Skipping Rope

K happened to meet S in the bus last weekend. S, the newly wedded common friend, was accompanied by her husband. K was so excited for having met her after a long while. K or me could not make it to S’ wedding for various reasons. So, K was very happy to have seen the couple for the first time.

After a couple of days, K e-mails me to convey this. The conversation is summed up for view:

K: Hey dear, you know what? I met S this weekend. Man! I was so excited to see the couple.

Me: Oh really? Woooooooowww!!

K: Oh yeah dear. S was so excited too. She introduced me to her hubby. I wished them.

Me: Cool.

K: Let’s go and meet the couple at their house on some weekend, ok?

Me: Of course dear, we need to. That’s in fact, due.

K: They really look good together, dear.

Me: :)

K: Another thing, S still looks the same!!!! ;)

Me: What do you mean now? I know .. I know… You mean to say that I turned fatter after my wedding, right?

K: he he he :P

Me: :( :( :( Why only me?

K: Arey yaar… stop frowning. It’s not the whole of you, ok? Just your cheeks have turned chubby.

Me: :( :(:( Why only my cheeks?

K: You need to figure out why? :)

Me: Hmm…. I need to ask God why only my cheeks?

K: I think so, you’d better.

Me: Wait a minute. If I ask God why only my cheeks, then he might misunderstand that I want whole of myself to be chubby, not just my cheeks!! What then?

K: You have a point!

Me: I’d then better keep shut.

K: True dear, You’d better keep shut. Good for all.
(K mutters to herself ‘Thank God! At last she kept quiet. Let me get back to work now!!’)


Ok … I bought a skipping rope, yesterday!! :P

Insane? Who?

We share the same locality and of course the same street too. The similarities end just there. The major difference between the person I am addressing and myself is that I have a roof for shelter and she doesn't. A lady of about 60 years she is, has dwelled on the same street since God knows when. I have been residing in that locality for about an year now, I see her everyday at the same place. She is insane- or so is considered. In rags, unkempt hair, muttering to herself always, unperturbed by the attention or stares she gets from the people walking past the road, she is all for herself, harmless to others.

God knows (does he?) what runs in her mind, I am sure though that she has created a world of her own. At as early as 6 in the morning, one is sure to catch her rinsing her hair with the water from the public water tank on the road. Off she goes with an old bisleri can refilled with the water from the same tank and a back-pack. She can then be seen only in the evening at about 6 in the same roofless place. Well, one might say what's so special about the person I am addressing when there are millions of people without a roof to sleep under and a square meal to eat. Well, she is indeed special.

She is an INDIVIDUAL. Not many are, me included. How can I call myself an individual when I depend on so many to lead my life? She takes care of herself, her food and her safety. Not sure what she does for her food, but the ascertained fact is that she is a woman of abundant self-respect. The other day, as I was walking towards home, I saw this woman walking slightly ahead of me. Just then a lady with a bagful of groceries, who seemed just out of busy provision shopping, walked past me, paused for a while in front of the insane(?) lady and offered her a rupee or two. Instant rejection from the old lady for the money offered and a heavy flow of unclear words showing her disapproval stunned the lady who offered the money. The latter told me that she only sympathized with the old woman and wanted to help for her food and was shocked at the response in return to the pity she expressed. No doubt, I was awe-struck! When we see teen-aged and people in early twenties adopting to begging as an easy means to money, this old woman flatly refused a volunteer’s help!! Isn’t that what we call self-respect??!! Hats off.

She is an Environmentalist. She does her bit to keep her shelter, that is the road where she dwells clean. Once when she saw a person spitting on the street, she instantly took him to task. Most certainly, he was embarrassed to be taking lessons of decorum from an ‘insane’ woman. He would never commit that mistake again, I believe, rather, hope so.

And after all this, people call her insane or mentally-challenged? To hell with them! Insane? Mad? Crazy?- She who knows that she has to earn her bread, she who knows that she has to keep herself and her surroundings tidy, she who knows how to manage from looking obscene even in those rags, she who minds her business and most of all, she who lives a dignified life and she who whenever possible, reforms people too ? Just wondered how low she considers all the insane people around!

“Ma’am, You have certainly made an impression on me. Please don’t consider me insane too. I have made an attempt to distinguish sane from the major insane rest!!”

It's Thursday and nothing else!

Sending flowers and Chocolates to the beloved while at office, to spring a surprise.

Gifting a "Jodha Akbar" music CD for all the music buff that he is.

Buying a shirt from Wrangler, in effect gifting two to him since buy-one-get-one offer exists at the right time, what a luck,man!

Gifting a gold pendant and getting a cute teddy in exchange.

Taking half-day leave to freak out.

Booking tickets for a movie.

Some shopping in the evening to rip his wallet off.

Dinner at a posh restaurant.

Does the plan for Valentine's day look all romantic and interesting? Well, these are plans adopted by many of my friends,not me!! Since Rags and myself believe that we don't need a specific day to celebrate our love, we have resorted to none of these; major cost cutting you see!! :P

Hmmm... looks like age does play it's tricks, we getting matured (Oh yeah! old too .. admitted!) and all,huh? :D

Jeeves Around?

Not sure if others tend to agree, but I experience it more often than not. So often the words which just flow out of my mouth just fail to figure when I make vigorous efforts to recall the same. Especially when there is no dictionary at hand or no access to internet or no assistant like Jeeves (of Wooster-Jeeves fame of P.G.Wodehouse creations) to help recall, the feeling just kills by drilling and tricking the brain!! It feels sickly to realise that you are one word short of the already measly vocabulory you own! What of the effort gone into learning the word sometime back that doesn't come back to picture when wanted to?! Same was the case with a word that I could only recall it started with a 'P' and was relatively big one, a word I had used considerably frequently, a word that I had seen in the first paragraph of the latest article that I had read. In fact, hundred and one tips or pointers to the word but for the word I could recall.

On a Monday morning, when I was feeling blue and sad for some vague reasons, that word tricking me for a couple of days flashes to my mind, out of the blue. "PROVIDENCE" was what I wanted to recall, recall I did but not when I wanted to. There is a saying in kannada, "Sankata bandaaga Venkataramana", which crudely translates to "When in trouble, we are reminded of God". Looked like nothing but monday blues and depression could churn the name of God out of my mind!
"Sankata bandaaga Venkataramana". Hence Proved!!

Moments celebrated!!

They saw each other, at once wished to be together for eternity and the rest is history. A history not too old, yet old enough to seek the sort of attention that a history can afford to. Happy Anniversary to the couple and to the history that has bundled in itself all the memories that bloomed along the path. The memories of the hearty laughs, petty fights, cold wars, heated arguments, graceful agreements, love, friendship, sharing-caring, bike rides (of course the bruised feet and knee after those dual trips), car drives, gifts (of course, the ones that were accepted out of compulsion too), Filet-o-fish burgers at McDonalds, hours spent on shopping in the malls, most of time not ending up with anything but fatigue, burnt fingers at the kitchen and what not!
Cheers to the journey!!

A journey that started as follows…
When a girl of marriageable age got hold of a snap capturing an eligible bachelor who was as handsome as handsome could get, wouldn’t she be on cloud nine? Most certainly, she was!

First Impression!!

When she met him a couple of days later, she did realize that the snap hadn’t done complete justice to him, who appeared more handsome in those blue jeans and grey T-shirt, friendly, down-to-earth and amicable. Instant consent. Period.

An era of endless phone calls and smses, mails and rendezvous now and then, alarmed the parents of what task was ahead of them. Engagement followed. Exchange of vows, rings and those hide-and-seek glances overpowering the staring audience.

(You didn't have to sweat,dude!!)

Days went by in a flicker, love intensified, phone calls that were endless however, turned to be their endless-best( only to be concluded with a currency expiry or battery dip) .It was time to rack brains to get the right content and design for the wedding card.



Did I mention of the poems that they wrote and exchanged?? Well, how could they be missed?






She wrote...


Uncommon Stranger


The Dawn


I said...


And he wasn't any less either!!

The gentle breeze played with her locks


Gently whispering in her ears


The lady in white,


A fairy on a moonless night


The moon could only muster an envious smile


A gentle smile blossomed on her face


Her eyes searched a part of her in me


With a hint of mischief, they seem to ask


Are you the one?


Between the silenceI heard the sweet melody,


Not violins, but the sweet melody of silence


I knelt before the fairy,


as she looked upon me with her charming eyes


I asked, "Will you marry me?"


(He probably has no faint hope that she could be treasuring this priceless gesture yet!!)

Wedding ensued. Amidst the blessings of thousands of well-wishers, they entered the wedlock to be the man and wife. Indeed a wedding of sorts it was that bound the souls that were meant to be ‘we’. And thus continued the journey, this time hand in hand.

Today, they are at a year’s milestone with all the charm of newly-weds yet, just the change being the ‘healthy’ competition to burn those alarmingly rising calories!! Yeah, the journey has been such a smooth sail that bubbly couple has turned chubby couple, bubbly yet though!!

Bubbly couple

Chubby-bubbly couple

Even for a smart wife (Ahem!) it is no doubt a challenge to think of a gift to her man, a gift that is not a gadget that he already owns, a shirt or other accessories that could possibly impress him. She gives up on thinking for a ‘surprise gift’, in effect, keeping him from being gifted something unexciting and herself from shelling out bucks to buy something exciting only to herself and supposedly not to the recipient!! In fact, he would be pleasantly surprised to know that she has not bought a gift for him, so to say!!! By the way,weren't those innumerable scratches on her mobile good enough (rather, bad enough) that he had to register one from his side too by dropping that poor thing? Well, this time, it shall be excused. Now, that's a surprise, isn't it? Not often do wives excuse husbands,do they? Surprise! Surprise!Surprise! Gosh!! she is working so hard to surprise him! Ok, one last attempt, she promises to clean the clutter in the room too!! Hopefully, at least the last one does the 'surprise' trick!

What other mode than a blog post could a software engineer wife think of to wish a software engineer husband on their anniversary?

Raghu, it goes to you, my honey. Thanks a lot for all the love and friendship that you have bestowed upon me. Thanks a lot for the wonderful person that you are. Ummmaaaaaaaaaah ;)

Howzat?!!

If these could mean a thing, even a trivial thing....

Walk a New Path

Casanovas on the bus

Is it or it Isn't?

At a scorching hot mid-day, if a woman in ragged clothes with an infant in her arms, making pitiful signs, begs for money on streets or at traffic signals to feed the baby, is she subjecting the kid to child labour? Has the infant already started earning 'bread' for the family when it is yet to bear milk teeth? If that is child labour, who is to be blamed? The infant's father who escaped from bearing the responsibility? Bereaved? The betrayed mother? An easy approach to easy money? Or is it the genuine reason of poverty playing its tricks on the poor family? However,some scenes turn as painful and disheartening as they can get....