Yoo-hoo! New look for the blog! Ok fine, sad excuse for a new look. But not my fault. I spent quite some looking for the right theme for it, and I found out that for using 90% of the available themes, I need to upgrade the blog to a paid or plus account. The plus account being, you allow advertisements to be posted all over your page. Now that I believe is extremely ironical. In order to make your page pretty by choosing one out of the hajaar awesome options, you need to allow ugly advertisements all over it. Tut-tut. Very sad really. Yet another indication that I might as well move to wordpress. Anyways, all we did was flipped over from one free theme to another, actually the same one, and of course changing the color, and the clothes that DJ girl on the top right hand corner is wearing. Smart eh? 

By the way, anyone see the new Sony Ericson music phones, the shake-it-to-change-the-song-one? And did anyone else feel that it actually makes no sense it all? For one, how is shaking the instrument easier than clicking the button. Not to mention the enormous risks of dropping the phone every time you shake it. And what if you are travelling in a vehicle on Indian roads? Doesn’t that mean every time you go over a pothole, or the driver happens to be a Schumacher fan and brakes suddenly every time he realizes that the rest of the world isn’t, your song changes. Wow. Awesome feature this. Wonder what they will come up with next.

Last weekend had us visiting a Dog show in the city. And I fell in love with the canines all over again. And I am glad that my preferences are still the same as they were 3 years ago. I desperately want a pug. The ones I saw at the show were all so adorable, with their flat noses and sad eyes. And they are not too furry or big, so maintaining them shouldn’t be an issue really. The Dude was inclined towards the Rottweiler, more because sources claimed that 8 out of 10 of these snap at you for no reason. And by some weird analogy he claims snappy & unpredictable = alert and so he likes the dog, which looks menacing in general, very wolf-like. Anyhow, the practical issues of who would take care of it during the day crop up, and I am left with no choice but to give up. No Rottweiler and no pug. I am destined to stay pet-less. Hmmph.

And ya, last weekend also had us visit some kind of a get-together for Honda’s recent customers at their showroom. We went expecting some free gifts and gyan and a party, and it turned out to be a family event of sorts. So we had children running around, and painting competitions and lotsa gyan on car maintenance. Halfway through they announced that the men would continue with the gyan, while the women should go play tambola. So very sexist I think, as if women don’t need to know how to maintain the tires better. So I didn’t go, even though I still can’t drive, and The Dude was all fine, till he realized that the shiny gifts in the corner were only for the winners of the competitions. He was all miffed that I didn’t try my luck at the game; little does he know that I never win at all these luck games. I still remember at K, when we had tambola, and a last person standing round wherein the person who is the last to get any number on his card called out wins. I was among the last 2 of the 240 people playing, and still managed to lose. Because I do not win at all this.Period.

And we also wrote a CD for Honda City, called the Honda CD, The Dude’s idea, very smart I think. This has a mix of all our favorite Angrezi and Desi music, and of course all of our songs. So that’s all we listen to these days and it’s nice to be able to hum to the same tracks.

I notice that I have given up writing about a particular topic these days, it’s all so random. And nice in a way, don’t have to think at all while typing. So I will stay this way. Though I still wish I could make the page look nicer, and post pictures on it. I would post the pug’s pictures. Trust me, awesomely cute it was. Anyhow, that’s enough for now. Ciao.

'Divya's cupboard acts as home for new-born kittens. Again'

(And this time, there are three of them!! *Sigh*)

Once upon a time, there was a very cute cat called Momma cat .She lived in and around a huge 6 storeyed , old appartment in the middle of the market in an old city. Momma cat was extremely pretty, with white and grey fur and huge pearly cat-eyes (which all cats have, but hers din’t have the scary look in them).

On the particular day the story began, Momma cat was frantically looking for a cosy place. Not that she minded sleeping on window sills, or even on street corners, getting drenched in the rains, but this time she needed some place more comfortable real bad. Reason being, Momma cat was going to have kittens. And though she was very happy about it, she was worried that if she didn’t find the place soon, the kids might have to suffer the dreadful weather.

That was when Momma reached the terrace of the building. She usually didn’t need to go up there, but since she had failed to find anyplace since the morning, and it was pretty dark by now, she decided to check it out anyways. But a big surprised awaited her, as she saw that this terrace was not bare like those of other buildings! It actually had a few houses on it ( obviously illegally constructed, she knew more than five floors were not allowed here!). But it really didn’t matter to her then. She noticed that one of the houses actually had some 4 windows looking into the terrace, and was very excited! On top of that, one of those windows had the glass pane missing. So very carefully, after checking that there was no sound coming from the house, she squeezed in through the grills.

It was a fairly big room, and for its size was pretty bare, except for a TV, a fridge,an old rusted cot, piled with clothes, two really dirty chairs, and a few empty cardboard boxes…Hey wait! Cardboard boxes! That seemed good! So, she explored each of them, till she found the one which best suited her. It was a big box, very high, and would definitely take her some effort to get into it. But that was a good thing in a way too. It would take even the humans there, if any , some effort to meddle with her kids. Also, the box has a few other papers, thermocol pieces, which would be perfectly cosy.

For the next few days, she maintained a watch over the place, as to how many humans lived in the house, how much time they spent there, and how interested they were in her new found home. There were three of them , and luckily for her, they were hardly ever in the house. Either they were out, or they were sleeping and they never even touched the boxes. And so, a few days later, Momma cat, finally gave birth to two really cute kittens. Both extremely tiny and helpless, one was pure black, while the other had grey and black spots all over. She carefully placed them in one of the smaller boxes inside the carton, so that they were hardly noticeable.

But alas! As luck would have it, the babies seemd to have an incredible enthusiasm , and they seemed to use it all for wailing at the top of their lungs. Momma cat was very scared. She was sure that this would grab the attention of the always sleeping humans in the house. And obviously it did. First she heard one squeal “I think there are kittens in the house!!” Then she heard this information being relayed to the remaining two sleeping humans too, and surprisingly, it seemed to really interest them. As if her kids were some kind of entertainment objects. She peeped out of her box indignantly just in time to see, three curious heads peeping in. And as soon she did that, all three of the heads yelled, and ran back to their rooms! Momma cat sighed,” tsk tsk, these humans…”

For the next two days, Momma cat was very relaxed. She had realised that the humans around were nothing to actually be scared of, infact, they seemed to be scared of her! They also seemed to have this continuous curiousity about her children, and peeped into the box every now and then. But, none of them ever seemed to make an attempt to touch the kids, leave alone harm them. And that was all that mattered. She actually heard them discuss that, she might not accept the kids, if they tried touching them! As if! She would defnitely scratch them for touching the babies, but why would she abandon them?

But it was not to remain that way forever. Billa, a huge brown, ugly cat in the neighbourhood, was spotted on the terrace. That was very dangerous, as Billa was known to kill helpless kittens all the time. Momma cat was alarmed. So that evening, she picked up the kittens, and hid them right outside the house. When one of the human’s returned home that night , Momma cat went back to check if the box was safe again. It all happened at once. Billa jumped into the box, and the human ran out of the kitchen, screaming, into the other room. Billa obviously was highly disappointed, to find the box empty. And this irritating human was bent upon creating a ruckus with all her screaming.  He turned to find Momma cat entering the room, and lunged at her. There was a short scuffle, but Billa was too hungry and disappointed to continue, so he left Momma cat and went searching for an alternative dinner.

Momma cat was nearly in tears, but she was glad that her babies were safe. As she walked back to them thinking of the long night ahead when she would have to search a new home , she could hear the humans trying to check out whether the babies were safe. They weren’t so bad after all!

That was when it stuck her! These people seemd to have no trouble with her staying in the house, and they seemed to love her babies, so why couldn’t she just search for some place safer in their house? Their rooms seemed pretty warm, and there was one where one of the cupboards wouldn’t close. It had some old clothes too. It would be just perfect for her and the babies. So the next morning when the humans left the house, she shifted her babies to the cupboard.

The human whose room it was returned the first that night. She didn’t seem to notice anything, and went back to the hall to watch some TV. Momma cat was worried that she might hear the babies squeal, but she was too engrossed in the loud programme she was watching. But the babies seemed to grow louder and louder, till finally the light was switched on. The human, along with her other friend came in. Momma cat kept praying they wouldn’t see her, but that was impossible, what with the noise the kids were making. So finally, two heads, emerged from behind the cupboard door , and saw her. Momma cat just stared back, wondering what they would do. But she seemed to freak them out completely, as they yelped once again, and ran out of the room. She heard them crib for a while and then sigh as to how cute her kids were. The human also moved her bed into her friend’s that night.Now she was sure that they would do nothing to her or the babies, and she could safely stay there as long as she wanted. With this thought, she snuggled with her kittens and went to sleep.

*********The End**********

P.S. I still don’t know how long I will have to stay in my friend’s room, but am sure not going into mine till the cats leave. Btw, both kittens are extremely adorable, and their eyes are open now. We call them ‘Chaen-Chaen’ and ‘Paen-Pean’, thanks to their continuous ‘Chaen-Chaen, Paen-Paen’, that doesn’t allow us to sleep. But I maintain, they are adorable J.