Archive for the 'Good things' Category

Among other things

Published on July 7, 2010 in Good things, Lee and Life as it happens. 19 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Another July, another humid summer. A new baby and an almost forgotten dog. 2010 has been a hectic year. And as a friend on Facebook reminded us, half the year is already over (insert as many exclamation marks as applicable here). I have been home since February and finally joined work this monday. The transition was painful . It still is since this is only my second day back to a dusty desk and a rickety chair, which was okay when I left, I know for sure.

It is so humid. It is so hot. On a plus side, I liked being back in the classroom after one whole semester. I even started teaching the very first day of college (roll eyes as applicable here again). As we all know the rules of teaching, no one takes the first class after a long vacation. At least thats how they did it back in my alma mater, Calicut. I thought it was AICTE approved a general rule or something.

The baby is now 5 months old today. She smiles and laughs and coos and aahs and cries at will and makes me want to quit my job and be a stay at home mom. Little Lee’s started to roll over these days although she lacks the necessary hand to leg coordination for crawling… so she just sprawls on her tummy and goes *waahh* for help. Once I even caught her dozing off to sleep on her own. Such independent streak already! The mommy in me, suddenly finding herself being redundant, couldnt help but wake her up and put her to sleep myself again.

Sigh. I could have gotten used to being on maternity leave for life.

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I (heart) Bhutan

Published on January 7, 2009 in Good things and Wanderlust. 18 Comments Tags: , , .

I had wanted to visit Bhutan for a long time and finally set off towards the Land of the Thunder Dragon this December 30th. The journey from Sikkim to the Bhutan border town of Phuntsholing takes about 7 hours by road. A long drive indeed and I believe I slept most of the way. So after traveling for what felt like eternity, we reached Phuntsholing at 3 pm. Now the difference between the two sides of the border is startling. Jaigaon, the last town of India is this bustling, clouds of dust-billowing-in-the-air, crowded place where cows rule. As you cross over to Bhutan (while the Bhutan police looks suspiciously at the back seat of your car – not their fault actually, cause we had piled our luggage in such a manner we appeared to be smuggling something across the border), you feel more clean and the slope uphill made me feel immediately at home.

chorten

Memorial Shrine, Thimpu

No major formality to enter the country, really; just drive through in your car and you’re in a foreign country! Easy as that. Once inside Bhutan, we hunted for a hotel to dump our baggage and in a hurry to eat, ended up choosing a not so great hotel although if we’d just circled the block, we’d have found much nicer hotels. I’d forgotten how it was to be a tourist.

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An award, an interview and a wedding

Published on December 11, 2008 in Good things. 14 Comments Tags: , .

Two things happened to me today. First one – I became the runner up in the Avant Garde Bloggies award for two categories, About Me and Interesting Tag Post. Yay! Thanks to all my readers who voted for me as well as others who didnt vote for me but that didnt matter cause I got second place anyways.

Second one is that Ms Ghazala Khan of pakspectator printed my interview today. I first thought she made a mistake in asking me for an interview. Its only when she printed it, that I realized it was for real! My first interview. I tried to answer as best as I could without goofing around too much. Do take a look.

Oh yeah, and I attended a wedding in the evening today. Drank a glass of red wine after ages. Didnt know anyone else present except for the groom and maybe five other people there. Discovered the bride to be such a sweetheart even though it was the groom who was the friend and that I was meeting her for the first time. Witnessed a lot of noisy kids playing ball right outside on the balcony. Honestly, I was tempted to inform them that it was a wedding not a picnic (even though those kids probably knew more people than me)

And here comes the interesting part. Met my best friend’s ex boyfriend at the wedding. Didnt nearly recognize him cause the last time I saw him, he had these strange dreadlocks where his hair was supposed to be and more importantly, he didnt seem to recognize me then. The moment I saw him today, I was determined to pretend not to recognize him and give him one of my famous cold shoulders (you should try it sometimes) The plan completely backfired when he waved at me first and gave me a smile which made me nod back at him in return and acknowledge his presence there, damn it!

Just got back home and am in the process of calling up my best friend and telling her all about her ex and how he was sitting there with a girl; I’m pretty much sure I saw one.

I think I’ve finally begun to appreciate the art of gossiping.

Have you voted yet?

Published on November 29, 2008 in Good things. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Now I dont believe in excessive propagation of thine own blog. But if I could nominate my own posts for these popular blogging awards, I can ask my faithful readers to vote for me as well.

Avant Garde Bloggies Awards is this really fun thing wherein you get to vote for your favourite posts in various categories. I had a lot of fun going through the posts that made it to the finals and believe you me, there are some seriously interesting bloggers flaunting their stuff.

I got nominated for two categories, Best “About Me” and Most Interesting Tag Post.

Did I tell you to vote for me already?

The prize for the best posts are these nice badges that one can put up in their blog. Which is why I for one cannot understand why this guy’s ranting about a judge being nominated over 20 times and all that jazz.

Its all in good fun and one should participate in good spirit, knowing that winning isnt everything.

Or is it? ;)

If you’re wondering which posts are nominated but are shy to ask, here’s my post for Best “About Me” – 28 things about me. This one is for Most Interesting Tag Post – The A to Z’s of me.

I should have asked you to vote a long time ago since the contest closes on 6th of December and the results will be out by the 11th of December. If I dont win, I’m blaming it all on my preference for procastination.

I had a great time reading some very cool posts. And I hope so will you.

My dad

Published on September 11, 2008 in Good things and memoirs. Closed Tags: , .

Me and my dad werent always best of friends. If anything else, we probably fought more as father and daughter than normal enemies would have in their lifetime. He had a terrible, terrible temper – the very same one that has been passed on to me, I’m afraid. People would literally be afraid to be near him whenever he used to be in one of his moods. Which was pretty often.

We once had a lousy argument regarding the small kid who was the servant’s sister (who used to stay with us). Something pissed him off and he went berserk. Thats when I sprang in defense of the little kid. One thing led to another and we yelled pretty much hard at one another. Before the rest of the family realized what had happened, I packed up my bags and stormed out of the house. I walked a while before I realized that I actually had nowhere to go. Then I went sobbing to my aunt’s house; thank god she took me in and I stayed with her for two days before we made peace and I could go back home.

He wasnt always all that bad though. He never lay a finger on me or my brother while growing up. Now, the kind of person I am – you’d want to do me bodily harm if you got the chance. In that sense, I am really my father’s daughter. He also gave me a lot of space as an individual. I remember he used to hand me my letters, whenever I used to get any, intact and unopened. On the contrary, my mum used to open them, read and then demand an explanation for each of the sentence the other person had written.

When I first left home to study in Kerala, he accompanied me and by the time we reached Calicut, I remember him whispering to me – Where on earth did you choose to study, my daughter! The distance eventually did us both good since we werent in each other’s faces to scream at one another any more. The love between us just grew more and more because distance indeed made both our hearts grow fonder.

When I decided to get married, he didnt approve of it because of the differences between our religion, caste and what not. Like an adamant brat, I went ahead and eloped because after all, youth does deem itself invincible. The first time me and my husband entered my house, my dad had tears in his eyes as he made us sip milk from a bowl with his own hands, as was the custom.

It has been two and a half years since he passed away. And I miss him terribly. There’s no one left to get mad at and no one to love either. I dont know why but I suddenly thought of him after a long time. Its ironic how you realize the value of the other person only when they’re not around.

Things to do before I die

Published on August 16, 2008 in Favourite posts and Good things. 13 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’ve watched The Bucket List a couple of times by now. The movie’s about two old guys who have precious time left to live and make the-list-of-things-to-do before they finally kick the bucket, which for them was soon enough.

I, on the other hand, inspired by a brilliant movie and this one blog here – have taken it upon myself (and my poor blog) to compile a list of things that I want to do before I die. Even if I never really do these things, what the heck – its just a list, right? So here goes nothing.

1. Go skydiving. Ok, so this is on the list in the actual movie. You know whats not there in the actual movie? ME. Back to skydiving, there’s one small problem though. You see, I’m afraid of heights. Cant look down a five-storey building without feeling all dizzy. So that means, I’ll either have to sky dive with my eyes closed or I’ll probably be dead before I reach the ground. I must be crazy to put this on #1. Maybe it should go in the list of things to do that-make-you die instead.

2. Get a tattoo. Yes, this is in the movie too. And no, I’m not copying the original list word to word. I’m a big fan of Ami James in the Miami Ink series on Discovery Travel & Living. So, #2, with a little rewrite, will be – get an tattoo at Miami Ink at South Beach, Florida. Woo hoo!

3. Learn how to ride a bike. Yeah, poor me used to drive a three-wheeled cycle when I was a kid and was petrified of a bicycle while growing up. Still am. Hmm… I think I’ll have to look up google to see if they’ve got a word for fear of bicycle riding and add that to my resume.

4. Visit Disneyland. Ok, thats a little pathetic for a soon to be 30 year old, I know. But I cant help it. I used to be a big Disney Time fan when I was younger. My favourite character was Daisy Duck although I used to despise Winnie Mouse. I would like to meet them, yes… but I cant forget this incident five years ago – when I was strolling down Brigade Road and a huge, white suited astronaut came straight at me to shake my hand – thats when I ran screaming away for my life.

Of recent times, I visited a local cafe last Christmas and was greeted by a stick-thin Santa Claus with an enormous pot-belly. Surprisingly I ended up shaking his hand. Yay! I’m no longer afraid of imaginary characters!

I’m also poor at sticking to one topic, apparently.

5. Learn a foreign language. Preferably Spanish. I did try to learn this on my own earlier. Then, I lost my Learn Spanish book. Someone borrowed it “to see” and I promptly forgot the borrower’s name. I guess being able to say lo siento, solo hablas english (thats – I’m sorry, I speak only English) doesnt really qualify as being able to speak in Spanish. Whats more, I think it defeats the purpose.

6. Travel to Europe. “Around the world” would have sounded like such a cliche. Plus, I want to especially visit Austria for two reasons – Sound of Music and Mozart. And yeah, visit Spain and converse with the locals in their language. Why else would I have learnt spanish?

7. Win a lottery. I’m just kidding. If one could do that, this point would be on everyone’s to-do-list henceforth. What I’m actually doing is compensating the extra-long #4 by keeping this point short.

8. Learn to swim. I once nearly drowned in a kid’s pool. That too, while trying to teach one kid how to not be afraid of the water and swim instead. Ever since then, I’ve always been under this impression that if I do want a watery grave in the future, all I have to do is learn how to swim.

9. Write a book. I’ve met people who’ve told me that they’ll write a book, someday. And I used to think – so will I. That was 10 years ago. That person who said this to me is probably dead or too old to gather his wits to actually write by now. And since I havent read any book by his name, I assume that he’s not written it after all. I’d hate for it to be that way with me. So, even if no one reads my book or it doesnt get printed or I dont get famous and earn loads of cash, I’d like to leave a book behind when I finally kick the bucket. How awesome would that be!

Something for monday

Published on August 16, 2008 in Good things. 2 Comments Tags: .

I feel inexplicably happy today. After a long, long time. Nothing’s going to mar my sense of exhiliration today. Not even this smell of dung’s that whifting in through the window. Where the hell is this smell coming from???

I listened to a nice song in the car, hummed the lyrics, made people look at me strangely as they drove past by. Splashed a puddle in the road real hard that ultimately made the driver in front of me wet, who in turn yelled at me but I pretended as though I didnt hear and continued my streak of non-stop smiling.

Reached home and patted my dog. Even she looked surprised. Got down straight to documenting my state of happiness. So that I can remember this afternoon when work begins on monday morning and I hear this imaginary voice inside me saying – Welcome to the real world.

Change

Published on August 8, 2008 in Good things. 6 Comments Tags: .

Change is good. Although I liked the previous look of this blog very much, I’m already liking the new look a tad better and have forgotten how the old one looked like, I think. Short attention span/selective memory at its best.

The new picture in the header leads the way to Hanuman Tok, in Gangtok. The entire route zig zags all the way uphill, lined with beautiful pine trees and the weather there is almost always misty throughout the year. One of the scenic tours that most romantics take on their dates.

Speaking of which, I had an interesting date today. Well, technically – we all did. Today is 08/08/08 although this only reminds me that more than half of this year’s already passed by. Not a good feeling because I am not too keen on 2009 for reasons best left till the mandatory Rave and Rant posts that will be made by me at the end of the year.

Went through Mr Amitabh Bachchan’s blog today. Not a major fan of his – mainly due to movie titles like Suryavansham, Major Saab and such others. Somehow it was a pleasant surprise to find a very intellectual, poignant and expressive human being beneath that mysterious superstar exterior. Today’s post was the best I’ve read in a long time and thats not exclusive to his blog. Makes you almost forget that he’s an on-screen god. Or an untouchable superstar.

Somehow he seems more human, just like you, me or any other blogger venting their feelings in what can only be described as their respective stress-busters. Nice. I like.

Its a good thing to have friends

Published on August 3, 2008 in Good things and These thoughts of mine. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

We make a lot of friends along the way. A friend once told me that we’re all like passengers on a bus, traveling along wherever our lives may take us. We talk, share, open up a bit of ourselves to each other for the moment and as long as time permits us. Sooner or later, we reach our stop and get off, sometimes without even looking back to say goodbye.

Thank you to all my friends, whom I’ve met, known, no matter how briefly or even if it may be from a distance. I cherish the moments spent with each one of you. For they say – you have but one life. And it was a pleasure meeting all of you.

There are a lot of my close friends with whom I’ve lost touch. People who have been instrumental in making me the person I am today. Yet we’re no longer in contact for we’ve parted ways long back. Sometimes I wonder when it was that we lost touch. Was it me or was it them? Were we all so busy and caught up in our lives that we slipped away unnoticed so easily?

I look back and wonder where all of them are, what they’re doing and wish them love and happiness in everything they do. Perhaps we shall meet again, perhaps not. I hope the former, in all earnesty, some day.

There there are some, a handful of people; who dont let distance or time matter when it comes to friendship. They are my backbone, my strength in life. I would be lost without confiding in them my deepest, darkest feelings as well as any ecstasies that come along my way.

For those who have always been there for me, even if I werent for them. True friends, with no issues towards any of my idiosyncrasies and who embraced me for what I am – thank you. Happy friendship day.

Connected

Published on July 31, 2008 in Good things and Life as it happens. 4 Comments Tags: .

I finally got a broadband connection at home. The lady who installed it at my home was pretty sweet. I know this cause I bugged her for three days non-stop and even then she didnt seem to get pissed at all. I admire people who have that level of patience with anyone.

Ah, my poor blog. Let you be neglected no more.

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