The Last Post for 2009!

What a brilliant year that was. Honestly, it was one of the more sober years I have had. Nothing major happened, no life changing events, relatively simple and easy. It drifted past us and I thank God for that. Because, I totally did not enjoy 2008 and was hoping for a year like what 2009 turned out to be.

I really cannot even list out what all happened like I did last year. I hated 2008 and the numerous hospital visits and the inumerous health issues. I liked the change in the pace of 2009. Today I feel more mature, and also more experienced in life to handle the sudden crap it can throw at you and change your life completely. And also, I am older now. I am slowly but steadily climbing into the thirties and I am trying not to let that change the way I think. But life goes on and time does not stop.

So to recap real fast, We returned from CA in January 2009. Fun-est trip ever.

Federer Won Australian Open early February. Babs got her baby cousin from G's brother and wife. Anya. Really cute.

Anitha (Babs old baby sitter) went to India in March and we had to get her a new baby sitter in the form of Pooja.

April sucked because my uncle passed away. Riyansh was born to another friend S.

I passed my LEED Certification in May.

I visited my parents at their home in Chattanooga in June. Babs also pooped in the potty first time in June. We also planted a garden in June and was in full bloom with tons of flower and also green bell peppers.

In July we welcomed our in-laws and also saw Sonu and others perform live on stage.

In August G and I celebrated our nine years of knowing/dating each other.

September saw my two BFF's getting married. It was a beautiful wedding but it was also the day I did my biggest clumsy ever.

In October both Babs and G turned a year older. Babs was two and G was well OLD :P...I partied with both of them and hopefully they will both remember it.

November my in-laws went back to India.

December my parents came and visited us for a week and it was super fun. I got to stay home and relax with them. My friend MB had her twins, a girl (Manya) and a boy (Neev). Super cute. My ex-baby sitter Pooja also had her baby daughter (Sai Gayathri).

So there, though not much, I had something to do every month. So life did not slow down completely. Every weekend was busy meeting friends, doing stuff, parties, etc. My only mission for 2009 is to make as many mommy friends as possible so my daughter can have play dates and such. Especially during winters when I cannot take her to the play ground we feel so bored and holed inside our home.

Resolution time: I am not into making resolutions because I learned very early on that I suck at keeping up any of those resolutions. But this year I am going to try.

1. To loose all my prego weight. Ya Babs is 2+ now and I am still as fat as I was when I got prego. A lot of my friends who met me after I had Babs or during my prego tell me that I look fine and all that. But they have not seem the 20 pound lighter me and I cannot explain to them how much it hurts to not get into my favorite tees or pants. Anyway. I have to do it this year.
2. To eat less sugar.

I will add more to the list as time flies by.

To everyone reading this blog A Very Happy 2010.

Love

ART

I am not lazy

Just been busy! Really hectic weekends and weekdays.

I loved Thanksgiving Weekend. It was fun. Four days, at home, with Babs and my husband's family. We did little and took good rest. Well, not really.

My SIL and I went shopping at 12.00am on Black Friday. It was super fun. We shopped a little but what we actually enjoyed was relaxing and going to a mall without the kids and buying stuff for ourselves for a change. It was good fun. We also followed it up early in the morning to go shopping at Macy's. All in all, I blew up quite a bit of our $$ and G was super upset that I only spent $20 for him.

One of the days when it was nice and 70 degs outside, we went to Lake Texoma. We got lost on our way there. So we kind of bungled around and landed up at this local Cajun restaurant. The hostess there was super nice. She helped us find out way back and also helped me find a place to ride horses. I was super excited.

We went to the horse riding place and learnt that we would each be given a horse to ride on, we will have a guide and it was a one hour tour in a 200 acre farm. I was really worried if Babs would get on a horse with G. She is afraid of the little horsie toys in the malls and play areas. So I was concerned. But she was a super sport. Mounted the horse with daddy and sang songs all through the trail.

G even galloped a bit but the rest of us stuck to a canter at best. The trail was super fun, lots of trees, and we all had brilliant horses that showed the best time. I want to do it again and if you live in Texas and want to go horse riding, ping me and I will give you contact info for Andy.

After the quick update I have to sign off. It will be two weeks before I ping back. Too much work and parents will be in town for a week. So until then...ciao :)

love

ART

Kick!

And I want to write something down. I am tired. Babs is sick again. I have a dentist appointment and life goes on.

I made breakfast this morning for work. It was my turn for the breakfast club at work. I made a frittata and a huge fruit bowl. I will put the recipe for the frittata on the girlsgonecookin.wordpress.com website soon. I made one mid-size tray and two mini ones. I sent one with G for his work, kept one for safety and the mid-size one and fruit bowl came to work with me. All is well.

I almost took the day off this morning because Babs had a fever the whole night but both her baby sitter and G told me not to worry about it unless the temperature runs high. AG, my colleague picked up the breakfast for me from home while I dropped Babs and came to work.

Like everyone wants to know how sucky my day was.

Anyways, I am watching the Telugu movie Kick, finally. I say finally because there is a funny story.

I do not know to read or write Telugu. I can only speak the language and I love the language but cannot write it. Dad tried three times to teach me and all three times I did not go past A and Aa. Learning to write Tamil was a necessity because I lived in Chennai but Telugu was just a luxury which I could live without happily.

Anyway, coming back to my story. I went to the store, asked for Kick, the guy handed me a DVD that said Kick written on it. Came home, saw the movie, it was decent, time pass and I was happy that I had seen the very popular movie.

Next day, I am talking to another Telugu friend to whom I proudly mentioned that I saw Kick and it was decent. He asked me, "so you like Ravi Teja?"

"No, I think he is ugly and old. But how does that matter, Kick has Allu Arjun in it."

He laughed and said, "nope, Kick has RT in it and Illeana."

I argued saying that he saw the wrong movie, "I should know, I saw the movie."

"What is the story."

I told him the synopsis.

"That movie is Parugu."

I was stunned. I had seen an entire movie thinking it was another movie. Had only I known to read Telugu, this mistake could have been averted, although I always fast forward the first 10 minutes. I was super embarrassed. I went to the store and demanded a return.

So, I am half way through watching Kick. I still cannot stand Ravi Teja. He is way too ugly, and old and Illeana is cute and such a mismatch for him. So when I finish it off, I will write more on the movie.

I have few other movies to watch over the weekend and hopefully I will have enough time. This is the first weekend in many when I have absolutely no plans and hopefully I will make the best use of it. Also, I pray and hope that Babs will get better soon and that I can take her out tomorrow if the weather permits.

With all that said.

I am signing off

ART

Taggggggg

So Megha put me up for this foodie tag. Yes, the truth is I love to eat although I hate to pay more attention to how it is made unless it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare a dish. And almost all my memories of good food is from my amma's kitchen and my growing up days...

• Deepavali mornings when my mom used to make Idli/dosa and Vadakari for breakfast. You should eat it once to know how yummy it is. I remember smelling the yummy Vadakari (the smell of cilantro and cloves) when you walk into the house after a fresh round of bursting crackers on the street.

• Krishna Jayanthi. Mom made boat loads of food for this day. More so on the line of sweets. It would range from laddu, murukku, sweet seedai, spicy seedai, thattai, somas, karasev, karaboondi, golbela, diamond cuts, mixture, etc. She used to at least make 13 items every Krishna jayanthi. Her preps for this festival would start a week ahead and she would cook these items and hide them from us because she did not want us to eat up everything before the festival itself. Every evening when I came back home from school I could smell what she had prepared and it would make me go hungry instantly. Mom always saved up some scraps for all of us to eat up in the evening...miss those days.

• I remember the days when we used to go to the pool during summer vacation, spend an entire noon there. Get tired and hungry instantly. Dad would buy us goldspot or some soda at the club and then buy us either bonda from the club or mom would have made fresh bread bajji's for us...those used to taste like nectar. My brothers and I would gobble them up as soon as they got out of the frying oil. Bread bajji and sauce, bonda and chutney, just plain ol' bajji and chutney...my childhood.

• This is going to sound weird, but the first time I ate Rajma made by G during our K-State days. I had never eaten that bean before ever. And when I came home from a tiring day at school, I gobbled up on this dish and then learned to cook it too. Later I cooked it so much that I began to hate it and quit eating it for almost three years. Now I cook it once in a while.

• Then Kandha Poha and chai for breakfast that G makes on Saturdays...yummm...he makes the best breakfast ever, er...he cooks the best ever next only to my amma.

Ok Tag time...Sum, Puja, Shilpa, Vimmmu, Arshiya...go on take it up...write it down.

Love

ART

Finally...

A long hiatus and I am back...I just could not get myself to write stuff here anymore. On top of it I am still contemplating a move to Wordpress. I just like so many things there that are not here in Blogspot. It is like Blogspot on steroids. But, then it is my first blog and it is close to my heart. It would feel like leaving my home for another one. A home I created with these two hands (literally) to another one. Although, I just might move...don't we all make changes for convenience???

Anyways, topic at hand. So the weekend of Deepavali was hectic. All three days. No kidding.

Babs turned two On Oct 17th. I could not believe it. I still cannot believe that she talks to me in perfectly understandable language. She tells me stories and gives me explanations. She is a little adult already. Feels like yesterday. Time sure flies when you are busy with life. And boy, was I busy!!!

For her birthday this year, we, as in G, his mom, me and Babs went to the aquarium. She had fun seeing the different animals in the rain forest zoo and then seeing her favorite fishes!! I am sure we will go there again probably next year.

Then on the next day, we had a small party at Chuck E Cheese for her and her kiddie friends. I decided that this year, I will not put all my friends with no kids through the misery of attending a kiddie party and pretending to enjoy it. So it was just Babs and six other kids and whose parents were also happy to get their toddlers out for a fun Sunday evening. I had fun and I hope others did too and that was day 3 of a very long weekend!

Oh! I did not tell you what we did on Day 1 right? Friday night I organized and threw this party for G's birthday. It was a surprise party. He did not have an idea about it and all he knew was that we were going to a friend's house for Deepavali dinner. Closer towards the party he started smelling something fishy but he was surprised and happy nevertheless. His mom offered to keep the little one at home so that mom and dad could get drunk, dance and party while the baby was kept safe sleeping on her own bed with her grandma.

We got back home around 4.00 in the morning and wished the little devil for her birthday. It was perfect. The weather, the brat and all of us together.

So ya...that was a helluva packed weekend. Actually all our weekends since the third weekend of September has been packed. It will be a packed one coming up too. I am hoping that we are a little chilled out next week. But honestly, I wont complain. Having family and friends around shows me that the beautiful Indian network of support system still exists, even though in small part there is always someone to help you out.

With that said, I would like to sign off on this beautiful Friday evening. See y'all around the corner soon.

Yours

ART

Babbi...

She talks a mile at a time. I am not lying. She really has big girl stuff to say and always wants to have her word in. So her favorite songs now are...

Chiggy Wiggy (Blue)

Aahun Aahun (Love Aaj Kal)

Hadippa (Dil Bole Hadippa)

Desi Girl (Dostana)

Mukkala (Kadhalan)

Maula mere (Anwar)

Haule Haule (Rab ne Bana Di Jodi)

Ye Ishq (Jab We Met)

Nagada (Jab We Met)

Nakka Mukka (Tamil Movie)

Among many others for which there is a constant you-tube request from her. The best part is she also sings these songs and many more and also has a matching dance step for each of the song. So if I do a bangra kind of hand movement she will guess it is Aahun Aahun and start singing it...or sometimes do the hand movement and ask me, "amma, ye kaun sa ghana hai?" (What song is this?)

She is a constant source of entertainment. She is doing balti (rolling on her head), jumps around imaginative hurdles, and is always behind me no matter where I am or what I am doing.

She can say all her alphabets and sing it too and also knows her numbers till 10. She can recite the Gayatri Mantra and also say Vakrathund and Om Shahanavavatu. I am trying to make her learn the Gita now :)

I am trying potty training but half-heartedly so she is not out of her diapers yet. But she can drink her milk and other liquids out of a glass instead of a sippy cup. And she does bite me when she is super happy or beat me when she is angry.

She has asked me, "Amma, tu monkey hai?" (Are you a monkey?), or "Papa, tu daboo hai?" (Are you dumb?). And she has also told her dad many times, "Papa, amma ko tang nahin karneka" (Don't disturb mom) in fultu Amchi Mumbaiyya.

My baby sitter tried in vain to teach her "aap" and "hum" but Babs goes on to say, "tereko" and "mereko." G thinks that she talks the typical Mumbai Bhai language. At best she says, "tu."

She speaks comfortably in Konkani, Hindi and English. And if you do not understand something she tells you in Konkani, she translates it for you in English.

And she loves dancing and singing. Here is a clip of her singing in June 2009.

She will be turning two this Saturday and it is good for me to know that she is hitting all her milestones at just the right time. I always thank God that I got a baby perfect to match my personality. She is not too demanding and can make do with what I provide for. My little brat. I cannot believe you are going to be two! Feels like it was yesterday when I held you in my hands and you fit into my palm...almost :)

Love

Amma ART

Girls Gone Cookin'

That is the name of our new blog.

It is a foodie Blog with about 11 of us girls who will be filling it up with fun recipes to share.

Please visit it to see the serious side of me!!! hehehehe

http://girlsgonecookin.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/boondi-laddus/

Here is our first post up already.

Thanks for being a patron for our new website.

Love

ART

Food Blog

I must confess, I love eating. Which is one of my woes because loosing weight is becoming a loosing battle for me everyday, and I cannot stop eating! This is how my life sucks.

So anyway, I want to start a food blog, of things that me/my hubby cook. Simple and easy to make stuff. But I want to do it with friends.

If you think you would be interested to join the group and contribute to recipes that you love making, please be my guest and comment on this post. So when I create the blog you will also be able to put your recipes on it easily. What say?

Thanks

Anu

Dushera!

Growing up I loved this season a lot. First it marked the end of quarterly exams and beginning of quarterly holidays. I hate going to school and the promise of a ten day long vacation just made me happy. Of course the last day of vacation always made me sad and me, along with all my friends would look for Varuna's interference in bringing the monsoon a little sooner to our parts of the world. Which of course meant more days off from school and more play time with friends who lived around our house.

Then it also meant the coming of Deepavali. All I can say is that I have a few really favorite festivals and Deepavali ranks very high on it. I mean who would not like to go and burst fire crackers, dress up, eat amazingly good food, and hang out in the house for at least three days depending on what day D actually fell on.

I have been getting super nostalgic offlate. I think it has to do with the fact that my daughter is almost two now and when I take her to places, I explain everything in context with what I knew as a kid. For example, yesterday we walked into the Temple. The first thing to the left I saw Golu. Golu is arranging dolls based on a myth or some really cute dolls in small steps. It is definitely very Tamizhian to do it but I am not sure if any other states also celebrate Navratri in this particular way. So, I showed it to Babs and I explained to her what it is all about and immediately I could only think of my days past when I was a little kid totting along my mom from one house to another.

Golu

Mom used to dress me up in nice pavadai sattai (silk skirt and blouse) every day in the evening and we would at least visit a minimum of two houses a day. And this was the norm for the nine days. Some one or the other would invite us and we would sometimes have to go to as many as five houses on a single day. Of course only women were invited and my brothers would wait for me eagerly to bring in the dhonnai (bowls made from lotus leaf) filled with goodies, of which channa dal was the most common item. Each person trying to outdo the rest will always put a spin to things they give to us.

My daughter Babs wearing a typical South Indian pavadai sattai

First it was me accompanying mom because my brothers wanted my dhonnai. Then it was me taking mom in my two wheeler because we were now in Chennai and we could not just walk to friends house. Bigger city meant more travel. I used to wear my pavadai dhavani now (half-saree).

And then I had to drive mom around in my car. I was big enough to get my License to drive. It was so much fun. I miss those days.

I also miss seeing cars decorated for Ayudha Pooja. What a site it would be. It was also the day when most of the road accidents would happen owing to the large number of pumpkins that were broken to ward off evil eye.

Check out the decoration on the lorry. Cars will be decked up sometimes with small banana plants on either side. I am not kidding, people go really crazy to ward off evil eye.

We also had to put our books and pens and other things that would help us in life down next to god and take a break from work until the next day. I always had my math text and my Hero pen kept before God hoping that I would clear math...well that was until I was in my 9th.

Typical Saraswati Pooja setup. This is how it would look at my home too.

There was always holiday homework that we would have to do and obviously I would not have done it. And it would be this one day when I would need to take it out and work on it but amma would say a big NO to studying of any form. I would then sit up late to finish it off before school started the next day and then the wait for Deepavali would resume.

Phew...Long post...but this was a part of my life in India. Chinna Chinna Aasai...

Love

ART

Pictures above are not from my camera and are copyrighted to the following websites:

Golu: theiyers.net

The Lorry: photographersdirect.com

The Pooja: Priyaskitchen.wordpress.com

Varayo Vennilave...

There was a time in my life when Brother and I would be next to our radio at 9 every night. It was time for a popular Tamil music show. I think it was called Geeth Mala. Also, there was the Sri Lankan radio channel that had real good Tamil music that we would tune in for. We would rarely miss it. We used to listen to comedy cassettes on our two-in-one and record our voices on a cassette to play it back when we would get bored during summer. We also had a record player in our house.

We would put our name down for the latest Tintin or Asterix that our lending library had acquired and would fight over it with other kids.

My friend would knock on the door very loud at 8 on Wed and Fri nights. It was time for Chirtahar or Oliyum Oliyum. We did not have TV and my neighbors across our door did. We would all watch TV together eating fruits and chatting. We would also see a program on animals called World of Science or World of Life together diligently.

Of course cricket, tennis and other sports were watched at the club which was just a stone throw away. Together we would cheer, boo, and cry. The club's canteen was always open to fill our happy or sad tummies. At that age I would go to the club to hang out with other kids than to watch TV.

We would go every Saturday night to the Open Air Theater in the club to watch movies, again we always made it into a picnic and fun event.

What fun memories. Our entertainment was plain and simple.

My dad got our first TV in 1989, and our township got cable TV the same year. They would transmit one movies a day and then had some random Russian and Chinese channels that sometimes had subtitles. The movies were fun though.

In spite of having TV in our house now, we would still go and watch it at our friend's house or they would come home. We wanted the company, the camaraderie and loved spending time together. Since TV programs were scarce those days, with Krushi-Darshan (Farmer's Vision) airing at prime time 7.00pm, we would all have dinner and go and hangout outdoors. Our parents would sit on the culvert outside our house and chat, while I would play with kids my size and my brother would hang out with his friends a little ways away. But, we were all together policing the place.

TV never ran the whole time. We had a lot of talk time and one on one interaction. We played a lot outside and enjoyed our time in the sun and rain. Crime rate was so low and life was so much simpler.

Now, things are so different. People are upset and frustrated if the TV does not work, if their favorite program does not get recorded on the DVR or if gmail goes down for half a day. Those days all this was non-existent. I cannot imagine I am saying "those days," already. But they are those days aren't they? Today this is an entirely new life.

For people born in my generation we have seen things go from walk man to a french fry size music player, from writing long letters to typing out words in a short form in e-mail. It was not a bad transition because we lived through it. My child might not know what a walkman is or what a radio/transistor looked like but she already knows what an i-phone is. I only wonder how my parents and yours kept abreast with these changes. Because, sometimes it gets difficult for me to catch up. I can only do either gmail or facebook or twitter at one time. Some people are at all three places at the same time. Phew.

I wonder how I lived those days. How could I have possibly entertained myself with just voice that came over a radio. How could I have written those 14 page letters to my friend in REC Trichy? How did I have the patience to wait for a reply? How could I watch Oliyum Oliyum that played one new song and 10 super old songs? How could I watch Rini Khanna read news on TV with barely any images? or watch a weather report that was outdated by 8 hours? When they said the storm will come tonight, the storm would already be over my house. But those days are simple...

I miss those days...

I remember a scene from the Tamil movie Autograph when Cheran will be riding on a bullock cart. The person driving the bullocks will ask him why he chose this mode of transport when he has so many choices. To which Cheran tells him, "I want to enjoy it before it becomes extinct and will only be present in the history books of little kids." Isn't that so true? Our life is not what it was and will never be because things that were a part of our childhood is not there any more!

In the end...its the memories that carry us ahead...

Selai Kattum Pennuk Oru Vasam Undu...

That is the first line of a song from the movie Kodi Parakuthu which stared Rajni and Amla. Well if you know me then you would know that I am a staunch thalaivar fan. I have always been one. The line tells that there is a special beauty for a girl who wears a saree. And oh my god! Do I agree with that or what???

Well the past weekend saw all my friends in sarees. It was beautiful. The color sarees bring to any celebration can be matched by none. It is stylish, classy, makes you look skinny, adds a glow to your face, and in all that it still comes out as being sexy. WOW! No wonder our country's population has no stopping point :)

When I was in school and college, I could never drape a saree myself. I never even tried. I would tell my mother and she would have one of her friends come and help me into a saree whenever I wanted to wear one. My mom draped a saree really well, but only for herself. She could never do the same for me. She would fumble. It was funny that we would both get into an argument and I would land up wearing a salwar suit. So from then on I had someone drape a saree for me. And I never learnt how to do it.

When I moved to the US of A, I was a bit lucky because I knew friends who knew the magic art and I tagged along, but when I moved to Dallas, I was alone. I had to figure it all out myself. I would call my sister-in-law over the phone and ask her to give me step by step instructions. It never looked right. I hated it. I slowly started to pay attention when friends helped me out.

Today after 30 plus years of existence, I could finally do it for the wedding this weekend. I got into my saree in less than 10 mins and I cannot tell you how proud I felt. I am the kind that is super comfy in a saree. I can run, dance, and do loads of masti in one but just could never figure out how to drape one. Now I have that conquered too! I feel so happy. And I am looking forward to more saree draping demanding occasions...bring it on people!

Love

ART

Alright! I will admit it!

I have said it here, and if you know me personally, you know that I can make small errors...like dropping a glass full of water or breaking a mug while taking it out of the cupboard.

But I am not irresponsible. I always return things to owners, I never forget important things and I keep my belongings to myself just fine. Well, that was until this weekend! In all the wedding Hungama for Sam-Shal's I lost/misplaced by Car keys and I have not been able to recover them yet. Numerous calls to the hotel and after bugging everyone I am still clueless...er keyless.

Thank god, as a forethought G and I had left a key with SD for a "just in case we lock ourselves out" deal and it came in handy. G got to go home with the duplicate house keys and bring our car keys.

I missed the reception dancing completely because I was running around trying to look for my lost keys. I felt really bad because I loveeeeeeee dancing and it was one of those rare receptions where G danced. G is not known for dancing. He is more of a verbal entertainer. But this time he got to dance and I could not even be there :(

The good part is that I was there for most of the reception which was super entertaining but at the end of the day I became, in Narsi's words, a Chabi-guma!!!!!!!

Love

ART

PS: Narsi, who cannot speak Hindi, called SD once a Chabi-guma because SD had misplaced his keys. It was hilarious because you should have also heard the accent and the emotion that went into it! And Narsi was there with me on that day when I was searching for the keys and aptly told me, so today you are the Chabi-Guma!

Another Award!!

Thanks P...

I really appreciate your giving this one to me...means a lot...thanks for those kind words!

I want to pass it on to...

Megha

Puja thakur

Shilpa

Prashanthi

Sum

And Suchi...do you have a blog address?

These are the few who visited and commented in the last few posts! Thanks y'all. You guys make me want to keep writing!

LOVE ART

TAG!! Plus AWARD! Wow! What a nice combi

I got tagged by Shilpa and got my first ever award from her too!!! Yay Thanks...Sorry I have been kinda slow in responding...but here it is!

1. What is your current obsession?

Husband, Daughter, Food and Movies...

2. What are you wearing today?

Maroon kurti over black pants.

3. What’s for dinner?

No idea, depends on what I will pick up at a store.

4. What’s the last thing you bought?

A gift for my friend's wedding.

5. What are you listening to right now?

Silence and someone typing away in the background.

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?

That she writes good blog...esp her midweek masala *wink* *wink*

7. If pigs could fly…complete the sentence?

Imagine the amount of stinky poo you would have to dodge falling on your head...yuckkk...gross...

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?

simple open toe slippers and a nice A/C system. I live in Texas and we take summer very seriously here.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

To my parents house.

10. What is one thing you want to learn to do? (changed)

To bake and decorate cakes...

11. What’s your favourite quote?

Live and let live.

12. Who do you want to meet right now?

My mom and dad

13. What is your favourite colour?

White

14. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?

My new halter...one and only...love it! Makes me feel nice.

15. What is your dream job?

I have a few...cake decorating topping the list right now...

16. What’s your favourite magazine?

None really.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?

Shoes. One of those nice yummy pairs I have been eyeing for a long time now.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?

I really try not to judge that part...because I suck at dressing myself up decently...you can wear whatever but if you do not have the right attitude to carry it off then the whole ensemble will look bah!

19. Who are your style icons?

Few of my friends who dress like divas...I love to see them in different things and learn new stuff everyday!

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?

Short and layered...but have not had a short haircut in a while..Sept 18 you will see a blog on my new hairdo!

21. What are you going to do after this?

Work

22. What are your favourite movies?

Swathi Muthyam (Sippikul Muthu), Vedam Puthithu, and now Kamineyyyyyyyyy

23. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can’t live without?

Moisturizer, compact, blush, eyeliner. Always...I rarely go out without them on me...and if I ever do, I love it! I like natural but living in the US has made my skin super dry and I have to have moisturizer...which then makes my skin glow...so the compact...which flattens my face...so the blush...and I always wore eyeliner since I started college in India.

24. What inspires you?

Achievers.

25. Give us three styling tips that always work for you:

• Jeans that fit well...both front and back.
• A nice top that will try to hide the imperfections of front and back well but not look tacky.
• Definitely Earrings and good sandals/shoes.

26. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?

I sulk. I feel sad. I talk to G about getting me some retail therapy. I of course, never do that...but land up finding my favorite jean and kurta which I have worn for about 1000 times now...at least.

27. Coffee or tea?

Tea!

28. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?

I play with Babs, nag G make him feel bad too...and then probably watch TV/movie and feel better...hopefully.

29. What is the meaning of your name?

Small, Atom

30. Which other blogs you love visiting?

I cannot list each and everyone out...I love all the ones on my blogroll and more...

31. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?

Anything sweet...Can't get enough of sweetness in the world.

Warm brownie with vanilla icecream, topped with hot chocolate...yummm....

32. Favorite Season ?

Summer, when the heat is out, I am out of hibernation too.

33. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?

I am going to make G make some Pizza for dinner...so you will defi get that. I also do have some left over Aloo Palak that I made...so you can help yourself to that as well :)

34. What is one book that you would suggest the whole world reads?(new question)

Life of Pi. I really enjoyed reading this book.

Rules for those who are tagged:

Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag eight or ten other new set of people.

I would like to tag:

• Asheeta (you are such a lazy ass that you need to do some writing and get that blog of yours going...
• Megha.
• Poorva.
• Prashanti
• Kavita
• Shar

And everyone who is interested to do it. You are welcome to do so. And guess what...you get to keep the award as well!!! Yay!

Love

ART

'Tis one of those...

days when I want to say so many things but my fingers feel numb and don't want to do much typing. Yet, I am trying...

I have questions...do you have answers?

• Do you think you are perfect? And if you are prefect, do you see others as being imperfect? And if you think so, do you go around flaunting your perfect-ness and correcting others?
• Why is that, this particular long weekend is not exciting me?
• Why do I hate changes so much?
• Why am I not happy when I should be elated?
• Why am I a heartless Bitch sometimes?
• Why? why? why????????

Actually I am not in a total sad mood but right now thoda not upbeat...

Anyways, I saw someone online who had been missing for a while. When I pinged him he told me that his mother had passed away. I was at loss for words. It gave me a super jolt and I told him how sorry I was. He told me not to worry because he was fine. I was surprised to hear that but I was also happy. And then a whole set of thoughts ran through my head...

I remember my mother mourning for my uncle. She would not step out of the house of talk to anyone but us for more than six months. She somehow could not get herself to meet people and discuss it. So dad did not invite anyone over and mom did not go out anywhere with us.

And here, I see my friend online, if only for briefly, I was still surprised and shocked. Not that I judge him, but it just made me think. I concluded that in my mom's time greeting the milk man at the door every morning or buying veggies from the door to door vendor would be today's equivalent to being online. It is something we have to do no matter what the surrounding circumstance is. Mom could not avoid cooking and we cannot avoid checking emails or just seeing what is happening in the world through our 17" monitors.

When I had Babbi, I had to be online the very same day. No matter what. I had to check email, send pics, and all those things. But in my mom's time, I am sure she took rest or spent time admiring me...

Anyways...enough of my sadness on a Friday before long weekend...

Hope everyone has a Fab Labor day!

Love

ART

And then it happened...

When it did, it did not feel like anything big. It was simple and easy and we did not pay much attention to it.

I was making a phone call from his apartment. No one was there and I had a long chat with a friend of mine in Mumbai and was talking to her about G. She had found out information regarding G from common friends and she warned me not to date G because he was mean to one of her friends. I told her, "whatever," because in my mind I liked this guy. He was cute, funny, smart, intelligent, blah, blah, blah...

G came in just when I was hanging up and he sat down. I got up to go back to my apartment when he asked me if I was in a hurry. I said, nope. The only deal was that school was starting the next day and I wanted to get organized a bit for that. He told me to sit down and chat for a bit and I sat down and we both started talking.

He told me about his past and I did about mine. It was literally like we were both laying our past in front of each other trying to start something new. And at the end of it, when I expected nothing, he held my hand and told me, "I think I like you."

I was like, "what do you mean like me?"

"I think I like you as a person, as a whole."

And I was silent. My heart was racing. I had wanted this to happen forever since we became friends, which was like 5 days ago (on August 15th) but not like this. Well, I actually had no plan for it. Now I was scared that if I accepted too soon, then it might seem like I was being too ready. While I thought for a few seconds G asked me, "what are you thinking?"

"You are talking about serious thing leading to marriage?"

"Well, I am too young for that now, but if things work out for that long then why not?"

"Ya, thats fair enough. Because even I am not ready for a commitment you know."

"I agree."

Thinking I am super smart I told him, "Can we wait till the end of December, be friends and see how that works and then decide if we want to date?"

"Sounds like a plan." Now what man would not like to have a non-commital relationship? I think I gave him exactly what he wanted.

But unfortunately for him, from August 20, 2000 he was hooked to me for life. Little did he have an idea of what was waiting for him starting the very next day.

On the very first day of us being "friends-to-be-dating" I probably gave him hints that I was looking for something more serious than just trying it out and being friends.

• I demanded that he go for long with me on campus late in the night.
• I demanded he hold my hand.
• I demanded that I know about everything he is upto. No secret between friends right?
• All these and many more...

Well, in short I was being his girlfriend! Poor G did not make me sign a friendship contract and he was in it for life.

Games we Play!

We are all settled into the mundane life of student-hood. Orientation and all that done and it was time for the "Swagat" celebrations which invite the newbies into town by the Indian Student Association. Swagat was combined with August 15th celebrations and we were all there at the flag hoisting. I ignored G completely the first time he saw me there. He was looking soooo cute (at least for me) but still I knew that he was the one who had irritated me a couple of days ago and hence I should ignore him.

He walked up to my roomie as we filed back into the building for intro's and asked her, "Why is she not talking?" and she was like, "I dunno, you ask her."

And we then we did the whole intro thing and then food followed by games. We played musical chair. G and his best friend from UG who also went to KSU stood at both ends to remove the chairs and keep the game going. I won. And he tried to talk to me but I was like "whatever," and kept cold shouldering him.

Until he could not bear it at all. He came home with N after Swagat was over and spent sometime talking with us three roomies. It was fun. We laughed a lot because G and N have a good sense of humor and he was trying to make friends with me. We made friends...

Cute Sardar

It was our first Friday in our own apartment. We were still getting used to the whole living without family stuff and my roomie and I decided to hit the bed early because we really had nothing planned. Around 12.30am it started. Loud foot banging noises from above. We had three Sardar's living above, of which one looked like a Greek God...awww...anyways...the Sardar's were drunk and having a party.

My roomie and I got mad. We took our brooms and tried to pound on our ceiling hoping they would hear but to no avail. Then we checked the door right across from ours and saw that all of them boys were gone and probably were at the party too. Then we went down and called G.

He was all groggy eyed but told us not to worry and that he would talk to the cute Sardar and help us get to sleep. And so we waited....

waited...

waited...

half hour and still it did not seem like the music or dancing would stop. Roomie and I climbed up the stairs and knocked the door...and guess what we saw...G with a beer in hand dancing bangda. He stopped half way his step and had the sheepish smile and told us, "how about joining the party."

ARRRRRGggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh...we requested cute sardar to not make noise as we wanted to sleep and it was already 2.am plus and headed down.

That was the last Friday in my two years at school when we slept at 2.00am. The rest of our KSU life we hardly ever slept on a Friday night.

Falling Lungi

When we moved in, we did not have phone lines yet. So my roomie and I went to G's apartment because the rest of the apartments were also filled with newbies and none of them had phone connection. I called home and everyone, told them I was safe and sound and moved in. After making the call I was heading up to my apartment when I saw G and friends standing and chatting on the mid-landing (remember he is in the basement and I lived on first floor but the entrance to our building was on the mid-landing). G was wearing a lungi that he had pinched off a fresher.

The minute he saw me, he told me, "run to your apartment fast. I don't know how long the lungi will stand without falling down and it might fall any minute now."

I gave him the WTF look and ran up stairs and then could not stop laughing. He was (is) super funny.

Shut Up!

Lock, stock and barrel, which equalled two big suitcases and some bedding that my brother had bought me, I moved to Manhattan, Kansas. G was nowhere to be seen. There were two new guys M and S who introduced themselves as the substitute housing co-ordinators when G was away on a vacation to Ohio. These guys showed me one crappy apartment/house after another. I was so mad at G that he had said one thing and had not done it and here I was with two sweet guys but no apartment materializing.

G was back in town and I met him briefly once in the food court and just exchanged plesantaries. He was busy with guys and I did not feel like talking to him because he had dumped me in regards to getting me the perfect apartment.

Then after using my Tamil influence with K4 (an senior student) I moved into the apartment K4 was moving out of. Which, as luck would have it was on the 1st floor diagonally opposite of where G's apartment was in the basement.

When all this was sorted out G came back. He told us that he will be with us through the signing the lease process and told us to meet him at our apartment-to-be around noon. My future roomies and I were there and so was G. He started chatting with us and I had a whole bunch of questions and kept shooting one after the other. Suddenly, G turned and looked into my eyes and pointed to his watch and said, "I am going to clock you, dont talk for another five minutes."

*silence*

I could not beleive that someone actually said that for me. I know I am very chirpy and talkative but no one has ever asked me to shut up ever before that and ever after that. I looked wide eyed at him and then got all sad and such. Embarrassed I held my peace nad kept quiet and from that moment on I hated him and decided that I will never talk to him again.

But as we all know, life has its own idea of what is to be and whats not to be...

Nine Years!!!

Nine years to the day G and I decided that we should start dating seriously. And guess how many days it took us to decide that after we met???? About 5-10 days approximately. G's and my saga is very funny. Actually, it is like a movie story, a cliched desi movie story. I will write about it in parts.

On August 5th, my brother and I decided to pay Kansas State (KSU) a visit so drove from Kansas City to Manhattan, Kansas where I was going to do my masters. I had spoken to a GS over the phone because he was listed as the housing co-ordinator on the Indian Student Association guide and he had told me to meet him at a certain location at a certain time (think it was like 4.30pm or something).

Brother and I were there but the hero was not. So we took help of other students around and checked out the campus and got preliminary paper work out of the way...and then we got back to where we were supposed to meet him. I sat in the living room of one K4 when G walked in. Looking so HOT (sizzzlinggggg) that I was for a second taken aback. I knew that he noticed me too.

He told me to move in and he would make sure that I would have a house ready to move in. I liked his confidence and all the charisma along with his good looks. Happy to see that KSU was not filled with pazham (fruit) material headed back home...

So that is how we met...

Rest in next...short post keeps it interesting...I think...what say?

Compliments and Me!

I suck at receiving compliments. I know some people who are really in control of the situation when someone throws a compliment their way and handle it all poised and nice...and then there is me. I say that because everytime I get a compliment I do one of the following or worse:

• I blush, smile and avoid the person the rest of the day lest I burst the bubble that the person saw me through.
• I say, "me? really? no way...you are not looking right, I actually have a flat nose"
• or I say, "ya, but yours is better." and then get into an argument as to why I suck and go about proving it.
• or I am surprised, shocked and look embarassed that someone noticed and complimented.
• or I do something silly to make the person wonder why they ever told me anything at all.

Do any of you have that problem? Or is it just me??!!!

Love

ART

Love Aaj Kal

A very simple story and directed decently with some really funny moments and some romantic moments too. When I got out of the theater I did not get the total feel good feeling that I got after "Socha Na Tha" or "Jab we Met." The movie is all fine and dandy and ends happy for everyone but still the feel good factor was missing. I exited feeling...teek hai. Not bad. I did not waste $5 but it would have been better on a DVD than in a theater.

You know there are certain movies that have to be watched in a theater. Like action movies or Rajnikanth movie. I say Rajnikanth movie only because of all the hungama and fun the people do before the movie starts and during the movie. Most of the time you will have to watch the DVD to figure out the parts you missed out because of excessive yelling or commenting but nevertheless it is fun. You will know what I am talking about when you see one. Even G was impressed. Which is why Rajnikanth is Super Star as all these cheers and fan clubs were started for him before anyone else ever had one.

I digressed. Sorry about that. Back to LAK...Saif looks old. Old enough to be Padukone's dad and he is trying very hard to look, sound and act cool. Sorry daddy, I can only see your age from the lines on your face. And D looks pretty and cute and please honey do not try sexy it is not becoming for you, and golly how emaciated you look. Anyway, both DP and SAK have done a very decent job at acting.

Rahul Khanna has been reduced to a joke. He was, when I was in college the coolest dude on TV and now he is doing small bits in movies with two line dialogues. I feel for you bro!

Catchy dialogues, decent songs, but the movie did not do it for me. It is definitely an average watch...if you like romanceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Love

ART

Love it or Kick it

We have seen uber-romantic movies from the past in black and white. In all Indian languages...be it Devdas in Hindi or in Tamil or Telugu or be it Missiamma in any of the languages. But the director could not show scenes of love making or even lip locking for that matter. Yet we knew exactly what emotions were springing up between the actors. The actors were good and the directors were even better. No kissing of skin show was necessary to show that someone was in love or going through lusty love feelings. It was obvious.

But with the onset of Western influence each and every Indian director in his own way has been trying to push the envelope. In the very recent past on-screen romance in Hindi and Tamil movies has taken a sharp leap. the past few years we have seen the so called "item numbers" increase very rapidly. It became mandatory for every commercial and sometimes even non-commercial movie to incorporate an item number into the script. In most cases they were just interjected to appeal to the front benchers and the mass in general.

A lot of item numbers of course are very raunchy and do get very explicit in the lyrics as well as bodily gyrations. Most of us ignored the video and hummed the songs like "beedi Jalai..." (Omkara 2007) just because the tune is catchy. Of course Sunidhi Chauhan has made a fortune on these very songs and a few actress gained popularity off these things.

But now the directors want to incorporate lip locking and love making scenes in every movie so that they can get the attention of the mass and use it as a lure instead of using the story or the script or other movie-making talents to attract audience.

If you were to ask a director or an actor why there is a love making in the scene, the director will say, the script demands it and the actor or actress will say, "I only did it because the script demanded it."

I am writing this because I saw the hindi movie "New York" (2009) last night and there is a scene showing John A and Katrina K love making in a song sequence. Now I want to ask the director, please sir, elucidate me, how on earth did that scene do any good to the movie?

How did that scene help the story? Is this a heist story where the actor sleeps with the leading lady, steals the secret code while she is snoozing away? Or is he going to kill her afterward? Why do we need to see them making love? So that we understand how they land up with a kid afterward? Would'nt her saying excitedly, "I am pregnant" not give us the watchers clue that they had to have had sex to have a kid? We are certainly not stupid you know and as far as I am concerned about kids, that peice of information is unecessary to them.

I was so mad. I can understand a movie titled "Kama Sutra" showing love making scenes. I am not going to take my kid to that movie period, but a movie on terrorism? why? If he was trying to attarct girls by showing John half naked and the men with Katrina then director failed on more counts than just bad direction and casting. If a movie sucks, no matter how many love making scenes you include it is going to flop. But if a movie is good then you cannot stop it now, can you? I do not remember seeing any love making scene in Rang De Basanti...hmm...wonder how the people saw it!

In a hurry to attract the masses directors seem to be forgeting to make the script and story the leader instead they are trying out short cuts and short cuts only last for a short time...so go on and make GOOD movie and not shoddy B graders.

Love

ART