Bigger Lessons In Smaller Gestures...

Whatever we are today, it is just because someone has guided us in our life. There is always someone or the other behind us for our success as well as for our failures. Today, when I see myself as a self dependent woman, I know who is the reason behind it. I have heard people saying that I am her reflection. Yes! It is my Mom who has taught me how to be independent in life. And, I am really thankful to her for teaching me so many bigger things through her small gestures, which I will carry with me throughout my life.

I still remember that plastic jar, that had a small opening at the top of it, which my mom had given me when I was a kid. It was my first piggy bank. She would give me some coins every day, which I would happily add in the plastic bottle. That small start in life, when I was a kid have taught me how to make savings. Today, I don't have to ask for any financial help from anyone, because, that small habit which I have learnt as a kid, has always kept me with sufficient savings. Only because of that habit, I am also able to make a proper financial management at home.

Not only in terms of finance. My Mom never restricted me from exploring new things. In spite of me being an only daughter, I have never faced any hindrance from exploring new places. Because of which, now I can easily go to any new place and adjust there without any difficulty. She had given me full freedom to make my own decisions. Whether it was choosing my Engineering subjects or it was to make a career decision, she never forced her opinions on me.

Today, I manage both, work and house at the same time. I have not kept any maid for my help. The only fact of being dependent on a maid makes me sick and that's the reason I completely avoid them. I have seen my friends, who are so much dependent on a maid. If one day the maid doesn't come, then  they become completely helpless. But, that's not the same with me. My mom who use to teach me little household work, has made me so much self reliant, that today I am proud to say that I am able to manage both work and house at the same time, effortlessly without taking any bodies help.

My Mother is a single mom. But, despite of all the difficulties that she had faced while bringing me up, she has taught me the right lessons at the right time and have helped me grow as a person. Whatever I am today I owe it to her. 

This post is written for Indiblogger Happy Hour Contest - HDFC Life. 

Do watch the below amazing video.

Be My Valentine For The Lifetime...

Two years had gone by since I first saw him. Today, when I look back, these two years seem just like a moment to me. And sometimes they seem like a millennium. I am not aware if he knows what I exactly feel for him. If only he had looked in my eyes, he could have known the depth of my love. But, alas, that day is yet to come. Even after two long years, when I see him, I can sense the same cyclone within me, as it was on that day.

How could I forget that day? It was the first day in my office. Uncomfortable, confused among the strangers around, I was sitting in a cafeteria, during the lunch break. After an uneasy first half in the office, I was feeling strange to look at the people around me. Everyone was busy in their world with their own group of friends. Nobody was bothered about the girl who was sitting alone, not understanding what to do next. I sometimes offered a smile to some of the known faces, whom I had met in the first half of the day, in the office. But, got no response for my smile as well. I opened my lunch box and closed my eyes for a short prayer, that I usually do before having my food. As I opened my eyes after the prayer, I saw a guy sitting in front and starring in an amusement towards me. Not understanding how to react, I just smiled and greeted with a formal, Hello.

He came out of his trance like state and had spoken in a masculine voice, "There is no table vacant here. I hope you don't mind sharing this table with me".

"I don't mind", I had whispered with a smile.

My observant nature, did not stop me from noticing him. In his blue formal shirt he looked out of the world. He was unique amongst all, and so was alone. People generally find it hard to understand such unique personalities and make their own judgment about such people, without even knowing them, and thus they are left all alone. Not that such unique people would need anyone to pollute their own cocoon in which, they keep themselves enclosed.

He carried on with his lunch without even looking at me. A strange attraction drew me towards him. For the very first time I was feeling all nervous and happy at the same time. And then, he suddenly looked at me. Our eyes met and my heart skipped a beat. He had finished with his lunch. Greeting me bye in his mesmerizing voice, he left.

Later, on that day itself, I was introduced to him by one of my team mates. "Meet Aakash, one of the smartest designer in our office", he had said. From that day onwards, I made reasons and took my lunch break along with him. We would share the table at lunch time and slowly I realized he started liking my company. I could sense his comfort level increasing with each passing day. We became quite close and loved spending time with each other. Even after two years we were the same.

Last week, when we had been out for a lunch he had stopped near a toy shop and showed me how much he loved one of the remote control car. The kid like a spark in his eyes was evident for his liking of the remote control toy. For next couple of hours he kept explaining me about the specifications of the car. An idea popped in my mind. Next week will be the valentines day and I was thinking of the ways to propose him on this day. Yes, gone are the days when only the guy would propose. I had made my mind not to wait any more and let him know my feelings before it's too late.

The day had come and as expected everyone left office early, to celebrate the day with their loved one. Now only we both were left working. I had bought the toy car which he had shown me in the previous week. I decorated a small note, and pasted on the car top.

As he was engrossed in his work, I slowly sent the car towards him, with the help of remote control, and stopped near his desk. With a surprising expression he took the car in his hand and read out the note loudly, which said,

 'WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE FOR THE LIFETIME!!!'

He looked around and saw me. A soothing smile spread across his face and he said, "Yes! Of course, for the lifetime."

And we hugged...

This post is written for the Indiblogger Happy Hour Contest - Cupid Games 2015








 

You, Me and the Magic...

Valentines day has always been a special day to me. As much as I remember, we Indians began celebrating this day of love in India after the movie Dil Toh Pagal Hai was released. Before that many of us did not have even a mere idea about this day. Thanks to Yash Chopra.

However, I was a teen aged when the movie was released. Since then I had been waiting for my prince charming, with whom I could enjoy every moment of this day and feel special, while also making him feel special. I had dreamed of making every possible thing, by which I would make my Valentine feel on the top of the world. But, that was easy saying then done. I got married and it was my first Valentines day with my hubby. In my busy schedule, where I had to manage both house and the office, it became next to impossible for me to make any plans for the day, which I was been waiting since I was a teen. I was disheartened. All I could do was to manage to bring a T-shirt as a gift, while getting back home from office to my hubby. It was a red coloured T-shirt, nicely gift wrapped. I placed it on his work desk. 

The shopping bag, in which the T-shirt was given to me, was really an attractive one. I folded it carefully and brought it to my room. I kept the folded bag on my table and continued with my other household work. When I went back to my room, I found the shopping bag in open position on my table. I was shocked, but ignored thinking that I must have opened it and have forgotten. I found a pizza bill which I had ordered last night on my table. I dropped that bill in the shopping bag and began cleaning the table. As I turned around I was shocked to see a Pizza lying on my table. The same pizza which I had ordered last night. At first I was scared. But, it did not take me much time to realize that it was the magic of the shopping bag. 

An idea popped in my mind. I thought, "Why not turn this boring Valentine day into a most special day of my life, with the help of the magic bag ?" And there began my plan to rock my day.

At first, I wrote on a paper Chicken Kabab, which is one of  the favorite of my husband. I closed my eyes with anticipation and there were the delicious Chicken Kabab on my table. Next, I thought to make him even more happier, This time it was the turn of his most favorite wine, late harvest wine. I wrote it on another paper and with in no moment the wine bottle was next to the bag. Then one by one I got all his favorite dishes on our table. What can be more romantic to a foodie like my husband other then this?

It was just half an hour more for my hubby to reach home. I quickly arranged the table and placed the candles around in the room. "Balloons would make my day even more romantic", I thought. But, I had none of them. Suddenly I remembered the magic bag. I took a paper and wrote balloons on it and dropped in the bag. Within a few seconds my house was full of red and while balloons, which completely changed the aura of my house.

I appreciated myself for such a magical arrangements done in such a short time. The door bell rang. My excitement reached its peak. It was him. I welcomed him with a warm hug. He was completely surprised to see the arrangements. That look was his face was definitely worth million dollars. I surprised him even more by taking him to the dining table. All his favorite dishes were waiting just for him. We had the dinner in candle lights along with the wine. The soothing music was playing in the background.




After the dinner, I gave him the T-Shirt that I have brought.
"You have made my day the magical", He slowly whispered in my ears,"Hey my angel, where is your magical wand"?
I smiled not revealing my secret.




"This post has been written for Baggout's Blogging Contest On Valentine's day. Baggout provides awesome deals on Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, Snapdeal, Amazon and 100+ other online stores."


Image Courtesy - Baggout Blog & Win Contest.

Bitter truth cures every pain...

Finally, the day had come. It was the most important day of my life. I was meeting him for the first time. The boundaries of long distance relationship were no more in between us. All I knew was, Aniket, my love of life, had flew down all the way from London, just to meet me. There are no words in the dictionary which could explain my feelings. One moment, I was excited and the other, I was nervous. Though we spoke everyday on Skype, meeting for the first time, face to face, of course was completely different. I was waiting in a Coffee shop for him. The butterflies in my stomach knew no limits that day. My old habit of not wearing a wrist watch, made me check my cell phone for the 150th time, to check the time. I silently cursed myself for reaching the place half an hour before the decided time. It was still 15 minutes to go, and every passing second, seemed like an hour to me. 

And then, finally that moment arrived, when my heart literally forgot how to beat. There he was, walking towards me, in his charming smile. He was in white T-shirt and the blue jeans. He smiled and greeted me with a formal Hello and took his seat. His body language could make anyone guess, that his condition was no less then that of mine. His manly cologne, took my breath away. All I could do was to look at him and smile sheepishly. I observed his facial features for the first time and felt how much boyish he looked. "Skype is such a liar", I thought.

He drew a small box from his bag and handed it over to me. Only silence was talking in between us. I opened it carefully. It was a wrist watch. A beautiful one. I looked at him and he smiled once again, driving me crazy. This was his first gift. And the first sign of our love. After having a coffee he dropped me to my home. Though very less words were exchanged in between us, our entire life was curled in those two hours, we spent in a Coffee shop. 

As soon as I reached home, I got a call from him. We talked for 3 hours continuously. I told him how much I liked the gift and he told me his feelings of meeting me for the first time. At one moment, we realized how comfortable we were talking on phone, then face to face. "Ah! these long distance relationships" we both uttered at once and began laughing. We both promised to spend more time  the next day. He asked me to wear the watch on our next date.

I woke up early morning and wore a best dress of mine. My new watch increased the elegance of my dress. I left my house quickly to the same coffee-shop. While waiting in the coffee shop, I took out my cell phone to check the time, out of an old habit. I patted my head, remembering that I can check the time on my new watch now; only to see my watch was missing. Sudden panic gripped me. Even before I could react, Aniket was sitting next to me. Looking at my panicked face he inquired what was wrong. I lied to him saying that my health was not good and I have to get back home. After all, I had to go back home, and search for my missing watch. He was worried now. I told him I have medicine at home which will make me feel better. He dropped me to the house quickly.

I searched for the watch everywhere at home. But, could not find it. After that day, every time I met Aniket, he questioned me if I did not like the watch, as I never wore it. Thinking that my truth would break his heart, I created a new lie every time, and told him how I forgot to wear it. My lie was hurting me more and more, with the every passing day.

Aniket met my parents as well. They liked him. It was his last day in India as his vacations were over.
He promised me to be back the very next month. I was feeling like dying inside due to the lie I was carrying on my shoulders. I finally made my mind to tell him the truth. And with all the courage I finally told him, that I have lost his first gift. To my surprise he smiled and said there was nothing to worry about it and it is absolutely fine.

Speaking out the truth was so simple. I was feeling liberated. I took out my bag to get my house keys. I was not finding it. I searched my bag once again. To my surprise, I found a hole in my bag. The inner cloth of my bag was torn a bit. Shockingly, there were my keys in that torn hole along with the wrist watch.

Aniket laughed at the top of his voice...

Please do watch the video.

This post is written for Kinley Indiblogger Contest.

Life at 418th floor...

The Sun had set and the first stars made their appearance. Richa has always loved this time of the day. She welcomed every evening with her mobile phone, in her balcony till the dark night hovered over the city. The 'Sunshine Towers' her apartment name was promptly displayed as her location, on her phone. From her 18th floor, the city looked beautiful. What more fascinated her was looking at the tiny lights from the vehicles, marching on the busy road. At least that was the time when she could find a little movement in her dull, lonely day. The loneliness in her life was slowly taking a toll on her. She remembered every second of that fateful day even today. 

"Don't be a crazy. Only some supernatural power could make it possible", Richa had cried.

Abhay, her scientist husband, involved in his research from past 10 years, in making a time machine, but ultimately, just became a joke among his peers, has finally decided to move to an unapproachable place. A place where he could completely focus on his research work and one day succeed. 

Abhay had politely told, "What people think as supernatural today, technology can turn all that into reality tomorrow. Just the matter of few days and I will be back".

The days turned into months and months into years. But, there was no sign of Abhay's return, even after 5 long years. 

A sudden door bell, dragged Richa out from her thoughts, back to the reality. She opened the door to find none but a gift packed in a colorful paper. She picked it with curiosity and the note read 'FROM ABHAY'.  

Richa could not believe her eyes. Her heart beat raised and she fell cold. She closed the door and frantically opened the box. It was an ASUS mobile phone. As soon as she switched it on, it displayed a message, 'Press OK to meet Abhay'. Without a second thought, she pressed the OK button. In a moment, she could visualize everything change around her, quickly but surely. The furniture, the wall, the paint, the electronic gadgets everything changed into something she had never seen before. All she could do was to stand dumbfounded, looking at the mobile phone in her hand, not understanding what to do next. The date in her phone indicated 25th July 2114.

She suddenly remembered the balcony where she was standing a few minutes back. She ran there to have a look. The view from the balcony, finally made her sink into the reality.

She could no more view those tiny lights from the vehicles, as the vehicle passed through the multiple tubes like structures, which have replaced the roads. The strange tall buildings everywhere around left her in awe. The giant solar power generator stood proudly in front of her eyes, which screamed that it provided electricity to the entire city. To look at the clouds she peeped down from her balcony. Just then her cell phone beeped a warning message. "You are on the 418th floor of Sunshine Towers. Your 2 minutes in the balcony are over. Please get inside or press 'O' to create an oxygen bubble around you". She got inside her house not wanting to experiment anymore.

Richa started to explore the other rooms of the house expecting to find Abhay there. But, was disappointed to see no sign of him anywhere.  It was getting dark, so she searched for a switch board to switch on the lights. To her surprise,  there was no single switch board in the entire house. She guessed that her mobile phone might help her in switching on the lights. So, she started to explore the other functions in her phone. She found a button 'home' on her mobile and pressed it.  The wings like pop out screens popped out from both the sides of her phone. One screen indicated all the electrical and electronic equipment names and other displayed the options for environmental control. She clicked on lights option on the 'home controls' screen and her house was illuminated with lights. This excited her to try out something more.

It was cold there, so she chose an option to increase the temperature of the room. Some clicks on the required buttons and her room temperature was increased as per her need. Richa then thought of trying something from 'environmental controls' screen. So she clicked on a wind option, which allowed her to enjoy a mild wind that softly caressed her face and gave her a very soothing feeling.  

She sat down on a chair, dumbstruck by the phone created by her husband. After all, she could do so many miracles using her phone, which nobody could have done or seen back then in the year 2014. 

Abhay's words resonated in her mind, "What people think as supernatural today, technology can turn all that into reality tomorrow". The door bell once again dragged her back from her thoughts. Simultaneously, her phone also beeped. She looked at her phone screen which displayed Abhay's image standing outside the door. A message blinked "Press 'U' to unlock the door".

Richa smiled...





This post is written for the Indiblogger contest ASUS, In Search of Incredible 

Image Credits : Mobile images designed by my husband, Deepak.

Salman Khan on Baggout.. Swagat nahi karoge aap hamara?

Being a celebrity isn't an easy task. And if the celebrity is as popular as Salman Khan then there is no chance he can go out shopping in the market or crowded malls. So this is a post depicting Salman's experience on Baggout with some of his mind blowing dialogues.

Hi I am Salman Khan. Hum yahan ke Robin Hood Hain, Robin Hood Pandey. Who doesn't know me? Arey! Everyone know me yahi toh PROBLEMM ho gayi hai BOSSS. No privacy in life. One wrong move and I become the headlines of every news paper and the breaking news of every another channel.

They say no one in Bollywood can beat my fashion and style. Those follower of fashion look at me as an ideal. It is always a necessity for me to look good. Not that I need to try for that but as you know ke Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di fir toh main apne aap ki bhi nahi sunta. 

I was bored of wearing the same clothes by my designer. I wanted to try something new. Something of my selection. But my designer and stylist were strict against this. Phir kya? Boldiya unhe ke Main request nahi karta. Ek he baar bolta hu or full and final ho jata hai.   I decided to wear everything on my own terms and own selection. But for that I had to go out in the malls for shopping which was next to impossible for me. Some suggested me to hire a person who can do this for me. But Mujh par ek ehsan karna ki mujh par koi ehsan na karna. I straight away went to Sanju Bhai's house.

I discussed this difficulty of mine with Sanju Bhai and he gave me an Idea of Online shopping. But who has so much of time to research on different shopping website to know the best available offers. Bhai gave an onetime solution for all my worries and that was Baggout. Thanks to him.

Oops!!! No thanks. Akhir meri dosti ka ek oosul hai.. No Sorry, no thank you

Baggout miraculously solved all my difficulties in wink of an eye. Most importantly it has separate sections for separate buyers like shown below which makes it easier to find items. So many varieties available at one place and even ordering items is easy.

The best part is the amazing offers provided which saves a lot of money. As you know Main Sirf money bhai ke liye kaam karta hoon.

So this is all about my experience with Baggout. Try it out or else hum tum mein itne ched kardenge ki kanfuge ho jaoge ke sans kahan se lein aur p**** kahan se... 

Cloud Power!!! A Quick Solution for the Big Disasters.

Won a Microsoft Certification Exam for this post.

“Slow and steady wins the race”. I heard this slogan when I was a child and always thought, this is a mantra to be successful.  But, it was only until I joined IT profession as a Software Developer. It did not take me much time to realize that this slogan has no place in today’s fast paced era. Here, in this place you either have to be fast or screw yourself for being slow.

The only expectation from you is to give good quality software/service that too in very less time. The deadlines mock at you with the every passing second. In such a case the only aim in programmers mind is to finish off the task in hand as soon as possible without wasting any time.

Every programmer would love to be correct right in their first attempt while writing a new code to avoid scrap and rework and most importantly to avoid frustration. More over what if someone asks you to rewrite the same old existing code once again? Well, writing such unnecessary code would only add the wastage of resources which in turn could be utilized in concentrating in some other productive work.

Thanks to cloud computing for being there and bringing an end to such issues.

What is Cloud Computing?

If someone would have asked me this question 10 years back then it was acceptable. But now cloud computing being so extensively used, almost everyone related to IT sector have hit the search engine to know anything and everything about this term creating so much buzz.

But yet, to summarize in simple terms “Cloud Computing is sharing and using the computing resources hosted on the internet rather than having our own local resources”. These resources can be anything like virtual machines, database, servers, software applications and so on.

To make it even more simpler let us consider an Example of a new Online Shopping Website named ‘Shopkart.com’. Now initially when this was launched not many people knew about it and so even the visitor traffic was very less. But with the each passing day this site began to gain the popularity. More and more people visited to shop from Shopkart.The servers were not able to handle so much of load and the performance of the site began to gradually reduce. Inturn, increasing the risk of financial loss due to customer dissatisfaction. To overcome from this difficulty the new servers had to be brought and accordingly the code had to rewritten for the entire application to make it more vulnerable, to handle load and stress of increasing traffic. But this disaster recovery was time consuming as well as costly.

So, the Shopkart decided to go for cloud. Instead of rewriting the entire code the application was just migrated to cloud saving a lot of time of developers from rewriting the existing code. Also the servers were shared from cloud and this prevented the huge cost overhead for getting new own servers. This was a quick, efficient, reliable and cost friendly solution by which the people shopping from Shopkart had always a happy experience.

By this we come to a conclusion that with cloud computing a company can speed up and reduce the costs of existing processes. They make setting up of online applications extremely easier and much cheaper, then before. If we wouldn’t have cloud computing then most of the developer’s time would be wasted in figuring out the server and setting up the routers. But, now we are able to instead focus on actual product as all these things are taken care by cloud.

Click the below image to migrate to cloud and enjoy the benifits...

Smell the hell...

We are been blessed with so many things from the almighty. He created this beautiful world and showered on us with unbeatable and uncountable things. Just imagine, how would the earth be if there was no colour, no sound, no music or no smell. Would it be the same as it is now? Can't even imagine the world without these things right?

Well, let us take a moment now and think. How many times do we really appreciate the good things? Hmm.. We do it sometimes,isn't it?
But, We do appreciate good things only because we know how the evil things are. And that is why god created the evil along with the good. With music came noise and with the good smell came the bad one. Once the god found out that there is no appreciation for the good sound, he created noise. Similarly, when he realized that the people started to take the good smell he created for granted, he just created the bad one as well and said, "Smell the hell..."

            Now this imports my mind back to the days when few of the incidents, I had to experience, when I have literally "Smelled the hell ". Let me share some of them with you.

           One day I was late to office. Since I travel by bus to my office, I had no other option but get into a bus fully crowded. However, I just managed to fit my self in a very little space available. While I was struggling to avoid from being sandwiched in between the other people in the bus, my nose suddenly smelled some kind of a hell of a smell. Initially I could not make it out from where the smell was coming from. But it did not take me much time to find out that this rat like a smell was from one of the man standing near me. The smell was becoming more and more unbearable as the time was passing. I couldn't take it any more and just wanted to breath a fresh air. So, I pushed myself in between the crowded people and somehow managed to reach the bus door and got down from the bus as soon as the bus stopped and inhaled a gallons of a fresh air. Aahh.. relaxed. I did not mind being late for some more time. To me saving my self from the life threatening smell was more important then my boss screwing me for being late to the office.

           The most stinkiest smells, that I often get to smell are in the trains and buses. One can find every kinda odour available in the world in this crowded public transports. If someone had to do some research on most stinkiest smell on the planet then all you have to do is just board some train or bus in India and you are done. Every kind of smell will be available to you free of cost.

           Well, the stinky guy from the bus was however for time being. Just imagine what would you do if you had to stay with a stinky person at your room. During my college days I had a room mate who use to have shower once in 2 days. And God forbids, if there were the examinations going on, then this girl would not have the shower for days together. That would not affect her in anyways, but we, being her room mate would die because of the stinking smell of hers. This time there were no escape also. One day we decided to discuss with her the reason for her not having bath regularly. She replied,"Its very cold outside and there is no hot water available in hostel". Honestly when I heard of this contest in Indiblogger I just remembered my room mate. I wish I knew of Racold Water heaters then. I would have definitely gifted her one and save my self from the horrible smell.
         

This post is written for the contest " What's that Smell Boss??" by Racold Thermo Ltd. Click me to visit.

Hairy Tale...

Every girl's heart is a cocoon of thousands of wishes. May it be a girl next door who has never applied a hint of makeup in her lifetime or may it be someone titled as Miss Universe. The wishes are the one common factor that binds all the girls in one group despite of any differences.

To burn out that extra flab bulging out from the hips, to have a clean and clear complexion, to master the art of  applying the eye liner perfectly, to be a better cook, to eat her's heart's content without caring of the calorie count, to find a true love. The list that occupies a special place in every girl's heart is never ending.

I am no different. Like any other girl even I have a special wish. A wish that grew in my heart when I read a fairy tale of Rapunzel. It is a story of a girl with a long and strong hair who was been caught by an enchantress who shut her in a tower which had neither stairs nor door but only one window. But one fine day her prince climbs the tower with the help of her strong hair and reaches her. And then they fall in love and live happily ever after.

My wish is something similar. Well, not to have so long hair as Rapunzel but to have thick dark hair to my waist. To have most wonderful tresses anyone can ever imagine, smooth and silky, falling thick and full clear to my waist, rippling and flowing down my back like liquid sunshine. Hair on which I could actually sit. Every time I pulled a brush through them, they should shine like a diamond. To be blessed with each hair as soft as a silk strand and as strong as a metal string. Which I could proudly flaunt where ever I go and delight the feel of those magnificent masses floating down my back when the breeze played with it vibrantly that made every girl envious and left every guy in an awe. Hair flowing like a river when untied and when tied the escaped side locks dancing with joy to the rhythm of the breeze and tickling my face with its soft touch. Hair which I could easily convert into naughty when partying out or turn them elegant while attending a family function. Graceful in either ways.

But as we know, not all dreams come true. As I grew up I realized managing long beautiful hair isn't easy at all. It needs a lot of care and time which I rarely have. Moreover the pollution sucks out life from every hair of yours and  all you can do is helplessly collect those fallen strands where ever you move in your house and throw them in dustbin. My wish to have long beautiful hair died hundred deaths everyday with my every fallen hair. Due to this reason I never let my hair grow beyond my shoulder so that I could protect it from falling. But my wish for long hair is still within my heart. I pray someday I get some magical wand that could make my wish come true.

This post is written for Indiblogger Sunsilk Contest. Click Here.

Memories Unlimited...

This is for all those moments we shared together which wouldn't have been so mesmerizing without you. 
This is for all that time we spent together which wouldn't have been so memorable without you. 
This is for you without whom my life would not be so colourful.
Here I am pouring my heart and collecting some of those memories which will cherish both of us when ever we will read this at any phase of our life.
This is for my best best bestest friend, SURABHI!!!

I don't know from where to start with because there are so many memories in my heart and they all rushing to be on this blog from the time I thought of writing some of them here. Okay!!! Fine, Let me start with the first day we met  in our 3rd semester when Chemical Engineering and Computer Science Engineering both the classes were combined for that M3 class of Mr.Anshi Sir. I thank our lecturers for making those combined classes because those were the best Mathematics class I ever attended in my lifetime as you were with me. Just recall our small introductory conversation on that day when you were wearing a green coloured salwar (Arrgghh!!! it was really bad) sitting on the last bench with Rekha when you asked me with your cheerful smile,

U:  Hi, What is your name?

Me: Hi, I am Sssonia and yourself?

U: I am Surabhi

Me: Very nice name(with the wide smile). Which place are you from?

U: Bangalore.

               and our this small conversation has now reached to this extent that we can never imagine a day without talking to each other.

Roaming in those hot streets of Gadag and than relaxing in that soda shop with full fan speed with chilled NIMBU SODA would not be so much fun without you. 

Walking such a long distance in that scorching sun just to have our favorite AMUL TRICONE ice cream from MY FOOD Restaurant would not be so awesome without you. And I must say that even now Amul Tricone taste at its best only when I have it along with you.

Our craze for food which always made us so desperate to eat and try every thing that we found on that Tontadarya streets and restaurants. That famous Mirchi bhaji, Gobi Manchuri, Shev puri and Masala puri, Vada pav, Egg puff, Pastries, Watermelon pieces with salt, Tender coconut(shiyala), P-Fries(;-P) and of course that Omlet pav from down:-)

May be we  thought twice before spending our small pocket money even before buying the books but when it came to food we were even ready to spend the last rupee from our purse.

I agree now we can easily buy those costly pizza's from Domino's and those Zinger Burgers from KFC but all these things cant taste as good as that 7Rs Egg puff with tea for which we use to wait in a queue and give our names to that funny bakery uncle at hostel.

I still wont be able to control my laugh when I remember all of yours condition on the day when you along with Samreen and other girls at hostel were suffering from Madras eye and only I was spared from it. 

Even in that condition with those red eyes you came along with me in that heavy rain and we both in one umbrella went to the medical stores that evening to buy eye drops for Madras eye for everyone at hostel.
That journey we had on the tum tum that day and than that Kadak hot tea with egg bhaji in the heavy rain in that restaurant would not be so memorable if you weren't there.
The day I was so tensed for my project work and you came along with me to Hubli carrying that heavy laptop bag and our search for the institute in that hot sun and then after that our visit to Iskon Temple of Hubli would not be so divine if you weren't there. 

Our craze for movies which made us to go and watch every new release even on a day prior to our final external exams when everybody else would be seriously studying. 

So many flop movies we watched together in that SHANTI THEATER and after that, that lunch in HOTEL PRINCE would not be so yummy if you weren't there.

Those countless movies we watched on my laptop with lights off in my room with full curiosity as if we were in theater would not be interesting if you weren't there.

Those hilarious Hyderabadi movies would not be so funny if you weren't there and of course those horror movies would not be so scary if you were not there to squeeze my hand with fear.

How can I forget those lazy Sundays at hostel. Remember those oily puris prepared in mess which I would preserve for you till you would come from your Sunday extra classes and whenever I asked you to bunk those afternoon classes to watch a movie you would agree without even thinking as if you were waiting for this opportunity only.

Hmmmm... Let me come to our so called Maths combine studies in your room. Studying Maths had never been so interesting as it was with you and thats all because we studied less and did all those other activities more. We would not even realize when we would close our books and start our crazy stories.

Our combine study reminds me of our craze for music. I remember the time when we use to stop studying and on my laptop to listen to those favorite tracks of ours. 

I remember how we paused the new song after every line and wrote it down on a paper to learn the lyrics of it and than sung it together as if we were great singers of the world.

I pity those unknown guys who called us on our cell to impress us and the way we irritated them by our horrible loud singing. Masakkali and Emotional Atyachaar were the best songs we used to irritate them.:-P

Those songs that we sung together on top of our voice sitting behind the tum tum while on the way to hostel from market would not be so enjoyable if you weren't there.

I still wonder what was the reason which made both of us to cry at once while listening to song "Kahi to Hogi Vo" from movie "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na". Who else would support me to do all these crazy things if you weren't there. :-)

And hey how can we forget that fare at Tontadarya temple. Those gaint amusement toys and the most worstest experience when Indu, Shirlz and Sneha forced us for that TORA TORA ride and than our mixed feeling after getting down from it of fainting and puking would not be so weird if you weren't there.;-)

I miss those chocolates which we shared only with each other locking the door of the room so that only we both could have it without sharing with anyone else. 

I miss your red coloured warm blanket. I must say it was really heaven kinda feeling to sleep using your blanket in that freezing cold.

I miss our laughs, our cries, our imaginary stories, our hugs, those long never ending talks sitting at the entrance of our hostel gate while having evening tea, having that awesome night tea at hostel during exams with u, that support, that care.

I miss those stupid jokes we cracked, those tears we shed while sharing our pain and most important I miss that relaxing AANKHON WALI KISS which made us forget the complete strain of the day.

I still remember that promise we made to each other sitting in TV room of our hostel while we were studying that we will remain best friends for ever. And I am proud that in spite of so many people who tried to create misunderstandings in between us we are still so close and will always remain the same no doubt.















If I start squeezing my heart I can still see so many memories but not possible to write them all here. 

Now I dont want to end this blog by saying "I wish I could get those days back" or " Where are those days gone" blah blah because I know we both are still the same. So what if we are not staying together? Our hearts are connected and they will be connected till the death or may be even after that ;-)

Lastly, please convey my thanks to your hubby Vishal for understanding our friendship and a special thanks to him for paying those huge postpaid bills of your number which is just by talking to me for hours together.

Love You :-)

Sonia..

This post is written for Dove: Guessing Game with my friend contest. Please click on the image below

A Trip to Nowhere...

So have you ever been on a trip where you are completely unaware of the destination?

The only plan about the journey is heading to any random location wherever the milestones fixed on the road side takes you.

So if your answer is no then now get ready for a roller coaster ride of the crazy road trip with me and Ambi Pur which will head you to a mind blowing destination. 

Since the day my husband told me that he has a fantasy of a road trip where we make a zero planning of the routes, stay or destination, it became my fantasy as well. In just a couple of weeks we both managed to take the off from our work for three long days. So what else we needed? We got our bags packed with a pair of jeans, shirts and camera and within no time there we were, on the road in our car with bags and of course with our Ambi Pur.

Day 1:
We started from my hometown Karwar, Karnataka in the early morning at around 5'o clock with the music player screaming on the top of its voice and took the exit from the city. The first milestone which came across us was of the nearest place Ankola of 33 KMS. The drive of few minutes took us to the place but it was the next milestone which grabbed our attention. So, our next destination was to Murdeshwara which was 83 KMS from our present place. 

The first image that pops out in my mind whenever I hear the word Murdeshwara is of a giant statue of Lord Shiva which is surrounded by Arabian Sea. It is the third highest statue of Lord Shiva in the world. We gave a quick visit to the temple and got mesmerized by the divine beauty this place has got. But unfortunately we had no much time as we had to cover a lot in so small period and so we were back on the wheels in search of our next destination.

Photos clicked at Murdeshwara, Karnataka

After traveling for the few miles we got our next destination to move on. It was to the beautiful city of Mangalore. But it would take pretty long time for us to reach our new destination as it was around 155 KMS from Murdeshwara. So, we had some snacks and started to drive again. The greenery all around and the enchanting fresh air welcomed us with the open arms to this beautiful place Mangalore. And upon that the cherry on the top was Malpe Beach. After having a lot of fun on the beach our stomach started growling. We decided to have popular tasty Mangalore fish curry with rice in our lunch. What else one need in life if one get a chance to experience such an amazing road trip, Isn't it? Now I did not wanted to leave this place so soon so we decided to halt here and feel this place some more.

Hotel Kumar's International, Mangalore, Karnataka

We halted at a hotel named Kumar's International. The hotel is located in the heart of the city and because of that our day was spent in lot of shopping. Evening we just went on a walk to the places which were nearby from our hotel room. After such a fun filled day how could one spend an evening without making it interesting. When I told Deep that I want to make even this evening more memorable then he said he was too tired and asked me to plan out something. I thought for a while and searched my bag to see if I get something. And to my surprise I got few floating candles which I had kept in my bag few days back. As we packed our bags in hurry while we left for this trip, I had not got much time to take it out of my bag. Finally an idea popped out in my mind. Yes, It was nothing but candle light dinner.

Candle light dinner in Hotel Kumar's International, Mangalore

We ordered some chicken and paratha for our dinner. I could not found any bowl or something like that to place these floating candles. So I just placed them and lit in a mug :-P
The entire tiredness of the day was gone in just a second when the light from these candles filled our room. The food was splendid as expected. The evening turned out to be even more memorable then we had thought as it was our first candle light dinner after all :)

Day 2:
Deep woke me up at 5 AM early morning. I was not willing to get up so early but had no option. But it was after travelling for a while that my excitement was on the peak after seeing this new milestone. That's because we realised we were only few miles away from entering the God's own country, Kerala. I had never been to Kerala earlier but always had a strong wish to visit the place. Finally, my wish had come true and that too in a such an unexpected way. Now I even had no complaints of waking up early. We kept travelling for a long time following every milestone that we got in between and clicked a lot of pics as well.

Clicked near Airport Road, Cochin, Kerala

We then decided that we will travel to the longest distance milestone which we see and then our
return journey will start from there. I was too sleepy by now and I slept off. When I opened my eyes I was totally surprised to see the surroundings. Everywhere till my eyesight reached I could just see the green plants. The tea plantation spreaded over miles and miles of area. On enquiring to Deep about our next destination I came to know that we were on the way to Munnar.

Las Palmas Resort, Munnar, Kerala

Munnar is a hill station so obviously the drive to the place was quite hectic as there were a lot of
curves and turns. We reached the place at around 5 in the evening and we directly checked in to the Hotel Las Palmas.

After getting fresh we went for a walk and had our evening tea in road side tea shop with cake. Having hot tea in the chilling cold with the greenery all around. Totally priceless :) At night we had Typical Keralian Food and slept off early as we had to explore Munnar even more as soon as the sun would rise the next morning. After all it was our return journey in the morning as well.

Day 3:
We got up early morning and left the hotel at around 6.30. All I can say is, if there is heaven anywhere on this earth then it is right here in Munnar. Every now and then this place mesmerised me with its enchanting beauty. My excitement would be on peak as I could see one waterfall after every ten minutes. There were many little shops on the way which sold out the local products of Kerala like Tea, Garam Masala, Juices, soaps and so on .

The images clicked on the way while driving back from Munnar

So have you ever seen honey growing on tree. Well, this was what we got to see after driving for a while. We found some tourists gathered at one place and taking pics of a tree. So out of curiosity we stopped just to get surprised once again. Yes, It was a honey tree.
Well, in reality honey doesn't grow on this tree. The name is such because there and hundreds of honey bee hives on this tree. The more surprising thing here was these honey bees have built there hives on just one tree. All the surrounding trees were totally normal. Strange, isn't it?

Honey Tree, Munnar, Kerala

It was the time for us to refresh our soul now as now we were in the  another soul touching place of Munnar, The Flower Garden. There were thousand of variety of flower gardening done in this area. Deep captured most of them in his camera and out of it some of my favourite clicks of his, I have uploaded in image below.

Flower Garden Munnar, Kerala

Well, now it was the time for us to get back to our home. The road trip of three amazing days was about to end in few hours drive. The amazing food, the friendly people, the mesmerising water falls, the beautiful flower garden, vast tea plantation spreaded over hundred of acres, we had it all in this road trip. I can now literally say that I have never seen any place as beautiful as Kerala in my lifetime.

Brought this little boat and wind chimes in memory of our road trip

Planning of next such unplanned road trip while getting back from one. Its just Priceless :)

This post is written for Ambi Pur Contest on IndiBlogger.

My Childhood Through The Eyes of My Real Hero...

Its said that "If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older"

The most beautiful phase in every individuals life is their childhood. No matter how old we become but these childhood memories are like a treasure which always remain with us throughout our life as a sweet smile. Even the mere thought of childhood gives us a tickle and takes us to the flashback of those sweet memories. So how many of them remember these ice candies in the above photo which were sold just outside your school and no matter how many warnings your mother gave you not to eat it, you always had that one rupee in your pocket to buy these icy cold candies. 

Now just imagine, What if you get to re-live your entire childhood once again? Wouldn't that be awesome? But, is it really possible to re-live your childhood once again?  If somebody would have asked me this question then my answer would be definitely a big Yes... I have no idea about others but Yes I have something with me, a treasure, a gift, hmmm a most precious gift that is for a life time gifted by my real Hero, My DAD :-) 

My Dad has capsulated and insulated my entire childhood and its memories by capturing it in photos and making a album of it which will be with me till my last breath. Its my only pride possession which is very close to my heart and a most precious thing to me. Here, I am sharing some of the photos in this post.

During my childhood days there were no Digi-Cams by which u can take multiple number of pictures anytime. But the Kodak cameras were used with a roll which consisted a photographic film. Later these rolls were given to the studio and then the studio people would develop the photos out of the negatives generated from photographic films. Unlike digital  cameras there were no technique which could be used to date the photo. So as you can see in these pictures my dad has made use of the date seal to date each and every photo taken. Date seal is something which had a date marks on it as shown in the picture. On adjusting the wheels the required date could be obtained and then this date stamp had to be tapped to the ink pad and then tap it back immediately to the required sheet of paper on which you need the date marked. In my case, Dad used the similar to mark the date on each photo.

After inserting the photos in the transparent pockets of the album, he has sealed the open end of the pocket by a transparent sticking tape so that the photos doesn't come in contact with moisture contents and last longer or say forever :-) Isn't it lovely?

What could be more exiting then seeing the way you have dressed up with your little school bag and water bottle on the first day of your school. Yes, my dad has taken this picture on the first day of my school. I still remember I had cried the whole day in school but later was completely happy as my dad took me to beach after my school  and captured this photo of mine. How easily such little joys would make us forget our big pain with in fraction of seconds then.:)

Since I have been  born and brought up in a coastal area going to the beach at evening, on every alternate days as a kid was a routine. After playing in the water for sometime we would move towards the kids park and then playing in the park on the kids amusement toys would be like I have got the happiness of the entire world. My dad's encouragement to make me try some other amusement toys which according to me were very gaint at that time, always went in vain. As I always liked to play the girly games which included swings, seesaw, marry go round or catching catch with other kids playing in the park.

And the most best moment of the day would be while getting back home as I would get a chance to visit all the ice-cream and toy stalls which were just outside the beach, making good business by kids like me. And the happiness after getting something from the stall would have no bound. My dad would love to capture such moment in the photo like he has done after he bought this hand-made hat for me and I was on the top of the world, laughing uncontrollably with joy.

I remember the day so well when me and my mom went for shopping along with my aunt and I had liked this green dress which I am wearing in this photo. My like for this green dress was only because it had some kinda golden accessory pinned at the chest and to me it looked so attractive that I felt that there could be no other dress as beautiful as that on this whole planet. My mom did not buy it and instead took some other dress for me and we returned back to home. I was sad and was still missing the dress. But, to my surprise my dad came home with the same dress which mom had not bought even after I had insisted so much. My eyes sparkled and I was on cloud 9 knowing that the most beautiful dress of the world was mine now. And it was also the day of my victory and I  still remember so well, how I teased my mom by making animated actions with my one hand holding the dress in the other hand and dancing all around the room, screaming at the top of my voice. But i had wondered that day, how my dad got to know that I had liked that dress and brought it for me as he was not with us when I had went for shopping with mom and aunt. I still wonder even now about it, whether it was really a co-incidence or what was it, I still wonder :-)

As we know certain things never change with the age and one such thing in me is my love for cats. I love cats since I was a kid and I think this love is passed to me from my dad as he loved the cats too. Cats have always played an important role in my life since I was a kid. It has been my best friend from then till now with whom I have shared all my happiness, guilt, pain, worries or love and it has unconditionally loved me back too.

My dad passed away when I was 5 years old and along with that even me posing to the camera also stopped as no one else was interested to take my pictures after that. But even after almost 20 years, I can still feel his presence, his care, his affection, his love for his only princess through this gift of life time which he has created only for me. As much time me and my dad have spent together, is freezed in this album and will remain forever with me. This album not only connects me to my childhood but it also connects me to my dad :)

This post is specially written for The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest by indiblogger. You can see the post at indiblogger here.
Planning to go on a trip with Mummy if I win :)