ONAM

I couldn't blog for the past one week as I was at my hubby's place celebrating Onam, the kerala festival. It was just so much of fun as all the family members were around and it felt even more great as it was festival time!

Every day we would put new "athapookkalams"(flower beds or carpets....if I may translate so in english). As my husband is from the northern part of kerala, their traditions for Onam totally differs from mine, so it was like discovering new stuff all together.

the different "pookkalams" that we arranged

The biggest one was made on the last day and it took sooooo much of time but it was worth it :)

My cute nephew(on the left), isn't he the cutest........

Hope all of my Kerala friends had a great Onam. Take care and see you.......

ITS RAINING!!!!!!

Oh ya I do know that its not a biggie for a lot of people in the country right now, 'coz its raining cats and dogs everywhere else except tvm!!!! I am sooooooo happy that its raining and I am enclosing a video....ya I know am mad. We have not had a heavy  rain for the past 2 months eventhough its the monsoon season. So, its such a welcome relief and ofcourse you can hear my live commentary in the background. Lol. Take care u guys :)

MY VISIT TO THE FAMOUS SNAKE TEMPLE.....

I have been having really bad dreams these  past 2 weeks about a snake chasing , biting me and ofcourse with me eventually  dying! At first I was not that bothered, but I started getting a bit squeamish when the dreams started occuring every single night and mentioned this to my mother. My mom is a bit superstitious about these things and decided to visit the famous "MANNARASSALA" Temple near harippad. So, today we went there, I have visited the temple when I was little and so this time it was really nice to see everything up close and personal, 'coz one tends to remember things more now that I am older duh! :D

A little bit of history about the temple. It is a temple dedicated exclusively to snakes and the idol there is a snake who is said to live in the premises even today at the "nilavara" (an attic sort of room present in really old kerala homes) and is said to wander around at a nearby area called "appoppan kaavu". Honestly, I have no idea how to translate that in english, anyway, the whole temple is filled with trees and bushes and one feels as though they are stepping inside a jungle and to my amazement I saw a real live COBRA!!!!!! lying lazily on top of a branch and it looked really harmless.......but to be honest I really did get scared. The "kaavu" used to be a part of old kerala homes where they used to idolise snakes, pray and do offerings to them all the time. The snakes are a symbol of reproduction and especialy at this temple, couple who don't have kids come to pray and do special poojas to conceive.

The temple itself was built by the sage Parasuraman. He appointed his favourite disciple to look after the temple and it is his descendents who actually does the main poojas and are looking after the temple even now. Ok......enough with my talk let me get on with the pics now. Photography is prohibhited inside the temple, so I took a couple of pics from the outside.

The pond just outside of the temple. Everyone is supposed to wash their feet there before entering the temple. Do you see the lush greenery.......believe me the inside of the temple actually resembles a mini forest!!!

The many views of the temple from outside. Do you see the man wearing the blue shirt, he is one of the guards there and told me to switch my camera off!!! :(

The idols of snakes ,("nagadevatas" as they are called)

Once we started the drive back home, the Kerala monsoons simply took over. It was really beautiful. Anyway thank god that it ddn't rain when we were inside the temple!!!

Myself in Desi Avatar lol :D

The perfect "kerala" or the more well known "mallu" look :D

Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed reading this post, don't forget to leave your comments :)

REVIVING MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.......

Don't tell me that you haven't had a crush when you were 14 or 15. Well, I did.......I never did anything about it.......'coz personally I felt I was much too "cool" to fall for the emotion called "filmi-love" at that age. But, I did have my first ever crush and I never shared it with anyone. When I saw this new movie called BUBBLEGUM, I was pleasantly taken back to my teenage years when I used to think that I knew anything and everything in this world!

As the title suggests "bubblegum" lands the teenage protagonist in the eyes of his crush, soon to be "girl-friend"  and also the stickiest situations possible with his parents and friends. The movie is set in 1980's in Jamshedpur and is complete with the bell bottom pants and the oh- so popular "head full of hair"!!!

Meet Vedant, the "hero" of the movie, the 14 year old who sees his "First Love" in Jenny, the new neighbour and his "Rival" in Ratan who challenges him to make the girl fall for him and yup you guessed it, he is the "Villain".

This is Vidhur, Vedant's elder brother who studies away from him at a special school meant for deaf children and comes home to visit his family for the "Holi" hoidays. He is protected by his family and eventhough vedant loves him, finds it a burden to be the translator between his friends and his deaf brother and at times feels ashamed of his elder brother.

This is Ratan aka the Villain, who thinks of himself as Dharmendra but has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve that would put a 14 year old Gulshan Grover to shame!!! :) and yup he is also trying to get Jenny all for himself.

The lovely, warm hearted, good looking Jenny who knows that both the hero and villain are out to woo her. She has still not reached the "like" or "love" stage with either of them but sure has a soft corner for our hero.

And not to forget the loving parents caught up between all this, who finally understands that their elder son who lives away from them is actually world-wise and the son who is actually living with them cannot bear the realities of life. They also learn to be "friendly" with their boys which was quite an alien concept back in the 1980's.

This movie reminded me of my good old days when internet was not there and the only way you could actually send a message to another person was by being "mobile"!!!! This is not a children's movie, I am sure that everyone who watches the movie will be able to identify themselves. Having a fight with your friend was definitely the end of everything(atleast in our minds) and not getting the understanding parents whom we obviously deserved and it also depicts a time when one starts to see the opposite sex in a different way for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and would definitely recommend this to everyone. This takes you back to the old childhood days which we have definitely left behind but, can we ever forget those golden days.......nahhhhh I don't think so! :). 

THE BABY TALK...........

I think every married woman who has completed one month (one year in my case) has to give her "very clear" answer to the much dreaded question......."when are you having babies"........."why don't you have them now.....everyone else is having babies"..........!!!!!!!!!!, Well, those exclamation marks is my shock, as I never thought I would get cornered  with a straight forward question like that. I sip the glass of water(which I am having in my mind) and calm myself down and flash my pearly whites(now I know why I use colgate!!!) and say "Achamma(grandmother....well.....its HIS) I am studying and we are thinking about it.....Ya the hell we are!!! more like the Hell I am!!!

Its so overrated....I know......this conversation is meant to happen someday but when the question is put forth the real deal is AM I READY YET........I do know lot of women who juggle just about anything and everything in their life and hats off to them but sadly am not one among them. I still have trouble finding my books, doing my laundry and preparing my own meal and more importantly do I have it in me to be the perfect MOM...... I honestly don't know. People say that one just learns these kind of things and I am sure that I will love my baby to itsy bitsy pieces but am I ready to take the "RESPONSIBILITY" .......to look after another human being.....if I am not interested in having food I can just starve, but I wont be able to tell my child to starve huh....

Some of the  answers that I have thought up that might pacify or enrage my husband's relatives:-

1) We ARE trying from day one!!!!
2) I would like to finish my PG and think about kids......which I will back up with (coz I will be getting piercing stares by then) but "We are trying from day one" :)
3) I am not a very responsible person....so I don't think its a good idea
4) Oh well, husband is having the "treatment" done(the most meanest one ever.....which I always think in my mind to use....but can't!!!)....am not THAT desperate........right.....

When I told my hubby he was like "Just humour them......they are old...we will try when you are ready"......well, thats a relief to hear coming from your better half. But how long.......I have no idea.

I strongly believe that a kid is much more appreciated in a family when he or she becomes a need and not a want.......and I am still waiting for my NEED to kick in......

As of now, am happy with my exam preps, blogs, life and ofcourse Family guy and True blood :D

I WAS DUPED!

Well.....am not a Narcissistic personality(or so I think).....but definitely its nice to know when someone tells you that they look up to you or you inspire them......blah blah blah......you get the drift right? We all know when someone is trying to butter you up.....but is anyone that clever ever not to fall for "flattery"........I do know now that am prone to it!

This happened very recently. I got a comment in my other blog from a fellow blogger and at first glance I even thought of it as spam. This person has commented as to how inspired she was with my blog and that she really loves it a lot and to top it off claimed that I was the "inspiration" for her to start her own blog! Whoa....that was enough to send me "to the moon and back" :D. I was actually really touched, I visited her blog and I saw that it is in fact quite nice and all it needed was a bit sprucing up......So, me acting out as the "mentor" gave some pointers and gave her some genuine advice as she had touched the "Frasier" in me( I hope all you guys know Frasier, the pompous lovable psychiatrist that stole our hearts with his adorable show).

Anyway, I even told about this incident to some of my friends( I was actually very proud of myself) and went on blabbing as to how great it is to have touched someone like this and all that B***S***. Here I was tripping all over myself and looking at the blue skies.........ahhhhh somethings are not meant to last right? Today I found that this particular "blogger friend" of mine has used the same words and commented to a number of other bloggers that I know!!!! so much for my inflated ego.....

I am not angry with this other person for doing like this....maybe she has her own reasons and  maybe she really did get "inspired"( am beginning to hate the word lol) from all those other bloggers too. Just then I understood that flattery said at the right time does get people anywhere and everywhere!!!! I was a bit embarassed to have thought that I had somehow reached atleast a bit of "celebrity status" in the blogger world.......ahhhhhh well.........who am I kidding.....anyway waiting for the next set of flattery filled  comments, this time I WON'T GET PUNK'D ......or so I hope :D.......so long guys and by the way feel free to leave sugary sweet comments below this post, my deflated ego does need a little boost :)

STUDY,CAREER,WORK,FAMILY.....SURELY ONE NEEDS ALL THAT TO BE PERFECT HUH?

Is it OK to feel jealous when one of your best friend is getting married? Or should I correct myself when I am already MARRIED!!!! Well, I have been married for a year, I do have a wonderful husband........but I do think.... do I have everything that actually counts???? My friend who got married right now did everything in perfect order...completed her graduation, spent one year cramming for a pg seat, got it the very next year and now got married to a really nice guy....ok so let me correct myself, I am not jealous......just "envious" when everything goes in the "chronological" order for someone else and not me. I am allowed to feel some emotion rt.....

I am now stuck with two major things in life, snag a pg seat and oh ya in the mean time get "pregnant" too......why are women always needed to do the eternal juggling? I can just see myself with my big fat radiology book in one hand and a crying baby on the other while my cell phone is jammed into my ear with my working shoulder and screaming to my husband about him having it easy.....So now I wonder....the things that we all consider too good to be true can sometimes be just that "too good to be true"!!!!

I now am at a stage when I am actually doing hide and seek with the society 'coz am so fed up with questions from friends asking me "Didn't you get a pg seat yet?" duh! if I did do they think I would be waiting for them to ask me that question.......I would be howling from the rooftops!!!!! and ya ofcourse not to forget the sweet questions from "his" relatives....."When are we going to see the lil ones" ohhhhhh F*&^.....sorry about the language...

So now, am waiting patiently to turn into the "superwoman" who just about manages everything.....personal life and professional life with so much ease....and the glorious tag would be ......"still!!!! studying" mom or the "working" mom? Guess I will stick with the pic below :)

and the most dreaded question........am I ready for all those things said above.....well.....I guess......baby steps would be enough for now.......let me figure out a way to hold my radiology book straight and squabble with my husband.......atleast for now!!!  :)