High on Life!!

And I am again back from The Nth hibernation mood! :)

Just kidding!

and before I write more, Thanks to Swaram,reflections,Bhai and all others who commented on my previous post reminding me that my little blog baby is waiting for me :)

Actually we were on a secret mission ,which is not so secret any more.It started off with Aj getting bugged with work,missing home,hating winter etc etc that one fine morning as I was looking at my watch, computer clock and wall clock in the office for HUNDREDth time *sigh and he rang me to say the golden words "LET s GO HOME! "

I dint think for a split second and said "SURE, WHEN"?

and thus it all began.

We decided we would be going off for Ganesh Chaturti and with such a short notice we managed 2 weeks of leave. And then the mad scampering began for shopping , packing this and that and we went!

Boy! We had a royal time back home surprising family and spent around 5 days at Aj's native place with my new family during ganesh chaturti.Though it was such a short trip,I am sure it was so much more worth than the minuscule of time we spent in India that the 'hangover' s still there.

3 weeks since we are back and not 1 night goes by when either of us don't dream of a scene back home,So much is the intensity of our trip.

This being the background and the foreground story of the "secret mission" in short .

Hope all of you had a great festive season! and to all my friends especially S and Avin(2 of my closest friends), whom we dint meet or dint even manage to call,I am sure you understand.

Sorry about it!

Till the next post,

See you all...Cheers!!

P.S. The picture shows the Ganapati at our native place (Honnavar).
P.P.S: this is the quickest post I ve ever written, Straight 10 minutes including pic load! :D

weird facts - A fact

When a good friend wrote a tag about 7 weird facts,I was quite alarmed..
Not because she had 7 weird traits, but because I am a total weird specimen and How could I possibly choose the best 7?
isn't it totally unjust to the rest of my dearest weird habits?
'well..darlings..much as you are all a part of me..best ones are the best ones..
so just hang around there..u ll get another chance..'

Which brings me to my first WH[weird habit](haven't you realised yet?)
~TALKER:"psst....I talk to myself " yes!! you read it right.Mostly when I am alone or thinking of some situation,I add possible conversations!!interesting eh?
I guess this has eliminated a lot of "sane people" from reading further..Cause this is CRAZY!! and the sane guys wont risk this.. :D

Well.. next one s not too bad actually and I think [atleast hope] many others nod their heads reading this..
~MOVIE MAKER:When I read a book,I see all the characters, the scene exactly like a movie in my head.It s not something I have to try to do.Its just automatic.Read the first line of the first chapter and bang!!the movie in my head begins. Recently have found this to work whenever people tell me incidents,stories,anecdote..just anything..
So now you know,just remember :don't tell me,I repeat "Do- not -tell -me" anything cheesy which you would not want me to imagine cause it happens by itself! ;)
** swathy hears more people disowning her/or anything to do with her at this point.

Hey wait,
I promise next one s not too bad, please.. trust me..
ok..
~HARRY POTTER :I have read each "Harry potter" book atleast 15times completely till date and I know I will read it again and again and again....

That was not too bad right? see, i told you so.
I hope I wont jinx myself writing about this,*fingers crossed!
~GOLD HUNTER :I have till date found lost and found my gold earrings,studs,loops basically all "GOLD" in the weirdest ways possible.
Like when I was 8,I was standing on the swing as usual(yes, I never sat decently on it till I grew up) out in the garden,leaning my face on to the swing chain(* those 4 iron chains which support the wooden swing)absent minded rubbing my ear to it when I saw my sister and cousin racing to reach the swing and whoosh!!Swathy,the swing heroine decides to save her swing from the monsters attacking and decide to swing herself with a big push and thud!! lands on the ground with a bleeding ear and a lost god ring!!
After a nice scolding and ears bleeding[literally] Everyone decided to hunt for the ring, after all it must be right there.
NO one find it and the next evening, the One-ear ringed Swing girl goes to her swing and there it is..
lying on the ground..oh.. as though it dropped from the mango tree that very instant!!

And this happened,just a few months ago when I was playing with my 3rd stud of my left year **yes,I have got 3 on each ear lobe ;)watching Tv,I dropped a stud and again to cut the story short, in-laws and Aj hunted for it day and night while I sat panicking.
Never found.. Next evening I go, sit on the chair and place my hand on the cushion and lo!! there is the culprit!! :P :P
Well.. Just lucky in this matter I guess and hope I will continue to be so for the careless,silly person I am as it is. ..:)

The last one I am going to write is something I told my friend about.. But I am going to repeat it:
~RHYTHM FREAK:I cannot listen to any piece of music/song without tapping my leg/or atleast patting one hand to the rhythm.Even if it is the National Anthem,I have to move atleast a finger to the beat..

**hey wait... where s everyone going?
come back ..please...
No more weird stuff I promise..
:)
And at last I tag you
Swethz
Avi
Ujwal
If you havent done this tag earlier or you have discovered new wierd facts.. go on.. tell me..

What s in a name did you say? 'A Whole Post' I'd say!!

My blog friend Swaram complimented on my blog name *thanks once again for that and then I told her it is in "ಕನ್ನಡ " (Kannada) which many would not have realised.For which she said that she did,In fact she was confused about Swathy(me) writing about "Anu's World".

Fair enough reason to write a post on,I thought, to tell you a little more about how I got to having a blog.The reason has been quite simple.

When I moved here to this island continent [post wedding] I like every-other- bird- leaving-its -nest was emotionally,socially and to certain extent even economically thrown apart.We had to first find accommodation , then find jobs[ as my husband was a student with a part time job earlier ] and basically settle ( as everyone says).
Well, luckily by god s grace (in this case it was like a miracle for us in every instance than a natural event,hence we always mention 'god s grace' ) we managed to get a accommodation, found small time jobs[not what we are meant to do as per our qualifications,but still] and started our married life.We still had some loans,had to hunt for proper jobs and more than all that I missed my home,my country. And even to this day,I hate ranting about all this as it brings a chill down my spine,but I have braved it now because "this was why I took the solace of blog world."
I wanted to spill out, write about my weird, scary, funny, new experiences I was having every new day of my life.but did I?
I did not dare write because I was scared people will ridicule me or worst ignore me , hence I would quietly visit blogs, read and log off unnoticed.I slowly got into the flow of time as months rolled by and I had found a "field job" in an architecture firm and felt I was "back in action".


I forgot all about blogs I was reading earlier for a while and it was only when one of my close friends mentioned about blogs.I logged in again to see my blog with no posts, just the heading " Anu'la Samsara" staring back at me.



Then the rest is history.


Though its true,I can go missing for months together [ a lazy bum I am as it is ]without a single post, Now I can dare writing thanks to a lot of encouragement from all my blog friends and polite reminders from few and of course my dear hubby who does not read but definitely gave me some topic to write like here and here and here :P . I guess this is the small story behind





"ANU'LA SAMSARA" .


p.s.: oh,yes regarding who is Anu?
As many might know,we have a tradition in G.S.B community weddings,where a new bride is given a new name and accepted into her husband s house hold.The new name represents a new identity as a wife and a daughter in law for the bride but it also means she is like a new-born child into the family.So she adorns a new name given by her new family.
Hence Swathy also became Anumita :) or you very own "ANU"
Mystery solved!


P.P.S: Again I ve thrown in some random pictures.[just for you shwetz]First one was clicked by me on my first chopper ride along the "great ocean road". Find me in the second doing "peek-a-boo" !! :D

Photo Gallery

I clicked these pictures during the easter break, when we went on a tiny 2 day holiday.Just not feeling like writing anything about the pictures..
not as yet.. may be I will update something later. :)

Just a thought..

P.S: I dont intend to hurt or doubt anyone s intentions by this post.But its just a thought..my thought..No particular event or incident made me think this.

In today s world, when we speak and believe of human equality and rights,I wish we could just eliminate the words "servant" or "maid".

I know the whole "dignity of labour" and related issues would say " what s the big deal , a job is a job is a job",and though I have never been closely associated with anyone in this line of work..I am sure no one would love to say "Oh,My mum s a maid" or " we have been servants for 3 generation"

cant we substitute this with the word "helper" or "house help"?

Now this starts another question saying"so even if you call a helper [lets keep this word from henceforth] a helper or president..it is not going to change their status or duties or responsibilities ,isn't it? then what s the fuss about?"

well.. Have you tried referring a person in such a position as a helper?It does make a lot of difference,I have seen it.

May not be by money or any other way, but just morally.

It will definitely boost self-esteem. I rest my case.

P.P.S: Now I am not an expert in this issue, as I said this was just the quickest,without second thought,boldest ever post I have made.

P.P.S: I clicked this picture.. Nothing great..But its one of my best ones..

is it just me?? :O

Scene 1:
As a kid, when I used to often visit my maternal uncle's place in Kerala.Having a farming background meant lots of people of work in the fields and in the farm.This scene which I am going to mention used to get repeated very often till..er... I grew out of it.. :P
I would be standing in the veranda,my mouth filled with some sweet/goodies my aunt s would have made till a lot of the women [working on the farm] would see me and come to say hello to me! :P
Thus a conversation would be typically like this:
W1: swadi kuttiyallo?[hey,isint this swathy kiddo??] **pinching my cheeks..
me: nan kutti yalla..big girl!!**rubbing my cheeks[u see,I used to speak Malayalam quite okaish as a kid, now its just past glory..hence I remember only these words..shame on me!! :(]
W1 and others would be a bit surprised at this snobbish remark coming from a 4- 6 year old that too mouth full ''eeks and would continue chatting to me anyway..carefull not to mention the "kutti" word!
The point then was I am not a kid..
I am a girl..A [big]GIRL!! :O

Scene 2 :
A 20 s something me go to a kids birthday party[Hey, don't think I am gate crashing,its just the kids parents are friends]
As always..Photo session time when someone announces OK.. All ladies photo!!
A tiny voice in my head: "ladies?" huh... just call us girls OK.. :O
The point now still remains the same:
I am a Girl..A big GIRl!!

Ahem!!
and we say boys will be boys!! :P (which is of course true...)

or...................is it just me???

good, old days

I ll do this tag that she has written about.Here,I tag myself..[*imagine a tag like a suitcase tag getting fixed to my wrist :P] .I have written many a posts about memories of the good old days here .

Still there are so many in the old barrel to be pulled out.

1) Birthdays

The first one i remember was being 5 year old and dressed in deep green silk skirt and blouse, jasmine arranged traditionally on my hair like here..[ya, imagine a 5 year old!! :D]

with loads of relatives around me.That was the last of the birthday s that was celebrated at such a scale.

Then it was just a sweet dish, wishes, blessing and of course cards and calls from my best friends all throughout school ,but the day still thrilled me :) .

College brought out a new dimension with mid night parties, cake smashing on face and head,surprise gifts,special calls[:)] from far away friends from school and not to ever- forget the "budday bumps"!!(For those who don't know what it is.. its just you being held by 6-8-10 people[depending on how heavy you are! ;)] by your hands and legs and hurled up in the air and then left at the mercy of gravity and caught when you are about to hit the floor..)

And at present, I am happy with a quite birthday with just the few close friends wishes..

dining out and no cake please..think about all those calories!! :P

2) Books and reading

As a 6 year old,I was like that enthusiastic puppy[;)] around my neighbour's kids lets call them Y & Z.Both older than me by quite a few years, they used to take me to school and back, play with me..[rather keep a watch on me] and I adored them,followed them,thought them to be my sisters.

Their dad and mum were both into literature,hence both the girls were very good readers for their age and even wrote poetry and short stories.

I was first taken by them to the local government library and helped choose a book and thus began a life time affair for me.

I started with huge lettered picture books and soon within a year graduated to whatever X and Y would pick for me.They moved to another town within a year after that,but by then I was addicted to books.I explored the world of Enid Blyton,graduated to short stories and fables from all around the world, digested lives of famous personalities and basically whatever the library could offer to a a high school student was read by me over and over again by the time I was 12.

Every day of the vacation except Monday-the weekly off for the library began with me running/cycling to the library at sharp 10A.M when the place opened, read a magazine or the latest book there borrow books and then come home for lunch, read a little more,play with friends for an hour,then read again till night.yes, I was that crazy!!

My cousin A who used to come over to stay with us for the holidays hated this habit of mine because he could never imagine why should I be reading over the vacations.. :) :)instead of playing the whole day.

Hmmmmm..back to present! :)

Anyway,though I miss the good old days, I cannot imagine rewinding it.It is much better the way it is now.. for good or worse.. I like this..

Signing back again.

This is what I had written long back in a yahoo group.The topic was about signatures..Which makes me realise.. I definitely need to hunt for topics.[or someone should be constantly giving me one... or else my blog s gonna die a slow death..:P

My late grandfather who was a civil engineer and had obviously loads of British influence had a beautiful italics writing..and his calligraphic sort of sign is still a pleasure to look at,It almost spoke all his experience in life and his wisdom to me.Since childhood I always associated all his talk and words of knowledge to his signature..I would imagine him signing documents with his "firang" boss Mr.andrew or whoever..

anyway..Some people are very innovative with their signatures..Like I had seen one of my mum s boss's signature looking like ganesha's idol and if u look closely one could tell his initials carefully moulded to form his 'aradhay devata'(favourite god)Ganesha.

Another funny incident involves my sister who was I think was in Std 1 or 2 then.As any kid she was extremely fascinated when she was told that they had to sign for something as a part of some class activity agreement.Though now I think the activity only meant to make kids aware of signatures n so still..as per the teacher s explanation ,a 'budding fashion conscious' sis of mine spent almost all her play time the previous evening trying n re-trying his signature..pestering me ,another "enthu batani "to check her improvements. .the d-day arrived and went off and she came home a little low..when asked she showed her signature which was a scrawly "Shru" written.Madam was soooooooooooooooo excited that it seems she could not even finish her signature ..so much for the practice..she s still teased by me even now for that 'shru' incident. :D(though now she truly has one of the most beautiful writing i ve ever seen.)

well....as about me,I always failed to have a decent lettering all my life n still regret it as in my Field we learn it as a part of our studies.Good lettering on a building construction or architectural design sheet is like "icing on a cake".and sadly speaking my cake would be good but sometimes i felt i should not have bothered putting icing on it..(I am giving this so that u guys get a clearer picture)but am I sad?.no way..I proudly display my lack of integrity amongst the letters i throw on paper in my signature too..so skinny looking n scribbled one with a line below complete with two dots at the end!!(can anyone interpret something regarding this??)For better explanation, put it this way,As all my loved one s opinion even if anyone wants to.. they would be disgusted to forge my sign.. he he...For which i am ever grateful to god that he s thrown me into an era where e-signatures exist!!

Mad add

I look at this most days..I envy how creative some people could be..
I kept clutching my stomach with laughter while watching it.. the first time..
trying hard to guess what it could be..(of course- you wont know what it is till the very end during telecast..)
only 2 words...
"too cute"

Yelling is good..

And this time he yelled!! And boy! Dint he yell right??!!
Well..It all happened last Friday when we ‘accidently’ remembered that it s 3 rd anniversary of our engagement.
So off we went for dinner..After an “over rated” dinner but still delicious we started back home, that s when this happened.
Now being a main road and way after peak hours, the traffic was pretty smooth, going at the right speed without any issues.
And suddenly there arrives this “CRAZY car” [read further and you ll know why ]from somewhere and tries to get past everyone. He would speed and break at ridiculous dangerous distances off from the car in the front[may be an inch or two, yeah!! That bad!], and we could clearly see that he was making the driver in front very nervous.
But unfortunately he could not change lanes and let this crazy guy go so we got to see this drama repeat for more than 2 kms until we got a chance to slow down in the next lane to let the poor guy into our lane .. and wroooom! There goes the CRAZY guy in almost 90-100 K speed in a 70 K zone.
Being a straight long road, we could see this car [rather we made a point to watch him] wroom and do the same thing to many a cars and their drivers.
But unfortunately, he got caught up in too many signals.. and we were almost reaching our diversion too when suddenly aj did something totally “not him”
He just drove straight and that s when I realized that we found ourselves next to the “CRAZY” car..[u see. Aj is phenomenally good at remembering cars, make, model , rego numbers.. etc etc and he had spotted him right there at a traffic signal]
As I wondered now what??Aj honked hard..staring at the crazy guy who just lowered his window and radio volume..
I noticed he was a very young man and looked pretty bored at the thought of “what -this –guy- from –the- other –car- want”.
Aj calmly asked him “ is there an emergency man?”
Guy[still surprised] : “NO,WHY?”
Aj:" then why are you drying at neck-break speed? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?"
Guy[ a bit boldly] : so what? :0 :O
Aj:”Do u want me to report to cops? I have recorded your mad driving in my cell phone, Shall I send it to them?” [My jaws have hit the floor at this point, Haven’t heard AJ so spontaneous ..Ever!!]
Guy[Now a bit worried] utters a scared:NO
The light turned green and we still drove a bit with his car and he was completely careful. We parked in the side and watched him for sometime, But seemed like he had learnt a lesson.
As we drove home silently I asked AJ:what made you take this in your hands?
He reminded me of this [which keeps repeating very often on TV]..

So dear Crazy driver, That s why he yelled at you.. :)
As for Aj - "Atta Boy!! I hope the crazy driver will be a good driver… :P :P :P"