Thank you Thursday

It's a lovely feeling when prayers are answered, isn't it? Today I want to talk about some prayers answered and some being made..

-- On rakhi this year, I had a prayer too..

If you haven't figured it out after reading that post, or if you did not want to read it (why? ;) ) let me explain. I have a big brother. My only brother. After I came to US I missed him (inspite of his being in the same continent) and I wished he would get a job someplace near Jersey.

Well.. what do you know! My wish has been granted and he is now with us!! Yes Yes Yes - right now staying with us.. His new job is a couple of hours away from our place  :D Pretty soon my little nephew and littlest nephew will be in the same city as I - or max an hour away. Need I say more?

So.. let me stop myself before I go on and on about my nephews and my family.. it is no hidden truth that I love talking about them :) and barely manage to stop myself.

-- Talking about prayers answered, to those of you who kept me company through my GRE and TOEFL woes, thank you very much (I know. I know. Long overdue!! Sorry!!) I cleared TOEFL with a great score (112/120) and as predicted the least score was in the listening section (!). I am glad thats over. I have convinced myself for the time being not to take GRE again, and to join a college near my house.. lets see whats in store..

-- I haven't been regular on blogger 'cos my laptop's off on a winter vacation. My letter to Santa's been sealed and posted and am awaiting the return of my e-companion. 


Hubby, lets not wait till x'mas ok.. I might forget my words by then :D


-- Its wedding season in India, and I am missing all that fun. Especially because many of my dear friends are getting married. I pray for their happiness and wish they would send me tons of photos - which is not happening. So, got to wish harder. And then there is that sinister thought of wanting to take revenge upon everyone who teased me with 'aunty' at the time of my wedding... but unfortunately that's not me, and even if I wanted to, I forget all about it when they ask me about silly little doubts. 

-- And now for my latest award. It is so much fun and comes from one of my favorite bloggers - Esmeralda. Thank you dear for thinking of me.. I shall live up to the award :P

the rules are as follows:

1) Post the award.

2) List seven personality traits, as evidenced by your blog.

Simple. I only ever use simple words. But then my seemingly absent minded vocab has nothing to do with it.

Honest. Now, now don't you judge me by what I just said.

Friendly. Come any closer and I would talk your head off. 

Talkative. err.. blogwise, I should say elaborate and lengthy. 
Sweet n sentimental. No explanation needed. 

Forgetful. In the good sense and the bad. 
Smart. You knew that.right? Right???

3) Give the award to 7 others with notable personalities and let them know!
Monica, Shruti, Hiyaa, Olive Oyl, Kasabian girl, Guria and Anu..Ladies.. You are so very special.

I am sure whoever first conjured this award meant no offense. Even if he/she/they did, I don't mean any. I think this award is simply fun :)

Its time.

March 8, 2009

You bet I was excited. As excited as someone can be without without getting too excited. So I did what everybody would do on That special day - first day at your first job ever. :D I woke up early. Having kept everything ready and arranged the previous day, I was well prepared. New watch, New shirt, new pants, new inner wear.. etc etc.. you get it right. Before you go smirking at me, its a childhood thingy ok? My mom always got a whole new set of clothes for special occasions and festivals. Said they smelt great together and would make it all so much more memorable. 

So, to cut it short, I got dressed in my very best and set out for my office. I was staying at the guesthouse, which is just a couple of blocks away from the office; a brisk 10 minute walk does good for the body right? But I still set out early, not wanting to go to late to office. They do say right, the best way to end up late at a place is to have ample time. I agree with it you know. When my school was exactly five minutes away from home, I would always end up late at the front gate. I would keep thinking there is still a lot of time, why go early.

So, imagine my surprise when I walk in through the front gate of my office, and there is not a soul in sight, except for the security guard, who gave me a really weird look. The orientation was over last week, as I was the only recruit this time, I got special solo class :) Armed with my id and desk number I went in to see my supervisor. I was joining a new group today and I wanted to go right into the chain of command. To my great disappointment, the supervisor was busy in a meeting and sent a message asking me to go ahead.

With a little bit of apprehension and a lot of confidence, I went into the group discussion room. We were having an early morning meeting about an oncoming project - or so the notice that reached me said yesterday. You do open a door expecting all eyes to be on the new comer, but you do not open the door expecting all eyes to be glaring at you, all heads to be shaking with disappointment mixed surprise, and everybody murmuring. I had no clue what was happening here. Was I in the wrong place? Somebody near me mumbled, "Does not augur good to come to your first meeting at your job on the first day, so late" What? Wait a minute!! I am not late. I am on time. I looked at him speechless and perturbed. I asked him, wasn't the meeting at 9? He said, "Of course. Look at the time now buddy. I did. It only said 9 o'clock. I looked at him look at my watch and laugh. Laugh? Why? He silently pointed to the wall clock. I couldn't believe my eyes. The time read 10. How is that possible??

I started playing all kinds of scenarios in my head. Maybe my watch ran out of batteries - but no, the second hand still moves. Maybe I set the wrong time - but no, I synced it with my laptop. Then how could I be wrong and late?

Meanwhile the news travelled all around the hall. People first started smiling, then murmuring, then giggling then openly laughing.. and finally looking funnily at me.

So.. want to know what happened?

One term. Day light Saving. Now how was I supposed to guess that in the middle of the night the timings would simply change? Nobody ever told me about that!! It had only been a couple of days since I landed in US of A No friends, no phones.I didn't know anybody, nobody knew me. But thanks to this incident, people soon knew me as the DLS guy. I made friends.. But more importantly I made sure I put DSL on my reminders list :D

*

Hey guys.. hope you enjoyed the story. This never happened to me, but I tell you, it just as well might have, if I were new and had no friends and no way to know that time would change.. then you bet I would be that DLS guy :D

But it is very annoying, this daylight saving. Come summer, days are really long... and in winter you know you are starting the day so early!! I have severe sleep deprivation whenever DLS sets in. Not a good time to be near me, my husband would tell you :D

At times like this, I wish I were still in India. Atleast it wouldn't grow pitch dark by 4 pm in the winter.. or stay super sunny till 9 pm during summers. Ugh..

If I Were A Baby Again

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 4; the fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Come on. Admit it. Go ahead. Just a little nod. Maybe you are all alone as you read this, maybe you are not. But it really doesn't matter. 'Cos I know your deep dark secret. And you know it too. You have wished for it at least once in your life. Given it at least one moment's thought. In spite of the little innocence, love and joy of childhood that we jealously guard in our hearts..

Be it 18 or 80 years old, one time or the other you have wanted to relive those sweet memories. A carefree life, time to explore, live each moment, enjoy every failure and success.. wouldn't it be wonderful to have all that all over again? And just think of all that energy..

Haven't you thought about that life? That life where you do not have to worry about setting goals; where you do not have to weigh the pros and cons before doing things; where its ok to lose and its actually fun to fall down; that sweet, wonderful, unbelievable life where you are not judged by the work you do and every little act deserves applause and is met with oohs and aaahs. 

Of course, the appraisal levels reduce a little if you are one of many kids. Maybe this time I can be the eldest kid God? Pretty please? That would be fun with no competition. Set the levels. Go Girl.  

Haven't you wished for it? Thought about that world of possibilities; no stereotypes exist and a kid is a kid no matter what; you can be a pilot this second flying with wings and a soldier the next second aiming away half way across the globe. You do not have to look for playmate, you do not need expensive toys. All you need is time to play and some place to do so.

Doesn't it all make sense? If happy thoughts were dollars, every kid would be a millionaire. If all you needed in life was love and commitment, then every kid would succeed - if only to do the one thing he wants to do right then and there. If nothing else is possible, I just want to be a baby again to relive that happy life.

If I were to be a baby again, then I would pray that everything would be exactly the way it was when I was a baby. If I were a baby again, I wish I could say that I wish I never would grow up, but what fun is one phase in life if the other phase doesn't succeed is. That is the loving life cycle - you live one phase, and think fondly of the life behind you.. dream eagerly of the life ahead of you. 

Although, it is true that, I would try to do something different and make use of the second chance :D Although it beats me what that would be. Definitely not studies. :D Possibly a bit on the health side. I have crappy tooth genes, so please can we change that God? Oh, and I also have floppy hair genes, can we talk about that too please? And where do I petition about my height?

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