Family Time

I have six people at my home tonight (including me). My sister, her husband, and my cousins Ashu Bhai and Nitu are staying with me tonight. We are watching Bruce Almighty and sipping on a lemon tea each and it is already midnight. Wow!

We went to another of my cousins' place in the evening to celebrate her husband's Birthday. The dinner was superb and the chocolate trouffle after dinner was simply exotic.

We are going to have a late night gossip session. Ah, how I love gosiping! :-)

My sister bought a beautiful silk Lehenga for me from Benaras. Oh, it is such a pretty pretty thing.

Back in Noida

I am back and trying not to feel too lonely. After 21 days at home, surrounded and pampered by family, the first day back in Noida is going to be tough. I was moving from room to room, checking things, and suddenly felt so alone in my 3 bedroom apartment. I am now telling myself that I don't have time to feel lonely as there are a lot of things to be done. I have to resume my studies without losing on time. Moreover, Mom and Dad would be here after a week. Dad is joining a new company in Gurgaon and that means I would now live with my family.

Come on Girl, do what you love to do. Read. Write. Study.

Sweet Surrender

Raksha Bandhan was fun this year. Since last few years I have been celebrating it in Noida in comparative isolation. This year the day was busy since morning, cousins visiting us, celebration, eating goodies, collecting money from brothers etcetera. I have been eating like a famine victim at home because I know that once I go back to Noida, meals would mean maggi noodles, macaroni, soups, fried rice and the usual bread-omelette. Not that I don't know how to cook. I don't want anybody to get wrong ideas. I know how to cook, infact I love cooking, but it's so boring cooking for nobody else but for your own little tummy.

The latest news is that I have surrendered myself to intense lethargy these days. I do nothing, absolutely nothing, from the time I am up to the time I drop back on bed. I surf and surf on the internet, I spend hours talking on phone, and I sleep. Yeah, I doze for sinfully long hours, curling up on bed with a pillow under my head and another under my arm, the window open and the monsoon breeze drifting into the room, carrying with it the faint smell of fresh earth and the fragrance of flowers from our lawn. Ah, I am turning poetic, but that's what a lethargic mood, the monsson and an overdoze of sleep and food does to one.
I would call this phase - Sweet Surrender :-)

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to all Indians!!!!

We have enjoyed 61 years of Independence, and this year the day is even more special because of Abhinav Bindra's achievement at Beijing. I read his blog today; it was a different experience reading through his journey to the Gold. Such achievers inspire one to excel at whatever one does.

Tomorrow is Raksha Bandhan, one of my favourite festivals. I will miss my brother, who is in Mumbai. However, all my cousins will visit tomorrow and we will have a gala time.

My Life at Dehradun

Abhinav Bindra won a Gold for India at Beijing, and we Indians are so proud of him. I wish we win more medals at Olympics this year.

Meanwhile, blogging has taken a back-seat since I am at home. All the special treatment one receives while at home with parents tends to make one happy and content even without blogging. I wake up everyday with a cup of bed-tea and then sip on it till eternity. I then get lazily out of my bed, fresh-up, and pick my books to sit at the dining table. I declare everyday that I will skip breakfast because I am gaining weight but then Mom supplies information about what has been prepared for breakfast and I immediately change my mind. I munch on my breakfast moodily and flip through the pages of my book, or surf the internet, or just look out of the dining room window at the overgrown plants in the lawn (I will post pics of our lawn soon, I don't have my data cable with me).

After finishing breakfast I get energized enough to study, which I do till around 12 when Maahi comes home from her play-school.

I chat with her and then we lunch together and I resume my study till Namit and Neha (my cousins) come home from their schools. I then chat with them following which I take an afternoon nap. I wake up in the evening with a cup of tea and repeat the ritual of picking my books and moving to the dining table. I surf the internet now if I have not already done it in the morning (like today). I then study till dinner time.
Whew, what a life!!!! I feel like Garfield these days (except when I am studying). I eat and sleep and do absolutely no work around the house. I will miss this time when I will go back to Noida, where I do everything around the house. I fix my own meals, tidy up the rooms, clean the bathrooms, blah blah.

Writing from Dehradun

It feels good to be back on Blogger; I so missed my blog. I came to Dehradun on 5th August, and dutifully caught cold on the same day. I write 'dutifully' because it has almost become a ritual that I should be down with fever and cold whenever I visit my hometown. The change of weather from dry and hot to wet and cold did the trick. It's raining everyday in Dehradun and the proximity to Mussoorie brings cold breezes into the Doon valley. Our lawn looks like a forest and I don't dare venture out on the grass for fear of strange and ugly insects [we even had a snake once during monsoons :-)]

My studies are going on surprisingly well. I had not expected that I could concentrate in the presence of my cousins and Maahi (my sister's 3 year old daughter). I am very happy with the first TOEFL practice test that I took; I scored really well. I am simultaneously preparing for GMAT and TOEFL as well as doing assignments for my HR course.

Today is Nitu's (my favourite cousin) birthday, so we will visit him in the evening and celebrate his birthday. I need to finish my study targets for today before that. Whew!

This and That

The past few days have been all about visiting friends. I visited my childhood friend Nidhi, who had a baby boy on 2nd July. It was touching to see her with the baby who looks just like her.

BTW I get touched easily and for any reason whatever, which at times is awkward and embarassing. I was fighting back those stupid tears when I clicked Nidhi's picture with her baby. Thankfully, she did not notice. Another episode was when I got tremendously touched at NV's pre-wedding celebrations. NV was all decked up and danced to a traditional wedding song and I had these big tears welling up. Somebody even clicked a snap of that moment where I am standing with my friends with this teary-eyed look like a sentimental old lady. Oh! I hate myself for all such awkward moments.

The dumb teary-eyed look!

Yesterday, along with Priya and Neelam, I visited Pritika who will leave tonight to US for her higher studies (read MBA). I carried my digicam to click pictures with her and guess what, we ended up making Pritika click most of the pictures. Priya acted very greedy yesterday. She will kill me for writing this, but it makes an interesting story. She grabbed a stuffed teddy that was gifted to Pritika by some friend and said that she would take it as a parting gift from Pritika. Yes, you read it right. Priya's reason was that since Pritika is not taking the stuffed teddy to US, it will keep lying useless in her home, therefore that entitles her to take it. Pritika said that she had no intentions of giving away the teddy but Priya is one adamant female and she shamelessly told Pritika's parents that she wants to keep the teddy. They readily agreed and poor Pritika was left with no option. However, after we were driving back from Pritika's place and had driven for about 5 Kilometres, Pritika called and told Priya to come back with the teddy as it was a gift and she was attached to it. We had a good laugh at Priya and drove back to return the troublesome teddy.