Pearls of Wisdom

The opposite of fat is not handsome or beautiful

Birthdays

Yesterdays...
-At School
Wear Coloured Dress, Distribute candies, Get royal treatment- suddenly everybody in your class seems to become your friend, Even the teachers do not scold you
-At Home
gifts, cake, treat to friends

Today...
People gather to wish you in your home, you cook, you slog in the kitchen, you serve, you clean-up and in return just get to cut the birthday cake (sometimes you might end up baking a cake for yourself too) and get some gifts.
Sigh...It's not an easy joke being a woman.

Until I decided that I deserved more on my birthday.
I deserve to not cook, be treated for a fun day and for once not act dutiful and feel obliged to engage the entire shebang for my birthday dinner.
Life is so uncomplicated after that!

Tiny Thoughts- Revolt of the Doormat

Those who have never bothered to respond after receipt will henceforth not be sent the rakhis. I have decided to do so because now it is not about them, it is about me:
1. I do not deserve to be treated like that
2. I am better off without them
3. They are not worth my time (or money)
4. A Rakhi means something to me. It also means that the recipient has to respect the sentiments attached to it. If that doesn't happen, I am being unfair to the concept of Rakhi by sending it out to those recipients.

Here Are the Pics

...Of the New Puzzles ...

wooden board and puzzles with a sheet of paper carrying the complete design.
And these picked up at Pudhumai Fair in Pondicherry- all wood- Rs 40 each

Now do you think that just because I did a lot of puzzles during pregnancy, there is a rub-off on them in terms of their interest in puzzles?

And this is another of "my kinda T shirt" picked up at Cents & Pence, Gandhi Nagar.

I am Brilliant!

Thanks Sree for awarding me the Brilliant Weblog award- a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogsphere. Here are the rules to follow:

1. When you recieve the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back
2. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’
4. Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).
5. I pass the sunshine on to:

• MadMomma
• Calcutta Chromosome
• Kiran
• Dot mom
• Usha
• PhoenixRitu
• Chandni
• Ceekay

Books Galore

Joined a local lending library recently to expand the horizons of my reading that has become very limited these days to just the authors whom I am used to reading or the classics where one cannot go wrong. So this whole collection of a variety of books is at my disposal physically and online at the easwari library.

Altoid recommended in another forum that the Shopoholic Series is a must try. I admit I had seen these books in the stores and had been attracted to them because it is so much like me in terms of the willingness and need to shop. But I never picked it up because it looked so frivolous and not something one should invest in. So I did the shubh arrambh (auspicious beginning) with Shopoholic ties the knot and spend a starry-eyed, fun filled 3 days glued to it.

What I liked-

1. The proposal- oooh so romantic - how I wish...

2. What goes on in her mind all the while is so realistic- it could be any one of us thinking that

3. The fairy tale fake wedding- yes, I am shallow and love such imaginitive stuff

4. The humour

5. Her shopping trips- How I wish I could be in her shoes...

And more than anything else, it is an escape - an escape into an imaginitive close to real world!

Also picked up Katha Prize Stories- a collection of Indian language tales translated to English and judged by eminent film industry personnel. The stories progressed in an engaging manner but the endings left so much to the imagination that it leaves one with a dissatisfied feeling. Not my cup of tea at all. Very rambling and not something that I would like to re-read

Talking to My Teenage Self

If I had a chance to meet my teenage self Since I cannot really meet my teenage self (as in Harry Potter) and give her a lecture talk to her, I am blogging about it here.

- Don't struggle so hard on Biology or Geography. It really doesn't matter if you are not good at it. Don't sweat on the drawings- ICSE board will not make your draw diagrams or maps- they only make you label them. You have all the time to learn biology yet be clueless about the most basic stuff and bodily functions! You will realize in due course of time that your geographical knowledge is better than many people out there.
- Studying MSc Maths will not make you an Engineer.
-You will realize that you really don't want to be an engineer after all.
-You needn't worry whether you would be able to cook and run a house in future- you will.
-You cannot measure your worth in terms of the number of friends you have or whether you have a best friend. It is alright or rather the best to have many good friends with whom you can pick up from where you left anyday anytime many years into the future. And you will realize that these friends will not be current set of friends with whom you love to spend all your free time but you will find them towards the end of your teen years and into your twenties. More importantly you will have a group of like-minded friends bucking you up, cheering you and knocking sense in your head as you reach my age.
-Just because you don't top your class, doesn't mean you will not do well in your career. So stop feeling that you are unworthy and stop comparing yourself with the toppers (we hate them).
-Sometimes, just sometimes, stand up for yourself. Assert yourself. It is not necessary to please everybody
-Don't think you are fat now. There is much more to come. So cut that fatty snacks out of your life right now.
-Join a music class. You will forever regret not doing it.
-And you are definitely missing out a lot of fun not reading M&B's.
-So you judge people who have lover boyfriend, or laugh at couples necking in the parks in Mumbai or cringe at the thought of wearing sleeveless - as you cross your teens, you will do boyfriend, will feel sorry for those couples who cannot find a place to cozy up and strongly feel that there should be a proper lover's park and buy only sleeveless to save nearly 100 bucks on the cost of a sleeveless vs sleeved kurta! *Smirk*
Tag courtsey

And on that note- Happy Birthday Hubby

Trying to Stop the Clock

I turn 33 today. 3 and thirty years have crept up to me one year at a time and I hardly noticed them coming. I always thought age is just a number. It is a mindset. And you can beat (old) age with your attitude. Whatever.
I think I can sense the panic now. Just thinking in perspective.
-While I was buying my black Swift in 2007, I was actually rooting for an orange one- flashy, young and bindaas. But the sales guy had vested interests. The black one was on its way as per my prior booking and he did not want to change it. So he showered praises on the black one that me the executive kinds should go for and for good measure he added- Madam, may be the next car could be orange. Now I think in 5 year blocks as far as cars are concerned. And that would mean by the time I buy my next car, I would be "gasp" 37! nearly 40? Not a good idea to remind me that and now I really don't see myself buying orange at 37. Well, the rate at which my mindset is maturing, I probably would go for orange but still, lets not talk about it now. I don't want to think 37. I am thinking 33 only. I am taking it 1 day at time.
-So I want to gift this blog to Ojas & Tejas when they are older- let's say atleast 8 or 10 (they say in movies that at the age of 8 a child can really understand this latent love and get her Dad and long lost love together. By that logic, 8 or 10 is a fair age at which my kids can be made aware of the blog. So that means I would be 40 by the time I gift this blog. Now that sounds heavy! While I am eager to share the blog with my kids, 40! I mean how cool (kewl) will I be at 40! I don't want to think about it. But then life does begin at 40- wow, I can't wait to get at it! "gulp".
-On our first night (cut that, there is no mature content here), instead of some romantic comment, or oohing aahing on the well, flower decoration, the first thing the hubby said was a wistful, world-wisdom remark- just imagine 25 years from now, we will be as old as our parents (give or take a few years), retired, laid back... panic... that is 50, 50 plus atleast. Quiet, Shush, we don't want to talk about it.
The worst thing about marrying a man who is a few minutes younger equal to your age is that if he remarks I am getting old, you cannot even say "you must be getting old, not me".
Speaking of parents, at my age, my Mom was a mother of a 9 year old. And my kids are still in nursery. No no no, I am not competing, I am not thinking that when I will start dreaming of grandkids, I would be, "counting on my fingers", atleast, no no let me count again, it can't be 60 or 60 plus right?
Drifts away counting on fingers and making vile plans of influencing sons to get married really early so that she can look like a "hip hot mamma" when the sons are getting married.

Those Were the Days

1. When I would spend an afternoon playing Kaleidoscope and leave the board lying on the glass centre table without worrying about pieces going missing/ misplaced...
2. When I had the glass centre table placed in the designated place
3. When I had my prized perfumes displayed on my vanity shelf without any worry
4. When I could leave my bag lying around without worrying about the contents getting scattered all over the place
5. When we could just walk out of the house at whim
6. When we could stay out all day and eat all rubbish and not worry about reaching home on time 7. When I could read in bed all day without disturbance
8. When if I don't want, I could manage without cooking
9. When I didn't have loads and loads of clothes to forever fold and stack
10. When I did not have to worry about the little fingers trying to put dosa batter on the hot tawa just when I walk out of the kitchen for something.
11. When going to bed meant simply plonking on bed and going to dreamland.
I miss those days and wish I had made the most of them while they lasted.
But then, those were the days when-
1. There were no warm, cuddly, tiny bodies to cuddle up to.
2. There were no ready, sweet smiles and faces lighting up on seeing me
3. And I did not have the Super star status in 2 pairs of eyes.
While those days were good when they lasted, I wouldn't want to trade them with the present for anything!

Lateral Thinking Quiz

You have a glass.

Someone is drinking water straight from the jug.
You are thirsty and the water drinker is not giving up the water jug. And he is pouring water holding the jug far above his mouth to annoy you.
What will you do?
Ojas has the perfect strategy.
Just hold the glass in the path of the water cutting off his water supply but filling your glass effectively while the hapless fellow (Dad) is doing the pouring and wondering where the water is going!