Me: I was thinking about the deal. I think I'm fine with a Labrador pup. But it has to be here before the year ends.
The Dude: I was thinking too. Of a new upgraded deal. I'm thinking of getting you both dogs, a pug AND a Lab.
Me: *Shocked* What? Seriously? By the end of this year?
The Dude: Yes yes, totally. But of course, it's a deal, so it's in exchange for something.
Me: Ohkaay. What would that be?
The Dude: Well the Lab is for making you stop whining about moving. And the pug is to put a stop to your rising maternal instincts*. What say?
Me: :O :O :O! *WTF*!!

So,  I am here to write about our song. Yes, we too have a song, and like I-Love-Lucy said, we too are that kind of people. 

The Dude and I unfortunately do not have the same taste in music. He is very firang when it comes to this, and I have come to know that it is not just for the purpose of looking smart, he actually does know a lot. Oh come on! How does one explain humming along every damn track that plays on VHI! I on the other hand, am very much desi. Lots of Bollywood, Indi-Pop for me and angrezi music knowledge is extremely limited, mainly to recommended tracks which I might get pretty much addicted to. But ask me to identify a song by a band, whose other song I love, zilch. I would never be able to do it. And, I don’t understand Pink Floyd. There, you get the idea now.

So, it was a pretty difficult concept to have a song, especially because we might be rarely listening to and enjoying the same music. Anyways, the Dude thought it was a good idea to educate me a bit more about how nice English music could be and over one of our very many chats on the office messenger, sent me the lyrics of the song Yellow by Cold Play saying it was one of the most beautiful songs. And my instant reaction was ‘Ok, now those are weird lyrics! The guy is just calling everything yellow!' And the dude was equally disappointed because he thought it was an extremely romantic number (more so because it was a prospective song from him to me kinds). All he replied however was a ‘L ’ and asked me to listen to it, I might like it after all. 

I never downloaded it for a long time, and believed firmly that I would never ever grow fond of a song which called the stars, and everything yellow. Finally the Dude was back, and we resumed our long drives, and he had long ago given up on asking me to try and listen to the song. Some random cd was playing in the car, and it happened to have yellow on it. When we reached the song, for some reason (has to be the weather or something) I mentioned how beautiful the song was. Surprisingly, and very conveniently I missed the word yellow and heard the rest of the song, for the first time, and loved it. Though that was a very ‘I told you so’ moment for the dude, it was humbly accepted.

Anyways, every time it played, good things seemed to happen. When the Dude again left for another of his trips abroad, and I was as usual cribby, somehow the song would appear on VH1 (which would be playing only because I was surfing channels) and things would be fine. And magically this would play on most cds randomly chosen for long drives (ok, honestly I think this is because the song is on most of the mixed Cds). The song also made a special appearance on our wedding card. And was the first on the cd to be played during the reception (but which didn’t because we didn’t have an input jack to connect to a laptop or an mp3 player, so we had Himesh Reshamiya as our wedding theme, and now we are deviating). So the song has by now firmly lodged itself in the Music ∩ us space.

I came along , I wrote a song for you, oh what a thing to do
And it was called Yellow..

Yep, that be our song J  

I simply have to write. See, whenever I don’t blog for a while, I end up blaming lack of interesting enough things in life for it. But right now, there are so many things I would like to record and remember (that’s what I blog for right?), that I have to write. Whatsoever. So here we go!

We won! And I caught ONLY the last over of the match. Why you ask? Well, because all the seniors at work conveniently dumped their jobs on the insignificant few at us, and disappeared. Where you ask (or don’t, I am telling you anyways)? To a nearby place to watch the WHOLE match. Talk about unfair. Hmph. Well, no complaints, because watching the last over, standing on my toes, and peeping into the neighboring floor (they have a TV on the work-floor for heaven’s sake! Two in fact! Talk about unfair. Hmph - repeat) and then cursing the tall guy in front, and then stomping away after the six, and then getting back anyways, because, well you couldn’t afford to see how it went after all, then standing with the mouth wide open as the ball went into the air, and then jumping and screaming like a banshee when Sreesanth took the catch, and then telling everyone on the way back that we won ( of course they already knew) and so and so forth, can be equally, if not more, fun. (Phew, that wins the longest sentence award: D). So, I am not really complaining.

Saturday was night out with The Dude, and I was all for some serious partying, when I found out that the place was invaded with Cricket freaks. So I spent the next 10 minutes grumbling about how the evening was ruined, and the hour and a half after that, enjoying what I think will be my favorites match ever. I haven’t had more fun watching a match, and of course, we beat the so called best!

Sunday night was Indian Idol Grand Finale, and I am depressed even now thinking about it. All I can say is I am glad I didn’t sit through the entire 3 hours of pain, for the most ridiculous judgment in the history of mankind (ok, I am exaggerating, but it was horrid. Pah! No more audience poll based silly, stupid, biased shows!)

And of course, the Sunday evening drive to one really pretty place. The Shamirpet Lake was much above my expectations, and the weather did an awesome job projecting it even better. I am so going there again!

Oh ya, I made cake. Choco-walnut cake. And guess what, it actually tasted good (I wanted to say awesome, but I don’t want smart comments about ‘self-appraisal’, ‘poor souls who had to eat it’ etc). Fact is, I burnt the sample ( see, so smart of me, I know my limitations, and hence get proactive (!!?)), but the final version was awesome! There. I said it.

Ok that was a fairly long ramble, and I myself tend to avoid blog posts which are little too long, but couldn’t help it, long week I had. But I will stop now. So till then, oh, ok, wait. Last thing. Tuesday, I did this cool ‘work from home’ thing, which was nice, as in lazy nice, but I realized I eat twice as much if I am at home. Yikes! So that’s not happening again. Ok, that’s about it. Till then, Ciao!

P.S. Lime wire rocks! The past few days, I have …. Ok nothing, I said I would stop. So I will. Tada.

 Disclaimer: The following post is a fairly long ramble with a considerable amount of mush embedded content. Individuals allergic to any such material may kindly refrain from reading the same.              

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So, you turn an year older today. And though I know that you are not all that thrilled about that, it is a reason to celebrate. Hello, it’s your birthday. And I didn’t get you a gift after all. And you know that it’s not that I forgot to get you something. It’s because I simply cannot decide what to get you, and you are no help either. And no, suggesting that I buy you RPL shares, o simply hand over cash is not help. Thanks. So the gift is due. Let me know when you can think of something. Appropriate.

Coming back to the point, it is your birthday today, and I would rather let you know that you are in fact the kind of person who makes you actually think of phrases like 'Oh man, things couldn't get better than this!'. Seriously, I mean it; I wouldn’t put my credibility at stake by declaring something I was not sure about so publicly, would I? So coming to the reasons now, well there are many. I am not a very easy person to be with, and I did warn you about that before. I am moody, hyper panicky, cribby, short tempered, too emotional at times, which all adds up to, well, pretty irritating (at times, mind it). But you actually succeeded in managing that, and pretty well I must say. I am not saying you made it all disappear (oh that would need super human powers, and after all, that’s me), but you make it impossible to be that way for more than a few minutes. And all that, just by being the way you are! Now that is something big, isn’t it? Huh? More than that, I am the happiest I have ever been right now. The closest happy I can remember being is probably when I was 3 and didn’t have to care about school, or work, or anything, and was being pampered by my family. See. That’s big.

So today, all I can say is that, for being the way you are and for many other things (like when you become my snooze button for however long I want every morning before gym, and when you made me the ‘bulls-eye’ on the stove when there was a power cut and I was all bugged, and when you bought the good day biscuits because I couldn’t have any the day before, and for watching Indian Idol and supporting Amit Paul, and , ok I will stop now, it’s kinda endless, the list you know), you obviously deserve the best in life. And I am sure you will get it too (See, it already started with the Fed cutting interest rates!). Happy Birthday!

I have been gymming for a while now. Ok fine, its more like, it’s a while since I paid for the gym now. In fact, it will be 4 weeks this Saturday. Ok-ok, that’s not much and probably doesn’t deserve to be called ‘a while’, but knowing my track record, its good enough. Trust me.

So, getting back to the point, my intentions were very clear. I was targeting 5 days a week to begin with , which would go down to 4 days once I was half way through to my goal weight, and then to 3, when I finally did reach it. So, that was about it. Now the gym is open 24 hours, and my work timings allow me to go at a very convenient time of say around 8 (which would give me my much needed 7 hours of sleep), work out for an hour, and get back by 9 30 and then continue on my now refreshed day. But. That was not to happen, especially when you are married to someone who thinks the only good time to go work out is when the sun is not out yet, there is no traffic on the road ( because the normal souls would be sleeping) and, the gym is empty ( refer to the same reasoning as before).Easy for him, he can survive with 3 hours of sleep, after an hour long work out, 10 hours at work, 3 hours of travel, and 3 hours of market analysis and 5 hours of I don’t know what. But I love my sleep, so we reached a common 6 30 AM after negotiations (If I think back, I don’t what I negotiated at all! Actually he suggested 5 AM but the gym doesn’t open so soon. Bah!)

So we are up at 6:15, and take bike ride to the place, to, well, work out. 20 minutes on the tread mill, then some stretches to warm up, and then some weights and stuff. Now I am pretty happy with the way I am, and the gym thing is more from a fitness perspective than anything else (Oh whatever!).But here comes the villain. The instructor. We call him ‘Disgusted face’. Interesting character this guy, he puts off poor people there, with his awesome perennial disgusted expression. The scowl is forever there, and gets more pronounced, when someone says they are done with 3 sets of push-ups (Eh? 3? 2 more), or when some one is doing some back leg kicks slower than he wants them to (usually me, ‘ eh, faster, what is this, what exactly are you doing?’). The exact look is like what you have when you spot something that you left in the refrigerator ages ago, and forgot all about, and suddenly found it today, and could not make out what it was. Or when you spot a guy wearing a bright pink silk shirt. Or the expression you have when you watch the SX4 ad (ok that’s for me specifically, and deserves a whole post of its own, seriously). That kinda expression. Not at all encouraging I must say. The Dude isn’t too fond of him either, especially since the day he came up to him, looked at his biceps and nodded as if we were wasting his time, and asked him to do 3 more sets of weights. In fact he claims that the guy is trying to kill him. 

Anyways, so now, 4 weeks later, I kept my 5 days a week promise to myself twice, and the other two weeks, it was 4 days and 2 days respectively, which makes it 4 days a week on an average (which btw is an extraordinary achievement in itself, the last time I lasted 20 days in 3 months, and of course I had valid reasons for bunking). I don’t know if it has helped me in anyways yet, but my legs do feel lighter today. Actually they feel all wobbly, and my knees have a mind of their own, they some what decide whether or not they need to bend at times, which is slightly dangerous, especially while climbing down stairs. Or on second thoughts, I can use the sprained ankle excuse to bunk a few more days. No no, this time we are looking at serious fitness. The dude surprisingly has been extremely regular, and makes me feel guilty every time I do bunk, so it is kinda tough.

But it’s going as of now and I am in fact dragging myself out of bed every morning (ok fine, almost every morning). Which makes me think that I haven’t moved from my seat even for a drink of water since I came (thanks to the wobblers), and I should in fact go get a glass of water (Strict instructions from Disgusted Face). So I will stop the rant here, and go do that. Till then, Ciao!

• Married life is good, especially if you wake up at 9, get bed coffee, and are asked ‘You want to sleep for some more time?’
• You cannot assume you hate the stock markets or anything to do with it, because one fine day you realize that you are watching the updates each morning, and even following up to see how they closed every evening.
• It is possible to make a ‘I-know-zilch-about-bollywood-music’ guy watch Indian Idol to an extent that he has a favorite singer in the lot, who is actually good.
• Shopping is fun if you are out with the right person. You might be out buying a 50 rupee garbage bin in China Bazaar, or blowing 600 bucks on a Photo Frame at Lifestyle, if the company is fun, the whole experience is.
• Visiting a desert in the middle of summer makes you understand and appreciate the weather in Hyderabad.
• Egypt is a beautiful choice for a first International vacation. 15 days after you are back, you watch History channel’s ‘Engineering an Empire – Egypt’ with a loony smile which seems to say ‘Oh, I built the pyramids’.
• The best way to while away time at an airport, when the flight is delayed by 3 hours and you have arrived an hour earlier than the scheduled time, is to play ‘Cows and Bulls’ with the dude. And win each time.
• Cruises are romantic. Extremely romantic.
• Weddings are a tough affair. It takes you a week to recover from a two hour ceremony and a 4 hour reception.
• You don’t know a thing when you feel that this is the happiest you could ever be. Especially since for a long time, each day has only been better than the last.

There is one thing I have finally come to accept. Change is inevitable. Whether it is for the better or for the worse, whether you want it or not, change happens. Or changes happen. Well, whatever. I am personally not a very big fan of change. I like things simple, stable, routine, even boring. Unless I am convinced that the change is actually something big, and is definitely very positive, which for me, hasn’t happened too often.

My very first aversion to change came to the fore pretty early. I was 3 and my little sister was born. Mom and dad had done their job of making me all excited about the idea, and actually look forward to having a sibling to play with all the time. And I was, suitably so. Well, almost, till it was 15 days since she had been staying with us and hogging all the attention. And I, straightforward that I am, went to my mom, and told her that I was really happy to have the kid around and all, but 15 days was enough, and so, could we please leave her where she came from and get back to normal? Just us? Me, mom and dad? Like before? Please?

Right now I want to;

1. Go to Vacs, and eat a chocolate box. It’s this 3 inch by 3 inch cube, with walls made of solid chocolate, which are a centimeter thick, and filled with chocolate cream, and with a chocolate stick to dip into it and eat.
2. Go to a disc which plays dhinchaak bollywood numbers and Punjabi tracks, and dance till I get all tired and breathless (and somehow make up in part for the sinful evil junk that I consumed earlier).
3. Get back home, and watch a movie (a mush flick would help) and have an unlimited supply of popcorn, lays, and coke.

         (And yeah, all of the above with The Dude of course.)

Right now I am;

1. Sitting at my desk, with no work, and no idea as to when I will get back home.
2. Feeling really sleepy, and miserable about my state.
3. And hence, typing this post.

Btw, Happy Valentine’s Day to y’all!