CENTURY!!!

Here it is… My 100^th Post on this blog… a big MILESTONE…

Ever since I can remember, I have never missed the Filmfare awards night and every time after watching it, I would dream of giving a Thank You speech someday. As there is no chance of giving the speech on the Filmfare platform, let me have the honor on my Blog platform (which holds equal importance in my life now)

"First of all, I would like to thank God (look upwards) for giving me enough time to put all junk in my head in words and irritate others. Then, I would like to thank someone who introduced this concept to me. He is none other than my husband's mother-in-law's daughter-in-law's husband. His was the first blog ever that I read and was awestruck to see that he can write such beautifully and then I tried to imitate him and created my own blog (that has been a practice since childhood- imitating him). Unlike me, he is such a sensible person and even more sensible writer. Though, at this moment, I have more number of posts than his but if you want quality and not the quantity, you can refer to his blog (but that does not mean that you have to completely ignore mine).

After him, I would like to thank those people who read my blog and on top of it; they congratulate me on my writing skills. Those who tell me this on my face, I can clearly look into their eyes and tell what's going on in their minds ('how much rubbish this girl can write and when will she stop???!!!'). But still, a big thanks to all of them for being kind enough to me. Then came a time, when I started publishing my every new post on my FB profile and that was the height of irritation caused by me to my FB friends. Still, there are people who take the onus of clicking on that 'Like' button and encourage me to continue with my efforts. They deserve another Thank You from my side. Love you guys.

A partial Thank You to my company. Partial, because, I can open the blogger dashboard but can't view my own blog (actually, I can't view any blog). So, Thank You for enabling the blogger dashboard so that I can atleast post my rumblings without waiting to reach home. And No Thank You for disabling the blogs.

Now, a Thank You to Anjana Ma'am, Dhaam Ma'am and John Sir and other English teachers who taught me this wonderful language and favored me way too much over other students by overlooking my grammatical mistakes which greatly helped me in learning and loving this language, unlike Mathematics, where almost all my teachers pointed out my minute mistakes, which lead me to hate that subject. I mean, I know 2+2 =4 and not 40, but at times, you ought to give a benefit of doubt to the poor child so that she can atleast love the subject. You don't have to point out every mistake committed.

And how could I forget my parents. Thank You mummy for making me cram the complex spellings during my kindergarten days. Thank You papa for subscribing to Reader's Digest (which I never read, except Fun Sections) and buying Champak comic book in English, rather than Hindi.

It was not easy to achieve this milestone. I hope that I would continue entertaining (read: irritating) you guys forever and achieve more milestones. Thanks for being with me and undergoing the torture of this very short Thank You speech (I am going to cry now). Take care"

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR...

WISHING EVERYONE OF YOU A VERY HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, JOYOUS AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR- 2011 !!!

The year ended amazingly, with lots of fun at office and my parents' visit at home. One week into the new year and it does not seem too exciting. My parents have left, have lot of work at office, so many things said and done which should not have been... I pray to God to please be kind to us atleast at the start of this year...
Anyways, as I mentioned in my previous post that our office is in celebration mood and my team is called the Nuts 'n' Bolts, I took some time off to make few posters, which I would want to share it with you guys...

Next post may have few of the pics of our group during the previous week... different dress codes on each day. It was total fun. Though I missed on one of the days, Angels n Demons... Watch out for the pics soon... CHEERS!!!

The festive spirit...!!!

Every year I eagerly wait for this time of the year, 'coz that the time when celebrations start… After a break of few days, shraad- when we pay homage to our departed family members, starts Navratra- a nine day period to worship the Goddess of Power- Durga. Post which, Dussehra is celebrated. After few days, Karwachauth (my first one this yearJ), then some or the other puja and finally Diwali. Time to buy and wear new glittering clothes, eat delicacies, observe fasts, arrange puja (and get amazing prasad), watch your city spend maximum on lighting the streets, clean and decorate your home on war-footing scale and pace to welcome Goddess Laxmi- the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity and eat-meet-and-dine with your near and dear ones without thinking about your workplaces.

I have been missing observing Navratri at home from past three years. No, I don't keep fast or anything, but I love the smell our home is filled with during these days- my mother would do daily aarti with cow-dung cakes and I would wake up with that pure smell and my mother would make sure to keep aside a large portion of the Prasad of dry fruits for me, 'coz I love it. On the last day, 7 or 9 little girls (kanyas) are fed with even more amazing poori-chana-halwa and so we would also get it. These things can also be prepared on any day of the year, but somehow it tastes awesome on that particular day only. I don't know the logic so don't ask me why.

I had been in South India from past three Navratris and it's nice to see, or rather know, that these 9 days hold equally good importance for South Indians as well and they are celebrated throughout India (all regions) in some or the other special way. Bengalis celebrate it in the form of Durga Puja- the biggest festival for them in the year. They put up magnificent pandals of the clay-made deities and offer puja in their unique way. Now the various Bengali Associations in various cities also put up such pandals. We attended two such pandals in Bengaluru this year. North-Indians, as I explained, observe fast during these days. Few, otherwise non-veg eating communities, transform into pure veg category during these 9 days. Few other communities, on the contrary, offer non-veg dishes to the Goddess as chadawa, which is later distributed as Prasad. Gujaratis arrange garba  and dandiya nights and it has become famous throughout the world. Down here in South India, Ayudha Puja (8^th or 9^th day of this period) holds special importance. People worship their tools, workplaces, homes, vehicles and any other thing that hold special place in their lives.

The 10^th day, marked as Dasahara or Dussehra or Dasara (Mysore), culminates the 9 day period of Navratri (nav-nine and ratri- nights). It is celebrated as the day when Lord Rama killed Raavan and is symbolized as the day of victory of good over evil. In North India, life-size effigies of Raavan, Kumbhkaran and Meghnaad are burnt (they are fitted with crackers). Many communities believe that this is the most auspicious day for children to start reading and writing and so they worship pens, pencils and books on this day and some schools, especially in South India, also start their yearly session on this day. I miss this day as well. We still have this child-like eagerness to go to some Dussehra mela, organized at various places in North India. Eat street food, watch the effigies being burnt and shop on special Dusshera-Diwali discounted prices.

Phew… these are the times when you miss being away from your family. Though we are undoubtedly going home on Diwali but will miss half the fun (or should I say, we have already missed it L )…

Btw, last year, Diwali was on 17^th October and on 18^th October our (mine and Nimit's) roka ceremony took place… Milestone, you see J

Cheers and have fun in this festive season…!!!!

The much awaited trip…

On 30^th July, we finally left our respective offices for the much awaited and long due trip to our homes- Jaipur and Delhi. It was the first one after our wedding, which made this trip even more amazing. My father was retiring from his bank service after almost 35 years. As I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts (Retirement), I was again stumped by the number of years that he had spent in the same organization. My mother was waiting for me but more importantly was concerned about all the arrangements since her son-in-law was also coming home to stay for the first time. Each part of each of the days that we were to stay at Jaipur was already planned. Papa got a new Nokia mobile phone from my brother and sister-in-law and we presented him with the bar accessories. He was smiling from ear to ear after getting our gifts.

The retirement party was arranged in the hotel, which has unofficially being declared as our own hotel. As the guests started pouring in, after papa, special attention was on the kids (i.e. us), since we were meeting everyone after almost half a year. I guess papa got so many gifts second time in his life (first time can be his wedding day). My brother's and my in-laws had come down especially from Neemuch and Delhi respectively to greet my father. We ended the day with unwrapping of all the gifts.

Next day was even more jam-packed. Our in-laws were invited for the breakfast. Another reason being the sindhara (ritual for one of the festivals- Teej). I was loaded with sarees and suits and chocolates and a beautiful set. Lunch was at my sister-in-law's uncle's place, where my brother struggled to pop open the Champaign bottle. Final meal of the day was already booked at my mausi's place.

Next day, I and Nimit were legally and constitutionally declared Husband and Wife- we got our marriage registered- a mandatory rule implied since not long back. After a long time I witnessed the laziness and lousy attitude of the government employees (which, according to my father and mama, was fairly fast as per the normal government office working standards). Paper work was already done after reading all the instructions. But when the papers were handed over to the sarkari babu, he rested his specs on his nose and tried to point out something or rather anything wrong in the papers- "10^th ki mark sheet nahi lagayi kya?", only to find out that the next page was the 10^th Mark sheet; "ye type nahi karwaya kya?", only to find out that it was typed exactly what was required. Finally, he exclaimed that "Mathurs never do anything wrong" and Bingo… He found out something to crib about. As my father handed over the photographs of the wedding, he pointed out that the two girls seated behind us in the photograph are wrong. We should have got our exclusive photograph. But somehow he graced us and filed all the papers to be signed by the bade babu. Now, if you find a man working on this table with at-least 3 persons (lazy and boot-licking kind of people) sitting in front of him, you must know that he only can be the bade babu in a government office. These 3 persons think sitting in front of their boss is their only KPI. We should the file to him and he signed but one of the idle persons sitting in front of him has to say something to show importance. So he says, "you should have got bigger photograph… You know its better for the future". My father ignored him since the photo size was as per the guidelines and that's exactly the size that can be accommodated in the certificate and the forms. But after all this drama there, we got registered in record 2 hours time.

Throughout our stay there, mummy prepared her special dishes, making sure not to repeat any item and I love her food… Finally, after 3 hectic days, we started on our 2^nd phase of the vacation- Delhi. Visit to doctors and tailors were the prominent activities there. Mr. Mathur chose to attend his Gurgaon office while I actually enjoyed my vacations. There also we had two formal dinners and one instantly decided KFC treat. I saw all the old photographs of Nimit and the bachcha party. It was fun to see their childhood days. Met two of my best friends after a long time. Thank God they have shifted to Delhi. I can meet them almost every time I visit Delhi.

The days and time spent at Jaipur and Delhi seemed short to sit and talk at length with everyone but it definitely was a much needed visit.

We will never grow up...

I reached home dead tired and hungry, already making a list of what all to do once I reach home, in how much time. Reached home, drank something and ate any and everything that came my way, eatable obviously and went out again to the market.

Our friendly neighborhood mall-Spencer, is a life saver. Quickly scanned through few t-shirts and selected the one which he once said that he liked. Went to the kids section and asked for the balloons. The salesman started showing me all kinds of balloons- mickey mouse shaped, heart shaped, random shaped, magic balloons (which will change its color once inflated). The magic balloons actually caught my attention for few seconds, like a temptation. But decided to get the normal random shaped ones and the small birthday candles.

Next, the cake. I booked it at a place but when I came back, it was already sold. Not fair at all. Felt like kicking them hard. Ultimately had to get only the pastries. Arranged for a bunch of roses, a coffee mug and a card. Rushed home and did something which, I guess, I had not done in the past so many years- I blew up the balloons. Put everything neatly in my cupboard and pretended as if nothing has happened.

 

I was not preparing for any kid's birthday party. It was for my husband, Nimit- his first birthday with me. Won't disclose his age but he is way ahead of even the teen-age. Even I am nowhere close to the teen-age but somehow your birthday or someone's specials' birthday turns you back to a small kid. You feel like cutting the cake after blowing the candles, listening to the birthday song (how-so-ever badly sung by anyone, like I did), expecting surprise gifts, calls from your friends and relatives (all these at 12 o'clock specially), wearing something nice (new or old but which makes you look stunning), completely energetic, even when people around you may not be even aware of your birthday, trying to return thanks for the wishes in different ways, checking your social networking profile filled with wishes and comments, eating something nice....

Even when you keep on saying that “I am too old to celebrate my birthday”, but you do expect and feel all these things. I remember last year I was definitely happy as far as my birthday celebration go. But was deeply hurt by just 2 scraps on my orkut profile, only to discover later that I had turned off my “birth date to be displayed to others” option, hence my friends didn't know that it was my birthday.

 

So, even though Nimit may/may not have been expecting anything special at 12 o'clock, there I was, all set and ready with my little little surprises and the smile on his face was priceless. Eager to cut the cake (pastry), when I had to remind him to blow the candles before cutting the cake and one by one revealing the gifts.

I wish him a long and healthy and prosperous life ahead and that he celebrates each of his birthdays with me and I will make each one of them equally special for him. Love you Hubby and Happy Birthday again....