4 years up!

Dear Chintu,
Ok heads up - this is going to be one helluva short post,compared to Year 1 or Year 2  or Year 3 since I am sitting at work and blogging :D You may wonder if I am doing this annual posting as a ritual or a compulsion.. but the fact is I know I am a weird person who doesn't express my emotions. I rarely surprise you, I rarely make you feel special and I can't remember the last time I told you "I love you". I just do this because I want you to know there are some things that I really value and appreciate in you. And what better day to do that than our anniversary :) While I may not say it in as many words, I still love you to pieces and will continue to do so!
If there's one thing I really need in my relationship, it is space. And you give me so much of it! I make plans with colleagues, I make last minute party plans with my friends, I disappear for an entire day with my family (a jamboree as you call it)!. Although, you hate every minute of it, I don't leave you with too much choice. Like Yercaud for instance. You really didn't want me to go. But the stubborn me fought and still had my way. You just stayed at home, supervised the cook, the housekeeping and spent the weekend playing PS3. I'm really not sure how many husbands out there do that! Of course you sulked for a good 10 days after that, but I know I can make it up to you ;-) I know I am crazy but I just want to let you know how much I appreciate you giving my space and letting me breathe. Thanks!!
I absolutely loved our trips this year too - Kumbakonam was fantastic, Yercaud and Trichy were super relaxing especially in our new Vento baby.. but of course my favorite has to be Turkey... Istanbul was a dream destination and a place I really enjoyed visiting. Not once did you scrimp or crib about how much we spent on eating at those fancy places or shopping at the Grand Bazaar. A big thank you!!
Next up my work - Argh. I know you absolutely hate it. I know you've made it clear you want me to quit. Again my stubbornness comes into play. Gosh I really don't know how you deal with it. There are so many days when I just leave you to yourself... I just text you about dinner, where it is kept etc and I just continue working. So many men in my office are amazed at how you put up with this but I just shrug it off.. Honestly, not much I can do. But I solemnly swear to make more time for you this year.. I promise you I won't unnecessarily stay back or take calls really late or check emails in the middle of the night! Again, thanks for putting up with this nonsense!!
Of course all these seem small when compared to how well you took care of me when I was really sick in May. You know what I am referring to. And believe me, I was amazed. I always knew you are caring but that was mind blowing. I saw a very different side of you and it just moves me to tears every time I think of it. How incredibly lucky am I? Ok I shall stop the mush now.
But you get the drift right? ;-) I love you and I will always be thankful to have you around not just as a husband but as a friend - my BFF! :D
Leaving you with one of the cutest selfies of us, taken this year - pic taken outside a pretty church in Izmir.
Happy 4th anniversary, Chintu!

Speaking my heart out

There are days(actually plenty of them!) where I feel like I don't know my husband at all. I mean, I don't understand him or his behavior patterns. Long before we were to be married, K always used to tell me that he wasn't sure if our marriage would work out given our extremely different personalities, interests etc. He often used to tell me this line "I'm a very difficult person to live with, I'm not sure if you will be able to handle me. I suggest you rethink this entire idea of getting married to me".
Almost 4 years later, I'm sitting here thinking how true this is. Not the rethinking part. But the part about me not being able to handle him. I swear there are days when I feel he is a complete stranger. I was talking to M, my bestie and she said that there was a possibility of me not offering him "companionship". I think what she meant was he wasn't sure if talking to me would make him feel better on those days when he was upset. But my point is out of the 365 days, he will be grumpy on 360 of them - the exceptions being our birthdays, our anniversary and maybe 1 or 2 other days. I'm perfectly serious.
I really don't understand how to put up with such an unhappy person. Best part is I don't know why he is unhappy or upset. And that probably makes me sound like a horrible wife. But in my defense, the guy has never opened up to me or talked his heart out. He has very few friends whom he hangs out with and he probably uses that time to speak. I know he has been extremely upset with my work timings. I come home late. Very late on certain days. I'm doing my absolute best to balance it out. But there are bad days at work too. Where I've to literally wait until my bosses come, talk to them, sort issues out and then head home to a grumpy person. Not like when I come home early, he makes any conversation. Nope. He has never been a conversationalist. We just read or watch tv, have dinner and sleep early. Now I probably make us sound like we are the most boring couple on planet earth. It is a possibility; however, we do take breaks whenever possible. And that's one thing we both enjoy. We recently drove to Yercaud, it was so calming and stress free. We had a wonderful holiday. So we do have our good days; but as I mentioned earlier, it is 5 to 10 days in a year.
All these years, I've not reacted. Whenever we fight, it is mostly I who makes up. I don't know why. He throws that kind of guilt at me. He makes me feel like every single thing that I do is a mistake. He sulks so much, throws tantrums. Yet I've been so patient. I've accepted him for the kind of person he is. I've still managed to keep going, despite him being extremely difficult and unreasonable. But tonight, I am so miserable. I don't think I can go on like this. I can understand if a person has a genuine reason to be pissed. But I'm miserable because I don't know what mistake I have done for him to be pissed. Looks like in our case, there's no need of a reason. We are just that kinda couple. Call us incompatible or imperfect or boring or mismatched. I'm in no mood to make up or try and reason out with him. I want to see how long he can go on this way. If he is perfectly capable of being this way - where we don't even acknowledge each others' presence, where we don't speak a word and mostly converse via email or texts, then I'm also capable of ignoring him and his annoying behavior. In short, I'm going to rebel! A perfect anniversary month! Phew.

Aloha 2015!

Happy New Year my lovelies! I've been enjoying the glorious weather in Chennai, I've been busy partying with friends, colleagues and K's friends. K has been traveling quite a bit since December and I got a much needed respite from the cooking! His best friend, AP and his family had come down from Canada in December and I got to meet all of them for the first time. AP is a real sweetheart, his wife Soo is super fun and they have 2 adorable kids. K and AP took off on a trip to Valparai for a few days while I went and stayed with Amma. Oh man. It was so amazing. I woke up late, I kept eating and I did everything I wanted to do - I read, I read, and I read...I listened to music, I spent time with my grand mom and grand pa,  I watched nonsensical Tamil films, I played with my little cousin, I caught up with friends.. In short, I relaxed! I realized that vacations needn't necessarily mean going to exotic places... Just packing your bags and going to Mom's place is more than enough to recharge :)))
On New Year's eve, I partied with my colleagues. We danced the night away, was super fun! Glad I have some fun people to hang out with at work.
Life is slowly coming back to normal now(a phase that I hate). Work is getting busy and just when I am getting grumpy about the ending holiday season, I realize it is January & Pongal holidays are around the corner. Jan 26th is Republic Day  which is again a long weekend. K & I may do a road trip somewhere close to Chennai. Looking forward to all these extended breaks :)
Edited to add : While K was away, my actual self came out a little. I came from work and threw my bag in one corner, carelessly threw my keys in another random corner, walked all around the house with my shoes not worrying about the mud and the dust, slept on K's side of the bed and kept reading through the night, eating chips and spilling them all over the bed, didn't wake up before 8 am, didn't step into the kitchen(I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm saying it again because its a a big deal!),  didn't do any washing or folding clothes.. Gosh I think I could go on and on and on. Phew. So basically I had a fabulous time while K was gone. My darling K - I hope you are reading this and I hope you go on a trip again real soon :))))

Turkey_2014

For our vacation this year, the hubs and I decided to travel to Turkey. We traveled in October and couldn't have asked for better weather conditions! And that was one good decision we made! Turkey is so beautiful, vibrant and touristy :)
We(K!) had made a list of places to visit and of course, a detailed itinerary was drawn up much in advance. And hey in my defense, this time I did take time out to read and jot down places that I wanted to visit. And no, it wasn't just the shopping areas :D

Day 1 at Istanbul began in a frenzy and certainly not the way we anticipated. We flew Etihad Airways and we were told that our baggage was not traceable. We panicked. We had no jackets and it was freezing outside! I had another problem, a slightly more expensive problem. You see, the clever girl I am, I decided to leave my wedding ring(diamond) in my luggage and didn't bother telling K about it. Don't ask me why. I am very random that way!! K was super pissed off. Uh oh. What a horrid start!
We filled out some paperwork, gave all our details. We were told it was still at Abu Dhabi and we should get it within 24 hours. They would call our hotel to confirm and would drop it off. Fair enough. Saying all the prayers we knew, we left the Ata Turk airport.

Our stay at Hotel Ilkay 
This probably has to be the highlight of our trip. The place was extremely cozy and the staff very courteous and helpful. Everything was well taken of - rooms, giving us directions, recommendations to areas, tram routes.. everything.. The moment we landed, I spoke to the lady at the front office and asked her if she could help us out by calling the airport about our bags. She did not hesitate, and did the needful. Same response though. Wait was the key word. Sigh. This was going to be a long day.

The Suleimanye Mosque
On our first day, we didn't want to sit around and sulk, so decided to freshen up and head to see the Suleimanye Mosque. Take a look -

This is a very special place. I'll tell you why. It was around afternoon and the call for prayer had started. Unlike in India, where it isn't very musical, in Turkey the call for prayers is so calm, soothing and lovely to hear. K turned around and asked me if I prayed for the bags. I looked at him as if he was mad "Err, I don't know how to pray in a mosque". He gave me a disgusted stare and said "Just pray". So I did. I stood outside the mosque, didn't really care about who was looking and said a silent prayer(I will be honest, I did say that even if I don't get anything else, I must get my ring back:))))
Then we left.

How the saga finally ended! 
We did not get any confirmation even on Day 2 and we were convinced that we are not going to get the bags. Extremely upset, we just went about eating quick meals and staying huddled indoors, thanks to the cold weather. In the evening, K said he was going to step out to buy water. In exactly 5 min, he came in gleaming and said "Good news, our bags have been found and will be delivered around 10 pm tonight"! Oh god. That was the best news I had heard in a long long time. Apparently, he was ranting to the guy at the reception and was extremely upset. The guy was very sympathetic and had told him not to fret and that Insha Allah, the bags will reach us. At that moment, the phone rang. It was the person at the airport who said our bags were found and will be delivered. Sounds freakish no?

After that, there was no looking back. We went about with our plans!!

The major sites
The Blue Mosque is another beauty(Although personally, I  liked the Suleimanye better). I couldn't get enough of the Hagia Sophia(a church converted to a mosque to a museum). Loved the architecture and the detailing at the Topkapi Palace. Was amazed that something like the Basilica Cistern could be built at that point in time.

Shopping, Food, Road Side Vendors 
This has a very Indian feel to it - the little corn cob vendors, the Simit sellers(Turkish buns), the mobile lemon juice seller, the hustle bustle etc. We also loved shopping at the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar

Shopper's Paradise 
Istiklal Cadessi in Taksim is a must do! The place has tons of people, shopping and eating.. Makes you feel uber cool. Shopped at my favorite places - Sephora and H & M! :D
At the end of this street, there is a lovely church, St. Anthony's Padua.

Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar 
Psychedelic lamps, tea pots, spices, tea, fruits, vegetables, nuts, dry fruits... you name it, you get it! But it does involve a lot of haggling(which comes naturally to us Indians :P)

Izmir
We flew to Izmir one day to visit the Artemis temple and to walk around Ephesus. We had hired a tour guide to pick us up from the Izmir airport, she took us on a full day tour. We visited the ruins of the St. John's Basilica, the Sirince Village, the House of Virgin Mary and finally Ephesus.An entire day well spent!

Andalou Kavagi 
Isn't this such a hilarious name? Although it was pretty, I have the worst memories of it. Did I tell you that Turkey is full of cats? Yuck! They are all over the damn place!! It gave me such nightmares. At this particular place, the cats jump on the table. I am not kidding! We took a Bosphorous cruise from Sirkeci to Andalou Kavagi. It has a castle at the top of the hill(what a climb it was!) that offers some stunning views.

An evening in Ortakoy 
Don't forget to spend an evening relaxing at Ortakoy. It is a busy area, filled with tourists who keep clicking pictures of the splendid evening shots. There is an amazing place to eat - Destan. They have hookah too and the best bit.. no cats!! My kinda place!

 The Asian Side 
We went and sat by the Asian side, overlooking the ships, watching the sun disappear in the Istanbul horizon, sipping on tea and enjoying the beautiful weather.

One of my favorite pics :) 

 K took some amazing snaps, but this one's my favorite! Thanks! <3 br="" nbsp="">

I've missed this space sorely!!!

I really and truly did! I viewed my stats now and I am shaking my head in shame - 6 posts in the full year? ONLY? Unbelievable!!
Considering how much I love ranting and venting and sharing my life out here, it does come as a surprise to me. It really has been a super busy year.
Work has really taken a strange turn. By strange I mean, I am not really sure how and where it is headed. I still like my job but there is just so much drama going on amongst the top management, that I feel tired being pulled into their arguments and what not. I want to do what is best for my people but unfortunately, it is being viewed very differently. I am constantly under so much stress. Nobody is really sure of what is going on and how long this is going to last. Anyway, I will not bore you about my troubles at work.
What I will instead focus on is something exciting that happened in October. The hubster and I took off on a vacation to the beautiful country of Turkey! It was a really random choice of destination but we totally loved every minute of it! Istanbul is such a vibrant and bustling place. I would totally love to go back and visit, someday. I shall not do justice by merely writing about how beautiful it was. I promise to write a long post on our entire trip with some pictures for you to feast on.
Another exciting event happened on 21st Nov, Friday. We bought home a new family member - A beautiful Volkswagen Vento!! She is a real beauty. I totally loved it the minute I saw it. K saw it at a dealer's place last week and was hooked. The sad part is our lovely Swift baby, which we absolutely loved, had to be given away considering we have no space to park her in our building. Will miss ya!!
But I am so looking forward to some nice getaways in our new car. Welcome home :) I am really and truly happy for K. He has been looking for a car for almost a year now and just couldn't make up his mind. He wanted to upgrade to a Sedan and I couldn't be more thrilled for him!! I am glad all that waiting has paid off :)

Feeling good!

I am alone at home tonight after ages! And believe me, it feels sooo good. When K he was going to be out of town tonight, I did not make any plans to go stay with my folks. In fact, his friend & wife felt I shouldn't be staying alone and that I should spend the night with them but I declined. Not that I didn't want to go. But I wanted to just come back home, read a book, take a long shower, wash and condition my hair, soak my feet in warm water, pamper myself with the latest Bath & Body Works lotion, listen to music, flip the channels to MY liking, browse and watch comedy videos on You Tube, chat with my bestie, blog about this incredible feeling and so much more!!
As you can see I'm on a roll! K and I spoke a while ago and when I told him how I felt, all he could say was "You do this every single day"! Err. Not true at all. For starters, I did not step into that god forsaken kitchen!! Yes. The idea of not cooking is so so liberating for me!
Excuse me now while I go back and enjoy my blissful state :)

Chugging along..

Life has been chugging along quietly the last few months. Nothing major going on. Which probably explains the lack of updates here. I'm just working during the week, working harder during the weekends(don't ask what I do but there just seems to be some task or the other). July was a great month socially. Ashwin, my younger brother tied the knot with Mythreyi(Mittu as she is affectionately called) and I couldn't be happier for him. Mittu is cool, sweet and good fun the few times I've hung out with her. They make a fab couple and I wish them all the happiness in this world :) It also meant lots of tamasha - we had a kick ass Sangeet function where I got everyone dancing again... Chikni Chameli, Gandi Baat, Tune Marri Entriyan and the likes... And the finale was the "Happy Song" to which I had the entire family grooving.. It was so much fun! And we were well appreciated by the crowd.. Fun stuff! Of course, this event wouldn't have been half as much fun without Sne & Dee who came from Pune.. We had an epic pre wedding partay chez moi, where a not so sober Ashwin Maplae wanted some egg biryani at a random 2 am. And believe or not, we did not disappoint him.. Topsee was TOP class! We had the time of our lives!! I truly love ma familia!
The reception and the wedding of course went by in a jiffy and before we knew it, everybody was ready to head home, back to their respective lives. How I hate that phase. Sigh.

Work has been ok ok. Just the usual mundane stuff. Nothing too exciting. But nothing to complain about either(thankfully). We had a fun event at work titled Ethnicity at Q Way where we got different teams to represent various States across India. How we laughed and cheered.. a good stress buster indeed!

What am I looking forward to next? My MIL's 60th birthday bash, which is just around the corner. K and I have decided to go "all the way" and invite lots of people and make it an event for her to remember. Fingers crossed that everything goes on smoothly :) I'm currently listening to Aashiqui 2 songs and I don't think I'll ever ever get bored of this album.. Totally in love with most of the songs!