Christmas Cheer is finally here..!!!

Pick it up from where you left it Last...!!!

For all that glitters, is not always gold,
This is a truth, but hardly told.
Friends may be many, but few are precious and rare,
Hence it’s a relationship that should be handled with care.

Thus behold all these lovely people in life,
And cherish all the moments of togetherness.
Coz’ they are the one who who’ll strive hard,
To cast away all your burdens and kill life’s emptiness.

Those good old late night chats,
The fight over the last pizza piece.
Will bring back that glitter in your eyes,
Of some long lost beautiful memories.

You may not talk daily,
But they are always on your mind.
All those crazy old mad times,
You would always want to rewind.

But such is life,
It always treads us on different paths,
So don’t waste your time in fretting,
Just pick up your conversation from where you left it last..!!!

Wish you were here...!!!

If there was a bridge to heaven from earth,

I would cross over to reach you…

If there was a path that could lead me there,

I would walk miles to be with you…

For all the days that you haven’t been around,

We have missed you immensely for moments we can’t count…

Each and every day there’s a thought that occurs,

“Wish you were here” with us, for that’s all does matters.

We miss you immensely Dadi, you were our parent, our best friend, our confidant. You have been the world for Me & Atul. You raised us to be what we’re today. Thanks will not suffice for the life that you have blessed us with. Even though you’re far way in heaven, you there with us in our thoughts, in our mind every minute & every day.

This Barfi will leave you high on Happiness..!!!

Last year it was Jordan, (The Rockstar) who created a rage with his iconic musical saga of love, and this year we have an adorable deaf-mute Barfi , who’s all set to win your hearts with his happy go lucky charm. Yes my friends, Ranbir Kapo

or proves himself as a director’s actor with his latest release and all kudos to him for flawlessly enacting the role of a deaf-mute character. This movie is a picaresque world of artless charm, which invites you for the most invigorating cinema experience.
The movie takes you back to the good old retro years and the beautiful & breathtaking locales of Darjeeling. Barfi is a solid combination of great director who dares to vision different, actors who went beyond their skills to bring life to the director’s vision, and some amazing music that will take you down the reminiscing lane of yester year’s signature RD Burman music.
I won’t go into many details, to kill the fun. But can’t refrain from appreciating the impeccable work done by the actors; Ranbir, in the most challenging performance of his career will leave you dumbstruck. Without any use of conventional crutches of cool-catchphrases, dialogues, stunts or any other 'items'; he stuns you in every single frame. Bravo for Priyanka Chopra, yet again she proves that she can carry out any role with ease. Dispelling all the diva aura & image she plays an autistic girl, where she needs to under-emote and ends up doing it so brilliantly. While RK & PC with their incredible performance prove themselves as the best actors of the generation, Ileana D’cruz makes a confident & impressive debut in Bollywood. Barfi as movie celebrates life without dismissing the dark passages and harsh realities. Anurag Basu being a cancer survivor uses his personal life experiences to display the zest for celebrating life through his characters. As humans our biggest difficulty is being happy always, so go indulge in Barfi, It will leave you high on happiness.

Life in the past 180 days..!!!!

Now I know what people mean when they say that time flies. 6 months ago, on this very same date (i.e. 11th Feb 2012) I was freaking out with mixed emotions and the constant fear of tripping over my wedding gown while walking down the aisle to the man of my life (my husband) who right now is busy checking out the instruction manual of a car vacuum cleaner kit that I just bought for him :-)

Well yes it doesn't feels like just 6 months, marriage as an institution has a unique ability to make one feel that they've been in it for so long. And I share the same feeling of being with Rahul for not just these 180 days, seems like I've always been here daily watching him drag himself out of bed at the last minute in the morning and being forcefully thrown of the house to go to work. Please don't read in too much there, he believes in the concept of hard working which is hardly working lol.

People say, change is the only constant in this world, and I would agree that life has definitely changed in the past 180 days. Earlier it used to be an early morning marathon for me to get up on time to greet my maid and then to leave for work so that I can indulge in my guilty pleasures of monthly retail therapy. Well now it’s a different ordeal to get out of the bed because my husband has an endearing habit of putting me to some extra hours of sleep just so that I don't end up dragging him out of the bed. (I’m his worst enemy in the morning)

Driving & swimming were two things that I had given up in life, thinking that I would never be able to learn. But didn’t know what destiny had in store for me, my husband is one freak when it comes cars & bikes. Rahul is like a search engine for all those who have any queries on varied kinds of cars and bikes in the world, sometimes I wonder if was a mechanic in his previous life. So when I told him that I don’t know how to drive a car, he was shell shocked and the first thing that he does after marriage is giving me driving lessons. Me being extremely low on my patience levels found it extremely difficult to deal with his overtly righteous driving techniques, but he didn’t give up on me and didn’t allow me to give up either. And today here I am mapping the roads of the city all by myself, driving on the highway on road trips with him & his official chauffer. I’m sure he is one proud teacher, and yes there are some awesome moments when I do get complimented by him for my amazing driving skills.

Marriage is a constant process of transition; there are certain things you learn naturally without any realization while there are certain other things which require a lot of effort and patience. I am one control freak, have occasional mood swings, suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder for cleaning & organizing, right in the face straightforward kind of a person and people with such qualities do get to experience a lot of hostile behavior from the world.  But thankfully Rahul has managed to handle all of this in a remarkable way, (thanks to his amazing people management skills). And yes, I guess I forgot to mention as to how stubborn I can be at times (Rahul I know u will say at times??? No most of the time), but only this man has the skills of convincing me to end up doing things which I would never do in my normal sane state of mind. (Example joining him & his Frisbee team)

It’s been crazy 180 days of:-

Share & care-  Rahul sweetly shared his wardrobe space which now is completely sabotaged by my clothes and never ending list of foot wears.

Patience & Understanding- He patiently deals with my control freak nature, while I end up understanding his never ending love for cars and bikes especially when he gives lecherous looks to these machines.

Love & Companionship- We love each other’s company and we do manage to do a lot of fun stuff together. Thankfully we both share love for travelling, watching movies & exploring new watering holes. (Yes, our never ending love for various spirits keeps us so spiritually united)

Constant Nagging & Stupid Fights- Life is incomplete without our repetitive and constant nagging at each other. I get yelled & shouted upon for few things like skipping meals or biting my nails. While Rahul gets nagged for so many things that I don’t even remember.

Surprises- We both like surprising each other, but the curious cat that I am, I always end up killing all of Rahul’s surprises for me. In spite of that he has managed to surprise me hell lots of time, which is quite remarkable :-)

Marriage was never there on my agenda of life, it happened only because of constant efforts of my parents exploring the matrimonial sites for a suitable match. And thankfully I’d say that God was kind enough to bless me with a man like Rahul who very well endures with all my craziness. I’m more of amazed than happy that we’ve pulled through 6 months without killing each other (99% chances of me killing him)

Thank you Rahul, for being so patient with me all the time (especially when I stress out at the drop of a hat), for being there always (especially when I call you to ask for directions), for making me midnight snacks (for my crazy mid-night hunger pangs), for all the little surprises that you plan (though I end up killing it most of the times) and all those small gestures which makes me feel so very special. Life’s been amazing so far and I so happily look forward to many more days, months and years of madness & craziness with you.

I’m no Beauty Queen, I’m just beautiful me..!!!!

Well this one’s out for the lovely ladies out there, who like me deal with so many issues in life on a daily basis. And yes it’s a never ending list that starts with weight issues, damn those size zero actresses & models on the TV who make it miserable for each one of us who love to eat but slog hard to lose those extra calories & when we can’t do much just blame it on our genes & poor metabolism. And then it continues to hair problems (trust me all that glitters on those TV commercials is not gold) plethora of products used together cannot get that hair shiny & glossy, and yes no matter what age-defying cream one may use, those lines are really mean and nasty as they magically start appearing with every additional year.

In the commercial fights of various brands promoting their endless range of products to look young & beautiful there is one constant pressure of retaining that youthful look. No one talks about staying healthy & fit, why there is such ostentatious pressure of being thin or size zero? Well I’ll be lying if I say that my weight doesn’t bother me, it does bothers me hell lots. I went through a hell of 6 months of crash diet & intense workout regime to lose some extra 12 kilos that I had put on (all thanks to my foodie friends @ Barista). But gradually I understood the importance of fitness, now the priority is to stay fit & eat healthy. Needless to mention that occasional indulgences are bound to happen, c’mon we all have some or the other food craving (trust me mine are the worse, I suffer from obsessive midnight hunger pangs).

And yes I don’t believe when women say “age is just a number, it’s the state of mind that matters”; this is one of the most clichéd statements of today’s world of cosmetology & Laser surgeries. Age is one number that bother’s everyone; I started hating candles on the birthday cakes post my 21st birthday, so please don’t even bother to guess my age now J lol.  Nevertheless the only way I deal with that increasing number by keeping my-self healthy, indulging in hobbies that work out as stress buster for me, like occasional & innovative cooking (more than me my husband gets happy with this one), reading, dancing, and my most favorite hobby is lolling around the house in the most shabbiest pair of shorts & T’shirt looking my ugliest best doing just nothing but couching & watching my favorite Sitcoms (please exclude all the daily soaps cause I detest them to the core). And the newly acquired one is a sport called Ultimate Frisbee (thanks to my husband for introducing me to the sport), it helps me to stay fit & enjoy a good game with my husband and his bunch of boys. So indulge in some crazy & mad stuff, do things you like even if it’s shopping and keep yourself happy & away from ageing thoughts. I can’t guarantee “No more fine lines” with this method, but this will surely delay the appearance of those damn ugly lines on your pretty face.

I always remember what my grandma used to tell me during my childhood days & growing up years. She always insisted on staying healthy, she said if you’re healthy inside, you’re naturally beautiful outside. She didn’t believe in any cosmetics that could bring some magical fairness or give you lengthy & glossy hair. And I guess that was one reason why she is still considered the epitome of beauty in our family, we all craved to have complexion & skin like hers, and she was one woman who was out-rightly active before getting bed-ridden, never had any cholesterol, diabetes or any old age sickness.  I guess that’s the concept of beauty being skin deep which is rather misconstrued in our current world. So all that I’d conclude with is that we all our beautiful in our own unique way (that’s what I feel when I look at myself in the mirror every morning, when my hair is all messed up, with dark circles formed around my eyes with residue of kajal or even if a new pimple pops up from no-where) Well I do sound melodramatic now, please don’t start imagining me in my horrible morning look nowJ. So getting back to the point, don’t run after size zero & devoid yourself from your daily dose of nutrition, exercise to stay fit & healthy. Don’t experiment with plethora of cosmetic options to get some unnatural fairness, retain your beautiful natural complexion, and just take care to keep your skin healthy. Indulge in some weekly/occasional dose of madness to revive the child hidden in you. Stay healthy & beautiful!!

That thing called Friendship…!!!

Only few people in our lives reach that corner of our soul, where only they have the capability to uplift our spirits in most gloomy situations. They have some supernatural power to encourage us when we're supremely low on confidence. And they are the ones who can actually make us squeal with laughter at the most nonsensical joke in the world. These are the people who'll be supremely proud of all our achievements and will laugh the loudest at all our goof-ups. These are people with whom we share a language of our own and more than anything else these are the people who understand our silence to the core.

Still wondering whom I 'am talking about? None other than people called FRIENDS in our life. And why are they so special? Well If I start to list down all the reasons, I would end up compiling volumes.  The reason why “Friends" are so special in our lives is , because we get to choose them, all the other relationships in the world we get in heritage as a consequence of our birth in a certain family. And this is one relationship that we build and thrive upon in our normal course of life.

I still remember those funny days of childhood where sharing your favorite chocolate with a friend would be the demonstration of the most solid & bonding friendship. Which then graduated to the level of sharing notebooks, notes, lunch-boxes, and some silly secrets ...Finally it reaches to the level where we would swear to kill for a friend or save her/him in any crisis situation. Talking about those all I could remember were silly teenage days where doing the forbidden gave the utmost pleasure which we seek now in so many futile things in our so called mechanical lives. Very recently while I was moving from Delhi, during my packing I got hold of all my school scrapbooks, old pictures and even letters that I wrote to my friends when we moved into different cities to pursue our graduation.  Those were the days when social media didn't existed and people literally made an effort to keep in touch. While now with mediums like Facebook & Twitter we're blessed to find anyone at a click :-)

And now we're all grown up's, working, married & settled, busy in our daily monotonous schedules. Still it’s our Friends who end up adding that zing & madness in our lives. Every morning I religiously log-in to Facebook, to see what all my friends are up to, and there are times when I end up chatting with so many long lost friends. Every weekend I look forward talking to Adi&Ila (my closest pals) and our conversation is almost an hour long of madness,  my husband thinks that I go into some form of laughter trance when I talk to them lol. Any gloomy day becomes the brightest when I speak to Shivaani, who manages to cheer me up with her most silly and corny jokes. And not only my school friends, there are some amazing people I bonded with during my professional tenure whom I refer to as my "Mantal gang", they end up bringing the most cheerful smile on my face whenever they call, text or ping. And all my online friends who never forget to check on me.

So whatever form of communication, be it Facebook, twitter, chat, e-mails calls, texts, or BBM's staying in touch is the key to thrive on such Friendships.

I consider myself to be blessed with such amazing & beautiful friends who've been more than a family to me. I hope they feel the same ;-)

We had this motto in our school days “Love laughter & loyalty makes life easier to bear". Which is so true, all these things together Love, laughter & loyalty makes any friendship so strong & long-lasting.

Cheers to all my friends who've been a part of my life and also have added so much value to it.

Liberate your soul...!!!

People say life is  a gift, so if it's a gift why to waste it in pleasing people all the time. Learning to be happy is the most difficult and cumbersome task, and at times people learn it through really hard ways. And more than that it takes ages to realize as to what makes one happy, and when that realization dawns, don’t let it go. Hold on it and do every thing that makes you happy. There's a phase in everyone's life when one would want it all hunky dory, to make everyone happy around, but it's not  a cake walk. People will never be pleased all the times, then why to sweat over it.

I'm a woman of free spirit and mind, and being independent keeps me happy. And if people take me to be rude and snob for that, I don't care. Well one end's up sacrificing and compromising a lot for co-existence, but then why to change your lifestyle and mindset for existing with someone who doesn't even respect your choice. When will we grow up and mature as a society? Why is there so much societal pressure, don't we deal with so many other kinds of pressure on a daily basis? Isn't peer & parental pressure not enough???

As a child we deal with peer pressure at school & parental pressure at home. As we grow up the pressure starts growing at various levels, if the neighbor's daughter has cracked the MBA entrance it becomes an issue of your parent's respect to crack an exam of higher difficulty levels, even if you don't have the brains to knack it. Your cousin gets a suitable match in a rich family, it becomes a pressure on you to get married into a family richer and famous than them. Your friend gets a new job with a higher salary in a good company, you're forced to think about your career as to where it's leading even if you're happy with your job. People around you will demotivate to the core that you'll start hating your job.

Such is the story of societal pressure, and it doesn’t ends here. It seeps deeper into so many other levels for women who later get married. Even if you get along well with your in-laws people will question you in a manner making you feel like  an intruder in husband's family. Poor girl who leaves her own house, city, career and friends just to get accommodated in a new family environment has to go through various levels of quality check before she gets the approved seal of a family member. In the initial few months after marriage the daughter-in-law is more of a thing flaunted by the mother-in-law, so the poor girl needs to be dressed up through out and have to ensure that she ends up entertaining and pleasing her mother-in-law's friends who are nothing but a bunch of Indian desperate housewives having no life of their own. Then the next level of pressure leads one to following strict instructions for everything starting from what to wear, what  to cook, what TV show to watch, how to clean the house and a range of other things, which you can very well decide by yourself as a matured individual but are not allowed to do because you have to please your in-laws by taking their opinion for everything in life and moreover following it as well. Such is the scenario of our so called pseudo- modern Indian society, where people  claim themselves to be modern and advanced but their minds are still corrupted with backward mentality.

Every time when we want to do something of our own, we are questioned by the same old clichéd statement " what will people think", who cares what people think, this is our own life, no one but we ourselves are responsible for it, people won't come for rescue in our bad times.  It's time we realize our source  of happiness, break away all the shackles of societal pressure, liberate our souls from the opinions of other people who don't matter and do thinks which we like. As I mention earlier  that Life is a gift, make the most of it. Live it to the fullest, enjoy it in your own unique way without thinking as to what other's will think. People will always talk and think, let that not influence you in such a way that you lose the track of your own life.  People who matter to you will accept you as your are, hence there's no point of changing yourself for others. 

Proud to be SFC'ian

It’s been more than a decade of passing out from school, but each and every memory of the 14 years spent in the convent is as fresh as if it was just yesterday when we all said goodbyes to each other after writing our last board exam (ISE) and promised to keep in touch through phone calls & emails (since social networking was not such a range then). What was so special about that school, why haven't we still moved on from our convent days??? Trust me I still don't have answer to these questions, but all that I know is that even now after getting married, changing various jobs and cities my closest pals are my school friends. Today one phone call to my school friends who are located in various cities makes me as enthusiastic as a 10th grade school girl, who laughs & giggles over the most silliest of jokes & still enjoys stupid girls talk and this works as the best de-stressor in the entire world. 

St. Francis was not just a school for all of us, it was our home where teachers were our parents who not only taught us through textbooks but through the enriching experiences of their lives, they strived hard to make all of us a bunch of self- dependant, confident & independent women that we're today. And I'm so proud of the fact that even though we hail from a small town called Jhansi, our attitude & perspective towards life is no less than those who are born & raised in metros and big cities. 

Today, while introspecting I was just pondering what has been the greatest achievement of my life, or which was the moment when I had the greatest sense of achievement....??? Couldn't think of any moments of my professional life...(not that it wasn't great, but never felt so great after achieving laurels or appreciation at the work front, just felt happy about those and moved on ahead to achieve something bigger and better than that). 

When I talk about sense of achievement, all I can recall of are the moments, when I would win a race for my house, win a dance competition for the school, give a flawless dance performance on important occasions in school (Needless to mention as to how badly I miss the school stage). 

Moments like these which gave us the taste and flavour of achievements. I can never forget the moment when we swore in as the office bearers in our school, being the naughtiest of the whole lot; we never thought that our teacher's would consider us responsible enough for such positions. But the day when my best friends- Aditi swore in as the Head girl, Shivani (as the sports captain), Priyanka & I (as the house Captains) we thought we had achieved the greatest things in life. Today we still reminisce these moments and feel so happy & proud about it.

St. Francis as an institution brought out the leaders in us, instilled the confidence with which we lead our lives today.

This is just a snippet of the proud moments that we had in our school days, if I start listing out all the amazing memories that would lead to compiling a book and that too in volumes :-)

As St. Francis completes its glorious 100 years, I wish the school many more of such glorious years. This school has transformed the lives of many girls, given them a vision, goal & ambition in life, and made them the uber-cool modern women of today.

From Marketing To Home Making..!!!

When I was a little girl I was extremely fond of pets, which made me decide that I want to become a veterinary doctor...but as I grew up I realized that I had to love science more than animals to become a doctor, so that plan got changed. And since then in due course of life I made and changed many plans and eventually landed up in Delhi to start my professional struggle. It has always been a well known fact for me that, nothing comes easy in life...so after a long struggle I reached where I wanted to and managed to establish myself as a marketing professional. (All thanks to my amazing tenure at Barista Lavazza). Well in all these years and all these plans I never ever dreamt or thought of myself getting married and settling down…it was a long, focused and ambitious journey until I met my husband in a coffee shop at Delhi. Our meeting was arranged by our parents and all that we wanted was to get over and done with it...BUT when we met tables turned, things worked out; we fell in love and decided to get married. And all this required me to quit my job and move to his base which is Hyderabad....!!

So now, here I am from Delhi to Hyderabad, from the role of a Brand Manager to a home maker. So have things changed??? In a way yes...but I look at it with a different perspective just to make it feel fancy for myself (can’t help it after all I'm a girl and I would want it fancy and nice).

Earlier I used to get up early for a morning marathon of getting ready to leave for work, now I get up early to get my husband leave for work, trust me the latter is more of a challenging task. In Delhi I had a small cubicle and a workstation at my office...now my workstation size has increased to an entire house. So scope of work has definitely increased with more exposure.

As a marketing professional I always had to be proactive with all my plans & strategy...similar is case with home making, I have to be ready always for any ad hoc events, and planning is the most essential key to running a household. Earlier it was about promoting the brand products (mainly food n beverages, since that was my industry) to consumers in the most convincing manner. Now it’s promoting my own cooking at home…though no convincing required here (thanks to Dadi for all the cooking tips & knowledge) :-D

Boring office discussions and meetings have changed to Dinner table discussions whilst enjoying a good meal...

Earlier store visits have converted into regular provisions store visits (can proudly say that the Q-Mart staff recognizes me now, I'm sure I'll be their first privileged member if they launch their loyalty program) Oh that reminds me, I should definitely sell this idea to them.

So yeah life has changed, roles have changed, its been more than a month of a different city and different surroundings for me. And along with all this, my perspective towards all these changes have changed. I do miss working but then I do love taking care of my house and family too. And so far it’s been an amazing transition.

Such is the beauty of life, It comes in different phases to keep you excited and amazed…!!!

My Life in a Metro...!!!

Dilli…What is about this city??? Why people aspire to live in the capital city, why do people feel proud of belonging to it? Well I do ponder about it at times, this city has been my home for the last 6 years now and I’m so closely attached to it as I am to my hometown.

As a school going girl along with my other friends I always aspired to study in the famous DU campus, but fate had something else stored in for me and since I was destined to be here, I got my first job assignment in Delhi. That was my first step towards an independent life in my city  of dreams with two of my very close friends. There was so much to look forward to, so much to check out here and so much to do…!! I still remember the sparkle in my eyes during the initial days of moving around in this city.

Can never forget the first metro journey in the Delhi Metro...where me and my friend boarded the wrong metro by mistake and reached somewhere else instead of our destination. (Ila I’m sure you’ll laugh over this one) Can never forget setting up our apartment in Patel Nagar, handling the landlord tantrums, hosting Saturday night parties, weekend sleepovers...Life had turned a new leaf out here and I loved it.

Dilli as a city teaches a lot…I learned all kind of crisis management here. Well of course life was never always a bed of roses here…crisis always happened at the drop of a hat. Stupid fights with the landlord was always a crisis, handling Monday morning at work after a late night Sunday party was a crisis to handle every week, getting broke by month end was a monthly crisis to deal with, an event to attend and no new dress to wear is a crisis of every girl’s life, lols. But apart from these, one learns to deal with people here, I have mastered the art of people management here, thanks to the city. Dilli brings out the fighter & survivor spirit out of every person.

I could have never imagined finding an apartment (Which includes dealing with various kinds of brokers and house owners), setting it up all by myself and living alone in this city. Yes, I did all that…today most of the important phone numbers in my contact list are those of plumbers, electricians, maid, gas agent, mechanic etc. etc...I realized the importance of all these people when I moved into this city :-)

If today people find me independent, free- spirited, Bindaas, fighter & go-getter….I wasn’t born that ways, I was raised & groomed like that to a certain extent, but this city did bring out the best out of me…(Not that I didn’t have my worst times here..I did have those bad times too)

Dilli has given me some of my very close friends, who are now friends for life, various new experiences which have been learning for me and of course so many beautiful and fun filled memories. I know it’s not the place but the people who matter in life. But for me I found these people here, so I’ll always give the credit to the city. There have been places here which are so close to my heart and will always remain to be so…our favorite hangout “Blues”- had the most awesome happy hours there…..Can never forget our shopping escapades to Rajouri & Karol bagh, though nothing would ever beat my love for Janpath & Sarojini Nagar (I’m sure all my gurl pals would agree to it)…And food out here is the most rocking, nothing would ever compare to Delhi Chaat & its street food, I fell in love with the chicken momos here…!!!

It’s going to be a never ending list if I keep writing…!!!

Dilli was an experience, a lifelong memory and this couldn’t have happened without few important people- Aditi & Shalini. My two bestestest girl friends, they have always been a part of all good, bad and ugly times out here…!!!

Now all you guys would be wondering as to why I’m referring to the city as “Dilli” and not Delhi, well “Dilli” gives the feeling of belongingness and closeness…That’s why it’s always going to be “Saddi Dilli” for me, my city & my home..!!!