Thank God There's an App for That..

OK, so this time I am skipping the usual "introduction" of listing down lame excuses for not checking this space and jumping straight to the content. Yes, good news - I found a topic to write on ;-)

Baby D is 2 months old now and has already taught me that motherhood is no easy project. And you thought pregnancy was tough :-p It has been almost a year of free medical advices, free dietary tips, free criticisms and free This-is-all-for-your-baby's-well being stuffs. Amidst all that, I did my own share of research too. At any given point of time in the last 11 months if you didn't see me eating an apple, you'd find me scrolling on the computer. By the 3rd trimester I had become an obsessive info-fanatic.

Admittedly, smart phones never appealed to me. In fact I felt like being from Neanderthal era when I said Android phones are not great. Windows phones are ok-ish I thought. Such were my opinions that I feared voicing them in public. Enter anniversary gift by tech savvy Dear Husband - an iPhone this time (no, not 4S. Thanks to 4S, the price of 3GS dropped like pigeon poop!) and I fell in love with it instantly. I was more than relieved that FINALLY I liked a smart phone! Information addiction got worse from then on. I dug out pregnancy apps and installed them. And believe me, few of them are life-savers!

So I decided that I should share my opinion about these great apps for the new-age moms and soon-to-be moms. Here goes! (Did I say I was skipping intro and jumping straight to the topic? Well, half way through I changed my mind and decided to take you on a ride. I guess I didn't say that ;-) )

1. WhatToExpect's "What to expect when you are expecting" app:
What to Expect When you are Expecting is a famous book that would-be moms will hear about. Though the app is not as comprehensive as the book, it has interesting features like a pregnancy tracker with information on how much the baby might weigh right then, the gestational age (GA) etc. The app also provides detailed information on the growth of the foetus and the changes in the mama week by week. The daily tips is a store house of information for a first time mom and dad. The best part of the app is the WTE forum.
The app will help you join the appropriate due-date community where you can discuss topics with would-be mothers going through the same phase as you. Even little problems/queries you have would mostly be already answered there and so you don't have to wait for your next appointment at your OB/GYN's to ask them - silly ones too :-)

Pro: Lots and lots of information on the daily tracker and the forums
Con: The forum is mostly US based. So you won't find anything "Indian" in there. I think babycentre.in has an app that has forums with Indian moms. I did not try their forum though have read the pages.

2. Contraction Timer Lite:
This app lets you track "the much awaited contractions" and you can chart their frequencies. With this data, you can, to some extent, make out if they are the 'false contractions' or the real deal or how soon you need to reach the hospital! When a contraction starts you would start the timer and stop it when it ends. The length of each contraction is also measured this way. You can email this data though I don't know why it is needed. Probably you can email this to your OB/GYN if he/she has so much of time to check emails and read charts :-p
There was one more similar app called "Full Term".

Pro: Simple interface and easy to use - much needed when the pains from the contractions can blind you :)
Con: Well, I never actually used it(probably just 20 min) because though I was induced the contractions never came and so I was wheeled into the operation theater. So in such cases, you never get a chance to use it!

3. WhatToExpect's "What to expect in the baby's first year" app:
This was a natural transition from the WTE's pregnancy app. Once you reach 40 weeks of GA, the pregnancy tracker app will start suggesting you use the baby tracker now :-) And if you liked the pregnancy tracker, you will install the baby tracker as well. The baby tracker has features to track feedings, sleep times, diaper changes and vaccinations.You are advised to feed the baby on a strict schedule for the 1st 2 weeks - typically every 2 hours and I was writing the timing on a book initially. I was pleasantly surprised to see baby tracker's feed tracker in the same template I had created on paper! And since I was supplementing with formula also, I could keep track of when I formula-fed him and when I breast-fed him (yeah, including which side!! Hilarious to think of - but then highly useful I would add!). Baby tracker also provides interesting articles like how to soothe a baby, tips for colic babies etc. Yeah, it has the link to the forums as well.

Pro: You are going to be too busy to remember when you last nursed, how long you nursed and which side you nursed. Leave it to this app and look at the logs when you have time!
Con: There are 4 trackers in it - feeding, diaper changes, sleep, vaccinations. I think using all of them is quite impossible and you'll be constantly on your phone entering data with your little one feeling neglected :-p It is possible to use just one of them. I stopped using it after 2 weeks when the frequency of nursing stabilized.

4. Sleep Machine Lite :
This is my favourite of all and my life saver! Sleep machine provides a set of low-frequency repetitive sounds proven to induce sleep in human beings. Its proven that babies get soothed by white noise and other similar repetitive noises. This app has the classic rain, drizzle, train, breeze etc. The one that worked for Baby D was chimes. It is so calming that I play it every night before he is put to sleep. I can't claim its the app that puts him to sleep, but surely, the app does calm him.
I installed another similar app called Sleep Pillow which has fewer tunes. It didn't impress me.

Pro: When every tactic suggested by everybody around fails, use this - it not only calms a fussy baby but it calms the nervous mommy too :D
Con: What I mentioned as a pro can become the con too. A tired sleep-deprived mommy rocking a baby in her arms and a sleep inducing music is a deadly combination :-))


So that sums up my fave apps from available categories. There could be apps to track your doc visits etc, but I used the plain old calendar for it. I only wish they had an app to get the baby to burp as well :-p

Dear new mommas, bring it on for they say "There is an app for that" :-)


Note: All the apps mentioned are free. Android users, don't feel disheartened, am sure all these apps have a version for android phones as well.

The same old sorry post of Dec : Yet Another year - or was it?

I hate to see the stats, but yeah, they are there to speak the truth - 7 posts so far in year 2011 and this is the last one. Bloggie Dear, I am just too embarrassed to say sorry again! May be I have lost interest to write long posts! And that is why I come once in a while and scribble two lines, conveniently tagging it as 55-fiction (or sometimes even less) and leave 55-fiction cross and confused :-)

Anyways, there is no point saying anything now. Its all over the blog to see. I have lost interest and yes, I do feel guilty!

Year 2011 started well, in fact. If you remember, I got the DSLR as a surprise gift. We took off to Ooty to spend a quiet weekend soon after. A rather uneventful trip, but, nevertheless, enjoyed it as all we did was laze around. Had somebody told me then that that January-trip would be the first and last holiday of 2011 I would have "Bah"ed and laughed it off. More on it later!

We lost somebody dear in March. It was the first time I saw death before my eyes. There was something very eerie about it. A feeling of defeat, yet, something calming about the silence. I wouldn't want to face another one in my life! No wonder literature loves to personify death so obsessively.

Two back to back weddings in April. The March and April travels took a toll on my poor back and I declared I wasn't going to travel anymore for another few months. I guess I had not really meant it literally. But that was indeed my last train I saw this year :-p

I can't remember what happened in May and June. Oh yeah, I inched another year closer to 30 in June! And I tried my hand at baking. The result was not bad and I was quick enough to announce it all over the online media. And going by the Gemini trait, I haven't touched the oven much after that! "Just like the DSLR" - S would have loved to add!


June-July had us earnestly planning for that big holiday of the year. Only, this time, there was more planning than usual. We didn't even have a place we could go to. Project Budget Dreams wasn't moving anywhere even after weeks of browsing and estimates. By early July, all we had was a go-ahead for a week's leave from office - usually the last bit to fall in place on all our other vacations! Surprising! And we should have guessed everything happens for a reason and He was having his own fun here!

So began the roller coaster ride which makes 2011 not-just-your-yet-another-

year. Needless to say, the holiday plan didn't work out. We nevertheless took the 1 week break because, well, I had to. Meanwhile, we realized to our pleasant surprise that the next trips will have to wait until an infant ticket is booked too :) I have no idea where August to December got lost!

Ride so far has been good, though my to-do is filled with "Take doc's appmnt", "Take scan appmnt", "Meet doc"s! Hoping to have an exciting 2012! And I hope I won't be doing this sorry-post again in Dec 2012 too!

Happy 2012 :-)

Why can't I find him handsome?

Long long ago, when Bollywood was singing all about dil, jigar, pyar, deewana and mastana again and again, the 7 year old me used to swoon at Aamir Khan's boyish charms in QSQT. He was the cutest I thought. Soon enough Salman Khan and Bhagyashree did all those Friend-cap and Kabootar things and I was again floored by this guy's eyes.

The Khans kept me glued to bollywood for a very long time and I switched tags from one Khan to other as my fave hero. Mr. India, Darr, Baazigar and all those Khiladis didn't deter me from my duo-khans.

It took a DDLJ to shift loyalties towards the third Khan and I was lost in those swiss cow-bells, mandolins and sarson ke kheth, and of course, Shah Rukh Khan. KKHH and DTPH reinforced the devotion. I was the loony-toony SRK loving teen eagerly waiting for his next movie.

A new guy on the block - the Roshan son, failed to impress because I hated his light eyes. John Abraham was liked for a few obvious reasons but I still remained SRK fan. Then came the big shocker - KKKG - It was hard to believe that somebody could draw out so much of hatred from me, that too for somebody I used to like! I still think it was KKKG that brought the fultoos change in me - I not only started hating SRK like never before but also lost interest in the other Khans, the Kapoors, the Kumars, the Abrahams, the Roshans.. everybody.

For years it never struck me that I did not have a bollywood pin-up hero like every other girl. Just a few years back I gave it a serious thought - so who do I like in Bollywood? Blank. I watched a lot of movies but never really liked/bothered about the hero. Gosh! What was happening? Oh my god, I don't like any of those hot bollywood young or old stars!!I panicked! Am I OK??!!!

As soon as I confided my worst fears with S, I also realized I didn't like anybody in Tamil industry or Malayalam industry either, save a few oldies from Hollywood like Sean Connery(almost bald!), Nicholas Cage (almost bald!) and George Clooney (not yet bald!). Now, this was so un-Indian-girlish!!

When S asked me to think of all possibilities and say a few names of bollywood stars whom I might find even remotely attractive, I thought.. hard.. for a very long time.. and then carefully picked the answers..

"Rahul Bose... Ranvir Shorey...and.."

and before I could complete, S stopped me with a motion of his hand.

S: "That's enough.. Can I tell you something honestly?"

Me: "Yeah.. whats it?"

S: "Please don't tell your choices to anyone"

:-S

So, there I am, wondering, why I can't find the usual stars handsome!!!

This and that..

I'm back! I agree it was an unreasonably long hiatus and even the customary new year post was missing. I blame it alllll on motivation - err the lack of :-) What a relief! ;-)

There has been no one-great-change that has affected the attention on Doodles. It was just a culmination of zero motivation, lack of enthusiasm and my good old laziness which got the better of me. The handful of visitors have also dwindled. People (let me be specific - Dad) who used to come atleast to feed my pet panda,Po, some bamboo shoots also don't come now. No wonder my dah-ling Po looks so malnurished :-(

Did I tell you about the surprise gift I got recently? Surprise gifts and I rarely go together - be it the gifting part or receiving part. Explaining the goof ups in the former will require a blogpost on its own so I'd rather stick to explaining the latter, which are relatively lesser in number. You realize how pathetic you are when you kept a surprise secret for almost 2 days but broke it when there was just an hour more to go. No more comments!

Yeah, now about the receiving part. There are two types of surprise-gift category here. Receiving a gift from somebody you didn't expect one is a surprise gift. Receiving an unexpected gift from somebody you expected one is The Surprise Gift that I like! The probability of the first category happening is HUGE. On the other hand, the second category is extremely rare. This is because I either end up guessing what the gift can be or they tell me what they are getting for me or mostly, I demand that they give me this exact thing that I want. Let me admit, I remember JUST ONE INSTANCE of being Surprise-Gifted in the true manner of the second category and that was 12-13 years ago when Dad gifted me a cycle pump (yeah folks, I agree no frills. But you would realize the worth of having one at home when you had to push your cycle almost everyday all the way to the guy who did this).

So I, naturally, almost fainted when the second one came last month. We were celebrating our 4th anniversary of Marital Bliss (oh yeah, laugh!). Being the 4th and as the limit tends to infinity we had apprehensions about having those cliched cake cuttings, wine and PDA's. So this time around we decided to stay at home and spend less! Spend Less - Ok, I got the point immediately. Probably I would be gifted a mug with You-are-the-best-Wife type lies written on it or may be I will "earn a Bournville" as I have never earned one until now or something from the Archies shop that they call cute, cuddly and sweet which is priced equally cute. I believed I can probably demand a dress too, he might relent.

When the D-day came I had still not decided what I would gift him. It was not because I was confused with the options. I simply thought it was much easier to take him somewhere and allow him to pick what he wanted. And since Spending Less was his part of the agenda, he would keep my purse stable. May be another mug if he isn't able to :-p

I now wonder why it didn't sound awkward to me when he kept conveying the same message throughout the day on all possible communication channel - chats, mails, calls, SMS, face to face - multiple times.

The message was "Talk to me if you have plans to get me something expensive. Talk. Talk. Talk." I
didn't pay heed to it as it was just not applicable! I wasn't getting him anything more than 500 bucks anyways!

After work, I got busy searching for a good place to dine and that was when he dragged me to the next room to "show me something interesting". There, in a Croma packet was a box with Canon written on it!!!

I guess I won't get another Surprise Gift from him from now on - the shreik almost brought the neighbours in! And my question almost made him shreik.. "Nee Canon aano mediche??" (Did you buy Canon??) for he replied "What??? Did you also buy a Canon for me???" For the innocent man that he was he thought his worst fears were coming true - we were going to have 2 Canon EOS 1000D at home :-p

Fortunately, I was far less romantic than he thought. It was embarassing that I had not got anything
for him then, but adding salt to the wound was my next statement "No..But I wanted a Nikon!!". There, the damage was done! After a little bit of cajoling and statements like Yeah, Canon is good too, things got back to normal.

So that was my Surprise Gift that I almost lost. Since that day I have been mostly found with the gift around my neck zooming on random things at home - garlic flakes, boxes, vegetables, pens - you name it, I have captured it. I think he now regrets getting me this.

What would you have wanted to do? vs What did you do?

This is a quickie.
I was on my way back home in the 8:00 PM can after work. A girl and a guy sat opposite to me, seemingly new joinees in the company.

She wanted to go to Kagadaspura and had boarded our bus thinking that would take her somewhere close to her destination.

Nopes, the bus was heading to BTM and I don't know if she realised that Kagadaspura was hardly 2 km from office, but in the opposite direction in which we were heading!

Somebody in the bus suggested she take an auto instead of going on this round-trip.

"Hey.. no yaar.. I hv just 40 rupees.. I can't go in auto."

Her guy-friend Mr.X laughed at her statement.
Then somebody said she could get down at BEML gate and take a direct bus to K'pura; which sounded like a great idea for her, and for her purse.

It was raining hard. The guy and she chattered loudly for all of us to hear(and let me add, in that bugging manner which guys think characterise girls - "hey no yeahhhhhh... why yeahhhhhh...seeee yeeeaahhhh" types) about petty stuffs..

She : "How much does it take to office from ur place by bus"
He : "Hmm.. 7 rupees"
She : "Oh.. it takes 9 for me yaar." (How sad! 2 rupees more!)


Some more less-than-10-rupees-money-talks continue to the point of saturation of irritation for the other bus mates. The way the guy spoke had started getting on my nerves and I developed an instant hatred for him.

She : Why do you want to go to marathahalli today yaar... its raining.. (so concerned! duh!)
He : Those people have my jeans ready..should collect it today yaaaaarrrr..
She : (pleading) But its raiiiiininggg...
He : Ohh.. I love rains...
Me : (to myself)grrr..Shut up, will ya!
She : Do you have a cap?
He : Cap? Yeah... way back in Kolkota!
Me : SIGH!!!!

Fortunately, the bus had trudged close to BEML gate by then and I was happy that one of them would go away. Our Mr.X now started showing some fake-concerns for madam.

He : "Hey, you know how to go from here?"
She : "No, but he said I could get a bus from here".
He : "Hey.. in case you have any problem naaa... " (trails off)

I thought he was about to give her his number and ask her to make a call.

He continued "Go back to office and take the 9:30 cab..ok?"

And just when she was about to get down, he asked the next stupid question.

He : "Hey.. do u need some money??? If you want I can spare you 30 or 40 bucks, you know!"

And she looked so pathetic when she said "Yes, I need. Please give me.."
He drew out his wallet and out came many 100 rupee notes.. and he fumbled with them until the driver told madam to get down.

When she said "Ok..never mind" and was about to get down.. he promptly put his wallet back. Shameless!!!

By now everybody in the bus was feeling bad for madam. Some good guy in the bus screamed.. "Hey, take some money from me" My hands moved to my purse and I wanted to give her some money. And also some good piece of advice that there are working ATMs in office, that nobody comes to office on her first day with just Rs.40 in purse and that you should learn to let go of friends who not only refuse to help you when you need them but also add to your headache. And I wanted to tell the guy "You are the biggest jerk I have ever met! I can't understand what kind of a friend you are!". But I don't know why; I didn't do both.

The girl got out and walked in the rain. I don't know when she reached home.

I felt bad I didn't grab my purse and give her the money. I felt bad that I didn't scream at the guy. I felt bad that I didn't act.

How many times have we thought I would want to do this, but never did.. and the moment passes, leaving you in deep remorse?

What would you have wanted to do and what would you have done? Let me know :)

Open Letter to the Auto Driver.

Dear auto-driver,

I decided to write this as an open letter on my blog after I got terrified at the thought of you writing about the incident on yours!!

This is the same girl who you had dropped from the Tech Park to HAL bus stop for Rs 40 at 9:00 on 8th April. Aah... I can read from your face that you remember me! How can you not! I know you are laughing now! Never mind!

Now I think I should have taken the first auto rikshaw that was parked at the entrance. The guy had demanded 50 bucks and as always I looked up at the sky and reminded God that I had made a request about slapping at least one auto-wala.. when was He granting me that wish?

God looked down and asked me to count back from ten and relax this time. After some attempt at negotiation, I thought he would be ok for 40, but that guy called out to all the other guys parked there .. "aaaaeeyyy... 40 rs..HAL.." and immediately you had sprung on your feet and called "banni madam..banni..".

My head was cloudy after the really really tiring day and I sunk into the back seat and remember saying "HAL bus stop" and then noticed that the memory card had slid out of my N73. There were some warnings on the screen about it getting corrupted and the theme got reset to the default Stave one. I tried to push it back but it just wouldn't get latched in position. I lost all patience! I pulled it out and dropped it in my purse.

Your auto roared past HAL school almost brushing another auto. The signal was red when we reached and I decided I would alight there and cross the road than go over the other side. I extended the 100 rupees note to you and you replied "no change madam".

Bugged, I searched my purse. A 100 rupee, a 10 rupee and and a 20 rupee was all that I had. And yeah, a sodexho booklet too.

Me : Aapke pass 50 rupees hai?

You slowly brought out the fat bunch of folded notes from your pocket. A 50 rupee note was the last one wrapped. Beneath that was a 10 rupee note and then some more. In a rather clumsy manner, as if not able to make out what I had in my mind, you gave me the 50 rupee note (but didn't give the 10 rupee note! why??? Coz I didn't ask, I know!! :( )

Wearily, I took the 50 rupee note from you, and gave you the 100 rupee note. Then on second thoughts, took another 10 rupee note from my purse and gave you that also! And boy, you are a good actor! And the little amount of surprise you showed when you looked at the 50 rupee and 10 rupee note was not visible to me in the dark! Having double-checked that my smart calculation was right, I walked out.

At the bus stop, just when I was about to sit down and wait, realization stuck me like lightning that I had given you 60 bucks instead of 40!!!! And being from the insincere Bangalore auto tribe, I can't expect you to return that extra 20 then!

Listen, (most) mistakes do happen to people (like me), especially ones involving math. I am hoping you would read this and return my 20 rupees. Please :)

Yours,
mathematically poor,
Me.

Me-Me-Its-all-me-tag from Ammu..

Got tagged by Ammu.

Kept pushing it off because I had this feeling that I would stop it at 10, max 11 :) And
worse still, my readers would stop it at 2!

But then, I get this feeling that I shouldn't post anything else when I have a "tag-debt".

So here we go, 25 stuffs about me..
(Zzzzz??? Hey there, wake up!)

I ..

1. Discovered that I can be extremely-patient or extremely impatient. Extremely-patient with myself, extremely-impatient with everybody else, that is! There is nothing in between called just "patience".
2. Love moisturisers so much that I get panicky when my bottle is empty.
3. Love doing up my home. Wouldn't mind emptying my purse for that!
4. Am a Die-hard retail therapy devotee. The '%' symbol followed by 'OFF' or the word "Free" can drive my logic out of the window!
5. Suck at eating vegetables, more so, if they come as salads!
6. Have this habit of right-clicking on desktop and clicking on 'refresh' repeatedly when I am on phone.
7. Frequently get hurt when moving around the house ... either dashing against the door, hurting my toes moving furniture, banging my head somewhere... Sand calls it "common" these days and doesn't bother!
8. Fantasize what I read in books.
9. Am easily fascinated by good photographers.
10. Love chatting - face 2 face, internet, anywhere!
11. Have had really insane crushes in early teens, but dropped to nil during late teens. That, in fact, got me worried!
12. Don't give alms to the beggars on street.
13. Can't still believe the way Sand walked into my life!
14. Am not a gadget-freak, but love Red Coloured Sony Vaio :)
15. Read all fortunes and week-ahead columns in newspapers and mags.
16. Hate guys who do their hair long, wear ear-rings, jazzy clothes, rings, tattoo and xtra-low-waist jeans barely clinging on to their hips and showing their Calvin Klein underwear!
17. Love it when Sand cooks me his special pasta :)
18. Respect working mothers and feel they need to be appreciated more.
19. Cry easily watching movies! Tears of joy as well as sadness!
20. Am very choosy about movies... I usually end up not liking a particular movie rated great by friends.
21. Have worn braces for almost 3 years and when the dentist had no intention of removing it, I lied to him that I would be getting married in a month, and so I want them to be removed immediately!
22. Love my school days more than my college days.
23. Get dizzy looking down from tall buildings.
24. Am scared of frogs and cockroaches.
25. Managed to finish this tag!!! Hurray! Are you still with me? :)

Am not tagging anybody in particular... if you like it, take it :)

Love in the times of Recession :)

Matters of the heart is facing a setback, and for all those who care, those impromptu gifts might show up late this year or probably early next year.

For now, its the age-old tried-and-tested love statements that might do the job :)
Here goes, a bunch a roses and a heart felt wish.
"Happy Anniversary! You make a great hubby! I love you!!" :)

Plant a Thought.

I am smitten by a new hobby. Gardening.

Two pretty white flowers bloomed in the balcony of the apartment opposite ours. Like all other infatuations of a woman, this also was triggered by a "neighbour's-envy-owner's-pride" case. I don't know anything about rearing a plant, but I wanted a plant as well, at any cost!!!!

From the time I remember, I have never been too involved in making a garden. One among the handful of incidents was when we planted a sapling on vanamahotsava day in school and I have no clue what happened to it later. Watching mom "waste" an entire Sunday forenoon session digging up the soil and cutting plants and soiling her clothes and slippers was what gardening meant for me! And I didnt fancy doing all that and getting dirty!

But never mind the past. This weekend, 4 people whose total Gardening Quotient (GQ) didn't exceed 20 found a nursery where we could get saplings. "finding a nursery" was another long story since nobody was sure if the nursery my hubby dear used to see on his way to school 15 years ago still exist or not and after much speculation and help from shop keepers and confused strangers on the roads, we found that it did exist!

We were welcomed by a 45-50-looking man wearing a lungi and shirt. There was a whole bunch of plants to choose from, I noticed!
Me : "Oru chedi venam" (We want a plant)
He : (a little surprised with my innocent request) ok..
Me : (Smile and stand, coz I can't explain anything more!)
He : (Smile and stand, coz he can't help me unless I speak more!)

After a few minutes of agonizing silence for the 3 people who accompanied me, I cleared my throat and attempted to explain what I was looking for..
"ee apartmentile balcony-il vekkaan oru chedi venam. Chedi valuthaavaruthu. Poo okke venam. Valya kashttapaadonnumillaathe poo undaakanam. Anganathe ethu chediya nallathu?"(I want a plant that I can keep in the balcony of my apartment. It shouldn't grow. It should have a lot of flowers. Without too much of effort from my end, it should bloom. Which plant should I take?)

Obviously, he didnt like my requirements! So he didnt answer my question, but motioned me to take a look at the plants in the nursery.

I would point to each plant and ask the same question "itu valuthaakuo?" (Will this grow?) and after committing a few mistakes by replying with a "ohhh...nallonam valarum" (yes, it will grow really well), to which I responded "ohh..enna venda" (is it? then I dont want it) he strategically started answering with "illa, valare slow growth-a.. 4 years edukkum" (its got a very slow growth, takes 4 years to grow even a little). Hmm..smart!

Soon the 4 of us dispersed to four different directions that the confused gardener lost track of us! The impression that he had of us when we walked in smiling was probably all washed out, for he was seen scratching his head and wondering if we would leave him free and get lost! He would never have seen so many fools in one frame!

Finally we narrowed on a few pots of marigold and daisy-like flowers. 20 rupees each was a big deal, I thought. In Bangalore, this would cost me atleast 60 or 70!

4 faces looked carefully at the marigold pots.
FIL : "Itinu valam okke engana?" (What do we add as manure?)
He : "Chanaga podi ittal mati" (You can add cow-dung)
chorus : "CHANAGAMO???? Atonnum kittilla avde!" (COW-DUNG?? We don't get that in Bangalore!)
He : "Jaiva valam.ellu podi aaylum mati" (any bio-manure. you can add crushed bones also)
me : as if that is easy!

Then there was this discussion on how to re-plant it once we go home, how many times to water, how much to water, how to take it in car and many more how-tos and we were done. Marigolds, it was! In another 10 minutes, we walked out, each with a marigold pot in hand.

A 10 hour long tiring journey in car and here they are, my marigolds and daisy-like plants, dropping dead in my balcony. Sigh! But I do want them to bloom!

"I told you so"

I look at myself in the mirror
And I tug at my cut mane
Shouldn't have done it so short
And you stroke them and say
"I told you so"

I try to fix my broken doll
glue smeared all around
Oops, my fingers are glued
And you look at them and say
"I told you so"

The brand new pink tees
lay untouched there
It makes me look so short
And you smile and say
"I told you so"

I toast the bread
A little more than usual
Burnt bread for b-fast.
Yet you have them and say
"I told you so"

I guess I never learn
from the mistakes I make.
For I love the way
You hug me and say
"I told you so"

Bru kaapi and Marie Biscuit

If you are a huge fan of chai-biskut, then you should be trying the bru-kaapi-marie-biscuit also!! Am sure you would love it!

Imagine this... You tear open a pack of Britannia Marie and find that its the best pack you have ever laid your hands on. The biscuits are perfectly aligned and held tight against the cover. You notice that the vulnerably delicate edges of the biscuits are still intact and there is not a sign of rough-handling by the super market boys. No powdered heaps of biscuits between two slices and all is perfect...oh great!!!


You hum a tune to yourself and make a cup of bru kaapi and pour it into a larger-than-usual-brightly-painted-yellow-and-white coffee mug to its brim. Leaving a trail of aroma as you rush to the dining table, the coffee mug is placed gently on the straw mat and you take the first of the marie biscuits from the pack.

After giving it a long look and having "tested OK" you gently dip it into the coffee. The mug is wide enough to let you dip the biscuit until only half of it is seen outside. And being an expert, you know to the precision of milli seconds as to how long you should keep it dipped so that it is as soft as possible, yet not flabby and dripping! A fraction of a second here and there, and you will either end up with a hard crust in your mouth or an unobtainable lump of soggy biscuit in the bottom of the coffee mug.

Instinct says its time to lift up the biscuit from the coffee. And the moment it is out, there is no time to waste. You immedietely let the soaked half of the biscuit crumble inside your month, warm and soft and along with it some crust from the other dry half as well. Hmmm.... heavenly!!!! :)) Enjoy your cup today!


PS - I got a lovely pic from flickr for this post... but with issues of copyright and stuff and moreover, it being tea rather than coffee, I rather take my own one soon. If it comes well, I shall post :)

Kannada maathadi...!

Of late, I have been trying my bestest of my best to speak one line of proper kannada. It was quite embarrassing to admit that three years of staying in Bangalore hasn't brought me any closer to the language and my Kannada vocab was still constant with 1 word - the ubiquitous "maadi".

And to rub salt to the wounds, hubby dear has this penchant for showing off his 3-month-classroom -educated-80%-marks Kannada in front me while he spoke to auto drivers, plumbers and others. And am sure his trademarked "right tagoli" is used on auto drivers ONLY in my presence. And he very well knows, my quirky ears would stand up and my next question would be "Hey...what did you say just now? What does it mean?" followed by a wow-you-are-great exclamations and hushed gasps and widened eyes as he basks in the glory.

So hudugi here decided it was high time she did something about this. And the FM channels here probably felt the same, so they switched to sikkapatte kannada and swalpa-est hindi.


So terribly sikkapatte it was that hudugi here was heard humming only kannada songs for a few months and whenever a familiar kannada song was aired on FM while in car with hubby dear, hudugi would not just increase the volume but also sing aloud until hubby dear cries for mercy!

Soon, the office cab occupants unanimously decided to switch to another FM channel which had kanglish as medium of communication, and hence easier to pick up! So kannada songs got reduced. It was good bye to "Jinka Marina" which used to be recited like a prayer thrice a day.

Now hudugi listens to ads and RJs and picks up few kannada words. SMS sent to hubby dear is mostly in Kannada, and mostly the contents remain unaltered. I ping him every now and then as if he is a BMTC volvo bus with a "yelli idhire" sms, which happens to be the only completely correct kannada sentence I am proud to have mastered.

The learning curve has been pathetic all this while, or at least hubby dear makes me think so, for whichever way I put a sentence, he says those words don't even exist in the language!! And yeah, considering the similarity among South Indian languages, I do sometimes take a slightly greater advantage of it than what is necessary, the reason for all the "non-existent" words.

But nevertheless, the effort continues :) If you try to poke fun at me,nin kudumbana aanandikku aarogyakku, Mane hogu! (My own way of saying "Get lost" or in pure mallu-style "Go to your classes" ;))

The story of a Kissan Jam Bottle

Am not feeling well today. I have a runny nose, fever and an aching body to give company all day long. The dull aches that sinusitis gives my face only adds to my misery.

Took an off from work today lest the AC worsens my situation.

Catching a cold means the end of the world for me. I become as irritating as a 5 yr old refusing to go to school. Having hubby also not around makes you feel all the more sick.

To cheer up, I looked in the cupboards to see if there was anything interesting. Some books, my old jeans which do not fit any more, some crockery, some bulbs...hmm..bulbs..thats interesting. I rummaged and found 4 of them, all in proper working condition.

Immediately enquired Google if there was anything I could do with a used bulb. They said I could make glitter bulbs. But it involved lot of technical uncertainties. The ones I had were working ones and if I did what they told, hubby dear wouldn't be pleased to see 4 good condition bulbs become glitter pots.

But nevertheless, I read through and found it pretty good. I managed to find a Kissan Jam bottle from kitchen and did the same thing. See ->






To do this, you would need

1) A glass bottle
2) Glass paints of any colour (I used Sunset Yellow)
3) Glitter or any small-tiny-decorative stuffs. I used the "springy-gold-coils" I got along with the Tanjore painting kit.
4) err... Thats it.. and a small amount of patience :)


How to do:

Pour in a generous amount of glass paints into the bottle. I used about 20 drops.

Keep rolling the bottle so that the paint spreads evenly around the bottle. Take care otherwise you might end up with thick coats on one side and thin on the other.

Once done, invert the bottle and place a glass beneath to collect the excess paint from the jar.Keep it for a good 15 minutes.

Wipe the mouth of the bottle with a tissue.

Now, sprinkle glitter or anything that catches your fancy and shake the bottle so that they get stuck on the edges.

If the paint looks wet, dry it with a hair-dryer.

Use a colourful ribbon to cover the mouth of the jar. (I didn't do this)

Your little flower-vase is ready!

Walking along the Jews Street...

"Jews Street", said the white letters on the bright green board. I read it aloud in my mind again and again.. there was a rustic charm in even the name, I thought.

Probably I must have stood there and mused for a few abnormally long minutes, for I had to run to catch up with the others who had already walked a few feet ahead
by now.



Tip-toeing on the wet pavement with quick short steps lest I wet the only jeans I had packed for my weekend trip, my eyes traced the all the little bric-a-bracs in the dimly lit curios shops lining either side of the narrow pavement.

There had been a light drizzle just a few minutes ago and people were hurrying up with coloured umbrellas, gently clashing against each other as they made their way in opposite directions.

My eyes were still hungrily scanning the curios shops. I wasn't looking for anything in particular.. the sight was a feast for my eyes.

The huge hand-blown glass lamps in unimaginably bright shades of shocking pinks, bottle greens, deep blues and placid browns with ornate brass filigree, the exquisite beligian glass chandeliers, hand-painted ivory tiles with intricate designs in blue, the delicately done cross-stitch napkins all were a story in itself, of a bygone era of riches.. a bygone era, now easily price-tagged and sold as "anitques".

An old Jewish lady sat in one of the shops, soft yellow light casting a warm glow on her creme gown draping her frail body, as she fiddled with a piece of white cloth, coaxing her aged eyes to get the stitches right, in vain. The now sunken eyes still had a warmth in them, the same warmth familiar to every grand-child on earth.

I walked past more shops lining the roads, to reach the synagogue at the other end, standing silently and seemingly reluctanct to communicate, for whoever comes these days speak a foreign tongue, except for the few others like the grandma in creme gown who sat there coaxing her aged eyes to get the stitches right, in vain..

...................................................

PS: Pics will come soon :)
[Edited] : Pic added!

On School Annual Days...

Right through my school days, the Annual Day was probably the day I always looked forward to the most, year after year!

Was it the excitement of performing on the stage, in front of beaming parents, or the anxious wait to get your prize for co-curricular activities(CCA), or the thrill of bunking class for practice... I know not what, but I always had a hard time sleeping on the eve of the D-day, my little heart thumping loud with excitement!


The memories are still fresh.. I can still see me in white-n-white singing the group song "Kadam se kadam, milake chalo" in IL auditorium as a 6 year old. The next year was an action song, with all the 30 of us dressed as Nehru!!! We had all got our kurtas stitched and wore a red satin pundit ji coat with a gulab pinned on it! The year after that was another action song with me doing a "koyal"!!! A black kurta-pyjama with a pair of black wings made by the teachers and a black beak which I had made it myself of which I was toooo proud! I can imagine how silly I would have looked by the expression of the chief guest when she gave me my prize. She was smiling ear-to-ear in the photograph, handing over the prize to a cuckoo!!!

Having advanced to more "human-like" attires for the next few years was a welcome change, for, people could now spot me on stage with ease :)

But even then, the feeling was all the same. The day usually starts early with all of the "participants" (boy, that was a privileged section!) coming to the town hall where the function would be held. There would be stage rehearsals again and again while the ones free for the time would go around exploring the town hall, playing hide-n-seek and what not!

And come 4:30, the early birds would be there, occupying seats..Meanwhile the "participants" get dressed in the green room. As the make-up artist paints your face, you hold your breath for the fear of smearing the lip stick while you peek out of the corner of your eyes and try to make out if you are looking fine from the expressions of your friends who are watching you in earnest! The patience you exhibit is amazing and the moment the artist mutters a "hmmm" indicating he is done, you grab the mirror to check if you look good! And most of the times you will look sick and go and complain to the teacher in charge. She would pat your cheek and say no, you are looking great! And that helps!!


Once done, you are seen wandering back stage, meeting other friends and playing teh guess-who games with them, for you never recognize each other! And by 6 the hall is jam packed. And then the agonizing wait for the chief guest's speech to get over, followed by princi's annual report, blah-blah-blah.. meanwhile you are all queued up back stage with your badge number. In your 10th or 12th, you would be at the tail end! And somehow dad and mom would come and meet us here, hand over a pack of biscuits may be and say "Enda oru vesham!!" (What a dress!!!) with an expression that will prompt you to take a hanky and remove the excess lip stick!

The prize distribution ceremony gets over in a jiffy and you don't even have time to check what book you got as prize! We gotta run for the last practice! Time flies the fastest during that time and you would be seen standing back stage, looking at your other friends performing and you wait, for your group is the next.

As you listen to the mic throwing echoes around, as you vaguely make out the occupants of the first row against the glaring lights, as you hear your ma'am saying "boys and girls...do your best!" , and as you play that long dialog where you always made mistakes again and again in your mind, you can hear your heart is racing, and probably of the guy standing next to you too! Probably he has heard yours too, for he is looking at you and grinning. And then you notice that the curtains are falling... and the people on stage are going away... Your heart has almost stopped beating now!!! The lights go off and the curtains are down. You hear a voice "C'mon..lets go!"..somebody screams a "All the best guys!" and you softly walk on the wooden stage...take your position... curtains up..lights on... and you give your bestest smile to the audience to start with!!!


Rest can come in another episode!

Wandering Thoughts from a Frustrated Programmer..

One linker error is no better than 3 page-full of linker errors. In fact, it could be worse. You are very likely to spend 30 mins solving 3 page full of linker errors whereas you would realise you have been staring this lone stubborn linker error for almost a week now and it has not progressed an inch from where it is now.

For the whole of that week you would be seen talking about nothing but that particularly impish __symbol. Sometimes, when the deadlines have turned the corner, you would start seeing underscores in your dreams as well :)

And exactly during that time Google will call it quits and declare you an idiot after its million-th attempt at enquiring if you really meant what you typed on the search bar or "did you mean this-slightly-modified-yet-totally-unrelated-word" instead? After all, google knows that to err is humane!

You try changing the code in all possible way Mr Trusted-Lots-of-stars-guy on that forum suggests. You even post a few queries here and there and keep refreshing the page to see if the same Mr Trusted-Lots-of-stars-guy has replied and when he does reply, he says whatever we asked sounds really strange to anybody living on earth and he would need to see the entire thing for it and suggests something which you have already read in many other forums and which would not work for sure!

With Mr stars also giving up, you are left alone. Well, not exactly, alone. You are left with few more days for the deadline, somebody to drill down this fact every hour into your brains and this sole linker error. Back to square one, rather Square -20, coz you have already wasted 20 long days for this!

Happy Linking! :)

PS - All characters(integers and floats as well) in this post are fictitious.Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. And 'You' is not me. 'You' is you. And if you thought 'You' is not you, then you spoke too soon. Your day will come soon :)

10 tickets to my Good Books!

1) Mr/Ms Really Intelligent : People who can speak in depth about not-so-common topics in so simple a words yet with so much of clarity that they can leave me open-mouthed! I have felt that to me intelligence is more than saying "yeah, i know it and i can explain if u want". It lies in HOW you explain.

Came to think of it, this was a question during an interview in Google.
- Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew :)
And somebody posted a reply in 2 lines "It's like a genie who knows where every toy in your room is. Instead of hunting for certain toys yourself and searching the whole room, you can ask the genie to find all your toy soldiers, or only X-Men action figures, or only race cars -- anything you want."

And I loved it :)

2) Mr/Ms Cool n Smiling : These people slip into my good books very easily.I adore people who can remain as cool as a cucumber even when there is chaos! They don't panic and their minds are in perfect equilibrium to make good decisions that nobody will repent! Just how do they do it!!! As for the smile part, :)

3) Mr/Ms Nice-Writer/Book worm : Been ages since I read something now, and I maintain a very ordinary looking blog.So when I meet people who have read a lot, I am more than happy to hear them speak. Same with people who have honed their writing skills to come up with intriguing stories, sweet-nothings packed in beautiful expressions. Short story contest winners earn special respect :)

4) Mr/Ms Up-to-date : They get all the facts and figures right. They know whats happening around the world, they know whats new in technology, they know all the news around the world!

5) Mr/Ms Humble :
They know they are great. Others know they are great. They know others know they are great. But still they don't show-off the fact that they are great.

6) Mr/Ms Birthday Rememberers : People who remember your birthday and wish you (without using reminders in mobiles/calendars) are a rare species of people whom I consider are the warmest and the most genuine of spotlessly clean hearts!!

7) Mr/Ms PJ Crackers : Sounds cheesy. But I do adore them for all their rotten PJs!! I just can't help liking their PJs :) There is one lady I know who cracks really really really bad PJs ...
and sometimes I have actually wished I could crack such rotten ones like she does :))

8) Mr/Ms Kids Lovers : They, like Birthday Rememberers, are a special lot who are always assumed to be good at heart, loving and affectionate!

9) Mr/Ms Great Cooks : Man, this one might be on the top if I arranged it on a proper scale! Rightly said the way to a man's (or woman's, these days) heart is through his (her) stomach!

10) Mr/Ms Punctual : I hate to be made to wait for someone. I hate it if the person rushes in 30 minutes late and gives a lame excuse and says sorry and expects me to say "Its ok." Probably I am one such person and I know how it irritates others! Probably thats why I love people who are well on time :)

No Title

I was awake for another 2 hours after the movie ended even though it was around 1 am. It had surely left a bad taste.

Well, it was neither any of those scary movies having disturbingly long spells of silence, when you know that any moment something can make you scream (remember Psycho series!) nor was it any kind of movie which disturbed you so much with its theme/story line that it keeps coming back in flashes for a few days(reminds me of deshadanam which was hard to get out of mind!)

This was a very very ordinary and fit to be easily nominated as a crap mallu movie which typically qualifies to be aired on one of those volvo/semi sleeper buses to Kerala. Forget the name, cast, even the story-line for that matter, coz they not worth enough to be discussed on a blog, and that too on my blog where I have never discussed movie reviews! But forgetting the story-line would mean my post lost a part of its content and reference, so lets keep it referenced, but brief :)

The movie is all about glorifying the "an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth" principle (like any other mallu movie classified generously as "action movie".duh!). So completely drenched in human blood that the movie overlooks capturing anything remotely real!

The movie has a local tamil leader(obviously a goonda, there has never been a good tamil leader in mallu movies!) who kills people at his whims and fancies. He cuts arms, uses swords,sticks to make people spit buckets of blood from the mouth as if they have 1 litre of blood packet in their mouths ready to be broken the moment villain hits their throat. Our hero's dad also was a victim.

Hero comes back to sell the house bought by his dad which happens to be in the same kingdom of the goonda. Now hero and goonda spit more blood, cut more arms, legs, heads... again buckets of blood..and then one of them dies (no points for guessing who dies in the end!) and movie ends.

So pathetic a movie it was! And I felt so ashamed of myself to have stayed awake and watched till they flashed "The end"!

What are these kind of movies made for! Who are the people who will watch this with interest? Who in the world would like to see so much of blood shed? And what on earth does the director (bang his head please!) mean at the end??? And just where on earth does so much blood shed happen these days???

I mean, are we fools to accept this kind of "action movies"????

The movie and the director not just left a bad taste, it bugged me so much that I was awake till 3 :-S

PS - I believe there are many mallu(or other language) movies of this flavour so there is no point giving a verdict for this particular movie, but in case you are curious to know, its "Panthayakkozhi" (whatever that means! Sigh!)

What do I write about next?

Dear readers,

Am kind of running out of topics lately...so can you think up of something nice that I can write about ? :)

Best topic will be awarded a blog post ;-) and a heart-felt "thank you" :D

At rat and co, topics that are comprehensible are preferred. Topics like "afghanistanum uzhunnu vadayum" will be automatically rejected!

Cya!

Teddy at Twenty!

Are you knitting your eye-brows at the thought?
Or are you smiling end to end?

Probably it wouldn't figure in the heavily revised Girl's-best-friend-list, but would unanimously be voted to occupy that special place in her heart.

And guys grrrrrooooaaannnn at the thought. Some (read it as Most) guys think its "too-girlie", "too-baby-ish" and a lot of other-ish for a twenty-something girl to be found owning a teddy bear!

They pull your legs, poke fun at you and call you "beiibeeeee" if they know you hug your teddy while you sleep ...

They twist the teddy's face, throw it up and down, kick it like a football, and tug at its satin ribbons...

All said and done, on Valentine's, they gift you a teddy, with a big red heart! What an irony!

Note: A post from a married-woman showing contempt towards the male species is imedietely seen as a way of showing contempt towards ones husband :) Please spare mine from being the object of interest in your comments, he doesn't mind teddies :)