Yay!! My first blog award!!

Thanks a ton, Tharani !! Tharani of  Roller Coaster Ride fame  fame gave me the first award in the blog world! :) . I'm all glee. And sorry , sorry for being so late (: in receiving and acknowledging  the first award..

Without much ado, let me take the award and do the tag .



The rules are:

Rule 1: Each nominee must link back the person who nominated them.
           Linked above in my Thank you note :)
Rule 2: Answer 10 questions given to you by the nominator

Q 1)  What does your name mean?
           I have two names, one is the name of a Goddess and the meaning of other name is "beautiful, elegant" (ahem, ahem).

Q 2) What are your hobbies?
            Hobbies vary from time to time. Last few years, it has been books, very recently, some dabbling with painting, prior to that, was hooked to music.

Q 3) According to you, what was the driving force that let you into the blogging world?
           My husband , S introduced me to the blog world,he himself had a blog where he religiously wrote about cricket and some more cricket and economics and some general stuff. During my miscarriages, I've been hooked to mommy-blogs and in an attempt to jot down all the rambling that goes in my mind, I started various blogs, deleted them in due course and finally trying to stick on here. In short, driving force is : I like the idea of having an online journal to vent, to record whats happening in my life and what goes on in my mind.

Q 4) What was the most recent compliment you’ve received and savoured?
            Most recent one(y'day) was that one of my team members said he felt good being in my company. I felt glad hearing this .

Q 5) What are the top three qualities that draw you to someone new?
             Honesty, sense of humor, and being simple without showing any airs.

Q 6) If you could eliminate one weakness or limitation in your life, what would it be?
             Indecisiveness!! Ahhh.A few years back, I would have said , temper. Not that I have become all that patient and saadhu-sant types, but life has thrown me many a lemony situations and I've tried to be patient and hope to get better at it..But this one, the indecisiveness, I need to start doing something about it.

Q 7)  What was the best news you ever received?
            Quite some , like when I topped the class/school/district in 10th/12th, on seeing two pink lines (though the news was a happy one only for a short duration, the first time I saw, it was indeed the best news) in the preg test card, when sis got through the B-school etc. But, at this point, I would say, still waiting for the bestest news :)

Q 8) If you could hold on to just one memory from your life forever, what would that be?
             Again, quite a few, cant pin-point on one (: . But one memory that is probably in the top few is : When my rakhi brother (We were colleagues turned friends turned brother-sister)  said to a U.S colleague that he and I have two mothers. That particular incident, the way he casually and instantly  made this statement simply touched me.

Q 9) What’s your favorite dessert?
             I have a sweet-tooth and hence will name a few: The most favorite changes from season-to-season. The current one is Chocolate Burfi from Krishna sweets . Otherwise, it is  Jangiri  (from Sumathy Sweets), Carrot Halwa, Fig-o-Honey Icecream from Corner House, Amritsar Ki Pinni (from Anand Sweets) .

Q 10) What are the top three things on your bucket list?
           - To wake up early and go for a walk,if not everyday, atleast 5 days a week.
           - Train my mind to be optimistic always,try to see the glass as half-full
           - Learn a foreign language

Rule 3: Nominate up to 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers.
            I pass on this award to :
            Sri ,
            Visha and
            Kismi
All of them are great bloggers and words simply flow from them wonderfully.

Rule 4: Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
    I give them all the freedom to add more questions to the above list :) :)

Rule 5. Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.
     Going to their blog now to inform them.

Thank you again Tharani :) 

And then, we moved - Here's to new beginnings

 After half  decade of living  in the previous house , we shifted our residence this November. After deliberating over it for a loong time, the need to move , where to move etc, we finally found our new home and moved in the first week of November. Since it had been a loong time since we did the packing-unpacking settling business, I kept pushing away the thoughts until the day of the shifting ..S, who is generally a systematic person also didn't bother about it until the last day.

Only when we started packing , did we realize how much of material stuff have we accumulated over the years. We did isolate the stuff that needs to be given away , even after this, there were mounds and piles of stuff that needed to be carried to the new house.

I was constantly admonished for collecting stuff and not letting-go of stuff. What can I do about the little souvenirs, knick-knacks that serve as memories of growing up years, gifts given by friends - though you don't use them, don't want to throw or give away as you want to keep them in their remembrance, the phone diary which you used when you were a teenager , the steel eating plate that your grandma had given lovingly , the first gift that you got from your rakhi-brother (though the top has become faded and one size shorter ), S's T-shirt which I love the most (he handed me this and a couple more to be given away 2 years ago, but I'm unable to let-go of it), and the list goes on.. Not to mention the stack of greeting cards,letters and other random stuff.

It wouldn't take a minute to just let-go of all of these, but will I willingly do it? Am I a hoarder? Why am I clinging to all of these? I wouldn't have even bothered to take a look at most of these all these years, but the thought that they are "there" seems to be satisfying. I need to consciously try and de-clutter. On a deeper look, I'm not sure if I'm attaching myself to all of these materialistic stuff, for as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't have a taken a second look at most of these in the past. If this not attachment, what is it? Is it just hoarding stuff? I don't know. But , need to de-clutter, even if the process is slow, needs to be done.

I deliberated a lot on this movement, because if I can attach myself to all these silly stuff, what about the house that we have lived for years? And it will not be complete if I don't mention the fear of change. Although there was a status-quo , I seemed to have gotten comfortable in the status-quo though I would talk at length about wanting a pleasant change from the routine. Change of house, change of surroundings, new people should be a change, isn't it? But, deep inside there was a fear of change. And there was a fear of loss of privacy. In our previous house , rooms were organised such that there was privacy for S and I. So, we had our moments of laughter and fights too. But, here, the layout does not allow privacy. lets see how we manage :)

We did not make many friends in the neighborhood in the previous place. Yes, we used to be in a hi-bye relationship with the occupants of the neighboring houses and whenever a help to be taken or given, all of us were forth coming. beyond that, there was not much of socializing. The only socializing with the neighbors was with the one neighbor in the opposite house which happened during festive occasions, especially during Deepavali when we used to come out to fire crackers. So, while I told the neighbors that we were moving out, they invited us and the Aunty whom I have not spoken beyond "Chenna githeera" or " Tindi Aayitha", (in the mornings if I bump into her when the palak wala comes in during weekends) was so welcoming and gave us a grand breakfast. She opened up her story and that is a mater for another post. The point is , I regretted for having missed the opportunity to socialize and be on more talking and visiting terms.  Though I got more philosophical and comforted myself that life's like that, you only realize the value of people/things when they are not there etc, there is a lesson that I should not miss to learn. That I should open up and not be in a cocoon. Most of all, stop assuming. I have had many experiences where people first ask how many kids I have or which Dr I consult and they recommend Dr's and prayers which has yielded child boon to  all their relatives. I was traumatized so much that I didn't bother to get out of my self-imposed cocoon.  I should change, so what if people are going to throw questions or give suggestions. Just give me them a smile, nod your head and move on. This is my life and I live the way I want to. I have not done any crime to be shut myself away from society.

Coming to the new house, this one is in an apartment complex, which is thriving with lots of social activity. I have not lived in an apartment , so this is a first for me. Our stuff were not unloaded from the truck , but the maids,paper-wala, flower-seller, milkman started queuing outside the house. That ways, when some carpentry or plumbing needs to be done, they are all one phone call away. I see that kids have a gala time in the complex, what with after-school plays , combined home-work etc. I will know its 3 PM when I start hearing kids chatter. And I will know its 7PM when the boys cycle in the corridor. Here's wishing us lots of happiness in this new place:)