i wasted 15 minutes to think for a title of this 10-minte post

I had almost forgot to post for today and just now at 11:15pm I rushed out of my bed when thankfully it striked me that I have to post. Yaya to the Blogathon 2014 spirit.


Just a snippet of our conversation today evening while shopping:

Wife (showing her husband one dress *kurti* to be specific): Look, I am getting this dress for 40%!!!!!

Husband (nonchalently): uhh, ok.

Wife (showing off her tact in looking for good deals) : See, we went to Biba but they didnt have this on sale. Then in Shoppers Stop, they had this same kurta for 10% discount only. Online I was not getting my size. Pantaloons always have better discounts than others. (Husband and wife had roamed to these stores prior to coming at Pantaloons store)

Husband (with a straight face and sarcasm dripping with every word spoken): You have missed to check the prices in Lifestyle store. May be now you should  check there.

Wife:




Image courtesy: Google images

All in a day's PLAY

Act-I

Time: Sunday late morning, circa-2011.

Venue: Breakfast table

Scene: Husband is reading newspaper. Wife is doing something which she would be unable to recall later but chances are she would either surfing internet meaninglessly or reading the Sunday-newspaper supplements.

Wife (  last evening her husband had got 3 entry passes of a local fest for her and another friend-couple which was scheduled to happen when he would not be in town): Oh ZZ you are so nice. I am so lucky to have you. Actually I am very lucky to have such nice ‘men’ in my life.

Husband: ‘Men!!??’

Wife: Yes. You, my father and A. (Pointing out some recent incidents)Look, you got me entry passes even though you wont be able to come for that fest yourself, and remember, how papa helped me in getting my dress done  in super-busy time for Diwali. And during our childhood, A used to cycle in hot June afternoons to get me ice-cream whenever I wished.

Husband: Hmmm..

Wife (continuing with the feeling of gratitude): I wonder why you guys are so nice to me? I am definitely so lucky that som….

Husband (interrupting wife mid-way):  We do it because we know you will not let us live in peace if we don’t. (bursting into a huge laugh)

Wife (coundnt speak a word as she joins her husband laughing out load)

 Act-II

:p Just couldnt resist it.:p:p

 Image Courtesy: Google images

Recharge your life, recharge your hair

     

         Travelling is a good way to recharge your life. As scarcity of leaves did not give me chance to travel much,  when I get an opportunity to go to Jaipur for official tour, I planned with ZZ to travel to Jodhpur for 2 days after my work at Jaipur ends. We had already been to Jaipur last year and I have been enamored to see the Blue City for some time. So off began our adventure.

          The adventure began a bit early than I expected. In the first time of my life, I missed my train. Actually I had the fortune of witnessing my train leaving the platform right before my own eyes and I could not do anything. The plan was that ZZ would reach Jaipur by bus and from there we had to take our train to Jodhpur. So I was waiting for him at the railway platform and desperately calling him from time to time to know his whereabouts. His bus was far behind its schedule and ultimately his bus got late and I waited for some more hours idling in the Jaipur railway station. Finally we took a night Volvo bus that reached Jodhpur early in the morning.

            Jodhpur the city of blue. As we were taking our breakfast in the roof-top restaurant of our hotel, the majestic Mehrangarh fort atop the hill stood high in front of us.

excuse the bright photography:p

             We went to Jodhpur Palace,  Jaswant thada and finally went ahead to Mehrangarh Fort. It is said to be the most well-maintained fort of India. It was the location which give the birds-eye view of the city. 

blue-blue everywhere

And while the fort visits are all history, sight-seeing, museums and views, there was the surprise. Zip-lining by Jodhpur Firefox!!!!

                Now let me share a secret here: I am not very comfortable with heights. And this idea of Zip-ling covering the whole fort was such an awesome offer. You know the feeling of excitment and nervous together, that was me. I triple-checked my safety gear, gloves, ropes et al and prayed ferevently and saying to myself "All is well.All is well." Our guide eased me saying “Nobody has died doing zip-line,so chill." Oh well.

                Jodhpur the city of sun. I love sun. I love myself some Vitamin D. But walking in the sun did take its toll on my hair. For eyes there was sun-glasses, lipbalm for lips, for skin it was  moisturizer but hair –hair were unaided. I had forgotten to carry scarves. One important precaution one has to take while ziplining is: tying your hair.  My hair what with all the sun, dust and sweat have spread In all directions and become coarse.

that red dot among trees is me

              But what I can say , I have a great time. The zipline was swift and before realizing, we had already crossed 7 ziplines with elan.The best part was I finished it. Yay!! I did it. I was happy on my achievement, of winning over my fear. I came back recharged. 

facade of fort all lighted 

              The trip was refreshing. Just the right pack of sun, sand, history , exotic views and adventure packed in 2 days. All in all a good trip. The hair are another story and now I wonder that if my hair were recharged , then I didnt even need the external help of scarves etc and would have enjoyed the trip more without any worry of tangled and drizzy hair. What a topping it would have been if my hair were as recharged as I was and how fabulous it would have made my photos. And now that I know the sureshot way of recharging my hair (http://www.sunsilk.in/) , I know I can go to my next trip to Jaisalmer flaunting  my tresses without any worry.

This blog-post is an entry for the Indi-blogger "Recharge Your Hair" Contest.
  

On Marriage

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow

-Kahil Gibran on Marriage

Favourite Rain Song

As I was blog-hopping I came across a blog where someone has written down her favourite rain songs. This brought back the memories of an incident that happened last year.

So, we were on our way to Rishikesh when it suddenly started raining. It was beautiful weather and we both were humming tunes in between the conversations and silence.

Me: You know what is my favourite rain song?

ZZ(driving=concentrating on the road=eyes on the road and ears towards me and mind dont know where): No. Tell me..

Me (ghumming the son): This one. Have you seen the video. Akshay and Sonali are there in it.. Great Video..lovely music..

ZZ: Ohh..Yes, good song..

Me: I dont have that song in my laptop. I soo want to listen it.Download this song for me, ok.

ZZ: Sure..I too like that song. Akshay wala naa.

Me: yeah..

The song I was talking of is this one..

I really like this song. The voices of Hariharan and Chitra creates magic.

Those were the days when we were in the long distance relationship. The next time ZZ came, he told me non-chalantly that he has brought the video song and I get it copied before he leaves. I excitedly took the pendrive and dear friends this was the song waiting for me..

Apparantly, irrespective of my soulful rendition of that song, the only thing the man's mind registered was "Akshay"+"Rain Song".

Ah well, Cest la vie..:)

Middle path

Wife: I again have acne appearing on the face.

Husband (working at the laptop) (sounding supportive): no dear, you are looking fine. I dont see them (from here).

Wife: No, they are there. You cant see them from afar. Look..(leaning closer and brings her face in the line of sight of husband)

Husband (examines as a specialist through different angles) ( finding himself stuck between truth and daresay): Umm, ahmmm..I dont know. "well, they are not visible from here "

Someone is surely learning the tricks of marriage..

Things I hate/ love about you

"I love it when you snooze with me

Care-free and sound.

And hate it when you wake me up

Saying baby, its 7:00 am around.

And hate it when you fight with me

Those silent battles again..

And love it when the ice is broken

And we are back in the playfield sane.

I love it when you like the food

That i cook with love for you

And hate it when you forget to

Praise it highly like you used to

And i hate it when you watch those channels

With action and sci-fi

And love it when you blabber on

As i watch “Desparate Housewives”.

I love it when i see you

Rolling on the waves so happy

And hate it when you drive so fast

In the roads with traffic scary.

And i love the way you heartily laugh

Like a child on stupid jokes.

And i hate the fact that i don’t have

Dimple on cheeks like yours.

I love it when we travel around

This keeps me sane and going

And hate it when i cant match

your exuberance high and flying

I love you for the flowers you bring

And for your trademark ‘biryani’

I love you for your beautiful heart

For the love and understanding.

I hate you too as well mister

As i often keep saying

I hate for the zillion things

In my heart i know I m lying..

You see how much I love you

And hate you that as much

But if I want to change one thing

I ll keep you always as such."

And with these cheesy lines i break this self-implied blog-'fast'. You see, office, where my creativity is at its peak;)has blocked blogger..:(

Image courtesy: http://blog.ixwebhosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/love_hate.png

And thereby hangs a tale

So I bought this book sometime in February last year. The book is a collection of short-stories by Jeffrey Archer. one of the reason i bought this book was the waves that one of its story "Caste-off" was creating. This was the true story based in India but my favourite among all of them was "The Queen's Birthday Telegram". short and sweet. After I was done reading the book, ZZ took this book with him . Those were the days when we were in a long-distance relationship. I had praised very highly of this book stating that the stories are short and easy to read. He took that book saying it would make a good read on his train –journeys.

Now reading for pleasure is not ZZ's forte. Months passed, weather changed, vacations were taken, bags were changed, I moved in with him but the book never left his side. He always carried that book along with him on his way to office. No matter how many times he emptied, cleared and refilled his back-pack, that book proudly lied there. He carries the back-up regularly to office, with the book inside it hoping he would get to read in his Metro ride to-and-fro home. Now in the so crowded metros, I can well imagine no one can get a chance to stand properly lest think about reading.

So as I saw him once again, ready to go office, his back-pack hanged on his shoulders, with the book inside, I thought, so apt. “And thereby hangs a tale”.

When i was 25...

ever since i saw those ads of 25 years of kotak mahindra, i was dying to write a post like this. first, as i have already mentioned,the office where most of the waking hours are spent has blocked blogger and second the home connection was cut for a very long period of time.. So today only i got the net connection back, and here i am writing my idea of how 25 was ..

So when i was 25..
1) no miracle happened. i was still the same confused soul that i am.
2) gifted myself the Dell laptop, i was wishing to buy for some time.
3) got my first bouquet.
4) realised that sometimes God's test your patience and one should use one's senses to deal with it. Emotions are good but one must keep the mind in place to plan and act at the next best chance.
5) got married.
6) realised that no matter how much you smile, laugh, grin at your other photos..its the wedding photos that matter most. So one has to keep the ear-to-ear smile/ coy grin intact on one's face throughout the wedding.
7) flew on plane for the first time in my life! Yes! i am a small town girl.did engineering in the same state, got job in that very state and the job involved no tours. The travel i had of distant places were till date all done in Indian Railways:) and i had a fear of heights so yay, finally i did it.
8) watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time and yes, loved it. And also "Casablanca", and "Amelie" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's".. thanks to zz who has this amazing collection of movies and a decent broadband connection, i got to watch these classics.
9) got my own car, a driving license but no driving skills. I have to learn this.
10) made peace with the fact that if you really want to change something, change your self.

so well, 25 was a great year to be. and i hope the coming years will be more interesting and fun..

welcome idiot-box

So, in february last year, i wrote this post about the absence of idiot-box in my life. Strangely, I never felt the need and it used to surprise my friends and parents.'Kanjoos' they would say to me 'but how can you stay without tv, yaar?'. After marriage, since I and ZZ had to live in separate cities for some months, my austere life continued.
But in August, I changed location and moved in with ZZ. Our days of living as bachelors had come to an end and we have to make a "grihasthi";). Shopping started, priority list made of what to buy first and what is urgent. I had made him clear about my stance for TV and TV was at the bottom in our priority list. But then, everytime we were at Home-Town or Big-bazaar, I could spot ZZ looking dreamily at the TVs on display, enquiring about the features and offers. Every morning, while reading newspaper, he would exclaim on seeing ads" hey, great offers on Tv yaar..there's this new technology LED which.." You get the drift, right? Then, the big sporting extravaganza called CWG happened, and the need of TV was felt more.
One cant keep a man away from his toys for long, so I had some time back, have agreed of us buying it this Diwali. While I am the kind, who thinks a lot (and dont do much) and asks for opinions/ reviews before any purchase, ZZ is more of a instant kind of buyer, getting anything he likes without much thought. and in the same fashion, today morning ZZ declared we are going to get a TV today. The man kept his words, and right now, busy setting the TV while I write this post.

Stay tuned for the news of TV/ remote wars.

If only...

Dear ZZ,
I would not have declined your so many “chalo, chalet hain naa” requests with one alibi or other
nor would I have dared to rejoice when your attempt to book the show tickets online get unfruitful
nor would I have not succumbed to your reference “We haven’t seen a single movie together(in movie hall)”
if only I knew that you so much wanted to see the “Clashes of the Titans” that you went for the 10:30pm show alone after the 19+hour journey(that included accompanying me to another city and returning back) and 5+hour work in the past 32 hours.
P.s: (Edited to add: I was in the another town when this incident happen)

ek choti si love poem :D

"Yes, love is in the food I cook
And in your lavish praises
But, turn and see the love when I look
As you volunteer to do the dishes"
:D :D
P.S I have changed my header from the MS-Paint image I made to the photo ZZ clicked. Tell me how it is??

Quote-Unquote

As I was browsing the net in the office, I came across this very beautiful and profound piece of wisdom on marriage.
It reads,
" To keep your marriage brimming,

With love in the loving cup,

Whenever you're wrong admit it;

Whenever you're right shut up. "

Immediately, as a good partner I CtrlC CtrlV it and send this to ZZ through email hoping he would imbibe the lesson of these words.(Oh yes I am die-hard optimistic still thinking I can change my husband..) As we had some argument a day before this piece made sense too..
Afterwords when I checked my mailbox this was what ZZ shot back.
“
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Whenever you're right shut up ..........”