Assorted

Its one of those days you know, your mind is so full of thoughts, all varied and mixed and you just want to vent them out because really, you want something new to think about.

You don’t?

Oh well, must be only me then

Anyhow, so one of the things I was wondering about was ….why do schools ask pre-schoolers to get project charts when it is immensely clear that the kids have no hand in making them in the first place? What kind of pleasure do the teachers get out of making parents feel like a school kid all over again? I thought I had left that life far far behind…..alas, it comes a rude shock when I  have to prepare a chart on “Taste Buds on our Tongue” for Shobby one week and “Lifecycle of a Butterfly” for Lui the next. It doesn’t help that their diaries say that the said chart has to be sent ‘tomorrow’.  Reaching home late from office, imagine my plight as I rush to buy the supplies and then spend hours preparing them charts, that is , after feeding the kids, having dinner, ironing their clothes and mine for the next day and giving the kids their milk and putting them to sleep. Since I reach home around 8:30 pm, guess what time I finally finish those charts?

Anyhow, have a look at the fruits of my labor from last week :-

For a midnight effort, it isn’t bad, but it could have been better if I had more time

PS: It was fun to dabble with the sketch pens and crayons after ages

PPPS : I forgot to take the snaps of “Tastebuds on our Tongue” chart while I was making it. I forgot about it once again, after going to the school

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You know whats the best channel for wholesome music on radio:

Akash Vaani (not the movie,the Vividh Bharti Prasaran).

I’ve been listening to the radio lately (for the last month, since the BF is away) and I’ve come to the conclusion that – Commercial channels cheat us terribly. I have a string of voes against them, because -

•    they play the same set of songs, in different sequences, every 2-3 hours.
•    they snip off sections of songs(to make them shorter), so that if you are lip syncing to it and voice the next lyric, you’ll find that the singer has jumped to the last lyric of the song. Pretty disconcerting, I must say. Also, there are times when the advertisements run for ages and finally, finally a song plays thats your favourite….and BAM!!! It is abruptly stopped because that particular show’s time is over. Aarrggghh!!!
•   steal song time and bombard us with advertisements. Favourite ads running in Pune are the ones related to -

i)    Property/Construction/Websites selling property
ii)   Insurance/ policies
iii)  Gujrat tourism
Frankly,  I didn’t mind the Ads earlier, but as my listening time increased, I realized just how much we are bombarded with property news. As for the insurance ones, believe me, they are puke-inducing . A precocious little girl’s voice asks her father if she is eligible for a particular policy which  gives a gazillion returns on terms that the girl surely has no idea about. The ‘father’ proudly claims that the little girl is indeed eligible.

Hah!!

Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d confessed that he had already bought her the policy?? You lead a little kid on to believing that the particular policy is the answer to all her problems and then leave it at that? Who’s gonna purchase that effing policy, you dodo?!

Coming to Gujrat Tourism, aggressive marketing barely covers it. I’m almost convinced there is only one other state in India (other than Maharashtra). It is a little baffling to see how all the other states are mute in terms of their state’s tourism. Why the silence guys?? You don’t want people coming over to your place?

The Gujrat Tourism ads (in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice) were rather interesting earlier. They are just irritating now. If I hear a GT ad 6-7 times in a 30 min period anymore, I’m surely gonna be put off that place forever . Being aggressive is one thing and being a pain-in-the-ears is another. I think the Gujrat Govt just went overboard towards the latter.

I think Vivid Bharti does a much better job. Each program is well defined. You get songs from all the ages, not just the current hot numbers. There are limited adverts and within a span of 30 minutes, we get to hear 8-10 songs, unlike other channels which play 10 songs in an hour!!

So yeah, switch to 101.00 Mhz, I say. Its the safest bet where music is concerned

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We’re getting some woodwork done in the house lately, making a few cabinets, cupboards ,etc. I think its been going on for simply ages ! It doesn’t help that -

a) we are all away at work and the carpenter turns up only after the in-laws get back home

b) our carpenter prefers working alone

I think I’m severely ticked off with the sawdust now……if we aren’t busy inhaling it, we are busy wiping off a hundred surfaces coated with it . Its everywhere!! Even in my bedroom which is the farthest from the kitchen (for which the work is going on !)

To top it, our carps got an attitude to get on anyone’s nerves. He doesn’t talk much. Mumbles most of the time. Asks for suggestions, confirms a zillion times and then does what he feels is right.

We’re all just counting the days till we finally bid goodbye to him

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Its appraisal time in office once again! I’ve been contemplating what to enter in the self-appraisal section. Whatever I enter wouldn’t make an iota of difference because I’ll be on sabbatical when the actual promotions will be announced. Obviously, people on long leaves are never promoted. Fact of life

*Sigh*

But what needs to be done, needs to be done. I gotta finish this activity by tomorrow.

Could you guess I’m just not into the mood to do it?

Yeah well…..such is life!

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I just got a call that my best friend got married. Yipppeee

*doing a jig in my cube*

Given all that she went through, I’m glad she finally took that step!

Seriously darling…you deserve a separate post all to yourself..and I promise that I will do one for you. But for now, I HAVE to mention it, because I’m just so darn happy

Happy marriage day

I’ll remember it ALWAYS because it falls on the day after my parent’s wedding anniversary.

Oooohhh!!! I’m SO Happy

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Mom,Flu,Phone,Puncture,Project,Illness,Ramzan,Eid!!

Hi there, yes you, who are reading me right now. Thanks for dropping by, even  though I haven’t been keeping up my promise of posting regularly

The reason for my absence are the reasons above in the title. Some have had a larger impact than the others. Like the fact that when Mom was here and I decided to spend the weekends with her at her place, for the three weeks of her stay, the first weekend, Shobby was ill. The second weekend Lui was down. The third weekend it was my turn. Thats 6 days of constructive time lost when I met my mother after an entire years plus two months!! How can one ever recover that time?? We didst get a chance to sit and chat. We couldn’t go out anywhere together and my long-term promise to Mom about taking her out for a Marathi play was once again left at that- a blank promise which Mom is sure , will never get fulfilled .

The Flu was the worst, because it took a serious toll on the kids and me. Even though I’m out of the fever phase, I’ve been coughing for nearly 2 months straight!  This week, I threw away all the medicines and pills….they weren’t working anyway.  With the twins, it was worse, because like all kinds of illnesses, they became bed-ridden, cranky and prone to crying for long durations. We are all much better now (Alhamdulillah!)

Just when I thought I was getting back on track, I lost my cell-phone. It wasn’t a very expensive one, but it was valuable….because it was a gift from the BF, it had LOADS of pics of the twins, a million mushy messages from the BF and my innumerable contacts, my friends. It was a terrible feeling, this sense of loss and though I got back my original number back…it has been a painstaking effort to update the phonebook once again (okay now, please resist the gyan on the back-up. I know I should have done it…but I didn’t . So there!! Maybe I deserve to lose the phone for being so tardy, but please, kindly resist the temptation to rub it in ).

It seems Ramzan came by and left in a jiffy. Was it really a month already?? The fasts were tough this time. The days were longer and by 6:30 pm, even the most devout couldn’t resist peeping at the wall-clock, willing the minutes hand to move on faster . In our case, half the house-hold came down with the flu and though we coughed and hacked our way through the days, the fasts were nevertheless studiously kept. Hope the One Above has taken note of it .

Talking of Ramzan, I think there was one particular day that was tough for me. It was the time I had to rush out of office for some quick errands and when I started my bike in the office’s parking lot on the first floor, I found, to my utter horror, that I had a flat tyre. Now, I had two options – a) chuck the bike and borrow a friend’s bike for the errand, the bike could be sorted out in the evening and b) sort out the bike first and then run for the errand.

Given that by the end of the day, I would be cranky with hunger and weakness, I decided to opt for b)

Bad.Decision.

It took me a good 20 minutes to drag my bike for nearly a kilometer uphill at 12 in the noon. That was the nearest repair shop near the office. By the time I handed over the bike, the throat was parched like filter paper and I seriously prayed for rain, if not for drinking, then at least for  helping me cool off the excess heat. But no such luck was forthcoming. 40 minutes later and 500/- lesser (I had 5 punctures plus two large tears on the front wheel), I rushed to finish my work and headed back to office. Luckily, I was on bench and didn’t have to report to any manager

 And that brings us to work. Well, the clients of the previous project yanked the rug from under our feet . After sitting aloof for a week, I finally got a call for a project in our SEZ branch. Now, the reason I’m loyal to my company is that, they take cognizance of your needs. When I told them that I wouldn’t like to spend half my day traveling to and fro from work when I have little kids at home, they didn’t pester me with threats. Rather, I just had to wait it out till another project opening came up (which I currently am in). There aren’t many companies that are so considerate

The current project is a lot of work, but its also the kind of work which keeps me pepped up! It is new, interesting and even after so many years, I have scope for learning new things. Considering that I plan to retire in a few years, it brings me immense comfort to know that I can still learn (jaded horse that I am otherwise ). The better part of Ramzan was spent with learning the ropes of this project and I’m glad to say that hunger and thirst didn’t come in the way of my catching up . By the way, Ramzan is over, I’m back to binging and it feels pretty good to put in more than 100%

Eid by itself was a muted affair. We weren’t celebrating in the conventional way (no new clothes, except for the kids, no mehendi or inviting guests) because of GMIL’s demise a few months back. I had no idea we would miss the lady so much . I guess she was the driving force behind our celebrations and I’m sure that even if we had decided to celebrate, it wouldn’t have had the charm that was prevalent when she was holding the reigns . We miss her . Specially the kids

Thats all for now.  For all those who were concerned about my well-being, here’s a BIG HUG for you all. Your mails were a super sweet gesture of your concern. I love you all . I’m alive and kicking and though I have a zillion posts in my head, a non-cooperative WordPress at work and non-cooperative kids at work impair my ability to post regularly. Kindly bear with me. Once things settle down a bit, will try and be a bit more regular.

BTW, I’ve been reading you all regularly (and wondering at the wonderful styles you all have!). Pardon me for not commenting……the feature is blocked by our firewall at work and by kids at home .

But seriously, getting back to blogging feels wonderful .

Love,

 

 

 

 





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Randomness!!

So many little things to share, where do I even begin??
Okay, I’ll start with the woes with my bike.
I own a Scooty Pep+, a sturdy little thing which completed 5 years this Feb.I like the Scooty because it consumes very little parking space, which, in a parking-deprived city like Pune, is a big boon
Though I’ve been regular with the servicing, I have a feeling I’ve been fleeced of the bike’s original parts. So after every servicing, the bike just gets worse, albeit after working fine for a week.
Just a couple of months back, the BIL had got it serviced again. Yet, within a few weeks, the starter wouldn’t work anymore. The battery is so low, that even after a drive of 20kms, the button start doesnt work
I’ve been kicking away for ages, not to mention, fuming away mentally and literally at traffic junctions (where I cant switch off the ignition, because there is no time for me to get down, put the bike on main stand and start kicking away). I’ve been burning more fuel that before and thats giving me some serious heart-burn.
Lately, I was even thinking of getting it exchanged for a new bike.
That is, until last Friday, when my junk of a bike, took me sailing safely to a far-off place, with me, my MIL and two kids in tow!
I didn’t know my bike had it in her. I mean, I’m a heavy-weight. The MIL more so. The twins, together weigh around 28kgs. The total weight on my bike was roughly 180Kgs!!!
Imagine!!
And yet, it drove us smoothly over an incline and when we got got from the other side, the wheels gripped hard and the brakes were smooth.
So okay, all I wanted to say here was that my bike’s still got some juice left.
It is still good to go. I’ll postpone the exchanging for another year

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The wretched sun is killing my ridge-gourds
If this isn’t reason enough to wail away, I dont know what is!!
After all the love and devotion of watering, manuring, digging and providing supports, the sun comes around and plays spoil sport! Just when the tiny flowers bloomed and the teeny-weeny ridge-gourds took shape, the sun burned them to a cinder!! Around 20-30 of the little fruits have been burned away by now. Though I made sure that the plant was not placed in a very sunny area, the problem is that the hot winds accompanying the heat are just as deadly!!
*Sob*
I think this was a wrong season to plant it anyway.
Surprisingly though, two little fruits are still going strong. They’ve grown bigger than the others and haven’t turned yellow/brown yet, which gives me hope.
Keeping fingers crossed for the first harvest
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I saw a British war drama called Atonement by director Joe Wright.
I think I was never impressed with British movies before, strictly limiting myself to their comedies which surpasses the American’s (AND the Harry Potter series, of course ).
But this movie was an eye-opener. Starring, Keira Knightly and the beautifully naive James McAvoy, the movie is a heart-breaking narration of love in the times of war, of mistaken identities, fate and penance.
So beautifully is the movie shot that it was easy to ignore the slow pace and cryptic dialogues (which cut like scythes though the narrative). James McAvoy doesn’t need dialgoes. He can be mute and you would still know what he’s thinking. This guy can express volumes just with his eyes!!
The synopsis of the movie will be available on IMDB or Wiki, but I urge you to watch it before going for the synopsis.
The end is truly heart-breaking, but in a way which touches down deeper than normal. You root for the couple to have a happy ending and like the last scene shows, there is a wealth of wisdom in the eyes of the hero as he looks back with world-weary eyes and then steps inside to join his lady love.
For the faint-hearted, let me warn that this movie contains some really gruesome war images, which refuse to leave you long after you’re done watching them. You might feel compelled to press the fast-forward, but believe me, the shots are more aesthetic than gruesome and just add to the richness of the movie (one more indication of the futilities of war and its impact on innocent people).
Do watch it if you get the chance.

Read this review in case you are still not convinced!!

And ohh, how could I forget the background score?!! This is possibly the first time I heard of the typewriter as a musical instrument! Awesome work there!!
On an aside, I’m slowly getting addicted to watching movies on my laptop than watching it on the big-screen or the TV. Though I do like theaters, I feel that sometimes, the decibel levels of the theater go way over the movie’s needs. It is no fun trying to watch a serious drama with your hands clamped over your ears
Television is a taboo, for obvious reasons. Its more about the advertisements than the movie and I’m not too keen on Ads.
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Speaking of Ads, I think there is a serious shortage of clever ads that make an impact. All the products use the same ad format. Think Deos and immediately you’ll recollect that ALL brands have women in skimpy clothing simpering/slithering/drooling/hyperventilating over the man who’s just bathed in the product (yup, bathed. Because a spray or two dont work!!)
Think about washing powders and ALL ads have kids sermonising their mothers on the choice of brand. OR, they have husbands who are glad that their wife’s hands are softer than before.
.
How about showing a guy helping his wife with the washing?! Then his opinion would matter, wouldn’t it??
Then there’s this other ad I saw, of an ailing and emancipated Rajesh Khanna claiming that his fans will never leave him. I wanted to feel good for him, but somehow the sentiment dipped towards pity. Immense pity that a yesteryear’s superstar is content to have his ‘fans’, albeit the mechanical ones. That familiar cock of the head in the end was more pathetic than endearing
And I really MUST do a post on unFAIR means of playing with the female psyche. These guys crossed the laxman Rekha with this ad!!
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Have bought a pair of roller-skates for the twins.Unfortunately, it was the only pair available in that size. Haven’t shown it to the twins yet. The BF has asked me to buy another pair before I let the twins set their eyes on this one. Else, we’ll have to prepare for the Battle-Of-NeverEnding-Proportions (with Lui winning, of course )
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I’ve been sleeping loads.
L-O-A-D-S!!
All thanks to the MIL who’s now enjoying her school’s summer vacations. She has taken over the morning’s kitchen duties from yours truly
So instead of setting an alarm for 5:30 or 6AM, I get up at *hold your breath* 8 AM!!!
EIGHT!!!
Thats like practically mid-day
So yeah, am less grumpier and more chirpier these days
That is, till I saw “Housefull2″ day before yesterday.
Been in mourning since then

Thats all for now.
Much more randomness coming in future posts!!
Stay tuned





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If This Isn’t The Wierdest Dream Ever!

I’m making food in my kitchen. Chopping onions and potatoes. A colleague runs in and says, “Dont make lunch. We have a client visit today. After that we’ll all go out for team lunch”.
Yay!!
So I drop the knife and hurry out to meet the clients.
The client is an NRI woman who is dressed in a yellow sari with loads of gold jewellery. Apart from necklaces and gold bangles, she has also worn a maang-tika and gold arm-bands.
Nothing seems out of the ordinary to our team mates. She is slightly snooty and makes it clear that she’s doing a favour by taking us out. She does not want anyone to accompany her in her car.
The team mates decide to go to the lunch venue by their own vehicles.
I hurriedly go to my desk to hunt for my helmet. Its not there. I cannot take the bike out of the parking unless I have my helmet. I ask a friend about it. She doesnt know where it is, but agrees to help me out nevertheless. We run down to the next building, which is the client office I used to work at earlier. The only difference being, the place is still under construction and has a lot of rubble lying around. The lift doesnt work. We run up the stairs, heaving badly by the time we reach the top floor. A frantic hunt later, we find the helmet under someone’s desk. I thank my friend and run of the place. Reaching my office, I now need to find my bike in the parking lot. The parking attendant hands me a token to search for my bike. The parking is a big labyrinth of a place with multiple turns and crevasses. To my consternation, I find that 90% of the parking area is the place where they dump the new joinees. Its a refugee camp for freshers who haven’t been assigned a desk yet. There are multiple beds in a row and some of them have to sleep on mattresses. Its a sad plight.
But my heart is thudding because I cant find my bike.
The remaining 10% of the parking area is a huge depot. There are garages around the perimeter and numerous bikes are piled high…some are squashed beyond recognition. I use the token to find the location of my bike. It is safe. I feel happy and elated. After a few kicks, the bike purrs to life and try to find my way out of the parking. The freshers leap at me, begging me to give them a project. I’m petrified and screech my bike out of the place. Once outside the building, I find that it is dusk. Lunch hour went by. I didnt have anything since morning.
I’m hungry, irritated, annoyed. I have this seething anger in me that I didn’t cook food believing that I will egt lunch and now I’ll have to go back and cook. I dont want to go back and cook. I jump into my bed and sleep. I force myself to sleep. I’ll never wake up, I swear to myself.

And I didn’t. At least, not till 2 hours after my alarm rang. I didn’t wake up in time to make the FIL’s dabba
Not sure what the MIL gave him. I was too apprehensive to ask her !!

This was an early morning dream. I’ve heard that morning dreams come true.
Looking back at my dream, I wonder, what are the chances?!!!

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Its Blog Time Again!!

Hello folks.

After a hiatus of months (just ignore those itsy-bitsy posts I did in between) I now plan to get back to full-time blogging PRONTO.

No more procrastinating, no more dilly-dallying, just pure, old-fashioned blogging. You know what that means?

Yes, I plan to once more bombard you all with the nitty-gritty happenings of the MomOfRS household, not to mention, the ever-teeth-gnashingly-annoying twins. By the way, did I mention that I’m now back in my parent company? No? Well, yes I am. And though its all warm and fuzzy to get back here, I do miss the crowd back there at the client’s. I’ve had some really good time there (and some awesome friends too). There are good friends here too, but apart from a couple who immediately made me feel at home after coming back, most are busy with their respective projects and friends. In other words, they have moved on. This is the cue that I must too and in no time, I surely will . But in the meanwhile, I’m feeling a tad low, a lot apprehensive and mega sleepy (The food here is good!! I swear. I kind of over-ate today. Having an awful time trying to keep my eyes open ).

On the update front, Granny is doing a little better (Alhamdulillah). She still can’t talk, but at least she attempts to. Her eyes aren’t as vacant as before and her responses are a little better than before. All the docs have advised against hospitalization, requesting us to just give her tons  of TLC. And when a doc says that, we all know what that means !! The twins, on their part are half the cause of GMIL’s progress. Lui spends some time each day, clambering on her big-dadi’s bed to press the old lady’s swollen feet. Shobby, who has recently developed an aversion to being kissed  (I knew boys turn out like that sooner or later, never guessed it would be this early ) holds no qualms in hugging his big-dadi and planting loud smacks on her withered cheeks. He doesn’t mind getting kissed back by her either. Talk about preferences!!

On the personal front, the BF is uber-busy, with me needing to book appointments to talk to him ! And even then, he doesn’t have much time to chat . At home, once he’s back, the kids refuse to let go of him. so the poor chaps plays with the kids for a while before I finally manage to drag the brats off to bed. That reminds me, its been ages since I posted a snap of the twins. The last one I did was the one on their B’day post, which was in Nov!! The machines at work here don’t permit uploading of images *Grrrrrr….*, will have to do the needful from home, I guess!

I have a project interview tomorrow for which I’m ill-prepared. I’ll be fired with questions regarding a domain I know nothing of, but am keen on getting into. A little preparation is on the way but nothing teaches you as well as a good hands-on experience. Do pray that I get through (though secretly I doubt I will )

Thats all for now folks. Will keep you updated on the interview (and the food) tomorrow. Till then, Adios

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Accident Prone

Hello Hello Hello….

I’ve been away for long and NOT because of exceeding any ‘limits’ if you know what I mean

I’ve been a little unwell, with the silliest of flu bugs doing the round of the house and the outside. EVERYONE around me is either sniffling, sneezing, coughing or burying their faces in their handkerchiefs. I’m not burying my head yet, because runny noses are not my thing. Clogged head and sore throat is more me. The only way out is loads of steaming, the result of which is that I now look about as appealing as a week old momo. The twins have it better…sore throats and sniffy noses are self-treated with squash extract drunk straight from the bottle which again, comes  right out of the refrigerator and runny noses are wiped on any available fabric (mummy’s dupatta, dadi’s sari, Abbu’s shirt, bedsheets, pillow-covers, curtains, you-get-the-drift). Please remind me to pull out a new sofa cover and spread it out for you when you visit. And err….in case I offer the squash, kindly refuse. I tend to forget at times that them bottles are within easy reach of the twins

Anyhow, bugs apart, life’s been good. Got a lot done last weekend. Organized a small Birthday party for the twins on Friday(on my own. Yippeee . Will do a post once I get some time to download the pics) , drifted in and out of a bad cold on Saturday, got together with the BF to do a round of pest control and dis-tempering of the bedroom on Sunday (why distemper? Because we are poor. Also, because the walls looked ugly as sin, thanks to the twin’s art work). Once again, drifted in and out of fever in the evening. Monday morning I called a colleague to let her know I couldn’t come to office. She in turn informed me that she wasn’t coming either. We are both critical to the project task at hand. She is 8 months pregnant. So I popped in a couple of crocins and reported for work. Tuesday was better, but by only a slight margin! I had to literally drag myself out of the house . Any hopes that the management would notice my dedication was tossed out of the window when the said managers questioned me about the snowfall levels in Pune. All because I was huddled under my shawl trying to stay awake and alert in spite of a bad headache and fever )!

Also on Monday, I managed to get a bruised knee while trying to pull the curtains on the other side of MIL’s bed. In my effort to make sure I didn’t fall on her in the process, I leapt off the bed sooner than I was ready to, and in turn, knocked my knee against the metal hook that holds the side barriers in place. Aaaarrghh! It hurts just to remember it!! There was little bleeding and much bruising. Its black right now, so I guess healing is on its way.

And hey! I had an accident this morning. Nothing major, just that my bike skidded at the traffic signal near my place. Luckily, I had already slowed down, so the fall was not bad. And oh, the skid was because some kind person had filled large pot-holes with loads of gravel.Must be the city corporation. They take their jobs very seriously . Since there were no major injuries (or minor), I picked up myself and the bike off the road and shot off to work (what did I just tell you about being dedicated?!) . Only after parking my bike did I realize that I had a sprained ankle, which swelled up as the day progressed. I can walk, surely, but not without a twinge of pain shooting up my leg sporadically.

*Sigh* The travails one goes through for that roti-kapda-makaan drill!

Luckily, since bad luck comes in three’s and I’ve reached that mark, I can safely assume that happy times are around the corner
On that note, albeit a little too late, have a great week ahead folks

Love,





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Wrapping Up Loose Ends

There are so many little bits and pieces of things that I want to talk about, but none of them have substance enough to warrant a complete mail! I think for once, I’ll just dump them all in one post and have the off my head

1) Firstly, I want to apologise to all those people who drop by my blog and post comments. I know I love to have you all here, but I’m sure somewhere in your heart, you must be wondering why I never get back to you?! Why I rarely ever comment on your’s!  Believe me, it’s not because I don’t want to, it is because I cannot

I have limited net access at work. Most of the time, if I open the blogs from their own sites, it eats up too much of my allotted bandwidth. But I can’t stay without reading you all …..so I resort to using Google Reader, which for all its greatness, just doesn’t allow one to post comments. Also, for those of you who do posts with a “Read More” break, what can I say, I stand deprived

Sometimes, I publish a post without an iota of an idea of how it appears on my blog! For the record, I type out the text in an editor, and when I’m done, I look around furtively, make sure none of the bosses are around, quickly open IE, hit my URL, open the section for “New” post, paste my already typed out text,hit publish. Whew! The sweat one has to dispense to carry out a hobby

As for blogging from home….err…lets just say two little people at my house object to it

2) I’ve been feeling surprisingly light after the Birthday!! Maybe its my new , improved eating habits (yeah, I wish!) or just maybe, I’m finally not associating age with weight ! Whatever the case, 32 is a good number, is the reverse of my birth date and makes me smile .

It is also the minimum required amount for a poor man to position himself above the poverty line! I’m sure, the Finance Minister and the people who came up with this number did a practical implementation of the same. I’m sure they tried to survive a day on 32/- and called themselves richer . And once again, I wish! Frankly, since I first heard of the news, I’ve been wondering how this figure came about! I mean, why not just 30/- or 35/- ?! Why only 32/- ?!!

And then, like an epiphany, it struck me, did the great machine Deep Thought spout this answer like it did for the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything? The answer being, 42, of course ! But then, Deep Thought took 7.5 million years to come up with that answer. I wonder how long it must have taken for this?!

3) I had my first incident of road-rage yesterday!

Well, it wasn’t really road-rage from my side, since my impeccable manners didn’t allow me to go beyond calling that person “aap”!! Sheesh! No wonder he didn’t take me seriously

Anyhow, background first! I was on my way back home last evening. At a particular stretch of the road, which was packed with traffic , by the way, a car came up behind me honked itself silly. I would have made way for it if only I had anywhere else to move. Alas, I had a car in front of me, other vehicles on my left and the honk-er behind me. I could have overtaken the car in front of me, but since there was a rush of vehicles from the opposite lane, I resisted the temptation. The honk-er, meanwhile, was losing his cool pretty fast, because as soon as there was a break in the oncoming traffic, he pulled alongside and directed a few choice expletives my way! Obviously, this made my blood boil, since I was doing the right thing and he ad NO right to expect me to risk my life for him. Who did he think he was?! Some effing royalty?!

Anyhow, for once, I refused to take this lying down. I sped up a bit and tried to get besides his left hand window. Unfortunately, the traffic didn’t permit me the space. then shortly, just as I was about to give up (or rather, the steam of rage was fizzing out) I spotted a gap in the traffic, pulled up by his right side window and screamed at him, “Uncle, pehle aap overtake karna to seekho!!” After which , I coolly overtook him and went my way. The last I saw of him was his car trapped between a horde of other cars at the junction which we had just crossed! But you know what they say about anger, it hurts no one but the one who’s angry! I didn’t feel good about shouting at that man. And plus, with my mind full of the incident, I forgot to buy some important stuff on the way home,which I absolutely had to!!

So in all, a wasted effort it was





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Very Lovely Chubby Cheeks

Not lovely, but I do have Chubby Cheeks. At least when I grin. Or smile!

Anyhow, this incident happened this Monday – I walked into the VLCC centre closest to my place, I had an appointment for 11 AM, but I was a tad early and walked in by 10:40 AM. The only person around to greet me was the cleaning maid. I waited for a while and then asked for something to read. The maid reluctantly handed me the previous day’s paper. She looked grumpy, so I didn’t pester her for the current copy. I read the paper from start to end. Then started on the crossword. then did a few Mensa puzzles (successfully, if I might add ) and then finally proceeded to do Sudoku. By now, it was 11:20 AM, yet there was barely any activity inside the parlour/fitness-centre.

I doodled for some time, when finally a lady walked up to me and gave me a form to fill (since it was my first time there). I filled up eagerly and went to hand it over to her. The lady watches me approach her and as she accepts my form, coughs discreetly and says, ” *Ahem* Would you be interested in our special figure-correction package?”.

What?!

I mean, I know I’m kinda healthy…but figure correction? I mean, do you actually massage yourself to cut away the flab in order to get a better silhouette or what?!

She took in my flabbergasted expression and took it for a yes. I’m still not sure if she realized I was offended big time . Anyhow, so this other woman with gorgeous long hair leads me inside and makes me stand on this machine which my feet placed over some metals pads and hands holding on to some bars while the machine does a complete body scan. The device had a tiny display and suffice to say, the readings were not pretty. I now realize why the figure-correcting lady thought I needed to chop up the fat!

In a short summary, this is what the dratted machine had to say -

1) Height : 155 cms

2) Weight 69.1 kgs

(normal range 43.9 – 59.4)

3) Muscle mass 19.4 kgs

(normal range 19.5 -23.8)

4) Body Fat Mass 32.6 kgs

(normal range 10.3 – 16.5)

There!! See that?! My body fat turns out to be twice that of the max amount of the normal range. I , for one, am NOT normal

The report also had detailed sectional reports on where the fat deposit is more and where it is normal. Apparently, each leg weighs 5 kgs more than required, the tummy region is *hold your breath* 15 kgs over the normal and shoulders are each 2.5 kgs over.

While I was recovering from the shock, the dear counselor went on a long spiel about how VLCC could come to the rescue and with a minimal amount of 25K, guarantee loss of 5 kgs and a couple of inches.

I almost told the lady that I’d rather starve myself to death. Lose weight and save money in one go. All that two-birds and one stone theory churned in my mind. But I stayed mum. “We’ll see”, was all that I could croak. I mean, frankly speaking, my fatness is not their fault. So what if they offer the services for ‘reasonable’ amounts which appear gargantuan to me ?! It would have been much better if I’d seen the gargantuan-ness of my fat before I stepped through their door, hadn’t it?!

Anyhow, I asked them to wrap up with what I’d come there for (A facial,manicure,hair-wash, conditioning,haircut, blow-dry,threading and skin and hair analysis). Again, for the record, these are not activities I normally indulge in. Good friend from work, SK had found a package deal online which gave us these services from VLCC for 600/- when the actual cost of the same was 4000/-.Obviously, we grabbed at it with both hands.

Talking of hands, the attendant who took charge of my manicure wasn’t impressed with my hands. “Too rough”, “Too much cuticle”, “too much tan”. A lot of head-shaking and marketing spiel later (well, they ALL tried to sell me VLCC products. I can give them marks for trying ) work began on making my hands look presentable. Post the session, I rued the fact that it never clicked me to get a before and after snap . *Sigh* I always miss such moments I tell you . The fingers did look better, but a tad sore, since my cuticles were more or less ripped off my nails. Alas, the effect stayed but just a day. I scraped my nails with the knife while chopping veggies the next day. Made me realize that pampering the hands works for only those people who don’t have to rough it out in the kitchen. If you are the regular food provider , chances are, you’ll always have trimmed nails and at least a couple of remnant oil burn marks on your hands/wrists

I digress again. Apologies.

The main attraction of the session was the hair wash (pleasant), the conditioning (yummm) and the blow-dry/ setting which was an awesome job because my normally fly-away zig-zag hair looked like those of our North-Eastern counterparts. Silky, straight and oh so shiny!!  I mean, I could actually leave my hair open without a thousand clips or bands in place . SK had the same package and we were both flaunting our hair in office the next day, much to the amusement and envy of our colleagues ! Unfortunately, SK washed her hair today and its back to normal. I haven’t washed mine yet…I don’t want my hair to get back to their normal messy state

I came back home that evening and showed the print-out of my body analysis report to the BF

BF :  (feigning shock) Goodness?!! Whatever gave them the idea that you are *gasp* fat?!!

Me : Ha ha. Not funny mister.

BF :  No really. I mean, I swear their machine must be faulty. Go back and ask them for a refund.

Me : You wish!!

BF : No. No. YOU wish

At which point I aimed a good kick towards the punster, which was easily sidestepped because frankly, I can raise my leg just about a foot off the ground

The BF continued snorting with laughter as he exited the room, probably because he didn’t want to be beaten to a pulp. The leg couldn’t be raised high, I agree, but it carries weight, all 5.1 kgs more than the normal range !!

To round up the tale, my fitness level is at an all time low of 56 when it is supposed to be a minimum of 74. To correct the anomalies, I have made a slight change in my diet. Breakfast is Muesli and a cup of tea. Lunch is a fruit and large jar of Herbalife shake. Dinner is one chapati, a little sabzi and a little rice. I have stopped taking sugar in tea and eating sweets. The trip to the gym is pending. Hoping to correct that as soon as possible.

I don’t mind losing the chubby cheeks, I guess…..if it means being healthier and fitter to run around with the twins





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Quick Update on Last Two Weekends

Hey All. Hugs to you. I’ve missed y’all like crazy and missed posting on my blog like a drug addict misses his dope.

*snort*

Whew! Now that I’ve got ‘high’ on seeing my own blog, let me update you on the many things that happened in the last two weekends. Since its a loooong update and I have a lot more work to do than usual, I’ll give a bullet point list of the major activities in the MomOfRS household (and also the outside )

• I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part -2. Good friend from work, SK and me decided to book our tickets and watch the show sans our husbands, who have no appreciation for Harry Potter whatsoever (their loss, I say) . So we girls had a fun time watching the 3-D movie. My only grouse is that I somehow want the movie to stay true to the book and I did feel a little let down when the major action events in the book barely landed a second’s notice in the movie. Where was Grawp? Where was Fred Weasly’s valiant fight with the death eaters? Where was Hagrid? Worse, where was Voldemort, the evil Lord, whose name alone sends shudders down one’s spine?! Here, he looked just like a weak creature of the earth, struggling to gain control over Hogwarts and Harry (in that order). I missed them. But the special effects! Go watch the movie just for it
• Went for a special colleagues get-together last Sunday. This was my training group in my current company (in the year 2004) . Its wonderful that even after so many years, we are all in touch, though most have moved over to other companies, other jobs. Most of us made it for the get-together, but some couldn’t. The BF couldn’t accompany me since he had his own appointment with his friends, so I dragged Lui along for company( The MIL took Shobs along with her to her friend’s place). I swear we were the loudest crowd at the restaurant. We yelled and screamed at each other, hugged each other and went crazy over the kids . It was needless to say, a VERY happy gathering. Will some pics from the meet soon. BTW, it was a wet,Wet,WET day!!! And I did the BIG mistake of forgetting Lui’s raincoat at home. So as security measure, I wrapped her head in a scarf, covered it with her sweatshirt’s hood and then wrapped my jacket around her and put the hood on (in case you are wondering, I had my own raincoat in the dicky). When we returned home, I was shocked to see that her scarf was damp, after all that wrapping up, my dear daughter had got soaked anyway…..but then I realized it was just sweat
• I’ve been reading voraciously for the last couple of weeks. Read some good books and some trash. Also bought a few books through FlipKart. Their service is rather impressive, I must say! I decided a few months back I would now focus more on Indian authors than foreign ones. It helps to read the insights from a fellow countryman , I guess. Anyhow, the latest to join my list are Arvind Adiga’s Between Assassinations, Anything For You Ma’am by Tushar Raheja (avoidable ) , The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, Urban Shots by Paritosh Uttam and a host of newbie Indian writers, No Deadline For Love by Manasi Vaidya (fellow mommy blogger ) and Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer . I completed the first three in this list and am currently reading the next three simultaneously (blame it on the multi-tasking thread in my head ) . Hey Prats, your story was cute. Super cute. Me likes
• Shobs gave me a health scare last Tuesday. He was restless and lethargic and reluctant to go to school. But he was enthusiastic while taking his bath and getting dressed and having his breakfast. So I bundled him off to school in spite of his protests. Alas   . I reached office pretty late that day and as soon as I stepped in, got a call from the BF that he had received a call from the twin’s school. Apparently, Shobby had thrown-up at school and was howling for his mamma. He also had a high temperature. Lui, was accompanying her brother in the crying business and driving the teachers mad. It was pouring that day and I was a long way from home. Luckily, the BIL called to say that he could get the twins back from school and to a doctor faster than it would take me to reach home. So I gave in and the BIL did the running around. It turned out that Shobby had chest congestion and wasn’t coughing enough to release it. Some cough-syrup and Meftal later, he was chirpy as usual
• The twins LOVE school (Alhamdulillah). I still can’t belive that the only tantrums I have to face are those related to who will go first for bath or whom I have to dress up first! Its a race between the two, with Lui making sure that she wins, by hook or by crook!! So she’ll run into the bathroom and douse herself with water when I’m outside, removing Shobby’s clothes for his bath. Obviously, since she’s wet, she’ll have to bathe first . This girl is cunning, I tell you!! . And hey, I have one doubt. I give my kids as little medication as possible (hoping that they build their immunity rather than depend on medication), then why is it that my kids crave for medicines? I mean, I can ask them to behave themselves if they want medication (however bitter it may be) and they’ll toe the line!! Administering medication is a happy time in our place and the strictest punishment would be a threat to deprive them. Not sure if this is a good sign or a bad one
• Went shopping this Saturday, hoping to find some good catch in the monsoon sale. How disappointed was I to find that the only good stuff available are saris (which I don’t wear). There is a severe dearth of dress material and the stuff that is available , is all old stock – looking as dull as old clothes do!! It was a very unsatisfying day, with me and cousin L depressed to wasting an entire day and finding nothing! NOTHING!! I did buy a couple of things, but nothing that I’m happy about
• I visited a Police Station after a long time Okay, so dont jump to conclusions and think I’m a regular the . The only time I went before was when I had to get my passport documents verified. This time, it was for the twins. The verifier took a hefty amount before doing the needful, but we had to wait for a long time for the Inspector to come in and sign the documents. We had an appointment for 8 pm, the fellow came in at 9:15. We were out by 9:30. In those 1.5 hours, the twins turned up the crank factor because it was past their dinner time and they didn’t like the fact that there was no place to sit. Plus, it was pouring outside, so we just stood in once cramped corner with the other families awaiting their document verification. Luckily, we were out before the twins threw a full-fledged tantrum! The severe looking police inspector wasn’t helping the matter any!
• The BF’s aunt went back to her home on Sunday. We escorted her back home, me, the BF and the twins. The weather was lovely and clear and it was a nice chance to get the kids out of the smoke and pollution of the city, even if it was for only a day . It was nice to have the aunt with us, we are thankful to her for all that she has done for the GMIL, but her family needs her too. It was hard on the granny to let go, but in the end, we couldn’t be keeping the aunt with us indefinitely, could we?! The twins called out to the aunt as we left her place, surprised that she didn’t hop in with them. These last 6 months, the twins had become quite attached to her and she to them. So though she didn’t sob much when she left her mother, she sobbed buckets as we pulled out on the road . I guess thats what kids do best! Make us addicted to them and then crave their presence !!

This week’s going to be tough. We have our client visiting from US and we need to comein by 9 sharp each morning. No more flexi-timing till he’s in town This has put a cog in the gear of my daily schedule, but with the BF chipping in, hopefully, the days will pass by like a breeze. Today, the MIL bathed the kids and the BF dried and powdered them before changing their clothes. He also fed them breakfast, readied their bags and waited with them downstairs for their school van. I do all the above everyday, but just typing this out and knowing that the BF does it all now, gives me a cheerful feeling  . I wish he does this everyday of the twin’s school life

Anyhow folks, I’ve been away for long. There’s a lot I need to catch up on now. Most of you have been blogging like crazy and I have hundreds of posts to read. Time is running out, so I now bid you adieu. Will come back with more posts and more pictures this week.

Till then, Have a great week ahead.

Love,





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Excuse Me Folks…….

…………while I take some time out to de-clutter the mind.

As usual, I have about 6-7 posts in half-finished status. I update each and every one of them as and when I get the time. Unfortunately, I have LOADS of work today and the multiple blog threads are cluttering my head. I guess I’m making a conscious effort to concentrate on 1) my work and 2) Single post at a time

But since I don’t want you to feel deprived (since you dropped by already ), I leave you with this little puzzle-joke.  Till then, HAPPY WEEKEND

——————————

A blonde calls her husband on his cellphone.
Blonde: “I’ve got a problem!”
Husband: “Tell me.”
Blonde: “I’ve just bought a puzzle, but I can’t solve it!”
Husband: “Is it that difficult?”
Blonde: “Yes, I don’t know where to start; all pieces look similar!”
Husband: “What’s the image on the cover of the box?”
Blonde: “A red cock, but I really can’t solve it.”
Husband: “Wait a minute, I’ll be right there and we will solve it together!”
…
A few minutes later the husband walks in.
Husband: “And where is this puzzle of yours?”
Blonde: “It’s right here on the table…”
Deep silence falls, and then a sigh…
Husband: “Okay, we will do the following: you’ll put all corn flakes back into the box and I’ll forget the complete incident.”

——————————-

 




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