An enchanting date..

...with sunset,

so close, so warm

a little more thought of it and i might just start poetry.

which i know would not be good enough, so leave you with some views.

@ around 5:30'ish, friday evening

near Dubai customs building,

@ jumeira open beach

a close look will show the moon and the evening star, so well positioned.

That tall thing on the right end is Burj Dubai (another unique attraction here)

I would not have called it quits had amit not given me his i-am-bugged & i-feel-neglected looks!!

5 past half century!

Its Dad's 55th birthday today. First wish that comes to my mind for him is of his recovery. Its been 4 months since he was hit by this spine-nerve attack and got operated. He is walking with the help of walker and feeling much better now. Best thing is his positive mental strength to get back to normal. Doctors say full recovery may take as long as 2 years but a good attitude and exercise can reduce the time to 6 months too. So I am hopeful.

I was planning to send him flowers and cake today but since he is in hospital for review n physiotherapy, mom insisted I dont do that. He doesn't quite appreciate such gestures, calling it a waste of money; if I would have been in Mumbai today, I would have surely been there in front of him with the jazz of flowers and all that. But since its only mom there with him, and I know that even if he would love to recieve them but not show it at all, instead he would get upset more than being happy and mom would have to lend the listening ear, so I dropped the idea. Whats the use when it doesnt lead to what you ultimately want, isnt it? 

Yes, I was sad for a moment but never mind. I called him early in the morning today, heard the cheerful voice confirming completion of 55 years with a smile and I felt nice. I hope I was the first among the sibings to wish him :D (just like that). Mom has taken the typical home made bday sweet "gajar ka halwa" for him. And I know they are much more happy celebrating the occassion in a simple way.

So, PaPa! hErE's wIshIng yOu mAnY hAppY rEtUrnS oF tHe dAy!

AnD oN yOuR sPeCiAl DaY.. I wIsH fOr YoU, mAnY jOyS aNd HaPpInEsS..!HoPe YoU hAvE a wOnDeRfUl DaY..!HaPpY BiRtHdAy PaPa..!

Law of Attraction

is what I will be thinking about today, trying to make sense of it in my life, thoughts-actions.. 

Just yday did i watch the first 20 minutes of 'The Secret' and therefore..

if any of you have thoughts around it, do please help me by putting some in the comments space.

dont be lazy please!

fun quiz - poor result :D

34 As a 1930s wife, I am Poor Take the test!

Take the test!

Tag of 25!

When in Rome, do as Romans do!

So here I am, doing this TAG where I have to pen down 25 things about myself randomly. My first ever tag in the blogosphere and I Thanks Nancy for putting me to this task :o I think I was happier reading other's Tags but as they say 'when in rome do as romans do', I will give it an honest try.

1. God gave one of those bright stars from the sky to my parents as gift so they decided on my name as 'Tara', I was told this story by mom-dad and I happily believe them and think I am that star. :P
2. I have an elder sister and younger brother but i wanted the other way round. An elder brother to pamper me and a younger sister who i could bully. And strangely enough, when all my friends in school used to dream of Amir Khan romantically, I wished he was my elder brother :)
3. I have generally been a shy person. An introvert, always avoiding functions be at school or home. Just a day prior to any picnic I coincidently managed to get fever or some ailment thus escaping the events happily.
4. Inspite of that I was my teachers favourite, almost! but that was no fun for they would put our names for all extra-curricular acts where no one else participated & we couldnt dis-please them.
5. I am a girl of very few words when it comes to talking. Still, at work I am okay and confident of holding discussions or calls with colleagues from any level of hierarchy.
6. I can be real pain with my long long long writings. so while i talk less, I am just the opposite when it comes to writing. & like Goofy mom said (who tagged the one who tagged me), I prefer writing to talking as a mode of conversation for clarifications/justifications etc. And like her, I too have my email sgn ending with ...Smiles
7. I love to live in memories. Call it clicking photographs or going back to browsing them, every now and then..
8. I love my parents (both set of them, after being married) & strongly believe that at this stage of their life we should give them more than we can just like they did to us all their lives, including the most healthy & prime time of their lives. Something as simple as a phone call means a lot to them..they dont ask for more.
9. At home I was the bai. while chores were being divided, i would not get anything better than sweeping, washing dishes, folding the clothes or kneading the dough. all the indoor jazz stuff was being taken care by didi n mom & outdoor by manu, m bro :( maybe thats y pt no 2
10. I have this feeling that I have inherited all odd things from my parents in terms of looks. like my mom has perfect teeth but i hv like my dads. Dad is tall but i hv gone on my moms hgt. and stuff like this u see..
11. But having said that, I have conveniently accepted the superstition that people who have gap between the front two upper tooth, are lucky. I have reasons to believe that way. 
12. I am infact lucky. Be it studies, job or marriage (what else is considered imp in our society?) I had almost no struggle through all this. I even got an easy, smooth break from work(that is now!) after wishing it for sometime, having worked for 7 years.
13. Marriage is such a gamble. While arranged marriages of our parents are working well(touch wood), I hv heard of even love marriages with tough time nowadays. So, having found a nice person with a family with whom (Insha'Allah) these 2 years have gone by so smoothly, I must once again touch wood and consider myself lucky!
14. I met Amit through matrimonial site. Till then I had no idea that a thing like finding ur soulmate thru d net could work for me. I enjoyed the whole phase of groom hunting, making some good friends in the process.
15. Havn't I yet mentioned that I love gardening. I love water, I love nature in general.
16. I have a painful eye for detail. Ask my boss or my husband to explain you what it could mean. hehe. Its a positive but could be a twinge as well.
17. I am a cleanliness freak of the same greatness. And have a passion for being super organised. Even in the mid of an operational risk review meeting at work If I get a call from home I could tell the caller that the particular CD is lying in the left corner of the 2nd drawer of the middle almira in the master bedroom, without even blinking an eye for thinking.
18. So Masood should not worry that i wont return him his John Grisham books all in order only once he gives them to me :o .. No No, I am not reminding you my dear! I am only completing this task of telling 25 things abt myself & this one says I want to read some of his courtroom dramas.
19. I am a very low maintenance girl. I mean no makeup, accessories, visits to parlour for manicure kind of stuff etc etc. But when I go to my fav parlour & ask for a facial, I love to sleep for almost 2 hours while she does her job very professionally with the motherly warmth of her hands
20. My Idea of romance is lying on a hammock on the beach and listening to some nice gup shups or if I am alone then reading, enjoying music or simply gazing out at the sky or the waves. ah! I am already into that world as I write this.
21. I was till some years back, very apprehensive about going to foreign lands. The people, language, culture, ways of life, food, getting lost on the roads - had all that kind of silly fears.
22. I can survive on fruits and salads for long enough.
23. Adventures thrill me. I want to get done with all possible adventurous activities as early as possible in life. Heights, edges of cliffs, depths of water .. nothing scares me but a sight of lizard or a mouse is all it takes to make me jump n scream like hell has fallen on me. I guess the later applies to most of the girls.
24. O' I simply love snakes! I see colored snakes in my dream. I love their gait. Their tail passes from the same point as their head and in between they travel all zigzag and its amazing to me. I love discovery guys for making so many snake stories and showing them repeatedly.
25. Recently I had a minor problem with cervical spine, maybe due to excessive working on the comp and wrong posture. I have become cautious about my health after that & really want to get into regular exercise habits. After all I need to be healthy to be able to do all that i mentioned in 23rd pt.

BIG Breath! in and out! I am done! but hey, I could go on for some more(refer pt 6). There is lot more to me than just these little titbits. For now, lets follow the rules and stop here, tagging someone else to do this. hmmm, well...I know not many bloggers to ask them to do it, most of them have already done it by now. So I tag only one person hoping he does it for sure. Masood! I tag you - please do whenever u have time. ok? :)

adopt an animal - hows d idea?

While browsing through some news articles randomly, I landed here finding it interesting.

Its a WWF site that offers 7 selected endangered animals for monthly adoption at a nominal cost. Before atually reading the details I assumed that I can get an animal adopted for as short a period as a month for a particular price and then either continue having it as a pet or return it back to the authorities. But when I saw the list of animals, it struck me that Rhino, Elephant, Dolphin, Panda, Tiger, Polar Bear & Monkeys are not the usual pets :(

The site turned out to be offering animal adoption which they say is a popular way of providing consistent funding to wildlife charities whilst also providing a tangible gift to the recipient who gets a goodie bag with picture of ur pet, a soft toy, certificate and some more things.

I think there will be more takers if they offer the regular popular pets which they actually let us take home for the period we want to have them. We pay the cost with a condition that we get part of it back if we care them well and return them healthy after a period of time. In that case I would love to have this-

The lovely picture has been picked from "www.toptenz.net/10-dangerous-exotic-pets.php"

I love this self customized idea! will lookup on the net if something like this is possible...else I will start such services post retirement. watsay?

Tower of Arabs

...is what it means (in Arabic). Tops in the list of attractions in Dubai. Designed to resemble a billowing sail, Burj Al Arab soars to a height of 321 metres, dominating the Dubai skyline. Built on an artificial island constructed 280 meters offshore, this place is simply individual, inspired, impressive & characterizes itself as the world's first "7-star" property. It has a helipad on it too.

We spent a day at this part of Jumeirah beach that offers a very close view of the architectural splendor. We walked and walked and walked some more, without being bothered of getting tanned. I had seen such blue-green waters only in the pictures earlier.The beaches here are beautiful, pretty clean and not crowded at all. Still there is enough activity around to keep you engaged. See, I love observing people without giving them my intruding looks, so I enjoyed watching them surfing, playing in water, making castles of sand, sunbathing and we also kept taking pictures of everything that caught the eyes.

We had a great morning, followed by lunch @ KFC and we were still not done with our beach love for the day so again went on exploring the beach walking in the opposite direction now. We were so deeply immersed in our conversations that we dint feel fatigued and before we realized we had also ended up promising each other the plan for all out next outings.. i.e we have to experience all the adventure this land offers (Scuba diving, snorkelling, jet skiing, surfing and all other water sports, paragliding, parasailing, hot air balloon, sand dune bashing, desert safari, dolphin stuff and there is much more) what fun! Just a mention is enough to charge the freaks that we are! only miss having some friends with similar interests.. It adds to the adventure when u have company besides the discounts offered to groups on the deals, which is also in my jobless mind :P

Anyways, for now I offer you a sneak peek into the album I uploaded with the pics of the day.

That was our valentines day...

Hope you like browsing through them.

one plus, one minus

Use of plastic irritated me in India for it creates a non biodegradable waste & I am all for greenstorming n stuff, but seeing the amount of plastic waste in Dubai, that seems too little. This is worrying. I keep trying to use and waste as less as possible though.

But if I forget that for a while, the shopping experience here is pleasant. I mean, in India nobody has time to exchange a smile, forget anything more. I am writing as it comes to my mind, and coming to think of it, they do have time to stare at you or give u an odd frown at times for reason known only to their god. I dont mean to generalise, this is out of experience. But here, when I go buying the veggies or grocery, the staff greets me with a smile (no, you are wrong if you think that the staff must be a male! Even females do so). If I have to wait even for 10 seconds at a counter, they apologise and are so helpful in general. The other day I was looking at different kind of green leafy veg's & was picking whatever i thought i would experiment with. I didnt have a basket or polythene bag in my hand so this guy comes and gives me 2 small bags. I thanked him with a smile & got back to my business, moving to the pulse section looking for peanuts. Another fellow comes and asks me if I m done with the vegetables. He took them from my hand, got them weighed and returned the bags to me with price tags on them. 

Felt nice but to be honest I couldnt casually take this much of kindness, simply coz I have never been used to it. Even the bus driver here has patience to greet me when I board one. Small things but this is wow!

I by no means am comparing the two countries, perceptions are built by experiences and I am just sharing mine. Good and Bad exists everywhere I guess.

How much will you buy ur groom for???

Y would a physically healthy, educated, earning/working, grownup young guy need money? I am not sure of his mental health and maturity though? I ask this to myself. 

"Well, there could be many reasons" says me to myself. "He may want to buy a land or a house for use or investment, study further, trave abroad, just splurge doing some fun things, buy some fancy gadgets for his home, contribute in his siblings wedding, gift his parents some material stuff or just put in his bank for assurance and liquidity."

Fine.. possible.. sounds good & its all ok.

But the annoyance comes into existance when you learn that he wants this money from the girl he would marry or from her parents.

yes, he needs D O W R Y.. In the form of cash or car or house or one side funding the whole wedding or a lavish honeymoon or all of these or whatever????

I dint encounter such a family during my own groom hunt search. Must consider myself lucky. 

BUT HOW??? how on earth, in todays age, can somebody even open their mouth to seek dowry, I fail to understand??? WHY is it that a girl equally capable (if he cant accept her to be better or more) does not make it all for a wedding alliance???

I have heard of girls bringing car or at times house, appliances or furnishings as wedding gift accepted from her parents. I know every parent wants to shower their daughter with everything possible for them and girl has full right to bring it along if she so wishes and if the grooms side has no issues in accepting them. Can this be termed as dowry? I dont think so, dowry is what the guy or his parents demand and I am wondering how can they make this demand... &%#$!! sorry, I had resolved not to use bad words this year!

I usually dont get into such hurting, argumentative subjects; not because I am fine with them but because i feel so incapable of changing and dealing with them on a larger scale. However, I decide to live the change; as they say- it starts from within.

All my respect goes to those parents of girls and in many cases of guys also, who oppose this sick-cheap custom or tradition. Like all other customs, dowry must also have started with some logic or reason that doesnt exist anymore but some shameless families are still safegauring this and not hesitating even if this means 'selling their son'. 

When will we change for good and move ahead??? Pains to see my country still trapped in such issues?

One of my friends came across this handsome guy whose family had a big enough mouth. With her consent I reproduce bits of what some of them said or felt. Its pains to read thru, each statement for a different reason.

guy's DAD - "I have given huge dowries for 3 of my daughters - so now I want it too."

guy - "nothing like that was mentioned on the matrimonial profile so we thought you would be open to it” 

girl - "Perhaps they didnt like me & hence asked for so much"

I am happy my friend's parents were against dowry seekers(inspite of having 2 sons u see) but who is the sufferer here? The girl ofcourse, as she makes this wrong and negative assumption about her own self..

I only told her not to think like that as I think the loss is all on other side. 

Is dowry not illegal? Something must be done to stop it, to wipe it off the society... I really feel so incapable of doing anything here but I am so upset with it :O Sorry for this cheap subject line but I am really appalled right now.

Someone out there thinks guys can be put up on sale, sons can be auctioned for a car or something. Doesnt that sound disgusting.. Its more heinous than that.

Perfect start of the day

A walk in morning dew laden grass

barefeet

with gentle cool breeze

rays of the rising sun shining on ur face..

music playing in ur ears

& you browsing thru the suppliments of the days paper.

I wish I had taken the camera along, would have definitely captured this.. 

I must do it the next time I have such perfect start.

Tales of a housewife..

I tried the most typical wifely thing today. guess what!

I took the roti n saag to the farms where the man of the house had been toiling in the soil err sands... yes, something on these lines I did today and had a day well spent!

& What made me do that is a story of our laziness and time miss-management but all's well that ends well, so lets not talk of that. Here is what I had cooked.

Best thing was having lunch together (you somehow dont feel like having lunch when u are alone at home) and besides that, got my visa-medical done, checked out a mall that has a sky effect created indoor and also saw another part of Dubai. The more I see it more I like it. Its an amazing land. & The weather has also been kind to me till now. So of this amazing land I was talking - Its one of the examples of what human hard work and creative mind can do to a endless desert. Green lawns, beds of flowers in all possible colors, trees wherever possible - nothing could have been a reality without the metiulous effort of people. For every filament of green life, there is a perfectly laid source of water. And I loved to see this effort bearing such beautiful fruit all around.

Coming back to the wifely thing that I did, reminds me of the blr days when this man of the house used to bring home cooked lunch to my workplace & we had some nice lunches together exploring places around my office & giving headaches to my office people with my absence :) 

Is it attachment or just plain convention

that I am finding difficult to alter with. 

Even after being out of India for good 10 days, my cellphone as well as the watch shows India time.

Everytime we feel we are late for something/somewhere & I look for time, I only get knocked for six as the Indian time further adds an hour and a half to the delay :( :(

When I am home alone, I keep looking at the wall clock where Amit had set UAE time before I came and chk the India time on my laptop clock and start thinking what ppl back home would be doing now (yes, India time on laptop as well, I hvnt changed it anywhere yet.)

I think its too much! but no, I am not missing India. I will change it in a day or 2.