~~Magnetic Nostalgia~~Blog-Week-Athon post # 8

Well, this meme is going around like wildfire in my other blogspace & I just couldn’t sit back waiting for someone to tag me - The meme is to list 5 songs which are your favorite from the world of cassettes, preferably between 1995 to 2005 and some funny incidents or memories about them…

Believe me, restricting to just 5 songs is synonymous to asking a Mom of 10 to choose 5 favorite kids :P :P :P  Its just not possible, but well, I do understand the reason, as back then (no, not very very long ago), we could only to the maximum, record 5 – 6 songs on one side of the cassette & we had to strategize & choose carefully… I still remember I would write down my favorites in a piece of paper, check if the cousins/friends already had the songs, go to the cassette recording shop & just pray pray pray, that he has all the songs that I have listed down to be recorded! There used to be a lot of discussion/planning & eventually sharing of cassettes within cousins/friends for the songs that couldn’t be recorded for self.. Well, gone are those days isn’t it….

Without much ado – here goes my top 5 from the world of cassettes…To make my life easier, I have applied a few filters to able to choose from the thousands (okay, I haven’t counted, but I am sure I was humble when I mentioned just a thousand) of songs that I have loved & still love!

First filter - Median Timeframe – 2000, Second filter – Only Tamil songs , Third Filter - Great lyrics 

Nadhiye Nadhiye Kaadhal Nadhiye from Movie Rhythm – I cannot even start to describe or differentiate about what is best in this whole song.. everything from the dheem tanana dheem tanana, the jil jil jil yendra nadaiyile, that thanneer kudaththil pirakkirom oho, thanneer karaiyil mudikkirom oho, to that thenkaniyil saaraagi pookkalile thenaagi pasuvinile paalaagum neere, thaayaruge seyaagi thalaivanidam paayaagi seyaruge thaayaagum penne… just WOW’ed me…..Such a beautiful comparision of the element “water” to a “lady/girl”. This is one those songs, which made me stop singing mindlessly along with the song & take notice of the beautiful lyrics(well, I still sing along, but not mindlessly :P ).

Kaatre yen vasal vandhai from Movie Rhythm - Okay, I couldn’t resist my urge to include this one. Such a beautiful usage of the universal element “wind” in comparison to the universal feeling of “love”.. There is no memory, in specific, but I love the way the song proceeds in its own slow pace. If I have to pick a favorite line from this song, it would be this – “anbe naan uranga vendum azhagaana idangal vendum, kangalil idam kodupaayaa”

Thaniye thannandhaniye from Movie Rhythm - Well, I believe, you might have guessed this as the next one in line… All songs in this movie are in comparision to one of the five elements (water, wind, sky, earth & fire) & this is supposed to be in comparision with the “Earth”. I was not able to relate the song to “Earth” for a very very long time (however, it still was my favorite), but once I did, I was in absolute admiration for the song.. Another important memory I have of this song is that of my disappointment in the way the song was picturised.. Well, no one to blame here – I had listened to the songs much before I had gotten a chance to watching the movie (or the songs on TV)… I had my own imaginations for each song & while every other song in the movie, surpassed my imagination, the “Thaniye” song failed! I still remember, I felt a sense of betrayal & wished that it could have been presented in a much better way visually :P (yes, that much my favorite)

Pachhai Nirame Pacchai Nirame from Alaipayuthey - I still remember the moment when the cassette played in that silent afternoon in my home when everyone was asleep – the starting note of the song just engulfed the silence making me want to just float with it! The reference to each colour representing many things but finally coming to the point on how it relates to a particular emotion or a trait of the lover, is just simply splendid!! I still remember, when Sathiya (the hindi version) was released, I refused to watch Sathiya as I hadn’t yet watched Alaipayuthey. I watched Alaipayuthey first & then watched Sathiya – just because I loved the tamil version of the songs more :) :P

Enna Solla Pogirai from Kandukondaen, Kandukondaen – Well, the helplessness, the never ending ache of a lover seeking for a reply to his proclaimed love is captured just beautifully!

Well, there you go, am done – now for comments time, nee enna solla pogirai?

P.S:- If this is side A of the cassette, then side B would be Kaadhal sadugudu (Alaipayuthey), Evano oruvan (Alaipayuthey), Yenge enadhu kavithai (Kandukondaen, Kandukondaen), Konjum mainakkale (Kandukondaen, Kandukondaen)

~~Weary moods with Wuthering Heights~~Blog-Week-Athon Post # 7

So – “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte is what I chose for the next category of the book reading challenge - 19th Century Fiction! It was on my to-read list for quite some time & is also considered one of the best classics of English literature! An important aspect that increased my interest in the book was a Zero rating in one of the reviews posted by a fellow blogger! Led by the curiosity of difference in the way a top English literary classic was rated by a fellow blogger, and the announcement of book reading challenge on the same day, I JUST couldn’t resist choosing it for this category!

 

Wuthering Heights is about a passionate, yet a very very tragic love saga between the two significant characters Heathcliff and Catherine. They share a love so supreme, yet which makes life so miserable (for them and for others involved), that they can only find peace together after death! Heathcliff is found as an orphan by Catherine’s father & thus brought into the household; He is treated as THE favorite, by her father compared to the 2 children of his own. Though, Catherine is more accepting of this fact after initial hesitation and becomes gradually friendly with Heathcliff, it’s not the same for Hindley, her brother & this in itself, forms the basis for the first flicker of the hatred that would last for the coming generation as well! 

 

There are few excerpts that will probably remain etched forever in my thoughts!

 

Catherine’s justification of accepting another proposal (that of Edgar’s whom she marries), when in actual, she truly loves Heathcliff! 

 

“It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and [Edgar’s] is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.”

 

Only the first liner of the justification is heard by Heathcliff where she mentions about “degradation” & he heartbroken, leaves Wuthering Heights only to return later, as a much more bitter, manipulative & vengeful person (well, than he already was) !

 

You would want to hate Heathcliff for his brutality, but then you cannot, because the extent of Heathcliff’s love is very much soul stirring when he tries to explain his action of excavating Catherine’s grave!!

 

“That, however, which you may suppose the most potent to arrest my imagination is actually the least, for what is not connected with her to me? And what does not recall her? I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped on the flags! In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day, I am surrounded with her image! The most ordinary faces of men and women—my own features—mock me with a resemblance. The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!”

 

It’s quite disturbing that this same person who can love so very supremely has not an iota of guilt or pricking conscience when it comes to destroying someone else’s love by constant manipulations (which he does when his own child from a different marriage falls in love with his beloved Catherine’s child from her marriage to Edgar)!

 

I am not going to get into further details on the book or introduce you to any more characters in the book as I can’t do it without explaining the entire plot, and I don’t intend to do so for the simple reason that though I found the book very gloomy & depressing, it still is an excellent piece of commendable imagination by an author who hardly ever was exposed to the outside world for most part of her life!! The way in which few intrinsic thoughts of the significant characters are put across, is really strong & definitely praiseworthy.

 

Having read most of the books by Jane Austen, which are almost from the same era, this book came across to be very startlingly different & at the same time, I must agree, interesting enough to not stop, but go on reading till the end! Personally, I felt very much drained by the time I completed the book and this is something I have never felt with any book (believe me, I have read my share of not-so-happily-ever-after endings)… I also had mixed feelings about each character as I couldn’t relate to anyone & I couldn’t feel entirely happy, sad or bad for anyone! I just had this one constant lingering thought for some time, that if Catherine’s father had not gotten Heathcliff to his home, all the pain & suffering for generations to come, could have been avoided!!

 

For those of you who are looking for a fairy tale saga and a seemingly hopeful plot with a happily-ever-after ending – this book is definitely not meant for you! However, if you are one of those, who do not mind a different kind of a read (just once in a blue moon) and you have the perseverance to stick to reading a massive masterpiece, through to the end, even if it’s not what you had expected in the beginning, then, yes, you can give this a try. To be true to the book, there is a happy ending after all, but the portrayal of the extreme emotions of possessive love, the individual sufferings due to that extreme passion, the hatred & revenge that it gives birth to, the hostility that it inflicts on self and others throughout the course of the book is so upsetting & saddening, that the happily ever after ending just doesn’t seem to matter anymore at the end..

~~ I am Time ~~Main Samay Hoon~~ Blog-Week-Athon # Post 6

Disclaimer - Before you start, one small clarification - This is just a book review, nothing more, nothing less :)

So, what are your earliest memories of the great Indian Epic, The Mahabharata?  For me, it is that of watching it on Doordarshan every Sunday – without a finer understanding of what exactly was happening (I was a small kid then)- yet loving that mysterious voice who started the episode with “Main Samay Hoon” (I am Time), loving & singing along with the title  song, being awestruck at the splendor, being scared for the Pandavas during the wars, waiting with bated breath to see how the opposition would deal the arrows shot towards them which eventually turned into vile serpents, fire balls & various other creative things when it reached the skies etc. etc. – basically loving the entire show as it was one of its kind those days.  It was such a dreadful empty feeling for many of us, when the show finally ended!  

I was again introduced to it a few years later when my brother, on the day of his sacred thread ceremony, was gifted 2 books by one thoughtful relative  – The Ramayana & The Mahabharata, by R.K Narayan (Though it was a gift for my brother, I don’t think he ever got to read it :P ).. ….These books were/are supposed to be a shortened version of the Epics & yet having read it multiple times, I can safely claim, that both the books did full justice in capturing the entire essence of both the works! The fact that I still have these books should say it all!

After that, I again re-lived my childhood experience of watching this great Epic on TV, this year!  Though I couldn't follow it on a daily basis, I still loved every aspect of whatever I could watch.

So, why this post, you may ask! Well, I had accepted to take up a Book Reading Challenge at the start of this year! Per the challenge, we were supposed to read at minimum 1 book & maximum of 2 books in particular categories. One of the category was to read something from the historical genre & My pick was Bhima: Lone Warrior by M.T. Vasudevan Nair (originally Randamoozham in Malayalam translated into English by Gita Krishnankutty) for the first category. I was inspired to pick this book as the original blog post which initiated this challenge mentioned it & to add to it, I figured that reading it along with the daily telecast of the Epic would make it more interesting (though I started reading it in parallel to the TV series, I completed this book before the TV series concluded).

So, without much ado, here goes my short humble effort of reviewing a great book on THE GREAT EPIC! Well, I am not going to delve into every chapter and review for pros and cons – but just let my thoughts out on the experience of reading the book!!

As the name signifies, this is an attempt at re-telling Mahabharata, from Bhīma’s perspective.  Bhima was the second of the five Pandavas – the mighty powerful one amongst the brothers with a huge physique & an insatiable appetite for food – This is pretty much the impression we all have, don’t we? This book changed that impression for me & in actual answered a lot of curious questions that I had on few assumed considerations in the earlier versions that I had read/watched!  (Well, but on a side note, I do also remember that the answers that I got was entirely Bhima’s (author’s) perspective & there might be a different set of answers if the same is read from another’s viewpoint :) )..

The book starts with the chapter on the final journey of Pandavas to reach Heaven. Though the path requires you not to stop or retrace your steps, Bhima disregards it for his beloved wife Draupadi when she is breathing her last & rushes back to be on her side! However, all he can see in her eyes, even in those last few moments, is the disappointment that only Bhima turned up to comfort her!! She was expecting Arjuna, her beloved!  This sets the stage on what is about to come & then the flashback begins narrating Bhima’s journey throughout the Epic!  

What impressed me the most was that the book did not attempt at twisting the original Epic into entirely something else – actually there’s nothing new or modified in the entire structure of the Epic.  It’s like you always open the windows on the right side of your house & you absolutely enjoy the view. One fine day, you take your kid to the window for the first time and ask her to describe the view after she takes a look! She loves it too, She enjoys it too, but she points at a few things that you never noticed & it makes you enjoy the view even more!!! You see, same view, just different eyes!!! :)

As we read on, we find that everyone in the book is represented as normal beings with their own set of positives, anxieties & difficulties.  It helps because we can very well feel the love, the pain, the hurt, the anger, the passion, the insult, the helplessness of each without having to keep them on a pedestal…

We are taken along the journey to savor Bhima’s childhood, his love for food, his education & training, his first war victory, his archery skills, his perseverance to defeat his enemy at any cost, his first love in Hidimbi which he has to let go, his helplessness when he has conflicting thoughts on his mothers or his elder brother’s decisions etc. etc.

We also get introduced to the other side of him, a soft-hearted & helplessly-in-love Bhima who keeps pining for his unrequited love for Draupadi, till the end. The lengths that he goes to procure whatever Draupadi requests, the way he stands up first for protecting her honor at every possible instance etc. etc. just makes us (women readers) feel that our life partner should follow Bhima in this aspect atleast :) :)

We get a glimpse of the various strategies employed by several people throughout the Epic & how everywhere the consequences of these on Bhima’s life are not even given a considerable thought!  We experience Bhima’s unexpressed trauma of losing his own sons in the battle!! The whole Kurukshethra war is highlighted in Bhima’s point of view & forms a very interesting read in itself!

Well, I think I can go on and on; Most of the times, a book, if it doesn’t have a sequel, might not stimulate any curiosity to go research further! However, this one made me very much curious to actually go look out for other attempts from various perspectives. It also made me add R.K Narayan’s version again to my to-read list so I can read it afresh!

Overall, it was an interesting read. I would recommend this to anyone who has a curious mind and a passion for reading :)

~~ Hate to Read, Try this ~~ Blog-week-athon post # 5

Okay - So we have a blogging challenge doing rounds in my other blog space with a 14 day deadline! I received lot of interesting challenges & one of that was to “Write a post, to convince someone who has never read fiction/books, typically those people who go “Eewww Books! Yuck!!” to read one of your favorite books” 

I knew from the beginning, that the persuasion part was going to be difficult, but what I had not anticipated was the task of choosing ONE favorite book!!!  I scanned through my “Done Reading” list thrice and I just couldn’t choose ONE. I thought at first that I could write a small review about each of those books in a post!! Imagine if I had done such a thing! Poor someone who was yet-to-develop an interest in reading would have just gone into I-am-better-off-without-reading mode!! Phew! I didn’t want to take that risk!

I tried to recall how I had developed the interest in reading so I can illustrate the same and get someone interested in developing a reading habit… But when I looked back, I just couldn’t remember THE exact moment which started it all and inspired me to read. I checked with my parents, with my brother, with my friends – No one knew!! Phew, this wasn’t working!! 

I then tried to remember the first lengthy story book I ever read! And, as you can probably guess by now, I couldn’t remember that as well! My earliest memories are of reading Amar Chithra Katha, Tinkle, Gokulam, Chandamama (Kannada) etc., but I couldn’t exactly remember when I transitioned into reading big stories/novels….I used to read everything that I could get hold of – sometimes even the newspapers which came as packaging for groceries!.. (No, dont roll your eyes yet! You will have your chance)..there were times when I would even read the subsequent year’s detail/non-detail books (English/Hindi etc.) as soon we got them from the school during the summer vacation! (Yeah, see, you have the chance now to roll your eyes !)

And then, I slowly realized, that the first time I ever marked a book as my favorite when we shared scrap books in school was one of the English non-detail book “The Scarlet Pimpernel” by Baroness Emma Orczy…Though I always buy my own personal copy with the intention that I can re-read them anytime I want, I have re-read only a few books/novels multiple times (no, not because I didn't understand it the first time, but because I just absolutely loved reading them) and this is definitely one of those few books!

So now if you are one of those who hate reading and yet have survived the above few paragraphs – give me a high five and read on! Well, why? Because you were READING & you still are READING and hence you are on the right track!!

Ok – Ok – without further ado – here goes my tiny attempt at inspiring you to read one of my favorite book!!

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy – is a novel set in the years of French Revolution! It is a period marked by mass guillotine executions of people who are against the revolution. The plot revolves around how the “League of the Scarlet Pimpernel” which is a group of 1 leader, the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel & his 19 followers, seek to rescue as many as possible from these guillotine executions without getting caught! Every time a rescue operation is successful, the leader leaves behind a card with a symbol of a red flower (he derives the name of Scarlet Pimpernel because of the flower).

In order to maintain secrecy & hide his identity, Sir Percy (Scarlet Pimpernel) maintains a social presence which gives an impression of him being a very dull & foolish man. He is married to a beautiful actress who he adores, Marguerite, but then, distances himself from her, when he learns that she played an influential role in sending one of the families to the guillotine! However, he is not aware that his wife wanted only harmless revenge, which later led to an inadvertent result of guillotine execution for the family!

While there are people being saved from guillotine executions by this 20 member league, Marguerite learns from a French representative, Chauvelin, that her own brother is linked to this league!  Chauvelin strikes a deal with Marguerite to spy & provide any information she can gather on the Pimpernel so she can save her brother! Poor Marguerite is quite unaware of the fact that her seemingly foolish husband is the most sought after Scarlet Pimpernel & so keeps leading Chauvelin to him in an attempt to save her brother!

Here’s when it becomes interesting!!

:

:

:

Will Chauvelin be able to reveal Scarlet Pimpernel’s Identity?

Will Marguerite be able to find his identity before Chauvelin?

If yes, who will she save, the brave husband who is seemingly not in love with her, or her brother?

Will Marguerite die trying to save one of them?

Will the Scarlet Pimpernel ever realize that his wife had, in actual, no role to play in the death of a family?

Will he be able to forgive Marguerite and reveal his real emotions for her?

Will they ever live happily ever after?

Go read and find out for yourself :)  :)  

What? You thought I was gonna summarize the whole story for you! Aha! Dream on!

~~18 Random Questions~~Blog-Week-Athon Post # 4

I know I know - I might as well start naming it Blog-Month-Athon  ;)  However, I do have to confess (and I am actually proud of it) that after I started the Blog-Week-Athon challenge for self, I have been regular in posting once a week - sometimes my post ends up here first and the other times, in my company internal blogosphere!! So in all, I am still maintaining the challenge by posting a week at least in one of the 2 blog spaces I share :) .. Someday I plan to sync up both these spaces! 

Well, until then - here's a set of 18 random questions that I have tried to answer to the best of my abilities :)

 (I picked this open meme from a prolific blogger in my other blog space )

1.     Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?

Year 2010

2.     What was your last alcoholic beverage?

None!!

3.     Who can you trust?

Parents!

4.     Favorite Band?

Yanni

5.     What is something you’ve learned about yourself recently?

Change Routine!

6.     Do you like anyone?

Husband!

7.     Do you know anyone who is engaged?

Yes

8.     What’s your favorite number?

5

9.     Who was the last person to make you cry?

Sudha Murthy  

10.  Did you ever go to camp as a kid?

No

11.  When was the last time you cried?

 September 28th  

12.  What is one thing you miss about your past?

Slender frame!

13.  What is one thing you’ve learned about life?

Let go!

14.  Are you jealous of anyone?

NO!

15.  Is anyone jealous of you?

Yes!  

16.  Has a friend ever used you?

Yes!

17.   Who was the last person you drove with?

A Stranger

18.  What are you looking forward to?

Happy life!

Well – Since these questions are in random fashion, none of these asks for any explanation and they seem to be looking for pretty straight forward answers :) !!  So, I have tried to give my answers in 1 or 2 words!

However, per my experience, such straight forward answers raises more curious questions! So, Do you have any ? Go ahead, ask!! :)

P.S: Originally this was a 20 random question meme - I have removed 2 questions which I was not comfortable answering!

~~Tired & Thankful~~ Blog-week-athon post #3

Okay!! I am tired! Damn Damn tired!! Yes, on a supposed-to-be-a-lazy Sunday! Phew! I thought I could nap for a while once I was done with my work(yes had a production deployment today!!).. But for some reason, I couldn't and so, after a heavy lunch, I grabbed "The old man and his God" by Sudha Murthy from my bookshelf and finished reading it, say 5 minutes ago!! I am not going to post a review or anything, but then, I couldn't stop myself from writing how I felt about the book!

In a nutshell - the book narrates author's real life experiences with various kinds of people! Its written in simple English and yet holds its own charm! As we read, each snippet/experience keeps oscillating between selfishness and selflessness of "real" people! There were many which moist my eyes! There were a few which made me feel good..There were also a few which disgusted me to the core (particularly the one where a blind girl mentions that her poor parents left her in a bus stop with just a pack of biscuits(5 yr old) and never returned to take her back home - I just cannot imagine how scared & cheated that girl must have felt).. It left me wondering about the behavioral patterns & the decisions that people are forced to take at various stages and circumstances in life!! It also left me feeling thankful for a lot of things that I take for granted in my life!! 

Well, overall, a good read  - I would recommend this book to school children/teenagers so they learn to value what they have in life and be thankful!!  

Okay - now that I am both tired and thankful, let me go get some sleep!

#Yayyy - Blog-week-athon post #3

~~Kind Stranger~~(Blogathon post # 2)

So, something unusual happened which made me write about it and also confirmed what I already believed in! It needn't be just ourselves or a person close to us who can change the course of our day, even a stranger can(in ways we would have never thought of when we woke up that day)!!

As I have mentioned before, I travel to and from work.  I boarded the bus as usual on a Monday and as soon as I chose a seat, I had this immediate feeling that something was wrong.. And then, it struck me like a lightning bolt - I had forgotten my purse at home.... I had taken it out of my office backpack over the weekend for shopping & had never put it back again! I just couldn't believe this had happened to me and I started searching my backpack thinking I might be wrong about my "feeling",  but it proved to be right! I also didn't have any spare money in my bag! Meanwhile, the bus had already crossed quite a few stops from my original stop.  This was the first time ever in my whole life where I had forgotten something like that & I was just too shocked and embarrassed when I had to finally accept the fact that  I had no money to buy even a one-way ticket, let alone the daily pass that I usually buy!...

I went to the conductor and asked him to stop the bus as I had no money. I wanted to get down & go back home for my purse! However, the conductor(who probably had already guessed my plight)  just smiled at me and handed me my bus pass for the day! He mentioned that he would pay on my behalf and I could pay him whenever we happen to meet next time (which was not a possible probablity as I don't travel everyday at the same time nor is he assigned to the same bus (timing) on a daily basis)... I couldn't agree to this as I was not sure when I would board his bus next - but he insisted to accept the ticket! I accepted this generosity halfheartedly and inquired about his bus timings so I could return the ticket fare! He couldn't give me the exact information as there were no fixed schedules & he added a note that I needn't worry & just pay the next time I happen to board the same bus he was in! 

And just like that - a stranger had changed the course of my day! My day would have been entirely different if not for this gesture! Though a part of me was relieved that I didn't have to get into the extra trouble of getting down to go back for my purse which would have delayed everything planned for that day, I was also not very comfortable with that lingering thought of owing money to someone (a stranger at that, who in all probability, I might never meet again at all)... I knew I would continue to feel so until I paid that ticket fare....

Thankfully, I happened to board his bus the very next day and was mighty relieved when I handed him the complete fare with a BIG BIG THANK YOU for the kind gesture! 

Its so true that  - Whatever you plan, how much ever you plan, every little acquaintance throughout the course of your day and your life would contribute something unpredictable & insignificant(or sometimes significant) leading to a tiniest(or a large) deviation changing the course of your plan .. Though at times its frustrating, in the end, when you look back, all these acquaintances & events that brought about those deviations were "meant " to be and were always for the greater good :)

P.S:- 

I cannot believe I am blogging almost a month later to when I published my previous post which was supposed to be a declaration of sticking to blog-week-athon!! Hmm... Well, I must accept, I now have a new-found respect for those who start and stick to a blogathon (1 post per day definitely is a GREAT achievement)

~~ Mommy's Best Policy ~~ Blog-week-athon post # 1

I am a mommy of a 3+ year old and even after these 3+ so-called years of mommy experience, I still am at a loss of words when few comments are passed at my mommy skills!

I know very very well that all mommies (no, this post is not only for the mommies, so non-mommy population can still continue reading) will definitely agree with me…. I also know that all naïve to-be mommies may feel what the big deal is (well, I know where you come from as I was one of you just a few years back) ….. And the rest of the population might just skip reading from here thinking that this definitely is some mommy rant   …. 

Well, what can I say, being a mommy is definitely the most bestest and wonderful feeling (provided the other experienced mommies around, let you feel so or you resort to adopting a second best policy in life)

To continue, the comments on mommy skills, usually & mostly comes from the more experienced mommies…There are lots and lots to mention, but the one that has tested my patience and has made me to finally post this, is,

“Oh my… your kid has grown so thin… Do you feed the kid enough…?”

 This is when,

• I don’t fail to notice  that even I can just say – Oh yeah? Same pinch mommy dearest… 
• I have never ever seen a dip in the weigh scale reading
• I have just managed to get the kid complete her meals, by running around the house, singing her favorite songs, enacting a creative drama to hold her attention during the course of the meal, watching the same old Chota Bheem aur neeli pahadi for the nth time….
• I have lost the appetite to have something myself coz of all the hard work that went into feeding her!
• I have just managed to glance at the empty glass of milk & sport a contented smile that her day’s quota of milk intake is accomplished!

Oh, I can go on and on…you get the picture, don’t you?

I used to respond to these comments with data earlier (the quantities of food, volume of milk, the number of fruits, the kind of vegetables, the dal preparation method etc etc etc.) ..

However, as I grew as a mommy, I learnt, every other person cannot be pleased.  You can even get a pediatrician certify that you have been doing everything right for your kid, but it wouldn't satisfy the experienced mommy who passed that comment!   

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what makes other mommies pass such comments?

Is it concern for the kid’s health ?  Well, if it is, I would rather welcome them to stay back for a couple of days & see to it that the kid is getting enough food (and certify the fact that the mommy is not eating out of the kids plate)!  

Is it a concern for the mommy?hmmmmm.......thinkinnnnnngggggggggg……… and still thinkinggggggg….

If not for these 2 concerns, is it just a self-satisfaction process of considering self a much better mommy..? If yes, then, isn't there something supremely wrong in feeling like a super mommy by just belittling the effort spent by the other one…

Well, though I have used the mommy example, this happens at very single junction in life!  At every step, there are people commenting on the way you talk, dress, walk, eat, read, write, laugh, choose a career path, choose a life partner and the list never ends! But why? There are only a few who do it out of love or genuine concern! Others probably do it just to feel really great about self!

Anyways, handling such multiple situations, I have finally understood with EXPERIENCE that there is no point validating self to anyone!! From time immemorial, I have always always heard and believed that honesty is the best policy..!!! Well, but you know what; IGNORANCE is the second best policy ever! Honestly!  Tried and tested and 100% effective!   Believe me, it’s fun to watch the reactions this kindles when practiced!!!

Blog-week-athon? Blog-weekend-athon?

Well,  how else am I going to ensure I write every now and then! This seems to be the only way! 

Setting a goal for self  - but then, a realistic goal since I know my own limitations of being a working mom juggling between home, work and travel (yes, travel is important and needs a mention as this is the most "constant" thing that has stayed in my life for almost a decade now :P) !  

So yes, I am going to start a Blogathon! But a tweaked one at that!! I am going to try very hard to stick to this resolution and post "atleast" once a week(preferably over the weekend)!  What do I call this now - Blog-week-athon? Blog-weekend-athon?

Any other name suggestions?!?!?!

Present Sir & Madam!!

Yes, I am very much present! Not probably in my own blog space! But I am reading a few blog posts here and there!!

So, what inspired this post on a random day? Well, let me be very honest, this was not a random choice nor am I trying to blow my own trumpet here, but a very kind fellow blogger (as you already might know from my "simple ever intro post", I do blog in an organization internal blogosphere) mailed me to check why there were no posts from me for about 7 months now… He also went to the extent of sending me a link to a wiki page which explained the history of my surname and made me aware of a fact that the word itself means a writer(again, not calling self a writer by any means, but just quoting wiki)! 

Phew, after he had gone to such lengths, I couldn’t just sit back & send a “thank you, am flattered, you made my day” kinda reply (Which I anyways did) and hence this attendance post today!  

While I am still thinking about a topic, I got reminded of the recent “Wife” as “Boss” Ad that seem to have created a lot of buzz in the media and also was a recent topic of discussion with my lunch buddies & cousins whatsapp group!  The first thing that came to my mind after watching that ad, was, the guy’s/husband’s status reporting in the next day meeting..

“Err, you know what, I was working and I would have completed this module yesterday, but my wife invited me home for dinner (a feast at that), and who, by the way, is my boss, and who, by the way, is you, and who, by the way, could have stayed back and helped me complete my module, than going home and cooking an elaborate meal!!”

Phew, anyone out there with same/similar thoughts? Staying back and helping out would have been my preference in the scenario and I would have expected my hubby to have done the same for me! I even went to the extent of thinking that they could have later had a little takeaway dinner or a pizza night! Of course they can afford a cook too, if they can afford a chauffeur for their car!! Well, but, then, the whole concept of the Ad was on the video calling experience & the quality of the call :P  Though I could relate to it in a way & it was quite a cute “video” moment and all, for me, honestly,  it didn’t convey the right message
 
Well, that’s just my 2 cents & am no where close to being an expert in advertising business

I know, lot of you must be thinking, “Oh God, you watch the Ads too, okay, you watch, but you review them too “!    Well, yes, I do and nowadays, I prefer watching Ads than most of the meaningless mega serials that goes on and on for years… At times I feel, that Ads are the only innovative, refreshing & meaningful stuff played on TV these days

What do you feel??