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!

3 years up!

Dear Chintu,
Ahem. Yes you heard me right. That is what I call you these days.. Unlike Year 1 or Year 2 where I just referred to you as plain vanilla "Karthik". Does this imply that we have come closer as a couple? Hmmm. Frankly I don't know. And I haven't thought that far.All I know is that you are Chintu to me and will be life long!
This past year has been all about work and career, for both of us. You had a big project at work which you headed, I got my long awaited break last July and there has been no looking back ever since. Chintu, you are a funny guy. While I wouldn't term you as one of those men who overly encourages me to give my all at work, you are also not one of those chauvinistic types. You lie somewhere in between - where you "quietly" push me to do my best wherever it may be - be it at work, home or otherwise. Keep on pushin' I say!
As I look back to how this year has been, I feel that it has been somewhat peaceful. At least compared to the last 2 years. We know each other's taste, we know what pisses each other off(not that we don't manage to do it, but still, knowing it is at least a start!)
I've thoroughly enjoyed all the travel too - doing the Angkor Wat temples, standing at Victoria Peak, waiting for you to patiently capture that "windswept look" of mine, gorging on yummy street food at Siem Reap and "partying all night" at Mumbai. That epic night where a very "not so sober you" ran up and down in the lobby of ITC Grand Central at 2 am still flashes across my face and I cannot stop laughing at that image! You are truly crazyyy! Such fun times!
Chintu, this is one of those few moments in our life where I let you know how much you mean to me. I know I am not expressive and that does annoy the hell outta you but then this is how I am! I may continue to annoy you, I will continue being irresponsible in a lot of ways, I will still fight with you but always remember that I love you to bits and I am nothing without you!

I just get the feeling that the best is yet to come ;) Leaving you with one of our best pics taken this year. Pic courtsey: APPA! :D
Happy 3rd anniversary Chintu!

Love,
Aishu 

Busy bee

I've missed this space so much. But life has been keeping me way too busy this past month and a half. To start with, in the end of July I interviewed with a company for an HR position and to my absolute delight, I got the job. It is a start up so the company culture is still evolving. But I've finished more than a month now. I'm slowly settling in. Work is very exciting no doubt but very very demanding as well. Since most employees come only in the night shift, I tend to get pulled into lots of last minute meetings. But as a rule, I leave work by 7 pm. Which means I get home by 7:45 pm. Which means I need to semi cook dinner in the morning. Which means lots of planning. Which means grocery and vegetable shopping over the weekends. Which means no breathing space. Sigh. This is the busiest I've been in a long long time. Its too early to tell but so far all well. The people at work are nice. Lots of youngsters. And oh I have a boy to assist me with recruitment and interviews. Very cool stuff! :) Wish me luck and send some good wishes my way.

Before I started work, the end of July, K's friends and the families took a small road trip to Yelagiri, a nearby hill station which has absolutely nothing to do :) It's that sort of place where you just drive and drive and just chill. K of course took some lovely pictures and freaked out! It was good fun to watch each other getting drunk, chatting, eating junk and just catching up on each other's lives. Good times!

August was chugging along nicely until she threw me a nasty surprise. I lost my dear grandmother,Thathi. It was a rude shock and one that I've barely come to terms with. It all happened all too suddenly. That's another reason why I've not been able to blog. Weekends have been busy with rituals and planning for the upcoming week.

Sneha and Deepak celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary on the 27th! They were holidaying in Goa and a few of us decided to surprise them. So we sent them flowers with a small note. There were overjoyed. Little pleasures of life :) I wish them many more years of togetherness, laughter and everlasting love! Congratulations both of you :)

Ok I wish I could keep writing. It keeps me so relaxed. But I gtg now! Need to get my beauty sleep. Off I go. Until my next post.. Stay well dearies.

June - Part I(The good stuff)

Oh dear. Where has the month of June flown by?! But I will tell you -  I don't miss her one bit coz June was a bitch! Yup. I was busy. Social events took up all my time. Bridal showers, bachelorettes, mehendi/sangeet, cocktails, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and the likes. Let me start with the nicer things that happened.
The month started with K turning a year older. It came on a Saturday so I spent the entire day with him. I gave him a picture of a Buddha and wooden chimes, both of which he's been wanting for a very long time. The day started as usual with a visit to the temple. My folks and K's dad were not in town, so we didn't have to hang around with either of the fams much to his delight. I announced that kitchen would be closed for the day and that all meals will be out! :P We had yumm idli, dosa, vadas for breakfast. We then drove to see my grandmother and spent some time with her. Then we came home, lazed around, watched TV etc by which time his friends, Vandy & Vivek called and said they wanted us to meet them for lunch. Off we drove to Vivek's office, hung around and waited for more folks to show up. Then a big gang of us went to Benjarong, one of our favorite restaurants in town! The Tom Yum soup is to die for! One of his friends, Balls(who btw is over 45 I think!) is a great sport and super funny! He can go on making me laugh! After a full meal of soup, rice, noodles and fried ice cream, we decided to come back home. But I somehow felt that an element of surprise was much needed. So I called K's other set of friends(yes he has quite a few of them!) and asked the 2 couples if they would like to come home in the evening and surprise him. I planned to call them over and order some pizzas for dinner. Unfortunately, Deva & Vids couldn't come because it was his parents' anniversary as well, so they opted out. I still went ahead and convinced CP & Suds to come. This was the plan -
Me: Suds & Ceeps, buzz me when you are near LB Road signal. I will ensure the door is kept open. You guys just barge in and surprise him.
S & C: Ok.
20 min later...
S & C: Hey, we are near your house. Another 5 min away.
Me: Err. Ok there is a problem. My husband is still sleeping and he isn't exactly dressed very well! What do I do? He refuses to wake up! Ok never mind. U guys come and call me.
5 min later...
S&C: Hey. We are down. Can we come up?
Me: Hmm. Ok. He is still plonked in bed. Do one thing. Ring the bell. I'll send him to open it. And then you guys surprise him.
They ring the bell. And I decide to open because he is not getting out of bed.
I open the door slowly and show my face. I see 2 very very excited faces hiding in the sides, ready to pounce on me saying "Surprise"!! Thankfully I quickly get them to shut up!! They are super duper pissed. Haha. It was hilarious.
Me: Ok here's the deal. I'm going to go back and tell him, 2nd floor uncle is here to speak. Once he comes, you guys surprise him.
S & C: Nod their heads gingerly.. as they are not sure of my plan!
Well in the end, it did all work out fine. K was surprised!! Yay! Phew. Mission accomplished. We ended up creeping ourselves out by watching Pizza and ordering from Papa Johns. Great way to end the birthday indeed!
Once K's birthday finished, I got busy with 2 other events. The first one was my very good friend, Esther's wedding. I've known Esther from MBA days. She was my first room mate and we never hit it off. But over the years, we got to know each other so so well. She's a real darling and I was so so happy that she got married to someone very sweet, at least Cecil seemed to be! :D Congrats and all the best guys! =)
June 14th also happened to be my in laws 40th wedding anniversary. Ooh. Sexy no? Obviously it called for a celebration of sorts. My sister in law was also in town that weekend. So Saturday, the 5 of us(her hubs couldn't join as he was in training) went to Dakshin at Park Sheraton to celebrate. I made a scrap book of sorts for them where I got everybody else across the country to send in messages for them. Thanks a ton Sudha, Sunil, Malati Chitti, Usha Perima, Vidu, Manasi and the rest of the gang for the uber cool messages, pics and the poem. They absolutely loved it! Basically I went in chronological order.. starting with their marriage, pics of the kids, pics of extended family with their respective messages etc. Was hard work but was totally worth. I wish them happiness, good health and peace of mind in the years to come :) Lunch at Dakshin was fab! I loved the different chutneys and the food in general. Cool stuff. A very memorable anniversary indeed.

To Be Continued.... 

2 years up!

Dear Karthik,
It feels like yesterday that I wrote this for you. Cannot believe we are now 2 years old as a couple :) When we woke up this morning, it felt like "just another day". We just smiled at each other. Lol! Maybe we were wondering how on earth did we actually put up with each other's nonsense for 2 whole years. Jus' kidding!
I think that is what makes an anniversary special - That despite fighting the rest of the year, we wake up on the date of wedding and feel like "the journey has been sooo worth it"! :-) I maybe exaggerating a little when I say that. Truth is we've had some wonderful moments this past year which I will speak about but as I look back to this year, I can proudly say that we have gone through some anxious moments with regards to pretty much everything - work, health, struggles with parents, money and the usual blah that life is, and we have fought our way through all those, together. Touch wood! Not much has changed in terms of our personalities - I wrote about that last year and I say it again but that really has been our problem area. Who knows? Probably 4 years down the lane, I will still say it.
That being said, you really are a wonderfully caring man. The way you stood by me and my family when I lost Thatha was incredible. You ensured you visited every single day, you ensured that my needs and my family's needs were completely taken care of, you were so supportive. I heard a lot of people speaking highly of you. Something that Krish told me made me so proud.. He said "Thatha always said that Karthik is a well behaved boy and a very good son to his father". Not that I needed reassurance of that fact but still felt so nice to hear someone speak so highly of you! Bravo!
I was so touched when we went all out to help my parents settle in their new house. You bought a new swing, you took keen interest in ensuring my mom didn't struggle much - you went to order a cot, you researched TV rates, you coordianted with your carpenter to get curtain rods fixed, you lifted stuff, you took the gypsy on a hot sunny day just to lug things from Annanagar to ECR..heck you were so thoughtful you even went and bought cleaning supplies for her when she had just moved in. Truth is even I didn't think of all that. Thank you is all I can say.
As always you put my interests and likes above yours.(Ok for the most part at least ;-) That trip to France was amazing. I had always told you that Paris was a dream destination for me. And the fact that you did every single thing to ensure I have a good time was great. So were the trips to Delhi, Goa and Pune! You really are a wonderful husband! I tell myself that every single day.
This is definitely not a post highlighting your greatness.. it is anything but that. Its just my way of expressing my love for you. I know I suck at that. I am not in the least bit romantic and I know we've had a number of arguments over that. I'm sorry. I hope this makes you well up. Haha. Just kidding idiot!
I really do love you a whole lot and I will treasure you for life. Hoping you like that vase and the cheesecake!
Happy 2nd anniversary, Karthik!
Love,
Aishu
PS Can you believe I wrote this post in just 14 minutes?!? :)

A rum bottle now made into a money plant vase :) 

Mango Cheesecake(Thank god for food blogs out there!) 

And that's 1 year up!

Dear Karthik,
Today as we complete one full year of being together, I only think its appropriate I dedicate a special post to you :-) The year has flown past us and I've learnt a lot in this short span. We've had some wonderful times together and also some "not so great" moments... Through this post, I do want to let you know how much I appreciate the things you've done for me. I know you work very hard to provide for me, for us and to ensure we are in a comfortable situation. I love the cozy home we have along with every gadget possible to make things easy for me especially in the kitchen. I love that you don't think twice when I say I am lazy to cook(I know I've done this a lot especially last year when we'd just gotten married) and would immediately get takeaway food. I love how you say "Lets get away somewhere every month". Now this is not a luxury that everyone can afford and I'm truly lucky! :-) And you do mean it... I have totally enjoyed all the trips we've done this one year - Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Madurai, Rameshwaram, Bangalore, Kerala, Delhi etc
Eagerly waiting for that long vacation coming up in October! :P
What really amazes me is that when I expect you to be angry with me, you just don't even get the least bit annoyed. Still remember the night when I had gone out with my girlfriends and came back late in a "not to nice state".. you ensured I was ok, you tucked me into bed so tenderly, searched the road and the entire building for my phone at 2am, was up early the next morning washing clothes and basically doing all the chores that I normally do, just because you knew I was too tired to do anything. And till date, you haven't mentioned a word of it and it goes on to show that you are extremely broadminded and liberal. I couldn't have imagined living with a man that wouldn't give me my sense of space and freedom. I thanked my stars for not letting me get married to someone that was narrow minded and even more thankful that I chose the right person :-) Thanks for having been there, it truly meant a lot to me!
I love how you are slowly but steadily building a nice rapport with my family and friends. For a person like you, who hates to socialize, I know it is a bloody big deal to handle TMK(!!) and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you smiling, talking, wishing them on birthdays/anniversaries etc. I really hope to be able to do the same, or at least 50% of it, with your folks and friends, someday.
I also love other smaller things that you've done for me - like how you are so patient in certain ways. For instance, when I have trouble getting my gold earrings in, I love how you come and sit next to me and patiently help me, all the while ensuring that I don't get hurt. Fussing over me when I cough/sneeze just once. And then of course constantly follow up with me to ensure I've taken my medicines :P
All the romantic things we've done - Night drives, ice cream, eating at shady joints after a fight, watching movies cuddled up in our bean bags, off roads, sunrise photo sessions, watching cricket with me even though you hate it so much.. gawd..I could just go on.. all these mean so much to me..
You push me to give my best. While I've not been able to deal with this completely, I know that if I take things in the right stride, I will be a better person. It has stressed me out a lot in the past, which has led to a lot of fights/arguments between us. I do realize that it is part of your personality and you expect the best out of everyone especially me. I am trying hard to change myself and become more responsible. However, today as I look back, I can only think of all the fun times we've had. These small areas of concern don't seem like such a big deal anymore! ;-)
You've put up with a lot of my nonsense this one year. Hope it hasn't tired you out completely, coz honey we have a lifetime ahead of us and you better be ready to do this on and on and on... especially my cooking which I know is a work in progress.. :-( I really hope to get there someday! lol
Thanks for being there for me & with me this last year... Cannot tell you how excited I am about taking off to Kodai this week...You're the "awesomest" thing that's happened to me... And I'll treasure you for life!
Happy 1st Anniversary, Karthik.
Love,
Aishu 

Happy 25th!!

Hi Appa and Amma,
Here's wishing you both a fantabulous "25th wedding anniversary"!! I know the entire family is getting together this weekend and I will miss being a part of it! My heart is there with you guys.. Have a drink from my side you two!! And yes, I hope you enjoy listening to my surprise message!

Love you two sooooo much!! And Congratulations on putting up with each other this long :)