The 'Maharani' of our house!

She is the prankster of the house and yet the most pampered member of the family! It does not take much time to make friends with her, she adores company. The more the company the merrier for her ;) She will adore you so much that you will feel special even on your worst days. And all it takes to make her happy is patting her! She is none other than the youngest of our family - Bosky!!!

(Do not mess with me look)

Bosky came in our lives when she was just a few months old. She is a pug - Yes, yes the Vodafone dog! She was so small and soft like a bundle of silk. Her paws were soft and she used to slip on the floor while walking. And like for any baby, time passed very fast. She grew from a tiny toddler to almost 2 years now. 

I just cannot get enough of her! The things she does sometimes just amazes me. Her favourite is having biscuit during tea time. And she knows only Baba will give her biscuit. Let her be in any corner of the house or deep asleep, she will come running to the kitchen at the sound of the spoon mixing sugar in the tea cup. So if you want to wake her up, you know what to do ;)

She sleeps on the bed with us. Sometimes she sleeps between me and my SIL. Once my SIL got up to do something. And Bosky the princess spread herself so luxuriosly that she covered most of the vacant bed. And when Rini came, there was no space for her to sleep. Rini tried to shift her. But our maharani won't budge!!! And then Rini nudged her a little which made Bosky angry and she haughtily walked away from us. Such are the nakhras of this tiny creature!

We live on the third floor. When we are out and reaching home, Bosky comes to know the moment we reach the parking. She will start barking then. And the welcome she gives is just out of the world. The moment we pen the door, she will come running, wagging her tail and licking and running around you till you pat her. She adores you so much as if you had been gone for ages! Who would not love to come back home to such grand welcome :)

My MIL goes for a walk in the morning. Once she is back she takes Bosky out for a walk. Usually she will enthusiastically go to the door at the sound of my MIL's footsteps. But when she does not want to go for a walk on some days, this clever little girl will come and act as if she is fast asleep on our bed. From where she learns all this is a big mystery to us!!


She loves Baba the most. If he is not at home, she will get his home footwear and sleep on it. The site is so cute. She will go and trouble him only for all her demands. 

I remember an incident when she was 1.5 months old. She saw a cat in the parking. The went a step ahead, the cat took a step behind. This gave some courage to Bosky I believe. Then she took another step ahead and the cat in nervousness took two steps ahead. And that was it...Bosky ran from there as if hell was broken. It was the first time when we saw a dog scared of a cat!! It was indeed hilarious.

Sometimes when you are low and you just look at her, that gives you half of your energy and motivation back! The unconditional love that she showers on you makes you feel ashamed of the materialistic goals you are running behind. Her carefree nature makes me want to let go off my inhibitions and be carefree atleast for a moment. Her energy makes you feel old! And the best part is when she cuddles you like a human being and sleeps!

Indeed she is more than just a dog -  she is the happy line of our house, much more than a selfish human being giving us every ounce of her endless love!

The sweet and lovely Indian wedding!!!

I have been staying away from my beloved city Pune since my marriage. So coming back home was always special! And don’t ask about the pampering at both houses then – In laws as well as mother’s place. They will make me just sit and feed me all my favourite dishes and ask what else you want beta. It will be like one princess treatment, where in I just sit and enjoy all the pampering!

With this treatment as a benchmark for me, I was really looking forward to coming back home and this time from across the seven seas. I kept thinking, while coming from Chennai to Pune I was given so much love and adorations.....coming from USA will be a totally different level of hospitality altogether!

But alas....I was in for a BIG disappointment! This time I was flying home for my younger sister’s marriage and do I have to say anything more? I was sent to work the moment I reached Pune, with emotional blackmailing, “Pradnya, please prepare tea for Shweta. It is her marriage, right?” “Pradnya, please get up and take a bath. Let Shweta sleep a little bit more. It is her marriage, right?” And so my pampering dreams were all crashed and instead the centre stage was occupied my younger sister Shweta!!

So thus started off my younger sister’s marriage for me. This was supposed to be an offbeat  Marwadi marriage for us with a much louder wedding than our Konkani traditions. We were supposed to have Sangeet and a very elaborate full day marriage. Marriages in Konkani fraternity are short and sweet but a little boring.

Our first big task was to set up a dance. With her in laws also dancing, it was a herculean task for us youngsters to come up with a decent dance. The Navalakhas (groom’s side) are a bunch of awesome enthusiastic dancers right from small kids to uncles and aunties.  While none of us are dancers at our place and my parents outrightly denied to dance on stage. So it was just Shweta’s friends, me and my sister in law (who also choreographed our dance).

The dance practices were fun. We ate, had coffee, gossiped and if time permitted practiced at the end ;) It was a bunch of 6 girls, dancing their heart out and trying to enjoy the process to the fullest. 1 week of crazy dance practices and we were a little confident about dancing on stage in front of 350 pair of intrigued eyes! Or so we thought :P

The marriage kick started for us with the mehendi day. Shweta had to put mehendi till a little above the elbow. It took 3 hours for 3 mehendi artists to fill up her hands and feet with the hearty redness of the mehendi. Mean while we put the mehendi on our hands and then practiced for the sangeet. The mehendi was really intricate and it was a task trying to find the groom’s name in it.

So we were telling Shweta, if you get bored during the marriage ceremony just look at your mehendi and try to search groom’s name in it! :P

The next day, we had a pooja at our place followed by the haldi ceremony. All our cousins, kakis and elders put haldi on the bride’s face, hands and feet. Some kakis were so enthusiastic that they smacked the haldi on the bride’s face as if it was a birthday cake :p Certain rituals are fun and they bind the family together :)

And  then came the much awaited sangeet night! The evening started with dances from some professional choreographers who happened to be the groom’s cousins and friends. And seeing that me and Shweta’s friends were like, “Hmm....so this is their definition of dance!” The groom’s family was full of energy and zeal, bouncing and leaping gracefully on all bollywood songs. And we the bride’s side were sitting in audience thinking how will we match up to this! Our dance was after groom’s parents and we thought how good can oldies dance? Our dance will be better than theirs for sure. But we were completely mistaken! Groom’s parents’ dance got a ‘once more’ and we were like, ‘How bad can this get?’

With all this, we went on stage. The dance started and so did the hooting and whistles. We danced confidently and the dance was indeed good. There was one step in the end, where in we had invited the boys to join us for a 2 minute ganapati dance. Till the end they were saying no but at the D moment, they did come on the stage. And yes, even our dance got a ‘once more’ (though the hooters were all bride’s side folks, still we did get a ONCE MORE). And now when I look at the dance video, I cannot believe I danced! I have never danced so whole heartedly till now. It was an exhilarating experience, letting go off your apprehensions and seeing everyone young to old enjoying the very essence of dance – freedom of expression! So here is the Sangeet Video!

We came home at 12 midnight rejuvenated with the energy after dancing. Did last bit of packing and preparations and then hit the bunk. The next day was going to be a looooonnngggg day!

Morning everybody woke up early and we reached the marriage hall by 8 am. And then till 7.30 in the evening, we were there experiencing two souls madly in love with each other finally being a family. The bride and the groom looked happy from within even in their heavy attires, scorching heat, kneeling down and doing namaskar to almost 1000 guests. Such is the happiness of getting married to your loved one that rest of the things seem immaterial then. 

The bidai was a tearful moment for all of us, the bride’s side. My mom was crying incoherently. After my wedding, they never realised it that much as Shweta was always there (though most of her time was spent at Vaishali sipping coffee with Karan and very less at home). They knew in the night she will be back home, back to them. That assurance was lost now. I have always wondered why girls have to leave their home, their parents and go to a new house and blend in their colours and I still have not found any answer!

I was crying, sobbing on the shoulders of Shweta’s friends. When one of her friends said, “Don’t cry Pradnya, Shweta is here only in Pune”. And me teary eyed looked at her and said, “But I am not here in Pune” and everybody bursted out laughing. The groom’s photographer and video shooting guys were hovering around us filming us crying. And I told one of them, “Entire day we were smiling that time you just looking at the bride and the groom and now when we are crying you are paying attention to us” It was ironical!

There were moments which will be cherished by me forever. The look on the groom’s face when he first saw the glimpse of his beautiful bride – cannot be explained in words! Me and the groom’s mother were waiting outside Shweta’s room while she was getting ready. And in that instant I just hugged her tightly and she reciprocated it in the same manner – two women stressed out with all the responsibilities and giving each other a moment of peaceful sanity! When it was turn for giving money for the groom’s mojdis, my sister was not even taking our side – a girl madly in love and already a Navalakha! The long hug which Shweta gave Papa during bidai – my eyes still get moist thinking about it.

The best moment was when Karan held Shweta’s hand tightly while leaving for their house – it is at such moments you tend to believe, ‘Marriages are indeed made in heaven’!

                                

Agonies of a Die Hard Reader!

Preface: For those who have not read the third part of Shiva Triology, stop right here! A bit of the suspense might be revealed!

It was a pleasant evening with a little breeze in the other wise hot weather in the Sunshine State. Sujoy comes home in the evening after office and is bewildered to see me crying, with big tear droplets rolling through my cheek. He is shocked and comes near me and asks me what is the matter with me. I look into his big eyes, hug him tightly, sob and in miffed voice say, "Sati died."

Sujoy is baffled, tries to remember who is Sati...some relative or ex-colleague of mine...but he fails to nail who this Sati is. He asks me timidly, "Who died exactly?" 

I reply sullenly, "Sati, Shiva's wife." And then it dawns on him. Sati is a fictional character in some moron book my wife is reading!!!! And he gives me a very ugly look and walks off. He thinks I am a mad woman, and how come someone be carried away so much by a book.

So this is the life of a die hard reader, who falls in love with the souls of the characters in the book and thinks these folks are an inseparable part of life. The other world, never understands this sentiment and finds it very difficult to digest. But nevertheless, we die hard readers cannot help but agonize in our book characters' pain and rejoice in their happiness. Such is our life!

Sometimes a book gives us such a kick that we forget everything around us. I remember, I was hooked to 'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand and finished this humongous book in a week by bunking college. That awestruck I was with that book. The way Ayn Rand has knitted this story to put forth her philosophy is just plain awesome. You fall in love with Howard Roark, his struggles, his ideology and his 'arrogance'. The simplicity of the words intertwined with the deep meaning just mesmerizes you! 

We are tormented to see movies doing so much injustice to the so elaborate book. Not a single movie or series have I come across which might be 70% as beautiful as the book. It is evident that 2 hours cannot sum up all those sentiments and beautiful moments wrapped up in a 700 pages book.
Elizabeth Bennet created by Jane Austen in 'Pride and Prejudice' has so much more to her than what is shown on the screen. The movie could not do justice to her beauty, her witty nature, her sharp tongue and her tendency to take hasty decisions. The movie did not create the magic in the moment where Elizabeth and Darcy are finally together. Sadly enough, the goosebumps which I felt while reading the classic, were lost while watching the movie.

I wake up on days and start reading a book trying hard to search Lin, Karla, Prabaker and the likes in the book. I vehemently search them till I realize, this is not 'Shantaram' and that I have moved on to a new book. The stories involve you so deeply that you want them to go forever. It takes a while to adjust myself to the new scenario and the new book!!

Ends of books gone astray hurts us really hard! I remember reading a story in a blog and the end of which was not really a pleasant one. I controlled myself for 3 days but the 4th day, I sent a message to the blog writer demanding him why did he end it so tragically when he could have had a happier ending.
These unconvincing ends make me taunt, I have anger bursts and keep on snapping on small issues. That is the bad time for Sujoy ;) God save Sujoy from unconvincing book ends!!!

Right now I am captivated by 'Game of Thrones' series. When I started reading this series, I was mind blown so much that I told Sujoy that I can marry the author of this series right away. But then I checked out the author and he seems to be an old chap. So I cancelled my plan of marrying him and am going to ask him to adopt me instead ;)
His imagination and story telling ability is breathtaking. The series which has been created based on this book has picked up even dialogues verbatim from the book.  The story has parallel stories woven around so many characters which some how are interlinked. Each character's story is unique and stunning. The characters etched in the book are so descriptive and so enchanting. You fall in love with all of them. I have been struggling to love just one character but have failed till now. One day I hopelessly fall in love with John Snow, the next day I love Arya, sometimes Brian and other times Robb. 

The bottom line is life is good for die hard readers when they are amongst good books! Or should I rather say, a good book makes your and indirectly your spouse's life interesting ;)

PS: Sujoy ignores my crying now, even if this for a 'real' reason !!!!!

Soccer, Oops sorry..... 'Football' and Me!

Preamble

 A humble request to all readers, especially football fanatics to be very kind with me and hold on to their urges of killing me at some of my misdeeds which took place in my ignorance of the magnanimity of a phenomenon known as 'Football'.

This blog is dedicated to all those for whom football is a religion, and their better halves who have made peace with the fact that football indeed is the first love in their husbands' life!

I have grown up knowing just TWO sports in my life until I met my husband Sujoy! Cricket and Tennis. The only massive tournaments I knew until then where World Cup and Wimbledon. There was a point, when I just not knew all players in the Indian cricket team but also all other teams! Common guys, I need an applause here, that is a big task for someone whose life just revolved around studies and books.

So when I met Sujoy, I was a little bemused that he plays football. But that's it, it did not make any more impact whatsoever in the way I perceived Sujoy.

I must say, football and me started on a very bad foot though! Football maneuvered effortlessly and tackled the ball away from me, leaving me hapless and all alone on that vast football field. The metaphor here being, the ball was the love of my life - Sujoy, and that vast field was my life - my real life!!

I still vividly remember the day, 26th of December 2007. It was Sujoy's birthday and we had planned for nice romantic dinner in KP. I was kind of elated as KP was something very exotic at that point, a very cosmopolitan place. But GOD [I hope, the HJW folks get the pun here ;)] had something else in mind. Sujoy calls me at 4 pm saying we cannot go to the dinner as he has a chance of a lifetime to play football under floodlights, 5 a side match on his special day. And I cannot make head or tail out of it, wondering why is it so important to him. So important that he is dumping me and choosing football on this day! I was pissed to the core as how can a non living thing, a stupid game be of prime importance to someone than a living being of flesh, blood and feelings.

He did go ahead and played the game. Post the game, he came to meet me but I refused to meet him as I was in a state of horrifying anger. We did not speak for 3 days. 4th day I called him and that call was my first step to understanding why this game matters so much to him. He was talking with a lot of conviction. He said, "You have never played a sport. You will never understand the passion I have for football. The high that I get cannot be compared to any alcohol or drugs whatsoever.  It is not just a game, it is a way of life! I could not have got a better present on my birthday than play football under floodlights!"

Even on the call, I could sense his intensity as he spoke from his heart. That was the first turning point in my life, a major one. That day I realized if I want this guy in my life, I have to give a serious attempt atleast to understand the game.

I started asking questions to Sujoy about football. How many players play, what are the positions, his favourite team, what is a league etc etc. 

I remember once we were watching EPL together and they showed the score card of all the teams during halftime. And I wanted to flaunt my newly acquired football knowledge to Sujoy. And I said, "Why isn't Brazil playing this time?" (Folks please do not come with daggers to kill me....forgive me for this one, seriously!)

And the look on Sujoy's face was criminal. I thought he is surprised and scandalized that I noticed Brazil is not playing this time. He beat his hand on his forehead and said, "Please do not embarrass me like this in front of my friends. You should have atleast known your Geography. It is 'English' Premier League and Brazil still has not shifted to United Kingdom."

And there melted my moment of scoring brownie points with Sujoy. Forget the brownie points, I was so embarassed that I did not know where to hide my face. And I sweared to put in more effort to comprehend the game!

The next major milestone took place when I saw Sujoy playing football! Oh boy! That is the most scintillating sight to view! He is a beauty to watch on that vast evasive field, making his own special moments to be remembered for a lifetime! One can see the passion in his eyes and feel the fire in his belly when he is at the field, at his fantasy land!

Sujoy in real life is a very quite and calm person. He takes time to mix up and till then will talk only when spoken to. He is a very matured individual and thinks very deeply on most of the occasions. 
But on the football field, he is anything but calm. I have seen him aggressively dodging the ball away from the opponent, abusing the opponent on a foul game, howling at other team mates for bad moves and last but not the least yelling at the referees in case of a bad decision. Not to mention, Sujoy has been awarded the prestigious yellow card on quite a few occasions. 
I am amused beyond limit to see this temporary transformation in a human being - it is like witch craft, a magic spell! 

So these were the major breakthroughs which assisted me in deciphering why football was such a significant phenomenon in Sujoy's life and convinced me that it indeed is more than just a game.

I have my own remarkable memories associated with the game. I have seen these bunch of crazy fanatics playing football with the same zeal, many of them are my good buddies now. I have seen a captain yelling at almost everyone during the match, I have seen players quarelling like school kids, I have seen the euphoria when a goal is scored, I have experienced the tension in penalty shootouts which decide the fate of the game, I have seen wives getting Lakshminarayan chiwda not only for their husbands but for the entire team, I have seen a spectator getting a yellow card for abusing off the field (ya, beat that) and I have seen all players hurdling together and celebrating victories like brothers! 
I have experienced too many emotions in those 90 minutes!!! 

I cannot thank football enough and all the fanatics on the field for enriching my life and adding invaluable perspective to my thought process. And I yearn to see all of you guys play again together, this game known as 'Football'!

This has been my equation with football so far. Thus now football, Sujoy and me live amicably together! As long as the other lady in his life is 'football', I really do not mind! ;)

The grass always 'seems' greener on the other side!

I beheld her power at the workplace,
And gazed at that authoritarian charm on her face.
I saw her snapping orders at her juniors,
Walking haughtily around, with no trace of fear.

Every time I saw the efficacious her,
From a twinge of jealousy I used to suffer.
Her aura of success wounded me,
I kept on thinking, like her can I ever be?

With hers, I started comparing my life,
And to be her, I incessantly thrived.
Life started becoming a misery as nothing was going my way,
While she was reaching new heights day by day.

And then abruptly she stopped coming to office,

To tell you the truth, her presence I really did miss.

She was hospitalized, I came to know,

After hearing that, to meet her I had to go.

There she was lying on the hospital bed,

Crippled, bruised and almost half dead.

The truth that surfaced made my head blow,

Apparently her husband was her biggest foe.

By her success at work, I was always blinded,

Never realized that a monster she might have wed

At work she was conquering mountains steep,

But back home she was in an abusive relationship.

And then my eyes snapped wide open,

For all that I have, I thanked God a ton.

I thanked God for all the blessings in my life,

And swore to myself that to have someone else's life, I will never ever strive.

So next time when you think someone has a perfect life and nothing to hide,

Think twice and remember my friend - Grass always 'seems' greener on the other side!

I want to be....

I want to be

the sun

shining every single morning

and brightening lives

I want to be

the deep blue sea

keeping within me

the treasures of the world

I want to be

the old oak tree

spreading its branches

and giving shelter to the lost

I want to be

the morning dew
soaking in the sunshine 
and sparkling on the green leaf

I want to be

the blooming flower

waving along the wind

and spreading its fragrance

I want to be

the first rain drop

that falls on the earth

and quenches her thirst

I want to be 

all of this

and yet still be me

have my distinct mark on everything!!!

The dichotomy of Good and Evil!

I wander across the street,

Smiling at strangers whom I meet.

This is the good old me,

Can a little evil I ever be?

I ponder on the times I have gone out of my way,

To help someone from going astray.

I wonder how always I have been so polite,

And the numerous occasions I have retreated from a fight.

'Was that all worth?', I question myself

Being the goody goody fairy tale elf

As sometimes I had my moments of evil,

I wanted to be a monster, a devil.

I yearned to howl at the hypocrites,

And crush the termites who at your back bite.

I craved not to care a damn for the world,

And wished to lash out all these bindings with my sword!

Alas! Then to me it dawned,

Around my self, a hypocrisy net I had spawned.

At the outset, I used to smile at someone,

While in reality I felt like shooting them with a gun.

And then I had to abandon my pretensions,

With the good old myself I was done.

Now I am free, to express exactly what is in my mind,

Without the obligation to be always affable and kind.

This way, believe me life is so better

As you get rid of all the stored up clutter.

So the new me is an angel if you are good and all straightened,

To the devil, beware I am the Satan!!!!