New Year Resolutions: Old and New

New Year's Resolutions seem to be very cliched with me. I make and break them each year and somehow the top 3 to-do's on my resolution list seem to be the same, year after year.

I always pledge to lose weight and invariably don't.
I always decide to crib lesser, yet I become more irritable each year.
I always resolve to pick up a new hobby which I forget within January itself.
I always think that this year I will sleep earlier all 365 days, but I keep adding 10 mins later to that month after month.
I also commit to travel a lot, care a damn and have a whole lot of fun each year. This I fulfill partly as the middle part remains buried somewhere.

So why the hell do I make these resolutions all the time? Why do I commit when I cannot make things come true within an year. So this year, I have decided not to make a single yearly resolution. I am giving myself two years to make my commitments come true. I think 700 days(approx, can't sit and count now) is a good time to realise what you pledge. So here goes my commitments for 2010 and 2011.

1. To gain weight...Yipee! Of course, that means to have a baby.
2. To lose the weight I gain with the baby. (we're thinking of two years after all. So having a baby and losing the weight can happen within 24 months, hopefully)
3. To learn Chinese language or any other lingo. This is a branch of the yearly resolution of picking up a hobby.
4. To visit the USA and win a jackpot in Vegas. This is also a sub part of the traveling and having fun resolution. The US is on my 'A' list of travel.
5. To get a marriage certificate. This features in the resolutions because I have been married 3 years now but still don't have a valid legal certificate. Who knows I will have a baby before the legal doc comes?
6. To buy Mohit a Yamaha from my own hard earned money.(This solves two purposes, it means my work is thriving and hubby also stays happy)

I haven't included the sleeping earlier and cribbing lesser part in the two year plan. This is for one sole reason: Mohit. This man cannot sleep on time because all the football in the world happens after midnight. And less sleep is the prime reason why women crib. So there we are: 6 commitments to myself for the next two years. Now I don't need to pick up any resolutions on 31st December 2010. I am not cliched and these five sound realistic enough to happen. So lets touch base on 31st December 2011 to see what I did and didn't do.

This is a nice read about top 10 New Year resolutions. Do click and read it. Your resolutions will be ditto as their top ten.

Happy New Years( to my few readers)

From home to Race Course Road: Courtesy Google Maps and Rupal

Device: Google Maps on BlackBerry
Navigator: Rupal

This is all that was needed for Mohit to tow his car and his wife to the birthday party of the only triplets he knows. Christmas Eve was the first time I used BB Google Maps and realised it is efficient beyond comparison. Sure, people use google maps all over the world, but I'd never heard of any navigators doing it in apni dilli.

Enter Rupal, the navigator and the journey from Punjabi Bagh to Race course Road, across 15.4 kms of undiscovered territories was covered in 25 mins with no wrong turns and minimum stoppage time. The occasion was the 1st birthday of Mohit's friends triplets(sorry to address, Sanath, Aditya and Akul like this) but for nothing in the world would we have missed it. Leave alone, traffic snarls and no knowledge of the area.

For starters, both of us are amateurs when it comes to the Lutyens Delhi area, ask us to reach even the popular Gymkhana Club on our own and we'll struggle. So the PM house area was surely going to be a tough ask. But as we sat down in the car, a bright idea of following Google maps took shape. If the Europeans can do it, so can Indians.

Knowing my sense of direction, Mohit asked me twice if I was sure I could navigate him. Confident of Google maps but not so confident of myself, we set off with a cool 30 mins to spare( just in case we got lost). But mapper and navigator were bang on target and we reached the venue before one baby and mama did.

Road by road, turn by turn, Google Maps was really smart. I was truely impressed with the intricate details on Google map. I am sure it is updated regularly with heavy Commonwealth Games construction going on in that area. There was one time when I thought we'd lose track when I saw metro construction leading to a diversion, but there we were! A big blue dot on Google Maps telling me we were on track!

Kudos to Google Maps! And thanks in no small measure to Rupal,the tech savvy girl!

Meri Satta!!!!

While there isn't anything great happening in my life, there is something very important happening to the life of Mother India. She now has another child. Rather one of her kids has divided their nucleus into two and hence, there are two of them now. How cool/uncool is that? So from 28 states and seven UT's, there will now be 29 states. But who knows there might be more coming soon!!

One minister sat on a fast and got his Telangana. Do you think if I fast for one week, I'll get BansalPradesh. Well, that doesn't sound so good, na? What if I ask them to club Goa, Mumbai and the surrounding lovely places into one and name it Bansal Pradesh? It's sounding better already, isn't it? Life will be a party, day and night! And if I put my bargaining skills to test, maybe the whole of Goa, Diu, Mumbai and Ahmadabad might be mine.

Given a choice, I would want to annex the full Arabian Sea side coastline of India and name it LOR. Line of Rupal! Where there would be one Queen! Me, of course and there would be many tiny kingdoms, starting with Goa, Diu, Kochi, Mysore, Daman ruled by separate people. But they would all come and report back to their Queen, aka Rupal.

Do you think that is conceivable? Can I sit on a fast for a week and get my LOR/Bansal Pradesh? I am willing to settle for any of them as long as I am the ruler of my territory and they name it after me. Given the present state of things, I just have to pick a time and place for the fast, inform the media of my plans and put up banners asking for LOR/Bansal Pradesh and the state would be mine. Excellent, anticipating the best, I have listed out the various Governors of my small kingdoms. Read on:

Queen of LOR/Bansal Pradesh: Rupal

Governor of Ahmedabad: Mohit Bansal( We all know why)
Governor of Diu : Prateek Khemka( Lovely place for young boys, I've heard)
Governor of Goa : I would want that for myself, but keeping my ill emotions under control, this territory has been allotted to Sameera Agrawal(for obvious reasons)
Governor of Ooty : Apar Bansal(He can be closer to work)
Governor of Mumbai : Kunaal Mittal( He can be closer to home)Home is where the heart is!!! ;)
Governor of Lakshadweep:Ankur Mittal( He can keep honeymooning here)
Governor of Bangalore: Shweta Sood( Synonymous)
Governor of Kochi : Niti Gupta( She can turn the area from a nature town into a shopping arena)
Governor of Kanyakumari: Rupal(Sensibility prevails at the end)

In case you want to apply for the post of ruler of a territory in LOR/Bansal Pradesh, pls email me with complete Biodata and experience. For more openings, keep watching this space.

Till next time,

Queen R

Weddings, family and a whole lot of dance!!

The word family wedding always sends a slight shiver down my spine. And no, it isn't because I hate to see another one losing their independence. It is because the Marwari/baniya style of wedding that we people have in my maiden household calls for a lot of female involvement in terms of dancing skills. Now, all those who know me would also have seen me dance at some point of time. I am sure you haven't liked what you saw. I, for one think I am very bad at dancing and that's putting it mildly. Some who don't like me might call it pathetic!

I have avoided the Indian dancing format for long. The first time I danced was on Meera Didi's ladies sangeet. A solo performance! On an Ila Arun number! Resham ka Rumaal! With an actual orange rumaal to match my orange lehenga! God alone knows how I feel about that performance 15 years later.

It was Twinkle Toes time again at Niti's wedding when everyone thought I was an adult and could manage my 'two left feet'. Well, they were wrong. I did dance but the thumka's and the lachak's just weren't there. Everyone thought that being the younger sister of the bride I deserved to be in the middle of both the dances I was a part of. I am sure they repented their decision when they saw the videos of that dance. While they danced on 'Mujhe pyar karengi', I danced on my own funky tunes...God! When will grace come to me while dancing?

Well, God did help me out a little at my wedding! I was back to a solo performance, after all, it was my own damn shaadi. After 15 years, I had to be a lot better than earlier. This time around, I gave myself in the safe hands of a choreographer who chose a 'Guru' number for me and expected me to do an 'A la Aishwarya' for her. She also soon found out that if I managed to pull off all the right moves on the stage, then it was my lucky day.

Somehow, that dance did turn out fine, maybe God gave me a one-time dancing grace. But he took it away the next day itself and I suffer from the 'rupal can't dance' syndrome till now. And that is how I come to the story of shivering over Family weddings. With Ankur's wedding knocking on the door, it is dancing time again.

There is a dance for the sisters, there is a dance for the kids, there is a dance for the bhabhi's and there is a dance for the couples! But where the hell is the dancer in me? You know your dancing is very bad when your husband looks at you practice and recommends to teach you a bit on the drive back home! Now, for all of you who know Mohit would know he never objects to anything I do. But I knew I must be looking hideous when he advised me to practice a little more. The fact that he is a good dancer doesn't help at all!

How two kids of the same mother get different dancing genes is beyond me? Niti is such a graceful dancer and I am not even the 'D' of a dancer. So much to the extent that during weddings, it is taken for granted that she will dance. And for me, everyone hopes that I drop out of the dance voluntarily. I wonder why my mum didn't give me those dancing toes that Niti got?

Anyhow, the heart of the matter is that I am a bad dancer and my bad facial expressions don't help me on stage either. I am going to avoid all that yet another time and dance on yet another wedding. Maybe there will be a miracle and despite little practice and low confidence, I will pull it off nicely! But Ankur it is all for you! Better remember that! Your sister made a dancing fool of herself, all for you!! :)

Till next time!
From Twinkle Toes!! ;)

From Sunday Tea to Roasted Chicken

"Pyar mujhe sab sikha dega, Papa" Salman Khan said this very dramatically in Maine Pyar Kiya when his Dad told him he didn't know any work. Well, my Mom took a cue from him and told me the same when I was courting Mohit. Actually, Salman needed to learn some work to earn a living while I needed to learn some cooking to earn some brownie points.

I was also as cool as Salman was about it and thought 'pyar' rather 'time' mujhe sab sikha dega....Salman did manage to learn to do some manual labour within the next one month. Well, I took almost an year.

From the single, carefree girl whose weekly cooking schedule included making evening tea for mom-dad on sundays to somebody who is cooking square meals each day...Life has come a long way. Rather I have come a long way! Pyar, nope, Time sab sikha deta hain!

While I wiled away my courtship dreamy eyed, lightening sharp reality struck soon. I soon discovered whoever coined the phrase "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" wasn't a fool and wasn't kidding. It held true for 99.9% men, Mohit being one of them. So, as part of Pati sewa, I took it upon myself to learn the true 'art' of cooking.

On all my subsequent trips to Ludhiana, I made it a point to learn atleast one food item and practise the toughest thing- The chapatis. How others make them so round is still beyond me. Ranjit and Vinod( the house help) must be cursing me for all the weirdly designed roti's I made for them as part of the practise session. But, well their endeavor did pay off and 99% of the times, my chapatis are edible.

Chicken cooking was the only cooking that came naturally to me and also the kind that I enjoyed. A whole lot of experimentation, some help from ndtvcooks.com and a lot of inputs from Sumedha have made a decent Non veg cook out of me. Mohit better vouch for that! Maybe, Salman was right after all. Pyar ne Chicken banana to sikha hi diya!

The cooking classes in tandoori snacks, continental and Chinese prior to my wedding did help in impressing people but you can't survive eating noodles and pasta every night. But the basic forms of cooking were rather easy, I discovered. I let my imagination from the chicken experiments flow here as well and now you can see me as a 'hands-on' cook who can manage a meal for three without much hassle. That's a big deal for someone who started with sunday tea.

But cooking never came naturally to me and that is why I don't enjoy it as much as many others say they do. I manage it as part of a daily ritual. Aloo gobhi, rajma and matar paneer might not be my favorite words but tandoori chicken, lemon fish and galoti kabab do make me smile. Maybe they bring a twinkle in his eyes, that's why!
After all, pyar ne sab mujhe sikha hi diya!!

Dilli ki sardi!!

When the dim rays of the morning sun fail to wake me even at nine,
I know Dilli Ki sardi is back in all its prime.

When the ever sweaty Mohit switches from AC to no-fans overnight,
I know Dilli ki sardi se ab marni padegi fight.

When the first thought each morning is of a hot cuppa coffee,
I know Dilli ki sardi is going to give us third degree.

When adrak ki chai becomes a daily ritual,
I know Dilli ki sardi's arrival is truly factual.

When my oily skin demands some moisture and cream,
I know Dilli ki sardi is here to make us scream.

When my cupboards get their bi-annual cleaning,
I know Dilli ki sardi can't see the world weaning.

When the sun doesn't rise but the days still end,
I know Dilli ki sardi is back with no amends.

When I and the blankets stay on the bed all day,
I know Dilli ki sardi has claimed another prey.

When the whole house reeks of nose snot,
I know Dilli ki sardi has left us all distraught.

When I take solace in coats covering the fat,
I know Dilli ki sardi is making me see the prayer mat.

Social networking and old friends

First it was Hi5, then it was Orkut and now it is Facebook. Social networking is surely a way of life now. I chat with my cousins sitting a phone call away through FB, I make dinner plans with friends through the same medium and sometimes Mohit and I comment on each others pictures while sitting next to each other.
The immense power of FB...Totally gripping!

But I think the best thing that's happened for me through Social networking is touching base with old friends. People from school whom I had no clue about. People I had lost contact with after leaving college and those whom I didn't bother to call after coming to Delhi. With FB in my life, I know where they studied, who they are courting/married, how many kids they have, rather every little detail of their living minute...
The immense power of FB... Captivating!

And if I start counting the number of people I have got back in touch with from my pre 10th standard days in Sacred Heart Convent School, then the figure will surely be in doubles. It has benefited me in more ways than just emotional. I have even done business with a couple of them.
The immense power of FB... Intimidating!

I know through FB that Bhakti and I share a love for Sex and the city, Samant and I are both interested in making an impact on the world wide web and that Nando's is Ritula's preferred London eatery too. I also counted to see the huge number of Convent alumni who had now settled abroad...
All thanks to the immense power of FB...Surprising!

So for the second time in the past 10 posts, here's another cheers to FB from my side. This is good work going on and I have enjoyed talking to all my old mates. Remeniscing is good, seeing them all grown up, minding their own kids and having fun in life is what has made the social networking effort a fulfilling one. With little hello's and hi's from old school mates, it seems like my whole life comes flashing by, sometimes in pictures and sometimes in chats....
Kudos to the immense power of FB.... Imposing!

The Delhi Half Marathon begins without me!!

I first heard about the Delhi Half Marathon from the newspapers last year, didn't pay too much heed to it. My weight, my body and my enthusiasm, none seemed to be right for a marathon or even half or quarter of it. Then sometime in July beginning, my cousin Meera Aggarwal told me over dinner that she was training for the half marathon. Doesn't it start somewhere in the winters I asked her? Yes, first Sunday of November, she told me. Then, why the hell are you training right now....she just laughed.

As the night went on, I got an insight into the Half Marathon and realised it is more than just a run. This Great Delhi run starts and ends outside Central Civil Services Cultural & Sports Board ground. This is near Nehru Park and the shoot off time is 7:30 Am. that early? on a Sunday? I almost tried to convince her to quit training. Who the hell wants to spoil a nice Sunday morning waking up so early.

It extends to 21.097 kilometers to be precise which is the exact distance from my residence in Punjabi Bagh to Mohit's office near Andheria More. I tried to picture running from house to office everyday and shuddered. It takes him an hour on horse power, how long would it take an average human being to cover it on human power? 3 Hours, she told me. Which means you need to run 7 kilometers in an hour. Even during my best gyming days, I have never run more than 2.5 kilometers at a stretch, another no - no for me.

Then she told me of the prize cap: You get a certificate proclaiming you finished the race. Now that sounded like an achievement because all this while I was wondering why would anyone just run. Wake up early in the morning, wear your shorts and shoes and start running? For nothing? nope, you do get a certificate...As we finished dinner, i decided that I will give the race a shot. If Meera didi was already running 7 kilometres today then i could also make it and run 21 at a stretch by November. After all, this was only July.

Well, natures call told me the very first day of my motivated self that I wasn't the marathon types. Another spurt of energy followed in September and Mohit and I started running in the club park. Well, that still carries on but I am nowhere near running the half marathon. Not even the seven kilometer sprint. Miserable, I must say! Well, it seems I have accepted that I am not cut out to be a marathon runner and with just a day left to the marathon would sit on the sidelines and watch. Rather, sit in front of the TV and watch DD's poor telecast of the same and cheer Meera Didi. I think I might be able to watch her finish. Who the hell will wake up early on a Sunday morning?

Who, I say? The motivated ones!!!!
Bravo to all who run!!!!

It doesn't get sportier than this!

I have always been associated with sports. I played competitive Lawn Tennis while in school, was my brother's training partner when he practised for competitive Table Tennis and then was the Sports journalist for Express. So the tryst with sports goes back to my teens. But little did I know that me and sports will be so much into each other at a certain point of time.

To put it on the table, my annual overseas vacation is to that part of the world where some mega sports event is taking place. I sit up at 2 in the night when Drogba scores a goal or Tiger gets a birdie or for that matter when Phil Taylor wins at Darts. Yeah, we watch Darts championships too. And F1 Racing and swimming and Trick Shot pool. I watch them all with my sports crazy husband.

While watching and loving sports has been endorsed from him, Sports writing has come naturally to me. Maybe its from my Express days that I picked up a flair of writing about sports. If I start counting, then there isn't a sport about which I haven't written. I have written sports reports about cricket, football, hockey, cycling, roller skating to name the ordinary. In addition I have also written about the unconventional bullock cart racing, fencing, fishing, horse racing, jukskei, weightlifting and many more. These are some sports I didn't know much about and still have no clue about. But i write about them because I just love to discover each one of them and talk of them.

Currently, I am writing for 5 sports blogs, each for a different game. Goal Post is my favorite one and also the first one that made me so close to football. Many other football blogs followed but Goal Post is stationary for me. Small contributions for cue sports followed and then for racing sports. I have been trying to get a cricket news blog of my own started and hopefully it will be on track by year end.

Plus, I also write for the online game side with online casinos being the biggest contributors. I am not sure if they are a sport but I have written 1000's of articles on them and have mastered slots, poker, bingo...All thanks to my writing skills.

Lately, I have been involved in a Fantasy League in which people make a virtual cricket team and then score points based on the players real life performance. Couple of friends and Mohit and I were participants and this is the second league I am a part of. In the Champions Trophy, I came third and was fairly proud of it. But in the just concluded Champions League I topped a list of 14 people and am elated.

Though my contribution was limited to selection and it was the players who did the real job but strategics did take up a lot of time. After playing two of these Fantasy Leagues at CricInfo, I have come to appreciate BCCI Selection Committee a little more.

Anyhow, with each passing day, I keep going deeper in the sporting world and am learning a little about poker these days. So next time someone wants to discuss any sport, they know who to chat up with!!!!

P.S Did i mention that I have written Punjabi sports news? And hey, what about that time when I did a TV news report on hockey in Punjabi...Truly Sporty!

There's a name next to mine!!

It was the Diwali weekend and a very busy one. Everyone was in a mad rush to visit friends, relatives. Those at home were busy with the pooja or were spending money SMSing others a Happy Diwali. It was premier SMS pricing day but that didn't stop anyone from messaging their loved ones.

Diwali Day was a very busy one so I didn't get too much time to check into the messages I received. But come Sunday and I wanted to check who sent me their wishes and who didn't. One of the wishes I received was from my cousin, Ankur who is getting married in November. A small greeting followed by two names: his own and his fiance's. I joked with him later that he is already attaching her name to his even though they aren't a couple legally.

Then I saw another message sent by Sumedha, my best friend. Her greeting had four names. The first being her newest borns followed by her elder daughter, then Sumedha's and then her husband's. Four names of the whole family were there. Another greeting sent to me had the name of a single friend of mine. A lone name wishing me a colorful Diwali.

When I sent thank you messages to everyone who wished, I joined Mohit's name next to
mine. Just four years back, the same message only had my name. And there was immense pressure from the family to have another name joined next to mine. That time my Dad used to send a collective greeting to everybody he knew and he put my name in his message. Then I got married and my name was deleted from his SMS! The complex structure of relationships ensured that my name came only next to one name at one time....

How couples are formed and they automatically attach themselves to each other is amazing? Ankur's greeting is a classic example. He didn't think there was anything extra ordinary in writing his fiance's name. That was the most natural thing to do. They are going to be a couple soon and sending a joint message to all was only normal.

Then come the families as the babies come into their lives. And even if they aren't wishing anyone, parents always use their names in such group greetings. Isn't that so natural as well? And there is always pressure to attach more and more names next to yours all the time. Parents, grand ma's, aunties, uncles and even those distant relatives, everyone loves to see as many names next to yours....

That is the circle of life. We form relations, more names come next to ours and some names go away and join other names. That is what the relation paradigm is all about!!

Of Diwali...Then and Now!!

I have seen 29 Diwali's in my life so far. But the way I remember them can be divided into three categories.

As a school going kid, Diwali was all about getting new clothes, eating lots of chocolates and mithai and burning crackers. Though I was never so bold with cracker bursting, watching them from a distance was my forte. But eating and wearing new clothes was my favorite part for Diwali always. The colorfully lit house and the candles all around are also a memory I remember from my school days.

Post my grandmothers death on Choti Diwali in 1995, Diwali took a different image for me. For years to come, I couldn't think of the festival as anything but a ritual. Something that the world was celebrating but marked my dear ammaji's loss for me. Then as I grew up, I reached redemption for the same and started looking at the festivities differently. The old colors and happiness that marks this festival was back and I was an adult celebrating it in my own girlie way.

Diwali meant rangolis, diyas, wearing a suit(a bi-yearly ritual) and the evening puja with the whole family. All the four happened only once/twice an year and have a clear impression on my mind. The evening puja where the full clan sat together in the puja room and prayed for half an hour. The wait for tauji to polish all the silver coins, the eagerness to get on with the proceedings so we can eat the pooris and then the collective teasing of the little ones. Everything seems so fresh....

Then there is the third type of Diwali. The one I have seen as part of being the Dilli ki bahu. Now what do I cherish of this, you ask? The mad rush to buying that last crockery set, the abuses hurled at each other in the traffic, the huge money lost in cards, the endless hours spent in deciding, buying and distributing gifts and the sleepless nights that follow after playing cards and devising strategies to reverse the losses...These will go on and on...

But yes, the better memories are opening the gifts the others give and finding the glasses you wanted for long, a visit from Mom to wish Happy Diwali, making Rangoli and cleaning my new house, dressing up in a Sari and seeing Mohit in the one Kurta he wears each Diwali. All this make Diwali the memory it has for me... Its ever changing but there is something that never changes for the festival. The memories it leaves each year...

Here's to a Happy Diwali for all!

The kids in my life!

Please don't misunderstand this line...This post isn't to declare that there's a baby on the way, just to talk about the one's that I love so much. I've always heard people say: Kids are adorable, especially others kids. Don't know how true that is for life but I've had some exciting encounters with the closest babies in my life. And I am about to share those cute incidents with my blog( and its meager readers)....

Abhiraj(my sister Niti's son) is the first baby I felt close to. Though he isn't a baby anymore and more of a notty 6-yr old now, I still feel like he is the baby I have tendered nights for. He's spent many days and some sleepless nights with me and has troubled me a lot but he is the star of the lineup...

Now the episode I remember of him the most : He was around six months old and was at his Nani house. Niti, mum and me were playing with him. He had just been fed and his tummy was full of milk. Now, I the masi didn't know that and just wanted to play with her fav nephew. I lay down on the bed and started swinging him up and down. At first, he was very happy and all smiles. After a couple of swings, the smile suddenly changed into a weird expression which I didn't understand. Before I knew it, the cause of that discomfort was all in MY mouth. Yes, he had vomited his curdled milk right in my face...Never will I forget the taste and the incident...Will surely tell the notty chap this when he grows up...


Now for a grown up boy. Ayush, my nephew in law (BTW, this is just for explanation). He was 7 when I entered the family and old enough to understand everything. He was always shy of the girl-boy relation as he was in the growing up stage. Maybe he understood the nuances but felt he was small to completely figure it out. But his playful answers are what i still cherish. This has happened a couple of times and we still laugh at it. He continuously refuses to kiss me. He is all of ten now and I am thrice his age. But he blushes and turns red at the mere insistence of even showing a little affection towards me. I know he is very fond of me but we all fail to figure out the reason for his resistance. But, one thing is for sure, we love to laugh at teasing him about it.

Noni or Adya for some of you is Ayush's sister and an adorable one at that. Just an year younger to him, she is truly affectionate. Best is, she knows how to show it and we all love her for that....Typical girly, she is just as emotional as I am. Her lovable episode happened just couple of months after I had got married. We had gone to the market and Noni and I were walking hand in hand(something we do quite often).


All of a sudden, somebody touched upon the topic of Noni getting married and leaving her house. Her quick response was that she would never leave her mother and go. Then she thought for a minute and looked at me quizzically. And innocently asked me, "Don't you ever miss your mother?" Anyone else asking me this would have made me cry. But the emotion in her eyes just made me hug her and laugh it off. We talk about this so often when we discuss Noni. Such a doll...


Another boy baby I love is Yash. Varun Bhaiya's son. He is more chirpy now than he was when he was little. But he is a darling too. He has seen me as an unmarried bua who was always at home and now as the married bua who is far away. Staying together, his tender age didn't allow him to understand that I was going to get married and go away soon. The moment that touched my heart the most was this: I had just got married and he was still to come to terms with the fact that I no longer lived in the same house. Mohit and I were visiting and as we sat in his room having breakfast, he complained to him about taking me away. He demanded that Mohit leave the house and let me be here with them. Almost bought a tear to my eye then and even now...

Now for a girl...Saira, my friend Sumedha's daughter is the closest to a girl child I became. She was born and brought up in front of me and so both of us relate to each other just as a masi and niece would do. Her story is almost similar to what Yash's is. Being the same age, maybe both didn't understand the concept of a girl leaving her house after getting married. Her first b'day after I got married fell in January. Sumedha was celebrating the event and two days later I got a phone call. I was informed that Saira wanted to speak with me. She was complaining that this was the first time I had failed to attend her b'day and that this was inexcusable. She further went on to tell me that I cannot repeat this mistake. Well, she forgot about me her next b'day but I didn't....


The latest to join this elite club and the reason for writing all this is Shrish. Mohit's cousin's little boy. He is about to turn one next week but is naughtier than his age. We were visiting him and I loved playing with him. I had seen him all grown up after many months. Now, while his mum cooked some lovely food for us, I took upon the job of controlling him. Little did I know that I will be paid back for irritating him. While I had only had a taste of some vomit on me, I was about to have another dirty element on me. Yes, Shrish pooped on me and I had my Zara t-shirt all brown-green( Whatever shade u can imagine)... But it was more funny than annoying. The fool that I am thought it was mint chutney and was about to taste it...Thank your stars, Shrish, I didn't...Else I would always be reminding you of it once you would be grown up...

This list is endless and Tweety, Dhruv, Vanshi, Raghu, Tanvi, Diva, Rhea, Jai, Ishaan, Nishtha, Ditya and Saisha are also in it...I am sorry if I have missed some kids but I love you all. You kids make life so special....

Looks ARE Deceptive!!

I came to know an interesting fact about myself two days back. Mohit and I attended Vikram's (a very close friend from Mohit's School) wedding in Noida with Siddharth( the third one in the special friend trio) and his wife, Ashwini. On the drive back home, Sid revealed something that I had never known about myself.

He and Vikram had very worrying thoughts for their "poor" friend, Mohit when they attended our wedding in March 2007. Both of them, I later came to know from Sid's mother, sat up that night and discussed how Mohit will be dominated by me from now. Sid confessed that they both thought that I was a very 'challu' 'punjabi' girl and Mohit's life was surely screwed now.


That was interesting and very surprising to know. The story didn't end here though. Sid told Ashwini to watch out for Mohit's challu and dominating wife when we visited them in June 2009. The poor girl said she was so scared of me when we landed at their place. But it didn't take her too long to realise that I wasn't challu and certainly not dominating. And I guess the fortnight we spent with our lovely hosts did change Sid's point of view too. He admitted as we reached his house that I surely was nice and simple and good to his 'dear' friend. BTW, the poor, dominated friend was all smiles through this conversation.

Anyhow, as Sid and Ash left the next day, I made Vikram( the partner in crime) say it out loud that I was a nice girl and a good friend. Of course, such a revelation cannot go without some praise. After all, this was the first time somebody had told me something like this about the 'first impression' I cast on people.

This got me thinking( I think I think too much!) They do say, Looks are deceptive. But are they so deceptive that a sweet, simple, nice( the list is endless so let's think of all goodie adjectives) girl like myself can be thought of as a smartass and dominating one? Well, if two men think that way, maybe that's how I look. Come to think of it, there might be other men who think like this about me!!!! There might be also a lot of boys out there who didn't get talking with me cos they had the same impression that Sid and Vikram had!!!! Hmmmmm, ain't that too many missed chances for me??????? But well, the one that matters the most did have the right first impression and didn't pass me by for the wrong reasons...Thank Heavens for that!!

There is a moral to this story, I guess which is very obvious. Let's all look below the hard crust for the softie heart...

Thanks for telling me this Sid!!

I am a Facebook addict!!

Last night I set an alarm for 2:30 AM so that I could harvest my plants in Barn Buddy. You have no clue what am I talking about, right? For starters, Barn Buddy is a farming game in Facebook. You sow seeds, look after them and harvest them.

As luck would have it, my current harvest would have happened in the middle of the night. Now I surely didn't want my BB rivals, Kunaal and Aisha to steal my plants in the morning.(They wake up before me). So I decided to beat them to it and woke up in the middle of the night. Talk about craziness! Well, the harvesting process didn't take more than 15 minutes but I did lose an hour of sleep thinking if I was going crazy...

You're thinking the same too, isn't it? Hmmm, I am not totally knocked out, I guess. I am just a Facebook addict. Maybe it is a disorder but I am totally hooked to everything Facebookie....Be it Barn Buddy or Restaurant City or thinking of new status updates or being the first one to comment on my friends photos, I am awwal in all of them... So isnt't that total FB addiction?

But I was sure I was not alone in my addiction and there were millions like me out there...So I set forth in my tryst of hunting for more FB addicts...There is a site BeatingAddiction which is about beating all sorts of addiction. It has a full FB support group where in FB addicts discuss ways to overcome their 'addiction'. Of wow, compared to that my delusion is very small.

I also read through a lot of text on FB addictions and have compiled a small list of symptoms of Facebook Addiction. Read on and see if the bug has bitten you so far:

1. The first website you open in the morning is Facebook.
2. You refresh your FB page atleast 10 times in a day.
3. You access FB from your mobile because it is banned in office.
4. You send/accept friend request of all people in the race to increasing your friend count.
5. You have lost count of the number of FB applications you are active on.
6. You take all the crazy quizzes on FB.
7. You take hours thinking of status updates.
8. You change your status update everyday.
9. You chat with your spouse through FB and make plans with friends through the same medium.
10. The last website you open before dozing off is FB.

Well, I have to say I said yes for 6 of the 10...so I am hooked to FB...
But well, I don't care. I love FB and have no hang ups in admitting the same.
Lemme know your score...Misery loves company!!

P.S BTW, Did I mention that I even use my credit card to buy Barn buddy credits? Which in simpler words means, I spend actual money to buy virtual money for a FB game? Crazy, you say... ;)))))


Intt read:

FACEBOOKAHOLIC

Yes, I still love Sallu!

My cousin Kunaal changed his status on FB yesterday and it was one of those rare updates I liked. Have to agree it was a welcome change from his standard quotes to something original. And being all about 'Salman Khan' praise, it was something a die-hard fan like me couldn't resist...

As I poured my heart out for my teenage crush turned adolescent heart throb turned adult hood secret love, I was asked a question! "Do I still love Salman Khan?" HMMMM.... Actually, I don't even need to think about that question, the answer is very obvious and on the tip of my tongue. I not only love him, I admire him for all he has gone through and I respect him for the way he has managed himself through all the crisis falling on him. Yeah, I know most of the crisis he just calls upon himself but still, he does face it all bravely...

But there is one thing that I don't love about him. That's his massive body. I still love the dainty and delicate Salman of MPK and wish he was still so young and vibrant today. But age and times have to catch up on everything except my admiration(note I wrote admiration not love, Mohit might be reading) for this awesome man in my life!

And another secret before I sign off, I have read that status update atleast ten times since my cuz posted it...Wanna know what it was? For the first time, my two year old blog will have something written by someone else and not me..But those lines deserve respect so this is what he wrote:

if you havent seen "WANTED"...den believe me you are missing the best performance of SALMAN KHAN ever...n he did beat sharukh khan n amir khan by long... :P

I love you for this Kunaal!!!! ;)))))) And I will now tolerate the next ten of your updates without any negative remarks....

29 till I die!!

I turned 29 last Sunday and being in Ananda, I didn't quite feel the age. Perhaps being in the presence of so many 50 plus couples took the pain of reaching the last of the 20's away! But coming back, I attended a b'day of a girl who had just turned 19 and the feel good factor evaporated. I was 10 tall years elder to her. She was cribbing with her friends about last of the teens and how she is a BIG girl now...Well, that is when my bickering also started. After all, I had ten more reasons and years to sulk over her. I was in the last of the TWENTIES, if there is a word like that some where.

And today morning, when I am 29 and 7 days old, I have made a couple of resolutions for this last year before I turn 'Flirty Thirty'. Wanna know what those are? Here goes:

#### First in the list has to be having a baby. They say, a woman's biological clock ticks at double the pace after 30. Maybe that is true more for an Indian lady but isn't that what I am now. (See, I wrote Lady not girl)

#### Second has to be losing weight. I cannot be like this when I enter the fab 30's. That club always has women who are totally chic so I have to be up there in that league.

#### Third is the most important one. Not looking the age. Of course the previous one will also have a lot to do with. But I am going to change the whole phobia surrounding the 30's. I will talk, walk, look and behave like I am 29 for all my life.

So here's the new moto, step aside Mr.Adams!It isn't 18 till I die anymore for me! The mantra is 29 till I die!! Cos I truly am scared of the 30's!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Why do men marry?

Sitting in Mohit's office yday after a 'very ordinary' lunch at China Garden, we had a very interesting chat with Mohit's friend, Saurabh. He is a bachelor and seeking to marry. When he told us that he was confused about the whole arranged marriage institution, it left me with a thought. Though Mohit and I both told him to go ahead with his gut and forget everything after that, I did observe both the boys chatting about the social union of shaadi.

Mr.Macho did have a very interesting suggestion which made me think even more. "Haan kar de yaar, ek saal tak to mind change nahi hota", he said. This brought about a collective laughter but left some questions in my mind. Biggest one still looms, 'Why do men marry?' Do they actually change their mind sometime after?

I thought and thought on the drive back home and derived some theories within the one hour process. I think most of those opting for arranged marriage marry out of a compromise. To put it simply, they need a buddy! Most of their guy pals have spouses and they need a partner for themselves too. Again, in other words, there is no one available to have fun(????) with or hang out with. So they choose the best option, an always there WIFE! And then maybe after the one year of fun, the re0thinking(Like Mohit mentioned) creeps in...and the rest is history as they say.......

Mohit also chipped in here with another idea. He tells me that many men also marry because 'they have to marry'. Which I assume means that they admit that life has to carry on and wedlock(aka misery) is the fourth phase preceded by childhood(fun), adolescence(aka more fun) and Jawani(aka Explosive fun).... So this misery is something that is inevitable, also brought on by a little peer pressure and a whole lot of parental pressure...

But I think in the end, most men do live up to their saat wachan. They seem to manage pretty well at the end of the day. Delicately balancing the mother/wifey challenge, keeping the finances in control, keeping the in laws happy and still keeping that smile in place. Being a girl, I only know all this on the outer and a guy can enlighten us more on this. But it surely was interesting thinking of it...

Two to Tango!

All relaxed and rejuvenated from our Ananda Trip, the highlight surely remained what the spa people there call 'The Couple Massage'. Now when we heard that it takes place in a room named "The Kama suite", we had some raunchy thoughts. But well, it surely was an experience to remember. Relaxing, togetherness and everything else that symbolises love would sum this 2 hour procedure up.

It is of course carried by a couple and they first introduced us to the procedure. We were given a luxurious Foot massage on a bowl laid out with rose petals and stones. Combination sounds somewhat funny but the result was good. Then the 'alone' time starts with a hot Jacuzzi. Now I am not a massage lover and jacuzzi's and hot baths are more my forte. So that was something I loved.

Then came the Steam which hardly had any steam. Literally. So we turned it on ourselves and enjoyed the gassy heat till I could handle it. Yeah, I am not too fond of steam as well. Then, as instructed we both went and lay down on the massage chairs. Face down!

Then started the best part. The best massage I must have ever experienced. Soft, nice and relaxing! It was totally rejuvenating. Anything else couldn't have held me up for one hour but the masseuse did a wonderful job and I felt all elated after the experience.

Then, we thought there was some raunchyness to be added to the procedure and maybe, we would get some alone time...Well, that was not to be and the whole thing was over. Our two hours were over.....But it was good, maybe we didn't use The Kama Suite aptly but the togetherness part was surely fulfilling.
Totally recommended!

3rd September: Go and gone!!

I know I decided to change the tone of this blog, but i still cannot afford to miss 'D' date or the purpose for which it was created. But the inevitable happened and I forgot about it completely. In fact, I remembered on 5th that 3rd was history. That's when I decided that it was time to say something on the blog.

Well, 3rd may have gone without either of us noticing it but there was one thing that didn't go unnoticed. Well, being almost bedridden for most of the week, I had other things on my mind and so forgetting the important date is forgiven.

But what I did see and appreciate during this past week were how much Mohit nursed me back to good health. I have never seen him help me go to the toilet or get me a glass of water or make sure I am eating the right food or if I am taking all the medicines on time. And while on the worst day of being unwell, I had never known the relief I felt when he walked in to hold the hand that had the drip attached. Ya, he didn't feel stressed out like I did or did a good cover up act. And he didn't say he is worried for me in the events preceding to the hospital visit, he just stood for me. And he hasn't complained as I haven't served him breakfast for the past 3 days or matched his clothes for him or hung his wet towel out to dry. He is doing it all dutifully by himself and doing much more for me too. Well, maybe guys love their girls but just don't show it. It's when the chips are down that their actions speak louder than words....

Swine Flu and well, Aids

I got a message from a friend which I can't help but share with everyone:
10 people die of Swine Flu and the whole country wears Surgical Masks,
1000's die of AIDS and still no one wants to wear Condoms....

Story of our lives...EH?
Well, more on swine flu and my fears soon...

Jai ho Bhartiya Rail!

Somebody once told me that we blog about what we feel strongly for, well then here's something I feel 'strongest' about right now. History first! Rewind to last month, Mohit and I stare at the rail track on Ludhiana Railway Station, waiting for The Shatabdi Express to come. Now for the lesser mortals who don't know about this train, these are supposed to be the better trains of Bhartiya Railways. Anyhow, back to the main story! Sweat running down our forehead, soon to the neck and finally to the arms! Finally, the stereo type voice on the m.c goes off, "Yatri kripya dhyan de, amritsar se nayi dilli jaanewali, 2030, Swaran Shatabdi Express apne nirdharid samay se do ghante late aayengi."

Wow, we say! And instantly rush back to my maiden house, only to reach back after 2 hours and finally board the train and reach at 1:15 AM at Delhi. What a night, it was!

Now cut to Yesterday. Same station, same rail track and the same sweat. Only the train reaches on time. Wow, we say again. I board it happily. I(traveling alone) call up everyone I know to inform them that the shatabdi started before time(It is a once-in-a-lifetime event).

All is going well and I am eating the newly introduced Chinese food on the menu. It was actually yum! The train stops 30 mins after crossing Ambala Cantt. I don't bother, Indian trains keep stopping for no reason whatsoever. I keep eating. Well, soon my food is over and The Archie Comic that I am reading also finishes but the train's ass hasn't moved an inch.

Now some curious jacks start moving theirs and ask questions. Some Uncles gather together and round up the TT and ask him, he refuses to divulge any information. Finally, some one announces that the train's engine has failed. WAH, I hear an uncle say. The voice goes on, A new one will come from Ambala and then we shall move. Arre wah, the same uncle says now. We are about 30 kms off Ambala and already 30 minutes late.

But we wait, now I start reading my novel. Have to do something to kill time. How much can I abuse Indian Railways. I leave that to my fellow yatri's and open "To kill a mocking bird". Now don't smirk at that. I know it is a very popular book but I still haven't read it. Avid reader and all aside, I love to stick to the underdogs.
Anyhow, I cross the first 10, then the next 10 and when the 50th page comes, Voila! The train moves!!!!

It comes to motion slowly, steadily and then again!!
Well, the rest of the story is boring as the train does get me to Delhi. I had actually started looking at the options of having an 'a la Jab We Met' kinda train experience. But all that didn't happen, I just reach 2 hours late for the second time in a row. So what? My time isn't money!! I can always sleep well tomorrow...

For more on my view points and grudges about the Indian systems, pls come to my blog and start reading... LOL

And the story goes...........

This blog is now going to change tone, from romance to the contemporary. Now don't think that I have become all boring in life and love is out of the window. That's absolutely not the case! I have decided to revive the dying blog by adding everyday thoughts to it. We are now going to move out of heavenly memories and talk of mundane chores and thoughts.
So what do we start with? Maybe I should talk about what has been keeping me busy these days. Some of you might know about WASANIS. Well, it is my writing baby. And I love to call it that. I have been the sole founder of it and for a long while the sole writer. But we are doing well now, Me and my WASANIS. We write content for people and stay happy at that. We earn sometimes, but we still try to stay happy. And we lose money sometimes(when the clients run away), alas, we still try to stay happy. But, WASANIS and I keep each other company throughout the day and leave scope for the social hoopla too.
And WASANIS is actually trying to diversify itself. From content writing, we are now going into websites...Yes, soon you will hear about my new cricket website. On second thoughts, maybe i should tell you that over the weekend.
till then, Have a great week.
Bye

My Anniversary is on the 5th! Etch it in mind!

It has been two years and every time someone asks me my anniversary date i doodle out 3rd March and have that as a matter of fact kinda look on my face. A second later, mohit(who apparently has that giggle on his face each time I answer this question) corrects me and says its on the 5th. WOW! I am the only female on this planet I know who always spells her anniv date wrong.

Come to think of it, if Mohit was the one who was the culprit of this, he would be paying with extra gifts on both the 3rd and the 5th. But since its, "yours truly", the poor soul lets me get away with it, always! And i simply fail to understand why I always say its on the 3rd when i know that it is on 5th. See I have written the correct date. I have wracked my brain crazy over things that can lead to me imagining 3rd more imp over the 5th but see none.

The only explanation worth its weight is that 3rd is Abhiraj, my nephew's birthday. Maybe that is a day in March i have associated with celebration longer than i have my anniversary so i always keep blabbing this date. But on second thoughts, 4th is my parents anniversary, this I have known for 28 years. So why don't i answer 4th when i am asked the controversial question. Guess my theoery is pretty lame, HUH?

Semantics aside, I am etching it in my mind now and decorating it with balloons. No way will i speak out the wrong date now. Pls feel free to ask away!