Believe it or not!

We bought close to 2 tons of rocks today!

(No, this pehelwaan didn't lift them! whew!)

Soo...what do ya think we will do with them?

Samby, I know you know, so don't answer just yet :)

Can't resist!

I know I am being mean, but this is just too much to resist :)
Take a look at these names (pssstt...I mean the last one...no, no, not Stonehenge ;-)

Perceptions...

My nephew S, (cousin's son, he is about 4 years younger to me) and his wife, P, have moved to the Bay area from Pune. They have been here for about a month now.

I had invited them for paav-bhaji dinner this Sunday night. Had fun talking to them..especially to S, since he brought up all those long forgotten stories of our childhood. We spoke about our cousins and all the weddings in the family. Apparently they had the same photographer for their wedding that we had for my sister's 23 years ago! S was like, oh man, you don't want to see our pictures, they are very much similar to what he did for badi masi's wedding. Then P started telling some story she heard from my mother about my parents' wedding. Not one I had heard of!

S then mentioned that P is really impressed with my mother. She is so organized, talks so much and is so funny! And I was thinking, Who're you talking about? She is organized, yes, but she is also always tensed about "how will this get done, when will this get done, nothing's ever going to get done, are you getting up now, or should I go do your chores". Constantly worried. Non stop!
And she doesn't talk much, not to me...not now, not when I lived there. She would only tell me what chores I need to finish, ask me weather I am hungry, feed me, etc. Nothing like what P was saying! They said she always had so many fun stories about her life to tell them every time. And funny? Nooooo...constantly worried and hassled is what I saw! Very hard to make her smile.
But these two painted a completely different picture.

That got me thinking... we all have different faces, different personalities based on who we are communicating with. I know I am very reserved when I am with my parents, a child with my jijus, a bit serious at work (just a little bit though, hard to be serious with such fun colleagues here!), completely crazy with my friends, and a little bit of everything when I am at home with the hubby. But still...the perception of me as a person is not so different. Not like what I know of my mom, and what S and P know of her. So my new resolution is that the next time I meet her, I want to bring out what S and P bring out in her, the fun, the laughter, the stories!

On the flip side...I emailed my sisters that I had invited these two for paav-bhaji, and so much fun it was and all that. The only response I got was, "You know how to make paav-bhaji"? Now here is another perspective. No matter what I or anyone else says, regardless of how fancy my daily meals are, the perception that "kashmira cannot cook to save her life" is not going to change. The next time I get that question I am going to say, No, I invited P and then asked her to have some pity on me and cook for me!

Oh Wow!!!

I got an award! Really! And that was the first thing I saw today...still wondering how..but well...here it is...

It is an award from this website called linq
It says mine was the best general blog of the week of 8/24/08!!!

I also saw Keshi featured there as one of the "All time best blog" :) Go Keshi!


This one says that this is the best blog :D



And this one shows my rank...very big number ;-) But hey, I am not complaining!

Flushed out...

For those who want to know where my previous post went...
I have flushed out that nasty occurrence from my mind, so it had to be flushed out from here too.

A BIG THANKS to everyone that responded!

शादी का लड्डू..and some other questions...

Is this proverbial "शादी का लड्डू" for real?
Is it made in देसी घी?
How many calories does it have?
Once eaten do these calories keep increasing on their own?!?!

I got married in Dec '07. Nothing has changed in life, except for the "status".
I live where I used to live, with whom I used to live, I eat what I used to eat, I work where I used to work, I exercise just the same as before.

Nothing at all has changed!

So then why am I gaining weight at this rate (which is quite high!)
I have gained more weight in the last 8 months than I have in the last 5 years! What gives!?

************

बताओ तो... "सुई पटक सन्नाटा" क्या होता है? अंग्रेजी में बताना!
Just heard someone say that here in my office :)

Am soon gonna be a zombie...

Working with people in three time zones (EST, PST, IST) is definitely not fun :( It all started yesterday.

Was at work for about 9 hours, got home and right away got to some yard work (its that spa and landscaping in the backyard, and yesterday we got our first harvest of tomatoes for this year, that's for another post though! And looked at awe at this old stump of a palm tree which is literally crumbling, like I swept off sawdust from it, and yet it had new leaves shooting out of it! This calls for a pic too! Maybe tomorrow I will take one) . Had some fun measuring all the rooms in the house (the spa just sparked off the hubby's enthusiasm, and we somehow ended up deciding to get a whole new home-theater system, which covers the house as well as the yard! Don't ask me the details, my head is still spinning from seeing his plans...and the bills are kind of an explanation of why I can't quit working just yet!), got dinner to go, got on call with the folks in India till about midnight, warmed up that dinner, and ceremoniously made salad out of those first tomatoes, complete with pictures and all! Slept at 2, up again at 7 for doc's appt, did NOT like going to a hospital first thing in the morning :( Straight to work, and meetings till 3:45, finally managed to get some lunch at 4, heading home now in a few minutes, back to the yard work (that spa better be worth all this!) and back on the calls with the India folks (want to wring someone's neck right now, yah, I know I am being unreasonable, but still want to wring someone's neck). I hope it doesn't go on till midnight again! And on calls with folks on the East coast beginning at 7am tomorrow. Have to fit in my exercise somewhere in here too! Hope this ends soon, or else I will hurt someone! I am not a nice person when I am so tired! I am not a good driver too when I am so tired. And I have so many parallel threads of thoughts in my head (just check all those things in brackets, this one included!), and they are all getting tangled up and I have no clue what I am thinking!

Yeah, I know. Most people's lives are like this. But hey, mine's not, and hence I shall crib until I get back my idyllic existence!

Ok, I feel better now. Will put up pics of my cute, sweet cherry tomatoes when this madness ends!

Should go home now. The yard awaits!

Awesome awesome week...

Getting lots of good news this week :)

A friend of mine who had been laid off a few months ago got a job. Just had lunch with him, and he looked SO upbeat and happy!

My cousin's son who moved here from India only last week also has an offer in hand (even before he got his SSN in hand!). He called me right after I got back from lunch to share his news.

How awesome is that!

And I am super relaxed because I have been sleeping REALLY well last two days (last week was hell because I was getting only about 4 hrs of sleep everyday, and a lot of driving around and organizing to do for the aforementioned nephew and his wife). They are nicely settled into their apartment three days ago, and my life's back to its own pace.

And I feel good about being a good aunty to two people...

1. To the aforementioned nephew and his wife (she went "yikes" when I told her, "You know P, technically, I would be your मौसी-सासुमा!" I went "yikes" at that too, and the hubby said, "that's cool, उस से सेवा करवाओ")
2. 
   
3. To Aneri. Its her birthday on Monday and I sent her a "Jakks Vmigo Handheld Dog Chihuaha". I have no clue whatsoever what the heck it is, but thats what she wanted, and thats what she gets :)
   

And I am super thrilled. About what? Welllll....I have coral colored nails today :D
And I am wearing this t-shirt I bought from Alaska. Its white, and has line drawings of butterflies and flowers in black. You know...the kind of drawing's you'd see in a child's coloring book? Ho-hum, what's so great about that you say?
तो सुनो इस्पेसिअल बात... The minute I step out in the sun, the butterflies and flowers turn blue and pink and green :D
Super, eh? My colleagues and I did this drill of going in the building and out again a couple times just to see the colors changing. Ha ha, such fun!

And oh, the work on the spa has finally begun. Now I wake up to see some guys digging in the backyard (and of course I do go yikes! every time I see them) instead of squirrels and birds and cats!

Have an awesome weekend, yall!