Jinxed!

Well... hell's broken loose around here!

The past few days have seen her breaking quite a few things inclusive of her!!! :D

1. She decides to run down the stairs just coz Worldspace plays a nice peppy number and in the bargain slips and slides and has a few bruises to show for it!!!

2. The beds in the house are those storage type box beds and to support the top plank are several wooden rods inside. Now on one of those rare moments that she decides to sort things out she convenienly forgets her weight and sits on one of those support rods... lo and behold! Crack..! and full break!!!

3. She's adjusting the kitchen curtains without removing the glasses on the platform! (Bond me Bond after all!! ) Yup... 3 glasses have 'She did it!' written on their epitaph!!

4. This one takes the cake!! It's worth an oscar really!!!!!! She takes the car out... (ab tha thoda kaam and she was reluctantly entrusted with it! She's quite dangerous when driving anyways.... It's like the bumper should actually read 'brakes are my best friends! I assume they're always on!!') Khair.. coming back to the point! Very conveniently she gets out of the car and locks it... 3 seconds! Shit!!! The keys are still in the ignition!!!!!! The car is completely locked! All windows rolled up... dikki also band! She looks around... she knows she needs a scale... she walks up to a stationary guy and makes her saddest 'damsel in distress' expression! (yes she can manage it!) And goes.. 'Uncle vo actually car me chaabi bhi lock ho gayi hai... aap please ek scale de sakte hain thodi der ke liye?' 'Haan beta... ye lo!' (daya ki drishti!!) It doesn't work! She hits minor panic and calls up her cousin!

She: 'Bhai locha hai... gaadi me chaabi band hai!'
Bhai: 'Kya panga hai.. auto le ghar ja duplicate la!' (typical bhopali accent!!)
She: 'Nalayak! Ghar ki chaabi bhi glove box me hai!'
Bhai: 'Abe oye! Nalayak tu ki mai?!!'
She: 'haan theek hai theek hai abhi footage mat kha... bol kya karne ka hai?'
Bhai: 'Scale try kar..'
She: 'Itni akkal hai!! Nahi kaam kiya...'
Bhai: 'Lock mila?? locate hua scale se?'
She: 'Haan.. par khul nahi raha!'
Bhai: 'Ek taar le... usko hook ke jaise ghuma aur fir lock k vahan daal k kheench... nahi hota hai to bata mereko.. mai aata hai fir!'
She: 'Try karti hoon,,,'
Bhai: Cuts the call!!

She... finds a harware store and take 2 of the staionary scene happens till the old uncle gives her a pre twisted wire! Woman with a mission wlaks confidently accross to the car and starts the operation! In a matter of seconds the car is unclocked... And the smile on her face is enuff to light up the whole chowk!

Just then... Mobile rings!Bhai!
Bhai: 'Ho gaya ki aana padega?'
She: 'Dun! Thanx!'
Bhai: 'Ghar pe kisi ko batana hai??'
She: 'Kya bhai! Bilkul bhi nahi!'
Bhai: 'Theek hai...!'
She: 'Haan haan theek hai! Hisaab barabar ho jayega!'
Bhai: 'Chal fir! bye!'

In between.. she's found time to message a few friends of her predicament and none of them had a solution to offer! MITE had just this to say after the whole episode: 'U can be a professional chor!' (He heard about the times I've broken a lock with my hammer in hostel!!) and Ankur had the same thing to say.. Ankur n me even went onto plan ki kabhi gaadi kahreedni nahi padegi mujhe!!! :P

Yeah yeah yeah! Khurafaati dimaag! :D

Li'l Miss Jinx ain't I but? (ok! not so li'l... achcha theek hai Motee Jinxed!') :P

Luv ya all!

By the way... the door light of the car has also decided to konk off!

To Kota!

Well.. Kota's been havin a hard time lately! For those wondering why he's still wondering why I called him a womaniser in a previous post and for the rest.. 'yeah yeah! its another normal day for Kota!' :D But wats different here is that he admits to be 'thinking!' (now ain't that rare!) :D

And to think I have that effect on him!! Quoting him, 'You always manage to make me think!' (Ya Rabb! Maine itna ghor paap kiya aur mujhe pata bhi nahi!!)

Kota don;t kill me for this! :) I just couldn;t help myslef from putting this here!

For all dyNIMites who happen to read this... Howz it goin?! :)

I saw a sign..!

Sitting in her comfort corner she could hear thunder and wild rustling of the leaves… she walked up to the window to see lightning strike and something inside her churned… she jus knew something was going to change…

She’s His sweetest child… and whenever she’s doin something He either approves or disapproves of He gives her a sign.. He leaves it to her to interpret it… It’s taken a long time but she’s finally worked that out… If there’s no rain she needs to rethink and if it rains… all her troubles are being washed away and He’s sitting there smiling down at her…!

Well… it rained! :) And she watching the rain… she decided to get a lil wet too but then sat there looking at it for the longest of moments and a smile traced its curve on her face!

Sometimes in life.. all we need is a sign..! And then the world is ours to conquer! The sign at times can be as simple as rain or as giving as a friend’s advice or just a warm reassuring hug! It’s your sign.. you see it and you recognize it!

Her current thoughts: ‘There’s a kind of hush around her… but its like a waiting to exhale kinda situation… two steps further there’s a hurricane happening! She wonders when she’ll venture there… but she’s sure she’ll keep her peace and come out of it sane enough!’

"I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone"
(Green Day)

For the time being, materialistic pleasures surround her! Lots of shopping (which dear darling sis says is a high only women can understand! :D), the work still keeps her a lil occupied and the joys of good food surround her!

.....

"And in her quiescnece she lies..
Wanton thoughts of stormy skies..."
- Aneesha

Another Day... Another Way...

A day when she was made to sort out her 'daaj'! (All the stuff like bedcovers, table cloths, home stuff, rugs etc etc etc... and saris that her parents will lovngly give to her when it's time for her vidaai!)

Imagine the emotion right now: Mom!! Are you crazy or something??!! I'm not getting married for so much time now (I avoid saying 3-4 yrs to her... for want of keeping the peace!) and this stuff is for like the vidaai!! Theek thaak to ho? I dnt even know the kind of ghar.. the kind of life I'll have in a month from now when I start work and ur discussing this years away thing with me?? Are you sure aapne koi ladka to nahi dhoond rakha??!! Fuming, furious.... Mum's calm reply, 'Darling this is the only time you have to sort out the stuff... ek baar ghar se gayi to tu gayi... 5 din me shaadi karayegi! I know you!' She just looks at the cieling.. says her prayers and actually begins to sort out the stuff... what she thinks and imagines she will want if and when she gets married!!! They so freak me out sometimes!!!

Her prize: A movie!
Which one? Namastey London!
Review: Pathetic!! :D Mom just looked at her and said, 'Mera bahut mann hai ye movie dekhne ka!' Ab mann ka koi kya kare... chalo fir! Total punju movie.. overly punju!! The one scene of a rugby match if the Indians Vs the Brits actually has me in splits... Rishi Kapoor calls the Jat Akshye Kumar and tells me, 'Ye le gaind (ball).. aur saand (bull of sorts) di tarah daud ke goal me chak de!' Bas fir kya tha... He cught hold of the ball and ran.. ran ad ran... Imagine Jerry running from Tom and successfully getting into his hole... And now picture Akshay Kumar as Jerry and the whole Brit team as Tom!! And picture the same for a consecutive 4 goals!!! :DDD

The song in her head: (please don't scream!) Tan Tana Tan Tan Tan Tara... Chalti hai kya 9 se 12?!! :P

Dayz at home....

3 Rambles... sitting at home for want of the Internet and writing to myself... :) Well.. broadband chaalu now and the blog should be back to being regular now!

Date: April 07, 2007 Time: 14 past Midnight!

Yup I’m home… N taking on my various roles… Errand boy, Man Friday, Electrician, Mechanic, Cook, Teacher even!!

Chill… smoothen the lines on your wondering face and read on…

The day begins lazily enough but there’s always something like the tubelight konking off or the car tyre going flat etc etc…! N yours truly comes to the rescue! From Bank jobs to supermarket running to sabji shopping..! :)

Missing: time for herself and someone.. anyone to listen to her constant bakar!! And so she conveniently shifts herself to the upper floor of the house and calls it her own… and sits down to write (to post it later for want of the Internet) so that you guys can jhelo her bakar!

Predictions: ‘Iski 6 mahine me shaadi kara do nahi to pakka kuch to panga karegi!’ & Another one that says, ‘she’ll have a late marriage and then an extra marital affair as well!’ Chak de fatte!! :P

Repurcussions: less than 7 days at home and sabki zubaan par ek hi line, ‘tere liye ladka dekh rahe hain!’
Yours Truly: ‘Kyn bhai???!!!’
Dusri line: ‘Kaisa ladka chahiye?’
Yours Truly: (mann hi mann) ‘Dhoondte reh jaoge!’ (n out loud) ‘haal filhaal koi bhi nahi…!’
Teesri line: ‘Koi hai to bata de…’
Yours Truly: (again mann hi mann) ‘Hmmmm…..’ (n out loud) ‘Ya Right!!’

Mami: ‘so now we’r on the lookout for you..’
YT: Not interested Mami..
Mami: arre par dhoondna to padega na!
YT: at least.. bare min.. 3 years!
Mami: your mother will sort you out! 3 years!! Dream on girl!!
YT: Ma ko mai samjha chuki hoon!
Mami: aise thodi hi hai ki nukkad pe khada hai aur hamne pasand kar liya.. waqt lagta hai!’
YT: forget waqt shaqt mami! 3 years k pehle to don’t even start searchin!
Mami: I already have one!
YT: (mann hi mann ek baar fir!) Bas yehi bacha tha! Itni katha aur fir ye!!!!!! (out loud again..) Mami still not interested..
Mami: (now goes on and on without paying any heed to the refrain of ‘not interested’!!!!) Arre actually a friend of mine mailed, maine to mail abhi padhi bhi nahi hai, Mamaji read it upar upar se since it was my friend’s mail na…! (YT mann hi mann… bachaaaaaaaaaoooooooo!!!) The boy is very well settled.. very sweet boy… she did say she’s looking for a girl for him.. He’s in England you know! (Background me se Mamaji… ‘bol bol.. ek baar milegi to at least!) And he’s working with the Swiss Bank!
YT: (finally breaking through it all…) Mami talk to Mom!!
YT’s Mom: Oh wow!!! Swiss Bank! Beta kya buraai hai? Rich guy… u anyways need a millionaire! (yup she said need! She seriously thinks I’m heavy duty high maint!)
YT: Cut it out Ma!! Lets go! (They were in Ma’s clinic and her only rescue was the clock showing 9:10 pm whereas the clinic should’ve closed at 8:30!!)

Next up: Bua!! ‘Nilu maine teri beti k liye ek ladka dekha hai!’
YT’s Ma: (knowing that if this call is entertained the night is screwed!): ‘Nahi Bhabhi… she’s not interested abhi… baadme kabhi baat karte hain!”
YT: Baat?? Abt what??
YT’s Ma: (signals silence to her and continues to chit chat with bua!)
YT: conveniently walks into the TV room and lets the noise of the idiot box engulf her!!

In a wile: Pring Pring! Again!!!

Masi: Hi beta!
YT: (always happy to hear Masi..!) Hi Masi! How ru??
Masi: (completely ignores the question and proceeds…) So teri shaadi ka kya plan hai ab? Ladka dekhna shuru kare??
YT: sighs! (short lived joy!) Not for at least 3 years Masi!
Masi: Aise thode hi.. ek saal bas!
YT: Talk to Mom Masi… (and runs for cover!!)

Go ahead.. ask her what’s with the 3 years funda… ‘In 3 years I’ll be 27 or somewhere there! Tab khojna shuru karenge to kaafi dhoondna padega.. Ladki vaise hi Manglik hai! (yeah yeah! Cheers to me! :P) So effectively another year gets safely added to their search… 28! She’s hoping for one more year.. 29ish! 5 saal to tale.. baaki ki baadme sochenge!! :D’

Question 2 in your heads… ‘Why’s she running from shaadi?’ Answers: ‘She has the answers but she can’t tell ‘em to you just yet…’

In the meanwhile… People have started receiving their offer letters and she’s still wondering where hers will be!!

Also.. a deeper look at the social fabric around us.. A beggar takes the name of ‘Shani Maharaj’ every Saturday and earns big money.. more than what the minimum wage act prescribes for him if he works everyday! Yup: Instead of earning 2100 + Overtime working everyday apart from Sundays in a month he prefers to earn 3500 only ‘begging’ on Saturdays and squandering the rest of the week (True story..)! All this in the name of superstition! This needs to change if India truly wants to turn into ‘Splendid India’ (as quoted by a great friend!) ‘Beta dua milegi…’ and plink goes a coin in the beggar’s vessel! Bhagwan ke naam pe fir chaahe kuch bhi kara lo…!

Head nodding away into nodland now.. sleep well till my next bakar..!! :D

Next Bakar: Date: The very next day! Time: Sometime after the Miss India Contest!!

The day began with her assuming role of teacher cum manager for ‘The Learning Tree’! It’s something Ma’s started.. a franchisee actually of Mastermind’s Abacus where they make you use the abacus to do all kinds of arithmetic and you eventually learn to do it fast enough in your head without the abacus! It’s called ‘Brain Development’! (remember the pamphlets Ma n me had dropped on our post diner adventure? That was for this!) Well.. I have a class of 8 really sweet kids who wear their Learning Tree Red T-Shirts and come to class for two hours every Sunday morning! :)

They look at me n Mom and go, ‘Good morning Ma’am’ and all you can do is smile back and look on amazed…! Eager, curious, sometimes nervous, impatient, happy, mischievous children! (The minute they get a moment they love to chit chat away and yours truly conveniently asks them to use their brains and move on to the next exercise!) :P

Clichéd as it is, I’m not the only teacher there.. they all teach me too! It’s quite an experience.. in the 2 hours I spent with them today my biggest lesson was ‘Patience!’ Some are so fast they’re always on the next page… the others are slow and you need to teach them and then re-teach them… talk to them, make sure they understand… Make sure they can keep pace… The differences of human nature make themselves so visible that they are hard to ignore.. and it’s seriously phenomenal!! Happy, quiet, naughty, talkative, pranksters, shy and subtle…. But li’l darlings all of ‘em! (This from a person who’s never really been all that fond of kids… I’ve liked them.. but from a distance.. This has been my first close brush with them and I’m enjoying the painting that’s being created!)

My services did not go unrewarded… the teacher cum manager was rewarded with her first salary! ‘A cadbury’s fruit n nut!’ :D

Referencing back to the Miss India contest… The saris were nice but it was evident that none of them had walked in a sari before the D-day!! (sad…! To all you people who want to understand the romance of a sari go here.) One question that was asked provoked some thought in my head..

Ques: If you had to devote your life to a social cause which would it be and why?
A very typical question… notice the ‘if you HAD TO’! My instant thought was female foeticide.
The why is anwered by these statistics:

"In India, the 2001 census reveals that the overall sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males, showing a marginal increase of 6 points from the 1991 census of 927. However, this is a very sorry state indeed and we are doing much worse than over a hundred years ago when the sex ratio was 972 in 1901, 946 in 1951 till the 933 today.

The child sex ratio is another story altogether. This child sex ratio has shown a steady decrease since 1961 and shows no signs of improving. From the 976 in 1961, we moved to 964 in 1971. In 1981, we evidenced a further decline to 962 and even further to 945 in 1991. Today the child sex ratio is 927, a full 18 points drop. This can only mean one thing. More and more baby girls have either been aborted or killed as infants since 1961 and that this trend continues strong even today. Indeed, an improvement in the child sex ratio has only been marked in one state, Kerala, and two Union Territories, Lakshwadeep and Pondicherry. Everywhere else, there is a decrease in the number of girls. The greatest offenders in this area are the northern and the western states, with Punjab and Haryana leading the pack. In Punjab, the child sex ratio has decreased by 77 points to a new and horrifying low of 798 females to a 1000 males, and Haryana has seen a decrease of 60 points, meaning there are now only 819 females to a 1000 males. Other offenders high on this list are Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and Gujarat. What is also disturbing is that this trend is also noticeable in other states, which evidenced a relatively healthy child sex ratio in 1991 and has now radically decreased.

Using the statistics, it has in fact been calculated that more than a hundred million women are missing. A hundred million women who should have been part of this society have been denied a life because their parents wanted a son."

(Taken from http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/new_links/eff.pdf.) Scary right??

Another question about your biggest strength and weakness brought back memories of all the SWOT’s we’ve done for ourselves and for various industries, organizations, case study analyses, project reports et al!!! MBA revisited! :)

Wanton thought: Variation is life’s only constant! Cheers!

And Here I Am, This is Me again! Date: Now April 11 (past midnight na! :D)

The line’s of the blog’s description have been playing over and over in my head…

The day has been quite uneventful as such…

1. Meeting with the tax consultant… not for me re! For the school that I’m teaching in and managing.. ‘Learning Tree’ to discuss and figure out the documents that need to be in order and the kind of taxes that will be levied etc. etc.!

2. A trip to the station to meet the rare part of the family that’s actually thin!!! A cousin of mine! How she manages to stay that patla when even her genes defy that is always amazes me!!

3. Next up… A call from my sibling wishing me ‘Happy National Siblings Day!’ :) A prompt call to all my other siblings followed and the telephone company benefited!! :P

4. A finaliazation of the designs I came up with for redoing the Interiors of a factory office… A large chunk of empty space… 4 walls, a floor and a roof and my imagination to play around with! It’ll be blue and pine wood now… a break from the metallic feeling of the fabrication unit! There’s this cutest dog, Ronnie there and he totally freaks out on Parle-G! :) he’s getting used to my presence there!

5. A call on the landline that I happened to receive which went, ‘Hello Mummyyyy… mai Rohit bol raha hoon!’ My only reaction – ‘Beta number check karo ek baar… mai aapki mummmmyyyy nahi hoon!’ :P (My Mom’s reaction to that was uncontrollable laughter!!)

6. A post dinner walk with Mom and Nirma relived! Found two cute pups and played with ‘em.. Ma’s frightened reaction was come away.. they’re stray.. thoughts of disease and then their mother attacking rushed to her head all at once!! (Mothers!!! And the rare occasion that mine exhibits typical Mommy behaviour!) My first thought was actually of Baba and Blacky! Blacky could simply sniff out Baba and then would come running from totally out of nowhere and grab his leg! After recieveing a lot of petting and pampering Blacky was firmly told to stay and the sweet li’l thing would actually stay put wagging his tail vigorously!

That’s about it!

And so she convocates...

She remembers she promised you a long post on this one... But she's waiting... She'll keep her promise... but not just as yet...

Till then..

'Life is like a football field and you are the goalkeeper... Every ball that is saved from going into the goalpost goes unnoticed and uncheered... that one ball that makes its way through... well...' (need i say more...!) - Sunil Mittal

Just as she pulled the LAN wire from it's socket and shut down her laptop to look at her room one last time... to take it all in to keep with her, 'for always'... a tiny lil tear drop made its way down her cheek...

And yes... just saw Mira Nair's Namesake... A line that just keeps ringing in my head over and over.. 'For once I was more caught up in someone else's name than mine!' And then Shakespeare said, 'What's in a name?!'

Truly asking what's in a name? Have you at any point felt that your name or its meaning have actually floated into your life forming you and creating you? shaping who you are today? I know I have felt like that...

Ok.. revelation. The name is Aneesha... and that means 'uninterrupted!' while another spelling 'Anisha' is different and means 'Dawn'! And yes they have been confused more than once!!!! :)))