Of Growing Up and .... Getting Married

You're growing old and looking for prospective grooms/about to get married/frustrated with your friend's changed relationship status and couple pics. That's a fact.

But it doesn't hit you when you shift your cribbing focus from men (this cribbing topic is for keeps for life, age no bar!) to the meaninglessness of life. Doesn't hit you when it's been years since you completed your post graduation. Doesn't even hit you when your classmates get married, have babies. Doesn't hit you when people whom you once cribbed about men to, are getting married. Doesn't even hit when you're own best buds tell you they're getting married. This in fact gets you more excited about life! It doesn't hit when you're busy getting wasted at her bachelorette party. Doesn't hit when you're getting engaged yourself. You think it'll hit you when the time comes for you to act like a daughter in law along with being a daughter and balance both, it doesn't hit you even then. You know you're growing old but it just plain refuses to sink in.

Then one day your Dad comes home with overpriced mangoes and tells your mom to feed you 4 mangoes a day because this is your last mango season at home and it hits you. More potent than a neat vodka shot. That you're getting married ... You're not getting old, but have actually become old.

You ask your best friend a week before her wedding what she's doing and she says she's packing. And you count the days left for you to start packing 24 years of your life in a few suitcases and move on to call another house as your own.

And all we wanted to do when we were young, playing with and getting our Barbies married, was to grow up and get married! And now when we are, it refuses to sink it, it's difficult to let go...

The heroine of my blog is getting married next week to be the heroine of someone else's life. Aanchal, wish you a lifetime and beyond of happiness. And P.S, barring a few days when I couldn't make it for your sangeet's dance practice, we successfully averted Bride Wars!

Of Growing Up And... Complicated Thoughts

Habits, they say is an acquired pattern of behavior that often occurs automatically. And addiction arises from habit due to a habit forming substance. So, where does love fall? Is it a habit, as it an aberration of your normal behavior sort of acquired over a period of time? Or is it an addiction, resulting from a very serious habit of the person one loves? What really is love? It just can’t be a mere feeling. Love, I believe, is more potent to be called a ‘feeling’. Love makes you want to do crazy things…even sing songs atop the Alps in miniskirts and thin chiffon sarees to wanting to kill someone. Love makes you forget reason. Just like addiction does. So does that mean that love is an addiction? But, then, not everyone does the aforementioned things while in love? So does that mean they love their partners any less? Or is it that they are plain sane (and boring!) Maybe for them, love is just a habit which hasn’t reached the addiction level. Or is it that love is something totally different and I’m thinking too much into it.

When we talk about habits, I feel there are many things besides love that can be habits. Like people for example. There are some people, who become habits. Friends, crushes, family… So what happens when the one to whom you are habituated to moves on in life, while you are at the same place?
And then because you have to also show that you have grown up, there’s ego that plays a very important part. So, what would win…habit or ego? Both are equally strong and equally hollow.  Would reason have a role to play in the fight? Would it be a referee declaring who’s the winner or would it be a third side in the already existing tug-of-war between ego and habit and complicating the situation further? Someone I know told me, that the only thing stronger than ego is reason. But what if the ego doesn’t let the reason to sound reasonable enough? What would happen to habit then?

What about lust? Is it a habit or an addiction? Or just very intense love? Then what is obsession? Is lust stronger or reason? Does this reason stem from logic or from preset beliefs? Then this takes us to a totally unchartered dimension… what’s stronger….reason or beliefs? But what if beliefs are wrong and so strong that you can’t see reason… at a level wherein beliefs become faith? What if our faith is wrong? Would it still be called faith? But then when we are doubting the basic premise that differentiates hope from faith, how can it still be called faith? It would then be hope or a belief. What is it that drives terrorists to kill people? Is it hope, faith or belief?

Or is it that all the above questions that I raised were totally subjective? Maybe they were or maybe they were not. If they were not, someone is gonna have faith issues!

P.S – I was not high on weed while writing this post.

P.P.S – Some habits are beautiful. Ms. Aanchal Bhugra, you were my most beautiful habit. My blog misses you… and so do I. Stop being a kanjus marwadi and start commenting like an extravagant Punju!!

What's In A Name - A Short Story - Part One

Waise toh, I'm very famous for starting to write a story and never finishing it,but I'll definitely try to finish this three-part story that I'm starting with this post.

All the characters in this story are fictitious! People, though you may be tempted to draw parallels between the main lead and me, I'll tell you, it's not my story!!!! I'm NOT getting married any time soon! This is just something that crossed my mind when I was talking to a guy-friend about how a girl becomes a woman and how the things she wants in her man changes with age and/or events. This is also dedicated to all the my-parents-are-starting-to-look-out-for-grooms-for-me SMSes that I've been receiving of late from my friends and the ones that are sent out by me!!! I hope this three part story brings in some hope for you.

***

“Who’s it?”, said a miffed Simi, who had woken up from sleep as my phone rang.

“Hello”, I answered the call, ignoring Simi’s pillow throws at me.

“Hi. How the party was?”,Dhruvesh, my fiancé today and husband tomorrow asked about my ‘bachelorette’ party.

“It was good.”, I said nonchalantly. “How was yours?”, I asked as part of a formality.

“It was amazing! We had lot of fun”, he answered. And why wouldn’t you have fun when you can have alcohol and drool over women and return home drunk and not get grounded.

“Nice”, I said for the lack of anything better to say.

“So, big day tomorrow! You excited?”, he asked me, sounding very enthusiastic. I was wondering how many tequila shots did he have to sound like this?

“Yeah, excited and nervous”, I answered. Keep a fast until you’re officially married, wear two sarees together and tons of jewellery and make-up and then I’ll ask you how excited you are!!

“Guess it’s a girl thing! It’s nice that Simi and your other friends have decided to spend the night at your place. You can talk to them all night”, he said. “I think you should go to sleep now. You’ll have to wake up early na tomorrow”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea. Bye, good night”, I said.

“Good night” he said and hung up.

“What is wrong with you. Why do you talk to him like that?”, Simi said

“Like what?”, I answered. Guess she had woken up and heard my entire conversation with Dhruvesh

“Like you’re just not fucking interested in talking to him! In the 20 years that I’ve known you, you’ve never answered in one words! You are you! You TALK! Why do you talk like this to Dhruvesh?”, she said.

“Can you guys like please go to sleep?”, Reema said from one corner of the room.

All my BFFs – Simi, my best friend since KG, Reema and Sheetal, my school best friends, Purvi, my junior college best friend, Shruti, Dimple and Swati, my degree college best friends and Khushi, my post-grad best friend had stayed back at my place on the eve of my marriage. I have a lot of best friends! But, Simi is the bestest of all. She knows me since we were 3! That’s like since 20 years! And we’ve been best friends ever since!

Simi came to where I was sleeping, dragged me by my shoulder and took me to our ‘window sill’. It was this balcony in my room which had an amazing view and we’ve spent a million hours talking about Simi’s then boyfriend and now husband Varun! She forced me to sit.

“Tell me what’s the issue?”

“There’s no issue. I’m just tired”, I answered, not looking at her in the eye.

“Don’t bullshit me”, she sat in front of me and turned my face so that I could look at her in her eye and talk. “Tell me, what’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong”, I said.

“Really? You want me to believe you? Babes, please tell me what’s wrong? Did he do something? Say something to you?”

“No”

“Monosyllables! I hate them!!”, she fumed. “Did he try to you know….force you for like sex or something before marriage?”, she guessed

“Hell no!”, I shouted back!

“What is it then?”, she asked with a grave concern on her face. “You’re getting married to him in less than 12 hours…. You want to marry him right?”, she asked. And I couldn't control the tears that I had filled myself up with since a month that it was decided that he was the one for me.

“Aww, baby! It’s ok! You just are freaked! It’s normal to have cold feet before the wedding day. I had it too!”

“Don’t lie! I’ve never seen anyone as desperate as you to get married!!”, I joked. Finally, after a month there was a smile on my face.

“Ok, fine! At least you smiled. See, I know it all has happened real quick! I mean one month is really not enough…. But it’s ok. Your parents aren’t fools and besides that, Dhruvesh is a really nice guy, trust me! Even Varun says so…. And he’s a guy….he knows guys better than us!!”, she asked.

“It is not that, Simi. Leave it, you won’t get it. Nobody does”, I shrugged.

“Try me.”, she urged.

“It’s everything! He’s not what I wanted in life! You know that I never had a boyfriend in life and that’s why I thought probably that’s because I’d get someone out of the world for me to marry. But this is not out of the world!!”

“Ok. What do you not like in Dhruvesh?”, she tried to calm me down”

“Everything!”

“Start somewhere!”, she persisted.

“The name… Dhruvesh!! I mean it’s like so Gujju!! It sounds Gujju…. Because of that ESH thing in the end. I don’t like his name! I don’t like his surname. I don’t like how Payal Dhruvesh Shah sounds like!! It’s not mellifluous to my ears.”

“You don’t wanna marry him because you don’t like his name?”, she laughed, waking up two of my friends.

“See, I told you, no one understands.”, I complained and got up to go back to sleep, she held my hand and asked me to sit.

“Sorry. Let’s start again”

“The reasons I have sound very shallow to others, but to me they are not. Because it’s my life at stake. I want what I want and Dhruvesh …yucckkk…. Is not that! And it’s not just the name. He can’t even speak English properly. He can’t throw two sentences without an error and you know how irritating that is. I wanted a guy who could throw five big words in a sentence if I’d throw three and he can’t even get my normal English stuff. English is important to me and I wanted my guy to speak good English. And he can’t.”

“Hmm. You can work on the English, Payal. And name… you’ll get used to it!”

“Imagine saying Dhruveshhhhh when you’re doing it…. It’s like so turning off yaar!”, I said.

“Look at the good side… he’s letting you work after marriage. That’s a positive”

“He doesn’t talk. He’s all shy and quiet with me and you know I can’t take silence. It freaks me. And he’s not at all romantic. He doesn’t know how to talk to women.”

“No guy on earth knows how to talk to women the way we want, so I’ll give that to Dhruvesh”

“Can you like please not take his name?”, I said. “And I always wanted a love marriage yaar. Falling in love, talking on the phone for hours, that honeymoon period of the relationship…he being all romantic and all filmy, when all romantic songs make sense to you…. I don’t have that phase in my life. I feel like a fucking 16^th century woman!”

“You can have that after marriage. And let me tell you, love marriage sounds glamorous on paper. In reality, it is not like that”

“Look who’s talking! You had the most amazing love story”, I said

“I did. But we do have problems. We’ve dated for 5 years and been married for 2…. The seven year itch is not a myth my friend! See, with love marriages the problem is that you begin with attraction and then when you have to compromise and adjust later, and that’s a problem. With arranged marriage, you start with compromise and end with attraction. Trust me, that’s how it should be because that attraction is unshakeable. It has a more solid and practical foundation.

“But still, I wanted a love story that I could tell my kids about”

“You can still have it”

“With Dhruvesh? Noooo” I replied

“Why didn’t you tell your parents about it if you had such a big problem. You could have told me earlier…. What’s the point of telling me NOW!”

“I tried telling Mom, she gave me one million reasons why he’s the right guy and shut me up. I didn’t like getting engaged and married in a month. But considering that his grandfather is almost on his death bed and wants to attend his function, I agreed.”

“Don’t have a pity marriage”

“It’s more compromise than pity.”, I said

“Dudeee. He’s a nice guy. Trust me. Trust my instincts. Give him one fair chance. Keep the name and English aside…. Look at the inner him. That’s what’s important when you’re getting old with him.”, she tried making me look at the brighter side of things.

“I didn’t even have a bachelorette party with alcohol and all. I wanted to enjoy my courtship period with him. Wanted to go out, party hard, wear hot clothes, get drunk, come home late and not be asked questions….. I didn’t get to do any of that. I wanted him to fall in love with me when he saw me for the first time and he saw a strand of hair on my face and he so liked it that he fell in love with me…. I wanted something like that….”

“What are you? A Yashraj Film heroine? You can’t take the AC for more than 30 minutes and you want to dance in a miniskirt in the Switzerland snow!!”, she laughed.

“No. I just wanted to have a love story. Period.”, I retaliated.

“You’ll have it. Your life is not ending tomorrow. It’s just starting.”, she said

“Yeah right”, I said, staring at my hands which were covered in mehendi. And his name in it. The only thing that I liked on my hands was the engagement ring because of the huge diamond it had.

I was marrying Dhruvesh the next day and I felt nothing for him. Nothing. 

P.S : Thank you, Aanchal for the amazing quote on love marriage v/s arranged marriage! And thanks for approving the names of the characters in the first go! You're back on my blog now, so you better be the first one to comment! 

P.P.S : Please like my page on Facebook!! You can see the LIKE button to your right as well! (Sounds so desperate, but I need some ego boost real bad!!!)

Part Two : Coming Soon

I'm kinda back!

OMG! I haven't blogged since so long! I actually have forgotten blogging now! I can see so many people heave a sigh of relief, reading this! So, where do I start....umm I don't know! I just suddenly had this feeling that I'm neglecting my baby(my blog, you sillies), so I'm here trying to type whatever gibberish hits my neurons. If you have topic suggestions, kindly pass them on!

I think that they should rename MBA to 'self-actualization' ! I never knew so much about me before I started my MBA! Yeah, the classic question of 'Why MBA' and 'Tell me something about yourself' still haunts even after getting into MBA! We had a lecture and all the professor made us do was write 3 drafts on the latter question! And, while I was writing, I kinda had that 'dimaag ki batti jali' moment.....there are soooooo many things about us, which we don't know! And we never really bothered finding out. And I'm loving this self-actualization journey. It's this time when you realise that your strengths have been your weaknesses and your weaknesses have been your real strengths! I'm not making sense...... welcome to the MBA club.... hardly anything makes sense here!

As usual, Aanchal is right! She always says that things happen in her life first, and then after a lag, the same things happen in my life! And still, I'm unprepared for life! Her B-school began before mine, and she always said that these 24-year-old oldies speak more sense than we do! And, I refuted the claim by saying that we, too, have seen a lot of life to speak sense! Now, when I have a friend who's from the same league.....not the 24 year old oldies league....but the 22 year olds' league, I realise, that really, these oldies, actually speak sense!! They really, have profound thoughts!! I still remember gazing with my mouth wide open listening to my friend tell me things about me, which I also didn't know, and he noticed in me in just a day! How many of you (my friends, and people who've been reading my blog since long to know me kinda well) knew that I was a perfectionist!?? I didn't know that about me, trust me! My best friend of six years, Radhika, admitted that she didn't know this about me as well!

Now, after a long hiatus of around 4 years, I'm back to my oldest old self! I've changed so many times since school got over that I don't know who's the real me! Yeah, so I think I've gone back to school self. I've started shouting left right center at people who piss me off. No longer am I the let-it-be-na-chod-na-re person I had become since 4 years. If someone's doing something wrong, they better be prepared to take it from me! I actually shouted at a class of 120 for passing cheap comments and distracting my group during our presentation. And, boy! that felt good! And, now after a month in college, I've begun to feel that I need anger management classes soon before I break someone's skull in college! Anyways, managers ought to have a calm head! My degree college friends are sure wondering how I'd look shouting at people...or rather they are wondering if I'm bluffing again!

It's just so wonderful how I can write so much shit even when I have nothing to write about!! I'll end this post here. Hopefully I'll come back soon with something that'll remind you of my old self.....something that looks like my blog posts of yore, which were not this shitty!!!

P.S : Thought for the day: Life always gives you options..... it's for you to take them or leave them!

Regards,

Nupur Bhayani,

098xxxxxxxx

One of the things these work ex people teach you....how to sign mails!!!

I Miss...

• I miss those days of wearing my red and white checkered pinafore with a white blouse to school
• I miss having my hair oiled and plaited
• I miss singing hymns for prayers....four times in a day at school! Ah! How I miss singing Blessed Anna and Long time ago in Bethlehem and saying Father who Art in Heaven....!!! I also missing trying to bunk prayer assemly in the morning!
• I miss those carefree days when the only worry in life was completing homework and cribbing about the next unit test!
• I miss studying moral science and value education!! Stuff that ensured I stay TULSI forever!!
• I miss strolling around the coconut trees in school with my friends in the name of P.T!
• I miss fighting! Oh damn! Those days of being a fighter-cock are long forgotten!
• I miss going with Pooja and Radhika to 'favourite place' trying to avoid certain people!
• I miss school like hell!!!
• I miss being gossiped about
• I miss being linked with people I never went out with!
• I miss talking away to glory in Gujarati!!! The only place where I speak in Gujarati!
• I miss my junior college.....
• I miss standing on the Vile-Parle FOB with Radhika and Akshata and Radhika and talking about all our guy problems! If we had rather spent that time studying, we'd all have been in KEM doing medicine!
• I miss making Akshata miss train after train!
• I miss eating half a plate of sevpuri and drinking only Chocoshake at McD for over a year even when we had free coupons for eating at McD!!
• I miss walking with Neha to and from college to SPs.
• I miss the SP days!!!
• I miss studying Botany! I miss winning Nobel prizes in Literature during Botany pracs! I miss eating chocolates hidden in dissection boxes with Ankita and Aanchal during the pracs!
• I miss planning to open HAN India Pvt. Ltd with Hetvi and Aanchal!
• I miss posing for numerous pics and make Ankit take the pics!
• I miss bunking class tests and Saturday pracs and running away to Bandra with Lucky, Hetvi, Mansh and Ankita!
• I miss making Ajay do all the lab work while Aanchal and I would talk about love, life and everything in between!
• I miss eating from everyone's dabbas like there's gonna be a severe famine from tomorrow and God has allowed humans to be camels for a day!
• I miss having no option but to eat Pizza and Pasta!
• I miss going for movies at 7 in the morning!!
• I miss gifting everyone with nothing but pictures of ourselves!!!
• I miss writing articles for Campus Junkie and my blog during Cell Biology lectures!! Damn, along with them getting over, my creativity, too has gotten over!
• I miss talking to Aanchal during lectures via Paper Messenger, then via MNS messenger in the evening and vio the phone at night!
• I miss changing the Personal messages on MSN every evening according to mood....which always were something about love, life and everything in between!!! And, I miss Aanchal copying my messages and putting it as hers!
• I miss eating, drinking, gossiping and harassing the teachers in practicals
• I miss the 'what are you saying' expression on Ankita's face and her 'Even she has a boyfriend?? Let's jump from the window!' everytime we gossiped!
• I miss going to all possible colleges to participate in Biotech quizzes and and returning with only a 'participation certificate'!!
• I miss my degree college....and LIKE HELL!!
• I miss studying at my house, even though it meant me making tea for Ajay and Aanchal, missing being in the best pics taken because they were taken in my absence and making all these slothballs climb 4 floors!
• I miss travelling with Mansh while going to Aanch or Hetu's place to study
• I miss 'eating' at Aanch's house!
• I miss screaming everytime my chocolate was snatched from me!
• I miss standing at the bhelwala for hours after classes got over and crakcing jokes with Aanchal, Ajay, Abhishek, Hetvi, Mansh and Amit (I don't believe myself right now!)
• I miss my MBA classes with these guys!!

Damn it!!! I'm missing my life that it was!!!! Only, if I could do it for the rest of my life as well!!

I'm Making A Movie!!!

I was discussing with Aanchal on how the 'asking outs' would take place in the story I'm writing and she suggested a faadu idea. Trust girls to come up with the most innovative ways of how a guy should ask a girl! Wish it was the other way round and the guys were innovative.... or at least, leave alone being innovative, atleast ask in the first place! But, such is life dearies!! Urrgghh, I'm digressing from the topic again. So, after that both of us checked the promo of Wake Up Sid and needless to say, both of us are fighting over Ranbir now! That's when the genius idea struck me... why not make a movie of the story I'm writing (OK, Aanch, I'll give you the credit of suggesting that I go to Ekta Kapoor!)

And my idle mind just needed a topic to start going berserk! Then I was there... visualing my story come to life. I finalised the lead actors for Anay and Arjun.... and again, you are not gonna get a free trip to Hawaii to guess who they are! It's Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor!! Now, there's been a lot of debate on who'll be Arjun and who'll be Anay..... but well, I'm the screenplay writer-dialogue writer-writer-director so I guess, it should be my call on who'll be whom. I say Arjun would be Ranbir....because I personally like Arjun and I'd definitely choose Ranbir over Imran!! ....and Anay'd be played be Imran. Then, though she doesn't believe me, the first person I thought for playing Ahaana was Aanchal. She's the best choice for Ahaana! She's tall, she's pretty, she can make a guy dance to her tunes, she herself can dance around tress for the movie and she can cry.....so I can cust costs on the glycerine! So, my movie's a love story between Imran, Ranbir and Aanchal! Kya kismat hain.... she has Imran and Ranbir romancing her!!

Then comes the financing the movie part. I got a couple of interesting ideas for it... like... selling sugar and tur dal. But, Vinod, rightly mentioned that to sell, I'll need to first BUY them... and that'll cost me a bomb! So, dropped this idea. Then I went to a couple of friends asking them to finance the movie...but the useless friends that I have.... no one agreed! Ankita said she'd finance but she'd want to be the heroine! I had to placate her by giving her an item number! Yeah, there's an item song in the movie and Ankita's willing to do it along with Fatema. (I haven't asked Fatty, but I'm sure she'll agree). And I so love Anki's dedication... she's already started practising for the item song! She also offered to sing the item song...but I guess, she rather just dance! Then, Ajay also wanted a role... and he grabbed the item girls pe seeti bajane wala boy's role even before I offered him! And he's also the guy Ahaana shouts at when he spits on the road. And considering the fact that the scene's gonna be between Ajay and Aanchal, needless to say, Aanchal will even slap Ajay for old times' sake!! Lucky, Mansh, Hetvi.... there are other roles you guys might be interested in 1) Devika, 2)Arjun's sister 3)Navya.... err sorry, I'll be a little biased here and give Navya's role to Radhika...on whom it's partly modelled! Yeah...there's one more role of Anay's third girlfriend ....maybe one of you could pick that up. Hurry! Offer till stocks last!! And Ankit.... you're the camera guy! As always! So come back to Mumbai!

But the main concern still remains! How shall I get the movie produced?!? Ajay came up with a brilliant idea. He suggested that we shoot the item song first and then release an IPO of it...Ankita can sure manage that for us...talk about dancing in an item song and managing an IPO....she's my super-woman! He also had more explicit ideas for the item song, for which he's definitely gonna be slapped for!! In no ways are they gonna wear Negar Khan's clothes from Iss Jungle se Mujhe Bachao!! Rao wanted to do a male item number... but sorry... you'll have to be content with seeti bajaoing. And, I'll have Kunal Kapoor play Anir.... Radhika loves him anyway!! So my star-cast is finalised! Story's done! The music.....umm.... I guess, I'll catch hold of someone for that... Ankita and Fatty can do they choreography too...and what else... I guess, this is all you need to make a movie, right??

P.S: Aanch, if you're not gonna show any interest in my movie or if you're not gonna be as kicked about it as I am, then I'll kick you out of the movie! Be excited...you have Imran and Ranbir romance you!!! I can actually kill you for it, you know!!

P.P.S: Ajay, the item song's not Maahi Ve from Kaante (I know you want it to be slow and long, but dude, NO!!). It's not Mujhe pyaar ki chatni chakha de piya like Aanch wants it. Neither is it Latka dikha diya tumne...taddaaa like Anki wants! It'll be something like beedi jalai le....jigar maa badi aag hain types!!!

Anyone interested in the movie, please let me know!!

Wretched Luck....!

"Jab dil hi tut gaya....toh jee ke kya kare.... jab dil hi tut gaya...." " Na koi umang hain, na koi tarang hain.... meri zindagi bas ek kati patang hain.." "Kya se kya hooooo gaya tere pyaar main" and my favourite of all of them, "Dil ke armaan aasuon main beh gaye!!!" These are the only songs playing on my iPod since Lucky broke the news of IRFAN PATHAN getting MARRIED to his girlfriend.I HATE MY LIFE and MY WRETCHED LUCK!

Girlfriend!!! When did that happen?? The papers say they first met in 2003.... precisely the time when I first saw him! And she's not even pretty! She's fat! Yeah, do you get the point now, that I DON'T like her! Dil ke armaan aasuon main beh gaye.... Couldn't he find someone better? Like me? (Don't laugh... I may not be as pretty as Ash or hot as Jessica Alba.... but I'm definitelty not FAT at least!) {Nothing wrong in being fat, I infact love fat people (sacchi, God Swear... eww...I need to stop spending all my free time with 8 year olds!) ... I'm just finding an excuse not to like Shivangi Dev}

Only when I think that the color of the mehendi that I've put on my hands is the darkest of dark browns making me think that someone somewhere is madly in love with me (lifted straight from Dil Toh Pagal Hain), I come to know that Irfan's hooked! I was sad all day because of it.... until Aanchal called up and gave a proof of why I love her so much! She said that Irfan's Dad has apparently said that Irfan won't get married until Yusuf doesn't get married!!! I almost touched my ceiling with the jump I jumped with joy.... and considering the fact that I'm just five two (fine, I'll be honest... five one and a half!), that was some jump! And I so hope that Yusuf doesn't get married soon!!! How selfish can I get!! By the way, you should've seen the show Aaj Tak had for Irfan Pathan... it was funnier than 16 guys fighting to woo and marry Rakhi Sawant (again, what's wrong with lesser mortals like me?)

If you thought that my wretched luck got over, you got it wrong.... I can beat anyone in this department (Ajay is not allowed to compete with me, his luck is worse than mine!) a movie that I've making for almost 2 weeks for my nana-nani's 50th wedding anniversary to be played in front of a 150-odd people at the party, refuses to play! And I almost say the F word due to utter exasperation in front of my family... then managing to make it sound like Freak later! God alone knows how I remade it in 20 minutes again! And people loved it, so mission accomplished.... so at the end of it, I earned 550 bucks for it, for practically nothing...and already have 2 more movies to make for some relatives! I can make money from this now!

C'est la vie!!

P.S: It's Aanchal's birthday tomorrow and apparently, I'm more excited about it than her!! Aanch... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

P.S 2 : Read my story... the links are on the right side above the Edward Cullen slide show

Dazzled!!

What dazzles me more? My eight year old cousin discussing the bullion trade with me or me successfully making a scrapbook for Aanchal without any pictures?? Blame it on the Libran indecisiveness or anything, I’m really confused at what really dazzled me last this week!

I’ve heard that American IQ is age divided by 10…. But I guess, that an NRI second generation IQ is age multiplied by 10!!! I was at a loss of words when an completely innocuous discussion, one wherein I was explaining my eight year old NRI cousin how 100 Rupees is not much…. It’s just about $2… just completely turns 360 degrees when my cousin, the same eight year old, starts talking about how an economy loses value if it starts printing more bills!!! My jaw touched the ground when my cousin said this! He’s an eight year old for crying out loud…. He’s supposed to be discussing Wii and PSPs and not the American economy!! To be honest, I never understood this concept of how inflation, printing more money and the gold reserve thing are all inter-related when I had asked my Dad when I was in 4^th grade as to why doesn’t the government print more money and distribute it!! I understood it now, when I read it for my PIs! And my eight year old cousin also knows the American share price for Honda Motors and when he plays the ‘name countries’ game with me, he names countries like El Salvador, Chad, Lebanon, Micronesia and the likes, when I’m not getting over India, Pakistan, Italy and France!! And he knew Claude Monet’s style of painting at a time when I couldn’t even pronounce Monet right! (The ‘t’ is silent….. damned French!!) He doesn’t cease to dazzle me everday! I’m thinking of taking him with me to my PIs…. Maybe the panelists will give me admission on the basis of pedigree… I’ve tried going the marks way(and failed too!). These NRI kids are way smarter than their Indian counterparts! I wasn’t this smart when I was eight…. And I’m just assuming that I’m smart to begin with!!

I haven’t mentioned Aanchal in my blog since a long time, and I don’t want her to go in a depression thinking that I’ve forgotten her (our date’s on, Aanch… I’ll see you at Sahara Star on the 1^st!). I was supposed to make a surprise scrapbook for her 21^st birthday because she had asked me to do it! What an innovative way to surprise! And though, I kept telling her I won’t do it, I did it…. The quintessential best friend that I am!! And it’s turned out nice…. I’m a self confessed-self obsessed person, but still, I normally don’t brag about myself, but this scrapbook is looking really nice, because she never expected me to remember all her friends…even if she mentioned them just once in the 3 years that I’ve known her…. Yeah she’s got a pathetic memory herself… she forgets that I’ve got a Pentium IV built in my grey cells… I don’t forget things!! Aanch, make your list of 34 people…we’ll check if your list and the people in the scrapbook match! And, Thanks Aanch, for bringing out the creative painter in me…. I’d almost given up, but then the thing of doing the scrapbook entirely by myself made me do the art work too…. And I hope you like it (Radhika did the initial few… and later I almost traded her a lifetime of slavery from myside for her to do the rest as well!!) And Wow! I’m discussing your scrapbook here, when I know you’re gonna read my blog (you dare stop reading my blog, now that you’re into a B-school and all that!). I know, you’re spying on my mailbox to see who all are writing…. At least erase the evidence of the spying later on! The scrapbook doesn’t have a single pic….. trust me, you don’t know how excruciatingly painful it has been for me to keep no pics! I just want to see you smile on your birthday…. I hope the scrapbook is what you have imagined for yourself… if not, find new friends….!!

I’m very happy these days , now that my Mom’s finally given up and now I’m allowed to paint my nails red, black, blue and purple!! Yay!! My nails are half red and half black right now…. I’m thinking of opening a nail bar or something…. I think I can make money by this nail obsession of mine! Anyone interested in financing?? Maybe Aanchal, after she gets placed!!!

P.S : Listen to the song Total Eclipse of The Heart by Bonnie Tyler. It was one of the top 10 romantic songs…. So needless to say… it’s an amazing song…. Never before have I heard something like Once upon a time I was falling in love… and now I’m only falling apart… there’s nothing I can do to the Total Eclipse of the heart…!! This song has the most heart toucing lyrics…. This is the only song I listen to at full volume even when the singer is singing in high pitch! Gives me goose bumps, this song! Do tell me if you liked this song…!

My Best Friends...

The last time I wrote something on this topic was an essay for my English class in 4th standard.... around 11 years back! And now, at 20.8 years, I'm all charged up to write on My Best Friends... people who're responsible for taking care of me outside the sheltered confines of my family. Radhika, Rao, Aanchal and Ajay are the heroines and hero of my post. It's really personal to talk about my equation with them, but then, today, I'm just so happy after a looooong time and they're the reason behind it! So, it's them all in the way on my blog!

I've never really talked about my equation  with Radhika and Rao ever on my blog. There's no need for it, because somehow I feel that the relationship we have transcends words, because I, honestly don't have words for them. From listening to the same old stories of mine for 1000 times and still being game for it for the 1001 time, Rads, you seriously have some patience man! And you never even interrupt me and tell me the count of the incident that I'm regaling to you! And you're the sweetest person along with Akshata.... because you two are the only two people on Earth who laugh like crazy on my jokes and make me feel that I'm good at being funny! From being the only friend I had for almost 3 months..from wiping and consoling and saying the same things over and over again without getting frustrated for 4 years ...to having the guts to put up with a 2 hour-every day crying person for 3 months , to still putting up with my BYEs when I'd be with him, leaving you in the lurch! I couldn't have asked for a better best friend! 

Rao.... I know you still hate me for eating that Fruit and Nut which was meant for someone else, but dude, you should've researched before giving a gift to the girl you were planning to ask out! I can't help it if she doesn't like chocolates and I'm the chocoholic best friend of hers! But, seriously, the way you used to come online late at night only because I was lonely in US with no one online during my 'awake' hours.... that meant so much to me! Trust me, the chocs I got for you from there were nothing for what you'd done for me in those 3 months! From hating to a person, not beacuse he didn't like you, but because I had cried for him.... to listening to my Eostrogen mood swings every three days.... you come next to Rads in the patience-o-meter!! 

Aanch...I call her my soul-sister. The only place where we differ is that I'd be cool with a not-so-tall guy unlike her!! From liking the same guys to fighting over them (well, more like me abusing her because she'd be the one who'd go and talk...just taking advantage of the fact that I can't really talk to people I like!) to crying one after the other.... almost everytime... ain't it... one week you... one week me! And of course celebrating our first-time-meeting anniversary on 10th Aug! There are so many instances with her that it'd be an encyclopedia when penned down! From the way we both felt that 'void' no one else did at Hyatt's coffee shop the day after my birthday ....by just the way our eyes drifted away while talking....to keeping that hand on my head at the Suncity bus-stop with me trying so hard to tell you things but just couldn't get myself to talk about it... to fighting over Mohali and Chennai.... to keep gushing over Edward Cullen and various other hunks (except Nauman and ZAc Efron...I hate them, they're **y!)... to making deals over extra-marital affairs with the other's husband... to snatch the other's baby name, the baby's place in the Indian Cricket Team (jersey no 11!!)... to promising to snatch only my temporary pyaar and leaving my permanent pyaar all for myself...to rolling your sleeve in the middle of the road to bash up the epicenter of all my troubles.... to that one conversation at the Window sill in Vapi at 3 in the morning, that just showed me how strong a person I've been and which changed my life. Forever. Thanks for forcing me to talk that day.... I would'nt have been able to write about Ajay otherwise! And if I don't get the first call after your water breaks from your hubby.... I'll run away with him while you're still in labour! Remember my warning!!

Ajay was the third particpant of Aanchal and my Window Sill convo at Vapi... during our IV there....well, like I said, the night of 13th Jan .... changed my life, for good. I got a new best friend!! From keeping me sane one month before the Boards so that I could write my exams (yeah, and then giving me murderous looks when I'd taken a supplement!!)... to clearing my head every 5 hours everyday during March.... to being on mute conference for 3 hours so that I wouldn't break down while talking... to wanting to massacre everyone I knew at one point of time because they all were only aggravating things and not alleviating pain... to always be the one who'd get a smile on Aanch's and my face....and of course.... for getting Aanchal and me to abuse and think cheap....People tried, but couldn't do it for 2 years... but you did it in what...2 days?! Shit man! You're going to hell, Ajay! BTW, you owe me a Fruit and Nut for 15th March!

And if you don't pick up my calls in 5 rings after you get married or move in with your girlfriend (if you're lucky to land one!) because you were busy.... you'd get a kick from me on your self-proclaimed callipygian ass! (I wanted to kick in a more strategic position but then, I want you to give me a niece so that I can name her something that doesn't sound like FLICKA! It seriously sounds like a shoplifter's name!)

For people who've read this, must be wondering what a sad person I am....to be crying all the time..! But no, it was just the past 5 months which have been bad.... only because Murphy's Law came into picture..... every bad thing possible....happened....at the worst possible time! But now, I'm back...to my old self.  Thanks to Ajay and Aanchal today... Gosh! I've never laughed as much as today ever in my life! Freaking crazy!! BTW, I'd like to warn the four of you, that when you're taking the GD and PI of the guy wanting to marry me... you better be damned good at it...! Because if the guy I marry turns out to be a jackass in the end.... I won't leave you alive! I've just given you one responsibility in my entire life...so you better not disappoint me! Rads you have to make sure he's better than him.... Rao you don't have to get any guy from areas like Chinchpockli and Naala Sapara for me or someone Atal Bihari Vajpayee's age for me. LK Advani's age won't do either! I know I'm a big kabab main haddi... but please don't be a sadist! Aanch, I trust you like hell in the PI thing... I'm sure my prospective groom'd come out and tell me, "Your friends, either are big time sadists or they just simply love you to death" after YOU interview him! And Ajay.... you've gotta make sure he has conviction in his voice when he says he loves me (if ever there's a guy who would!!).