“Oh… I didn’t know; You got married…!”

.
Have u ever experienced this? - A xyz person on chat, even after realizing you are least interested in striking a conversation with him bombards you with tons of questions and exclamations!

Last week, Sigma (who is still a pretty Ms and not Mrs!) and I were browsing while this guy pinged her. He in fact let open a hurricane of laughter and fun.

Disclaimer – An over dose of Garam Masala added to the below conversation.

AB: Oh My God… Stigs online? Such a long time. Hello… Hi…

Stig: How the hell did this ‘blocked guy’ become ‘unblocked’?! Hi… 

AB: I cannot tell u how happy I am seeing u online. Where r u now?

Stig: And why is he so excited seeing me online? I am in Chennai.

AB: Why in Chennai? Thought u were in Hyderabad?!  

Stig: Because I wish. Why should I tell him why I am in Chennai?! Just like that. After my wedding, shifted to Chennai, u see family conveniences.

AB: Oh My God… I don’t believe this; you missed to invite me for the wedding. Not to worry; next time when I come to Chennai, I will spend a week end with you. What is your husband doing?

Stig: Please… I still have not invited you! Why can’t you mind your own business? Taking bath after oil massage.

AB: Hahhahhahaa…

Stig: Why? Is oil massage so funny?

AB: I asked abt his profession.

Stig: He is India Head for Deloitte Touche.

AB: Wow… Impressive! Arranged marriage?

Stig: Arranged love marriage.

AB: Getting interesting. How did it happen?

Stig: Getting interesting for me too! He was sitting next to me in the theatre when I watched Tare Zameen Par. Seeing me cry when the boy was left in boarding school, he realized I am a very innocent, sympathetic and empathetic girl. We fell in love instantly and got married soon.

AB: How romantic. How I wish I too find a girl like u – sympathetic & empathetic! Where are you working?

Stig: I've taken a break from work.

AB: I cannot believe; a girl like u – gave up work?

Stig: In fact I love being a house wife.

AB: Oh nice. Time pass? TV?

Stig: Naah I cook! When my Ettan’s parents come, it is all the more fun. My in-laws are very fun loving.

AB: oh ok.. Tats good. When I get married, even I will ask my parents to be fun lovers.

Stig: My mother-in-law and I are more like friends. We go out shopping and all. My father- in-law is also a super cool guy.

AB: What a life dear!!! I am so J! Are they in Chennai?

Stig: They come over. They are basically from Koilandy.

AB: Oh, is it?  Wat abt ur husband?

Stig: He is working out of US actually. He is supposed to visit at least 5 continents every month. So, is kinda busy. You see, being India head is not an easy job.

AB: Ya, sad… Poor thing! I understand. Then why Chennai?

Stig: Grrr… when will he stop asking questions?! Now.. what do I tell him? We were in New Zealand for almost 6 months. I was missing summer and the sun; hence decided to stay in Chennai for a change, till I get bored of heat.

AB: Oh… even I am getting bored of Bangalore. Where do I go? Any suggestions?

Stig: Please, somebody kill him!!! Why don’t you relocate to Jharkhand? Heard it is a nice place.

AB: hmmm. What…

Stig: Lemme escape before the next question. My stock of stories is draining! Hey, I was in the middle of making almond cake in rum base for my father-in-law. Lemme continue. Bye for now.

AB: Lucky father-in-law. Wish even my dad gets a daughter-in-law like you.  

Stig: All the best.

AB: Lovely speaking to u.

Stig: I never realized my imagination skills were so good. Yeah, same here! Bye.

AB: Bye my lovely buddy.

Stig: My foot!

P.S: Sigma has been my partner in crime, since childhood.

Big-B’s Mantra to celebrate life!

I have a Big-B, a new found Big-B. Big-B is one of the most bubbly, coolest, liveliest and energetic guys I have ever come across in life. Oh… he is one heck of a perky guy! 24X7 laugher and fun guaranteed if you are in his company; anybody would love to have a person like him around!

This is Big B’s password to celebrate life, “All you have is just one life; so give no room for worries, make it a celebration worth remembering tomorrow, day after …and after and always!”

My New Year wish to all my friends is just the same. Look forward to only the brighter side of life -

12 months of cheerfulness,
52 weeks of fun,
365 days success,
8,760 hours good health,
52,600 minutes good luck,
31,53,600 seconds of joy!

A Very Happy New Year, folks!


Now, who is Big-B?
I can only give you cla-cla cli-cli clu-clues ;)

- Big-B a.k.a Big Brother lives in the US; phir bhi uska dil hai Malayalee!
- Married to a gorgeous and totally adorable lady from Karunagapally. 
- Cute and naughty is their son. 
- If not a manager in a reputed telecom company, he would have become a chef at either a star hotel or at Nair's-tea-kada. 
- A lola-hridayan (tender at heart).
- Weakness no. 1 - Food, 2 - Family, 3 - Friends.
- Big B had once taken his car for oil change; but came back home driving a new car – upgraded version of the old one!

Says it all; at least to people who know him…! Any guesses?!

Over-hyped raggers in soup!

.
This is a story about how nine guiltless girls were once tortured in college. And me, poor me is one of them! 

Rewind - to the pages of yesterday, to the days where college life was ‘The Life’!

First year exams are over; oh… what a relief until the results are announced! Holidays are also over. Enthusiastically, all of us got back to Mysore as proud seniors! In fact, we returned to our selves when we were back in our messy hostel room – room # 11. We laughed loud at each of our vacation gossip, served with usual flavor of masalas, sautéd in onions and stirred with ginger garlic paste and tomato sauce!

Manu, “I think my cousin is having an affair with our neighbor’s son whose nose is kinda crooked. Before I could investigate deeper, I had to pack my bags!”
Liz, “Oh… the same guy who wears flowery lungi and plays badminton to show off?”
Teenu, “Please don’t get confused – The lungi dude is Mithu’s uncle’s family doctor’s brother’s classmate!!”
Rest of us, “:X”

…and information exchange and valid discussion continued over loads of fun and also Kannur banana chips, Wynad fruits, Calicut halwa, Coorg coffee and oh… the list is endless! Mess bell rang which reminded us that days of potato chips and rice bath are back!

As we were exploring ways to make the year more eventful, colorful and memorable than the previous year, one of us suggested this brilliant idea – why not we rag our juniors? We also believed healthy ragging will only help in making better friends with them in future like we are buddies with our seniors! Oh… we were so thrilled and impatiently waited for their arrival. With lot of commitment and involvement, we even phrased questions and rehearsed the situation. We just couldn’t wait for the anticipated fun!

On the day of formal introduction of the juniors, we cheeky bunch of morons spent few minutes more than usual in the mess hall to analyze and identify our prey. Yes… then using some strategies and formulas, we picked the unlucky of the lot – Ms. Axe!

The next day, she was invited to our colonial room (please note – only the worthy are invited otherwise!). To break the ice, we offered her some ground nuts and a glass of tea. The formal round of introduction thus began. Just to be on the safer side, Shalini became Anjali, Manju became Paaru, Nancy became Tulsy, Viji became Pinki and Chimmu became Shambu. Then, we unfolded the terror.

Okie Ms. Axe, why the hell did you decide to learn Microbiology?
My sister says I will get a job in the US or Australia if I study microbiology.
Oh… did you not know we are against brain-drain? Tomorrow, you are going to change your stream to electronics cos we are fighting against the management to close down the department.
But Chechi… my dad will disagree!
We don’t care, you are obeying us…! BTW, are you wearing a bra now?
Huh?! Yes I am..!
How many holes does it have?
Sorry… I don’t know. May be I can count and arrive at a figure by end of the day.

Huh??!! Is she not supposed to feel embarrassed and hesitate to answer, instead of being bold? We looked at each other, confused! We didn’t know how to take the session forward.

Anyways, we made her cook imaginary dosas, enact movies, multiply & divide 8 digit numbers and engage in a few more boring activities. You see – 100% healthy ragging! To our surprise, without even giving it a second thought, she obeyed all our commands. The exercise continued till we realized it is not going to get entertaining at all. Our disappointment was at its heights! We asked her to leave the room, giving heads up, “If you utter a word about this to even a single soul in Mysore, Karnataka or in India, mind you –3 years in Philos will become a nightmare for you!”

She was intelligent enough to understand that these stupid girls who considered themselves to be Gabbar Singhs were actually shit-scared Jhony Levers! She gave it back to us appropriately by complaining to our warden about how bad she was made to feel. She narrated her experience of being torn apart! (Grrr… Really???!!!!) She painted the scene like she was physically and mentally abused. Little she did know about our bloody frustration!

The following month was rather eventful for us. Warden screamed at us, “Roll your beds and get out of here! Didn’t you know you will be behind the bars if reported to the police?”

I thought, “If the press comes to take a group photograph of the “raggers”, should I be smiling at the camera, or should mine be a sad and guilty face? Only if it is a national edition, my parents and school friends will come to know about it. Ah... otherwise, it is okay!!”

Warden changed our room – each of us spent the later part of the year sharing space with Tibetians, Manipuris, Biharis and Punjabis. Can (inter)national integration get better than this? Anyways, it was not as bad as we expected. Our friendship only got better and stronger; thanks to the warden – our friends’ circle got really bigger! We developed network all over the country and even beyond!
      

A note exclusively to Ms. Axe:
(Ignore this masala-mixed blog post!) Our intent was only fun. And after these many years, on behalf of all us let me apologize, “Sorry if at all we have hurt you!”

P.S – We were the most well behaved girls that year (I swear!;) hence the next year, our fav Room # 11 was given back to us – the room where memories of friendship, exams, home sickness, hunger, nervousness, anxiety and unlimited fun is hidden, even today!

If you have any ragging stories to share, please add them in the comments section. 

Columbus: Single but not ready to mingle!

.
Was Columbus married? 

Definitely not!

If he wasn’t a bachelor, like a dart board, he would have had to face these arrows in the form of questions!

-          Hey, where are you going?

-          With whom are you going?

-          Why exactly are you going?

-          On your way back can u get a packet of dosa batter?

-          When you are away, will I not get bored?

-          Okay then… Shall I also join you?

-          By the way, when will you be back? By bus or train?

-          What about dinner? Should I cook at home?

-          I want surprise gifts from where-ever!

And finally poor Columbus, “Bloody hell… I am not stepping out of the house. Enough? Happy?!”

(Disclaimer – Originally, an email forward in Malayalam)

Flashback - Summing up 2009

.
I was trying to recall all the innovation and drama that happened at work; intension being truly professional. That is when I thought… why not I personalize the idea? The year treated me pretty well, so it totally deserves to be thought about and archived!  

....Well!

It wasn’t extra ordinarily exciting, yet has been fair to me; except when my grand dad passed away. But since I believe all nice people finally land up in heaven, I feel happy for him. Apart from that, wedding bells rang “ding ding ding”; I fulfilled my long term wish of visiting North India and the most wonderful of all – to conclude the year, in 3 days 3 newcomers arrived in the family!

So, now lemme try to break up the highlights quarter by quarter! Yeah, after all I have become a total Bangalore MNC product!!

Quarter 1:

This is how I began the year. I prayed for Obama and all the industries across the globe to beat slowdown and emerge champions. Not that I care a damn for dollar depreciation or collapsing stock market and IT industry! I discovered the correlation - until they prosper, I am not going to find the right job that would cheer me up. That is when like an angel, Madam G (she truly is!) informed me about a position at Intel. “Wow…!” I sum up all the enthusiasm I went through in the 3-letter word! My stars and luck favored, I became a part of the company. Life came back to sq 1 – No more I was cranky at home, no more I cooked breakfast and lunch, no more I was bored and no more I watched ‘desperate housewives’!

Before I joined, I visited my parents in Dubai. Oh… it was lovely to be Pappa’s and Mommy’s pet and laze around in the house being 100% irresponsible. In Dubai, I also spent time with my most adorable sister!

Quarter 2:

Bad start – My neighbors, one fine day in April, gave me a bad surprise. They decided to bid good bye to Bangalore and relocate to Aurangabad. They were one of the three families (out of 450) whom we are friends with in our apartment complex. From then on, there was nobody from whose fridge I can flick carrots & tomatoes and sip evening tea and munch Britannia biscuits over Bollywood gossip. And I also miss morning and evening dose of flying kisses and hugs from two little naughty boys.

I completed two years of togetherness with Vj. Haha, like somebody said, ‘It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life!’ But life only got better and happier in the last two years! He gifted me a zoom lens for my Canon baby! Yes, it is a big deal for me!

I made up my mind to learn swimming and driving.

Quarter 3:

A year since my uncle passed away. Realized how fast time rushes and little by little, it heals the rotten pain and even bottomless sorrow. However, somewhere deep inside, his disappearance has left a void which is everlasting.


I saw the Taj Mahal. Smile… Come on; I was at the Taj! I did not dance like the latest Bachan though! Also, explored all the neighboring states! I have already made a list of places in India which I should visit next year. Oh... I totally appreciate my keenness.

Gul-Gul returned from London and then weekends of badminton and sambar and rava idlies were restored.  Oh, how I love it when he is around! The quarter came to an end when I was no more scared of piggies and flu; I realized it is just another fever which is not a big deal! Happily, I threw away all the unused green colored masks.

Discarded the idea of learning swimming; courtesy: Bangalore weather. Driving plans are still on, however postponed to next quarter!


Quarter 4:

Hey… by the way, in the last quarter, I completed half a year at work. And I have to admit I am totally in love with it. Once again, cheers to Madam G!!

My dear most-est friend got married; however more exciting is that she shifted base to Bangalore, in my neighborhood. Well, don’t I have a reason to celebrate? I also had a quick Kerala tour with Vj and two of my friends, which was fantabulous!

To wrap up the year, 3 newcomers arrived in the family in 2 packages! - A pair of boy & girl and a boy! Oh boy… what fun!!!

BTW, driving classes are once again (for the nth time) pushed to the next year! All pot holes are being covered in the city, so it makes sense to wait until then! Did somebody comment that girls are the best at cooking excuses? ;)


Enthusiastically, looking forward to another year; hoping it will have in store, pleasant and exciting surprises for me and all my dear and near ones!

I'm 2 years old

.
"My Mind's D-Corner" turns 2 today! Oh, she is growing; I am so excited!!

Happie Yippe B’day, My Dear Blog! :)

(Pic clicked during the celebration this morning! :)