Alphabetically Yours

A blogger going by the name of N has been pulled up for tardiness by her blog-mates. N feels they really need get themselves another hobby;-/

Basketball is the new keyword in the N household. Except for the better-half, nobody knows how to play but that doesn’t stop us from hogging the basketball court. We are improving by leaps and bounds…..note play of words here.

Cheesecake….I finally made one. And if I can, anybody can….all u need to do is buy a packet of Betty Crocker’s awesome Blueberry Cheesecake pack and follow instructions;-D. Yum.

Did u know Betty Crocker the person does not exist??? “She's not a person,"  said Marcia Copeland, the General Mills executive in Minneapolis who directs Betty Crocker matters for the company. "I repeat--there is no human Betty Crocker.” I found out just yesterday and was crushed;-(((((.

Early this morning the kids & I witnessed the death of a cat[hit by a car]. I was so upset & concerned how the children will take it but they surprised me with their resilience. Finally they ended up consoling me.

Fruits & peels for the Christmas fruitcake have been soaked in Brandy. Yesterday. Finally.

Go away, shoooo, shooo…..sorry about that but had to warn away the pigeons. Just washed the balcony squeaky clean a week back and fully intend to keep it that way for another 3 weeks.

Hairfall is a big problem. Have mercy and suggest solutions please?

'I’m so beautiful' phrase is now chanted all day long by Naina. Nikita finds it really silly;-D.

Jaare….jaare udd jaare panchi ….anybody ever heard of this song by Lata Mangeshkar. One of my favourites, listening to it now:-).

Kitchen door is temporarily sporting our front door plaque making better-half smirk at me meaningfully.  Ha ha very funny;-/. The peace message was removed to make way for seasons greeting.

Library books have been extended for one more week; thank goodness they let us do it over the phone. Lazy-bums that’s what we are;-P

My Mother-in-law is my favourite person these days. Last week I received 4 packets of delicious duck roast and other mouth-watering edibles. Not to mention the masalas, pickles and fresh picks from the vegetable garden. 3 cheers for Mothers Hip, Hip…..

Nikita is on a clay modelling spree these days. She makes cute little things no doubt but I’m not too happy about picking up & scraping off bits & pieces of clay from all around the house.

Olmost all the news I give here is 100% true…maybe with a few spelling mishtakes but olmost olways true.

Picture of pretty birdie I clicked last week. Nice????

Quick, look out of the window while I sneak off to do the next letter;-D.

Rabba Ve goodbye….my favourite serial on Star Plus got axed because the lead actor quit to try his luck in Bollywood. While I’m happy for the actor I’m so sad the only serial I watched is no more. I’ll miss u Arnav Singh Raizada and Khushi Kumari Gupta. 

Special day note: 12/12/12….had grand plans to publish the post at 12:12:12secs but it didn’t happen. Then I made elaborate plans to publish it at 2:12:12 and that also didn’t….then I thought I’ll do it at 2:21:12 but ofcourse….now I’m just hoping to post it sometime before midnight;-/

Tests are going on. Enough said!!!!

Units tests for the kids incase the above sentence didn’t make sense. U can sit far away at Ur laptop and shake Ur head and waggle Ur fingers and say “Not fair N, U are not conforming to rUles” but spare a thoUght for this hapless blogger who has run oUt of stuff to say and wants to complete this post anyway she can.

Vill the world end in another 9 days??? is the question I’m pondering over whenever I’m washing dishes. It’s sooo worth it if I never have to wash another dish again.

Would YOU like to take this up as a tag. Just thought of it now. No rules except all details you mention must be about what's happening in your life right now....alright current 2 weeks. Alphabetically, goes without saying. And with pictures;-D. Anybody can take it up. Do let me know if u do, I'd love to read it:-)).

Xmas tree is up. Papa put the tree up, mama hung the decorations, kids came just in time to check if their stocking was up. And every morning they casually walk past the tree & pat the stocking stealthily to check if Santa has already dropped off their gift;-D. 

Yet another year has flown past and I feel the familiar fluttering in the heart……like as if time is running out on me……like a bird looking at the vast blue sky but unable to fly. My wings may not be clipped but my own doubts overwhelm me…..and to top it I have no sense of direction whatsoever….unbeatable combination I tell you.

Zank U, zank zo much in advanze all of you zuper cool peoplez for reading and commenting on this pozt;-D.

Not a Post

The finals exams are going on in our household. You can imagine how it must be.....yup the kids are freaking. I play a very important part here…..I provide atmosphere. Thunderclouds and gloom. So blogging is out. I’d feel so terrible if I did,  like as if I’m enjoying myself when the kids are so hard at work. Like guilty pleasure. So this is not like a proper post……it’s a tag. No, tags are not posts, they are tags. U can torture me but I stand by what I say…..atleast till the exams are over.

Hitchwriter  swears this tag is called  Tag you’re it!!

I believe him.

Without wasting another minute….the Rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post & then create 11 new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag 11 people and link to them on your post.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them!

So here are the 11 questions that Hitchy has posted 

1.)      If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Right now I wish I had superpowers to find that perfect apartment. Yep we are apartment hunting and I wish so much I had the power to find an apartment where the kitchen is big enough for four  3 people to stand comfortably and work, bedrooms with cabinets, airy bathrooms with natural light, and enough space in the balcony where I can place 2 chairs & lots of plants.

2.)      What was your favourite childhood television program?

Different Strokes:-))

I’m not sure really. Back in the 80’s we didn’t have a lot of choice, we watched whatever we got[duhhh dont I sound like my parents;-/]. The Hindi movies aired at 6pm on Sundays used to be a treat especially if it had Amitabh Bachchan in itJ. Oh yes I remember never missing the Japanese serial ‘Giant Robot’ & another one which used to come on Sundays called ‘Different Strokes’.

3.)      Have / had any celebrity crushes ?  

By now most of you know that I have a soft corner for Salman Khan. I even blogged about it once. Don’t go looking for it. I cringe now when I see the post. Yeah well I’m not sure he was a crush…I mean he's my favourite and I love him but crush….naaah. The closest I can think of is Hritik Roshan in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai…….not Rohit, it was Raj who swept me off my feetJ. I also loved his act as a betrayed lover in Mujhse Dosti Karoge too. And that part in Jodha-Akbar where Jodha ogles him while he practices his sword-fighting……brrrrr I had goosebumps. Oh alright seems like Hritik Roshan comes close to a crush though I prefer to believe the characters he plays get to me.

4.)      If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?

It used to be Switzerland for a long time.  It changed when I came across this ad in a magazine. Picture this: There is a make-shift shack set up in the middle of nowhere with a mindblowing backdrop. This shack is selling fresh fruit and vegetables. The price of each item is hand-written above each basket. There is nobody in the shack to monitor who buys what. There is a weighing machine & a money box kept on one side. And the tagline simply said “Visit New Zealand” or some such thing. Ever since…..

[Why do I get the feeling I’ve already mentioned this somewhere on the blog. This is what happens when one does too many tags;-/. ]

5.)      Name 1 thing you miss about being a child.

I don’t really miss it all that much. I had too many hang-ups as a kid which still has the power to bother me when I think back about them. I like my present.

6.)      Name the one comic/book character that you loved the most and why?

I remember wanting to emulate George of the Famous Five series……she wanted to be a boy, had short hair, she had a dog, was fearless,  was not afraid to say what was on her mind and never backed away from a fight. Oh yes I wanted to be like George so much.

7.)      What is the one thing that you are dying to try but haven’t had a chance to do so yet ?

I want to climb a mountain, any mountain even a teeny-weeny one but it’s got to be a mountain; I’ll climb to the summit, pitch a tent , sit outside  it, soak in the sunshine, drink in the breath-taking view, contemplate LIFE.

For my luck I'd probably get this sign ;-P

8.)     Do you have a role model – someone you want to emulate? Whom do you admire the most?

The go-getter. I’m a very laid-back….keep waiting for things to happen, stuff to fall in my lap. I know, I know….even I can’t believe people like me exist;-P. So yeah I admire the go-getters.

9.)      What do others make of you?

I think they think that I think differently....like outside the box. I don’t really fit in. For starters…not very conventional, kind of like witty but not very pretty. If she is in the mood to impress she can keep us in splits, if she’s not then heaven save us from the mistress of doom. Like I said…..they think I think that they think like that.

10.)  Have you ever gotten into a fight or punched someone ?

I have gotten into fights[small tame arguments in my opinion;-/] but haven’t punched anybody yet. Haven’t lost hope though. But I soo wish I had/have the courage to do something like that especially when roadside romeos behave crudely….u know just catch him by his collar and ram my fist against his nose. I sooo wish I had the courage to make sure that he’ll never ever do that to another woman ever in his life again.

11.)   For Girls – If you woke up tomorrow to find out you are Brad Pitt, what would be the first thing you’d say upon looking in the mirror???
For Boys – If you woke up tomorrow to find out you are Angelina Jolie, what would be the first thing you’d say upon looking in the mirror???

Angie daaaaarling, you’ll never guess*huge grin*;-D

So that’s it my 11 answers. Now I have to go…..remember I've got exams.

 I tag…

Bindu

Dhanya

Haddock

Lakshmi

Lilac

Sikha Arnav

soul speaks

Swathy

Tan

Uma

Vidhya

My questions are same as Hitchwriters, please don’t get mad at me for not putting up new ones. I'll give u permission to change the last question with one of ur own.....even I hated that one;-D.  EXAMS.  Gotta rush….I can hear the kids chattering away. Not a good sign.  You guys can make new questions when you are tagging others. Cheers.

I've been awarded a Tag:-))

Deeps thinks I’m this very resourceful, adaptable, nifty, useful, flexible kind of blogger. What other reason could be there for her to award me “The Versatile Blogger" award;-D.
Thanks Deeps, love my award & am going to put it up immediately. There is also a tag attached to this award called the random tag. I’m supposing the ‘random’ has been added deliberately to show how ‘versatile’ one can get in a single post;-P. Anyways here goes….

The rules of this tag:

 Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your Blog Post
 Thank the Blogger who nominated you
 Share 7 Random things about yourself
 Nominate 15 fellow Bloggers
 Inform the Bloggers of their nomination

I always thought almost all the posts on my blog are kinda random but now I’ve got a hepper word for it.....Versatile........I’m a Versatile Bloggah...….haahhh.

Alright let me get randomer than usual…..

First things first….

Update on the chess learning: I already told u about beating Naina but guess what, last week I also managed to win against Nikita. And it was a convincing win!!!! But now nobody wants to play chess with me anymore;-(. Nope haven’t mustered enough confidence to challenge the better-half yet;-P.
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In the inside is a cycling track

I found a park, quite close to where I live, which has a good walking track. It shows us how many metres we have covered and I just love that….as of now I’m covering around 1.5kms in 30 mins…everyday…..cool huh.
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Just realised, shdn't have clicked it against a white bckgrnd

One of Nikita’s classmate's father had to be rushed to India for an emergency surgery in December. The child missed almost a month of school. When her mother worried about the notes I got her to send across some of the child’s notebooks with Nikita. Whenever I had a bit of free time I would update all the books. When the child came back she[and mother] were thrilled to see her books……. all completed. She got Nikita some knick-knacks from India and one among them was this cute little keychain of a zoozoo. And her father is fine now and well on the road to recovery:-). ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Can't wait to try out some of the recipes:-))

The Gulf News[newspaper] has this Magazine called Friday which we get every friday[duhhhh…]. It has 2 competitions in which I faithfully take part every week: the crossword and a quiz on Books & their Authors. Every once in a while I win a Dhs.100 voucher[from the quiz] to spend in any Jashanmal Bookstore. I usually get books for the kids with the voucher but this time I picked up a book I had been eyeing for a long time. The kids were not very pleased;-D.
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Barun Sobti as Arnav Singh Raizada

I’m going to tell u a secret now….. I have fallen hard for a fictional character called Arnav Singh Raizada. I chanced upon him in this show called Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon on Star Plus when I went home to India last August. In real life I would probably run a mile away from him; ASR treats the female protagonist with scant respect. He mocks her at every opportunity and manhandles her all the time. His excuse: he has a PAST. He stares, glares, smirks, ….at her and does everything a hero of a show shouldn’t. But one small smile from him and I’m ready to tolerate another 30 episodes of the same nonsense;-(.
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The Virgin MegaStore

Went to one of our favourite booknooks one weekend & I noticed they had changed their layout a bit. I was looking around trying to get my bearings when I saw some books piled up on the floor. The book on the top had a very interesting title “Books for sitting”. How very novel, I thought & tried to open it. I tugged and tugged thinking it was stuck. I know, I know I can be so dim sometimes;-/.
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I spent 15 minutes trying to make this pic vertical;-(

The shopping festival is going on full swing. Visited the Global village last weekend. We did the usual rounds and guess what I picked up amongst other things….a trolley shopping bag from the Chinese Pavilion. I've seen so many people on the Metro with these trolleys and kept thinking it would be very convenient for times when I went shopping for groceries alone. So now I don’t have to wait for taxis anymore, simply load my trolley[it can carry upto 40kgs....just saying;-D] and get back home on the Metro itself.

Phewww…….and that’s it….7 random things about me.

Now I would like to award and tag...…

Amrita

An Open Book

Anita Jeyan Sandeep

Destination Infinity

Horizon

Jyothi

Lan

Limenlemons

Lostworld

Nilu

Snow

Swaram

Tharani

Uma

Vaidegi j

Hah....tagged ya:-)

It’s been a looong time since I attempted a tag & so when I came across this somewhere on the web I felt like taking it up. Its called the 7 meme post. Basically it’s all about the different types of posts you have on your blog…..and a chance to show it off;-D. I thought it would be fun to to take a walk down memory lane remembering times when I put up like 8-10 posts a month[hawwww…..;-o].

What this is about:
To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

Rules:
1) Blogger is nominated to take part

2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
The links are:
- Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of

3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.

4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers

5) And so it goes on!

Only after cutting & pasting & writing the intro and formatting the text to my liking did I realise how tough it was going to be to choose for each category. No not because I have so many options but because I didn’t feel any of them made the cut.
Since I spent 45 minutes already on this I can’t think of back tracking & scrabbling around around for something else to post;-P.

So here goes…..

Your most beautiful post- The Unwanted Third

I wrote this in my early blogging days so you may find the words & sentences not so coordinated but I chose it simply because it was a post written from the heart. It is about my neighbours who’ve moved away now…..it is about a little baby whose face still is so clear in my mind even though I haven’t seen her in years.

Your most popular post – The baddest word of them all

I got over 100 comments for this one but that’s not why I say its popular. Every single day my stats shows me keywords like ‘baddest word’ ‘world’s baddest word’ which have been typed into google and reached my page. But I doubt my post satisfies the curiosity of the people who are searching for whatever they are searching for;-D.

Your most controversial post – Hot and Happening

Controversy and me…..hilarious*Nancy wiping tears off*. I never deliberately go out of my way to court trouble either here or real life. I do realise putting up a controversial topic on my blog can get me a lot of comments but it goes against my grain. ‘Judge ye not’ is my motto. Life is too short reallyJ. Even here in this post I was just talking about the weather…..atleast I started out saying it was too hot for words & the rest just happened;-D

Your most helpful post – How to Blog

I’m this really very helpful person in real life….so helpful that people start doubting my intentions after sometime;-(. So nowadays I act most offhand when people ask me for help. And you know what…it works. Everybody is so grateful now even if I just tell them the time. Oh yes my helpful post….I reluctantly direct most of the new, full of doubts bloggers to this post and they rave, exclaim, jump up & down and claim to find it very helpful;-D

A post whose success surprised you –

I scanned thru a lot of posts & wasted maximum time on this link……to tell u the truth, the response I used to get for every post used to be surprise me all the time. When I got up in the morning & checked out the number of comments I received I would be like “Wow, do people really relate to it this muccchhh….;-o”[note: don’t go by the present scenario, I’m talking about the golden era when a whole lot of us used to live and breathe blogs;-D ] 
Take the post I have selected for example……even today I shake my head all puzzled when I see the huge response it had generated. I mean how can people can get so excited about ‘How I met my husband" sagas…..;-D.

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved:

Nope I can’t think of a single one….like I told u I’m always surprised at the attention my posts get that I keep scrutinising my posts to see what is it exactly that all of u find so interesting out here;-P. But since I’m obliged to put one up I’ll choose a personal favourite - My Fathers (S)cars

The post that you are most proud of - Layali Dubai
I wrote this post on the Global village after going through a 100 links[atleast it felt like that]. When I was finally done it was time to make lunch and so closed the word document WITHOUT saving it……I had absent-mindedly clicked on the ‘don’t save’ option and the whole post just vanished. I stared stunned at the monitor in shock and then just put my head down on the keyboard and wept. Unlike most posts this post had not come out of my head, it had taken me 3 hours and then some more to get 2 pages of material.
The next day I sat down and waded through pages and pages of information again….can u just imagine how boring it must have been. Under any other circumstances I wouldn’t have bothered & would have convinced myself “Maybe it was not meant to be…”. Not really proud of the post as such, more proud of my determination to see it posted.

And that’s it guys, I really hope you’ll go thru the links…esp the old posts…..I really feel I had written some of my best posts then. Unlike now I had soo much to say thenJ.

The 5 bloggers I’m going to nominate here all have been in the blog world for more than a couple of years now and so surmising that they have enough material to choose from…

Anjuli – One of my favourite bloggers…..we go way back in cyber years and haven’t looked back sinceJ. Her posts make me go all wistful…….did u know she has done this overland drive from India to England in 1985 in a 1958 Morris Minor.

Kala – She’s Indian, born & brought up in Malaysia & lives in the US of A. She makes handcrafted jewellery especially with beads, also makes beautiful paintings and…yep very artistic and her writing reflects her personality.

Preeti Shenoy: She needs no introduction….writer, artist, mom, blogger all rolled into one. I love all her posts except for the ones where she posts her pictures. I tell you nobody has the right to look so sexy when they are touching 40;-(. And nope, before u ask..nope she wont be mad at me for telling her age. Atleast I think she won't. She's not like that. I'm very sure she won't. Oh dear.....

Roshan: The resident Doc. And writer. And philosopher. And Aquarius…like me;-D. Don’t tell anybody I told you this…*nancy furtively looks around & whispers*….he holds full-fledged conversations with God.

Smitha: She’s so darn friendly that when you read her posts it’s like having a face to face conversation with her. Anybody can make out when I’m reading her posts….I’m like nodding and nodding my head all the while:-).

Still on the BB, just couldn't resist this Gender Tag:-)

I’m still on a break; that part of it hasn’t changed but I did take some advice to heart where many of you advised me not break away completely, to post an odd picture or a forward or do any tag which comes my way. It did make sense to me. And when Masood and Deeps tagged me with this gender tag I was thrilled. I really didn’t want my archives to show July 2010 as zero.

Now this tag originated from IHM’s page and the past week saw this tag on almost every bloggers’ page this side of town[as in within our circles]. And I was not going to let it go without a try.
The tag is called ‘My Sins against Gender-Stereotypes’. We are supposed to list at least ten things you have ever wanted or done which your gender is not supposed to.And you must tag twelve blogging friends or else you will be cursed to wear blue clothes pants if you are a woman and pink shirts if you are a man – for next twelve years. So here goes……

# When I sit down to watch TV, the remote control will be in my possession. Heaven save anybody who takes it and tries to change the channel;-/.

# When I was younger I had a Hero Puch[a GEARED bike mind u]; while I didn’t mind the bigger vehicles overtaking me, woe betide anybody on a TVS or a sunny who overtook me. I would be incredulous at their audacity and within minutes fly past them to mark my presence and then turn back to smirk at them before speeding away into the horizon.

# I am more partial to the fragrance men wear….I find most perfumes for women too fruity or ‘sweet-sweet’.

# I make the lamest of excuses and am genuinely perplexed when others look at me with raised eyebrows.

# Only when somebody calls my name out atleast 3 times do I answer. The 1st 2 calls just don’t register, honestly.

# I don’t mind cooking but it astounds me how I manage to use up every spoon and utensil to make a single dish & oh how I hate the cleaning up afterwards.

# I love receiving flowers but would never think of buying them for somebody. What a waste of money really!!!! Instead I’ll buy them expensive cake and hang around hoping they’ll share it with me.

# I don’t mind splurging on the latest electronic device but will think 10 times before buying a frying pan.

# Other minor details like washing cars & huge water tanks, taking care of utility bills, splashing in the dirtiest puddles, taking apart fixing electronic gadgets, flying kites, driving the family everywhere, joy-riding on a Yahama rx100 when my friends father was having his siesta[my best friend Neetu & I would stealthily push the vehicle to the corner of the street and then take turns riding it], bringing friends home without warning are all the other crimes which I am guilty of.

I enjoyed doing this tag and had a grin on my face the whole time I was penning this down. I do realize this isn’t exactly what IHM meant when she created the tag but my fingers wouldn’t cooperate with my brain and let me pen awesome stuff about me and the result is before u;-(.
Meanwhile, majority of all the 12 bloggers I’m tagging here on various stages of Blog Breaks or posting very sporadically, I'm trying to interest them back in with this tempting tag:

Amrita[I really hope u'll get back with this tag:-)]

Anita[Go on, unleash the truth on us;-D]

Blunt Edges[Get back soon, waiting to read ur take on this;-D]

Dil se[Do take it up:-)]

Horizon[It's tradition; I always welcome my 'newest' visitors with a tag:-)]

ISH[please dont make ur blog private...I have no other way to get to High Heel confidential;-(]

Lostworld[I'd like to read ur take on it;-D]

Ramesh[please make it a sunday post.....I've no doubt u'll make it worth our while;-D]

Samvedna [I'd like to read ur experiences:-))]

Suma[high time u got back on the wagon;-))]

WannabeWriter[If u dont do this tag I going to be 'katti' with u for life;-/]

Wanderlust[Why do u keep disappearing;-(]

And dont forget to paste the signature image onto the tag:-))

I have been awarded these tags

Blunt Edges has awarded me with this original ‘Nameless award’ which comes with a tag. I'm supposed to list 7 things about myself that nobody knows.

And Dil se has tagged me with a 'Honest Scrap award' which says I have to write 10 honest things about me.

After 2 years of blogging I’m running out of original things to say but since I was combining 2 tags into one I thought hard and came up with these....

# I can withstand the biggest of shocks without reacting but the smallest of an ant bite can sometimes make me burst into tears.

# No matter how many times I come across ‘Hum Saath Saath hai’[Hindi movie] while channel-surfing I stop right there & watch the rest of the movie. Same goes for Hum Aapke Hai Kaun.

# I take ages to shop. I’m one of those undecided kinds. I frankly envy those people who can walk into a store, pick up something in 10-15 minutes and walk out with complete confidence that they got exactly what they were looking for.

# There is this friend I have with whom I share almost everything. Sometimes when I go thru a bad patch I deliberately don’t call her coz I know if I did I’ll end up telling her everything. The funny thing is that I have many other friends who I am more closer to and can control what I tell them but never with her.

# Very rarely have I cleaned my cupboard with the intention of cleaning my cupboard. Every 3-4 months I manage to misplace money or jewellery. And I ransack my cupboard trying to find it. I find it ofcourse & in the process my cupboard automatically gets cleaned. Nowdays when I have misplaced something I think wryly that the cupboard was looking messy anyways.

# Once I had gone to a book-store in Bangalore & asked for the book “The Achlemist”. The sales guy looked confused for a moment & so I asked once again loudly adding "by Paul Coelho". So many heads turned & looked at me & I wondered why. My friend Sapna who was following behind hissed “Idiot, its The Alchemist”.
People, I haven’t recovered from that gaffe yet.

# I try my best not to lie outright but have no qualms about twisting the truth. The better-half has now become very good at catching me at them.
“Did you take your medicine” he asks.
After a split second hesitation....
“Ofcourse I did” I say indignantly
“Did you take them this morning” he asks again
“Ofcourse I took them in the morning”
“Did you take them this morning”
“Don’t you believe me???” I ask with a wounded look.
“Don’t change the topic, I asked you whether you took them this morning”
“Heeee….. yesterday morning” I will say sheepishly.
Now that he smells them out its no fun anymore;-/

# I once called my uncle a “bloody fool” to his face…he had this habit of making fun of me infront of others. I got beaten up by my mother in front of the whole family for it. I regret it ofcourse but a small part of me still marvels at that timid teenager’s nerve.

# In school and college I was always found with a book in my hand. I was addicted so bad that my studies suffered. Unlike most parents, mine used to shout when they caught me reading. I used to read under the covers in torchlight, on the terrace, stay back at school & even bunk classes to complete a book. Today when I see my kids fascinated with books there is this uneasy feeling within me.

# At the best of times I am a bit dim, what you call a tube-light. Jokes, especially the ones with puns and double meaning just go over my head unless people stress on it. Infact some of the advertisements nowadays are just beyond my understanding…..I may understand the sequence but will not be able to make out how the product relates with the ad.

And it’s done. Phew, I think I’m getting too old to do these tags…saps the energy out of me.

Will be passing on these awards along with the others soon.

Leaving you with a quote……

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey

The tag of Eights'

Preeti Shenoy tagged me long back with a tag of 8’s. She is right, its hard. Stuff I never thought about in my whole life I had to think up now. It took me 2 whole days ++ to put this together.

8 TV shows I like to watch:

I don’t watch them everyday but do try to catch them whenever I’m free.

1. 'Everybody Loves Raymond' on Star World
2. Nigella’s Bites/Feast on Travel and Living

3. Movies on HBO and Zee Studio
4. Friends

5. WWF – whether I like it or not I get to watch this everyday. I even know some of the names now……John Cena, Undertaker, Jeff Hardy, Kali and a guy called Punk;-/

6. Any channel which plays Hindi Songs from the 60’s, 70’s & 90’s

7. 'Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai' on Star Plus
8. News on NDTV 24/7

8 favourite places to eat

1. Food made by my mother, Bangalore

Such a pity really since its only after marriage that I truly started appreciating all her dishes
2. Absolutely anything made by my husband’s mother, Kerala
3. Al Dawaar Revolving Restaurant, Dubai – The buffet and the view is superb
4. Nandos, Dubai – A favourite with the family..
5. Nagarjuna, Bangalore – The combination of chicken biriyani, chilli chicken and pepsi enjoyed just before the noon-show at Galaxy next door is unforgettable.
6. Ebony, Bangalore – The food, the view and the company made it memorable.

7. Asha’s, Dubai – for special occasions.
8. Shaanbag, Residency Rd, Bangalore – their Special Masala Dosas were amazing.

8 things I look forward to

1. A short holiday before the year ends.

2. Buying new furniture for the living room

3. Waking up 1 morning and finding out I lost a lot of weight miraculously
4. Taking my parents to Goa for a holiday

5. Getting regular pocket money from the kids once they start working

6. Finding a pair of Jeans which were made for me

7. Life with the better-half after the kids are out leading their own lives

8. Winning Mashreq Millionaire atleast once

8 things that happened yesterday

1. We listened to Nikita go on and on and on about the school picnic she went for

2. Watched a movie “Fool’s Gold” on Zee Studio I think.
3. Made Penne pasta in Alfredo sauce for the 1st time & it came out good.
4. As I was coming back home after picking the kids from the bus stop we saw our next-door neighbour carried out in a wheel-chair. He’s been sick for sometime now.
5. Went to the stationary shop to pick up some pictures of birds and some clay.
6. Watched Nikita make a clay peacock for a science exhibition. I have no idea where this peacock fits in but she is quite sure her teacher is going to love it.

7. Better-half sprained his back…….again.
8. Saw lot of flashing lights thru my kitchen window late last night. Opened the kitchen door out of curiosity & looked down…there were 3 police cars. At first I thought it was an accident scene….looked more closely and realized some guy got caught with a lot of liquor in his car[Liquor etiquette in Dubai : One cannot just go to a store and buy it off the counter, you need a separate license to pick up liquor here. So the next convenient thing(esp for the lower income groups) is to buy liquor from guys like these who sell them out of their car but you got to know where they park their cars].

8 things I love about winter
I’m not all that fond of the cold but after 9 months of summer one tends to appreciate the change in temperature. Anyways, let me see what I can come up with….

1. Kooddling under the blanket[thts how the kids use to pronounce cuddle at first and now its stuck] with the better-half and the kids on fridays.
2. Frequent visits to the parks
3. The smell of fresh and cool air as we step out instead of the usual humidity blasting onto our faces

4. Looking forward to wearing brightly colored warm clothes which are otherwise packed away.
5. Winter is also about looking forward to going home to celebrate Christamas and New Year with family but this year it’s just us since we already went home in July.

6. Lots of shopping is also associated with winter mainly because of point no. 5.

7. Christmas and New Year

8. Eating Butta[corn] seared on coals with spicy green chutney.

8 things on my wishlist

1. Learn to play a musical instrument…like a piano

2. Learn any 1 form of self-defence
3. Join a Library. I wish Dubai had more Libraries

4. To go for those cake decorating classes

5. Learn how to swim

6. I wish I were a bit more self-confident

7. I wish I were staying in the same city as my parents
8. I wish I could do something/anything to help under-priviledged Children

8 things I am passionate about

1. Family
2. Reading
3. Writing & reading blog posts

4. My Country
5. Solving Crosswords
6. Sudoku

7. Jigsaw Puzzles

8. Sinfully rich chocolate cake….actually this should have been my 1st point;-D

8 words or phrases I use often

1. Guess what

2. Love you babies, ummmaaaahhh

3. Thank You
4. Did you see that????

5. You better have a good explanation ready…..

6. Read my lips, N-O

7. I have a surprise for u…….tantadaaaaaan

8. I have a headache….ok, ok just kidding;-D.

8 things I learnt from the past

1. Never say “Eeeks, I cant imagine myself doing that”. There's a good chance that you will end up doing it atleast once.
2. Never underestimate anybody. The very person who you consider least important in your grand scheme of things could be the one who finally helps you glue it together
3. There is a time and place for everything

4. Everything is not in our hands

5. Have some chocolate when you are feeling blue. Things start looking better even before you finish the bar.

6. Whenever you are caught in a cross-fire of words, Silence is the best weapon.
7. Do not wait for things to happen to you, chances are you’ll be waiting forever…like me.

8. If all else fails, press control+Alt+Del….in short, reboot.

8 places I would love to go, visit or see

1. Kashmir, India
2. The Pyramids, Egypt

3. Eiffel Tower, Paris
4. Jerusalem
5. The Atlantis, Dubai

6. Wayanad, Kerala

7. Taj Mahal, India
8. Greece

8 things I currently need or want

1. Some company while I try to lose some weight
2. A pair of jeans which fit
3. To change my template
4. A part-time job
5. An extraordinarily good recipe for a Christmas cake

6. A haircut which will make all the difference
7. Brittania Pure Magic Biscuits from India

8. Motivation…again I should have put this as the first point;-/

Phew...its done!!!!! 1 or 2 of the questions sort of kept asking the same things over and over again. It was so tough to dream up new stuff which are true;-D.

And now comes the fun part, I tag.....

1. Amrita

2. Butterfly

3. Dil se

4. Lakshmi

5. Rakesh

6. Swathy

7. Titaxy

8. Varsh

Give this a miss really...its just a TAG

What does one do when…..

…one doesn’t have any topic in hand to blog about?????
….one’s fingers are typing furiously but its utter gibberish.
…..one has a dream nightmares that there is never going to be another new post ever again.

Wallowing in self-pity, I visit Blunt edges, read about "His first time" & have a good laugh. Feeling much better, I catch sight of a tag & decide that it was going to be my next post…..ermm I already have atleast 10 tags pending against me but for some reason this whimsical tag called out to me. I demanded to be tagged too & the gentleman that he is, ‘surprised’ me with it the very next day.

And so here goes….

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4?
– Ohmigosh, this is so surreal it says…..
“Dear child, don’t lose hope, you are going to win the next Dubai Duty Free Draw for 5 million dollars”
Ok ok just kidding, it is…
“He didn’t want to sleep in the mud at the bottom of the pond” Mr. Meddle’s Bicycle, Enid Blyton.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can & touch air?
- I touched the childrens book rack. Its right next to where I’m sitting.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
– A movie called "Rat Race" is running in the background on Sony Pix…so I guess thts the most recent thing I’m watching on Tv. Ooops just realised that the tag wants me to tell about the last thing….ummmm lemme think….it was the inaugural ceremony of the 1984 Asiad which I watched on our black & white Beltek. Oh but that was the first thing I watched on Tv….heck now I even get confused by tag questions;-/

4. Without looking, guess what time it is?
–Around 11.30 am I guess

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
– Wow the clock shows exactly 11.30 am but you know what, its just 11.20…all the clocks in my house are 10 minutes fast.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
– I can hear the tv, the air-conditioner and the pigeons fighting it out on the balcony and …..hark, I even hear a plane flying overhead[infact if we dont hear a plane roaring past every 3 minutes we get worried;-D].

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
– I rushed to drop the kids off at the bus stop this morning. Another 10 secs and the bus would have gone....guess thats what happens if we try to take photocopies, cut them decoratively and stick 'em pictures in the Arabic notebook...all 1/2 an half before leaving for school.

8. Before you started this Q&As, what did you look at?
–I looked at the time ;-D

9. What are you wearing?
–Military green trousers, white T-shirt and a smug grin.

10. When did you last laugh?
- There were showing this comedy scene on tv yesterday……A rich man was trying to get his daughter married & at the same time sell his elephant. In a comedy of errors the people who came to see the girl were shown the elephant and vice-versa. Stooopid I know but we laughed so much.

11. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
– A painting of the ‘Last supper’, a clock, a money plant, some photos and Naina's scribblings.

12. Seen anything weird lately?
– Yep, wondering why our landlord painted the building without the usual prompting from us.

13. What do you think of this quiz?
- A Hindi idiom comes to mind regarding this tag…….Doobthe ko thinke ki sahara* or something like that. Somebody please tell me the correct version.

14. What is the last film you saw?
– Rock on. I saw it last week for the first time…..nice movie but after some time I started getting irritated with Farhaan Akthar for sighing so loudly everytime he was going to say his dialogues;-/

15. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
– A driving license…..I don’t have one & I know I’ll never get one by giving a test, not the way I drive, not in this country anyway……its a looong story. Hmmmm a germ of an idea for my next post.

16. Tell me something about you that I dunno!
- I bet you didnt know I had a dimple on my face but fat lot of use I’d say......its visible only when I frown;-/

17. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
– Since everybody else who have done the tag would have mentioned all the basic neccesities & comforts for the betterment of mankind, I will proceed directly to luxuries and ensure that every single person on this planet would get to taste luscious red Strawberries dipped in dark & white chocolate…….mmmmm, it's just sublime . I had some, for the 1st time last weekend. [Info for people in Dubai, its available in Festival City, near the food court :-).]

18. Do you like to Dance?
– I’ve got 2 left feet & the best I can manage is that wild thud-thud variety which the kids & I indulge in when we are really bored.

19. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
– I didn’t have to stress my brain too much here….I have been calling my first-born Nikita for the past 8 yrs:-)).

20. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
– I dutifully close my eyes tight & try to imagine but Nikita’s grinning face keeps popping up….I guess my imagination doesn’t stretch that far anymore;-/

21. Would you ever consider living abroad?
– As a child I used to imagine living in America, Japan, Switzerland and even in Alaska[ I so badly wanted to live in an igloo at one time]. Dubai never featured anywhere but here I am....I've realised LIFE takes us many places which were never in our scheme of things.

22. What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
– Imagine the scenario....
God catches sight of me waiting to be let in thru pearly gates.....
"Nancy my dear child, why are you standing in this looong queue?????
Come, come on in, you know I used to really enjoy reading your posts!!!!!!"
As a token of my appreciation, do feel free to order strawberries dipped in dark & white chocolate anytime u feel like it....."

Feeling a lot better now, I tag…

Athivas

Elegant Chic

Hitch writer

Meira

Sakshi

Snow

Sunshine

Swaram

Wanderlust

Catawampus me!!

*A drowning man clutching at straws