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.

I think I wanna step in your shoes, Mom...

These days..I observe myself getting fascinated than ever when that colleague of mine shares how her 3 yrs old adopted baby gal says prayers for everyone in the kin, before she goes to sleep every night...

These days..I see myself calling my 4.5 yrs old niece almost every alternate day, longing to hear her sweet yet wicked talks...

The moment I get myself thinking deeper into this, some part of me revots and reminds me of my years old dreams of further studies...
It reiterates I cant yet burden my Man with the age long responsibilities of raising a family.

And the next thing I know, I have changed my mind...
but same series of thoughts...over and over and over again...

And I have no comeback for this thought of my own... Offlate I have started believing that I can only realize and perhaps get as well, what I have missed at the receiving end only when I shift myself to the giving end of those heavenly joys!

Fortunately or unfortunately, this is what my heart and mind are filled with, while I so wanna jump to completing 2 wonderfully happy years of the institution called... marriage...


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.

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.

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.

Badal pe paao hain!!!!!

“We're blessed with an angel, Our princess has arrived!!!”

My husband was sending this text message to everyone we both knew and we could hear our phones ringing non-stop. I had been thru probably the most terrible pain and the fruit was now in my arms – a baby girl, my hubby had always wanted a daughter, I guess every father does the same, though I had no preferences as such, honestly.

As the visitors’ hour approached, I saw my few hours old lil gal trying to get acquainted with almost everyone, peeing in the laps of only the lucky ones ;) while her dad cudnt stop smiling for even a fraction of a second, as if all his wishes had come true, and I was lost in flash back of last few months, which we both had spent, sometimes imagining, sometimes dreading (only me) and sometimes dreaming, rather day dreaming!

My life was changed and I was so very excited about the coming days, rest of my life will now be revolving around not only my man, but around her too, I’l get to be wat I’ve always loved being, a kid! I dint care if I was going to get sleep-less nights or lazy days, I was plain happy – period! I soon conversed with the doc, and I was told she had been easy on me, and I so thanked the God (who I think of only when I have to thank Him) for this, for saving me from facing my biggest fear…a caesarian delivery, I had always feared this…

I was lost in all this when my cell phone rang again, informing me that my office cab was on its way to my place, to come pick me for office…what the heck!!! That heavenly time…what was that supposed to be??? A dream? Yes it was a dream, and I got up to the reality, cursing the same God and began my day...

No, this dream really doesn’t mean I m ready to be a mom already…but yes, I am pretty hopeful about it. It might sound funny that whenever I talk about kids, my husband feels as if I am ready to go, and specifies he isn’t yet, and is reassured by me. He’d laugh it out and he’d never answer if I’d ask him how many kids he’d want to father, but I have always wanted just one kid, doesn’t matter a gal or a boy…and when I shared the same with my Rakhi-Brother(who happens to be the only child of his parents), I got a serious advice. He said you can nvr share anything and everything with ur folks, but its hell easier wen its ur sibling who you are sharing it with, so think of at least 2…self experience in that thought was abundant and made me think deeply into it…

I haven’t decided on that yet thinking time will tell the best, but let me tell you, just a glimpse of motherhood and that too in a dream, has made my eyes sparkle, more than ever!

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