Birthday Blues

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January brings with it a lot of apprehension. To understand why, you need to know T. But I will try to nut-shell it here. You see he is a very creative person and he exhibits this trait abundantly when buying me gifts.

January brings with it his birthday when I need to put my grey cells to use to think of what to gift him that he would also like. Its always an up-hill task for me because I would have given up on out-shining him from the beginning.

This year, I decided to use the power of social networking in order to capitalise on collective creativity for individual cause. I decided to ask my friends what they thought would be the ideal gift. The replies ranged from the being-useful-for-the-husband to being-useful-for-the-wife-in-long-term to absolute male fantasy! I thank all of them for their suggestive (he he) ideas. While it is not prudent for me to wax eloquently about the suggestion(s) I put into action, I will say this...it was insane...he loved it ;)

P.S:- Thank you Dev, Usha, Shruthi, Shweta, Prathima, Arpana and Sreen (you have given me an idea for the future)

P.P.S:- Could I use the same forum in the future?

Gandhigiri and the cellphone

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As the competition hots up I decided to blog about it to gain mileage among my sympathisers. T and me are into Gandhigiri these . So dotzy's attempts tp vandalise the cellphone is met with a smile and the offer of another. Want to know why? Here's my side of the story...

Background :
2007 - It was time for me to replace my aging Nokia. I had been waiting for more than a year for the perfect phone. Then came the Abhishek Bachchan Motorokr ad. I feel like a moron now but full credit to the advertisers for the campaign. It was uber cool. A groovy and humorous story line was all I needed to make up my mind (I dont want this post to be a confessional about how big a a fan of AB Baby I am) and I was hooked. I started dreaming of Rokr being the most appropriate successor to the sturdy (trust me, I have stress tested it to the max) 3310. I went ahead and bought the phone via a friend who works at Motorola (I am a sucker for discounts) and discovered with shock that the wireless stereo headset (the main reason for buying the phone, yeah yeah not AB Baby) was out of stock. I was thus stuck with a phone without its coolest feature. That is not the worst part though as I later bought one and found it to be inconvenient to use. I feel technologically challenged with the Rokr because I do not understand Linux which is the OS on that phone. I have never been able to install any application on it simply because I have not understood how. Looking through innumerable number of Motorokr forums is not helping my brain. I also discovered with time that the screen scratches easily in the hands of a not so delicate user like me. I am now at the end of the disillusionment tether. I want to buy a new phone and am waiting for the perfect successor!

Cut to 2009 :
My dotzy has made drumming her new hobby. She drums on and with anything. Give her a soft toy, a rubber book, her own hand or a cellphone! She goes on her "Atha atha atha" ("hit hit hit" in baby lingo") routine relentlessly and with more vigour with each hit. She has to just see a cellphone lying aroung and she will swiftly glide to it and grab it. Last week I realised that this could be a God-sent to get rid of my phone. How many hits on the floor does it take for a cellphone to stop working? I dont know, am still counting at 220. But to my dismay I found another competitor in the endeavour. T! He also has decided that he wants a new phone and is keen to expose dotzy to variety! So in an evil usage of Gandhigiri we voluntarily submit our phones to the rowdyism of dotzy.
If she hits one cell we calmly and gleefully show the other.
Will keep you posted about who wins.
Happy Valentine's Day T ;)
( I shall cherish these times when my dotzy couldnt tell anyone the truth)

Tryst with Love

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At a time when our love is about to be consummated by a kid, I am compelled to sit back and take a look at my tryst with love.
8 years back if someone had talked to me about ‘love’, I would have dismissed them as fudge-brained, infected-by-dirty-movie-bug indecent folks. I and another smitten-by-love-later-on-in-life friend of mine R would guffaw at all the drama love brought in its wake instead of all the time the morons were losing in their lives whilst they had to study and become important people.
6 years back I still thought of it as waste of time while R went ahead with her new found take on the phenomenon. I 'tch-tch'ed her impetuosity to succumb to the dramatically flawed pastime of the non achiever.
Flashback to 5 years ago and my opinion had changed. As is the manner with me always, it was my head which took command and told the rest of me that indeed I was in the besotted stage of life. And as is the manner with me, I resisted this change vehemently. My heart was relegated to a corner to lub-dub away while I debated about what to do with the realization. The resounding thump did reverberate in my head as a reminder. The heart knows what the heart knows.
Cut to 4 years back and my whole self and body parts were in sync as I waited for life’s next turn leading me to happiness and culmination of my love. Why does love have to lead to marriage? I don’t really have an answer for this except to say that most of us live under the looming-like-a-shadow influence of our society. One is free to do whatever one wants within the boundaries of social correctness. I am not one to complain about this necessity though since it has been more fun to be married and “out of the closet” than not be and rot in agony.
2 and half years earlier he tied the knot and we became man and wife. T does tend to argue that the phrase woman and husband is more relevant for us but I do bully him to not give out family secrets. Nevertheless the man has not ceased to amaze me over the years. He has graduated from being angry-with-me-for-small-things young man to Buddha-like. I have imbibed tolerance from him but only in single digit percentages still. I started loving him for making me feel like the best in the world no matter all my flaws and it has transitioned to loving him more for all the calm, care and intelligence his persona exudes. Its not that we don’t argue, we do. I am one half of the relationship remember? Many of our friends wondered if we would stop bickering once we got married but we dint. But at the end of the day, we have been able to look each other in the eye and call ourselves morons. I am going to have my cute bundle of joy very soon with this wonderful guy and I thank God for small mercies.
Now if someone were to ask me what love is all I can is “If you feel for anyone what I feel towards T then that’s love”. Simple aint it?

Some days start lousy

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Alarm rings and I don’t care,
This is usual and nothing rare.
But with a headache oh so bad,
I don’t wanna get up am so mad.
T strokes my forehead with his hand so soft,
I turn the other way and tell him five minutes don’t talk.
I have work and must go,
Late to office, so I must heave ho.
But with a headache oh so bad,
I don’t wanna go am so mad.
Taking out my anger is easy,
For all the wrong reasons is crazy.
I throw a tantrum about every thing,
Alas to T true it doesn’t ring.
But with a headache oh so bad,
I don’t wanna back down am so mad.
I shout, I pout, I make a scene,
To put up with it T is not so keen.
Calm as ever the bike is backed out,
Ego raises its head and tries to show its clout.
But with a headache oh so bad,
I don’t wanna protest am so mad.
I get a drop, time and place perfect,
In the process I have myself lost a little respect.
Even with a headache oh so bad,
T, am very sorry I got mad.

Tsunami Birthday

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A strong breeze
A strong waft of salty water
Bright lights in the distance
Sparks at the corn cart closer still
Popcorn popping a few feet away
Dim lights at the “Molaga Bajji” carts
Fringes of hair on one’s forehead moving around
Dresses flapping gently in the breeze
Waves lapping up at the shore
Blissful calm yet it’s the high tide
Twilight in full swing, beautiful
Darkness rapidly descending but not in anyone’s heart
Exotic cloud formations in the sky
Families near the water’s edge
A whole lot of people getting their feet wet
Some fearful, pulling back their loved ones
Others venturing farther into the inviting sea
Groups of friends lazing around on the sands talking
Couples cozily stuck to each other walking along the water’s edge
Singles stuck to their mobile phones walking a little away from the water
Peals of laughter erupting around
Children running around in gay abandon
Some playing run and catch
Others getting reprimanded for not “behaving” themselves
Some dancing merrily at the edge of the water
Some more getting a bit more adventurous
Some clinging to an adult’s hand
Others just running away from waves
Everyone happy
Everyone celebrating life

Is this the same sea which gulped so many people a year back?
Is this the same monster which destroyed so much of life?
Tough to believe given today's sight...but a hard fact of life for many

At the Marina Beach, Chennai on 25 Dec 2005 :

A hot butta in one’s hand
A warm hand on one’s shoulder
A gentle smiling face in front of one’s eyes
A great conversation at one’s disposal
A wonderful companion in one’s life

On the first anniversary of the deadly Tsunami :

Sadness and tears for those who are not with us
Courage for those who defied the sea
Love for those who lost their kin
Cheer for those who live on
Success for those who strive to stand up again