"Good or bad!! Short or long!! I want to write a post today. How many long days will I keep telling myself different reasons for not writing one. Enough is enough", I told myself on my way back from office and I decided to overcome this inertia.

This post is about our diwali celebs this year. I have so many other things to write about too. Two weeks ago, I suddenly came up with the idea of celebrating 'Green Diwali'. I wanted to be that caring ecotizen (hahaa...self coined) who does not pollute the environment. I told pv and he agreed to celebrate a green diwali by not bursting crackers. Immediately my mind made plans (totally involuntary) on how else the crackers money could be spent :) . I came up with the next brilliant idea of buying diyas and decorating the house with them.

Then I searched and searched on google to find some NGO selling terracotta diyas (my latest interest) and ended up finding few which did not seem to have good designs. I then went around the Tippasandra market and finalized on the shop where I got a good deal. Pv and me went there and purchased diyas for 500 INR. Pv was shocked on seeing the amount.

We started our diwali celebrations with Pooja followed by yummie payasam made with Milkmaid. After sometime we got bored with the tv programmes and felt something was missing in our celebrations. We heard every one bursting crackers and we could not resist ourselves sitting inside the house. In few minutes, I gave my ecotizen status and went to buy crackers :)
In the evening, we did a small rangoli in front of the house and decorated it with diyas. Then started our foto session and pv's wonderful clicks. We burst some crackers in the night with friends.

Overall it was a good diwali. One big realization for me was, I cannot celebrate diwali without crackers as they form an integral part of my diwali. I can't even imagine any other way of enjoying diwali. I should find one before the next season so that I can be a true ecotizen then.

I have uploaded pics here.

Birthday Bash

I had a superb birthday eve this year. Basically everyone decided to be very nice nice to me and asked me to buy anything I wanted. I quickly grabbed the opportunity and bought so many things...

2 watches (I almost selected the third one too, then from deep in me there rose some pity for PV who was buying the 2 for me, so decided to get the third one later). Now, I have atleast 5 watches in my collection.

Lots n lots of clothes - Oh man!! there is some 'upto 50%' discount in every other shop. So got a good deal in most of the places.

American diamond studded earrings - Mom surprised me with a cute ear ring.

Roller skates - I used to feel so J of those kids who used to skate their way on the roads. Pv fulfilled my long time wish to have my own skates and zoom on the roads. Now, I will wear them and make the kutti gundu girl on my road feel J. Heheheee.... Ok ok ..for that I first gotto learn skating.

A lovely b'day cake - creamy choclatey..yummie.. I jus loved it.

Apple palgoa - Mom's innovative sweet recepie for my b'day. She started making apple rabdi and the milk got spoilt in between. Instantly she changed her plans and make apple palgoa.. It tasted really good.

cute b'day card from aunty n uncle. Aunty was too pro-active knowing my laziness she bought me a salwar stitched the last time she came here :)

With all this, I was all set for my birthday to have lots of fun. Finally, I fell sick that morning and had to take a day off. But I din't miss the fun at home. Happily slept, saw 'While you were sleeping'. In the evening we went out for dinner.

Totally it was an eventful birthday!!

What a way to code!!

Listening to A.R.Rehman songs on my "ipod" ear fones with a chocolate bar half inside my mouth and the other half waiting to be munched and coding... I love this!!! I am in love with my work if all these accessories are there with me everytime I work :-)

Can't believe, y'day I was cribbing and boring myself to death in office and see today, what a change!! Moral of the story - Let me be free, let me listen to music and the most important give me more and more chocolates. Mommie..plesae don't hear the last part and blame me for all the cavities. That reminds me of the Himalaya's tooth paste add - 'If you want to eat like a child, brush like an adult' :-)

Tour de Chickmagaluru

Another weekend, another trip. Last weekend we had been to the Srirangapatna, Rangantithu bird sanctuary, mysore. It was a great day visiting places of different genres.

This weekend we are planning to hit the coffee country of Karnataka - No its not coorg, it is Chickmagaluru where coffee was first cultivated in India. Our plan is to stay there for 2 days - visit Kemmanagudu, hebbe falls one day and Sringeri, hornadu, kalsa the other day.

I wish the Sun God shows some mercy on us where we are there. I have been wanting to visit Chickmagaluru for long time now. Now, its all coming true. There is just one more thing to do - book our tickets to chickmagaluru for tonight :-)

Looking forward to the weekend

I am looking forward to this long weekend.
PP is coming here, am gonna meet her after 2 long years!!! Hope to spend some gud time together and meet many friends. I am planning to cook lunch for PP - delicious gift from a sweet cute friend :-) [or punishment for missing 2 important weddings in her life]. What it would turn out to be will be decided post lunch :P
Couple of friends have booked for a day's koothu (fun) in a resort and the best part is I have to ride all the 30kms on my Pleasure with PP behind... As they say, why should boys have all the fun??
And then aunty n uncle are cumng home on sunday, looking forward to that.

So many things happening in one weekend... Hope to have gud fun.

Time is flying

Time is flying as fast as it can and I am trying to catch up with every moment. So many things to do, so much time and so much much laziness too ...

I have been planning to write a post since long time and I don't need to complete the sentence now... Just got too many things on top of my mind that they evaporate quickly in the heat of the summer making me oblivious to them till they condense and pour as heavy showers in the night when I am too tired to move my limbs to do anything about them.

I am falling in love with Bangalore again and again for its wonderful weather. How I wish the rains followed the GST (Gelf Standard Time) (thanks to Chandu for coining GST, I really liked it) so that it rains after we get back home from work. It is such a mess to drive in the rain when the roads are flooded with water and the car guy next to you splashes it on your not-so-often-washed bike. Anyways, its much much better than the scorching heat that does not let you sleep in the night. Okay!! I know I know...I can hear you... Bangalore heat is not heat at all... God salute to those who bare the heat in places like Kothagudem. For all I realize that I have withstood worser temperatures on both sides of the scale in Pilani. Times when we had to cover the entire face just leaving 2 holes for the eyes to see the road.. times when we were blinded by fog and could not see what's ahead ..Yep, those were times of the past. Now, I am used to the chill breeze of Bengalooru and my body screams to the scroching heat.

Oops.. from where to where.. I wanted to write about something else and ended up analyzing my reactions to the heat and the rain. This is exactly what happens to me, I start with something and end up some where else... Anyways, coming to the point (what's the point??)... Yea!! My list of ever-to-be done things...

1. Write a post which I am doing
2. Write a post on RunForAshwini blog specifying more details on sponsoring a child.
Hey!! If you have not seen this blog, please go and check it out.
I am planning (and planning) to write a separate post to cover this topic.
3. Start reading the book of this month for my OT challenge.
With all enthu I bought the book 'Train to Pakistan' spending close to half a grand (huh!!!) and have not gotten my hands over it yet!! Days are running.. got only 5 more days in this month...
BTW, I have found the book for the next month - 'Love in the Times of Cholera'. Thanks to Goli for suggesting that.
4. Next month is going to be fun with uncle and aunty. It would be good if Shravs n Bunny join. That means, pv n me gotto finalize a place for the trip. If it is damn diffi for "us" to find a place for dinner (the other day we drove from HalliMane in Malleswaram to Bobs in Jeevan Bhima Nagar not being able to find even one suitable place for dinner - Why?? That needs the space of a post for itself.. so I will write about it sometime later. We finally ended up having puchka's, sandwich and juice for dinner), I don't need to say about the rest. But, we shal together come to some conclusion atleast the day before the travel... So no worries.
5. Put clothes for wash - Hurrah!!! I did that, but one more round pending.. Pv says its my favorite job.
6. Have to buy Shabo's wedding gift - She got married Nov last year and I am yet to gift her.
7. Mom is coming tomorrow which means I gotto clean the house and make it look neat atleast on the first glance. It is impossible for me to achieve her cleanliness goals, still gotto do something.
8. Pin-up board - this was part of my new year resolution that I would list down the places I have visited in the year and the ones I want to visit on the pin-up board. Neither did the visiting happen nor did the pin-up board stay up :-) Pv n me put all our efforts n knowledge of physics, chemistry, math and bio too to fix it on the wall and let it stay but the board was too adamant and always want to fall. This time, its gonna be a hang-or-throw situation. If its not gonna work this time, I am gonna throw it off and buy a ready made pin-up board :-)

By now, I realize that the rest of the things have already evaporated and will come back as part of the evening showers. I shall complete these now.

If you are still reading, my thanks to you. In all probability, you might have seen some part of you in the above lines, I am happy to see you too sailing in the same sea if not the same boat :-)

All in all, this week seems to be a pretty satisfying one, I completed my own 'windows task manager' like application @ work, did somethings towards a change in project, managed the house when mom was not there (my huge success item.. well!! 1 more day to go), had been a good girl as always. Full Stop, no comments expected on the last line.

Our little garden

Few pics of our little garden.

Flowers so beautiful
Courtesy - Aunty





Methi and our new gamla

Methi harvested :-)

Shopping O soppinggggggggg

A wallet loaded with hundred rupee notes
Mom by my side to give company
Set free to do anything I wish
What more do I need?

Ended up shopping lots of road side ear rings for a couple of hundreds (literally a couple of hundreds ONLY!!!). It was so much shopping without any prior planning. I've now added 6 more pairs to my LITTLE collection, Happy appy... all smiles... :)

Zoommm Vrooooooommmmmmm

Hurrah, I crossed 1000 kms on my cutie bike. For me its a big achievement. I remember those days when I wanted to buy a 2 wheeler and was so hesitant only coz it was long long time since I had ridden a bike. I was so scared to be ride on on the roads of Bengaluru where half the driving population know no rules.

Thanks to pv, with all the encouragement and motivation we bought pleasure a few months back. It was a like a dream come true for me (one of my small dreams :)). The first week I feared to take it anywhere that was a kilometer away from home. All I did was go round and round the same street. And all of a sudden there came a day when I had to take my sis on the bike all the way to HSR layout. Now, it was not only to ride my way but also to ensure my sis is safe. Too much pressure, somehow I managed to go and then it was all fun ...

That day alone I drove on the inner ring road, outer ring road, marathahalli, whitefield. Confidence grew and from then on all I did was to zoom and vroom and this week I crossed the 1000km mark. For all those bikers, it would seem wierd that I am jumping up and down just for this. But this one is very special to me.

In all these days, I have had so much fun on the bike. Offlate I have started scolding more, scolding somoene on the road who does not drive the way I want him/her to :-). I know almost every other driver would have scolded me. Recently, I had the best experience on the bike.

As usual one morning I started the bike to go to office without realizing the tough times I would face soon. I slowed the bike a little to cross a hump on the road and tak my bike stopped. Then i pressed the button to get it started but it failed to respond. I put the choke on and then things fell in place. And there came the next time where I slowed down coz of traffic. This was the beginning of all troubles - my bike failed to start no matter what. I had no way but to pull it to the side with all those heartless four wheeler guyz honking behind. Then I shook the bike this side and that side without knowing why I did. Well, I remember many people doing that way and I wanted to try my luck too. I was left with no option but to push the bike to some place and park it. That was the time it struck me that its been a real long time since I filled some fuel, but the fuel indicator was showing the petrol tank was half full. Also, that was morning was when I had the wonderful thought that the bike has started giving good milage after the service. With all this in mind, I decided to check the fuel tank myself. I opened to see that it was empty with not even a drop of petrol :) What else, I walked to the nearest petrol bunk, got a half litre can of petrol and filled the tank. After two three kicks, my bike decided to take me to office.

Morals of the story -
Don't always trust your fuel indicator
Don't dream of big milage increase after the first service

Now every time I fill petrol, I use my elementary math to calculate how many kms would come before I have to refill.

Teacher's day

Today, I am reminded of those teachers who have changed many things in me for good.
Shanthi mam (bio), Sivaraman sir (English), Chemistry sir, Hemavathy mam (chemistry) and my all time favourite and constant teacher my dearest mom.

Wishing you all a very happy teacher's day and thank you so much for having taken this noble profession to educate and empower young minds.