The Road Not taken

Today on orkut i came across one of my school seniors n in her album i found the caption "An H4 and indefinite time made me an artist".This was a caption given to a picture she had made.. It got me thinking..How very true.. At one point i had to make a choice too between an H1 and H4.. Somehow the H1 thing never worked out n here i am on H4 with lots of time, resulting in the discovery of the blogger in me...
Decisions are taken everyday in our life.. from the small things like what to wear to bigger issues at work or something else.. We all take chances.. We reach a point where the road diverges.. Taking one path leaves the other unexplored.. However we never know.. Had we taken the other, some day whether it merges with its alternate choice, we dont know.. Choices galore but u can choose only one.. What a pity you have only one life!!
Sometimes u want to turn back, erase just one day of ur life.. u want to make it all just a dream..You wish that you had done or not done something.. guilt eats up ur conscience n you feel pathetic.. i had been through such phases in my life.. But then, i saw the movie "Time Machine".The hero invents the time machine sweating his blood, working day n nights so he could bring back his lost lady love by changing a freak accident which killed her in front of his eyes.. He was guilty he couldn't save her.. But when he goes back there on the time machine even though he took a different route, he lost her.. only, in a different way!!

Does it mean all roads lead to the same destination??? i don't know..
On this note i leave u with Robert frost's poem which kept ringing in my mind.. Do tell me wat thought it brings to u..


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

Ice Cream Social..

Even though i have known diya for 24 years on earth, she doesn't seem to grow up much.. for she always tends to make friends with kids if given a choice between kids n the ladies of her age who like talking abt make-up n other gossips..
So now when she has changed her status from Ms to Mrs., it becomes all the more difficult, for as u can guess, people expect her to behave u know with maturity(Not that she can't..) But she chose to keep an exception in some places like her next door neighbours from chennai.. She enjoys the company of the little gal sadhana who is 6, to her mom who is a homemaker like herself.. Instead of talking about recipes, n vegetable markets, diya likes to discuss poems n story books with sadhana.. As it has always been the little gal n diya become thick friends soon..
N it becomes kind of a routine for sadhana to drop in every evening to share her school stories for the day..
N for the last few days all sadhana has to tell me is about her ice cream social scheduled for friday, the 26Th January at her school.. She said it would be great fun, n sumhow lured us into attending it..
With a curiosity to visit an American school, n get to c a few more kids, i set out with her family to the Emerson elementary school.. The school was a cute place with lawns and play area.. Not to mention the jumping jacks the kids.. with all balloons n face art n all that..
Sadhana was very excited to show us around but alas all she could show us was the cafeteria where the ice cream stalls where put up, for her classrooms n the other sections of the buildings were locked up at that hour.. The kids were all making merry, licking ice creams n punching each other with balloons..
It was nice to see fair cute kids with blue hazy eyes.. i really thought of the song chubby cheeks, dimple chins.. for the kids actually had chubby rose cheeks.. N a complexion i really envy..
From sadhana i learnt a lot about schools here.. I was surprised at how much attention the teachers n parents give to crafts. Right from kinder garden, kids are taught glass painting, clay modelling, carpentry.. Believe me I'm not joking...
Also the parents don't need to run around from school to school, to decide which ones are good for their little ones, for here, as a thumb rule, they need to go to the school nearest to the home.. Not to mention the fact that there are no Uniforms..isn't that cool..
Also the strict driving rules when ur around a school bus..School buses are designed with special stop signs at the sides which will straighten up to render the driver at the back to stop.. Oh giving a break to school stuff, i got my instruction permit last week n driving classes will begin soon, the details of which will be posted in soon!!

Republic day special..

A small tribute to my nation.. My Mother India..

Mr. Amitabh Bachan left me speechless.. Truely inspiring.. what do u say??

An Affair to REMEMBER

She was the happiest girl on earth.. She was going to meet the man of her dreams in a short while..Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) was just minutes away from her destination when she falls prey to fate, meeting with a fatal accident..

Related to their most romantic rendezvous on top of the Empire state building is the dialogue in which Kerr says"It was no ones fault. I was looking up at heaven, because you were standing there! Oh, Nicky, if you can learn to paint, I can learn to walk again!" corny lines aren't they?? wat do u say?? Had it been last year diya wouldn't have agreed more..

She would have discarded it saying "Ah!! it can happen only in films.."

But as the Universal Story weaving machine works (see my previous post 2 weeks in US) may be the gr8 movie director of all times namely God decided to teach her a lesson..

A week before she was to meet her Nicky Ferrante, she too falls prey to a bike accident n lands up in hospital with a couple of broken bones n joints.. leaving the surgery n other misery parts, her life also was a bunch of corny lines after that.. confused?? read on...

Thanks to the director who scripted her story, she didn't have to wait for ages for Nicky to drop into her apartment one day.. Instead,on the very day of her engagement.. Under the direction of all her family, friends n well-wishers, Nicky Ferrante gave her the ring in the hospital room...That became the most astounding, awesome, unbelievable surprise of her life!!!

Truly An affair to remember!! Everyone said"Oh how romantic.. just like a film story!!"

But diya no more uses the line "Äh!! it can happen only in films.." :)

Orkut

Orkut- the happening network!! A fabulous virtual joint where u can meet allll ur friends!!!

n i must say i am a die hard fan, an addict... Ever since i joined the network in june 05, i havent been able to resist loggin into it every single day once or twice or sumtimes logged in the whole day!! To give u a picture of my passion, even on the eve of my wedding i was orkutting away to glory n my friends have asked me if I'm planning to take it even to the altar!!!

What more should i say about it.. Those of you who don't know wat it is plz log on to http://www.orkut.com/. I take this opportunity to thank the very gr8 man Mr orkut who is said to have invented this whole network... i (n like me many peers) have found long lost friends , teachers, whomever we had lost all hopes to be able to contact again in our lifetime, through orkut! Its simple amazing n orkut has given me tons of joy!!

N may be because im sooo crazy about it, the innovative wedding card which is shown in picture{plz click to enlarge} also impressed me a lot... it came to me very recently from a friend(i don't think its for real..If it is then my hearty congratulations to the coouple Also,compliments to whoever thought of this innovative idea.) and at a time when i had just finished my horrendous search for a wedding card for myself..(just kidding.. i enjoyed every moment of it ;))

Also a came across an interesting blog about orkut.. do check out http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/parastomar/68/30466/anyone-not-on-orkut.html

N let me take a little credit for myself.. please see wat PS has to say in her blog . Njoy n keep orkutting!!!

Ice storm!!

My first encounter with snow was when i was 11 years old.. We had gone to Gangtok, Sikkim on a vacation and had witnessed the snow capped mountain peaks of the khanchanjzonga..
oh how the tip of the mountain glazed in the sunlight...
But another day it was all very gloomy n cloudy.. I wanted to go n touch snow.. go n stand by the base n look at the top with my neck stretched wide.. (i somehow like doing that.. did that recently to the tall buildings in downtown..) but i was forbidden from going there into the snow..it seems the lake was frozen with an ice crust on the top and was vulnerable to break any time..But there were ppl going..on horses, by walk.. none of us went for i am a person with many constraints.. in many situations adjustment has been my best buddy..
The simple pleasures in life always made me happy.. the rain, the beach n the snow... i am waiting eagerly to get to touch n play in snow.. though i know the cold will be severe.. may be from the Enid Blyton books i read as a girl where they always played with snowmen n snow balls.. n hey talking of snow ball, it reminds me that it was the name of my favourite ice-cream parlour in cochin too..N happens to be adjacent to the auditorium where i got married :)
coming back to snow, for the past 2 days the temperatures are freezing here...
n today has not been a gud day 4 us.. We received a bad news early in the morning..
n there is ice everywhere.. we need to break the ice...
I'm just scribbling down my random thoughts.. But oh my dear readers, we r in need of your prayers...there is some shortage of time n luck n that unknown force needs to click.. life has never been a bed of flowers for me, for hospital beds scare me.. i am sorry this is not a very positive blog.. but this is me.. a glimpse of me!!!

My new AMERICAN friend

"Friends" the very popular TV show which attracted teenagers n adults alike has been my favourite too right from my high school days... Even before friends, in middle school i watched "Blossom" and "super human samurai" and "small wonder".
We had the knowledge of an American backdrop sitting on the couches of our drawing rooms n me n my sis used to drag it to our study by reading our text books with an American accent.. Those days were real fun...

Later in my office i did have the chance to have American acquaintances... n in the many chat rooms of my idle hours, i also made net friends from this side of the world.. But never did i have a real "live" American friend... Not till i met Daisy...

Daisy and i got along well from the very first meeting... We met at a party in a friend''s house and since then we have met many times.. let me tell you more abut her.. She's fair attractive n very friendly.. An awesome companion and ever bubbling with tons of energy and zeal... Somehow my chemistry with her sparkled off very well and i believe she likes me a lot too..
when i am with her time just seems to fly... i wish to have more fond memories with my sweet daisy.. my first real American friend... Do get introduced to my friend Daisy

Music Lessons!!

"tonight i celebrate my love 4 u..."
Right now i am listening to this beautiful song by Peabo Bryson &Roberta Flack.. Somehow music always does wonders to me...The worst of my mood swings gets switched in a jiffy.. Over the years i have discovered that its the best tonic i can get in any situation... I regret the times i didn’t keep ipods or Cd players handy with me.. That was until the recent past..
As we have this small chit chat lemme tell u one thing which came as a huge surprise!!! After many months after our engagement last march I made a scintillating discovery about my fiance. That was when I heard him sing.. my joy knew no bounds cos believe me it was awesome!!! I was soo happy that all that he had told me that his songs cud be compared to a donkey's bray was a lie!! he he
He is toooo gud with vocal other than his skills with the violin. N violin,again I love like crazy…(Though I cudn't resume my violin lessons for long)
N this weekend he played me “piyu bole” from the famous hindi movie “parineeta” on the piano.. N i had my first piano lessons from him. Any one who has seen the movie can feel the magic it created.. the feeling of living the “parineeta” it was panorama tic.. I don’t know It looks inexplicable to me.. i cant find words to describe the feeling..
But dear friends suni n lisha, all the overwhelming moments we had during those parineeta days were re-lived by me... :)

New Lapuuuuuuuuu!!!

I am on cloud 9!!! guess wat i no longer need to encroach into vasanth's laptop to orkut or chat or read blogs online.. We got a new laptop!! hurray...
To all my readers, if any of u dropped into my site n found that i hadn't posted anything new, plz don't be disheartened(he he i feel so gud to be writing this line like i was the gr8 Agatha Christie!!)
It was only cos my husband was on a trip to LA, along with our laptop of course..But now my new exclusive laptop is here.. plz share with me my tremendous ecstasy n have a look at our latest addition into the family :)

Kemah Boardwalk

Last weekend as weather.com showed the forecast as sunny, we planned a trip to the near-by places in houston..As i was most enthusiastic to go to any place,my husband being our guide n chauffer had to choose the place. Somehow the pick fell on a place called kemah boardwalk.

It was an hours drive from our place n it was twilight by the time we reached there..

It was a gala place with loads of sea food restaurants, liquor, boating, fun n activity.. Also were the "steve irwin's" notorious stingrays..

It was a pleasant atmosphere n also fun games n amusement rides..

Y say more.. let pictures do the talking.. But sadly, the pictures i captured being very high tech have captured the dew drops better ;)

N on the way to Kemah, these are a few pics i clicked from the car, of houston downtown..

Tex-Mex food..

I was standing amidst the long queue in front of the US consulate that early morning of december 1st.. My heart thumping, stomach jerking...I could feel goosebumps on my arms..But its not the winter..as im in chennai.. N chennai is hot n happenning!!!
My husband has left, imbibing in me all the courage n confidence he can, for me to face the interview.. But im scared.. This is goin to decide my future.. our future.. The year long wait did come to an end and we had been bonded in wedlock 4 days ago.. but the future was still a mystery..
I prayed on the names of all the hindu gods i cud remember.. i tried to look composed n calm.. am i not a software engineer afterall??? hadn't i faced ample number of interviews before?? But this one was different. After what seemed like ages i got to stand up in front of the lady who was to interview me.. i had been watching another pretty n sweet interviewer at the next counter and wished that i wud get to be interviewed by her.. but that hadn't been..N now here i was facing the ultimate..After the round of greetings she started..
"So y do u want to go to US??"
oh yeah this question was well prepared for "to accompany my husband who is working there.."
"N where in the US is he?"
"Texas"
"Oh so does he like the tex-mex food??"
"yeah"(by now i'm pretty cool n myself.. so i daringly add in wat i think wud be favourable to me"but he misses the home food.."
to which i hit the bulls-eye n the pretty pretty lady says "OOOOkkkay!! then go n cook 4 him.. i 've stamped ur visa..!!!"
phew... so i made it.. is this wat i had been painstaikingly waiting 4?? 2 minutes of interview??
however.. the tex-mex food n the idea it sparked in me was wonderful.. i kept appreciating myself 4 it..
N now here the nachos n tortilla's have truely become my favourites..
Check out the mexican tortillas(to be pronounced as totiya) n salsa with papaya..

the picture i promised ;)

The Mobile generation

I remember, I remember the day when i got my phone...

I remember ,I remember the day when i bought my new phone!!

well well.. mobile phones are an essential part of each of our lives today.. we can hardly find any professional(even college kids) without one these days..

But what i wud like to share with all of u is the time when i got a mobile phone. i was in the final semester of college and after much pleading n coaxing my father had agreed that i cud have one.. then began a whole new era in my life.. It was the most priced possession for me.. with a hoard of offers for students from the network providers galore, it sure was party time.. free sms's.. free night calls, free calls to a chosen number..n wat not.. Thanks to airtel..wat more cud college gals ask for?? we at our hostel played enough pranks with it.. :-)

N after college i entered into the privileged life of a corporate employee and after a few months i bought the most expensive thing i had ever dreamt of buying..(yes I'm a very humble person u c.. ;)) - a new mobile phone.. After much market research and studies and also falling pray to the whims of a Sony biased friend of mine.. i went n purchased the Sony Ericsson's k500i :-)

As it was new n the keypads a little hard, my sms typing skills stooped down a little.. but with the continued practice i regained my crown as the sms queen :-)

it was like a living companion to me.. always being taken care of, looked if it was fully charged.. taken out from the purse every now n then.. n of course the exclusive means to connect with family n friends.. We used to feel handicapped without our mobile phones (this is the conclusion from our all gals talks back then.) And if u were waiting alone for a friend or at a bus stop, it became a habit to keep peering onto the screen of ur mobile phone.. even though u weren't actually doin anything.. Even my writing.. its like i was typing an sms..Thus we became inseparable, until recently when i decided to part ways with it..

Leaving my pet mobile under the care n guidance of my sweet mom, i bid adieu to it.. N now from the past 3 weeks im not in possession of a mobile phone.. but somehow it doesnt make me feel weird anymore.. Also instead of simply smsing on it or playing games on it, i ve actually started doing more useful things.. i dont say i didn't read those days.. but even when i did i used to pop my head out of the book n browse through my mobile every now n then,. in spite of knowing there was nothing in it.. I cud even hear the ring tone of my mobile ringing in my head even when it was not actually ringing..

so my dear friends, i wud say i am happy i had this break from mobiles.. mobiles are gud they are really useful n sometimes very essential to us.. but dont let them overtake u to such an extent that live human beings around u are being forgotten.. treasure the people around you, the mobile generation is here to stay so u can let it go..

Kids are Angels

As i sit jobless here, my mom in law n her cousin who lives a few blocks away with her daughter and family, volunteered to give me cooking lessons.. (Oh not the most interesting of my activities.. but i agreed as i thought it wud be fun n some activity afterall)

So we fixed up a day n went to that aunt's place. she was all set to make plum cake n her grandson a cute little boy of 8 was all enthusiastic about breaking the eggs and blending the dough.. we had become buddies after 2-3 visits and he cheerfully greeted me. Although he speaks to us in english he addresses me n my husband as mai n mamu in our native language..

So as he strated off breaking eggs, i stood by him helping him.(The other ladies were busy with the more important arrangements 4 our much awaited cake.Also this was the easiest task to choose from.he he!!) But as he was an ametuer,the dough kept splatterring n that too mostly on me.. blow my light blue tee. :-( he appologised n asked me to come n stand by the other side.. i promptly did so n we resumed our process of lovingly blending the cake(those are his words ;-)) but alas.. again the cake splattered n again on me.. he looked at me n said "mai, i'm sorry but i think its ur bad day!!"then after a while he said"No mai, i think the cake loves u, thats y its always coming to u!!"

now isnt that an optimistic approach?? comin from a boy of 8, it really sounded gr8 to me..here i was moaning n whining about being bored and away from home n he was talkin about the half filled glass!!! u made my day little one.. this one is 4 u!!!

My new accessories!!!

hey i have started getting a hang of blogger.com!!
check out the new tools i have added to my webpage.. isn't it coool ???Somehow i feel as overjoyed as a little school gal who gets a new set of toys or accessories!!!
Next to orkut i've started to log into blogger!!
do watch out for more n more blogs (Hope they get better n better too ;))!!

Missing you

Please click on picture to enlarge.
The past two years when i worked in a corporate enterprise in india, forwarding e-mails was like part and parcel of the job.N i am sure somewhere durin that time i received this particular picture as we kept sending such things about missing our college lives.. But then forwarded mails were so ample in amount n kept bein tossed from mailbox to mailbox in bulk, that they hardly matterred much.
But today, once again when i found this picture from a person who sent this with a lot of emotion..I was deeply touched..
How true the words are -
Everyone now is busy a lot,
no one escaped destiny's plot.
How the very words which used to go into the trash after one glance conveyed so much today!!

This blog is a dedication to the friend who sent me this.I publish this picture here to let you know that i really am missing you a lot too.. This one picture brought back a lot of lost memories, realization of the times past, of the changes evolved.. But somewhere inside me the child still lives.The same old me, who laughed,chatted and played with buddies..careless and free..
Time and Tide wait for none
But my heart is forever young!!

2 weeks in US

As i enter into the 3rd week in Us of "A" , the feeling of settling in has sunk in.. i no more get up n stare saying "where am i??"
Now the alice in wonderland kinda feeling is withering away.. As reality looms up i realize the next phase of uncertainity..
As i look up at the blue blue sky above thinking abt almighty god, i think he is the best director ever.. of the best suspense thriller mystery stories.. not one or two but millions n millions of ppl in this universe live every second in the mystery called life, not knowing how the next reel is planned to be..
Being a software engineer i have had exposures to using differnt kids of logics to achive a task.. N when the past year put me into deep thoughts abt this mystery movie n its director, i started wondering how will he find time to write stories 4 each one of us???
Then i developed a software solution for it in my mind.. Supposing there was a management software for all our stories.. n the task of it was to weave stories or incidents for each one of us.. but wat would be the input parameters to it?? My mind had an answer to that too.. This software would also be monitoring us closely and anything we say or the places we go to anything cud be randomly chosen as an input.. and depending on that we get the next set of incidents..(this logic of randomly picking up questions is in practise for many online tests..)

Also i have a small explanation as to y my mind came up with this solution.. havent we come across feelings of "deja vu"?? or something we tell a friend that oh i wish so n so wud come or such a thing should happen.. n lo!! it does!!
i dont know about all.. but i sure have had such experiences..
Much thinking made me to conclude that my logic cud really work!! n there is a probability that ir is correct.. after much analysis i once told about this entire thought process to a close friend of mine.. But as expected he laughed at me n said i was being stupid... stupid as gals are always considered to be, i didnt take it to heart..
But this morning amidst my feelings of uncertainity this thought got triggerred n here i am blogging this to all of you.. i would be greatful if i could have ur piece of thought about this too. so do post in..