High on Life

This post is inspired by Bindu's post on "Her favourite Things" and Solitare, who has tagged me to list "51 Things that make me Smile" ...The post has to be up by Feb 14th is wat the tag rules say!51 things, thats quite some challenge!But I'm upto it and am working on it... Thanks Solitare.. the 2nd time around :-) The title of this post is High on Life coz I'm thinking of fav things, things that make me smile, the small joys of Life...n once u start thinking therez just no way one can remain sad. Your forced to smile and get High on Life!!

Until 20 it wasnt too bad and then it got hard....n when i was doing the last 10 or so, I suddenly had so many more things...n so had to combine a few points!Yayeee...i'm finallllly done !

Good Luck to all of u all reading it, hope u read this until the end!

1. The rainbow
2. Goin thru’ cards received in the past.
3. Goin thru’ photographs which bring back the ol’ times
4. Stayin up all thru’ the nite n talking endlessly with my fav bunch of girlfriends
5. My “Happpy Budday!”
6. Cards that have meaningful words and the words are meant truly!
7. Gifts n if its a surprise Gift…bigger smile
8. Chaat..pani puri, sev puri , samosa-chat all of ‘em….yuuuum!
9. Junk food –lays, French fries, veg puff, samosa
Touchwood..I wonder how I’ve been consistent between 40 and 42 kgs for the last 6 yrs or more!
10. Hugs n kisses – loads of ‘em
11. Catchin up with long lost friends after ages!
12. Board Games nite and of course winning ‘em makes it better!
13. Watchin the sit-com Friends or stand-up comedy shows with a close bunch of friends thru’ the nite..
14. An afternoon of great movies, chips/popcorn, good company n rain outside
15. Nite-outs n Memories of the “Sloshed times” hic..hic
16. Genuine Compliments
17. Comments on my blog
18. Long walks
19. Feeling Beautiful
20. Saturday mornings – which are dedicated to chatting with mom n dad
21. Mavs meet at Coffee Day every Saturday evening (while in India)
22. The thot of returning home - Bangalore
23. Long Drives
With some amazing music playing in the car or jus the wind if its a bike
24. Vacations
25. Road Trips
The longest has been from Montpelier, VT to Niagra Falls, NY/Canada to Toronto to Baltimore, MD and back to Montpelier,VT. Think it was 4 or 5 days trip! Hope there are longer ones in store!
26. A Break from the Routine
27. Dancing
28. Prayers
It helps retain the faith n to continue to hope
29. A good Bargain
Malls are okay for window-shopping but the joy of shopping on Mumbai or Delhi streets is unbeatable!
30. Good (pleasant) weather
31. My collection of junk jewelry
32. Chocolates
Especially 5-star!!
33. Lighting Candles- signifying spreading peace n love.
Finding this one hard to explain, but I hope you guys get wat I’m talking about. That’s how I brought in the New Year this year, n it was a brilliant feeling!
34. Diwali – Diyas, lights, mithai, and not to forget new clothes
35. Seeing and holding a new born
36. A good pep talk – receiving and giving
37. Being told I’m worth it!
38. A bonus (pay-wise)
39. A hard day’s (or week’s!!) work of cleaning up home and looking at the accomplished job with pride!
40. Playing “Agony Aunt” successfully!
41. Thinking about the “times together” before marriage. The Dating Days are some of the best times!
42. Mehndi and the design & color after - on my hands n legs
43. The fact that so many people care for me!
44. Favorite people :
The Hubby – Vinod!
Family- nanaji, nani, ma, pa n Sums
Rishab (sister’s li’l boy)
Friends – Div n the rest
45. Writing/ receiving long never-ending emails/ letters
46. Reading books
The ones that make u cry n laugh n feel with ‘em.
47. Raw mangoes, with salt n chilly powder on ‘em.. (Mouth-watering!)
48. A day at my regular beauty parlor in Bangalore
Aunty would pamper us with manicure, pedicure, a clean-up, massage, some gossip, jokes and plenty of warm talk!- ohhh I so miss it!
49. Visit to the cup-vision lady with Div
oh this one is hilarious, may be I should write a blog on it!
50. The smile on kids’ faces in a charity home/school for the poor when u give them a 50 paise toffee and all of ‘em screaming at once “Thank You akka” .
51. The feeling of Having Done it all and Said it all… (That’s the feeling I want to end my life with!)

Anyone can feel free to tag 'emselves n all those who are "not feelin so good" , must do this tag!

Smilin me :-)

Today evening I was at the Mandir and suddenly this old "aunty" looks at me and says "Are you married?You look so young" A li'l surprised to be questioned randomly by a stranger I said "Yes". Guess she figured from my Mangalsutra. Next Q "What's ur age"..I'm embarassed but don't know how to tell a lady as old as my grandmother "Mind ur own business", so i tell her my age.Then she proceeds to say/scream "Its hard to believe ur "x" yrs old or that ur married. U look 18 or 19.Your so small." I'm confused about whether I should feel complimented or insulted!

At this point I want to flee but just take one step backward. she continues to question me... talking and laughing so loud, I felt all the people in the temple were looking at us .

"Is the guy who was with u ur husband? " I say a meek "Yes ". She says "You both look like kids.so young.How long have u been married for?" I say "Over a year" and can't take it anymore, I start walking away..As a parting shot she screams at me "Have a baby soon" !!!!

I was furious and embarassed as people around me gave me sympathetic looks ,wicked smiles and uncontrollable giggles!!!

Love Vs Like !

Most of u would have heard this from me before .. "I think Love is overrated".. its used so much that now its become hard to u'stand when it is said genuinely, in the true sense.

I remember a friend once said "I love my mom" n I remember I said "Well, I LIKE mom ,n that for me is far beyond love". Its just my opinion!

Today I was reading a book at Barnes n Nobles n it said "It is not Love that makes Relationships, It is Like" ! Yayyye.. finally sumone understands what I mean!

WHY ME??????????

From Jan 21st to Jan 31st.... I could have easily been one of the happiest people on planet earth. Sumthing I was waiting n praying n hoping for had happened, or atleast it felt like it had happened. Vinod n I translated our dreams into plans...n was almost going to start executing it n then boooom...jan 31st n they all got crushed.. I was back to Square One... facing the same Qs, same confusions, same problems...it was never-ending !!!

I ask of God... Why Me? Why the same problem for so many days...almost a year! ? Why raise hopes n make us happy n hopeful for a brief 10 days?

It wasn't fair....nothing was...There is a battle goin on inside my head......

One half is trying to convince me "All That Happens is for the best!" . "Leave it to God, He'll take care", "Count ur blessings, ur a lucky child", " U know u have committed some mistakes"

The other half says "All thats been happening with u, has definetly not been for the best" "The problem cld have continued,why did he have to make it look like things were good for 10 days?" "U have seen luckier people. Ur not being dealt with in a fair manner" , "Everyone makes mistakes, u realized n asked for forgiveness"

The second half won... I feel God is having the last laugh! I'm not about to lose...I'm gonna fight..for a change, alone and not with God by my side!

PS : In a weird state of mind, I hope I don't regret this post!

SabseBolo

Thank You Sabheer Bhatia! ... Why Sabheer Bhatia of all the people you may ask...Read on

Well, he has introduced the new concept of dialling into a conference- sabsebolo (For me its new, so pls dont tell me its been there for donkeys years n I know only now!) . The facility basically allowes upto 10 people from any part of this planet to get into a conference call by dialling a single number.

All you have to do is Register and get a personal Conference ID & pin #... @ no cost and give them to the people who you want to get into a conference with. For more details check http://sabsebolo.com/ConferenceIndex.jsp .

This Saturday morning I woke up early..8:30 am , coz Vinod had set up one such conference for me. My mausa-maasi & thier 2 boys , my mama-mami & thier 2 kids, nanaji-naniji , Sums-Jeej-Rishab, Mom-Dad and Vinod & me... all logged into the call and it felt like one big party! Almost like we had gathered together for a function!Spent quite a few hours on the call...We even had Rishab ( he just turned 2!) say rhymes for us...

Now, if thats not a well spent Republic Day , I wonder wat else is! Tht was a happy morning for me!:-)