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.

Philosopher S, fellow and Litchi Juice

Right. It’s been long. I have been weaned from internet and gotten myself addicted to tea. Twice a day is how much of it I need.

Amongst latest news, S has become quite a philosopher. She has proposed a very convincing Theory on Eventuality. She has grown all wise and sage-like and keeps thinking for long hours. After her thought binge, she comes to me and tries to make so-what-is-going-to-happen-after-all-this-crap type conversation which gives her an excellent opportunity to showcase her eye opening theories. It may sound funny over here but I have been convinced and have even started thinking in terms of The Theory*** of hers.

Driver-fellow gave a brilliant performance, so I heard *sigh* While I sit typing out this post as a faceless nobody, fellow must be getting compliments for balancing like a pro on that motor-bike. I shall now try to cheer myself up by thinking of those glorious days when my super shiny hair *runs to touch some wood* and I were featured on the SECOND page of the Times and when I was on TV, live performance that too straight from the awards ceremony and when I…. er..er.. there isn’t any thing left *sniff* *sobs*

I saw Lage Raho last night, which, I must say was awesome. I was also very happy to see that they were trying to do away with the whole manglik notion that people have. A manglik is someone who has his/her mars in the ascendant, the second, fourth, seventh, eighth or twelfth house of the natal chart (and there are 12 houses in all). So about 42% of us are mangliks. It’s no big deal. It is very saddening to see some people who call themselves professional ‘astrologers’ go about predicting someone else’s death. One cannot use astrology to predict death! It’s absolute crap. People often forget that the planets incline, they don’t compel. We must blame those who have given astrology such a bad reputation by simply removing the actual essence of this extremely helpful science and reducing it into a trash-worthy subject. Sheesh. So I say, do NOT believe any astrologer who predicts ‘death’ or who just tells you horrible things are going to happen or who asks you to perform a million pujas. That is SO not what astrology is about. *weeps*

SRK is doing a rather lousy job. He overdoes all his pjs and really pisses me and the guests off. I don’t see why someone should have to hug HIM before leaving the show. I mean, save the poor guy that last torture!

Tropicana Litchi Juice is my new favourite. I have been consuming copious amounts of it and have been feeling 0% guilty! Well, I must add that I had chole-batoore for dinner last night. Nah! I am not guilty! Not one bit! Er.. okay, may be I shouldn’t have gobbled down FOUR batoores (hey! They were tiny, okay?!) but I normally think in the lines of God-alone-knows-after-how-long-I-am-going-to-get-to-eat-this-again-so-I-better-
satiate-myself-NOW. Yea, it sounds as if my Mom is one cruel woman, but no. She isn’t. I must add (for her sake) that she is the most fabulous cook and feeds me a hell lot. It is yours truly who tries to regulate our eating habits. I have sort of transformed into the Grandma of the house. Age is indeed taking over.

Shilpa has won and she is RICH!

Songs that are stuck in my head- See Emily Play(Floyd), D'yer Mak'er(Led Zep), All of my love(Led Zep)

See Emily Play-


D'yer Mak'er-


oh oh oh oh oh.. God. I would SO not go if someone sang THAT for me *sighs wistfully*

All of my love-

*** No, I cannot tell you anything else about The Theory. You know, the whole IPR thing. I cannot be the bitch sister who stole her trusting sister’s ideas!

Lalala

1) I have been following the whole Big Brother thing. I have also been watching gazillion BB videos on YouTube. Dirk and Shilpa are SO cute! Awwww *sigh* The whole Dirk-Shilpa Love Fest thing is really funny!






2) I have been wrapping gifts in a rather absurd fashion. Today, S and I set out to accomplish the ambitious task of wrapping 2 gifts (actually it wasn’t very strange for S since she has always been The Wrapper in the house… wrapping gifts and covering books were always HER thing). Anyway, we set out to wrap a rather oddly shaped, cylindrical bag without making it look like a blob of crap. However, it ended up looking like this-----



Doesn't it look like an over sized toffee?




3) We have added Salad (which only includes kakdi, gajar, pyaaz, tamater) as a regular feature with our dinner.



I guess that’s pretty much it. I haven’t really been doing anything much. Yawn. Oh, in case anybody missed it, Shiney Ahuja’s actual name is supposed to be Suraj Ahuja (courtesy TC)(see previous post’s comments section for further details. Thank you very much). I didn’t know that! Poor boy! Having to live with SHINEY when he has such an adorable 5-lettered name, ‘Suraj’, which starts from S! *sigh*



Pssst… This is Post # 50!!! Half century! Woah!

UPDATE!!! 21.01.07

4) While S and I are living loser lives of anonymity (well, almost), our driver-fellow is going places and making news. Literally. Fellow has been practising with his Daddy for some stunts that they'll be performing in the Republic Day Parade that is going to take place here. He has also come on 2 local channels!! He has really been dressing up and behaving less stupid of late. Oh and you know what he said to my all-in-one maid about me??

"Badi didi (S) achi hai. Maa(Mom) bhi theek hai, zyada gussa nahi karte. Lekin, Choti didi (that would be me) thodi gussewaali hai *nods his head in horror* "

Can you believe that? Hahahahaha!! Now, if fellow is late for like 99.99% of the times when I need the car (Abhu and TC shall testify) and I need the car the most out of the three of us, then naturally I'd be a little pissed off! However, I don't say anything 'gussewaali' type. Rather I speak in a low volume when I am pissed off. How cunning! Heehee

Famous People Crush-es

I know this is weird and illogical but I am getting an urge to chronicle all my famous-people-crushes :) It’ll be hard since I don’t remember many, but the ones that I do remember are incredibly incredible (ie. How could I EVER have a crush on THEM!?!)!!

1. Hee hee.. Shoaib Akhtar. I know I know. Disgusting choice you would say. I agree! However, during the India-Pak test series back in 2004 I was a crazy 14 year old. I had collected like millions of snaps of his but was totally annoyed when I found out he used to like SONALI BENDRE. I DO NOT like her. He has bad choice. Just like me. Hehe.
2. Orlando Bloom. Do I need to elaborate? But yes, it was a very short-lived crush :)
3. Mel gibson. I was totally crazy about Mel Gibson for like 3 days. But they were 3 crazy days. (This was after watching What Women Want) (I like Helen Hunt) (I loved the scene where they were dancing around in her new house)(Awwww)
   
4. Michael Ballack!!!!!!!!! One of the few FPCs (Famous Person Crush) of whom I am not ashamed! He is totally adorable, plays football (and is HOT at it)(and the captain of the german team) AND a libran. How perfect is that? Longest FPC this was. Sigh. About 2 weeks. Sigh.
5. Kunal Kapoor. Who wouldn’t have a crush on him? He is totally cute AND a libran AND a number 9!! Brilliant!
6. Shiney Ahuja. Actually, it would be more appropriate to say I had a crush on his character Daya in Gangster. Totally adorable character.
7. Erm.. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. I have no idea why I kind of had a crush on him and still sigh when I see him on TV. :S It was after I saw an interview of his on this channel and felt he was very genuine and very much like a Mr.Perfect.
8. Okay. This is the strangest of them all. Salman Rushdie. I am reading ‘Midinght’s Children’ and for no apparent reason have taken a liking for the author. Oh, by the way I just found out he is a Gemini. Now I know why he gets bored so easily ;)!

Crazy or what?!

This is it.

So yes. The new year has begun. Jupiter must be gleefully bouncing about in Sagittarius and I have finally acquired my Ganpati*~* Planner-cum-Diary after 3 days of 2007 have lapsed.

I am now making a *ahem* public declaration. I am getting my life back on track and I am shifting from the passenger seat to the driver's seat, right behind the steering wheel. Last year, I let things meander about their own way. That is not happening anymore. Tata ghost driver, I am taking charge.

Thank you very much.





*~*- I have this thing for Ganpati diaries. I don't know why. I just have it and I must have a Ganpati diary every year.

Ps.- 1) I am also promising myself to not allow myself to go blog hopping and blogging and such too often. I have contracted obsessive compulsive blogging form somewhere and I need therapy! So, well, I am my own therapist. (Woah, there are many 'myself's in there!)

2) S is fine. She is doing very well. Yes, she is still mesmerised by ants and has pigeons for friends (haveI written about Momma Pigy and Papa Pigy (pronounced as pidgy) hanging out at my window sill?) S is excellent at bonding with birds, insects and such normally ignored creatures. What a lovely being S is *sigh*. Of course, she IS a sag after all. All this animal(or whatever) bonding is pretty natural.

When O when.

One more day to go. Urgh. Can’t wait for this year to end. One more day and I’ll be free! Yeay!

My plans for New Years? Well, nothing, really. Most probably I’ll be reading something, listening to music or simply be asleep at midnight. Well, what else do you expect? No, I don’t write down resolutions. I don’t need a new year to resolve to do something or refrain from doing something. I do that everyday. Lessons are taken everyday :)

How was 2006? Frustrating would be the best word. I did, however, learn a couple of things and unlearned some others. Well, I did have my good, bad and ugly this year as well. It wasn't really “bad” as such, but not even a good year to remember. Oh, I read all of Linda’s astro related books a gazillion times this year. Woo hoo!! I started listening to a different genre of music which I am so very in love with now. What else did I do this year? Hmm. I can’t seem to remember. Well, lets let this year just pass. Whew. It’s over and I am happy that I am done with it. Almost done. Whatever.

Hope the next year is good for all of you! Well, I guess it should be, since lucky Jupiter is returning to its own house of Sag after like 12 years. So, that’s good. Do whatever “you’ve always wanted to do” this year. It should be a good time to make changes too. :)

Happy New Year.

P.s.- Yes yes, I KNOW I am not some astrologer or anyone, but hey, any normal person who knows even a teeny-weeny bit about the star signs would know what Jup in Sag means in general!

It's been long week!

NOTE: None of the beach pictures have been photoshopped or edited in any way (apart from being resized). The others have only been edited to adjust the contrast and lighting. That is it. They are REAL pictures. The beach pictures are straight from the cam! Enjoy!


I am back, folks! I am back! Okay, calm down, take a deep breath. Hmm. Yes. Better.

The trip was great and the reunion was pure fun. Whenever I was in the middle of something exciting, I would keep thinking- “I just HAVE to blog about this. This is crazy fun!”. Now, however, I am almost at a loss of words. I don’t quite know what all to say. There’s just so much that it would be unfair to say some and leave some. Saying it ALL isn’t feasible, considering the condition of my fingers after eating 75 billion hot-hot-fried-in-ghee-samosas and playing 11342 carrom matches and infinite rounds of Bluff and Rummy and eating cotton candy at the beach after eons and what not. So I’ll just post some pictures and say something about them. Fair enough or what?

Panchlingeshwar

Credit: Me and only me :)

This is 'Panchlingeshwar' which is about 1.5 hours from Balasore. This temple-type-thing is up on the rocks of a certain hill. We lost our way while driving to this spot and spent about 45 minutes going round and round in some tiny villages. That was.. erm... some experience. The walk up the hill was enjoyable though. It felt a lot like Manali. Dad and I were quite fit (hey! I do pilates, okay?) and could walk up without getting very worn out, but S and Mom were, *ahem* a little slow and resembled zombies by the time we reached the actual spot.

Credit: S, edited by me

This is a shot of the hillside taken by S while we were on our way down. Pretty, isn't it?

Khi Ching

Credit: S (or Dad.. don't remember!), edited by me

This is the Khi Ching Temple which is about 5 hours from Balasore. So that day, we travelled for about 11 hours (including breaks) by car and spent about 40 minutes at the actual place. It was worth it though. We did see some interesting sites.



Credit: S, edited by me

This is the top most part of a buried temple. Why aren't they excavating and digging this place up?! Ridiculous! A temple is buried right there and no one bothers to unearth it. Shame on the Archaelogy Department.

There was a heavy metal (no, this isn't the 'heavy metal' effect. heh) rod out there. Folklore has it that it belonged to Bhima and has been there since ages and if you pick it up and take 3 rounds around the temple-top then your wishes are fulfilled. Dad and I did that together and gosh that was fun! It was back-breakingly heavy (if at all there is such an expression), but then again, I had my pilates techniques of pulling belly button to spine and activating the power-house working for me!


Credit: S, edited by me

There was this little museum at there where we saw this very fascinating statue. Prosthetic legs are nice :) Khi Ching was built in 940 A.D. out of pure granite rock (I suppose).
Why were our ancestors so fascinated by busty ladies? I saw them in every carving I saw on every temple! Our culture... sigh! (srcoll down and check the Updates for more!)




Credit: S, edited by me

Another one. All very pretty and intricate work, but even more intewesting poses.

Chandipur



Credit: S

Sunrise. Shot taken from our room. Absolutely NO photoshopping. It was really this wonderful.



Credit: Dad

The blue sky and the waters. This is a gem of a picture. One rarely finds such clean, blue water in India.

Puri Beach- My favourite beach in India.



Credit: S

Fishermen! We saw many interesting sights at 6 in the morning at our very own beach. The beach, the Jagannath temple and the swing in the second floor of my grandma's place are the regulars where all of us hung out when we were little.



Credit: S



Credit: Cousin

Isn't this place just awesome? (did you notice how clean the water is?)

My ipod(s)!!!



Credit: Me and me!!

Yes! I now have not one, not two, but THREE ipods (2 gifted by my aunt(mami))!! Isn't that just the ultimate? Well, i listened to a lot of music on my trip and even found a topic to talk about with my younger cousin (bro)- Floyd and psychedelic rock in general :) He plays the guitar, the sitar and what not. AND he's got this awesome hair which fascinated all the other cousins :) Yea, we cousins and uncles and aunts had truckloads of fun this time.



Credit: Me

I just could NOT leave out the lovely sarees that my aunt(masi) got for S and me. They have special Lucknowi work done and the colours are the most beautiful ones!


We even went to the Sun Temple, Konark. I thought everyone must already be knowing about it and would've seen pictures and blah blah, so didn't post anything on that.

Well, anyway, that was MY holiday. One helluva week. Loved every bit of it.


UPDATE!!!!

So yes, on being asked by S, I am doing this update.

1) The statue up there has 'prosthetic legs' because this legendary person called 'Kala Pahad' (which literally means black mountain) had gone all over Orissa destroying the famous heritage sites. So the 'legs' have been put to support the statue.

2) So, okay I WILL after all this fuss post some pictures from Konark since S believes her photography at it's best has been manifested perfectly in those pictures. Right-ho.
So here they are.



Credit: Dear old S

(FYI, none of them out there are family)



Credit: The Missy (S)

This is a shot of the marvellous carvings on the temple. These carvings depict the various poses in some Indian Dance. I am not sure if it was Odissi or Bharatnatyam... er.. but yea it's one of the two!



Credit: The Sag. S.

This is a shot of one of the wheels of the chariot which is also a sundial. It was very interesting to watch the guide tell us the exact time using this sundial. There are little beads which tell you the EXACT minute. How cool is that?

North-Indian or South-Indian, Monty? + News

It was a class joke.

“He asked her whether she was North-Indian or South-Indian and she said she was East-Indian!! I mean, is there even such a thing in existence?!”

The ‘he’ was the class clown, AB (no, it wasn’t a Bachchan) and ‘she’ was good old me. Those were the glorious days when kids found AB spoofing on me and V vrooming off to some zumba-land and doing the zumba dance funny and derived entertainment from such things (yes, I(and everyone else) used to get teased with every random person and elaborate tales were concocted based on such ludicrous ideas which in turn provided great 12yearold-type joke-fodder). The above line was one which remained a much quoted line for about 3 days (which is a very long time for such things). I still don’t understand what is so absurd in my being an Easty and saying that I am indeed one. You can’t categorise all Indians as Northies or Southies. Where will the Bongs, Oriyas, Gujjus, Assamese people go?

And I can’t even begin to recount all my monikers. Everyone had them. Everyone’s surname was made fun of and it was distorted to something that sounded silly and generally was silly. I was called ---

>Mohan Aunty

V still calls me aunty!!

>Monica

God alone knows how this came into being.

>Mona darling

The cheesiest of them all. This, I assume (and I may be wrong), was a derivative of Monica.

>Monty, full-monty, half-monty and other crap related to ‘monty’

Well, a lot many people there couldn’t pronounce ‘Mohanty’ and ended up calling me ‘Monty’ which was damn irritating. Plus, I wasn’t the only Sneha around. There were 3 other Snehas and one(or may be more, of whom I am not aware) Snehal which made it ever the more confusing.

>Matinee

Since I am the ‘Mumbai Girl’ here and there was this movie called ‘Mumbai Matinee’ which had released some 3 years back, people in my new school decided to call me ‘Mumbai Matinee’, which in due course of time became only ‘Matinee’. So yes, I am Matinee.

There were many more names which I can’t remember (old age is taking its toll). However, there weren’t any that I don’t want to remember. I love all of them!

Sigh! Those were the days of innocence.

I have been spending the last 10 days sleeping, eating and not really doing much work. So, this is a Public Declaration that I shall get working and be more productive in the remaining days of 2006 which, by the way, wasn’t a great year for me. It was frustrating and a year wasted. I didn’t learn much, I didn’t read much, I didn’t do anything that would make this year special (apart from reading some valuable metaphysical stuff from Linda’s books, but hey, I have been doing that every year since the past 3 or 4 years). I am so glad this year is ending and 2007 is beginning. 2007 is my number 3 year! Yay!

I’ll be off for a 9-day long break to my Dad’s place (the place where he’s posted. It’s supposed to be a tourist-y place too) and then to Puri (where my granpa and granma live) where we’re having this family reunion after 17 years (ie. After 17 years everyone will be under one roof. This hadn’t happened in the past 2 decades minus 3 years since we couldn’t coordinate our time of home-visit). Then there are other family type plans happening so this Christmas should be fun (more people around->more gifts).

Happy holidays and I hope you have a magical year ahead!

P.s.- Yes, I have grown extremely fond of writing cocktail posts.

Strange Events, Events and a Poll

Author of This Blog (ATB) (yes, I am no longer the BO since S(sister) gets to censor my posts pretty frequently) has been exhibiting such strange behaviour over the past couple of days that she herself cannot explain her actions (which happens very rarely since ATB is rather good at explaining things, no matter how ridiculous the reasons may seem, she still HAS a theory on almost eveyrthing).

This inability to explain such behaviour is again, one of the many anomalies that seem to have taken over her life. However, thanks to the planets, TC and Abhu are still weird and normal (ie. being weird is normal for them). So, she’s most thankful for that.

Firstly, she no longer eats every 5 hours. She can now do with one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner (Yes, it’s important to mention the ‘one’s in there).

Secondly, she has been having tea (which is very mild of course. It’s only have half teaspoon leaves per cup) and has not been suffering from insomnia and anxiety due to that. So, that’s a positive.

Thirdly, she has forgotten to have lunch or has not felt hungry at the right time 3 times in a single week. This is rather peculiar. Hmm.

Fourthly, she has been sleeping for 4-5 hours a night and has been okay (rather great) with that. THIS is the biggest shocker of them all! ATB is a self proclaimed kumbhkaran and this particular point is disturbing her the most.

Fifthly, she has been getting late at whatever she’s doing. For instance, she was late by an hour for her physics class and this has NEVER happened (until now) to this punctual Libran.

Sixthly, she has been turning out trashier than the trashiest trashy posts (like this one).

Seventhly, she doesn’t even care about all the above ABS (Aberrant Behaviour Syndrome) symptoms!

Now, time for some news.

1) New group blog has been launched. Warning- it’s orange.

2) Poetry written by Raghu on the manual scavengers (rather it’s the voice of one).

3) I am starting to wonder if my blog needs a fresh look. Iam too indecisive a Libran to actually decide. So help, won’t you?

Should I go template-hunting or html-css-learning to give my blog a fresh look?
	Yes. This one's stale and it stinks big time.
	Yes. This one isn't bad, but a fresh look would be good.
	No. This one's totally FAB!
	I am a Libran. Don't ask me to vote in this ridiculous poll.
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