Happy Blog Anniversary...

Hey, guess what...this is my 63rd post and I just completed one whole year in the world of Blogs and Bloggers...Wish me Congratsssssss...

I would really like to thank each one of you who are reading these lines at this moment for taking time to be with me through my blog…Thanks to all of you who takes an extra minute to jot in atleast one word into my comment column…I always look forward to read ur comments and feel so happy to see them…I would like to name a few genuine readers of my blog, who really took that pain to suffer my tantrums for one whole year and supported me with their beautiful and inspiring comments…

1. Dost (kparthas.blogspot.com) - He gave me a new name "Anamika" meaning Nameless...lol!!!
2. Lekshmi (worldlyviewlakshmi.blogspot.com)
3. Jogi (joginderrohilla.blogspot.com)
4. Anshul (stirrupking.blogspot.com)
5. Amity (intelclub.blogspot.com)
6. Anu (anupama-sincerlyyours.blogspot.com)

7. Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (my regular silent reader...)

The above were there with me from starting and Hey, some of them are missing for some time now…But can’t blame you guys, as myself was also in a Hibernation mood, right…Btw, I want to say a sorry too to u guys for not posting in comments at ur blogs eventhough I m reading them if not regularly, still often…As I told u, from office, the Comment box doesn’t work..it doesn’t work even for my own blog…So I always think of commenting into ur blogs once I reach home…But then, these days, at home, work keeps me so busy that even switching on my laptop is almost near to impossible…I hope, atleast the coming days would see a much more regular me among ur readers list…

The past year…I still cant imagine, how fast time flies…Why did I start blogging…and to what extend did I stay loyal to my motive…these are the questions tht is coming to my mind right now…to be frank, I realise that I couldn’t do full justice to my real reason for starting a blog…the main motive of Opening my mind to those deepest secrets inside me…and pouring them out of me, so that I feel relieved…

I couldn't…reasons were many…first and most important reason was that knowingly or unknowingly…wantingly or unwantingly… I had built a bond...a relation with some of my blogger friends… and there ended my secrecy… I wanted to be a Secret blogger who says only secrets…but then, how can I tell my secret when the fear of being caught was so intense…lol!!! So, many a times, even when words came out of my heart, I pulled myself back from typing them down and publishing them…Instead, I told the lighter side of my life to you…In a way its wrong…I shouldn’t be afraid of the world when my intentions are not wrong…RIGHT??? So, here after, I wouldn’t pull my words back if ever it comes out from my mind…

Another absolute reason was my time constraints…Unlike earlier days, today I have less privacy and less free time to really word my thoughts into this blog…most of the time, mind would be too occupied that nothing else would come out…or the body too tired that laziness sits on my head…if not anything else…I had my office mate to keep her staring eyes on me whenever I started typing fast with Tak Tak tik tik clic clik…sound..hahah…!!! So I really need to wait for one of those Soundless keyboard..where I can type in and none would even know…I wouldn’t even mind having one of those equipment where I just need to think / imagine things and words get typed up on itself…lol!!!

Ok, now I need to stop…else I am sure, even the very few readers I have, will sleep off..haha…So, with that note...I wish myself a big big bigggggggggg

Happy Blog Anniversary…

Be Happy and Go...

Ok, so I have been lazy too lazy to blog…uh??? No I have been busy..busy at work..busy at home..(Dint I tell u guys…when I came back from vacation, my mom dint join us…as she is taking care of her sister…who is on bed rest after a surgery…uhmm..) Now, with no other option, I had to takeover her responsibilities too..Now, I have to cook and do all house chores, take care of my son and still go to Office…grrr…so this made me tooooooooooo busy that I didn’t even call back home for past 2 weeks… and yesterday my Grand pa phoned me…He called me as he didn’t hear from me for long time…How sweet of him…Hey, have I ever told you about him…??? About my grandpa…my dear Appups…

Now, in our language Appuppan is Grand father…and I lovingly shortened it to Appus or Appups to address my dear Grandpa… He is popularly and widely known as Daddy among family and friends after his kids started calling him Daddy…I know only very few people who doesn’t call him Daddy…It just became his name…and indeed he was precious enough to be a Daddy…a good daddy…the most Cool and loving but still strict and disciplined Daddy…

A small past on my Appups…He got married at a very young age, had 3 daughters...his wife, my grandma passed away during her 4th delivery due brain tumour…rather the truth is, she died on the operation theatre table, when she was 7 months pregnant…the baby (my Uncle) was operated out from grandmom’s dead body…My mom was just 11years old then and Appups some 33…the 7 year old baby, in my mom’s words looked like a frog and was taken to incubator and later taken care of by my grandma’s sister…anyways, that’s a different story…

My grandpa who was still very young was forced to get married again for the sake of the 3 young daughters aged 11, 7 and 3…One day, he asked his younger daughter (my aunt who is under bed rest now…) if he can bring another mom for her…and she said NO (but today, she regret that... as she feel if she hadn’t had said NO that day, maybe her father wouldn’t have been alone at his house today…)…my grandpa told everybody “NEVER EVER TALK ABOUT A SECOND MARRIAGE FOR ME”…from that day, he has been living for his children…and so you can imagine how close a relation could be between those children and father…their Daddy…

He was in Army then..and served several years in Security Forces…and then for the sake of his daughters, he voluntarily retired from Service and started a business…He is 80+ today…still he follow the same routine that he followed years back…Regular morning walks…controlled and timely food…and so on…he is as healthy and strong as any of us, if only better than us…even if he has all the different diseases a man can get during Old age, he never show them out…That is how my Grand pa is…

To be frank, as kids he was a “Warning” to us kids… bcoz …as he didn’t live with us, during vacations we used to go to his house to stay with him for a few days…These days, days which was supposed to be ALL PLAY NO STUDIES/WORK was changed to a different style due his disciplines and creative ideas to make us kids work…haha…He had this way of luring kids with promises of Gifts for the kid who does the best S U P W…haa!!! I really forgot what it exactly stood for…I think it was something like Socially Useful Productive Work…grrr…he used to tell that kids need to work hard and learn to earn and then save them…We would enthusiastically jump into the trap and then soon find ourselves carrying buckets of water from the well / pond to the plantain fields or cleaning the plant pots or brooming /moping the floor and so on…and every now and then one of us used to hear his MASTERPIECE Phrase… “You are an Irresponsible IDIOT”…as long as the receiving end was not one self, the rest of the kids used to giggle hysterically when they hear this…(he doesn’t mind using this statement to his children or grandchildren even today…lol!!! And its still EMBARASSING…)

He never allowed us to sleep after 8am…which was a shock… A Glass of Milk was compulsory during breakfast, which I hated…we were not allowed to waste food…and that made us sulkingly sit in front of the plate with vegetables…had to push them down our throat… the worst was the Ginger drink that was forcefully poured into our mouth every Saturday morning…he said it cleans our stomach and keep us healthy…I haven’t actually heard him scold any of us ever…he dint look like a Villain out of any Action movie nor he used any Action stunts with us kids…still, none of us ever did anything against what he asked us to…WHY, I don’t know…maybe bcoz of respect…maybe bcoz of the love we had inside our hearts which we never realized during those days….

But as years passed by the bonding between us increased…when I was in college, he used to come daily afternoon to my house and have lunch and then take a short nap…I would be reaching home after College when he would be taking his evening Tea…I would sit with him and say all news and gossips of college…he would eagerly listen to them, gossip with me..joke with me..till he leave to go back to his house…with these evening talks our love grew…our bonding grew…we became so close to each other that, it was difficult for us to not see even for one day… if he missed seeing me any day, he would wait for me the next day…

I still remember, how hard was it for me and him when I was leaving my home to pursue my future in this land…I still remember how he comforted me when I cried at the airport…I could see tears in his eyes…but still he strongly said… “Hey…dear…why r u crying…you are going for a better future…u can come here any time to see me na…then why are u crying…Be strong…and be happy…only when u r happy Appups will be happy…Now be a strong girl…Be happy and go…” … Even today, he is staying all alone in that same old house…a house maid cooks him food on time…Even though his children loves him so dearly, their responsibilities force them to stay at different parts of the world…all his children never lose one chance to visit him every time they could…Still the yearly vacation is the time when some of us get to see him and relish some memorable days with him…Whenever we land at the Airport, I know, whoever may come to receive me or not…My Appups will surely be there waiting for me…

Its been years after that day at the airport…Even today whenever I am at the airport and hugging him Good Bye, tears fill our eyes…and his words are still the same…

“Be happy and go…”

NB: The kids in this story are majorly, myself, bro and cousins. We all used to visit him during vacations and those were the days when his house was filled with screaming, laughter and shouting...heehe!!

Back to Square ONE...

Hey, I am back…Apologies…as I had said earlier that I would try joting down once a while during my vacation…but trust me friends, I dint even get time to spend with my loved ones…that busy was I in this vacation…this was one vacation where 90% of the time went on travelling…crossing borders and boundaries and states…uhmmm…Anyways…now I am back..all tired and sick…Oh yes…the return flight was more like sitting inside a Roller coaster with too much turbulence and pressure variation that my ears are still hissing out the air every now and then…and the head ache hasn’t decided to subside till now…

So, as for my vacation..as I told you…I have been travelling…not for sight seeing…the whole travelling was like Pilgrimage…from one temple to another…to another and another...I think I covered almost all the southern states this time…lol!!! Happenings during my vacation, I would surely share when I am in good moods…but some points that I would surely tell you now are…

1. One thing I learnt is that always see to it that you don’t feel to piss while travelling (unless you are in a decent Hotel)…God!!! Apart at the Hotel apartments where we stayed (paying heavy rents) we found not a single clean toilet…even the Pay and Use was horrible beyond imagination…There was one point when my 10 year old cousin had to run around for more than half hour while rest of us were frantically looking for atleast a 10% clean toilet…and Trust me, finally he had to manage at a place where even the Pigs might not enter…God help those souls who use those toilets on a daily basis…


2. Temples have become the Best Business Investment for many…feels bad when I saw anti-elements literally ripping or robbing off people in the name of God…Shame on the priests who tap on their Pooja Thali and ask the devotees to drop in money…It was more like an order than a request…and the Height of Robbing was when a guy just stuck to us and started guiding us through the temple even when we dint want…and then asking us to pay some amount (not less than Rs10-20) to even the Security who is standing at the entrance and even the guy who opens the gate for the special entrance (Remember: already an amount has been paid to use the special entrance)… That was one temple where I saw Vendors asking for some Dakshina after we pay for the goods we bought…For example: We bought 41 Ghee Lamps to be lit at the temple…we paid the amount and then the guy very openly asked me… “Are you going to give me something or NOT”…I was shocked…but acted dumb…and just walked off from there…I could guess what all swearing he might have showered me with behind me…lol!!!To end the case, finally when we came out the “Un-asked for” Guide (who did nothing but asking us to pay every single person we crossed by) asked us to give him some amount…I took out a Rs 50…he said Minimum is Rs 100…lol!!! When we gave an 100; he said, he wants Rs 150…we walked out…he too might have showered us with his BLESSINGS…uhmm…


3. The religious “Anna Daanam” no longer seemed religious when I had to fight with one of the guy who was serving WATER….lol…[Ok, now for people who doesn’t understand what is Anna Danam…Annam= Rice/Food and Danam=Donate…Many of these temples provide free food to every devotees who visit the temple and this is being done on a daily basis as from the Financial donations by devotees…We too were donating decent amounts to the temples we visited…We too took part in the Anna Danam considering it as God’s food…every person with no bars or caste or creed..poor or rich sit together and have these food…
   
   During one such Anna-Danam, they brought some glasses and gave to alternate people…we are supposed to take a gulp of water and return the glass immediately…but due biting into some chilly my son was choking and we were slowly trying to give him water…My mom requested him that she will give the glass back, just let the kid drink the water…In a second he harshly shouted “THIS IS NOT A HOTEL…”…the hall had some 800-1000 people…still people around us started turning around to see who was shouting so…We too were shocked…The Guy snatched the glass from my son and walked off…Even the religious thoughts in me couldn’t control my anger…we slowly finished our food and as we walked out I waited near the staff area and asked for the guy…Another Gentleman came and asked what was the issue…I explained to him the case…I told him how rude was it for a Servant of God to shout like that to the Devotees and that too for a mere glass of water given to a 2 year old boy…As he was apologizing on behalf of the other staff, the Villain came to the scene..and started shouting again…And NOW, you guys know me well, right…I can Withstand Ignorance but not Arrogance…I just started a lecture… “Brother, I know, this is not a HOTEL...Nor this is a Theatre…We come here to pray and have this food considering this is God’s blessings…So you don’t have to teach us where are we…But what you should learn is HOW TO BEHAVE…IF you can’t spare a glass, there is a way to explain it…afterall, it was for a small child…you could have calmly requested us to hand over the glass… Remember Brother, at this sacred place don’t talk as if you are at your home…and next time remember…BEHAVE….”…uhmm…By this point, he just wished if I had disappeared as many others also started agreeing to what I was saying…Anyways, I made my point clear and left…uhmm..again, I could feel that I was getting his Showers of Swearings…haha!!!


4. Never buy Baskin Robbins Ice cream from India if you are calculating the prices in Indian Rupees…Lol, I bought an icecream which costed Rs 30 but I had to pay some Rs300…and they said, it’s the VAT, TAX and what note…


5. One thing I found out is If you are years past your school/college days…and if you are too stressed out…with work, family and life…just take a day all for urself…just U and go somewhere far off from your home and meet some old friends…Yeah, this time I did that…I took off on an Adventurous trip…yes, it is adventurous for me in my life time, this is the first time, I have been allowed to travel alone and that too, to meet friends…Hurray…I did that this time…Thanks to you dear for helping me in relishing some of those lost moments…and thanks to you dear for making me feel like a Teenager…something that I couldn’t enjoy during my real Teenage days…lol!!!Only thing is that his parents shouldn’t know that he roamed around in his Bike in the midnight with a friend, a woman who has a husband and a son…haha…My husband knew it…so I am fine…lol!!! A joke in between is…When my friend was giving me company on that evening…he was getting continuous calls from his office…It seems, he had left office saying he will come back JUST NOW and it was hours already…I asked then why didn’t you tell them that you are with a friend…and his immediate reply was… “Ha, then they will kill me…if they know I am with a girl…and that too with a woman who is married and have a kid…”….hahahaa!!!


6. Never volunteer to help your MiL in the Kitchen..lol!!!…You never know when you would be left alone… ALL ALONE…to do every single chores…from cooking to cleaning…from washing to brooming…hahah!!!Yeah, this happened to me…it wasn’t that I was a DiL who don’t do anything…I always see to it that I do every possible work and help her in every single way I could during my vacations…but this time my MiL played smart…Smarter than me…thus, the days I was at home with no travelling, I was spending 90% of the time in doing house chores…Demands were too high that I had no time to even say a NO… My hubby dear knew, it was a bit too much…still his words were… “It’s OK, You ADJUST…After all, its just for few days…” grrr….But then to be frank, I felt good…at the end of the day, I felt proud that I did all that work myself…and nobody else gonna take the credit…Still, even though there were no exchange of harsh words still my MiL did try to Bowl some taunts and kicks once a while, which I very clearly kicked back to her…In my hubby’s words… “You both are Tit for Tat MiL-DiL...”…
   
   But then, the outcome was…for the first time during my 5 years of married life…my MiL said, She doesn’t want me to go…as she had to do NO WORK and she hugged and kissed me a goodbye when I boarded the flight…uhmm…Unusual, uh????

In this way, my points would go on and on and on….But guys, I am at office and my favorite colleague has been staring at me for quite some time…not that I am keeping any of my work pending…but that she wants me to do hers too, so that she can continue Surfing on Net as usual…and this brings me back to reality…

The reality that The Vacation is Over and finally I am “Back to Square One…”

ME or HALLE-BOPPE….???

That was the year when Comet Hale-Bopp was popular among the public…It was said that the Comet was visible through naked eyes…and every day morning, we read on the Newspaper the descriptions by different people who had seen it…Finally, I and my bro decided…we tooo will see the Comet…with our own naked eyes….lol...We knew from newspapers that it was visible during early morning…that was smwhere after 0300am and 0500am…

Gosh, that was an odd timing to be awake…we thought…still our enthusiasm didn’t die…We kept alarm for 2.45 and we woke up on time…got out of the house…Naturally Marshall & Mili (our German Shepherds) were out for our safety…with us…

Now, the real problem aroused…Where should we look to see the comet…??? Which side of the sky will it be visible???God, knows… finally me and my bro decided…I will sit at the front of our house and my bro at the backside and do the look out…Marshal stayed with me and Mili with bro…It was fun sight…atleast, I knew, I looked really stupid…right from the bed in the night gown…I was sitting there at early morning 0300am at the steps of my house…and then with open mouth gazing at the sky…right near me..sat Marshal, almost with the same expression..but in between he was staring at me and then to the sky….grrrrrrrrrr….he must have really thought… “What the hell is she doing now here…”…I dint care what he thought of me…I just sat there and he didn’t leave me…

Time passed off…0300 became 0330…0340…0350…time wasn’t moving..neither we saw even a star…grrr…I had occassional shouts from Bro… “Sis, did u see anything…”…and I reply, “NOOOOOOOO…DID UUUU???”….and I got the usual answer NOOOOOOO…This was irritating…Sleep was really calling me back...my eyes was screaming to be shut down…still I fought all my longings and sat there bravely…waiting for the Beautiful COMET (Damnnnn….) to appear…

Suddenly, Marshal stood up…he was growling in low volume..I knew, he had seen smthing to my left side…The first thought that came across me was…DANGER…what could it be that Marshal saw and getting so alert…I didn’t have the courage to turn and look for it myself…I sat there unmoved…actually I couldn’t move…I was shivering..head to toe…I have heard that Dogs can see Ghosts….Ughh…GHOSTSSSS…NOOOO….I don’t wanna see a ghost at that hour of a day…for sure…I dint moveeee…

Suddenly I heard a hissing sound… “Shhhh…shhh…”…now whts that…would ghosts make such sounds…they should be Screaming and Waling…right??? So, is that a snake or smthing there…My brave mind told me…DON’T TURN….but my intuition said “TURN and IF DANGER, RUNNNNNNNN…”…Finally, I decided to turn and look…and I slowly turned my head to the side where Marshall was staring…

Beneath the Street Lights..just above the boundary wall…I saw smthing moving.. all I saw was a WHITE Sheet..smthing like a huge Placard or Card….Then I knew what it was…It was a Human Being standing there holding sm sort of a Greeting Card and trying to throw it to me…Bloody Idiot, was SHHHHing to get my attention…within an instance, I realised…it was none other than the BATHROOM BOY…I dint wanted a confrontation then…Plus the terror and shiver, had not left me yet…

I slowly got up from the steps…and then just ran..or rather scooted myself from the place to my brother…to make it NATURAL, I was shouting… “Broooo, NOW u sit in the front and I will sit at the back side…”….Naturally, I dint wanted to let him know, that I was scared…hehe!!! Only once I reached the back side, could I breath properly…my bro sensed sm fear n me…he knew it… he dint ask me anything…and soon I understood, he wasn’t brave enough to go and sit at the front side…maybe he might have imagined and got into conclusions abt why I looked Scareddddd…hehe!!

Within minutes…we both were inside the safety of our house and in our bed…I peeped out through the window to see if that IDIOT was still roaming around with that stuff…He was…Thanks to the curtains…he couldn’t see me..hehe!!! nor the dog let him to come and have a peep himself…hahaha!!!

But then, till date, I could never forget the day ..the day I wasted hours of my precious sleep ..the day I was about to give a competition to the COMET in the speed…Bcoz, I am sure, that moment, I moved faster than any Comet in the world….uhmm…by the by, in real…this question is still unanswered…

Who is Faster…ME or HALLE-BOPPE….???

A Note on BATHROOM BOY: When we shifted to our ancestral house; the ONLY thing my mom advised me was…”BE CAREFUL OF BOY…”… BOY was one of our neighbor's son… He was popularly known as BATHROOM BOY…hehe!!!Bcoz, he had this regular habit of putting his eyes into other’s bathroom…How true it is, I don’t know…But, that was the general talk…It seems, he was caught red-handed while trying to have a free show at one of the neighbors’ bathroom…So, this BATHROOM BOY was a spoilt brat to everybody around and I could see that people kept distance from him..atleast those who had daughters…haha!!!

About myself…within days of our shifting to that place…I knew it…THIS PERSON WAS AN ASS HOLE...(lol, apologies for my language) Oh yes, he had started making my day hell from Day 1…Thank God, we had two sets of German Shepherds at our place, that kept him out of our boundary wall…but still, from his house, he never left any chance to FLIRT with me… love letters wrapped in stones used to bump my head very often (he threw them from his terrace…), passing ugly comments, whispering I LOVE YOU while crossing paths…all this were his habits those days…

Present Tense: After this incident, we started open battle..heeh!! I used to shower him with abuses whenever he passed comments..ofcourse both of us whispered just for the other to hear…as days passed, he accepted failure…As we grew up, we kept formal relation…and once I left my home town..I have never seen him after that… all I know is that he is married and is working smwhere in this country only…haha!!!