Mundane Musings

I’m sorry I haven’t uploaded my blog in a while. You see, I was busy…getting married. I am married! Yay! I love the way the diamonds in my ring catch the light and sparkle brilliantly and that seems to sum up the way I feel right now. Sparkling. For most part of the days, S and I have been asking each other this question – Are we really married? We were so sure we’d be in the “we are dating’ category for so long that when we got hitched, I had to keep telling myself that it wouldn’t be long before the Big day. And then of course the wedding got postponed due to a personal loss and we were stuck in the ‘I’m hitched’ category for some time. And now, I blink and I find myself married. To the man of my er….dreams. Of course, now he is a living breathing entity. Very real. When we were engaged there were so many things that we didn’t expect would change: 1. I was Cinderella. No, I don’t seem to have suddenly got an identity crisis. It’s just that I was nicknamed that because like her, I had...

So as the D-day approaches, I find myself being suitably busy. Clothes, venue, décor, catering etc etc for two occasions, had to be planned. And whew God! It’s over. But then the invite for the party that we are hosting after our marriage, had to be done. Since this is an offbeat marriage and only our select friends were to be invited, I didn’t want the traditional wedding invites printed. I wanted to make the cards myself. Well, it was easy to say….but surprisingly it all just fell into place the way I wanted. I had to first think of the theme of our party. And since it was to be in one of the famous addresses in the city, I didn’t have much to do but to milk the setting for what it’s worth. So, ‘party under the stars’ was born. That meant I needed a ‘star’ theme. Lots of ideas swept over me. At last I settled for a bright starry invite. It was not a dark, mysterious night party card; more so it was a bright, cheery starry card. Yeah…I know you must be shaking your head saying ‘weird’...

Beautiful rain soaked Pondicherry. Sigh. The French quarter is so lovely! The streets are wet but clean. Walking under the green canopy, feeling the fat droplets of rain, telling myself not to think about getting back to Chennai - rather sums up my holiday here. I can never tire of walking here. It seems to be the most natural thing to do. Every time I come here I find something new to do. This time too after driving down the scenic ECR, we checked into Executive Inn, a hotel conveniently placed in the French quarter and close to the promenade and the famous Manakula Vinayagar Temple. We were hungry and we were familiar with the menu at Executive Inn. So after a decent meal of butter parathas and paneer matar, we were ready to walk. I never have any particular destination in mind when in the French quarter of Pondi. I was sure I’d chance upon some charming shop that I’d missed out the previous time. And that’s what happened. We walked about the promenade taking in the co...

I know I’ve been sleeping on my blog. But I’ve been working as a beaver all these months…collecting stuff to fill up these pages in the days to come. So yeah...I ain't a lazy bum after all! I start with one of my first projects. Take a look at my Nikah ensemble. I took pictures with my trusted Sony Ericsson just to record this dress for posterity. I love my dress, I love the jewellery I have tried to match with it and I love the idea of wearing it and posing for pics J The challenge was the colour of my dress. Why? Because being a Mallu my stock of gold jewellery was higher than stone. As a result, I didn’t really have much of what I had that could be worn with this dress. As you can see it’s of an Englsih Rose colour with stones and diamante placed all over the dress. I could not use gold over this predominantly silver and pink background. So I started thinking in the lines of pearl, diamonds, stones etc. And here it is. My maang tika is a chain whic...

People who sell wares on the roads, especially in non-commercial localities, have a distinct style to calling out their wares. Almost all are very catchy and sometimes difficult to figure out unless of course you come out of your home and check out the wares they sell…that being their objective I think. A few sounds which have intrigued me for years…yep I ain’t kidding, I’ve listed below. I have figured every one of them…but would you have, if you had heard it for the first time? Koaaaaaaah….Koaaaaah – Well, wish I could upload a recording of this man’s cry early in the morning. That should be a clue for people living in tradition soaked Madras. He cycles along slowly with a white sack at the back and makes this sound. The sound itself doesn’t rise in the same level instead there is a slight dip immediately after ‘o’ and the first ‘ah’ of the many ‘ah’ sounds. And what was it? It was, I kid you not, Kolamaaave (rangoli powder)! I guess years of selling the stuff made him come out ...

I have been reading ‘Committed – a love story’ by Elizabeth Gilbert, of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ fame. I love that lady’s books. She has a way of writing stories which I have always been meaning to write. She beat me to it…that woman! Ok just kidding. Aside from the small fact that if I wrote a book the only number of copies it would sell would probably be a grand number of probably 5; I don’t think I have the energy to plough through so many thoughts and insecurities of mine in order to come up with a logical story like what she has written. Still, it is a subject of marriage. And anyone tracking the lives of married people will note the number of contradictions that exist in this complex, living, thriving relationship. Which is what seems to be evident in her book too and it was with a bit of disappointment that I read the end of the book. It was hardly an ending, more a confused summing up of facts. But then I realized one could never come to a logical conclusion about this institution ca...

Hmmm so the rains are slowly tiptoeing in. Chennai has been facing intermittent light rains for the past few days. This post has been long pending. I somehow feel I have a connection with the rains. I generally write one blog atleast on the rains. This post is not a list of the top rain songs in Hindi. My friend had forwarded one such list called the GreatBong Rain Song List which was pretty interesting. If you guys are quite the 90s movie buff then the songs will sound familiar. Here is the link to that: http://greatbong.net/2011/07/09/the-greatbong-rain-song-list/#more-25570 But lets get back to my post. I am uploading just one video from the movie Manzil (1979) featuring Amitabh Bacchan and Moushmi Chatterjee. I love this song, for a number of reasons. 1. Moushmi and Amitabh...what a combination. She looks like a kid skipping along as she tries to match the tall man's stride. 2. Amitabh was an established hero by 1979 with Namak Halal, Zanjeer, Sholay etc under his bel...

Listening to Sholay – Yeh dosti hum nahi thodenge and writing this post. This week has been very difficult for me and it would be for a longer time…if not for those beautiful angels called FRIENDS. This post was not meant to be on friendship. But I am just not able to wade through the memories of the past week without paying tribute to the most age old of relationships. The countdowns have ceased…temporarily And I can’t try writing the reason for it Weei Without feeling a pause in my heartbeat Without feeling a sense of numbness coming over me. The preparations will have to continue after a while, Just as my dreams will have to be on hold…for a while. But a while…is like an eternity An endless void before I have the guts to dream again. The rain is pouring and pouring with such intensity On a day when I hoped to be making a transition A transition which would have included Watching this beautiful rain with him…from our home. Just like this magnificent rain, after a very sunny humid day...

For forgetful people like me and S, God has thankfully given enough reference points to remember our wedding date when we sit in our verdant garden, a good 5 yea....er... 15years later, reminiscing the good ol' days asking - which year did we get married darlin? I am sure either of us could come up with the following: 1. Oh, the year Bin Laden was killed by the U.S. Forces Re: Yeah? And which year was that? 2. The year Jayalalitha came to power with a trouncing victory? Re: Don't tell me! Did we marry as early as the 1990s? 3. Ayyo! No baba, the year Mamata Banerjee became the CM of W. Bengal. The first lady CM. Re: Hmmm. Was that in...? 4. Yeah...the year India won the World Cup in Cricket. Re: Now you are confusing me. Surely not the 1980s? 6. Dear lord. Don't you remember even the Royal Wedding. Everybody was simpering over Katherine's dress and the dashing bald Prince. Surely you couldn't have forgotten that date? Re: Actually I think I have. I do ...

On Wednesday last, S kept reminding me of a surprise that he wanted to give. Upon asking what the occassion was, I got a smartie question - do I always wait for an occassion to give you a surprise? Well, yeah he was right. He did give me the odd surprises, some memorable, some well...forgettable; like the one where we wanted to surprise a Salman Khan fan like me with movie tickets to Veer. He didnt realize that I was not that loyal a fan to see my hero trying miserably to act like a village bumpkin while unleashing phony american accent in a British (or was it American?) university. Sallu never really did understand the concept of preparing for his role. Anyway, I am deviating. So with slight trepidation about the timing of the surprise, Ready - another Sallu movie - had released just last Friday, I hinted at the movie being not so good. S was ready to agree with me and to assure me that we will not be watching this movie. So what was the surprise? I was trying to crack it when h...

So the countdown to our wedding has started. Slated to be held on June 24th of this year, the preparations for the same are going well…well… I guess not so well. But my enthusiasm and creative rush is hard to contain. I just hope I channelize it to something fruitful…like…well getting myself a tasteful and intimate wedding. Anyway coming back to this post, I have decided to put in top headlines from local newspapers and relate it to my experience of the same day. Let’s see what comes of it. Here goes… June 1st: Jaya’s Frenetic Pace. (CM Jaya took a slews of steps to implement her vision for TN’s development….) And here in the very same Chennai, the capital city, one Ms. JJ has also started at a frenetic pace towards her wedding preparations. Yup. I have. At least that is how I was on Day 1. I did a small dress rehearsal and liked what I saw. I tried on my sindoor red and off white matka (?) silk saree and loved the very auspicious look it gave me. I even tried on a bit of make up with ...

Warning: This post is not for cynics. Don't tell me I didnt warn you. Its not the first time that I have taken inspiration from songs to say whats on my mind. The foundation of S and my relationship has been different songs sent as a medium to express our thoughts. He infact courted me by sending me a song everyday. So today, on his birthday I have picked this utter mushy song - Because you loved me, by Celine Dion, because, frankly inspite of its corniness, it seems to express my thoughts exactly. So bhavs, Happy birthday to you! This is for you. For all those times you stood by me (your unending loyalty) For all the truth that you made me see (the truth about my insecurities) For all the joy you brought to my life (oh...that list is long) For all the wrong that you made right (you are my regular handy man for all my problems) For every dream you made come true (of getting married, of having a house, of loving me endlessly) For all the love I found in you (which you have no ...

Boy meets girl. Fall in love. Get married and live happily everafter. My story? The boy in the picture an ex-business magnet in his late forties, separated from his wife, has two left feet but has a deep voice. The girl, a divorcee, in her early thirties, who is going through a phase of indian-born-clueless-female. So given such delicious context, it was a miracle that after 5 years 4 months and 15 days of song dedications, love notes, fights, shouting matches, near break ups; quiet, beautiful moments, fabulous lunches and dinners...we are now getting hitched. Whew! The easy part was convincing ourselves and our friends that we loved each other. The difficult part was convincing our families. So it was with great trepidation that I went to meet S's parents in their house wearing a trustworthy silk saree and blouse, looking as if I was completely sure of what I was doing. My mom who took some convincing to come around, was with me and our nerves were stretched ti...

Sometimes the stars align themselves just right ;) Ah!