and once again i'm singing 'Happy Birthday to you'...

well this time around the birthday boy in question is none other than my dearest pal Tejas!! damn, can't believe that he made it safely to the grand ol' age of 22. man, kudos!! you deserve it...

anyways, here's your birthday song:

आपको जनम दीन की बहुत बहुत बधाई ... आज के दीन आपको मीले खूब सारी शुभकामनाए और पीटाई । ;)

god bless you my brother. here's a toast to your sorry arse back in Australia! (Jack Daniels it is)...cheers!!

was great talking to you last night...and yeah, i still got plenty left in me to keep up with the partying. just that i'm in a pretty 'anti-amdavad-peeps' mood as of now (you know how it is with me). but just wait until you get back. that's when we turn up the tempo.

ciao!!

हर रोज़ लीखी गयी दास्तान् हमारे ज़ीन्दगी की ।

"one day may seem so insignificant and mundane...yet many days put together tells the story of my life."

What the??? ...hehehe...

i took the test and this is what they came up with...

& It's a tie!! i'm...

You are part Harry. You're a loyal and courageous friend. You'd do anything to protect the people you love, especially if it'll get you a break from class for a little while. You are part Hermione. You're a bookworm always in search of answers. When pressed, however, you can always be counted on to put away the books and help your friends.

i guess, now all i can hope for is that Harry and Hermione manage to get hold of some super powers in the last book.
;)

walking in the rain...

yay! the monsoon has finally arrived...

the first rains of the season lashed the city today. the signs had been there for the past 2 days. but it was only today evening that the overcast sky finally decided to open up and pour down upon the waiting masses. the peacocks had been crooning all day and then the clouds themselves joined in with their loud booming music. the thunderous beats which the hearts of all the people numbed by the scorching Gujarat summer had been waiting to hear!! finally they arrived. and with them came the rains.

it took us (me and my didi) only one look outside at the pouring rain to make up our minds. and within a matter of five minutes we were both changed and on our way down the apartment and into the pouring rain. the rains forced us to leave all our stuff back home and for a change we were once again without any cell phones, any wallets, any music players or any other new age gizmo. well, can't really put in in words what it feels like to take a walk in the rain, can i? but i'm pretty sure that most have had the experience. but today, our little sojurn took both me and my didi back to our days as kids. the fun we had playing in the rain. the paper boat sailing, the water splashing, the puddle jumping, the school bunking everything came rushing back...

life just took a step back 15 years and we were once again little kids. a 12 year old girl and her kid brother playing in the rain. can one ask for anything more???

well, we did ask for more. and we got that as well. the walking around had made us hungry and the only thing that would have appeased us was 'paani puris' (now i really don't know how to explain this Indian dish to my non-indian readers. the best i can do is try and put up a snap from the net). and imagine our delight when we found a paani puri wala standing right at the corner next to our building. didi promptly rushed up to go get the money while i waited near the laari. and then it was paani puri time!!! :P

"paani puris"

finally we decided to head back upstairs to the apartment once the rain ceased it's pouring onsault...just in time to get the camera ready for a few snaps before we got ourselves some steaming hot dinner and tea (yeah, once again i took my tea cold. i just can't drink hot tea; even if my life depended upon it).

well so there it is, one more day that goes down the memory lane as an unforgetable experience. after all it's not everyday that the first rains of the monsoon arrive and when you are once again nothing but kids.

last but not the least i leave you all with a Gujarati folk song/ rhyme that we sang as kids everytime it rained...

"आव रे वर्साद, धेबरीओ वर्साद, ऊनी ऊनी रोत्ली ने करेला नु शाक।"
"aav re varsad, dhebariyo varsad..ooni oooni rotli ne karela nu shak!"

:)

me and didi.

didi: as drenched as a fish in water

me: drenched as a street puppy in the rain! ;)

the curse of Hamidaben's tea...

They said, "find inner peace?" I looked; it wasn't there.

but then, i guess that being cursed does rob one of one's share of inner peace. and being at the receiving end of Hamidaben's ire was certainly something that i hadn't considered a serious threat. that is until it struck me and left me dumbfounded! it all started of as innocuously as any other daily occurrence. back then i didn't even bother enough to care. now i am terrified of it to the extent that had didi make extra tea.

Hamidaben is the almost-old maid who comes to my aunt's to clean up everyday. she nags and does a sloppy job, and she is terribly inquisitive...in other words, she is the 'perfect' baai (i, myself, on the other hand would like to nominate Kena for that position). well, those things apart, the day before...that's when the story starts.

i had just woken up and was still groggy when didi handed me a cup of tea and asked me to heat it up in the microwave. she also said some other stuff, but i never managed to catch it...and i never even bothered to try to. so i put the tea in the microwave and tinkered the thing to set it for 20 seconds and then walked off to the loo.

then i went on with my life. like i do everyday.

just that everything that i happened to do went wrong..the PC crashed and then wouldn't restart..the AC stopped functioning and my cell phone also began to give me problems. i misplaced the book i was reading and even after turning the house upside down was unable to find it.

and then in walks didi and turns on the PC with the push of a button, the AC starts gushing cool air, uses my cell to locate her cell and she finds my book on the table. damn, i guess that if i had stepped out of the house i would have run the risk of being run over by a bus or something where as she would have been showered with flowers instead.

and the cause of all this turned out to be 'that' cup of tea. i had forgotten all about that tea in the microwave until didi happend to find it stone cold inside the microwave at 5 in the evening. i merely shrugged my shoulders. after all i am never too keen on tea (coffee is a different matter)! and that was when didi told me that that tea was for Hamidaben and if i had only listened to what she was saying i would have know. and that was when it dawned to me. all my troubles were related to that cup of tea. i forgot Hamidaben's tea, and now i was being plagued by the tea that belonged to her and instead found itself poured down the sink.

the curse of Hamidaben's tea was turning out to be a formidable nemesis. and the only way out of it was to have didi make extra tea the next day and make sure that Hamidaben get it. and Voila! my life returned back to normal.

call me silly, but it's true.

you don't want to be cursed by Hamidaben's tea!

;)

the tune floating in the wind as of now...

this one's for you...

Can you see me
Floating above your head
As you lay in bed
Thinking about everything
That you did not do
Cause saying I love you
Has nothing to do with meaning it

And I don't trust you
Cause every time you're here
Your intentions are unclear
I spend every hour waiting for a phone call
That I know will never come
I used to think you were the one
Now I'm sick of thinking anything at all

You ain't ever coming back to me
That's not how things were supposed to be
You take my hand just to give it back
No other lover has ever done that

Do you remember
The way we used to melt
Do you remember how it felt
When I touched you
Oh cause I remember very well

And how long has it been
Since someone you let in
Has given what I gave to you

And at night when you sleep
Do you dream I would be there
Just for a minute or two do you?

You ain't ever coming back to me
That's not how things were supposed to be
You take my hand just to give it back
No other lover has ever done that

Heartache heartache I just have so much
A simple love with a complex touch
There is nothing you can say or do
I called to let you know I'm through with you

...Maroon 5 people, singing the Songs About Jane. these guys rock! (at least i know that Ghosty agrees with me on this one). Also, i got a story to tell. it's about a boy and a kingfisher and a fish.

:)

to the big T...

hey!

am back from my backpacking and traveling around the South-Eastern part of the Indian sub-continent. in fact, i just got in an hour ago after a 2 and half day train journey from Howrah to Ahmedabad...

whew!! man i am so sloshed.

...anyways, like i promised before i left. i have so much to blog. i have been managing a sort of travel diary in which i have penned down the many things that i have observed and contemplated on during my travels. its quite a decent bit and its gonna take a while to blog the more worthwhile stuff down.

but first and foremost..this post is for my man 'the big T' from Germany...

Happy Birthday Timo!!

...damn man, have a great time today and know that someone somewhere in India wishes you the very best for everything!

;)

until later then...