Grab those books...

It was close to 8.00 pm....The crowds showed no sign of slowing down...We gingerly made way through the crowds and there I saw in front of me Paradise!!!...

Shelves and Shelves of books...And I was going to let myself free....let myself be....

Gowtham said,"Take whatever you want..."  

I nodded my head and began walking to the shelves...The books were in disarray and the shelves were all mixed up...I readied myself...and set to choosing books quickly...

Though books were many, many were duplicate...many were names unknown and unheard of 

for me...Relentlessly, I went in pursuit of authors I know...Gowtham became my book stand whilst I kept dumping the books I needed into his hands....

Wondering why I was acting in a crazy way???

Reliance Time Out was closing...I had heard of it only in the final days and I was  rushing on the last day of the sale to see what I could salvage....Apparently all Reliance Time Out outlets were closing down and the stocks were being handed out at really low prices....

I salvaged whatever I wanted and stood in front of the billing counter...I was in for a long wait. All lines were overflowing with people and their bags full of items. I urged Gowtham to stroll around and see if he wanted to maybe pick out movies or music or anything else that caught his fancy.

It seemed like a still from a Sci-Fi were people rush to supermarkets to stockpile before the alien invasion...Things strewn about and in disarray...and nobody even to glance on who was picking what...People had bags and bags of items stuffed and were foraging for more....

After what seemed like eternity to us...We emerged unscathed and only 1200 Rs poorer after having taken 19 books of various authors..It was tragic that Time Out was closing...but the sale was definitely a blessing...With a smile in our faces and heavy bags...we moved towards the vehicle...

My Purchase that day...

Happy Reading!!!

My experiments in the Kitchen...

My heart started hammering...I hoped the nervousness I felt didn't come out...I smiled and inwardly I wondered...What was to happen???

My forays into the kitchen have been minimal. I mainly get into the kitchen to do the assorted help that my mom requires, the little bit of heating that is needed, the sketchy cooking (sandwiches, instant noodles , instant soups and so on...) My actual and full time stints in the kitchen have been brief.... Two months whilst I was in Bangalore for my project and a few days at home when my parents weren't at home have been the only time I cooked.

But now....with my husband's parents not at home...Gowtham and me were to enter into the cooking part of our married life. The first instance of actual cooking and we were going to have guests at home...OMG!!!

We were going to go simple with just Phulka's, Egg Roast and a tossed salad.... We planned to rush back from office, buy the ingredients and do whatever needed to be done....Now in such a situation, let me tell you, my thoughts in office were entirely on how to go about for the salad. Phulka's were fairly simple and didn't require much thought. The egg roast was Gowtham's department and he knew what and how to experiment in that dish. Now salad on the other hand was just something added and mixed together based on whatever salad's we used to have for dinner at our place and the GM diet preparations in the hostel...

Fortunately or unfortunately something came up unexpectedly and the dinner plan needed to be cancelled....I didn't know whether to be happy or sad..On one hand I really didn't need to do anything but on the other I really didn't get a chance to do anything at all.  Before I could decide on whether needed to be happy or sad...the dinner got re-planned for the next day with additional numbers being added.

The next day we rushed from office and set to doing things the way we pictured in our head around 6.45 pm....JK and Komal came along around 7.45 pm...Komal got into the kitchen in full swing and both of us managed to complete the Chapatis (Phulkas got cancelled at the last minute) and all the cutting work for the egg roast and the salad. Gowtham came in and got the setting done for his egg roast as well...

We had Jojo, Vishak, JK, Komal, Gowtham and me...A wonderful night with wonderful people...with food that disappeared fast enough...a night that gave me the confidence to may be try out stuff for the days to come...

I guess...All's well that ends well.....

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...