to the secret[thief] blog reader..

This post is dedicated to the secret blog reader who seems to be a regular reader of our blog [we discovered that today], and has struggled a lot to be able to read our blog. We would like to thank her for considering it worthy enough to struggle and read [very few people are aware of our blog, and even the ones who have it..don't really read it, coz we don't write great stuff and a lot of stuff]..So thanks stranger ;)
Well...actually this post is dedicated to our friend who frequently goes in hiding and loses touch n sometimes after a long long time..in the odd hours ..suddenly calls up n says "hey can u find the travel agents no. in trichur and msg me?" and cuts the phone... and very likely that she would not to show up or msg or call for next 6-7 months unless something comes up for which we are the most suitable candidates for information... :) . Mermy and she always fight about this one thing.....she never says "hi,,how r u?" when she msgs or calls...coz she thinks it's too formal and awkward, shouldn't be used with friends...so we really wonder when to use "hi n how r u?"and mermy and she are still fighting since she still thinks it's odd to use "hi" with friends and mermy counter attacks saying - never say hi to me..just sms what u want, when u want..save ur "hi..how r u" for strangers. Now every time if at all we have this little conversation with her...we both try to act like we are angry with her.. but i guess we have a deep sense of understanding that we are nice to her despite all this long "no show" behavior and her uniqueness and weirdness in her reasoning. :)
Anyway...so this time we realized that though she doesn't really keep in touch n if asked tells us she was in bangalore after leaving bangalore..so that even by mistake we don't bump into her or force her to meet us...she reads our blog regularly!!!!! Oh..we're honoured!!!
She told us that she really struggled to get access to our blog. It's blocked in her office, so then she tried to find some loop holes to find a way to be able to access it...she's quite a techy n intelligent. She still had issues accessing it..after trying several things here n there..she also registered our blog with google and by god's grace she's able to access it n read it. And this morning she said 'U girls should really thank me n dedicate a post for me"..so dedicating this post to you sweetheart...even if you don't care to keep in touch n respond to us really, u do manage to read our blog :)

- Snow
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Great Snow!! Love u for that!! You said thanks but making sure that you let the stranger-friend know how she hurts us each time by not saying hi (sob, sob) ;-)

Dear stranger-friend,

(Have to call u this coz we can never forget that u r a friend, but u r also a virtual stranger by ur own choice)

First of all, thanks for secretly reading our blog and adding to the readership value though u don't post any comments - and we completely understand that you are not able to do that and you only see the blog in read-only mode. So thanks a ton. Specially considering that u don't have the time to stay in touch or bother to find out how we are doing - and we get to know from 3rd party resources about ur whereabouts, thanks a hundred tons!!

That apart, saying Hi to friends is never formal - refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi (If you have trouble accessing this from office, here's what it says - "HI or Hi may refer to: An informal way to say hello" ). I know what u r thinking - I know wikipedia cannot be considered like a bible for anything because it depends on what people put in there. All arguments aside, let's settle for this - u can call/message/mail once in a decade and say Hi and we'll surely reply to ur Hi.

Now comes the genuine - bottom of my heart - thanks. To God. For the wonderful friendship we share, that we can keep nagging and quarrelling - and yet maintain this friendship. Love you, stranger-friend!!

(Any arguments, you can always call us. You can rest assured that we WILL answer your call).

- Mermy

Unsolicited Advice, Uninvited Comments

One unique thing about India, or probably Asia, is that you get a lot of unsolicited advice and uninvited comments- from people u know, u don't know or haven't seen/met ever before in your life. Snow and I get a lot of them these days. So many that we thought we should dedicate a post to all those advisors.
Mermaid: Some of the advices/ comments that I got to hear in the past month:
From a concerned colleague - "Use this special pink cream - very effective. My wife used it and her skin infection disappeared in a week... No, no, no, no.... Those r not pimples on ur face. That's skin infection."
From a girl in the apartment building - "Apply tulsi everyday - will surely help. Don't mind me saying this ok??"
From a lady at a shop - "Use this Malaysian cream that my sister sells. Its EXCLUSIVE - and will surely work. Your pimples will go away in 3 months. Look at me. I am using it for the past 3 years!! Here, take my number and my sister's too. U can call us anytime, OK?"
From another colleague - "Oh, you've got clear skin". Mermaid - "Clear skin? Where can u see clear skin on my face?" C - "No, except for the pimples yaaa" OKAY!!!
The funny thing is, it's not just my skin that bothers me but also my weight. And although I always think people notice that I've put on so much weight in the past 2-3 years, it seems as if the whole world is conspiring to make me fatter! Nobody gives me any advice - useful or useless - about losing weight. I feel they're all strategizing to make me fatter so they can all look thin...

Snow: My turn to share how the whole world seems to be concerned about me, my weight, my wedding. Since the level of concern has been showing a steep rise over past few months....it's been fun listening to all of them. Following their advices is secondary but listening to them has been fun..so I welcome all the comments n advices.
On weight:
Some people who have seen me straight after 2.5 yrs react real bad. their comments are hard hitting n come out real quick in surprise.
A shocked n highly concerned guest:A relative whom I met before but spoke for the first time immediately saw me n said "what happened to you? U were so good earlier???" a statement like tht from a new person was surprising. What he meant was "Oh u've become so fat" and then when I was going to have tea, he immediately suggested me to go and exercise and told me to play badminton and he was so concerned that he said he'd come with me to play if I need. lol
From Eye Doc: I went for my eye check up and the doc who otherwise talks only business and doesn't talk of anything except for 'eye' said "U've put on lil weight ....i mean not much but lil bit"
From a shopkeeper: Even after gaining weight, I thought I'd find something of my size at this place I'd shop frequently before (when I was thin). The man politely said "These tops are for lil bit thin people". In other words, he was politely saying "fat girl, get out of this place! there's nothing for u here"..hahaha
On marriage:
Some people think that I MUST get married now, some people with their conventional mindset might think i'm even crossing my marriageable age now. So am bombarded with a lot of gyan on the benefits of getting married , why one should marry...what kind of life partner to look for etc etc.. and sometimes i think what irritates few of them is that i just keep listening and i don't reciprocate at all. Atleast am being a good listener :)
A friend at office: Everyday while travelling to n from office, she starts off trying to explain to me about the benefits of marriage, its the right time now etc, and finally ends her gyaan session something like this - " u r pathetic, Can't u make a bf, u don't want to get married, u r not interested in the guys around u...what's wrong with u". she looks out for guys for me, finds out details about them, and even rejects them on my behalf without even bringing me in the picture. she suddenly announces that she rejected somebody for me!! the reason for rejection would be even that the guy's name isn't good enough!! hahahaha. she spots guys at traffic signals or on the road and tries to show me that they're good candidates for me. at the traffic signal???
A very sweet colleague: We never discuss our personal lives with each other, but this sweet guy tells me one day "if u r ever interested in South Indian guys, please let me know. I'll find someone for u" :-D N then he says "but why don't u keep a bindi on ur forehead?" lol
Another colleague: She's in the HR team and so has easy access to people's information. She too tries looking for potential candidates at office..how much they ear, designation n whenever i bump into her..she says 'Hey i saw somebody good for u' ...oh c'mon!
I think people outside keep pestering more than my family... but sometimes when family advices come out, they are quite serious, so don't want to discuss them. This is like a never ending discussion - constant advices from elder bro, suggestions and offers from friends will continue until i decide to get married. Mermy doesn't have to go thru these advices because she's already made the announcement ;)
Apart from people pointing out our "Scope for Improvement", both of us still manage to get some compliments but we are too humble to write about them ;) heeeeeeee

Isn't it wonderful being in this part of the world where people are so genuine in their comments...good or bad ..they just tell us things and continue giving those unsolicited advices and uninvited comments about our lives...
Thanks to all for being kind enough to spare their precious time to discuss our problems and for their kind/ serious/ nasty/funny comments n advices.We dont guarantee we'll take all ur advices ..but we still welcome ur UNSOLICITED advices and comments..it's fun listening to others talking about our life...