In the comfort zone....

I reached India last week (thursday). My trip back was eventful as I expected. More about that in my next post.

Bangalore is the same; crowded ;the traffic is crazy; there are more one-ways; more flyovers; more contruction. The weather is very nice- chilly and dull. Perfect days to just laze and do nothing. I am enjoying mom's food ( eating like I've just come from Somalia). Met most of my relatives. Did loads of wedding shopping. Just enjoying all the comforts here.

Needless to say, I am putting on weight and unless I get out of my comfort zone, the result on my wedding day will be disastrous.

There are many things I miss here and keep thinking of my life back in US; yet sometimes I feel life here is so much better. Is there a place where I can get the best of both worlds ?

Leaving tomorrow !

I am leaving to India tomorrow, for almost 8 weeks (hehehhe). I am very excited. This promises to be another adventure...I am sure I'll have a new Flying escapades part 4 :-)

I've tons of work to do; its one of the crazy days; I've 130 papers to grade and post by evening; I've a research meeting with my prof; I've errands to do; And ofcourse I've to pack. Needless to say, its chaotic.

So, I will be continuing my blogging (read cribbing) from India :-) with news abt my wedding ofcourse.

Hornet's nest....

Gingko tagged me; the topic - 20 Random things about myself. Hmm...Before you start grinning at my plight; be warned ; you could be next ! Here are things you may already know about me and some you wish you din't know :-)

1. Teaching
I love to teach ! I've taught a large undergrad class for two semesters now and although it is time-consuming and tiring; I still enjoy it. It has been a learning process and the knowledge of the students here never ceases to amaze me.
Eg: I was teaching about latitudes, longitudes, seasons and other things about Earth; I was explaining everything wrt USA i.e., North and South hemispheres. At the end of the class, one student raised her hand. She said everything I mentioned made no sense to her and that she did not agree with me. I asked her why and she replied "USA is in the Southern Hemisphere; so why do keep saying that it is in the Northern hemisphere?" . I gave her a duh look and told her USA was in the N.H. but she refused to accept ! Finally I had to show her the globe to convince her. The rest of the class was in splits and she was very embarrassed. How ignorant can ppl be ?

2. Newton's Laws
Being a true Physics student, I sometimes follow his first law and continue to do the same action unless there is an external force. Eg:
* When I start reading novels, I don't put them down till I finish it.
* I can keep dancing all night, till everyone else is tired and I'm forced to stop.
* I can sleep all day and all night.
* I can continue shopping; till my credit card maxes out.

3. How to reduce Tension
People have many innovative ways to reduce tension and stress; some like to meditate; some like to work out; some like to read;
My way: I brush my teeth whenever I am tense ! LOL ... I know its funny and sounds silly but it always works wonders for me :-)

4. Obsessive Compulsion Disorder ( OCD)
Most people have some sort of OCD without even knowing it. Some are obsessed with cleaning, working, eating etc. A little introspection made me realize mine. I have a OCD to clean my ears. Hehehehe. When I was a kid, the ear-buds used to get stuck in my ear sometimes and my mom would rush me to the doctor. LOL. The Doctor would scold me everytime and tell my mom to keep the ear-buds away from me. My mom would get irritated and say ' kadha potu kodayade' [ Don't dig into your ears]. ROFL.

I seem to have developed another OCD after coming to US, I keep moisturizing my hands and feet. A recent incident made me realize exactly how obsessed I am :-)

5. Addicted to Chai
The title says it all ! I can drink tea anytime. I can keep drinking many cups without any side- effects. I can drink chai and go to sleep immediately. Missing my cup of chai in the morning messes up my whole day and makes me cranky and irritable !

6. Driving skills
This is not about my car driving skills. It is about how I learnt to drive a 2 wheeler when I was in Engg. A 2 -wheeler is the most popular mode of transport in Bangalore. My college was very close to my house; so close that there was no public transport and no autos would ply. So, I decided it was a good excuse to get a bike - I mean a Kinetic Honda. My dad agreed and my friend Tanu taught me to drive in her Scooty. I learnt it quickly and started driving my uncle's kinetic immediately. I was so confident that I convinced my friend to sit as a pillion rider. Ha. The Kinetic was a lot more powerful than I thought. Within a few minutes, I had banged an auto. I gave him a sheepish grin and he let me go. Phew. Next collision took place within a few minutes; this time it was a scooter. This man was not kind and got very irritated. He yelled ' yaramma license kotru' [ roughly translated means' Lady, who the hell gave you a license']. I was very careful after that.

7. Language Skills.
The trouble with knowing many similar sounding languages is getting words mixed up. I do this all the time; when I talk Kannada I use Tamil words without realizing. I mix up Malayalam words with some Tamil words. I am one confused person !

8. Sense of Smell.
This sense is very highly developed in me. Which means, I am very sensitive to smells. This has become a big problem when someone cooks because the odor tends to hang around. I cannot stand people who stink ( or don't use deos). I share my lab with a stink-bomb; she does not shower everyday. Her stink is everywhere. Yuck. I have 3 potpourris , scented candles , room fresheners and some other stuff. Inspite of all this, I still feel like throwing up somedays. :-(

9. I hate Gold jewellery.
I don't care if others wear it but I don't like wearing them. This is going to be quite a problem during my wedding. I love jewellery; esp silver. Basically anything but gold.

10. Moody.
I am very moody and tend to change my mind often. Everything I do depends on my mood.

11. Frank.
I'm very outspoken and frank. This is not a good thing. I've lost many friends and gained many enemies. :-(
Now, I just control my urge to say what is on my mind. As they say, A wise person is not one who knows what to say but rather one who knows what not to say.
I am not claiming that I'm wise ;-)

12. Left foot is the right foot.
My left foot is longer than the right by a cm or so !! I never knew this till a few months back when I went to buy hiking shoes. It seems most people have this problem ! LOL !
So, now when I buy shoes, I always try my left foot.

13. Sleepy Face.
I am not a morning person. I hate waking up. I feel annoyed and irritated most of the times. It takes me a few minutes to come back to normal self. My ex- roomies always made fun of my morning face and try to avoid it. ;-)
And yeah, I blabber a lot when someone calls me when I'm sleeping.

14. Daydream.
I like to daydream. Somedays, I feel very lazy and just curl up with a good book and a cup of chai. Especially true on cloudy, gloomy days.

15. Teddy.
I love teddy bears. I always slept with a teddy curled under my arm since childhood. This still continues. I've a disturbed sleep without my teddy. Hehehe. This could be a bit of a problem after my wedding.

16. Romance.
I'm a romantic fool. Roses, wine and dine make my day/night. :-)

17. Sports.
Wats that word ? I cannot really associate it with myself unless laziness is considered a sport.

18. Observation skills.
None. A person could walk past me and chances are unless I'm not day-dreaming, I would have never noticed them. Needless to say, that rarely happens. So, unless someone nudges me to look at someone; I would miss the person entirely.

19. Gossip.
I love to gossip. :-) Really like the gupshup sessions I've with my roomies. If everyone is in the mood to talk, it can go till dawn !

20. Things I like in a guy
* I like men who are tall
* I like men who can dance (hopefully with me all night)
* I like men who are intelligent but not nerdy and yet witty ( hehehehe)
* I like men who dress well
* I like men who talk well
* I like men who smell good
* I like men who work out ( and not flabby)

Too many demands ? I don't think so, afterall I did find a perfect match in one man!!

Phew....This is one long post...Time to pass on this tag to someone else and the lucky persons are
Archana, Archana Bahuguna, Thennavan and Rahul.
If you don't continue this tag, you will be cursed with a Bloggers's Block . :-)

For those who escaped, your turn will be next........!

Exam week

I hate exams. Its the dead week right now. But since I am going to India next week, I am taking my final this week on Friday. I have been really busy and hardly found time to study. I just looked at my book and panicked. When did the professor teach all this stuff ? Looks I have slept through a lot of lectures. :-( And since its a comprehensive final, I've loads to study.

The most important task (other than studying) is making the cheat sheet; which I consider an art form by itself. I am allowed to take one A4 size page. And I think I have atleast 150-200 equations to squeeze in. I better start the miniaturization process soon. The book for this course ( Statistical Mechanics) is difficult to read and so very boring. A remedy for insomnia. Looks like I have night-outs to do. Sigh !

And if all this was not hard enough, I have to make a question paper i.e., give a test for my Astronomy class. That's a pain too ! Now I know why profs repeat questions. :-)

I know my prof would probably repeat questions from last time; unfortunately I don't have any old papers. Boo Hoo Hoo. I wish I had some desi seniors. They are better informed and more helpful than non-desis.
-------------------------------
Update on Friday after Exam:

The Exam went well...not bad not good....I am happy that I am done with it. Yipee.

Time Pass videos.....

I came across these funny videos; chk them out :-)

This one is in tamil/english with subtitles :

Grandma ad

This one is a little old but still very funny, a desi version of Hollaback girl:

Curry and Rice girl

Have fun !

S*A*L*E

This is a word that attracts me like a magnet. I am a shopaholic, I love to shop. All I need is an excuse to goto the mall ( and some money ofcourse). So, this thanksgiving I decided that I would not give-in to temptation and stay put at home ( Last year, my friends and I had stood outside BestBuy all night, we had a gr8 time). So this Thursday night, we watched Flight Plan and then I went to sleep. My roomie, Prathi woke up at 5am to go shopping. I told her that I was not shopping and went back to sleep. She called me from the mall at 11am on Friday and asked me which store I was in. I was fast asleep and blabbered something. She told me that aeropostale had a 50% off sale. This just woke me up in a second. Aero is one of my fav stores and I had been eyeing a brown coudroy pants there. I was up and ready in sometime. I woke up Karuna and dragged her to the mall. So much for a resolution not to shop !

I was in the mall and some other stores for nearly 7 hours ! I did not buy much and did a lot of window shopping. Visited my fav stores: Gap, Aero and American Eagle. I lost control in Aero as expected. I bought yet another handbag (apt 9) from Kohls. I could finally afford something from Abercombie ! All the clothes in this store are designed for really small people, I felt like a giant ! Then, I bought some more creams ! I don't know why I have such a big weakness for handbags, shoes/slippers, perfumes, jewellery, clothes, cosmetics and creams (esp bath and body works). I don't have place to keep my handbags and shoes :-(

Sometimes it is good to go shopping with others (they can help with carrying the shopping bags) while it is good to be alone at other times. Not everyone has patience to do window shopping. I like to go shopping with other equally avid shoppers who would not get bored with it and would not crib about being in the stores for more than 7 -8 hours !

I like shopping here because normally no one disturbs you with a ' Can I help you'. It was strange to go shopping in India after getting used to this style; there people are just waiting to pounce on you and give no privacy to look around. I still remember last year when I was in Health and Glow on Brigade Road in Blore; the store had more sales girls than customers. They came with a ' can i help you' and I told them I was ' just looking' . The girl gave me a weird look and kept following me ! I finally got so irritated that I left the store without buying anything.

I see another growing trend these days, normally shopping used to be a girls favorite hobby. Guys would normally stay away from shopping. But recently all my guy friends seem to love to shop like crazy too ! They are no longer just obsessed with electronics and seem to have switched to other things like clothes, house hold stuff, etc. Interesting change....

I am waiting to go to India and shop for the wedding. :-)

My experiments with hair color....

Sometime in 2002, I was fascinated with changing my hair color. I went to the nearby walgreens and picked up a brown shade from Revlon. Picking the color was not an easy task; anyway I tried it and lo....nothing happened. It did not even look like I had applied a hair color; remained as black as ever, except if I stood under some halogen lamp :-( But I did not give up so easily. Tried again after a couple of months and was a little more successful; turns out these colors take a while to show up.

Then I went home in Dec that year; hair color craze had just started in India. My mom is totally against coloring my hair ( I've heard long lectures about how it would spoil my hair etc). So it was a quite a challenge to do it under her nose and get away with it. I changed from brown to a reddish-brown. While that sounds nice; it was quite different. It looked like I had put henna on my hair. So thats exactly what I told my mom (plus the fact that henna is good for the hair). I don't know if she bought the story; I was back here before she could think about it. The color improved (thankfully) and I had a nice reddish-brown shade for a while. Ofcourse, nothing good lasts forever. I had a short boy-cut hairstyle and so as the length grew; the color change became more obvious. I tried a few more bolder red shades after that; one could say that I always had some strange hair color hehehhee. This was a constant source of amusement for all my friends.

I had a weird bright red shade this May. I still remember the first time I looked at myself after I tried this color; I was alone at home, I toweled my hair and looked in the mirror and almost fainted with shock. Whose reflection was it ? I hoped that the mirror had some dispersion problem(or watever). I promptly saw my reflection in another mirror under a different light, I looked worse. Eeekss....It looked like I had a red wig on. I panicked and finally went to meet a friend. My friend was ROFL after looking at me. I was almost in tears. Then I calmed down and decided to carry it off. :-) Unfortunately this was the time I was visiting Archana in California. I avoided standing under bright lights and took pictures carefully. Ofcourse I was always with a cap ( it was very hot hehehe). Everyone I met would ask me about the shade; I know deep inside they were collecting info so that they never buy that shade ( It was a L'oreal F'eria Red Highlight). The color seemed to grow on me and faded quickly. After a few months I changed to a light brown shade.

I also sported a color contact lens (amethyst) last year; which meant my origin was not so easy to guess. I have been mistaken to be a hispanic many times. I have fun changing my appearance and confusing everyone; especially when desis are around and they would speak in Tamil/Kannada/Hindi assuming that I would surely not know what they were speaking. :-)

Using my upcoming wedding as an excuse, my mom asked me to start growing my hair and stop coloring. Apparently South Indian brides don't sport red hair. Sigh ! So, my hair length is quite long now compared to how it was. Most of my friends would not recognize me now ! Funny how much difference hair length and color can make !

Now its back to square one; went to a salon on friday and colored my hair back to black. I feel weird when I look at myself in the mirror. Well, lets see how long this lasts..........

HP and the Goblet of Fire...

I was very excited about watching HP and the GOF. We went to the theatre an hour earlier. We had the last show on Sunday night at 9:45pm in the IMAX theatre. There was a long line as expected. While 3 of our friends stood in the line, Karuna and I went to look around the theatre. It was more crowded and noisier than usual. The screen was not as big as I thought. But it was surely better than the normal theaters. Some of the scenes were truly awesome ! I enjoyed the movie completely. It was Paisa wasool :-) This HP was better than the older ones.

K and I were very excited and kept talking about the movie on our way back. After coming home, I kept talking about it with my roomies and convinced them to watch it soon. Slept very late and woke up on time by some miracle ! I spoke about it with my students too and whoever watched it seemed to have liked the movie :-)

I would surely recommend to watch this movie; non-HP fans may be a little lost in the fast-pased narration. If possible, see it on IMAX.

Potter Mania...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is releasing today; the reviews have said that the movie is very good. I am a big Potter fan and I'm waiting to watch it. Sadly, with the Potter Mania raging everywhere, it is difficult to get tickets ! So, I am not watching a First Day First Show :-(

I am watching a late show on Sunday night in the IMAX theatre (I booked the tickets a week in advance). Looking forward to it ! Looks like we have to go early and stand in the queue just to get a good seat inspite of having tickets in advance !

I miss watching movies in India; College days were so much fun....We used to bunk classes just to watch a movie ! And if the movie was popular, we had to stand in the queue just to get the tickets. Would end up with Gandhi class tickets leading to a bad head-ache and neck pain. It was still fun ! And there was always the concept of black tickets....

Imagine how chaotic it would be if there was no seat number concept in India ! There would be a mad rush for the seats.... !

I am experimenting with a new hair color today...more details abt that later !
:-)

Love, Relationships and Expectations.....! ?

Well I could write a novel about this topic which is always great to debate on. It was triggered by Rahul yesterday evening. He asked Karuna and me about what girls expect from a guy or rather what would impress a girl a general. Then later on the night, I had a long discussion with my roomies and Karuna; general girl talk and we all came to the same conclusion: men and women have different expectations from a relationship.

First I need to define what I mean by a relationship here; having a bf/gf is one thing while life long commitment i.e., marriage is different. Its ironic how a man's expectation from the woman would change drastically depending on this. When he is looking for a gf, he is just looking to have fun and have a good time. When it comes to marriage, most expect a Sati-Savitri ! I am not saying that all men are like this, but most are quite hypocritical ! Something even more ironic is the fact that most of the so called Sati-Savitri types are the most dangerous type of girls, cos they look innocent but are very different in character.

What do guys look for in a girl ? I think its looks, looks and looks ! And most people are obsessed with skin colour; what is the deal with fair skin ? The girl might be ugly, fat or have absolutely no features; yet as long as she is fair, she is considered ideal ! A fair and good looking bride is considered a great catch. What about her intelligence ? What about her character ? Does it matter if you are just not able to relate to each other ? How much importance is given to that ? What is the extent to which a guy is willing to compromise if the girl is good-looking ? This is something that always bothers me. It is the greatest disadvantage of an arranged marriage; because just talking to the person a few months would not reveal much. Looks would fade out in a few years and then the most important factor in any relationship would be character and interests.

What do girls look for in a guy ? Well there are many answers to this question. Personally, his character and personality would be the most important factor for me. I need someone with whom I can converse and not just talk ! Looks do matter for girls but they are not as obsessed with it the way guys are. Most girls would be happy with a decent looking guy; height would matter too. Another factor is financial security. When it comes to marriage, I would say girls are definitely more practical. They seem to looking at companionship and a good future.

Where does love fit in amidst all this ? I would say that it is very easy to fall in love; its being in love that's harder. I think time is a good test. If feelings do not change with time and distance, then it is probably something worth treasuring ! Being open-minded and frank would lessen a lot of misunderstandings. And ofcourse trust is very important too.

It seems that everyone around me is either married, getting married, looking to marry or are in a serious relationship. I think we all need to introspect about what we expect and what we are getting....Do they match ? How much can you compromise ? Is it worth all the trouble ?

My views are pretty biased; I would love to hear what others feel about this !

You have lost weight !

These are the magical words that I love to hear from anyone. A person who tells me " you have lost weight" becomes my best friend ;-) hehehehe

Life is indeed unfair; some people are so thin inspite of eating a lot. Then there are girls like me who would look well-fed even if I have been starving for a month ! Sigh ! I realized this truth more than a decade ago; tried many kinds of dieting and even starving; guess what ? Nothing gave remarkable results. So, I gave up dieting. Ofcourse I watch what I eat....which means avoiding fatty foods, sweets, fried stuff...Bottom line : avoid anything tasty !

Then I started working-out and then some finally there was some noticible change ! No, I am not one of those health freaks who jog 10 miles everyday; nor do I jog on the treadmill for an hour everyday; I joined an aerobics class ! I simply love this form of exercise; I guess the music and seeing others in the group keeps me highly motivated. And its a stress buster ! There are days when the instructor makes us work so hard that I think my heart would give up and pop out ! There are days when I am so exhausted that I feel like calling an ambulance to take me home. But I enjoy it anyway....

The only glitch is when you take a break and lose momentum; which means becoming lazy and finding excuses to avoid going to the gym; then it takes a lot of effort to get back into the groove. I am in that phase now....But I started going from last week and should be back in form soon :-)

It always inspires me when I see people working out; one of my cardio instructors is an old lady, she must be atleast 50 ! Yet, she teaches very well and her energy level puts us all to shame...I wonder if I would be able to move at her age !!

What started with a goal of losing weight has turned into something I enjoy doing; losing weight/being healthy seems like an incentive !

Anyway, this is my favourite prayer:

" Oh God, if you can't make me thin, please make others fat"

Ethiopian cuisine....

When Santu suggested that we try a new Ethiopian restaurant on saturday, we agreed unanimously. The restaurant was called Kereje and is on Greenville Ave in Dallas (near Al-Amir). It was the first time that we were trying this cuisine (except Santu).

The restaurant was not very crowded; the decor was quite different. Each table seemed to be inside a hut. It was dimly lit. The music was different ( I din't like it too much). I din't have difficulty in deciding what to eat; there was only one veggie dish. Both the Rahuls ordered some lamb dish. Everything arrived on an injera bread; which was just like rava dosa, only it was cold. The dosa oops injera tasted good with all the toppings ; there were 2 kinds of chutneys; some beans and cabbage curry (tasted very Indian). Could not see too many details about the food cos of the dim lights (were they trying to save electricity bills? ). The Veggie combo was pretty good. The lamb dish on the other hand turned out to be not so easy to chew. :-)

Flying Escapades - Part 3

We were inside the Bahrain airport soon. There was a security check and we finally got inside the lounge for transit passengers. We had a long halt in that country, almost 14-15 hours ! I don't remember the exact duration. We were told that the airlines would give us accommodation.

The Airport was empty. We were the only two unaccompanied women. We got a lot of curious glances. Anyway, we found someone who spoke a little bit of English and he directed us to the place where we would be given a visa. We got the stamp and were asked to go the Gulf Air Kiosk. We were greeted by lots of desis just as we got near that lounge; it was like a market and they all seemed like hawkers ! We refused their help and quickly went to the help desk. The person there told us that a bus would take us to the hotel soon. While, we waited there was a desi guy who also came there; we started talking. Turns out he was also going to Bangalore. Then another desi guy came there; both of them were also students. They suggested that we look around the city as we had a lot of time. Suchi and I refused saying we were tired and just wanted to crash.

Then we boarded a van that took us into the city. I was really amazed at the place. It had a lot of beautiful buildings. This was not like what I imagined. The place was rich ! We then went to our hotel which was very beautiful. It had a very nice ethnic decor. I think it was a 5 star hotel. Everyone right from the watchman to the manager was an Indian ! Surprise Surprise ! Most of them seemed like mallus. The watchman had the characteristic big veerappan type mousche. We got very nice rooms which opened into a patio where there was a big balcony and pool ! They told us that the lunch buffet would close soon and so we went to have lunch. There was lots of food for even a veggie. We ate happily and then slept peacefully. Then woke up in the evening, freshed up. By then it was time for dinner. Had another nice dinner. Then it was time to leave. The van took us to the airport; the ride past the city was beautiful as it was decorated with lots of lights everywhere.

We checked in and had some time to kill. We decided to do window shopping. The stores were very nice. They seemed to have all the latest things available. There was lots of gold and electronics stores. I was enamored by the perfume stores as usual. I found some to be cheaper than US ! And saw some European perfumes which are difficult to find here. I was quite impressed.

It was time to board the air-craft, we went to our gate. Most of the people around us were desis. Most seemed to be from the poorer section of the society. We were asked to go down via some dingy looking stairs to board the plane. I was quite surprised to be asked to down to ground level. We entered some big room which looked quite shady and it was filled with people. It was just like a bus-stand ! Only it was covered. There was the usual plastic chairs all around. Suddenly someone called out my name. I turned to find Jini sitting there. She also goes to our school and was travelling to Mumbai like us. She told us her story with the airline; we swapped stories and were all quite amused.

Suddenly there was an announcement for our flight. All passengers were asked to board. There was a sudden mad-rush like a mela. Everyone was running towards a small gate ! The three of us were shocked and stood rooted at the same place. We were like, what the hell is going on ? Why is everyone rushing ? Is nobody going to call out the seat numbers ? What was the rush for anyway ? The flight is not going to take-off obviously. The sight reminded me of a bus-stand; where people run and put their handkerchief or some other object to reserve the seat; only instead of a bus it was a plane ! Ha Ha Ha. I was greatly amused.

By now, the people were standing against a gate; when they asked the passengers to come to the gate; I did not think they literally meant a gate ! It was a grilled shutter gate ! With people pressed against it ! Then someone opened the gate and everyone rushed out. The 3 of us stood there gaping at the sight ! We could see the runaway from there. Where was everyone running to ? I was like, Don't tell me that I had to run/walk till the plane ! Then some van came there and started taking the passengers till the plane. As expected, we were the last passengers to board.

This plane was worse ( I never thought anything could be worse than the one we had come from London to Bahrain) ! It was smaller ! It was bluer ! Even the curtains had the same shade now ! I felt claustrophobic. I got the aisle seat in the 3 seats at the center. Suchi got the middle seat and there was a shady looking guy next to her. The whole plane was filled with a lot of shady looking men. They looked really cheap and dirty. They were only desis ofcourse. Most of them had the bata hawaii chappals. They had small suitcases which they kept on their laps ! We were quite shocked. I called the air-hostess to confirm if we were on the correct flight.

Jini was sitting in some other place and wanted to sit with us. We asked the air-hostess if she could swap and she told us to ask the concerned passengers. I then asked the guy next to Suchi if he would kindly move to another seat. He simply kept nodding his head and said no. I was quite irritated. Then I realized that he did not understand English. Here is where dumb charades helped. Finally, he got the idea and agreed. Phew. So the three of us sat together.

Then the flight finally took off. As usual it was scary. Everything wobbled. Then we had a nice dinner. The three of us were very happy to be going home and were in a very enthu mood. We felt that the plane was at a weird angle and was not straight. I asked at the steward and he assured me that it was straight. Anyway, we found that very amusing and kept laughing. We were a bunch of giggling girls again. The ride was short and we reached India !

The plane reached the ground; started taxiing; suddenly most people leapt to their feet and started removing the overhead baggage. The plane was still moving ! I was flabbergasted. There was an announcement from the Captain asking everyone to sit down. No one paid any heed to him. The air-hostesses tried to explain to the people to sit down. Finally they gave up ! The plane was still moving and by now people were thronging to the exits ! Another rush again ! This was crazy ! I was so shocked at their behavior.

I was so happy when my feet touched the ground....I had managed to survive Gulf Air ! I thought that my baggage was probably lost and was quite surprised to find that they had not. We cleared immigration and proceeded to the domestic airport to catch our flight to Bangalore.

What an experience it was !

Flying Escapades - Part 2

The mystery of the destination was finally revealed to us. It turns out that Gulf Air is like a town bus. It stops in many destinations and picks up truck loads of people. Gulf Air fools people into thinking that it is a world class airline. It is in fact just like traveling in a local bus; only it flies. And ofcourse they do not print all the destinations on the ticket and fool people into thinking that it goes only to one destination.

The four of us boarded the same flight. I was mystified when I entered the plane; it was one of the oldest and dirtiest planes I had ever seen. All seats had a peculiar blue colour. The seats seemed to be more than 1000 years old. Suchi and I got the worst seats ; in the four seats that are usually in the center; very crammed. There was an elderly Indian couple next to us. When we sat down, the seats seemed to be fixed. There was no concept of push-back seats ! Both of us were so shocked. Anyway, we settled in ( or atleast tried to).

There was a big TV hanging in front of us ( 2 seats away). When I say big, I don't mean a big screen, it was one of those relic picture tube TV's which was just big and bulky. We hoped that they would play some good movie. Suddenly someone started taking in some strange language using the microphone. It us a few minutes to realize that it was something in Arabic. It was the usual welcome note. It was followed by a welcome in English ( sounded like Arabic though). Then the pilot told us that we would be flying to Bahrain. The flight would then continue to Muscat. Mystery solved. The Air-hostess were dressed in a strange dress. They had a hood and some weird clothes. Most of them had a middle-eastern look; they looked like models. They gave me a you are fat and ugly complex (sigh).

Then there seemed to be an earthquake ! The whole plane began to shake and wobble. We got terrified ! The lights went out and there was a deafening noise ! It took us a few minutes to realize that it was the plane taking-off ! The loud noise was the engines ! On the brighter side, atleast there was an engine ! After what seemed an eternity, the wobbling finally reduced. I guess we had reached cruising altitude. I stopped clutching the seat and quickly confirmed to see if there was a life-jacket below the seat. That was a very difficult task to do, considering the fact that there was hardly any space.

Then the giant TV was on; something in Arabic/Urdu was displayed. Then some ad started. We quickly fished out the headphones from the pouch in front. The headphones had the same blue colour of the seats( hence forth I will call it GulfAir Blue). It us 10 minutes to find the socket for the headphones on the seat. I had never seen anything like it. There were so many buttons on both the arm-rests. It was like some space ship. Finally, we found the socket. The audio was in Arabic. Only one of Suchi's headphones was working. Then they started playing some Hindi movie (Naye Padosan). We found a Hindi audio channel and started to watch the movie. That's when I realized something was wrong with the TV. It seemed to be shaking too much. In fact, I thought it was going to break-off and fall down on the passengers' head. I felt very sorry for the person sitting under the giant TV.

Then came dinner time. The food was unexpectedly good. Or maybe by then I was mentally prepared to eat horrible stale food. We got a lot of nice things to eat. The service was pretty good compared to the plane's standard.

I was very scared to close my eyes and sleep. What if the wobbling plane crashed ? How would I escape ? Plus the fact the seats were uncomfortable and there was no leg space added to my misery. We got matching GulfAir Blue blankets and socks (which were actually soft and wrm). I finally had a disturbed sleep.

My prayers' were answered and we reached Bahrain without any mishaps. Only when I came down the steps, I noticed the colourful plane. Its tail was splashed with all the rainbow colours. Looked like modern art. Or maybe they had some discount from the paint company.

Adventures in Bahrain and the flight to Bombay will be the next post.

Flying Escapades - Part 1

I always have something that gets messed up when I travel and always end up with some adventures. The incidents described here are specifically related to my flight trips to India. I have crossed the 7 seas every year from 2002 ( 02' - the year I came to US; 03' - my first trip back home; 04' - came back here in Jan, went back to India in Dec; 05' - came back here in Jan and will be going to India in Dec). That's a lot of trips ! Needless to say lots of adventures too....

I flew outside India for the first time in Aug 2002; luckily I was not alone and had my ex-roomies for company. We had booked our tickets together and so it was very useful ; especially while lugging around our baggage. The trip was quite uneventful, all I remember is that we kept laughing. We flew KLM; the service and food was good. We were surprised to see air-hostesses who were quite old. In Indian domestic airways, you would normally only see very attractive young people. That din't seem to be the norm elsewhere !

Then while going back the first time in Dec 2003, Suchi and I flew Gulf Air as it was the cheapest fare. Ha ! What an adventure it was !! It took us almost 51 hours to reach Bangalore from Dallas and this includes both flying and waiting time.

Our adventures began when we left to the airport; our domestic flight from DFW to Chicago was around 7:30pm. As the airport is very close, I think we left around 5ish. Kripa was dropping us to the airport. As he was not very familiar with the route (and neither were we), we missed the exit. Then ofcourse we had to get lost. So instead of reaching the airport in 20mins, it took us more than an hour. The situation was still under control as we had more than 1.5 hrs for our flight. Just then Suchi's phone rang, it was our travel agent, he told us that there was some confusion with the flights and so we had to take the earlier flight at 6:30pm !! We were like, are you out of your mind ? It was already 5:45pm when we got the call and we were still trying to find our way.

Kripa drove real fast and we reached the airport by 6:00pm. We ran to the first AA counter and told them our situation; more confusion; she said our names were not there ! We were almost in tears ! Finally she found seats for us and we almost hugged her with joy. Then we checked in quickly, cleared security and ran to the gate. I think they were even announcing our names. We just about managed to reach the plane before they closed the doors...phew ! We were the last to board the flight. So that meant no space for our cabin luggage. These flights were so small ! Anyway, we found place for the bags and for ourselves. The seats were small and uncomfortable. We settled in. Nothing happened. What was going on ? Ofcourse, the flight just had to be delayed. It stood in the damn runaway for more than an hour ! Grrrrr....we were so irritated and hungry after all the tension. Then the flight finally took off and we got pretzels to munch. :-( Why do they even serve it ? The packet is so small that it may not be sufficient to feed even squirrels. Plus the fact that it tastes awful does not help either.

We reached Chicago; got a connecting flight to London. This plane was AA Boeing and was not that great in terms of comfort. Ofcourse, we din't know what was in store for us. Looking back I would say that the flight was luxurious compared to what we got next. The flight was uneventful. We waited eagerly for the food as we were ravenous after pretzels and coffee.

We reached Heathrow, it was a cold, grey morning. A typical London weather ! We were greeted by Indians ! Duh....! The airport was filled with desis ! Right from the person who greeted us, the security personnel to the airport cleaners were desis ! Well, well, well, you never know. We had a 5 hour halt in the airport. Alec and another girl from our school was also in the same flight. We decided to do window shopping. The airport was crowded and had many stores. We quickly realised that everything in Heathrow airport was expensive. We got some starbucks coffee and continued our window shopping. Then we sat down and just did gupshup till we ran out of energy. I liked the airport, it was big and had nice stores. We could actually kill time easily.

Then while we waited to check-in; we got into a argument with Alec and the other girl. Their next halt was Muscat while ours was Bahrain. Both our flights had the same number ! And both our tickets said that it was direct flight. How could the same flight goto two places without a stop-over ? It just din't make sense. Puzzled ? I will reveal the answer tomorrow :-)

Pride and Prejudice

I am very excited about the release of this movie on Friday. I hope it does justice to the novel !

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is one of my favourite novels. The novel was first published in 1813. It is a classic tale of love mixed with all the ingredients for a great read. The Bennet family and all its eccentric members are very easy to relate to. The title referes to the initial misunderstanding between the quick-witted Elizabeth and the haughty Darcy. Elizabeth Bennet is one of my favourite female fictional characters while Mr.Darcy is one of my favourite male fictional characters. Mr.Darcy seems mysterious with his good looks, pride, style and quiet - nature. He is the kind of guy every girl would dream to be in love with. Needless to say, this is one of the best romantic stories that I have ever read. I have read the novel many times and have atleast three versions of it ( abridged, unabridged and a comic).

The Indian version called Bride and Prejudice was a joke ! The director murdered the beautiful characters; casting Aishwarya Rai as Elizabeth was the biggest mistake in the movie. Her portrayal of the character showed that she had never read the novel. It seemed like they had made a mockery of the novel and of Indian traditions. I can still recall a scene towards the end of the movie, where the newly weds parade on the streets on an elephant ! ROFL ! How stupid ! Gurinder Chadda seems to think that it is a very common occurrence in India !! These are the kind of movies that mislead and encourage misconceptions about India. No wonder most people have wrong ideas about India and enquire about elephants, maharajas and snake-charmers !

I hope the 2005 release is a better adaptation of the novel.

To learn more about Jane Austen and her novels visit this site
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html

To talk or not to talk ?

My mom told me that I was very quiet as a baby. I used to talk very less and that got them worried; so my parents apparently prayed to all the Gods for my speaking ability. Their wishes came true. After the age of 3, I started talking ceaselessly. As both my parents were working, I used to wait eagerly for them to come back so that I could tell them the days' events. My mom told me that I used to talk so much, that she used to fall asleep listening to my babble. Hehehehe.

Most people who meet me for the first time, think that I am very quiet. Which is kinda true cos I don't start chit-chatting till I know the person. There are exceptions ofcourse; I guess if I am really bored I can gabble with anyone. But sometimes, you can instantly click with a person and talk like buddies. I guess its all about wavelenght matching.

And there are those days where I end up talking so much that my throat aches ! Yesterday was one of those days ! It was Sunday night and I had already spoken to a few friends and relatives during the day. I was talking to a few friends for around 1.5 hrs over the phone from 8:30pm. Then just when I had made up my mind to do my research work, my roomie, Bhumi asked me something. Next thing I know, we had been yacking till 11:30 pm. Then we went to Sukruth's house to eat pani-puri; followed by more yacking. Came back home and had another session of gossiping till 1am where even Prathi joined us. Then I realised that I have a class to teach the next day morning (today) and decided to sleep. But I did not sleep, I was talking with Prathi till almost 2am ! Then I forced myself to shut-up and sleep !! Making it a grand total of yacking continously for 5.5 hrs !!! ( This exludes my day-time gupshup)

Its kind of hard for me to accept when people say that I am talkative; I guess I like to converse...and it makes it a lot more interesting when the other person also talks. I get bored with people who just cannot make conversation and answer in monosyllable ! Plus talking also depends on my mood :-)

So, do I talk too much ?

One of the days...

Have you ever had a day when everything right from when you wake up goes wrong ? Chaos is all around ?

Today was one of those days for me; not a bad day actually; just chaotic. It all began with me not hearing my alarm go off; so I overslept and woke up at 11am instead of 8am !! Good thing I din't have a class to teach today morning. I had planned to go to Walmart and get an oil-change for my car, do groceries etc. Instead I wasted all that time sleeping. It was also my cooking turn and so I spent some time in deciding what to cook (sigh !). Then I cooked, got ready and came to school.

As soon as I came to school, I had a message from my cousin telling me that NorthWest Airlines had cancelled its Bangalore flights !! What the heck ! ? ! This was a bolt out of the blue as I am flying to India in 4 weeks ! I called NW immediately and they told me to contact the travel agent. By now, the news that the flights had been cancelled was confirmed. For once, I thought I would have a smooth trip but looks like fate was laughing at me again ! Anyway, I called my agent and told her to re-route my trip. Luckily, she did it promptly and sent me the details. I would have to fly to Mumbai and then to Bangalore instead of a direct flight to Bangalore. Well, atleast I had the new reservation confirmed and so I was relieved ! I had to call NW again and confirm my seating and meal options. Phew, damage under control.

While all this was going on, Swati told me that my Prof was looking for me. I was like huh, I just met him yesterday. Was there more bad news on its way ? I din't have to wait for long to find out; my Prof came back and told me that he needed to talk to me. Oh oooo.... I was like, now what ? ! He kept speaking about the NSF grants and other things. I guessed by now that he had made up his mind about who he was going to fund next semester as a RA. Finally, he told me that he was going to fund me !! I was like whoa ! Yipee !! He told me that I will have a lot of work when I come back from India. I told him that I was very happy that I could finally do some research work. So, looks like no more teaching classes ! But I will miss teaching and interacting with students. But I will have time for research. Life is full of pros and cons....

Amidst all this, there was some confusion with the House rent; there was some fine about which no one knew. It was apparently for some fire hazard. What on earth is that ? As usual, I have been talking to people in Bursar's office, Housing Dept and no one knows anything. Finally I was asked to send an email.

After all this, I am stuck with grading papers for my class.

All in a days work...........

Happy Deepavali

The ancient story of how Diwali evolved into such a widely celebrated festival is different in various regions and states of India.

In the north, Diwali is the day when King Rama's coronation was celebrated in Ayodhya after his epic war with Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. By order of the royal families of Ayodhya and Mithila, the kingdom of which Sita was princess, the cities and far-flung boundaries of these kingdoms were lit up with rows of lamps, glittering on dark nights to welcome home the divine king Rama and his queen Sita after 14 years of exile, ending with an across-the-seas war in which the whole of the kingdom of Lanka was destroyed.

In the south, Diwali has two more legends connected with it. The first legend again concerns the victory of good over evil. Narakasura the demon of hell, challenged Krishna to battle. After a fierce fight lasting two days, the demon was killed at dawn on Narakachaturdashi.To commemorate this event, people in peninsular India wake before sunrise and make imitation blood by mixing kumkum or vermillion with oil. After crushing underfoot a bitter fruit as a symbol of the demon, they apply the `blood' triumphantly on their foreheads. They then have ritual oil baths, annointing themselves with sandalwood paste. Visits to temples for prayers are followed by large family breakfasts of fruits and a variety of sweets.

The second legend is about King Bali, the benevolent demon king of the netherworld. He was so powerful that he became a threat to the power of celestial deities and their kingdoms. Intimidated by his expanding empire and taking advantage of his well-known generosity, they sent Vishnu as the dwarf mendicant Vamana, to dilute Bali's power. Vamana shrewdly asked the king for land that would cover three steps as he walked. The king happily granted this gift. Having tricked Bali, Vishnu revealed himself in the full glory of his godhood. He covered the heaven in his first step and the earth in his second. Realizing that he was pitted against the mighty Vishnu, Bali surrendered and offered his own head inviting Vishnu to step on it. Vishnu pushed him into the nether world with his foot. In return Vishnu gave him the lamp of knowledge to light up the dark underworld. He also gave him a blessing that he would return to his people once a year to light millions of lamps from this one lamp so that on the dark new moon light of Diwali, the blinding darkness of ignorance , greed, jealousy, lust, anger ego, and laziness would be dispelled and the radiance of knowledge, wisdom and friendship prevail. Each year on Diwali day , even today, one lamp lights another and like a flame burning steadily on a windless night, brings a message of peace and harmony to the world .

Source : http://www.reachgujarat.com/diwali.htm

Halloween in Austin downtown

This Halloween weekend, I went to Austin and had loads of fun. My friends and I got dressed up and partied on 6th st. I was dressed as a " Gothic Maiden". Out of the five of us, four were dressed in a scary theme; Karuna was a headless person. Raghu was a ghost. Rahool was the ' scream' person. Finally, Rahul was a jailbird. We were on 6th street for almost four hours. The whole street was filled with lots of people and everyone was dressed for halloween. We took lots of pics with other ghosts and loads of other characters. And since all our costumes were kinda similar; we got a lot of attention and many people took pictures with us. It was like a big fancy dress mela.

On 6th st, we did club-hopping. We went to a dance club called Friends and left in a few minutes. We were bored of hip-hop music as we had spent Friday night on 6th st as well. We danced a lot in a European techno club called Barcelona. This club had a cover charge but it was totally worth it. The music just grows on you. The DJ was very good and watching him mix the music was really cool. The Dizzy Rooster had a long queue all the time, thanks to the hype from the Real World Austin.

After dancing for a long time in Barcelona, we just walked on the street and took lots of pics. And then finally we cooled our heels in Logans, where they played some really awesome music. We finally had to leave when the clubs closed. We got to stay an extra hour because of the Daylight Savings. Then we went to a place called Kirby Lane (its open for 24hrs) for breakfast and finally crashed by 5am.

This was the best halloween ever !
And all the fun was because we're dressed in crazy costumes and tried to be our character !

Exams...

I always thought answering an exam was a lot harder than making the questions for an exam. Was I mistaken ! Making up the questions is not an easy job either !! I learnt it the hard way this year when I was asked to be the instructor for a course. Setting the paper means that you need to have knowledge about the subject - so study again ! Now I know why they always used to repeat many questions in the board and B.E exams hehehe. Its a pain to come up with new questions !

Ofcourse, answering an exam is always a greater pain. Its very hard to concentrate on studying before an exam; suddenly the most mundane jobs seem very critical. When I was studying for this week's exam, my mind came up with a lot of time - critical errands like applying a new nail polish ! Movies, talking with friends and drinking tea are one of my favourite things-to-do-before an exam list. Another distraction is sleep; I seem to feel sleepy by 8pm when I have an exam while other days I cannot sleep before midnight !

11th hour....

My mom always told me to do things on time and not procrastinate. I suppose she recognized early in my childhood that I had inherent laziness and delay tactics. Well....11th hour works for me !

I had an exam this Monday; for once I thought that I would start studying early. Guess what happened ? I could not concentrate and got bored easily. Turns out, the 11th hour panic is what triggers all my grey cells and makes them work :-) This is not only true for exams but can be used for other time-critical deadlines as well. Eg: Research meetings; I never do anything useful till the day of the meeting and then it all comes into place somehow. hehehe. Watching a illogical hindi movie can also greatly bump up your IQ and confidence level before a research meeting or an exam.

Countdown.....3 months left

Its Oct 20th today and so there are exactly 3 months left for my wedding. By strange coincidence, I got my wedding cards today. Sushma, who just returned from India last week mailed them to me :-)

I can't believe I am getting married; it has not sunk in yet; I am very excited about it. The cards are very pretty and I have to start mailing them soon. There is a typo in the card though ( the website is spelt wrong).

I don't feel like studying for exams and doing research. All I want to do is shop hehehehe.

Books......

I am a book worm. I have always been one. I love to read and collect books. One of my dreams is to have a big library filled with books and a cosy couch. Ahh...heaven !

My first novel was " Jane Eyre". My mom bought it for me so that she could inculcate good habits in me ( actually she wanted me to stop watching TV). Anyway, this was in 2nd std and I was not too happy to be forced to read a novel which had no pictures. It was a S.Chand abridged version and it took me 2 days to finish it. Then, I was hooked. I read all the classics by the same publisher voraciously. I still have all those books. My favorite classics are Little Women and Rebecca.

Then came the magic of Enid Blyton. I loved all her books right from secret seven, famous five to malory towers. By then I was in 6th std and slowly started reading detective books; Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys ofcourse. Now, I feel the stories were so silly but at that age, it was a whole new world for me. I had a very crazy habit, after reading each Nancy Drew, I would write down the killer's name in my diary. I was also trying to finish all her books. Ofcouse I never did, I think I reached around 125 ordinary novels and a few more case files before losing interest in them.

Then I read randomly and that trend still continues; I find it very hard to put down a book if it is interesting; I don't mind staying awake all night, forgo sleep and food; after all, it is for a good cause. I like books by Sidney Sheldon, Arthur Hailey, Robin Cook, Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse and lots of others. A special mention ofcouse about the Harry Potter series. Right now, I am reading the 'Lord of the Ring' series.

I also love to read comics especially Asterix & Obelix , Calvin & Hobbes and Tintin. There is so much hidden pun and trivia in Asterix comics that I discover something new everytime I read them. Age is indeed no factor to enjoy them. Loved them when I was 10 yrs and still love them !

I love books !

Loneliness

Defined as "The quality or state of being alone". Well, I hate to admit it but this is my greatest fear.

While most people face this after coming to US and in their mid 20's, I have faced this at a very young age and that is why I shudder to think of being alone. As I was the only child and both my parents were working, I have been exposed to being alone early in my childhood. My grandpa was living with us till I was 10 years old and after that he moved to live with his eldest son. Although, we had a house-keeper (Good old Seetha mami), there have been many occassions when I am just alone in the house with nothing to do. For some strange reason, there were no other kids of my age near my house to play with. So, I began to exercise imagination. I found comfort and refuge in books. And so I read and read and read (novels ofcouse). Ofcouse I had imaginary friends but soon realised that I was imagining ghosts as well ! So, I put an end to imaginary beings after that. It still gives me the creeps :-P

Anyways, to make a long story short; yes I was lonely and as a result I used to love to be in school and do masti. We had a telephone but I had not discovered the art of talking and wasting time on the phone till I was in 9th std.

When I look back now, I think I am able to handle a lot of setbacks and hurdles because of my experiences early in life. Coming back to the point I was trying to make, although I don't like being alone; there are times when I seek solitude and enjoy it. Then again, sometimes all I want to do is be around people. Anyway, all this talk about loneliness came up because of a question that has been on my mind. I don't know when Vikram would be able to come here after we are married and chances are that I may be alone for a few months. So, a part of me wants to take an apt and live alone; while another part of me says I would get depressed and should stay with roomates. I havent come to a decision yet. So, the argument continues in my mind.....

Tall Tales

How important is height for a girl ? Well, if the girl is Indian like me, it is not really that important. An ideal girl (read 'prospective bride') is expected be fair, thin and pretty. Well I guess 'pretty' can be relaxed too ( cos being fair is sometimes mixed up with pretty !! ). Anyways coming back to my point, no one cares about the girl's height. In fact, the shorter she is, the better it is ! I think since most Indian guys are not tall either, they feel intimidated by tall girls.

Ever since I was a kid, I was always tall for my age. I had no complains towering above my peers. But sadly silly relatives had other ideas. I still remember many aunts and other painful people always teasing and making fun of me because I was tall ! I mean...wat is their problem ? I have heard comments like 'she has to be nailed down or we will never find a groom for her !' It was very annoying that time. In fact, thanks to all their curses, I stopped growing lengthwise somewhere in 8th standard. Which is very tragic, cos I started growing breadthwise !! And this growth has not stopped even now :-(

So, one of my biggest regrets is that I wanted to be atleast 5'9" and I never made it to that mark. I am glad that Vikram is tall and so I don't have to hear any comments about how tall I am. And ofcourse, I get to wear heels.

So, do Indian guys like tall girls ? Or do they like short, docile girls ? Well....I guess the height requirement is also relative.

Friends...then...and now...

Picture taken in Aug 2001
[ School gang : Mani, Kavita, Subha, me, Archu, Prasanna and Tina]

How important are friends ? Well, they have always be an integral part in my life cos I never had any siblings. My definition of a friend has evolved over years. Its strange that as years roll on, it becomes harder and harder to make a good friend. It is hard to find anyone with whom your thoughts match. I would go to the extent of saying that it is difficult to even have a meaningful conversation with anyone these days !

It was so easy to make friends when I was a kid. My friend in kindergarden was probably any one next to me though I don't really remember any of them now. In fact, I don't even recall being in kindergarden hehehe. My oldest memory of a friend is probably in 3rd or 4th std. Her name was Harmit Kaur and all I can recall is that we used to fight with each other with pencils ! Then there was a girl called P.V. Sheetal in 5th std. I have no clue as to where these girls are now and what they are doing with their lives. It would be fun to meet them and talk about the past. By now, my requirements for a friend was becoming more concrete. A friend was anyone with whom I can have fun :-) and this holds good till today !

6th std saw one of my first "best friends" and her name was Sunaina. We had a lot of interests in common..novels, acting and comics. We both were the class leaders ( I have no clue why..maybe we made the most racket) and quickly discovered a very good way of keeping everyone quiet...enacting skits ! We used to put up suppandi skits fromTinkle. Anyway, next year we're split into different sections and then things changed. For one, our interests changed I suppose. Have to ask Sunaina one of these days. Anyway getting back to story, we had some secret club called Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew club where all of us would be the characters in the novel. I have no clue as to what we were doing. And as far as I know, the club was not a secret either.Its one of those idiotic things you do as a kid ! We even had secret codes and used to write each other letters in it (don't ask me the content...no clue !). Anyway, we had some big fight and did not speak to each other for maybe a year after that. Ofcourse we patched up and are very good friends even now. She is happily married woman in NJ.

When one friend leaves, others come into the picture. A whole gang came into my life. We were a fun bunch and one of these days I should write about all the mischief that we used to do. Come to think of it...all I ever did in school was masti and play pranks on others. Anyways this is where Archana, Prasanna, Kavitha, Subha,Tina and Mani came into the picture (see pic above). And boy did we have fun ! Subha was the class leader in 8th std and ofcourse that meant she could not punish us. But she dint have to cos all other teachers would come down on us and punish the whole class for making too much noise. hehehe. I still remember getting punished almost everyday. One of the days, Archana, Tina and I got kicked out of class for something. We were more than happy to leave and had fun walking all around school.

Now everyone has drifted apart; but Archu and Prasanna are still my best buddies !
After that I had many friends but none came close to my 2 best friends in school. :-)

Next year, the whole gang was split again (thanks to all the teachers complaining); Archu left to Karur and we used to keep in touch with letters every week. Then after 10th std, I moved to Bangalore. This was both good and bad. Good because it gave me a chance to restrospect as to who I was and wat I wanted; bad cos I realised that I was goofy and not too many have the same wavelenght !

Engg in MSRIT brought a lot of changes in my life. For one, I met my future husband, Vikram, in my class :-) He is my best friend too ! I will write about how we met and all that some other day. Anyways, another very good of mine in engg was Sushma.

Then ofcourse I came to US to study (that was the original intension) , I discovered quiet a few surprises about myself that I din't know earlier ! My roomates, Manu, Suchi and Ekta, became very close friends. Its true that only when you live with a person, you would come to know so much more about the person ! Anyways I made some really nice friends here like Bharath, Raghu, Jai and Karuna.

I have a lot of good friends now but I find that with each passing year, it only gets harder to make atleast one good friend. Is this a common phenomenon ?

Any comments ?

Freedom....wat is it ?

The word ' Marriage' triggers different emotions in different people. Among other things, the most common notion observed everywhere is the 'loss of freedom for a man'. It is always portrayed that the guy has everything to lose after marriage ( Ref as example my previous post). The man loses the 'freedom' that he enjoyed in his bachelor days. The man can no longer enjoy the things he liked to do; like look at other women, have booze parties, come home late...ofcourse this is only in theory as he can still continue to do whatever he feels like on the sly.

But what about the woman ? She is always shown as the one who everything to gain from marriage....but does she ? Earlier, the women were housewifes, all they had to do was to manage the home and family. The women did not have much freedom , most of the decisions were made by the husband (in theory ofcourse ;-) ). The equations have changed now, the woman has to manage a career,home and family. Marriage comes with extra baggage for her too ! And things like cooking, laundry, cleaning, phew ! And ofcourse she has to be perfect wife and not nag her husband to help her with any chores. Add kids to this picture and you see chaos all over.

So, I frankly don't see what guys are complaining about ! I think they end up with a better deal than women ! And about the so called 'loss of freedom'...well, the girl loses it too. Not all men
can be understanding if their wife tells them that she needs to get sloshed in a bar with her girl friends while hitting on other men !

Freedom is something relative. Freedom for me could be something as simple as picking a movie I would like to watch while for others it could be not picking the movie. Women of today are a lot more independent then their predecessors. They enjoy more freedom too. Hence that is something that they can lose after marriage too !

I have always been very independent and coming to the US has only made this even more intense. I am no longer answerable to anyone and do things as I please. There is no mom or dad to tell me that its time to sleep, eat or watever. No one to ask ' where are u', ' with whom are u' ... so on and so forth. This is freedom for me and I know this may not last after I get married. The husband can be a nag too ! I hope Vikram and I come to an understanding when it comes to such topics.

I guess the important thing is trust each other and be more understanding. A little love and romance might make the ride more interesting. I would like end with this thought

Love is like pi — natural, irrational, and VERY important.

Definitions of Marriage ?

"Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle." --Sam Levenson

"For two people in a marriage to live together day after day is unquestionably the one miracle the Vatican has overlooked." --Bill Cosby

"Marriage -- as its veterans know well -- is the continuous process of getting used to things you hadn't expected." --Tom Mullen

"If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married." --Katherine Hepburn

"The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing -- and then marry him." --Cher

"Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry." --Tom Mullen

"When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions. They are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part." --George Bernard Shaw

From Lee Daniel Quinn's book, Quinn's Devious Dictionary:

MARRIAGE, n.
[1] the dawn of romance and the commencement of history;
[2] a word that should be pronounced as "mirage";
[3] an event, for the upper middle class, is the only adventure left;
[4] a very good way to promote civilization - if you get a good wife you will be happy, if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher {Socrates};
[5] a process much like a cafeteria - you carefully look over the choices, select what looks the best - and pay later;
[6] an event which is called "tying the knot" - unfortunately, the knot can be a noose;
[7] a word which always means commitment - but so does insanity;
[8] a ceremony favored in England - it's the only way to beat their cold winters and lack of central heating;
[9] something that changes the demeanor of a driver - there is no longer any effort needed to keep both hands on the wheel;
[10] the only permanent cure for love;
[11] is only compatible when the man makes a living and his wife makes living worthwhile;
[12] the only adventure open to the cowardly;
[13] something which is called a feast - unfortunately, sometimes the appetizer is better than the main course;
[14] a group which consists of: a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two;
[15] the alliance of two people, one who never remembers birthdays, and the other who never forgets them;
[16] the process that turns a female from an attraction into a distraction;
[17] a legal custom which turns a man into the captive audience of his wife;
[18] that ceremony which makes more strange bedfellows than politics;
[19] a rite where two people, under the influence most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal and exhausting condition until death do them part;
[20] occurs where a man gets hooked by his own line;
[21] in America, is the only legal method of suppressing freedom of speech;
[22] is made out of two toothbrushes but a single tube of toothpaste;
[23] is just a three-ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering;
[24] the process of finding out the kind of guy your wife would have preferred;
[25] a condition where no wife gets what she expected, and no husband expected what he was getting;
[26] the ceremony which provides a man with something that, sooner or later, he will find he can't blame on the government;
[27] a tradition which would suffer considerably if men had to pay the minister the same fee they will eventually have to pay the divorce lawyer;
[28] is much like a pair of shears, so joined so the parts cannot be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who tries to come between them;
[29] the continuous process of getting used to things you never expected;
[30] a status which depends upon two to be successful but only one to turn into a failure;
[31] is a book in which the first chapter is written in poetry and the rest of the pages is prose;
[32] a bargain, and a sensible person understands that someone must get the better of any bargain;
[33] in Japanese is called "Judo" - the art of conquering by yielding. This is the western equivalent of "Yes, dear";
[34] a confrontation which always demands the greatest understanding of the subtle art of insincerity possible between two human beings;
[35] is not a word, but a sentence;
[36] a delightful form of combat where you get to sleep with the enemy;
[37] an investment that pays big dividends if you manage to keep up the interest.

My origin........ 

Countdown....4 months left

As the D-day is getting closer, my nerves are jittery. My moods seem to be like a roller-coaster;I am very excited sometimes and feel very depressed other times !
Is this normal ? Then again, I have never been normal;
so the question is kinda redundant.


Last month, I went through a phase of " Its too early to get Married".
Now I am looking forward to it :) . I should try convincing Vikram to write his blog as well.


I am bored to call home as the wedding seems to be the only topic my mom is interested in. I think she has been planning for this ever since I was born ! I am amazed at her enthusiasm; Right now, wedding cards are the topic. I finally relented to her demands to get involved in the process. All I had to do was hunt for wedding cards on google and give her my opinion. Simpler than I thought :)

Mom's great anxiety now is the length of my hair and its colour ! I have always had short hair and apparently thats not a good thing for an Indian bride...so now I am forced to keep it longer. Funny how it seems to have a mind of its own and does not grow when you want it to !! As I like to change the colour of my hair ( despite threats from mom), I am in an ackward situation. It was red till last month and now I am toning it down to browns hehehe. Sometimes, I think I should make it blonde just before I goto India....hahaha that would be a sight.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.