The toothbrush, the laptop and Me!!

The lone toothbrush has stared at me four times now. Twice for each day that I have been a single woman. Well, when you call yourself a woman and not a girl means you are so...so...soooo married.

Anyhow, with a husband who hardly travels for more than a night for work, it seems single days are back if he is gone for 4 nights( Why the hell am I writing nights, no naughty thoughts ppl). But so far it hasn't been capitalising on the single days for me as I sit and stare at the toothbrush each morning and night. Yeah, I brush at night too, a habit cultivated after marriage through Mohit. Ya, now that gets me back to the topic of conversation.

When I was single and there wasn't anyone in the picture I didn't care if the toothbrush stood alone in its stand. Now it feels so lonely just like me. The poor soul keeps wandering about in its stand with fellow occupants of the bathroom willing to give company. Same goes for me too.

I am symbolic of the lonely toothbrush. :) I am wandering off alone from room to room and shop to shop and mall to mall. Well, shopping therapy for boredom. With all my friends and relatives calling to give me company for lunch and dinner. Especially Tonight! His Birthday. An evening we have spent together for the past 3 years. While it seemed unthinkable two months back and unconceivable one month back, it is the reality right now.

How contrasting our lives are on his birthday? Compared to the previous 3 times that we've had totally painted the town red and blue and whatever the phrase goes, this time it doesn't seem like its the birthday of the man in my life.

The dude must be having fun with his bumchums in some night club right now while I sit sipping a bored looking cup of tea penning this on my new Sony Vaio. After all, this was the bait offered to me in return for this all boys trip. Somehow the laptop, even with its bright red shade isn't exciting me enough to send him away on the day that matters.

At the end of the day, I know it and you know it and we all know it, the Laptop wasn't just a bait, it was just an opportunity materialised upon from my side. When I knew the ball was in my court, I decided to make him show me the money. I would've anyways let him go, laptop or no laptop. But no laptop or camera or money can make me feel any better or make me miss him lesser on 15th January.

I wish I was a mean wife!

On a lighter note, I saw the MasterCard ad and coined a phrase of my own:

Shoes to tread in the snow: Rs. 3,000
Tickets to Riga: Rs. 35,000
Laptop to keep wife happy: Rs 40,000

Permission to go on the bachelors trip: PRICELESS

Happy Birthday Mohit!
Wish you many more happy and exciting trips(but with wife)

Rupal

When boys are BOYS, parties become BACHELOR Parties!!

I had heard the rumours. It surely was going to be a blast. The married ones were whispering with each other while the singles were very vocal and enthusiastic about it. The event was a bachelors party for Tickly from the remaining bunch of singles of London.

The venue was undecided but the rumour mills during Mama's wedding celebrations at Kerala suggested that it would be an Eastern European country...OOOHHHHH, the boys went as they discussed who was going and who wasn't. But it seemed none of the married lot(the unhappy ones) had much to contribute with only the bindaas singles(the happy ones) confirming it.

One cold evening, clad in shawls, Mohit and I went for a walk. The bait was my favorite Belgian Chocolate-Almond Fudge Double Scoop Ice Cream. As i delved deeper into the cone, Mohit unfolded the story. There is a party(note he said, party and not the sinful word) happening for Tickly in January. I know and nodded, without looking up from the cone. It is in Latvia, he went on. Now I looked up! Where the hell is that? I asked him. Erstwhile USSR, he told me. I pictured a cross between Russia and Kazhakastan and wondered why would boys want to go there? In that Serbian Cold, in January? It sounded beyond me. Aha, I said and kept quiet.

Mohit followed up with the quietness. I finally looked up and asked him who all were going. Little did I know that my pushing the topic had me all trapped! He named all the junta in London and a few in India. Slowly, I noticed the expression on his face had changed. From oh-its-so-cold, it had become i-love-the-cold-in-Latvia. I asked the wrong question at the wrong time and am still repenting it. "Do you want to go?" I said. He nodded like a baby enticed by candy. And at that moment I knew the fish had been caught. The Ice cream had managed to seal the deal. How easy had it been for Mohit? His wife had stepped on the axe willingly.

But if you thought that was all, hang on! Cut to next week! Mohit gives me the i-don't-enjoy-without-you look everyday after he comes home. He makes me feel like I am the best wife in the world( which I am, BTW). After dinner and another ice-cream(change the bait next time, Mohit), he tells me the dates for the Latvia trip. It's not my fault, the guys in London are controlling the show, he said sheepishly when I cribbed about his absence on 15th January. The look has changed to i-will-miss-you-should-i-cancel-it now and I fall for it again. I step on the axe again and offer the trip as a birthday present. He jumps with joy and doesn't discuss the topic in the house till friends decide to tease him at New Years.

Two Ice Creams and three different looks and Rupal, the fish was caught. Worst is I had offered to pay for the trip. What in the world do they teach these wise-guys at IIM-A? It surely is paying of, if not in the boardroom, atleast with the wife in the bedroom.

I don't know why this party had to happen on his birthday but it's fine now. I am of the firm belief that birthdays, anniversaries are for families and no amount of ice-creams can change that. Anyhow, no turning back now that the deal has been stamped. But I will miss you and cut the cake myself.

A word of caution from my friend:

You've given the ball in her court, Mohit. Wait and see what all she makes you buy her in 2010.

HAHA....Have fun, boys!!!

AAAALLLLL IZZ WELL!!

After a series of fights with Mohit and some words of advise for the book my show search engine for tickets for 3 Idiots, it was a friend who came to the rescue and got us tickets. With high hopes and time in hand, we reached the theater only to be told the show was running late by 45 mins. Not enough to dampen the spirits but still we roamed around bored in the halls of Satyam Cineplex.

The movie started late as mentioned earlier and the first one hour drifted off. With predictable, slap stick comedy and a few laughs later came the much awaited 'Aaall izz well' from Aamir Khan. There was something in the mannerism and the patting of his hand on his chest that 'gave me some sunshine'. He kept at it for the whole movie and we came back smiling.

While the movie was good and cheerful, motivating me to forget 2009, it also got in me an exuberance for the year ahead. I saw myself doing an 'A La Aamir' when my mother and cousin discussed the cruel implications of the eclipse on the New Years night. We all broke into a laugh on that note. It was something that came naturally from me at the spur of the moment and was not at all pseudo. The way Khan had said that line looked so nice to copy and spread to the world.

Too stocky a Phrase, but 'aaall izz welll' does sum up the faith of a thorough optimist towards the pains of life. Maybe we all need to induct it in our lives too. I took this spirit to our smallish New Years Eve Party(?) at a friends house. Well, just a dinner was a better term for the group of 10 people. But by the time the Tequila bottle was finished, the group seemed to make some noises louder than the iPod did and fitting enough for two dozen people. While the food lay bored on the three brand new tables of the hosts, the vodkas and the bacardis made their way inside our stomachs. The Chivas even made its way into a full kitchen roll and the boys repented wasting almost 60 ml of it.

A fun night to mark the ending of a funny year. I cannot stoop so low to call it the worst year of my life, my husband isn't going to appreciate my talking of another year spent with him like that. But it isn't the star in my list of 29. Some brand new beginnings were marked in the past year, while there were also some crappy endings. But after some smiles and tears, I've learnt a lot last year and plan to be happier during this one.

Hopefully Aamir's truism with the 3 words is going to be take me through it all.

See him chime right now