Gratitude Thursday

Today I'm grateful for

my husband and his love

the very few good friends surrounding me

Gmail, for saving memories that I would never have thought to save

the key

Time has the answers locked up

The key is to give it some time

So Long Pluto!

Last morning we went to the beach to watch the sunrise. We fought through 30 minutes of thick traffic at 5:30 in the morning and reached the beach just in time to catch the big ball rise in brilliance. It was a serene moment. We were wordless for a while squinting at the red ball watching it turn bright orange; listening to the waves while traditional fishing nets were folded up against the shore; their morning tasks completed. We often take pleasures such as having the shoreline so close to us for granted, because we were raised right here. But for those few desi North-Indian couples basking in the morning warm waters; it was their only chance to enjoy the Indian Ocean.

I couldn't help but imagine what lay beyond the big blue vastness. I've always been intrigued with the earth and space; Nasa's newest discoveries, and of course the newest "space elevator". It was then that I realised how my husband and I come from such simpler times. We come from a time when

• We would wait for that one Saturday a month when our fathers would promise to take us to the much awaited exhibition and later to the beach for the evening.
• A single stick of ice cream (not playstations) was the blackmail for better marks in class tests.
• Tuitions weren't the order of the day.
• The moon and stars were both the same distance from Earth (or so we were told, until science proved otherwise)
• We could spend the whole of our childhood and teen life without ever having to use the mobile phone once.
• We could buy our whole year's stationary in under 200 bucks.
• We could appreciate pop music without having to deal with the likes of Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber.
• We were taught that Pluto is still considered the 9th planet of our milky way!

Reality hits us hard when we know that we are all too consumed with our racing lives that we barely have time to stop and watch the waves of time racing past us. All we hear is the whoosing sound it makes when it's already too late.

My Life Rocks

I work for a technology and business solutions company that has a global presence. Yesterday we received an email from the HR team introducing some kind of calendar of events to all of its employees. It contained an attachment with the word calendar spelled as "calender" and the heading within the spreadsheet containing the word "calander" in it. I, on the other hand, had all the time on my hands to spot these mistakes. Oh well, My Life Is Average!

Boxing day

Nope, I'm not talking about the day after Christmas. Although the 26th December holds significance for other reasons. I'll come to that later.

It was an evening of punching on the face and neck. Both my husband and I boxed! Of sweaty foreheads and aching arms. We think its one way to exercise those lazy muscles while still in the comfort of our home. He bet me in tennis and earned applause (and saw some 16-something year old cheer girls do their thing) while I kicked his ass in bowling. I must mention, I've never gone bowling before. He says I'm a natural :D. Oh and we both kicked the crap out of our fellow boxer too. I've never boxed before in my life; not even wrestled with my sister. Phew! Some evening!

Anyhow, I now have a sore shoulder and an extremely happy husband at home. Not the kind that likes to laze on the couch. He's up and active and can't keep his hands off his new Nintendo Wii!

Gratitude Wednesday

I am grateful for the the loving, caring hand on mine, and the peace that lays upon me when he is around.

Karthigai Deepam at home

Project Passport!

We planned, then planned some more, and then planned again. After planning for over two months, we went back to point A, and re-planned all over again. Notice, we didn't even get close to executing the plan.

Sounds like planning any other project at work, doesn't it? What we did was plan for Sathish's passport "re-issue". Rightly named, the whole process is nothing but a big fat "issue"! If you're going for a passport re-issue in India, prepare for some grueling tasks before and after the actual application submission. In all fair means, his passport re-issue wasn't straight-forward. We had an address change and a name change to make matters a little more complex. The mental agony we went through is inexplicable!

After a stressful three straight months of doing nothing but gathering documents for his re-issue, he has finally submitted the application at 2:00 PM yesterday and has received the golden paper; the receipt for payment and submission of application.

The wait will be a while longer for the new passport to arrive, so I pray to the Almighty for a teeny bit of patience.

So now you know my excuse for not having posted in a while.

And oh, I'm still due to write about our Goa escape; I will come back with some pictures soon.

Addendum: His passport arrived. He had to go in person to the postoffice to collect it. But here it is; all shiny and neat. I'm in love with the new passport. Now all we have to do is stamp up all the pages by trotting across the globe! :D

Promises Promises!

Suddenly, October seems to be a terrible month to agree to do something. After deciding to stop rambling through this media several months ago, I had taken a very hard decision on myself and killed all inspiration to write. It’s hard to believe more than a year has gone by since I last wrote anything sensible. While that takes time to sink in, I am still coming to terms with my husband who wants me to focus and start writing more.

During the time that I was away from my blog, I traveled a lot, didn’t change jobs, fell madly in love, got married, and have had the best time of my life. Oh and my sister had a baby boy!

But then again, October still seems like a tough time to agree to do something like starting to write again! With my husband’s insistence, I have decided to write one teeny post at a time. “You have until October the 15^th,” he said in that calm, composed manner he usually speaks to me. Wide-eyed I asked why? He said “Because you need to set a target for everything. This time it’s before our little vacation.” He also offered to help if I needed. But I’m a fairly impulsive woman and can’t really think of a topic to write on; much less take help from someone. So here it is. I've convinced myself to churn out one new post before we go away to Goa.

Oh and also because I am insanely romantic and absolutely adore my husband! *smiles*

Before I started writing, I visited some blogger friends’ pages for inspiration and was surprised to learn that most of them seem to have neglected their space for quite sometime now. Only moments after I started writing this morning, I realized how much I missed blog-hopping and answering to comments left by fellow bloggers. So I’m going to welcome my baby back with a fresh new start and a refreshing look. I’m going to be serious, thoughtful, curious, dorky, funny, and everything that I was on this page.

This new step is my way of telling the world how much I value my husband’s views and how much I care for the best thing that has ever happened to me!

Thanks everyone for reading!

It's about time I put her to sleep. Since her birth over two years ago, she has been the sole and most imaginative outlet for me. The way I spend time for myself was through this medium. By simply by writing, publishing, watching it float around far and wide, and looking forward to the comments that shoot back at me. Some consolations, some differing opinions, some others in total agreement.

Now it wouldn't be fair to this page, if I let her sit and rot in her own words dating back to August 2008, would it? With absolute lack of inspiration to write I know I'm not getting any closer to the next post or the one following it. If only I continued to read the posts that you guys come up with; that would be enough inspiration!

Before I digress, this blog will be closed for readership at the end of this year. Thanks to everyone that gave me a pat in the back to get me to continue writing. I owe you a lot. Have a great New Year. It is but inevitable that you have a good one. After all, it is us who make our new year a good one, right?

cotton candy and white noise

I am way behind on my reading. Also way behind on updating my blog. Also way behind on following some (most) of them. But first of all, I have for you this.

Today has been an absolutely delightful day. The weather outside was oh-so-perfect this morning. In fact, we’ve had pleasant weather for over two weeks now. But I’m not going to bore you with the details of the weather we experience on this side of the world.

I haven’t written in a while, that’s probably why I’m talking gibberish. Of late so many things have been happening around me. My friends are migrating. Most of them are married or getting married. Some of them have lil angels and dolls to play with. Some are expecting. Some others are changing jobs. I’m spending less and less time with my sister ‘cos she’s getting busier with her life. AND it’s frustrating to know that I’m getting no where. I promise I won’t sulk because none of this is life altering.

Here’s a little story for you.

A little girl lives with her 8-something-member family that serves as domestic help for a large house right next door. She sings her heart away every morning to the not-so-prefect tune of Dhoom machale. By the looks of her, I can bet she can’t be a year older than seven. I would even say she’s just about six. But you’ll never know how deceptive looks can be when children her age are malnourished. She’s probably older than that… I’m not going to venture into that subject though.

Coming back to the song she sings every morning. She probably knows only those two words, or she prefers to sing away only those two, but she definitely doesn’t feel the need to go any further. While I sit in my third floor balcony, the morning news on one hand and a mug of steaming hot tea on the other, she is already at work. She has to fill a large empty tub with water that she pumps out of a hand pump into a smaller manageable bucket. She carries this around to where the tub is kept, a few feet away, and pours into the tub which can hold about 400 liters. I can’t begin to imagine how many trips she would have to make to fill the tub which is little taller than she is.

All this I watch from my third floor apartment balcony and feel ashamed to wonder about the incomplete song. Why didn’t I ever ponder about her homework? Did she complete it? Isn’t she’s supposed to get ready to go to school in a couple of hours? Wouldn’t her school bus come over to pick her up soon? Why didn’t any of that thought enter my mind? Here I am wondering why she sings only two words of a song. The irony of it being, I conveniently considered her to continue her family tradition of performing menial work for well-off homes.

Oh did I mention she chirps away happily while doing her tasks? Not one morning have I seen her feel remorseful of what she did. That is unquestionably some lesson I must learn!

Not so long ago, with a little push from Times of India’s powerful campaign Teach India, I decided to do my bit to help the thousands of little girls like her to sing. Make noise. Or squeal in joy upon riding a merry-go-round in a school playground. Even if her school is run by an NGO and taught by an amateur like myself. TeachIndia isn’t a new concept, but I’m insanely excited about it.

So as soon as TOI contacts me with more information, I’m going to be spending 4 hours a week changing the face of our nation. Are you interested to give the country a little of what your parents gave you? Do you live in one of the metros with a little time to spare this 2008? I’m a Teach India volunteer! You could be too.

India is a unique song. But it desperately needs people like us to change the way the world hears it. Now, it wouldn’t hurt to shriek a little to help bring tens of thousands of voices together, would it?

While we’re on that topic, here’s a wonderful song for you. Added advantage if you understood Hindi. And this time, I promise to be back sooner to attend to those meme’s.

Happy National Day everybody!

Exploration of Democracy

When she asks me "May I open your bag ma'am?" in her godforsaken monotone, I'm oh-so-tempted to say "You know, each time you guys do that, I want to say NOOOO! But in a strangely weird way, you have more power than me!!! So yeah, go on. It's a free country (At least for you)." :|

Each time I pass through security check I realize a tad too late that I may have a bottle of coke or water in my hand baggage. Phew!

angels climb down

persistent precaution
in nurturing fertile thoughts
preciously preserved clandestine events
visions called nightmares
twisting into realism

musing upon a futile art
an art called camo
mulling over an action
an action fortunately called illusion

redolent of the inevitable truth, that
it’s nice to stay together
but sometimes
nicer to be away

and then, they came by
or must I say, flew by
with invisible wings
and the invisible cure
to pour in a little perseverance
and to pour out a little

a dimpled smile
or a child-like hug
cheered up some more
for the best days to come

When God begins to test the power of forbearance, he sends an angel right behind to pull it off with ease. In a much better way than you thought you could. The best deal about this being, the angel won’t expect a tinker’s damn worth in return for the favour.

On this day I am especially grateful for some of the best people that happened in my life. Thank you for everything!

I owe an apology for being away for so long. Thanks to everyone that asked about my silence. Oh and do check out my photo blog.

Drafted on June 11, 2008.

Sooo good

So good to wake up to the familiar aroma of filter coffee
So good to fight my way through the other impatient drivers of Madras that has little or no road sense
So good to wear sleeveless clothes in the sultry weather
So good to step foot on the dry-stone temple once again
So good to walk to warm sands of the beach
So good to go back home to someone
So good to turn the faucet knowing there’s only one way to turn it and feel right about it
So good
So good to be back

way back into love

Isn't this a fantastic track? Either there's very little music out there that is simple yet strong in in reaching out, OR I'm not looking in the right direction.



All the same, I love this song. I've no doubts what so ever that you'd love it too.

The Green Mile

Fantabulous!!!

I cannot believe I didn't see this movie much earlier. And if YOU haven't already, I cannot begin to imagine what you're still doing here reading this post. Go rent that movie right now. Better yet, buy the movie. It's gonna be top-of-the-class in your movie collection.

Twilight

River Liffey, Dublin city

A place to remember

Bright sunshine, green wet lawns, great weather, and vintage castles! Jane Austen almost always transports me to such places with her books! I always wanted to go visit a place like that someday. I think I even wrote about a dream that talks about a castle sometime back.

Anyway, I’m finally here! In Ireland!!! A beautiful place with lovely warm people. A lot more culture than the States! Very pedestrian friendly. Too windy and cold, but obviously the Irish don’t think so! After-all, it’s what they call summer!

I got here on Monday and have been outside only week nights. With a quarter of the population of Ireland living in Dublin, this city has more people and cars than it can handle. Starting Thursday evening all shops and pubs are open until very late in the night. Picture a quarter of Ireland in pubs in Dublin and the remaining three-quarters scattered in the rest of the country. That’s how crowded and noisy the city gets on Thursday nights. Their weekends start Thursday evenings, and not surprising the Irish are big on shopping as well!



Anyway, I’m yet to explore the more green part of the country. Meanwhile, I did get to catch a glimpse of the bustling city, because I got to live right in the middle of the city center near Trinity College.



See anything unusual in this picture? Notice that the windows are taller in the lower floors than the upper floors? That’s not the only building that looks like it! Almost all buildings in Dublin have windows in a similar fashion.

It is said that in the earlier Victorian days, the taller your windows, the more you were taxed. Obviously, people that can’t afford to pay heavy taxes chose to stay in the upper floors with shorter windows and lower ceilings. The more the day light into your house, the more you’re taxed. Strange, is it not? Now that’s what I would call day-light robbery!!! Thank God the government doesn’t do that anymore.

Like they say, in Ireland, always look UP to appreciate the architecture of the buildings! Look at the architecture in that! This one’s called the Spire of Dublin. Springs up right into the sky.



Almost all of Dublin’s government building remains in the old Victorian style (the windows in this one appears to have been sealed shut. probably for the same reason) with the ground floors commercialized with shops, restaurants, and pubs! Pubs! Lots of 'em!!!


I’ve been here only four days and a few hours, so that’s all I have for you folks. During the weeknights, I did visit the Dun Laoghaire harbour; an astonishing place to be. After the sun sets, around 8-ish, it’s a sight to watch the lights lit-up across the bay with its reflection falling over the sea. Sadly, no picture of that yet.

I’ll be back with more after the weekend.

Passion

I maybe a little late for this week’s scribble, but the prompt this week is too tempting to bypass. Smorgasbord; an assortment of prompts. We didn’t have to go far, cos this week we’re allowed to choose one of the 100 prompts that SS has inspired us with in the past two years.

I picked Passion! There’s a world of things one can talk about on passion, no? What I might write about is not so much passion. I would much rather call them simple pleasures. A few things I know I would definitely want to do before I die. And passionately so! :)

So here it is.

1. I want to adopt a baby girl.

2. I want to be able to wear bright stripped knee-highs, a summer dress with satin sashes, bright coloured keds and dress up like an English girl (hopefully before time starts to draw lines on the ‘girl’s’ face or before she loses her guileless smile). I’d like to have a British accent as well for a day or two. You know, talk the Queen’s English?!? I know I’ll look stupid but what the heck; let’s just say… it’s MY passion.

3. I want to visit Paris! Oh, Egypt perhaps. Or, Rome. From what I’ve read, I think it’s the most enchanting place on earth. And then Spain, I’m already in love with the castles and churches of Spain and I haven’t even looked at one. Only what I’ve read about. And seen on Discovery. But if I do Paris, I will definitely visit The Louvre. In fact, I want to do a lot of traveling. Learn a lot about the different cultures and blend all the good from them to live a good one myself.

4. And if I can’t travel, so what? I can still read. Aah, the places books can take you!!!

5. When I retire (did I mention I’m retiring at 30?) I want to go to the country and live near the temple by the temple tank. I already know which temple. Even if not at 30, that's definitely the place I'll find myself eventually.

6. I want to be a Godmother for someone.

7. I want to knit a sweater on my own and gift it to someone special. I know this can’t happen ‘cos I’m terrible at crafts. But just the thought of giving someone special a sweater knitted by me, is super exciting. :)

8. I want to be able to appreciate Irving Wallace and Mills & Boon alike. In the same breath. And throughout my lifetime. Not feel guilty about any part of it during any part of my life. What’s a little mushy romance when you desperately want it. And a little suspense when you need to feel the thrill of the adventure.

9. I want to sing softly with a loved one on a beach and never worry about a note or two going off key. Maybe, we’ll have something to laugh about, years later. **smiles**

So well those are my passions. There's more smorgasbord here!

The last one of the four

While Jane Austen is still with me, I just completed a book called Whiteout by Ken Follett. This one was fast-paced and your regular adventure/thriller.

The last one of the four books that I recently brought myself is one suggested by Phish here. Its called Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by a Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It's not everyday that I fetch my own copy of a book suggested by a friend. But this time I did it :) Call it impulse... or deference to someone I hold admiration for! So I'll be back here with a review once I'm done.

Einstein has got to be kidding!

Whoever said “miracles don’t happen” has got to be an agnostic. I talked to a friend last week after almost two years. One of my best pals... I was literally elated to hear from him. It was a nostalgic moment for me to have had turned my grey matter over and mulled about the times the three of us wasted every Saturday evening hopelessly lying down on the beach, mostly discussing gadgets and sometimes futile gossip. When it’s about time to leave for our homes, almost always, our topic would take a damping change of course, to the subject of the supernatural; only because one of them would talk about his impending visit to the church the following morning. As if upon reflex, the other one would argue or cast a smirk for a response which would make the two of us upset. Not because we try to make him believe in the Supreme Being, but because he simply refused to believe in miracles, although he has witnessed several himself!

I strongly think that one should believe in miracles. Life is too short to prove every single thing that happens to you through the world of science. I have had many a miracle. And I prefer to call my miracles, God!

The fact that I’m back to blogging after a full 18 day slumber by itself is a miracle for someone that gives little attention to routine. Thank God for me, I still haven’t considered blogging mundane. A stress-buster it is for me. And how I discovered blogging itself is a miracle. :)

But why am I talking about miracles? Because they happen to us in the most bizarre ways at the most bizarre time.

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Nevertheless, since I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while now and now that it’s improbable that I might be blogging regularly, here’s a little poem (?? composition, if you will) in response to a prompt from Sunday Scribblings.

An endeavor for knowledge may sometimes lead to blissful ignorance
Echoes of crude words and ill manners fading through the years
Eccentricity could be a boon, quirkiness a bane, after downing a couple of beers
Knowing the density of the catastrophe
Knowing when not to talk
Knowing when to smile for an answer
Knowing when to respond with a mime
Promises chiseled into the sands of time
Some kept, some broken prematurely, some twisted to suit convenience
Sonnets and tales, never did they seem more delirious
Memories of painted nails and parting lips
Of pale pink, to hot pink, to shocking pink
Eighty can still be an immature age, or so she thinks
A surreal feeling of holding hands
Comforting the blistered palm and hardened heart
Wishful of breaking open the time-capsule
Desirous of traveling back to the good days
When her hands were steadier
When her memory never failed
When promises sounded like music
But then there’s hope, and then there’s hope

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Congratulations to the ladies from Sunday Scribblings on their 100th prompt. You have never ceased to inspire me.

For more posts on time machine, go here!