Tag - Random Questions

Mystic Margarita tagged me to doing some real soul-searching, so here goes:

The rules for the tag are:
RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.
RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
A modified version of the 5 stages of grief – Anger, Depression, Anger again, possible Revenge, and then Acceptance . Of course, the relationship will not last and I would walk out into the sunset.

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
Everyone be happy and Thrive

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?
Kochunni – but since I have promised myself not to hit the little fella, I guess he goes scott-free!

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Quit work, go on a world tour with bags full of shoes, bags and just STUFF!

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
Nope.
6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Tough cookie. Being loved by someone because that means you are doing something right in this world.

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
Till death.

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Move on.
9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Would have to be two – Child Abuse and Ecological Destruction

10. What takes you down the fastest?
Something untrue that someone might say

11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
An old, uncool mom of a teenager!

12. What’s your fear?
Losing my family

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
An enigmatic person, who is mysteriously beautiful and intelligent!

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Married to my lover and be poor.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Go back to sleep.

16. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
Don’t think that’s possible in this lifetime.

17. Would you give all in a relationship?
YES!

18. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
Nope. A true scorpion. Once bitten you are in my black list FOREVER :D

19. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
The relationship I am in.

20. List of 6 people to tag: Take it up if you like, not doing any linking right now! Way too lazy and still have another tag to do …

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Here’s another tag from Tessie , which is almost along the same lines:

1. What have you realized recently?
That I am a mom first, and so always will come second!

2. Have you given your first kiss away?
Yup!

3. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 11 blog buddies you would take? The question should be if they will want to come with me?

4. Where is the place you want to go the most?
Amchi Mumbai – this place will always have a soft corner for me

5. If you have one dream to come true, what would it be? (see above)
6. Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?
Yes, always look out for them too!

7. What are you afraid of losing the most now? (see above)
8. If you win $1 million, what would you do? (see above)

9.If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Already did!

10. List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you.
Great writer, Sweet girl, Uber cool

11.What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
“Requirements” – LOL that sounds like I can make him out from a science lab. Wish it was that easy!

12.What type of people do you hate the most?
Liars, Cheaters, people with double standards

13. What is the one thing you can’t live without?
Air, My Family

14. If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
Throw a hint first and see how I react and then decide to speak up or shut up! ;)

15. Are you a shopaholic or not?
Window shopper yes.

16.Find a word to describe the person who tagged you
Writer

17.If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
My temper

18. What’s the last shocking thing you’ve seen or heard?
The earth is round! Still reeling from that one! :D

19. Would you rather have love but no money or money but no love? (see above)


So there ends the tags .... had fun folks?

Two in a row ...

That does mean I am becoming popular, right. Thanks Ray for this wonderful award …. Just have to figure out if I cash this thing, right!? LOL!



In keeping with tradition I pass on this award to some very good friends ~

The ‘Mystic’al rock star with a ‘Margarita’ in her hand

The 'glowing’ Ms. Extraordinaire ;)

The lovely Miss whose posts make the ‘highpoint of any day’

An 'exotic mind'

A 'writer' in making.

(you might have won these awards already, but this is just to say, that you guys have touched my hearts time and again)

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.

~Japanese Proverb

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.

~ John Churton Collins

Will you be my friend?

Preethi awarded me a Friends Forever award! Yipee-kiee-yay!!! A friend for all seasons, forever and ever, how can I thank you enough, my dear! How abt if I …. (go ahead fill in the blank, I will take it up, scouts honor!) :D


Making friends or rather “choosing your friend” is such a huge responsibility. As kids it doesn’t matter, the little boy smiled I smiled back, the little girl had a beautiful doll so I walked up to her. If they responded they became your good or even best friends. I see that with Kochunni too. When we are at the playground, he will watch other kids for a second – see what they are doing. Then, most of the times, he will look at me questioningly – almost as if to say , can I go amma? I encourage him, unless it’s the big kid going off to the bigger jumper, or the bigger slide – then I tell him you need to grow up a little bit. Kochunni eyes loses its shine for a moment, and it tugs my heart. So I try to compensate, can Amma try to catch you? His face lit’s up again and he is happy. When he does make friends with kids his age at the park, at the birthday party, he enjoys the time spent together. Its wondrous to see the friendship forming. Of course, he is likely to forget it in years to come, but a day will come soon enough when he starts to choose his friends,& I hope he chooses wisely.
Some friendships are meant to be for a lifetime, others dwindle into memories. I guess that’s were today’s Orkut’s and Facebooks helps us. They let us friends find us, updating each others ‘profile’. But in many ways its mere re-acquaintance. Gone are the days when they know so much more about you, when you would plot ways to stay out late or cook up stories to get away from class. But then again, we have all grown up …

When I started to blog, it was merely to write my ideas out, probably a “brand new way” to scrapbooking. But it has become more than that. Even though still a mommy blogger at heart, my soul is starting to fly to places unknown far and wide. My first readers were none others that my parents miles away from home, it became a way for them to connect to me and Kochunni. Along the way, something interesting happened - I made friends. Some through comments left behind, some through the cool shower we organized, some through just browsing around. I have only met one of the girls yet, but I feel like I might know so many more. The boundaries of time, space have not bound us, and we are so in tune to each other. I hope someday very soon, I do meet a lot of them; not that it really matters I guess, but to give each of you a hug for making my day far more interesting that it is really.

In keeping with tradition I pass on this award to some very good friends

DDMom – I hope you are settled down, and come back to the blog-o-sphere with witty tales on your two adorable girls soon

Abha – Here is a girl whose Smile can brighten anyone’s day, and with her little Cubby really makes our days in blog-o-sphere wonderful, plus she is from Bombay – need I say more … You see, Bombaykiers always tend to gravitate towards each other even if we are no longer in Bombay.

NM – If a girl can keep three very dynamic blogs going at the same time, have time to play with her Betu, work her magic at work and basically be a superwoman – come-on don’t you want to call her your friend! :D (Hmm I think you already got one, but you can still be my friend too, right, or maybe Betu can be friends with Kochunni?)

Wunderyearz – She hasn’t been blogging regularly these days, but she was one of my early friends in this blog world. I hope you are doing alright, girl friend.

Mira's Mom – A new friend. I hope our friendship blossoms ….

Ray - A chirpy, vibrant personality. Go check out her blog, but be forewarned that you will be addicted!

Dottie - one word - SUPERCOOLPERSON - ok maybe three, but you get the picture! :D

Kodi’s mom - A doting mom of two great kids, her honest heartwarming posts brings out a smile (read Aww, and ooohs) every time.

I know I am probably missing quite a few, so bear with this old grey-haired lady as she tends to forget stuff way to easily these days. Friends forgive right! :D Hugs!

Paani Paani Re

Kochunni it seems is scared of water (paani), or so we have been led to believe…

This summer I made a lot of efforts in trying to get him to have some water fun … a little plastic pool for him to sit out, a little pichkari (watergun) to spray water with and of course the sprinkler mat for his birthday. But no, none of it made him like water any better. Every time a droplet of water was upon him he would cry his heart out and ask us to change his clothes.

When finally, at a friend’s birthday party, seeing other kids having a ball sitting inside the pool he at least was ready to stand in knee length water & I was overjoyed – but he would not sit down or splash waters like the other kids and instead would wail if water fell upon him. He would much rather play on the jumper that they had.

We tried again two weeks ago on our trip to Santa Cruz boardwalk. And even with his big sister sitting down on the side of the beach, letting the water run all over her, he was too scared to even let his feet get wet. The only thing that worked was for us to carry him around and pretend to dip him in water and let his hands touch the icy cold waters.

My husband of course was very happy to see all this … claiming he has more of “his DNA” than mine. For me, I love water – the beaches, the rain. I could get wet and do a “Main Teri Rani to Raja Mera” number in one gusto. (ok maybe not, just remembered the song when I found it in my old music collection :D)

Finally yesterday we got to see some of his true colors. We were at the local nursery to buy some plants for our front yard. Now this nursery had a some fountains around for display with the water running. Of course, for whatever reason, the plumbing seemed not well done, and there were little rivulets of water running from these fountains. The water mixed with the soil from the other plants was completely mucky. The first time we ran across one of them in the store, Kochunni looked at and walked away. In a little while as I was busy picking flowers, he started to walk over to the water and examine it more closely. Within a few seconds, he figured out the fun it might be to actually jump in the water to make a nice little splash!!!

Where did the innate boyishness come from I wonder? And why did you not tell me my little prince that it was mucky waters that appealed to your senses than the fresh waters from the tap?

Happy Onam 2009

With a small attempt at the traditional pookalam in front of the house, Onam celebrations are at full swing at our house.
Here's wishing everyone a great Onam.

Classic TV, anyone?

My oldest TV memory is not of any shows but about our black and white Crown TV with a shutter that I used to play with.The one show I really remember watching as probably a 5 year old is “Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot” this was about the time that doordarshan introduced half hour for children. All my kids would end our playtime early and run to watch this show from 7 PM. My favorite being the day that my cousin brother who used to claim everything in Bangalore is sooo much better than Bombay wrote to me after his trip to our place that summer, saying that he missed the show. :D

Much later with DD Metro started, we had shows like 100 (Ek Shuniya Shuniya) a Marathi cop show, and afternoon shows like Trishna. During summer DD Metro had shows from 12-1 just for kids with Baigan Raja, and other short stories etc. So many great shows like Malgudi Days (still love the haunting title music), Byomkesh bakshi (probably my first crush) Dekh Bhai Dekh, Fauji, Circus, Flop Show etc were hot fav's during the time it ran.

When I was around 10-12 Farmaan totally rocked my boat with its love story – the rudeness with which the Nawab dictated to the girl he loved and the way she stood her ground against him made it fun to watch. Great actors and a good plot. Surabhi was another fav that introduced us to Renuka Shahane.

There were other great shows too, though today I don’t remember much about them like – Nupur (Hema Malini), Udaan (Laalita (?) from the Surf ads … totally wanted me to become a cop when I grew up), Wagle ki duniya, Zabaan Sambhalke (though probably Mind your language was far better), Ek Do Teen Char – a kids show, Nukkad and so many more. Of course then there were the mythological ones on Sunday with Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Now memories is one thing but how many of these do you think can stand the test of time? I recently found Fauji on Netflix and ordered the set and towards the end, I was starting to get bored. On the contrary Dekh Bhai Dekh still seemed to tickle me with some of the antics of the Diwan family. Byomkesh Bakshi on you tube was still interesting enough (or maybe I still have a soft spot for the guy). I just noticed that they have Johnny Sokko on Netflix Instant watch – let’s see how that holds up to my childhood memories (this is the reason for this post about long forgotten shows)

Sometimes I do wish we have a "desi" TV land - which showcases the best of classic TV for the new generation.

Question: What were your favorite shows, back then? And which of them do you think you could still watch today?

Ed: Here's a comprehensive list that a blogger has put together. Impressive isn'it?

Are you being served?

Over the weekend we had relatives come over & so we decided a trip to Santa Cruz boardwalk was the best thing to do with three kids - one of whom who really wants to get into the beach, even if she was sick, and one grey haired lady who never denies herself the beach if the possibility arose. So anyway, we made the trip (more on that later). And what fun it was, and after 3 hours of rides, sand and water we decided it was time to come back to reality.

Since it was already 8PM by the time we reached the car, we decided to eat out, before the kids feel asleep in the car ride back. So honey checks his new ultra gadget (phone) and finds a restaurant and the directions for the same. We get there and ask for a table for 8. The owner/manager asks the waiter to join two table together so we can be seated together. We sit down and wait. So good so far, then our luck turns!

Now when you are with kids its a big gamble on what they might or might not eat, so after much discussions, we finally order some rotis, 4 curries and full plate veg birayni that supposdly comes with extra pulav, raita and roti, we were hoping that if the biryani turned out spicy they can at least have the pulav and raita.

When the food finally arrives, the kids love the panner pakoras over everything else. But the mommies wouldn’t let go in trying to add some rice and vegetables into their tummies. So we check with our waiter – where’s the pulav? He apologizes and decides to go & check back with the chef. Comes running back and says Veg Biryani does not come with pulav. We are puzzled and explain it says on your menu and ask him to get the menu and pointdely point it out. He checks the menu and had the decency to look embarrassed and walks up to the owner/manager – explaining the situation. Not sure what is 'really' exchanged between the two but our waiter comes over apologizing that we still cannot have our pulav, but if we switch our order of a curry to a dinner he can get a plate of pulav, raita, roti and salad. We look at each other in disbelief and say “ok Fine”.

Now you would think this was the last straw but no, when the receipt comes for the dinner, they seems to have added extra gratuity just for the fact that we joined two tables!!! WTF!

I have heard stories about bad etiquette at the restaurants before, like the time when my friend saw the waiter check the tip she left behind, but this one takes the cake. I mean I am sure they had enough pulav, raita to offer us, and instead on just saying ‘sorry our mistake’, they pretty much asked us to change our order around to accommodate them! And for what a few extra bucks?!

The food was fine, except maybe a tad too oily, but I wouldn’t go back there ever!

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Edited to add: Just checked online and it looks like they have a history in bad service … wonder how it’s still running!

It’s been years since ...

... I have had an ardent follower, who shows his utmost displeasure at my exclamations of love – the frowning of the brows, the angry look, lifting his hand ready to beat up my poor lover. Before you get any ideas let me introduce you to my dearest little 2 year old – who was royally upset with my husband and I.

What not me the center of your universe, he seemed to want to say. But for once we laughed, and hugged and blew each other a kiss. The poor guy realized that he better be inside the circle of love than out, and so came running to hug onto his father’s legs. We picked him up and blew some kisses to his cheek and he sat there happily satisfied – a look in his face that said – see all’s well now! :D

With a great start to the day, husband and I caught up over lunch- an impromptu lunch date. Of course, we ended up talking about our son, the house and work. But what the heck, we tried a new Middle eastern restaurant, spoke in loud voices over the crowds and generally had a great time.

In the evening we made a trip to the temple and asked for Lord Ganapati’s blessings. Then went out for dinner – where for a change Kochunni was on his best behavior. So there ended a beautiful day.

Happy Anniversary, my dear husband. Here’s to many more years of growing old with you! Cheers!

The long weekend

For the past several years we have routinely made a trip someplace for the Labor Day long weekend – it was our annual anniversary celebration, plus the end of summer getaway – sort of the last hurrah. This year though we had no plans, but it turned out to be one roller coaster ride after all.

On Saturday we decided to make a trip to the Palo Alto Junior Zoo & Museum. It’s really a small place, but packed with lot of fun for toddlers. There are rabbits, turtles, fishes and a small pond for the ducks, and a little “bridge” for Kochunni to walk up and down as if some sort of a king! A miniature cage for the rats, while a darkened corner for the bats and the owl. (Kochunni really got scared of the sleeping owl – it was so huge and was sitting with his eyes closed, reminded me of Dumbledore for some weird reason).

The museum area was fun for the little guy as he tried his hands at every toy around. It’s definitely a place to be, when you have nowhere else to be. I am sure Kochunni will outgrow the place quickly, since it is really a mini zoo cum museum but for the opportunity it provides with its clean surroundings and close to the heart of the bay area and light on the purse (they only ask for a merger $3 donation) it is well worth it. (recommended to all bay area moms and dads)

The next day we decided to make a trip down further to the Oakland Fairyland. Now this is definitely a privatized version of Palo Alto Zoo, and no I am not even comparing it to Disneyland with its acres of attractions and fun.Its definitely not a place to be if you have a kid who is over 3 (max 4) once past that age it’s a sheer waste of time and money. But for a two/three year old it can be fun. For a two year old its more about the slides, the whale (Kochunni was so happy trying to get to the little fishes on the slippery slope) and the little carousal. For a three old who knows all the rhymes and nursery stories, it can probably be a wonderland – with the puppet shows, different set ups based on the stories. As for us, (the grey haired oldies) you can be happy if you see a happy child right! Ah well! Of course, you cannot get in without a child (there is a board at the front desk – No child without adult and no adult without a child) so I guess they are fair. One tip: If you are taking a boy – don’t bother with the Magic key – he is not going to have the patience of inserting it into the boom box and listening to the song, when he can rather run in circles trying to make his mama lose some weight. So if you still have a toddler at your house, do make a trip – don’t compare it to Disneyland and you shall have a day of fun.

By Monday I was down with a cold and woke with my eyes burning hot and heavy (I think it was my husband who brought it home last weekend from office, I just hope the buck stops with me). We decided to call it a movie day and ended up watching one of my favorite police detectives John McClane see what he does best – beat up bad guys at their own game in Live Free and Die Hard. So what if the story had holes in it like the size of the watermelon, if he can still say his famous line “Yippee ki yay …” with a sly smile on his face I am down for another movie all about McClane! :D

So that was our weekend, and I am now looking forward to a short week and of course high hopes for a special day tomorrow! ;) How about you, how was your last weeks of summer?