A weird soul

So I find time to post something and I'm totally out of inspiration, and Axe, that jobless dude tagged me again (like a gazillion years ago). And right now I'm in a weird enough mood to actually respond to a tag like that!

What 6 things make me weird? Am I weird at all? Ah well... let's see...

1. When I'm down or off colour, my idea of getting back into the swing of things is to cook a really elaborate meal. And not eat it.....

2. I love pedicures. A pedicure is always the answer... no matter what the question.

3. I refuse to use leather so that I can hide my (lack of) taste in footwear... handbags too. Well, as a secondary thought, it's disgustingly politically correct to boot... and goes perfectly well with my current PFA, PETA and other assorted crusades.

4. I dislike having to use the same brand of shower gel/cream twice in a row. And yes, the brands are necessarily NOT tested on animals.

5. I can't desist from buying pans. A good saucepan is perfect retail therapy!

6. I do not like conversation while I'm having my morning cuppa. I despise any disturbances then. I'd rather forgo my tea if I can't have some in total peace and quiet. I also do not like anyone else using my favourite tea-mug.

That was rather tame, wasn't it? I always loved to think I was weirder than anyone else. Why conform? Darn... I really need to redo that list. I refuse to be that tame!

And I'll be weird(er) by not tagging anyone else..... so there!

And if you think you're weird, please go ahead and tag thyself!

New Year Resolutions

It's March, you say? A little late in the year, you think? Ugadi does count as New Year... so there!

I'm sick of bills and letters to occupant in my mailbox. And I've cribbed about it before. So, here's my resolution. I'm going to write a letter a week from now on. Anyone friend that e-mails me their snail-mail address gets a letter.

Here's the catch. My mom taught Aditi the rudiments of composing a letter. So you'd get a note from her too. And do reply...

Let's revive a lost art.

Who's on first??

A pink slip...

... for the weatherman.

All assorted weather widgets insist it's a cloudy day. And it's snowing... and I have a large laundry load including linens.

According to at least 4 different sources, it's between 8 and 12 degrees (in metric units, of course!).. and ranges between cloudy and partially cloudy. So is my window out into the world wrong?

Fire the man, I say... or I wonder if I could sue? Hmmm....

Better still get the weather guys to do my laundry....

Even better, get Arun take the afternoon off and look after the kids, and I go out and build a snowman. And then come home to hot masala tea and spicy, piping hot pakodas!!!

And I can hear the balloon of delusions popping :)

Anything for a friend.....

Dear friend Axe is all jittery
He needs help in a hurry
His 'Sangeeth' is looming,
With no ideas blooming,
So lets put him out of his misery.

So all you stinking mutts
Get off your lazy butts
So lets start to think,
And get some pen and ink
And help Axe out of his rut.

So put it all down on paper,
before your thoughts start to taper
Send them to me,
The world shall see,
Your take on his wedding caper.

A whole new ballgame

What is parenting all about?

An acceptable answer would be, 'It's an exercise by adults who think they are smart, trying to outsmart a kid who's way smarter than the parents think'. Plenty shmart....

This is the sporadically updated scoreboard of that game called parenting.

Set 1:
Parents want to communicate and at the same time do not want little ears listening. So parents think, lets communicate in a language the kid doesn't know. Parents decide to communicate in Hindi.
Score: Parents 1 : Kid 0

Set 2: Parents realise that kid picks up on key words in the conversation, and makes some sense of it.
Score: Parents 1 : Kid 1

Set 3: Parents start to spell out things.
Score: Parents 2 : Kid 1

Set 4: Kid starts to take guesses at what parents are spelling out. Gets some stuff right.
Score: Parents 2 : Kid 2

Set 5: Arun has a request. He yells out, "Neeche se D-I-A-P-E-R leke aana". Aditi leans close to me and whispers, "Appa diaper kondu vara sollara" (Appa asked you to get a diaper)

Game, Set and Match: Aditi.

Somehow, I don't see us winning this game... not now, not in the near future, not ever...

And i don't mind losing....

Talk about lazy

A fridge that tosses chilled beer to you??

Now that it's been built, the perfect investor is probably way too lazy to write out the cheque!

I love...

... Cooliris for Firefox.

And it works well with Windoze too.

Ah winter!

My first white winter, and I love it! Our little neck of the woods has turned into a winter fairyland. Think of the winter scene from the movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". This isn't too different from that. Just way prettier.


Around the time mommy left it started getting sunny, and last week I thought I'd create more closet space and put away my bulky down coat. After 2 weeks of incessant sunshine, I decided I could make do with layering and a fleece jacket.

Now the powers-that-be-in-charge-of-weather got a kick out of getting it to rain when they knew I wasn't carrying an umberella. No one told me that they had such a warped sense of humor. They waited for me to put away my bulky coat, and then decided to let it snow. Not just snow, but a foot and a half overnight.

I'm not complaining, but it's just that I don't care too much about the latest fragrance I'm sporting.... Eau de Mothballs

That picture in the middle is an abstract interpretation of a snowman. About 3ft high. My first attempt at (abstract) snow art. Move over, Picasso!

The end of an affair

All that bandwidth and no movie downloads; what a waste!

Thus spake well (un)known philosopher-in-training, Hemant D Galagali.

That, unfortunately, is what the blokes in charge out here are implementing these days.

Just about everyone I know in this neck of the woods (read all desis I know..) seem to have got ardent love letters from their ISPs asking them with all passion and romance to please remain faithful, and not download any output from the motion picture industry. I rejoiced that I hadn't received any love-letters. Unless someone told me otherwise, I intended to watch as many of the latest motion pictures as possible.

Then, one day, out of the blue.... the phone rang.

It was the dreaded pyaar-ka-sandesa, delivered over the phone.

Moral of the story:
Moral, what moral??

Just keep your nose clean. Cease and desist from nefarious activities.
If you want to watch a movie, wait for it to hit the local theater. If it doesn't, then too bad.

Ah well, now my entertainment totally depends on what DVDs my desi grocer in Tokyo sends over with my monthly orders, and on the largesse of li'l sister.