Dear friend…

Hope you have read my previous blog. You asked for it and here it is – a tribute to our almost 10 year friendship, and that on your birthday. Coming to your birthday, you must be really grateful to me, because among all my college friends with whom I still have contact, its ONLY YOUR birthday that I remember. It is not just because that you are still my best friend, but it makes me very happy to wish you every year on your birthday, because it feels great that I am still 5 months – exactly 5 months elder than you. Mind you - not older, but elder. There’s a difference. (And that is how I remember your b’day.) I know that you will make fun of me saying that I have grown older than you, but friend remember, old is gold. So, at least from now on, STOP making fun of me and my height. Got it? Good. And STOP laughing too!

Have a blasting birthday bash and remember that bag of assorted chocolates (for me) is still pending from your side.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PG!!!

Mustafa…Mustafa…don’t worry Mustafa…

Along the path of life we meet so many people and each person plays their role in their own way. But there will be only very few phases of life which brings back tears of joy whenever we think back upon them. College days are one of them. In spite of all the hardships faced in my college days, the thoughts still brings a smile on my lips.

You like a person when you meet one, you want to become friends with that person and you really become friends with that person. And then college days turn out to be exactly how you wanted them to be – the way they are portrayed in films. (Minus the songs, that is). Friends seem to be the most wonderful persons in the world and friendship seems to be the best. You want to cherish each and every moment of the college days – the raggings, the seniors, the boring lectures, sleepy notes, practicals, the Sebastian sir, workshops, ED classes, vijay raghavan, phone calls, fights, compromises, study leaves, the group studies, the 30p Xerox, the bus journeys, the semesters, the all the bests, the “how did u dos?”, the inplant trainings, the “karuppan” in BEL, the _ _ _ _ talks, the jollus, the site-s, the crushes, the loves, the symposiums, the paper presentations, the final year, the match makings, the college tour, the night shows in the tour, Thulluvadho Ilamai, Kaadhal konden, Jeyam, tambaram railway station, the train journeys, the projects, vivas, HOD, SB, and then the misunderstandings, the farewell party, the tears, slam books, the “keep in touch”s, the campus recruitments, job placements, and much more.

“kalvi payilum kaalam varayil…thulli thiriyum engal vizhiyil..
Kaneerai kandadhillai…thendral Saatchi…..
Nanban pirindhu oor thirumbum naalil mattum dhan neer thalumbum
Kaneeril dhane engal farewell party…”

At the end of these days, we have now achieved what we wanted, good placements, five digit salaries, sophisticated life styles, but how much of the enjoyment which we had in those days still persists. After all the “keep in touch”s exchanged during those days, how many of our friends are we really in touch with? Especially we girls?

Though I have contact only with few of my friends, yes, very few of them, I am glad, in fact very glad that I am still in touch at least with some of them, and one of them is still my best. After certain events in our final year, it is a great thing that we even talk to each other, let alone being still the best friends. After all, we are friends and what is friendship without fights?

Hey friends, coming this October, it would be 10 years since we entered our college life, and this blog is dedicated to all my college friends. Thanks to all my friends and batch mates who made my college days eventful, even though it was not-so-eventful then ;) And special thanks to my special friend, who wanted me to write this blog, and thereby helping me to recollect those memories and again living them.

Friendship is.....

Friendship is not about “I m sorry“ it’s about “Dei un thappu than ithu..“
Friendship is not about “I m there for u” or “I missed u“ it’s about “Enga poi tholanja“
Friendship is not about “I understand“ its about “Ellam unnala than“
Friendship is not about “I care for u “ its about “Pannada unnai vitutu enga poven naan“
Friendship is not about “I m happy for ur success “its about “Kelambu un treat“
Friendship is not about “I love that girl“ its about “Dei mariyadaiah paru athu un thangachi.. “
Friendship is not about “R u coming for outing tomorrow “ its about “Dei naalaiku trip porom vera engayum poi tholaikatha “
Friendship is not about “Get well soon “ its about “ Ivlo kudicha ipaadi than agum“
Friendship is not about “All the best for ur career“ its about “pannathu varaikum pothum, kelambu vera velaya paru“

Source: from a forwarded email.

"I too had a love story" - by Ravinder Singh

Day before yesterday, when I had been to Connexions to buy a gift for my hubby, (I love surprises…remember?) I found this book on the stands. I love reading books, but I have never really bought any book and definitely not from a book store. But something about the title of this book made me buy it. Since I am spending a good 1.5 hour drive everyday in cab to get to my new office, I thought that I could read this book during that time. And so I started it yesterday morning. And I’ve completed reading the book twice in the past two days.

The book is written by a software guy, about his love for a girl whom he found through a matrimonial site, how they get to know each other, fall deeply in love and how fate plays its role in their life. To love and be loved by the same person is the greatest thing in this world. But to experience pain in this love and to live through that pain requires courage and what more – to put forth that love and pain into words and to share it with the entire world requires a different sort of courage. That is exactly what Ravin – the main character and the author of this novel has done.

Reading through the first half of the novel was like re-living my pre-marriage days with my hubby – those innocent calls to get to know each other, which slowly builds into the something called love, to reach a stage when you cannot wait for that one call from ur beloved, to await each and every moment of seeing each other, the first meeting, the first touch, the first kiss and to enjoy each and every one of those minutes, eagerly waiting for the engagement day, the wait becoming more and more desperate as the wedding day approaches – each and every single moment and feeling is exactly described in this book and reading them from a guy’s point of view made me realize that it is not only we girls who have such feelings, but even guys feel them.

I always like happy endings. Only happy endings for that matter. But this book is not so. Being a sentimental idiot that I am, I always cry when watching love stories, but this is first time I have cried when reading a love story. The emotions were too much for me to handle. I wanted to stop reading the book, so that I can stop crying (I cannot cry in my cab, ‘coz that’s where I was reading this book), but I wasn’t able to stop reading it. The book is written in a very simple way, no romantic or stylish language, but what glued me to the book was that the story is real, and to realize that the story is not a fiction or an imaginary tale, but a real one, something which really happened to two people made me all the more emotional.

So, for all book-lovers who are the romantic and sentimental types like me, the book is a nice read.

Vacationing out there…

I’m here yearning to go to my parent’s place for a vacation, but I can’t due to my new job. But my daughters are out there having the time of their life. Around 10 days back, we went for a small family 1 week trip to shirdi – the small family being 4 couples (me, my mom, my 2 sisters and their respective spouses) and their kids. So, it was around 10 adults and 3 kids.
Since we were out for a week, my in-laws decided to paint our house after getting the assurance from the contractors that the entire work would be completed in a week. But as it turned out, the painting work is yet to get over. (We returned last Thursday.) So, I sent my daughters with my parents directly from the Central station. I knew that Smruthi will be more than happy to be away from her wretched mom, but I was not sure of Swathi. She is only one year and she has not yet stayed away from me for even a single night. But I had no other go. I cannot bring her with me to my in-laws place which was full of the paint smell and I could not go to my parent’s place because of my new job. So, here I am in my in-laws place and there they are in their patti’s place.

With no kids around to shout and scream at, I feel like I am having all the time in the world to do whatever I want. But the problem is, whatever I wanted to do was revolving around my kids and with them not here, the house is feeling vacant and I am about to go mad. No, not in the way u think. What I meant was that I cannot digest the fact that my daughters are enjoying there without me. Its been 5 days since I last saw them and I will not be seeing them for atleast another 5 days. So, I keep calling my mom everyday to check whether they are doing good, hoping that she will say that my daughters are being miserable without me, that they cry wanting to see me, that they miss me terribly, but no…all she says is that they are wonderfully nice children giving her NO TROUBLE AT ALL. Seems like they have totally forgot me. Even Swathi. Though Smruthi talks to me over the phone twice daily, and assures me of her sister’s well being, it still hurts not to be with them. And what hurts more is the fact that they don’t miss me.

How many ever times I shout and scream at you girls, just understand that behind all those terrible screams lie an unshakable love for you which can never be explained enough in words.

Miss you terribly girls. Be back soon! (And pls pls miss me too!)

Last year this day..05.05.2009

You were born dear. Yes Swathi…I am talking about you only dear. U r already 1 year old. Sorry…you are still young…so u have become 1 year young today. You never gave me much trouble during both my pregnancy and at the time of delivery and you are sort of making up for the lost time now. If I had thought that your sister was a mischief maker, then you were born to prove me wrong. She is nothing, absolutely nothing compared to you. Let me come to that later. First things first.

You were pretty fast to grow up, you did all the right things at the right stage, for instance, u rolled over when you were 4 months, started to walk when u were eight months (etta maasam ettu adi), and now you are already one year. One day you started to roll over, and before I could stop admiring you for this, you started to crawl, and before I could get enough of that, you started to walk in no time. What is the hurry to grow up my child?

I wish I could just freeze all those moments in my life, when you first rolled over, your first “abbbaaaa” kiss, your first walk. I want you to be in that stage forever, but then I want to know what you are going to do next.

You always give me your gummy teeth smile on seeing me return from the office and being a working mom is worth just that...i tell you. It makes me so glad to realize that you miss me when I’m in office. For you swathi, your best friend and your worst enemy is your sister. This is applicable from the other side also. Currently I am using only your sister as a bait to feed your meals to you. You never open your mouth to me, but instantly do it when your sister says “Swaaathhiiiiiii….aaaa kaatu….akka solren-la…..vaaya tharamaaaaaaaa”. Dunno how long this will last though.

Unlike most of the kids I know, you are not the one who is supposed to be fed pappu saadam and thachhii mammam. Your taste buds are very sharp and u always want variety. And like your mom, even you don’t like the foods which are good for health. But no dear, this is not a praise and you will have to improve on that front. On this one occasion, when we went to dinner in a restaurant, you refused to eat the thayir saadam which I had ordered for you until or unless I gave you the paneer butter masala side dish. All this even before you are one??? Unakku naakku rumba neelam di.

You are a sport. You thoroughly enjoy going out and you never make a fuss much. Even during your ayush homam, which happened about 10 days back, you thoroughly enjoyed everything, though you were a bit reluctant to go amongst strangers.
And you were the perfect little hostess for the party which happened in the same evening. You really enjoyed the cake which we had ordered and was happily licking everyone’s fingers who were trying to give you the cake. Everyone present were oohing and aahing over what a co-operative child you were and I was all smiles that day. Thanks for making my day.

Coming back to the mischief part, all the scars and swells which you have on your forehead is the proof of what I said earlier. For the one to be taking care of you, we need to have eyes all around our heads. The moment we take our eyes off you….BAM! you are off doing some mischief…be it throwing the onions into the water can, or taking the slippers by opening the shoe cupboard and chewing them or putting some tiny object in your mouth which cannot be obviously seen by anyone else but you. There was this one time when you really scared the wits out of me by putting the lid of the nycil powder into your mouth and started choking. By the time I had taken it out of your mouth, you had bitten my hand to pulp. How that lid went into your supposed-to-be-tiny mouth is still beyond my understanding. I mean there are only so many things that can be kept out of your reach. We cannot carry everything on our heads dear.

Having said all the above, I am still waiting for what you will be doing next. I can never have enough of your smiles, cries, and of course veshamams dear….. Keep mischieving…What’s life without it?

Happy 1st Birthday Darling….A vey Happy birthday to you….

With loads of love and kisses,
Ur mom.

Ayush homam, party and the kids

I know this is a very late post, but am happy that I am able to post it at least before her actual birthday (I meant her Date of birth). So here it is.

Last sunday dawned bright and beautiful, but I did not. Already tired from the previous day’s preparations, it was very hard to open my eyes at 5 in the morning. (For early wakers, yes…5 is VERY VERY EARLY for me, almost like midnight). But still, it is my kiddos’ birthday and its not going to be her ayush homam everyday. So, woke up with a smile on my face. This is saying something, as there was a BIG FIGHT between me and my hubby the previous night and and we were not yet compromised. Since I myself was already tired, I didn’t have the heart to wake up the kids so early and taking into consideration the previous night’s events, I didn’t have the heart to allow my hubby to sleep. So woke him promptly. And after ensuring that he is not going back to sleep, I started all the work. By 7, the kids were bathed and before I could start their make-up, the saastrigal arrived. So what? I told him to wait and continued my work, trying hard not to lose my patience. Thank God, Smruthi and Swathi were very very co-operative.

Then started all the rites and homams, and since the birthday baby was not required to sit in front of the fire, I put her to sleep. Then all the relatives arrived, perfectly oohed and aahed over both the kids. Then the actual homam started, and the entire house was in smoke and everyone was in tears, but thank god, my kids still didn’t cry and managed the heat and smoke beautifully in this peak summer. God bless the guy who invented the AC.

Smruthi fully appreciated that it was her sister’s birthday and she played her role very nicely and she WAS successful. She was singing “Happy birthday Swaaaathhiiii…. “ the entire day. Then we did the anna prachanam where she was fed the sweet rice and the function ended by receiving the gifts friends and relatives. As the gifts were received on one end, they were getting unwrapped at the other end. Courtesy – Smruthi.

Then force fed both the kids and again forced both of them to sleep, since there was again the party in the evening, since I didn’t want her to be sleepy and spoil her party.

At the party:

Again, here Swathi acted as the beautiful little hostess during the entire evening and enjoyed her maximum. Both my kids didn’t fuss, even when I was constantly changing their costume, bangles and hair clips.
They seemed to enjoy even that. Thank You God. Thank You very much. (You girls made my day dears.)

When the cake was opened, Smruthi helped her sister happily by blowing the candle and cutting the cake by holding her hand. .
She very lovingly took the first piece of cake, and as everyone was expecting her to feed the cake to Swathi, she swallowed the entire piece in one gulp and never turned to her sister’s side. How loving!!!!! So, we left Smruthi to enjoy her cake peacefully and we gave the cake to Swathi She enjoyed the cake. It was a White Forest Tweety cake. She was licking each and everyone’s finger’s who were trying to give her the cake. When my boss’ wife came to greet her, she was actually opening her mouth expecting them too to give her some cake.


Then came all the photo sessions and dinner was served and both of them dropped to sleep, the moment we left the hall and entered the car.

So, all in all, it was a great day. A VERY GREAT DAY.