Save my love,spare my soul!

Grueling is to guard this bond 
Warmth is the gadget to hoard
Prudence is the smiles, the hushed tears,    
the cosmos and the cogent pretense
They call some things love, for me it is a spur,
burning bliss between my breasts, my quick beating heart 
and my frail round knees.
Ah! I fear failing to recall it and I might,
And yet I go on, the phase is to pass
And I am to be in love, all over again.
Taxing is it to content this soul.

Happily ever after

I'm outraged by this bizarre ritual. Im sure she is a manglik (Chowva Dosham). So to secure her life and her husband's long life she needs to be married to someone or something whose life weighs much lesser value than her would-be husband. I wonder how old these rituals are...especially the whole idea of horoscopes.
Im not sure if Rama, Laxmana, Arjuna, Krishna, all married after getting their horoscopes checked! As far as I know they all had "swayamvara" except Arjun who eloped with his lady love, Subhadra. I'm not really sure about Krishna, but I am highly skeptical about his weddings being grounded on horoscope compatibility though. In swayamvara, the girl always picked her groom from a bunch of hunks (or not so hunks) who tried to impress her. So the men had to toil his way into the woman's heart and Im sure it paved way to a lot of mutual respect and love. After all, lifting and stringing a heavy and hefty bow did take substantial skill... So did living in disguise (Arjuna) to win over a girl..
`
So when our own Gods married on love, why are we so reluctant. Shouldn't we be more prudent and dump such superstitions far behind us where they belong.
This girl-dog wedding happened in some remote village in Jharkhand state. But well educated and successful families in urban India are equal culprits in promoting such practices. Now things get to a whole new level if the girl is dark skinned too. Now thats a real challenge to the already worried parents of a Manglik girl. ( I dont even want to go there now). I think its high time we crawl ourselves out of ridiculous fallacies. How about we bring back the Swayamvara system where after the initial background check by parents ( ofcourse, we have to keep the robbers, molesters and thugs away) , the prospective grooms portray their skills to win over the girl. The girl then chooses the most impressive one. Wouldn't that be something!!!
PS: I am a manglik and did face some side effects... But I am lucky that my parents didn't make a marry a tree or a dog and I married a loving and judicious guy who is equally or more appalled by horoscopes than me.

Queen

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho, first book I have read in almost 5 years. I just realized how much I missed reading. I also happened to watch the movie "Queen" yesterday. Both the movie and the book are kind of old now and I must be among the last few of my Indian friends to read this book and watch the movie.

Both are about a girl's adventure in a foreign city. But how it turns out for Rani and Maria are waaay different from each other. ( I still haven't finished the book). But while I watched Queen, I had so many questions linger in my heart.

I think Rani represents 80% (or more) of Indian girls. So what if Rani (or this Indian girl) wasn't from a rich family and could not afford a trip to Paris by herself? Or what if her honeymoon was planned for Taj Mahal or the backwaters of Kerala instead of Paris? Wouldn't she have had a whole different experience. Would she have ever stayed in a hostel with other men and had a chance to be independent. She might have stayed with her distant cousins or aunties who would immediately try to find her another prospective groom. (after all she had to get married before the guy now). Okai, say she had tickets to Paris, but if her parents were too conservative to let her travel by herself, they probably would have traveled with her in which case, she would have returned the same emotionally troubled girl with low self esteem. Would Vijay have ever called her then??? Or would she still be checking her phone every 2 mins for his message.
Now even if she had gone by herself, what if she had never met the extroverted helpful friend Vijayalaxmi, who had an Indian father. In that case, wudn't she have just ended up lonely and depressed in the most beautiful and romantic city, trying to run away from the Eiffel Tower. Given, all this went well, what if she would have ended up in a hostel without a cheerful Japanese roommate and two handsome well behaved men. Instead if she would have ended up with one guy, who tries to feel her up when she slept, would it have ruined the whole trip for her??? She would return ashamed and blamed by all for her incautious journey to trouble.
If nothing would have worked out right for Rani ( or the girl she represents) , would she have ended up marrying the same guy who dumped her for status, or another guy who would or would not be different from him (Vijay). I do not know the answers to any of this. For everyone who loved the movie, I wonder how many would actually dare to take a journey like her or how many parents would trust their daughters to such a trip. I think we are so self engrossed in our societal norms that we will applaud the movie and blow whistles when Rani returns the ring to Vijay, but return to our deep rooted believes of how an Indian woman should behave, learn to make chai, get a degree and get married to a well qualified boy. For us, the path to self discovery, self appreciation and love in Indian women are all for the movies and not practical for our well calculated, pre planned (by who knows who) and so called pragmatic life.
Nevertheless, like many other Indian girl who was never brave to be like Rani, I too liked the movie!!! Hoping that my Indian daughter will grow up to be the Queen I never dared to be!

New apartment

My new apartment has a pond view and a nice backyard... With lots of geese and birds, i love my new place....

Last day at work

Yesterday, Friday May 22nd was my last day at work...... I don know wen i can start working again...It is disheartening that i wudn b working for a very long time again.... But for now,with the baby coming, i need a break...

uPDAte

I have a lot to write in here... Its time n fatigue [laziness]....Both r stopping me.... Atleast i shud write about my peeing in the cup experience...made me feel im stupid,...What??? I cant even pee in a cup???? :(
Its a long story and has no time now...Had a good lunch..home cooked... Jus waiting for Sj to finish the call with the insurance company... Pregnancy isn't all jus fun and excitement... im realizing that..especially wen i get my mood swings... Then, others realize it too.....Gotta be in the office soon... My boss would be counting every minute im late...

i have a doubt!

I really have this doubt... Whats worse than a boss who swears to make your life miserable every single day???? If anyone knows, plz let me know... The last 3-4 days have been one of the worst ever...

Im Pregnant...

Yes, Im 10 weeks pregnant and im enjoying it a lot... My first pregnancy....Thank god for no morning sickness and my mum. Im enjoying a lot of good food... Only disappointment is that i hate restaurant food now... I thought of my favourite steak and mashed potatoes make me sick now... Since my mum is here till May end it doesn matter a lot as i enjoy a lot of mum's home cooked food... Anywaz... Yeeeeeyyyyy..... IM PREGNANT!!!!!!

South West Matchmaker

My last post was about my trip to Las Vegas.This is also something that i came across dut=ring the trip.as i had mentioned before we travelled in south west airlines.As much as i liked their service, i hated the fact that they do not have a proper seating system.I mean they give u some seat numbers and finally when u board the flight in the hopes of runnning to your seat and taking that window seat before your husband, all you see is, its an open seating.anybody can sit anywhere they wish.Its great for the people who board first, but the people who board last would have a tough time finding a seat together if travelling together.We didn't have much of a problem on the way to Vegas.But the return flight was a tragedy.We all hurried and took the front of the line in the hopes of boarding the flight fisrt.Not exactly first cuz they divide everyone into groups.There were 3 groups and we were in the 3rd group.But we stood the first when they called out for the 3rd group and were very glad we did.Since Dip was in 1st group[though we all took the boarding pass together] he went in before us and had a seat reserved for Jin,But Jin, Sj n me were together in the line.All of a sudden there is this black guy,oops sorry,African American guy who comes in says he has to be in front of the line as his boarding pass says number 1.I dont mean to be a racist, But i hated that guy.He behaved just like an Indian.I believed only Desis [sure that includes me] make such stupid acts.He was soon joined by a white American man.May be not always does a white man agrees so much with an African american like now.I was so irritated.we all were.They started making so much fuss there that the airline lady soon came over and made us all stand in order of the number.There was no such thing followed for the first 2 groups.So now we are at the end of the line.By the time we got inside most of the seats were filled.Finally Sj and me couldn't sit together.We got a middle seat and i was directly behind him.Thank god, we were atleast close.There was this heavy man next to me who was travelling with his mum who was on my other side[I was in the middle of them].Yeah, i sepeprated the mum from his son.I felt sympatehtic for him initially cuz he cudn even sit in the middle seat cuz of his extra pounds, but only till he started snoring to glory right next to me.I could see this mum looking at his at times with that "what are you doing my loud,naughty boy" kinda look.whatever, i had to suffer.Then, I happened to read the airlinr magazine in the seat pocket.It had an article about the SW open seating policy. The title was something similar to "SW matchmaker" though not exactly that.It said that since they had an open seating, strangers get to meet and fall in love.I just cudn looking to my left and thinking "REALLY"???? There was so much written about all these successful love stories of people who met in SW flights.Come on, u seperated me from my husband.Is that so romantic???Whatever!!!
But then, i saw Sj asking the guy next to hom if he take take my seat so that i can sit next to him.Now, something i have't mentioned yet is that through out the journey Sj n me were having a silly yet kinda big fight.It wasn't permanent.It just got coming n going.At one point we both even thought i should go back to India n stay there for a while [we both try to scare each other with that though it never works... C'mon, we love each other more than that].. Now that i still have bits and pieces of the fight left n my mind i was upset.But when i saw him talking to the other guy about giving me the seat, i felt that it was really sweet of him.It din't work cuz the other guy was 6'4" and cudn take a middle seat.Sj usually doesn't ask for favours to strangers.Still he did this time.This made my heart melt.When he cannot sit away from me for 4 hours, how was he gona live without me if i go back to India...See, Lier, he doesn wan me to go... it was a good feeling to know that.May be god wanted us to realize how much we loved eachother and how we cannot live without eachother.So he didn't let us sit together.So is open seating really romantic??? may be... Then i looked to my left agian..May be not...

In love with Vegas

Its been so long.Though there is no big change in my life, things r pretty much a lot different from my life in Peoria.Since we have moved to Chicago, Sj comes for lunch daily n the rest of the moves by quickly after i spend the morning cooking.The days i dont cook i just cuddle up in my love seat with my throw.I love my throw.Its pretty cozy n keep me warm.We had a recent trip to Las Vegas.It was like a long term wish that i needed to visit the place.Its pretty cool, actually mind blowong.Everything was simply great.Though Sj n me had some silly fights while we were there, i still had a lota fun.Imagine, i think it wud b the only plac eint he whole world, where u can have a fight with your guy/gal n still have a lota fun.
We landed in Las Vegas airport by around 7.30pm.The flight was cool.SouthWest airlines.They serve free snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.I loved their cranberry apple cocktail.[they call it.].While Sj spent a while sleeping i was busy trying to solve puzzles and Sudoku i found in their magazing.I have never over estimated my ability in mathematics.Maths and me are like hmmm....hmmm....lets just say,we dont get well together.We hate each other.Its like an inherited hatred.I believe my grandmother shared a similar relation with Maths.Its like, i can still get a 100 bucks from her,return 50 and convince her that she has to gimme 60 bucks back.[Not that bad, still closer].Yeah, so after all the failed attempts to solve even the warm up section of Sudoku, and many cocktails [again as they call it], we finally landed in Las Vegas.
Though our initial plan was to rent a car n drive directly to Williams [3 hrs from Vegas and an hour from Grand Canyon],where we wud spend the night before the drive to the Cnayon the next day, trust me, the charm of Vegas was so tempting that we changed it.We drove to the strip, roamed around for an hour or two before we actually drove to Williams.I dont remember where we had dinner from.I will mention it when i do.The drive seemed longer since it was midnight and we cud feel the crawling of sleep into our eyes.I was scared Sj wud doze off behind the wheels,so i kept talking about everything [yes, i mean it], every stupid thing i cud possibly think of.Anyway, we were not alone.We had another married couple with us.But they were equally sleepy,infact they were sleeping in the back seat while i was talking to Sj about Obama's new economic stimulus plan and the other girl from my college whose boyfriend ditched her.Still cant remember where we had dinner from.
Grand Canyon was beautiful, though i feel the snow a day before had reduced the much expected red colours in the formations whick kinda made less attractive than o thought.Still, it was a natural wonder and a great view.
We reached back in Vegas the same day.No time to waste.Didnt even bothered to check in the hotel till we took a complete roam of the strip.We strated the next day with a brunch at the nearby Thai reataurant cuz iHop was too crowded. They call it a recession in USA,Vegas is still flooding with people.But i dont doubt a bit why.This is the coolest place ever.We stayed in the Stratosphere, but still did't take any rides.The rides in Stratosphere are one of the scariest ones in the world.I had a double mind about taking one of it, and decided against it.Y pay money and scare myself.Dont i have anything more fruitful to do with the money,like buy myself that long jacket or the boots i always wanted.Yeah, the most interesting part of the trip.We watched two shows in while there.Vegas is most known for its gambling and shows i guess.Yeah, the women ofcourse, i saw these men at every corner who gave off snaps of naked women and their phone numbers,Gross...There were even these truck like vehicles moving around with such ads...I hear there are licensed borthels in Las Vegas.But i think these are the stuffs that makes Vegas "VEGAS" .Now, coming back to us, We watched two shows,"Fantasy" and "Zumanity".Fantasy is a complete topless show.It was okai,i liked there dance.But there was no great in watching the silicon and the non silicon ones.The hostess who sang good by the way wasn't believable at all.Anyway there was this guy who did comedy while they set the stage and the girls changed [i have no idea what???], was cool.He was really fun.He was the mail highlight of the show.He was damn funny.The next show we watched was Zumanity.Ah, great show..I simply loved it.I guess everyone there did.We got a deal on the ticket online.A seat in the centre on the 3rd row from the stage for half price was great.There was a lot of audience participation and stuff.It was amazing anyway.I took a tequila shot for the first time while in Vegas. I actually had thought it was gona be bitter and Sj had warned me that i shouldn spit it back incase i cudn take it.Anyway, i surpirised me, including myself, Cuz i had it with ease,I liked it infact.It didn't taste bad and i liked the way we take it with lemon n salt.I wanted to have one more just for the fun of it, but the cost of a single shot [$16 or more against $3 in Chicago],made me go against it. It was a great trip anyway and a lot of fun.I can write pages and pages about this one trip.But want to keep it short and this is best i can do.