Music - My life ...

Sitting here so late in the night all alone and listening to old hindi songs... wow... there can be no better combination when I want to think and write....
Old hindi soulful songs can do magic... I am still trying to understand what kind of feeling listening to those hindi songs generate.. but yeah its something different... something unique... something which makes me think about life and be grateful to god for what he has given me. I have no words to express the comfort feeling that music creates...

I am thankful to those genius minds that have worked so hard to create Music for us. Music in general has its own way to relive stress and can change moods instantaneously. Music also has a unique way to attach itself with some part of our memory and take us back to those moments again ....
wow... I am more than convinced that it requires a genius to create any kind of music. My salute to all the Musicians and singers... I don't know what my life would have been without music....

Desi Beats -- Diwali...

The other day I was talking to my friend from India. She was all excited and told me you know naa Diwali is coming.. I could just reply back.. "oh...Yeah I know.... ". Then I suddenly realized how indifferent I have become towards this festival which used to bring big smile and excitement back in India. Staying in a country where Diwali is considered just another festival and is important only because of one extra holiday, does this to us....

This time I will not see excited people dressed up in their best costumes, will not see houses all decorated and lit up, will not have a big flow of sweets which we had to eat even though we are totally fed up of eating it.....
Worst of all we will not be with our family ... will not be with my parents, will not be with my in-laws, will not be with my Bhaiya-Bhahi....

I wish I could just run back to India, just for one day.... Wish I had known importance of my culture and festival earlier... wish I had not taken for granted those lovely Indian festivals which brings families together....

The Great 20 Rupees....

Have you ever realized, how suddenly a seemingly small and normal event can have a great impact on your life and change your life forever....
This seemingly small incident did come in my life too... Just a normal day in collage. It was my first month of collage and being a junior, I was extremely scared of seniors and ragging. Specially the third year batch which was notorious for ragging. On that day, a huge crowd of 3rd year guys came to our class for "hafta vasooli" for organizing "Ganesh Chaturthy" festival. Everyone had to contribute 20 Rs for the same. To avoid any attention from seniors, I hurriedly fetched my wallet and disappointingly realized that I do not have 20 Rs change. I just had 100 Rs in my wallet. I looked around, asked everyone if they have 100 Rs change or 20 Rs to lend me... No one had it...
By the time seniors came to my seat, I was still holding my 100 Rs note and hurriedly looking for some classmate who could help me... Seniors said either you give us 20 Rs change or donate the full 100 Rs that you have... I panicked.. 100 Rs was a big thing that time .... Somehow holding back my tears (I didn't want to be crying baby in front of them and the class) I looked around for help.... One senior was watching me from far... God knows what came over him, he intervened and told his friends... "isko chod do, main iske paise de deta hu". In the chaos, nobody bothered to ask him why he is paying for me... They took the money from him and went ahead... I hardly could thank this seniors who at that point seemed like some God sent person, coming and rescuing me....
For next 2-3 days, I searched for him in collage to give him back his 20 Rs and thank him properly... Didn't even know his name at that time... At last after around a week, I met him in Collage Co-operative Society... Gave him his 20 Rs and said "Thanks for helping me that day". Apparently, he had forgotten that incident and looked at me as if I have gone mad....

The incident did create a soft corner in my heart for this senior who went on to become my boyfriend and then husband.... I am amazed how just a simple 20 Rs can start a life long journey of love, trust, excitement and fulfillment .....

Those Innocent Days ....

Sometimes, when I am trying hard to sleep or in that stage of mind when I am neither fully awake or sleeping ( I think its called alpha stage of mind in scientific language), a scene comes in front of my eyes... A picture of my old forgotten childhood memory.
Its said that the human brain is very powerful and whatever goes on in our daily life, it stores somewhere in our subconscious and maybe thats why once a while the subconscious send us those scene to make us remember that we also had a childhood....
So I am writing down all the childhood scene that my mind has shown me so far (mainly because I want to hold down to them and scared that I will forget them again and those memories will again go back somewhere deep inside my mind... )

• I remember that when I was in L KG (3 Years old in Leh), I ran away from my school because I didn't have pencil or didn't do my homework.... When I reached home, my mom was surprised and I told her.. "Chutti jaldi ho gayi". Don't remember what happened to me the next day in school...
  
• I remember counting number 1 to 50 and not getting it correct anytime.
• I remember spoiling Bhaiya's and Papa's chess game because they were so involved in it and I was not getting any attention from them... (this was again when I was 3)
• I remember asking my dadi to tell me stories. The same stories again and again. I somehow like the way she speaks. Wish I could remember those stories now ....
  
• I remember breaking my brother's specs and not telling it to anyone because I was sacred. Yeah in the end, offcourse my parents came to know that I was the culprit.
  
• I remember not going on the stage to receive my award (for being the fastest runner, 2nd std.). I remember teacher calling my name 2-3 times and I pretended to be hiding behind someone. ( Similar like the last scene of Tare Zameen Par when Ishan was called out for the first price for his painting)
• I remember my brothers strangely shaped tiffin box which he lost in school and got a scolding for it at home.
• I remember, bhaiya and me bunking school one day because we wanted a holiday and telling our parents "ek ghanta wait kiya phirbi Bus nahi mili".
• I remember playing cricket with my brother and his team, complaining to my parents that "Bhaiya mughe sirf fielding kerne ko dete hai, mughe batting aur bowling kerna hai". And then irritated Bhaiya gave me baby over (3 balls per over) to play.
• I remember, turning on the grinder knob when my mother was still putting the ingredient in the jar (which was fixed to the grinder already) and by the time mummy could act on it, the whole grinder mixer was all over the room.
• I remember going for morning walk with friends during summer holiday and coming back only by 11 and then go on to play cricket...
• I remember, I decided to leave home when I was in 2 or 3 rd std, because I challenged my father that I can live alone without them...
• I remember writing my Unit test and then bringing back the answer sheet home ...
• I remember telling all my brother's secrets to my parents. I specially remember the one when Bhaiya had gone to "call ghost" with his friends without telling mummy-papa and I told them about it and he got a good scoldings after that... :)
  

And yeah, I remember thinking to myself ... "Kassh main jaldi badi ho jau, phir koi studies aur exams nahi hogi aur koi tension nahi hoga". I was so wrong. Now I can do anything to relive those lovely and innocent days...
This blog is dedicated to all my childhood friends (Pinky, Padma, Preeti didi, Tanu didi and many many more.. ).
And I specially dedicate this blog to my brother. After writing this blog, I realize, that my childhood would have been totally incomplete without him.... So thank you bhaiya and hoping that we would have so many more memories to cherish together...

Disaster At Home ...

ok... So Vishal loves Aloo Paratha And I love to experiment while cooking... And Thats the recipe Perfect disaster.... :)
So to make Vishal happy..., one weekend I decided to make Aloo paratha... I had seen my mom making Aloo paratha pretty efficiently... She can make it in like 15-20 mins... So I thought its not a big deal... In my mind I just joted down 5 small steps:

1) boil Aloo - easily.. put it pressue cooker and done ...
2) mash and mix all the masalas - Also easy... not much skills required ( Just that I forgot to mash it completely, the consequences of this I will face later... )
3) Prepare Dough -- ok this also easy... Just like Roti dough...
4) Put Aloo masala in the dough and roll --- aha... Here I came to know why Aloo paratha is such a delicacy aur sabke bas ki baat nahi hai. I sweated and took at least 3-4 mins rolling each paratha.. But my mistake in step 2 was showing its colors... My god, the parathas were thin, thick, with holes and what not...
5) Put the Paratha on the Stove and cook... - ok I do not have experience in how much oil to put and whether the flame should be on high or low....

Anyways, after like 2 hours of hard work (seriously 2 hours at least.. ) I was totally exhausted and with kacha-pacha (read mota-ptla too) paratha... I was hoping the Vishal would like it...
So I give the paratha to Vishal with his fav pickle and awesomely made Raita ( I had to compensate somewhere for the bad paratha) ... So here is the scene at home at that time ...

Vish takes the first byte...
Vish: Yeh kiska paratha hai??
Me: Aloo Paratha (In my mind.. Yeh bhi nahi pata chal kiska paratha hai :). Sabi masala beech main hai, isliye uska taste nahi aa raha... Side ka part chod do, beech ka kha lo...
Vish: Thik hai.. (And continues eating... )

I start eating and realize that paratha is not that great... So...
Me: Acha nahi laag raha to chod do... main kuch aur bana deti hu (Secretly Hoping that he will not ask me anything else to make... I was totally exhuasted... )
Vish: Nahi acha hai... bahut acha hai... ek aur hai??
Me: (Big Smile) Yeah Yeah sure!!!!!

So there goes my story about Aloo paratha... I am thankful that Vish is so patience and understanding and eats everything that I cook... But I know that my kids won't be that patience, So I beware dear... many more Aloo, Gobi, Mooli, Lauki Parathas .... are yet to come... :)

My Opposition Party...

I think its a universal law that opposite attracts... When I was in school, I used to never believe in it.. In my fantasy world, I always thought of having a partner who would like the same thing as me and we would never have any fights... (Yeah Yeah.. that was my fantasy... !!! and that too in 10th std.. so I can be excused.. ;)
Now I realize that life wouldn't have been fun if Vishal had liked the same things as me.. There would be no fights (How boring!!!) And then no making up and pampering :(
Surprisingly when I met Vishal, I was still in my dream world (or maybe hangover of that fantasy), but still I chose him over everyone else.. When I come to think about it, I can say from personal experience that opposite does attract... Here are some examples :

• Vishal is totally a night person and I am (or was, not sure now) totally morning person. Can't stay awake in the night after 11. He, on the other hand, will not get up before 12 pm on weekends (On weekdays, 15 mins before leaving for the office)... My god...I remember how much fight we used to have for first few months after marriage... However, the fight is still not over, its just subsided.... (Maybe it will help us when we have babies.. Vishal would care of them in the night and me in the morning.. lol... )
  
• Vishal is hardcore non-vegeterian. He can eat anything and everything that can walk. And I am total vegeterian.
• Vishal is non-adventurous kind. He is the person who would be like, I have to take care of everyone and more security minded... I am, on the other hand, totally crazy about trekking, hiking, walking, bicycling, skating, etc... (We still have fights over this....)
  
• He likes to eat out and try out new cuisines. And I like to spend money in visiting new and different places... ( We fight over this and usually end up doing both.. :)
• Vishal believes in luxury.. And he knows how to live life and enjoy every moment. I think I am more practical and believe in saving... ( We are 2 total opposite end in this matter... And the good news is that we do find a common path... So we have Savings also and luxury too..., Best of both the world I would say :)
• Vishal loves watching TV and I considered TV as my sautan. Taking away my entitled time with him... (Sometimes I have this funny imagination of fighting with TV with sword ... )
  
• Vishal loves hollywood... And me total bollywood fan....
  
• And off course, I have to accept that Vishal is great in GK and all kinds of logical, creative (and what not) thinking... And its better I keep quite about myself in this matter... :)

This list will go on if I don't stop writing...
Now I know that life wouldn't be fun if we didn't have disagreements... It would be wrong to say that I didn't try or wish to change him according to my thinking... But I thank god that nothing of that sort happened... I love the way things are and it just spice up our life...
Love you Jaanu... the way you are... :)

Desi Beats ....

ok... I have been in Singapore in and out for around 3 months now... Although I love Singapore, I miss India dearly... (Post about Singapore coming soon)... India is the place where I was born, Studied and met my love... There maybe so many shortcomings of India, never the less she holds a special place in my heart... So here are some things that I miss India for:

• My Family... My parents and in-laws and life long friends...
  
• Food.. I love Indian Food... Couldn't find a place in Singapore where I can get nice Biryani, Dosas or just simple north Indian dish...
  
• My maid... I used to have a very lovely and co-operative maid back in Mumbai.. She helped me a lot. I miss her a lot when I have to do everything on my own ( Hope I am not implying that I am lazy..;)
• I miss reading the masala news every morning while sipping a cup of tea..
  
• I miss all those hindi channels and watching those saas-bahu serials with my mom.. Also miss those (non)reality shows... And gossiping about it in office...
  
• Those packet milk which used be delivered every morning....
  
• Hindi Movies .. Every weekend going for any arah-garah (read bad) movie and then complaining to everyone about it... :)
• Visiting neighbours and eating lovely food prepared by them... ( We do this in Singapore too but in less intensity)
• I miss gossiping about movie actors, bollywood, politics, weather, bosses, managers etc during lunch break, coffee break in office...
  
• I miss those cooking tips that I used to get from my all elderly friends...
• I miss going for long walks just to eat raste ka pani puri... Wow those chats are simply mouth watering...
  
• I miss chating over coffee in barista or cafe coffee day... I remember once Vishal and me sat in Barista from 10 in the morning till 6 in the evening talking nonsense... It was 5 years back and that day is still one of the most memorable day of my life...
  
• I miss that feeling of security and being in my own home...
• The homely Feeling... Yeah true Singapore is my home now... I still miss India for the homely touch...

And the list continues.....

My First Blog ...

ok at last I have started blogging... I have been planning and thinking to do this for a while... But its always something that stops me... Maybe its just laziness or my fear that I will not be able to do a good job doing this... But yeah... What the heck... There has to be first time for everything....
So all the best... :)