Looking Back

Looking Back

Well I completed 25 years on Sunday.. no fanfare , and to tell the truth I was happy with the whole quiet scenario. I always expect a lot on my Birthday –for all my friends and the entire family to call, get all the presents which I wished for in the year and also for something to happen which will change the course my life was thinking( every October my life seems to go exactly the opposite direction of plan!!) .

This birthday I can proudly say I grew up, I was happy if some of my friends remembered my birthday and pretty contented to sweep and wipe the house for my mom considering the servant had decided to take off the week. I was deliriously happy when my friends through a small surprise party ,replete with cake and balloons. I didn’t even want my life to change much except for the fact that I would really like to cart my moms cooking with me back to my job.
This year has been life changing for me – my view though drastically not changed have firmed J, I respect my dad more – I now know how hard it is to earn money and not blow it all away on some impulsive buy, my mom for actually spending late nights with me on projects even when she was working and packing my lunches(I do miss the dabba with the 2 types of rice and a curry), I spend more time with my nieces (even though their screams can give a banshee a run for her money),and I don’t mind the Chennai traffic Jams any more………...and best of all I get to blog..

Got up on Sunday worried about how old I was getting and then suddenly it struck me – a thought I am sure I read somewhere “Look back with Pride at what you have achieved and forward with enthusiasm as to what you are about to do” , and I felt better…25 years seemed to have passed in a jiffy. Certain moments are frozen in time .Irrespective of the fact that memories are sad or happy I am Glad I had events. They made me realize that life is filled with little things that matter more as things which seemed big and insurmountable. I am still wondering as to how I passed my 12th exams :). Even though my life seems have attained the “good life” status now, there is so much to achieve .I now realize that however much you plan , destiny takes you for a ride and your definitely on the drivers seat. So sit back , let the air play with your hair and enjoy the ride

Ok the one liners this time are courtesy of Erma Bombeck…It’s a nice read

Spend at least one Mother's Day with your respective mothers before you decide on marriage. If a man gives his mother a gift certificate for a flu shot, dump him.
My kids always perceived the bathroom as a place where you wait it out until all the groceries are unloaded from the car.
Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It's the only thing "real" men do that doesn't seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it's on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw.
I don't know why no one ever thought to paste a label on the toilet-tissue spindle giving 1-2-3 directions for replacing the tissue on it. Then everyone in the house would know what Mama knows.
Housework is a treadmill from futility to oblivion with stop offs at tedium and counter productivity.
How come anything you buy will go on sale next week?
Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-rearing, they are unemployed.
Marriage has no guarantees. If that's what you're looking for, go live with a car battery.
There is nothing more miserable in the world than to arrive in paradise and look like your passport photo.
Youngsters of the age of two and three are endowed with extraordinary strength. They can lift a dog twice their own weight and dump him into the bathtub.
People shop for a bathing suit with more care than they do a husband or wife. The rules are the same. Look for something you'll feel comfortable wearing. Allow for room to grow.
Mother's words of wisdom: "Answer me! Don't talk with food in your mouth!"
All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with white carpet is one of them.
Sometimes I can't figure designers out. It's as if they flunked human anatomy.

Anu

Of Memories and Mobiles / Ode to my Cell

Yesterday my mobile got stolen. Shopping with my mom, someone knocked against me and 15 minutes later I discover that my cell has pocketed by someone else!!

After that I am not ashamed to say, I sobbed like a baby (one of the reasons for keeping this post anonymousJ).. “A lot of people say that this is an extreme, for gosh sake its an electronic piece of equipment..!!!” is the common comment

The loss of the mobile does not represent the fact that some looser had stolen something that I had bought with my first salary or that it had all the contact numbers of people in office, which I had to beg , borrow and steal from my colleagues rolodex to get

This is why I felt the loss so deeply because it contained these

The first SMS I received was stored
All the SMS with the cute doggies/animals wishing me good morning/night /afternoon
Really bad jokes which still brought a smile to my face and really good ones which I promptly forwarded
My Topgun and Godfather ring tones, coupled with some unique tamil numbers dedicated to some close friends
Phone Numbers of friends, who hurriedly gave me their number before the close of convocation and ran back to their jobs, only to sms me 5 mins after they reached home to check if I had got the number right
The crack on the top, when someone I was thinking of called me at that moment and I got so surprised , I actually dropped it!
My wallpaper which I borrowed off my elder brother before he ran back to the US

Mostly, my link to my friends ,whenever I felt bad , all I had to do was pick it up and sms a SOS message and I had about 10 replies pronto within 5 mins… or make a call.. (a missed one if I was low on cash and a dial back from any of my friends is guaranteed)

I know that I can get the numbers, ring tones and wallpapers, what stays with me are the memories - one of the guys , goofing off before the freshers with my cell in hand, when it promptly went off as he was speaking into it or the time, when my best friend dropped it into her into cowshit (plenty of that around campus).. and I felt like puking for the whole week every time I received a call

Actually at the end of this blog , I kinda feel better, as I know the memories are always with me, just not the reason which planted them there. And I will always remember my blue gray Nokia 3315 with a smile on my face

Joke :
Two men are drinking in a bar at the top of the Empire State Building. One turns to the other and says: "You know last week I discovered that if you jump from the top of this building - by the time you fall to the 10th floor, the winds around the building are so intense that they carry you around the building and back into the window." The bartender just shakes his head in disapproval while wiping the bar. The second man says: "What, are you a nut? There is no way in heck that could happen." First man: "No it's true let me prove it to you." So he gets up from the bar, jumps over the balcony, and careens to the street below. When he passes the 10th floor, the high wind whips him around the building and back into the 10th floor window and he takes the elevator back up to the bar. The second man tells him: "You know I saw that with my own eyes, but that must have been a one time fluke." First man: "No, I'll prove it again" and again he jumps and hurtles toward the street where the 10th floor wind gently carries him around the building and into the window. Once upstairs he urges his fellow drinker to try it. Second man: "Well what the heck, it works, I'll try it." So he jumps over the balcony, plunges downward, passes the 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th floors and hits the sidewalk with a 'splat.' Back upstairs the bartender turns to the other drinker: "You know, Superman, you're a real jerk when you're drunk."

Thank God for Fridays

I haven’t blogged this whole week because my work had got me down and all I wanted to do the whole week was crib abt my job, my boss and the way life gets me down..

But dawning the weekend, and possibilities keep popping up. Shopping, Movies, Food and Sleeping not necessarily in that order…. I am actually staring out of the window into a gloriously painful construction site , with a silly smile on my face, dreaming about all the things I set out to do this weekend – right from straightening out my place to buying a TV..though I am sure come Sunday evening and I will be flipping through the channels wondering where the time has flown. Right now though the weekend is going to be wondrously hectic with me doing all the decorating that Oprah talks about in her shows .Though I am sure by the end of it, I will dump all my stuff in the cupboard and stick some flowers in a glass for extra effect.

In office I keep hearing people making plans for the weekend, there is almost an electric buzz in the air On Fridays its as if all the people kiss all their tensions goodbye. I really think that every day of the week must be like this, where people walk around with a smile, if not the whole day but atleast most of the time.

I wanted to end it off with a joke, but before that I will put in these thoughts by Erma Bombeck, (my fav writer ) who died of cancer ..to remind us that life is short so don’t get bogged down by those worries and think of everyday as a Friday


IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck

(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth
would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted
in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was
stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much
less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his
youth.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day
because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more
while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't
show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every
moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only
chance in life anyone ever gets to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now
go get washed up for dinner." There would have been more "I love you's."
More "I'm sorry's."

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look
at it and really see it ... live it .and never give it back. Stop sweating
the small stuff.

Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.

Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love
us.

Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with. And what we are doing each
day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well.

We have one shot at this and then it's gone. I hope you all have a blessed
day.