Mozhi - A review

I got the DVD of the movie Mozhi over the weekend from my friend and put it on my list to watch sometime next weekend!. Since my daughter went to sleep early on Sunday evening, I decided to watch this movie. I was simply so amazed by this movie that I had to sit and write this review right now! ( Its 11.40 PM on Sunday evening).

Mozhi means language or rather a means of communication and this movie totally brings out that meaning. The movie revolves around 4 main characters and the people in their lives. The heroes , Karthik and Viji( Pritviraj and Prakashraj respectively ) are musicians by profession and very good friends. Pritviraj sees Archana(Jyothika) one day when she confronts a local drunkard who hits his wife on the road and is attracted to her right then. The duo move into an apartment complex, much against the wishes of the apartment secretary and bring in some cheer to the community. Karthik spots Archana in the same apartment complex one day and as she leaves home, he tries to talk to her bu she never responds. When archana's grandmother falls down on the road one day, Karthik takes them to the hospital. When the nurse asks Archana for her grandmom's name, she insists on writing it down herself. When Karthik shows his irritation by asking her to just say it, she quite calmly reveals that she is both deaf and dumb. He is completely stunned and speechless. Nonetheless his love for her had only increased and he feels this will never in anyway be a barrier for sharing his life with her.

He begins to learn some of the sign language from Archana's friend , Sheila (Swarnamalya) who also works in the Deaf and Dumb school with Archana.The four of them become good friends. Karthik learns from Sheila that Archana lot her speech and hearing at the age of 3 and then her father left them ad her mom died when she was 6. Since then, archana has never let sympathy take over her life but had become more independent , yet more non-trusting with men and more cynical towards the common aspects of marriage, love and children in life.

When karthik proposes his love to her , she slaps him and asks him never to see her again. She says her life is different and marriage is not a part of it. Karthik respects her request and decides to stay out of her life. Meanwhile, Sheila and Viji decide to get married and karthik insists that his friend should get married immediately, and not wait for his life, as Viji wanted to. Archana refuses to come for the wedding and karthik comes to her and confronts her about her decision. He tells her to open her eyes and see the world. " Konjam Vazhundaan paaren, thootu poga maata" ( Try to live life a little, you wont lose). He also tells her that just because her dad left her does not mean he would do the same if they had a child and if the child was like her. He promises not to cause her any trouble in the wedding and requests her to come. A beautiful line there : " As much as I liked my music, I liked your silence too, but you made my cry"

Archana does come to the wedding and confesses her love for karthik and all is well.

Don't be disappointed that I gave away the ending.. I think that 's an easy guessing game in this movie. What is really worth watching is the entire movie, the dialogues, the emotions and the characters. A feel good movie might be a fitting description of what this movie gives. Life is so different and everyone has a story. Sheila is a widow who lost her husband within the first year of marriage. This is something the guys come to know quite later after they get to interact with her. Similarly, a neighbor of theirs who is a professor, is not able to think beyond 1984, the year he lost his only son in an accident. Since he never shed a tear then, his life seems to revolve around that year and he does not even realize years have gone by. Karthik brings out tears in him one day , and that is when he comes to his senses.

Every character has something to say and the movie just left me with a good feeling and some deep thoughts. It does take a lot of courage to completely fall in love with a handicapped person, when there is no apparent fault with you. It is a very bold and most appreciative gesture one can do in life, if you ask me. We all feel sad for the disabled, but can we wholeheartedly make a decision to make them a part of our life? How much conviction would that require? I am not sure I have it in me, but if I see someone who does, they would get my utmost respect and admiration. But I do believe that if we cannot make them a part of our lives, we can at least make their lives better by giving them part of what we have - a small donation that would go a long way. Don't you think?

Well, if you have watched or will watch the movie, I would love to hear what you have to say...... meanwhile enjoy every minute of your beautiful life!

Man, Woman and Baby

If you are a baby, you can get away with many things in life!. You are very cute even for the silly things you do, no one wants to berate you or beat you, you are the apple of everyone's eye and you can eat as much as you want without worrying about your weight.
The problem is when Men think they are like babies, or want to be treated like one.

Baby : Drops an entire pack of cheerios on the floor moments after woman has cleaned it twice and polished the juice stains left by man earlier during the day.
Man : Follows baby, only its chips this time.
Woman : Sweeps the baby up, blows a million kisses and playfully even congratulates it.
Man : Wondering why he was not treated the same way, but was instead left with broom in hand after a few irate words that matched the tune of chips breaking inside his mouth.

Baby : Bites woman's nose and starts clapping hands
Man : Tries to kiss woman to make it better
Woman : says oooooooooh to the baby, another million kisses, claps along with the baby and walks away
Man : Wondering why he got a book to read on Post partum depression, along with a bite on his nose

Baby : Kicks woman on her face, arms, tummy in the bed
Man : Touches woman with little finger to attempt a massage
Woman : Holds the baby, cajoles for sometime, million kisses again, wraps baby in blanket, sings and puts the baby right next to her
Man : Wondering why he is in the other room on the floor, with the postpartum book again and this time a few lines highlighted in Bold.

Baby : Stares at ceiling, kicks hands and legs and giggles endlessly
Man : Stares at TV, giggles at the comedy channel
Woman : Claps her hands, million kisses again and keeps taking pictures and encourages baby to giggle at nothing.
Man : Wondering why he is in the kitchen, with a cookery book, a spatula and the postpartum book

Baby : Screams at the top of its voice for Milk, or maybe diaper change or maybe nothing
Man : Asks to pass the dessert a little closer to him on the table
Woman : Pleads with the baby, Dances to the baby, feeds baby , cleans after baby throws food, million kisses again
Man : Really wondering why he is sitting in the garage with his dog sympathizing with him, postpartum book in its mouth

Baby : Soils the brand new silk duvet on the bed
Man : does nothing
Woman : Cleans baby, cleans cover, puts new cover, million kisses, sings to baby, covers baby in blanket and puts it on the same bed again.
Man : Has absolutely no idea why he is locked in the bathroom with a "Dont even think about it" note stuck on the post partum book.

Are you hot ?

So what was your first thought when you read the label on the post? Be honest!

Well, have you recently felt hot, sweaty and totally good about yourself? WAIT, before you jump to conclusions and put my link on your Block list, hear me out:) I am actually talking about " Bikram Yoga" which is also known as " hot Yoga". The room is heated to 105 degrees, around 40% humidity and there are 26 Yoga postures, each repeated twice. What is really to like, you may ask?:) I asked myself the very same question the first time I tried it.

I signed up for the Yoga thinking to myself : " Well, I am from a place in India where I grew up with high heat, so the heat will not bother me at all". How wrong I was !

I went into the room and felt like a desert wave had swept me. The heat, humidity, the people, the stink of sweat - I thought I was crazy to be here. I still decided to go through one class and then quit! As the class progressed, I got more excited to try out the postures and during the balancing poses, I dint care who I was hitting- sometimes the one in front, other times the ones to my side. Everyone quietly moved their mats a little away from me at some point.. " Watch out for that crazy girl who cannot balance, but can definitely trip yours" !

But I did manage to go through the entire class and I did attempt every posture too. When I came out of the class, I was very happy. I cannot explain why but I felt such a surge of happiness!. I did end up going back of course for another 10 classes and felt great after every class. A few classes later, you begin to ignore the heat & sweat, since all your concentration would be on which person to hit with precise aim:) .. ....just kidding, your focus will be on getting the postures right and that requires a lot of concentration.

This was about 4 months back. I stopped going because I lost help with my little one in the evenings and my husband was travelling like crazy. I am back into it now and have gone for 2 classes. My whole body is sore from the first couple of classes, but that will not stop me from going again. Its a great 90 minute workout, but you really need to work hard to get your results from it.

I have been trying to convince my husband to go, but he stands upside down once a week for 5 minutes and claims he has done his share of Yoga!!. ... now if only I could convince him to stand right in front of my in class during the balancing pose.........!

Phase of Joy

When my little one was really little, it was very difficult to completely enjoy her. Don't contradict me unless you have experienced the endless cries for what seems like no reason, throwing up as soon as new sheets have been put on, giggling endlessly looking at the roof or daddy, not to forget those plots to not let you have a good night's sleep!!. If you still wish to contradict me, I am left to assume that you are the person I have just described.

Right now, my 16 month old is so completely different. She has graduated in many ways from what I have said - She is polite enough to give us some good sleep every alternate day, throws up after a couple of days after the new sheets, is much more verbal in her requirements. Seriously, its a much more enjoyable phase. She understands most of what I say to her. That she chooses to not listen or ignore is a different point:) but at least she makes an effort, unlike the other person in my house!

She has a good vocabulary of words - Nooo( for nose), Nooo( for NO), Na - na ( for NO) and so on. By far her favourite word has been Na-Na , accompanied by a virgorous nod of her head!. That's pretty much my conversation with her most of the time:
Me: Do you want your milk?
She : Na-Na ( headnod)
Me: How about some food?
She : Na Na Na ( head nod more)
Me: Ok, let's go and take a nap
She : na nanananana
On the days I feel like, I turn this to my advantage!

Me: Do you like appa more than amma?
She : NANANANA( headnod and hand gesture).
Me: Do you think we should let him sleep on the bed today?
She : na na na

Oh how much I love her on such days!

Her latest obsession , besides her dad is the youtube nursery rhymes. She actually pushes any of us inside the study, closes the door behind us so we don't escape, then points to the chair, climbs on our lap, then pulls our hand to the keyboard and goes : " ba Ba". She can actually say the beginning of a few words in the middle of a rhyme if we stop. Its really so much fun making her do that. She is completely in love with it and refuses to get up even after playing the set multiple times. It breaks our heart to see her cry every time we pull her away from it, but I know it would break our hearts even more to see her wear her first pair of glasses at 5!

Like my husband says: " Some have test-tube babies, we have a u-tube baby"

If I could, I would like to hold time for a little longer to enjoy this phase of joy with her!

Book Review : The Glass Palace

" The Glass Palace" is by Amitav Ghosh, an Indian writer born to Burmese parents. This is a historical novel and that is something that attracted me to pick this up. Another one was the fact that it had a palace in the title and from an earlier post you can see how much I like that!

The book begins with the capture of the Burmese kingdom by the British and the story of the Royal family. With the capture, the royal family is sent on exile to Ratnagiri, a small town near Goa in India.

The story essentially runs as a foreground background duo, with the world affairs, right from the exile, to the world war continuing onto the current modernized era. The author narrates the story of various characters in the foreground. Rajkumar is a young orphaned indian boy who lives in Burma. He spots Dolly, one of the royal family assistants during the riots followed by the capture of the Burmese Kingdom. He instantly falls in love with her.. then she goes to India to live with the Royal family and he goes on to make a living in Burma. They eventually meet through a friend and get married. The story is about all characters before and after their marriage and the intricacies of their lives.

I liked the book for many good reasons - its depth into another culture, the history of it so well articulated. I also liked the book for the multiple dimensions that it goes into ... Olden time Burma, Political connections, British rule in India, Independence movement, the Indian Army and even simple lives of commoners. The author gave me the impression of a very well travelled and well educated person. The story was never unconnected at any point and it was quite captivating in all.

Although I did like to read about a different culture, many words and references, that were pertinent to that culture were not elaborated. It almost assumed your basic knowledge about these and I completely lack those ( I slept through world history in school:)). Sometimes I also found chapters needlessly verbose and elaborate.

Disregarding the two minor points mentioned above, I would recommend this book for anyone who has some patience and love for history and culture.

Potty Training - Chapter 1

Just like all first time moms ( well..ok, some first time moms), I panic for a variety of reasons in the life of my toddler. So naturally, when my daughter had her first diaper rash a few weeks back, I was a panic-monster. At first, I tried to be cool , but when I saw it was not getting any better with her creams, I had it. The fact that it turned out to be fungal dint really help much to ease my tension!

I blamed myself for neglect, blamed my husband more for his, I blamed the concept of diapers, the diaper company, the store that sold these diapers and the list went on. I dint spare anyone :). I googled, read all about diaper rashes, went onto read forums about cloth diapers users and the goodness of getting babies potty trained early on.

Now I was excited and motivated. Well. if some moms out there can get their babies potty trained before 12 months, I should be able to.. especially when I have a 3 month time advantage over them. So started my PT obsession.

I took my little one and all my optimism to babiesrus. I pulled out 3 different potty seats and started examining them. My daughter got very excited as well and started running from one seat to another. Just when I started to pull the 4th one from the shelf, I heard a sound next to me. I turn to see my daughter pushing one of the potty seats and park it right at end of the aisle, comfortably blocking any little space for people to pass by. I also noticed that she was making a " brrrrrr" sound that she does to demonstrate a car ride. That should have been my first clue:) but I dint catch it.

I managed to bring a seat back home. So I put it in the living room and show her to sit on it. She smiles at me and I think to myself " this seems easier than I thought ". I clap to signify her achievement, and she claps as well. As I am going over the next steps in my mind, I see her stand up and run towards her toys. She pulls her favourite doll , Monali and runs back with her to the potty. I was still optimistic since I thought she needed company to remember the rules:) What she did next sealed any little hope I had in this process. She put her doll flat across the potty seat , patted her and began to sing to her!

The seat is now sitting in our bathroom, bright and pink, starting at me in a condescending way! I do hope I can get to it someday and then I can have the last laugh, but for now everyone else is definitely having more fun.

A comdey of errors

I have sometimes been a victim of practical jokes, sometimes been the initiator , but I have thoroughly enjoyed my role in every one of these. I also have a fair share of goof ups that I initiate and hence am a victim!..

1996, BITS Pilani, just before april1
-------------------------------------

A group of 6 , 4 girls and 2 guys decided we need to have more fun and the fool's day just gave us that opportunity. Usually we have a group secretary for the discipline( field of study) who organizes event dinners, once a semester. This person has a letterhead with his/her name printed on it and this is the notice that hangs outside our mess board , when any such event occurs.

We decided that this time, we would give out a fake invite and make people actually arrive at the venue and then we would gather and clap around them. To make it look authentic, we needed the letterhead!. So we took an old invite notice ( thanks to someone who had it with them), pasted a blank paper to cover the old details , leaving the top of the letterhead, then photocopied this notice and wrote out the new fake invite.

The amount of planning and the excited late night meetings that went into this simple thing was probably some of our precious moments:) The invite did go on the boards as scheduled and that dinner was that evening. Oh boy, were we scared to death or what!.. we had the nerve to do all this, but we were certainly not going to show up at the venue and get thrashed! So we all sat inside our respective rooms, dying to know what the reaction was in the boy's hostel.

I don't remember if the boys believed it or not, but we tasted our success when one girl came to our rooms around dinnertime, all decked up , and wanted to know if we wanted to come with her! Even as we were letting the cat out of the bag, our dear friend P wanted to carry the joke further!

We laughed our hearts out that day, but can't forget the look on her face!:)


1997, BITS Pilani
--------------------

We were like cavemen when it came to new technology at BITS. So when we discovered the Internet and the various tricks it could go, we knew the Gods were crazy, but we were crazier:)

Someone discovered that we could send emails to a person from our account by masking our original name , but using an alias ( Till date I have no clue what they did then!). So we decided that our friend P was going to be our target. So, with the help of experts, we sent her an email under the name of H M sakshi( manasakshi stands for conscience and H M stands for Hotmail ). I think the first email was something like this:

" Hello P

You probably know me very well. but I wanted to tell you that I exist, you cant ignore me and that I know exactly what you are doing.

yours
HM sakshi "

P came running to us that evening and started confronting a bunch of us. She was positive it was one of us who was playing a trick, but she dint know who. Then we tried to get her to think about our fabulous knowledge of computer technology and if she really thought any of us would be able to do this. She was partly convinced and we were confident she would never find out the Hows of this trick!

She then went to the guys and declared she knew what they were doing. The guys feigned ignorance and played their part so well that she completely believed them!

The emails started on a daily basis and they would be full of information on all the events in her life. The emails would question her actions and conscience. She was sure it was one of us clearly, but she just dint know who. So when she told us this : I will guess who this person is, but if I am right, I need a grand feast from that person, with desserts( Going out to eat at Pilani was really a big thing those days), If I am wrong, I will treat the entire crowd to Gulab Jamuns, we readily took it for we were sure of our gulab jamuns!. She had 3 guesses and even if she came up with the right name, someone else was readied to take the blame. We did have a great time enjoying our gulab jamun, while P was still throwing invective at us:)


1999 BITS Pilani, Girl's hostel
-------------------------------
This was our final year at BITS and some of our friends already had good proposals for marriage, one was engaged, one was flirting with her to-be-fiancee on the phone and certainly all our parents were atleast thinking about it.

So when my mom called to tell me about a proposal she received, I brushed her off saying I was not interested. She still went ahead and mentioned that he lived in California and his name was V. I dint want to hear more, so I slammed the phone down and came back to P's room and made the mistake of telling her about the phone call. She nodded with what seemed like a lot of empathy, but now I know her evil mind was making little plans that would unfold into a huge practical joke, where I was to play the lead role.

When I called my mom a few days later, she casually told me that she has given my number to V and that he might call. I was mad at her, but she said he insisted on just a casual talk and that I could tell him myself what i thought. I did what I always do... go and confide in my friends. The phone call did come and I was quite shocked. This is how the conversation went:

After the initial hellos ...

He : So what is your course at BITS? I dint catch what your mom said.
Me : Its a kind of engineering management, with basics of engineering the first couple of years, followed by management courses the last couple of years
He : So is it like an MBA?
Me: Not really, but you could say long those lines.
He : hmm.. I guess not my cup of tea. ( laugh)
Me ( thinking) : whatever!
Me : So what do you do?
He : Oh I study at Purdue
Me: But my mom told me you live in california
He : really? Maybe she is mistaken... So what are your plans after graduation?
Me : Well, not marriage for one. But I plan to work for sometime to begin with.
He : Yes I do get your hint... but I am not ready for anything right now as well. Why don't we start out to be friends and then take it from there? No pressure of any kind
Me : Well.. ok, but I am quite positive about what I said.
He : Yes, I can guess that.. my email id is .... what is urs?

As soon as the conversation ended, I came back to my room to find the entire crowd waiting in anticipation, like we always do when there is gossip!, So I narrated the word by word exchange and saw the excited look on their faces! " he seems nice"." hey V is a nice name".." Purdue , wow.."

The next day, I do get an email from his id, saying that he was looking forward to being friends with me or something like that. As I looked at the tail of the email, I saw that this was an internal email sent from within campus !!. To say I was confused would be an understatement. When my friends started unfolding their trick, I was gobsmacked. Here is how it went:

They called my mom and told her about the trick and she decided to go along with it.. hence the phone call. ( In my defense, this is what prompted me to believe the whole act). The person who called me was my very good friend G, who has gone with P to a phone booth outside campus. They had requested others there to leave for a few minutes, so that there would be no Hindi conversation heard in the background. G then used a cloth to cover the phone and spoke to me. In fact G belonged to the same field of study as mine , but he played the part of trying not to understand what I said about Engineering management, to perfection! They realised the goof up about Purdue and California after the call, but decided my geography was as bad as theirs, so I would not find out.

I ended up taking everyone out for a dessert treat, while playing the part of the " fooled" hostess very well!

The colorful variety

When I was pregnant, I asked my mom : " Ma , how do you think my baby will look?". She said : " However she looks, I hope she is healthy." I stared at her while I took my pregnant pause, trying to savor her words, surprised. As I thought to myself - my mom has finally given up her color bias and I cannot believe., her voice interrupted me : " .. and maybe she will have Srikanth's ( my husband) color". Aha!, now things are back normal. " Why ma, can she not have my skin color?" By then my mom has already gone to make me saffron milk ( Saffron apparently can go and polish your baby's color in the womb itself)

Where I come from, a person's color plays quite a big role , especially in the matrimonial market. When my parents were trying to give an Ad for me, they wanted to write : " Very Fair, Slim, tall, well educated female seeking..." . I confronted them one wrong wording at a time " Ma, I am not very fair, why do you say that? " " Priya, that is what everyone says. Very fair does not mean very fair" Uh really ? then what does it mean? I am the color of charcoal , but if you rub your eyes really hard and take a good look, I would be shining like moon!

My parents then agreed to take Very Fair off the table and put Fair instead!. NO i could not argue myself out of this, for it was supposedly the basic minimum requirement even for the newspaper to let your Ad pass through.
" Sir, you have not marked anything in the color column"
" Uh. yes we dint want to mention color"
" Sorry sir, its a compulsory box, I will just mark the default ( Fair) option for you"

This is also a common topic of conversation in our family circle. " When Priya was born, she was so pink and very very fair. What happened over the years?" As I look around the room, I can see some sad nods and a few sympathy clucks, but not a single fair skinned face. That is when I want to bring in a huge mirror and point out a factor called Genetics!. But that conversation would be so not worth it.
" paati, its in the genes"
" Really?See, that's why I told you not to wear those"

When my daughter was born , the first thing my mom told my mother-in-law was this : " Baby is of very good color". I am sure my mother-in-law had been praying coconuts to every God for 9 months to hear these same words! and I am quite positive she finally slept a whole 8 hours that night.

Recently my daughter's skin is getting darker and this is the constant worry between my parents on yahoo. My dad to me : " Amma says sonali looks darker than the snap you sent yesterday" " Appa, both were taken on the same day" " Oh oh, then maybe its the lighting, I will tell amma".
Next day : " Amma says she seems darker on the webcam too" " Yes pa, she is finally beginning to look like our family:) " Dad , clearly not happy with my answer " why don't you try some coconut oil? All the women in our family have used it and have gotten results?" REALLY? If that's true, can you imagine how my clan would have been earlier?

This obsession is not specific to my family and I know that for a fact!. My mom-in-law has told me this, only about a million times : " My son was called a pink baby and my daughter was a white baby". When I take a good look at my husband, she is quick to add : " He has been drinking too much coffee, so he has lost color on his face. But you should see him with his shirt off, his skin is the color of milk".

Well you should have mentioned this in your Matrimonial ad for your son : " 28 Yr old Male, fair with shirt on, white with shirt off, seeks an equally colorful female.......". You bet I would have responded, besides a few peacocks and parrots!

Growing into and like each other

My parents are a very peaceful couple - at least for the 8 hours when they are sleeping. The rest of the time, well that is a totally different story. When a roommate of mine once told me that her inlaws' place was like a Malayalam award movie, I was stunned!. " You mean they don't talk at all? Even when they pass each other? " Mine don't even need to exist in the same room for an argument. Its also funny how they miss each other so much when they are away. My dad is with us now and mom is back in India... he needs to talk to her on yahoo everyday. I think this is what they mean by growing into each other as you grow older!

Earlier my mom would complain that my dad never takes interest her in family. " You should have seen your dad when I told him about how my sister's daugther-in-law's mom's brother spoke at that function. He dint care! He simply told me not to bother about such things as well. How can I let my folks down like that?" Another constant complaint would be how he never helps her in the kitchen. " Have you seen how your friend Mr. X came back from the US a changed man? He cuts vegetable for his wife , cleans the dishes, even obliges to eat her food! You have made 2 trips and have learnt to do nothing for me.! "

Well, now things are a little different. When my dad asks my mom how her folks are and if they managed to finally settle the last argument between her sister and her brother, my mom goes : " You wont understand all that. Its different. I think its best you don't interfere. "
Yet another time my dad was helping her dry the dishes and put them back in their place . " OH My god!.. what are you doing? what is the hurry to do that? I told you never to come inside the kitchen. Is there no cricket on TV? U should go and read the paper again".

I guess this is what they mean by growing like each other!. It does seem like my parents have become more like each other, and that only makes the equation worse!.

I have also heard married people begin to look like each other when they grow older.
SCARY!. If that is true, I need to stop blogging, start working and save money for my plastic surgery later. Ciao!

Book Review - A palace of Illusions

If you like reading mythology, I am confident you will be taken by this book as I am

A Palace of illusions is the story of the great Indian epic, Mahabaratha as seen from a completely different perspective - one of Paanchali Alias Draupadi, who was the very reason for the great battle of Kurukshetra.

The story begins from the birth of Draupadi and her Brother Dhriystaduma from the fire. The story of the various characters in her life and her own story have been beautifully juxtaposed by the author. The entire novel is a narration of how draupadi feels about things that happen in her life, how she believes herself to be no ordinary girl , how women in generally feel helpless many times and how she is determined to make a mark in history.

Draupadi feels she is wronged when she is not allowed to learn the skills her brother Dhri gets to practise everyday. She hopes, like any other girl to find love in her life. So when her father decides to arrange her marriage by promising her hand to someone who can prove his skill in archery, she is furious that she is a mere pawn in this whole game. She is less than excited when she discovers that she is to be shared as wife among 5 brothers ( pandavas). She blames her mother-inlaw Kunti for such a garish proposal and for the fact that her real husband Arjun does not even have the courage to stand up for her.

She goes through her life and slowly begins to realize her dreams when she gets a palace of her own in Indrapastha. - the palace of illusions. Her good companion since birth has been Krishna, whose talk throws more riddles than her own life. Yet he is her companion when she needs help the most. The rest of the story goes through how she is defamed by her husband's cousins, the Kauravas and how this goes about bringing the worst battle in history of Bharat - Kurukshetra.

A very interesting point in this entire novel is Draupadi's secret desire for Karna , who is the eldest brother of the Pandavas, but by circumstances befriends the Kaurava head Duryodhana, thus becoming an enemy to her and her husbands. When you finish reading the book, you cannot escape this clandestine desire that transpires between these two ( At some point, Karna also confesses his love for Draupadi to someone else). A very well deserved twist in the tale, that I found very captivating!.

The book is really beautiful and I found it very difficult to put it down every night. I have read the Mahabaratha earlier and I love it.. but this is even better. Yes it is a figment of the author's imagination, but isn't Mahabaratha Vyasa's imagination as well?

Are you still reading my blog?! C'mon, go and grab this book now and you wont be disappointed:)

Driving your personality

I read somewhere that the way you drive your car determines what kind of a person you are in life. Interesting!. On some observation, I find this partially true with the people I tested it with ( me and my husband:)).

Let's take the way my husband drives - He is fast, has good control, stops quite a distance from the car in front, at a signal or stop sign, definitely follows the stop sign - even if there is no car in a foreseeable mile!. He fills gas and air promptly as needed. Is not happy about lending his car to anyone, calls it his mistress ( or maybe baby.. I forget). He lets people pass in front of him and even if they are wrong, he does not honk.

In Life, he is - Impatient at times, unemotional, does not like to get too close to people, likes to keep them at a distance, likes to follow rules, is a little risk averse, good at keeping things in order, close-guarded about his family and secrets, is tolerant of mistakes and is very willing to forgive, controlled and balanced in life.

Now to my driving - I am fast, sometimes reckless, stop very close to the previous car, switch lanes when I am bored, roll at stop sign when I can't see a car standing there. If someone crosses me, I honk and sometimes I speed, change lanes and try do cut across their car ( yes, road rage:)), I wait till my tank shows empty to fill gas, I love curvy roads. I don't mind lending my car and don't mind borrowing as well!

Yes, I am quite impatient, speak before I think, let people into my life easily, let out more than I should, very emotional, love thrills and surprises, don't like being wronged :)

So you see how the connection is? Oh well.. maybe I am just reading too much into this. Driving in Chennai , where you brake when you hit the car in front of you , has probably instilled this kind of driving sense ( or no- sense ) into me.

So what is your driving personality?

Shopping

My husband is always amazed at the way I shop. Dont be mistaken, he neither encourages nor is appreciative of my methods:) he is plain amazed and sometimes amused too.

I hate making lists, but I do make one on most of my grocery shopping. Now, how difficult can shopping be with a list right? Make a list and stick to it! I wish... I go to the shop and while I am trying to pick things from my list, my eye is constantly scanning other corners for stuff that I may or may not need. I end up contemplating for a long time about buying something that did not make it on the list, or worse, something that I dont even need right now! Of course I do end up buying it as well. Its afterall food, why would it go unconsumed:)

I pretty much do the same with my mall shopping, making it all the more nailbiting for my husband, since I dont bother to make a list... who makes a list for the mall? I first walk around , taking a glimpse of everything around the section i am interested in.. then I begin my process of elimination. Finally by the time I get to what I like, I have pretty much sapped my energy and time. Now I am in a state of panic and frenzy, since I dont have time and I have not made my selection too... so I decide to take the best out of the choices I have ( YEs I have choices right till the time I pay the bill:)) and head to the counter. God forbid I see something on the way I missed earlier... I would not even venture to tell you how my mind would behave then.

When i reach home after all the hard work and show my husband what I bought, he goes : " Wow that's nice, so when are you returning it?" Guess what he actually means that question quite seriously:) and I dont blame him for that. Infact he thinks that my reason for buying is that I could back again to the shop! According to him, my shopping process goes through these 3 steps:
1. Scoping
2. Buying
3. Returning

He used to tell me he was happy as long as I got to the third step.. but of late , he has been wanting me to go through all steps in a single visit, given the gas prices! Yes, he does like to dream the unthinkable:)!

PS: I strictly believe that only unused goods should be returned!.. so no silly ideas from my post please:)

Surprised beyond words

The other day I heard the door bell ring and with my daughter in one hand, and a spatula in the other, I rush to get the door. When I open the door, I see this 6 or maybe 7 year old, dressed immaculately, every strand of hair in place and quite fashionably so.! That to begin with, was quite embrassing for me - I was in my pyjama and my daughter's dress had food all over it!.

The girl then started talking, with both her hands behind her back, one leg slightly in front of the other. You get it? The very professional pose...

She : " Hello Maam, oh wat a beautiful baby"
Me : (Huh?!) " Oh.. th.. thank you"
She : " Maam, we are organizing this event..... blah blah "
Me : ( Look at her style of talking,,, what was I doing when I was this young).
She : "... so we are looking for sponsorships...."
She : " Maam?"
Me : " Yeah I I understand( I had no freaking idea what she was talking about, but my antennas have been well trained to respond to the word " outgoing money" , thanks to my husband)"
Me : " I would love to help you, but I will have to consult with my husband on this. Would it be possible for you to come at a later time?"
She : " Of course Ma'am, I understand. Thanks again. May I say, your baby is adorable"
Me : " Thank you"

That was the first of a kind for me.. a young girl, so precocious.. I could not believe her confidence and maturity.

When I was 6 or 7, I was probably running around trees in my house, playing make believe games with equally ambitious friends of mine:) I dont think I could even get money from my own parents, leave alone strangers!

So , what were you doing at that age?

Diversity in Music?

I was listening to a song " Sahana Saaral poothado" from the movie Shivaji. The song is sung by Udit Narayanan, who in his own natural habitat is an amazing singer. But when I hear him sing tamil songs, I cringe..

No offense to him or anyone else, but pronounciation goes a long way in the success of a song. Do we not have good singers who can do justice in our domain? I dont know Hindi or anyother language very well, so I cannot comment on singers from the south singing for Hindi numbers.
But I do know my language very well and can certainly feel the pain when someone who does not understand the meaning or can even pronounce the words, is actually given the opportunity over and over again!

Of course, this is not applicable to every singer out there... how can we forget the famous " valai oosai" and " shenbagame" . In the recent times, Shreya Goshal does a decent job with her tamil diction.

OH well.... as long as the albums sell, who am I to question?:)! Enjoy!

Mixed emotions?

My 14 month old is now going to transition to the next toddler class at her daycare. When she started daycare around 10 mos, I was so upset every morning after leaving her, since she would cry her heart out as I gave her to the teachers. It tore me apart and some days left me feeling so guilty that I thought I was going to go to my office and write my resignation letter!

She and I have since then grown and gotten used to the infant teachers and feel comfortable. Now I am again worried about the new transition, on how she would cope, if she would cry again for a whole month , if she would eat- what if a bigger kid throws her down and jumps on her? ( note to self : teach her self-defense soon)... and the list goes on and on.

So you might think it would make me feel good if my daughter dint cry when I dropped her off? Oh how mistaken are you... if she jumps into her teacher's arms and gladly waves a bye to me, I probably would be crying more! ... Thoughts of my dear little one not needing mommy anymore would flash in front of me.

Really, I dont know how to deal with this mix of emotions in me:) Oh How i long for the clarity of thought some others possess.!

Where do I begin?

I finally succumbed to world of blogging. After multiple failed attempts ( laziness, more laziness), I decided its time to throw pieces of what my scatter brain assimilates over time.

I dont think this blog has a specific character, for if I had one, I am positive I will steer away from it most of the time. To be safe, its best to assume that this blog will be very very general cruising across multiple topics of my interest/disinterest!

I live with my husband and a 14 month old overactive toddler in the state of Texas. I work in the area of operations research. When I am not working, I spend time with my family. I read, like to travel, love shopping ( dont we all?), and have fun with my friends.

Here's hoping that my next post will get better!