first day...

Oh I'm coming here after many days :), feels good..
Monday was the first day at the play school for my little nephew. Poor tiny toddler of just two and a half has to start going to school. He just came into the world and before understanding too much of it, he's already in school.
I remember how excited he was for the past few days and everyday he carried his little bag, wore his tiny shoes and wanted to go to school. He loves going out..so guess he interpreted the word "school" as some fun place he can go and come back with family...
I couldn't go to school with him to drop him on his first day of his life in school coz I had to come to office, but i heard his mom and dad went to drop him..and they have taken his picture before going to school [which is all excited and happy] and after coming out of it [Crying...crying n crying..]. He cried throughout those 1.5 hrs he was there. Each day after returning from school when people asked him about his experiences in school he would just not speak about it - "No comments!!". I came back from office and was curious to know about his experience at school...
So as soon as I returned home I started asking questions...
How was your school??
He asked.. "Anee what is mummy doing?"
I said cooking..now tell me did you like school?
And he said..what is mummy cooking?
Then I asked "Did you play at school?
And he asked "what is this? [pointing at a painting hanging on the wall, he never bothered about it before]
And then to avoid my school related questions he kept asking me what is this and that to all the random things he saw around...non stop!!!
I was quite amazed to see the tiny one avoiding the topic he dislikes so diplomatically. He never argued or cried like most kids would do when they hear 'school', he didn't even show any frustrations over those many questions about school by everybody...but he would would either stay quiet or change the topic immediately...like he didn't even wanna think of it or didn't want any of us to think and talk about it..


That was the first day when he was kept with strangers with nobody from family around. and I just imagined how he must have felt during those hrs at school. As he cried all the time,,it must have been a very difficult time for him.. Now i don't remember my first day at school, but I remember how I used to be so damn scared even if I was left alone for 1 min among strangers. It used to be frightening!!


So on one hand it's lil sad that the kiddo has to start going to school at just two so that he gets smarter by then time he goes to pre - school and then to Jr. & Sr. KG classes. I hear people talking about their 2 - 3 yr old kids are going to be interviewed ..parents being all tensed about how they will fare...funny and sad coz the toddlers don't know what an 'interview' means..but they are gonna be judged based on what they say in that half an hour.
It's a very competitive world and so parents will worry about and push their kids even before they know what 'competition' means..
On the other hand, the world is moving faster and becoming much more competitive. So we have to prepare the new ones to be smart, independent, strong and stay ahead, so it makes sense to let them start early..
So the kiddo is still taking time to get used to school, he still cries everyday...
All I can say is "Welcome to the world of "school" kiddo....u r gonna be attending classrooms at least for the next 18 yrs or so...it's unavoidable!!!"


Well I just hope he builds on good memories of his school life and uses the wonderful tool called "education and good values" to become a good guy when he's out of school...
Good luck boy!!!


- Snow

bored.....

Am on a boring conference call and the best thing to do at this time i thought was, well, to write something... its been 2 hrs on this call, and the day before, i was on a call for 5 hrs... Wish I could walk out of these meaningless calls when people try to say the same thing over and over and over in 100 different ways... wish i could say "shut up, i dont want to listen to u!!" oh great, now 1 guy who's also on the call pings me on our communicator and says "lets talk about this other thing. can we have an alternate call??" yeah right!! join a conf call, plug in the ear phones, listen to people rattle about something which doesn't interest you in the remotest way, and then get on an "alternate call" with another disinterested soul to discuss the "other" thing... God!! i wish i took take a loooooong break. hmmmm... on second thoughts, not really. like snow said, thank God we have a job. there are so many people who've lost their jobs because of this economic slowdown. there's so much drama going on everywhere... an airline sacks 1000s of people one day and re-inducts them the next saying they're family. then there are 2 bigwigs claiming responsibility for the re-induction... may everything settle down quickly, i pray...

- Mermy

Back to business

It was an eventful week long off from work. Though I couldn't go to Himachal or even Ooty, it was still good [Although i understand I'd still like to blame mermy a bit for this]. On the other hand I did get frustrated for like 5 mins everyday for not being able to utilise the longest set of holidays available in the year to go long distance. Anyway...spent time in cooking like i used to once upon a time, cleaning my cupboard, sorting all the bills n documents, going to banks, playing badminton with mermy n neelu, went to garden, lil bit of shopping, giving good..valuable n sensible suggestions to my bros and quarrelling with them when they don't pay any heed, missing my little nephew a lot and everyday hoping that he'll talk to me more than just saying .."bbye, take kya, mizz u" on phone. It's just soooo wonderful listening to the baby's voice and the new rhyme he's learnt "watermelon,watermelon, payaya..payapa...chickoo..chickoo..chickoooo chickooo..." . But I couldn't finish all the work i had listed down:(. Also, attended the first full fledged interview after 2.5 yrs which gave me good insights , was an eye opener and got to know my market value :)...made me think n think a lot. But good learning experience!!
Mermy didn't take any leaves from work, she was working on each day but she also did most of the things I did each day ....how is that?? I won't say :P. Now being back to office does give a lil boring feeling, and i can feel my expression change to the default one :| when am at work ..but then it's good.. I atleast have work to do, unlike many people who are suffering from the economic meltdown now...may god help everyone!
- Snow

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...

The coconut tree & the leafy tree..

My office space in the corner is a nice place comparatively as there are only two windows on my floor and majority of the people do not sit beside the windows. For most of us here the weather remains the same whole day. Once we enter office and hit our floor, it's the same whether day or night. So I'm privileged to have this cubicle that is right next to the window, the only way to look at the outside world from this confined place. Sometimes...people ask me from a distant what's the weather like? is it gonna rain? etc.. and i give the weather updates :)Right outside the window I see a tall coconut tree & another leafy tree [I don't know which tree this is but it has lots of leaves on it]. And the two act as a stress buster for my eyes during those long days at office, when everything inside seem to look stale ...the computer, people, work, Internet ..everything!!! It is during such times when I go through restless, monotonous and suffocated feelings that I just look outside at these two dear friends...who really help me calm down. I glare & stare for sometime at the trees , every swinging branch, and the leaves on them. When it's windy they all swing and make it look so lively. It feels like all the leaves and branches are swaying at me, singing loudly for me to cheer me up. Now am not so fond of coconut and a lot of things to do with coconuts, but I kind of feel very attached to this tree outside my window. I feel like we communicate without words many times.. the two lovely trees are always standing there to watch me. When am bored, stressed and feeling low they just wait for me to look at them. And when I look at them they say "Hey girl..cheer up" and dance like the pompom girls/cheerleaders when it's breezy...and when it's not windy they just send out those calm soothing energy to me.If someday I don't see them here, I'll surely miss them. I can see them standing outside right now. If someday I leave this place...I better thank them for making life easier for me here and for their unconditional support :)
-Snow

laugh till u can cry!!!!

god!!!! this was after centuries! i haven't laughed so hard in ages, n m pretty sure snow hasn't either. i was browsing through my system n found this really funny pic of ours - snow and mine - both of us have this wierdo expression... it so funny!!!! i sent it to snow as a stress buster and boy, did it work!! she called me and she's like "what is it exactly that u were trying to do that made u make such a face?" God! i wish i could post the pic here - no i don't actually, because if it were worth posting, it wouldn't have been so funny!!! snow said - "keep this pic for urself, when u want to have a laugh, but keep it confidential". i will, snow :-)

God, it's so refreshing to laugh until u have tears in ur eyes!!!!

- mermaid

Lemme say my reaction when you sent this to me in office tday...

I was busy n bit confused n serious after my colleague came n told me we need to give an update to our boss ..so get this done for the review. Then i saw this mail from mermaid in my inbox, opened it and uff i laughed so loud ..it was out of control....btw I wasn't laughing at my pic, i was laughing at mermy's pic. finally I closed the pic..stopped laughing...got tempted again..opened it and then laaaaaughed...closed it...opened it and laaaaaughed...everytime I challenged myself I won't laugh this time...it didn't work. I finally called her n shouted at her why did she send this pic to me?...and both of us went on this Hahahahahah..hahahahha...hahahaha...we had to hang up the phone to stop laughing. Couple of ppl around me must have thought i've gone insane tday.

I remember both of us laughing endlessly uncontrollably just like today a year back. So am thinking we can keep this pic confidential [Confidential b'coz it's too funny to show anybody...and a master piece weird expression of mermaid] and probably look at it every year or later when we become old women ...every time we need a very high dose of laughter!!!!

- Snow