Highlights...

Some of the most interesting things of this trip so far...in chronological order. There were so many things I did this time that I had always wanted to do! And others were additional bonuses.

1) The plane I was in took off while my seat was more or less, completely reclined, and I was flat on my back! Now that was a first, and it better be the last!

2) Landed in Pune instead of Mumbai or Delhi. Being home within an hour is priceless!

3) Finally getting to meet my colleagues in India. Working formally through emails and conference calls is just not the same as brainstorming something and sharing gossip over tea and coffee! The ice-breaking was SO important and beneficial to everyone. Am glad I got this opportunity. (The length of this bullet point says it all I guess! I really enjoyed my time here)

4) Another road trip with my school friend, Sona. We had gone to Hubli by overnight bus earlier to surprise our very close friend. This time, we went to Mumbai, to surprise our school teacher. She was stunned! We met her after 20 years! She was still the same loving, Didi! This was an amazing experience!

5) Finally getting to meet Ria and Princess Mia. This was a huge one too! We connected instantly (at least I felt so!) and I wish we had more time, and more blogworld friends (Ella, missed you for sure!) And throw in Anuraag Baasu as a bonus! Right, girls? He took a picture of the three of us, and we didn't even realize who he was!

6) Watching a Gujarati play after a long long time!

7) Meeting Tabbu (yes, the actress!) at the foot massage place at Mumbai airport. No, I didn't bug her for autographs or photos or anything. We just exchanged smiles and went back to enjoying our massages. Yes, she is absolutely lovely in person too!

8) The BIGGEST thing ever on my wish list, I saw the Pyramids of Giza! I touched them! I climbed up on one of them too! Oh, I am so happy, you can't imagine!

9) Another first for me, I traveled alone. All the way to Egypt and back. And enjoyed it!

10) I won a belly dancing competition in Egypt. Against Columbian and Jordanian girls! How cool is that, huh?

11) I danced with a whirling dervish! That's even cooler, no?

12) I have actually been taking the bus to and from work. Not everyday, but some times. Another first for me!

13) Met my first "best friend" ever. Met her after almost 18 years. Yet another experience I am utterly thankful for! And Sona was with us too.

14) This one's weird, for me at least. The bus driver asked me to jump of the moving bus :) Ok, so it was not moving full speed, it was not completely impossible (thinking of the Mumbai locals!), but I still find it amusing.

I have another month or so to go before I return home. Hope it brings me some more pleasant surprises!

Bill

One word, so many meanings!

A banknote, a receipt, a proposed law, a bird's beak?

Or this really sweet postal worker at my local post office.

He is always so calm, has such a soothing voice. Look at him, and you know this is one very caring person.

I had gone to the post office a few months ago to mail Rakhis to my cousins. Luckily, I got Bill to help me. He looked at 3 similar envelopes going to 3 different states, and he instantly knew what it was. (He is either Chinese or maybe Vietnamese). Ever so sweetly he said, you are almost a week late, but I bet your brothers will send you a nice gift in return :) They didn't, but it was so kinda cool to hear what Bill had to say :) Very cool that he knew such details about our culture.

The next time I went to the post office, I was helped by someone else. Was she scary! Asked me all sorts of rude questions (which she was supposed to ask, I guess, but they just sounded rude the way she mouthed them), and looked like she had formed some not so nice opinion about me.

Today, I went again, to send my passport over to the Egyptian consulate to get a visitor's visa. There was Bill, and there was the scary monster working the counter next to him. I wished and hoped and prayed that I didn't have to go to the monster again.

I didn't :-) I went up to Bill and said, I have a bunch of things I need to do. He looked at the envelope with the consulate's address on it. And said, ok, tell me how much the money order is for, let me make that out first, and then I will help you with the rest. I did not even have to tell him what I needed! We got the money order out of the way, then started to prepare the pre-paid, self-addressed envelope I needed to send to the consulate. He started putting stamps on it, and I asked him if he could put all different kinds, since my husband liked to collect them. Of course, no problem :) He found some real cute ones for me :)

He finished everything quickly, then patiently organized and handed me my tracking numbers, and sent me off on my way.

He didn't have to be so nice. Not part of the job requirement. But I do know that the next time, even if I have to wait longer, I will wait to be helped by Bill :) Its a very simple, ordinary story, but it makes me happy.

Some people really spread sunshine just by being themselves, don't they :)

Woohooo!!!

Hard work finally paid off :)

Have been working out regularly for the last 5 weeks, and have come very close to my goal!
I had gained weight after my knee surgery last year, when I fell off the exercise band wagon.

5 weeks of dedication and I can fit into my pre-surgery clothes again :)

Awesome, awesome feeling!

Life is good :)

Nothing special to say, except that I had a great day!

Work was quite productive, had good food for lunch (I made it, so HAS to be good, hehe), came home and spent two hours toiling in the yard, ended the hard work with half an hour in the new spa. All stress melted away :) I feel good as new!

Still have my crunches to do, and cooking to do, and cleaning to do, but right now...

am luvin' it :)

Life is goooooood!

PS: Life would be awesome if I have enough time to finally apply a new coat of nail polish :D

W.H.E.W!!!!

Okay people, please breathe a HUGE sigh of relief with me.

1 - 2 - 3 - NOW!

WHEW!!!

That's good.

Now I will tell you why you are so relieved.

We were having this nice lazy Saturday afternoon. I came back from some mundane household shopping to find two envelopes lying on my side of the bed. The hubby had sorted out the mail and left my junk for me to deal with. I had a short exchange with him about how he should dispose of such garbage for me. And then I get down to business.

One was from the DMV. I knew why they were writing to me, my car registration is due in a couple months. Groaann...more money leaving my little piggy bank. Leave it alone. We'll deal with it later.

The second one had just a return address on it. No name, no clue where it was from. I weighed it, felt it, seemed like something from some credit card company. Damn these spammers. Using up so much paper that I am simply going to throw out. Maybe I should just throw it out. Why bother opening it. Grumble, grumble, groan, groan, rip it open, jaw drop!

It is........

my......











Green Card!

What's on your desk?

Went back to work yesterday after 3 weeks! And felt good to be back there. I looked around at all the familiar things in there, and realized something. Most of the things in there are gifts from friends and family :) Here are pictures of things exactly as I saw them when I had that thought...




The plant used to belong to my best friend. We used to work together, and she gave me the plant when she left. Till date this is the only plant that has been put into my care that is still thriving! And so is our friendship!

The little statue of Amba Mata is from my cousin.

The bracelet (don't know why its there!) is from the best friend's mom.

The cell phone is from the dear hubby.

Even the sugar packs were given to me! My friends at work brought me coffee and some extra sugar yesterday, since I was still limping a little bit from my knee surgery.

The coffee mug was part of the welcome kit from my previous company.

Gosh! Even the calendar is not my own! The cafeteria gave it!




And in this one...

The "chair" my phone is sitting on is from my jeeju. I think I just took it from him.

The pen which controls the little monkey in his car is from my sister

The frame with my nieces and nephew was from my previous company for completing my first year with them. The picture was sent by my sister.

The frame with my parents was a birthday gift from my niece, and the picture sent by my sister.

And if you look closely behind the pic of my parents, there is a small laughing buddha sitting in a candle holder. That was from my close friend.

FINALLY...some things that I brought myself...
The candle holder that the Budhha is sitting in
The car...but this one also holds memories of my best friend from childhood. I had bought it from her town when I visited her after around 10 years!
The cell phone cover...I made it :) But this one is new. Until a couple days ago, it had a cover given by yet another friend!

I like my love-filled office :)

So thoughtful!!!

I am amazed at how thoughtful my husband is! Really!

I had knee surgery a week ago, and he has been the best caretaker I can ever have.
Preparing 3 meals a day, making sure I get the right nutrients, helping me exercise my leg, icing the knee, helping me take my first baby steps to get off the crutches, making a fun game out of walking. Am so glad and grateful to have him by my side.

But what inspired this post is today's lunch. He had to go back to work since yesterday. Yesterday he stayed home till lunch time, fed me and then he went. Today he couldn't stay, and didn't have time to make anything for me either. So he asked me if I could make some maggi? I said sure, since I am walking a lot now, and maggi is no big deal. Just put the pot and the maggi packet out on the counter so that I don't have to look for them.

When I went into the kitchen to make my lunch, I was amazed!
He had set the pot, filled in the required amount of water (so that I don't have to go to the sink to get it!), broke the noodles into even pieces and set aside in a plate, set out a spatula and a scissor next to the masala pouch! He knew I liked my maggi without any extra additions, so had prepared everything exactly like I would have wanted it. I did not have to move an inch to get anything else! He had even laid out the table for me! So much thought into something as simple as making noodles!

I am sincerely grateful to him and for him!

Changing seasons...

I LOVE the time of year when one season changes into the next.
April...when spring is in the air.
And September...beginning of Fall and all the festivities that follow.

I can feel a crispness in the air these days, autumn is just around the corner! I can't even begin to explain HOW much I enjoy this season. The colors are just beautiful, and it is the beginning of the holidays. Am waiting for Navratri, Diwali, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year...

Maybe I will carve a pumpkin this year, and draw some rangoli too (mom sent me the colors a LOT of years ago, I gotta use them!).

Yippee :) I find myself looking at the trees hoping to see some yellow and orange and red. I hope to go on a "Fall Color Tour" somewhere this year...keeping my fingers crossed.

Ahhh... so much to look forward to!

(Just rambling...my happiness is spilling over I guess. Please ignore if it seems too silly ;)

Kuch meetha ...

Figuratively speaking that is...

I was DEAD tired when I got home today. Slept for an hour straight and was still tired so we decided to just get pizza for dinner. So I ordered it, and went to pick it up...all groggy and basically dragging myself to the restaurant (It was one of those mom-n-pop ones, a bit far from home, so we are out of their home-delivery range).

I got there, and this girl behind the counter immediately brought out my box and said, "Kashmira?"

I nodded, she handed me the box, I handed her my credit card. She looked at it closely and said, "Kashmira, huh?"

I nodded again, and she said, "Like that place in India?". I was pleasantly surprised because no other American had made that connection before. They all said, "Oh, like in the sweater...cashmere?".

Then she said, "Its beautiful. You know, in Arabic..I know Arabic..so in Arabic, Mira means Princess. So you are the princess of Kashmir!"

I smiled and said, "Thanks, that's so sweet of you". And she insisted, "No, I am serious. You should give that explanation when someone asks. Tell them I am the princess of Kashmir"

I said I will, took my box and left with a big, happy smile. It was nothing big, didn't even mean much, but made my tired self feel like a princess :)

Thank you, stranger! (I was so full of myself, I forgot to ask her name, and now I am regretting that) But...stranger, you made me very happy!