The impact

Yesterday while having a late lazy Sunday morning tea, I asked Betu to go and get the newspaper from the verandah. He went out side and as he was walking back in with the newspaper, he was peering intently in the newspaper. As he reached near me he said something which shook me completely and for a long time. He said "Mumma koi mar gaya hai" (someone has died) with a very concerned, upset and sad expression. I was too shocked at his statement to say anything and took the newspaper from him while hubby tried to distract him by taking him in the kitchen. He was totally out of words too on hearing this from Betu.

I looked at the newspaper to see a picture of 2 dead bodies, of a man and a woman, in front of some fruit shops with blood all around them. All the front pages of the newspapers since saturday have been filled with news items of the blasts that happened in Bangalore and Ahemdabad. It churned my stomach to see that the impact of such blasts has reached to the minds of such little kids as well. My son was a live example for me. There must be other children also who would have reacted the same way as Anirudh did.

I'm sure this is something which I and other parents would have been trying hard to protect our children from. From such cruel, gruesome world which inflicts so much pain into the lives of innocent people. It truly has been a battle for me to keep him away from all this but for the first time yesterday I felt I lost.

I don't have anything to add about the blasts per se. Coz I feel the same way everytime it happens. I hope the ants eat these people who plan and do such things bit by bit giving them a slow and painful death. They should die the most horrible death than they could have ever imagined. And I feel no remorse in saying these words and wishing ill towards them.

A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffery Archer

Finished reaching "A Prisoner of Birth" by Jeffery Archer yesterday night. And I simply loved it.

Started reading it last Friday night to keep me distracted from the darn tooth pain which kept me awake whole night. By morning when hubby and Betu woke up I was already midway in the book. And I managed to read it little by little during the week despite so much work at office. And yesterday night finally managed to finish it! I was so engrossed in it that when hubby came in from work at 8:30 PM, I absent mindedly said "Hi" to him and kept reading it. He was might pissed to see that. But obviously :D

Coming back to the book, I loved the way Jeffery wove the story. I loved the character of Alex Redmayne and even more than him his father Mathew Redmayne despite the fact that they were there for very little part in the book.

Its after very very long I have managed to read a Jeffery Archer. Last I had read was more than 8-9 years ago. And I hope I can keep this book reading habit ignited from now onwards.

Now thinking on what book to start reading next. Any suggestions people?

So much better :)

I'm sure by the smile in the title you all can imagine that I'm not in pain anymore :D

First of all sorry for not being posting the update on the tooth problem. I've been literally drowned with work and was barely able to manage 6 hours of sleep in this week. I'm hoping things will look up today onwards and I shall have some time to blog surf as well as post! My reader shows 300+ unread posts! And I wonder how long it will take me to catch up reading those plus commenting!

So after I came back from doc's visit and having taken a painkiller I was feeling better although slightly feverish. But we still managed to for the movie Kismet Konnections sicne we had bought the tickets the previous day. It was a boring movie. I slept through almost entire of the second half of the movie. The pain was almost gione and I was feeling happy thinking this was the end of it. But I was so wrong!!

By 11 PM the pain was so bad that I had tears rolling down my cheeks continuosly. I was trying to put icepack rfom the outside on the jaw and it would help for 20-25 mins. I so wanted to sleep but just couldn't in the pain. The damn painkiller was also not working. And hubby asks me if I had actually eaten the painkillero r thrown it away. I swear I wanted to go after him with a dagger. And what got my goat was he kept watching TV and here I was writhing in pain. At one point the pain got so worse that I felt I would go insane if it doesn't subside in the next 30 mins. And I guess I partly did go insane coz I started abusing hubby saying "main mar jayungi par tumTV dekhte rahna!" (I will die but you shall continue watching TV). Finally managed to sleep at 4:00 AM. Apologised to him in the morning sicne he was mighty upset coz of my statement. He said "Main kya karta. Painkiller to de di ya tha." I told him yes that he couldnt' do anything but then he should also not take it to heart since I was in so much pain. I should be allowed to be illogical at such times. :D

Coming back to the tooth, RCT (Root Canal Treatment) started since Monday i.e. Jul 21. Have had 2 sittings so far. Each one is really painful . Yesterday during my second sitting I was telling my doc that delivering the baby was easier than getting this RCT done. At least its done and over with in few hours unlike RCT where I've to go in for atleast 5-6 sittings each as painful as the previous. He just laughed and said infact some women told him that after the pain of delivery, all these pains are trivial. I just shrugged and said probably I had an easy delivery than them.

I'm lighter by 4.5K for getting this one procedure of RCT. And it DOES NOT include capping!! Can you beleive this?? And I've one more to go for the molar on the other side. By the end of 2 months I would be lighter by atleast 15K for getting work done on these 2 teeth. And that further means each tooth will have a price of 7.5 K. Do you think I could auction them when in dire straits? :D

So take care of these teeth fellas! Its painful not only physically but financially as well!!

Happy brushing!

And it continues...

Its 9:30 AM and not a wink of sleep. And the pain is constantly growing. Am on the way to the dentist after asking for an emergency appointment.

Have been putting whole clove in the mouth, ice pack on the jaw. It helps for a while and then springs back with a vengeance!

Oh boy! I am feeling so drained out with this pain!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated @ 4:00 PM
The doc finally saw me in after I had a major melt down in his clinic in front of 5-6 other people in the waiting room coz I just couldn't bear the pain. I feel so embarrassed thinking about it now.

Anyways, he started my RCT treatment after taking the x-ray. And hell the first sitting was painful enough and have another one scheduled for Monday morning.

Managed to sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon after I came back. Feeling a little zonked out with such little sleep. And I don't know what to do with the tickets we had bought yesterday evening for the movie "Kismat Connections". I wonder if I will manage to sit through it.

~~ Keep Smiling! ~~

Sent on my BlackBerry®.

Bad bad tooth ache.

Its 2:30 AM and I can't sleep coz of this darned tooth ache which started suddenly at around 11 PM.

Its the molar, for which I had gotten the filling done about 2 years ago, which is hurting. Although the good thing is that the pain is not the excruciating kinds but still have been tossing and turning in the bed for the last 3 hours. Its those mild but pressing nerve kind of a pain. Its reaching slightly till my ears as well now.

I guess what I've been dreading all these years shall need to be faced this time. The RCT. The dreaded root canal treatment.

Even 2 years ago when I had gotten this filling done, the porcelain one, the dentist had said that there is a very thin line separating me from a RCT. But since that time I had a choice, even if it meant treading on a thin line, I took the chance and avoided it successfully for these 2 years. But not anymore I guess!

I so so dread doctors that I can't just describe. Sigh...need to get the doctors appointment tomorrow the first thing in the morning. Ohh god! Please help me!

~~ Keep Smiling! ~~

Sent on my BlackBerry®.

Vodafone network is down

The vodafone network has been down since the past 30 mins. And when I say down, I don't mean bad signal. I mean NO SIGNAL at all. I realised this when I was trying to blog from my blackberry and when the I hit the send button, I saw it was "Searching for network". At first I thought it was my blackberry that is acting up. So I restarted it. But no effect.

So then I went and looked up hubby's phone since he also has vodafone connectivity. But nopes, there is no network signal on his phone too. So that proves that the Vodafone network is down. I had pressed the hit button around 2:35 AM and it 3:06 AM right now and there is no signal till now. So can you beat that. Its been more than 30 minutes since their network is down.

So lets see how long does it take for my post that I sent at 2:35 AM appears on the blog. That will tell the exact time for which the network was down!

The pun in the horoscopes

Since when did horoscopes became a way of telling you how to make a fool of yourself? I think I'm already a pro at that so don't need these for sure!

So before beating around the bush a little more, but couldn't help it as this WAS required :D, let me tell you what happened. It so happens that I've subscribed to the horoscope feature by paying Rs 15 for a monthly subscription to my mobile service provider. Not that I believe in it but must say they have been quite funny so that they became more of a "joke of the day" rather than "horoscope of the day".

But the one I received a minute ago totally deserved a post in itself. This is what it read -

"You are likely to meet interesting people in work-related situations. Ask as co-worker if one of them is interested in you!"

Now you tell me which one of you would actually go and ask a co-worker if he/she is interested in you? Unless you have been getting hints about their inclinations, that would be totally different. Not that I need to ask coz one I'm already hooked and second I'm not interested.

And it makes me wonder who the hell goes around writing these anyways? Probably they will send a subsequent one telling what they we can expect after we have actually gone ahead and asked!

Just trying to think of funny reactions, a guy who goes and asks a female colleague might get a slap in return :P Or the girl who collects all the courage to ask a male colleague may be laughed upon or eyed suspiciously!

Anyways..I did think it was way too funny or stupid to be coming in as a horoscope :D

The culprit...

...for last weeks puncture in the tyre right in the morning on way to work!

Iske saath kya salook kiya jaaye - Maar diya jaaye, ya chhod diya jaaye? :D


~~ Keep Smiling! ~~

Sent on my BlackBerry®.

The Namesake

Finished reading the book "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri a few days ago. And I'm in a fix as to what were my thoughts on the book. Yeah..I'm confused. I don't think it was a great book. Just something which can be a good filler if you have nothing great to read in your hands!

There was nothing about the characters that you leave you mesmerized or awed. Or to make you feel for them as such. Or was it just my state of mind when I was reading it?

Anybody read it? Anyone feels the other way about the book?

Its raining....yay!!!

Finally after having such a humid day with cloudy skies but no sign of rain, it has started pouring....finally!!! :D

Betu always gets so excited whenever it rains. The moment he realised its raining, he went peeping from the netted main door of the house and came back to say "Mumma baarish!"

Again he went outside to take one more peep and came back even more excited "Mumma lighting!" He meant lightening :D

How I wish it was daytime and I could have floated some boats in the rain water that usually collects in the aangan. Night or day..who cares was Anirudh's thought as he rushed to dance in the rain while I was busy writing this post!

After jumping for a while I called him in lest he gets unwell. He bought some more time saying "Mumma 5 min?" and I let him. He came back in himself in less than 2 minutes saying "Main to poora bheeg gaya. Aaj to mausam kitna achha hai!" :D

Indeed Betu..it sure is a lovely weather! Enjoy the monsoons everyone!

Its been 9 years...

How I wish I could turn the time back! How I wish I could do something to go back to those times! How I wish...

But I can just wish and do nothing! And that makes me so upset that I cry...cry alone in the bedroom!

~~ Keep Smiling! ~~

Sent on my BlackBerry®.

What do you do when...

...the colleague you are talking to face to face has such a bad odor(mouth) that you can smell it even when you are sitting 2 feet apart. And since he is senior to you, you can't even stop the meeting in between to get fresh air !

...when you see a colleague with a roller up her hair sitting at office and you wonder if she is aware that she is wearing it or has she forgotten about it and doesn't realize she still has one roller up her hair. leaving you in a fix whether you should tell her or not!

I used an old age hindi movie formula

I'm sure all of us remember movies where the lead actor/actress would loose memory or senses after an accident and would say "Main kahan hoon?" :D And on repeating the same sequence of events, that lead to the loss of memory, would unfailingly revive it. Remember?

Well I applied the same formula with my phone. However the problem I was trying to solve was not the memory loss but loss of voice! Ok..ok..I will stop beating around the bush and tell you how I used the Hindi movie formula on my phone.

It so happened that yesterday I dropped my phone and since then its sound system stopped working. And thanks to this I had lots of missed calls and SMSes which I didn't see on time because but ofcourse I couldn't hear my phone ringing or beeping. I tried whatever I could to get it functional again but to no avail. I opened the battery case and cleaned the speaker area but still didn't help. Restarted the phone couple of times but the problem continued. So as the last resort I dropped it again but this time intentionally and restarted it. Lo and behold the problem was solved!! The speaker started to function properly and life was restored to normal. :D

Now what do you have to say to that?? *wink*

Sunday dinner special

On special demand from Hubby I had made Paav Bhaji for Sunday dinner. Couple of weeks back...err...almost 3 months ago he had asked me to make but then I had ended up making pasta instead! This time his request was duly honored! :D

I usually avoid making food items which I know Betu won't eat happily and I would end up forcing him to eat. But this Paav Bhaji is one dish which he also enjoys thoroughly!

One has to look at this face to see how much he enjoys it! And that's why I love cooking such dishes. He is always so vocal about his likes. If he appreciates he will surely let you know about it as well! So on hearing "Arre waah! paav Bhaji!" and all my mehnat seemed so worth it!

I keep teasing hubby that at least there is someone in the house who at least appreciates what I do and hubby once said, "Akhir beta kiska hai! Mere ko hi to dekh kar seekha hai." and I just roll my eyes and walk away!

So here is the pic of the yummy paav bhaji -

Thoda Pyaar, Thoda Magic

Watched "Thoda Pyaar, Thoda Magic" on Friday evening. Went to see the movie primarily for Betu. he has been demanding to go for a movie since weeks now and since this was one movie which we were sure he would enjoy, we decided to go for it. I wanted to go for the movie so that I can get a chance to ogle at sexy Saif! And must say I was not disappointed. He is looking really really droolicious!

Betu loved it of course because of all the magic and animation bits. And we must say we are so lucky that whenever we have gone to watch a movie in a theater, we have always found an empty seat near to us. So although we don't buy ticket for Betu, he always gets a seat for himself :D But this time the guard did stop us asking for his ticket. We managed to somehow convince him otherwise. But I wonder if next time it will work. Paying 200 bucks for him sounds a little too exorbitant.

But the after effects of the movie, on betu..not me *wink*, continued at home. He wanted to get inside the TV screen as the kids in the movie had done. However much I tried to convince him that it was a movie and it doesn't happen in real. it just didn't work and he got so angry that he refused to talk to me. Its another story that he was back to talking within a few minutes :)

I think the movie should be sold under the "Children" category only minus the Ameesha Patel's "Lazy lazy lamhe" number which was a bit too much for the eyes and minds of kids :) I wonder why does she always takes up such bimbette, no brainy kind of roles. I really wonder coz from what I know she was quite good academically so its not that she doesn't have anything in that part of the head. Anyhow...

Me and Hubby were empathizing with Rani thinking she had to do the whole movie in just one dress :)

So on the whole, it was a so so movie for us adults and an enjoyable one from the kids perspective!

The 'hair' story...

After a lot of deliberation on whether to go for a haircut or not, I decided to go for it. If you knew my hair were till my hips, you will understand why all this deliberation. It really is tough to go ahead and cut those long tresses...at least for me it sure is and has always been. Last time I had gotten a haircut was more than 2 years ago. And I was in the same dilemma then as I was now.

When I finally convinced hubby and myself (convincing myself was more tricky) the confusion was what style to get done. Coz if the style doesn't suit me I will have to wait for another 6-7 months before I can get anything done to set it right. So the options were to either get a razor cut or get the regular steps that I had gotten myself last time I had a haircut.

So off I trotted to the parlor - with little excitement and little nervousness. Yeah I'm like this whenever it comes to my hair! :D

And as I told the hairstylist that I wish to get a haircut, he asked me to sit in one of the empty chairs and then he asked me what do I want to get done. I said I don't know. You tell me what will look good on me. So he fiddled with my hair a while and then said steps would be the best bet. When I told him I was hoping for a razor style he said "It won't work out. They are too thin and too straight." So after discussing with him about further options the conclusion was that I had no option but to go for a steps-cut AGAIN unless I wanted to get them cut really short. Since I was not mentally prepared for a really short style I asked him to go ahead for the steps cut.

The moment he chopped off 6 inches from the bottom, I shuddered. He asked me if anything is wrong or if I need something. I just shook my head in negative and told him that it was nothing. There was no way I was going to let him know that haircuts make me nervous. So he proceeded to cut my hair and I could see them falling in front of me..my long tresses sliding off the silken cape that I was wearing around my neck. I suddenly was feeling very light in the head, not lightheaded though..hehehhe.., once he blow dried my hair. He gave a total of 4 layers. I thought they looked nice. And I did feel this boost of confidence admiring my new look.

And when I walked in the house, the two men in my life gave two different opinions. The bade sa'ab smiled and said "Its looking good" and kept looking at me and asked me to turn around. However, the chhote sa'ab made a wrinkled up face and said "Mujhe achha nahi lag raha" and turned back to what he was doing. Well..what could I've said to that. He has always been frank about his likes and dislikes!

So on the whole I'm happy with my haircut! And that's what finally matters. Doesn't it? :D

It's Friday...

...and neither did Betu wanted to go to school and nor I wanted to come to work.

After a lot of pushing and coaxing him to get ready he finally went although by the time I dropped him off to school is mood was slightly better as the cribbing and fussing had stopped. But I only say 'slightly' better since when I waved him bye he didn't even look back, and just lifted his hand lazily and waved a limp 'bye'! And I just stood there and watched him go inside.

He has come back from school and is now sleeping. But when he came back he was quite happy as the daycare supervisor told me. She also told me that he came back wearing a head band which said "welcome" and he was showing it off to all his friends in the daycare.

I'm so eagerly waiting to talk to him in the evening to ask him how was his first day at school after the summer break.