And they tied the knot...

The last three years..it seems quite a long time..but now when I look back it seems a blur....

The gals, all sitting together, huddled and gossiping about the latest things. So many things to discuss about, so many plans to make...so many dreams to dream about...One of those discussions was all about this...One of our good friends (Read: Lisa) tying the knot....getting hitched...

It wouldn't be wrong to say that some of have have been waiting for this to happen for the last two years...:)

We set out from Cochin the day before around mid-night...There were quite a few of us in a van that we had booked. The van definitely wasn't derelict but the pace at which we traveled the entire length of the journey made it seem so. 

The journey went on and on...well, it seemed so...None of us were really sure about how to get to the church and it did seem like we had been travelling for miles...When we felt we must have neared the wedding place and were sure that we were lost we asked around. The inhabitants of the place assured us that we had only 30 kilometers to travel and this was around 6.30 in the morning. We traveled for another hour but still couldn't see our destination. A few minutes later, we again pulled up to ask for directions. To our trepidation we were told we had to travel another 30 kilometers to reach the Chittarikal (for the wedding). Another 30-35 kilometers and we were all fidgeting on our seats. It was early morning and we hadn't stopped properly for rest till now (at least that's what we girls felt).  

Oooh...We were just wanting to stop somewhere and take a break....And finally we pulled up, and thought that the journey was done. But to dash our hopes to the ground, we still hadn't come close to the wedding center. We had to travel yet another 17 kilometers before we could reach the hotel where the other guests where put up. The next hour went agonizingly slow and by then all thoughts of the wedding had neigh flown out of the head.

It was around 9.15 am and we had finally neared our destination. We called Gincy, the only one of us who had reached 'the destination'. Thinking about meeting up with Gnz after a gap of an year and going together to Lisa's wedding set our pulses racing.

We reached the hotel and knocked on the room door and then 'Aaaaaaaaahhh', we screamed like banshees and hugged each other. Oh, what a pleasure it is to meet up with your good friends and for something as special as another friends wedding.

And so the time passed and then we were in the church and the ceremony had started. As we watched, the said the vows and tied the knot. A beautiful ceremony made more beautiful by the fact, that it was a girl we loved and a guy we had come to know and love over the last two years.

A week has now gone by and I still can't believe that, Lisaaa ,you are married!!!!! Well girl, here'as a toast to you and Matt. Guys, have a happy and blessed life...Wishing you the very best forever and more...

Every love story is beautiful, but yours is one of my favorite!!!!

The summer we came to life...

I started with this book unsure of whether I was gong to read the entire book or discard it after a few pages. The name of the book hadn't appealed to me and neither had the cover. But since it was already on my kindle I decided to give it a try.

The first few pages were a difficult read. I wasn't really able to make up my mind, did I want to complete it or let it go. The book hadn't called out to me yet. After all it stated out with Samantha in such a horrid state over Mina's death. Her initial doubts, her overwhelming grief and guilt at being alive just didn't sit right with me. But now I am running ahead too soon. Suffice it to say that, my initial doubts were wrong. I went on to finish the book eager to know how the future panned out and how the past made the characters what they are...

"The Summer We Came to Life" has been written by Deborah Cloyed and is her debut novel. The book revolves around the close friendship between four friends - Samantha, Mina, Isabel and Kendra. Though these four are very close a pattern emerges that Sama and Mina are closely knit just as Isabel and Kendra. But these friends have borne it all together and are inseparable until cancer robs them of Mina. A death of a close one leaves everyone lost and everything feels wrong. But the most hit seems Samantha who is unable to come out of her shell of grief. But Isabel and Kendra and the assorted set of parents decide not to allow Sam to wallow in her misery. The trio and the parents set out on the annual vacation...

This vacation brings the past to the present where each begins the journey to understand each other better. And within this all this is Sam's never ending search in science, physics and realism where she tries to and almost succeeds in bringing Mina back.

The book isn't a easy read. It makes us think on many levels. Towards the second half, I wasn't really sure if appreciated the sudden twist the story took, though anything is possible as one really does not know much of life after death. Regardless of that, the moving narratives by the parents, the characters, the ending and the second chance are good. And as all good stories end, it reminds us, life does go on...

So if you haven't tried out the book, don't be skeptical, and if you have put it down as I intended to, I recommend you try reading a bit further till you get hooked.

So wishing you a happy reading, Adieu!!!

A writer’s block?

It’s been a really long time since I have written. Over the last few months there have been moments when something or the other struck me. That idea , that thought was something I wanted to put down but neither time nor circumstance were right to sit down leisurely and put down in words those thoughts of mine. There have been moments when all I had was leisure…I would open my laptop, open the blog and then sit staring at the screen…the words just wouldn’t come. I would stare at the screen and wait for some idea  or some inspiration to strike. As moments pass, my frustration would mount and to avoid that I would go into  Facebook and go chit chat with somebody about something.  And so the months have passed and I have written nothing.

And today as I sit simply with nothing to do... my thoughts go astray and I realize it was a combination of factors preventing me from writing…Changes in life brought on by work, the nature of the job, my nature, and of course the changes in my life over the last few months (of course you can guess what these are)…everything has robbed from me the time I used to dream and fantasize and write things down. And now as I sat in the dark (power cut) I realize changes are bound to happen, and I have no choice but to make time for my writing, if I am serious about it. And with these thoughts in my mind, I sit to pen this down and post it as soon as the current comes. And so my “writer’s block” is at an end…

With a smile and hoping to come back soon with more….Adieu

My brother...Sheldon personified...

Those who know me very well may have had their fill of stories of my brother...This is just a write up on one of the latest happenings that proves that my brother is "Sheldon personified" followed by a few of my brother's famous sayings.

Let me start of with the incident...

Whilst I was in my second year at Rajagiri, I came across a TV series called 'The Big Bang Theory' and to say I was hooked would be an understatement. I was pretty surprised when I came home to see my younger brother also watching the same TV series. He was hooked to an extent where he knew half the dalogues and could say them without any prompting.

As days went by, I began to see, what I call Sheldonism, in him. Knowing him and his gang of friends and I would probably describe them similar to the geeks/nerds in this series....

Yesterday he had the Scence Fair at school where he and a friend of his had an exhibit. This exhibit had its origins from an episode of 'The Big Bang Theory'. There is an episode where they show Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj experimenting on a Non-Newtonin Fluid  . So they set up the entire thing and it was really a great concept. They set up the speakers and the mixture and showed people the oobleck do a dance. For those who haven't had a chance to see this series or couldn't understand this experiment, I suggest you watch the episode here.

 I had been mulling over the idea for putting down some of my brother's so called  "laws" and "survival tactics" for a long time now. Seeing his geekiness in the form of a great experiment,  I felt that it was high that I share these laws with a few others as well...

PS: You may raise your eyebrows after reading the below. These are straight from the horses aka Rohit's mouth...

Rohit's Law of Bottleum 

"The water in a bottle remains constant unless and until an external 'Rohit' comes and drinks it, where Rohit can mean anybody and everybody"

 Survival Rules

Rule 1: If anyone ever says anything you don't understand....just smile and nod your head at them...
Rule 2: Keep others expectation of you very low..So when you actually do something, they will be surprised and happy.
Rule 3: When people whom you don't know come and ask if you know them just smile and nod your head...
Rule 4: If you don't want your teacher to catch you during an extremely boring period, repeat whatever your teacher says at intervals, nod your head always, smile at the teacher and don't let them catch you yawning.

The most important rule here being the Rule No 4. According to my sources, this rule is used very extensively.

So signing off for now...and will be back with more of Rohit's craziness as soon as I can....

Tuesdays with Morrie...

I had heard about the book 'Tuesdays with Morrie' and had heard about 'Mitch Albom'. I had wanted to read 'The five people you meet in heaven' and 'Tuesdays with Morrie', but somehow I had never got the time nor felt the urgency to read it.

A few days ago, I saw the book on Pradeep's table and picked it up. It was finally time for me to read 'Tuesday's with Morrie'... I enjoyed the book and wanted to put down a few excerpts that I found wonderful and did not want to lose from the  book.

So here goes...

"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do...Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it"

"There are some morning when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I'm so angry and bitter. But it doesn't last too long. Then I get up and day, 'I want to live...'

"Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle"

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love and to let it come in...Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love we think if we let it in we'll become too soft...Love is the only rational act"

"Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever gong to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling..."

It is important "to learn to detach. Don't cling to things because everything is impermanent. Detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it....If you hold back on emotions - if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them - you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid  You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails..."

"Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back..."

"He looked you straight in the eye, and he listened as if you were the only person in the world. How much better would people get along if their first encounter each day were like this...believe in being fully present..."

"...There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person you're gonna have a lot of trouble If you don't know how to compromise you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values n life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike..."

"As long as we can love each other and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here...Death ends a life, not a relationship..."

And so here I stop...with a few excerpts put down, a few thoughts to think about and a resolve to atleast make an attempt to imbibe a few of them...

A day at the abode of God...

Kumarakovil and Suchindram are two temples I visited today along with my family. We had arranged for a bus to pick and drop us there and back.

Everybody was ready and in the bus and we headed off to Kumarakovil. Kumarakovil is an ancient Murugan temple situated in Velimalai.

Courtesy: http://www.nanjilonline.com/tourism/kumarakovil.asp

It was a wonderful experience there. There were very few in the temple and we went around slowly and praying piously. The temple seemed very ancient and was very quiet and peaceful. As we went our way around the temple, we were directed to a idol of Shiva. Here the story was that Shiva is meditating. So you had to call out to him and only then pray, as otherwise he may not hear you. Here we clapped and called out before we prayed in front of the idol. As we came out, we saw a group of people who were singing aloud to the lord while they stood there. In this group was a old man who was was leading the chorus. He voice was filled with devotion and made you want to stay rooted to the place as you listened to him. But the rest of the group that was with him would begin by the time he completed half a sentence. And that was a cacophony. So we stood there for sometime listening to half a sentence filled with devotion and another sentence that was a cacophony where you could neither make out head nor tail. Now my brother was to take the Kavadi so as soon as arrangements were made we left the singing group to themselves. This time we went once again into the temple as a procession behind the Kavadi. After the prayers we left, towards our next destination.

Our next destination was the Suchindram Temple

The Suchindram is another ancient temple dedicated to the Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. It also contains well known and worshiped figure of Hanuman as well. The temple is close to Nagercoil and is well renowned. It was one of those temples that I had learnt about in History at school. The entire temple was filled with exquisite and intricate carvings that left one with a sense of wonder and bafflement. This was my first trip to Suchindram as well.

Pic Courtersy: Wikipedia

We entered the temple and went to get the receipts for the various Puja's at the temple. My uncle had gone to one such corner. Upon his return, we saw that he was accompanied by another man who offered to take us around and explain the things inside the temple. Now we weren't too sure if it would work out and whether it was advisable to have someone like him accompany us.

But as we went in he narrated the story of how each idol came about and what they signified. We were actually able to understand a bit of the background and take in the beauty and also pray. As we moved from one part of the temple to the other he should us some of the well known carvings and the hstory behind them as well. He also led us to the musical pillars for which Suchindram is well known. He beat upon these pllars and we heard the different notes. Many of the pillars there gave away vibrations and notes that we not only pleasing to the ear but also left us smiling. The sheer magnificence of the place and the beauty left one spell bound. How were these achieved by our forefathers so many hundreds of years ago...one would be left wondering...

We also came across the Hanuman idol here. This idol is one of the biggest Hanuman idols. We had wanted to do the puja for Hanuman as well. The guide who was with us made it possible for us to participate in this. We stood very near the idol as the process of garlanding, putting butter and washing the legs of the deity with Rose water (pani neer) took place. It was a wonderful experience made even more better by the presence of a good guide.

As we left the second temple, we left with a sense of satisfaction, happiness and inner peace. It was a wonderful day...a day at the abode of God... 

Revisiting Memories...

Two weeks ago we had Inflore being held at Rajagiri. It was Inflore 2013...

Forget the fact that I wanted to head back and check on how things were this year..with the programs, the quiz  the panel discussion...basically the entire works. I tried making plans, checking up with people, trying to  get people to make it that day while praying that I didn't have to report to office that day.

So what was it that I really wanted? More than checking out Inflore, this visit was a journey to the past, a chance to meet up with people exchange stories and revisit old memories.

Just planning the visit and the ride to Ernakulam brought on memories...We reached Ernakulam and as the car drew nearer to the gates, excitement mounted up. We met people, our classmates and batchmates, the juniors (who for some strange reason remembered us) and the faculty as well. We spent time walking around, catching up on gossip, exchanging stories and the time just flew by. Very soon it was late in the evening and we set off for the class dinner that we had planned...

The dinner was an unexpected sort of event. Four of us girls with about ten of the guys. It was quite late when we reached back but the time spent at the restaurant seemed to fly by as people cracked jokes and pulled each others legs. It just seemed like another day out from college.

In fact, we had made plans for Sunday as well. Lunch at Kayees, followed by some time at Kashi and then some north indian treats...Some time spent roaming about in Fort Kochi and then some time at Hanish's place. It was an amazing day and had to end early as we needed to head back home and work.

The day ended soon and with a heavy heart we left...We left with the heart filled with memories, sweet times and a longing to stay back for a bit more...as we headed back...back to the newly joined corporate life...