N so they quip.....

Ma little niece all of 5 yrs tells ma mom tht she gotta relocate to kerala - N why not blore asks the poor unsuspecting me!!! The brat quips "Ammama.... This one will wake up at 9 in morn n come over to kitchen with Paper in hand N say - 2 teas please"!!! Man! She is all of 5 n visits me like what - 2-3 weeks in a year!!!!!! Sheesh! These Kids I say are gonna be ma bane!

N well when I talk of smart one-liners can ma hubbs be far off!!

This is his new profile pic in FB...  Whats this u wondered... So did I n a few others too!

N ma dono-what-modesty-means quips "Hiding my face lest the world fall in love :P"!!!! I should hv by now learnt not to open ma mouth in public........

The year that was....

Well as I look back ~~ I hardly hv any concrete achievements to write on... But but there are so many daily-life moments that made this year so very meaningful n a happy-to-look-back one... Unlike last year where there were quite a few of concrete ones(New House, New Job......) but a feeling of restlessness n unrest had crept in which fizzled it all off!


N the first half or rather more than that was so marked by the same feeling... A BIG unrest! Well nothing specific that I can put ma finger on ~~ But a general discontent, on-n-off kich-kich with ma hubbs (ha! tht fella has patience in abundance)...... But as they say every dark cloud has a silver lining!

N it was this silver lining that was the landmark of the year :)...... I donno the word to describe her... a friend, a sister, a guide, a mentor... well each of it is true but each word falls short... she is all of it n much more for me! N I so very owe all my simple happy pleasures of life that I appreciate today jus to her... from ma home to reinventing the relationship with ma sis n hubbs...... Thank U! U r really spl to me ......** Anti jinx**

This year saw me making an attempt to make ma house into a home .... n a home that today am truly happy to go back to n am happy to host you (c'mon take this as an invitation n drop in)! Ha thts saying something... Cause till a few months back I would cringe as soon as I hear the word 'Guests'... Thots of endless mopping, cleaning, cooking would give me nightmares! But today??? Ha am waiting to welcome each of u home :). I hv surprised myself! ** Anti jinx**

Hubbs dearest - The relationship saw the biggest low(Mr. Hubbs - did u atleast know this?) followed by the biggest high! Well blame it on the same unrest ~~ But today well I sigh in peace n happiness :).... Muah! I love u!! ** Anti jinx**


N the biggest surprise of the year ... N possibly the happiest of all tooo was this! Ha!! Miracles of Life is what I call them :). N yeah am taking of the same guardian angel I refereed above n who is made on-off appearance in ma space... Ha this year is been so entwined with her..... Well Lucky me :) ** Anti jinx**


N well can I complete the space without handing out the due thank-You notes to all ma blog Friends...... To the sweetest of all Swaram ~~ U are a true inspiration sweetheart ~~ The way u take pleasure in simple moments of life is truly worth learning! N Color Decor....... Wow! Is the word to desc u n the blog... Showed me how an simple effort to decorate a home can bring in loads of cheer n joy... N if somebody as utilitarian as me can be inspired... Well tht in itself speaks volumes :) N ofcourse to all of u who read ma blog (Plzzz comment on it tooo :-D)

Frnds at work (U make those days bearable!) n ma sweetest neighbor... Sabi(yea yea u can keep getting me more gifts n casseroles... :D). Ha n well if I don make a customary reference to ma sis she is gonna scream mad at me :-P. So here is to you sweetie pie.... Here is to a year which saw u passing off ur masters degree from THE college with flying colors... U made me proud(abt time I say :-D)... Now go get married fast !!!

BTW shouldnt a thank u note be sent to FB tooo which manages to get all the family n frnds closer n plays a major role in spicing up daily life :-D

The only meek concrete achievement that dares to raise its head is - We booked our new car(So wht if its not delivered? SO wht if its booked with borrowed money :-P. I know am hopeless) BTW does a new role in job count (Wink)

So tht was the year in summation ~~ 'Settled' I guess is the word to describe it N yea I jus hv one person to thank for all this!

The Fables of Life!

Hmmm I donno what better title would suit this post - read on n u can possibly suggest a betta one!

If u had read this space on-n-off u would hv realized that homemaking-cooking are not terms I associate much with(Now Now few of u outaa there - I Know am not supposed to be proud of it!) ~~ But it jus stuck me a few days back that theres been a slow but a steady change thats been happening ~~ Cleaning up home now takes up a good significant part of ma time n horrors-of-horrors I seem to not to mind it ......N Mind u this is not the pushing-under-the-bed kinda cleaning (just as guests are about to knock in) that I used to specialize in!!!

Phew! U said... Now now don swoon but but but for last weeks I hv been dedicatedly packing lunch for ma huubs n self... SWOON! Man! I dont believe this as I type it out...... Ok, Ok! a Big thnx to hubs is I know called for (Atleast for the unwavering compliments I get for the 'hatke' food that I manage to pack in every other day ... Anybody for Cabbage fry with tamarind juice added to it!!!)

Na na its not the end of it...... Other thing thts taken a beating is our 'Eating Out' ritual(Now now once a fortnight or even a week is still a big thumbs down for somebody like me! No u cant snicker lady!!) Now now the major reason for it is the 'dole'.... God!! I dono how thi damn thing always manages to sneak off without ma knowledge.... grrrrrrrr!!!!!!! So the last few months is been the regular next-door eateries... Doesnt coast-coast, kubays come under that ... N no FANCY stuff!

So well imagine am surprise when I went out dining at a so-called-fancy place(well the bill that came along was FANCY indeed) n came out feeling suffocated!! Omigosh is it me talking!!! Now now B4 I panic , I should posibly give another of these places a shot ...... I am gona call this a one-off case n blame it on the restaurant (Khansama - UB City if u r interested to Know ~~ People -people everywhere, No ambiance to speak of ) ..... Else am gonna call SOS!!!

So what do I term this transformation that am going thru.... Sob sob sob! Settling down somebody called it... Yikes!!!!

What is Your word?

From ma fav-book-of-the-moment- (Eat, Pray, Love)! 

Ha what this basically means is every city, every family, every person has a word that describes it! Doesnt Make sense? Lemme give u a few examples straight from the book - The word for New York is "Achieve", Vatican is "Power" (Did ya think its Prayer?), Rome is "Sex"(I Loved that! :-D)

Isnt that an interesting concept??? N as u may hv guessed - it caught ma fancy like nothing else did :). So a good part of ma recent conv be wit with hubbs or friends revolved in finding THE WORD!

Ofcourse I could attribute a word easily enuf to every person I know........Ma friends Ranged from 'Full of Life' to 'warm' to 'Morose'! H n even for cities ....From 'Culture' for Hyderabad  to 'Mindless Joy' to Goa to 'Orthodox' for 'Chennai'! Ha did I tell you that all of them agreed that the word for ma hubbs is 'Happy-Go-Lucky' ('Joie De Vivre' as he himself describes it... Somebody teach him modest plz!)

Now now comes the diff word.... A word for me!!!!!  Why aint I not surprised that I couldnt come up with ine!.... So off I went on a quest to find the word!

Na na don let any images of 'finding-yourself' cloud up ur imagination... Thts so not me :-D! I did the simplest thingy... asked the hubbs n people who I think know me betta! N am was I surprised with the answer ....... The words ranged from 'Spontaneious' to 'hyper' to 'Cheeky'... Phew!

So whats your word?

Eat, Pray, Love!



Did u read this one??

I LOVED IT :)


Ha truthfully - the first few pages I thot it was just another of those over-hypes books... but slowly as I turned the pages I fell in love with it.... N then savored each line, each page .... YUM is the word for the book :)

Just one of the many passages that leaves u thinking......


Have u always wanted wondered "How to Live in this worldand enjoy its delight, but also devote yourself to God". The answer lies in an  androgynous human figure, standing up, hands clasped in parayer. But this figure had 4 legs and no head.  Wherethe head should have been, there was only  a foliage of ferns and flowers. There was a small smiling face drawn over the heart"! Ha think its some meaningless blabber! Read on

"To find the balance you want this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have four legs, instead of two. This way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way you will know God."

As I said jus one of the many passages that kinda makes u sit back n think .... No heavy preaching here but lightreading that still has its load of gyaan... A nice refreshing read... I loved it :)

Weekend Wrap up!

Now Now how many of u even realized tht I was away from this space :(

Yeaaaaaaaaaaa I was away on a HOLIDAY :-D!

Now to write abt it in a single post will do no justice to it... So as i threaten to encompass this space with posts n posts on ma holiday... This one is just a 'hello there' post to say mee back :-D

Heres a quick glance of one of the many pics that marked this hol!

Hols!!
From Mountains to............

Beaches to......



Forests to.....  
River Rafting!
Ma Fav Nook!
Did I wet ur appetite :-D Ha the main course will follow sooon...... LOL!

So the reason for this hide-n-seek post?? Well other than the Hi-Hello routine - This week is the the last weekend wrapup of the year - Ha this one seems to be soon turning out to be ma favourtest feature in blog world (grin grin)... So I cant afford to miss it, Can I??

Heres wishing all u ColorDeckor readers a v happy Merry X-Mas n a gr8 year Ahead!

Similie Time!

Ha this was a 'to-be-mulled-on' chats had with a friend during Office hours :). Ha chatting @ work has a taste of its own! Now to be further mulled on were a few of these interesting similes he came up with..... to-be-chewed-on kinds.,.... Read n tell me if u enjoyed it:

While describing a mutual friend, he compared her to a "Lamp" ~~ Now the first thot that comes to mind is somebody who is 'lamp-of-the-life' ~~ A person who is trouble-shooter, a saviour kinda person. But well there was more to it.... "she will burn herself out to light ur life but u will burn ur finger if u touch" were the exact words he used to explain ... Good one isnt it??? N tht describes the person to a 'T' cause while everybody's problems are hers, u try going a millimeter near n intruding into her personal space n u won know wht hit u :-D

Another pearl of wisdom which again in his own words "when u learning to ride a bicycle..... when sombody holds the cycle for you, you get comfortable n start cycling, without noticing that u are on ur own, the moment u pause to look back n find nobody is holding u fail n fail " ~~ This was in context of when I was talking of a friend who suddenly seemed clingy when we were moving to diff office locations..... N if it still dint make sense to you here is what he was saying......we at times sub-consciously rely on Friends n when faced with a prospect of their moving out react v adversely......

A good set of similes????

Heart Wrenching.........

:(

Exactly how u feel when u go make a hue n cry, call people names n hurl everything short of abuses at them for well u thot u arent imp enuf to them only to be proven wrong!! Man that hurts... N I don even for a sec waana imaine how it would hv been to be in other persons shoes......

For once thou it was exhilarating to know that am given much more imp than I asked for... It also left me with this cringy feeling of having done something wrong!

I am sorry. N yea I know I hv this habbit of saying sorry without meaning a word of it... But well I truly mean it this time n it leaves me with big huge void kinda feeling in ma heart ... Yea I know u must hv felt worst.......

Soory :(

Retail Therapy!

Retail Therapy anybody :-D

Yea tht is all I did this weekend...... yippie yippie yip yipyip! Shopped at Fab India....N  if u a Fab India enthusiast like me but wriggle ur noses at their rates, heres a tip... Yea U can go ahead n thank me for it! Try their teenage section... L N XL fit me quite welll (So should fit most of u easily... atleast the not-yet-mother kinds) ... N its much lighter on pocket tooo! Imagine I picked 2 tops for 5oo bucks (Evil Smirk on face) :-D. Come come hv a look.....





Ha! Nothing spl u said abt the top? I have this cotton Bandhini Ghagra  bought  a few years back... But as luck would hv it, the top got v conveniently torn! So imagine ma happiness whn I found this... exactly wht I was looking for esp when I had given up on finding something this well co-ordinated!



Now whts this?? The white n green in the background is another top courtesy Fab India  n the reebok perfume is what Hubbs picked for me ...Yea yea! I was zappeed tooo!!!! (Possibly Nagging does help).... N if any of u thinking of some unsavory comment on the perfume brand... Grrrrr at u!



N look what else I found!! This cuttte Key-chain :-D...... Coutersy Chumbak @ Crossword (Forgive the less-than-favourable photo quality)

Imagine this quota of happy-shopping clubbed with yum food! Kappa-Meen curry N Puttu-kadala was on the menu (All keral delicaies... do a quick google serach n u'll know what am talking of).... Both of whhich far from authentic... But well at time sthe joy lies in conjuring up the dish than savouring it(Man ~~ I cant believe what I just wrote)!

Yummm of a weekend.... wouldnt u agreee :)

Ha now truth the reason for it is more yummm than the weekend...... Its just for this yummmm of a blog's Weekend  Wrap Up!

Frnds N Blogs!

Now Now am the persons who takes more than the warranted time to warm up to a person - there is a 'measuring-Up' of the person churning inside ma mind... Once processed its easier for me to comprtmentalize them n decided the treatment they get... varying from 'warm' to 'Ice Cold'! But well when data processing is happening am this diplomatic artificial-smile-plastered uncomfortable dame!

Haa But surprsie of surprises - Other day I was at a wedding(Ho! another of ma fav topics) when I meet this copule for the first time in ma life - Now I hv heard enuf of them - they are more of ma in-laws family friends daughter n hubbs (all the more reason for the artificial smile plastering :-D). But well well in the very first line of intro the couple tell me tht they are regular readers of ma blog :-D..... Ha there was this happy-warm feeling n all of a sudden am in ma comfort zone! No more hand wringing n more smile-till-u-ache ......... what followed is a nice warm conv like I hv always known them....... For somebody whos been thru ma blogs know me for wht I am so why bother to paint a false pic :) Wow how much is this blogging got integrated into the kinda person I am... Am loving it!

Moni-suresh if u read this..... It was a pleasure to meet u! U guys are one hell of a couple... God Bless! N ofcourse thank U fo reading ma blog..... Here is wishing u v happy life ahead with ur litt angel :)

Lifey!

Haa..... Life! Well the usual busy story aside.... This is the time for annual holidays... The one week of pure indulgence  to bring a year to an end! Post last years Goa Trip... I decided that we going abroad this time... well a holiday abroad sounded soooo Fab :-P

But well somebody up there decided am already too much of a show-off n so poof went the plan ~~ Last min Hubbs dearest decides his passport is abt to expire (N me being the nice faithful wifey cant dump him can I)! Ha biggie u say ~~ India is got too many betta options ~~ Well I wouldnt agree with u more! But well what do I tell ya - My abroad visit was to the nearest island country which would turned out to be much cheaper than even to the nearest hill station in India (Wink wink)! U c the operating word here is 'Money'....

'Money'... Hmm deserves a blog in itself! I always wonder how this damn thing manages to leak off ma wallet with no traces at alll....... Well last 2-3 years we been earning almost the same money - add or take a few K's - but sill every month v faithfully we end up swiping the credit card(cause debit card has Big zero in it) - Biggie u say again! But consider this - A few months b4 v dint hv any home loan - Now a few decent K's go into it But well ma balance is still toiling at that minus figure by end of the month! God save us!!

Ha so back to the actual topic  ~~ Ma vacation plan!  Now now my hubbs is the kind who religiously believes in  "Journey is betta than the destination" (I know I dint get the proverb fully rt) n so decides that its gonna be road trip again into a hill station (Roll ma eyes) ~~ So well it was decided to be a kodai - Vaalparai option... But somebody up there seems to hv other plans... Guess wht our FIL jus informed(hats off) .....Madhurai is kinda flooded(!) n so that plan is ruled out tooo,......... grrrr!!

So here am with a  weeks holiday starting next sat n am clueless... Any options are welcome!

Yet ANother Weekend!

Ha looks like this space is v soon becoming a 'weekend-only-posts' space... didnt I tell ya addiction is a bad thing :-D

Ha this weekend saw me n hubbs driving down to chennai... well not a fun trip ... Ma father-in-law wasnt well (or rather isnt) n so the visit! Now truly speaking I had butterflies in ma stomach ...Cause I was as-usual dreading the much favoured 'Good-News' topic! But ha I grant it to them... Not once was the topic bought up..... I sooo much respect them for giving us this space(Now will somebody teach ma mom this :-D)

Well Now I was abt to write the relationship I share with them... But well the words arent just coming out n my eyyes are almost drooping... SO I'll suffice to say that - Touchwood! Am Lucky :)

The one thing that I love the most at home there is the collection of figurines from across the world - from Africa to Thailand to China to Japan to Kerala to Andhra........now if I were to try n put up the entire collection here welll I wouldnt do justice at alll!! So for now I will let u drool over the impressive collections at home straight from Africa!



Anything Defines Africa Betta?


The Water-Bearers

On the River Nile (????)

N I know they read this space... So here its straight from horse mouth~~ Probably the first time am accepting it so publicly..... Yea, I so much await the good news as each of you are :) (Thou I still donno if am awaiting it for ma self or for all of u?)... So plzzz wish me luck!

N ofcours ethe reason for the hurried post ... ha the same addiction I spoke of in LiNe 1 :)