Mind of an orchid

Image via crestock.com

It was a quiet year and I say this because 2006 wasn’t really a milestone year in anyway- I did not graduate or have a baby or even become pregnant or move to another city or win the power ball lottery, simply put, I did not engage in any life-changing activity. But that’s just my life- as ordinary as one can be. I am not sure if I should rejoice at the fact or be pained that I lead such an uneventful existence. But still if I look around me, so much is happening and I wonder if I can really ignore all or any of these issues at all because they are not of any personal consequence. Iraq is now in an open civil war and 100’s if not 1000’s continue to die. I am not going to question the war itself or even express any opinions. I think that is a task for the mainstream media. There are times, however, when I pause to stop and think what it would be like- to live in a war torn region, to not be able to walk out of my house without worrying about getting killed, to worry about my child’s future just because there is total destruction of my country’s infrastructure. 2006- You have made me appreciate safety and freedom just a little bit more I think.

I spent 5 months in India this year and yes, that is a luxury compared to the customary 2-4 week trips that we all manage given our hectic lives. Although I took that long a break based on my own need to get away from it all, it was still the best thing I gave my parents in a long time. How much they give and give their entire lives and so unconditionally too that the moral compass in me kept reminding me that “I” have been selfish. One day, I don’t know just yet, I might pack and move just to be closer to them. 2006- You have made me realize how much they matter.

I blog now. Is this just a passing fancy? I don’t know, maybe. Like I already said earlier, there were just too many voices in the head (no! I am not schizophrenic) that needed to be heard and the hubby wasn’t helping much either and hence the blog. Hey, at some level the sense of achievement that I thrive on is being nourished, I have met some great everyday people who have a really interesting take on life and I am shopping a whole lot less now, so…. 2006 – you helped me with this discovery about myself, how about salsa or ballroom dancing, 2007?

O.k. even if it sounds trite, I have to talk about resolutions for 07. Oh, nothing major- I want to become a stunt junkie and try out some extreme sport, I want to enter the Mrs. World pageant and win the crown and of course I want to become an opera singer, might as well put those bulges to some use!!. What??? Now you think I am truly schizophrenic and being totally delusional?? Alright, alright, that’s a li’l far fetched, I agree. But that still made you smile, didn’t it?? And that’s precisely my resolution – to take things in the right perspective and laugh more.

O.k. this is getting really long now and I need to conclude. I turned “Three-O” this past summer and I wrote about it in this post and its six months since and I continue to feel the same. I aged but I did not really grow and I am poised to greet 07 with the same degree of trepidation and anxiety. The unknown is scary, however, good bye 2006 and hello 2007!

Before and After pictures


And this time it was not just another long weekend. A and I spent most of Thursday evening putting up our “not-so-spectacular, but decent-nonetheless” tree. Yes, we got one this year! I decided it would be fun for A especially since he is into the whole “Santa Claus thing” now and I was right – it was a lot of fun for all of us even though it took us 4 hours to get the tinsel, the baubles and the lights in place. I think I am ready for a real tree next year. Hubby’s comment that our tree looks “a li’l drunk” has been bothering me the whole weekend but hey, I did the best I could. We hosted 3 families back to back and y’day A was a li’l disappointed when mom and dad were finally taking a break from partying and getting the house back into shape. Assurances that there will be more partying for New Year’s Eve seemed to help. Hubby and I also spent a lot of time listening to some good music this weekend. I know! what used to be easy and fun and mostly an everyday routine has now become an exercise that needs some time management, imagine that! Anyway listening to what once used to be a favorite track or band made me malignantly nostalgic bringing back memories of certain phases of my life. Anyway…despite all the reflecting that I am forced to do on the year that was and of course all the expectations that come with the start of a new year, this is still the most favorite part of the year for me. The holidays, friends, the festive cheer, the parties, the music- what’s not to like about it. Happy holidays everyone!

....no, seriously I did and "YOU" did too after Time Magazine declared its person or in this case "persons" of the year. O.k, I don't feel like I am contributing to the "global intellectual economy" or "seizing the reins of global media"(yet :D) like this article on CNN.com states but I am definitely one of those people who "blogs about their state of mind", (again quoting CNN) and that my friends , just made me TIME person of the year! So, here's to 2006!!

My son A was sick again and I have never needed my mother as much as I needed her this week. I felt drained and all I wanted was for her common-sense and instincts to guide me. I think even A sensed it and by day 2 he was already asking for my mom more than he was for me. It was just one of those many times when I felt very inadequate as a mother. My mom, on her part, was just a ping away, like she always is and that is comforting!
And then there is my MIL or mom-in-law. Now, the dynamics of that relation is – let’s just say different. Ours is a love-hate relation, like most MIL-DIL relations, I assume. Well, hate is a strong word but I am sure you get the picture. She is a strong woman and I respect her for that. But when there are two extremely opinionated women and when the feelings are more of mutual tolerance than of unconditional love there is bound to be frustration. Anyway, last night I was talking to her and giving her an update on how A was doing and I have to admit our conversation surprised me, pleasantly, I must add. For once, I didn’t feel smothered and even hubby looked amused as we went on for about 45 minutes and I realized we were talking about what was happening in our own lives as if we were not a part of each other’s lives. She kept her opinions to herself and it felt nice, especially after the week that it was!
Also, there are my girl friends that always seem to be just a phone call away. Day after day, I bore them with the inane details of my ordinary life and yet they listen and care. Oh! How I look forward to those phone calls when we share a laugh, bitch about our lives and the world in general and most importantly give each other tips on parenting even if most of them are our very own fledgling experiments and not at all time-tested ideas. A few giggles later I always emerge rejuvenated to deal with the insanity that is my life-sometimes a simple fix is all that takes and for that I have to thank my girlfriends.
And last but definitely not the least, there is the blog and all the people that I am interacting with, through this medium. It started out as a cathartic experience but is turning out to be so much more than that, at least for now. It feels nice to know that there are people who are actually interested to read what the voices in my mind have to say. I am getting spoilt ladies but I am not complaining. So, thank you anyway for visiting, commenting, agreeing, and disagreeing.

A, hubby and I drove down to the local public library tonight. My card had been locked for sometime now on the claims that I had failed to return a borrowed DVD. Since I could not find the DVD even after a thorough search I figured it was time to go settle the matter personally. It was a rather chilly night and hubby and A decided to wait in the car while I took care of business inside. Anyway, just as I finished settling the issue of the unreturned DVD and gathered some additional reading material for the weekend I realized the library was unusually full of people and I must add they were mostly people of Indian origin (read Desis) and I heard the words “Magic Show” being shouted all over the place. Notice I said “shouted”. I then realized that there was a Magic Show scheduled as a part of the holiday celebrations, decided that A might enjoy it and went outside to inform the men. When we returned all the desis had promptly lined up outside the room where the show was to be performed and I stood in line with A while hubby decided he would spend time reading books instead. I was appalled by what followed. As soon as the doors opened people started jostling, shoving and pushing in a bid to get inside. Inside, the hall looked exactly like an Indian marketplace or better even a crowded wedding hall where people usually turn up those decibels. I am pretty sure that even the organizers had not anticipated such a huge turnout. We, Indians are such suckers for free events! Anyway despite repeated requests by the organizers that only one adult should stay with the children, people made no attempt whatsoever to move. Overenthusiastic moms, dads, grand moms, grand dads all continued to stand there as if they were not being addressed. What part of “adults please leave, there is not enough space to accommodate the kids” is hard to understand, I don’t get? Not one person left the room even as more newcomers entered with little children. It was chaotic! Finally, one of the organizers stood on a chair by the door and started waving her hands in an animated frenzy and got some people moving. Unfortunately, not out of the door, only to the back of the hall. Anyway, the commotion dimmed a wee bit and it finally looked like the show was about to begin. However, the organizers started making more announcements, only this time it was about putting away the video cameras and reminding them that there signs all over about the same! No, people did not put them away, at least not right away, after all how could they not capture this part of their child’s growing up on tape. By now I was embarrassed and disappointed. Embarrassed because of the realization that we (again read desis) were capable of such behavior and disappointed because these were educated adults that simply chose to ignore any behavioral protocol. At this point I left the hall, A was settled and I knew he would be fine on his own and the show was only for 30 minutes, for crying out loud!! Anyway, this is all I have been thinking about the whole evening. Why did 50 odd adults behave the way they did? I know it has something to do with being Indian even though a lot of you may not agree with this notion at all. Maybe coming from a land of billion plus people where there was always more people than opportunities instills in us this sense of competition, selfishness maybe even rivalry and to some extent antagonism and hence one cannot think of anyone or anything other than their own self. Tonight, the behavior that I saw was a total contradiction of our rich cultural heritage and our extraordinary brain power. As brand ambassadors of India, we failed!
O.K. I am suffering from a serious case of blog overdose now and I need a break! So, enjoy your weekend while I enjoy mine....away from blogging.

p.s: And Madsies, if you are reading this, I think I kind of get why were saying you would not move in your post

First it was Ash and Bips and now these girls!! Why is it that some look the way they do and we do the way we do? Ladies, life could not be more unfair! I am talking about the angels (their term, not mine) from last night's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. For those of you not familiar, it is an annual advertising ritual for Victoria's Secret a top selling lingerie retailer. Their creations are fun, sexy and more often than not revealing and ofcourse some of the biggest models in fashion walk the runway in skimpy lingerie and it is aired on national TV. CBS has all the photos, if you care. But I could not resist but post a few here.

Is Justin Timberlake hoping for another wardrobe malfunction??


What's with the vintage panty!?!


No, you are not mistaken!! that is a lock and the key is in the outfit too, you just need to look harder!


It's amazing how they can manage not to trip and fall!


And that right there is a multimill bra, MILL as in 6 million $$!!!!

and a write-up on this bra in www.gizmodo.com is titled "Victoria's Secret Hocks $6.5 million bra, babe not included" You can read more here. Surely, that's a man's take!:)

I have got to stop this (writing posts on drop dead gorgeous girls) before you start wondering if I have some serious body image issues...I don't or do I?
Pictures via CBS.com

We watched Dhoom 2 this weekend. After spending the entire morning convincing hubby that he would enjoy watching the girls as much as I would the guys, I finally got him to yield. Of course, A was on my side and wanted to see "The Movie" too. So what if I made A believe that we were going to see Krrish again, after all it was Hrithik doing all the action packed sequences again right, he wouldn’t notice the difference surely…well he did and that’s another story all together. Anyway, we made it to the 6 o clock showing. I am not going to review the movie because honestly I do not like to over-analyze Hindi movies. I watch them purely for their entertainment value and do not like to question the story, the direction, the scripting or the editing. If I did then I would be left with maybe only a handful of movies to watch and I wouldn’t like that. So, even as hubby sat through the movie like he was being tortured and A kept shouting “Where is Krrish, mommy”, “No, he is NOT Krrish” and “I don’t like this movie, I WANT TO SEE KRRISH” I watched with eyes and mouth wide open. I had heard so much about the scorching screen presence of Hrithik, which was true of course but the girls - the girls were something else! Bips and Ash looked like they had been sculpted. They looked very fit and quite stunning too. However, I am not sure if Aishwarya’s air brushed look was totally necessary, in fact in a couple of scenes it looks like a bad tan job.
Bipasha was flawless and I have to give it to her for looking so comfortable in her bikini – that is not easy! We were driving back home and what should have been a 15 minute drive turned into a 45 minute journey because hubby and I got into a serious discussion about Bollywood heroes. We discussed acting capabilities, sex appeal, likeability factor, screen presence and even made some rather unfair comparisons to Hollywood biggies. I think I felt hubby was being rather unfair to Hrithik in not acknowledging that he holds a lot of potential. Anyway, Aamir Khan got hubby’s vote not just because he rates high in all the categories that we had just discussed but also because “he is man’s man”, whatever that means! Frivolous discussion? ….maybe but all that driving around certainly put A to sleep and that was one less thing I had to worry about that night.

Pictures via rediff.com
p.s: and that kiss which has made such a controversy and has even landed Aishwarya and Hrithik in a court case (I know! ridiculous as it sounds) is so lame. You can check it out on youtube. Seriously, Ash is such a bad kisser, all that controversy wasted on nothing, pity!

Avial (grand mom's version), potato raitha (mom's version) and gobi mutter masala (sia's version). Sorry, feeling lazy to post the recipes for the first two but for the third click here. Infact, I just realised that she has recipes for the first two as well and they are pretty close to mine, so there..... Thanks sia!!
Cook some good food, have some wine and as always enjoy!
and yes!!! it is sunny again in good ole Texas!!