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.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Ramu. He lived in a small little house, did not have any riches but was happy with what he had. His only prized possession was his dear plant. It was a plant that gave such lovely flowers. Ramu took great care of this plant. He would water it everyday, gave it ample sunlight, trimmed and pruned it and even sang to it. But this plant was very hard to please. It flowered only when it felt like it. Sometimes, Ramu would wait for a week for it to flower and yet sometimes it gave flowers everyday. Ramu used to ask the plant in his songs to tell him what used to worry it so much. Then one day, the plant spoke. "Ramu, I don't like the clothes you wear. I don't want to flower." Ramu went and bought himself two new pairs of clothes in spite of not having any extra money. The plant flowered everyday then for weeks together. After a month or so, it stopped flowering again. Ramu questioned the plant. The plant replied, "Ramu, I don...

As soon as I get back home from work, I put down my bag, freshen up and leave for my walk on the beach with C. A brisk and refreshing walk. The beach looks beautiful at this time. The breeze is cool and the sky is decorated with small little stars. There is one star that is particularly brighter than the rest. Our first thought - it was Venus sparkling with all its might. But we were wrong. There can't be two Venuses, can there? I claim myself to be very observant, then how is it that I didn't see the real Venus? During one of our walks, C and I kept staring at that bright star. We thought we saw it move. In a few minutes we saw it becoming dimmer and dimmer and then it was gone! How could this be possible? This can't be a star! No way! And the unnoticed Venus was still shining bright in the sky. What was that star then? Was it a star, anyway? The next evening we saw it again and we'd see it everyday after that. Shining bright, moving away and finally disappearing. We w...

I miss you.

As usual, I was in the train last evening, heading towards home. It takes around 10 odd minutes to reach my station. As soon as the train was drawing closer to my destination, I got up from my seat to stand near the compartment exit. Right behind me was this Maharashtrian lady, clad in a ghastly pink saree. I don't know what her problem was as she kept pushing me lightly from behind, coaxing me to go further near the exit. I refused to budge. The train hadn't even halted ; why was she in such a hurry? Maybe she needed wings to fly out! When she pushed me again, I politely turned around and told her that I would only get off once the train halts completely and that if she wanted to get off faster she could do that from the other side of the exit. Just then, the train halted and I was out. Maharashtrian lady zoomed passed me, turned around and with a voice dripping with sarcasm, asked me - "Are you paralysed?" For a second or two, I was dumbfound. Instead of getting ang...

The winds, they did hit me Night and day The rains have harshly lashed at me And I stood tall All, all alone With my proud head held high. To all who thought This mountain is lonesome I'm alone but not lonely The sun hides behind me in the morning The moon smiles down at me in the night Birds, they fly above my head I have my friends in the sky.

In one of my earlier blogs, I called 'Love' a beautiful ditch. But why did I call it that? A friend commented saying love was one of the most beautiful emotions in the world. Agreed. 100%. All I have to say is, why do we 'fall' in love and then love being in it forever? Love is a ditch - a beautiful one at that! You just want to dive right in! I have started to understand this 'beautiful emotion' lately. Love is unexplainable. It's an emotion full of illogical, contradictory and the most sweetest of things!

You came into the garden The garden where I live And made me so much brighter With colours that you did give. Butterfly, butterfly Stay here with me Our life will bloom Together if we'll be. I'll smile at the morning sun You flap your wings in bliss There will be joy all around If we could be like this...

No...This rain wasn't one for smiling. I am sorry about the song that I sang. I am sorry about the prayers that I said. This was a monster of a rainfall. Hope I never see anything like this again...ever in my life. It killed a very dear friend of mine. Goodbye, Premal...

The Gods are smiling at me! Yes, they are. I've genuinely prayed for the rains. Global warming warnings scare me. What if there wasn't any rain in Mumbai? What happens to the tens of thousands of people Mumbai feeds? What if ? But here I am...smiling at the grey clouds looking down at me. Smiling at the sound of thunder. Smiling at the plants and trees as they rejoice! Smiling at all the lakes that would overflow. Smiling at just how lucky Mumbai is! :-) I'm singin' in the rain Just singin' in the rain What a glorious feeling I'm happy again. I'm laughing at clouds. So dark up above The sun's in my heart And i'm ready for love. Let the stromy clouds chase. Everyone from the place Come on with the rain I've a smile on my face I walk down the lane With a happy refrain I'm singin' Just singin' in the rain!