The blue sky

Last Thursday, Teju and I were jumping in joy (not literally!) because it was a long w/e. Teju was going to visit her parents and I was going to Ooty for a 3-day trip. We left early from the office so that we could do the packing and other stuff. As soon as we came out of the office, we saw our usual 333 W Volvo bus, which would directly take us to the stop nearest to our house. We again jumped in joy, this time the joy reflecting on our faces and in our voices. We hopped on to the bus and sat with our bags and baggage. All the people were staring at us. 2 ladies and 4 huge bags? Are they traveling to the moon or what was their expression? We didn't pay much attention to them and were in our own sweet world talking to each other. Tickets paliz! We came back to the real world and realized that I had a 1000 Rupees note and Teju had a 500 Rupees note. The conductor gave us a very weird look and said, no madam. Change kodtini. Then we rummaged our bags, sacks, all places where th...

What is the first thought that strikes you once you hear the word “Black”? With what do you associate the color black? For me black is something beautiful, elegant and intriguing. A black Stud, especially when it is running a derby race! A black Mercedes or Volkswagen Jetta car A black Flat screen television A black Refrigerator with flowers on it The movie black, which depicted the life of a blind girl, whose world was nothing else, but black! A person wearing a black tuxedo suit or a woman wearing a black sari The trophy for the Filmfare awards, which is Lord Shiva doing a dance. Huge, tall black panda bears, Black panthers All these look beautiful to me. Black eyes, black hair are a symbol of beauty. But a black face? No, one is usually called dark, if he/she is not fair, calling someone black is considered as an insult to a particular race residing in far away countries. Majority of the people in India are not very fair like in the European countries and this color play...

My friend Teju was a bit sad yesterday over lunch. Her colleague, Manish, lost his brand new cell in the Volvo bus while coming to office. Generally he comes with his friend on bike. But yesterday, his friend didn’t turn up and so he came by the bus. When he reached office, he realized that the cell was missing. He had put aside some money for a few months now and had bought the new cell and now he had lost it within a week. He was sad and so was his team for his loss. He didn’t have any insurance on the cell and hence couldn’t even get a replaced cell from the stores he bought. When we buy a high end mobile cell nowadays, the store itself offers theft insurance for free and it is always safe to have an insurance, because we do not know what awaits our cell in future. Someone suggested him to file a FIR in the police station, but who has got back his/her mobile cell till date? I haven’t heard of it till date that someone got back their cell with everything intact. So yesterday, th...

I met Mrunalini rather let me say saw her nearly two years back. She used to travel in the same bus that I used to board for office. At first glance she was just another lady in the bus, but after few days she seemed to be someone known. I always ignore my intuition and they always come true. Well she wasn’t known to me before but she turned out to be someone I can say I know very well and happy to know too. We started speaking when we had a common pick up point. I wouldn't generally talk to people, and I never used to talk to her either. We started with queries for the bus and exchanging smiles and then one day we spoke bit more and exchanged our AIM ID. That was the true beginning of our friendship. Technology really brings people closer!!! Soon we found out our common interest in writing. She is good writer, though I would say she has been and would need to work on her presentation of thoughts in her writing. When I say she is good, I mean she has good ideas and does bring the ...

Now it is time to move on slowly to the new house and new environment and new neighbors, my mind reminds me everytime the clock ticks away by a day! I am surrounded by all kinds of boxes of all the stuff we have bought for the new house. I have boxes of Television, washing machine, which we are currently using here and then the unopened boxes of hob and chimney and all the lights and lighting which we bought recently. Looking at them and also the ones which are going to join them in a month's time makes me nostalgic. I will soon have to start packing and throw away things which I am not taking there. I stayed in this house and locality for 4 years. It is a nice independent house, surrounded by trees and greenery all around. In the morning it is quite cool, but as the afternoon sets in, it gets bad. As there is no house above mine, it gets baked from all sides and it gets difficult to stay without a fan on your head in summers. Every summer, I thought of buying a cooler or AC, b...

Suddenly I feel so empty.. I was beaming with joy and so many thoughts and ideas to write on my blog and now suddenly I realize that there is nothing in there. I am totally blank.. What could be the reason? Has the initial enthusiasm of writing almost daily died away? Or it is just a phase which will also pass off? Am I being too expressive in writing down each and every thought or idea that crosses my mind or it is good that whatever was accumulated within me is finding it's way on paper and to other people's heart? Maybe I should sit back and relax for some time and let the thought sink in that I have already written 26 posts on my blog, which is a good number. All these years, I just dreamt of writing something daily, but couldn't really put it into practise. But now that I have started writing, I feel immensely happy and content at the end of the day. From the page views that I see at the bottom of the blog, I realize that more and more people are visiting m...

I got to know about Pot Pourri from one of my friends in the US. On one evening, all the friends staying nearby get together at one place and every couple/ friend gets one dish prepared from his/her home. It saves a lot of time of the host, people can sit back, relax, talk and eat and there is lots to eat too. On a similar note, I thought of having it for the Gudi Padwa Celebrations at my place. Gudi Padwa is a new year for us and back in Maharashtra, we celebrate it with much aplomb. People dress in the best of attires, women show off their jewellery, sweets are prepared (especially Shrikhand Puri), we visit friends and relatives and processions of different groups, schools etc are taken out which have become a huge hit in small towns like Dombivli, Kalyan, Thane etc. I have a huge friend circle all around the world, thanks to the various internet groups. I have a sizeable number of friends in Bangalore too. Rather, I should say I know a lot of ...

Saturday, the second day of April, year 2011 would be written in golden words in the history of Cricket. It was the day when India played against Sri Lanka in a nail biting final match and chased the score of 275 runs with such poise. They struggled, but finally managed to reach the target. It was the same day, 28 years ago, 2nd April 1983 when India had first seen the World cup under the captain ship of Kapil Dev. We had got many chances to win the World Cup again, but had to wait till 2nd April 2011, when MS Dhoni and his boys fulfilled the expectations of billions of Indians and brought home the ICC World Cup. As we all know, Cricket is religion in India. People of different castes and religion unite to cheer for Team India and I am also one of them. I was hoping that maybe this is the time when we can do it! Atul, my husband was a cricket fanatic till some years back. But after the scams and match fixing news and poor form of the team, he shifted his energies following somethin...

It was a Friday.. The last day of the working week and I expected some crackers and a hell good of a mood today. But then do things really happen the way we want? My cook, who generally appears on the battleground (my kitchen) at about 6:30 am called me to say that she would be coming in the evening as she has to shift to the new house. So, I did not have any opportunity to take home cooked breakfast and lunch to the office today! It would have been too late to cook myself as I have to leave home by 7:45 am. What a big deal I thought! I would have breakfast and lunch in the office today, for a change. So happily I went to the canteen and checked out the items for breakfast. There wasn't anything exciting and so I settled for a semiya upma (a mixture of semolina). Once it sat proudly in my plate, I realized that the mustard seeds were swarming in number, looking very outrageously at me. Generally it is a tendency to put little mustard seeds in the oil along with the other ...