Adoption and Pengy

There is a certain strange phenomenon which oft takes place at my place of study, law school (henceforth, PoS). People adopt other people as their ‘kids’. There are natural kids as well. First, there are rank kids, rank parents- rank genealogies. These are people who share the same rank in the entrance test conducted by PoS through which certain 80 victims are chosen to be tortured in a manner that you, oh innocent reader, cannot imagine. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t say this torture is bad or undesirable. This is the pain is pleasure kind of torture, if you know what I’m saying *sage like grin*Then there are roll kids and roll parents. Roll genealogies are rare because people are generally too lazy to calculate who their roll parent is.

The norm is to take your ‘kid’ out for lunch/dinner and ‘get to know’ him/her. It’s a very warm thing to do, especially in the kid’s first week at PoS when he’s all confused and harrowed and doesn’t know what to do types. Now I’ll tell you about my experience. My roll dad was taking me for lunch this one day but I had to cancel at the last minute because I had to attend a moot feedback session which basically consisted of a general 5 minute speech intended to encourage us first years to moot. So I missed that lunch. My rank dad (yea, I know, I have 2 dads. No mom.) tried scheduling lunch a zillion times in trimester I but it didn’t work out because either of us was always busy with something. So now the plan is that he’ll take me for lunch when I’m taking my kid. It’ll be like a Rank 6 family thing. Three Glorious Generations.

Now, people often adopt people- even people from their own batch. For fun. So this Virgo debate buddy of mine who I shall henceforth refer to as Pengy, the Penguin because she strongly resembles one (we have conducted surveys to affirm this) and very cutely flaps around while mumbling indecipherable noise type things, decided to adopt me. Now, Pengy had to take me out to seal our bond. So this once during a break between classes, Fish casually asked whether we could go out for dinner that night. Pengy and I were okay with that. Chick, a certain Scorpio friend who along with her roomie, Nepali, are the funniest people on my floor, was randomly roaming around looking lost and aimless. So Pengy asked her if she wanted to come along. Chick was game. So this is how it happened. We went to a lovely place called Casa Del Sol and if you’re in Bangalore you should definitely try it. It’s right above Casa Picola on Residency Road.

The four of us happened to have a moniker which was the name of a bird of some sort. Chick is chick. Pengy is well, a penguin. Fish looks like a duck and they say I look like a sparrow- small and chirpy. So we decided to call ourselves the Birdies or the Avian Society. The mandate of the Avian Society is to try new and jazzy restaurants in Bangalore and pamper self by doing such. Birdies Dinner happens once a month.

You may brace yourself for my next post which will detail out the various monikers that some rather indescribable characters have. So I won’t get into that in this post. It’s funny how we rarely call each other by our name. Putting spins on people’s name is so much fun. Something special by each person, for each person *sigh* Okay, disregard that last sentence. I’m in one of those moods, you see.

BlogOwner's Happiness and Movies

After a long drawn conversation with S (the sis-tah, remember?) which basically revolved around BlogOwner’s happiness (yes, she’s slightly self-obsessed) it has been decided that the mandate of this blog shall be upheld and it will be used as a place to make fun of all the serious things that happen to BlogOwner as she goes about doing her thing. Some news that you, as an inquisitive reader, might want to updated on:

1. BlogOwner has resumed her pilates sessions. Now, now, for the uninitiated, Pilates is NOT some sort of a coffee blend and it’s NOT pronounced as pie-lates. It’s pi (as in timid)-lah-tays. Thank you very much. It is a form of exercise which is usually practised by ballet dancers and suchlike who need strength in their core, need to be able to balance while performing and need long, lean muscles. Well, heh, BO is neither a ballet dancer nor does she have long, lean muscles *sigh* however, she will practise pilates till she gets them. Do not snigger the way S does! I shall pursue this cause with passion. Thank you very much.

2. She’s been watching movies obsessively. The ones that she’s seen of late are-

1. The Mistress of Spices- It was quite terrible, to put it in mild terms. BO loved the sarees Ash wore, though. They were simple and beautiful- quite like Mrs. Gandhi’s. BO loves her sarees as well. Don’t you think they’re gorgeous? BO would kill to get those sarees.

2. The Graduate- Awesomeness oozing from every frame.

3. Four Weddings and a Funeral- Bleh. Not funny.

4. Rounders- Very interesting movie. BO got all excited about it after streaming and watching it at some 4 in the morning. So she wikied Texas Hold ‘Em and is now all inspired to become a poker champion. Must watch! In fact, BO watched it after it was highly recommended by someone.

5. Little Miss Sunshine- BO fails to understand why it inspires the oh-my-god-this-is-so-cute feeling. It certainly did not succeed in making BO, who happens to be a soft-hearted, harmless type creature who cries at the end of Meg Ryan movies, feel that way. Quite a disappointment. She did like Twain’s character though.

6. Love Story- Really, really, really….. (to infinity) nice. Much better than the book, in BO’s humble opinion.

7. The Pianist- Good movie. Mild, yet leaves an impact.

8. The Devil Wears Prada- Good chick flick. Really entertaining. S recently told BO that she (i.e. BO) looks thin and BO reacted just the way Emily did. BO likes Emily!

9. Night at the Museum- Funny. Loved the “Hey octavus/octopus/whatever.” “It’s Octavius.” bit! Octavius was obviously BO’s favourite!

10. Before Sunrise- Too good. Perfect BO flick. She totally related to Celine and agreed with almost everything she said in the movie.

11. Before Sunset- The sequel to #10. Wonderful. BO is now suppressing the extremely strong urge to discuss it here so that it doesn’t spoil the movies for you. Absolutely BO type flicks, these two, I tell you!

12. Half of Across the Universe + Half of Thank You for Smoking- Yes, they do not make one whole movie, but still. BO loved both of them till they went off and made her sad. Now she shall stream them online and finish watching them.

13. First 15 minutes of Trainspotting- Absolutely gross. Couldn’t get past 15 minutes. Why subject self to such unpleasantness?

14. Father of the Bride- For the nth time. Good fun and really funny. BO loves Steve Martin.

15. When Harry Met Sally- For the mth time. Love love love. However, BO’s favourite Meg Ryan movie is Sleepless in Seattle.

Well, BO might have seen another movie or two which she cannot remember now. Yes, it’s become quite an obsession especially when one considers the fact that BO had never been a movie-person. She can’t sit through movies. She gets restless and keeps looking at her watch. That still happens though. She keeps checking how much of the movie is left.

Fish has been pestering poor BO to ‘watch a movie with her’. There are certain logistical constraints which Fish refuses to acknowledge. For instance, one can plug only ONE pair of earphones at a time. How are 2 pairs of ears supposed to share that? Further, BO likes watching movies alone. Peacefully. Also, Fish loves those scary thriller morbid terrifying screech-scream-inducing movies. On the other hand, BO loves anything that’s NOT that. Not that she doesn’t like thrillers and suchlike, but she simply prefers happy and/or interesting ones, not necessarily romcoms. BO is NOT a sucker for only romcoms. Thank you very much. So Fish, dearie, BO must break your heart. We can always go shopping together, right?

3. BO wants to listen to some good, fresh music. Please suggest your all-time-favourite type music.

4. BO loves Simon and Garfunkel.

5. BO loves blogging! Well, this isn’t news, but BO simply wanted to state this.

Until next time, most intelligent reader (since you chose to read this), may all be well with you!

Are you one of us?

Have you ever been ashamed to admit you like a particular song because it’s uncool or doesn’t fit with your image? Do you secretly listen to songs that you know your friends will make fun of (even though they may be liking it as well, secretly, of course)? Do you have hidden folders on your computer containing Himesh Reshammiya music?* If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’, then, join the club! You aren’t alone, sweetie#. We’re with you *nods with copious amounts of solidarity pouring out* So, the other day I was listening to ‘Tum se hi’ from Jab We Met, which by the way, was a shockingly sweet movie (I never thought I’d actually watch and like a Kareena flick) (using earphones) and fish admitted that she hates to admit it but she likes the song as well and we had a nice, long discourse on the phenomenon of secretly liking songs that one isn’t generally allowed to like. You know. It was then that this story about a friend of mine who had renamed certain himesh songs on his itunes playlist came up! I mean, okay, you don’t want the whole world to know you’re a fan of the Nasal Twang King, for obvious reasons (which is, the fear of having your sanity and the well-being of your sensory receptors doubted) but this is just the limit! I mean some sense of security and normalcy must prevail!

So what you do when you’re quietly listening to some such apparently must-not-be-liked-by-normal-people song and a human being appears out of nowhere, hijacks your laptop and opens your itunes (or WMP or whatever)(or takes away your earphones or exhibits some such behaviour- you get the drift, right?)? Heart comes to mouth, fear comes rushing like you’ve got gifts from US for it (ok, sad joke.) etc.? Worry not. Learned BlogOwner will give you sound advice. You should pretend that the song you’re listening to is indeed a wonderful piece and wonder out loud how they never heard such a gem and prod them to listen to it (well, to be fair, it wouldn’t be pretending because in your opinion, it IS a good piece and that’s why you’re listening to it). It’s at least better than frantically changing the song every time you sense human infrared radiations. Further, it could possibly get that person to listen to that track and perhaps s/he might even like it! Then you both could secretly like it! Well, it wouldn’t be much of a secret if everyone did this. That would be great, if we humans weren’t this judgemental, won’t it? Well, not really. It keeps things spicy. :)

P.S.- Why are slam books called slam books? Just a question.

*I SWEAR I don’t.

#Pardon me for the annoying saccharine language, but it just fits. Hence.

Rajasthani Method of Torture

After the immense success of the Chinese Method of Torture, a certain friend Bobgem*, Mother G, I and several other companions who have been of late subjected to the practices mentioned herein, have devised the Rajasthani Method of Torture. It includes the following.

1. Feed the subject (‘it’ henceforth, since it would have lost all human semblance after a few of these excellent tricks have been applied upon the subject) ONLY dry, hard, rough and tough makkai ki roti(MKR) for 3 days in a row, twice each day. As an accompaniment, serve watery dal which has 5 spoons of chilly powder for every 100 ml of water, such that it conveniently burns the subject’s lips.
2. Don’t let it use the loo for 2 days in a row.
3. Let it wander off in a desert jungle devoid of any vegetation in search of ‘bushes’ to relieve itself, which by now it calls ‘loo’.
4. Load it with 40 kg of luggage and make it travel 10 hours a night in rickety old buses. Make it change 4 buses in a single night.
5. Leave the subject stranded in the middle of nowhere with that entire luggage in 3 degree celcius frigid weather at 5 a.m., 3 days’ worth MKR in its tummy and 10 other random law schoolites to wait for some bus or truck or jeep or anything that moves on wheels which could probably come any time then.
6. Do not let the subject bathe more than once in 3-4 days.
7. Let it bathe in an open tent with ice cold water and have another similar creature posted at one of the flaps to ‘guard’ in order to create a false sense of security in the mind of the subject. Annoy the Wind God in some way or the other and make him/her send strong gusts of wind such that the guard is rendered useless and the tent-flaps start flying open in every possible direction while subject is bathing. Better yet, send a random kid to walk in on the subject who’d (kid) later come out and report to her friend, “Arre, tu yahan hai. Mujhe laga tu andar thi, lekin andar toh ek didi nikli!”

“Oh, you’re here. I thought you were in, but there was some didi inside!”

8. Keep the subject so far away from civilisation that it would come up with come up with corny distortions of even cornier movie lines such as “Ek sip Pepsi, City Girls ke gale ka haar hota hai. Ek sip Pepsi”.
9. Make it sleep in a 8 ft by 8 ft room with 6 others, draped in 3 layers of blankets. Even better, make it sleep between a mal boy from its class and a girl who decides to sit on top of her neighbour’s head in the middle of the night thinking it’s a roll of bedsheet or toilet paper or some such thing.
10. Make the subject run out of toilet paper.
11. Make the subject climb random hills in random villages to see random temples in an absolutely random fashion and offer NO explanation to the subject. That is where the element of torture lies. *evil grin*
12. Again, feed the subject ample MKR. This is the BEST part of it all. Watch closely the way in which the subject pretends to relish it in order to not offend its hosts. It’s the most beautiful thing to watch if you have sadistic tendencies.
13. Make it stand in front of a mirror after subjecting the subject to all this for 16 days.

It is hoped that torturers and suchlike will soon adopt our system and experiment it on their own victims. It has been a great pleasure in developing this fool-proof system which ensures everything that you need. Personal experience says this 13 pronged approach# will definitely drive your victim to unimaginable levels of insanity. Make the most of it.

* I was confused between Bobgem and Gembob as a moniker for this Gemini but decided the former sounds more dignified. I know it’s ironical that a moniker should sound dignified, but what the heck, Gembob sounds outright ridiculous!

# 13 is a lucky number!

Important Note: This post is purely for the readers’ and the writer’s amusement. Rajasthan is an amazing place and its people are brilliant. Peace!

Yes. It's true. I'm officially confirming the rumour, people!

Keeping the interest of the bored, the lazy and all those who seek salvage from this unreal real world* with a bit of humour from someone else’s life (because it’s always easier to laugh at another’s life) in mind, BlogOwner (BO) has decided to revive, no, resurrect (the more powerful the expression, the better) this blog. Well, this blog has been a place where I laugh at events, rather, little things that were so mundane that they could only be laughed off, which weren’t necessarily funny but were made to entertain myself after it happened to me. As a person at work had remarked at my and a certain Aquarian’s (henceforth known as Mother G) laughing at the most tense of times during a particular exercise… “It’s nice to see how you can find humour in everything.”

And yes, I write utter rubbish.

* I’ve always felt my imaginary world is a lot more real than the real world. I’m often caught talking to myself, when I’m really not talking to myself but only doing something in my imaginary world, I get quite dazed about what is real and what was only my imagination.

Shiny New Life and Pigeon Magnetism

BlogOwner(BO) is not exaggerating when she says she’s been having the time of her life *ahem* since the past three weeks. No, seriously. Okay so she’s been working like she’s never worked before but she’s also enjoying it all.

She’s also bringing you some pictures of her shiny, new life. Of course, she misses Abhu’s, TC’s and the gang’s antics. Those were the good old days when she’d bring you funny tales about these characters, innit? Aww, she misses them too! And she loves this blog more than ever NOW that she can go back to all those delightful light blue links and relive the hilarious moments one again. This is much needed at times, especially when she’s in the library (lib, henceforth) at 11.45 pm, struggling to find SOME relevant info for her term paper. Talking about the lib, she must let you most intelligent people (like, of course! You’re reading this scholarly blog. BO loves you. Honestly.) know that it happens to be her favourite place on campus. No, really. It’s not that she’s nerdy- which, by the way, she most certainly isn’t- it’s just that the lib is nice and crowded most of the time and BO loves it.

Now, now, there’s a lot to be told. Three weeks seem like forever, in a good way. Oh, it has been ascertained that BO is a pigeon magnet. Window Sill, Bathroom, BO’s room is where another branch of that good old Maternity Home has been set up. It’s doing really well. A couple has already built a nest and the eggs are on the way! BO can’t wait. No really.

Okay, take a look at some pictures.

The upper berth is BO's resting place.

Football match in action. The clouds were more interesting, though.

Most of the batch.

New pigeon! Woo Hoo! His/her mate was around but BO couldn't get both of them AND the nest in the frame.


I know I know, this post isn’t as exciting, fun-filled and oh-I’m-so-happy-I-could-just-fly as BO's usual posts (What did you say? No, come again..?), but please bear with her. Thank you very much.

BO is a huge fan of these. All of them make sense to her but this one makes a LOT of sense. Change the ‘lab’ to ‘lib’.

Oh, by the way, BO’s shiny new friends (the kinds that come in dazzling pink and blue wrappers) (with a red ribbon) include a fish (Piscean for the uninitiated)(Crack, henceforth), a ram (Aries, who, by the way, happens to be fish’s roomie and calls fish ‘her crack’(Ram, henceforth). BO loves Ram. And her crack. Heh.) her own roomies both of whom happen to be librans (imagine a room filled with 3 librans!) and many many others. Okay this paragraph was inserted to somehow mention the ‘crack’ bit.

This has been BO's super favourite song since quite some time. *sigh*. If someone would play and/or sing THAT for her, she'd like, fly or something. Or drift away. Or something in that line. You get the picture, dont' you?

The Return Of The Zombie.

Right. I have been away since a long time but this is my blog and I happen to be the BlogOwner and I shall do what I please and I am NOT feeling guilty about having abandoned this haven of mine.

Okay now that that is out of the way, I’ll fill you all wide eyed, bushy tailed, anxious and curious people about what has been ‘up’ in my whatever excuse for a life that I have.

~~ The baby pigeons* are flying! They’re so grown up. I feel like their gramma. Here, look at them. I’d thought I would provide you with this week by week update of their development etc, but that has not been possible. They’re so quick at growing up. They’ve been very, very naughty since they learnt how to fly. Their favourite spot to perch on is the wall unit.

Papa Pigy

Papa Pigy and Elder Baby Pigy (Lechu henceforth)

Momma Pigy, Lechu and Papa Pigy perching on our wall unit with much pride.

Momma Pigy and Papa Pigy
Lechu on the wall unit

Lechu and Papa Pigy basking in the sun and posing in their usual fluffed-but-flat way :D

(Btw, the younger one has been christened 'Pechu'. Pechu has started flying but not as much as Lechu. I'll put some pics of Pechu as soon as possible.)

~~ Since I’m going off to law school, I’ve been given this laptop of my own, which by the way, is awesome. Like, totally. I haven’t yet removed those plastic screen covers, but still, take a look. It looks a lot sleeker in real! Lenovo 3000 Y500 37Q.

~~ My old cell phone landed in the commode. Do not ask what I was doing with the phone in the loo. Hell, okay, I’ll tell y’all. It was a dark and stormy night (all nights are dark, aren’t they? But all nights are surely not stormy). There was no electricity and the bathroom bulb isn’t connected to the inverter. It was pretty spooky. I always use my phone as a torch. Hee. So anyway. As usual I had taken my phone along with me and BEFORE anything unmentionable could land into the commode, my phone landed in it. I don’t understand how these supremely trained hands of mine could not prevent such a fall. Nevertheless, the phone thus suffered an unglorified and shameful death. The circuit was gone. Completely. SO. I got a new phone. Woo hoo! I’m very happy with this one. What is surprising is that its 1.3 MP camera clicks incredibly good pictures which are even better than my mom’s Cybershot 2 MP camera phone which has autofocus, flash and all that jazz.

That's my new phone (mom's phone has taken this shot)

And here are some shots I took with my phone


Okay, don't look at the mess. Look how sharp they are!

~~ I have exactly 7 days left at home. I can’t believe I’m actually going. No, actually I can believe that I’m going. It’s just that I seriously hope things turn out the way I want them to and everything is just fine.

~~ I’m thinking I should perhaps write about something deep, meaningful and blah blah. But I like the funny old me a lot more than the apparently serious me. What do you think? It’s just that I’ve ceased being as funny as I used to be some day *Sigh* No. Actually, it’s just that Abhu, TC and S are behaving in a strangely sane fashion these days which is why I can’t find anything to write on and they were always my blog fodder! I hope I soon get some blog-worthy content. Muahahaha. I’m pretty positive I’ll be blessed with fresh raw material soon enough ;)

~~ This is a reply to the comments on my previous confessional post :

I DO NOT record secretly. Hullllooooo. The phone beeps like crazy when the convo is getting recorded. I am NOT loud and childish. Sheesh. Abhu needs to reduce the volume of her speakers. TC will vouch for this. Hello to all the first time visitors to my blog who bothered to leave a comment. You know, comments mean such a lot. I feel like putting up a ‘Please let me know you were here!’ batch like the one Asha has. It makes my day. I feel so grateful for the fact that >2 people may actually be reading this blog! THAT is quite a feeling, you know.

* Click here for the entire pigeon series.

Talk To Me

…. But not on the phone!

You see, I have this thing against talking on phone. Especially when I’m talking to someone for the first time, I’d rather talk face to face. You see, it becomes very difficult (or so I assume) to imagine what I must be looking like in real if you talk to me on phone. I, erm, sound like a 2 year old. Okay. So, I’ve said it. Whew. My voice. There is something in my voice that makes me sound sooooooooo… young, almost kiddish! When I was in 7^th Std, someone, who had ONLY heard me over the telephone, had offered me a dubbing role in one cartoon. He thought I was in 2^nd Std or something and my Dad had a tough time convincing him that I really WAS 5 years older than what he thought. When he showed our Kullu-Manali trip pictures to everyone in his office (in the same year), all those who had heard my voice (I was a regular caller, “ May I talk to blah blah, pleeeaaasee” I literally used to sing this line out. Okay, this once when I was in 3^rd Std, I had called my Mom’s office and the convo went something like this… “May I talk to my mother, please” “ Who is this?” “I’m my mother’s daughter” “Hahahahh. And who is your mother?” “Oh! Erm.. she’s [name]” *blushing red and crimson*) were expecting to see a toddler or something perhaps because they were shocked to see such a grown up 11 year-old!

This voice problem of mine (which at times turns out to be a good thing as well. S says she and others find it hard to believe that I can ever be rude (even when I AM rude) because no matter what I say, it sounds very ‘sweet’. Right. Now THAT must be a surprise to you all. Acidic BlogOwner isn’t REALLY that acidic, then. Hah!) has been thoroughly tested by me. I was always the voice on the answering machine at home, so, *sigh*, I have heard it many, MANY times. I have even recorded my own conversations with TC and Abhu, where I’ve purposely thrown in all sorts of voice maneuvers or whatever (like giggles, expressions of indignation, horror, etc) just to hear what I sound like. Was I shocked! I do sound…. Cute, may be. But erm.. I sound like a very, very, VERY smart, intelligent and discerning 6 year old.

(The above is applicable only when I’m in a normal frame of mind and body and I’m not down with cold or fever or hysteria or something.)

My second problem with phone conversation is that there is no facility to ‘pause’. One has to keep talking. Blank phases make you sound stupid. You can’t multitask or talk to 5 people at once or pretend to be absorbed by the beauty of the lettuce sandwich kept on the table when you’re on the phone. You just HAVE to……talk.

Problem number three is that if the line is *bleep*ed up then you have to keep going like “Pardon?” “Sorry?” “er.. WHAT?” and pretend that you’ve heard what they’re saying and feign a “Er.. Okay..” or “Hmm..” or better yet, a little “Hmehemmehe” which is “Hmm” in a giggly way, so that works at all times, in all situations, except when the other person is asking you a question.

So. Yes. Don't call me, okay? IMing is SO much fun! You can send smileys and winks and nudges and whatnot. We should take advantage of such technological advances, innit?

P.S.: Okay so half the post has been written within pairs of parentheses. I had no other place to fit those!

P.S.2: My voice isn't THAT kiddish, also. I think I've exagerrated a little, but who cares?! Same thing!

O Blog Pals, This Is BlogOwner, Live from The Pot!

(Okay. So the title sounds corny. Sue me.)

O Blog Pals, pardon me for having abandoned this sweet blog for more than 10 days. You see, there was so much going on in ‘real life’ that ‘net life’ had to be given a little less time than usual in order to cope with the surging wave of real-life events. Okay, I wasn’t THAT busy. You can couple this real-life activity (major) with utter laziness and boredom and you’ll get a fair idea of the last 10 days.

I won’t go into details NOW (They’ll be coming soon. What fun! Wheee!) but this is a round up :

1) Some extremely good news which will make sweet ole BlogOwner(BO) a lawyer!

2) Some rescheduling and re-dreaming up of future events.

3) Point 1 has led to a fair amount of freak-show taking place at our residence and S, of all people, is fairly annoyed with BO’s theatrics. (Who would’ve thought that S, queen of all drama (okay, she’s going to KILL me for writing this!), will say.. “Okay, fine na. Now shut up and get back to lazying around.”)

4) The Baby Pigies (yes! There are two of them!) have grown up SO much in SO little time! They’ve even sprouted little wings by now and they start flapping those whenever I climb up the sofa and crane to look at them. Adorable, aren’t they? I don’t click pictures because I’m afraid they’ll get scared, or shocked, or something.

5) BO has been doing a fair amount of reading.

6) And MAJOR networking. On facebook AND orkut. This is my official request to all those who’re on my ‘friend list’ on Orkut. Please (please please please please please please) shift to facebook :) There are NO fraandshippers there! Plus, you have a lot more privacy (you can change your settings though). Plus, better interface. Plus, the registration process is a toughie. So there must be fewer fake IDs which implies there’ll be fewer weirdos. You see, the very many advantages of FB. Join in, please? Thanks!

7) BO has been pestering her friends to join FB.

8) Only 1 has obliged so far.

9) While that ONE has managed to make 10 people sign up for yet another networking site which he considers a great achivement, since, he says he is the ‘lone campaigner’. How very brave. BO calls no contest.

10) So this, my dear friends, is BO’s life. Amen and Awomen.

P and I

As you may recall, P is a much-delight-causing Sag friend of mine. We don’t live in the same city any more (it’s been 4 years since I moved) but we’ve kept in touch. Well, the only problem that does happen to crop up at times is the apparent lack of juicy topics to talk about. In order to address this issue (according to P alone, I in no way think this addressed the issue!) P has come up with a rather brilliant (in her opinion. Don’t ask for my opinion, P is going to read this!) way to ‘keep talking’ (on MSN of course). Her standard question after the absolutely loathesome ‘wassup’-type questions is invariably, “ Sooooo, any new crushes?”. Now, I have told her in length, in may be about 5674328 words, that I absolutely have no such inclination towards any such character at this point of time. If miraculously I DO happen to like someone in my current scenario, then hell, I’ll let you know. For sure. Now STOP!! She doesn’t stop there, you know. She goes on prodding… and on….. and on….. in a fashion very similar to my way of going on… and on… okay, we’ve gone through this.

So, sweet reader (Hi! And hi to you too! Oh, no more of you is here. Damn.), I’m often prodded by P in a way that is so unimaginably prod-ful that no amount of so-how’s-the-weather-there or which-book-are-you-currently-reading or saw-any-new-movies or even what-colour-is-your-chaddi type questions fall flat at the face of P’s intensely powerful prodding. You can imagine.

She does, however, acknowledge the fact that the apparent-crush-talk is a total blooper. So I suggest to play Minesweeper Flags on MSN. Don’t even ask what her reaction is! She HATES that game because whenever we play, in some evil way, I always (okay 90% of the time) win and in general she hates the game and finds it ‘irritating’. So another rather superb option, gone.

We tried making lists of mundane and not-so-mundane-questions like…

-how long is your hair ( I suggest)

-who u crushin on huh ?:P ( P suggests) (what a surprise there!)

-did you shop this week (I)

-wat did u eat today (P)

-wat song u listenin 2 (P)

-how much did u sleep 2day (P)

I even considered talking about a future joint-venture that we (at least I would!) would call Amma’s Paratha (it has some inside joke-type meaning which only P and I understand. Heehee) to which P’s response was – “i wud rather die of hunger”. So much hatred, for Amma’s Paratha, P? What is SO wrong with the name? Tell?

So anyway, after meandering about in many such absolutely non-sensical loops, we concluded rather gravely that “P-Sneha convos are MEANT to be psychospeak”. How genuine are we.

On How I Found The Next-to-Perfect Template

New template. As you’ve noticed by now. Pretty, innit? Classy, innit? Smooth, innit? [Insert absolutely-stunning-type adjective], innit? And oh, did you scroll way down and have a peek at the ‘Credits’ section? If not, then please do, for I have revealed some exciting facts in that very section.

….Okay, so you’re back?

Oh now! Thank you, thank you. Oh, please, stop! I’ve been humbled. *waves around like a movie star* [Take the hint! Carry on, I say!]

After a long and rather *ahem* torturous journey, I have finally tweaked this template quite a bit to my 90%-satisfaction mark and mind you, that is quite a high mark. So till I find (or make, or ask someone else to make) that absolutely gorgeous, stunning, very-like-me template on seeing which I’d gush—“That’s THE one”, you know, when you find that top while casually looking at clothes in some random shop and you must totally have it right then, or that pair of jeans which fits you so perfectly that you never want to take them off (urgh, this reminds me of those dreadful ‘Killer Jeans’ ads). So, you get it right? Till I’m struck with that time-just-stops type feeling, I’ll be happy, very happy, with this template.

Let’s have a poll, then. Just for fun, since I’m so not changing this one.

(Obviously, one of the votes for the first option has been cast by me.)

Opinion Polls & Market Research

And The BlogOwner Rambles On...And On.....And On.....

~So today is Mother’s day. Happy Mother’s Day to those 2 or may be 3 moms who might be reading this! Y’all are the best, no, The Best!!

~S and I are grandmoms! How cool is that? The egg(s) (I think there was just one egg) has hatched. I was neatly perched on the sofa next to the window in my hall, reading something, when Papa Pigy makes a sudden dash for the window. My, was I petrified! I thought the pigeon was trying to attack! Since when have pigeons become birds of prey?! So anyway, that wasn’t the case. PP swiftly carried Baby Pigy (BP) out the window and most probably to Momma Pigy. Where else would he go? So once again, the egg has successfully hatched at our place but the BP has been carried off to some tree house perhaps. S and I already miss having a cute little ready-to-hatch egg in the house *sniff* Weren’t we entitled to at least ONE good look at the adorable little birdie, you wretched parent pigeons? Answer me, you!

~I was down with a sore throat on Thursday which rapidly gave rise to full fledged fever on Friday. Of course, the fever subsided by Saturday but I still have traces of cold. I chanced upon this wonder gharelu-upaaye for sore throat at this site. I tried the honey-ginger drink. Of course, I knew honey and ginger are both good for relieving cold etc, but I had never tried out this recipe. Here is a shot! (These days whenever I run to get the camera, S runs to the kitchen. She KNOWS I’ve been cooking (or doing anything which is remotely connected to cooking) when I look for the cam!)

This drink was not only uber delicious, but totally moisturised (or whatever) my dry, sore throat and 2 such cups (one Thursday evening, one Friday morning) were enough to completely get rid of the sore throat. I got my voice back so easily, all thanks to this drink from the heavens. Amen. And Awomen.

~I was doing my usual astro-friend-check tally# last night and I realised that I was indeed very weird. I get along with everyone! Yay! Now THAT’s a cause to celebrate. Well, of course, one can attribute it to my Social & Lovely$ Libra nature. Of course, I always maintain that I absolutely adore the fire signs especially sags, moreso, because S is a sag too. How perfect are we!

~Isn’t this new way of bulleting cute?

# Hello-oww. Don’t you know what an AFCT (Astro-Friend-Check Tally) is? You just count the number of aries, taurean, gemini, etc friends you’ve got. As simple as that. It can bring some things into perspective, you know. Don’t you do it? Well, if not, then you absolutely must. No, I insist, you must do it!

$ That, in some creepy way, sounds SO Fair & Lovely-ish. YUCK! I am very sorry, dear reader, that it does, but believe me, it is NOT intentional. We, at A Pot of Thoughts, absolutely loathe those idiotic F&L sorts. Thank you very much.

All About Pigies, S and Therapy

Momma Pigy(MP) and Papa Pigy(PP) have laid their eggs ( I mean, MP has laid their eggs.). It's been about 2 weeks. MP takes the night shift (7 pm – 10 am) which is much longer than PP's day shift (10 am – 7 pm). Very efficiently, they've been working out this schedule of theirs since the past few days. I must take this opportunity to point out a certain point of difference between MP and PP. We( ie. S and I) once tried scaring away MP by brandishing a folded newspaper at her while she was guarding the eggs. In vain. She didn't even budge an inch. S and I were deeply impressed with her parenting skills and by the fact that she guards her eggs with her life. Then PP was tested. PP first looked about nervously and when the level of brandishing was upped a little, he got extremely scared and fluttered out the window, leaving the eggs unprotected. Shame, shame, PP! This piece of news was relayed to all my relatives who knew about those adorable creatures and their home (ie. our home).

Responses were in the lines of

“Now you know what a mother is made of!”

“See! We moms inherently consider our kids a part of us. Quite literally.”

There was, of course, a hint of smug satisfaction (very very justifiably) about the Mommy's victory over the Daddy. Little wonder why MP takes the longer and harder (I guess) shift. *sigh*

S (sister, for the uniniatiated), with much pride, declared that she has been entertaining the Pigies by singing and dancing in front of them.

My reaction-

“Very thoughtful of you, but, please spare them the torture.”

But I must admit that S does a fine job of entertaining. Pigies AND humans.

I have decided that I need Jean Therapy after I saw Oprah last afternoon. I feel so dejected and that something is perhaps wrong with ME after a jeans-shopping (rather trying!) experience. *sniff* Oprah!!!!!!! Send my your jean therapist ASAP!!!!!

In case you're wondering, my search for 'the perfect' template is still on. God. This is turning out to be worse than the supposed search for 'Mr. Right'!!!

I've noticed, these days I don't chew my food completely before swallowing it. I'm to desperate to get done with eating, perhaps? I have to make a concsious effort to chew!! Is it wrong?

Bleh. I don't have any constructive work to do. I'm so bored. Any suggestions? All my to-do lists are failing miserably!! And I need to re-do them. Sheesh. Any suggestions, honestly?

And yes, I do not have anything better to write about.

How Are These?

What do you think about these templates?

Template1 (personal BO fav, even though it's a bit TOO flowery + S feels it's 'pretty'):



Template2 (S felt this was 'nice and interesting'):


You like?

Watch Out! Food Ahead!

This is my off-to-college year which is one of the reasons why my mom has been very co-operative in giving me pointers on everyday cooking. Even though I won’t be cooking in hostel, I feel I should make good use of this summer to learn some basic dishes as I really want to be able to cook for myself after I graduate (etc etc). I don’t really like the idea of someone else (read: cook) cooking for me and me having to complain about the salt, the mirchi, the masala and what not. Better to just be independent, right? PLUS, it’s a helluva lot of fun :)

Okay. So I haven’t really learnt any everyday-dishes so far because I always get tempted to make yummy snacks and that’s exactly what I did!

Yesterday, I made dosa for breakfast. Onion dosa, my personal favourite. It was the first time I was making the actual, thin and crisp dosa. I have made the normal thickness ones umpteen times before, but would think twice before making these. To my amazement, they came out to be perfectly golden and absolutely delectable! Thanks to the new non-stick pan, of course! Here’s a picture!

Last Sunday, I’d made onion pakodas (which are called ‘piyaji’ in Oriya. Onions are called ‘piyaja’(pronounced as piya-jaw)). They are my mom’s ALL TIME favourite snack. She totally loved them and also shot a few my-little-girl-is-growing-up-so-fast type dialogues which I’m not repeating over here! ;)

Here, take a look!

And another :) I can’t get enough of these!

I had also tried out Asha’s Kodubale but had substituted maida with atta. They tasted real good and everyone liked them but their shapes were all messed up! They looked like famished bangles *sheepish grin* So I’m not putting up a pic! Heehee. I hope next time I try them, I get the shapes right!

Maternity Home for Pigeons

Are you a smart pigeon looking for a safe place to build your nest, lay eggs and perch on your nest till those sweetums hatch? If yes, then listen up! Your search has come to an end. You are cordially invited to lay your eggs (and also to do the necessary before that event takes place *ahem* so call all those who might be involved in the process) in a first-class environment such as this :

The topmost rack on the wall,

Blogowner’s house (hall, to be precise),

Top floor,

Building next to the tall Ashoka trees.

In case you’re wondering about the safety of this Maternity Home, rest assured as we have 90% success rate. Last December (a hard time, indeed, for most pigeons) Momma Pigy and Papa Pigy had wooed each other outside our Home (window sill of BO’s hall), must have mated successfully, had found long periods of much needed rest in one of the guest rooms in our Home (a different area of the topmost rack), had found all the necessary nest-building items from the trees nearby, built the nest over a period of 7 days and successfully laid 2 eggs. You see, Momma Pigy and Papa Pigy might’ve changed their mind after a while since neither the eggs nor the parents were to be found after a week (the week when the human inhabitants of the area around our Home were out). Hence, we say 90% success rate. How honest are we!

The Home provides excellent entertainment facilities in the form of a certain human who is said to be ‘S’. Said S finds our kind rather enchanting and we, of course, love such humans. There is, however another human who goes by ‘BO’- that creature, we do not much appreciate since she keeps the curtains closed most of the time. Only we know the extremely painful periods of longing that one parent spends one side of the curtain, and the other on the other side. It is much like the India-Pakistan saga that we have come to learn about from the 7 or 8 newspapers that these humans read (get, rather). So, be warned of BO. Rest of the humans can be safely ignored.

No human, however, has ever tried to break our Home. This is a huge plus for our kind since we always target peace-loving family-type human territories to set up our special Maternity Home facilities.

Do not worry about food. There is enough around. At times, the human inhabitants offer some to our kind. So be not worried.

From the above information, I’m sure you realise what a safe and comfortable location the abovementioned is.

We invite booking-applications from expecting parent pigeons after 20^th April since we are currently tending to a couple- a beautiful white (with grey specks) pigy and his/her usual grey type counterpart. Remember, the early bird catches a room in our Home!

Happy spring-time mating!

Template Blues- What must be done?

This is a harrowing time for me. The navbar does not appear no matter WHAT I do. As a result, I don't have a search box. I tried inserting codes for a search box in my sidebar, but the sidebar is too tiny and has limited space, which is why none of those search boxes fit (my VDNA didn't fit either, which was why i had to put it up in a post *sniff*). I hate such inflexibility! I don't like the drab blogger templates on offer plus I want something unique for my pot (heehee). I have been pestering S to design a template for me- which she can, since she is excellent at that stuff, but she doesn't know the coding bit which is turning out to be a problem. So basically, I'm stuck with this template (no matter how pretty it may be, if it's as rigid and inconvenient as it is, I shall remove it sooner or later!) and beta blogger. Yes, beta blogger. There are hardly any templates on the web for beta blogger. This stinks!

P.S.: Yes, I'm even creating a new label for this- Template Blues!

Fraandshippers, Food and the Famous Five

You know, after a point, the whole deal about ‘vacations’ gets a tad boring. Heck. A lot boring if you don’t particularly engage yourself in worthy ‘activities’ (perhaps this would give me some ideas of what to include in the ‘activities’ section in my Orkut profile, which by the way, I must say is the stupidest question that one can ever be asked. Would breathing qualify as an ‘activity’? Say?) that keep you from wanting to sleep or only listen to your ipod or read endlessly or some such.

Talking about Orkut, there is new breed of fraandshippers that I have unfortunately come across. They try to ‘make fraandship’ with you by taunting you in some way, or asking you pathetically stupid questions on something that MAY interest you. For instance, this one particular fraandshipper (it should be in the dictionary by 2009, I say!) asks me:

“So, astro girl, what is it about astrology that interests you?” (in horrid grammar which I am incapable (thankfully) of reiterating over here)

I really felt like replying and going like ‘na na na na’ (you know, with the whole making of faces, pulling of tongue and wiggling about, like they do when a team is badly losing) ‘I didn’t fall for THAT haha’, but I resisted. Making their victim reply is the sole purpose of slothful frandshippers and EYE (to emphasise on I) am not going to let them have that pleasure. So, smart me did not reply. I couldn’t resist telling SOMEONE, so I blogged. Hee. *blush*

However, the most common breed of fraandshipper that I have come across is, quite obviously, the one who sends an ‘h’ followed by a string of ‘i’s whose purpose I still haven’t figured out. I mean, WHY would anyone scrap any random person ‘hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii’ ? Why? Do you know? I don’t know!

Maximum pity is, neverthless, felt for those who send their whole bio-data in one scrap. God save them. Please. This particular breed of fraandshippers, somehow, reminds me of Dr.Batawekar and his beloved cow with white teeths who is so attractiu that grasses comes flying to her teeths. How louly. I don’t know! They simply remind me of Batawekar (for the uninitiated, Dr. Batawekar is a character, a rather hilarious one, who features in a string of ads for Happydent White chewing gum).

Among other things, Abhu and I, who SO love BJB Chaat (this is the chaat this is available outside our college. Since college is called BJB blah blah, the name of the chaat wala’s chaat is BJB chaat) did NOT get to eat some on our last day of college. Sad, righ? We were shocked that the chaat wala wasn’t there. Instead, we settled for some alu-dum-dahi-vada (which is served in a leafy bowl along with a single toothpick) which was heavenly. We had never tried that out! Well, the most interesting and challenging yet fun part was to eat all that with a toothpick. It IS an art. Really. But when it comes to eating, Abhu and I are unstoppable. We have such congruity in what we want to eat (absolutely anything that looks and tastes good), when we want to eat (absolutely any time of the day) and how much of it we want to eat (as much as our stomach can fit without tearing at the sides) is delightful. I would say, we are meant to eat together. On the other hand, TC is the one who looks disapprovingly at us (and with a certain amount of disbelief that we can manage to gormandize the manner in which we do) and eats like half of what we do. Heehee *sigh* We shall all miss these food trips. The joys of eating. *sigh*

I cannot write anymore! I must go and eat something delicious now. This reminds me of my Enid Blyton days, when I could read ONLY with a plate of yummy chocolates and sandwiches next to me, for all those scenes when the famous five would ‘lunch’ on ginger beer, marshmallow, sandwiches that Aunt so-and-so had made for them, bacon and eggs, milk etc. It is torture to read Blyton’s books without some food near you for immediate consumption!

'Back' is the word

Yoo hoo!

I am SO back. It pains me to see that I’ve been missing out on so much fun in Blogosphere.

Hmm.

It’s strange. I can’t find anything to write about! God. Is this the dreaded ‘writer’s block’? I hope not. May be it’s just the ‘writers’(who-haven’t-written-since-a-mighty-long-time) block ?

Well, there IS one thing that I do want to talk about- The Beatles. My current ultimate-favourite band *sigh* I simply cannot find a Beatles song that I don’t adore. It’s weird!

*thinks*

*keeps thinking*

Okay. Nothing more to say. Well, there are tons of Abhu, S and TC related stories, extremely entertaining ones, mind you. The problem is that I’m still thinking which one of those to recount in these holy pages. So until I figure that out, I’ll do the tag that Isha has sent my way!

The Three Things Tag (hee, I named it myself!)

3 things that scare me: Fear, fear and fear

3 people who make me laugh: S (max!), Abhu & TC (BIG time), Suk & Raghu (erm.. I’ve mentioned 5 people, but you see, they must be mentioned in groups)

3 things I love: travelling & shopping(THAT, is the motivation behind travelling, you see), Belgian chocolates (the ones that look like seashells), cool, breezy evenings

3 things I hate: bad table manners (I CANNOT eat with people who make funny food-noises. Yuck!), sugar boiled candies getting passed as ‘chocolate’, bad breath

3 things I don’t understand: there are a hell of a lot of things I don’t understand

3 things on my desk: random papers, ipods, watches, calci, books, pens and their holders.. my desk is in a perpetual mess!

3 things I’m doing right now: listening to The Doors, typing, breathing..?

3 things I want to do before I die: 3 is too less a number!!

3 things I can do: forgive (I am the shockingly non-grudge-holding type) and forget, crack pjs at any given time, give long lectures!! P (remember, soul sister Sag?) calls me Grandma!

3 things you should listen to:







Songs apart, you must listen to your Mom!

Okay. Now these are only THREE. There are tons of other songs that I think you should listen to :D

3 things you should never listen to: anything that makes you feel unhappy or morbid

3 things I’d like to learn: I did a whole post on this one! Well, for starters, I’m learning Mandarin this summer :D Don’t laugh!

3 favourite foods: Does chocolate qualify as ‘food’? Well, absolutely anything my Mom makes, mint chocolate chip ice cream from Baskin Robbins, Samosas from Vineeth, BJB Chaat :)

3 beverages I drink regularly: since water doesn’t qualify as a beverage, I’d say Bournvita and Tropicana Mango Nectar (do these qualify as beverages?)

3 TV shows/Books I watched/read as a kid: Barbie Book, Newshouse, Famous Five and all those thick, hard cover Enid Blyton books

I tag…. Hmmm.. Raghu boy, Suk, TC and Abhu (4 people will do? Please?)

I also did this video DNA thing that I spotted at Isha’s. Here’s my VDNA!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

P.S.: Any comments on the new template? Please say it’s nice! No pressure or anything though ;)

Secrets....really!

Er.. Yes, I have this thing of starting new posts with "It's been long...". So this one isn't starting that way. Well, I suppose it has already started in that inevitable way so I'll just let it be.

You (ie. those FEW sane, extremely intelligent and discerning blogger people who have paid me a visit today and who continue to come day after day, hoping and wishing that they would get a new post to live by till the next one arrives (which basically means no one) (my, am I good at talking to myself** or what! :)) might be wondering what had kept me, the former NA, away for so long. Well, a wave of self control (or whatever) had taken over me. Hee hee, okay, alright. That's not true (ok so you knew). I have my boards in March :) :) So this is the cram-NOW month.

Among other news, insightful S has earned my profound appreciation for herself by getting 'The Secret' which we have seen over and over again. I was already aware (all hail Linda Goodman and 'Linda Goodman's Star Signs') of the concept they have focused upon in the movie however the very fact that they had produced the movie so beatifully and explained every single thing with so much clarity and detail is truly a marvel. This movie marks the beginning (okay, well a little AFTER the beginning perhaps) of the Aquarian Age. Sigh.

Favoutite Quote (well, ONE of my favourite quotes would be more appropriate) that has been featured in the movie--

" Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. " - Albert Einstein

You can watch this trailer and be awed......



(got the YouTube trailer from www.Stevepavlina.com)

..... and watch the whole movie after that :) Please watch it! Please! Please? *bats eye-lashes*
Thanks!

Now, it iz zime fure meh to leeeve. Until next time (which is going to be a long time), dear bloggy and friends, Tata!

P.S.: Now don't you go "Birla"! I am a little biased towards those who sell tea.

**- MSN friends shall testify.