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Wanna know why I have been busy and not posting any blog posts off late? Well, there are many reasons, but for now, the fetish of home decor has creeped onto me. Maybe, being a house wife and being at home, initiated this in my mind. I do try to minimize the expenditure due to this newly found interests, though sometimes it goes out of hand.

There was a time, when I used to cringe at a book or magazine if it cost more than Rs.20. Now I am buying occasionally magazines of Rs.100 just to look at the style pictures and drool over it. One thing I realized is, there is no such home decor magazine meant for middle class people. Most of the cover story deals with highly priced luxury items, which makes us think that home decor is expensive, while I believe its contrary. The creative ideas, and simple ways of rearranging, and making re-use of old items are mostly inexpensive. Then, as usual, I latched onto the greatest resource of all. The internet. The innumerous blogs by interior decorators, or designers, or photographers, created just by passion gives a whole lot of ideas than those highly priced books. Read the rest of this entry »

It has brought back memories… Another award from Sree. I guess I should in turn award him as the best blog-award buddy for showering me most awards in the past few months… (which equals to 3!!) The following star award reminds me of several things.

Reminds me of the small star rank badges I received in school, which in turn reminds me of the other badges like blue house captain, green house captain, NSC badge and all those things, which I always kept in my school bag, so that I do not forget to wear them the next day…

Reminds me of the colorful Christmas stars hung at our house, which my father and I used to take up as a project, which also reminds me of a brilliant(!) idea I once offered him, how to extend the electrical connection from inside a room bulb socket, and how I used to wonder at the patterned lighting that came through the holes in the star and lit the porch staircase, where I used to sit talking with my mom and dad while they strolled in front of the house…

Reminds me of the shining stars in the sky, which reminds me of the part in Kuch Kuch Hota hai, where the little boy counts the stars, and the metaphors related to the inability of counting the stars in the sky, and also of my dear moon, whom I gazed a lot from the balcony of house in Chennai, talking to him when I felt like talking to myself….

And last, but not the least, the evergreen song of which I liked the tune most rather than the words, making me remind of my stint with music in my life…
Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky!

Prologue:

Recently, I saw this website, Letters of Note in my Google Reader. Then there was a tweet from Shashi Tharoor on World Literacy Day. Along with it, this post by Sanjukta about Twitter. The era of letters, posts, stamps, inland covers, flashed back onto me.  Mixed thoughts streamed into my mind and got squeezed out to form the final words currently being penned down.

Loss of Pen pal system

Long back, there were inland letter posts from aunts and friends to my mom, following the traditional way of keeping in touch. I never got one, except for greeting cards and one or two anonymous love letters. I was grown up in the telephonic era. Not the mobile, but the old faithful land line. The times when the 5-digit numbers were used instead of the current 8-digit phone numbers. Read the rest of this entry »

January 30. The day when the father of the nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was assassinated.

I remember this day from the school. At the assembly, on this day, we would be reminded to follow the silent standing ceremony at around 10 or 10.30 am. The bell would ring at an odd time in midst of the class period, and we would all stand for one single minute in silence to commemorate the assassination of Gandhiji. We considered this break a warm welcome to the same routine of the teaching. In those days, I don’t remember having a break in the morning session.

In the high school, we had to study full history and autobiography of Gandhiji, “My Experiments with Truth”, in the form of English-II subject. Though it was the edited or the simplified version, we had to study his whole life. It was interesting at some points, but from the point of view of exams, it was not. I even once wondered, if Gandhiji was not there, we would have escaped this subject etc!

When I was in school, I remember watching the film Gandhi, on either August 15th, January 26th or October 2nd. But I remember the school book rather than the film. Read the rest of this entry »

Its another Monday.  But its different. Its the first Monday of 2009.

The day when people have joined back their offices after their holidays. The day when they crib about being back to office working whole day. The day when they feel home sick. They think about their native, about their home, about their family. The pictures of the X’mas and New Year celebrations and parties flashes in your mind, in front of your eyes. The day when people start running in the rat race… again…

There are some who have made new year resolutions. Majority of the blogs have listed their resolutions along with new year wishes. And for me, I too had resolutions. I still have. To acquire the unfulfilled ones. Deep buried in the corner of the heart…
Read the rest of this entry »

Whenever I see tags in blogs, I think why am I not tagged often. Now, on second thoughts, I wonder whether its for good or worse. The following tag bestowed upon me by Sreeram, has set me thinking of my past, present and future. As I am writing down the answers, I realize how candid it is to accept a tag and dangerous to refresh the golden memoirs…

The tag:
Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right?)
Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday
Your oldest memories Read the rest of this entry »

Another birthday passing by.

Does it really matter to celebrate the birthdays?

I remember calling in the neighbour family to cut the cake n all, and singing “Happy Birthday to You” when I was young. I used to wear new “color dress” in school while others wore their school uniform. They sang the same song again, and I used to distribute the chocolates mostly “Eclairs” or “Lion King” carrying to each desk. I used to get fed up saying “Thank you” to each one of them.

Early that morning at dawn, when I wake up to mom’s call from Kitchen, its not any different. When she see me, she starts singing the wish song loud from the kitchen itself, while I brush my teeth!. As if proclaiming to the world and to the house, that its her daughter’s birthday. And then, in evening, when she comes from office at around 6- 6.30, we cut the cake and share it during the late tea session. If it comes on a holiday, “payasam” would be prepared.

In college, there was no color dress. But there was “new” dress. There was no group singing of “Happy Birthday”. Instead, it shortened to “treat”. Birthday treat. It started as Rs.5/- wala “munch” and “perk ” and went on to become lunch treats as we reached the graduation days. There were festive days combined with, mostly “Diwali” and “ThriKarthika”.

At office, the lunch treats, new dress, wishes continued along with the addition of gifts and birthday bumps. The only time my room mates could lift me up and kick my a** was last year. It was the first and I guess, the last time, I received them. At the end, I felt sorry for the huge effort by the kiddo’s to life the Gulliver’s sister!!! There were balloons, there was “payasam” again, the temple visits, birthday cards, dinners, and lots of gifts.

And now, as I hit the silver jubilee, I am at this home, trying to live the role of a housewife, sitting on the pc, holding in my hand, a plate of piece of cake, bought and cut yesterday night, and blogging with the other, replying to sms messages and attending calls, very few ones, wondering whether to get up and make the “payasam” for myself and being lazy, sitting back and recollecting the old memories…

I guess its a different kind of celebration….ain’t it?

Computers, gadgets, gizmos, toys etc are the keywords which entices geeks and techie freaks. I am not sure how I got attached to such crazy things. Whenever I saw a mobile in someone’s hand,  I would peek it wondering what model is it, if not the number, whether it is high end or low end, or whether mine is better than his or hers etc etc. And then I used to satisfy myself that its expensive and has that n this problems and would appreciate my mobile in the end. But now, with more and more new gadgets and smartphones available at cheaper prices than before, I have started drooling again!

Long back, in childhood, I remember Appa playing with his toolkit containing screwdrivers, variety of spanners, pipe wrench etc. He had his own ways of fixing household appliances which interested me. Being the youngest daughter and spoilt brat that I am, I was like a tomboy for him, helping hands in his maintenance works. I fascinated his calculators and his expertize in mathematics. I am not sure from where he bought them, but I remember using a manual calculator, rather a mechanical abacus kinda device (googled and found its called Addiator). Then there was the digital diary, where in I stored most of my known contact numbers and imagined that I was a serious businesswoman! Those were the times, when mobile phones were too expensive to be bought and when pagers and walkie talkies ruled the world. I used to envy my friend’s father’s pager when she used to talk about it. Read the rest of this entry »