The Terrible Refrigerator.

I dont know why, but I hate the refrigerator... I always have. I hate food odors and I do everything to see that my fridge doesnt have ANY - like obsessively closing EVERYTHING that is unfortunate enough to go in there! 


I would have made an awful forager, maybe I'd be a better hunter- gatherer. My older sister, on the other hand, is a forager! There is NO hiding ANY food from her! My mum would find the unlikely-est places to hide stuff that was meant to be eaten in moderation (read chocolates, dry fruits etc), but SHE WOULD LOOK FOR THEM... and (wonder of wonders!) SHE'D FIND THEM! And proceed to eat whatever it was! (And in case you were thinking this was her as a kid, no! She's a whole 8 years older than me!)


Me, on the other hand, would NOT dig in the fridge, for love or money!! My mum actually invested in a rice-cooker that would keep my food warm so that I would eat lunch! Anything that needed to be re-heated, would be written in big fat letters in a note that would not miss my eye. The note would read something like "Fried fish in blue dabba on top shelf of fridge. Heat and Eat! Love, amma". This continued through school and college. Now I have my own fridge, and I HATE having leftovers and Serenity despairs that I dont know whats in the fridge most of the time. (Yes, I am guilty of letting mint leaves dry to the point that they'll powder if you look at them!!) 


But this story is about a box. Specifically... THIS box.

Now you'd look at it and say it contained almonds, right? THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS ON THE BOX! This box, was a 'return gift' at one of Serenity's friends (very lavish) wedding. So we brought it home and since we had loads of nuts and stuff already, we never opened the box. One day, we noticed a few ants around the box and so, promptly stuck it in the fridge so the ants cant get to it. (All of this while the box is in its original cellophane sealed packaging!!) so the box stayed in the fridge, our never-ending supply of nuts never ran out, so we never bothered with it.... Shifting happened, and while clearing out the fridge, I religiously took the box out, and packed it with the other non-perishables and brought it to Tech-City. By this time, the box has lived in our fridge for over 2 years and the friend whose wedding resulted in the box coming into our possession has had a baby! 

Yesterday (and this is almost 3 years since the box came to live with us!) I needed almonds. So I opened the box! And THIS is what it contained!! I was MORTIFIED! 


SWEETS!! Good, yummy sweets that now had the consistency of PETRIFIED ROCK! If any of you are dying to know what 3 year old barfi tastes like... sorry I cant help you, I was too scared to try them!


WHY ON EARTH would anybody invest in such misguiding packaging??? When I opened the box and stood gaping at the contents, Serenity was too busy laughing his head off and saying "She's had her baby already! And those sweets have been with us for THAT long!!"


"Almonds for you" indeed... 
Disclaimer: My fridge is not all full of forgotten food, it has lots of yummy stuff in it too... :)

The Year that was...

Milestones of the year that was....

• Serenity and Calamity celebrated their second year of togetherness. Its been a bumpy road, but we have settled into a much more even pace... We are together, and we are happy and that's more than I could ever have asked for. In a month, we will be celebrating our third year of marriage, hopefully tucked away in some pretty locale!

• Calamity inched closer to the big 3-O... this year seals her fate and puts the awesome 20s firmly into the pages of history! (Which was the main reason Calamity moped and moped on New Years Eve!!) Serenity prays everyday that his (mentally) 6 year old wife will grow up and finally be a responsible adult... to which I stick out my tongue and go PBBBBBBTTT!!! (so much for maturity!)

• Serenity and Calamity moved cities... yup, just as I was beginning to get used to all the idiosyncrasies of the city-that-wakes-up-early! We moved to Tech City, and Calamity has never been happier - I have a lovely home, I have busy weekends, I have a GIRL GANG!! (something I've missed since I moved from the city-that-never-sleeps!)

• We've acquired a couple of adopted teenagers!! (girls from the Girl Gang who're always here when I need them!)

• Arlie, one of my girls from the city-that-wakes-up-early moved here within a month of us moving and has been a steady fixture in our home and in my heart. She's the closest I've gotten to anyone in the recent past, and it just makes me feel so good the way she just belongs! She's stellar, and I love her to bits...my Soul Sister and partner in crime - we stay up till all odd hours, watch Rakhi Sawant and Big Boss together and stress about our weight in chorus!

• Ambils, or Chandu is my other adopted teenager - someone I had met only briefly, she was my first taste of fun in Tech City - we have danced in the aisles of the Spar supermarket solely to relieve the tedium of the ppl watching the security cameras! Arlie and I mother her, boss over her and take her tantrums in our stride! She is the kid sister we now have, and she's a RIOT!!

• The Bangalore Bunch is a bunch of friends Serenity has had since childhood, the parents were friends, and now they are friends... they fill our weekends, the getting together after choir practise... to doing girls night movie with one of the wives...

• Serenity and Calamity travelled to Cambodia... our first trip out of the country together, we fulfilled a dream we've both individually fostered for years. The experience of seeing the sun rise over Angkor Wat is one that I think will stay with me forever. Cambodia was beautiful, awe-inspiring and sad at the same time. Experiencing the ruins of a 9th century civilisation together but with no conversation necessary... Serenity actually excelling in bargaining  - which didnt surprise me, it SHOCKED me! He would wander off in the markets, come back bearing armfuls of great deals and make friends with all the shopkeepers! Our culinary experiments and disasters... all in all, made for a great trip, hopefully the forerunner of many more to come!

• Calamity got sick! :( bleh... what a way to end the year!

• Serenity and Calamity FINALLY got a christmas tree, a star and went carolling! Serenity's sister visited and we all exchanged gifts and had a SUPER christmas, wheezing and phlegm not withstanding! No baking or appams and stew, but we got by just fine!

And now forward!.... The Holiday Season's hangovers are past and the New Year stretches ahead, bright and shiny... Who knows what may come... But in the words of Incubus :

"Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear

And I can't help but ask myself how much I let the fear
Take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before
And it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
Should be the one behind the wheel

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes yeah

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
I'll be there....."


Bring on the lions!! :D 

Happy New!

And I begin the year with a film review post - one I haven't done since my old blog, many moons ago. This one's not your happy, 'begin the year on a feel-good note' kind of movie. Far from it, in fact. The Black Swan, dazzles to say the least, in a dark, horrific kind of way...


Darren Arnofsky's Requiem for a Dream, has for long held the spot of 'most disturbing movie ever made', even for me, who's seen the film too many times to count. His new movie, The Black Swan, doesn't take that away from Requiem, but comes a close second. If you have not seen Requiem, you should... because it will shake you like nothing else will... Brilliant montages, stellar performances and a story that's sad and disturbing at the same time. 

The Black Swan explores the dark underbelly of the world of ballet. Natalie Portman excels as the central character, taking on the duality of her role with great style. Mila Kunis, of 'That 70's Show' fame, is beautiful and plays the layers of her character excellently. The competition, the gruelling effort in the race to be the best, and the mental travails of a disturbed young starlet all come through beautifully. 

Watch the trailer here.

But I will confess, I'm still partial to Requiem!

Pee-Noo-Monee-Yaa.....

Long hiatus after disturbed depressing story, yes... only to inform the world that I'm down with Pee-Noo-Monee-Yaa.... yeah, sulk sulk sulk....


This would be my second run-in with the wonderful ailment, one that I would not wish upon anyone.... but my eternally optimistic mind tells me that the only good thing to come of this is that I may come out of this a few kilos lighter!! :D 


Pneumonia #1 happened to me 10 years ago (and with much more severity, actually!) and involved me staying in hospital for well over a month... Everyone who visited me, brought me chocolate, irrespective of the fact that I couldnt keep anything down at the time... my sister who came to the hospital to keep me company, would munch her way through my goodies.... and now im down with Pneumonia #2, and this time too, I have loads of chocolate in the house, AND a bottle of Baileys that I can only stare wistfully at till I'm done with the antibiotics.... sighhhhhhh......


My mom will be coming down to nurse me back to health, thank god for that! Serenity seems a little lost with me being so sick.... He's put me on house-arrest till I'm totally fine, which is really BLAH what with the christmas season and all .... i SO wanted to get a tree and do up the house this year... :( so many plans.... so now, I'm ordering christmas cards online, and hoping to sit and write them out so as to get them out at the decent time.... sometime before new years is fine with me !! :D 


...and this is how I end the year, with lots of phlegm and snorts and snargles.... !! 
compliments of the season to you, world!

Epiphany...

It was all so clear in his mind - the clarity of a dawn dream. "Morning dreams always come true", Ma always said... He could see it now, hear the applause ringing in his ears... feel the elation as he walked up in his crisp, smart uniform, shoes gleaming to get his report card from the head of the school. Beaming his beatific smile as he looked down at the row of A+ grades on the report card, feeling the applause reverberate in his very being as he lifted the card high... 


He looked down at the report card, unable to meet the disapproving eyes of his teacher.. Looking down at a row of Cs and Ds, feeling his heart plummet right down into the toes of his ratty, shabby shoes.... "You will amount to nothing", he heard his father say in his head - words so oft repeated, they felt almost real as he heard them echo in his mind. His optimism evaporates as he trudges home, past the palatial houses he longingly stared at everyday.. to the wrong side of the tracks... to the beating he knows awaits when the cursed report card will be asked for and produced. He felt his knees tremble as if already imagining the hot wetness of his bladder losing control with each blow that fell on his defenceless back.


"You'll never do well... never.... EVER"... and it was then that he KNEW. He wouldnt ever be that boy in his dreams, the achiever, one of the "haves".... he'd always be a "have not", an underdog.... always be mediocre.... in his mediocre life. Never exceptional, always so-so. But in the haze of blinding pain that came with this knowledge, a glimmer of his long buried hope resurfaces... the only thing that could possibly work to break him out of the vicious cycle his life seemed to be stuck in. 


Excellence in mediocrity - he smiled as the irony of his epiphany sunk in. His head, no longer bowed, his back erect, he makes for his future, optimism intact with the epiphany ruling him. 

Tech City Madness!

So the settling in has happened, hounding carpenter to come and put up all my lovely posters has happened.... but before we get into the good stuff, allow me to rant!


Serenity (thankfully!) got a relocation allowance - so we went with a highly acclaimed packing and moving company Aggravating Packers and Movers (get it? I cant take names, very aware of possibility of litigation you see? C.Y.A at all times is the motto - Cover Your A$$!!). They cost us a bomb... and my big 6 seater dining table (thats as old as Serenity) arrived as a tripod!! Yup, table and three legs as one piece, one leg as a separate piece. 2 big beautiful framed posters arrived with the glass shattered, the bed came with a bolt loose that caused it to collapse when Serenity sat on it! (which earned him the nick name 'Palankh Thod' which has its own off-colour connotations!!) Cartons packed by them, which bore their logo and the proud epithet of "Relocation Intact" came looking like a particularly overweight elephant had sat on them. Relocation Intact - HAH! And did they pay for any of this damage? Take a guess, go on.... No F%$^ing way!


So yeah, we got everything fixed, unpacked the zillion million cartons - who knew that in 2 years we had collected SO MUCH stuff... and now we're fully functional! This is a spectacular city - considering neither Serenity nor Calamity has to commute anywhere (Serenity walks to work!) the traffic doesnt bother us that much... and the weather, is TO DIE FOR!!.... Phew! After the city-that-wakes-up-early, its a VERY welcome relief. We spend a lot of time on the terrace, Calamity set up wi-fi so she even works outside! Add to this whole lovely equation a motley crew of friends who we love to hang out with and you have 2 very happy people! Never a dull moment on the weekends... Oh and the two of us have joined the church choir (where Calamity sings like a little mouse in the corner in the face of so much musical talent!) and we're learning the Halleluiah chorus from Handel's Messiah now.... Confronted with sheet music and having to learn the Alto part, Calamity's head swims...So much so that I looked it up on youtube and practise diligently!! Floundering, but ever optimistic we are!


Weekends at home also feature a character from the city-that-wakes-up-early - I have a pair of soul sistahs, and this trio is named in true blue Malayalee fashion (we take great joy in stereotypes!) as Arliemol, Ansiemol (yours truly) and Albiemol. Arliemol comes and visits, calls herself Wife #2 to Serenity and proceeds to be a complete riot! The days she stays over, we sit on the terrace long after Serenity has gone to bed, laugh like idiots and do insane things like splatter red nail paint on my pristine guest room floor and order 5 pairs of shoes online at 3 am... yup, full bundle of laughs! Arliemol was also introduced to our local bunch of friends and it was super cool to see them all get along like a house on fire! Perenially on a diet, on a good day she has 3 cornflakes for breakfast and TOTALLY cheats on her diet around us! Its nice to not have completely lost touch with the city-that-wakes-up-early because this clown moved here around the same time as us. 


All in all, Tech City has been wonderful.... and I'm very happy to be here.

The Three Musketeers plus One

There are many who believe that kids who grow up in cities, grow up without the luxury of wide open spaces to run and jump and play in. I did'nt. Strangely, even in the city-that-doesnt-sleep, are these oases of green (so far, so good - I'd say!) and we had one of those just over the wall! The folks call it the golf club - but for us, it was picnic spot, beach and park all combined. We were serial trespassers - and we enjoyed EVERY minute! We honed our athletic prowess on their grass! Slipping and sliding with no fear of hurting ourselves, jumping through sprinklers... Part of the thrill was running away from watchmen and vigilant members who tried to run us off. We called one of them Street Hawk (after an 80s - 90s TV series character) because he usually came after us on a motorcycle! 


We had pot-luck picnics and long jump competitions into the sand traps of the 8th hole! We believed in "finders keepers" when it came to stray golf balls. For some reason, we believed they cost a ton of money! There are no pictures of those glory days - nobody had cameras their folks would let them take along, but they're so fondly remembered... We had races to see who'd get over the wall first when Street Hawk came along... and the last one was always the 'rotten egg'.... We sure were lucky - where else would a bunch of kids find endless acres of green fresh lawn to run and jump and tumble on? 


The Three Musketeers plus One was us - born the same year, three girls and a boy - June, August, September and October. Today, one's in Australia, one's in Germany, I'm here and the boy is sailing the seas and seeing the world. He was a monkey - skinny and climbed to ridiculous heights to escape getting caught when we played cops and robbers (he actually scaled a coconut tree to the height of the second floor while we stood around beneath the tree screaming at him, and my mum and sisters having hysterics while watching from the third floor!) 


The two girls moved away while we were still in school, but the monkey and I grew up together, going to school together and laughing about our respective schools and their 'sex education' classes. One fine day, the scrawny monkey suddenly ended up wayyy taller than me (big blah - I was always the tallest of the group!) and then he realised his dream of being a sailor. He's first engineer (I think!) now and we always catch up whenever we end up being home at the same time... All of us are married now and scattered all over, but in my head, this is how we'll always be - one curly-headed tomboy, one quiet girl, one chatterbox and one monkey.