I have to confess today to having had a short fling with ...

the game of cricket long, long ago ...

My infatuation with the game was triggered by one very close India-Australia match in the Reliance Cricket World Cup ...it was the match in which India needed two runs to win off the last two balls of the game...we were down to the last wicket...Maninder Singh was batting...Kiran More was at the non-striker's end...Steve Waugh was the bowler, if I remember correct...we were all at home, our eyes glued to the TV set, all of us being our absolute 'cricket' superstitious selves...mom, who had absolutley no idea about cricket was forced to sit with us and watch the game, whole day long, just because her being around the tv had brought India luck in one of the earlier games, or so we liked to believe :-)...you know how crazy Indians tend to become when talking and watching cricket...the 5th ball of the last over of the match was bowled by Waugh...the ball briskly spun over the pitch knocking the bails off the wickets...Singh was back to the pavilion...India lost the match by one run with one ball to spare...but at the end of it all, I was hooked to cricket...

Thereafter I passionately followed every one day international and test match played across the globe...cheered and celebrated India's wins...mourned India's losses...and was absolutely in love with the game,or so I thought...but perhaps it was just an illusion, after all...cause my infatuation with cricket ended just as abruptly, as it had started ...

It was the Wills Trophy final between India and Pakistan in Sharjah...Aaquib Javed's hatrick...Sachin Tendulkar sent back to the pavilion for a golden duck...Pakistan going on to win the trophy...I was absolutely devastated...so much so that it spelled the beginning of the end of my love for the game ...of course, not to deny being further disillusioned by all the controversies and charges surrounding some of the players I had hero worshipped , Azhar and Cronje to name a few, in the years that followed...

That was then, more than a decade back...since then there have been a lot of players who have entered and left the cricketing arena...some have left in glory...some in shame...records have been set and broken...one day internationals have given way to the more exciting and adrenaline pumping 20-20 form of the game and to add to it is the almost inexplicable IPL frenzy...honestly speaking. I haven't really put an effort to keep myself up to date with what's happening in this sport, that I once loved... all that I have been keeping myself updated with is silly gossip that keeps doing the media rounds...who the new handsome hunks in the game are...which cricketer is dating whom...which cricketer has ditched whom and all such BS...sad and shameful, but true nevertheles...

Today though, as I read the headlines about Sachin Tendulkar's record setting double century in Gwalior and subsequently watched the highlights of the game, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of euphoria,hope,admiration, inspiration and pride...22 years of life dedicated to a sport and through all the ups and downs, still going strong ,more or less untainted by major controversies...a historical moment in world cricket...a moment of glory for the Indian sports world...a moment that managed to momentarily rekindle a small flame of the love and passion for the game of cricket that I had once nurtured...a moment that made me bow down in respect and admiration for the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar...the messiah of the only 'true' religion in the country of my birth !!! Here's a toast to 22 years of his glorious cricketing career ...

Random musings...

My posts have become few and far between in the past months...it's not for the dearth of things to write about though... it's just that words don't seem to come very easily to me anymore...so here I am, trying to get back into the groove of writing again :-)

It's been a cold, cold winter for all of us living in the Washington, DC region...snow, snow and more snow :-)...total snow accumulation in the two and half months of winter we've seen so far is supposed to be more than 60 odd inches...apparently more than what upstate New York and Boston put together have seen this season...and to think of it, winter hasn't ended yet...As I looked out of the window this morning , I was elated to see the sun shining down in the area after a really long, long time...this, after I have proclaimed my undying love for snow many a time earlier :-)!!!

The first flurries and showers of snow every winter always give me a big , big ‘rush’ ;-)…the white snow covered grounds, rooftops and the flora glistening in the moonlight add a fairy tailish zing to life and it’s that time of the year when I can just spend hours staring out of the window ,feeling completely in sync with William Henry Davies eloquent words on life...”What is this world , if not full of care…we have no time to stand and stare”...

It’s the aftermath of a snow storm that is difficult to deal with and tends to make me weary...specially with all the “cares” of the real world notoriously glaring down at us...shoveling the driveway, uncanny fears of the roof caving in or the deck collapsing under the weight of pounds of snow transformed to ice, hazards of driving to work and ‘n’ other , often unnecessary ,worries (not that I need any specific reason to get stressed about :-))...and when you have two back to back huge snow storms in an area , not used to being pounded by extensive snow storms, it just makes dealing with the aftermath all the more worse...

Thanks to some lovely friends and neighbors, D and I spent both snow storms, snowed in but partying in the company of some lovely people...

The snow storm over the Super bowl weekend was particularly memorable, less for the havoc it created and more for the fun all of us had...the initial plan was to have an informal get together at home on Super bowl Sunday, watching the game with some friends...but then with the weather forecast turning very gloomy for the weekend, with heavy snow fall predicted on both Friday and Saturday, D decided to turn the weekend into an impromptu ‘Super bowl shoveling’ party...so all weekend we were ten of us at home, making merry ,chit chatting, drinking , eating delicious home cooked food (everyone was an expert on one form of cuisine or another...so we had these whole variety of dishes laid out over the weekend), playing poker and board games, reveling in good music ,hogging on hookah and of course shoveling( we sure had to stick to the theme of the weekend party :-))...so now gambling, in the form of poker, has been added to my ever growing list of vices...nothing to be proud about, I agree...but I believe in living life to the fullest, while I still can:)...anyways, the Super bowl weekend ended on a high note with my team, the New Orleans Saints winning ...not that all of a sudden I love football any more than I used to (all of you have heard me cribbing enough about how neglected I feel due to D’s overwhelming love for the sport :-)), but in the spirit of the Superbowl party and the beautiful town of New Orleans, I was supporting the underdog...and so was happy seeing the Saints win!

Speaking of poker, after winning my first big hand this past weekend, I think I am just getting more addicted to it...it was funny how the guys would hold back on betting each time one of us, girls, bet aggressively...apparently girls are known to be conservative gamblers...and hence whenever they bet aggressively, it’s supposed to indicate they have really, really good cards in hand...talk about
stereotyping:-)!! Folks better be prepared for a fair share of surprises from us girls, on the poker table, in the months to come...

What else...watched "My Name is Khan"...movie totally sucked...Karan Johar should definitely stop trying to be different...and inspite of all my love for SRK, I was left totally disappointed...I had somehow managed to garner enough support to lure folks to the theatre for “Kurbaan”...most of my friends hated the movie...folks were lured in for ‘MNIK’ again, fortunately I was not the initiator of the plan this time...and folks hated ‘MNIK’ more than ‘Kurbaan’...this means I surely have to come up with some innovative bait to lure people to the theatre for the next Hindi flick I want to watch...so called four/five star reviews by Times of India and Rediff will definitely not do the trick next time around :-)

Some gloomy news as well...talks of more friends moving out of the area, taking cue from some dear friends who already moved out last year to make new beginnings in new places...that’s always depressing...it’s so difficult to find people with whom wavelengths match...and when you do find some, you really don’t want to let go...but then that’s what life is about, I guess...it’s never stagnant...people move on...you make new beginnings and life goes on, as one continues strengthening bonds and making memories with old friends and new...

The good news is that my brother is moving to New York City in a couple of weeks...so am really excited about that...I really have missed having family nearby...

So that’s about it really...no life changing events in the past month...just some memorable, snowy times...yes times and memories that make me sit back and smile, whenever life is not too full of ‘care’ and I have the time to stand and stare...

Back to the grind...

Just got back to Northern Virginia on Monday evening from a wonderful vacation back home in India, more specifically, in the beautiful state of Assam in India...this time around we also managed to squeeze in a short trip to the awe invoking Golden City of Jaisalmer, in Rajasthan...more about that in a bit...

The India trip didn’t start off on a very good note for me...I missed my connecting flight from Brussels to Delhi and subsequently from Delhi to Guwahati , resulting in a 24 hour delay in reaching home...did finally manage to reach Guwahati in one piece…D had flown in a day earlier and so he got to spend an extra day in Guwahati...grrrr...:-)

As I chit chatted with my parents in the car on my way home from the airport, at the first red traffic light we stopped, D pointed out one of the rolling advertisement hoardings by the side of the traffic crossing . An image of Lord Ganesha flashed on the screen and the following text rolled by:

‘Lord Ganesha says, “Save your head…not everyone is fortunate like me to get a replacement...wear a helmet, when on a two wheeler”...’

As D read out the rolling text on the hoarding aloud, both of us smiled and D said to me, “Welcome to India, babe!!”...In a weird kind of way, those rolling words on the hoarding by the side of the road, reflected the essence of the people and the current state of the country of my birth...it was a simple, intelligent, witty attempt to bring order into the chaos, that was and still defines a major part of India, by gently and subtly nudging the inherent spiritual sentiments and superstitious instinct of the common Indian man...as is always the case in such situations, apparently there had been a lot of objections initially to putting up such a message, considering it a denigration of Lord Ganesha...whatever...but I, for one, am sure Lord Ganesha would have absolutely no objection to having his image and name used to protect and save lives :-)

Anyways that’s that and I’ll come back to it later...

So what was the India trip like...short, hectic, fun-filled and beautiful...catching up with family, friends, loved ones, festivities ,getting royally pampered, fun, food, frolic, shopping, travel...great times essentially...

My dear mother and mom-in-law made sure they prepared all of D and my favorite dishes...Ma fed me with loads of ’Tenga jhool’(an assamese fish delicacy), ’Til pitha’ (an assamese sweet), ’Dahi wada’, ’Chocolate cake’, ’Narikolor barfi’ (Coconut sweet), ‘Bora saolor bake’(Another assamese delicacy with a specific kind of rice and jaggary that only my mom can make !!), ‘Prawn curry’, ’Dhania Aloo’ ,’Masor Jola’(Another fish dish)...Ahhh...she had got a special ‘razai’ (quilt) made for me because I love quilts and sleeping curled up in one, in the misty Guwahati winter, is my absolute favorite pass time :-)...we lazed around in the terrace garden at home, chit chatting and basking in the warmth and glory of the early afternoon sunshine...we drove around all our old favorite joints in the city and checked out all the new hot spots with friends and family...visited D’s high school...met up with a couple of our junior college professors...after a long, long time the whole family spent New Year’s eve together, partying in Guwahati...had ‘Uruka bhoj’ (a special dinner around a bonfire on the eve of the Assamese harvest festival of Bihu) at my aunt’s, and a grand Bihu lunch at Aita’s ( my grandmom)...watched ‘3 Idiots’ in a packed cinema hall with 12 other family members...caught up with some old school friends, most of whom I was meeting after more than a decade...thanks to a dear friend ,'P', for getting everyone together...had a lovely time...some are now married...others are not...some of them have kids...others don’t...some of them have changed...others haven’t...but everyone’s grown up to become such beautiful, amazing ladies in their own right...it was absolutely lovely meeting everyone after such a long, long time...then of course D and I hogged on street food...paani poories, bhel poories, allo tikkis, tandoori chicken, indo chinese food, momos, kebabs...you name it and we’ve had it, I am sure...

(By now you would have guessed that food constitutes a major part of all our travel plans and hence my blog posts...thank god both D and I are foodies:-) )

But one of the biggest highlights of the trip was a surprise visit to Guwahati by my dear brother, Ashish...Since D and my India trip was kind of a last minute plan(like it generally is for all our travel), Ash and I hadn’t been able to make our vacation days from work coincide...having had only recently got back from Guwahati to Bangalore after a 10 day break in early December, Ash had kept giving all of us the impression that he wouldn’t be able to make it to Guwahati while D and I were visiting...though I was upset, I had got reconciled to that fact...but on the afternoon of the 1st of January, while my parents and I were taking an afternoon nap, I felt a few gentle taps on my head...once, twice, thrice...and then as I opened my eyes and turned around to find the source of the irritant...lo and behold...there he was...yes my bratty, rock star brother :-)...he had flown into Guwahati to spend the weekend with us...and had absolutely made my day!!

Then there were of course these other teeny, weeny moments and gestures of warmth and affection that absolutely touched my heart and that I’ll cherish forever...like our 85 year old grand moms (both D and mine) entering the cold kitchen and with shaky hands trying to help cook some of our favorite childhood dishes...an aunt who put in all the effort to hand knit a cap for me , not knowing what else to gift me...'M', a lady who has been with our family helping with household chores ever since my brother’s birth, deciding to forgo a scheduled trip to visit her family in the village during the two day Bihu holiday, and instead deciding to spend that time at home with our family, cooking, chit chatting and taking care of me because she felt she hadn’t been able to pamper me enough, owing to a full time job at a cottage industry ma had just gotten her into...yes, life’s little moments that tug your heart and leave indelible impressions!

Then of course, D and I squeezed in a three day trip to Jaisalmer, a small town on the westernmost part of the state of Rajasthan on the border with Pakistan...we travelled to Jaisalmer via train from Old Delhi station...and returned to Delhi on one of those teeny, weeny turboprop flights from Jodhpur...that, in itself, as you can imagine, was an experience:-)...Jaisalmer is famous for the Golden Fort , that proudly stands amidst the golden stretches of the great Thar Desert and is the only residential fort in the world...We had made arrangements to stay at a haveli in the fort that had been converted to a boutique hotel...beautiful,royal architecture and interiors, a terrace restaurant, awe inspiring views of Jaisalmer city, delicious Rajasthani thalis (constituting yummy dal baati, churma, gatte ki sabzi, kair sangria, sukhi pooris among other Rajasthani delicacies) and extremely hospitable staff were the highlights of this small boutique hotel with a rather non Rajasthani name “Vitoria” ;-)…We went out on a camel safari to the Khuri sand dunes of the Thar Desert and reveled in the marvelty of enriching Rajasthani folk dance and music in one of the desert camps, around a bon fire, under the star filled skies over the Thar…Some of D and my closest friends are from Rajasthan...hence we have been at the receiving end of some overwhelming Rajasthani hospitality many a time before and I am glad this trip was no exception ;-)

Spent a couple of days in Delhi as well...some of the the changes in Delhi and it’s suburbs were revelations in themselves...six lane roads, posh malls and restaurants, high rise techno savvy offices, chic residential complexes, fancy cars, rich kids swerving their 'Mercs' and 'Bimmers' to a halt in shady nooks outside Priya cinema hall (apparently in the lookout for pimps and dope, I was told)...this ,juxtaposed against the ‘thela walas’, ‘rickshaw walas’, ‘cycle walas’ ,’auto walas’,'taxi walas' trying to make a living, working 18 hours a day and 7 days a week... a family of four on a two wheeler trying to squeeze in a mall shopping experience on one of the foggiest and coldest of Delhi nights...yes, I mention this at the cost of sounding like a ‘phirang’ tourist...It’s just that Guwahati is a much smaller city compared to Delhi, has a more laid back life and is not a commercial hub or melting pot like Delhi is and hence, I guess, the economic changes and progress India has made in the last few years, though evident in Guwahati as well, they haven't really led to as wide socio economic gaps in my hometown as in the capital of India...but that's that...plus, of course there's the matter of where I observed issues from...I guess after spending a few years outside India and given the rate of economic changes in the country in the past few years, any form of socio economic gap just seems starker, darker and just a whole lot more unfair...

So what did we do in Delhi...yes, got our visas stamped at the American consulate, right next to the Canadian consulate outside which all that was visible was a sea of people and their colorful turbans:-)...shopping in Janpath (finally got a hookah ;-)...so everyone’s welcome to the next hookah party at our place...he he ) and Delhi Haat...checked out a couple of live music hangouts in Connaught Place and Gurgaon...they absolutely rocked...checked out some restaurants /lounges recommeded by Delhiite friends...“ Bukhaara”, “Punjabi by Nature” and ”Smoke House grill” to name a few...and yes, needless to say, hogged on Delhi street food, which was just as delicious, if not more:-)...

All in all, it was a whirlwind India trip that was a whole lot of fun...it always is when you visit India for just a few weeks...but then when I think about it more , putting aside the surreal nature of a short vacation and of getting into the habit of splurging in rupees while earning in dollars, I am not sure yet what it would be like to get into the regular Indian bandwagon of working and living there...will know for sure when we move back some day...but as of now, day-to-day life for the common man, in general, seems tough...definitely tougher than what is for us here...having said that though, a lot of the people I met and spoke to seem completely content and happy with the lives they are leading...and therefore my perspective is perhaps skewed by my personal definition of a ‘tough day-to-day life’...hence I’ll just refrain from commenting on this further...let’s just say this, after three weeks of vacation, while I was engulfed with sadness and choked in tears , at the thought of yet again leaving behind loved ones and my childhood home in Assam, subconsciously perhaps I was ready to be back to the grind...to office work, cooking, cleaning, driving, doing the grocery, fighting with D about household chores, paying the mortgage :-) and generally getting back to real life...yes, before it was too late...before getting spoilt beyond redemption in India and being forced to unequivocably judge where life is better :-)

So yes I am back to the grind...I just got back from 'home' to 'home', if that makes any sense at all...from Assam to Northern Virginia...paradoxical yet true...have at least one other blogger friend who seems to feel the same ;-)

On our way to the airport to catch my return flight to the US, ma sighted an elephant bang in the middle of the streets of Guwahati, and she told me that it’s her belief that sighting an elephant(a personification of Lord Ganesha) anywhere outside the animal’s natural abode is a sign of good luck...and though logic defied it, I involuntarily joined my hands in a namaskar and bowed my head down in respect of Lord Ganesha as I looked back at the elephant and prayed for love, luck, health and happiness for all my dear ones, in the year to come...yes you guessed right, it is my 'inherent Indian spiritual sentiment and superstitious instinct', that I mentioned earlier in the post, that makes me defy logic , time and again, many a time...

Am sure in all of this, my confusion is apparent...it's meant to be :-) !!

Happy New Year folks!! Will share some pics of the trip soon...

Home beckons...

My brother, who lives and works in Bangalore, is currently visiting my parents in Guwahati...

Yesterday papa posted some pictures of my brother's visit home ...today, this is what my brother writes from Guwahati...

"Yesterday, I lived another day as a 17 year old. Took the city bus to Guwahati club hanging by the door (unlike before paid the full fare)...took a rickshaw back home (without threatening the rickshaw driver or haggling with him)...Had a couple of plates of momo (offered my friends without spitting on any)...bought a packet of Wills Filter from the shop downstairs (paid him a few extra bucks for all the cigarettes he gave me on credit)...met an old friend and went for a drive(did not play tennis, but made plans to)...smoked the day's last cigarette in the toilet(did not bother to spray the room freshner)...finally spent a few hours sitting in my balcony,before going to bed (the way I used to)...I love this place. After all these years, I realize I am more or less the same...and I am really glad about it"...

Well as I looked at the pictures and read this, I wanted to tease my brother about smokes and cigarettes constituting a major part of his nostalgia, I wanted to tease him about having put his 'cool dude' status in extreme jeopardy by becoming so philosophical,I wanted to nudge him and remind him that the balcony he mentions as his own ,was mine for a much longer period of time before it was passed on to him
(so it actually is still mine:-))...whatever!!! )...and then I felt a tug in my heart...oh boyy...it sure has been an interesting life journey for everyone in our family, with a lot of things that have changed and a lot that haven't...and amidst all the stress of planning a trip to India (specially for people like us, who have to get 'n' number of things done in a short period of a couple of weeks of vacation, including the oh so stressful visa stamping stuff etc.)...all of a sudden I wish the holidays were closer...yes home beckons...and I wish D and I were there right now...with family...

Hopefully I will have a lot of interesting stories and perspectives to share when I get back to blogging again...

Till then, I wish you all a very safe and happy holiday season with friends, family and all your loved ones!!

Happy holidays folks !!

YAYYY...the days are shorter!!

One would think that with fall coming to an end, the days getting shorter and the trees shedding those beautiful, colored leaves, that adorned them, just a week back, I would be depressed...really, really depressed...

Well generally the passing of fall does cause a sense of gloom to set in...but this year is different... you may ask why...well, I have spent the major part of spring, summer and fall, living the life of a golf widow :-(...

Not that I mind giving D the space to pursue his hobbies...after all, I do wholeheartedly cherish my personal space when dabbling in hobbies and indulging in activities which allow me to form perspectives on issues , completely independent of D...so if that's the case...why am I really cribbing...ok, let me just put it this way, in the context of hobbies, dabbling in one and allowing one to dictate one's life are at two opposite ends of the spectrum...D's love for playing tennis has never gotten me so frustrated in all these years...may be that's because I personally love and enjoy that game as much as he does...and most importantly, I usually get to hit around a bit with him whenever he's in the mood to play with a beginner like me...ok, so does that show a tinge of contradiction of the earlier point I made about 'loving the space to indulge in activities that allow me to form a perspective on issues, completely independent of D'...I seem to be okay with D's hobbies where I have a part to play or contribute...I really am turning into a confused mess on this...don't want to introspect too much...this is not an introspective blogpost...it's more of a ranting blogpost...where I am just giving vent to pent up frustration:-) ...So here I go again..

D was posssessed by and obsessed with this game we all call 'GOLF' this entire summer and fall...weekdays, weekends...it just didn't matter which day of the week it was...we would go shopping and all that he would be in the look out for were golf accessories...how frustrating is that!!... in fact, once we cut short a weekend getaway so that he could come back and play an 18 hole game on a par 4 (or was it 3...who the hell cares anyways...the game is just so boring!!) course !!! He even tried persuading me to join him at the driving range and course a couple of times with of course, absolutely no success...better luck with that next year, honey!!

Hey...wait...don't yet point that accusing finger at me for being the quintessential unsupportive wife... I haven't really explicitly nagged him about golf till this post on the blog:-) ( I really have been trying my best to live upto the image of the 'space loving and space giving' wife I hero worship;-))...all that I have been doing is making weird faces and giving blank stares whenever he mentions anything associated with the game...after all, I did get him a golf themed cake and showered him with golf gifts on his birthday...and believe it or not his friends ended up gifting him stuff related to golf as well...so now you know, it's not just me...that definitely makes me feel a whole lot better...it's just that D and GOLF have become synonymous over this summer...and really, if you ask me, a golf themed birthday party, is the most I can do to show my support for the tee, the club, the par, the hole, Tiger Woods, Augusta and D's love for all things golf :-)

These hilarious cartoons at www.cartoonstock.com just about sum up the 'golf widowed life' I've led for the major part of this summer and fall...

Now you know why I am so happy, cheering the onset of winter...cold, short days but definitely(or should I say hopefully...in case covered driving ranges/courses are discovered in the next few weeks) more of D ;-)

Of Change and Continuance ...

Well I am turning another year older at the stroke of midnight...another year wiser?...well maybe, maybe not...can't vouch for the wiser part of it ...going over one of the first big hills, as they say...does growing another year older make that big a difference...well not really, I tell myself, I don't feel any different than what I was in my early twenties...age is just a number in the mind , isn’t it?...hmmm...well I don't think I am being completely honest here, am I :-)!

After all, I do realize that my biological clock is ticking...I keep getting feelers about that from my mom and mom-in-law every time I call home…they don’t lose a chance to enforce and reinforce on me the fact that it’s about time D and I started thinking about life beyond just the two of us…

After all, when hubby dear asked me about what I wanted to do on my birthday weekend and gave me two options...a drunken weekend away at a party destination or something more quiet at a serene destination, I did opt for the latter...I am laughing out loud, imagining a very dear friend of mine, P, pull my leg about this by saying something to the effect of ”Tu buddhi ho gayin hain" on having opted for the latter... LOL :-)

Anyways, that's that...but this post is not just really about me growing another year older or another year wiser...it's me reminiscing about the past three decades of my life...it's about how a lot of things have changed and a lot haven’t, as I have evolved as a person over the years...

It all started with a rather carefree life, growing up in the beautiful hills of Shillong, Meghalaya...friends, family, birthday parties, indo chinese dinners, long drives, chocolates, teddy bears, mickey mouse club, school concerts,great times essentially...Papa loves cars and driving and I remember in those days, if he got back late from work, to make it up to us, he would bring back loads of chocolates and would just keep honking the horn of the car on the driveway till we got out of the home...and off we would go, all four of us, for a long drive across the beautiful town and hills of Shillong, and that would invariably end in one of the most delicious Indo Chinese dinner places in the world, "ABBA"...lovely summer vacations at my paternal grandparents in Guwahati...memorable winter vacations in Jorhat with my maternal grandparents...family vacations to other parts of India...now , you would say it was vacation time for the major part of the year then...well sort of...you know how life in a hill station in the 80s was...relaxed, carefree and pristine, among affectionate, friendly and warm locals, without the added burdens of "touristyness" and “commercialization” we associate with most Indian hill stations these days...an almost fairy tale like existence...

Imagine a beautiful house on a hilltop surrounded by pine trees...a gentle chill and breeze in the air...a family of four replete with a white Alsatian, running around the grounds of the home...family time, with adorable parents and a bratty little brother, by the warm fireplace in the living room...friends and neighbors moving in and out of each others homes, all well fed with delicious home made food, happy and contented in each others’ company, completely oblivious to the vicissitudes of life...that was what life was all about in the my first ten years into this world…

Since then I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs in my own life and in the lives of near and dear ones...I have evolved from wanting to become an air hostess (inspired by none other than the Kittu Gidwani starrer by the same name that used to be aired on Doordarshan on Sunday nights)...to a cop...to an air force pilot...to an astronaut...to a doctor (the romanticized version of Erich Segal, of course )...to a teacher...to a genetic engineer( fancy huh...this was at a time when I hardly knew what genes were :-))...to a physicist...and finally ended up as the stereotypical ‘electrical and computer engineer’...it’s a different matter all together that D, the industrial engineer in the family,is a zillion times better at all the theoretical and practical electrical and technological troubleshooting than I am...Oh well...you know what, I feign ignorance(that’s a good excuse for outright incompetence, aint’t it :-))!! On a slightly different note, once an uncle of mine was advising D that he should feign ignorance and prove his incompetence in all household chores early on in the marriage...apparently once that’s done, it would make sure that the wifey (yes, I) would forever relieve D from the travails that the tedious household tasks entail...LOL...well am I glad that I overheard that conversation, otherwise D would have gleefully succeeded using that tactic on me his entire life!!

Coming back to the point, over the years I have sobered down from being a rebellious feminist to a realist...I have evolved from the feisty teenager, who thought she could take on a system single handedly and bring about much needed changes, overnight, to someone who has matured enough to realize that small , individual changes in a system, over time, eventually lead on to bigger, better ones...I have evolved from an ambitious teenager, with big dreams, to someone who has realized that there are sweeter pleasures in life than the next big career move...I have evolved from tending to be judgmental to learning to give people the benefit of the doubt..I have evolved from reading fairy tales to Enid Blyton to Carolyn Keene to Dickens to Austen and the Bronte sisters to Agatha Christie and Robin Cook to Arthur Hailey and Jeffrey Archer to P.G. Wodehouse to Aynd Rand to Sophie Kinsella to Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie to Nasim Taleb...you get the gist...not to forget the Mills and Boon and Linda Goodman stage ;-)...and then, something I am really proud of, I have evolved from a really bad cook to a reasonably decent one...well, the list is endless and I can just go on and on about how my tastes and I have changed over the years...

But then the point is that over the past three decades, while I have evolved and grown in a lot of ways, while I have loved and hated, laughed and cried, risen and fallen, given and taken...there are certain things that haven’t really changed all that much, after all...and in that list is my love for books, music, chocolates, teddy bears, dogs, mountains, bollywood flicks (Ah...how I love being a part of the crowds for the first day, first shows :-)!! ), street food, shopping, writing and physics...my appreciation, love and admiration for humility, intelligence, open mindedness, genuineness, affection, warmth and generosity...my dislike for arrogance and hypocrisy...but I think the most important in the list of things that hasn’t changed much over the years is my ‘optimism’...my belief in fairy tales...my belief that what goes around comes around...my faith that every cloud does have a silver lining...

The other day, a friend of mine wrote to me saying something to the effect of, “You are such an optimist...it’s refreshing to see your take on life in this otherwise cynical world”...believe me, it is a compliment I shall forever hold very close to my heart...for optimism and hope keeps me sane, happy and relaxed...enables me to seek out and enjoy the simple pleasures of life...Yes, I know life will bring in changes, both good and bad, in the years to come...I will evolve for the better or ,god forbid, change for the worse in the midst of life’s vicissitudes...but I do sincerely hope I manage to remain an eternal optimist, in the midst of it all...we will see how that goes...only time will tell :-)

For now though, yes, I am yet another year older :-), hopefully another year wiser as well...and it’s Happy Birthday to me...with a fresh new year of life to right some wrongs...to love,laugh and live!

I have shared a love hate relationship with...

the Art of Cooking :-)

I LOVE food and hubby dear is an even bigger foodie than I am. But over the years, though my relationship with food has been a constant...that of pure love (and my genes make sure that the love for food shows on me in the form of extra girth and a yo yoing weight:-)), my tryst with cooking has been rather fascinating and has seen it’s fair share of ups and downs…

As a 14 year old, the spoilt brat that I was, while a lot of my peers were beginning to nurture their cooking talents, I don’t think I was even aware of where in the kitchen, the spice rack was located (Yes…I was that obnoxious !!). That was a stage in life when I was mighty happy being fed on delicious food made by mom, my adorable grand moms, aunts and all the brilliant cooks we had as household helpers…and yes, every once in a while, on a Sunday afternoon, dad would take over the kitchen to make that delicious Spanish omelette that only he could make, albeit leaving the kitchen in the state of a ‘hurricane aftermath’…

As a 17 year old, let’s just say this, while some of my peers were busy trying to woo their way into the hearts of prospective boyfriends, by cooking and feeding them home made meals, the seeds of feminism, already sown in my mind, made me glare disdainfully at anyone who dared to say anything that had the slightest hint of endorsing “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” paradigm …I was determined to find a guy who would love me the way I am and would be prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose …can you believe that !!

During my undergrad years, I was happy falling in love with D, the ultimate personification of a foodie on earth :-)... but let’s just say this, cooking was the last thing on my mind during those four years…At the slightest opportunity, D and I would make our way to whatever few good restaurants we had in Trichy,and revel in the great food that they served (trust me, all food tasted great after what we had to deal with in the hostel dining halls)…

As far as my tryst with cooking, during the couple of years I was working in Bangalore, is concerned, my dear brother sums it up pretty well...he says that the 'daal', 'egg curry', 'paneer' ,essentially everything I cooked, ‘tasted the same’…and when he says ‘tasted the same’ with that smirk on his face, it means you are supposed to read ‘tasted the same’ as ‘tasted terrible’…

But then something changed...after moving in with D in the US, I realized that the person I had fallen in love with, was not just a big foodie but was a great cook as well…I reveled in the delicious food that he cooked while he barely managed to tolerate the tasteless food that I made…but the sweetheart that he is, he did that with a smile on his face …and then one fine day, he ‘officially’ asked me to marry him. Given the kind of food I was cooking and feeding him (specially given the fact that he was a foodie, a great cook himself and the very typical perfectionist Virgo), I was absolutely convinced that I had found the guy in D , who loved me for what I was and was prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose:-)

Over the past 4-5 years, I take the liberty of patting myself on the back for evolving into a rather decent cook (my ever critical brother and perfectionist Virgo husband vouch for that,having been at the receiving end of my cooking over the years ;-))…I have developed a love for cooking dishes of different cuisines….I love to improvise on dishes, blending exotic regional spices and herbs…I have discovered and developed that skill of being able to bring out the taste of key ingredients in a dish...so now, all the dishes that I cook definitely don’t “taste the same” anymore….however I would still not claim to be extremely passionate about cooking…I do love cooking at leisure, as a hobby, and I definitely love entertaining people with home cooked food…but my dislike for cooking, on weekdays after a hard days' work, persists, and I crib about it every time it’s my turn to cook (D and I take alternate turns cooking on weekdays)…

But there is one day in the year when I cook with my heart and soul and hope to be able to do so for the rest of of my life…and that’s on my foodie hubby’s birthday….yes, yes D’s birthday…how I love that contented look and smile on his face when he’s fed a well cooked meal…I cook a variety of his favorite dishes on his birthday, just the way he loves them…

Well let’s just say this, though I didn’t woo my way into D’s heart through his stomach, his birthday dinner with friends is my way of saying thank you to my foodie hubby for loving me for what I am ,as much as he does, and for having been prepared to live off canned food, for the rest of his life , if the need arose…

Happy Birthday D !