tan (10) tada (10) tan(10)

Dint get the title..well this is...wait for it...my birthday in the year 2010....yes you got it right...my next birthday is on 10-10-10. How awesome is this!!!

I am always excited about my birthday but this one is special.. isn't it??? Well, Ok, I would get 27 years old which feels more closer to 30 than 25, which also reminds me that probably the best and being single parts of life may be over soon, which also means that I would have to take more care of my skin and health ofcourse. But what the hell, its 10-10-10. I am amongst the few lucky who will get this chance. And I am the chosen one...:):).

Well ppl, I want my 10-10-10 b'day to be very special. A memory forever. So I need contributions from people (If anyone still reads my dormant blog). Plus also let me know if anyone else has had this experience and what did he/she do to make it super special (or I am the only one who is over reacting..:)) or there is somebody who will join the band of the chosen one in near future. Lets try to make it grand for all of us.

I have got some of the contributions from some of my friends like:

• Cut the cake at 10:10:10 PM
• Get a personalised T shirt with the date and your name written on it and get it signed by friends. I would prefer if I get this as a gift
• Have a theme party revolving around No. 10

Anticipating some awesome ideas!!!

Cheers,

SM

Birthday-Countdowns

P.S. I know its too early to plan, but I am very very excited...:)

tan (10 tada tan

2 states...a bollywood style masala stuff...

1. Loved 5 point someone: fresh and original

2. Hated one night @ call centre: the art of storytelling was missing..may be coz the story itself was missing

3. 3 mistakes of my life : Mr. Bhagat is not a good story teller

4.2 states: Chetan Bhagat is a good story teller, but only things that have happened to/with him in real life.

2 states: ita not a book, its a bollywood movie

Mr. Bhagat has taken the "make movie from my book" thing little seriously and has written 2 states in such a way that a bollywood producer would want to make a movie out of it. His previous 2 books have clearly proved that he lacks the creative instinct of creating a story but the other two proved that he can narrate the already happened stories with panache and lots of spice of course. At the outset it seems that he has thrown his personal life at the disposal of the readers, but I think the major triggers like interstate marriage, may be his little sour relationship with his father are real and the rest of story is built around that. Sometimes exaggerating certain facts and sometimes excluding some aspects, which is absolutely fine as the book is supposed to be "inspired by his life and considered as fiction." A decent time pass short reading for the weekend. One can buy it coz its really cheap (95 bucks only) but I would suggest that if somebody has already bought it, borrow and read. I did the same..:)

Cheers,

SM

A new girl in the city...

I have never liked Mumbai...I was here for a short time some three years back and I literally ran away from this place. But fate wanted me to be here and so I am in this city of dreams again and this time at my own wish and after around 4 months of being here, today, I actually liked the city. This was my best weekend in Mumbai. Let me narrate my day to myself so that I can run through it again and to you guys so that you guys can be a part of it. So here it goes...

Well, a little background first. It has been raining here since last couple of days and especially since yesterday night. So the weather is kind of romantic and fresh.

So, the day begun with a early morning movie @ 10.30 AM @ 90 bucks only (yes guys believe it...u can get a ticket this cheap in Mumbai) for "wake up Sid". A cute movie. Worth a watch. So while we (by we I mean me and my flatmate) were en route to the theatre, we decided to go to elephanta caves after the movie as it was raining and its a gud weather to be around the sea. Elephanta caves could not materialise but we went to see the sea. And mind you guys it was mind blowing. I have always like the calmness of sea and have always been scared of its vastness. But can look the the sea for hours and hours and just think about myself. Yes I think only about myself when I am near the sea.

Going back to the weekend, we (here we means me, my flatmate and bansi) had planned to go to Churchgate and then spend some time at marine drive. We took a local from goregaon (slow local) and dnt know why we got down at marine lines, which is one station before church gate. Ummm...now I remember why we got down at marine line. We were busy discussing something (precisely girls for bansi), and one of us looked out from the window. We could see the beautiful sea from the train and hence got down at marine lines. Walked till the sea. Got down to the small beach. Clicked some pictures. And then begun the walk. Today was all about the walk with the sea. Little rain drops falling on the face, which does not drench in 5 seconds but you feel the moisture as the rain drops fall slowly on you. Slowly we felt that our hair have gone wet, then we could feel little cold. Thought of opening the umbrella once or twice but then decided against it. We were chattering and laughing all the way, some stupid stuff, but still it was so peaceful. We walked till chaupati, had awesome chaat there, again clicked some pictures and then walked till Crystal (those who have stayed in Mumbai know what crystal is). Had amazing and sasta dinner. And started walking again. I dnt know if I am able to describe it appropriately, but it was one of those walks that never tire you. Clean roads. Rains. And most importantly, a walk by the sea. And you just continue walking. We thought how much have we walked only when we turned back to see that from where had we started. Quantitatively, we walked for around 6-7 kms but qualitatively, we had just begun the walk and had no feeling of tiredness (Now as I am writing this, my legs are abusing me for making them work so much over the weekend).

I guess people dnt like mumbai for anything else more than the sea. You would wan to go there again and again. I would want to go there again.

Love,

SM.

P.S.

1.Would upload some pics tomorrow (courtesy, my flatmate)

2. Have stolen the title from the movie, Wake up Sid.

Am going home..babby...:)

Everybody gets excited on even the thought of a holiday, and I am going to my native place on a long break...so I am visibly excited. And I can prove that I am excited. The symptoms are as follows:

1. Most common symptom : marking cross on the days on calendar. I am doing it religiously and that too on the calender in my office, so everybody knows about it. That's why I said, I am visibly excited.
2. Am not having my meals regularly coz I know all of it will be compensated when I go home. Like all mothers, my mom will also make sure that I consume enough calories to compensate for a week long fast (i am not fasting though, just being irregular in meals)
3. I don't feel like cleaning my almira. I am feeling detached to the place I am staying. So my room is in a mess.
4. I am spending lot of money coz I know that I would not be spending anything when I am home. Infact I will not even step out of my home.
5. I am not sleeping much also. All I have to do when I would be home is eat-sleep-eat.
6. I have not had a hair cut. My tresses have gone long and I really need a cut now, but since I am going home and I don't know if I would be taking a bath or not, so i will anyways have to tie them. Hence no cut. (well this was little exaggerated. I think i will take bath once in a while)
7. I have done lot of shopping for mom n dad..yay!!!

I hope these are good enough evidences to prove that i am dying to go home...

Cheers,

SM

Yummy dinner..

Yesterday night was The Night. Me and my room mate (she has two left feet for cooking) decided to cook a full meal at home. We started at 10 PM and the food was ready by 11.30 PM. While cooking, we could see that the output was decent enough and we would like it. We were really excited (specially my room mate as it was her first cooking session) and decided to cook an extra chapati each for the love of food. We sat down at midnight to savor our meal. We raised toast for eachother for the hardwork we had put and took the first bite....and....it was ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...amazing...we could not believe ourselves.It was heavenly. We looked at each other and had the same expression...WOW! We cook awesome food...after that every single bite was cherished with our favourite music in the background. The fact that I am dedicated a post to that dinner is a proof in itself that the food was yummy. It was beyond all other pleasures of life. We completed our routine of praising one self for the amazing effort and then ate in silence with stopping only to refill the plate.

God, please give us such food atkeast three times a day.

Anyone who wants to know the recipe can raise their hand. I would be more than glad to share.

Games we used to play when we were kids....

Time was one thing which was available in plenty when we were kids and hence the genesis of lots of creative games to kill time. I can recollect few of them. I dnt know if these were played by majority of us, but they were quite famous when we were kids.

* Oonch neech ka papda: In this game, one kid gives the dime (we used to call it daii). We used to choose an uneven surface to play this game. (For those of you who are not that great in hindi, "oonch" means a surface which is comparatively higher and "neech" means the opposite.) The kid who gives daii will ask "oonch neech ka papda, oonch maangi neech" (he is asking ot

her players whether they prefer higer surface or the lower

one). Rest of kids will shout their choice, and the guy who is giving daii has to catch one who is not on the chosen surface. Well I could never end my daii and hence used to cheat and get over with it...:)

*Posham pa bhai posham pa: I think this was played mostly by girls. Two girls will raise their hands and clasp them together like a dome. Other will form a line and pass through the dome. While doing so, the two girls will sing:

"posham pa bhai posham pa,

daakiyon ne kya kiya,

100 rupee ki ghadi churai,

ab to jail mein aana padega,

jail ki roti khani padegi,

jail ka paani peena padega,

ab to jail mein aana padega"

The girl who is in the dome during last line will be jailed. She will go and hold one of the two girls from the back. This is repeated till the time all of them are jailed. Half of them will hold one girl and rest the other. Then begins a tug of war types with the arms as rope. The team which forces the other team out wins.

* Maram pitti : This is a common one. I guess everyone has played some variation of it. It primarily comprises of two teams and they hit each other with paper balls. i have even played it with stones.. So one team will try to hit the members of other team and whoever id hit is considered killed. The team with maximum members in the end wins. This game never has ended for atleast our group without a fight.

* French Cricket : This game was the heights of creativity. I think this was invented by someone very lazy but cricket lover. The batsman stands in a circle and feilders cumm bowlers are spread aroung him/her. One guy bowls to the batsman and s/he hits the ball. The runs are made by rotating bat around ones body. no. of rotations are the runs. important point to note here is that whoever gets the ball can pitch it to batsman. one who hits s/he body gets next turn. Nobody actually runs here and the batsman stays within his/her circle, which is rather small.

*Lukkam chuppi: This is haryanvi/hindi name of the famous hide and seek. I will not expalin it in detail but at our place, if the seeker finds the hider, he/she would say aies-paies and if the hider finds the seeker, he/she would say dhappa.

* Tube well games (in farms): This is a very original one and people who have been to villages and have seen tube wells can relate to it. I belong to a farmer's family and most of our summer vacations were spent in village and going to farms was a daily practice, specially during sowing season as the tube wells run during those days. Little introduction here, the water from tube well comes at a great pressure and its not so easy to hold your hand right at the beginning of the outlet. So the competition was that who can hold his/her head just below the outlet for maximum time. And mind you, other kids will not let you do so in peace. They might tickle you, try to nudge you to fall. But the strongerst one wins.

* Corner corner: Again a famous one. This can be played by 5 people. Four of them choose a corner each and the left one gives the daii. The kids on corners have to run from one corner to another and the daii wala has to catch an empty corner. Something like musical chairs, just that the no of corneers remain the same.

* Pithoo: Angreji mein kehte hain "seven stones". If anybody doesn't know about this one, his/her life is rally sad and he/she doesn't deserve to know what it is.

* Kokla chipake: This game can be played by atleast 15 kids. I remmeber it playing during the game periods in school. The kids sit in a circle and yes one guy gives daii here as well. All the kids sitting in circle have to close their eyes and the daii circles around them with a hankerchief in his/her hand. While doing so, he/she sings:

kokla chipake jimme rat aye hai,

aaye hai bhi aaye hai (all kids in chorus),

jeda aage piche dekhe usdi shamat aaye hai,

aaye hai bhi aaye hai (all kids in chorus).

While doing so, the daii will silently place hankerchief behind somebody. If the subject doesn't

get toknow of it and daii does one complete circle, he trasfers his/her daii to the other kid. But if the kid gets to know of the hankerchief, he/she will run after the daii with hankerchief and try to hit him/her with hankerchief to prevent daii.

* Superman superman: I think we all have played some versions of this game as well. We donot have any fixed rules for this one. For me, it was invented by my cousins(brothers) and me being the sole girl was always forced to become watchman (actually I realised it later that I was never part of game, I was fooled into becoming actual watchman to see if grandma is coming or not) . The

y always distrubuted all powers among themselves and in the end nothing was left for me. But being a watchman, I could see what they are playing. One of them, mostly the eldest orheaviest one would become superman and rest others were villians. Ans since superman has got maximum powers, other had to take the beating (sometimes literally).

* Elastic : This is again a girly game. Very creative one. it requires a long elastic ties to form a loop. Two girls will hold the elastic inthier feet and the other will form pre decided patterns with their

feet and get out of the loop as well. Not an east one huh...you can only touch the elastic on which you are standing else you are out. Its something like this:

There were other customized games like choosing a side of the lane and counting the no. of cars that cross my lane (total time pass), counting no of goods and stars one has got ih his/her notebook etc etc. I have tried to remember some of the major ones, if you guys know more, please let me know. I would love to run down the nostalgia lane.

Cheers,

SM