Anniversary in Vegas!!!!!!!!

Its been really really long time since i blogged...now i dunno what to blog about!!!!!Its has been a month of so many events and adventures that i am not sure where and how to start. I think i ll start off with our anniv celebs coz it was soo much fun and filled with surprises. We were planning to spend or anniv together somewhere and we were debating for a loong time as to which would be the perfect place. Finally considering all the other constraints we thought Clearwater Beach in Tampa would be a nice idea since i ve never been there and had always wanted to do parasailing and most importantly it was pretty closeby so that we could be back home to resume our duties the next day. We were supposed to start on 9th Feb and come back on 10th evening or night.

So 9th morning , we were planning to start after lunch so i thought i ll do the packing late since we are gonna be there for a day only...but then i found it really strange that Hari got up really early and was packing stuff and all active. He then said something about boarding a flight at 12:00 or something!!!!! I was completely taken aback...are we nuts to board a flight to Clearwater when it is just an hour drive from home????? I knew something was fishy and was trying to figure out what was going on when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find our friends standing there with baloons, cards and cake!!!!!! I was completely surprised and after some happy moments of cutting the cake n stuff i was again back to my confused self wondering where are we heading to!!!! Our friends then bade us goodbye and wished a happy journey to "Clearwater" ...stressing the word Clearwater now and then. Hmmm...they left me floundering and then we packed our bags and were all set to go.

In the airport, i was checking out the flights which departed at 12:00 when Hari told it was not 12:00 but 12:40. After the security check, we landed in gate 120...i checked out the flights from gate 120 at around 12:40 and i found a flight which was scheduled to Philadelphia. Philly ??????I was confused and decided maybe we are goin to Anu's place which is at NJ. I was still uncertain and took a seat still calculating the probabilities of going to Philly. Around 12:00, Hari went and stood in front of gate 123 hurriedly and asked me to join the queue for boarding the flight. Needless to say, i was flabbergasted and almost picked up a fight with him for fooling me all this time :-). Only after boarding the flight i came to know it was Las Vegas we were heading to!!!!! Wowwwwwwww....was the reaction i could manage to give!!!!

We had absolute fun in Vegas, playing the slot machines for the almost the entire night...roaming the streets and clicking photos...we then had our lunch in Tamba (great food!!!!!) and were back to the airport after spending some wonderful time there, the only regret being that the trip was toooo short. It really tuned out to be memorable 1st wedding anniv!!!!!!!

After the anniv came the Valentine's Day. We decided to go to the Wekiwa Springs with our friends and spend some quality time there. The place was really soothing and relaxing surrounded with tree's, the highlight being a beautiful natural lake. It would be an ideal place for camping overnight to hear and listen to the wild creatures in the dark. The park also offered cannoeing and kayaking options and i was thrilled!!!! I had never kayaked before and was looking forward to it. It was an awesome experience, even though at times it becomes a little tough and painful to manouver boat. We caught a glimpse of the alligators happily snoring with tortoises and cranes by their side. What a beautiful example of coexistence!!!!Made us realise the beauty of mother nature and wonder when these creatures can coexist in such peace why is that we humans fight and kill each other for trivial things in life????? Arent we supposed to be the more intelligent and sophisticated ones??? Oh ya.. the intelligence is being used in developing atom bombs and lethal weapons...the sophistication is put to use to invent new methods and devising new plans to destroy humanity. I guess we have lots of lessons to learn from these creatures and we have a long way to go before we become really civilised. Huh!!!!!! Anyways, we had good fun there and returned home after a tiring day.

Next came Hari's bday...i guess the less said about it the better. I had planned so many things and it all turned out to be a major flop since Hari decided to fall sick on his bday!!!!!He was feeling really weak and in no mood to celebrate. Later in the evening, our friends came home to surprise Hari and by gods grace he was better by that time. There ended a fevery shaky bday.

Nothing much to add...i had my spring break for a week and it was gone in a jiffy. Now back to normal routine of classes and cooking back home. Lets see what more is to come!!!!!!!!

Metamorphosis

Looks like it is going to be a tough week ahead!!!!!! The professors have started showing their true colours now and have decided to show us a piece of their mind. There is this homework with which i have been struggling for the past one week and still no light at the end of the tunnel. Phew!!!!!!!!And the only silver lining amongst all these is that i decided to be bold enough to change my outlook, my rather plain conservative looks and how best to do it????? Yepp...i got myself a neat haircut :-). I have always been rather a coward in terms of experimenting something new. And that too i ve been very protective of my hair and i guess i would have at the max once or twice visited the hair salon for a simple trim in my entire life (Really, believe me!!!). And imaginee!!!!A haircut??????A thousand thoughts would cross my mind...'will it look good on me???'....or what if something goes horribly wrong?? Is it worth all this....and eventually i would succumb to the pressure.

But i always had a fascination for good, stylish, straight, beautiful, healthy hair. I would gaze at the beautifully styled hair of the girls in the tv shows and used to wonder where do they get their hair done. I used to browse hundreds of websites to find some tips for beautiful hair...tried out herbal methods(adhimadhuram, vendhayam, nellikai)...tried styling it with a straightener...tried washing it every two days and what not. It refused to budge and was the same wavy, dull, lacklustre hair. I was desperate to do something and that's when my good friend stepped in.

Recently i happened to browse through her photos in orkut and was flabbergasted. She looked stunning and i couldn't figure out what was the cause. And when i met her, realisation dawned.... hair cut!!!!!!!!!.i loved her cut and i could feel my hair twirling as if to tell me "pleeasee...for heavens sake ask her where she got her hair done and jeeez give me a break!!!. Huh!!!!!She promised me to take me to her stylist and i couldn't wait for the day. She finally fixed an appointment at 2:00, Monday and i was EXCITED!!!!!. The day dawned and we set out on our mission. As soon as we entered the spa, my nerves began to crack and my train of thoughts resurfaced from nowhere. I was really nervous and whispered to friend...hey do u really think i should do it?????She looked at me and said...oh come on..u ve been wanting to do this for ages now...Juz go for it girl!!!!!! Hey are u ready?...the stylist's voice echoed inside my head...my throat went dry and i gulped down a glass of water...Oh ya...of course....

And there i sat...she held my hair and i told her for like the hundredth time...please don't cut much...i wanna retain my length...try to do something without cutting much of my hair...She stared at me and i could almost hear her mumbling and ranting to herself...and then i all could hear was chunk chunk chunk!!!!!!!Oh god...is she cutting a lot? She then started blow drying my hair (thank goooood...the cutting part is over)...i sat there with my eyes closed, wondering what i had done and cursing myself. It was then i heard my friends voice...they were going gaga over my hair...i could hear words like ...so beautiful...lovely and stuff. I opened my eyes and i couldn't believe what i saw. Long, shiny , straight hair with beautiful layers and front bangs...wowwwwww!!!!! I touched my hair twice, thrice to check if it was my own hair.....i just loved it....i almost hugged the stylist and screamed in delight. All these years i had been wanting my hair to look something like this...she had retained my length and so i didn't feel guilty that i chopped of my hair or something. She had done little flips in each layer which made it look all the more attractive...my joy knew no bounds :-)...I came out of the parlour with a rejuvenated look and vowed to visit her again. I thanked my friends and i was soooo much glad that i took the bold step to come out and try out new things. So guyz, if you have any suppressed desires or some secret craving, i would say...just go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jai Ho

At last, there is something for us to cheer about. A.R Rahman aka Allah Rakka Khan stole the Golden Globe award right under the nose of Hollywood biggies like Clint Eastwood, Alexandra Desplant etc. Terming ARR as a musical genius has become cliched for us in India, but his simpicity, attitude,detail to perfection, not to mention his musical prowess has captivated the entire world. I personally liked his speech at the award ceremony, even though he did look nervous and stupified he did do a good job. His parting words were the icing on the cake as he thanked the billion people in India for all their prayers.
Starting his career as a keyboard player in Ilayaraja's troupe, his jouney has been a long one. As they say true talent can never be suppressed he went on become the most sought after musicians in India and abroad. Who can forget his musical debut 'Roja'??? It marked the beginning of a new era in Indian music. Bollowood guyz turned their heads towards the south wondering "who was this magical guy who is creating ripples in the tamil music industry". Eventually ARR churned out the tunes for Rangeela and he has not looked back since then. Personally, i am a hugeee fan of ARR, his music just grows on you to that extent that you get helplessly addicted to his tunes. He is maybe one of the most innovative persons in the industry and his love for music has urged him to experiment the differrent styles, timbres and genres of music.
For those guyz who still havent heard his award winning song Jai Ho from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DciW_yuQGCw
This is wishing him all the very best for all his future endeavours and hope he goes on to win the coveted Oscars one day. It is a proud moment for us and thank u ARR for making our country and fellow citizens proud. Waiting to hear more of ARR in the coming days. Jai Ho :-)

Thiruvaadhirai

Its that time of the year where we get to eat kootu and kali. Thiruvaadhirai or Aarudhra Darisanam celebrated in the full moon night in the month of Margazhi and its a day decidated to Lord Shiva (his star being Aathirai and hence the name Thiruvaadhirai). I guess this festival is mainly observed by the tamil speaking world. The most important Aarudhra Darshan takes place in the Chidambaram Shiva temple where the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva is enacted.Thousands throng the temple for this special darshan and catch a glimpse of Lord Nataraja .


Though this festival carries so much history and importance, all my memories regarding Thiruvaadhirai are centered around eating cups and cups of the traditional kootu :-). Mom used to make the kali and kootu early in the morning and i used to gobble up spoonfuls as and when i entered the kitchen. I just loved the kootu so much, its a special dish made out of many vegetables only that the number of the vegetables inside the kootu should be an odd number (!!!). So this being my first Thiruvadhirai after marriage, we decided to experiment with the kali and kootu whatever may be the case. So after a lot of phone calls to India, the recipe of the two were bang on in my hands. "Looks pretty simple and straightforward" i thought. So then y not invite our friends for lunch???? Hari also thought it was a great idea and we invited our friends over to have the thiruvaadhirai kali kootu with us.

The day dawned,and i rose quickly and hit the kitchen. Ok, now i started with the kali and hari started cutting the vegetables for the kootu. After the basic stuff, i stuffed the kali inside the pressure cooker and i was brimming with pride 'Well done girl...so far things are going in the right direction'. So, after the pressure cooker finished dancing and spinning its way to glory i opened the lid. To my dismay, the kali was uncooked and still in the same shape as i had put it earlier :-(. My my.....this is the starting point of another great fiasco. 'Ok ok' ,i told myself "Don't get disheartened, it happens" and again i repeated the procedure. Praying fervently to god that i should turn out good, i looked at the kali and it still didnt look satisfactory. Oh god, forget it, and i deployed my attention towards the other dishes. And after a long battle with vadai i finished the dishes and looked at the kali with a vengeance. Finally i managed to make up the kali and couldn't help but pity our friends who were totally unaware of the fate which was awaiting them!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone arrived and we started by playing a round of cards. Anyways its a mess, sooner it gets over the better ,i thought and cleared my throat and said meekly 'Why don't we start our lunch, guyz'. I made a sincere attempt to warn them..'Hey look, the kali...." and then came my friends voice..."oi this exactly how a traditional kali should look like" .Oh really!!!!! Surprisingly ,everyone liked it or atleast they pretended to!!!!! . Wowwwwwwww.. "such gracious and kind hearted souls"....it tasted good and i had lunch in a far better mood. After that we had a complete blast, playing , chatting , pulling each others legs...after a looong time we had such unlimited fun and frolicking:-). We parted with promises of another happy get together very soon.

So there ended our thiruvaadhirai festivities . It was good day after all, a day to remember (no no, not for the kali part) and will be etched in my memory for a long time to come :-).

My First Day to Schoooool!!!!

Finally the D-day arrived.It was my first day of school and strangely i was not hyper tensed or cracked up as in the usual case!!!!!!I still remember my first day of my engineering college :-)... there was this shy girl with hardly any guts to speak loudly even, with multiple butterflies in her stomach, hesitant and scared, in short a bundle of wrecked nerves. My first day to work was no less different. But slowly i guess i have evolved into a much matured person with a new confidence gained mostly due to my professional experience in the two IT companies i slogged in. So guess things have changed pretty much for good in the last couple of years.

And so here i am..commencing my masters here in Florida...and trust me it feels great to be back to the hectic and happy college life (Maybe it will not be that great once the profs start giving assaignments and start the exam process!!!!!). So the first day, and the first class was at morning 9 and i was ready by 8 30 all prim and proper, wearing my new dress and raring to go.Hubby dropped me off in the first class and i entered the room to see that the room was empty!!!Oh ok maybe i am 5 mins early so maybe people will start trickling in any time now. I went inside and took a seat. Then slowly entered 2 guyz (who knew each other beforehand i guess coz they were chattering away) and i breathed. Thank god!!!! there are somebody else who have taken this course along with me. 3 more students entered the class and before i could turn to them say a formal "Hi' the professor strode inside. Now i was completely surprised here for reason 1) she just entered the class and none of them stood up and wished her a good morning or any kind of salutation.In india in my class if we do not stand up and wish the teachers, they would get very angry and promptly leave the class saying we were a bunch of totally uncultured, uncivilised set of idiots.
Imagine!!!!!!! Reason 2) The teacher neither did expect any respect of such kind nor did she bother if the students were paying attention to her or were text messagin their boy friends vigorously. Oh god, what a contrast!!!! Anyways it was good class afterall, she had prepared the slides beforehand and stuck to them.

There was another class evening and it also turned out to be much better than i anticipated. I liked the way technology is put to optimum use here and students can avail the facility of online viewing if they are not able to make it to the classes. They record the class sessions and post it online which serves as a boon to the working students.

End of the day left me marveling at the flexibilty and technological superiority of the education style here in these parts. It was a pleasure attending college here for the reason that there are no strict attendence, no teachers who tell to you get out at the drop of a hat, no one to make you stand outside the gate if you are late, and most importantly no one to blackmail you in the name of suspension from college for trivial things.

Back home now, and still musing over the classes and thinking if i will be able to cope up with all the assignments,tests and projects. " Put your heart in whatever you do" is maybe the right phrase for me now and thats what i should be doing steadfastedly:-).

So far, so good :-).