Chai or coffee... What will it be today?

Zero Percentile -2.0 Missed IIT Kissed Gurgaon by Neeraj Chhibba - Review

2012-01-27T00:38:00.001+05:30

Neeraj Chhibba is out with his second book, Zero percentile-2.0 Missed IIT Kissed Gurgaon. I had reviewed his first book (review here) and had found it racy and perfect Bollywood material. ZP(2) is the sequel to ZP(1) and chronicles the lives of the Pankaj, Motu ,Priya and their friends( Nitin, Arjun, Jaanvee and San).

The book starts with snapshots of the lives of the main characters (all except Pankaj) in 2006, who found a software company called PureConsultants . The company is developing a product called Babe ,which is touted to be a game-changer that will catapult the company into the big league. Each individual in the management has a different problem to grapple with – Nitin is afflicted with HIV and has money problems ; Arjun’s daughter is special and has to deal with problems on his marriage front; Jaanvee is not sure of her feelings San , and Motu and Priya have their own issues . The author takes us through the problems of each individual elaborately. T he first 100-odd pages are a sure damper in terms of pace of the book. I was left wondering what the point was of going into excruciating details of problems some of them faced. Also I thought the issue with Nitin and how he gets ostracized and slammed on news channels because he is afflicted with HIV was just over the top. Nothing much happens during this period, but one knows something has gone wrong because of the absence of Pankaj from the narrative.

Then, the narrative flits back to 1998 and chronicles the events that lead up to the formation of PureConsulants. The pace starts picking up at this point and we get to know why Pankaj was missing from the first part. We also get to know that Pankaj was one of the co-founders of the company Numerosoft and then something goes wrong to changes the equation between friends and causes PureConsultants to be born.

The third part of the story starts in November 2008 and PureConsultants goes through an adrenaline-filled hostile takeover bid. Will Motu and his loyalists manage to fight off the takeover bid or will they succumb to the machinations of their secret enemy ? Umm.. You’ll need to read the book to figure that out.

Narrative-wise the last part is the most exciting as Neeraj gives a day-wise countdown to the prospective takeover. The writing is choppy and a labored ( especially the first part). The ending also seemed a little too melodramatic and predictable.There are lots of references to the first part and it might make sense for people to read ZP(1) to understand all the dynamics at work.What works the best for the book is the pace and the fact that its a breezy read. Neeraj also explains the workings of a software company, and that makes for interesting reading. That said, I certainly liked ZP(1) better than this one.Overall, an ok read.

I’ll give it a 3/5 for this one.

To crib or not...

2012-01-25T04:13:00.000+05:30

While we are done with buying most of the Aww-scho-cute baby stuff , the chap and I are undecided on the baby's sleeping quarters. We decided a while ago that the baby probably wouldn't need a nursery to itself for the first few years,decided to convert the spare room into a guest room ,went ahead and got painted it a gelusil pink.The colour is pretty hideously barbie-land and I often wonder what we were thinking when we chose that "Mera-wala pink". I don't remember having a room for myself when I was growing up, but then things were different those days and a-little-spanking-never-hurt-anyone parenting technique ruled the roost. I have had my ear twisted a few times (just before the dreaded math exams or right after the report card made an appearance at home), and other than a few strange mannerisms, I think I turned out okay. Mostly. Sometimes I am glad that I don't live in the US where some parents live in the constant fear of their offspring dialing 911 the case of a prospective... ahem...mild roughing-up episode.

But things are not that simple, are they?What if twenty years down the line the baby ends on a couch of some shrink moaning "I am a mess because my mom didn't give me my own room as a baby,and when she did give me one it was a hideous pink room. And now I have identity issues." So kind peepals and mommas who have contemplated such existential questions before please tell me this - When does a child need a room of it's own ? Now the second existential question that is giving me insomnia is this - Are cribs really a bullshit idea or what?

For the first few months of the baby's existence cribs don't make sense and that a never-ending cycle of pooping-peeing-nursing frenzy will make sure I act as the resident crib. Most people I've spoken to tell me that co-sleeping for the first few months is ideal. Some advocate installing a "Thooli". I don't know what it is called in English/Hindi , but can describe the thing for you. Its a cloth that is draped like a cocoon and hung from the ceiling. As rudimentary as it sounds , there are pre-stitched thoolis available (with hi-fi spring action) that makes life easier for mommies.No more swinging thoolis till cows come home.The problem with this option is that it they can only accommodate the baby for a few months, after which I need to think of other options.

And then there are baby bassinets and cradles.We are not keen on both because after a few months what do you do with them.. store onions and potatoes?Then there are cribs..Will toddlers still want to sleep in a crib after they learn how to crawl / roll over? And how safe are they really? The cribs I managed to find here all have some kind of a wheel attached it it and seem pretty flimsy.And they cost as much as a normal bed does , so I am wondering if it makes sense to buy one (when they will be used only for a few years). A crib ,however can be used like a play pen and be quite a life-saver ( I can get my other work done .. yay!) once the baby gets to a stage where it can amuse itself with toys. As of now , I am leaning towards the crib, but am still confused about what to do.

So much for a thesis on baby sleeping arrangements.Which leads us back to the fundamental question - "Are cribs a bullshit idea?"Mommas who have used cribs before/are using them now what do you think?

Check out this video of one of my favourite stand-up comedienne spouting wisdom on parenting.. Somebody gonna get hit real bad!

Have a super week- Bu-bye !

The neem leaf story..

2012-01-23T03:55:00.001+05:30

Another one of those priceless Mother-isms...

Mom: Your grandma says you shouldn't be going out for walks at night.

Me: Ummm..Why?

Mom :You know there are bad things hovering the air that'll upset you..

Me: Like what? ghosts? Bad spirits? What kind of strange stories you come up with!

The mother looks to the father for moral support (and mostly for someone to endorse her view). The chap

and the father are trying their best not to get drawn into this conversation.

Mom : Ok, be like that and not listen to me as usual . Even grandma and xyz aunt says you need to tuck a

small leaf of neem into your hair before you head out after dark. Neem wards off bad things, you know.

You won't get startled if you see bad things on the road.

Me: Bad things like what ? A man smoking and another one peeing against the tree. Ma, neem is just an

antiseptic. I don't think it can keep away bad things , even if there are bad things in the air!

Mom : Oh, you stupid girl. Always arguing and asking questions..We oldies say things from experience.

By now the father and chap are rolling their eyes (a tad inconspicuously because they don't want to be caught

out) and I am trying my best to control my laughter.

Mom : Of course , it is true - that's why even grandma and xyz aunt also said the same thing.

By now I can't control it any longer and burst out laughing , followed by strange guffaw-type sounds. Yeah,

the menfolk decided that a good laugh outweighed the merits of showing solidarity and all.

Mom: Ok, all of you laugh at me! But it is true.

The best course of action, I decide at this point , is to say ok to her.

Me : Fine, I'll do it.

The mother relaxes finally and a look that can only be described as "Finally she sees sense!" settles on her

face.

So if you are out in the streets of Chennai and see a girl with a neem leaf tucked into her hair, you know who

that is :-) Yeah, mothers are priceless !

I am overwhelmed..

2012-01-21T13:29:00.001+05:30

Guys, all your wishes have totally overwhelmed me. Really sweet of so many of you to help spread the word around.Thanks Bikram and Meera for going that extra mile to help me.I'll probably bug you guys in a few more months when the next book is due.

Thanks everyone-this means a lot to me.

I realise that the FB idea was a bad one ,considering how it could be interpreted. Let me reiterate- I am NOT keen on stalking other people on social networking sites or going though personal photos. I rarely even go through or comment on the photos of people who I know in real life(in FB ). I was a little surprised when someone who added me on later got jittery and wanted to back out .

No, i am not offended - I am just embarrassed that I didn't think this aspect through.I had planned on using the account solely for promotional purposes, but realize on hindsight that it is not a realistic thing to expect ,because most of my FB contacts currently are family and friends i know in real life. Someone is bound to say something personal and not book-related at some point or the other. So people who have added me and are having second thoughts, please go ahead and unfriend me,because I think at the end of the day people who have offered to help deserve to feel comfortable with their choice.

I am going ahead with the idea of opening a page for the book (doesn't matter if i have to repeat this again a few months later for the next one) and posting a link to that on the blog sidebar.The personal id will remain available and will carry details of all books that might come later. You can add me on in whatever you are comfortable with. I am so glad i didn't pull Twitter into this confusion and complicate things even more.

Thanks again for all the help!

Edited: I have created a page for the book and have posted it on the sidebar . I have also removed the link to my personal FB page. All details about Seven across will now be available on the book's page itself. Sorry about the confusion and thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Yay! finally..

2012-01-20T18:41:00.001+05:30

I grew up devouring Mills and Boons at such alarming rates that at one point my dad was concerned about my bankrupting him . I haven't read an M& B in ages , but still have fond memories of curling up all night and tucking into stories of blue-eyed Timothy having a steamy escapades with blonde Lucy and such like. And now.. I have my own version of Timothy and Lucy (just that they aren't blue-eyed or eat scones for breakfast or are blonde) going into print this weekend.My first novella will hopefully hit the bookstores by Valentine's day!My publisher just sent me a snapshot of what the cover would look like and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

So yeah, "Seven across" is the name of the book .. and is a desi romance novella. Hell, ya..that's my name on the cover ! I wrote this book when rejections were pouring in for my novel and a strange feeling of unrest gripped me through the one month I wrote this book in. A year later, this baby is ready to be born and I feel like a new mother , all anxious and jittery.

The blurb behind the book reads..

Small town girl Ramya finds the big city fascinating, especially so her boss Abhay. A make-over cannot erase her essential persona, but the attractive Thomas does make her feel the first stirrings of a romance. Abhay and Thomas are good friends, yet the undercurrents are far from positive. The two share a tormented history and Ramya discovers there is more to both men than meets the eye. Thomas does make her heart beat faster and Abhay is not what he seems. Yet Ramya feels the pull of attraction to Abhay as well.

Who is Mr. Right?

The book will be available on Flipkart and IndiPlaza online and at bookstores like Landmark, Higginbothams , Connexions etc. Indiplaza will probably run a Valentine's day offer ,where you can order the book at a deep discount.You can find more info about the Red Romance imprint of Desi romances on the Publisher's website (www.pageturnpublisher.com).

Please order the book,spread the word around on blogosphere... and save a starving(!), impoverished(!!) writer ;-). Oh, another thing.. I don't have an FB page for the book yet and am using the much-neglected and bastardized personal account for all communication regarding the book. So if you are on FB, please add me on..Gosh! I am sounding more impoverished by the minute.

Edited: You'll find the link to my FB page on the sidebar. I figured how to do this after my drama!As far as technology is concerned ,I am clueless and am starting to turn into my parents!

Thank you and more random things about me ...

2012-01-19T14:14:00.000+05:30

This post has been in the offing for a while now..I should have done it sometime back, but being the routine procrastinator that I am (lazy,lazy me..) , I have been putting it off. A big thank you to Meera , Deeps and Uma for being so sweet and giving me the Versatile blogger award. Thanks so much, ladies.. Lately, I've discovered so many wonderful new bloggers and want to pass this award to both veterans (who have already got this award many times, I am sure) and blogs I've started following recently ( some of them don't even know that I exist!).

The rules of the award are as follows:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award (Thanks Deeps, Uma and Meera)
2. Nominate 15 other bloggers and inform them of the same
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself
4. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your Blog Post

I'd like to pass this award to..

Jyoti - Her blog is the veritable amalgam of foodie and bookish posts. Everytime I visit her space, I am drooling uncontrollably !And I am not even talking about her awesome photographs here ..

Vidya - A mommy blogger who is very popular. Her posts about the "V" family antics are totally "aww..." inducing.

Hema - A book blogger whose blog is a haven for book-lovers like me. It does help that she reads a lot of chick-lits and her recos are awesome.

Asha - A veteran blogger who writes meaningful, informative posts(a lot of them are about culture). So many of her posts have been chosen by blog adda.

Smita - One of my oldest readers! Smita's blog needs no introduction and her popularity( 400+ followers) is a testament to that. Her book reviews and posts about her lil' one are a delight to read. I wonder how she manages motherhood, juggles a day job , reads a tonne of books and manages to keep her blog updated..

Divya - A new mommy whose posts are delightful and spunky. Just hoping that she gets time to write more.

Divya - Her sense of humour rocks and how! Another extremely popular blogger who needs no introduction. Too bad I started reading her blog only recently.

Violet - A book-blogger whose podacasts are super fun. A must visit for bibliophiles.

Disha - A new blogger who I started reading recently.Her posts are super fun!

popgoesthebiscuit - A blogger I recently discovered, whose posts I relate to immensely. Head over to her space and spread some TLC,guys.

Bikram - Who doesn't know Bikram's blog? He's just everywhere..His blog posts and photographs are just awesome. A super- networker ,I wonder how he manages to churn out so many posts and visit our blogs so regularly.

Manasi - A best selling author and a mommy blogger whose posts I love reading.Wish she would write more!

Inba - She doesn't know that I exist , but I've been a faithful reader for sometime now. Her posts are witty and full of humour. Another blogger who I wish would blog more.

Madhu - I head to Madhu's blog when I need my daily fix of awesome photographs. A blog started I following recently.

Shalini - A blogger whose photographs and posts are warm and personal. Perfect accompaniment to a cup of chai.

Oh, I could go on and on.. and list out a zillion blogs I enjoy reading. I would have also loved to pass the award back to Uma, Deeps and Meera because these are bloggers I enjoy reading, but wonder if that is allowed ;-)

Now , the most difficult part of this award..7 random things about myself.

1. I am a huge foodie and love anything sweet.At buffets, I always start out with deserts and then make my way towards the main courses.Weird right?

2. I am too blunt for my own comfort. If i don't like something, I won't mince my words and be nice for the heck of it .This has often got me into loads of trouble and is something I really want to change about myself.

3. I love collecting books(and reading them). My dream home is one which has wall to floor shelves all filled with books and ... more books.

4. I love colours , but strangely Black and white are my favorites. I am a gemini and such contradictions pop up very frequently( baffling me routinely).

5. I abhor creepy crawlies of any proportion and refuse to co-exist with them. First on the hit list are lizards- eeeks! (ditto, Uma!)

6. I am a smell junkie and fall in love with anything that has notes of vanilla in it easily. My perfumes, lotions, candles, room fresheners,pot-potpourri -everything that has a smell associated with it has vanilla in it.

7. I was a tomboy (and a certified nerd) in school, but over the years have realized that I am more girly that I would want to admit.However, I still can't hold a conversation about make-up techniques or accessories for more than 3 minutes.

Phew.. That was tough! Now a round of applause to everyone..

How you doin?

2012-01-05T18:29:00.000+05:30

Hola, peeepals. New year parties all over ? Hangovers finally banished? Apppy New year to all..The chap and I had the most "happening" New Year celebrations in the history of our lives. We graduated to "that middle aged couple that hangs out at boring apartment parties where kids dance to Chammak Challo and Gasolina , with their parent's chests bursting out with pride and screaming- that's my kid on the stage!". Yeah, we cheered random kids that won painting competitions and suchlike and wondered aloud if this is what life reduces us all to...finally. Holly,molly.. before we know, we'll be attending dance rehearsals and fraternizing with other middle aged people.And discussing schools and educational system in India and nappy rashes and nipple creams and pooping behavior of babies.Gosh! And how did we bring in the New year, you ask .. Well, we promptly fell asleep by 11:00pm , after deciding that a New year was no big deal.Comes every year, right? Gosh! again. Does this what impending parent-hood reduces people to ?

Anyway, the lil one's been creating enough drama for the past 3-4 days, that one hasn't really had the time to dwell on the implications of becoming "that embarrassing middle-aged couple" or blog hop (sooooryyy!).It looked like the baby was in a hurry to get out and join us for the Pongal and Republic day celebrations, until we coaxed it into remaining indoors for a few more months.Well, I am on medication to prevent pre-term labour and after a few days of insane contractions and cramping things are back to normal.Or so we hope. I am now on a "strict rest" regimen for the next one week, and needless to say its doing wonders to the already grouchy self. How much can one sleep in a day, I ask? So much to do before baby comes and I am forced to watch the speed of my walk! Bah! Maybe,its time i get back to the manuscript that has been languishing in my laptop for the last 2 years. I have managed to write a "colossal" 12,000 words in the last 2 years and have edited it almost 25 times.I realise that can't claim a "writer's block" ad-infinitum.Time to bid adieu to the lazy me and start writing again. I also realised that it is insane to keep waiting for my first two books to come out and then start writing.75,000 words to go..Here I come, biatch!

Along with all this drama, I got to learn that I might not be diabetic after all and that the glucose tolerance test results that implicated me as a shameful sugar-maniac was a sham all along. My doc is now urging me to eat like a normal person, because I have just gained a paltry 4 kilos in the last 8 months.So,I am hogging full -throttle to make sure that the baby gets more fat and is not some skinny little thing like what the mom used to be once upon a time.The worst part of this development is that I am now nauseated at the thought of sweets. After I had stuffed my face with some sweet mom had made I felt so sick that I swore that I would never eat anything sweet ever in my life. Just a week ago I was craving Kesari and rava ladoo and donuts and pastries and whatnot.Now, all i want is my salads and healthy stuff. Crazy, I say!

Books-wise I am saddled with the most boring book in the history of mankind ( The nanny returns) and am wondering why some books become such big hits despite being so difficult to finish ,whereas other good ones sink into oblivion.I am officially off chick-lits as of now and can't stand another book with a pink cover.I did finish reading a good book a few days back (Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert).The feminist in me had a field day reading this book on marriage.A full-fledged post coming up soon on my thoughts on the interesting things the book broaches.

Umm.. what else? Did i mention that I am totally in love with Dexter (from the sitcom and not the cartoon). I find the serial fascinating. A little too morbid to be watching at this juncture, but heck how can one not find a serial killer-blood splatter analyst fascinating ? And just like so many other things in my life, I discovered the sitcom so late (after 6 seasons getting over). I am done with two seasons and am hooked big time. Its a different matter that I felt horrendously embarassed when my mother walked in when Dexter's victim was parading around naked (butt show and all).To my mother's credit,she just said " Oi, look at him all nanga-panga".Needless to say I have never been this proud of my mother before. Sometimes, parents are forced to do grow up too ;-) What say?

Rambling over..Over and Out. Have a super week ahead, peepals ;-)

Red, Green,Blue,yellow...

2011-12-29T23:46:00.000+05:30

I am not a big fan of wearing bangles , and despite the fact that I find glass bangles gorgeous, I have never "loved "wearing them-until now,that is. My lovely multi-hued bangles tinkle and go chling-chling even if i make the slightest move.. Oh, they are so delightfully colourful to look at too ! I had my traditional baby shower yesterday and because we didn't want two different ceremonies (one thrown by parents and one by the in-laws ), I had both the ceremonies clubbed into one.

The "Valaikaapu" is conducted by the girl's family and is a social function , as opposed to the Seemantham (conducted by the boy's side) ,which involves some heavy duty mantra-chanting and religious rituals. Both these ceremonies are done in the eighth month of pregnancy ( according to the Tamil calender. Rashis of the boy and girl are taken into consideration to arrive at the date). My Valaikaapu-Seematham function started very early yesterday morning at around five (YAWWWWN!). Women from my family took turns and slipped colourful glass bangles on my arm.

There are several versions of why pregnant women are made to wear glass bangles. My grandma told me that this ritual is done so that the unborn baby keeps hearing the cheerful clinking sound at all times . My mother tells me that maybe this was done those days (when there were no lights sun-down) to ensure that people could keep tabs on the pregnant women at all times.Somehow, the tradition has continued and nobody really has a sure shot answer to why this being done.My take is that it is just another occasion to let the ladies get together,fawn over the pregnant woman and bless the unborn baby.Well, also I love my stack of bangles and really don't care why it is done really :-)My grandma started the ceremony (being the eldest lady around).


First bangles in- My grandma and the hubby's aunt look on.

My favourite second cousin does her bit !

Though women younger than the pregnant women are normally not allowed to take part , we let my second cousin slip in a few bangles. Traditionally, one arm is supposed to contain twelve bangles and the other thirteen , but I ended up with around twenty-six on one arm and twenty-three on the other.More the merrier!

My personal rainbow..

The Valaikaapu got over in half hour and I rushed to change into another saree- the traditional nine-yards saree called "Madisaar".Married women in our community are supposed to wear the Madisaar for any significant functions in the family. I have worn mine just a bunch of times, as i find the draping extremely difficult and cannot manage without help. I do have to admit this that it is super comfortable (more so than the normal 6-yard draping ) ,because of the way it is worn. It is almost like wearing jeans/salwar.

The Seemantham function went on for a few hours , and thankfully I was provided with a chair to sit on while the hubby fed the havan ghee ,chanted mantras and performed the rituals. The purohit (we call them sastrigal) who performed the rituals explained the significance of the ceremony to us- that the mantras were supposed to energise the baby and make sure that it is healthy when it is born.

Eyes watering from all the smoke..

The magic concoction- baby's first medicine before its birth.

The two kids you see in the picture are grinding a herb with milk.This is normally done by two girls who haven't attained puberty ,but we had only one girl around and had to make do with a boy ;-) I thought it was awesome , because both genders got equal representation !This juice was then dropped into my nostril by the hubby and is supposed to be the first medicine the baby gets before it is born.

The medicine administration- nobody gets to see us sneezing!

I was warned by so many people that this medicine brought forth violent sneezes and that I had to control myself somehow. Strangely, I was ok and managed to drag in all the juice.

Everyone yap-yap-yapping

The sastrigal , then made hubby drag the "Seemantha" , a contraption made out of porcupine quill from the navel to the forehead. Apparently, the woman is supposed to have her "maang" or centre parting done only after this ceremony.

Hubby dragging the "Seemantha" over me.The thing was damn sharp!


Ceremony concluded with the haarthi by my aunt and the hubby's aunt

Wait.. it's not over yet ! I had another dress change- phew! and a mini-ceremony called Poo-chootal (meaning Flower ceremony). Insane quantities of flowers were pinned to my poor hair. I had short hair before I got pregnant and was coerced by my mother into growing my hair especially for this ceremony! I can officially get my hair cut now.. yay!!! Mothers,I say ..Then , we had some ritual where they placed a few coins on me (palm, feet, shoulders) and asked me to balance them(which of course, I couldn't). My relatives (married women only) took turns to move a coconut from my head to toe three times. My aunts and cousins groaned as their calf muscles objected and creaked ; many sidey jokes were cracked about how I was finally getting revenge for all that they had made me undergo that morning . Ah , well.. lets just say I had the last laugh.Nobody had a clue why they were performing some rituals, except that their mothers and grandmothers had done it at their own baby showers. A baby is being born into our family after a really long time and people were a little rusty about the actual protocols to be followed .Everyone contributed their two cents and we patched together some strange rituals ;-)

My aunt does the coconut thingie

Then, many songs were sung and everyone went and had a sumptuous South-Indian lunch ;-) I forgot my GD for a day and hogged as much as possible(sweets included). I am dreading my blood sugar test that I have to take in a few days.. Sigh! So yeah, that was how my Valaikaapu-Seemantham went. One of the reasons I wanted to put all this down on the blog was because I normally cannot remember things after two-three days ,and this is one day I want to remember for a long, long time ...

Anyway, wish you all a Happy New year and see you in 2012 ;-)

The geyser story..

2011-12-21T10:22:00.000+05:30

Been a while I took digs at the chap on the blog.Here I go without further ado...

Me: The geyser's not working.How did you manage to bathe?

The chap : Oh, that...I have my ways.

He smiles enigmatically and I wonder how he could have managed the feat. Though its not freezing sub-zero temperatures, the water that flows out of the pipe at 6:30AM is CCOOOOOOLLLLDDDD! GRRR..

Me: Like what? You skip showering?

Smiles at me patronizingly, like I am the biggest nit-wit on earth.

The chap : Oh , I use the microwave.

Me: What!!??$$$

The Chap : I heat the water in microwave.

Now , I am mentally shuffling through my collection of microwavable containers which the chap could possibly have used and come up with nothing that is bigger than the size of a medium-sized bowl.

He finally relents and decides to show me the container her uses to heat the water.

The chap: See, this is the "cup" I use for heating the water.

And he shows me the extra-small mug I use for heating milk, normally. Apparently, he uses 4-5 cups of microwave water and that makes the tap water warm. Of all the other options available to heat water(like a gas stove) trust him to use this one! Why does he use it - because everything else is too much work ! Or maybe milky smelling water makes him feel like Cleopatra.

Needless to say, I fell off my chair laughing.

Husbands are priceless when it comes to household chores, I say.

Customer delight?

2011-12-19T11:50:00.001+05:30

Ever been surprised by a gesture of any service staff? I can probably count the instances I've felt the milk of human goodness and professionalism flowing around. This cute handwritten "note"scrawled on the backside of my bill by an employee at Pizza Hut had me grinning from ear to ear.

Yeah, I am a sucker for such things and promptly proceeded to tip him more than I normally do. I wonder if this practice is followed by all Pizza hut employees , and if they do I really don't know how I've never noticed it before. Customer delight is a luxury these days ,what with rude service staff littered all over the place. I did read about an instance of a customer being delighted by a Marks&Spencer employee. This guy in the UK bought something at a M&S and was not given the proper change by the cashier. He wrote out a complaint and dropped it into the complaint box ; he had written that he would be sufficiently compensated(of the few cents/ dollars that he wasn't given) only if someone would draw and send him a dinosaur (one of those join the dots and complete the picture types).Crazy request , no? The guy promptly forgot about it and never expected any replies to his insane request.

A few months later, he gets a discount coupon and a picture of a dotted dinosaur from M&S customer service and is stunned. Who wouldn't be? Well , all's not bad with the world yet and such people help the spirit of customer service(even delight) thrive on.

You've ever been "delighted" by any company ?

Edited: The company is not Mac Donald's but Marks and Spencer .Thanks, Andy.

You have to love..

2011-12-14T02:40:00.000+05:30

I Loouuuuve this..

Don't you just love Chinese products? The labels and instructions on the packaging are always a delight to the tired soul.. I found these inspiring words on the backside of the packaging for some random cosmetic product. After reading it three times, I really wondered what the guy was getting at !

Have a super week..

Double century and a lot of rambling...

2011-12-10T18:39:00.000+05:30

After three plus years of blogging , I've finally hit the 200th post ! Yayyyy! So much has happened to me during these 200 posts , that I can't even put these changes into words. For most part, this blog has chronicled my journey.It has metamorphosed from a larvae into a butterfly (ok, apologies for the sad analogy ). I am just happy that I am still blogging after three years.

I am officially under a house arrest (!!) for the next 4-5 hours because of a lunar eclipse and am looking forward to catching up with all your blogs. There is little scientific evidence suggesting that lunar eclipses are harmful for pregnant women and the unborn baby, but for once I am ok with toeing the line and keeping my mouth shut (just to keep the elders happy). My mom has been light-proofing my room and bathroom for the last half hour so that no stray beams manage to get in . Umm, well ...

Tomorrow we are officially shifting and while I am glad that we will be moving into a new space, I am also a little sad that we will be moving out of this one. I found myself a little overwhelmed when I locked up yesterday and am sure I'll bawl my eyes out after the movers are done with their jig tomorrow. Anyway , to cheer myself up , I got myself some goodies....*winks*.

I am a huge shopaholic , but haven't really indulged in any impulse shopping for myself in a while. Today, I visited the exhibition I mentioned a few days back on the blog, but because I didn't carry my camera ,I couldn't click pics and show them to you. It was ok-ok and had the usual suspects-jewellery, clothes, linen and assorted girly stuff. I was super excited about picking up some stuff from Matsya , as I've been drooling at their goodies posted on other blogs for a long time now, but didn't pick anything up from their stall because I wasn't keen on anything they were carrying. I picked up a finger ring and a fridge magnet from the other stalls.

I love finger rings (chunkier the better). Other jewelery I wear is extremely understated and miniature -sized compared to my finger rings. My other obsession(accessories-wise) is for bags.I 've inherited this trait from my mom and aunt who are obsessive bag buyers.Strange how such traits can passed down from one generation to another..I've also inherited an unhealthy obsession for lotions , creams and anything that smells nice and fruity from my mom. My mom is a mind-bogglingly resourceful and a street-smart person. She is super active and you 'll never catch her resting for even a single minute.Wish I had inherited those useful genes instead of these obsessive shopping genes that she has so generously passed on to me ;-). Did I mention that I love buying incense sticks too? I have tried almost all the fragrances from Auroville and Maroma. My favourite is the blueberry cheesecake fragrance stick from Maroma.Yummy!

Anyway, I've rambled enough. Without further ado, let me show you the beauties I bought.You'll have to excuse my un-manicured hands (I am trying to stay away from any chemicals as much as possible).

The butterfly ring...


La..La..La....A close-up

Pretty, no? I also bought a fridge magnet,which I thought is uber cute.It's from a company called Chennaigaga that makes Chennai souvenirs. A friend of mine is a huge fridge magnet collector and has about 70-odd magnets on her fridge.It is truly a sight to behold. Somehow,I picked up the habit of collecting magnets from her and have been collecting quirky/funky magnets for the last one year. I am nowhere near the 70- mark , but am sure someday will have a super collection that I'll be proud of...


The magnet.. You likey? Cute, no?

Do you obsessively collect anything?Are you a Becky Bloomwood like me or you detest shopping like the chap?

Have a super weekend!

The post where I cant think of an appropriate title..

2011-12-08T04:25:00.001+05:30

Yeah, Yeah..I did a drama-queen number and said I was swamped and stuff. That I am. But I am saddled with a bad bout of insomnia and was missing writing here ..Hell yeah, I am back to blogging addiction, i think :-) So had to post.

The chap and I are normally extremely impulsive people.We'll just take off at 10:00 pm just like that and go see any filth that is on at the theaters. Needless to say , we are maniac movie-watchers. Though I am not too much into oscar-type movies (give me a Govinda flick anyday) , I don't really mind sleeping through a movie that the chap is excited about watching. I used to be one of those obsessive foreign-language movie watchers in college.Sometimes we've watched 3rd grade horror flicks back-to-back into the wee hours of the morning with our weekend movie-marathon gang just for the heck of it. But everything came to a standstill seven months back when we found that strange new things were going to happen to us. We suddenly found ourselves becoming something we weren't before: we found ourselves becoming responsible and boring. And thats a scary feeling .I secretly miss the times I could drink myself silly without worrying about anything.

I tried watching Trainspotting a few weeks back , only to find myself extremely nauseated and depressed fifteen minutes into the movie. I know I would have enjoyed seeing something like this before - I like edgy, crazy movies. Used to, rather. And now, all I can stomach is mush and animated movies. Sigh! I've been craving Irish cream liquer and raspberry vodka for the last few days. I know I am not supposed to crave such things, but then one can't really control such things , can they ? I was so grouchy and pissed off with the world in general the other day when the sibling, the chap and assorted cousins decided to polish off a scotch bottle. I had to contend myself with a tall glass of milk and keep peeping in on the drunkards on the sly because I felt so bummed that I couldn't join in. And I am not even a scotch drinker!

I've heard mommy-friends crib about how sexless (as in unfeminine) they feel in the first few years of their mommy-hood and have wondered how this was possible. How could one stop feeling feminine or stop caring about the mismatched set of clothes one was wearing , I would often wonder. Now I know what they mean and the fun has not even started...Though I don't slather greasepaint all over my face before I head out normally , I count myself as one of those people who puts in some effort to look presentable. Its been a while since I made an effort to doll up and am found in frumpy, behenji-type clothes most of the times.

I miss the old me and want her back !!!!

But then I feel like this every few years and am forever anxious to move into the next phase of life. Once I get into the new phase, I start missing the old one .Yeah, yeah - Grass is greener on the other side and all that jazz. Now that I am on the cusp of entering into another phase (which I've been looking forward to for the longest time) , I want to go back to the old, irresponsible me. I distinctly remember feeling like this before I got married and was about to lose my single status. Though secretly (sometimes) I miss being single , I am happy that I am no longer in the dating-vating game. I am relieved that I don't have to make one more inane conversation or flirt desperately in a bid to find the "one". Oh , the joys of being married .Compounded many-fold when you get married to your best friend. You know the hubby will always be there for you and not wrinkle his nose if you decide to remain the most un-groomed person on earth.

When I was working full-time I constantly cribbed about work and how I wanted to quit, discover myself, travel the world and do arty-farty things. Now that I have all the time in the world, and am doing some arty-farty things , I seriously want to get emotionally abused by a sadistic boss ,who would dump me with more mind-numbing work that I could ever imagine. Strange how I always want things that I no longer have ! You've felt like this before?

Ok enough serious stuff...

I saw a movie in a theatre after ages...Tintin. Realized just how much I missed the chomping-on-popcorn-peering-at-the-screen routine. I go to a theatre for the experience and not just the movie. As voyeuristic as this might sound, I am a people-watcher and theatres are fertile ground for eavesdropping on conversations and generally having a good time at the cost of others. Yeah, judge me :-)

Anyway, I thought the movie was super fun and has been animated very well. What else to expect from the Spielberg stable? I don’t think I was ever a major fan of the Tintin comics while growing up, but this movie has been made really well and kept me engrossed (till fatigue took over and I dozed off 15 minutes before the movie got over). Darn! What I loved about the way the movie has been made is the attention to small details – like the near-perfect reflections on mirrors and things like that . The humour element (in the form of Haddock and the Thomson duo) made sure that there were chuckles throughout the movie. Cute! Go watch it if you already haven't.

I would have preferred to watch the movie without the 3-D effect, though . I don’t know if its just us or other people find the 3-D viewing experience a little duh! My eyes started watering after a while and I had to keep slipping my 3-D glasses off , only to see frames of a Tintin-like person running across the screen. I seriously hope that the movie makers don’t take this 3-D trend so seriously and make normal animated movies too. Every second movie being released these days in in 3-D. I don’t care if I can’t feel the water splash on my face or feel the adrenaline rush of the protagonist being followed, I want to see a movie without a freaking headache. Is that too much to ask for? You like 3-D movies? Tell, tell…

Mirror,mirror on the wall..who stares back at you?

2011-12-04T10:27:00.001+05:30

This morning when I looked in the mirror, I was shocked. An unknown face stared back at me: the chin has sprouted a beard like the wicked witch of the east ; eyes have become close-set like some ET-clone; the ears have elongated , and are incidentally sticking out of my hair; the face has become more tapered and wicked witch-ish ; extra legs have popped and groan… a tail has magically attached itself to... Meehhhh..

Mehhhh…Yeah, I’ve somehow magically transformed into a goat.

Suspected cause: The grass my dietician has gracefully allowed me to graze on. If I am found missing from this space and not visiting your blogs like a bad girl.. ahem..goat, you can safely assume that I am off to find a new pasture of grass.. Bye ,bye.. Mehhhh , you guys.

Edit : I am becoming the goddess of mis-communication..Several of my posts have been tangential,to say the least.Lets just say that my sense of humour has gone to the dogs. Well, obviously I haven't become a goat or have metamorphosed physically , but have been made to eat things that goats normally enjoy.. officially, I am going to go slow on sarcasm.. Anyway , I don't have internet connection 24X7 and am swamped with hospital visits (thanks to some more complications health-wise), prenatal classes, preparing my diabetic meals, shifting, helping with my baby-shower arrangements, shopping for the house and writing assignments, I am drained at the end of the day (translated to no time to blog-hop). I hope the madness eases off soon. Well, a diet of veggies and low-fat stuff doesn't leave one chirpy at the end of the day too, does it ? Oh, btw.. If you are in Chennai, Matsya and a whole load of designers and handmade product brands are exhibiting their work on the 9th and 10th of this month in Royepettah.. I know I'll be there :-)

This and that ..

2011-11-29T15:18:00.000+05:30

This baby loves sweets and grease. It also loves chocolates and cakes and everything that is making me put on weight. I have graduated from looking like a cow to a whale now. I often wonder what animal it is going to be next. Anyway, the baby has a special liking for Ferro Rocher chocolates and makes me feel blue and dull if some sugar is not injected into the bloodstream ASAP. Of course, I hate chocolates and am the most health conscious person on earth. It’s all because of the baby. See, I am not like other typical moms that will say, “No, Bunty. No chocolates. Eat your salad. Now!”. I earnestly believe in empowerment of kids and all that.

At the prenatal classes I’ve signed up for, I’ve been asked to produce evidence of the baby’s crab-loving-chocolate-loving-behavior and every day I have to come up with something creative to camouflage the damning evidence that this baby has a sweet tooth. Like I have had to replace the double chocolate fudge that the baby insisted on eating last week with green salad because I didn’t want people to faint on seeing the chart. You see, I hate fibbing, but have no choice now. The things I am having to do for this baby already !

I had a glucose tolerance test (to test the blood sugar) a few days back and am supposedly a prime candidate for diabetes, thanks to my slightly abnormal blood glucose levels. More needle-poking will follow to confirm the fact that the baby can’t eat sweets for the next three months.. Of course, I don’t mind. I am just sad that the baby will not get to eat its favourite food any longer. Poor thing! The last time I had a glucose tolerance test, I was sick of the number of times they poked and prodded me with the needle (six times technically in a span of three hours for the curious minded people). But it wasn’t that simple. The lab attendant couldn’t find my vein, so she actually ended up prodding me 15-20 times till my arms were blue. And she kept chatting away with an attendant friend of hers about how her in-laws ill treated her as she twisted the needle inside me. I really wanted to tell her at one point to stop the Ekta-kapoor-serial-type story and get on with the job. But secretly I must confess that I really enjoyed eavesdropping on that story. Good time pass, it was. So all that pain was actually worth it.

The incessant rains and dull, grey skies in this part of the world are getting on my nerves. The first few showers were a welcome break from the heat and I wanted to sing some song extolling the virtues of the rain and dance in a white dress like a heroine from a Tamil movie. But after almost three months of rains, slush, horrible bumpy roads, water stagnation and stinky clothes that just refuse to dry, I am plain tired of it all. The image of me singing and dancing(waddling rather) in the rain is frankly not that appealing either. Give me some sunshine NOW! Before I crack up.

And then, there are the shifting blues. I’ve hoarded so much stuff over the last few years , that our cleaning activity has been going on and on like some five-year plan. I swear I’ll puke if I see another plastic bag containing old broken cell phones, assorted papers and junk whose origins I am not privy to. The chap’s idea of shifting, of course, is simple. Call the packers- shove everything into boxes- shift the godamn stuff to the new house. I wish I could think like that and not be so anal by insisting on doing a SWOT analysis of every single item we have. Every time I have to throw something away, my heart just bleeds. How does one reconcile with parting of stuff one has lovingly hoarded over the years? I’ll send you a bunch of cupcakes, if you come up with something brilliant that will ease my heartache.

While on the subject of cupcakes, looks like the cup-cake fever has finally hit Chennai. I bugged the chap to take me to a hip-looking shop called” The Cupcake factory” last week.The sign looked super cute and I had to check it out. Only when we went into the 50sqft space, did we realize that the sign was just meant to lure unsuspecting-middle-class-languishing-in-mid-life-crisis people like us.One look at the prices and I was about to faint.The chap wasn’t doing too good either. But then, there were other “young” things around, buying cakes by the dozen, so we decided to buy a token cupcake each and bitch about the place later.There is only so much unhip-ness one can exhibit while in the company of young-uns , and leaving a shop after looking at the price list is just epitome of uncool-ness. Thank God, we are not completely uncle-aunty-fied yet. But can somebody please tell me why a medium-sized cupcake with some frosting spread on top and a chunk of what tasted like strawberry jam inside should cost 100 bucks? No… seriously I would love to know.

Oh, have a nice week everyone and somebody please make the rains go away.. More cupcakes for the one that manages that feat :-)

A little bit of fun..

2011-11-22T13:38:00.000+05:30

....makes a whole load of difference. Watch this video -I am sure you'll be smiling at the end of it.

Fun theory is an initiative by Volkswagen.You can read about it and catch more such videos at www.funtheory.com.Have you seen the Coca Cola Fun machine and Happiness truck videos? No? Here you go ..

Smart of corporates to harp on the "happiness" and "fun" quotient and delight the customers. The world definitely could do with an extra dollop of fun. What say?

Ramsay brothers, you did this to me..

2011-11-19T06:43:00.002+05:30

" Erica Marshall of muddyboots.org "

When I was growing up, the Zee horror show was the ultimate in spooky entertainment. I waited every week (Friday nights, I think) with bated breath for badly costumed bhooths and anemic chudails with tomato sauce dripping from their chins (blood, blood!) to give me sleepless nights. Every episode had the same clippings and sound effects of thunder, cats mewing, evil laugh echoing and other cliché horror elements woven into a new story. It scared me senseless, nevertheless. Thanks to the contributions of the Ramsay brothers (who made crappy amateur Hindi horror movies and serials), I have become a scaredy cat for life.

Don’t you guys think that mirrors are spooky? I do! I do! Someone once told me that if one chanted “Bloody Mary” three times staring into a mirror without electricity/lights, one would be haunted for life. Well, ever since I’ve heard of this one, I can’t get into a bathroom “alone” without the words “Bloody Mary” flashing in my brain. I tell my monkey brain to stop saying those words, but it refuses to oblige. I always make a hasty retreat before I say the third Bloody Mary, so I still haven’t come face to face with a spirit yet.

People fantasize about all kinds of things... My ultimate fantasy is to meet a spirit through an Oujja board. Every time a cousin and I meet, we talk about getting a board and getting pally with some spirit, but again I don’t have the guts to really do it. I am all talk only.

To top all this, the chap has devised several methods to terrorize me. Whenever he wants to pick on me , he’ll take me on a “Haunted houses tour”. Every single stop on this tour has some obscenely ghastly story associated with it. I really don’t know how he’s become a connoisseur of local haunted house stories, but he does a damn neat tour. Every time, he’ll make “Ooooohhh Ooooohhh” sounds when he tells me the story of the house (for the 100^th time) , and every time I still pee in my pants. If you are in Chennai, give us a buzz, we’ll gladly sign you up for a free Haunted houses tour.

I totally hate it when someone raps on the window and makes ghost-like noises at night - which is what the chap did a few months back. I was blissfully dozing off (after seeing some Final Destination type movie)and suddenly I hear a noise.

Knock Kock.Oooohhh..B?

Now , I don’t know which ghost calls out to their victims like that , but I freaked out and screamed.

I wake my mom up and tell her that there was “Something…some creature” outside. She in turn wakes up the dad and tells him that there was “Some robber outside”. Armed with a stick, the dad opens the door to find a sheepishly grinning hubby. “I just wanted to say Hi,” he says. Abba, what man I got married to? Oh!did I mention that it was 1:00AM, when ghosts normally prowl the streets?

Have you noticed how scary it is to pretend to sleep when there are ghost-shaped clothes hanging all around you? Torture ! I hate long flowing apparel especially- they create the scariest shadows. You believe in ghosts? No? No? Seriously? Think again?

Anyway..what are your favorite horror/ spooky flicks? Mine are : The Omen(original), Nightmare on Elm street, a vague movie called "The ghost house", The Evil dead , Final Destination (all four parts) ,The Ring... Gosh,I have a whole load of favorites! You have any recommendations?

Wait a sec... Someone’s tapping me on my shoulder. Ooooohhhh…

Of sizes and random tantrums

2011-11-14T16:19:00.000+05:30

This post is going to be about weight and size and pregnancy hormones and all those vain things pregnant women are not supposed to crib about.It also contains mildly inflammatory feminist sentiments,which some men might find disturbing. Well, grab an extra buttery muffin ,you'll be just fine in a bit.

For someone who has languished in an "XS" size for a substantial period of time, I've come a long way. I distinctly remember wanting to do nothing with the "XS" tag back when I was one and was truly ecstatic when I hit the "M" mark. Random aunties who had routinely bombarded me with " How will you ever get married if you are so skinny?" suddenly started seeing me in a new light. As if the sole purpose of my existence was to strive to become an "M" for the sake of getting married to some guy who I barely knew. Its a different thing that the guy could be "XS" or even an "XXXXS" and still be considered a "catch". Because a man is a man and therefore above such trivial things.

Anyway,the years just galloped by and one fine day I woke up being too small for my "M" clothes. Many Meena Kumari-acts followed , but I was refused re-entry back at the golden gates of "M". I drowned my sorrows in barrels of long island ice tea, and having seen so much trauma in life so early, I was ready for anything.

"XL biatch , bring it on.." was my war cry.

Of course , I had no intention of becoming an "XL" in my lifetime. XL" happened to other people , not to me. I had superior "XS" genes, didn't I ? Now that I fondly (not) reminisce about those days ,I realize how delusional I've been ,because now "XL" is so much a part and parcel of my existence.

*Meena Kumari-act* and stop mosquito coil. Cut to the present.

The other day I was in some random snobby clothing store to pick up some stuff. The snooty attendant looked at me bitchily for a second trying to ascertain whether I was just plain heavy or pregnant-heavy. I glared back at her and shoved my tummy at her nose ( If you are one of those visual people, please don't take this statement literally). As if people needed to apologize to her highness for being plain heavy.

A second later, the girl smiled and blurted "How many months ,mam?"

I mumbled something inaudibly and dilly-dallied when she asked me my size. Finally, having had enough of the "sour-pregnant-pain-in-the-arse-woman", the woman left me alone to languish in the aisles.

A few minutes later, another young thing appeared and asked, "How many months, mam?"

But this one was was an "XL" herself and I warmed immediately to her. For the next 15 minutes or so , the girl tried to amuse me by pulling out shiny-bright clothes with the sole purpose of bankrupting me.

Nothing seemed interesting and I flipped my phone and stared disinterestedly like some kitty-party-conducting-society-wife.

Finally, I spotted something promising and pointed it to her.

"But mam, that is an XL.Maybe you should be looking at an XXL, with your... ahem.. si..pregnancy," she said.

She meant my "SIZE". XXL and me?!

The world stopped spinning for a minute.

She had been showing me XXL stuff all along. And I thought she was my friend. I had even proffered my life history, and offered to spam the chap's inbox with her brother's CV , all in a fit of giddy sister-hood bonding .

No, I wouldn't give in.

“XL will be fine," I said firmly.

The girl sighed and pulled out the same thing in XL.

But wait ! It wasn't the same pattern.

" I want that yellow design with the red piping and orange flowers, not purple flowers," I whined.

Which they didn't have. A few more "patterns" that I liked weren't available in the right colours too.Then it sunk in that the choices one has gets appallingly lesser as on progresses up the size radar.It just wasn't fair. Aren't large people entitled to their orange flowers? Why should we be pretend to be happy with purple flowers ?

Suddenly, my whole existence seemed pointless.

I probably looked like I was on the verge of shedding a couple of tears.

By now the girl was exasperated with my hormone-fueled demands and looked like she would do a Meena Kumari-act herself. She let out a huge sigh of relief when I announced that I was leaving.

Poor thing.

I did feel a little bad later about giving her such a nasty time.If only they had stocked that orange flower kurta, everyone would have been happy.I am sure the girl will never forget the orange flower kurta in her lifetime..At least I know I won't.

WTH ?

2011-11-10T11:51:00.002+05:30

Umm...

Of course, it is Bubble gum...

I want my childhood back! NOW! So that I can pester my parents to buy me all these new things candy manufacturers are coming up with. My parents had it easy - there was just one brand of bubble gum , Big Fun (hard , chewy mass that came with some stupid cricket freebie which boys collected) when I was growing up. I look at the variety that kids these days have and I feel all whiny.

Yes, I want to officially cry.

Sambhar-ism 101

2011-11-06T23:51:00.000+05:30

Creative commons image

I am a Tamilian. Even if I try be something else, at times. Yeah, I know this is not really an intelligent statement by someone whose blog is littered with “aiyoos” and “chee thoos”, but I have never claimed to have inherited more than a couple of brain cells from the grand ancestors , so please humour me a little longer.

Ok, where were we? Yeah, so having been reared on a staple of rasam and sambhar and curd rice for very many years, I have mildly depressive symptoms if I am kept off rice. My enthusiastic “Wow.. Paneer and roti?!” can only last for a few days, before I start whining about how I am ready to be admitted into a hospital for having low rice-count in my blood. I'll start behaving like anniyan-Vikram and exhibit extremely anti-social and aggressive behavior.

“Please inject some rice into my blood,” I’ll scream at the duty doctors, forcing them and several other patients in the ward to look at me with pity and mutter “Poor thing, last stages of addiction!”

Also , it is my humble opinion that during evolution, I have simbly lost the capacity to digest “fatty-ghee-dripping- non-southie food “ and have to seek solace in a bottle of Eno even if I eat something mildly un-South-Indian for a single meal. It is a different thing that I’ll happily jog to Grand Sweets and stuff my face with their gazillion-calorie poli. That I can digest. Because it is loaded with all the goodness of ghee and coconut and all the things that polis are made of (which I don’t know because I’ve nevah , nevah had the patience to make it before) .

Though I claim to be the citizen of the world and what not, I get a panic attack if I don’t hear “chee thoo” or “aiyoo” for more than three days. Yes, I’ve counted and hence the confidence. I am not really a “Raghu thaatha”* person, can at most times manage to say “Rahatha tha” without mildly embarrassing myself .I can even conduct a decent conversation in Hindi (applause..), but I don’t think I can keep up the charade for more than five minutes. I just will blabber something that will brand me as the South-Indian that I am. At least, references to a Matunga maami or T-Nagar Ranganathan street will pop up once in the conversation, leaving no room for speculation about my origins. Also, during November-December, my feet itch so horribly, that I have to make my presence felt at the music sabhas. Not to listen to the extremely “Kanchivaram-ed”, “temple jewellery-ied” , “mallipoo-ed” damsels or the overly-nodding-the-head maamas singing Hamsadvani ragam , but to sample the awesome Sabha-fare. What, you haven’t been in Chennai during December? What a shame!

Let’s talk weather. What, blah? I won’t make inane conversation. God promise. Though I have ample insulation, thanks to the ducting I’ve collected around myself for several decades following “best practices in food ingesting”, I say “Wow.. its winter!” if the temperature drops below thirty degree Celsius. Thanks for asking, but according to me, “It is winter currently in Chennai”. When things reach horrifying proportions (read in December and January, when the temperature often reaches mid-twenties ... SHUDDER!), I will bring out my moth-ball-smelling windcheater, pink sweater that has a picture of some cartoon character ( a priceless possession that I’ve had from the age twelve) , gloves (hideous purple colour with twenty holes), woolen socks (complementary grey Lufthansa fare) and monkey cap (brown on one side , depressing grey on the other) from the loft along with several kilos of cockroaches. I will happily wear them 24X7 till someone threatens to complain to the police that I am being a public nuisance by dressing up like a mummy(a stinking mummy at that) and scaring toddlers. My defense will be that one needs an occasion to wear fall-winter clothing, no? All you mommies in Chennai-you have another month to take precautionary measures, educate and warn your lov-hley kids about “The mummy-aunty”.

Yesh, I yam total Tamilian like that.

So, even though I have many more million Tam quirks, I will stop because..

a) I think I’ve already made my point with all my rambling.

b) You lov-hley peepals must have other work to do – blogs to stalk, meetings to sleep at, spouses to fight with, polis to make and so forth.

c) It’s really cool to list reasons as a-b-c (even if you have only one legitimate reason).I miss doing this a-b-c thing because I don’t prepare sub-standard credit reports for a living anymore. And this practice always makes one seem sophisticated and erudite and rational .Of course, one isn’t any of that.

*For people who are not aware of the legend of “Raghu Thatha”, I will currently elucidate. Raghu thatha is an extremely popular Tamil movie joke where a guy who is trying to woo a girl admits himself into the Hindi class that the girl’s father teaches. Despite several scoldings and “ear-twistings”, the boy can never get himself to “Rahatha tha..” and keeps saying “Raghu thatha” (meaning Raghu’s grandfather). The girl’s father is exasperated and tears his hair in frustration at the appalling pronunciation of the boy. So, there it is- the legend of Raghu thatha for FREEE…

** I have to deeply apologize to non-Indian readers who read this blog.You’ll probably not understand the stuff I write here, because most of the references are extremely Indian. Sorry, I will hopefully write like a citizen of the world soon.

Ok, then .Tata. Bye-bye. Alvida (Gasp!).

FREE,FREE,FREE...

2011-11-04T20:14:00.002+05:30

There are just things one doesn't tell /show their parents, even if one is on the verge of becoming a model for some hair dye company , or worse still for a dental clinic that is advertising their leak-proof dentures.I have some more time until the dentures become a necessity, though, but am still eligible for the hair dye commercial auditions (My tresses are perfect for the before-after ads). After several decades of carefully withholding classified information from my folks and perfecting the art, I am sharing all the know-how(FREE FREE FREE) to all the lov-hley peepals who read this blog . Yes,I am nice like that vonly.

Rule no1 : NEVER ever disclose the price of anything you shop for. Even if you earn your own manicure-pedicure money. As a thumb rule, always tell them only 1/4 th of the price of the thing. Most parents don't get the idea of inflation.Actually this rule works extremely well husbands also. Extra points if you hide/tear the bill in question,because you can then fib to your heart's content . My dad still thinks that a plate of idly costs 3 bucks. Everytime I tell him it doesn't, he almost convinces me that the restaurant fellows are capitalist pigs and that I over paid . No, actually most restaurant fellows are capitalist pigs, considering how they sell a fifteen-rupee MRP mineral water for forty bucks. Twenty bucks for letting the water experience the privilege of sitting in their expensive fridge,huh?

It is a different issue that when someone told me that their Diwali "new" dress cost 2000 bucks, I almost fainted. "Back in my days...",I started. Yes...definite signs of aunty-hood. Guilty as charged.

Rule no2: NEVER NEVER ever tell your mother about your haircut, especially if you've shed more than 1 inch .

My mother can smell the shortening of my hair even in her sleep. She'll then go non-stop how I let my hair go to the dogs by abusing it as much as I can.She'll shed a few tears and call up my grandma and complain about how "Children these days don't listen to their mothers" perfectly ignoring the fact that I am an almost a senior citizen myself . Grandma will then ask me pointed questions about whether I use shikakai anymore and curse all the shampoo manufacturers in the world for corrupting her "little" grand-daughter. Oh, please hide the conditioner bottle while you are at it. The main cause of all horrible things happening in the world( like poverty, lack of world peace, global warming etc) is shampoo conditioner. Oh,you didn't know?

And any salon-related activity necessitating me spending more than ten bucks (eyebrow threading is ok, because that is within the budget) makes my mother hyperventilate. NEVER NEVER NEVER ever mention tattoos, pedicures,manicures,facials,spa treatmenst, belly-piercings etc because they are all EVIL(also causing poverty, lack of world peace, global warming etc). The only time mom really didn't have an issue with me doing something "unnatural" to my body was for my "getting-hitched" occasion. Too bad I can't get married every month because I want her to shed tears of happiness when I come home from the salon slightly presentable. Actually, that's an interesting thought , which if packaged well has immense potential :-)

Rule no3 : NEVER NEVER NEVER tell your mother (or woman above the age of fifty) that the dal that you are serving her for lunch when she visits you is three days old.

Always bring out the dal container from the fridge before she comes home and place it on the gas stove (yeah , like you've just made it and let it scream FRESH FRESH FRESH at her from all the new coriander leaves you've added just now). Because when you get married , you become a superwoman overnight (just like her) and are expected to make fresh dal everyday and be of ultimate service to the husband and the man of the house.

Rule no 4: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER let your mom inspect your clothes cupboard , pantry and contents of the fridge.

Though I persevere and try to be as organized as possible , I never really am totally in the clear. If the bedroom cupboards are clean, the kitchen cupboards invariably are in a state of disarray that will make most people mildly giddy. And do hide those vodka bottles before she ferrets them out and looks at you like you are some raving alcoholic. It doesn't matter if you try to mumble something about the husband being the drunkard ,because to most mothers their son-in-laws are incorruptible , perfect and always correct. Yeah, life's like that only.

Rule no 5: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER give your parents an indication that you do grown-up things. Like see naughty movies (mainly) where some amount of intimacy between the hero and heroine is warranted. Hand-holding is acceptable, smooching is Aiyoo, Chee thoo.

Because parents are used to seeing only flowers bumping into each other on screen when there is development of any remotely objectionable form of affection between the pair (thanks to tamil movies- especially starring the pink-lipsticked Ramarajan). Always change the channel or say "Chee thoo.. the movies these days.What rubbish they show!" and you'll see them visibly relaxing. They'll also shed a few tears of joy that their child has not been corrupted by the vagaries of life. Please also hide any Silk Smitha/Lady Shakila cds that you have managed to hoard (even if it is for the sake of your overall education/development).

Okay, so hope you'll use my FREE FREE FREE tips and live happily ever after.

Tata .Bye-bye. Have a nice weekend.

Anna Centenary library to move..

2011-11-02T21:00:00.000+05:30

My blood boiled when I read this. Yeah, The Anna Centenary Library(ACL) in Chennai, which is one of the best libraries in the country is being shifted to another site because the current local Government wants to convert the place into a hospital. Though I am thrilled that the Government is trying to improve health-care in the city, I really can't fathom why the library has to move, when so much effort has already been put into making it perfect .I don't care whether this library is near the other two libraries mentioned in the news report. Connemara, the other large library in the city is a colossal apology to the the word library. The books are badly maintained ,with half of them sitting on the shelves with torn pages. I am not even going to talk about the seating facilities and the collection of books they have.

First , it was the Secretariat's turn to get in the line of fire and get converted to a hospital , now this..

I've visited ACL a few times and loved it to bits..It's by far the best libraries I've ever had the privilege of visiting. Totally state of the art ,the book collection here is amazing. Every single important book that you can think of is there .. and everything is brand new ! It truly is a book-lover's paradise.Of course, the new library(wherever ACL gets relocated) will have all the books too , but God alone knows when it will be operational .

Wonder how many more initiatives will get shelved/ changed and how much more of the tax-payer money will go down the drain in such unnecessary shuttling that is just aimed at satisfying political agendas.

Diwali,Bubba and colour stories..

2011-10-30T15:03:00.001+05:30

creative commons image

It’s been a while since I burst any crackers for Diwali .I would have probably lit the odd sparkler a few times in the last ten years . But still, I think I used to be excited about the Diwali ritual of getting up early at 4:30AM and bursting a cracker the first thing in the morning till about I was twenty years old. With every new generation, the age kids grow bored/ conscientious about pollution gets lower. My younger cousins don’t burst crackers any longer. I don’t know whether to feel sad or happy about it. Obviously, this is a good thing for the environment and our poor ozone layer, but I wonder if kids are missing out on some real simple forms of enjoyment these days.

I still remember the days when appa used to bring home a huge bag of crackers and a bunch of us cousins used to waste no time in starting to burst all the “heavy duty” crackers. We had competitions in the neighborhood as to who would burst the noisiest cracker. We always lost , because our parents didn’t believe in getting us anything more than a thousand-wallah. Somehow Lakshmi patakas and atom bombs were enough to keep up deliriously happy. We looked down upon kids that burst “bhijilis” and lit sparklers.

Anyway, this Diwali , as usual no cracker bursting happened and I got a belated Diwali gift of seeing the little Bubba the very next day. The second trimester is a very strange thing- you suddenly stop throwing up and your appetite is suddenly so huge that you start wondering if you are pregnant any longer at all. Add to that the fact that I last saw the lil’ Bubba almost two months back during a scan , I was antsy and a tad worried. I have always been a chronic worrier and despite everybody telling me everything was going to be okay, I started imagining the worst possible things. Also , the fact that I wasn’t able to sense Bubba’s movements when I was well into my 21^st week was getting me a little jittery.

But then every pregnancy is different and each expectant mother experiences these things at a different time period. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for my mother’s generation , where medical screening before delivery was kept to the bare minimum. Amma tells me that she saw me just once before I was born. An aunt says that she didn’t even know that she was pregnant with twins until the nurse handed her two bundles and told her that she was a momma of two lil’ boys. Technology just increases tension and nervousness associated with pregnancy, I think.

My date with Bubba was fun. He/she refused to co-operate when the technician wanted to take the spinal measurements. I had to walk for almost an hour in the hope that the Bubba would wake up. and turn .But the lil’ one was stubborn (like me) and refused to move an inch. After three unsuccessful attempts at getting Bubba to turn , the technician started spanking my stomach in the hope that it would wake the lil’ one up. Still no luck. Finally, as the last resort , the technician asked me to slap my stomach. I hesitated a little , but decided to go ahead. Three brief taps later , Bubba turned and showed the technician his/her spine.

I was speechless.

The tech told me that sometimes the lil’ ones get so used to their mommas that they listen only to them. All I can say is , life is such a miracle that one really can’t explain it. A baby whose brain is not yet developed and is currently the size of a banana can actually recognize it’s mother’s touch? Wow! After the scan, I stopped referring to the baby as an “IT” and it has really sunk in that there really is a living thing inside me and not just a bunch of cells.

Sex determination is a crime in India and has been banned for several decades now. We briefly toyed with the idea of going outside India to check Bubba's "goods" , but finally decided against it. On day of the scan , the lab-tech was discussing the weather with another colleague of hers and she suddenly goes

“The S-U-N is not shining today. I wish it would come out and give us some respite from the rains.”

It took me a few minutes to figure out the implication of that sentence. These lab-techs are so damn brilliant. If she had said “Sun” and had not spelled it out, it could have gotten her into trouble , as I could have assumed that the lady meant that the baby was a boy. She smartly spelled the words out , so that there was no confusion in anyone’s mind (nor would she get into trouble!). I am sure the techs are given a primer on the words to avoid during a scan, but still I was amused that the lady said “S-U-N” almost as naturally as someone would say “hi”.

While still on the subject of ultrasounds , the hubby has resorted to pulling my leg about how I teared at my first scan. Of course, I hadn’t shed any tears and no amount of arguing makes him drop the subject. He very embarrassingly tells everyone that I “cried” when I saw a bunch of cells (during the first scan only the embryo is seen;The baby shape is discernible much later ). I might have felt overwhelmed during the first scan , but am sure that I am at least four months away from reducing into a ball of hormones, mush and tears.

Hopefully !

Well, the latest of Bubba-chronicles is that I started sensing the lil’ one’s movements a few days back and I have no qualms in saying that this is one of the most wonderful feelings I have ever experienced. Bubba is most active when I play him/her a song that I’ve been playing for the last five months. I like to believe that Bubba recognizes certain sounds, though there apparently is no scientific proof that says that babies recognize sounds that they heard in the womb.Yeah, I guess lil’ Bubba is already making a huge difference to my life. I can’t wait for my life to change completely and be taken over by a whirlwind of nappy-changings and sleepless vigils.

The last few days we have been finalizing wall colours and fittings for the house and I found myself perpetually confused and hare-brained. For someone who is slightly design-challenged (yours truly) , I find the choices available just mind boggling. We contemplated hiring a much-recommended interior designer, but it turned out to be a nightmare , because he just wouldn’t listen to what we wanted and just went on about how our house would edgy and sophisticated and contemporary and stream-lined and colour-coordinated.

Well, I don’t want to live in a museum or an edgy-impractical home. I need lots of clutter and colours in my home. I am happy we didn’t hire the guy (so much easier on the pocket too! Some of these designer guys are frightfully expensive). Our home might end up looking like some Mondrian primary colour nightmare, but I guess it would be “home” and not a prime subject of an ad for a interior design company.

Have a super week,guys!

Pregnancy diaries - 1

2011-10-27T04:25:00.003+05:30

Creative commons Flickr image

Some pearls of wisdom on the second trimester of pregnancy. A typical sleep cycle of someone who once used to be able to sleep at the drop of the hat..

10:30PM Slightly sleepy, despite the Vishnu Sahasranamam that is blaring (recommended by mom, mom-in-law,neighbour, neighbours’ grandma etc. so that the baby is not half as dysfunctional as you are and learns all the good things before it comes out and gets corrupted, eventually). Personally, you would rather that it listen to Preeti Sagar nursery rhymes because you already have notions of baby being a genius and spouting “Baba black sheep” the day it is born. You shudder because realize that you are going to end up institutionalized, if you continue to be so competitive and thrust all your unfulfilled ambitions on the little thing that is now merely the size of a banana .

You toss and turn trying to find a position that challenges the laws of gravity. You try different permutations and combinations for fifteen minutes, before hitting the jackpot. You doze off sometime around 11.

12:00AM You wake up feeling weird and woozy. REM cycle rudely interrupted courtesy Pee break: 1. You curse yourself for drinking so much water before going to bed. Aimless surfing - you google Aishwarya’s pregnancy pics(GOSH!) ; log into FB twice, gmail thrice ,goodreads five times and blog-hop randomly and still feel bored ; make 4 aborted attempts at reading the simplest book lying around (A few days earlier you had picked up a Murakami and had stared blankly at the black and white patterns on the pages for ten minutes, wondering what in the hell he was talking about. Having become wiser, you decide to pick up Nanny Diaries or similar alleged-fluff with pink covers.)

Sleep continues to elude you. You end up giving the neighborhood dogs company- yet again( by now you know more about these dogs than the owners themselves) and wonder why Caesar is groaning piteously today. Maybe something he ate last night didn’t agree with him ?

1:30AM Sleep trying to visit again. Plus, by now you are bored with the book and “really” want to make an honest effort to go back to sleep. Finally you manage to find a comfortable position after much tossing and turning. You have managed to reclaim your right on five pillows in the household, so that others don’t have any pillows for themselves. They surrender the pillows to you without a fight because a) they are sleeping and you aren’t b) you are pregnant and therefore your needs(read as baby’s needs) always come before theirs.

2:45AM Wake up in the middle of REM again feeling ravenously hungry.WTH? Several apples and slices of breads later, you feel less zombie-like, though you know that this binging is going to hurt you because you have been warned about assorted diabetic relatives in the family and you being a sitting duck for becoming a diabetic yourself. Also lately you have not been able to recognize yourself in the mirror , but are safe in the knowledge that a thinner version of yourself lurks below all those layers of fat.

More tossing and turning . Pee break : 2 and 3 ; Aimless surfing – Google “How to sleep + pregnancy + pee breaks ”, rough calories of items ingested a few hours back. Groan- 400 ; two aborted attempts to read a book(Nanny diaries, again); one unsuccessful attempt at trying to do the Hindu crossword(you feel sad that you have managed to crack only “three down” ); one attempt at the Times Sudoku ( you feel happy that here at least you’ve managed to fill a few “dabbas”).You briefly try to get some writing done,only to realize that words have clotted in your brain .You give up because you don't want your novel to be bought and read by only five people (three of whom will hate it, but won't say anything bad about it because they are family). You get bored.

4:00AM Sleep again. Ah!..

5:00AM REM again. Pee break 4. “What the F*beep* am I drinking to pee so much?”you wonder. You apologize to the baby profusely that you “swore in your head”. Your mother,mother-in-law,relatives,neighbor, neighbour’s aunty, flower-seller etc have already warned you that the baby can sense all bad things going inside you .. You wonder if the baby knows how good it felt to swear (if only it was in your head).You sigh because you know that soon you can no longer utter such words, whereas everyone around you will be having a gala time saying the aforementioned *beep* word. You get bored.

This time nothing works anyway and you finally end up staring at the patterns on the ceiling. Suddenly it hits you that one patch looks like Australia and you feel this uncontrollable itch to wake someone up and share the news. You know you can’t , so you text the hubby and hope and pray that the noise wakes him up. After all, you realize that this could be the single biggest discovery since electricity and more importantly , nobody is entitled to more than three hours of sleep (especially if it is your husband).

6:00 AM Some semblance of sleep. Scratch,whoosh,scratch,whoosh- Sounds of your mother washing the household entrance for drawing the kolam. Groan. Sounds of newspaper-wala, milk-man and sundry all out on a secret mission to rouse you. Pee break 5. Ravenous again. You hang around the kitchen hoping the mother will feel pity (you put on your most miserable look, but you really don’t have to try too hard. Because by now you are a zombie and look like one too) .You already know she always does and will move the heaven and earth to make you (read baby ,again) something nutritious, healthy and low-fat. Translated as “Ughhh!”

Belly full again, you give up trying to fall asleep , because the doc and five different pregnancy books that you peruse on a daily basis warns you not to lay down for at least two hours after a meal. Groan. You make a move (stealthily) on the day’s newspaper before the dad confiscates all printed matter that remotely says “Hindu” and snap groggily when he asks you “Did you sleep well last night?” just like he asks you every morning.

7:00AM Snore finally for a few hours of shut-eye.

DISCLAIMER : Before any radical mahila-mukthi types spams me with comments of what a pig I am for writing something bad about pregnancy, let me assert that everything has been written in jest and it does NOT mean that I don't realize how wonderful pregnancy really is :-) Also , I am terribly sleep-deprived, so adjust please.

The story of the chap that loved "vegetarian " noodle..

2011-10-25T00:49:00.002+05:30

Image: Creative commons

Edit : Yipeee!!...

First in the series of Hubby's travel tales ..

The chap, being the quintessential Tam-Brahm boy, had a terrible time living for a month in a country where snakes and eels are considered a delicacy. Having been brought up on a staple diet of Thayir sadam and cut mangoes, the prospect of ingesting creatures that normally give people a fright scared the living daylights out of the poor fellow. He was promptly packed away on the "phoren" trip with packets of savories , assorted powders and pickles ,so as to enable his survival in the land of exotic creatures for at least a few days, till the Gods decided to stage a miracle and feed him the choicest of south-Indian delicacies .Or so he hoped.

Of course, language is a problem in this lovely country .Nobody understands English and his too-grammatically-correct questions were met with strange stares.Our chap is flummoxed. He doesn't know what to do. But he knows that he has to eat to survive.

Our chap , is resourceful if not anything. Using the aid of Google translator and assorted hopeless hand-gestures , he somehow manages to convince a waiter to bring him a "vegetarian" noodle.

"No meat, no egg, no fish, no chicken," he tells the waiter.

The waiter nods his head vigorously,like he takes the same order every single day form gazillion guests and the chap feels like he is on cloud no9 , because he is sure that the waiter fellow has understood him. Half an hour later, the chap's stomach is rumbling and there is still no sign of the blessed "vegetarian" noodle.He is increasingly getting delirious and is hallucinating about thayir saadam.

A little later, he is jolted from his misery with a call from the waiter's cronies wanting to know..

"What what add in noodle?"

Now, the chap is preplexed. The waiter had nodded his head , like he understood everything. He had even smiled sweetly like he was the chap's best buddy.

The chap patiently tries to explain everything again in Eng-nese.The lady on the other side of the tele-phoon enthusaistically tells him " Ok ,Ok. Noooooo Problemmmmm..No meeeet, no chickeeeeen, no fisssss..ok, ok." after fifteen minutes of verbal-boxing.

The chap sighs with relief. Finally ,the blasted noodle was going to come.This is when he fervently misses the Missus's cooking. He realizes how much he's taken her cooking for granted.

Some more time passes... The chap doesn't know how long, because by now his small intestines are being gobbled up by the big intestines. He starts seeing more thayir-saadam mirages.

Finally.... there is a knock at the door. The friendly waiter makes an appearance ,smilingly bearing a bowl.

"Noodle.. no meeeeet, no fissssss..," he says.

Chap is in throes of ecstacy. Finally FOODDD..

"Thank you," he mumbles and attacks the bowl feverishly even before the waiter has left.

A few bites into it, he loves the food.The veggies are wonderful , full of flavour. Better than what he gets back home.Maybe he shouldn't have thought about the missus's food so nostalgically, he wonders. The world had so many yummy things on offer , anyway.

He is also delighted at his google-translator skills and wonders why people say bad things about the people of this country not understanding any English.

Another knock on the door.. Chap's collegue.

"Arrey..What are you eating,man?" the colleague asks

"Veggie Noodles... Yum! Have a bite "

The collegue accepts the proffered spoon of the vegetarian goodness.

"Yeah, it sure is yum. But.....you sure this is vegetarian? This bit here looks like pork," the colleague says.

The chap's face clouds.

Pork! .."Aiyoo...Ramaaa..Ramaaa..."he mutters to himself.

He looks back at the bowl that is now half-full and feels sick.

"But.. I said no meat, no egg, no chicken, no fish.Why did they add pork? "he asks wide-eyed, clutching his sacred thread to his chest in atonement .

The colleague smiles enigmatically.

"You missed out pork and beef , dude," the colleague says and guffaws.

The chap contemplates the contents of the bowl.

He pushes the bowl away and decides to eat the murukkus and other savories that he carried from home for dinner. He is suddenly reminded of his wife's under-rated cooking. He also decides to find an Indian restaurant before he cracks up.

More adventures.. COMING SOON!

Jeez, this is me,now ?

2011-10-22T22:58:00.001+05:30

I know I said I wouldn't blog much, but the last one week I have blog-hopped more than I ever have in the last 2 years.. and in the bargain rediscovered some blogs which i used to enjoy reading before . I have to thank my new best friend, insomnia for all this ;-) I also ended up reading some of my old posts and was zapped at how different I sound now...

Everything started going wrong right after September last year, when our grand plans for moving to a different country for a few years and getting to see new places went for a toss - our Visa application got rejected . We were stunned beyond belief , as there really wasn't any concrete reason why our Visa should be rejected. We later read in the papers that cases of random rejection were getting rampant, as a lot of countries wanted to restrict the number of people getting into their countries, considering the fact that jobs were scarce for the locals . We were not the only people whose Visa got rejected that day. An elderly couple who wanted a visa to visit their children were treated so badly that I cringed inwardly. Just because someone doesn't speak perfect English or were from a third world country doesn't give any officer the right to treat them badly. And just because someone has the supreme power of stamping "rejected" on somebody's application, it doesn't make them GOD or warrant them to behave badly.

Then there was a girl who broke into tears because the interviewing officer nipped all her ambitions to pursue her further studies abroad by rejecting her visa. Another family's application was rejected because the officer was exasperated with the documentation provided. I don't know whether genuinely these cases needed to be rejected, but I just feel that it could have been done in a more dignified manner and not so brutally. Everyone deserves kindness, even people who these officers think are "potential immigrants". And these are just the cases that I had the misfortune of seeing. God alone knows how many people's dreams were dashed that day.

I had almost wound up all my free-lancing activities by then in anticipation of a move. We had sold some of our stuff and I parted with all my chocolate-making stuff reluctantly .I even stopped taking chocolate-making classes (something that I enjoy immensely).Then, there came the blow that I didn't expect- the rejection letters from publishers . Even my agent who initially enthusiastically told me that it would be a breeze to sell my book came back with nothing other than wishy-washy answers.I kept wondering how much more worse things could get.

By January this year , I was a wreck and sick of how unfair life was. Things weren't really hunky-dory for the hubby also.He had changed jobs and started working almost 15-16 hours a day. I felt guilty that he had to shoulder all the responsibility of running the household and paying our EMIs when I was "experimenting " with my life. If he weren't married , he probably would have quit and taken a break to recharge himself. That made me sick in my stomach. Guilt does strange things to people.

I started applying for banking jobs again , only to be faced with no response from companies. After not having had a regular job for almost two and a half years, no company even shortlisted me for interviews. Even the CVs that were routed through friends didn't make any difference. Nobody wanted to give me a chance to let me explain why I had made the choice of quitting and had decided to free-lance/ be self employed. I had by then completely stopped logging into FB , as I started hating any form of social interaction. I have always had trouble making a friends, as I am fairly picky about who I share my life's journey with. But I have never sorely felt the desire to revamp my social life or change my borderline anti-social ways. During this phase, however, I lost touch with the few friends I normally make it a point to meet/touch base with regularly. Small things that one of my closest friend said started grating on my nerve and I decided that I had had enough of people who didn't understand me and retreated into my shell. Yeah, at that point things couldn't have got any worse. Except that we had been married for four plus years and people were egging us to start a family.I was almost thirty-one and with nothing going per plans, things were beyond horrible.

That's where art came in. Unexpectedly like a whiff of fresh air.The thought of getting to paint something and learn something new everyday recharged me. I didn't groan at the thought of facing a new day. Then, we got to know of the little bub that was going to appear in our lives and I had to stop painting ,because I had become allergic to Acrylic paints and popping Cetrizine at will was no longer an option. Of all the things that I have been forced to abandon temporarily, this is one decision I don't regret, as by then we were looking for any good news in our life- anything to make us feel better and give us hope to carry on.

A few months back , a small publisher decided to publish me and the book has gone through a few rounds of edits. Just when I thought that my book would never see the light of the day , I had managed to get a publisher who thought that the book was funny .He even wanted the book out by this month . Though there is so much work that still needs to be done on it, I am sure my first book will be out by early next year. So , hopefully , I'll have both my babies "delivered" at the same time.

I know life sometimes puts us in horrible spots to let us figure out some hard lessons , but after the last few years( especially the last year) , I have decided that nothing is important enough for me to relegate the enjoyment that small things in life gives me. I just hope that I have become stronger and will not let these hiccups alter my priorities in life.If not for my sake, but for the sake of the little bub that is on its way.

So yeah, I just got my mojo back after a long time and won't be whining much here from now on.This probably is my last SOB story on the blog ;-)

Happy Diwali , everyone ! I'll probably post after Diwali with the pics.

Peeping in to say Hi ..

2011-10-18T02:11:00.000+05:30

Most of my posts have become such "peeping in for a hi" for a long time now, which is such a shame .I Just haven't had the energy to blog /bloghop much .With a lot on the cards, I really don't know if this blog (or my bookblog , for that matter) will see much action in sometime to come . Hubby and I are expecting our little bundle of joy sometime early next year , and though I have just reached the halfway milestone in my pregnancy, we can already see the difference in our priorities, not to mention the shift in my centre of gravity ;-) Suddenly , the incessant throwing up and nausea and all the zillion things that've been tormenting me for the last few months don't seem to matter. That might be partly because of the fact that I can safely look at select foods and not feel revolted/ horrified at the thought of ingesting them.

Also, soon we will be shifting to our new home after spending more than three years in our current "house" and though I have cribbed non-stop (much to the irritation/ amusement of the better half) about the "house", I do feel slightly nostalgic about the good times we've had here. Some of my most frustrating years were spent here and in a way most of my lessons in patience were learnt in this house.Though I can't say that I've completely wizened up, I am so much more tolerant of the vagaries of life ; so much more at peace with the decisions I've taken,however faulty they might seem now. Now that we will be leaving , frankly the only images that are appearing in my mind are the happy ones. Everything else seems like a mere mirage of reality; some kind of a hazy dream. A few more developments have happened on the work front , but it seems like its too soon to let all the cats out of the bag in one post .Will post about it when something more concrete comes up.

Anyway, like a really wise person said once( Character from the sitcom Friends, maybe?) - "It feels like the end of an era ".It really does and I am just thankful that this blog will remain the same (haunted as usual) no matter what changes in my life.What's brewing in your lives?

Anjali Venkat's "Kabadiwali" travels to Bangalore

2011-09-07T10:44:00.003+05:30

I am not yet back to full-fledged blogging,but wanted to do this post as soon as possible, hence the appearance.

Art made from Recycled materials has always fascinated me. I did a post on one of Anjali's pieces almost a year back( you can read the post here,if you haven't read it before). Anjali Venkat is a glass artist and works out of her studio in Chennai.She is exhibiting her up-cycled works of Art in Bangalore later this month and has collaborated with Shetal Parrek,an artist for this collection.

Where is the Exhibition happening..(The formal invite's resolution is not ok,hence not posting it)

Chitra Kala Parishath, Gallery no 4

Bangalore

On the 24^th, 25^th and 26^th of Sept 2011

10.30 am to 7.30 pm

For any more information , you can contact Anjali at 044 45511170 or 9840076492 and email her on Anjalidesign@hotmail.com

Over to her now..

In keeping with my quest to reuse and recycle I have come up with the ‘Kabadiwali’ range of functional art. For this range I have upcycled the humble glass bottle. Used and discarded glass bottles, of all types, form and colour have been collected and sorted.

Another aspect of my work is working with reclaimed wood and old magazine and calendar papers. For this, leftover pieces of wood are made into trays, table tops etc. Then,I use humble materials like magazine and calendar papers to form collages on the wood. Details are added with mirror and fused glass elements. These quirky pieces of functional art are in the form of trays, table tops, tissue boxes, platters, planters, bookends etc.Each piece has been hand-crafted and is therefore unique in its design and execution.

Here's a sneak peek into the collection.. Go ahead, drool !:-)

Aren't these Bottle Diyas fabulous?

Planter..

Another cute Planter..

Soap Dish..

A dish Made from Corona Bottles!


Wind Chime ..

Want to see more of her work ?.Hop over to www.anjalidesign.com. Do visit her exhibition if you are in Bangalore.

Georgia O' Keefe's magic and a milestone..

2011-08-12T11:19:00.011+05:30

I completed 3 years of blogging last month sometime. I started this blog just as I was getting ready to quit my job and in phases blogging has been cathartic and fun. Anyway, back to the what this post is all about.. I first discovered Georgia O'Keefe's paintings when i saw a biopic about her on TV and was intrigued by her story . She has influenced the art scene in a way that is mind boggling and this was a time when things were totally dominated by men.She is considered as one of the great American masters.

O' Keefe's passionate, tumultuous relationship with photographer Alfred Stieglitz was instrumental in her creating some landmark art. Her paintings were abstract and though trained formally in art, she initially lost the interest in creating paintings and is said to have hated the smell of turpentine at some point. Finally, with the help of Stieglitz, she went on to create master pieces.

In the early 70's ,she was the originator of female iconography in things as simple as flowers and skulls.Though I am not a great fan off abstracts, but her pieces touch an emotional chord in me. Vibrant sometimes, muted and understated at times, unexpectedly bizarre at other times,her paintings are just complex and beautiful to look at.

Here are some of my favourite O'Keefe pieces...

This one is so delicate and pretty..

Beautiful,right?

Another one...

A lot of her paintings have Freudian interpretations and are often said to depict the female anatomy.

Now, a picture of the great Master..

She passed away in 1986 leaving behind a great body of work that we are currently enjoying...

Its back ...

2011-08-07T06:34:00.005+05:30

Remember sometime ago,I wrote about the movement to bring BQC (Bournvita Quiz contest) back??.If you don't remember ,you can read about it here. Thanks to efforts of many thousands of fans and enterprising people, its going to be back again. The movement has roped in Colors TV as a broadcast partner . Soon, BQC should be back as one of India's favorite Sunday morning pastime.

In fact Derek has even agreed to feature questions from the Bring BQC Back community on facebook. All one has to do is post a video of them asking a question and share it at MAIN BHI QUIZMASTER (http://www.on.fb.me/quizmaster). The one with the whackiest question will be hand-picked by Derek to ask a question on the show.

If you haven't joined the Bring BQC back FB community,you can always do so now :-).Here's the link. Let the good times begin!

Hey guys..

2011-07-27T06:46:00.005+05:30

Its been more than a month since I posted anything here. How have you all been ?. I know I haven't been visiting your blogs for some time. The untimely demise of my laptop(RIP,dear baby) was also one reason I was MIA online .Whatever blogging I did was from the mobile and on other people's computers. I'll catch up with your blogs in a few days.I have not been able to paint anything because of health and personal reasons. I miss holding a paint brush in my hand and letting go. A few more months and I should probably be able to get back to painting with acrylics.

Meanwhile, this is a blessing in disguise as my book review blog has been seeing some action. Do drop by there if you want to know what books I've been reading lately. I might be posting irregularly or write random non-art related posts here till I have something to post.

And what a shame Amy Winehouse's untimely demise is!. Such a waste of such a talented singer. Let me leave you with one of my favorite live version of her famous black to back song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebf171vP74k

May you finally find peace,Amy.

edit: I seem to have forgotten how to load a video on to blogger and am stuck with the blog showing just the link and not adding the video.Helpful pointers much appreciated. :-)

From my sketchbook- Lehanga

2011-06-09T10:20:00.002+05:30

Been sometime since i posted sketches. This quick sketch was done based on a reference photo from a Lehenga ad on some magazine. Size A4

Studio pottery workshop -Part I

2011-06-07T17:53:00.012+05:30

A week ago ,I went for a studio pottery workshop in Dakshina Chitra, a foundation for preserving and encouraging arts and crafts in India. Needless to say,I had loads of fun getting my hands dirty with clay. There is something primitively fulfilling about playing with clay and mud. I had always assumed that it would be easier to use the potter's wheel rather than mold things with the hand.I was proved wrong and all our pots ended up like leaning towers.

Some of our misshapen wares.. The flowerpot in the foreground was made with the help of our instructor(hence looks good ;-)).Pic 2 is of the wheel.Nowadays,it is mechanized and runs on a motor.Back in the olden days,it was done with a manual wheel which had to be rotated by another person. The third pic is of one of the horses we made during the workshop. I am having some problem with Blogger ,so am not able to post more pics.Will post the next installment with more pics soon.

The boss is not your friend by Vijay Nair- Book review

2011-06-06T13:01:00.001+05:30

Read Review of The boss is not your friend by Vijay Nair here

Book reviews posted..

2011-06-02T03:56:00.003+05:30

I have started posting new reviews on my other blog.

Read my review of Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow,Sleeping woman here

Read my review of Manju Kapur's The married woman here

Doors .. Part 1

2011-05-20T13:33:00.004+05:30

14.5 X10.5 Watercolor on Fabriano 300 gsm paper.

Reference photo -door 212 by aunt Owee,which is a creative commons image. Thanks,Owee. I've tweaked the photo a bit . I had loads of fun painting this one and am happy with the way it turned out,which is not often.My photo of the painting somehow doesn't capture the vibrancy of the red colour ,so I guess I need to work on taking better photos.Till then,I have to make do with pics taken by others. I am looking for pictures of doors, bells,landscapes,flowers, people and windows(make than any interesting subject ;-)) to paint from. If you have a photo you can spare, I would love to paint from it. Of course,you will be credited for your photo..Thanks!. More doors to follow soon..

My book blog..Detour

2011-05-18T17:58:00.003+05:30

I've started a new blog ,only for bookreviews and writing related stuff..finally. Old bookreviews will be gradually shifted to the new blog ,Hyphenatedsemicolons.blogspot.com.Ofcourse, there are no new reviews there now, but I plan to post the review of Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow,Sleeping Women as soon as i finish the book. Bedazzledeternally will continue to chronicle my art journey.It would have simply been more practical to create an art blog and let this one be my book blog,but I guess I muddled things up ;-). Talk of confused positioning..I am attending a studio pottery course from Saturday , so will post loads of pics here.. Wish there were more hours in a day to do all the things I want to do .. sigh!

Anyway, do update your blogrolls and hopefully I'll see you at my bookblog soon..

Family outing - Watercolour and Pen

2011-05-17T10:04:00.004+05:30

Family outing 15 1/2 X 113/4 outer border. 14 1/2 X 11 painting size. Reference photo was taken by me in 2009 in ?Besant Nagar beach ,Chennai. Loved painting this one ,especially painting the toy seller's wares.

Day 13- Belated mother's day tribute

2011-05-10T08:10:00.008+05:30

Acrylic on canvas 8X 10. Something I did a long time ago when i started painting ,it somehow seems appropriate to club under the Indian summer series.I don't like the execution(especially the use of pen and the proportion of limbs of the mother) ,but this painting brings up pleasant memories of my childhood and that's why it didn't get recycled into something else. A feature of my summer hols was the "oiling of hair" ritual by my mother or grandma. It is supposed to be one of the best ways to beat the heat.

Day 12- Towering

2011-05-09T10:04:00.006+05:30

My experiments with watercolor continue. I think it's by far the most difficult medium to work with.I couldn't get the tones and color intensity right. I also thought that the composition is too cluttered. What looked good on the original pic ,didn't work in the painting. The reference pic i used was taken by me in 2010 near The Grand Canyon.It's official that I have a "thing" for towers..

Day 11 - Watermelon burst

2011-05-07T08:31:00.007+05:30

SOLD

Not been able to paint in the last few days because of some work .Posting some old stuff.This is a 8X 10 acrylic on canvas painting I did as a part of the Indian summer series(The first one was the Sunflower girl).

Day 10 - Hornbill

2011-05-06T05:47:00.001+05:30

Batik painting on cloth stretched on wood. Done in 2009.

Day 9 - second in Alice in Wonderland series

2011-05-05T10:33:00.004+05:30

Pen and India Ink on Canson paper

From my sketchbook- Day 8

2011-05-04T04:30:00.003+05:30

The models for my sketching practice are often from random glossy magazines.This lady was advertising some soap.Her eyes spoke a million words and I had to draw her. I have left the shading to minimum as i didn't want to take away from the softness of her face.

Day 7 - Before and After

2011-05-03T03:30:00.006+05:30

I often overpaint and that's not a good thing.It takes away from the spontaneity of the painting. Case in point is this one-

Before..

After..

I think the second one looks more labored because of the number of coats of paints I applied till i got the dress to be "okay". But the thing with acrylic is that it's forgiving and not nearly as brutal as watercolour,which is a saving grace in a way. Also,I have noticed that I have a fascination for ocean and anything related to beaches and water.Did i forget the towers ?. Wonder what that says about my subconscious thoughts !.

Staring into the ocean.Acrylic on Stretched Canvas, 18X14 in.

Staring

Day 6 - Mahabalaipuram Tower

2011-05-02T04:35:00.006+05:30

Watercolour on Fabriano paper . 9.5 X 9.5 in.

Day 5 - Fishes

2011-05-01T02:04:00.002+05:30

Batik painting on cloth stretched on wood.

Tribal Woman - Acrylic on canvas

2011-04-30T04:53:00.004+05:30

14X18 Acrylic on stretched Canvas. Done sometime ago.

Lighthouse blues - Acrylic with Palette knife

2011-04-29T01:07:00.007+05:30

12X16 Acrylic on canvas board.Abstract done with Palette knife. Click on the picture for a closer look.

Acrylic is great for Impasto technique. For someone who is allergic to turpentine and can't use oil paints,Acrylic is such a boon.No stink and enormously forgiving.Wonder what the great masters would have created if someone had discovered Acrylics before the 20th century.The chunkiness in texture leaves you with a kind of joy that can't really be explained. Only problem I had was getting detail work done with the knife. Especially the lighthouse and the clouds were a challenge. But then, I am learning and there's nothing practice can't sort out.

From my sketchbook- Woman with a pot

2011-04-28T05:00:00.004+05:30

From my sketchbook.Size: A4. Click on the image for a clearer view.

Alice-Pen and India Ink

2011-04-27T05:24:00.007+05:30

Pen and India Ink .10X13 on Canson paper.

India Ink and Pencil experiments

2011-04-21T17:06:00.004+05:30

New medium I've fallen in love with- India Ink. The colours are weak enough to give a watercolour effect and strong enough to block out any areas you want.Reference photo from the net.Thanks for looking.

Dream zone..

2011-04-18T02:29:00.004+05:30

I have always felt that the twilight zone between sleep and wakefulness is often ephemeral and sometimes unsettling. Strange graphically ,weird dreams and snippets of distorted reality have been a mainstay of my REM cycle as much as happy,cheery dreams about unrelated things have for as long as I remember. Sometimes, I’ve wondered if it’s just a safe way of my brain to “let off some steam” and take me off on some wild-goose flight of fantasy or whether these are more significant and hold a key to a part of myself that I am not privy to in my wakeful consciousness.Something like a Jeckyl and Mr Hyde situation.The second thought,to me is more disturbing than the first.Wistful buffoonery by a bunch of my neurons, I can tolerate. Dark, distorted frames of reality constructed carefully or thrown haphazardly to leave a strangely “real “encounter is something I somehow can’t stomach. Not that we all have a choice ;-).The brain creates a rhapsody that we have very less control over.

I’ve waded fitfully through Freud’s humongous tome , Interpretation of dreams in search of answers ,but have been unsuccessful in getting past 30-40 pages.Not that I am a huge fan of Freud or anything . So, this subject continues to fascinate me. Any recommendations for books that deal with dreams is welcome. Recently, something happened, after which I am more or less convinced that our dreams draw heavily from our memories,repressed or otherwise and have made me wonder about potency of dreams in keeping us sane . I had conversation with someone and promptly forgot what I spoke about in less than a day .When the hubby wanted to know what I was chuckling so much about,I drew a blank. Not a single word came to my rescue. Much mulling over didn’t result in anything tangible. And then,it came back to me randomly right after some mish-mash of a dream ,lucid and clear like a plastic duck sailing through a ripple-less zen pond. Needless to say,I had an“Eureka” moment right at 1:30AM,with dogs howling in the background cheering me on my discovery.

The brain and the human body amazes me to no end. It is such a wonderful “contraption” and is like having a 70mm reel running 24X7 in our head. The bakwaas and entertainment never stops. No wonder it needs such flights of imagination to stay grounded.What do you think about dreams?.Do you think about them at all?.

Image : I downloaded the angel wings from some site long time back and forgot to save the link,so am not able to give credit to the person who created the angel image.The background was put in by me in PS. If you recognise you image I've used here , do drop me a line and I'll credit you in this post.

Anita and Me - Book Review

2011-04-15T20:17:00.006+05:30

Book name : Anita and Me
Author: Meera Syal
Genre : Fiction (semi-auto-biographical)
Awards won: 1996 Betty Trask Award ; Shortlisted for Guardin 1996 Fiction Prize
Publisher: Harper Collins ( Flamingo)
My rating : 4/5

Synopsis from Good reads

The prize-winning coming-of-age novel about a young Indian girl in northern England. Winner of the Betty Trask Award and finalist for the Guardian Fiction Award, Anita and Me, which has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, tells the story of Meena, the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the British village of Tollington. With great warmth and humor, Meera Syal brings to life a quirky, spirited 1960s mining town and creates in her protagonist what the Washington Post calls a "female Huck Finn." The novel follows nine-year-old Meena through a year spiced with pilfered sweets and money, bad words, and compulsive, yet inventive, lies. Anita and Me offers a fresh, sassy look at a childhood caught between two cultures

What I thought of the book :

Oh,I loved this book!. The comparison to "To kill a mockingbird" is not misplaced,but the style of writing is different.Anita and Me ishillarious,irreverant,refreshing and poignant at the same time. This semi-autobiographical book by Meera Syal is about a young immigrant girl growing up in a British mining village in the 60's. Meena (the protagonist) is torn between two cultures: her Punjabi roots and the need to fit into the mainstream Tollington culture. She prefers Fish and Chips to Chappatis ; Christmas to Diwali. The narrative is slow and idyllic ,but is spiced with exceptionally cheeky writing by Meera. Her take on her parent's friends-the uncles and aunties that visit them and her parent's relationship with one another is heart-warming and funny at the same time. The way she describes the neighborhood and her neighbors is chuckle-inducing.

Meena's life changes when Anita walks into her life.Anita is brassy and in-your-face and everything Meena is not.This is precisely what fascinates Meena and she desperately wants to be Anita's friend. Meera expertly paints the relationship between the two girls in not just blacks and whites but in shades of grey. Meena and Anita become the best of friends,despite several undercurrents that run between them and Meena finds herself doing uncharacteristic things like lying and stealing. She knows on some level that Anita is bad influence on her,but continues to toe Anita's line,listening to her whims and fancies.Rest of the story is about what happens between the two girls and other members of their "gang". Meena learns hard lessons in life about love ,friendship ,bereavement and "grows" up in the process.

The narrative is not fast-paced,but it felt like every word in that book was there for a purpose . You can find oodles of witticisms thrown liberally in the book .A must read for anyone who likes witty, coming of age stories. I am so glad i picked this book!. My last book was also a coming of age story (The secret life of bees), which I didn't like too much This book is feisty and spirited,whereas I found secret life of bees needlessly meandering and(a little) boring.

Anyway,pick up this book- you won't be disappointed.

My rating : 4/5

Doors..

2011-04-13T07:06:00.000+05:30

This post is going to be chock-a-bloc full of pictures- pictures of doors that caught my fancy in Pondicherry . I have always had a fascination for French architecture and the colonial houses in the White town in Pondicherry.They are delightful and uplift your spirit in a strange way...Love the whites ,tans ,yellows and earthy tones of the houses here. Did i mention that Pondicherry is one of my favorite places on earth?With no further yakking,let me allow the photos to talk to you ;-)

It's not an embassy or some Govt building.Just a house that has normal people living in it ..I would love to live inside a house like that ...Love it !.

The most colorful building on the street. Ah,so charming!

Another lovely one...

Isn't this doorknob just gorgeous?

My favourite of them all....A round door!. Wonder what it would be like to live in a round house? Must be better than living in a house with a round door,I think ;-).

An old colonial house ...

We're having the elections in TN today and am off to cast my vote. Have a super week,people.

Bags of Love

2011-04-11T11:36:00.008+05:30

When Pina from Bags of Love wrote to me about featuring her awesome shop on my blog ,I was thrilled. I had come across the site when Violet had featured their photo book on her blog. Bags of Love is an UK based company and specializes in personalized gift solutions.You can have your photos printed on a wide variety of surfaces like canvas panels,bags, coasters, place mats,cushions , chairs etc - all made in the UK. They can make photo-books,photo collages and pop-art inspired stuff in their shop.They also have an idea generator on their site that helps you choose gifts. The items are even listed by occasions and recipient,so it's really easy to pick out gifts for specific occasions and people,like say Mother's days gift.

Pina very sweetly sent me some gifts from the shop,which I loovvvee!.I picked out a graffiti bag and set of 4 coasters from all the amazing stuff the shop has. In fact ,it took me almost 2 weeks to decide on what I wanted, as everything on their site is so cool ;-)

Close-up of the make-up bag..Oh,it has the names of my favourite books.The zipper is really cute and shaped like a heart. Delightful,no?.

Let me show you the coasters now..The coasters are really beautiful and super glossy.I doubt I will ever use them.I'll probably get them framed ;-).

Stacked up..

Want to see more ?.. For perfect gifts to family and friends head over to Bags of love.Thanks,Pina..You made my day !.

This and that..

2011-04-04T02:06:00.010+05:30

Wasn't the India Vs Srilanka finals a nerve racking match?.I had quit following cricket matches because i get really worked up and pace around with tension. Well,my old habit is now!. Everytime Dhoni or Gambhir went after a loose ball, my heart lept into my throat and that's when i realised how nerve-wracking it would have been for the players out in the field trying to fight back.The last 2 weeks I've been going off on mini-vacations and have loads of pics of Tirunelveli,Madurai,Dakshin Chitra and Pondicherry to share. Yeah,that's a lot of travel in 2 weeks ;-)..

Finally,picture of Sunflower girl painting that I did sometime back. Summer to me has always been synonymous with Summer hols. This painting was inspired by a trip to a sunflower field. I have a vivid memory of running through the field with my hair streaming all over the place. and the wind blowing softly,almost caressing my cheeks. I am talking of something that happened when I was 4-5 years old.Crazy how you remember the most obscure things,no?.

Acrylic on canvas.8X10

Have a super week ahead...

You want it back too ?

2011-04-01T06:59:00.004+05:30

If you grew up in India in the 90's,chances are that you'd have seen the Bournvita Quiz contest on TV. To me, Sundays were never complete without tuning in to my favorite quiz show that was hosted by Derek 'O'Brien. I doubt if there is any other quiz show for kids that has been as successful and as widely watched (and loved) as the BQC. Actually,I don't even think it was just watched by kids, as my parents seemed equally taken in with BQC too.

Too bad this generation can't experience the magic of BQC.There is hope,though.A bunch of BQC fans and quiz enthusiasts have started this movement "Bring the BQC back ". I whooped in joy and went on a nostalgia trip when I got a mail asking me if I would like to write about the movement. A bit of flashback before I get into the details of the movement..

BQC actually started in 1972 as live contests that were conducted in various cites. It became a radio show which later got hosted by Amin Sayani (Remember Cibaca Geeth Mala?).In 1992, BQC migrated to the television and went on to become "The Baap of all quizzes".

Derek has joined the movement to revive BQC and has even written to Cadbury asking them to bring BQC back. The movement is catching like wild fire and has over 1 lakh people who have "Liked" the Facebook page.Their wall ,interestingly, is littered with quiz questions volleyed by quiz aficionados and BQC fans.Sounds like fun,right?. Head right over here to join the Bring the BQC back FB page.

They have special banners designed that you can download and put up on your pages as well. Hop over to their FB page to join thousands of Quiz enthusiasts on this crusade. Let's bring back BQC,folks!.And do spread the word around..

Teacher Man - Book Review

2011-03-21T09:08:00.004+05:30

Book Name : Teacher Man
Author : Frank Mc Court
Genre: Memoir
My rating:3/5

I have raved and raved about Frank's earlier books,Angela's ashes and Tis'. I find his style of writing irresistible with dollops of self-deprecating wit. It's really surprising that this slim book took me almost 2 years to finish.Some books are just destined to get read in snatches , I think.

Synopsis from Goodreads

The author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis has been winning such superlatives since he broke onto the literary scene as a self-proclaimed "old man." In this third volume of memoirs, the Pulitzer laureate turns to one of his first loves, teaching. He describes his sometimes-bumpy coming-of-age in the classroom and explains its integral relationship with his writing career. McCourt's ability to fine-tune even short anecdotes eventually makes readers feel like partners in his apprenticeship

What I thought of the book:

I wouldn't say I loved it.It was entertaining in snatches and Mc Court's legendary squabbles with the corridors of power at schools gives a lot of scope for humour.Somehow,the book falls flat in stretches and was self-indulgent to the point of irritating me. Let me tell you more about the book. Mc Court reminisces about his teaching career spanning almost 30 years-a career that was spent among pimply teenagers surging with adrenaline in some of the meanest vocational schools in New York.Now,teaching teenagers is one heck of a challenge and more so if they are from some of the shadiest neighborhoods where education really isn't priority. Traditional methods of teaching English and creative writing would definitely not work with these kids.

Frank talks of the unorthodox methods of teaching he used like letting a class sing recipes ,taking his students to a potluck picnic (to introduce new gourmet related words in their vocabulary),asking the kids to write excuse letters and many such "fun" things.Oh,how i wish I had a teacher like Frank.Infusing fun into classrooms is a laudable idea ,but at times I really wondered what the point was. Was it just Mc Court's way of rebelling against the principals and review boards.Teachers have to stick to a teaching plan that is normally filed in beforehand,something Frank didn't believe in.He freewheeled in his classes and told the students stories of his Irish upbringing and his childhood impoverished conditions.

Frank has never shied away from exposing his deepest thoughts .In his first book Angela's ashes ,he barely manages to disguise the contempt he had for his father.In Teacher Man he takes us through his crumbling marriage and how one fine day after teaching hundreds and hundreds of kids for years,he finds himself in a dead-end job and in a rut. His hate-hate relationship with the Catholic church obviously gets mentioned (many, many times) in the book.What did impress me was Frank's unwavering belief that education was not about letting kids cram pages and pages of literature only to have them vomit it out in the exam,but was about equipping them to find their footing in the world- something Mona lisa smile and The dead Poet's society also talk about. Whatever Frank was not,he loved his students as individuals and not just as random kids sitting at random desks in a classroom.

Despite an engaging narrative,the book somehow didn't work for me in the way his first two books did. Frank just came across as a self-absorbed writer who just wanted to fill the pages of his book. Not as entertaining as his first two books.Maybe,I can't read books by self-absorbed writers any longer.. Overall,its an okay read. Not earth shattering,but a decent read that delves into the "business of education". I would recommend it to teachers and people who work with adolescents and would rate it 3/5.

I am off on vacation for a week and wont be able to read your posts. Have a super week and stay safe ,people.

South Indian Bride

2011-03-15T10:02:00.004+05:30

Latest addition to the shop is this coy(maybe a little sad too) bride. Painted her with my wedding pics as reference.No,she doesn't look like me,but wears the sari and jewelery I got married in;-).

I'm going to be completing 3 years in blogland soon and am planning a giveaway. Other than that it's sweltering hot here and creative juices are drying up from all the heat ;-).. Oh, watched this movie Tanu Weds Manu and have a huge crush on Maddy(Madhavan). The movie itself is no great shakes, just a timepass flick. And,if Kangana Ranaut could stop acting,it would be a great boon to humankind.She's wooden,screechy and generously grates on the nerves.

Have a fab Tuesday !

Kamadhenu in the city

2011-03-12T08:14:00.008+05:30

Kamadhenu in the city. Acrylic on paper.

Sometimes when you go looking for something,you end up getting something else. A scavenger hunt at the local waste paper Shop lead me to this magazine. I was not exactly looking for images of Indian Gods,but the shop had only a tonne of religious mags.Somehow,the image spoke to me and wanted me to take it home..

I wanted to use the picture of Kamadhenu in a collage,but didnt have the heart to cut it out,so opted to paint it instead,but with a little twist.Art has made me realise something about myself-that I always make the most torturous, circuitous interpretations of things , that I can never get myself to paint something realistic and that I am a fantasy-addict more than anything.The painting originally was supposed to have Times square as the background,but ended up as some mish-mash city. A few things like the JVC and Coke bottle adverts are all from Times Square.The rest has a more Chennai-feel to it. The yellow things in the background are autos(Chennai's own solution for torture). The size is larger than I normally prefer,but I am consciously trying to scale up images on bigger sized canvases.

A little about Kamadhenu(lifted right out of Wiki ;))

"Kamadhenu (Sanskrit: कामधेनु [kaːməˈd̪ʱeːnʊ] Kāmadhenu), also known as Surabhi (सुरभि Surabhī), is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hindu mythology as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous "cow of plenty" who provide her owner whatever he desires and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle. In iconography, she is generally depicted as a white cow with a female head and breasts or as a white cow containing various deities within her body. All cows are venerated in Hinduism as the earthly embodiment of the Kamadhenu. As such, Kamadhenu is not worshipped independently as a goddess, and temples are not dedicated to her honor alone; rather, she is honored by the veneration of cows in general throughout the observant Hindu population"

Have a super weekend..

Baggage and Deer woman -collages on paper

2011-03-10T10:46:00.007+05:30

Baggage.. Big ones,small ones,Hang-ups,nasty ones,hurtful ones..Don't we all carry some unhealthy attitudes,ideas and opinions inside our hearts? That is theme for this collage(3rd in the Penn series). The Octopus on the girl's head signifies the stronghold such baggage has on us. I've used acrylic paints,water colours,pens, wax crayons and charcoal pencil on this one. Collage elements are from a glossy women's magazine..I sold the prints I had made ,but the original is still available.Size: A4.Done on cartridge paper.

4th in the Penn series,the inspiration for this was the picture of a lotus pond i saw in a magazine. the deer and the woman's headgear fitted well for the series. Acrylic ,pens ,wax crayons on paper.The original is available.

Peep in for a quick hi and update

2011-03-08T09:53:00.008+05:30

What's been cooking in blogland?. I am back after a few weeks of disappearance which can be attributed to an exhibition I had a few days back at Vanilla Place in Chennai. I managed to sell some prints and Sumati original,so it went okay ,I guess.More than anything,it was good fun to meet people who are passionate about their crafts.I did bump into a few people from the blogland.Yeah,the world is really small ,if you think about it. I didn't take too many pics of the exhibition and stalls,so posting a few which I did..

Stall next to mine.. Can you believe this lady is a grandmother? She had the most amazing winebags made out of kerala Mundu fabric..yummy stuff!

Other stalls.The Madras Terrace house was there with their Kitschy accessories and clothes and some amazing jewelery was on sale..I have participated in exhibitions before ,but this was good fun.

Pics of some prints I did for kiddies..

My etsy shop is up and has 4 prints listed.Traction is low,which I am okay with as of now;-).

Have a wonderful week everyone..

Two from the Penn series

2011-02-20T19:58:00.009+05:30

"Penn" means woman in Tamil.I am doing a series of Mixed Media Art paintings on Indian women in different situations. Sneak peak of two of the paintings from that series.

"Sumati ". 8X11.5 Acrylic and pen on paper. Embellishments,decoupaged elements on a newspaper background. Sumati is a prototype of a "Perfect Tamil" girl in terms of physical appearance(a rare breed these days). Sumati's proportions and facial features are slightly distorted to give a whimsical feel.

" Macchli Rani". Meaning "Queen of Fishes". 8X11.5 Acrylic and pen on paper with decoupaged elements. Initially, I didn't Intend the painting to look Andy Warhol-ish with pop art influences in it,but finally succumbed and added the retro-looking circles.The photo frame hanging is another story altogether.:-)

I'm working on getting giclee prints of my work and will soon be listing them on my Etsy shop.. Yeah,I'm going Etsy!.Just waiting for some issues to be sorted on my Paypal account. Next instalment of more in the series soon.

Have a great week,everyone.

Mea Culpa..

2011-02-18T21:43:00.006+05:30

A teensy-weensy post for a change. The book review will happen sometime next week.

Typical conversation between the hubby and I.

Me: G, What does Mea Culpa mean?

G: Let me see. Comeuppance.

Me: huh?

G : umm.. Comeuppance.

And I am off to find a dictionary.

Edit: Thanks Suko. Mea culpa and Comeuppance are not synonyms. As pointed out by her Mea Culpa means" My fault" and Comeuppance means "Punishment for sins".Strangely, I rarely use google for finding meanings of words.I have a mammoth dictionary that I use once a week-I jot down the words I want to find the meanings of in a pocket book and as a weekly ritual I consult my dictionary,which is probably heavier than me ;-)
Have a super weekend!

Pic and more pics..

2011-02-16T09:47:00.013+05:30

Let me leave you with the pics of my recent Arty-crafty projects,as promised. My next post will be a review of Frank Mc Court's book, Teacher Man. Sigh..a book review after a long time!. It's an incredibly cheeky book and people who've read his other books(Angela's Ashes and Tis') will love it. I think I've mentioned before that he is one of my all-time favorite authors,so I am looking forward to rave about his writing ;-)

Malli's playground. 10X12 Mixed Media acrylic on canvas.

14X18 Acrylic on Canvas. Rough copy of Putamaya's album cover.Not sure who the original artist is,all I can say is that I love his/her composition.

One of the pages from my scrapbook on college memories. The technique I've used here is Mosaicing.Scrapbooks are not available in Chennai,so I'm planning to get it spiral bound after I add more pages.I am still learning to put together scrapbook pages from the awesome resources available online,so I am not really happy with some of the pages.But what the heck,it's loads of fun.

Shabby chic layout.I've used a FerroRocher cup,a drugstore envelope and scraps of patterned paper lying in my scrap box.Another photo is tucked inside the pouch.For some reason I like this page.

Another layout of pics taken right after graduation.

Have a lovely week ahead.

In pursuit of balance

2011-02-15T04:53:00.006+05:30

Sometime back (could be a long time ago.I am not great with time frames) Bru used to air a sweet little ad on TV. People who live outside India (maybe even South India)might not have seen it and I am not able to find the link on You tube. So,you'll have to adjust with my description.:-).The ad shows a young ,South Indian couple scrambling across town in anticipation of the visit of the husband's relatives, an old couple .The girl comes home with a pack of Bru.through the window because she doesn't want to be spotted wearing her jeans .Few minutes later, tada... her jeans have metamorphosed into a Sari and her unruly locks tamed into a pert plait decked with flowers.The old couple smile in appreciation when she hands them out tumblers of steaming "filter" coffee. Now,remember what ad I am talking about?.

Something very similar to this happens to me every time some relative announces that they'll be gracing the thresholds of our home . I scamper around my house trying to find objects of "importance" that indicate my martial status,namely the "Thaali "(Mangalsutra), "toe-rings "and if I am in a nice mood,the "Kumkum" box. Now,I wouldn't think of myself as excessively forward ,but to me wearing toe-rings or marking one's forehead are empty symbols that make no difference to my life.In the olden days, the "Thaali" was used to give out a signal that a girl was married and that guys needed to stay away from her. It was supposed to be a form of protection (Don't ask me how,because I can't understand the concept myself).I am just parroting what the movies have taught me ;-)

I think it's time we stopped taking "Thaali" sentiment dialogues that are an integral part of Tamil movies seriously and pay importance to other things. Not toeing the line or dressing and behaving a certain way doesn't really reflect somebody's culture. Infact, precluding it as the indicators of good culture is downright narrow-mindedness.Anyway,the fact of the matter is that the "wife" stereotype thrives on.

There was a time when I used to fume when people asked me about my missing toe-rings,but now I comfortably ignore any such prodding comments. When I was in school(a long time ago),I remember how one of our teachers,never wore her "Mangalsutra" (even though we knew she was married ).It shocked some of our Tamil sensibilities back then.But now that I am married and supposedly a responsible "adult", I wonder how a ten-year old can get infused with such judgmental thoughts.Is it something to do with societal conditioning? Or the fact that deep down,an uglier version of ourselves lurks waiting to be unleashed?.

Every time, I try to act like the nice,coy Tamil girl, a strong pang of guilt assaults me. Why am I putting on a show for someone who I'll probably see couple of times in my life?.My parents(and most of my relatives) have long since accepted my choice of preferring to not wear a Bhindi and not being a typical Tamil girl . I started cooking only after I got married and cooking decent,edible food only after I quit my full-time job. Probably,all this would have been a non-issue if I stayed in a different country with no relatives around to judge me from the way I dress or the choices I make. I still think a gold chain or the fact that you stock three different types of sweets at home or make the most scrumptious seven course traditional meal says nothing about the sensibilities of a person.

Still,I continue the charade.For the sake of what,I don't know.I have a lot of growing up to do,I guess.

Girl on a new day- mixed media art

2011-02-12T18:25:00.006+05:30

I have been experimenting a bit with paper for sometime now and am hooked to scrap booking and mixed media art big time. It's loads of fun to work with more than one medium and there is something calming about snipping paper.A bit about the painting-it's an acrylic on canvas. Somehow,after completely finishing the piece,I felt that the idea seemed better in my head than on canvas. :-(.

I have loads of cute images to work with and am super excited.I also managed to finish an acrylic,few scrapbook pages and a card.Pics of those in my next post. What have you guys been upto?

Puffy thingies.. I'm out to get you!

2011-02-03T09:39:00.004+05:30

Image from : http://beanbagchair.i-am-root.com/patterns-for-bean-bags/

Our bean bag sat deflated and flaccid like some limp, shapeless animal. We pitied the poor fellow ,but waited for him to wear himself out more and die a natural death.In the last 4 years,he's faithfully supported many butts and has served us well.We felt bad that we had to let him go.Then,someone told us about refills available to revive dying bean bags and we were excited that our friend would be saved.

We had no idea how treacherous and painful the whole process would be .. It ranks among the top 3 most challenging things I've ever done in my life .You think I'm exaggerating?

In our state of unbridled wide-eyed fascination for the magic of "beans",we inverted the humongous sack of beans into our limp friend.Coffee with Karan was on and we momentarily got carried away by some bitchy exchange on the screen, hoping that our friend would get plumper by the minute with the beans getting pumped into him.A few minutes later,we sensed something rubbery rolling around our feet.Hallucination?

No. Blasted beans all over the floor.Merry and Round. White monsters. Mocking us.

How the hell did they slip out,we asked ourselves.

KJO was the culprit,he made us lose focus,I said.

That's bull. The opening was too small, the spouse opined.

It was then that I saw what had been staring us us all along. The opening was too small and this bean-diarrhea was bound to happen.

I am convinced now that the small slit is a private joke of the bean bag manufacturer. Constructed that way to test people's patience. And let's not even talk about how slimy these beans are..They get blown away,with the tiniest of movements by anything within a one mile radius around them(ok,slight exaggeration here.)

Result: We had fractals of bean design on the floor, that got changed every time we moved toward it.Our mosaic-ed white floors added to our misery,making giving the white monsters the camouflage they needed. It was then then that we realized that the cutesy-looking ,otund shape was just a ploy to fool us. The beans were mean patience-testing objects of torture.

Armed with our knowledge about beans,we decided to forgo the KJO episode and channeled our energies into picking the stray orphans off the floor.Half an hour passed and we were still on our knees fishing individual beans and transferring them into the bag.

"I never knew it was so difficult." The spouse added deflatedly.

I didn't have to say anything.

Three fourth of the sack still stared back us sarcastically as if it was saying "Hey losers,just 1/4th down.Education blunts common sense,you know."

We flinched. We couldn't let a bunch of freaking thermocol make us look stupid. We bought out a bunch of ammunition to counter our enemy.

An saucepan.

"Too wide."

Tumbler

"Too small"

Funnel made out of paper

"Freaking slow"

Finally,settled for a small-necked utensil after rummaging through my kitchen.

An hour later,after several hundred beans "inadvertently" fell out off the utensil,the task was finally done.

We studied our handiwork with satisfaction. Our friend did look a little limp,but what the heck, he was the result of our hardwork. I don't recall having toiled this much ever ..

A week has passed since the refill and every day I find a new bunch of runaway beans tucked in the most unexpected places. I found a few inside the washing machine yesterday!. The nerve of those idiots. So,in a way my house has become like some treasure island.

Next time around,we've decided to outsource the job to someone with a better hand-eye coordination or throw the damn bag away and get one with a bigger slit.

Oh,I hate the sight of those tiny,white monsters now.They taunt me in my dreams too. No,I'm not giving up till my house is exterminated of all traces of those irritating, puffy thingies.

It's a war and may the best side win!

Yay!..A new month's here..

2011-02-01T19:46:00.008+05:30

Hope February's started with a bang for all you guys.January just flew so fast!!.I know I've been AWOL for sometime now and have not been visiting blogs or post here .Bad case of blogging-boredom,I say. Add to that dollops of writer's block and a dash of book-boredom, and you have the perfect recipe for an AWOL-act.The next few days I'll be catching up with all the posts I've missed..

Patricia has a lovely blog called ColoursDekor ,where she blogs about design and the colorful side of life.She's sweetly featured my living room wall in this month's "Walls with Characters"segment.Do check the post out here.Thanks, Patricia!. Also BlogJunta's picked my review of War on the margins in last week's editor's pick. Do head over here for discovering some really talented bloggers.

Tamil movie buffs who would like to read the hubby's views on the movie Aadukalam, please head here. His new blog is called Clapboard and Arclights and is going to carry movie reviews and anything related to the world of movies.. Please do visit his space.

Have a fabulous week,everyone.

Bling your photos..

2011-01-25T18:19:00.011+05:30

Got some stickers,paper,loads of photos ,punches, an old desktop calendar and embellishments at hand? You can create a calendar that'll make a perfect personalized gift for your loved ones.. I saw this idea on one of the paper craft blogs I follow and wanted to make one myself.

Edit :The inspiration was from this post

My new-found obsession for all things crafty(especially paper crafts) spurred me on as I sat during wee hours of the morning snipping paper and pasting miniscule embellies on the calendar.

The first layout is for Jan and the least blingiest of all the months. I don't think I am a huge fan of bling ,but my mother thought that bling would make the calender more festive...

And some more..

Yeah,the girl in the black and white photo is me :-).Many moons ago..

I can't cut anything in a straight line-so most of my layouts turned out like leaning tower (s)of Pisa. I also went berserk with embellies,which makes some layouts look cluttered and will make sure that I go in for more streamlined layouts next time. I used the base calender from a DIY kit from Papermania that came with the dates.You can create a date layout on word and take print-outs. Also , for the first 3-4 layouts,I stuck the calender dates sheet on the calendar itself.For the subsequent months,I pinned up the date sheet, so that you don't have to put away your calendar next year. Just change and date sheet and your 2012 calendar will be ready.

Do try this out!.Apart from the fun you'll have doing the project(I did mine with my mom ),it's also a great way to flex those creative muscles that have gone limp because of non-use :-) and a wonderful opportunity to bring out those sepia-tinted photos that you have long forgotten about..Happy crafting !

Guest Post :Dhobi Ghat -Movie Review

2011-01-24T09:29:00.005+05:30

A big thanks to everyone that voted for me.I saw Dhobi Ghat and liked the movie(a lot!).'m not sure if too many people will agree with me .The hubby is a bigger movie buff than I am, so I'm posting his views .His first review for my blog,hopefully more will follow.Read away people.

Dhobi Ghat – A review

You take a large black and white photograph of a smiling street vendor hawking vegetables in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a busy road. You put the photograph on a caravan and go town to town inviting views. Some see art in the photo, the black and white a metaphor for colorless harshness of the vendor’s life and the smile reminiscent of the endurance of human spirit. Yet some others look at the photo and see….well… a smiling vendor hawking vegetables in midst of a busy road. If you (like me) belong to the latter group of people, Dhobi Ghat is likely to leave you scratching your head, wondering what all the fuss is about. This probably explains why Aamir Khan, a savvy producer, decided to premiere the movie in the festival circuit before bringing it to the masses back home

The Plot:
An anti social artist with a troubled past, a vivacious young housewife with a troubled present, a lost investment banker with a silver spoon, the earnest young dhobi with dreams in his eyes and pain in his soul, their lives, their hopes, their muses, in a city that is always in a hurry.
The movie starts with a view of Mumbai’s sights and sounds as recorded on a handycam and narrated by a newly arrived migrant housewife Yasmeen (Played by Kriti Malhotra). You are then quickly introduced to the other key protagonists: Arun (played by Aamir Khan) a moody, temperamental artist; Shai (Played by Monica Dogra) a NRI investment banker on a sabbatical; Munna (Played by Prateik) a struggler with bollywood dreams who is a dhobi by day and rat killer by night. The film charts their lives as they intersect, form bonds, love and finally loose. Throughout the film you are treated to montages of every day life in Mumbai which comes alive as a protagonist in its own right in the movie.

My Take:
Right from the start, Dhobi Ghat has a documentary, arty house feel to it. While all the characters and their situations feel very real, the narrative as a whole is un-compelling and fails to keep the viewer involved throughout. There were several points in the movie when the focus on showcasing the everyday life of the protagonists (for instance the sequences involving Yasmeen’s narrative on everyday life in Mumbai) makes the viewing tedious. What makes sitting through such pieces possible however, is the excellent performance from the entire cast. While Aamir’s acting abilities need no endorsement, it is Prateik who delights with his standout and nuanced portrayal of Munna. Finally, for a viewer so used to seeing celluloid stories taken to a logical end, the lack of a conclusion left one wondering as to the point of it all

Verdict:
For a moviegoer fed on an appetite of spicy masala, Dhobi Ghat resembles a salad devoid of dressing – healthy, nutritious but unappetizing

Vote for me ,pretty please

2011-01-21T09:17:00.004+05:30

BlogJunta has selected this blog for the final round of Best Of Indian Blogosphere 2010 under the category books. Yayyy!

Edit : The Poll has moved here. Vote for me here!.

Pleeaaasee Vote for me ,that is, if you think my blog deserves it.Polling is open till 13th Feb 2011. Thanks, guys.

How's the weekend looking,btw?. I am going to be seeing Dhobi Ghat tonite and am super excited..Loved the trailers and have been waiting for the movie to release with bated breath.

A Child called It by Dave Pelzer

2011-01-19T19:13:00.004+05:30

Book name : A child called it
Author: Dave Pelzer
ISBN : 1558743669 (ISBN13: 9781558743663)
First published in 1992 by HCI
Genre: Memoir
My rating : 3/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."

Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.

My thoughts
A child called It is by no means an easy book to read.I had read reviews about the book and had wanted to pick it up for the longest time. Now that I am done with the book,i don't know what to think about it. It is a brutal book and definitely not something I would recommend to the weak-stomached. The language is simple and the narrative linear. Dave's description of the abuse his mother puts him through is graphic and cringe inducing many times.My stomach heaved as i read about Dave's mother treating him worse than a dog by starving him and asking him to drink ammonia and other insanely inhuman things.It read like a manual on torture 101. How can someone be so inhuman to do that to her own child ,I wonder. She had to be severely damaged person .

What I also wonder about is why did it take so long for the school's management to catch up on what was wrong with a kid that routinely came into school with bruises all over him.I read elsewhere that a huge controversy was kicked up with some people accusing Dave of imagining the abuse.Whatever the truth is,I just hope that Dave has healed. The best thing about the book ,according to me was the matter-of-fact narration .Dave story abuse and recovery has been broken up into 3 books ,when it could have been easily condensed into a single gripping book. Hope is a thread that runs through most of the book and despite the inhuman things Dave's mother puts him through,I could see his spirit shining through.

In a strange way, the more Dave's mother abused him ,the more he craved for her attention.This is something I've read about elsewhere as well as a ploy abusers make use of to make sure that the circle of abuse continues,because all he needed to do was to tell someone about his mother's abuse for his ordeal to end. Overall,a short,gripping read.Depressing too,but definitely a book I would recommend. I'll go with a rating of 3/5 for this book and would definitely want to grab a copy of the sequel just to read about how Dave managed to put back his bad childhood behind him and forged ahead with his life.

It's also heartening to learn about Dave's efforts at educating school children about abuse by visiting schools and interacting with children. One out of five children being abused is a statistic that makes me shudder.Dave is contributing in whatever small way he can and I salute his spirit.

It's a monday !

2011-01-17T09:59:00.009+05:30

Last week ,i managed to read only one book-Monster by J.Kellerman.I managed to go to the local book fair and another store and picked up loads of books. I managed to get the first edition of the Lollipop shoes with Joanne's autograph for a bargain and it's not even a second hand copy(yay!!).It apparently sat in the shop's storage facility for 2 years before they decided to give it away at a bargain. I guess the secret to shopping at second hand shops is knowing what you're looking for and having oodles of patience.At least when it comes to book-shopping ,I have unspeakable amounts of patience stashed up inside me :-)

I started reading this one yesterday and should be able to finish it soon. The book is exceptionally sad and about the abuse that the author,Dave Pelzer suffered at the hands of his mother.The book is very disturbing and my heart goes out to poor Dave.

I started reading Never let me go almost a week back, but had to put it away because I hought I wasn't in the right frame of mind to appreciate the book.The book has received glowing reviews and has also been adapted into a movie.I'm looking forward to finishing this book as well.

Other books i shopped last week are -The secret life of bees, Running with scissors, The Mermaid chair(also by Sue Monk Kidd), Prison and Chocolate Cake by Nayantara Sehgal,Gone with the Wind, Northanger Abbey and a book on anecdotes about writers.I also bummed The train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh from a friend.I also have to finish two library books - The secret Son and Breathing in colour .Gosh ,so much to read and so little time!.

Have a wonderful week !

Music from Sponge bob's gob?

2011-01-15T23:18:00.003+05:30

Christmas is long gone,but there's this one song that I seem to be singing even in my sleep(if that is actually possible!). It all started when I saw the clipping of music made with Ipads a bunch of people from North Point Community church.There is a very high possibility that some of you'd have already seen it before,going by how popular this clip is ,but I'm sure its worth another look.

Isn't that Sponge bob square pants looking thingie cute? Now for the original song by Jose Feliciano

I am now officially in love with Spanish!.This song's somehow managed to nudge Rudolf the Reindeer off my favorite Christmas-related song/carol. Can you name all the Reindeers,btw? :-)