This day last year, hundreds of people crowded at one place and showered their blessings as two young people bonded in love. :). We celebrate our first anniversary today. :) :).

Love across the Oceans & Miles!!!

It is not necessary for those in relationship to be together always. They may live in different places, different cities why, even different countries and still bond in love. Rather more love than the rest of them who are together. That’s the power of true love. Nowadays, tackling people close by becomes difficult and when they are miles and oceans apart? Definitely a herculean task and it is one heck of a ride. I & my Hubby have been on this ride many times. The ride of “Long Distance Relationship”

Soon after our first meet, in a week’s time he went abroad on an assignment. The initial courtship period, the lovely pre-marital time was through web. We missed all the fun of being together, getting (actually struggling) to understand each other, the thrill of dating, those small intimate sweet nothings etc... Almost for 7 months we were trying to figure out ourselves over phone and Skype. We had our engagement through Skype (that calls for a different post which will soon be posted). Lady Luck (on a sarcastic note) was always with us. Immediately after marriage, in a month’s time he got the next assignment. But I was able to join him soon after two months’ time. Even then the confusion prevailed. How (in fact WHERE) will the next project be? Is it going to be a Long or a short term? Will we be together or again go through all of these for sometime? And so on… High tides of all negative energies like crying, frustration depression were drowning us completely. Sundar learnt to swim against the tides and am still struggling with it.

In-spite of all these mishaps, we still enjoyed every phase of our life. Our “cyber courtship” was the most fun. How many of us will get this kind of a thrill?? Every time, the distance makes us spend more and more time with each other. We were always staying connected. Every day, every minute, every moment, we were either on phone or Skype. So much Love and it kept growing stronger and stronger. Of course there were/are times when we would not be able to speak to each other, yearn for the other to be beside, miss them so badly when you see/hear/talk something beautiful or something which they like. Things have to move on and this shall be a passing cloud. The actual difference between happiness and unhappiness is not because of circumstances and is only because of people’s attitude, their perspective. These things changed our way of thinking completely. As it goes “There is always Good with the Bad”. We got to learn a lot from these unfortunate happenings. We are now becoming more matured and learning to handle the difficult situations at ease.

Accept Life as it comes and just “go with the flow”. Live the Moment & Be Happy!!

So Long. Happy Reading.

Happy Blogging!!!

“When you are pushed into heights of boredom & solitude, you would start doing things that you are not comfortable with (just to keep you engaged) and when you are forced to do something, you would start liking it.” This was what happened with me. I had the least intention of blogging few months back. I was not into blogging all these days for just one reason, Is my writing skill good enough to blog? But now blogging is one of my outlets. My first hit was the very common question that pops into the mind of every amateur blogger. “What to blog?” Hmm… That’s the toughest thing!! I kept thinking and thinking and finally frustrated, I decided to pen down randomly (whatever comes into my mind) until I get into the rhythm of blogging….

One more reason to blog other than boredom is “blog” itself. I kept surfing through many blogs. I was simply awed by how people can convert their thoughts into words! I have always admired the English language and I enjoy reading a lot. I would like to reach out on any good books especially on authors who have a good command over English language, or any good blogs or net articles or magazines. I have always envied people who have a flair for writing. I simply love the English language. I have always wanted to master it in all ways. But I never attempted (Dono why...). I feel bad for not doing so. I am reminded of 2 persons right now. One is my mom who always used to say, try to converse in English it will be very useful to you. But who paid heed to those? (Well, at least I should make my kids do so in the future... :) :)). The second one is my High school English teacher Mr. Lloyd. An interesting English teacher.

I think this blog will be mostly about me, my interests and about things and people around me. A personal blog in all ways. Hope to keep up to the standards of a decent blogger. ;) ;) :)

So Long. Happy Blogging!!!

IMPARTIAL FRIEND

I was feeling so lonely and sad yesterday. Nothing around me seemed so interesting or lively to lift my spirits. My hubby is on an official trip and I was missing him so much. All of a sudden I heard a voice, "How can u forget us sweetie ? We are always there for you at all times. But you forgot us for a long time my friend". From the topmost corner shelf, my good old friends were waving and smiling at me.Yeah they are my super cool friends at my beck and call.
Its very true. I have not touched them for a long time. Never bothered to turn in their direction. There was a time I used to sit with books for hours and hours together. We (school friends) used to compete with each other for finishing the book first. Mostly it would be fictions. Enid Blyton is my (of course for many) all-time favorite. The Secret Seven, The Famous Five, Malory tower, etc. are still afresh in my mind. I still remember how I used to dream of having a gang of my own just like the Five and have all the adventures. One time ill think of becoming Anny and the next time George and the third time I would want a brother like dick and Ju. Such is the effect of her writing and I am sure many would have been just like me. It’s the same with all her other books. You will never able to be put it down and you would want more and more of it. (Yeh Dhil maange More n More). The list of “Oh I just can’t put this book down” is endless.

The best part of reading is reading books (I meant novels and any book other than your syllabus) during exam days. If you put it in local terms, doing so, gives a “KICK”. I used to hide the books inside my school books and read, to avoid getting caught by my mother. :P :P. The era of “Harry Potter” started during my 10th Std. Man how crazy we had become. Almost every single student became a HP maniac. Mom and dad would think twice (no more than that) to buy these books. I had to literally beg them for buying it all. But Alas! Then, our savior came in the school. One of my friends had got it as a gift from his dad (Lucky him. J J) the entire series!! As you guess it, he was the one to be envied and looked upon the most by everyone in my class. We used to take turns in getting books from him. Now, I ROFL when I think of how we fought with each other for getting the book from him, how we cajoled him or buttered him up, so that he lends the book to us. Thus the bond with books continued stronger and stronger.

Then after many many years, my interest switched towards Tamil books. Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan was my first attempt and I was stunned by his work. No wonder people call it as his masterpiece. This book was introduced to me by my hubby during our courtship period and I have to mention at this juncture, that because of our interest in reading, our interest in each other started blossoming. I had resigned my job just then and I had a hell lot of time. I finished the whole series in 2 weeks’ time. I read the sequels too, Sivagamiyin Sabadham & Parthiban kanavu. Then my interest turned towards Devan. The interest in Tamil books was mainly due to my in-laws. They have a huge collection of books. My Father in law and his mom (my hubbys grandma) both are such intense readers.

As Robert Southney says,
My never failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day,
With them I take delight in weal,
And seek relief in woe.

Books have always been a good companion. They are with me in both good and bad phases of my life impartially. Whenever i need them, I go to them. When I don't, I just like that turn myself away and still the next time again when I go to them they are ever warm welcoming. It’s my long time desire to have a huge collection of books for myself. Soon wish to make a mini non-lending (only those whom I trust will be allowed to borrow) library at home. I am very skeptical about lending books to everyone.

Here my friend I come to you and promise I would never leave you alone for such a long time. :) :) Mmmmuuaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh

Home

Right now I am in the process of turning my house into a beautiful home.  . From my childhood days, I would keep rearranging things in my house, trying to make it beautiful and more artistic. There are so many fantasies for me on how a house should like. I am reminded of my childhood incident where I always used to get scolding from mom and dad for placing the center table. There was a small teapoy (A word familiar with Indians. It is a tea table) in my home, which I will always use it as a center table. I have a fancy towards it. But my parents were not for it. Their argument was that our grandparents might get hurt when they move around the house. I always felt bad. The next thing is the staircase from inside the house. Be it a straight one with the landing or those beautiful curvy spiral ones!!
Whenever I visit my friend’s place or anyone’s house for that matter; I would immediately look around to see how they have done their interior decoration, how their showcase is displayed and how their wall hangings are hung, how they have maintained their house etc… This habit still continues. . Houses have always fascinated me a lot. Even now on the roads, houses be it Huge or small that are beautifully or differently built captures my attention immediately. I keep gazing at it like a 5 yr old watching Tv.  . Now I have a house of my own (not literally, a rented one) which I can modify it according to my taste. No one can interfere in my plans. I have told my mom strictly that she is not supposed to come while setting up my home. This applies also to my mom-in-law, though I have not told her. :P :P.
Oh my god! How much I am getting excited about it :) I am waiting to click pics and share it with you.

P.S. This was supposed to be posted one month back. Unfortunately I fell ill and was not able to do it. Even my home is not set… :(

Back to Square one

Its been a really long time. Almost two months since i blogged. I was so busy all these days travelling here and there. Am back to India, back to Bangalore and back to my old Job. Back to square one. :) :). Its so nice to be back in our hometown. :) :). How many ever places we travel, our dear land is always the best.

Now am all excited about my hubby's arrival from abroad and setting up our new house, turning it into a beautiful home. :) :). My mind is preoccupied only about it. In 2 weeks time everything will be set.

Yummy!!!!

Nowadays, I am very ravenous. Seriously have no clue of what's happening to me. I keep gorging throughout the day n still at the end of the day, if anyone offers me a piece of their food, am ready to gobble it too. Glee... :) :). I think it is mainly because of my hubby’s influence on me. Oh! He is a foodie. He has the nature of appreciating any kind of food. So this post is for my sweetheart and because of the recent changes in me, I thought I would write something about the food we like in Mexico. Tasted and enjoyed. Mexican Cuisine is one of the best cuisines in the world. The food has intense bursts of flavor, is usually spicy in nature, unique in taste and colorful in terms of presentation and mostly prepared from the local vegetation. You know what; Mexico has 147 different kinds of chilies.

Though the Spanish colonists have influenced their cuisine, the staple foods of Mexico are more from the Aztecs and Mayans, the ancient tribes of Mexico.The staple food of Mexico includes the Tamales, the fiesta food which belongs to the Aztec cuisines. The main ingredients include corn. It is served steaming hot in a corn husk with meat fillings. In simple terms, it tastes more like the “arisi upma” made in south India. We also get the vegetarian version. This is had along with the atole, a cornmeal drink with chocolate flavor. This is one of the road side foods.

Then comes the Enchiladas, a corn tortilla (chapatti made of corn and maize, yet another Aztec food) rolled over a filling mostly meat. For veggies it is potato and cheese. These are served with Mexican sauces, green or red sauce topped with cheese and lettuces.

Quesadillas, again made with tortillas contain the cheese filling. Apart from that meat, refried beans and vegetables are also filled. They are roasted or fried until the cheese within melts. These are also served with sauces, onions, guacamole etc… One thing you should notice about the Mexican cuisine is that they have cheese, refried beans and meat in almost all fillings.

Pozole is yet another ritually significant and traditional soup of Aztecs. This soup is made of corn with meat, pork etc... Corn is one of the sacred ingredients of the Aztecs.

My next favorite is Salsa and Guacamole dips. Both come under the sauce category. Tangy and tasty these dips lend a different flavor to the authentic Mexican cuisine. Salsa's main ingredient is tomato and for guacamole it is avocado fruit. Both the dips go well with all kinds of tortillas, nachos, breads or any kind of chips. Guacamole is an authentic Mexican dish which has gained more popularity outside the mexico. Never miss this when you get a chance to taste the Mexican cuisine.Yummy Salsa and Guacamole!!!

Finally the dessert. The yummy Crepe de Cajeta. A dessert guaranteed for mouth-watering. Wowww.. I simply love this one. Cajeta is made from goat’s milk. It is caramelized and poured on top of the crepes, a thin pancake made of wheat flour. This is seasoned with various nuts. This dish is adopted from the French cuisine.

At this moment, I would like to confess that I am very very sad being a veggie. So many of the dishes over here are non veg and am not able to put my hands on them. Pity me!!! There are so many other delicious dishes from the Mexican cuisine. I have just mentioned a very few according to my taste buds.

So long. Happy Reading!!!

PUEBLA TRIP- I

This Saturday morning was all "huzzle & buzzle" in our room. Sundar & me got into a bit of an argy-bargy with each other over a most important thing. Yep!! We were on a outing to "Puebla" and we were discussing about our outfit for the trip. :) :) Its a 2 hours drive from mexico city and we were all enthused about this trip. Their travel itinerary had; walks through the tunnel of the biggest pyramid in the globe, Indian - Spanish art, the largest Volcanoes of Mexico and the talavera painting. Woo that would be an wonderful trip. Isn't it? :) :) So did we expect the same thing and how it turned out to be otherwise, is a different story. you will be knowing it through the post.

We started around 10 and our first halt was for the volcanoes. We stopped at a very good view point nearby the Italian Coffee shop. We were able to have a good view of both the peaks. They are covered with ice throughout the year.

Popocatepetl

It is an active volcano and the second highest peak in Mexico at a height of 5426m. This name is derived from the Nahuatl language (Language of the Aztecs, who dominated the central mexico from 14-16th century) popōca means "to smoke" and tepētl means "mountains" and hence also the name "Smoking Mountains". If you wanna know more about this you can check out at Wikipedia which has more information about this. Here s the link for

"Popocatepetl"

Iztaccihuatl:

Extinct volcano and the third highest mountain in Mexico. This has 4 peaks out of which the highest one is 5230m. Together these peaks represent the head, chest, knees and feet of a sleeping female figure. This is also derived from the Nahuatl language Iztac menas "White" andcihuatl means "Woman".If you concentrate only on the white parts of the mountain, you can see an image of o woman sleeping with head towards your right as you look at it. There is an "Aztec love myth" behind these mountains which you can see it in "Wikipedia" if you are interested. :)

The two together and the peaks covered in snow almost throughout the year. Though it s not nearer to the peaks, this view point is very enjoyable. You can have a cup of coffee from the nearby cafe and can laze around the place for sometime.

Then we headed to see the largest pyramid in the world. Its base is four times bigger than the base of the pyramid of Giza, Egypt. We were so exicted and on reaching there we were able to find a church on top of the hill just like one of the murugan temples in our place. :( :(. We went to the tour guide and hesitatingly we asked him. Is this the pyramid? He said that there was one long long ago and in due course of time it was destroyed both naturally and also by humans. When the Spanish ruled, they constructed a church on top of this. Its very sad to know that they have lost one of their major assets.

We were not able to believe that this was once a pyramid, until we saw some excavation work going on down. We were so much disappointed that we dint have any tunnel ride. The guide said that its all stopped cuz of the ruins.(We were reminded of how the hotel staff reacted when we went to book this trip. He said it is such a beautiful trip and you have this "toonel"( tunnel) walk etc and all turned out to be craps.) Finally we went up to the church, took few clicks and came back hoping the next stopwould compensate for this.

To be continued in my next post, Puebla Trip II. Dint want to make it too long!!

So long. Happy Reading!!!

This is in continuation with my last post. Well, in the previous post you would have seen me cribbing about how I was left behind. Many of you must have felt pity (hoping at least some did)for me. But there is going to be a twist in the tale!!! Yeah you guys are right. I am in Mexico and am posting this form here!!. Here goes Nisha in Mexico!! :) :)

Back to Square One

Well this is in continuation with my last post. Now that he is left, i am back to square one again. Well you guys must be wondering that i would be back to bachelor/spinster life, rather a forced one. If thats what you are thinking, its not (Wish i could get back to those good old times

Never trust MNC's

It all started in the mid week of October, when my hubby received a mail early in the morning at 5. Official. It stated,

Hi Sundar,

Could you please provide your SSN for further processing of papers.

Thanks,

David

To any guy who works in an MNC and has an onsite dream, the first thing that rings in his brain on seeing SSN is "USA"( Well you can say that many countries across the world have SSN. But I am particularly referring to guys, who work for US based software companies and who dream everyday "onsite project") and Sundar was no exception to this.

The next scene is exactly what you guys imagined!! Both of us falling into dreams.... "Wow.... Onsite project... Paid honeymoon.. What a timing!!!(we are newly wedded.. ;) ).... Roam around the whole country.... Oh God!! please let this get extended as a long term project... Blah.. Blah.... and so on......"

From then onwards it was only merriment and gay, until Sundar had talks with his senior managers. We came to know that he would be shuttling between US & Mexico.This jeopardized our whole plan and of course "our dreams". We were in a real quandary. Neither he could back out nor i could go with him if this is the situation. We were also sure that his stint would be more than 2 months(Experienced previously, where they would initially say its 2 months and keep extending it further by 2 more months. This will be like a hide & seek play and you would not be able to schedule anything.)

His requirement as usual was ASAP. We finally decided to stop cribbing & vacillating as his company was urging him to book tickets in the nearest available dates. It was decided(thinking it was wise) that he would go and try to finish his assignment and return in 2 months(which is highly impossible!!!). I would be left home and my in laws would be here with me. Finally Nov 7th came, to "see him off".

P.S. Lesson Learnt!!!

• Never trust your company fully. It would not be fair on our part to complain the company alone. Though the company kept saying it is a US project, actually in one of his mails(project codes),it was mentioned both US & Mexico. He overlooked it.
• We also came to know that H1B is not only for USA but we are eligible to travel around 60 countries with it.

My 2nd Post :) :)

I sat down to post about my weekend trip. But ultimately i ended up spending whole 3 hours watching FRIENDS, TWO & HALF MEN and customizing my blog.(I kept changing & changing and still am not satisfied with my blog's new appearance. Wish the josh would die down soon :) :)).

Now i have other work to do, hope to post about it at least tomorrow.

So Long. Happy reading & Blogging!!

Truly Madly Deeply!!!

There are things, that when they happen the first time, we never forget and we consider it very special. We hold it very close to our heart.

So is our First Love. So is mine. My first love, first date, my first sensual kiss and sensual hug and so on… He is that Special someone, a special idiot and a man beyond my dreams!!!

One who made my heart skip- a- beat,

One whom I am crazy about.

One who filled my soul with ecstasy,

Only one to admire my stupidity.

One to hold me hand- in- hand,

One who made me trip and fall in his love.

One who embraces my heart with his warmth,

One who set my heart on fire.

One who adores me and make me feel special,

One who makes me forgets the entire world.

Well I can go on and on… He is my first, last and the best of all the things that has ever happened in my life.

This is to you my sweetheart. You have changed my whole life, only to make it more colorful and made it Complete!!!

I love you. Truly madly and deeply I do!!!