these days!
14. TPL India team is a 3 women brigade (that includes me, too!) I haven't had female colleagues/boss before - so this one's a change too.
15. I have a weird history of getting along with Leos. Its either too good or too bad. Incidentally, both other women in the league are Leos. Its been good so far... lets see...
16. First thing when I get up - I used to plan the meal I had to cook - now I check the mail.
17. I get to write a lot these days, but that has hit on my reading quota. I am stuck on Brida for about 1.5 months now. Buckle up!!!
18. My break time from work - I solve Sudoku puzzles that appear in the newspaper everyday...1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9.. and you're done! I even have Sudoku on my iGoogle page. I play sudoku when I am travelling - time flies ;)
19. I have promoted myself to a regular Lipgloss from zero make-up.
20. Social Networking sites would soon declare me anti-social. Well...I was never a fan but yes, a regular but its may be once a week now...just so I dont forget my passwords ;)
21. There's been a biiiiiiig cut down on my movies too... 30 days and just 1 movie. Thankfully it was a cute one.
22. I have now entered into a professional relationship with a very very dear friend. This frightened me first, but then enlightened a lot of things later on. I am glad it happened :)
23. One of the very important things I do at work is getting the customers' expectations right...and the way I work is setting my boss' expectations wrong! Leading by example, you see!
24. In my IQR days, I used to think I was a workoholic...I wonder what I am right now...
25. Again in my IQR days, I believed wherever I'd go next, it'd be better for sure - that still holds true. I wont like to compare more :)
26. I gave my first ever salary in my granma's hands, i still remember. My first salary from TPL is due now - and I'm thinking what to get for the 2 most important people in my life...
27. This job has made me take my driving seriously.
28. I have loved to have a planned day, but that's history now. I still begin a day with a plan, but its a plan that has all the deviations and d-tours of the world! Life now is an ad-hoc list of assignments :)
29. Now that i've got myself rid of travelling thru 3 cities everyday (from one end to the other end of NCR), A has got into it and spends a lot of time driving now.
30. My first post in more than a month - the one that you just finished reading!

Some cartoons now, I think I need'em:






Sweety.

100 things you didn't know about me

I'm glad Blogger let me log in and post after what seems like ages! And to make up for this hiatus, here's a gigantic post! You're invited to know, not 1, not 2, but a 100 things about me...which you never knew! (Atleast I hope so!) So, off I go!!!



1. The first movie I saw at a movie hall was a Chinese one and was dubbed in Hindi with title "kaanch ka khargosh"

2. This was during a school trip and I had to see the second half of the movie sitting on the aisle stairs, since I couldn't find my seat after the movie intermission, and was too scared to approach my teacher to help me find it.
3. I'm crazy for SRK. Some of you might know this, but nobody knows the degree of that craziness for him.
4. Despite of this craziness I can patiently hear someone criticizing him - cz I think everybody has a right to voice what they feel about something/someone.
5. And, despite of that craziness, I can easily admit how I agree with some people when they say he should've never done a certain films.
6. I think I like SRK as a normal family guy way more than I like him as an actor.
7. I like and prefer curd over milk a zillion times.
8. I don't even remember the taste of food that my mom used to cook, except that of okra.
9. And that of kidney beans too.
10. One of the things I always wanted to learn from her was cooking.
11. One reason why I am proud of myself is that most of the cooking I know, I learnt myself whenever I made a blunder.
12. I so love it when on random evenings, A appreciates the lunch I cooked and packed for him earlier in the day.
13. And I am so curious to know how the food tasted when he doesn't!
14. I talk about A so much that I don't even bother to think if the other person knows him or not.
15. I had refused to leave the bed when I was told that my few hours old sibling was a baby gal, and not a boy - just as I had prayed / demanded to god.
16. Whenever I spotted a baby, till sometime back, I'd just standstill and look at them adoringly and wouldn't get over them for long whiles.
17. But now post-marriage, all I think is about how my life will be when I'll have one of my own.
18. I also plan to start a mother-baby blog.
19. My skin is so sensitive that my palms would burn the entire day if I mashed boiled potato with salt and pepper.
20. I loooove Khichdi.
21. I have snoozed the alarm at least a dozen times before I get up every morning.
22. I don't think if I'll ever turn vegetarian.
23. One of my fav flicks is "While you were sleeping". I have seen it countless times and still wont mind watching it, anytime, any day.
24. I think Julia Robert's Erin Brockovich is an equally fav.
25. I like eating fish - preferably boneless.
26. Tuna Sub is the one I always pick at Sub-way.
27. It irks me to core when A forgets to switch the bathroom's light off after using it.
28. I once threatened to lock him up in the bathroom if he did that again. It didn't help!
29. And I am always made fun of whenever I switch it off for him.
30. I have always hated Science as a Subject. I thanked god I didn't have to study it post my 10th grade at school.
31. I was so wrong when I thought that since I ended up teaching Science to my sister until she got thru her 10th grade.
32. For the most calculations I happen to make any given day, I can count on fingers and am always right.
33. OK, almost right!
34. I haven't tasted tea yet. I don't plan to, either.
35. "Mother Dairy - Chocolate chip" is the only thing I think of when it comes to ice-creams.
36. I had very bad hand-writing till my 5th grade.
37. Tolerating ACs is a big deal for me. I start getting chill bumps instantly.
38. Entire week, I used to wait for Saturday night, since that was my bed-time story night.
39. I prefer Radio over TV.
40. I quit drinking milk from milk bottle the day I turned 5. That, was perhaps my first promise to mom.
41. The first piece of jewellery I bought was a gold pendent.
42. My first wrist-watch was a Titan, bought out of my savings from my pocket money. This was when I was barely 11.
43. The first time I voted, I realized that one of the poll duty officers tried to see who I was about to vote. And he did see that.
44. I forget what I dreamt of, if I don't try recalling it in the first five minutes of my waking up.
45. Till sometime back, I was confused if I was an atheist.
46. I have now realized that god is there, and that I am not the religious kind.
47. Until sometime back, I was scared of dark.
48. The first time I enter a public utility or a trial room during a shopping spree, I lock and unlock the door, just to make sure its working and that I'll be able to let myself out once I am done!
49. I haven't fractured myself yet!
50. I hate people who interrupt when some body's talking and those who always want to be heard.
51. I once held A's hand assuring to help him cross the road when both of us were shit drunk.
52. I was given a scholarship for being in top 0.01% scorers in Hindi, in national board examinations.
53. My sister tells me that I am very short tempered. I am yet to realise that.
54. Friday is my favourite day of week. I wait for it every weekday :)
55. The first thing I do when I sit in a car - I embrace myself - with the seat belt, that is. More so after A's road accident.
56. For consecutive 3 years, I had my social studies' half yearly exam falling on my birthday :(
57. I prefer books over movies. With books - there's a lot left for imagination. Movies kill that - I think.
58. I hate being preached about turning to Vegetarian food. I respect vegetarians and their choice of food and expect the same from them!
59. I am s**t scared of dogs.
60. I once said 50 p was more than re. 1 and mom gave me a scolding I'd never forget!
61. My first visit to Mumbai city was even before I was born - Mom was expecting me!
62. I am not a morning person and sometimes wonder how I'd manage when I'd need to be one.
63. I can't dance but love to watch people dancing. I think people who say - "you don't need to know dancing to be able to dance" - are liars.
64. I prefer sunflower over rose.
65. I can't handle south Indian food.
66. My first earning was Rs 150 that I earned by tutoring a 6 yr old for a month.
67. I like to get pampered at times. But at the same time, I can't handle too much of love/pampering. I start crying before I have opened all my birthday presents - every year.
68. I didn't like Harry Potter series. I think it has too much of magic!!!
69. One of the best birthday presents A has got me - a musical jewellery box. I cried when I opened it too.
70. Despite of my liking for choppers, I once got scared with one, because it was flying too low and I was on the terrace. I had hid myself in mom's lap.
71. I think bitter gourd and crocodile resemble a lot. God must have had high targets or must have been low on imagination / innovation when he made them!
72. I lost touch with a friend when I was only 5. Growing up, I didn't even remember I had that friend until he reminded me, 15-16 years later.
73. For a long time I was scared of wearing jewellery after somebody had once snatched my mom's gold chain.
74. I think Aamir Khan is a disgusting fellow - he over reacts and wants all the attention - all the time!
75. I have a habit of reading 3-4 books simultaneously. I switch to another one when I get bored of one.
76. I don't like to work on my birthdays. I ask others not to do so, too.
77. Most of the guys who like staring/ogling at the gals don't get what to do next when I start staring back at them. They'd either start looking somewhere else or would leave the place.
78. In school, I would shuffle between rank 1 and 2 every year. Every time I finished on rank 2, I was just 1 mark behind the topper and this was a trend for 7 odd years.
79. My class teacher who was infamous as the least emotional teacher in the school had tears in her eyes when, on the last day of a session, I returned her the class locker keys.
80. I quit playing volley ball when I was in 9th grade. I regret that till date.
81. Pink has never been my favourite colour. I am confused between black and white ;) Does that tell you something about me?
82. For a long long time, "It's my life (Jon Bon Jovi)" was my Friday favourite - for the weekend had finally arrived!
83. "I'm alive" and "Have you ever really loved a woman" are two songs that had me smitten with their lyrics.
84. My fingers will smell of onion for more than 2 days after I have chopped one, despite of "n" number of hand-washes.
85. I was once a part of stage performance at annual day during my primary years of schooling. We had a song on flowers and all kids except me were to sit in a circle wearing costumes like flower petals. My part was to sit in the middle of that circle of other kids and the idea was to dance like a bee when the flower would open. Now, the costume guy didn't get my dress and the item coordinator decided last minute that the flower wont open! I waited and waited to be seen - from the beginning till the end of the song and so did mom n dad who were present in the audience!
86. I cut green chillies with kitchen scissors, instead of knife and I cut them real thin. And then I count how many pieces I got from each chilly. So far the record is 39 from a medium sized chilly.
87. I was once accused of beating the office cab driver, while someone else had. The cops couldn't help laughing their lungs out, when they saw the cabbie was accusing a skinny gal! He had lied only because I had complained against him the day before.
88. I once declared that if I grew up to be a pilot, I'd only prefer flying helicopters. "You have to run on a run-way first to fly an aeroplane, chopper takes flight the very first moment" - was my reason!
89. I never loved my granny - since I knew she never loved me. And yet I gave my first salary in her hands... and then we both cried.
90. I was born on Wednesday.
91. One of the books I'm reading currently is "The Fountainhead." I dont think I'll ever be able to finish reading it.
92. My mom-in-law gave me a sweet nice name long before I got married and she uses that name till date.
93. I dint know a thing about computers before my first job. I took a crash training on a weekend and learnt basic operating - and I guess, I'm still learning something about computers everyday!
94. My goal before I turn 25 - get registered for eye donation. I'm looking for a reliable association. Do you know any in Delhi - NCR?
95. I still believe there's no actress in Indian cinema who could dance as gracefully as Madhuri Dixit.
96. If I get up in the middle of night and realize I was dreaming of something, I try sleeping again so I can continue dreaming - and 9 out of 10 times, I am able to continue with the same dream!
97. There are 2 things that help the most in putting me to sleep - a) someone patting slowly on my head, and b) chanting Gayatri Mantra.
98. I sometimes talk to God Sun - I thank him for being there eveyday, for I wonder as to what will happen if he bunks someday ;) and also because I think he's the prime source of energy. And whenever I talk to him, I ensure its evening time and not morning - because a) I for one believe in setting sun and b) a little acknowledgement and appreciation at the end of the day works for everybody.
99. I am a fussy eater. I cant eat rice that was cooked without salt. I wont eat onion if it stil has its raw taste which I just cant handle. I never liked to have food from my friends' tiffins thru-out my school, though I didnt mind them sharing mine. I finish my salad before I start eating my meal.
100. When I started this post, I thought I wont be able to finish it. I wrote a couple more posts simultaneously but saved them in draft - so I post this first and dont this one.

And looks like I'm done!

If you made it till here, congrats! And if you liked it more than I thought you would, pls write random things about you and ping me here!


Sweety.

Miles to go before I sleep!!!

Here’s the Tag from Geetika… “10 things before I die”

What follows can also be termed as a Wish-list and birthday is such an apt time to do it ;)
So, here we go:

1. A helicopter ride – that’s not a tough one, but my fascination for choppers from the childhood days is still very much there.
2. Be whatever M has missed in life.
3. Collect books – thousands of’em! (Goes without saying – read’em all too!)
4. Find some old school buddies, I still remember their names… and faces too, but just can’t find them…
5. Get married to A – AGAIN!!! - On 25th, 50th, 75th, 100th, 125th, 150th … Wedding anniversaries…until we lose the count of years and even after that!
6. Learn dancing… and baking as well.
7. Meet SRK and still be able to stand on my own feet ;)
8. Never let my kids know of the word “NO” – I’m going to try hard for this one.
9. Study a few more years – not sure what I want to pursue yet, though!
10. The last one...It was real difficult getting here, but this one was easy… Raising a baby gal. :)


P.S.: There’s no Order of preference for the list, the wishes were rearranged in the alphabetical order! ;)


Sweety.

10 years without you

I still remember myself watching her go, she was to be admitted in a hospital, and I kept seeing her till the end of the road, and I'd do this almost everyday. Would think about her, resting my elbows on the windowsill, without batting an eyelid, I'd keep looking at that corner of the road, imagining that's where she'd come from, smiling healthily.

But little I knew that she won't ever come back...what came was the news that she had departed.

Again and again, even after she'd left, I'd still go and look out of the window, would keep looking at the same end of the same road, thinking non stop "here she comes, here she come, she hasnt really gone away..." Those were the days when I had actually started believing that departed ones do come back, but she never did!

And then there was a time I started hating her, for she had made us so miserable without her, I am sure she knew this misery had to happen. I can never forget how helpless we were. But I also knew she's around and is watching her daughters being raised without her and feeling helpless about it. Gradually that bad feeling melted away, gradually I involved myself in daily chores she used to take care of, but I continued with my waiting-at-the-window routine, I kept waiting for her arrival.

And I still remember pa appearing from the same end of the road, accompanied by a few other men, hands down, folded, face down, eyes down, looking at the road, coming towards home. He had brought her, lifeless, for us to see her for the last time and bid her the last good bye...

That was the end of one big chapter of our lives...lives had changed, our lives had changed.

Though I wanted to preserve them, but after a lot of thinking, I got some of her dresses altered and would wear them sometimes. And then I noticed - pa would look sadder, gloomier and quieter. I realised her clothes made him think of her much much more. He almost even called me with her name when I was wearing her clothes. Seemed like I was torturing him and I made up my mind not to wear them again...

Growing up, I was inspired to take up a lot of things she had mastered in. While I was real interested in some, I took up some only out of respect I had, but soon figured it was worth including them in life... one of those things was designing dresses. Everybody around was so amazed with my work, while I thought it was probably in my genes.

Offlate, I have been occupied to such extent, that I dont even think of her everyday or as much as I should, yet some or the other thing reminds me of her. Life is being pretty good to me and I feel happier when I remind myself that wherever she is, she is with pa and not alone. I know she is constantly watching over us and still doing her best for us.

Today, its been whole ten years without you Ma, and deep down somwhere in my heart, I still hope I'd see you standing next to me and I'd get in one moment, what I've missed all these years. Thank you a zillion times, if at all that can suffice, for everything you got me in life, however I'd still ask you for something...

We all are still incomplete without you, please come back if you can.

Sweety.

...aaj dil dukha hai, tum yaad aaye,
anjaane log hain, apne kahan dhoondh paye...

...Thinking of "Pa" and his ways in life...

Sweety.

Me - the Hopelessly Romantic!

This one comes from my College years, when I used to burn midnight oil to study and some electricity for FM Radio. Heard this one such night on one of the FM Stations:

Agar ye jeewan hai ik samandar vishal,
to aa ek seep me hum ek sapna jagaye.
Phir saahil pe prem ki mitti se,
ek chhota sa pyara sa hum ghar banaye.
Usey duaaon se apni hum aur karen pakka,
aur ashko ke diyon se andar-bahar sajaaye.
Ab zindagi hai to gham ke toofaan bhi aayenge,
chal is ghar ko lehron se kuch door banayen!

Still remember, by the time I could type and text it to A, my eyes had moistened and I cried when he called back after reading this :) ... such is Love!


Sweety.

Weekend Insomnia

Not feeling sleepy despite of a hectic night, I resorted to one of the things I love in my life...Music.

Atif's new track is out and its there on my current playlist and I am loving it...like his other tracks, like all other romantic tracks, for I think of A everytime I listen to it, even when he's sleeping blissfully by my side :) and here comes my coffee! Been ages I tasted it, I try and keep away from it so I dont loose my sleep but I thought I can have some today, when I am so feeling like having it and while the weekend is still here and I can catch up on my sleep later too. Coffee always reminds me of tea, which I havent tasted in 23+ years of my life. Mom never introduced me to it initially, for she thought I might start liking it over milk :) and then I also never picked it thinking tea, being dark in colour makes you dark! By the time I realised the truth, I had decided I seriously dint wish to taste it, and so it continues...

Coming back to Atif, K in her usual Q&A session asked if I had ever been to his live performances, sensing my liking for him. Yet another time I said no!

She continued, "do you know how is his voice in reality?" I really dint have a clue so I made it clear from my face expressions. She, after sensing my ignorance, enlightened, "its very bad! In his live concerts, one can figure out that hes not singing live and they play the recorded tracks in the background and he would just move his lips." "So do they edit it everytime he records a song in a studio?", I asked almost worried. And as suspected, she said, "yes!"

When I pondered on it again on my way back to my desk, I realised it really dint matter to me cz I just listen to what I love and I love what I listen to! How they get it is really not my business.

Now about last night at work. Despite of calibration with client and lots of pending audits, I managed to dine out with A between the shift and it was just lovely! No wonder I still love it when we go out for a date cz I can successfully forget the fact that I am married to him!

K met him last night and said she found him cute....

& I cant afford to disagree!!!

Sweety.

Memoirs of a D'uh!

My new colleague K asked me yesterday if I had, ever in my life, rang someone's doorbell and ran away. Somewhat ashamed, I said, "no", but mentioned how annoyed I used to be when someone would ring our doorbell and I wouldnt find anyone waiting outside the gate. This was nothing less than a torture in summer afternoons, where you are half-sleep and all you see outside are deserted streets and no signs of those pranksters!

She asked back, "have you ever played street cricket?" Proudly, this time I said , "yes."and that "yes" gave a green signal to some memories to be lively in some part of my mind. I recalled how I loved to bat and hated to field whenever I played the game. I recalled I wasnt very good at it but still enjoyed quite a lot. I recalled playing with kids who were atleast 8-10 years younger to me! And I also recalled how I had once hit someone, right in his stomach, for I had sensed he was watching me play and I dint want him to. That someone...he was my dad's frnd's son, dad liked him a lot, they both were each other's favs, so much so that dad said it once he wanted to marry me off to him... Anyway, the guy smiled despite of that shot for he knew I had noticed him :D

While I was still lost in all this, K shot back. "Have you been mischevious in school days?" was her next question. I was humiliated this time. Reason being my sis who had asked me the same question just a couple days back and made me realised what I had missed in my life.

2 people have asked me same thing just in span of 2 days and they looked for the same thing...something I had never done and they had reacted identically...I realised being the way I was back then is just not IN these days!

All I treasure from my schooling years is being in good books of teachers, sincerity, obedience, topping the class every year, being named a "book-worm". Such a seedha - sadha bachcha I was, that now when I look back, I laugh at myself.

I love Pink Floyd's "We don't need no education" I so love it in my new avatar! And I am pretty sure, I would have ridiculed the artist for passing out such a message had I heard it in those years ;)

K said yesterday that I looked like a docile and I gladly replied, "these looks are deceptive, babe." She would have hit bull's eye had she said it around 3 years back. Those who know me in and out, would give all the credit (good or bad) to A & I wouldnt disagree. This man has changed me and changed me for good. Its been a complete transformation, believe you me!

I surrendered myself to him, but do you know the best part of this surrender? I have all the freedom I need and more & I love my life like this, I love my life with him!

Sweety.

P.S.: Those who think I was contradicting myself towards the end of the article, I suggest they need to read it over and over and over again until they start feeling that I wasn't! :P

Random Updates

I had decided to write today, may be some lines from my current fave song and Geetika was there to push me too...but the song will follow, work comes first.

My new campaign went live today, GMT noon time. Last 2 weeks of training, I have been busy and so has the day today, so far. With the first few test calls came a lot of things...loads of last minute doubts, nervous faces, plenty of technical errors, which is quite a custom here ;) and we knew it was coming! The first day of calls in a campaign has a lot of expectations, a lot of excitement, a lot of nervousness, a lot of first-timer-phobia :D

A guy even made it to the sale today and I got to do the verification!!! Reminds of the days I was in sales as an executive, around 4 yrs down the line...I used to see guys reading their scripts verbatim, stopping only to hear the firang on the other end say yes! (Firangs are who we deal with, I am used to this term, so please bear with me!)

And then comes my new role...quality analysis and I was given this:

Simply b'ful!

And now, as I stated in the beginning, here are few lines from my current fav song...ekdum latesht!

"Tu Khush Hai Toh Lage Ke Jahan Me Chayi Hai Khushi

Sooraj Nikle Baadalon Se Aur Baate Zindagi

Sun Toh Zara Madhosh Hawa Tujhse Kehne Lagi

Ki Aditi Woh Jo Bichadte Hain Ik Na Ik Din Fir Mil Jate Hain

Yeh Aditi Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Phool Fir Khil Jate Hain...."

No...my name is not Aditi. No...I have not yet fallen for the new guy. No...I have not started liking Aamir overnight. :D The only reason I like this track is because it has been able to make me smile ear to ear in last fortnight, where I dint sleep for more than 4-5 hrs at a stretch, where I missed A like anything, where I was just so occupied...

Anyway, have to get back to my new headphones and listen to non-stop yap yap yap and then some more yapping!

Sweety.

New voyage called VONAGE

Another change is just round the corner...
Come Monday and its gonna be all different...for just a few weeks, but yes, change is a change.

I have been moved to a new project, and that means new working hours, new work, and people from a new culture to deal with.
I am going to start working on a project which is outsourced to us by Vonage UK. We start with a week long voice and accent training along with a few inputs on UK Culture and then may be 2 weeks for a thorough knowledge of Vonage product/services, which we are about to sell. Ohh yes, we are going to selllllll.... :(

The day I was told that I was going to be a part of this campaign, I was so so excited cz I was looking for some change in my boring work which was related with web-research day in and day out. Reading web-sites, copying - pasting & editing data to no relief.

Today is going to be the last day of it all. Monday morning...yes its going to be a day shift, so monday morning when I report at office, I am gonna head straight to the training room! To a week long learning of a country's culture and dialect. I like training sessions, for they are meant to enhance the learning, for they have more fun time, for they let you have a better interaction with everyone around and there is no boredom most of the times. Not many people wud agree wid the last point, but this stands true for me.

Another change that I'd like to talk about, before I forget to mention it...
My role is gonna be changed too. I have always been a part of operations, but this time I'm gonna join the Quality brigade :) :(

Yeah I have a mixed feeling for that, m happy and excited as its gonna be an all new job, new responsibilities and new challenges and I am sad as I haven't got any experience in this field. Though they call me perfectionist and diligent when it comes to quality from operations' point of view, but I have no clue what quality is from quality's point of view!
Someone who has a lot of faith in me chose me for this role, knowing I had no great knowledge of it all. I am sure expectations are an all time high this time and I have to live up to them. Once again!

Besides all this, coming 3 weeks would also mean lack of time for web and for blogging. I'd also be adjusting my sleep and my day's routine, but what I am going to miss the most is my time with A.
Now that's what the challenge is!

Hope to be back here soon,
Sweety.

Acknowledgements (not really!)

I got a few words of appreciation last evening :)
Soon as I reached office and signed in to Yahoo IM, hubby dearest expressed he had liked my last post as it was very well written...

Generally, whenever I update the blog, I tell him I have updated expecting him to read, knowing his schedule doesn’t permit him to go and check it everyday for any updates. I do this for he’s the one who made me try my hands on writing though starting with blogs was my idea.

His appreciation came when it was least expected and the words were so mild and beautiful, I had tears in my eyes (I dint tell him this, now he’d know!) I realized my hands trembling while I tried writing “Thank-You” I was back to normal soon thinking I was in office and was just about to start my day.

While going back home, I thought about it again. And with that, also came memories and all the good times. Sometimes, the fear of losing it all is what makes you get it all in life. Makes you dare to do things you might not have courage to do otherwise! There was a time when there used to be marriage proposals coming for me every now and then. People visiting us pretending they had come to console on our loss and then calling us back to tell they had found me very homely and would like to propose for marriage. Sick!

My hubby has always been my confidante; he has always known what’s going on in my life. And when he came to know of these stupid behaviors of people, he realized he needed to say it now. He knew once I got married, he’s gonna lose this friendship as well. His actions made me also confess I had the same love for him. So the sense of losing me made him get me!

Today when we remember those times, he makes fun of me saying if he had not done this, I wud’ve got married to some mama’s boy, no clue how gud/bad he wud’ve been to me, I picture myself mothering at least 2 kids (may be more), leave alone working full time and managing home simultaneously! Sounds more like a caged bird, doesn’t it? Well it does to me. I never had great expectations out of me, but I had never wanted to end up like this either!

Whenever I seem to complain that he’s not spending time with me, he replies humorously, “You know, the moment I was born, I had my index finger pointing towards Delhi to show everyone that you are there and I have come only for you, see I have been so dedicated towards you and you say I don’t spend time with you?” He leaves me speechlessly wondering how great his imagination is.

He’s always been with me thru my thick n thin, silently supporting me, perhaps leaving me to realize it all…so I wanna let him know…I realize it, understand it and appreciate it!

I owe a lot of things in life to you, including myself!

Sweety.

Mother's day

Happy Mother’s day to all…




A perfect morning, the day started with a long walk and my fav radio station, and before I forget to mention, lemme tell you the best part of this morning... the weather today! It rained in Delhi & NCR today!

See what I clicked!







Its mother’s day today. Honestly, I don’t believe in these observations cz few people and things are so vital in our lives, that we just cant celebrate them in just one day of the year…they are to be cherished all thru our lives…


But I have a few things in mind which I’d like to jot down today, about my Mom and my childhood…These are a few things I’d never forget in life:

• Mom used to say I was fairer than milk when I was born. Morning after my birth, one of my cousins, after seeing me, told her elder brother how sweet I looked. She was so elated by that feeling that she went on describing me. She used the word “sweet” so many times that her brother (who’d had enough, guess) had declared, “Let’s name her Sweety”.. And that’s how I got my name!



• Like every other kid, when I started talking, it look me long to get a few words right. A pigeon was called “Taate”, soap was “chhanjun”, katori (bowl) was “kotri” and so on. But the best of them all was how I pronounced the word six! No matter how hard everyone wud try, I wudnt say “six”, but I’d say “chick” !!! Pure fun :D



• This was back in 1987, I started going to school when I was hardly 2.5 yrs old. A lady was appointed to pick me and a few other kids of the locality to take us to school. She’d pick me first and the two of us would walk around and pick other kids and by the time I reached school, I used to be half dead! Quite weak as I already was, I used to start vomiting as soon as I stepped in the school. As a result, mom talked to my school principal, who used to live nearby, and she started picking me up on her way to school…and I got rid of those pukish mornings.



• Another school memory…mom once visited school for a parents meeting. As she entered the class-room, she noticed I wasn’t doing the class work, but just looking at the girl sitting next to me…mom enquired my teacher who happily responded saying the other gal had not brought her pencil that day and so I had lent her my only pencil before I did my own work!!! Was I so generous way back then??? Unbelievable…



• I had prayed to God to give me lil brother when someone told me Mom was about to bring a baby home. I was hardly six then. One morning when my cousin woke me up telling me I had got a younger sister that morning, I simply refused to even open my eyes! Turning to the other side I said, “I had asked for a boy, not a gal. Ask god to change it before I get up, or else I wudn’t talk to Him” So bad!!!



• Like every other elder kid, I had my fair share of sibling rivalry too. Dad was neutral, but mom wud always favor her and all I’d get was scolding. I still remember once I fell down from stairs with her in my arms and I was the last one to be noticed, she got all the attention! I had many similar grievances, which were never addressed… but with time, I have understood how natural and real it is, life teaches you everything!

• As a kid, I was pretty regular with TV, mithun da being my fav hero of all… I once saw him getting bruised in an action scene and I ran towards my mom to get a band-aid for him, though I never thought how it’d reach him! So attached I was! In another movie, he dies but re-incarnates (the usual Indian filmy drama, u know). Moments ago, I was so grieved by his death as I thought it was real & I wudnt get to watch another movie of his, but now his presence on screen delighted me and made me jumping and chirping all over the place! Those were the days…



• The place where I spent the initial 4.5 yrs of childhood had plenty of monkeys roaming around in the residential area. They would roam as if it was their kingdom and would ruin everything they had access to. One such afternoon, when mom and I were alone at home, two of’em entered the kitchen, coming down from terrace. Doing the usual thing, drinking water straight out of refrigerator, one of them caught my leg and wudnt leave me while I was in mom’s lap. We both shouted our lungs out and a neighbor came running to rescue us. He literally joined his hands and chanted Hanuman Chalisa and that made the monkey leave me and go back!

For me, days like mother's day or even valentine's day don’t really matter but people do, but this day today has reminded me of the best days of life I got to spend withher…miss ya, mom!

Here's something to suffice my funny bone:

Sweety.

Father of the Bride (1991)

Love is wonderful. Until it happens to your only daughter.

Father of the bride (1991) is a remake of the original one which came in 1950 and I saw this movie yesterday. The movie starts with the father facing the camera and telling us about his relationship with her daughter…it was nothing more than a typical relationship between any father-daughter relationship under the sun, but it was his way of narrating it that hooked me to watch the movie…and he takes us to the story of their lives 6 months back…

The daughter returns back home after her studies in Rome and on the dinner-table one night, she breaks the news of her being engaged to a guy, showing her folks the engagement ring…the father almost imagines her daughter being a 5 year old and saying the same lines to him!!! The mother seems to be the happiest mom ever, but on the other hand, the father is almost dead with the shock…and there starts the dilemma of his life!

For last 22 years, he’s been a hero for her daughter and realizes he’s being replaced by a guy who is just 6 months old in her daughter’s life… Though he’s convinced soon, but the events that take place in his life in next few months teach him a lot, and by the end of it, he is mentally prepared for everything.

As the story advances, it reminds me of my father, more and more every second…I can’t express in words how I was putting him, my husband and myself in the story constantly…the most touching scene was when the wedding begins…I almost saw my father holding my hand and taking me inside the church, to leave me standing next to my groom…as if he were giving away the biggest part of his heart to someone who is a stranger for him…I could successfully manage to wipe my tears before my husband could see’em…

I am sure Dad was there when I got married witnessing everything, just like my best person, but I just wish I could see him with these eyes, when he gave me away to Adarsh!

Sweety

A Blessing in Disguise

It’s my first wedding anniversary today and this is whats going on in my mind right now...

Oct 27, 2002, Sunday, 9 AM

“By the way, whats ur good name?”

I heard somebody asking me this, forcing me to stop reading my book…

Believe it or not, this question changed my life! I replied and thought of asking the same, but then, all of a sudden, my funny bone over-powered me and I blurted out, “…and…whats your bad name?”

He smiled and answered and I got in my list, the first (boy) friend! Hope u got what I mean ;)

Lemme explain if u didn’t get that. I had passed out from an “all gal’s” school and didn’t have many friends out of school also and as the case was, none of them was a boy!

I used to meet him every weekend in the college and as destined, we grew fond of each other, so much so that I found him in tears on the first Saturday after the weekend classes had got over and I realized whatever it was, it was 2-way !!!

We managed to meet once in a month and it was end of second year of our bachelors when he proposed his love to me, very romantically! Though drunk, he was in his senses and surprisingly he remembered everything the next morning! I just prayed he did :D

And my response? I could just say, “Itni der laga di bolne me” and he knew I was in love too…days passed and months got over…we got engaged and then got married too, it was a blessing in disguise, I’d say, because I had hated it when he’d asked my name and honestly, I wasn’t all that comfortable when I’d started talking to him…

The funniest thing is that I’m few days older than him in the world and dat our close buddies kept on threatening us till the day we got married of reporting ours as a child marriage!!!

I have learnt that life lies in small things and small things bring great joys in life!

Sweety.

My Picturebook - I

Smiling Smiling Sweety at Baha'i Temple (Lotus Temple)

Li'l Sweety at the Taj

Iya crawling her way to.....somewhere...

Life minus worries - Iya!

Aayush during his first visit to my abode... miss him sometimes :(

Asmita and her unique hair-do!!!

Few months old Asmita's first encounter with the camera guy!

Those were some "really close to my heart" pix...many more to follow soon :)

First wedding anniversary is just round the corner, so pretty busy planning these days! Delhi itself is so chilly these days that choosing a hill station will be a wrong decision and none of us is game for an "adventure destination" cz the charisma of the first wedding anniversary will go fading, we think. Lets see what we come up with and how it turns out...

Sweety

Mom's the word!

I lost mine at 13...

Mom, they say, is a child's first teacher, she really was! She taught me calmness and patience besides several other things. I dont exactly know how old I was when I learnt differentiating between colours, I am sure she taught me that too.

So she'd bathe me every morning and would dress me in cute frocks :) and then place a box full of colourful buttons in front of me...and that used to be enough for me for hours! I'd play with'em in many ways, sorting out similar coloured ones, grouping small and big buttons and so on. She'd hear from me only when I felt hungry, not before that...I see myself now and don't know where that trait has gone from me!

She made sure I get a balloon every morning and introduced me to sparrows and pigeons...I'd rejoice and get amazed when I see them or hear their chirping sounds :D

Obviously, I dint like all her decisions, no kid does...But I know I am soon going to step into Motherhood and then I'd realise how right she was, in all her actions...sure as hell !!!

Sweety