A weekend in Paris

Last month we sailed from Dover to Calais and took another 3 hours, by coach, to reach the city of Paris. It was a long and tiring journey and we were beginning to regret the short holiday even before stepping outside our hotel rooms. After a short freshening up session we headed for the boat ride on river Seine to see Paris by night. I fell in love with the city on the first sight. I gaped and looked in awe as all the monuments and buildings came alive, from my history of architecture text book. Me and S struggled to give some of the buildings a name even if the structure looked familiar enough. River Seine certainly dominated the social scene. With the day being hot and long, people were gathered around the river with friends, drinking and chatting away. I wish I had the luxury to sit around and admire the scene, soak in the ambience and gawk at nothing in particular but we were pressed for time. At the end of the boat ride when we reached the dock near Eiffel tower, it was quite dark and the tower was bathed in golden splendour and just as we thought nothing could top this, there were thousands of tiny light flashing on the tower and it looked like it was studded with diamonds.

An early start on the next day with a sumptuous breakfast saw us heading back to the Eiffel tower. This time we were going to see its naked beauty illuminated under the golden rays of sun. I was quite excited as this was the first time we were going to be in close proximity to the mammoth structure. The enormity of the Eiffel tower hits you only when you stand a few feet away and struggle to take a look at the towering structure, as a whole. Usually anything huge is considered monstorous, however the Eiffel tower humbles you with its elegance and curves even after being so big. The best part though is being on top of the third floor deck. You can see almost up to 40 miles of the city stretch out beneath you, a feeling of being on top of the world. It definitely makes you wonder how Gustav Eiffel and his team put it together 120 years ago. Also the fact is that the Parisians initially hated the structure and did not realize the identity it would give to their city. While most of them had a change in their attitude after seeing the finished project, there were some who continued to loathe it. One among them, a famous french novelist (Guy de Maupassant), was said to eat regularly at a restaurant on the tower’s second floor. His reason being, that is the only place in Paris from where he was sure he wouldn’t see the tower.

After lunch we proceeded to Louvre museum to see the 'ever smiling' Mona Lisa and many others. After going through rooms and rooms of Italian paintings we could see a mob of people gathered around her. We struggled to catch a glimpse of her and after a good 10 minutes got to a chance to do so. There were so many exhibits in the museum but we had just 2 hours to cover the entire place, so we hurried from one to room to another and tried to see the sections that interested us the most. I have always liked the glass prism that stands in front of the museum, since my college days, also it merged in so well with the existing structure. Another land mark that we went to was the palace of Versailles, living quarters of the denounced King Louis XVI. The most remarkable feature of the palace were the gardens that stretched for acres. After two days of hectic sight seeing we could not muster courage to sit through the coach and the ferry journey to get back to London but nevertheless the trip was well worth the tiredness. I would love to go back to Paris and spend some quality time without having to hurry and no we are never taking the ferry again!

Restricted entry!

Every time I am invited to a party or get together in a pub/nightclub I need to carry an ID (has to be a passport as I dont own a licence and nor am I a student) to flash at the bouncers. I tut tut about their inability to see through the appearance in to the wiser and older me but within I have a smug grin brimming. Its a real nice feeling when people say or think that you don't look your age. S thinks I always expect to be asked for an ID and I have never been disappointed. Not sure what I would do when my wish to stay young is overruled by the weary years settling themselves, slowly, on me.

However the heights of it was when I was asked for an ID in ASDA to buy a set of harmless knives. Naturally I did not expect that and was not armed with my passport. I had to fumble in my bag for all sorts of cards and didn't find anything that could rescue me out of the sticky situation. Thankfully a few assurances and pleads later the nice lady let me have them. I either looked young or looked like a gangsta!! Hmmmm..

Rain and holidays

Today after the match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians was abandoned due to rains, I kept wondering if the cricketers were jumping with joy. Its quite hard to imagine those guys jumping with joy, yet imagination has no bounds.I mean that is exactly what I would do, given the situation. I did three years of my schooling in Kalakshetra (as a hostel student) and it is extremely difficult to get a day off under the probing and watchful eyes of our wardens. Rains bring in the much needed relief from the mundane activities like going to school and doing homework, since we had classrooms with thatched roof...yeah you read it right!

If you thought I would grow up after becoming a professional then you are definitely wrong. Just a couple of months after I started my first job, it poured cats and dogs in Chennai. Well Adyar was not quite drowned into water like Velachery but still we had enough water logging to keep in to the confines of the house. I was jumping with joy that I got two days of free holiday. Even my friend was overjoyed at the prospect of sitting and watching the cable TV instead watching the same old 'shanians' (losers) at office. Once we knew that a few of our team members had actually turned up in spite of the heavy rains, we had an hour long cursing session about the 'udavakarais' (jobless people) because of whom we were at a disadvantage of losing the 'free holiday'.

This year after me and S got back to UK on a Saturday and Sunday passed in a haze. I was dreading the Monday as I had to be alone in the house, not scared but just scared of being lonely after having spent 2 months with my family and numerous relatives. On that Monday it snowed so heavy that the whole of London was shut off, without any transport...Boy was I happy!.. I am sure most of us are happy to get these freebies and if someone complains about them then either there is something seriously wrong with them or they are just putting up an act.

IPL - It is back!!

Schooldays vividly bring me back to the times where me and my brother would spend long hours watching cricket matches (even during my exams). There was tension in the air accompanied by loud sighs during wickets and bangs on the table for any joyous moment. I always enjoyed the ODI's (One Day International's) and only caught up with the highlights for the Test matches. Somehow did not have the patience to sit and watch the snail paced innings. So much was the love for cricket that I even decided to go for a cricket match at MA Chidambaram stadium, Chennai for a ODI between India and New Zealand. I was all geared up with sketched out plans to rush on to the door step of the dressing room to get an autograph from Sachin but sadly the play was stopped midway due to rains and I got back empty handed. I loved Sachin Tendulkar, he was always my favourite, didnt really matter if he hit a century or was out without any run!

It was all well and good until the time when they brought in the Set top boxes.. We did not get the sports channel under the 'free view' and somehow I did not notice the lack of interest I had for the game until it was too late, it just died a natural death without any pain and suffering. Even with no interest in the game I continued to like Sachin (there was no dearth of him in the Television ads).

Then came the IPL, I was blown over by the game yet again. I loved the fast paced, action packed games. I loved the fact that all the biggies of the International cricket played against each other on one big stage. Most of all I loved the time period involved in watching those games. It was like watching a block buster movie, 3 hours of sheer bliss. Fave cricketing heroes battling it out on the ground, adrenaline charged audience, Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Katrina Kaif and many more celebrities playing the supporting roles and not to mention the freqent appearances of fours and Sixes (some would not fail to mention the sexy cheerleaders and their moves!!)... It has definitely suceeded in getting me hooked to the game. Tomorrow the heat is on once again and IPL makes a comeback. I was hoping it will be played in England so that we could catch a match or two but sadly it is being played in South Africa. Anyways as long as S subscribes for the Setanta sports I have no problem. It is going to be amazing to see the international crowd cheering for Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bring it on!!!

The much awaited Long weekend..

The Long weekend did not seem so long after all. Thursday was spent anticipating the weekend and Friday arrived with very little promise of a holiday as the sky was overcast with rain bearing clouds, threatening to pour down any minute. Also conveniently S had loads of office work to do and hence as usual the day was spent with internet movies, games and the occasional walk to the kitchen to bring 'snacks'. Saturday dawned, again with little hope weather wise, however we decided to head to the travel agents to book our holiday to France, only to be told we needed more documents!! We returned with little enthusiasm and decided to have a lunch (eat as much as you can) at a Chinese restaurant near home. S decided to work a lot more and even worked through the night (??? I was surprised when I got up at 5 to see him doing area calculations but nothing stopped me from going back to sleep). From morning 10 to 4 in the afternoon we both worked on his project...phew! At 5 both decided enough was enough and went to the temple in Tooting for blessings from the almighty and some yummy modakam (Sweet), followed by pani puri(not in the temple!!) at a Gujarati snack shop and after getting a pottalam of 'jalebis' (sweet) and stuffing our faces at Chutney and Dosa (Indian restaurant at Tooting) we finally headed back home.


I hoped and hoped for a bright Monday, my prayers were answered. Even though the day started off cloudy, by mid afternoon it was clear that there was going to be lots of sun. We both hopped in to a train to Brighton and in just 45 min time were left gawking at the turnout in the Brighton beach. Everyone was fighting for space to lie down. There were happy kids, even more happier babes (with skimpy clothes), guys exposing their bare bodies and dogs having a fun day chasing seagulls. Everyone seemed so happy and I kept wondering what a little bit of sun can do to the usually grumpy Brits. It was fun to feel the sun streaming down on us (Same situation in Chennai and I would not have dared to step out of the house). We both had a great time walking around and exploring the place and the end of the day I looked like a 'kaanja karuvadu' (dried fish) and yet it did not dampen my spirits. I would say, it was a perfect end to a not- so - perfect weekend! From today it is going to be back to square one. Also wishing everyone a happy tamil new year and vishu ( a little belated!). More laters.

Music to my ears!

Music (carnatic music) lessons and me date back to a time when I was just four. My parents always thought I have a 'sweet' voice and hoped that I would some day sing professionally. Little did the know then that I would never do just that. I was the kid who made everyone close their eyes and not look at me before I decided to sing. I would fuss for about 15 mins to sing something for 5min. Once the singing started I was fine and everyone usually complimented me for my 'sweet' voice but I definitely had starting problems. Also the other thing was I have never learnt music under one single person, I have had too many teachers. Every time I moved to a new place I started over from the basics of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Sarali varisai) ... the explanation being every teacher had his or her own style of imparting gyan (knowledge).. Hence I have never gone past varnams in my life. I had 2 teachers in Bhilai, 2 in Bombay (Mumbai) and then I was in kalakshetra for 3 years and after that started over with another teacher in Chennai...Phew... Quite a lot right?

However I can never forget one among the whole lot. We were in Bombay and as usual I was enrolled in to the music classes. I had hour long classes on a day in the week and one day over the weekend. I used to literally dread both of them as he was very strict. He used to come sharp at the time meant for classes and if there was a delay even by a couple of minutes, I would hope and pray that he will not be able to make it. God was never on my side, he always turned up.grrr... Next attempt to stall the classes would be to try and search for my music book as slowly as possible. Well couldn't do much there as my mom always helped me find it!! Damn! The classes would begin and he would ask me to start singing and hell would break loose. Every time I would make a mistake he would stop me and ask me to repeat that particular sangadhi (notes) and then keep screaming ILA...ILA..(NO...NO..) till I got it right. Believe me it was hard work. This would happen in every 3 minutes. I am the kind of person who gets very nervous if someone starts to scream and to actually find out 'what went wrong' during this process is impossible. I used to start stuttering even more. Imagine this situation when you have guests at home..Eew.. I have had some horrible days. My uncle still remembers my music lessons and the ILA...ILA...and has a good laugh. Thankfully all my other teachers were really cool and I learnt quite a lot from everyone.

A Broken Promise

I know I promised I will not do this once again..I tried so hard not to. When the time came to resist, it was a disaster. Your dark smooth luscious skin and your curves was a big big temptation! I needed something to distress me...What with the so many stressful worldly issues like recession, jobs G20 summit blah blah and issues on my personal front, like the the mouse in my kitchen ...I needed a distraction from my quiet, pure, serene and bored life. You were the only one who could give me the excitement.Also the other reason was that when I tried breaking away a piece, you were always eager to come in 4...Not my problem!!
P.S:
Its not like I am wiping away your entire species! You guys are all over the place. It wont really hurt to lose one of you guys...

The one in which we decided to swim!!

I have always heard people say that swimming and cycling are skills that once honed will never be forgotten. Says who??? Or maybe its just me. It was a long time back and me and my roommate (H) were thinking of ways to beat the bulge. We were university students and H was really good at cooking, that pretty much sums up the situation. Apart from a few hours of part time job we didn't have much to do. Kellogg's Special K- the slimmer waist challenge was not for us...I couldn't dream of eating that for 2 times a day... So the box was ignored on to a corner of the kitchen counter till we moved out. Next was the Chinese tea. It was effective for a few days and after that we just didn't want to drink that anymore. After so many things we finally decided tampering with food was not for us!! We needed our pastas ,milkshakes, lasagnas, cookies and desserts.

H decided swimming was the solution since she had tried it before and had seen results in a very short time. I was not very sure. Gym was something that I could relate to....I had not swam for more than a 15 years but nevertheless got coaxed by H to give it a try. At some point I got very excited about swimming, actually started to believe in myself that I would start kicking my hands and legs on instinct once I am in the pool. We both set out to Primark to get me a swimming costume. That was the most exciting part of this whole experience (obviously for me!). I bought a beautiful 2 piece with small sequins sewed all over it and was ready to go.

Finally we went to the council leisure center for a swim. After flashing our student ids to get a discount, we went to the the changing rooms. I was a bag of nerves, a little bit of anticipation and fear. I went into the pool and the water level came up to my shoulders. H asked me to hold onto the side rail and start kicking my legs in the water while she warmed up . That was easy, after a few minutes she asked me to start swimming and I tried but in vain... Dived straight into the water and came back gasping for breath....Oh no!! not working for me... It felt like I had never learned to swim. Exactly at that moment a group of rowdy school students came and lunged into the pool. After too many trials H decided I needed a float initially. When we asked the lifeguard for a float he refused.... But why???Cheeky guy... After a lot of begging he threw me one. I held that and splashed around the pool. The school kids had a gala time laughing their heads out when they spotted me. God, it was really embarrassing and I decided to finish my lesson.I went and stood in a corner and waited for H to finish her laps. She felt bad for me and ended her session quicker than planned. After that incident I have absolutely refused to go anywhere near a swimming pool. H had to change her swimming partner:)... I still have the swimming costume in my cupboard and every time it reminds me of the disaster. Maybe I will pick up my courage and go for a swimming lesson this summer and start afresh.On that note I leave you guys with this hilarious Mr.Bean video. It so reminds me of my day at the swimming pool, the only difference being I was sensible enough to avoid the diving boards;)

Surprise Surprise!!

It was a typical day in my life. Cuppa tea followed by reading news, blogs, searching for jobs and watching online videos.... Everything was normal and suddenly at about 12 in the afternoon the intercom buzzer went off (Its not a thriller story I am narrating..sorry to disappoint you)... It brought me out of the reverie and I ran to answer it ( I usually don't have visitors at this time of the day so was quite curious)...

I half expected it to be the electricity meter reading guy or someone of that sort. Wrong, it was the delivery guy from Parcel force...Well I did know that there was a parcel on its way from Chennai but my parents did tell me that it will take 3 whole weeks to get here(according to my calculation it is only 1 week and 2 days... Kudos to Indian Post).... It was a big bulky parcel and I was ecstatic... After hurriedly signing for the parcel guy I dragged the parcel to my room...I love opening parcels..Well who doesn't???? Anyways I had a lovely 20 mins examining the contents even though I knew most of what was inside it... Thanks to Amma and Appa for turning my boring day into an exciting one... Loved the gifts from Sri Lanka..Especially the elephant print tee (Hoping I will fit in to it!) and the leaf design wind chime (need to find a place to hang it!)

Wolfing down the waffle!

Oxford street is a shoppers paradise.. I love strutting around the street with no real purpose. Walking the whole stretch back and forth never tires me as I get engrossed in the display windows and the offers in stores. Yesterday I dragged S to Oxford street and went into as many stores as I could but somehow never ended up buying anything... The only place which interested S was the Apple retail store, I didn't mind that either. I have always wanted to own a Mac... hopefully we will get one soon. The usually hustling and bustling Oxford street(usually looks like a contemporary Ranganathan street over the weekend) wore a gloom of recession yesterday. It looked a little empty and forlorn, hope it bounces back into normalcy soon.

Apart from the shops, the one thing that I love is the warm and delicious waffle aroma wafting through the crowded streets. Yesterday after a lot of contemplation I decided to treat myself to a warm waffle topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, ummmm... it was heaven. I tried to repeat the age old saying in my head " A moment on the lips, forever on the hips" to restrict my splurge...It never really managed me to stop gobbling the waffle down. Well everyone deserves a treat once in a while right? (somehow I manage to treat myself everyday...hmm...must join the gym asap!!!!!)

Whats Cooking??

Before the wedding, there was no necessity to cook elaborate meals. I always managed with Kelloggs in the morning, a sandwich near the office cafe for the afternoon and 'slim a soup' with garlic bread for dinner. The maximum efforts I would take was to make a sloppy rajma or channa curry. I miss that aspect of my spinsterhood a lot..

Now its always about what I can cook and the pressure to create something new and exotic. I can never thank enough to the numerous food blogs and internet sites for the tried out success recipes. The internet has even made my basic rajma a little more exotic... Now, I can never ever cook in the kitchen without the laptop sitting on the opposite counter for continuous moral support.. I also need my ipod, as it can get really boring otherwise. Tried cooking with the ipod earphones plugged to my ear but found it very disturbing. Always ended but pulling the earphones out while stirring the kadai or washing utensils.... The ipod dock helps me overcome all of that and there is a constant hum on the background when I twiddle and jiggle my pots and pans to dish out yummylicious food...

Bad hair day

Everyone has a bad hair day, its quite common... Well definitely not on their wedding day.. I was very fortunate to have the experience right on the 'D- Day'. Thankfully it wasn't the muhurtam (main ceremony) otherwise I would have fled from the scene then and there.

I have always had a fear to use false hair (sauri) and have never really had to as my hair was long till it was under my moms supervision. Since I have been in UK for the past 2 years my hair has gone through quite a lot(thank god it can't blog!! it will have stories to tell). Anyways I had it cut real short. Little did I know that marriage was round the corner. Once the wedding dates were decided I effectively had about 4 months to grrrrrrow my hair. Wish there was some magic trick or oil that could transform short hair into aaru adi kunthal (6 feet long hair). It was not a lot of time, but i did whatever I could and by January there was a little improvement. The beautician who did my bridal make-up didn't seem to think so. To top it all the texture of my hair is silky, a boon otherwise but not when you need to use a sauri.

My muhurtam (main ceremony) was at 8:30 but there were a few other functions before that so I needed to be ready by 5:30 in the morning... (Was not very happy with that). That particular day the beautician had loads of bridal bookings so she left as soon as she finished with my makeup. I was fine for the first function, then had a quick Saree change and was brought back for another function. I sat down and they started performing the rituals, suddenly amidst all that I felt lighter in the head as if a big load has been has been taken off... Oh noooo!!!!It finally hits my brain that the sauri is happily slipping away from my kutta (short) hair.... I wanted to cry.. That's one of the most embarrassing things that has happened to me... I told my aunt who was nearby and soon all my relatives came to my rescue... There were 2 holding my hair and sauri and someone else trying to tie it back together and while all this was happening I had to smile and go through all the rituals in front of a zillion photo flashes and the video cameras.

Finally the function concluded and I heaved a sigh of relief as there was enough time to go and redo the jadai (plait) before my next appearance. I completely forgot that before the re-appearance I had to bother about my disappearance from the stage. It was quite a sight.. I had to walk backwards without turning around and there were two people holding my hair ..... Thankfully my aunt redid the jadai as soon as we were in the room.....

The other day me and hubby were watching the wedding video and both of us were laughing at the whole episode.. Thank god i don't ever have to use a sauri again.

Part - time Fascinations!!

During 2007 Christmas, I was fascinated by video games and vowed to get myself one of them....wanted so much to buy a Nintendo Wii but my budget could only get me as far as the Nintendo Dsi. I might have used it a couple of times. A few days after having bought the console i was invited to my nephews birthday party. I saw three year olds with the same Nintendo that i had, since then they have been lying around in my cupboard. I guess the charm of the game rubbed off me after that. Recently my husband decided to sell it in Aamazon. Luckily we sold it as soon as it went up onthe listing...This got him really excited...since then he has been been scouring the house for unused electronics / memory cards and mobile phones... Its almost like a hobby. I just need to keep my things undercover for a few days, till his fascinationation for selling stuff in Amazon wears off!! :)