brb...

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ethical dilemma

Its a complicated thing!! LIFE. Its answers aren't easy. It brings you to face a two-way cross road many times in its course. However clear you are in your head which one you have to take, it gets complex when you clearly see that your life is not just yours. Your decision has manyfold impact on many of those linked/related to you. An impact, not actually in the real real sense or in a long run but at that moment.

You either give up and go with the external force and follow the path that makes everybody happy momentarily. but beware! Take it for granted that none of these people you just made happy will come at ur rescue when you are dealing with the outcomes of this action. You may however get reminders of how bad you were at it or how incapable you are while you will be struggling with another full set of your own worries all the way.

Or you stay with your inner voice. Do what you are comfortable doing. Follow the path your heart n mind wants you to. At least you will be convinved about it and dealing with whatever comes with it will be easier for you. But then you got to be ready to live with those unhappy well wishers of yours. Will that be easy? who knows...

Its a dilemma. You are tempted to go take the easier way but follow your heart you must, I say!! Or leave it for the time to decide... the later sounds easier...

A fever worse than dengue

Tomato, carrot, corn, green peas, parsley, olive oil, onion, ginger-garlic, salt pepper and some more dry herbs..

all put into the left over rice with some lemon juice n soya sauce. This was ready at the time exactly when it is time for the door bell to ring. The wife had been indoors the entire day and was thinking of the husband being a company to go out when he is back from work. ofcourse after a rest and snacking up the masala rice.

So the door bell rings. Wife opens the door. The wife was never seen opening the door to greet him with such love before.. It started happening only after she has been waiting all day long for him to come home i.e for past 3-4 months. Anyways, what does she find then? The husband is not hungry at all. He checks something online and asks the wife if she is interested in joining him at some stupid joint "honey comb" and have a coffee.. wait. before the 'how romantic' thought comes up, lemme interrupt. Its not the thought of wife or coffee or any such damn thing in his mind. This is his idea of watching the match and keeping the wife busy with coffee... 

Sigh!

wish this was fiction...

An IPL saturday without TV :|

A series of events lead me to do this post. Amit is off to the barber’s  saloon for a haircut. He would be praying that they take as long as the match lasts, to give his head a neat look. Its not his research about TV Tuner card and online match viewing subscriptions that I wanted to write in this post ;). He has even gone as far as the options of "Rent a TV" for this short while :D. So I think it will be difficult to stick to our no-TV-in-the-house-plan for longer if he craves so badly for the matches. fingers crossed!!

Back to what I had in mind for this post.... I was commenting on a post with beautiful summer flowering tree collages when I noticed the whooooshing (dunno wat its called) sounds of a windy storm outside. I thought of finding a 'you tube' video of that sound and link it there with the comment to share the sounds of summers here. I didn't find any close match of that whoooshing sound that I heard through my closed windows :| but i kept clicking the related videos one after the other and finally stopped at some Burj Al Arab videos. Its one of those man made wonders and the closest I have been to it is this.. Without saying a thing more, I will leave you with the links to do the talking... I loved watchin them... 

disclaimer: there are 7 parts, may take some time to upload..

Part 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Source: here

Its a must see for anybody travelling to Dubai..So here is a virtual tour to not only the hotel but a lot more about it. Hope you enjoy them like I did.

New members in the family :)

( omlet, cutlet )

( cuddle, puddle)

Dont they look cute and naughty? Sometimes they are energetically at unrest moving up-down, left and right. Then there are moments when they act as sober as they can and swim like they belong to some classy elite society. Gold fish eats a lot so we named them after our favourite eatables. The day I dont find them in their bowls, I know who to suspect.. The man in the house is eyeing on them but he also says, itne se mera kya hoga! So I am hoping they are safe...

Pls welcome, our new housemates!

Why two bowls? Because lady of the house finds it difficult to make choice most of the time. She liked these two at different shops and in the process of making a decent bargain she ended up buying both of them. so we know that its never enough for her love of water and fish.. Shells have been added already, the next she is gonna do is put a water plant in them for natural flora-fauna effect...

secret wish: Seeing the two fish become 3 one fine morning... in each bowl...  :D . Prayers!!

Life of a Nomad...

Life of families in defence (Army, Navy, Air Force etc) is almost like nomads. You got to be ready for move every few years. Life is all about adapting to things and interestingly going places. It included...

1. Homes are set up with an understanding that they are temporary.
2. Friends are made with the same thought. After initial few months of being in touch all that remains is memories and photographs of family picnics and other such events.
   
3. Furniture has to be foldable or easy to dismantle. The lighter the better.
   
4. Each house will have a set of huge boxes to pack off the stuff. 
   
5. Packers and movers were not famous some 10 years back, so it was family and friends who used to collectively work on the packing OR call some local men for help.
   
6. The kids are engaged in writing the "TO:..." & "FROM:..." addresses on the boxes with paint.
   
7. The packed and neatly labled boxes are then locked and some red material was melted and dropped on it to seal it. They after all contained stuff that is so dear to the family and needs to be moved to the next place for setting the home again.
8. Annual trip to native place is a ritual followed strictly. For any summer holidays, if you plan to stay back for any reason (board exam prep was one of them), you will HATE the campus (term used for residential area) for it looks totally dry and deserted.
   
9. Kids are admitted into KV's or schools meant particularly for the kids of transferrable job holders.
10. Moms would either be housewifes or work as teacher/doctor in defence and promise themselves that they wont ever marry their daughters to someone from defence as they after a certain time get fedup of this pack n move culture (say one move every 3 years or so).

Now my mom was no different. And lucky she thought herself to be because both of her daughters married non-defence professionals. Little did she know then that life outside could be worse in that aspect. I mean in terms of not being able to stay at one place for your life.

So, while this younger daughter of hers left mumbai to step into married life in Bangalore, in the span of 2 years she has moved to more places than she did all her life, well almost.. One, because they as a couple are on the move career wise(moving within the same org as well as relocating outside) and Two coz they cant sit at one place ever- be it weekends, public holidays or those annual leaves. Her worry is out of the former.

3 cities, 2 countries and 6 houses in just 2 years (this excludes the locations travelled for leisure)!! My mom is trying to calm herself down somehow :) and she probably now realizes how blessed she was.

PS: I actually wanted to write about our current house-hunt but somehow ended up giving the context in this post. Its lovely weather outside inspite of it being mid April in Dubai so I gonna step out for a nice evening walk before writing further.. Lemme also think in the meantime if I am happy or sad about it ;), incase you havn't guessed it already.

Choose one..

A month's job to cover for someone going on marriage leave. High point being the same premise as husband and other things like nature of job, money etc hardly matter primarily coz its kind of a short assignment at a time when I have all the time to take it on.

Except for one thing. Coincidently, there is a 10 days retreat falling right in the middle of this one month. High point is that I had been wanting to experience something of the sort(basically AOL kinds) for a long long time but due to scarcity of time, job etc could never find an opportunity. This one is a 10 day vipassana camp. Vipassana means to see things as they are and is one of the India's most ancient techniques of meditation. What do you think I should choose?

n here's the arrangement I have on my table today. The pleasant fragrance of the white ones is filled in the room and it has a lovely mesmeric charm...

Edited to remove one of the two pics. The one clicked with flash is better someone says :)

Serious LOL !?!

imagine-

You are chatting with *whoever* and amidst ur interesting-boring or usual chat, you get a funny line to read from the other side. You are sitting in ur comfortable couch at home, with a normal-almost blank or serious face & eyes glued to the screen. You giggle in ur mind, type "LOL" and carry on with the discussion..

strange.. 

where is the real laughter gone in the middle of lol, rofl, lmao etc...

How often does it happen with you?

& then there are times when something actually makes you do the above.. lol, rofl, lmao etc...

funny.. the impact of technology on us, that is.

Those endless bike-rides..

and the colors all around makes me nostalgic of the 3 months stay in this city in Apr 2 yrs back('07)..

The pleasantness of the weather..

The first-handfull-and-more of shopping after being  "just married". & all grocery kind of stuff.

Those efficient maids who needed no instructions and any effort to give one was futile due to language problem.

The red, purple, white, yellow blooms around the house in abundance.

Going to that pond/lake at 1 in the night after movie coz of some memories attached to it.

Tubs full of corner house iceream.

The morning walks from our Jayanagar home to this botanical garden "Lal baug" which has 4 gates & me trying to figure which one is where.

The post walk MTR brkfast & many more breakfast buffets.

Loosing my cell in PVR and finding it back too when we came back searching for it in a while.

The songs n guitar night on Buaji-fufaji's anniversary.

Amit's night shift at office and day shift doing enything but sleeping simply to spend more time with his wife. Only to be sleepy eyed later n cribbing that his she has no heart to be considerate.

The impromptu drives to places like nandi hills, the big banyan tree & even mysore n the likes.

Bangalore rains. Drenched, shivering, chattering teeth and still biking. And the strong coffee after that, at home.

Lavanya aunty, Nathalia, all those ppl I befriended thru Amit and have memories of the nice time had with them, eating and hanging out together..

The more I think, the more I want to visit there again. So here I stop for now :)

Those 3 months were the first time I went away from my family and those were also the beginning of whole new chapter of shaadi n all that jazz. I wouldn't hv liked it any other way I guess. "The guy working in bangalore" must have been one major reason I didnt think twice before taking the plunge. I am sure.

(These are pictures of shells collected in mangalore - one of the most memorable vacations that we had and one of those random rides just before leaving bangalore city.) 

Me and My God!

Navratri this year started on 27th Mar and ended yday with Ram Navmi. These were Vasant or Spring Navratra which means 9 nights dedicated to Goddess Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. I did the fast and they are over. I am right now trying to put down something about me and my God. God to me is a belief, a faith and I quite believe in destiny. Do your bit of hard work but not plan or worry about the results all the time coz there are times when things work out your way and there are times when they don't. Thats how life has been for me so far and I dont complain. Its always been for good in the long run or in the larger scheme of it. 

(a collection of flowers blooming around our house here)

While I believe in God, I do not follow the rule book of how to do & when to do the puja n temple visits etc. I love the idea of fasting for some days in the year (Shivratri, Navratri, Janmashtmi) but dont expect me to follow the traditional fasting rules. To me its about good deeds and intentions. Not only on the days you fast but always. Thats how God (if at all there is one and watching us from somewhere) will be pleased(If thats what one wants to do). I try to follow my way of being god fearing and have my O GOD! moments but in my general prayers I by standard only ask "Hey God, pls do good to all". Dunno if that works but thats how I like it. Dont they say happiness starts from within? One thing I love about places of worship is the peace you find there (in some of them these days). The Lotus temple of Delhi is one such and I also find it in Haridwar and the church of lansdowne. We associate such feelings with old age usually but in this chaotic world I do think that we all must engage in something that gives us mental strength and peace. Be it anything. For me, its also the small mandir in my house that gives a feeling of peace and divinity. 

When we packed everything Delhi we sent here our temple stuff as well. I went to Mumbai for 2 months on work and at mom's place she does the puja so hardly bothered to think abt lighting diya there and I enjoyed the prasad she made on every friday (suji halwa) though. Ever since I moved from there and entered our house here, I had this task of setting our 'mandir' pending, even though we have a big enough Ganesha's brass statue placed in the room. Call me lazy or whatever but I just couldnt make a proper corner for placing the temple stuff untill the beginning of this navratra when I told myself come what way I have to do something about it. Since putting a shelf on walls wasnt feasible, kitchen didn't have any space, I decided Amit's clothes can lie wherever and emptied one of his almira shelfs and spread out the deities we have. 

(The corner I am talking abt, on the first day of navratra)

(Will put one more pic with prasad n flower offerings done on the final day- its still not trfed to lappie)

So all these 9 days I have, like a typical devotee, spent some time listening to various mantras and aarti's on you tube and meditating in order to connect to my inner self. I hope I do this regularly, coz it feels quite soothing to say the least.

PS: I am almost an expert at making the navratra prasad now. The suji halwa, kaley choley, puri etc.. 

PPS: The fruit diet during fast is a good detox method and one of the reasons i pick it twice every year.

Horror is my Game!

The Ring(2 movies in continuation & 3rd in production to be released by 2011): Horror Mystery around how watching a particular DVD leads you to death within a week. OR how that can be avoided..

Lady in Water: Thriller that will change ur thoughts about saving a young girl's life in the pool after watching it.

Final Destination: Supernatural thriller. Says Death has a plan, for everyone. it can be altered once, twice but not always. There are 3 movies FD1, FD2, FD3 in a series and each one talks about premonition had by their central character.

Done with 6 horror movies in a week.. Such is the fun someone's having at the moment.. 

Someone 's joined FF so that motivation to keep fit is up and its going as planned so far. Its about working towards achieving a strong/toned body that has a good stamina..

Something more is happening but thats not to be revealed in this post. Or maybe I write this to feel good about my jobless/housewifey days :), maybe NOT.

Either ways, Off goes me to convince Amit to accompany me in taking another shot of horror...

Cya on survival...