You know I’ve been cribbing lately of not having time to myself! But the worst part of it all is when I try to remedy this situation. And end up packing a zillion activities in one day. Yup. Thats me 😀
I’ve been meaning to do a lot of things lately, like meeting up my cousin, watching a movie, shopping, meeting friends, visiting my doctor, spending time with the kids, cooking, etc. So I went overboard and did ALL of the above 🙂 . I even started putting them all down, but didn’t realize that there was so much to write that it would take me more than 2 days!!
Whew!
So without much ado, lets start with Saturday. The Sunday part comes in tomorrow’s post 🙂
Event 1 :-
Went to my uncle’s place to pick up cousin L. She had called me the previous evening to pour out her heart. The girl is at that stage in her life when parents seek proposals diligently and the girl is just not able to express any liking for any of them. Obviously, the parents feel they are losing a battle here. It doesn’t help that the cousin is an only child and her parents tend to go overboard in every business concerning her, including groom-hunting 😀 . I must have seen the same scene being enacted in all the households which have daughters 🙄 . Somehow, once the parents feel their daughter is of marriageable age, they go on a war footing to find that groom. And if the girl refuses the guy of their liking, there is much teeth clenching and jaw-gnashing. But they can do little other than to drag the girl to the altar (which frankly, never really happens. There are other stronger weapons such as a Mother’s tears and a father’s broken voice. Sob!)
Anyhow, cousin L is at the barrel end of this emotional outpouring from her parents and has to listen to stuff like her parent’s being worried about her staying a spinster all her life, or that she may be leading her parents to an early grave 🙄 and so on and so forth. Though the girl is a tough nut and asks her parents to get a grip, there are times when melancholy takes over and she picks up the phone to went her woes at me. And me, being the kind, married,experienced elder sister have no other job to do than lend a willing shoulder and a box-full of tissues to the little sis.
This time, I wanted to take her away from her house, spend some quality time, disperse some gyaan and generally, cheer her up a bit. So after wrapping up the breakfast and lunch for GMIL, her sister, her daughter, the BF and the MIL (and any other expected/unexpected guests of the day) I made my way to the uncle’s house. The aunt had made hot idlis with sambhar and the aroma was enough to remind me that I had forgotten to have breakfast in my hurry to reach there.
I quickly gobbled down a couple of idlis and then off we were on our way.
Event 2 :-
Visited my doc. It was pending for a long time. I’ve been having some problems lately, the outcome of which was that I’ve been feeling extremely fatigued and worn out by the end of the day. It didn’t help that I was getting irritable by the hour and the BF was at the receiving end of severe tongue lashing! It was he who in his infinite wisdom suggested that I visit my doc as soon as possible!
So I did.
The verdict is that I may have a possible thyroid problem. The tiny little matter of my mom and sisters suffering from the same fate didn’t escape the doc’s eye (who, incidentally is also the consulting doc for them. Talk about jumping on the same boat * !!)
Event 3 :-
Cousin L expressed her wish to watch “7 Khoon Maaf” as we exited the doctor’s office. Not a bad idea at all, I agreed and we made our way to the nearest multiplex. There was 7KM playing in the next 10 minutes and another show of “Tanu weds Manu” after an hour. Since it was already past 12, we contemplated on having some lunch first and then going for a show. But 7KM was playing much later that afternoon and I had to get back home too. So we bought the tickets to the 12:15 show and made our way to the screen.
Halfway there, cousin L confessed softly that she didn’t like Kangana Ranaut at all. What the hell girl, I said, you can yell that piece of news across this theatre and I doubt anyone would contradict you! If the original was awful, I have no words for the plumped up one now!! The next 10 minutes were spent in decrying the awfulness of the aforementioned actress.
Hearts much lighter by the end of 10 minutes, we went in to grab our seats.
The theatre was , erm, rather empty, which didn’t look like a good sign. We were rather doubtful about our choice, each trying to confirm from the other about the reviews. We dissected the TOI, Mirror, Rediff, NDTV and IBNLive reviews. Good time pass, I must say 🙂
Anyhow, the movie was ……well, different.
Certainly not what we expected, but enjoyable, because at one point, we just wanted to know how the next guy would be bumped off. Some scenes made us queasy (Irrfan Khan’s and Annu Kapoor’s), there was loads of laughter in the crowd and at some places we couldn’t help but gasp in shock and surprise 😀 . We loved the woman-oriented theme of the movie, but there were too many loopholes which couldn’t be ignored. I guess the director should have spent some time in tying them up. But it is indeed a nice movie, worth at least one watch. The only drawback of the movie would be the lead actress. Though Priyanka has put in commendable effort (which is evident in every frame), you can’t help but think that it is just that, an effort. Not , a success. Because in every shot, you see Priyanka, the actress, and not Susanna, the protagonist. Such a pity, because it was such a wonderful role to play !!
There’s a new guy in town to look out for. Vivaan Shah is damn confident of his role and one can’t help but think about genes 🙂 . All the other actors did pretty well in their roles, though frankly, I think Neil rose above my expectations and John worked that lingerie + wig big time 😀
But pray, seriously, just what was Usha Utthup doing in this film?!!!
Event 4 :-
Post movie, we hopped into the nearest McD’s for lunch, as we were both VERY hungry by this time (neither of us likes the pop-corn or coke served in multiplexes . Pop-corn = Way too expensive. Coke = Way too watery!! . Munching over McVeggies and fries, she poured out her heart on everything that was going wrong with her life. Issues with her aunt who is a permanent resident in their house, to studies, friends, marriage proposals, parents, everything. Its no surprise then that I finished with my burger and started on her’s. Finished my Coke and started slurping from her’s. I really think I shouldn’t take this “listening to sad heart outpourings business” seriously. Very bad for the health, if you get the drift 😐
Poor cousin was so caught up in her woes, she didn’t see her fast disappearing food. Frankly, I didn’t bother to advise her this time. There wasn’t any need. Situations like her’s sort out by themselves. She just wanted a sounding board and I was a willing applicant for the post 😀 .
By the time we were done with the food, it was 4pm. Time to drop her back home.
Event 5 :-
Just opposite to the cousin’s place is her friend’s house. The friend in question is the daughter of one of my mom’s soul-sister, what with them both sharing the same name and fate (only difference being, the aunt lost her husband at the young age of 29 – TWENTY-NINE!!! I dread to think of suffering such a fate at any age 😦 – and looking after the upbringing of her two daughters and caring for her mother-in-law) . Anyhow, since the aunt’s daughter was pregnant, and I hadn’t found the time to meet her even once, me and cousin L decided to drop by and say Hi.
So we dropped by to their place, only to find the gate locked. We almost decided to go back, but then cousin L had the foresight to call up her friend. We found that they usually kept the gate locked because of the recent spate of robberies in the neighbourhood. Since there were only four women staying alone at that place, it was safer to stay behind locked gates. Shortly, the aunt’s younger daughter came out to open the gate. We went in and were met with a pleasant surprise. The elder daughter had already given birth!! She had a premature delivery when the child was just 35 weeks old (same as my twins 😀 ). The mother and baby were fine 🙂 .Me and L spent the better half of the hour cooing over the newborn. Seriously, there is no joy like holding an infant in your arms. Even today, I miss the time my babies were babies, those itsy-bitsy pieces of humanity who had the power to turn you to a mushy wreck with just one small smile 🙂 . Aaahh!! Those were the good times indeed !!!
The young mother wasn’t all that well though. She had undergone C-sec and her stitches hurt bad. I Shared a few tips with her, cracked a couple of jokes to lighten the mood, but they kind of backfired when she asked me to stop. Apparently, I was hurting her more 😐 ! Oh well, gotta direct my goodwill efforts somewhere else then 😦
After spending an hour here, we bid goodbye and I dropped cousin L to her house and went back home.
Event 6 :-
It being a Saturday evening,the house was flooded with guests who had dropped by to meet the Granny. I stepped in to find the MIL all flushed and tired and busy serving the third round of tea+Biscuits+snacks. Made me feel guilty for leaving her alone to tend to the people at home 😦 . She, being the good soul that she is, didn’t remonstrate or anything, just asked if I had a good time! Jale par namak, I tell you. There is nothing like a good dose of guilt to make one feel as big as a dust mite 😦 . I quickly got into the grind, dropped my purse on the bed, ordered the MIL to rest her feet and got about the serving business myself. Half an hour of frantic serving later, the BF reminded me that we had a dinner date with BFG and BFS!! Oh God!! I had so totally forgotten !! How could I face the MIL now, being away from home the entire day and then just when there were people over for dinner (the relatives who drop by for a visit rarely, if ever are let out without being fed one major meal. Some rules of the in-laws drive me MAD. But what to do?! Tradition it is 😦 ) I ditch her and swing away for another party?!
I could cancel the date, but given the fact that after BFC’s wedding, this was the first time all four of us were meeting up, it was too much to tell the other two members that we weren’t turning up (the we being me and the BF) . Anyhow, I approached the MIL and told her our plan. She asked me if I was taking the kids along. I nodded in the affirmative. She looked relieved. That, I guess was the green signal. Without much ado, I wrapped the kids in their Saturday best (Hah!!) and bundled them into the car before you could say Hallelujah!!
Event 7 :-
The BF hadn’t seen BFG’s new office yet. So we all decided to gather there for dinner. The initial plan was to go out for dinner, but one look at the office and we decided to stay put there itself. There’s nothing more intimate than sitting around with close friends, chatting, catching up on each other’s lives, the jobs, familes, kids and not getting bored for a minute! The BF and BFG went out to bring dinner and BFS kept herself busy with the twins. She was teaching them “lakdi ki kaathi” and it was rather cute to hear her missing out on a few words or gettign them wrong ( thats the Goan in her!) and the kids repeating the same after her 😀
We had no idea that by the time we decided to split for the night, it was 11pm!! Technically not very late for many people, but definitely late for people whose kids are up way beyond their sleep time 😦 .
Hugs and kisses went around and we decided to meet up often in the office. It helps that BFG is the owner 😀 . I swear the twins messed up the place big time, but she was rather kind and assured us that a maid will come to do the clean-up the next day. Once more bidding good night, we went back home.
By the time we reached back, I was ready to hit the sack even without changing for the night. But the kids!!! Someone MUST have given them a dose of Glucon-D while I wasn’t looking. What else can explain their hyper-energetic state close to midnight 😦 ? It took immense patience and self-control to rein them in make them catch those precious zzzzz while we tried to steal our’s. Finally, we (correction, ‘I’, since the BF was in la-la land much earlier) got the chance to sleep 🙂 .
It was a pretty good Saturday, I must say 🙂
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(To be continued…………………)
McVeggies in McD’s? Why?
I don’t have Non-Veg outside 😦
i know, so why go to mcd?
Cousin’s choice 😦
Am no fan of the place anyway 😐