I had lots of people..okay Friends, ask me how I celebrated the New Year's Eve :) To all of them and a few lurkers too..here are the details..in a letter that I sent to a dear friend.

So here is a copy paste from it :


NYE was for us simple and funny :P It was infact very unexpected :D If the new year's eve is seen as a harbinger then we wondered what the new year had in store for us..

So if you would really like to smile I have one funny story to share :)

We had planned a rather simple but fav meal at home and since it was our first ever new year together we thought to save it for just each other.

And after cooking all the stuff and side dishes and the biryani just off to go for a whistle the flame went low..we huffed and puffed (remember three little pigs ??) but no avail ....in all the madness we had over looked and the lpg got over just an hour before midnight !

Imagine having to drool over all the side dishes...non meaty, so no chance of even considering them as a meal..and not a roti or a cooked grain of rice in sight !

We rattled and shook the cylinder believing it was just a momentary joke God was playing upon us but no mercy in sight..finally we understood the divine declaration..it was OVER !

So the little flame of hope flickering like the one on the gas hob also died not to revived for the day :( alas how sad it gets when simple sumptuous dreams shatter :((

Now any lesser being would have gotten daunted but not us !! We believe in improvising..so like thinking people do..we thought and thought and bingo ! we had saved for a rainy day (also happened to be the NYE) an electric steam cooker !

Blessed be my mom-in-law for they are truly blessed to be enjoying the new year's in GOA ! (sob sob) We had one in parts saved away..like the horcrux you see (tch tch you don't even remember Harry Potter !! ) So out came them for them hiding places and our saviour the internet provided the assembling instructions ! Yay for the google :)

Next we spent our last minutes of the now 'last' year running in circles with kitchen towels handy and eyes fixed on the circle of water dangerously bubbling and threatening to overflow..we celebrated the New Year in each other's arms exclaiming the new year won't be bad for see we are finally cooking our pail of rice ! Have you never felt such relief ? for it is of such great significance to know the next 365 days will be fixed with one serving of cooked rice :)

So you guys had a count down..and saw the year's turning..we celebrated it differently..watching over the steam cooker with such intensity that it might have contributed in the cooking itself! Oh and we were so in love with each other as we lovingly gave the chance to the other to preside over the contraption with minutes of meeting duly noted!

Anyways..to not waste the story and the spanky new year of 2010 we had our food ! Yes we did !!!! and with the first morsel in our mouth we had done a 'kala tikka' to the rest of the year..please add your wishes and prayers to our well being too..and smile..For I really do wish upon you a lovely year ahead and may it be filled with lots of fun and happiness and wonderful pleasant meals at home too !!!


P.S : Oh yes !! Having a microwave at home surely saves the day..but then I would rather have a story to tell..no thank you please ;)

Maybe today is a day when I should count my blessing for I don't feel too good or happy.

I know many of us go through this phase once in a while, I do too..for me its rare but when it does its bad..and I am hating it today. Its not like there is some drastic change that has come in the last 24 hours..nothing out of the ordinary has really happened, but its just that sometimes one compares things and finds oneself feeling low.

It is not the best of ways to go around the world comparing oneself, I would say this to everyone and anyone on any given day but today I am judging myself and feeling bad in the process..I know that its just a moment's weakness and will go away without haunting me for long..maybe a hot shower will fix it too but I want to feel it and let go of it. So here I am being honest, I know somepeople might feel concerned reading this but hey you all..I am fine and I am fine because of you guys who form my life :)

There! a small smile escaped..and hopefully it will grow longer/bigger ??..Sheesh I can never be too sad, I seem to find it funny..and laugh even as I cry. My Mom and sis have always marveled at this and maybe this is what will help me today.

Till a better feeling prompts me to post, see ya.

I am so confused about how I love rain !! I am the kind who loves when it rains once in a while, like it should, in its due time of the year and then it should come in a big downpour..and not just drizzle and make me and my day dull.

I am a self confessed sunshine gurl :) Nothing beats the mornings when sunrays wake you up and passes its bouncy energy into lazy limbs; Its the kind which makes me sing and whistle the whole day long..I love rain too, feel specially blessed when it rains on my mid summer birthday, but lately I have been caught in a loong drizzle of rain with hardly any sunshine :(

B'lore being itself made y'day possible! We had chai and pakode(bhajji/fritters) at 10 in the night..No kidding ! It has been raining and the OH has been so caught up with work that I finally decided to complete my rainy day ritual even if that meant dinner post midnight :D This is the only thing I love about rain..having someone special to share it with and hot tea and pakode. Its a shame how we have to miss out on it on most times because yes! it just rains too much !!

The OH being a Mallu is used to these long spells of rains and survives it pretty happily while I shudder at all times and cry out 'Its going to rain' EVERYtime we go out!

Okay, so now that I have let my steam out, I do have some fun memories of rain too. We were camping in Canada, and had to set up tents,being total novice at it the bones(!)of the tent kept coming to pieces and it took some time for us to fix it right. It was past noon and while both the tents were just up it started raining with big drops pattering away!! We flung all things within reach under a huge tarp(aulin) and ducked into our tents. That rush of blood at having been able to put up a sturdy tent and the two of us huddled under the tent while it rained and rained. We felt so lucky and so blessed to be together, the rain sliding down the tent as we huddled in the middle. There is something truly unique about sharing space under a tent..its close confinement makes for great fun and romance and we loved every bit of it...

The rain cleared the sky and it set the mood for all of us. Two little girls running around and the four adults shaking their heads at how lucky they had been :) That is a great memory !! And I love to think of it, to relive it, so with a little grudge I say..rain is not all that bad and I DO love it too :)

I just came over from Mad Momma and saw something there that took me back to my childhood. 'Gullak' is where we used to save and thrift away coins and just coins with an odd 'note' once in a while. Now those who have not collected in a gullak would not know the joy and fun of picking it up and jiggling it and feeling how heavy it is..its all about being patient, thinking and rethinking of new ways to spend the money while the pile inside it slowly rises till one can see the silver glint from above.

We had one going at all times during my childhood and even now during my recent vacation I spied one in the shape of a gas cylinder where my mom pops in the occasional 'change'. There was another bigger and prettier one in the shape of a golden yellow mango which was unused for who would like to break such a beautiful piece of artistry.But a piggy bank can never compare to 'gullak' and the fun there is in choosing who would break it; the place where it should be smashed lest the coins go scurrying away into hiding and then wait with anticipation as it gets smashed and grab all the coins as it rolls around.

The ritual continues with sorting the denomination and building towers, finally the total amount and the gullak ends up in our garden smashed into pieces. I remember sometimes we would pick up a piece and pour water over it and take in the aroma !

The OH got a lesson in family history this vacation as my father brought out our trusted old red winding clock and showed him with pride, and my mother told in all emotions how proudly we had bought it from our first 'gullak' money..those were the times when salaries used to be in hundreds. That clock has seen us through a lot of time and still keeps going faithfully.

Of late I have given up on collecting in a gullak but I shall start anew and keep the tradition going of the charm and ingenious of our good old gullak.

I feel so proud of India..

I was watching the recap of all the major events that the 62 years old India has witnessed on a Tv channel..its not always that we look at the ugly side, the scarred face of our India..or in some ways we do see it ever so often that there is a certain apathy towards it..but to see it all in a brief one hour through the eyes that had witnessed those events unfolding..the narrative that does not need to search for words to express the feeling that they felt, the memory and the echo being so strong that it almost takes us to those times when we were not even aware of the events unfolding..

It was so good to see the DD newsreaders recall how they would use the simplest and the mildest way of describing the events that had shook the psyche of India. The operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi..how Salma Sultana (one with rose in her hair) recalled that even though she was required to present the news without getting emotional yet she knew her face expressed more than what she was saying. How the then (and even now) favorites of 'ek anek' and 'mile sur' were all based on national integration,of 'ekta mein shakti'.How the Door Darshan director general recalled that the 'mile sur mera tumhara' was the idea of a genius who wanted to show pan views of India from each of the region and found the common thread of 'Raag Bhairavi' which is omnipresent in all styles of music (Hindustani and Karnatic)and made it an evergreen childhood memory for millions of us.

I am sure most of us would remember exactly where we were when the news of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination came with the dawn,I remember how coins with Rajiv Gandhi's image were so treasured by many.

I saw the footage of Indira Gandhi asking Rakesh Sharma how did India look like from there and the immortal reply 'Sara Jahan se accha Hindustan hamara'. Saw the green revolution, the white revolution..saw India becoming the power it is today..

Man how proud I am!! I am so proud of being Indian.

But why past..Chhodo kal ki baatein kal ki baat purani..we shall do our part for the new India !



Have you seen Spain rocking to our dhun ?!?! Dont miss this..



Salute to you !!