Duly noted..!

Conversations with friends have suddenly narrowed down to husbands, in laws, cooking, the indisciplined maid at home and other stuff which once I never knew existed...Oh My..! I painfully realized that our capability to pass comments and nickname others and forget their actual names have been destroyed. Yes, now my ears and all other organs which are supposed to do the LISTENING part have trained themselves to do their torturous duties. It is usually about Thunderbird, Sony DVD Player, Canon 500D, Apple laptop or the like..!! And yeah, the enthusiasm is often met with a curious expression of mine :)


I am a brilliant actress you see.

When asked very romantically as to what he needs as a wedding anniversary gift and gleefully replying ‘Ya! That would be ... a stabilizer for the home theatre’ came as a slap on the face. But coming early from office that day and giving me a huge pocket money with permission to buy whatever I want is duly noted!

That my Dad says not to drink juices from local stores to avoid cholera and other deadly diseases is poorly misinterpreted by the daring husband as ‘spoonfed and pampered to bits’. But, buying an egg puff to a hunger stricken child while at the store is duly noted.

That multiplexes are for English movies and misjudging Hindi and Malayalam movies as not worth a multiplex ticket is disgusting. But a Saturday special ‘come lets go to forum’ but saving a surprise ticket for ‘3 idiots ‘is duly noted.

Hesitating to visit my home whenever we are in town and making a huge fuss about the distance and time required is painful. But talking cheerfully to my parents on phone and making them feel like he is a son they never had is duly noted!

Getting increasingly impatient while I choose a dress at a store is embarrassing. But enquiring whether I liked it and paying the bills without any haste is duly noted!

Reminding me of his Mom’s culinary skills is discouraging. But initiating to have lunch from office when he understands that I dint  have the time to cook, is duly noted!

Men are from Mars and women from Venus, but we nag and pester not because you are unacceptably weird, but because most of the time you tend to be in Mars itself..This is the only way to make you listen! But even when you are seemingly in Mars, the big heart that’s inside is duly noted!

Generation Gap ..!!!

This Christmas I learnt one big lesson. Generation Gap. Talk about twitter, orkut, facebook, the geeky Moms and Dads are unlikely to understand and thats what we usually call a Generation Gap. But, its not so. Having my Dad and Dad in law equally active in orkut, facebook and twitter, I never had the right opportunity to use that phrase.

Here are some of my inferences on Generation Gap.

*We are planning a family reunion at Cochin. My parents have to come from Trivandrum, me and my better half from Bangalore.*

Two months before the reunion:

Parents are planning the reunion, whether we should have dinner out, what gifts to buy, coordinating the expected time of our arrival with theirs.

We: ???

One month before the reunion:

Parents book tickets. Tells maid of the trip in advance so that she will be available on those days to water the plants and feed the fishes.

We: ????

Two weeks before the trip:

Parents wrap gifts, keep them packed in respective bags so that it is not forgotten. Other luggage are taken out from cupboards and cleaned.

We: ?????

One week before the trip:

Parents start packing the bags, ensure three copies of train tickets one in each bag, identity cards, gives instructions to the maid, keeps valuable items securely.

We: ??????

Three days before the trip:

Mummy takes her travel checklist and checks away all items and ensures stuff forgotten is packed, and checks them too. Toiletries are kept near the luggage as they have to be packed last.

We: Awake from hibernation.

Two days before the trip:

Parents ensure that no food is kept in the fridge and tries to finish them or give them away.

We: Speed through the traffic to travel offices to see whether any tickets are available and gets the obvious answer. Decide to go in car.

Previous day of the trip:

Mummy is checking a higher level checklist which has options to check whether the other checklists are done.

We stuff clothes into one bag and throw away food from the fridge. Informs peers and Leads of vacation required and see their true colors for leaving on such a short notice. Meanwhile listen to the long distance yelling of parents against driving ten hours at a stretch.

At the reunion:

**Fun Unlimited** (with occasional warnings against driving from Bangalore **Ugh**)

Back Home:

Parents are busy unpacking, putting clothes out for washing, cleaning fish tank, putting back bags in cupboards, taking a fresh copy of checklist for the next trip.

We: ????????????????????????

Generation Gap..!!

Victimized by a Nameless Award!!

 Blunt Edges has tagged me with a nameless award…more of a questionnaire to fill, which is 7 things about me which hopefully no one knows. Here they come!

1. I can't control my tears when someone cries in front of me, or if someone is crying on screen. I hide it very efficiently enough that only sometimes do I get caught. However this doesn’t mean that I am innocent and angelic, but that something is wrong with my tear glands.

2. I talk nonstop, am very loud and noisy with friends, and act very smart. But deep inside, I am always insecure and unsure of myself.

3. I cannot make myself like any food that’s outside my general taste. But I hate to admit that I can’t get accustomed to other cuisines and force myself to eat them so that others may not think that I am a country fellow.

4. I love cold coffee. I don’t drink regular coffee.

5. Whenever I get into the lift of my office, I suddenly get super conscious of my toes, the nail polish on them worn out in amoebic shapes, and try to hide them. Then, I promise to myself that I would get my nails done, and when I reach my floor, I forget the promise instantly.

6. I always have an over estimated mental image of how my hair at the back of my head looks like, at any given point of time.

7. I can memorize and reproduce any stupid ad that comes on TV and recite them as and when it is broadcasted. But when there are guests around, and I can’t do that, I feel curbed and irritated.

Please don’t hate me..!! *SOB*

Was it just arrogance ? Or was there a point..?

It is not the first time that a friend has turned me down. Not the first time someone walked out on me. So it is definitely not the first time that I felt humiliated, but the fact that it was not the first time doesn’t mean that it hurts any less.
 I just wanted everyone in my friends circle to be in a cordial, healthy relationship with me. I can’t turn my back on people at social gatherings or at events. People should be emotionally stable to be able to smile at each other. I can, and I did that. I did an ice breaker talk also, to which an embarrassing smirk and dead silence was the response. At that moment I wanted to stab myself, but I can hardly turn my face away from one single person, if they are part of the crowd of familiar faces that I am with. Anyways, this person who was once a good friend, could hardly  make an eye contact with me. Now this is probably out of guilt of a very depressing kind. I was not at fault, and therefore I could make a move to talk, without the fear of the type of response, and without hesitation of the mildest kind..without even a tiny speck of guilt or regret of any kind pulling me back. I was clear, confident and level headed.
This is the point where one should get an awareness of self respect and dignity to oneself. I realized it at the right time. I have no regrets that I made an attempt to talk. Because years later, when I sit back and flip across my photo albums, I can tell myself that I lost this person from my friends circle with no fault of mine, and it would never give me a reason to regret.
So mister, you are around ten years elder to me, but I guess I am a thousand times wiser than you. Years from now, you will look different, but if you continue to be the small person that you are, it will be a phenomenon of the weirdest kind. Anyways, thank you for whatever you had been long back, I will pray that you grow up soon, and I am sorry, I just shift-deleted you from my memories forever. Take care!