Neighbor Woes

This is more of a rant. K had been bugging the hell out of me to make my own dosa and idli batter ever since we got married. I didn't bother since Amma and my MIL would supply me every weekend. And then one day we happened to have a huge argument around it and I decided that enough was enough. I'd try to make my own batter. It wasn't rocket science according to all the zillion food blogs on the Internet. Except they all had measurements for making batter in a grinder whereas I was going to try mine on the mixie. That's when I decided I would ask my neighbor Maami who is very friendly. I met her one evening when she sat with 2 other ladies from the building. I greeted her and ranted about how K was being a pain and bugging me to make batter and how stressed out I was. One of the ladies had just moved into our building and "volunteered" to come home the next day and help me grind. I quickly said "No thank you so much for offering but I think I will manage". But she was pushy and Maami also insisted I take her help so I finally said ok. Next day she came home and very patiently made the batter and gave me tips on how to do it next time. I thanked her and gave her some juice. I thought she would leave then but no she went and perched herself on our couch. Sigh. This was going to be a long evening. She started talking about how hot it was in Chennai, how hot it especially was in the 4th floor, how she missed being in Coimbatore, Hyderabad etc. She just went on talking. Thankfully for me, K got back from work just then and she said she'd leave. Phew. Well the idlis and dosas came out very well. That weekend I decided I'd go inform her and take a little something. So I went with a dabba of cake. Spoke to her daughter for 5 min and got back home. 1 week later, around 8pm this lady rang the bell. I opened the door and she gave me the dabba. I took it and I was hoping she would leave because I was busy making dinner. She pushed her way inside(I swear she did!) and sat on the couch and start talking away. Then she got up walked into the kitchen, the service area and went on about how her house owner hadn't planned their house properly. Then she walked into the guest room, the balcony and again went on saying "Oh the woodwork in your house is so good". Then she had the bloody nerve to open the door to our bedroom, happily switched on the light, looked at each cupboard and the balcony and again kept cribbing about how their house had none of it. She asked me how rent we paid, what woodwork we had made, how much we paid for our TV. Oh god. She just went on and on and on. I wished she would shut up! Such an irritating lady. I wanted to ask her if she was so freaking unhappy with her house why on earth did she choose to live in it? K rescued me once again by coming home just then but this time she wasn't ready to leave. After about 20 minutes, she decided to leave saying "Ok I will leave, I don't want to disturb you". Oh really. I haven't had to see her after that. Thank God for small mercies. 

Life in April & May.. in bullets!

One of those days when I have too much to say and too little time to write so please bear with me and my bulleted post!

• Well first of all, in case you noticed I didn't blog about my birthday. That doesn't mean it wasn't a fun day this year. It was a lot of fun but just different from my usual birthdays. For starters, I didn't even cut a cake. I am really growing old! Ouch. Sne & D had come to Chennai and with the IPL in full swing, we just HAD to go watch the CSK vs RR match at Chepauk. So that is pretty much what I did, except I dragged my super disinterested hubs along. K, me, Sanju, Mosh, Sne & D and a few other friends.. All of us went. What a brilliant match it was! Went down to the wire and we won. Superb! All thanks to Bravo :) The in laws were traveling and my folks were busy shifting so the usual lunch/dinner get together was also missing this year. We are going out for dinner tonight though to celebrate. K was his usual lavish self - he got me a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings(I really am very lucky), a very very pretty white & red dressy salwar kameez and a colorful summer kurti. Loved them all! 
• I'm very proud to say I'm more or else keeping up with my NY resolution of staying active.. nothing fancy this time though.. Just a good brisk 45 min morning walk.I can say I'm pretty consistent. In fact I haven't been this consistent in a while now and I'm enjoying it. Not the waking up early part for sure. But once I'm up, I enjoy my music, my walk and my peace. I see some very interesting sights - a flower stealing Maami - Yes I am not kidding. She comes every morning in the same route with a small plastic bag and goes around to all the houses plucking flowers! Not to mention with an iPod in her ears! :P  What I also love to see are the dogs - I've made friends with a real cutie named "Simba". He's  a Cream Labrador, not to mention a FAT lab! I'm not kidding. He is a real gundus. He absolutely hates to walk. The uncle who brings him has to literally pull him to walk. What a chweetu u know he is. I couldn't resist petting him this week - So I stopped and just touched his head..he was so happy and excited. Next day again, I just called "Simba" from the distance.. He got so excited he started wagging his tail furiously! Haha. I don't think he knows me but I think he just enjoys the attention and is happy to sit back instead of walking. I long for a dog and I think I'm getting somewhere close to having one in the family. Yes Bhuns finally said ok to Sanju and they are getting a golden retriever next week. Yayy! Can't wait to cuddle with him =) 
• Some other good news - My folks shifted into their brand new home this month. Yay. Amma closer to me means frequent meals there and lesser cooking for me :P They have bought a beautiful apartment off the East Coast Road, less than 10 minutes from where we live. But I was miserable when we left AJ 97. It was the house where I pretty much grew up. My school, college years were all there in that neighborhood. Was so sad to see a deserted house when I went last week to help Amma clean up. We have the best memories there. Amma cried, Nirmala cried and I think even Arumugam(Appa's right hand) shed a few tears. Will miss all of them. Annanagar is an area very very close to my heart and I cannot believe that I won't visit there often like I used to. But the new house is nice. K bought a lovely swing for them. It is nice to sit and rock myself there. We also have a room to ourselves, which we hope to set up in a bit. 
• Bhuns(my aunt) turned 50 yesterday, so we celebrated with her and the kids. Notice I didn't say "partied". Coz the evening started with "Vishnu Sahasranama" chanting! :P No offense, but that's not how a partayyy starts hahaha. Sne was like "Dude, wtf is wrong with you guys"! I'm like "Dude, I know. Our folks are getting old"! Nevertheless, we made up with some yummy chocolate cake, her hubs gave her 50 red roses and we had a Karaoke session. Good fun! Wishing you many more lovely years ahead Bhuns =) 
• More on IPL - You know I'm a diehard Chennai Super Kings fan. And I have many many friends on FB who are also keen CSK addicts. But I also have some extremely annoying friends who write rubbish about my favorite team. See I don't mind if you want to support another team. But don't just pick on mine. Get it? For instance I have a friend "Y" who likes to support the Sunrisers Hyderabad(yes for starters, change the damn name, its so freakin' stupid!). Fair enough. But everytime CSK plays, she focuses all her energy on how we suck(yeah right!) rather than how SRH played well. Sooo my friends, I was only too too happy when we absolutely murdered that stupid SRH team. Yes. That's right. We made a whopping 224. Sexy man we are. And I don't have to prove what a diehard CSK fan I am - but still. My friends and I cycled(that's right) 42 kms one fine morning for a very important cause - to sign a board, wishing CSK all the very best for IPL 2013! Yay. Pat on my back. My folks were in disbelief. Don't blame them. I couldn't believe it myself.  #Whistlepodu!
• And finally.. My letter to the editor of Femina has been chosen as one of the winning letters.. It was published in the May 1st issue. Here's what I sent, with some modifications from their end. I'm getting a Caprese bag. Should come in sometime. Thank you thank you.

   

        

Alright, that's pretty much all the time I have for now. Will stop by later and review "Copper Point", coz that is where we are headed to for dinner tonight. 

Pune Trip - March 2013!

Barely 7 months after my sister got married, we decided to barge into her house in Pune. K and I headed to Pune for the Good Friday long weekend. We took the last flight out of Chennai and landed in Pune around 11 pm. Gave Sne the tightest hug possible when I saw her :) D drove us straight to "Fantasy" where we ordered chilled, thick milkshakes that tasted right out of this world. I say we made a great start to our trip. We headed to their apartment in the Baner area. They live in a beautiful high rise building right on top on the 8th floor. The balcony offered a fantastic view. I loved to sit and relax there. Once we settled in, another suprise awaited us - Sne had made lovely Gulab Jamuns to welcome us. So incredibly sweet - both Sne & the GJ's! Slurrp.

Once we had popped a few in our mouths, we were tired. We crashed and this time had ensured my alarm was OFF. Wohoo. 

Next morning I woke up to find my hubby gone on an early morning walk(He's mad, don't ask). Sne & I cleaned up the kitchen, made dosas and sambar, had yummy coffee by which time K was back from his walk and poor D had been woken up from a deep slumber. Sne had to head to clinic, D said he had taken the day off for our sake(so sweet) so the 3 of us decided to hang out at home. Which meant the boys were just going to be perched on a mattress each while I just sat around and stared. Yes, poor me. Sne finally came home around 2:30 pm by which time we were all starving and enjoyed her lunch of rice, sambar, potato curry and of course GJ's(I tell you, it was the highlight of our trip, they were delicious). Post lunch, we decided to watch the movie "Nadula Konjam Pakatha Kanam", a hilarious comedy movie which K & I had already watched at home but didn't mind watching again. The 4 of us kept laughing, if you haven't watched the film, do go watch it. Worth all the time & effort! In the evening, Sne had to go back to clinic for a few hours and I refused to rot at home. So I encouraged D to take me out for a walk - He finally agreed. We walked around the apartment complex, watched loads of kids playing, aunties walking(trying to rather!) and headed to an old Vishnu temple. We talked about his work, about Sne and how he was enjoying being married to her. Touche! We finally reached the temple, was a very nice one. In the evening, we went to a restaurant called "Polka Dots" where we enjoyed delicious lasagna, hummus with garlic naan(a Pune thing perhaps?) and chilled iced tea. 

Day 2 got off to a slightly different start. K, being a total sweetheart, walked many kilometres to bring us back Poha for breakfast(Poha being their State food!) along with a fresh tea cake :) What pleasure it was to sit out on the balcony, sunning myself, gorging on that tea cake. Bliss. We had decided to do a spot of shopping in the afternoon so headed to buy wafers from the famous Budhani Brothers waferwala, K showed me Kayani Bakery, we went to Lakshmi Road.. Basically K took me down a trip to memorylane(He was born in Pune, that's why). We also visited the famous Dagdusheth Ganapati temple - the mouse outside the temple where it looks at the deity was absolutely adorable!! Too cute for words :) 

In the evening, we ate at a fancy restaurant called "Oakwood Lounge", buffet style dinner. Salads, fondue, tikkas and the likes. 

Day 3 was going to be action packed. We ate breakfast at Goodluck Cafe, which in my opinion was a fabulous fabulous breakfast! Simple buns, butter and jam, bun maska, omlette etc. So satisfying and different. We were driving to Lavasa that afternoon which takes about 2 hours. The place was wonderfully scenic. We reached around 2 pm and were starving. Drove straight to the Fortune to eat. Which turned out to be an unfortunate choice - here's my tripadvisor rating on it. However, what followed was a full on "funny photos" session courtesy my hubby! Here's a sneak peak :) Hope you enjoy them. We had the time of our lives! Thanks Sne & D for being such superb hosts!! =)

Happy Us 

Hey sistah! 

Love birds

Kabab me haddi? 

Goofiness Part 1 

Wohoo. Flying high! 

Up..

Up..

Up he goes, finally! 

Classic one for keeps :) 

Goofiness Part II

I know u guys are newly married BUT! 

Yea.. D's the man! 

Nadu road la! 

Goofiness unlimited! 

Lean on me.. 

We've got the look! 

A great weekend and a restaurant review!

Hi guys,
I do know it has been a while since I posted anything nice, cheery and fun in here. What to do? Life's kinda been that way :( Oh well. No more brooding. This past weekend was a good and fun one! What did we do?
Friday night K called from work and said he was going to bring back dinner from one of our most favorite joints in Besant Nagar. Its not the kinda place you sit down and eat. Its a seedy, shady joint that serves yummylicious food. So naturally I was only too happy to oblige because it meant no cooking and it also meant eating great food in the luxury of your own house. Saturday was another good day - well for the most part we just stayed home. Woke up late, did a lazy breakfast and cooked lunch, cleaned etc. And then met Krish & Sethu for dinner at Chap Chay(one of the main reasons for the post). Well what can I say? It's a pleasure to review the restaurant.
Chap Chay is a new restaurant at Raintree, St. Mary's Road. The cuisine is Pan Asian - notice I didn't say Chinese. That is because its got flavors from China, Japan, Thailand etc. And I must say we all came out very impressed. The decor was nice, simple. Thank God there was no Buddha, at least I didn't see one! The place reminded me of a restaurant in St. Louis that I used to frequent - Stir Crazy (Remember I wrote about it here?). Basically, you choose your own veggies/meat, they have about 16 different types of sauces, choice of noodles or rice and the food gets cooked right in front of you. It was such a lovely sight to see the different colored fresh vegetables - broccoli, carrot, snow peas, red/yellow/green peppers, corn, lotus stem, water chestnuts.. I could go on & on. Some of the sauces were black pepper, chilli garlic(what I picked), Thai Basil(all hot ones) and some not so spicy ones such as Kung Pao, Hunan etc. My recommendation would be to take small portions of veggies and mix up one or two sauces and keep trying various combinations because it is unlimited. The mistake we did was to fill our bowls with all sorts of veggies and took just one sauce and by the time I finished my bowl I was completely stuffed and had no room for more. So be smart and have fun experimenting. Also, don't bother with starters of any sort - they just fill you up. We tried Dimsums(give it a miss) & Honey Glazed Vegetables(which was very nice). For dessert, the 4 of us dug into one plate of yummy fried ice cream!! The flavor was darn delicious. Service was very good. Priced at 650INR per person for the main course alone. Will we go back? Of course we will. But will be smarter next time around :-) We enjoyed and relaxed with drinks, good food & laughter. Overall an ideal way to spend Saturday night. Do give Chap Chay a try, I assure you won't be disappointed.
Sunday was another super busy day. We were spending the day with K's colleagues at Shilpa's house. Her folks had gone out of town and had invited a few of us over for drinks and lunch. She was a lovely hostess - her cook had made yummy egg pakodas, paneer pakodas, grilled chicken, masala peanuts, we had taken along some chips, juice, chocolate milk shake.. Sigh. As you can see, I was feasting! The afternoon was great fun. Mathangi & Michael are expecting a baby in May and were obviously the centre of attention - We discussed baby names, their maternity classes, heard all their work stories and kept laughing till our stomachs hurt! A great afternoon indeed. Post lunch, I was heading to see Ammai and my parents. Played carrom, cards and badminton with Vishal, Ammai and my mom. Very relaxing :-) I got home around 7:30 in the evening and was going to clean up and prep for Monday morning when Mathangi called to say she and Michael were going to Velacity for dinner and if we wanted to join them. K and I said ok and we got picked up, went to Tadka Talk in Velacity. To Michael's biggest disappointment, the place was vegetarian. Haha. Mathangi and I enjoyed the paneer tikka and mushroom soup. But we couldn't bear to see Mike's sad face. So we told him we will go to another place just for the main course. At 9:30 pm in the restaurant we were discussing where to go. Haha. That's how funny it was. Finally, we didn't have too much choice but to head over to Snow's Park in Velachery(an old haunt of mine and K's). Decent food, saaaddd ambience but fast service! Lol. So we went there, had garlic naans, dal tadka and of course Micheal ordered some Chicken Tikka and was happy :) By the time we reached home it was around 11:30! Needless to say, K and I crashed. Longgg day. But awesome weekend after a longgg time. Sooo worth every minute of it. K and I are heading to Pune this Thursday, so more updates on this space next week. Keep up with it, I promise some lovely pictures from Pune city :) Tata! 

*Disturbia*

There have been a few "incidents" in the last one month that has left me wondering where our country is really headed. They are simple things but left such an impact on me nevertheless.
Scene 1 - At Chennai airport
It is 11:30 pm. K and I had just returned from our trip to Delhi(was great fun,btw!). I was standing in line to get my cab and K was standing away in a corner. There was this dude(hereby referred to as "moron")  all dressed up formally in a business suit. He goes near K and SPITS right next to him. Now those of you who my husband can guess what follows :) He blew his top! And rightly so. Here's how the conversation went
K - (furiously) - Excuse me, what do you think you are doing?? Aren't you ashamed?
Moron - (Nonchalantly) - Well everybody else is doing it! Why are you asking only me?
K - (Raising his voice) - Well you seem educated! Don't you have any sense not to spit in public? Plus you are spitting right near me! And I of course have a problem with that!

Well basically moron didn't want to admit it but honestly it was so embarrassing for him because by now everybody was staring at him. Yes my husband can be VERY loud! I panicked because I had no idea what had happened. But when K explained I wished he could have actually slapped that idiot. Honestly man, get a grip on yourself, wherever you are!

Scene 2 - Sathyam Cinemas
K and I watched Vishwaroopam this weekend. The theatre is full(Saturday evening). Most of the families had come with KIDS. Mind you, it is an Adults movie, lots of violence and gore. I don't understand how parents can actually think of bringing those tiny tots to such a movie and how theatres don't even object.
But anyway, there were kids in front of us and at the back row as well. The kid in front wouldn't sit quiet for a minute. He was probably around 3 or 4, obviously he wants to explore. The mother tried her best to get him to sit quietly but no such luck. Finally, she grabbed him and took him outside. Good girl. Now there are about 4 kids sitting at the back. And they kept pushing my seat. I was trying to be patient. But they just wouldn't listen. I'm turning and giving looks at the mother(she is too engrossed with the movie to notice my glares). Good thing is I had watched the film earlier. It was K who was watching it for the first time. And then it reached a point where the kids started screaming. High pitched squeals! K lost it. He got up and turned to the mother and said "Excuse me, can you please keep your kids under control"? The lady just called to her kids and simply said "please come sit here quietly". YEAH RIGHT. They are kids for God's sake, woman! They went on screaming and K got up again and this time in a very menacing tone said " Listen, if you don't get those kids to shut up, I'm going to get the management to throw you guys out"! That probably did it. Coz you will not believe, that lady finally got her act together and ensured her kids shut up for the rest of film. Not one word came out! Phew. My point is I'm not blaming the kids. But if you can't control them, take them outside the movie hall or get them to behave. As simple as that. And please definitely don't take them for such noisy and violent movies. Even my 10 year cousin wasn't allowed to watch it at home. Not appropriate for him. Simple no?

Scene 3 - LB Road(A very busy road in Chennai)
K and I are returning home. At the junction, there is a cop vehicle coming in exactly the wrong direction. Due to which traffic is held up for a few seconds. Cars simply give way. My hubby was the only one who stopped the gypsy and showed his finger to the cop. Ok not finger but he made it obvious to the cop(s) sitting in the Innova that it was simply unacceptable and shocking that a cop(who is supposed to tell others to follow rules) is happily breaking one and holding up traffic because he was too lazy  to make a U turn. Shocking no? The cops were a little shocked but of course in true Chennai police style, glared back threateningly. I was a little scared because I had heard stories of how they take away your car keys and slap you. But then I was proud of my  hubby for standing up to those goons. I wish I could have taken a picture of that van and posted it on the Chennai City Traffic Police page and made a mockery of them. But like I said, it was a busy road and I had no such luck. Sigh. Pissed me off so so so much.
God save this country. Ok I'm done ranting. On that note, February was super super busy. My bestie, M got married. Yay! Congrats! Another friend, Shan, got engaged. Yahoo! And then K and I took off to Delhi for his cousin's wedding which was also great fun. Bread pakodas, masala chai, samosa, kachori all at 6 degree weather. Blissful combination, no? :-)

A bad start

I'm sorry. I should have waited and posted something bright and cheery as my first post for 2013. However that pretty much sums up how these couple of weeks have been. Stressful. First, Thatha fell sick. Like "we didn't know if he was going to make it" kinda sick. In fact, K was the only soul who kept telling me to keep the faith. And believe it or not, he was right. There was a turnaround. Touchwood. Praying for his recovery. 

Next, I hear Keith fell sick. You know how close I am to the Haseltines and I was shocked to hear he had a heart attack. Not good. He is stable and doing better but its been a wake up call in terms of the lifestyle changes they have to make etc. Depressing. My bestie has been going through some real crap. I wish things would improve for her. So is my MIL. I pray for her to bounce back to life, just like how I have seen her in 2010. She is going through a lot. I don't know how much more she can handle. I wish I can help.. not sure how though. I hear K's good friend's father is also very very sick, he visited him yesterday. Dunno if he will survive. K's best friend is also sick. He had a surgery last week, thankfully is recovering well and is back home now. So as you can see, I've heard of so many people being sick. Too many hospital visits between K and me. Enough. Its been super stressful just hearing so many people going through health issues. Can good health prevail for all please? 

2-0-1-3..Bring it on!

Gosh where has 2012 gone? Whoosh. So quick! To herald a brand new year that brings with it lots of hope, joy and holds promise, I'm doing a special post - 6 categories under which are listed 6 things- why 6? Coz 2-0-1-3 adds up to what again, silly? :P Alright, here goes..

6 "Awesomatic moments" in 2012 - in no particular order.. 

- Sne and Dee's engagement/wedding - 4 fun filled days with family and friends.. togetherness, fun, laughter, food. Just how a wedding should be. 

- Standing in front of the illuminated Eiffel Tower on a cold, windy evening, gazing up at the night sky - something I've always always dreamt of... 

- Waking up on 29th May 2012 and realizing I've completed one full year of wedded bliss with a man I love to bits! 

- Driving a new baby home.. Our Swift! 

- When my bestie told me she was getting hitched! 

6 songs from 2012 that gave me a real high.. 

- Nenjukulle from Kadal - I can't enough of this. Period. Waiting for the movie. 

- Pareshaan from Ishaqzaade - Lovely voice, awesome music by Amit Trivedi, hum worthy.. 

- The Disco Song from Student of the year - An eternal favorite, remixed really well. The dance steps are mind blowing and a great workout number! 

- Paani Da from Vicky Donor - gotta a very different feel to it.. Ayushmann has done a fab job with the vocals. Very enjoyable. 

- Skyfall - Adele - <3 div="div" nbsp="nbsp">

6 driving rules I will keep up this year 

I can't understand how indifferent people are while driving these days. It's no surprise that everyday we find someone dying. I mean it's as if people don't care! Well I do. I promise to drive safely and follow all rules! 

- Stopping at the red signal.. yes even if it is after 10 pm I don't care, I will stop. 

- Staying on the "slow lane" and let others overtake from the right and NOT FROM THE LEFT. People. It's basic driving rules. I get super pissed when this happens!! 

- Carry my papers correctly - including my license, insurance papers etc - err, ok K knows what I'm talking about! And oh yes, always always will wear my seat belt no matter how late I am!! 

- I will let pedestrians cross even if it means braking sometimes. I've seen that in certain roads, it's almost impossible for them to cross over. Of course this requires discretion because sometimes you see these retards that jump from one side to the other, I will never stop for them. But if I see some old person struggling to cross and if it means stopping for one minute, I will most certainly do it. Why? This is something I would HAVE to do if I was abroad. What stops me from doing this here in my own country?? 

- Not honk unnecessarily! Argh. Especially happens when you're waiting for the signal to turn green.. even before the other side traffic has stopped, the guys behind you start honking as if their dear life depends on it. It annoys the crap outta me!! So I will not honk unless absolutely necessary. 

6 things I will learn this year 

- Learn to click nice pictures in a bad@$$ camera ;) 

- Learn to stitch or knit 

- Learn to cook especially bake - yeah yeah - I have a long way to go.. 

- Learn to tie a saree - Stop laughing. Have a lot of weddings to attend this year! 

- Learn to decorate my house - I know the basics but I have a lot to learn in terms of making a house into a home like changing flowers everyday, dusting frequently and keeping things in order 

- Learn to be organized - Haha! ok I sneaked it in here.. It's almost next to impossible for me but hey I'll try. that's why the new year is special, coz it brings hope! :) 

6 "events" I'm looking forward to in 2013 

- Relaxing in a brand new home.. yes yes, my parents have bought a brand new house and the house warming is in January and I can't wait for it to be done up! 

- My bestie's wedding in February!

- Followed by a trip to Delhi for another wedding.. which means yummy chaat and lots of shopping! 

- A Pune reunion - Meeting Sne and Dee in March! Ashwin too, possibly. Hooray! 

- Possible travel to Hyderabad, a city I've never been to for another wedding! Biryani, chudi bazaar etc etc 

- Watching a Mani Ratnam movie and listening to ARR music on the big screen.. Kadal.. I'm waiting! 

6 wishes I have this brand new year...

- A new job!! All my fingers crossed for this one. 

- To be able to wake up early and walk for 30 minutes. Not a big deal in reality, but so very tough especially the waking up early part. Yawn. 

- My family coming together. A sincere wish for this one. With this comes happiness and cheer.  

- Connecting with my friends from school - You know I've not met so many of them in a long, long time. Will be great to have a reunion of sorts! 

- Good health for all - physically and mentally. 

-  And last but definitely not the least, adding a new person in our lives, maybe? Just saying... but hey...you never know.. stay tuned ;-) 

Here's wishing you guys all good things this new year.. Laugh a lot, be happy and live it up! 

Happy 2013 folks :-) 

Happy Thanksgiving :-)

It's Thanksgiving Day in America. I've been fortunate to have celebrated this holiday each year with family & friends while I was in the US. It's that time of year when the family gets together for a nice, elaborate meal and each one takes turn going over what they are most thankful for, they express gratitude and usher in the holiday aka Christmas season. To me Thanksgiving is synonymous with yummy mashed potatoes and apple pie!! It's kinda like our Diwali where food takes precedence over everything else ;-) So I want to take this opportunity and wish all you wonderful people out there a very Happy Thanksgiving! :-) On that note, I will also do my yearly tradition of penning down the things I'm most thankful for...

1. My dear husband, K - I've been with you for over 1.5 years now. It's been a very interesting journey together. Each day has been a learning yet fun experience. I'm thankful for all the things you've taught me - learning to be patient, being more organized, systematic(ok ok I'm getting there!), not to simply waste time comparing our lives to others etc. I'm also so appreciative of the fact that you have started socializing so well with my family. I know it can be so overwhelming at times yet you have been so patient, so nice and understanding about the whole thing. Couldn't have asked for anybody better to spend the rest of my life with! Thanks to you also for all the lovely trips we've done this year - from Madurai to France...not to mention all the louueee u shower me with - thumbs up!
2. My family - If I have to describe my family, I will simply ask that you watch the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". They're exactly like Toula's family - big, loud, in your face... yet most lovable! I've seen members of my family going through up's and a whole lot of downs.. however, the thing I've learnt is that no matter what, you stand beside them. Whether it is financially or just emotionally. I am most thankful to have learnt this from my parents first and then of course a host of aunts and uncles. I'm most thrilled to see our generation of cousins also sticking together come what may, getting together at all functions and having a real blast! And most importantly, there is no negativity surrounding it - things like jealousy, malicious gossip, greed etc. Of course we talk stuff, we make fun but it's definitely all in good spirit. Something that is so rare these days... Super thankful to be a part of this family!
3. My extended family - I should have included my in laws in the previous post, however I felt like they deserve a special mention in here. They are like parents to me, they treat me like they treat their own daughter, they go out of their way to help us out when we need them. My mother in law is such a darling that each time she cooks something, she will ensure that there is something in the menu that I also love to eat. If she makes methi parathas(yuck) this week, the next week she will ensure she will follow it up with aloo parathas(yum). There is simply no differentiation between me and her son. Let me tell you, that is something so rare. Not all MIL's are like that. Period. And my father in law..what do I say about him? He's like a buddy!! He is funny, loud, mad as a hatter yet so caring,generous and lovable. He will do anything for you, anytime. They are both so large hearted and give us so much space. I can simply go on and on about their positive qualities. So thankful to have them in my life. Touchwood.
4. My friends - All of you in Chennai, Bangalore, Kerala, Bombay, US, China, Canada... whichever part of the globe you are in right now... a big shout out to you... After all, what I am today is because of you. We grew up together, we went to school, college, hung out as colleagues.... you've touched and been there for me at some point in my life and I'm so thankful to you..Movies, parties, sleepovers, shopping, gossip sessions, giggling away together... Life simply has no meaning without my buddies... 3 cheers!
5. My health - I am grateful that I am disease free and in good health. These days we read about so many weird complications and life changing medical conditions. I wake up each morning thankful for my physical and mental well being. I promise to take my health seriously and work out religiously and eat healthy.
6. Other materialistic things - Ok I don't know why I'm including these little things but what's life without them right? My lovely home with all the finest gadgets, my iPhone without which I'm so lost while driving(Google Maps ki jai!), my AC which cools me down and my blanket which then keeps me warm when the room freezes, my car which takes me just about anywhere I want to, Facebook which lets me connect with folks from around the world and helps kill time(!), people like Rahman who create god awesome music...I could go on and on. But I shall stop this insanely long post. Keep smiling and be thankful for who you are :-)

Wine, Cheese, Haute Couture, Perfumes.. say FRANCE!

La Tour Eiffel! 

So K and I are back from the most amazing trip ever to France! I mean we reached a point where we just didn't want to return and had serious discussions of migrating there permanently. It's usually me that does all that drama when a trip is ending but I can see I am beginning to have an effect on the hubby :P With no further delay, I shall do my best at summarizing our lovely trip to France.
Pre Departure : I live with THE most organized person in the history of mankind. No jokes. Our itinerary was so brilliantly drawn up.. all thanks to him. And the best part was it all went to plan. We researched the net fully.. blogs, tripadvisor ratings, wiki links, iPhone apps which were super useful etc. As expected, K was fully packed 3 weeks in advance while I was still packing 3 minutes before we had to leave to the airport. It helped that K had packed a bag full of general medicines.... thank God for BP tablets ;-) 

Sept. 29th : We left to Paris via Frankfurt and the flight was pretty boring. Not a single good movie. Frankfurt airport was the usual - thousands of people running around to catch their transit flights, grumpy immigration officers and sleepy us. The excitement really kicked in when I heard a flight announcement to Charles de Gaulle in French. That's when it hit me that I'm really headed to a place where I've been wanting to go since I was a teen. I stepped foot on CDG and  I started clicking random pics, went to get our museum and metro passes at the airport counter and started rattling away in French. Not bad. We took at taxi to our Hotel which was in the Marais area, very neat coz it had 2 metro stations close by. You don't need a cab or bus in Paris, the metro goes just about everywhere! And we got a hang of it in no time. First day we did the Bateaux Mouches ride on the Seine. I was told it's called so because the people and the boats(Bateaux) look like ants(Mouches) from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The ride was nice, it was a cloudy, windy evening... we took nice pictures around the place. 

An evening view of the Seine - Bateau Mouches 

We passed out early that night, thanks to a tiring flight journey. 

Day 2 : We stepped out around 8ish. We discovered a lovely Croissanterie next to our hotel. We grabbed some freshly baked croissants, chocolate eclairs(which then became a routine each morning!) and set out to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Bright and early next morning 

It was breathtakingly beautiful. 

Inside view of the Notre Dame when the Mass is in progress 

The best part was the choir. Their voices sounded heavenly!! Don't know if it was extra special coz it was Sunday but it was so amazing. We waited in line and walked to the top and got another lovely view of Paris. And what does K end up loving... The silly gargoyles!! He loved them so much that he kept hunting for table coasters throughout our trip.

The cute gargoyles that were all around Notre Dame 

And in case you're wondering, no they weren't available :-)  Had a hot chocolate at the famous Angelina :) Then for Thata's sake, we did a tour of the "Les Invalides" museum which has Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb, a World War museum etc. When Thata visited Paris many years ago, he had stayed at this particular locality and his wish was that we visit this place.

Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb at "Les Invalides" museum 

We then headed to see the Rodin Museum with its famous "Thinking Man" sculpture. 

Goofy K! 

In the evening we went up the Montparnasse Tower from which the Eiffel view is fabulous! 

The beautiful view from Montparnasse 

Day 3: Our destination was the Louvre museum.  I can see why it's so highly rated.... Fantastic place to spend an entire day. You leave your bags, coat etc at the front desk, grab an audio guide and you embark on a beautiful journey of paintings from different parts of the world. 

The sign says it all! 

Of course the Mona Lisa is very overrated, she's like tiny compared to so many other beautiful paintings :P 

The Mona Lisa 

I particularly loved the one of Napoleon's coronation, the audio guide told me a funny story about how his mother was annoyed that she wasn't invited to be a part of it more so because his wife, Josephine was present!! So finally she was invited and she is depicted with a sullen face in the paining. Cute na? These saas-bahu sagas are world over I suppose! :P Unfortunately, the painting was too huge to be captured on camera. We headed outside, the weather was just perfect. We lazed around a bit by the lovely fountains.

Outside the Louvre

We then headed to the Eiffel.This time we were taking the elevator up the Tower. The Eiffel experience is a must do, but just once in your lifetime is alright. Windy and cold, we got up there and felt on top of the world. Had a nice rose wine while I was up there ;-) 

Cheers! 

Day 4 : I woke up much before K could shake me out!! Guess why? We were visiting Euro Disney!

Yippeee! 

 Like 2 kids on a picnic, we scampered around the entire park, quickly finished all the rides, there was zilch queuing up since it was a working day and then felt as if the park was too small :-( I especially enjoyed riding the roller coasters(fully American style with hands up in the air only to get yelled at by K) sitting in close proximity to my hubby with the cool wind blowing on my face :-) My most favorite ride was the Space Mountain: Mission 2.. We didn't know where it was headed and totally unexpected thrills! 


Day 5: We woke up late and it was a lazy day where we were just going to be strolling to a couple of gardens. The Luxembourg gardens are a MUST SEE! 

Fall colors at the garden 

So beautiful, the flowers, the lawn, the colors and tranquility in the place... Loved it. K took some amazing pics in his D7.. his new lens was the hero!

Amazing colors captured beautifully by K's new lens 

 The Tuileries garden was also nice in its own way. 

I don't get tired of posing :) 

We then crossed across and walked to a row of shops. This area is what "Paris' T Nagar"! K went absolutely crazy.... he had found the perfect place to buy souvenirs. Ok now I need to tell you, he took about 100 Euros just to spend on those crazy stuff. magnets, tees, coasters, beer mugs and medallions!! Each and every place we visited he would buy and at one point I lost it and told him he needs to get a grip!! But I will agree, they had some of the cutest stuff.. Paris bags, coasters, medallions.... they were all super cute. We ate at a pizza place close to our hotel called La Massarra and it was fabulous! Cozy, warm, yummy.... a perfect end to a perfect day.

Day 6: Another early start as we had to take the first train out of Paris to Normandy. Took about 2 hours, I just gazed at the beautiful countryside on our way while K snored. We had booked a full day guided tour at Normandy to take us around the D Day landings, explaining the history of it and so forth. Roelle(pronounced "Rule") was fabulous. I must rate him on Trip advisor, haven't got around to doing that. He chatted non stop, K felt he was putting too much mokkai. But in his defense, he was so passionate about the D day history, in fact he left Netherlands and moved to a place like Normandy just to be close to it and started a business out of it.. this was the first one hour of his mokkai talks! We also had a bunch of others in our van, all of them Americans. No offense, but as expected they asked a zillion questions, 50% of which were so lame! :P Until Roelle finally made up rules and said "Wait to ask your questions coz I will be covering them a little later"! The D day history is not something I was too familiar with nor passionate about. But just standing on that Omaha Beach sort of gave me a weird eerie feeling.... 

The historic Omaha Beach in Normandy

Like he said the day after June 6th, the entire beach turned red in color. Wow..God bless them. And the winds were so strong.. I can't imagine them fighting in that chilly, ice cold water. The German soldiers are crazy. Period. The memorial was serene. The first parts of "Saving Private Ryan" were shot here. And I ensured I came back and watched it and wow! 

The US Veterans Memorial at Normandy 

Post our picnic lunch, we also visited the "Pointe Du Hoc" which was the second series of attacks by the Allies against the Germans during World War II. 

Pointe du Hoc



The beach was lovely. The waves were fierce and it felt so poignant knowing that I was standing on historic soil. 

I took a shell from there as a souvenir, will definitely share this with my kids and grand kids. Before we knew it the day had come to an end and K and we had a late night train into Paris. So we walked around town, ate yummy apple tart with ice cream in honor of Sneha and Mosh's birthdays!! :D 

Normandy's famous apple tart with cream 

Day 7 : My most anticipated day ever.. We were visiting the Chateau de Versailles!! I've learnt and read and watched and heard so much about the place that I've been dying to visit. And let me tell you, it's worth every single minute we spent there. It's massive, it's beautiful, it's fabulous and it's got so much history! 

Front view of the Versailles Palace 

Another view of the sprawling lawn 

The gardens, the paintings, the little nuggets of information you gather.... they all make your visit worthwhile. And I walked so much. First we covered the palace.. The famous Hall of Mirrors included.

Inside the palace 

 Then we walked all the way to visit Marie Antoinette's estate. And then finally to King Louis's private estate.. Apparently this is where he would go to relax.. I'm like dude!!! Trust me, it is gorgeous! 

A view of the garden on the way to the private estate 

I loved being there, reading all the sign boards and enjoyed myself thoroughly. The best part is that I noticed school teachers bringing in kids and explaining France's history via an interactive session. Wow. I would have loved to learn Indian history sitting in front of the Taj or the Qutub Minar.. how interesting does that sound? K spent half the time taking so many pictures, I'm telling you no camera would do justice to this palace. 




And it's no wonder Mr. Mittal chose this palace for his baby girl's marriage.. Lucky Vanisha!! Very reluctantly, I left the palace. I vowed to go back someday :) We ate at Hard Rock Cafe, Paris that night! Wohoo!! 

HRC, Paris!! 

Day 8 : By now, I had seen most of what I wanted to see and I was getting grumpy that it was time to head back to Chennai. Our last day in Paris was here and I didn't want to go back!! The only thing that cheered me up was that K said I was free to blow some money shopping. Yay! First we visited the Orsay Museum which was nice.. but the problem is I'm not much of an art lover so a little hard to describe what we saw!! But if you like art, seriously visit this place.. It was phenomenal! And then to my delight, we headed to Boulevard Haussman to shop which houses some nice brands such as H and M, Mango, Galeries Lafayette etc. I bought 5 bags, 4 shoes, lots of make up and some clothes(most of the clothes out were sweaters/jackets etc and hence didn't do much justice in that section). K also got himself some tees. We were nice and bought stuff for friends and family as well. The finale was at Champs Elysees... 

The most famous avenue in the world! 

Again shopped a bit for others and it started raining so we decided to head back and start packing :-( Dinner was at our favorite Pizza Pino where a waiter chatted with us in Tamil(yup you heard that right!). He thought we were Sri Lankans and he mumbled off a few words in Tamil. We quite enjoyed listening to his prattle. We went back and started packing up.... Oh boy. Paris was too good to be true. I didn't want to come back. And I'm convinced I was Parisien in my previous birth. Reasons :
- I've always had an affinity toward this country... more so when I learnt the language really well. 
- I love shopping. It seemed like the people(note : both men & women) there are always shopping!! 
- I've always had a thing for perfumes and makeup... and needless to say half the good perfumes come from France. 
- Cheese..... their French Onion soup had so much cheese, it's not even funny! 
- They seem to have a thing for history and in case you didn't know.. I love it too. 
Oh so you get the drift right? And I tell you K was German. For sure... Like he loves his automobiles, he can guzzle beers nonstop and he fights with me all the time... German Vs French.. u get it? Iyyo. Ok I'll stop this nonsense. Had a fabulous trip!! This country brings out the romantic in you... whether you are romantic or not! I'm definitely going back there again! Au Revoir Paris.. A bientot! =) 
PS Thanks a ton, K for doing everything possible to make this a super comfy trip for us! Muah! =) 

The world's best hubby!! Thanks a ton!