How do you like this?

I just loved the shadow when I saw it. The perfect silhouttes!

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We are going on a winter holiday!

Oh yes we are! :D

We are on our way to Jaipur right now sitting in the Volvo which starts from Bikaner House near India Gate.

Tomorrow morning we will start along with in laws for Udaipur. We plan to see Chittaurgarh on the way. I have heard its a beautiful tower there.

I am so super excited! And Betu is excited just about the bus trip! :)

When he started to get unwell on Saturday and at night was wailing away complaining of ear pain I was thinking 'There goes our trip!' What a mom I am you must be thinking. Worrying more about the trip being cancelled than about betu's pain :P

It turned out to be what we dreaded - an ear infection. But now his ear pain is gone but the cold and cough is still there which is under control though. And we are praying hard it gets better and not worse during the trip.

And this is a pic of betu sitting in the bus wearing his Santa cap which his Nanu got for him :)

Wishing you all a merry Christmas!




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This is such a cool lamp!!

Hanabi (fireworks party) is the name of this beautiful lamp, by Japanese designer Endo. Closed when cold, and with petals opened when it becomes hotter due to the light bulb's temperature.


What a wonderful and beautiful idea. Isn't it??

Funny or stupid or plain dumb?

Today Anirudh's school had a function for celebrating Christmas. And all the children who participated got gifts in the end.

So as we were going towards the car, me and Betu, I put the gift on top of the car to make my hands free to open the car. I'm sure you can imagine what must have happened after that. I just forgot about it and settled in the car and drove off. We had just driven about 6 meters that I had to apply brakes and I could sense something falling and the next moment I see the gift toppled on to the side. :P

I got out, picked up the gift but it had broken partially but was repairable. Thank god for that since whole way Betu kept telling me "Aapne galti kari na?" (you made a mistake right?). He stopped pointing at my mistake only when I repaired it. :D

I was laughing thinking about me driving with things on the car roof. I don't know whether its funny or stupid or plain dumb of me.

Edited to add: The moment Hubby set his foot in the house, with the bag still on his shoulder, Betu runs to him and tells him the entire falling gift and repairing incident! Sheesh!! This boy will never let me keep any secrets..will he?

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Like father, like son!

Hubby playing game on phone and Betu playing on his water squirt game.

P.S. My first post via my BlackBerry

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Anyone heard this song?

The song 'Sakhi Piya' from 'Khoya Khoya Chand'? I just so love it. Its SO VERY beautiful. It somehow touches me deep down. I have already played it over and over again 4 times. And its still playing :)

Sometimes it seems like a nice romantic song and sometimes a 'virah' song. I just can't think of an apt word for 'Virah' in English. 'Virah' would mean missing the spouse. It would mean the yearning for the partner. It does not mean being sad.

The background score is so soft and melodious. Plus its sung beautifully too by Pranav Biswas and Shreya Ghosal.

I also like the title track a lot. I'm hoping to watch the movie soon too!

So very interesting...aren't they?

On Off Mug
This clever mug automatically displays “OFF” when it is empty and ‘ON” when it is filled with coffee or tea. It is covered with a heat sensitive pigment which allows it to change from black to white or vice versa depending on whether it is filled or not.

I so want to have this mug!!

Oeuf Squeeze-Me Mittens

These adult-sized mittens have a kid-sized mitten-shaped pocket, allowing for easy handholding during cold-weather walks. Made from 100% baby alpaca wool.

But gosh man!! They are damn expensive for $52.00!!

Went for a movie on me own!!

Whoever I tell so roll their eyes thinking I must have gone insane to go for a movie all by myself. But I ask why?? Has any of you done so? I mean after being married for quite long? Well..this was a first for me after being married although I wonder whats the connection of being married or not. But somehow now everyone expects that either one should go with hubby dear or with a friend.

Yesterday I had gone to meet a prospective employer which may not eventually be a prospective employer..*sob* *sob* but since the meeting ended early and as I was driving back I saw this Multiplex on the way and decided to check out if 'Khoya Khoya Chand' is playing. Since hubby was not interested in watching this one I thought I will watch it by myself especially since I'm totally vella these days. So after enquiries I had the option of watching Dus Kahaniyan which was scheduled in about 35 minutes. I gave in to the temptation and went ahead and bought the tickets!

As I was waiting I told Hubby about it. He was not particularly happy that I am watching the movie by myself since he too wanted to see it too! But then he didn't have much choice since I already had the ticket. *chuckle*

When I went in to see the movie I had this perception in mind that there will be 10 interlinked stories but it turned out to be 10 different stand alone stories with different titles and different cast. I liked it. Really liked the concept. Almost all the stories were good. But then I have my favourites and the ones that I didn't like much.

I would put the Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah one on the top, then the Nana Patekar one, then Amrita Arora one, then Neha Dhupia and Mahesh Manjrekar. Masumeh and Jimmy Shergill one plus Manoj Bajpai and Diya Mirza will take the same rank. Aftab Shivdasani was also OK OK. I least liked the Dino one and the Sanjay Dutt one.

Its a overall good movie. One time watch for sure. I would love to see the Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah one again! Shabana Azmi was so wonderful. She looked like a total South Indian Brahmin. The expressions, the gestures, the body movements everything was superb! And what I liked the best was how the topic of Hindu and Muslim and the disconnect there was handled so beautifully!

Won't spill more beans. So go ahead and watch it! You will like it too!

The encounters!

Every now and then we meet people and they say or do something which either leaves you aghast or laughing inside as out of courtesies you cannot laugh as such. I just remembered a few from the past today:

Incident 1:
Not so long ago I was taking out some relatives for some outing. From my rear view mirror I saw the one sitting in the back seat rolling down the window and trying to throw the tissue outside. I immediately said "Mujhe de dijiye, main dustbin mein daal deti hoon" (Give it to me, I will throw it in hte dustbin) but I was too late and the tissue was thrown out before I could have made myself heard. But the funny part was the comment from that person "Yahan par mana karte hain bahar fainkne se?" (Is not not allowed to throw here). I literally rolled my eyes thinking aren't we old enough to know that we are not supposed to litter around?

Incident 2:
Looking at one of the home tuition inserts in the newspapers today morning reminded me of my accounts tutor in my 12th standard in Calcutta. I still remember my first day there so very clearly and have a hearty laugh thinking about it even now. My tutor, Mr. Ghosh Dastidaar, was an old fellow and had a squint. It had been just a few minutes into the tuition on the first day and he asked as question. I was sitting in the front with a few people sitting behind me. I was so confused if he was asking me or someone at the back. Somehow in the confusion I looked back and then looked in the front again towards the tutor. Suddenly I see him, pointing his finger at me saying "I'm talking to you!!" with a stern voice.

I remember getting a bit nervous then but now I find the whole incident so funny :D

Incident 3:
I was in college then. It must have been the year 1994 or 1995. I don't remember exactly. We went to watch the movie 'Cliffhanger' starring ooh-so-sexy Sylvester Stallone then at Chanakya Cinema hall. It was among the only 2 movie theaters who used to show English movies too here in Delhi. So a group of 7-8 friends went to watch the movie after college. As the movie started, we could hear someone translating the dialogs in Hindi and telling it to someone. For a few minutes we just ignored it but after 10 mins it got really irritating and we turned around to find a couple sitting right behind us and it was the guy who was translating the movie to his wife in Hindi. It was obvious she didn't understand English and they looked newly married kinds. We turned back in our seats without saying a word thinking not to spoil their together-moments but after another 10 mins we were not able to enjoy the movie because of their not-so-translation-whisperings. So we finally turned to them and told us the problem and since the theater had a some empty seats around we asked them to move there :D

It was a sweet gesture on the guy's part to try to make his wife enjoy the movie but then I fell they really should have gone to watch a Hindi movie to really spend some good together-moment! Right?

Hubby is so funny!

Yesterday night there was an AD coming on TV about some winter cream. I don't remember the brand or the make and probably wouldn't have remembered the AD itself if it hadn't been for Hubby's funny remark.

They showed a skimpily clad girl amidst lots of snow - a yellow tube top/bustier with white hot pants/skirt saying "Kya aap tayyar hain? Main tayyar hoon!" (Are you ready? I'm ready!). Hearing this Hubby naughtily says "Kis cheez ke liye tayyar ho?" (what are you ready for?). I had such a laugh hearing the remark but then with such stupid ads, one can't help saying things like these. Right? :D

It was a usual night...

Time is 10:15 PM. The lights are switched off, all are in bed and one can hear the sounds of insects in the complete silence. I can hear Betu's breathing, sleeping between me and hubby. I think to myself "So gaya". The next moment I see hubby propping himself halfway up and looking at me.

Me: "Kya hua?".

Hubby: "So gaya?"

Me: "Haan".

Hubby: "Idhar aa jayo".

Me: "ok".

I slide away the blanket, sit up and am about to go over the other side...

"Kahan ja rahee ho Mumma?"

Me: "Kahin nahi beta. Yahin hoon."

Hubby and me both lie down at their respective places, put the blanket back on and pat him to sleep. The whole family dozed off soon after.

School admissions and the total chaos there of

I was out on the roads yesterday most of the morning doing rounds of various schools for Betu's Pre-Primary (a new word for what was earlier called as Kindergarten of KG in short) admissions. Out of5 schools I went to, only 2 were going to open out forms for KG admissions. The rest are not going to have any this year. Reason? They are already all full with no vacancies.

I really wonder what was the objective behind this Ganguly committee being set up. Was it to smooth things out or to create even more chaos? Whatever the aim was but the way they have worked and made rules and changed them and changed them again have done nothing but created utter confusion.

Last year the rule was min age of 3.5 yrs by March 2007 to get admissions in the nursery for the session of 2007-2008. Fine. Anirudh didn't fit because he was going to turn 3 in March end.

2 weeks ago they have suddenly change back the age to 3 yrs by March end to be eligible for Nursery admissions and 4yrs for pre-primary. So this means he needs to go to KG now. But how is the question when all the schools say they have no vacancies because all the nursery students are getting promoted to KG.

So to summarize if he doesn't get through in KG he will have to take admission in Nursery and be one year older to the other kids in the class. I wonder what effect that will have on his psyche and on younger kids too. Either he will be frustrated since the mental level of younger kids will not match up to him. One year is a big difference at the age he is in. Or the other thing that might happen is that he will bully around the younger kids which he did in his current school till he was promoted to a higher class. Neither of which is something I want to happen.

And today TOI-New Delhi edition echoed my feelings exactly. The turmoil, the confusion that we have been going through.

Its just a wait and watch and then act game for us. All the schools are coming out with forms on Dec 15 so until then we can do nothing but just sit around anxiously for the date.

Never say never!

Coz you don't know when you will be doing things that you once said 'Never!!" to.

It happened with me today morning. Whenever I would go to drop Betu at school and see mums in their crumpled night dresses and unkempt, uncombed hair, I would shake my head and say I will never do that. I may not take a bath before going to drop Betu at school but I make sure I comb my hair and are properly dressed even if its my slacks and Ts.

But that's what I exactly did today morning. And when I was driving to the school I realised what state I was in and how I despised being in that state. Ugghh...

These funny things!

Every now and then I come across such funny/interesting things over the internet that I just can't resist sharing it with you all. And here are 2 of them that I chanced upon recently -

Barefoot Sneakers?? Helluva Funny!

I would definitely like to wear these funny looking sneakers and watch the expressions of others! Hehehe..

Interestingly shaped decanter!

Did you think these were decanters in the first place? Aren't they so amusing? The moment I saw this I was running a list of things I can use this to store in.

Addictions are an integral part of life!

They are definitely in mine! And I've plenty to talk about. And they keep increasing in numbers and never decreasing!

Be it food related or just general habits. If I categorise I think I can create 3 categories of my addiction - To food, to things and to people.

Well, I've talked about my addiction to good food so many times already that I won't start off again. And you are already aware of the degree of my addiction to chocolates :P

Coming to the second category - Addiction to Things! Now this is quite a diverse category in itself. I can list down so many things in here. Like addiction to my PC, to my blogs, to my Google Reader, to my Blackberry, to the Internet, to clicking away with my camera at any occasion or just like that (who needs an excuse to click anyways :P). I also have an addiction to my side of the bed! It has to be it when I sleep or I don't sleep well at all!

Moving to the last but not the least is the addiction to people. People whom you look so very forward to talk to them to meet them or to just chat up with them over IMs. I certainly have a few people on my list with whom I just have HAVE to talk every day even if its just 2 lines of chat on an IM otherwise the entire day seems incomplete. An essential part of my life seems missing till I finally talk to them. Such fierce is the addiction to certain people in my life.

And frankly I'm not even bothered if its right or wrong. I know its there and I gladly accept it. In fact I love it. And want it.

I know this might seem like a crazy nonsensical post but I just had to write it out. For my own sake!

Some clicks from my new phone!

I am so happy using my new Blackberry not just as a phone or for checking my emails or or general internet browsing or for chatting but also for randomly clicking away. The picture quality may not be super duper but its pretty decent!

Come check them out!!

Nov 29 '07: Sunset @ approx 5 PM

Nov 29 '07: Sunset @ approx 5 PM

Nov 30 '07: Dahlia in my house

Nov 30 '07: Dahlia's in my house

Nov 30 '07: Betu snuggling in Papa's arms!

Dec 2 '07 : The roving eye!

P.S. I'm yet to figure out some settings for the camera so thats why those sunset pictures came out in such small size.