JUST AUSSIE...

Since 17 months of my stay here in my "new home".. I ve evolved from "Home-sick!!" stage to worsen to "I -desperately-need- to- go-home" stage to the current " I- am -kinda-OK- here"stage much to Ajay's utmost relief I suppose........( for information:Ajay insists on being called with the right pronunciation after 3 years of having a cut-short "Aj" for a name!! am I not glad?!!! Though it seems most of his Aussie acquaintances have managed to call him AAA-j still.. worth his efforts I feel!!)Anyway.. Before I start writing about this name thing...Let me come back to my original topic which has been drafted mentally long since my blog came into life again...
May be all the things I mention here are not very specific to this country, but since Its my first experience here.. it should be considered ok I am sure..

So PRESENTING THESE-ARE- 5 - OF- MY-FAVOURITE- THINGS (read this in the same tune as the song in "The sound of Music"with due respects)HERE IN AUSSIE LAND ...

The fifth position is taken by "Vegemite"
I know I know..All the non-aussies who ve tasted this will scream in unision "naaaaaaaaahhhhhhiiiiiiiiii"..
Though even I have just the same verdict after tasting this..(YUCK!!!)what amazes me is the sincerity of aussies towards this "unique" & probably one of the few edible things they can say "genuinly Australian" .
Coming from a country of such varied contrasting and countless cuisines..this is something I loved because its so different.

The 4 rth position is definetly held by Christmas in Summer..
Though I hail from coastal India where we hardly have any winters,It is pretty cold n pleasant there during Christmas I am sure..
But to have Christmas holidays during peak summers is like having a part of childhood back..
Eating sugared ice, going to beaches.. hot noons siesta …I re-lived my childhood in those 2 weeks of “summer holidays”

Which brings me to my 3 rd favourite thing here…
The cherries and strawberries in summer..I don’t know why but I love Berries!!
To actually see,eat n enjoy these in peak summer was definetly a blissful experience..

The 2 nd best thing here is actually silly..
When I first saw the all-time pedestrian crossings here in Australia I was amazed!!(These are crossing where all vehicles have to STOP as soon a pedestrian looks like they are going across..)and I was super-thrilled when I saw the one near my office..
The wicked thought of stopping huge trucks n expensive cars is just mind blowing ;)
Victory to pedestrians..

And the best thing I love is FOOTY(Australian football)
It took me the whole last footy season to just realize what this game means..
For an outsider it may look like a cross between rugby and soccer..
But believe me, after a year..
I was watching euro cup soccer n thought to myself.. “ aren’t these people a little too concerned about their clothes?!!!?!!!” check this link n u ll know... :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWXaujiReYA&feature=related

Angles in real life..

Well, as the heading says,I know all of us would have met angels sometime or the other....

It could be one from your own house,friend or even some random stranger.I am speaking of those people who knowingly or unknowingly do just that one small thing for you which u may remember when u read this.

I still remember that day clearly even now.It was just a week since I landed in this strange land which has been my home for the past one year. As Aj was working far off then,he would leave very early in the morning giving me a few errands to run during the day as he would be coming back late.

He even had got me a bank account and I got my new bank card so that i could use it while he s not around.

That fine morning,I left home to go to the post-office to post a few documents As instructed. I decided to encash some money at the Atm nearby and go to the post office.(those were the days when this dim-wit called me did not know I could use my card to swipe and pay.Had i known that I would not have probably written this blog at all. Read more n you ll know why I am telling this.)

I stopped at the Atm n balancing my bag in one hand with all documents,fiddled with my wallet to pull out the card and before I knew it,plonk! I DROPPED THE CARD IN THE RECIEPT BOX!!it just slipped out of my hand and As i watched just fell right inside the reciept box.

Now I hadnt seen this thing my whole life earlier, these small slits just in the bottom of the ATM named as reciepts which are locked!!

And here I was standing like a moron,in a strange place, with no money,no husband nearby(he was busy that day and had left me the message that he ll call me during lunch n this was 9.30!) and my ATM card in the reciept box!!that too please note:it was a unused activated one..)

I was shell-shocked..

looked around..not one kind face..

n there it was.. my eyes filling with tears..

sheeeeesh!

I looked around again and my eyes went on the ATM mechine.

I tried to read this cusotmer helpline number through my tear filled eyes and dialled it.

As soon as I got through the recorded voices and heard a nice human voice "hello"

The dam broke and there I was sobbing n telling this man about my lose card.

He listened patiently and said those angelic words "please dont cry,look we cant get you back that card, but it s only a card,we can send a new one for u.but please dont cry" And to console me further & to probably give me a better start to that bad day, promised me to wave off the charges for the lost one which was my other worry,
(cause I dint have a job then and aj had a small -time job then just started a few days ago.)

I felt consoled by someone i knew,not any stranger.

He might have been just doing his job, but to be so kind with his words and being patient to advice me what to do was really very nice of him.

I could not even thank that man later nor do i know him..

But his mere polite words made my day....
Sometimes there are angels in real life!! Thanks angel!!

Got tagged along!!!

YES!!
The day s here when I decided to return!! and I have..
Now, from being a nayi naveli blogger to another useless blogger who just could not decide what to write..
I was reading this when I decided to give some work to my dead "creative corner"
to write little known facts about me!!(some of which would have have been realised by me on-the -spot)
1) On-the -spot: I love on-the spot stuff..from writing things(like i am writing this one) to on-the stop contests like pic n act/speak etc etc..
2) I started blogging just because I enjoyed reading these "online-dairies" and can comment on them without being a anonymous writer...
3)I feel like writing blogs when I am tied with 200 things to do and decide to take a break!!
phew!! so much for my "rest-time!!"
4) My brain runs so so fast at times when I think what I should be writing here that these mental debates usually end up resulting into one of the greatest inventions of mankind-ZERO!!
absolutely nothing!!
I guess that should be enough for now..
that was some brushing up... anyway, till the next time..
let there be "world peace!!" ( I love these stereotype answers!!!)