The long road till I had to 'search' my blog online

Today I met me from 5 years ago. I remembered I used to blog and then searched for me online to reach it. I read the paltry 7 posts I had written several years ago, one of which was about planning to blog more often :)
This post reminisces my life 5 years ago based on those posts and is also a bit of 'then and now'

1. Dilli vs Mumbai - In this post I rant about how unsafe Dilli is and it is disturbing to see how it has become only more unsafe. Previously it was only the few women who talked about it, now the world knows. This situation has taken different proportions in my head now with me being mom to my beautiful 18m old baby girl
2. Lists - I still love 'em but I must admit I make far too few after turning Mommy. No time to make lists even!
3. An unpublished post titled Independence. Since it was unpublished, I will leave it that way since the me, then, wanted it so.
4. Which desperate housewive are you? This happened way before there was a quiz for everything from 'which country you belong to' 'which Yeh Jawaani hai deewani character are you' to 'what kind of pizza are you'!!! So you are a pineapple pizza, then?
5. Mahashivratri goodies - I was severely jealous of this me. I had a 3 day weekend which I spent on cooking Maharashtrian food and watching movies and TV while sipping chai. Refer to point 1 and 2 here to guess why I am jealous now.

Life has changed so dramatically in these 5 years. What wouldn't I give for a long weekend of doing nothing but binge watch TV shows and sip on chai? Heck even a day will be bliss! 

Mahashivratri goodies

We at Nestle had a chhutti on Mahashivratri which fell on Monday, 23 Feb this year. This made it a fantastic 3 day long weekend (only for me), Etch was (ofcourse!) working on Monday. I have been fasting on Mahashivratri since I was a kid (believe it or not!) and got my husband into it the same way that every maharashtrian is – ‘Sabudana khichdi’ and ‘ Variche tandul with danya chi amti’ – Pictures have been picked from the internet and not shot at home This time it was by far the best khichdi I have ever made – I think it was really close to the one Aai makes…and that makes me very happy! Etch was maha impressed by the goodies and smilingly fasted all day. And this is when he hasn’t even tasted ‘Ratalyacha kees’ – we will keep that for a Sankashti The other great thing about Mahashivratri this time was that it gave me the opportunity to watch history unfold live. I watched the Oscars with my morning cuppa tea and enjoyed every bit of it – the tea, the Oscars show and ofcourse Rahman winning 2 statuettes. That kept me on a high all day long. I had just watched Slumdog Millionaire on Saturday night (on Tata Sky Rs 25 only!) and was really happy to see the slum kids enjoy themselves at the Oscars. The beauty of this Slumdog team was that they actually looked like one big happy family and the camaraderie did not seem fake at all Incidently, apart from Slumdog I also watched Delhi 6, Jaane tu ya jaane na and Dor. Delhi 6 makes you think – each one of us is faced by this option are some point in our life, atleast we think about it every now and then. The question remains, what is it that you choose? Hmm... I realise I have drifted farrr away from the topic up here and hence... All in all a good weekend!

Which desperate housewife are you?

After I read Avanti's blog on this topic, I got thinking and I was totally sure I would be Bree. Well, I was wrong - I was Gabby too! So I took another quiz on a different site (which had different questions obviously) and did not rig them!! And guess what, I DID turn out to be Bree... But I think when I was supposed to be Gabby - it was the more recent Gabby from Season 4 - where she is the mum of 2. I think I could be that one you know... Here is a link to another quiz - if you are not satisfied with the previous results ;)

I am going to blog more...

As a person who used to keep a diary and use the pen to express myself, I think I should be blogging more frequently. Its just that the moment I feel like saying something, its easier to get the pen and paper than access the internet. I am sure many of you would completely disagree with that but that is what I think...

Lists

I cannot begin to tell you how important lists are and how intergral they are to my personal and professional life. I make lists for pretty much everything. I have lists for things I need to do in a day which would read something like this:

• Go to Needs supermarket
• File tax returns
• Book tickets for travel
• Keep an eye for air travel sectors opening up
• Ask maid about something

And then more detailed lists to define each of the above for e.g. on tax returns:

• Ask someone in office if they know a CA
• Remind Etch to follow up with Colpal for Form 16
• Put together all documents

And then another one which lists down what needs to be done with each of these documents:

• Photocopy Form 16 - 2 (etch's and mine)
• Photocopy last year's saral forms
• Photocopy all investment proofs etc etc

So thats how my life goes. CAll me boring if you may. But trust me it rids you of a lot of stress. That is ofcourse if you are the type to get stressed out over the 'things to do'

Its a huge relief to know you dont HAVE to keep something in mind and remember to remember something somewhere.

The secret to many a stressfree moments is "Making lists" and many a stressbusting moments is "Ticking things off"

Dilli Vs Mumbai/ Pune/ any other part of the world!

Dilli Vs Mumbai - This discussion has almost become a part of my everyday life. I badly want to get over this as I HAVE to begin to like Delhi coz Ive gotto live here!! Everyday somehow I am given a new reason to hate this place. This place happens to be Gurgaon and not Delhi - this is the standard excuse every Delhiite has to offer!! But trust me its all the same - Potato - Potaato.... Well to being with:

1. There are no autorickshaws, taxis, buses or local trains here! Keep the metro logic to yourself; its still not here and even when it is, its not going to help me commute from Phase V to Phase II. Delhiites answer to this? - if you have a car its absolutely no problem - Those you dont find this the most ridiculous solution to problems, stop reading - none of this will make any sense to you!

2. Dont get me started on the HL guys (Hariyanvi Lafantar guys) and their sense of style, impression of women and idea of fun!

The place just basically lacks the warmth... Dont mean temperatures - we have plenty of that!!

You realise what independence really is when you come from a Mumbai or Pune to Delhi/ Gurgaon! I remember riding my scooty at 4 a.m. on new year's eve (I know not the smartest thing to do even in Pune!!) or simply riding out in the rains in and around Kamala Nehru park, having vada pao and cutting chai with only girl friends amidst 50 other men (including some cute guys ;) - Etch this was when you were totally not in the picture!!!) Or taking a 10.30 p.m local from Churchgate to Andheri and having women raise a huge alarm when anything closest to a male mistakingly enters a ladies compartment! :) The only time I feel safe is when Etch is beside me... Gosh what an ego booster this place can be for men!! Hmm.... Thats all for now... As I was saying previously, I have something to add to this every single day!

Mike testing

Test mail Check check - one two three (I want to do that on a mike sometime in my life)