Wedding - Part Un

Been a long time and I thought I should share one of the most important moments in my life with you all..

This is the Taali Kettu at Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple.

Thank you one and all for your wishes... I am sorry I am not able to reply to comments or visit your blogs, but I should be back by mid jan.

Ahhh... gifts!

Now, here comes the wedding and the wedding gifts! I have seen at all my cousin's weddings,where you get infinite items of no use, or if there are some items which you shall find some use for, then how many of the same item can you find uses for! So that leaves you with nothing to do but stack them all up safely into the loft and ensure that you remember to give it as gifts to well deserving people.


Now if I were to ask for some gifts, I think I would do a wonderful deal with it! In fact I thought of a wedding registry too, but the concept is so alien to India that I would just be wasting my time and with the end result being gifts stacked into said loft. In the search for so many things, I made a list of things which I wanted though alas, they shall not be featuring in any gift registry but shall just be my list to set up my home! 



A glass center table 

 and if you ask why glass and why not wood, I think my living room has loads of brown colour for it already to want anymore! 



Dining Table 

I love square dining tables, and I think they look very cool. No one is too far across the table and each person also has their own space to have a meal comfortably.



Bed - I thought alot whether you really need a King size bed! Wouldn't a queen do too? But one thing I do like is a headboard, and bedside tables, to make sure I can read whenever I want, propping a pillow up and turning the bedside lamp on. 

I feel this bed design makes it so much more easier to put the book aside and snuggle into bed too! And, its also got storage space! All in one!



Home theatre system

A Television could not wait, so we got that, and many times contemplated to get the home theatre system too but then, I guess it is never a good idea to rush into things.That non rushing attitude has dragged on till now, and here we are with as the best in the budget offer! 





We are big fans of sandwiches and we love to have a quick meal when we head back from a game of badminton, rather than have a full fledged meal. ( This is also beacuse I am lazy to cook, and sandwiches are 
filling, healthy and easy to make). 

I saw this lovely Morphy Richards sandwich maker. What more... they say they are the perfect gifts for your loved ones!

And now, since we are at Morphy Ricahards, I think I would love the Icon Essential Mixer Grinder too. And while we are at it, I think an Oven (OTG 18) would also be a good idea, but would I really do anything with it, maybe I can just wait and see. One can always console oneself with the idea, 'If I had it, I would have ....'



So now, lets exit the kitchen. I have been looking to get a wonderful bookshelf,some thing which I would just fall in love with on seeing. Neither have I seen something in real life like that, nor have I bought any bookshelf as yet. My quest continues, and here are some which I would positively love! 

And here are some swell magazine racks, I expecially liked the magazine baskets which are featured towards the end of the post. 



And it would be certainly lovely to get a home delivery surprise of this, this and this. 
And while we are at it... and if you are going to be Oh so generous... I shall be shameless and ask for this  too! ;)

There are also the lamps, rugs and vases which have been on my wishlist for long, and I guess a La -Z- boy  would also be very much welcome into our humble household!

26/11

Its been a year since Mumbai was under seige, and the citizens of this city rose up to fight and face danger bravely. We have not solved the mystery as to what happened at many points, and what went wrong to result in the bloodshed of 26/11.


Many might be responsible, far beyond those whose involvement have been brought to light. There are many to be held responsible for initiating and fuelling this terror attack, but not many of them have been brought under the noose of law. 


As we as a nation stand by Mumbaikars, we should be proud of the future Mumbai beholds. It has not fallen,as we have seen in the past year, but only risen and shall continue to rise in the coming years.


This is what Forbes says about Mumbai as the World Capital of the Future.

Akuri !!

Yesterday I read the Akuri recipe and saw mouth watering pictures on Hitchy's blog, so I knew I had to make some for Sunday brunch! And, thats exactly what I did. It came out yummy and I had it with a plain paratha!

And, since no photo post is complete for me without Whisky... here she comes!

A little bit of me

I am a very possessive person, in fact I have always been that way. I like to keep those close to me, literally close to me, and I shall always strive to ensure that I make every effort towards it. Today, B is off for a fun drinking boys night out, and I pushed him towards it ( well, maybe he wanted to a lot himself too). He was meeting these guys after almost 2 months and I was sure he would love to go. But, he also knows how I would be bored and sitting staring ( or writing blogs) when he is gone. I am so proud of myself that I did finally give that last push and he decided to go for the get together. I bet he will enjoy alot... I mean don't guys and booze just spell out E-N-J-O-Y-M-E-N-T !!

Another thing which I wanted to put out there, a project my brother is working on, its a travel mug with replacable inserts. I think its cool, but then I am not much of a travel mug person. The inserts are washable, and it looks like something I would use if I drove to work, I guess thats the only time I might want to carry some coffee with me. But.. me and driving to work... I am sure that B would love to see that, and he would be even more thrilled if I would drive him around! He says he finds women who drive their men around.. HOT, and I think thats a ploy to get me to drive him around in the name of practice and obv to be HOT! ;)

Repeat Telecast

Ok, tell me somthing, how many times would you watch a movie? I am not talking about the ones which are all time favourites and you own DVDs of.. and not the latest release where you have to see it with family and friends.. but I am talking about the movies which keep repeat telecasting on Star Movies, HBO, Zee Pix,Star Gold and the like. I am a Tata sky customer, and I am thoroughly bored of seeing the same movies being repeated. I am just wondering, how difficult is it for them to change their movie lineup at least once a month! I am paying them for each channel, and I think many people should also be doing so, then why not have a change of movies every month. I have seen the same movies for ever, and at times in consecutive months too.

Another suprising fact is, I know many who would not mind seeing these movies 'n' number of times, and this is not for any particular movie, its is just about for anything which shall be coming on the channels around 8 PM to 12 AM. I just can not see the same movie or even program more than once, or maybe twice. If I see its some movie which I have seen, I immediately switch to any other channel, my favourites being Nat Geo, Animal Planet, NDTV Good times and Discovery Travel & Living. In fact, today morning, I saw a program called In the Womb - Cats. The cat family is quite remarkable. They have ears which help them balance themselves and always fall on their feet when under free fall. Yes, even I was surprised that those small wisps played such a key role in ensuring their nine lives! And, I always used to wonder how they have any use for their whiskers, and now I found out. They use the whiskers, which almost coincide with the width of their body, to determine whether they can pass through small spaces. So you will always see a cat putting its head into a small place to see whether their body shall be able to squeeze through. And these whiskers are set a good three layers below the skin so they even sense very small movements in the air around them. Cats, we all know have an exceptional hearing capability, and they can even hear ultrasonic, like bats, which help both in hunting jerry ( mice)! So thats all about cats for now folks!

Ta da!

PS: I saw Ek Ajab prem ki Gazab kahani,and I must saw that I liked it! Many gave me mixed reviews, but I think if you are in a light mood, its a good movie..though Katrina Kaif should really not be acting for sure! She looked dumb,in fact pretty and dumb.. or was that how she was supposed to act? I don't know..was that acting? I loved her clothes though! They look affordable, most importantly... and I am looking to figure out where to get my hands on some of those pretty summerish dresses!

Bridal Pamper

Isn't it lovely to be pampered? I am totally loving the bride feeling! In fact, I am so thrilled that I am thinking of so many things which I would not have bothered to do else, but would love to do in this whole rush of things, and remember them forever.

I have been thinking of getting some nice spa treatments done, I am sure iI have never really taken care of hands, feet and hair the way it deserves to be... and now that they are all going to be subjected to so much pressure in the form light and chemicals and what not... so I thought why not pamper and coax it to act all well during those few precious hours. I have to get those photos to be smacking good, they have to remain for life and I do intend to keep a framed pic in the house! Have been on the look out for smashing spas to go indulge and came across Asian Woman and White Mantra. Then a new Naturals parlour and spa opened up near my house on Sarjapur road, so which had be totally inclined towards that. I really do not want to go all the way for some cleaning and preening and then travel in the dust and dirt of the city traffic. ( Or I could smaile and ask B to pick me up) Anyways, then I came across theBangalore Mobile Spa and I am so thrilled with their amazing concept! How cool is it that you sit and spoil yourself and then have to do no cleaning... no travelling... just get into bed and hit the snooze button!

I am not too much into the Bridal packages which these places offer, as the package rates are not that different from their normal prices and you also have to be with them for the entire duration of the package. I would love to try all these different spas actually, I think I am positively going crazy with all the spa webpage hopping and reading about the amazing stuff that they offer... Strawberry and Cucumber facials, Macadamia and Coconut body treatments!

So now lets move over from indulging spas to some indulging food :) This week I made some yummy salad with mushrooms, bell peppers, baby corn, chicken salami, fusili and topped with Ceaser dressing and shredded mozzarella. I must say (at the risk of blowing my own trumpet) this is one salad which I have had and I so wanted to make another round immediately and gobble it! Here is a pic of the same.

And today, I just made some Methi paneer; I went over to Simply Spicy and saw this lovely pic of Methi paneer, after which I rushed to get the ingredients and make it quickly for dinner... :) It has come out nice and its something which I have not had before so am gonna team it up with some Moong dal, rice and Kharkare :)

What have I been upto?

Another whirlwind of shopping is what has happened over the past week... and as I see I am going to be in all probability decked in gold such that on wearing a saree the only skin visible would be on my face! I guess as my mom says, gold is an investment and do not see it as gold and jewellery, then I wonder why am I made to wear all of it! Anyways, there is nothing that can be done about it, so I shall not fret! Breathe in... breathe out ...

In between all this, to keep my sanity, I have been reading Wolf Hall. I thought why not, when its based ona very different setting and with a fair amount of history also embedded within. In fact I ordered this book a day before she got the Booker and since then I have been very thrilled and been wanting to start with it, and being at home just provides the perfect opportnity to do so. I must admit that I have really liked the hundred odd pages which I have read. I think I shall do small review on this once I am done with it.

To end this post, a snap of Whisky

Are you an organizer??

Organizing events and functions is not every person's cup of tea/coffee. This Diwali, so many friends are organizing parties and get togethers and I sit and wonder whether I shall be able to do the same if want to.

There are some who are very good at it, to understanding the nitty gritties and also using all the surrounding people in their organizing agenda and making the whole event a grand success, where as there are some who just feel lost when you are left with the reins in your hands. I think, I belong to the latter kind, where as I know some amazing women who certainly for sure belong to the former.

A marriage is an event which requires large extend of logistical precision,and even in site of having wedding planners in many cases, there seems to be many issues which crop up from right under one's foot! There are always some requirements which have been forgotten to be mentioned, or worse still,wrongly understood. There have been marriages in the family, and I have always seen how the parents of the bride run around in a flurry trying to be almost at all places at the same time, trying to ensure every guest is taken care of.

Now with the preparations for my wedding on at full swing, I see and understand the numerous tasks which have to be completed and taken care of prior to the day of the wedding. These things have to be thought over and meticulously planned to ensure that the least number of glitches shall happen on the fateful day! Apart from the venue, caterer and decorations, there are also things like travel and stay arrangements which have to be taken care of. These arrangements to be done for the relatives and guests also differ to a great extend, else that too shall call for undue talks at a later point in time, most of which you shall hear from some third party and not directly. These things tend to irritate me, but I see amma just dealing with it as a mere reality and the way things are to be. I am sure I would have been more bugged and hence not getting any work done by the end of it all.

When I see amma doing all these things single-handedly, I am thoroughly amazed at how she manages them. My dad is not free, loaded with work stuff, which ends with amma having to take care of so very many things. And, to top it, the fact that she is not used to getting work done in India, makes the difficulty factor multiplied by 10! She has been at it for the past month, and I know she has had a fair number of problems, but the happiness of having to arrange for her daughter's wedding has pretty much erased all feelings of irritation at the snail's pace at which things are happening. All I pray is that it will turn out as beautifully as she has envisaged and she will be showered with compliments on doing the perfect wedding for her daughter.

Love you Amma!

The Egg factory

Egg Factory is a small quaint place located off St. Mark's Road, Bangalore. This is one place which I have been frequenting lately for breakfast on many Saturday mornings after I came across Egg Factory on Burrp when I was looking for some place to go other than Koshy's for a brunch on a Saturday. We went there and were so suprised to find so many variations with just eggs and vegetables as the prime ingredients.

The have omelettes, frittatas, pastas, sandwiches, biriyanis, bhurjis and rice and curry preparations. The options in each of these categories in itself are numerous. They open at 8 am for their early breakfast crowd, and are open till 11 pm. Over the many visits, the one favourite amongst us, is the Canneloni (tube pasta) stuffed with egg and bell peppers, this is certainly one item to visit this place for.

They also have some real interesting specialities all the way from the university town of Manipal. The various items are unique and the names are something I have not heard of not even once!

Here is the Parsi special egg bhurji called Akkuri

This is the Spaghetti with scrambled eggs, this was also yumm!

This is called the Keshto, a Manipal University special. They say it might have got its name from some ingenious student!

Pondicherry aka Puducherry

The weekend of October 2nd, we went to Pondicherry or as known in the surrounding areas, Puducherry. We did not start early, nor had we planned anything what we would be doing there on reaching. We had just made the reservations at Le Maison Blanche.(This was the only place we were getting rooms at such short notice) The rooms were ok, but the A/c was not working and that was not a good thing as its quite balmy in Pondicherry, not what I expected maybe in the month of Sept - Oct. I heard that the weather rarely goes better than that and it usually is struck with very humid and hot summers and the time period from oct - dec is the most comfortable for walking around a a visit. Apart from the A/c, the rooms were good, breakfast was very sumptuous and the swings and outdoor areas of the house was to die for. The plants and old furniture really did add to the whole place and each room had pictures of Hindu gods ( I do not know why). The only reason for this I could think of was , they got these pictures with the house and decided to evenly distribute it through the house.

We did not get to visit too many places, but what I did see was the beach, the Promenade ( Hidesign hotel), L'Orient, the lovely amazing shopable market, and a sand statue of Gandhi to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti.

I shall not go to into too many details, but here are some pictures of our lovely vacation. One thing though I should say is that there were these toy lights which were being sold at the beach, and you can just swirl it behind someone and make it look like a halo!

And, that is exactly what is happening here :)

Here is the sand statue of Gandhi ji

The church on the beach side.

Something interesting to remember and very apt for a coastal town I thought.

The cat and the walk

I was sitting and watching Fashion TV, and got me wondering, how do these girls who are mostly 16 or 17 walking the ramp all from Eastern Europe and Russia. I have always heard its because of the economic conditions, which make these girls leave their homes young, in the look out for money. Many of them even drop out of schools to leave the country and join the glamour world. Is the situation so bad? How come the state of these countries were never in the news as compared to the Koreas and Afghanistans of today?

All said and done, there is some wow factor when you see some of these models, maybe the ones which finally came out victorious from the thousands who enter this modelling world with all the dreams. When I think of models, I think CIndy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Madhu Sapre,Mehr Jessia and Sheetal Mallar. When I see the VS models, I think how is it that these women can replace the people above so easily, or is it that these top models of yester years did not want to be a model for life.

There was a time when I was so enthralled by the whole glamour world, that I thought that after graduating from college, I should give it a shot, if not anything else, get a photoshoot done. Neither did I do it, and I don't think I would have been any good in their world also. Do you know what is the daily schedule for a model when they are working? I guess many would have a fair idea post the movie , Fashion. When I saw this movie, I truly loved it, and felt it touched so many lives, and sought to show the face behind the glamour that we see, admire and lust over on every magazine cover or billboard. There are so many things which we never even think about, and now atleast every girl with the model dream will have a better idea to what they are stepping into.

Its a difficult world, but when they do make it big, I think its worth it. Every profession has the risks involved and the ones which have the greater risks are the ones which do end up serving the bigger returns back to us.

Culinary Calamities

Recently I was sifting through my many drafts and I saw that there was something which I started off sometime back, but never got down to completing. So on this occasion of my 150th post, on this blog which I started way back in 2007 (after being initiated into it by a professor of mine from college) I shall be continuing this post, though completing should be the better word I think. Also, I think with the past two years in Bangalore, there have been many more points made which makes it easier to trace the foray that I have made into the kitchen. Now when I look back, I think I did certainly inched my way into it, with many puddles to jump over and at times getting my feet ankle deep in muck too!

I think it’s most appropriate to inform that all that most of these items have been made over a period of years and many people have been subjected to it. One very calming effect is that in spite of that, I think the items not mentioned here (and which came out much better) must have compensated for some of the effects, as one person in spite of all the yuck tastings, has decided to stand by as my tasting partner for life.

Now, here I take a deep breath and bare before you all, the N number of mistakes that I have committed through these years.

Paneer Capsicum

The first time I made this, I had no clue that I was supposed to be frying the masala and following which the paneer is added. So, you must be wondering, what exactly did I do??? Well, I just sauted the onions till pink and then the tomatoes, after which I dumped the capsicum, poured some water and added all the masalas which I thought appropriate! After a few minutes, I added the Paneer and promptly switched off the flame after a few minutes!

Now, here I had a very raw masala tasting, almost uncooked paneer capsicum!

Bottle gourd or Laukhi

Everyone told me that this is one of the easiest veggies to make, due to its almost negligible cooking time, and I was Oh so thrilled with this piece of information. I fried the requisite masala this time around, in a pressure cooker and then added the laukhi when the masala was done. Now I added quite a bit of water (no one told me not to add water when cooking laukhi) and then closed the lid to cook it. I opened it after 5- 7 minutes and I see a complete kichdi form of the laukhi, which barely was looking edible.

Simple Masoor Dal

I wish to believe that everyone should have burnt dal atleast once in their lifetime. It’s a very satisfying experience of screwing up something which is deemed one of the simplest activities in Indian cooking. With my dal, I not only burnt it, I also spoiled the pressure cooker, by blowing off the safety valve! The water was too less for the quantity of dal I was intending to cook (as per my mom).

Bringal aka Baigan

My recent disaster involved trying to make something similar to bhindi masala using brinjal. I do not know why I thought by just frying the brinjal, it shall take a similar appearance, which it gracefully did not and finally ended up even with less salt and chilli so that one could not even pass it off like medicinal capsules! This is one the few things which had to completely flipped into the garbage in! :(

Now with all these interesting details which I have gained knowledge in, I hope that the following years shall be a tad better than the past two in terms of cooking :)

Whisky Bhisky

A long update

Its been over a month I have written anything here, and I have had so vast an agenda for the past month that updating the blog could just not happen. So here goes with the update... it might be a tad too long, but I shall make it simpler for you and make each para deal with a single agenda item only!

Visiting home has its own charm and the pampering that you receive there can not be compared to any place else. The pampering did not come without its own set of issues in terms of lard being added in layers around me! So now after all the gorging on lovely food items, its time to set down a routine and work this off me in anticipation of the next round.

This month has been by far the most satisfying month which involved large amounts of shopping and associated fun. All in all I think I have got over 10 sarees and some salwar suits too. And if you are thinking, why would someone go about buying such numbers, then the only answer which I can come up with and which is the answer also is wedding!!

Yes, I am getting married, and the date is December 26th. After what seems like a very long time I have known Bhupesh, now I am engaged to him and does it feel anything specifially different? Not particualarly, but nevertheless the wedding date is what I guess should change matters! And maybe that also wont, and then I shall be happy as a love bird! Something which I always pray about is that how many years might pass and where ever we might be, our love, friendship and trust should not change. Maybe this is the love struck me speaking, but its a wish nevrtheless.

I will have to a lot of travelling in the coming months with marriage preparations and my mom being alone at Trivandrum to manage everything is just not done. This brings about an issue regarding Whisky, I do not know who can take care of her these spells and she needs attention, else she tends to catch your attention by being naughty... she will claw at furniture, or try to get on top of the cupboards and refrigerator. I have been thinking of what to do and I am very seriously considering keeping her at a animal shelter during those times. She will have the company and maybe she will also be less scared of humans and other animals in that case. Presently, she skulks away at any sudden movement and when anyone visits our place.This is something which I do not know how she will react to... I do not even know if cats mind distance and being away from known people too much. Its said that cats are not very attached, but I doubt it after seeing Whisky and how happy she is when we come home after a few hours.

Award shower

I just realized that I had not thanked IHM for these awards and neither did I post these awards up here!

Thank you so much IHM and it feels truly wonderful to receive them.

I do and more

I was talking to a friend and it struck me as weird that a guy is the one expected to propose to the girl. In fact I have seen so many of my friends who have an arranged marriage, there too the guy goes down on his knee and asks for her hand, yes.. in front of everyone at the engagement! Why would someone do that? I thought proposals are to be private.. intimate affairs? Or am I wrong here?

Also why is it that the girl never proposes? Doesn't she feel like being with the guy she is soon to be married to? I know the history would say the man asks for the woman's hand in marriage to her/ her father,but in today's world why not both ways or whichever way you would want to? Many people who studied with me could not understand the concept of asking a guy out or leave alone proposing marriage! I am myself thinking on how I should propose to B..wondering what will he like the best..

On a completely different front, I made pasta arrabiata yesterday and it was just tasting bland. I could smell the spices, but the moment I bit into the pasta I could just not taste anything other than chilli :( It was a disaster, pleazzz help!

Planting time

The rains are here and I am so proud of the plants which I have suceeded in not killing.

I germinated 3 out of the 5 I have there right now. I do not know what the white flowers are called, I have tried googling it and asking people, but no one seems to know the name.

The ones that I have germinated are the croton and a verbena. I am posting some pictures.. the new saplings have been transplanted into new pots (and with a little extra water, hoping that dries up by tomorrow).

P & J

Whom would you term as possessive? or very possessive? or extremely possessive?

I was talking to a friend about how at times I think I am very possessive about my guy and if you ask me why, I really do not know!! It is not because I do not trust him, and not at all because I think he will do anything to hurt me, but the streak is just so in me and more importantly, I wonder if I should be working on reducing/ removing it.

Is it not good to be possessive? Maybe the 'very' and 'extreme' category can be said to be not good solely on the basis that 'too much of anything is bad', but shouldn't there be a trace of it for a healthy relationship? Or is it more healthy if there is no trace at all?

Something which my friend said was possessiveness has traces of jealousy in it, not too much, a small percentage always exists as per him. But, what if I do not know exactly what I am J about? For all I know I am just plain J with regard to time spend with me... well I guess that can also be termed as jealousy. So if possessiveness has J in it and J is considered a bad thing (in general) then possessiveness has tendencies of getting bad too, right? Now that does not seem like a good direction to be heading in. But on second thoughts, it can also depend on what is the major chunk apart from the J in possessiveness, right?.

In my case, that's a lot of love, maybe a slight abundance too which is not getting the time for expression and hence the cosmic transformation into these weird forms. They need to be stopped, I know.. and that means I need to charter these cosmic energies into something more useful (like shopping) or I need to start putting to better use the time that I have to result in better expression and which shall hopefully result in a decline in the P & J factors.

What say?

Salon trip

Odd positions are very good for sleeping

A yawn and a stretch!

Cleaning and preening

Ready to mingle

Alone

When you do not have anything to do the whole day, and end up just spending time doing stuff around the house, then you look forward to someone coming back to the house at the end of the day. You look to sitting with someone and maybe just watch TV... chit chat a little and then retire. But what about the time when you are spending alone, you should make that a constructive time too. I completely agree with this, but then unless your mind is at peace with the situation then alone can you make the most quietest of moments constructive in nature.

I know that deep within, my mind is not at peace with all the happenings. This is not the way I planned for things and they have juggled themselves to fit into place. I need to adjust and I am being worse than a kid going to the play school for the first time.

I ask myself, is it because of the uselessness that I feel or is it the change has not settled in as yet? I want to start doing some classes.. painting is something which I want to pick up again, and it has been a long time since I did that the last time.. I believe 4 years back is when I did something worth appreciating. I know I want to do these things, but I do not want to do them alone. I need people around me. I am not sure whether that is a mistake, but I love being with some people and I do not know anyone free and keen on doing something together.

At times I wonder, am I just so good at complaining? Do I complain so much that it might just drive someone up the wall?

Maybe I do.

Revolutionary Road - Movie

The movie gave me the creeps!

Why is it so important to do things as per what is expected of us? Why can not it be more to what we wish? Isn't life too short to be living it not through your mind? Isn't life just once to live as you please?

All these questions came to my mind when I was watching this movie, and I felt so sorry for someone being stubbed to wanting to have exactly what everyone wishes to do, but is too scared to be doing. So many despise their jobs, but who does anything about it? It is very difficult to take a step towards your goal with a path undefined. It is that very mysterious nature of these goals I believe, which draws us to them.

What I saw in this movie was the perfect portrayal of the conventional role plays which are assigned to a man and woman in a house. A slight suggestion of a role reversal is seen as 'unrealistic' or 'childish' or 'immature' .

Another detail which came out to me was how the woman was still alive, her dreams breathing with her zest for life. She did not lose herself in her role plays and she tries her best to set a path before her to move her dreams forward. And the sad part, how her dreams are given no importance and of they are, it is a farce. Her dreams have been thought of, to accomodate so many blocks into a perfect square, but all a waste.

When you see what you want, but you are refused the right to live it the way you dream of, then what do you do? What options do you have?

Loving you

Be it the day

Be it the night

Amongst what we do

And what we might

The usual What Ifs

And intermittent tiffs

Many things said

Far more unsaid

Walking, talking

Shopping and driving

Those cascading days of work

The vacations fun and beserk

I am not good at wooing

Nor am I at gifting

I pick up many things

But all seem to be useless nothings

Here I stand

With something in hand

True two words

Snug like love birds

Love you

Now I know

It is very depressing when you sit in your house, stare at the walls and wonder what exactly has been happening with your life. And, moreover you do that because you have nothing better to be doing.

As sit and wonder everyday, I realize that there is an importance to doing something with your life. It is not about drawing an income, or neither is it about achievement. It is more to do with spending the time in your day doing a chore which means something other than mere passing of time. I say this because as I see it, the only thing which I seem to be doing is the latter, and it is not that I do not crave to do the former but I need to know what is the chore which I should be doing so that it does not result in spoiling the time after the chore is finished for the day. I do not know whether I make sense here but these are my thoughts and also a talk to myself on what I should be doing. I have not zeroed in on what but then these talks are supposed to be a revelation to myself.

On a different note, this was the conversation which I had with my brother.

He: Why do you want to work? And, especially if you are getting married, you can just stop and do all the other stuff that you wanted right?

Me: Well, the truth is, I do not think I will be happy in that case. I would not be sure as to how I would feel if I am completely dependent on someone for everything, other than my parents.

He: If you are getting married to someone, then what is the issue, you are anyways going to be dependent on each other for so many things, as a part of life.

Me: I know I will be dependent, but I do not want to think so much before getting myself a pair of shoes, or when I feel like making an impulse buy of a dress which I am not 100% sure whether I shall use.

He: I think you will have more important issues to be thinking about after marriage, other than shoes and dresses I mean.

Me: What do you mean? I can not dress up? Atleast, thats what I always make sure I do. I want to be a well dressed person, and just coz I am married I shall lose all interest in myself?

He: I never said you would, I am just saying you might have more pressing matters to attend to.

Me: What ever the matters are, I am sure I just want to be good presentable always. Anyhow, the point is I need to earn simply because I do not ever feel that I am splurging. I should feel I have these small rights to splurge when I feel like.

Lady loves

Monika tagged me to list out the 5 women I would have had a crush on, if I were a guy...

So here goes the list. The list is in not in order of favourites, but solely on the basis of when I got a picture of them, that I liked, from the internet.

1. Angelina Jolie - No introductions required I guess

2. Lisa Ray - She is one person I have found pretty from the time of Afreen Afreen .. there is just something about her face...

3. Bipasha Basu - I have liked her in almost any look she has sported. I have liked her for the sporty image and not many liked her cropped hair... but I think it looks fab.

4. Julia Roberts - I am an all time Julia Roberts fan.. I have watched Pretty Woman I think around 20 times... the last being yestrday night at 9 pm.

5. Tabu - You can say she got it through lineage, but, I have not missed a single movie of hers either... (first being the lady above)

Siesta

There she was sitting peacefully perched... and then she decided she needs a nap.

Closing my eyes . . .

I do not know what am I to do.


The astrologers say that Dec 13 will be the most auspicious day.

For her, the most important event is the taali kettu ( tying the mangalsutra) so that has to be done during this time.

For him, the most important event is the phere so that has to be done on the same day.

The taali kettu has to be in Guruvayoor (a famous temple near Cochin) as amma has said to the lord that she shall do that.

The phere have to be arranged at the same place for it to happen on the same day.

My brother will not be here from the US of A till Dec 26th, so anyday after that will be the rest of the wedding ceremonies.

His family does not understand how can you have the wedding ceremonies and then return back without the bride.

Amma will not have me going till the completion of all wedding ceremonies post Dec 26.

From his side, relatives flying in from abroad can not stay for over 10 days for the reception after the Dec 26th.


I am tired.

I do not know what am I to do.

Talakad

A few weeks back, we visited Talakad, a few hours drive from Bangalore. We took the Mysore road, took a left turn at Maddur. From there another 50 kms inward on a bumpy, gravel road lands you at this real nice sandy river bank.

This small village is called Talakad. This is where they have 1000 s of temples from 12th century covered with sand, and just 6 have been excavated by the Archaelogical department of India.

We started after a hearty brunch at Peco's around noon, and we were close to Maddur by 1:30ish.. but we got whirled up in a hot pursuit frenzy with a Maruti Baleno and hit speeds of 140kms/hr on the Bangalore - Mysore highway on a Maruti WagonR. After we drove past Maddur, we realized that maybe they are off to Mysore, and promptly took an U-turn and headed in towards Talakad. A 10km stretch from here is good but the rest is all a mess. Some broken up pieces of road is all I could find, and with the bullock carts and bikes in between, you really can not and more over should not drive too fast. We reached Talakad and took a guide (for Rs.100) to show us around the place/temples and provide some explanations. Well, the kid (yes the guide was a Class X kid) did know bits and pieces about history but then he explained he studied in a Kannada medium school and hence his English is not perfect. I was impressed that he knew how to explain himself, and could convey most of the history to our understanding.

Guide take aways

• The older temples are from the Ganga dynasty, and the main temple of the village is from the Chola dynasty.
• Here is where you will find a natural brown Shiva Lingam, as compared to the black ones which are the most common
• This is the region where Cauvery takes a bend and hence quite slow and shallow. You can almost wade through to the opposite bank.
• Forest cucumbers are very common in this area and is used as a teeth cleaner ( Toothpaste)
• Cashew trees are also very common here

After the temple walk, which was through hot sand, barefoot and across a slightly hilly terrain, we decided to hit the Cauvery. We did not go into the water, as it looked quite unclean, and also there were far too many people inside bathing and swimming. We instead had a mango bar and relaxed on the bank watching all the kids jumping and mothers trying to ensure they do not hurt themselves.

Here are a few pictures of the temples and others. The scorching heat and walking bare foot on the hot sand resulted in less clicking andmore dodging to find shade below trees!