First day of my last vacation?

Last vacation with only the 2 of us, I should say.

We are at Fisherman's cove. It is a beautiful property on the outskirts of Chennai, about 1.5 hrs drive  from the city. We had actually made this plan with 2 of my good friends who ditched me (are you listening, mommie). But we decided to go ahead with the plan as I didnt want to not go on a vacation. Its only a 3 day vacation, before you people feel envious or anything.

It is a beautiful place, I know I said that already. Nevertheless, this picture should do it for you :)

I am sorry guys. Mail on my phone is not working..so I cannot show you how blue the sea looks, how inviting the path lined with lights look. The minute it works, I promise to put up pictures.

There is no plan for next 3 days, except to laze and enjoy my last vacation as one without an attachment :)

I wish I could take another break in January :(( . After this, I can take my next break only post June I guess  :(((

Can time please pass slowly?

Diwali uptill now

A hectic Diwali to say the least.

It all started last evening when we stuffed ourselves at lunch, tried to light some ghee diyas, tried to pick up Diwali presents for people at work in the middle of a heavy downpour (finally unsuccessful), picked up about 40 diyas and colour to make rangoli.

Since morning, I have put my mom upto making laddus. This time of course it came out right.. turns out I had missed a crucial element when making laddus on my own. After making boondis, you need to put some more ghee in the remaining sugar syrup and thicken it and then add the boondis yet again and wait for the sugar to crystallise before rolling it into laddus. Thats why my boondi didnt stick!!!


The plan for rest of the day -

Step 1: Take a nap
Step 2 : Go to parlour
Step 3 : Figure out a sari to wear in the evening. The thing is none of my blouses fit. So we worked out a solution, my mom and me i.e. .. I will wear my mom's blouse (it just about fits) and my own sari
Step 4: Make Rangoli
Step 5 : Cook dinner, rather help mom do that. A's family is dropping in to celebrate with us. So we are planning to make Cholle - Puri!!! Given that we need to make some 10000 puris (out of 7 of us, 4 men!!!), I have decided that we will make only 20 puris and rest will be rice. Mom wants to make kheer as well!! Gawd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I already dont have the energy even though my contribution to the laddus is very small.
Step 6 : Wear Sari
Step 7 : Do a quick puja
Step 8 : Light diyas and put up bulbs.
Step 9 : Eat puris, cholle, laddu and kheer AND CRASH

PHEW!!!!!!!! Thank god tomorrow is a holdiay.

I hope it doesnt start raining. HAPPY DIWALI everyone!!

It has a face

Well, what do you know. It has a face!!! Joy and glory.

Till now, it has been there - a thing, a foetus in me. I never thought of it too much except the discomfort it was causing me. But now that I am more used to it, I am somewhat more amenable towards it.

Day before, I went for my 5th month scan. And I actually saw its face!! It has a chapta nose like A.. A says it has a small brain, like me!!! So we are even. :)

And the funniest, when the doc was showing me my blood flow to the baby, only one thought came to my mind and I have to say this in Hindi : abhi se mera khoon choos raha hai. I somehow controlled my laughter. Totally contrary to what the doc must be facing in and out : women in tears at the first sight of their child. And here is this woman laughing!!

But of course I didnt make my thought public. But it was quite funny, at that time!!! My stomach was wobbling with the effort of silent laughter.

Here's to hoping it causes me as much amusement and merriment as it does right now :D

ps : Are my posts becoming as scattered as I think they are becoming?

A day post.. a first

So this is how it feels like.. I am at work and posting during the lunch break. There's no one at work besides me. Everyone has gone out for lunch except me. Well, I have to get "home lunch" everyday and no, am not cribbing. I am quite happy doing that, having faced outside food for a long time!!

But I digress. As I was saying I am alone at work - we are only 6 of us and hence being "the only one at work" for some time an easy possibility!!

So I read and subscribed to Dilbert, ate my lunch, replied to personal mails.. ho hum... and finally decided to put in a post.

About nothing at all.

It is anyway a dead day - clients are off. People are off. Its Diwali. Why the hell am I at work!!

I should go and do Diwali shopping. Hrrmmmpphhh

I am BORED. Its a topsy turvy world..just yesterday I had a very exciting day at work and today I dont feel like lifting a finger up.

Well, such is life. I think I should close this random post. Until tonight, then :)

Another MC post but what the heck.

Yes I know, we are back to the same old topic. But I cant help it.

This post has come to the fore because of the reply to Bluestocking that I had put on my blog yesterday. I had said, I like most of the MC contestants. The minute I posted that I realised it was untrue.. LIAR that I am.

A quick correction - I don't like some of them. Now that there are only 8 or 9 contestants left, you can start to make out what each person is about.

Hayden : I like. Initially he appeared to be cute, charming, sweet. He has been a part of many eliminations and in most of them, he decided to stick with his team and face the elimination except for the one last one! Shows strength of character.. and he is quite smart mind you! Not the picture that a lifeguard creates in your mind. But he is good.

Billy : He is my FAVOURITE. He is always cheerful not matter what happens. And he is b****y good!!

Alana : She is pretty. But besides that I haven't really formed an impression about her. In the last team challenge though, she played the role of a very good leader.

Kate : She is sweet, down to earth, seems very motherly, helps out competitors in challenges!! Nice but doesn't evoke the feeling that Marion used to evoke in me.

Peter : Well he got out. He was a strong contender but very under confident. I would say that the judges moulded him a  lot. He was quite cool by the end of it.

Sun : I find her strange. I cant say I like her, I cant say I don't like her. I am not able to read her. She normally doesn't say anything, express anything. Even if she wins a challenge, she doesn't react. Don't know what to make of her.

Ellie : She is pretty with a smile that lightens up the place. Though she is all over the place most of the times, especially in team challenges.

Michael : I LIKE him. He is really good, very creative and seems very very very grounded. In fact, he is one person I have liked throughout the competition, besides Billy of course!!

Dani : Now her.. I don't like her. I don't know what is it about her that I don't like. It is not that she does something wrong, but I don't know why there is this something about her that I don't like. She used her immunity pin!!!!!! I know that she has earned it and and she should use at the first opportunity. But she was the captain of the team. She was supposed to be the lead, why they didn't get dishes out in time - the primary responsibility would be hers, being the captain.
Ah well, when I think rationally.. all of us are like her aren't we. All of us at work, we usually want to look out for our interests. I do. So why is it wanting to win, seems so out of place in this scenario!!!

Beats me.

Who are you rooting for? Scarlett, you are not allowed to post any spoilers. :p

Restlessness

I do not know why I am restless. I am not able to pinpoint the reason.

Work, pregnancy, lack of sleep, the heat, traffic snarls, general irritation, health of family members, annoying people all around me.

I think I am due for a break.

************************************

Billy left MC and came back. The one single person am rooting for.. Awesome.

Coming up : my favourite festival

Diwali.

I just read a post on Bluestocking's blog. And I just had to write about it. My fingers were itching to write about it.

I love this festival. Actually I love this time of the year.. the run up to new years. The most festive time of the year. And Diwali is my favourite - I have very many warm memories associated with it. It is one festival, where I make an effort to dress up, really dress up. Even now as I am writing this post, I am feeling happy.

What is it about Diwali that lights my face up? I think having celebrated Diwali in Delhi for the better part of my life, has spoiled me for life.

a) The lights for one. I love lights, I like the fact everything is lit up. I dont like darkness much. In fact, even on normal days. the first thing I do when I step in home, I switch on all the lights. And my most treasured part of the day on Diwali, is the lighting up. I usually put a combination of lights (the small bulbs.. yes I had to convert to  these lights, I didnt have an option.. the diyas tend to go off) and diyas. I buy about 50 odd diyas, and light up the entire house. I find it so peaceful.

b) The brightness of everyone's clothes. I love dressing up for Diwali. As we were in Delhi, we always used to dress up. My mom would wear a new sari. And us kids, we would wear new clothes.. new frocks, new skirts and tops. And we used to so, look forward to dressing up. Even now I do. I wear a sari or a really nice salwaar kameez that I do not wear usually. A also gets into the groove of things and wears Indian ethnic clothes, a big change from his usual shorts!! Post marriage, I go full traditional on Diwali.

c) Sweets. I am not a very "sweets" person. I do not have a sweet tooth. But I have tried to maintain one of the traditions that my mom used to ensure when we were in Delhi. She always used to make Laddus. And we kids used to help her in rolling them up. I still remember we used to make about 60 laddus!!! :)

Now I try .. to make some sweet or the other. And usually I find I am not successful! Last time, I tried to make laddus, I couldnt get the boondi to stick together. And once a cake. Just the day before, for Dussehra, I tried to make kheer and burnt it all. But never mind, this year for Diwali, I will try yet again. Laddus perhaps? :D

And this time my mom's going to be there. So this time, laddus should turn out to be just all right!!

We also used to give and receive sweets from everyone. By the end of the day, we would have about 30 odd packs of sweets! Of course, people became more creative and we started getting nuts, chocolates, juices, haldiram gift packs, biscuits packs etc. And even now, I do it. So what if none of our neighbours celebrate Diwali - we still give everyone sweets.


d) The shops. I love going for a walk during Diwali to a main shopping place and I do not mean a mall. In Delhi (yes I know I keep talking about delhi but I cant help it.), we used to stay near a market place. And we used to visit this market every year. Besides the shops, in front of the shops, by the footpath, these sweet stalls and firecracker stalls would spring up.. there wouldnt be any space at all to keep your foot. And they would put up lights and streamers going across the road. Just so festive. It used to be a pleasure walking down the road.

Oh and the smell of sweets in the air as you walk the road.. the halwais busy making laddus and barfees and gulab jamuns etc. Even without a sweet tooth, one just feels happy!

And buying new clothes. When we were young, of course afforability was much lower. But we still used to buy something new.. maybe a top, maybe a skirt or something. And to date, I buy something for Diwali, for everyone.
As a rule, I dont burst firecrackers. But I do admire the beautiful firworks in the sky. At night, every year, the two of us spend time in our balcony, just there, for a long time, admiring the night sky.

And one thing I terribly miss now that am in Bangalore : Ram Leela. In our colony, in Delhi (yet again), we had an all boys amateur drama club. They used to do Ram Leela every year without fail. Everyday at 10, it would start. And we had to have had dinner and sit there on the carpet put outside on the street. Awesome.


I think all these memories are because of my parents. We are Malayalees and usually Malayalees do not celebrate Diwali. But being in Delhi, also probably because my mom was brought up in Jamshedpur, she used to ensure we celebrated the festival. She used to ensure that we participated in every activity - whether making laddus, lighting diyas, shopping for sweets for neighbours, going to all houses to give sweets, whatever it maybe!

Delhi also has a lot of communal spirit. We used to stay in a colony of surds and all of us used to celebrate diwali together. Actually all festivals - be it holi, diwali, janmashtmi, lohri.. anything and everything.
It is a pity Bangalore doesnt celebrate Diwali with as much gusto. But I am festive, nevertheless. Happily festive.