Pea Pod - A taste of everyday life

I was just browsing through the web and saw a site designed by someone I thought had a superb sense of design. I was dissappointed. Actually the word is disturbed. I went through the over-crowded home page with so many different fonts used here and there and big blocks making my eyes sore! When I came back to one of the sites that I am working on presently, I felt myself feel so much at peace. There was so much balance and such beauty in the serene colours... No, I am not bragging about my work. Please do not misunderstand me. A good design, whether done my me or any other person, will never fail to please my heart.

Yes, my husband and I have been on a trip - literally! From Ooty, we returned to Coimbatore and took a train to Chennai. The climate here was in absolute contrast to that of Ooty. According to my husband, there are only 3 seasons there. Hot, hotter and hottest! Despite the heated conditions, we did visit Mahabalipuram as it was my dream since school days to do so. Here are some stunning photographs of the site.

In July, my husband and I took off for a holiday to Ooty (Udhagamund). I had seen countless Hindi film songs picturised in the Nilgiris and known of innumerable newly married couples romancing in the boats of the Ooty Lake. And this was the first time I was going there. Our flight landed at Coimbatore and we found the car we had hired, waiting to take us to Ooty. The 3 hour drive was full of dangerous turns, some charming landscape and bright green tea plantations.Was it beautiful?! Yes, it was! And with the beauty, was a chill in the strong winds that were accompanied by the scent of the eucalyptus. We reached the Taj and were warmly welcomed with fresh grape juice. A cottage, more than 150 years old was where we were led by the hotel staff. The colonial structure that stood in front of us looked very inviting. Once inside, it was as though we had been transported to the last century. Wooden flooring, a huge fireplace, watercolour paintings, antique furniture and a cozy foyer with two

Those who haven't heard the name 'Himesh Reshammiya', go, hide your faces in the sand. His nasal tunes have been playing in the discotheques, clubs, shops, autorickshaws, cabs, buses, restaurants, hotels, homes, on the radio, streets and every nook and corner. You name the place and he is singing away somewhere or the other. Even in a state like Kerala, where Hindi is very sparcely spoken, Himesh was heard - playing at a supermarket and also at a coconut vendor's stall! I wasn't struck by wonder when I heard about Mr. Reshammiya making it to the Guiness Book. 'Oooooooooooooooooooooo huzooooooooooor Tera mera tera surooooooooooooooor' His 'ooooooooooooooooooooooo' has become his trademark. He's tooooooooooooooo big for his boooooooooooooots now. Wonder if any other music director can shoooooooooooooooooooo him away! But with A.R. Rahman voting his 'Ashiq Banaaya' as the year's best song, I think it's going to be tooooooooooooooooo

Today* happens to be rather special. One of my best friends was lawfully wedded at the family court this morning. I signed as a witness to this much awaited occasion. Just before the legalisation, we were waiting for the judge to call out the name of my friend's to-be-hubby, Mr. Misquitta. There was a long queue of couples and their families that stretched till the outside of the court building! After waiting for almost an hour and a half, a lady came out to call us, "All the Mosquitoes get in. Come fast, all Mosquitoes." What's in a name, that which we call Misquitta! Poor Mr. Misquitta! Being a software programmer, he was afflicted with serious mosquito bytes! *This happened on the 5th of Decemeber, but my friend had requested me not to put this post up till the 'real' wedding happened!

You see it happening all around you. On the streets. Do you live in India? There's no way you haven't witnessed it yourself. SSS surely needs to stop. SSS is most disgusting! The sad part is that all of us look at it with a lot of indifference. 'I don't indulge in SSS, so why should I bother about someone who doesn't even concern me?.' With this kind of an attitude, do we see ourselves being free from the SSS? I don't think so. I guess you must be quite inquisitive now. What in the world is SSS? Spit Snot Susu Disgusted? You should be. All of us should be. But are we going to do something about it? Even if it is in our own unique way. Do you have the courage to stop a person from throwing a packet of chips on the railway tracks from the window? Do you have the courage to stop a man from spitting the red liquid from his mouth? Do you have the courage to stop a man from urinating on the road? Do you have the courage to stop a person emptying his snotty nose on

And what does that mean? It simply means - 'I am Parinaaz'. Now why would I say that? You got to take a look at me to know why! It's been years and years since I've been mistaken for a Parsi. The area where my college was located, was populated by the Parsis. When my friends told me that I looked very 'Parsi-ish', I laughed it off. But when the Parsis in the area took me for their own kind, I had to believe it! What made them say this? Or rather, what makes everyone still say it? Is it my long, pointed nose? Is it my complexion? Is it the way I talk? What is it about me that makes me look like a Zorastrian? This is something I can't put my finger on. The only person who doesn't think I look like a 'baawi' is my husband. He had to change his mind when his own relatives thought I looked like one! Now whenever we pass the Parsi Dairy Farm, he points it out to me. Whenever he sees a Fire temple, he asks me if I want to go in! He even asked me if I wa

The past weekend was very testing. C and I were at Wankhede Stadium witnessing the great fall of our country. It was not only Sachin who had failed. The MCA and the audience were an embarassment to our country too. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) makes crores of profit with each match that is played here. But where does all this money go? It can't even place a flush tank in the Stadium toilets! If not a flush tank, the least they can do is to provide the toilets with some decent buckets or tumblers so that the people who are paying so much to get into the stadium can ease themselves in hygienic surroundings. There are no dustbins to be seen anywhere. People have no choice but to trash everything wherever they feel like. What a sorry state the stadium is in! The steps are all broken, the benches hurt, the leg space has no space for the legs, the food can hardly be called 'food' - Pizzas without cheese, sandwiches without butter, samosas filled for the sake of filling. T

Floating on the calm backwaters A rich carpet of weeds All around, a blissful silence The breeze kissing the reeds Together the tall palms sway Reaching out to the azure skies The waters joining the ocean deep Oh! What allure in nature lies!  

I know it's the financial year ending. This is not about any other bond that we want to invest our finances in. It's all about loving your parents and family. Our family bonds. All of us show our love in different ways for our family. The important thing is to love - however you choose to do it. There's a lot depending upon the kind of relationship you've been sharing with your family since you were a child. There are some children who've been away from their parents for years together. They do share a special bond with their parents in spite of not being close to them physically. This bond is of true respect for one's birth-giver and what they have silently gone through for their children. In such cases, both, the parents and the children become very independent. They can live without talking to each other or meeting with each other for days or months at times. Not that their love for each other is less. Probably, it's as much as any of us would have for ou

Insincere Inconsistent Insulting Incongruous Everything seems to be 'in' these days.