A spoonful of 100% real

The best thing that happen to me in life, are almost dream-like and unreal, like animated films with lavender-cloudy visual effects that I save in my mind and play again and again. Most of my childhood was like that. But the worst things that happen to me are called harsh reality, so thorny and itchy and painfully real that I avoid thinking about them and dwell in the dream world. I never associated "real" with anything nice.

So when the contest in IndiVine asked for an experience I had growing up, that is one hundred percent real, I was one hundred percent confused. Does real mean good or bad?? And where do I find an incident that is both good-experience and real??

And I found one.

It was the time my life was spun 180 degree, upside down. When I got admission into the MCJ course in the University of Mysore, 200km away from home. (It’s not that far… I know…. But it is a big deal for me okay….I had never stayed away from home before!)

Until that day my only worry was what I would do if I did not get admission. Out of fear I studied hard for the entrance exam, never once worrying about what would happen after I joined this course. And now, suddenly, as I paid the fee for the first semester and tucked the receipt safely in my wallet, the realization hit me. This was going to be the first time ever that I would be staying outside home, out of the comfort of my room, and the freedom of my kitchen, away from Mom and Dad!

That was not the worst part. The worst was when my parents came with me to Mysore to get me settled in my room the day I shifted. When they had to help me unpack and head back home, without me jabbering in the back seat. The hardest was when I had to go back to that dingy little room and fall asleep knowing that Mom would not walk in to say good night, with Dad already snoring in the background. That next morning nobody is going to pester me to fold my sheets or hang the wet towels out to day, or trick me into eating Upma early in the morning. (It was delicious, I never noticed it until then)

As I watched our little white Alto disappear from my sight I realized how much I was going to miss hearing that annoying reverse gear tune every morning, so also the blaring classic music from the stereo that gave me headaches. Now I could go back into my room and listen to anything I liked, but the tears came down anyway. And the tiny white alto turned into a blurry white dot on a blurry grey road. This was really happening!

Life had changed so suddenly, but the change was good. It made me stand on my own two feet set firmly on the ground and watch my picture-perfect fairy tale drive away and 40 kmph. There it was, one of the best things in life, minus the lavender-cloudy-visual-effect, my spoonful of “100% real”.

Makes me realize now, after two years of staying alone, real is good! 


(This post was written for the Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest on IndiBlogger.) 

My new-found passion!

Somehow the art of writing and designing was not enough to define me so I found something new to add to my list of 'activities'- Photography.  I will be sharing my photographs on my photography blog, the "click" moments, and then i will be waiting for your comments.......

ByeBye...... :)

“Khali dose, two-by-three coffee”

We’re simple people and we like everything to be plain and simple for us, even our food. We don’t want big restaurants or a buffet or those Tide-white napkins set on our table folded to a perfect triangle. 

That is why it made me happy to go have breakfast in the Janata Hotel near Lal Bagh. We went for a morning walk in Lal Bagh, then walked up to this tiny place just a few lanes away, and had the best plain dosa and coffee, ever. it was self service on plates of stainless steel and plantain leaf, the tables were plain, the food was absolutely yummy. 

Usually if my parents decide to “go out to eat!” I’m hardly excited about it. Not that I’m a big fan of ‘mane oota’ and don’t want to try anything new. No offence mom, I love your cooking. But the thing is, eating out is not as simple as it sounds at all!

First you have to get ready. Like we’re travelling to space, we have to wear jackets and scarves to cover as much skin as possible and be protected from the blazing sun and traffic-dust. Then we decide where to go (in our context this is read ‘we decide to go to ‘Shanti Sagar’ because my parents are huge fans). But usually it is a name that ends with ‘Sagar’ or ‘Bhavan’ or ‘Darshini’. And then we decide how to go.

 If we take the car there’s no parking space near the restaurant we want to go to. Or there is no right/left turn leading straight to the place and we have to take the U-turn which is like a tiny slit in the long stretch of road divider. It is literally like eating like ‘this’ (imagine the age old gesture… taking the food and twisting the hand behind the head to reach the mouth… its complicated!) Sometimes we park the vehicle a mile away from the restaurant, hence the elaborate dressing up I mentioned before.

If we take the bus then all that message therapy on the bus ride will get us so comatose with relaxation we tend to fall asleep on the table before our food is served. Aaand don’t even get me started on autos!!

Okay, imagine we reach a really good restaurant really quick. We don’t want to order the same South Indian meal (that’s mom and me. Dad is super loyal to Idli vade and full meals). But if we choose other cuisines we can’t even finish half of what is served. You see in the scale of munching, eating, gobbling and devouring, people in our little family usually peck on food. It is a poor eating culture. And we hardly get our money’s worth and we’d rather go home to our ‘anna saru’ than eat unauthentic but overpriced Chinese food.

With a bunch of friends I hardly notice all this stuff but when I’m out with parents all that is wrong with eating out looks highlighted with a yellow colour marker. I just wish we had a people’s (Janata) hotel in every area so sometimes mom can take a break from the kitchen and the three of us enjoy a good meal.

Its 2012!!!

The year we have all been dreading and waiting for has finally arrived!!! IT IS 2012!!
it is kind of sad that 2011 has gone by; it passed like a flash and click of a camera. it was a good year, 2011.

the year i shopped the most in my whole life.
the year i made the most number of friends.
the year I watched 'Brave Heart' and 'Big Bang Theory'
the year i attended my first concert and my wore my first 'press' ID card.
I was doing the 'countdown' on my laptop clock and when the seconds hand struck a straight 12, the calendar for December 2011 swiftly moved aside, making way for Jan 2012. made me want to pull back that December and give it one last kiss, and say Goodbye... *sniff!*

anyway from 2012 onward,
1. i will write/blog regularly
2. i will stop biting my nails, and
3. i'll stop sulking for silly things. and be happy!
this last one i recommend for everyone else too..! I hope this year turns out a hundred times better that the last! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

It’s just Birthday luck….

Call me lucky and I’ll agree. Wholeheartedly. Because I’m committed to a man who is out-of-this-world head-in-the-clouds romantic. (Good thing he’s tall, so his feet can also touch the ground). But my parents don’t know about this yet; I have still not got the right moment to break it to them. And according to my horoscope in about six newspapers and four magazines, that moment is unlikely to come for the next few years.

Anyway, call me lucky again because my birthday last year was one of those very lucky days.

At the stroke of midnight I was in bed, phone in hand, waiting for Prince Charming to call and wish me. And as you know, a watched pot….. never rings (quoted by Monica in FRIENDS). Twenty minutes into my special day and the call never came. Just as those tears were ready to sneak out and party, he called, and answered my “Hello” with “What?? I can’t hear you!! There’s no network in your room.. come to your balcony…”

Of course I obeyed. I walked over to the balcony. Looked down on impulse, and there he was! With a rose in hand!! And a tiny box tied to it. !!!

While I stood there staring at him he slowly stepped up the gate, then on the wall next to it and pulled himself up. The next second he was in my balcony, kneeling, holding a rose and a beautiful ring.

As luck would have it, my Dad had chosen the exact same moment to sleepily get out of bed and get a glass of water. In the kitchen. Which is right next to the balcony. Oops!

So we’re standing there in the balcony, (my guy still kneeling), all speechless, and I realized that Dad is still a little sleepy. Quickly I turned to my guy and started singing “Main tumse kahungi.. is baat to agar tum, zara aur saja ke keh de.. toh achcha hota……..!!” did I act like Preity Zinta does while singing these lines in Lakshya? Of course I did! Anything to make my dad believe he’s dreaming! 

My boyfriend also joined in, “agarrr mai kahuuu……………..” lucky for me, Dad had seen this movie on TV just a few days back. He blinked, turned and went into the kitchen for water. In a span of those precious two minutes, I took the ring, said “yes!”, closed the balcony door and ran back to my room. The Hero jumped down, started his bike and rode off.

Next morning when I woke up Dad was sipping his coffee. He wished me Happy Birthday, stared at my face for an extra few seconds and went back to his coffee, deep in thought. When he got up to get the newspaper I thought I heard him muttering “Strange dreams…!”

Ufff!! Lucky me!!     






(this post is written for the "Sets you on Fire" contest on Indiblogger.) 

47 'new' reasons why I LOVE MY AMMA

It is my mother's birthday and I'm not with her :(

But I don't feel so bad any more that I am not with her. Here is my birthday card for Amma...


47 'new' reasons why I LOVE MY MOM

1.     My mom is the most beautiful woman I have seen. I can try all kinds of cosmetics and never see myself nearly as beautiful as her.

2.     For a small and petite woman she is capable of taking surprisingly heavy loads. For example, me.

3.     She makes the most delicious akki rotti-chutney in the world.

4.     I love the smile on her face when she gets a ‘white chocolate’ (Milky Bar)

5.     She can solve the very hard su-do-ku puzzle in minutes.

6.     She is the best teacher I have ever had; she taught me how to live and that’s why I love my mom.

7.     My mother writes amazing poetry; I love it that she has written one about me.

8.     When I have completely given up on everything she does everything to make me smile.

9.     She supports me ,more than four pillars can support a roof.

10.  I love the way she hugs me when I go home for the weekend.

11.  I love the way she laughs at all my jokes.

12.  I love the jokes she tells me, even if it is read out from magazines.

13.  I love the way she wonders how I turned out to be so perfect.

14.  I love the way she trusts my decision.

15.  I love it that she asks me for fashion tips.

16.  I love the innocence with which she watches Tom and Jerry

17.  I love the way she grumbles about school.

18.  I love the way she corrects her students’ papers and gives extra marks.

19.  I love the way she asks for help in the kitchen.

20.  I love how she asks if she can help with my project.

21.  I love the way she makes faces when I say ‘Chinese food’

22.  I love the way she can sit inside the house and feel it when dad is at the corner of the road.

23.  love the way she fusses over me before I go out.

24.  When she calls and asks me when I can bunk class and come home..

25.  I love it when people say ‘you look just like your mom’.

26.  When she doesn’t agree that I am taller than her.

27.  When she says, ‘what do I wear tomorrow? I have no sarees…’ like a teenager…

28.  I love it that when I was a kid she told me kiddish jokes and when I was a teenager she told me teenager jokes.

29.  I love the way she cooks

30.  I love the way she cleans up my room

31.  I love the way she pleads me to stop chatting so that she can play chess on my laptop.

32.  I love it that she can beat my computer in chess.

33.  When she watches serials on tv..

34.  When she chooses what she’s eating in a hotel

35.  When she ALWAYS asks for dosa.

36.  The way she always agrees to dad

37.  The way she always agrees with me

38.  The way she tells me; ‘don’t argue, I don’t know how to argue with you!’

39.  I love it that she is ALWAYS strong when I am weak.

40.  I love it that she never lets me down.

41.  I love it that she trusts my decisions, no matter what it is. I listen to her by my own choice.

42.  I love the way she passed her patience to me

43.  I love it that she thinks I am better than her, when I have always thought I want to be like my mom. It is true, I want to become like my mom.

44.  I simply love her ‘motherliness’.

45.  I love it when she says ‘it is so boring without you’!

46.  I love the way she makes fun of all the other grown-ups, as though she is one of the kids.

47.  I love my mother, for the obvious reason that I love my mother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMMA!!

A writer's mantra

Something I read in my childhood.

These three simple sentences made me take writing as my profession.

Today i just felt like sharing it.....