City City Bang Bang!*

Finally, it's out! Pardon the delay, I was just not in the right mood to write. This one is gonna be long, so, pardon that too!Anyway, let's start off with the basics trip details:

Locations: Ernakulam -> Munnar -> Thekkady -> Kumarakom
Total distance to be covered: Close to 600 kms
Time available: 5 days to be exact.
Mode of transport: Chennai -> Ernakulam => Train, To everywhere else => Qualis
Company: 2 couples and 1 stag. Total fun material.

After a 12-hour train journey to Ernakulam (11 hours of which we slept) our white Qualis met us, along with Raju- our guide cum driver. I, keeping up with tradition, was the back-seater. Which in this case was so not cool. Which meant having American Tourister trolleys for company and being the official supply cabin of the vehicle. Which also meant that it really didn't matter if I had motion sickness, I just had to hand over whatever was required whenever required. More fun material!

Destination I: Munnar
Temperature: For a Chennaiite, just the right temperature to be turned into a human popsicle.
Ok, embarassment time. I have to confess my ignorance. I don't know why or how, I always thought Munnar was one of those beachy places with an abundance of sunshine. Somehow 'Munnar' just doesn't have a hill-station-ish ring to it, like say, Kodaikanal or Ooty. Thankfully, when I was just about packing my bags, Pp 'reminded' me to carry warm clothing. And the closest to 'warm clothing' I carried along was a couple of shrugs (For those uninitiated into women's-clothing, these are those small jacket-ish things that are meant not to cover anything but just be worn anyway. And oh, both of mine had holes all over).

The trip, though, helped me to discover another of my hidden facets - getting up a mountain makes me as sick as, uhm, someone sick (I should stop trying to use similies). I've heard a lotta people tell me earlier that they tend to feel nauseous when going up and blah, but I always thought I was that 'steel-body' kinds and nothing could affect me. And so through the entire trip, the only position I could be found in, in the car, would be curled- hugging the seat with my eyes tightly shut and that weirdly pukey, groggy expression on my face. But I guess the rest of the world in that car were oblivious to my discomfort. Every now and then I would hear someone go, "Preeti? What are you doing? Why so silent? And oh yea, pass me the water". And I would mumble something incoherently and they would go, "Always sleeping. Wonder why you came for the trip!" They should be thanking their stars I wasn't well enough right then.

To top it all, our 'resort' was located somewhere close to the tip of the mountain and the only other thing we could hear at night other than our own echoes, was the slow but constant zzzhhhhhhhh of the wind through the trees. And it was LOUD! Like each tree had it's own amplifier and 3-D surround speakers or whatever. I slept in between my parents (Fine, I'm a killjoy, but in my defense, those noises were pretty eerie!) Dad fell sick and Dolz was puking through the night. So much for a 'relaxing' vacation.

We did do our share of 'sight-seeing' and 'photo-taking'. We even climbed some real high peak to spot a couple of 'wild-goats'! C'mon, they are goats!!! Incidentally, when I was passing on this 'just goats up there' information to the rest of the family, one of the officials out there happened to eavesdrop on our conversation and he immediately burst out, "It is naat justa goatsa madam! These goatsa are seen wonly here! Nowhere else in the entaayree warld you will see this, ok???So don't say 'just goats' ok??? Too bad for him I was just recuperating from the journey uphill. (My motion sickness seems to have been a blessing in disguise for a lotta people, huh?)

The rest was the usual valley, waterfall, echo point thing. I mean, what else could a mountain offer!? Yea, yea it was beautiful, picteresque and all that. Yea, every crappy picture of mine looked frame-worthy because the place was just so-damn-beautiful, but even excessive beauty could cause sore eyes! We were really glad when 2 nights after, it was time to head to Destination 2. I must say, you see one mountain, you've seen 'em all!

Destination 2: Thekkady
Temperature: Uhm, sunny but cold. Not too bad
We found Thekkady a lot better than Munnar. We reached around 12.30 pm, had lunch and wanted to check-in. But we were told by our driver that once we check in, we couldn't get out after 6 pm. We were intrigued and assumed it was because wild animals would be on their rampage or something equally exciting, but he confirmed it was nothing of the sort and had to do with political crap.

We were in a 'Tiger Reserve' with supposedly 45 tigers inside and we spotted anything but. Infact, I think all we saw (apart from killer insects) were 'Wild' Domestic animals. Like wild pig, wild buffalo, wild goats etc etc.

Me and Dolz were certain we spotted quite a large no. of UFIs here -Unidentified Flying Insects. And by large no., I mean LARGE. If in Munnar it was the noise that kept me awake, here it was the lack of it and the fear of waking up to an insect-infested body! (inspite of sleeping in between my parents!) Thankfully, we spent just one night and a couple of hours before that here.

Other stuff we did there was: Go on an early morning boat-ride (we saw a lone elephant somewhere in the distance, or so I think), watch a Kalaripayattu show (which was AWESOME really. Will try and post the videos), go to a wax museum (which had wax dolls of Mohanlal and Mammooty, which we got to know from the sign-post below. They also had aquariums and really ugly paintings on display), do a bit of shopping (for nothing really) AND do an elephant ride. This was good. Me, Dolz and Harsh atop Sankarankutty (who was anything but kutti, ie, small). A 30-minute ass-fracturing ride. But who am I to complain when I'm not the one with 200 kilos on top huh? Oh, there was also this absolutely adorableeeee 1-year old ele baby named Kannan. He was just soooooooo cute and naughty! He even caught my mum's saree with his trunk and almost did a mini Draupadi-sequence there, if not for his care-taker's rebuke. It left my mum giggling and blushing while my Dad was FURIOUS! Time now for Destination 3.

Destination 3: Kumarakom
Temperature: Hot, humid, sweaty
This is the Kerala I thought I knew. And also what I wanted to see. Coconut trees et al! We stayed on one of 'em house-boats (corrected thanks to xh). Pretty good actually. Even the food. We were really in for a surprise when the boys on the deck turned out to be really good cooks! And they made alllllll of our favorite mallu food - puttu and kadalai, pazham pori, Pomfret fry for Daddy - all of it.

I know I sound like I really liked it. I did, but not for more than a day. (Part of my liking was because I was thankful as ever to be on levelled roads and no hair-pin bends!) The initial ride across the back-waters was really nice. It even rained. But how long can you stare at a huge expanse of water!?? After a point, I was just yearningly looking at the land across. It was the thought that there was just another day to go that kept me going. But I must say, the best food and sleep that we had through the entire trip was here. (Ignoring the million mosquitoes and lizards)

Finally, it was time to get back. We pit-stopped at 2 beautiful temples - Chottanikara and Vaikom Sivan temple on the way to Ernakulam. There we met up with a couple of our realllyyyy close family friends from Bahrain and it was time for a lotta nostaligia. That done, we were all set for Chennai.

I realized that I'm a total city person. None of this wildlife, greenery stuff for me. It's all fine to a limit, but not more. I just love the noise and bustle of a city, the fast-life, the luxury- everything! I need to see people move around, not just still-life. I can get my dose of the nature stuff from Discovery& NatGeo, paintings and google and I'm totally fine with that! I'll put up photos shortly. Left them at home and didn't wanna put off posting this because of that. And oh, thank you for your patient reading. You asked for it!

Update! P.S: 1. *- The title IS a popular show on Radio City (as Scribblers Inc. pointed out) It isn't a coincidence, I used the name to express my love for the 'city' but I guess I should've included this attribution before :P
2. I've also come to the conclusion that most of you thought I had a good time. Well, I had an O.K time which definitely is not the same as good. This post was meant to be sarcastic but I guess a lot of it wasn't received. Anyway, maybe I should accept that (it sounds like) I had a good time!

I'm BACK!!!

Buhahahahahaha!

I've just GOT to tell you all about my tour. I'm like brimming with enthusiasm (!) to let it all out. But I just haven't gotten around to writing it out today. So I'm gonna let that be done tomorrow. BUT I just couldn't resist coming here and telling y'all that I'm BACK! And boy! Am I happy to be back or WHAT?!*
*Did that give away how my trip went???

P.S: I 'almost' kissed the Chennai Central floor today morning. But, uhm, decided against it as the 'suveet shmell' hit my nose :D
2. I will clear all the back-logs in replies to the comments in the previous post tomorrow as well! I'm HAPPY!!!

Euphoric, Ecstasic, Elated, Exhilarated

Cheery, Glad, Sunny, Fortunate, Bright, Upbeat, Jubilant, Merry, Joyous, Delighted, Pleased, Blessed, Beaming, Gleeful, Light-hearted, High, Jolly, Buoyant, Exuberant, Perky, Glowing, Laughing, In 7th Heaven, On Cloud 9......Add alllll those synonyms you know for the simple word "HAPPY"!

The operation on the lil baby was a Success!!! His heart is Fine and the babe is Fit as a Fiddle. Maybe a lil too early to say that yet, considering the operation got over just an hour back, but of this I am certain. He is fine and he is going to be fine! And Everything is A-OK!

When I went to see him yesterday, he was a tad bit cranky thanks to those sedatives they injected into him to take the scan. He was crying and complaining that his hand was paining. But then slowly, as the effect wore away he was back to riding his cycle with one hand within the confines of the hospital room (which looked more like a 5-star hotel room!) And was busy reciting rhymes from his Smart Cookie DVD! And we were all mellow thinking of what was in store for him today. But now it's all over. He's fine!!!!!

Prayers can work miracles really. Because a miracle of sorts this was. From the scans, the docs were pretty skeptical and kept saying there were a number of follow-up procedures and surgeries that would be required even after this one. But itseems today, when they opened it up, everything seemed to be OK and he may not need the other surgery after all!

I really really wanna thank ALLLLLL of you for your wonderful, heart-felt prayers. It really really means soooooo much. I truly believe it all worked out fine because he had the blessings and prayers of all of you out there. Thanks, thanks, thanks and more thanks! (Don't think I can EVER thank everyone enough!)

Love you allllllll! Hugs by the dozen, all FREE! :)

Cuteness in the Darkness :)

One night last week, something really cute happened. It actually involves a biggg bag of mixed emotions but I still think 'cute' topped the list :)

It was around 3 am. We were all asleep (like naturally. And yea, I sleep with my parents. No further questions). Through my hazy, sleepy-as-hell state, I heard someone sobbing like a baby. Initially I thought it was someone laughing in my dream but then I realized it wasn't and that it was my mum crying.

Now, lemme tell you, ever since her heart attack 2 years ago, she's paranoid about dying in her sleep. We've realllyyyy tried talking to her about this a zillion times over and tried getting her outta this silly mental framework, but it just doesn't seem to work. And to top it all these stupid tamil magazines that she reads and TV shows keep harping on sob-stories and tragic incidents in people's lives. Once in a while it is ok to probably get a dose of reality, but otherwise I think such shows must truly be banned. Oh, and credit must also be given to those veritable pakkathu-aathu maamis (next-door aunties), who keep going, "Rukku, epdi iruke? Heart attack ku apram elam ok dane? Unaku teriyuma, aniki kooda enoda akka-ponnu oda maamiyar heart-attack la apdiye thookathla sethuta. Careful aa iru" (Long dialogue, sorry, but here goes: Rukku, how are you? Everything is ok after your heart attack aa? You know, even that day my sister's daughter's mother-in-law died in her sleep of a heart attack. Be careful). It isn't a wonder that my mum doesn't sleep at night. So much so that she refuses even to get her tooth extracted because one such 'aunty' told her that her Dad passed away of a heart attack while having his tooth removed! I wonder if there is a personal-life analogy for every death that goes around.

So, thanks to all that and the fact that my mum is really weak herself, she never sleeps. Apparently she gets proper sleep only after dawn breaks because she knows the new day has come and she isn't gonna die in her sleep. (Forgot to mention, the 'stat' she gave an extremely irritated Dad and me that night, was that most deaths due to heart-attack happen during early morning or some crap! Source: Unknown).

And ever since we didn't take her symptoms of an attack to be anything worrisome back then, we now tend to take even small signs slightlyyyy seriously. We try not to show it out because we don't want to increase her already sky-rocketing anxiety levels.

Ok, so where's the cuteness in all of this? Let's get back to the 'situation'. Dad wakes up, jolted from his deep sleep by my sudden,"Appa, amma azhara" (Dad, Mom's crying). And he immediately takes mum into his arms like a baby and rocks her slowly, soothing her down and intermittently asking her,"Enna da aachu? Are you ok? Naa iruken illa? Enna achu? Bayapadade da kutta" (What happened? Are you ok? I'm there, no? Don't get scared baby). And I just couldn't help but feeling like one total idiot for being there in that room right then. But I was rooted. Because it was soooo cute and special to see their love going rock-solid strong even after 30 years. I've always admired that in my Dad. His love and the way he expresses it, it just makes me cry all the time. And my Mom is such a baby. She uses it, you know, her innocence trick. Doesn't work with us but works allll the time with Dad.

Infact, yesterday Dad was realllyyyyy upset he lost his wallet. One reason, apart from the existence of all his cards and contacts in it, was that getting a white wallet is really difficult (Dad wears only white, even his belt, shoes, socks etc etc). But it was only slowly that he blurted out the real reason - He was extremely sad because the wallet had a 30-year old snap of Mom - the way he fell in love with her. And he was pissed as hell with himself for being careless. Not for the wallet, not for the money or the cards, but for that 1 snap. I seriously, seriously found that super-cute.

He isn't the eloquent, quixotic, romantic kinds. Really isn't. But these small gestures of his are sooo...soo....special in their own way, it really rekindles my dying respect for love and its hype. Makes me feel like that little girl waiting for her Prince Charming to come get her :)

P.S: I've been away from the Blog World for 9 days. 9 days of not posting is huge by my own standards. I actually didn't feel like getting on. I guess battling the call to turn Anonymous had a lot to do with it, with mild coaxing from people around me. I still need more thinking on that.

Getaway!

Now that me hating my work is stale news, it obviously is no surprise that I don't work at all. And so I don't know whether I would qualify as one who requires a 'break', 'vacation' or a 'stress-relieving outing'. But I still feel I deserve it. Because I'm like a bird in a cage, stuck where I don't wanna be and that's as stressful as it can get. Ok, that's like heavy logic and all, so I'm gonna skip that. But, I'm glad that I went on a recent trip to Pondicherry that my sister made me go to. (made => forced, threatened, black-mailed).

Planning for vacations is one of the most important pastimes for my family and friends. It's like building castles in the air. In the midst of a conversation, someone would get a brainwave and say,"Hey! How about we all go to Pondy next week? Ok, we'll call so and so. We could take this car and that. And we could stay here and..........". The next time another one would break out,"Hey!How about we all go to Goa next week?Ok, we'll call so and so. We could take this car and that. And we could stay here and.........". The next time it would be Coorg, Ooty, Kodai - you see we were never short of ideas. We'd plan and plan and plan. We'd laugh about how much of fun it 'would' be and what all we 'could' do.We'd even crack the jokes we 'would' crack and crack over them way in advance like cracks. But on the trip we would never go.

This one, though, was different. It wasn't a family trip (Dad & Mum weren't there) and it wasn't with my friends. It was just the 5 of us -Me, Dolz, Harsh and his 2 best friends (it was one of their b'days on the 4th). I felt like the 5th wheel, the wet blanket, the kebab mein haddi -you get it. My Dad and Mum were insistent I shouldn't go, like I was flying in the air for going on a trip with a mushy couple and unknown guys. Dolly felt otherwise. She felt she would be alone amongst her man and his buddies and she needed me along. Like that stuffed teddy for security.

And go I did. Surprisingly, I had a super-awesome time. Doing nothing much but just lazing around. We started from Chennai by car at around 1 pm. It was like freaking hot and half the trip went by cursing the weather. By the time we reached, it was like 4. We stayed at this really nice resort - 10 km or so from Pondy itself. I LOVED the place. A nice, ancient recluse kinds.

We got to our rooms to change into more comfortable, summer clothes. Now, we sisters aren't swimmers, thanks to Dad being hydrophobic, so we just sat around by the pool sipping cold orange Breezers and watching 3 grown up men act (as nutty as) 3 year olds in the pool. After a while, it got really boring and we decided to get into the pool and just wade around.

We got out at around 8, went up and changed and headed down for dinner. The restaurant was beautiful. French style architecture et al. (It also had a very 'natural' setting, like, we had insects exercising their natural right and flying about unattended) Harsh then came up with a brilliant idea of going down to the beach for a walk. I'm a total dark-o-phobic and I pretty much walked the way with my eyes shut. Thankfully though, the 'men' ran back once they heard a couple of wild dogs howling somewhere in the distance!

My Darling bro-in-law is really smart and his next idea was to talk about, what else at 11.30 pm, but ghost stories. I was mad as hell, I mean, he knowsssss I'm really, really scared! I let him go ahead with it only because I knew how to get my revenge- I would sleep with the lights on and not let him sleep the entire night! Buhahahaha! [Unfortunately a combination of Bacardi and Vodka turned out to be a potent sleeping pill and he was in Dreamland the second his head hit the pillow].

Anyway, we headed back to the room for a drink-and-music session. Harsh was the man of the day. He was in some mood, trust me. Usually the un-romantic types, he seemed bent upon singing only 'romantic' songs (which was the only reason my sis didn't mind the sharp increase in his alcohol intake). Kishore Kumar was everyone's favourite and each one of his songs was brutally rendered by us 4 vocally-challenged people (minus my sis, who's is an awesome singer). Oh, I even played hip-hop tutor for a while. Public demand, you know, tsk tsk. It was hilarious to see them trying out the steps, especially when they were high :D

Finally by 3:30, we retired tired to bed. I couldn't sleep till like 5 am and I woke up by 9 because I vaguely heard that the 'complimentary' breakfast table would close down by 10.15! Once again, the men decided to get sun-bathed in the pool and me and Dolz, for fear of skin-cancer, stayed back. We cut a cake for the birthday boy, had lunch and headed back to Chennai.

Short vacation but high on rejuvenation. I somehow didn't wanna get back. I guess a vacation always does that. It is true, y'know- the lesser expectations you have, the more satisfied you would be. Because I went thinking I'm gonna have a miserable time, but I ended up having a fantastic time.

HipHopper!

Update: Taken off the snaps, just incase :)

Moving away from the gloom of the previous post, lemme share one of my happiest, proud-est moments with all of you :)

I passed the Hip Hop Intro-2 examination conducted by the United Kingdom Alliance and received the highest grade for our level- Highly Commended!!!I'm officially, professionally, properly, truly a "Highly Commended" Hip hop dancer!!!! YEA!! WOOHOO!! :) Ok, so is the rest of the group from dance class, but that includes MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Rewind:
I've alwayz loved dancing. When I was a kid, I mostly stuck to swaying my body because I was really conscious of not getting the right moves. And most of my friends were classically trained dancers. Even in college, initially I used to help others choreograph but never had it in me to actually dance on stage. Till, on my 2nd yr "College-day", one of the girls suddenly fell sick on the day of the event and she couldn't get on. Since I had helped them and knew all the steps, I was asked to take her place. My knees were doing their own little jig outta total petrification there (noun form of petrified, don't care if it isn't a word). I've done a lotta stage dramas and shows and stuff as a kid, but this was infront of the entireee college. And you know how guys in college are, especially the kinds in Sathyabama who behave like they have never seen a girl in their life, let alone a girl dancing! But I did it and it was sooo much of fun that the dancer in me was awaken :D

After that there was no looking back. There was the usual dancing at parties and at 'discs' and blah and I realized I realllyyyyy enjoyed dancing. Talks of joining dance classes have been in the air from when I joined MBA, which is like almost 3 years back, but we (Ruby, Janie and I) finally got around to doing it just now at "The Academy of Modern Danse".

Why Hip-hop? Actually, it was the only one with convenient weekend timings. And also, we assumed it was slightly a laid-back form of dance and would be a good choice to start off with. Oh man, were we wrong or were we wrong! Out of a 1 hr class, we basically do 30 min of gruelling, back-killing, muscle-tearing stretches! Even aerobics felt like heaven in comparison. This, combined with the revelation that we have an 'exam' with 'syllabus' for it, made me decide to leave it half-way, keeping up with my excellent track record of hobby-jumping (tennis, gym, music class etc etc). After a lot of convincing by Jane and Ruby, I stayed. And it was worth every-fucking-injury!

Oh and I must add we have like THE BESTEST of instructors. The dude -Balaji, is one of THE best dancers I've ever seen. He is like the embodiment of energy, attitude and style. In the remaining half an hour of effective class, we girls ogle at him for 29.5 min.

The Exam and the run towards it:
Now, the Exam in itself was to be a mere 3 min affair on the 1st of May. We were divided into 3 groups of 4. Ours was the only group that had 3 - me, Jane and Ruby were fucking happy to be together. We were taught 4 steps that had 8 counts, ie, 4 sets of 8 steps. The song was 'Bebot' by Black Eyed Peas. We had to dance it out infront of our 'firang' judges, who flew down from the UK for this.

We actually bunked office the previous day and spent 4 hours rummaging through Spencer's for the right 'hiphop' clothes. We decided on black and pink as the colour-theme and settled on something simple and comfortable, yet cool.

I was really, really, really nervous. We had tons of practice and I was sure of my steps but I guess just the word 'exam' is enough to give me cold feet. We managed to pull it off pretty neat, though and the result is our grade and certificate.

It's supposed to come in the papers and stuff, if and when it does, I shall put it up here for all of you.

Minna-san, Okurimono ga suki desuka?*

Japanese to English Translation: All of you, do you like gifts?* (That, btw, is a dual purpose title. One, to show off my Japanese proficiency and Two, to increase curiosity in the post. Smart, I know)

*I know I do. I LOVE gifts - both giving and getting. I know it's the thought that matters and all. I totallllllllyy agree. I don't get sad if I don't get a gift. But I'm super happy/ elated/ jubilant/ springy/upbeat....(you get the drift) when I do get a gift. And I truly consider myself blessed in that respect. Cuz I have some of the BESTEST people in the Whole Wide World around me!
See, it goes like this. During my engineering, my parents were abroad => cash inflow was pretty good. That was probably the time when I gave the most. After that, I went on to do my MBA. At that time, most of my engg friends had gotten into TCS/CTS/Infosys/some IT Company. And Dolz was also earning top-notch. So, I was the pampered friend/baby-sister. Birthdays meant a million gifts. I'd get every single thing I wanted. Mum was absolutely disgusted at the way I used to squeal with delight at the gifts and she used to remind me that I have to also give in return. But my friends never let me. "You're not earning yet", they'd say.

And then after MBA, I waited 4 months to get a job. By then the engg set was well settled and the MBA ones started working. So I was pampered again. Then when I did get a job, I got one which paid me peanuts. I couldn't even meet my own auto needs from Mylapore to Adyar and again they'd say, "C'mon, you don't have to spend. When you get a better job, you can get us something". I've received gifts ranging from: Clothes to Cellphones to Ipods to Customized-Calendars-with-my-Pics-all-over to Bags to Shoes to Watches to Books to Flowers to Cakes to Chocolates to Make-overs to Jewellery to.....!!! And now, finally, I have a good, decent paying job. And it's time I start giving! Trust me , it isn't easy. It requires sooooo much of thought!

I cherish each and every one of those gifts. I even save the wrappers and the tiny 'Best Wishes' cards that come along with them. I've got every single card I've received since I was a kid. But one of my most recentest gifts is definitely one of my most bestest gifts. Totallyyyyy unexpected. It was given by my Pp. My lil bro baby, the sweetest, cutest, nuttiest person I've met. Whom I love oh-so-much and whose smile is just to-die for! All of 18 years and full of fun and spunk!I simply cannot imagine an hour without this lil hunk, forget a day. When I opened the gift he handed me, I just sat there, not saying a word cuz, for once, I didn't have anything to say!I was speechless. Stunned into silence! (For those of you who know me personally, that is a pretty impossible task) Din't know whether to laugh or cry, to jump in joy or run outta there and show it to everyone I know!He designed a CD for me. Like, put in a few of my ultimate fav songs, designed the front and back AND got it printed on the CD. My FIRST Customized CD. And he addressed it to -"The Best Sis in the Whole World!"And he did it for ME. *sniff* While I get down to some crying and nose-blowing, you guyz can check it out:



Beautiful huh? Pp, Muah! Love you alwayz kiddoooooo!!!!

Next is by Ruby. Ok, to get into the history behind this, I must tell you I'm totally not a gadget person. Cellphones are solely for 'communication' purposes and I find absolutely no joy in wasting money on a new phone. My friends have tried over and over again to get me to change my phone. I had a 3310 till a year back when a friend gifted me another. That stopped working and I've been using my sisz throw away 6600 ever since, which was in a deplorable condition when I received it and I've managed to damage it even further. It was silver earlier. Now black. It didn't have the keys 'enter' and 'a,b,c' and so i had to use my nails to get inside and type it out. I didn't even find it necessary to change the panel! And so, Ruby dearest decided to do the honours. Gifted me a whole new panel, with a new keypad, a new battery AND a memory card (which is from Satti too). My folks actually thought I got myself a new phone! And me, being the bitch I am, have been cribbing that the 'new-look' for the phone isn't me. And that the phone isn't quite the same now! I know I'm a pain! Rubyyyy, I LOVE it. And I LOVE you! Thanks really, really, reallyyyyy!!! Don't have a snap of it. But it looks super sexy. Totally new.

Don't you think I really am blessed to have these people?

*sniff* There I go again! *sniff*

P.S-Update: It is NOT my birthday. I'm a Cancerian and hence, my birthday is in July! And if my Birthday was coming, the countdown would've started 2 months in advance! :D These are just chumma gifts, which is what makes them a lot more special-er :)

I Quit...Uhhh...I think...!

Yea, yea I have dunnit! :) ....Or so I'd like to believe... :)

After a million hair-yanking sessions (thanks to which my straightened/ coloured/ streaked hair seems to be facing an onslaught of increased hair fall, more than the normal 100 hair per day, and not because of the straightening/ colouring/ streaking!) with dad, mum, sis, bro-in-law, friendz etc etc, I finally, finally took the step- To go and 'inform' my 'boss' that he no longer has the pleasure of having me work for him! No more "Preeti, staple this" or "Scan this and print it". No more "Are you done with the work...yet?" (when actually it was him who told me he'd do the work and pass it to me for, well, filing!)

As a self respecting, educated (!) person , I was pretty miffed with :
1. Being paid peanuts (though for someone like me even a million peanuts wouldn't suffice- to eat or otherwise)......

2. Having to travel half the way across the world (ok exaggeration IS my middle name, but c'mon, Mylapore to Sriperumbudur isn't really any better is it?) at 5 am to get to the 'factory' right in the middle of nowhere, where water and electricity is a luxury AND...

3. Talking in Japanese at every turn, which has made me a pretty confused individual with a serious crisis because every time I try to talk, my mind scans through the languages I know- Tamil, English, Hindi and Japanese (Thank God I don't know how to speak my father-tongue Malayalam well enough!) before I can get to the right word! And I am not exaggerating this time!!!! I got a call from my mom this one time I was on a trip with one tiny Jap and kept saying 'Hai' for 'Yes' and 'Aa so!' for 'Apadiya'! Considering I alwayz blabber, she didn't seem to notice but it left me feeling like a fool.

And so, I decided to take the plunge. Maybe my 1st job, maybe just 5 months but I don't wanna wait it out just to get the experience thing up on my resume. Maybe I'm wrong but it doesn't take much to realise what's not profitable. (I had people at work and friendz tell me that in words I definitely wouldn't wanna repeat here. But trust me, it worked!).

Now, the reason I say 'I think' is because, ever since I told him I quit, I've been loaded with work and absolutely no mention on our talks! If you're wondering what I'm doing at work still, well, there were these minor settlement issues and the 2-week notice thingie which I needed him to get back to me on so that I could put in the right dates in my letter, and I'm still, being the fool I am, waiting for him to 'get back to me'!

Anywayz, doesn't matter now. To me, I've quit and as of now, I'm happy to be screaming it aloud from the roof tops! IIIIII QUITTTTT! :)

P.S: 1. If you're gonna ask 'What's next?', then hold on, I really haven't decided yet. I guess I'll take a break from all the working for a while...hehe...1st job, 5 months and here I am basking in the glory of leaving it :)

2. I'm giving in my letter the sec I publish this ;)

M.E = Mount Everest!

I've alwayz wanted to go somewhere high up, especially high up on the Everest. But I never thought it would ever happen! Until last week.....

3 days last week. Nov 1,2,3 2007 - 3 amazing days when I experienced the heights of heights. And loved it totally! :) The Mount Everest part was Ryan's. When I told him I was high, he joked I was Mount Everest. And I thought it was hilarious and soooo true! But yea, I was up there. Free floating and wow-ed. Looking down at all those tiny miracles around me happen- Prathi losing her 'single' status, Ruby partying along with us, Janie and Satti joining us late-nite, AJ down from Pune! Whatever happened after that doesn't matter. The fights, the abrupt ending, the DJ's crappy excuse, I'm just glad I got to look at the world from up there, through rose-tinted glasses- atleast while it lasted :)

The worst part of a high, is the accompanying low. And moreso, the emotional one!I actually said a lotta senti stuff I never imagined I would. Oh crap!

P.S: Pardon the evasiveness but I guess it isn't really rocket science to guess what I'm talking about. And Satti- nope I'm not a compulsive craver of the high-ness. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to break free and let your hair down. And trust me, I get the wild streak from my dad. More details later ;)