Why me ?

Whenever annoying things happen, I would often ask ' Why me, Lord, Why me ' [ song by Shaggy].

Exams put me off, I am bored of studying for them. The latest one I had on Monday was like a memory test that we used to have as kids. The prof expected us to memorize a trillion formulae. After coming here, I am used to cheat sheets and open-book tests; so memorizing is a lost art. Needless to say, the test was awful because I forgot most of the formulae. :-( So unfair ! I hope others badly too...

Texas weather changes so often now and this is a big problem for me. I realized I have hyper-sensitive skin which changes with the weather !! As a teenager, I never had problems like pimples and acne. So, it was quite a shock when I started having these problems after coming here ! For one, I thought only teenages have pimple problems ! How mistaken I was !! It seems age has nothing to do with it ! I could have the same problem even at 80 ( but maybe the wrinkles would cover it up then). So, I became a sucker for any remedy, right from home made recipe's to sulfur-products. Anything...As long as the pimples disappear ! I got things under control with Proactive. But, when I go to a new place or there is a drastic change in weather... I have new features on my face :-( Soooo unfair !!

When I went to India this time, the pollution and dirt only made this worse; I don't know what was worse, the problem or the concern/remedies from relatives. Everyone made such a big deal out of it !! Ofcourse, I had one pimple the day before the wedding...Grrr...!

Anyway, the whole point of cribbing now is that I have a new outbreak and its never been this worse. Boo Hoo Hoo. I've tried everything from Proactive to Shehnaz Hussein products - no results !

The only consolation is that almost all my friends have some skin problem right now; so we all just crib to each other and feel better. Recently saw an interview of John Abraham where he mentioned that he had a big pimple problem too. I wonder how he solved the problem.

One more thing to crib about - my research. Turns out one of the assumptions made at the beginning had a sign mistake. So, now I've to re-derive them again ! Before you think what the big fuss is about, let me mention that there are more than 20 pages with derivations that I need to correct. :-((

Seminars and sleep...

If you were forced to attend boring seminars every week; you know what I am talking about.

Its wednesday, which means my Dept would host a colloquium today. The speakers come from all over US and sometimes even from outside. These are famous acadamics. They get one hour to present their research. I suppose they are interesting too; I do not stay awake after the first few introduction slides as it gets too technical and nothing makes sense. Imagine a boring talk, big cold room, dim lights and a long day; what can you do except fall asleep. But, since they force us to attend the seminar, I have no choice but to be there physically. Pah, what a bore ! Its not just the students who doze off, I have seen some professors also napping( easier to detect if they snore).

Many people find different ways to stay awake. Some do their school work, read the paper, read a magazine while some just sit and go to sleep. Then, the organizers started switching off the lights. Unfortunately for them, this meant more people could sleep peacefully without being caught. The strategy has been changed to dim lights now ( can't read nor can you go to sleep without been noticed).

The only good thing about the seminar is the free food before the talk. Most of the people make a disappearing act after eating. But since they take attendence, cannot do this often.

Once in a while, the speaker is interesting. Sometimes, if he is from my field, I actually stay awake and enjoy the talk. Today, a Nobel Laureate is going to speak; so I am quite curious. My afternoon class got cancelled (yay) because the instructor wanted to speak to the Laureate. So, I already like the speaker...may more of them come and may more classes be cancelled....

p.s I guess this applies to "meetings" as well :-)

Choice the correct answer...

Life is so different from an exam; I always wonder, is there a correct answer? Who decides what is correct ? Is there more than one correct answer ? Sometimes, I get into this phase of asking too many questions to myself and end up with no convincing answers. Sometimes, I wish I were back in middle - school; life was so simple then. Those days were always carefree and fun. Why does life complicate as we grow older ?Or is it us who make it complicated ?

This sudden philosophical phase was triggered by the fact that it is my 2nd month wedding anniversary today. I am feeling low. Just one of those days when I feel like leaving everything here and hop into the next plane. If only it was that simple....Sigh :-(

This leads to my point about choices and living with it. I chose to come here for studies. I chose to pursue my second masters. I chose to get married knowing very well that we will have to be away for a while. So, when I made all these choices, why should I feel bad ? I should not be complaining ! This is what I wanted ! And yet...there is something wrong somewhere. I guess, it is not possible to have everything in life.

The easiest solution would be to ditch my studies; what is the point in doing astronomy when I know I may never work in this field ? Yes, I love the subject enough to come this far; sadly I may not get the jobs that I have in mind with just a Masters degree. So, I've to go back to telecom for a job. I like being a telecom engineer too. But, I have to choose one field now. Maybe later in life, I will continue my pursuit in astronomy. Does it give me enough reason to quit ? I know this is just a moment and tomorrow I will be ready to fight my battles again. I can never quit having come this far. And although I may be happy initially if I quit, deep inside it would drive me nuts. Better sustain for a few more months and get done with it.

I know its just a matter of time and everything will be better. But till then, I will have these sudden urges to hop onto a plane and fly to Vikram. Everything has its good side; so this is good side of having long complicated procedures for visas and the fact that students are mostly too broke to afford tickets at the drop of a hat.

So, the answer is, I choose to finish what I started.

Oops...I did it again !

I wasted time again ! Funny how time flies esp during a break ! I kept thinking that I have lots of time to do my homework and assignment. Ha ! It just struck me that its thursday evening and my vacation is almost over. Sigh ! I have to start my school work today and atleast finish some by tomorrow evening. Going to Austin tomorrow evening and will be there for the weekend. Party time !!

I decided to get a hair-cut today. I was very tempted to chop it and make it short again ( I had a boy cut before my mom forced me to grow it out for the wedding). The hair-dresser asked me how short she should cut it; finally I decided to maintain the length and just got layers.

And while at it, I decided to color my hair too. How about the purple as suggested long back? That would surely add color to my life. Or maybe I will get one bang in shocking pink. Finally I chose a boring brown. I think I will get highlights done later.

While I was there, I realised no one is happy with their hair. The ones who have it straight, want it curled. The ones who have it curly, want it straight. I don't like mine either; its wavy - neither straight nor curly ! Grrr...

And I am always amazed to see very old ladies come there for a hair cut/style/perm. There was an old lady today who could not even walk without help. What enthu even at this age ! I can never imagine my Grandmom going to style her hair at the parlor !! It is nice to see that some folks don't let age be a factor is getting what they want.

Jaani Dushman - A review

I saw one of the funniest movies ever yesterday night. I have to thank my cousin, Anusha from Mumbai for suggesting this movie. She told me that it would surely make me laugh and it did. I was ROFL most of the time.

This movie was released in 2002 and has a big star cast ( Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aftab, Arshad Warsi, Manisha Koirala, Rambha, Raj Babbar, Sunny Deol and many others). It is a super-natural horror story. The director/producer cast his son as the ichadari nag ( snake that assumes any shape). I wonder how Bollywood churns such movies !

Oh well, it sure provides entertainment for bored Graduate Students :-)

I've written the complete review in my other blog. You can find it here.

Has anyone else seen this movie ?

Spring Break

The best thing about Spring semester is undoubtedly the Spring Break. I wonder why we don't have summer break and fall break.

On Friday night, K, B and I went to a very interesting club called Lizard Lounge. Thankfully it had nothing to do with Lizards ( I am terrified of them). There were two dance floors; one had techno music (yipee) and the other had many kinds but mostly hip-hop and new songs. The techno music was very good and I was very happy. They even had a DJ competition and it was interesting. Many people on the dance floor danced with small lights; they were small tubes filled with some liquid that would glow when switched on. I wonder what they are. The light trail was very hynotizing and looked really cool. Then I had to be dragged off the floor as it was time to head home. The thing I hate about going to a club is that the cigarette smoke filled rooms linger on the clothes with a nasty smell.

Then on Saturday I went to the public library and got half-a-dozen novels; mostly PG Wodehouse, re-reading Kane and Abel and a new author called Iris Jonansen. I finished 2 of wodehouse by yesterday evening and both of them were very funny.

Woke up late today. It feels great to sleep-in late on a Monday. Came up with a new name for my blog. Three cheers to haddockisms. I came across this website with all his curses and they were very funny.

Part 2 of Uncleji 's antics

Most of us had a good time LOL over the PO Uncle's antics yesterday. Amazingly the story did NOT end with the encounter at the PO.

I was talking to my cousin, K on my cell a little after 9pm yesterday night ( the incident occured in the afternoon). Then, my roommate came and gave me the land-line saying I had a call. ?? No one called me on the landline other than credit-card folks and tele-marketers; and so I never picked the land-line. She said it sounded like some desi uncle ( what ?). I said hello and lo it was good ol uncleji from the PO. I was stunned. These are one of those few rare occasions when I am completely speechless.

He was like how are you. I told him that I was on another call to India. He assumed I was talking to my parents and said ' please tell them about this matter'. Grrrr. I said ok and was ready to hang-up when his wife came over the line. She said 'please take down our number and call us' ( like I was going to do that). She hung up leaving me surprised again.

How on earth did they get my number ? Uncleji could have taken down my address from the packages that I mailed and could have asked for my number ( can this be considered identity theft? ). Or a simpler solution would be to find my number in the student pages of my school. Either way, it was a lot of trouble to get my number !!! How desperate are they ?

How am I going to wiggle out of this situation ? How do I get rid of them ? What story should I fabricate now ? I did not want to avoid their calls as then they might keep persisting and annoy me more. A better idea would be to tell them something so that they do not call back. I was thinking of various ideas and here are some of them

a) Tell them that I was engaged and clearly planned to marry that person. Perhaps I should explain this to auntyji as the uncle clearly overlooked the same statement and seemed to think his son was great enough for me to 're-consider'. Grrr.

b) Next time they called, I could clearly shock them. Maybe I should say that I am an alcoholic, smoke, live in the clubs, cannot cook and a lot of other awful things.
( But what if they say their son was the same ?)

c) I could ask one of my American friends to 'act' for a while and take them to the PO.
I could introduce him and say I was living-in with him. Watching Uncleji's expression might be worthwhile....but again...what if he says ' no problem beta, my son was also living in with someone'.

d) I could goto the PO dressed in Kallu style and say ' wassup dawwg'

I was having fun thinking of ideas and laughing over it when I got a call again. Oh No !!!! It was around 10:15pm ( isn't that a wee bit too late to call) and it was Auntyji. They must be really desperate to pursue like this !!!

Aunty: Beta, I thought I would call you instead of waiting for your call you may hesitate to talk about this subject.
Me: ( what the heck, how can they assume something like that, me even more annoyed)
Aunty, I am not sure what you have on your mind; and I think uncle did NOT understand what I said ( My tone was rude and irritated). I am already engaged and plan to get married to him this summer ( There, I said it hehehe).

Aunty: (Surprised) Oh; Uncle did not understand it !! Anyway beta congratulations.
Me: ( relieved) Thank you

Aunty: You know, we are looking for a match for our eldest son. If you come across anyone, please let me know...
Me: ok. Good Night.

Hung up. Phew. I hope that is the last of it !!!

Any takers for this rather interesting proposal ? ;-)

P.S. I am also curious to see if 'uncleji' has tampered with my mails; I would not be surprised if he inserted a letter to my friend and ask them to recommend his son..maybe he might have put a photograph as well...hmm...curious...very curious....
Archu, Rahul and Prasanna...only you guys can answer the question as the mails were for u :-)

50th post....

I can't believe I've written so much already. Anyway, I've managed to reach my 50 th post. I wanted to change the name of my blog...still messing around with the idea. Want to change the template too...but been too busy this week. Oh well, its spring break next week. Yippe !

A very strange incident occured today afternoon. I had a lot of things to mail; But I've been in lazy mood since morning and did not want to walk to the PO in school. So I drove to the main USPS Office a few blocks away.

I was looking for the right size boxes when somebody from the counter asked if I needed help. I looked up to see an old desi uncle. He was smiling and said he would help me with the supplies. He gave me what I needed and the labels, customs form etc. I filled out everything while he kept talking about his family. I was nodding politely ( I was barely awake). Then, while he was giving me the stamps, he started asking about me (family, native place, major in school etc). I told him that I had no relatives here and that I was living with friends. The conversation continued like this

Uncle: So, when will you graduate ?
Me : Maybe next semester

Uncle: Are you married ?
(I felt there was no necessity to tell him about my marriage, explain why we are away, listen to his sympathy and advise; I could save a lot of trouble by saying....).
Me: No
( Thanks to my jacket, my mangalsutra was not seen too)

Uncle does more talking ( my mind is blank, yawn).

Uncle: So, do you have a friend with whom my wife can talk ?
Me: Huh ( Was I that sleepy ? I could not understand what he was asking... me with blank expression).

Uncle: repeats the same question
Me: same blank expression

Uncle ( gives up) : I have a son who will turn 30 soon...
Me: ( so ? ) Oh (...the tube light finally lit up)

( LOL I could not believe what he was saying, people seem to be ready to catch prospective brides anywhere).

Uncle: Well ?
Me: Uncle, my parents have already found someone back in India.

Uncle: Well, consider even this..ok ?
Me : ( with a straight face; controlling my laughter) OK

Uncle then goes on about his son; his job; his intelligence; blah blah...By now I am really irritated...then I give him a ' will you hurry up look'...I told him I have a class in 10 minutes.
Finally he lets me off and gives me the receipt. I am ready to run from there, when he calls me out and says

' you can always find me here; come -by if you change your mind'.

I come out ... ROFL....

Next time...better walk to the University PO.

Day 3 - Sangeet in the evening

We came to the mandap and noticed that everyone was patiently waiting for something to happen. I learnt that my cousin, Andy, who was supposed to conduct the Sangeet was stuck in the notorious Bangalore traffic. As most of us had never even seen a sangeet ( except for the ones that come in movies), we're quite unsure about the course of action. In the meantime, the crowd was getting restless and we quickly sent my cousin, Shreya, to sing a invocation prayer. Then, what ? My cousin, Shilpa ( yes we share the same name; she is referred to as local shilpa and I am US shilpa), suggested that we call on volunteers to sing and kill time.

A lady in front put her hand up at once; she then took out a sheet of paper from her purse. Huh...do people move around with lyrics ? She took the mike and started singing. I stood stunned when I heard her. Everyone around her were speechless. My friends and cousins stood dumbstruck. Had the character Cacofonix become a reality ? Her singing was unbearable. The kind that would make you want to burrow a hole through the ground and escape. I panicked and wanted to snatch the mike from her before everyone ran away. We could not do it as it would not look nice and had to bear the torture. Watching this scene on dvd is very funny; I can almost see the people around her cringe with each note. LOL.

Then Prasanna, suggested Antakshiri. We quickly made two teams; boys and girls. The girls team was full and there were hardly any folks in the boys team. I had to convince most of my uncles and others to join them. In the end, it was total fun. We all kept singing to our hearts content. Vikram kept singing many shaadi songs and got a lot of crowd support. Still, no sign of Andy.

Then, we decided to boogie. I had burnt a cd with fast hindi songs. All the girls started dancing. Vikram, his brother Vinayak and my cousin Karthik were the only boys on the dancefloor. Vikram's grandparents joined in between for kajre re and looked very cute. My parents also shook a leg and many aunts joined too. It was a blast. Andy, Anu and my cousin Shilpa took a lead and gave us ideas for steps. Other cousins who joined us were the other Anu, Shreya, Sushma, Poornima, Samyukta, Kritika, Andy, Ria, Kaveri, Asha and a whole bunch of small kids. This went on for a while till the elders decided it was time for dinner. We then took a few pictures.

The audience (mostly relatives) basically looked on. I wish dancing becomes a part of South Indian weddings. Its the apt thing to do in such a joyous occasion.

A few of my relatives were worried that I would be tired after so much of dancing and look exhausted the next day for the wedding. That din't happen ofcourse; this is where all the late-night clubbing helps. :-) I looked fresh and happy the next day.

Day 3 - afternoon and later

The morning activities finally came to an end. I decided to change from saree into a more comfortable salwar-kameez so that I can eat lunch with fewer tensions. My favourite colour is black and so I bought a very pretty georgette dress. I decided to change into this; as soon as I came out, all hell broke loose. Relatives from every direction literally pounced on me and yelled at me for having worn black color ! They were like 'whose permission did you take for wearing this'; and I was like,' excuse me, who's permission do I need'; this argument went on and I refused to change. After all, it was just to have lunch and then go home. It was a matter of less than an hour ! But no one understood my point !! And when I asked for a reason why I should not wear black, there were no concrete answers. Tradition was not a very satisfactory answer. My mother and mother-in-law did not care about this and so I could get away with it.

The lunch was very nice; it was a typical Kerala style cuisine; avvial, kalan, payasam, vadai, appalam, rasam, sambar, moorkozambu, beans and some other things which I cannot remember. Then after food, we ( Archu, Prasanna, Anu and I ) left for home, which was nearby thankfully. We all went off to sleep immediately.

After a nap, it was time to get ready for the sangeet. I wore a sleeve-less gagra choli made of italian crepe. I simply loved this dress. It had a very pretty colour too. We had a short photo session while waiting for the driver to pick us up. We reached the mandap at around 7pm.

So dark the con of man ... The quest !

No, this is not about my wedding.

I simply loved reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci code and its prequel, Angels and Demons. After reading the book, I wanted to go to Louvre and trace all other places mentioned in the book. I am looking forward to the movie which will release this May. I wanted to watch the trailer yesterday and while looking for it on google, I came across something very interesting, the webquest.

Did you know that the book cover holds a puzzle ? I was amazed when I learned this and ofcourse jumped right into the quest. The clues lead you to the title of Dan's next novel. I was in the middle of the solving the clues when my friend K came to see me and I convinced her to join me in the quest. So, instead of doing my school work, I was busy solving the clues till late last night. We were dancing with joy after solving it. Then I cracked the second puzzle today morning as well.

a) Quest 1 - Uncover the code
This is what you need to have before attempting:

1. The hard-bound book and the cover ( the paperback editions or desi versions will not have it)
2. Internet
3. Pen and paper to write down and solve clues

Beg, borrow or buy the book !!!

To uncover the code and play the game, go here

b) Quest 2 - Web quest

This does not require the book cover. What you do need are

1. The book ( any version or you can even manage if you have read the book)
2. Internet
3. Pen and paper
4. Telephone

Ready ?
To solve the quest, go here

The clues spiral you into a hunt just like the book and is very exciting. Solving the codes are frustating as well ( maybe reading his book digital fortress helps - but I could manage without it). There are many discussion forums , so looking for the solutions on google will deprive you of the joy of solving the puzzle. I want to discuss the clues and other facts about the quest. But I will do it next week, giving everybody the weekend to work on the quest (if you haven't done so already).

Solve riddles...crack codes...have fun !!!

p.s 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5
O, Draconian devil!
Oh, lame saint!

Day 3 - Morning - The Puja and Engagement

We reached the Mandap on time. I did not want to be one of those brides who are always late. Vikram and his family reached a few minutes earlier and we saw that many aunts and relatives had come to greet him with garland etc. The cameraman started his annoying job. Everyone finally went inside. Then, it was my turn to go inside and mandap and there was no one to greet me. Grrr. Why does the groom get so much attention anyway ?

I was asked to wait and not enter; I had a welcome party too...yipee. I was instructed not to walk fast. I waited in the dressing room while everyone went to eat breakfast. The vadiyar (purohit/pandit) was stuck in traffic and hence late. Prasanna also called saying she was stuck in traffic. The Bangalore traffic was creating havoc. Vikram called me on my cell and asked me to join him for breakfast; I explained to him that I was supposed to be fasting. He laughed and said he would eat my share too. :-( Finally, after a lot of cribbing, my mother gave up and asked me to eat. :-)

The Puja started; the vadiyar was chanting something; I was bored and sleepy. Whenever I would yawn, the cameraman would be capturing the moment; I guess he had a lot of editing to do. People took pity on me and would come and talk to me; I was so happy when that happened as I was really bored. Puja went on for an hour; Prasanna finally reached. Then, I was given a saree to change into before the engagement.

I simply loved this saree. It was the ONLY kancheepuram silk saree that I bought. It was blue with orange border and had embriodary. I wore fashion jewellery with it. Seetha mami and Prasanna helped me in wearing the saree; we asked the rest not to interfere.

We were asked to hurry up as the groom was ready. The groom had to just wear normal clothes, it hardly takes time !! Wearing a saree on the other hand is a whole new story. I think they should allocate a lot of time for that and not just hurry the bride.

Then, we exchanged rings. Time for some pictures. Then came the namaskarams. It is hard to do it in a saree. It was past lunch time by the time all this ended.

Day 3 - early morning

[ In the pic, from left : Archana, Shilpa and Anu ]

I woke up to some strange annoying noise; I seemed to have slept for less than a minute and it was already time to wake up ! I was stiff when I woke up because of the uncomfortable posture ( I din't want to smudge the mehandi). It was probably around 5:30am. I was groggy and din't want to wake up. But there was so much noise in the house ( made by those who slept early and woke up early - unlike us), that we could not sleep peacefully. I went down and asked for a cup of tea. My mother was already ready !! She asked me to take off the mehandi. I thought it would be an easy task and went towards the big sink in the back of the house, when I suddenly remembered that I was not supposed to use water. Oops. I was supposed to use oil and scrape off the mehandi ( which by now was dry).

So, I started scraping, and scraped and scraped. The stupid thing was taking eternity to come off. Now I regretted putting so much mehandi. After 15 minutes, only 10 % seemed to have come off and I was very annoyed. One of my aunts suggested using a butter knife to help me scrape. So, I tried that and it hurt. Ouch. Now, my sensitive skin was red. Finally I almost burst into tears and my mom came to the rescue. She asked me to sit and helped me remove the mehandi. After a while, it almost came off. Then some others helped me. My mom instructed me to get ready soon and come to the mandap. She was already leaving to arrange things with my dad. I said ok.

Next challenge: how do you take a shower when you are not supposed to use water on the mehandi. Plastic covers solved the problem. It was messy. It had Archana and Anu in splits.

The next challenge was hair style. Seetha mami helped me with it and put a nice plait with the help of artificial hair. I could not stop laughing when I saw myself in the mirror. I wore a beige valkallam silk saree. This was the only time I wore gold jewellery. I hate gold. I refused to wear it. Finally I agreed to wear it for just one occasion - the vrata puja in the morning.

Did I mention breakfast ? I did not get any as usual. The kitchen was obviously closed. I was hungry as expected and was grateful to the cereal bar that I had with me. I was looking forward to the breakfast in the mandap which was supposed to be good.

My friend Prasanna landed from Chennai and called me. We asked her to take a taxi and come to the mandap to avoid repeating Archana's experience.

Anu, Archana and I were ready to leave to the mandap. It was 8am.

Day 2 - Evening - Mehandi

[ In the pic - from left - Poornima, Shilpa holding Ria, Vani and Archana]

A bridal mehandi specialist was coming late in the evening because of the last minute confusion. For all others, three girls came to put mehandi. They came home by 4pm. I asked my cousins and A to put mehandi before everyone started arriving. We all got ready and I got busy with arranging for the evening. I wore a burnt orange color skirt and a black silk top. We had caterers for dinner.

My house was already bursting with people. Just when everything was going on fine, there was a power cut !! There was never any power cut in the last few days. There was sunlight, so the mehandi troop marched out and sat outside in our patio near the garden. It was noisy and a lot of fun. After a while, when there was no sign of the power coming back, I began to panic. Everything would flop if there was no power !! I had taken many scented candles and this was a good time to use them.

After what seemed an eternity, the power finally came back. The girls were busy putting mehandi and the line seemed never-ending. I think the mehandi girls were there till 9pm after which they were too exhausted to put for any more people. I am sure there were more than 40 people who put mehandi. My house was decorated with serial lights; the lights on the coconut trees were very fascinating. The food was excellent. I was instructed to eat soon before they start putting mehandi because it is difficult to move around after that. So, I promptly ate. The food was excellent. I don't remember all the things on the menu; there was Raj kachori, small samosas, some special kind of pulav with bread crumbs, raitha, parathas, some vegetable sabzi, curd rice and hot jelebis. He was making the jelabis in front of us. I am not a big fan of this sweet but it was very tasty when tasted fresh off the pan. My friends, Vani and Manu had also come by then. Then the groom side people came for dinner. I ofcourse claimed that I had not eaten. hehehhe.

The bridal lady had not shown up and it was almost 7:30pm. Where was she ? Everyone but the bride had mehandi on !! I went to call the lady and discovered my land line was dead !! Would everything go wrong on the same day ? Anyway, I decided not to panic and tried to look for my cell. In the meantime, the lady came and she promptly got to business. It took her a little over 4 hours to put the mehandi. She did a great job. I had 3/4th of my hands done and a little on my feet. She even hid a little puzzle for Vikram in my palms ( he was supposed to find his name is less than a minute - he lost the game; a few of the letters can be seen the pic of my palms above). She also drew a heart with our names.

I was stiff with sitting while she put the mehandi. As I did not have much time to keep it on ( just overnight), she asked me to put tiger balm over the mehandi every few hours so that the heat gives it a good color!! She left a little after midnight. My cousin Anu and A gave her company in the car as M dropped her home. I could not even move without help. Sigh. It was time to sleep and A and Anu helped me to bed. It was a very funny situation and I started laughing at my state. We kept talking for a while before finally dozing off. I kept waking up every few hours to put tiger balm.

Day 2 - Jan 18th - Morning

I was forced to wake up because of all the racket created by relatives. We were having a sumangali puja in the morning. Many relatives had already come by then and my house seemed to be bursting with people. Adding to the confusion were workers who came to put up shamiyana and pandals. I was hungry soon and decided to see whats cooking. Alas, due to madi rules ( shudhh) I was forbid to go into the kitchen. I realized soon that I was not going to get any breakfast. Sigh. I get very cranky if I miss breakfast. And my morning cup of tea. Finally after pleading, I got a cup of tea. But....that only made me even more hungry ! My mom told me that lunch would be served very soon.

By then it was time for Archana's arrival. She was coming by Shatabdi express from Chennai. I could not go to the station cos of the Puja. Everyone was busy so we decided to send just the driver, M. He had a cell and she had a cell. I decided to write a placard with her name and give it to M. When I came downstairs with it, my dad told me that M had already left. I was very irritated...how would he find her ? Anyway, I thought the cell was always there. Then I called A to tell her that only M was coming. And I got a msg saying her phone was switched off. I tried after a while ; by this time the train had surely reached Blore; but I continued getting the same message. Then, I guessed something was wrong. I called M on his cell and that was unreachable !

How was M going to find A when both their cell phones were not working ? After sometime M called and said he could get thro A's phone. I told him to stand near the ticket counter and hoped A would call me soon. She did and told me her phone was not activated for roaming; I told her to go to the ticket counter and described M and the car. Then I waited. M called told me that no one matched the description I gave ; then I told him to stand near the phone booth itself as A would surely call from there. They called again. Both were calling from the same phone booth but could not find each other ! This confusion continued for an hour and they NEVER found each other. Finally, I told A to get an auto and come home. M returned too. A finally reached home. We finally got to eat after 1 pm. So much for 'early' lunch.

Post lunch, my cousins, A and I sat and chatted in my room. After a while, we decided that we should practice for the dance the next day. My cousins, A and S were dancers and the rest of us were not. We convinced them to teach us a few steps. We turned on the music, woke up everyone upstairs and started dancing. It was a lot of fun. Madisar maamis joined us to add to the fun. It was tea time soon. We then got ready for the evening Mehandi session and dinner.

Day 1 - Jan 17th,2006 - Tuesday

Murphy's law says that when something can go wrong, it will. This is particularly true while planning for a wedding.

I woke up on Tuesday morning to the usual confusion. One of my biggest complains about my trip to India was that I could never sleep till late in the morning. I was forced to wake up early. Sigh ! Anyway, coming back to my story. I got a call around 11 am from the lady who was supposed to do the Bridal Mehandi. She asked me when I was going to send the car to pick her up and that she was waiting. I was like, huh, the ceremony is tomorrow; why would she come the day earlier. Then turns out she had the wrong day in her diary. Grrrr. She was booked already by more than 2 people the next day. I was very angry with her especially since I booked her long back. We tried to work around with the time, but it looked like a hopeless situation.

So, I was in a nice situation. 24 hours before the ceremony, the Mehandi lady ditches me. We were expecting more than 30 people for just the mehandi and some more to stay on for dinner. Anyway, I had expected something would go wrong and kept a back up just in case. So I made a few more calls and fixed another person. Did she come finally ? The answer to that would be in my next post.

Then, it was time to get ready for the evening dinner. This had the least confusion compared to all other days. We were expected at 8pm in Vikram's house. A car load of relatives had left and reached on time. I was a little late thanks to the pandemonium created over dressing for the occasion. The more people to assist, the more the confusion. I had picked a yellow saree for the occasion and had matching high heeled shoes. I had decided that I should not look short in front of Vikram. I was very pleased with my high heeled collection. All that collapsed while getting ready for this dinner. :-(

Turns out the sarees are not really designed for tall people, esp, ones with heels. So when I wore the heels, the saree was very short. Boo Hoo Hoo. I had to make do with flat chappals. And it was too late to go and buy new shoes.

Anyway, we reached the party. I was introduced to another bunch of relatives. All I had to do was smile. I was hungry but could not eat properly because I had to constantly meet people and as a result I was too hassled to do justice to the food. There were a few typical Manglorean dishes which were very new and interesting for all of us. The smiling and hello sessions went on for a while and we finally left a little after 11pm.

On the whole it was a nice evening.

First month anniversary

How time flies ! I've been married for a month today !! I've decided to finally start writing about the wedding. So, the next few posts will be an overdose of my wedding. :-)

I started planning my wedding long back. I did not want to do something stereotype. I went to India 6 weeks before the wedding and was busy from the day I landed. I will also write a post about shopping and other issues related to the wedding soon. My mother and mother-in-law were very supportive and helped me in realizing my "dream" wedding.

A wedding is not easy to plan especially if you are fussy about a lot of things. We had a five day wedding. The events were as follows:

* Day 1 - Jan 17th - Dinner party hosted by Vikram's parents @ Vikram's house
* Day 2 - Jan 18th - Sumangali Puja (morn) and Mehandi (evening) followed by Dinner @ Shilpa's house
* Day 3 - Jan 19th - Vrata Puja and Engagement in the morning @ choultry
Sangeet/Dance in the evening @ choultry
* Day 4 - Jan 20th - Wedding in the morning @ choultry
Reception in the evening @ choultry
* Day 5 - Jan 22nd - Cocktail Party and Dinner hosted by Vikram's grandparents @ Grandparents's house

I will describe each of these events in detail. Most of the events were uncommon in a typical South Indian Wedding. I was helped by cousins and friends for all the events.

I always wanted a meaningful wedding and not something which resembles an ordeal. It is usually seen that everyone other than the bride and the groom have a lot of fun. I did not want to miss out on having fun in my own wedding.

The wedding was a grand success. I was very happy when many people told me that it was one of the most memorable weddings that they had attended. I was very amused when some told me that they were 'inspired' to get married 'again' just so that they can have the same kind of fun. I was very flattered when some unmarried cousins and friends told me that they would like to have their wedding on the same lines as mine.

More...yet to come....

Bagalooru Days - Part 2

Bangalore is a fast changing city and I noticed a couple of things about it. I wonder if this is a common trend in all major Indian cities !

* Malls - There seems to be a Mall craze. Last year, I saw The Forum and Bangalore Central. This year had new inclusions like Garuda Mall, Eva Mall, Sigma Mall and some smaller malls. The malls have all the famous branded stores. I found them to be very expensive. And very crowded. Looks like the new hang-out place for families and friends is the mall ! The good thing about these malls is that they are clean and have many facilities. Garuda Mall even has a cookie store just like the malls here.

* Multiplex Theatres- If there are malls, can theatres be far behind ? The Forum Mall has India's largest multiplex, a 11 theatre multiplex called PVR Cinema. The theatre reminded me of AMC theatres here in the US. The seats were really comfortable. This theatre also has a Gold Class theatre where the tickets cost Rs. 500 per person!!

* Food Courts - My favourite place in the malls are the food courts. I was quite surprised to see a big line for Subway. People seemed to be very proud to eat a sub ! Obviously these people have never been here. Being a veggie, I am always used to limited choice here. But back home, its like paradise, so many options ! I love to eat in the darshinis and samrat stalls - the masala dosa, vada and rava dosas are simply superb. The food courts are always crowded and most of the times it is very difficult to even find a seat.

* Corn in a Cup - Everywhere you go, you will find a small stall selling ' corn in a cup'. Its healthy and tasty. I found many flavors like plain, butter, masala, chinese etc. But isn't it a little expensive ? The cheapest is around Rs. 25/- ! !

* Coffee Shops - Everyone loves to drink coffee. I found new additions to the already existing list of cafes. Coffee Day and Barista are a common sight. I went to a new store called Coffee World this time. And another small store in Forum Mall, whose name I forgot. This was a little different from others, the shop was small and seemed to have a grinding machine and the coffee there had a very traditional South Indian kapi taste. The costs in most of the cafes are formidable. I missed Starbucks.

Was I the only one who felt that most of things were too expensive ? I am not saying that a cup of coffee was expensive; Its just that, for the living standards in India, things seemed to be expensive. Most of the rates are comparable to the rates here. Everyone seemed to spending a lot of money ! Or perhaps the living standard has gone up and I can only relate to the standard that was there when I left India.

Everything seems to have changed. But there is one thing that has not changed -

The pass mark is still 35 ! ! ( hehehehe)

Valentine's day ? ! ?

I can never really understand why so much hype is created on Valentine's Day. I suppose florists and greeting card companies benefit a great deal.

I spoke to Vikram earlier yesterday night and he was trying to annoy me by acting all soppy for Valentine's Day. I strongly believe that I don't need someone to tell me which day I am supposed to send flowers and candies to a loved one. Hey, everyday is Valentine's Day for me !

So I was up till 4am today. It has nothing to do with V- day. I had a homework due today afternoon and a research meeting in the morning. Being a person who does everything in the 11-th hour, I just had to burn the midnight oil. Sigh ! I reached a stage where my mind could not do any more math and so I dozed off only to be awakened by someone knocking. It felt like someone pounding my head. I woke up and realized it was 9:10am. Oh my gosh, I had a meeting at 9am !!!! So began a mad scramble to get ready. I gave up my usual cup of tea in order to save time. I reached my professors office after an hour. Only to be told that I was late and he had some errands to do. He said that we should meet in the afternoon.

And so V- day has begun on a bad note. Not that I care much about it.

And now I feel getting flowers on a boring day might just cheer me up :-)

Plasma and other states

Plasma is the fourth state of matter. I am taking a course in this topic this semester and thought that it would be a little easier than some other abstract courses I've taken. Unfortunately, I've missed many classes because I was in India :-( . I got to know in class today that the first exam is next Monday ! The announcement jolted me out of my sleep. Three chapters and its closed book. Sigh.

And if thats not all; my Prof for the course asked me to turn in the next homework tomorrow afternoon; I don't even know the name of the chapter. When I was leaving, he told me that the solutions for the homework were in a handout that he gave us. I was thrilled to learn that. When I got to my office; the handout was missing ! Talk about bad luck !! I am hoping that it is somewhere at home.

The only icing in the cake is that my weekend was good. I just lazed around; watched many movies; some are worth to review about too.

Break over; Time to look for the missing handout.