Girls rule!!!

There is a reason girls have other girls as friends. It is because they are irreplaceable. I am serious. Guys may give me that skeptical look, but its true. And I'm sure that any girl who has her share of girlfriends would agree with me one hundred percent.


It is a difficult job being a girl in today's world but with our best friends by our side, the task becomes bearable, fun even. They always know what we feel and what we are going through. Who else would cheer us on and encourage us in our endeavors? Who else would cry with us when we don't make it? Who else would we turn to after a fight with a family or after some jerk-of-a-boyfriend has left us in pieces? Who would be by our side bitching about our enemies and making us feel better? Who else could we ask for advice on anything which may range from the color of a nail polish to an opinion in the choice of a life partner? We'd be so lost without each other.


So this post is solely dedicated to ALL my girlfriends right from my preschool to my college days. Girls, here's to the world of endless gossip, emotional breakdowns, pedicures, shopping, pajama parties, all that excessive mushiness and going crazy wild!  Love you! You gals rock! 

Update: This post was a result of a hugely emotional get-together and the subsequent burst of estrogen. And in case any of my invisible blog readers were wondering, I do become emotional, if not once in a blue moon, at least once in a leap year.

 

Blog = Ctrl + Delete???

A couple of months back, I'd started reading blog posts of random people in the blog-o-sphere. I go to a blog through some link posted in a random site and I keep clicking on the "Next Blog" button and reading for hours together (Yea, I know! Even I think I'm pretty jobless and need to get a life and all!). So what I was trying to say is that I've come across a lot of beautifully written blogs. I mean, I'm literally in awe of the writing of so many people. Be it humor, hobbies, social issues or even just random stuff and its not just people from a particular part of the world or a certain age group or anything. I've read blogs of people ranging from 16-40 year olds from America to Africa to India which are equally fascinating.

Anyway, all that got me thinking. What am I doing with this excuse of a blog of mine? I mean its true that I had started it to rant and rave about random stuff from my life and all but it just feels kind of inadequate now. I feel its a pointless waste of time and energy of people who read it, assuming that there are at least a few people who have come across this blog, even if only by accident. So maybe I should delete or maybe I should just let it be. I can't seem to decide. Hmm..

In other, totally unrelated news, the opening ceremony of Burj Khalifa in Dubai was awesomely amazing. I so wish I'd been there to witness it. I guess this is one of the first times I wish I'd listened to my dad and taken up a job in Bahrain, from where Dubai is easier access than India (and I cannot figure out my obsession with linking everything to Wikipedia!). Anyway,that's that and it's all for now. Catch u later (unless of course I do decide to murder the blog).

A New Year.

I haven't blogged in like ages. Well, what can I say? It just hasn't been the most inspiring and happening days of my life. Another year comes to an end in two days and that makes me unusually reflective. What did I gain/lose this year? What is still the same? Here is a generic list.

• I still lack focus.
• I became a graduate
• I've become more mature in my outlook of things. (Sadly, I am the only person who agrees with me on that one!)
• I have stopped speaking to a friend whom I knew for the past 18 years. Such is the result of some bad choices.
• I still haven't figured out that one thing I have a passion for and want to do for the rest of my life. (I have a deep inherent fear that I never will!!)
  
• I realized guys are not the only ones who are scared of commitments and have issues with marriage. I was recently asked by my family if I was interested in marrying a certain dude they thought was purrrfect for me!! To say that it was one of the scariest moments of my life, is putting it mildly.
• I've become more impatient than before. (And here I thought people become calmer as they age!)
• I have actually finished two knitting projects (a purse and a headband) which is a big thing for me because earlier, I used to take years to finish even the simplest projects.
• My cooking has seriously improved. Now what I cook is at least edible.
• I have started reading newspapers, something which I used to absolutely hate doing earlier.
• I've figured out that gardening is not as loathsome as I'd portrayed it to be, It can actually be fun.
  
• One of my first ambitions was to be a painter (and not the artistic kind!) I finally did it. I painted a gate and couple of the walls in my house. It isn't as fulfilling as I thought it would have been. But it was fun while it lasted.
• I still have a short attention span, i.e. I may find something absolutely fascinating for like 5 days and then I forget all about it.
  
• I realized the whole 'Best Friends Forever' thing from college and school days doesn't really last. Most often than not it would just fizzle out and die if it weren't for Facebook, Twitter, etc
• I also realized that my friends from college/ school are the best people I ever hung out with. Given a choice, I'd definitely chose them over the ones I made later (no offense intended!). Its probably the innocence but as we grow older we tend to grow more cynical and that ruins the actual essence of it.
• I miss my school days more than my college days.
  
• Well, I can't think of much else.
  

Hoping that the new year brings lots of joy and cheer to me and to everyone I know. Keep smiling, folks! :) :)

The game of the name - Ten Top Trivia Tips about Sonia! :D

1. If you lick Sonia ten times, you will consume one calorie.
2. The porpoise is second to Sonia as the most intelligent animal on the planet.
3. A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are individually known as Sonia!
4. The National Heart Foundation recommends eating Sonia at least three times a week.
5. Lightning strikes Sonia over seven times every hour.
6. It takes a lobster approximately 7 years to grow to be Sonia.
7. The moon is 400 times closer to the Earth than Sonia, and 400 times smaller.
8. Sonia is the world's largest rodent.
9. Sonia can jump up to sixteen times her own height.
10. Sonia was originally called Cheerioats...
    

lol.. this information was from The Mechanical Contrivium. Check it out if your as jobless as me. Its fun!! :)

If I Did It

Well, I read this book yesterday and I have to say, it was a very interesting read. Mr. O. J. Simpson clearly seems to have his way with words. Now, mind you! I'm not taking sides here. Because when it all happened, I was barely an 8 year old and obviously not very interested in anything on the television besides the Cartoon Network. So I don't remember much of it from my early years. But I do have a vague recollection of Mr. O. J. being the topic of dinner conversations between my parents and their friends for quite a while.

Recently, while browsing through videos on YouTube, I came across an interview given by him after his acquittal and frankly, I found it very interesting. It was then that I decided I wanted to know everything about these trails. I Googled him and let me tell you, that was quite a lot of information, a lot of opinions and guesses and second guesses about what happened 'that night'. This is also when I came across the pdf version of the book he wrote titled 'If I Did It' where he describes a hypothetical situation in which Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were killed.

In this book, he starts off with the end of his relationship with his first wife, Marguerite L. Whitley and goes on to give a very detailed description of his relationship with Nicole Brown starting from how he first met her to their marriage, subsequent divorce, their relationship after the divorce to the night she was killed.

It was so interesting that I managed to finish it in a day. While reading the book, I felt myself fervently hoping that the he hadn't committed those awful murders. I was hoping that somewhere in it, he would somehow find a reasonable explanation for the night. I mean the whole book seemed to have a weird twist because the details mentioned in the book up until the night of the murders seems to be somewhat accurate, if you compared it with the information already available online. Then he describes the night of the murders, almost in vivid detail, and continues to describe what happened afterward with the chase and the arrest and all without mentioning anything about that night anywhere else, till the end of he book. The book, I felt, was missing some sort of closure.

Anyways, whether it be fact or fiction, I found it interesting. The reviews on the internet aren't that favorable to Mr. OJ. A lot of people still don't seem to believe him. Well, I dunno what to say. He may have, or may be not. Guess we'll never really know. For those of you who want to read it, I'll upload a link from where it can be downloaded. Do tell me what you think.

The book can be downloaded from here. Enjoy! :)

Me in the kitchen!!

After a month of putting it off, today marks my first day of cooking actual food (My mom doesn't think chocolate cakes and pancakes contribute to the 'actual food' category!). So I made Paneer butter masala. For those who don't know what that is, its a traditional North Indian dish having cottage cheese. I got the recipe from here. Well, I'm having it for dinner. I'll report back to how that goes (assuming I'm still alive after eating it!!).

Cheers!! :)

Shopping time!! :|

Shopping!! Every girl's stress reliever.. apparently!! I've got countless friends myself who can undoubtedly vouch for the same. They say shopping is like the one thing which can get them outta depression in a matter of minutes!! :o

Now, in my day, I've heard stories about chocolate acting as an anti-depressant. Well, THAT I can agree on.. Duh!! :D But shopping?? Seriously?? I find that very hard to believe. I find it such an absolute trauma to go to a shop with people and browse through countless stuff bearing n different labels. And I'm not even gong to start on the trial room horrors! Now THAT would be my idea of an absolute stress-filled day.

When and IF I go shopping, its mostly by myself and only when it becomes absolutely necessary (necessary being translated as, my clothes literally look like rags picked up from the roadside and my family and friends absolutely refuse to be seen with me!!). And I'd certainly never buy the 5000 buck wedges because they look elegant on my feet!!!

And nope, this is not because I'm cheap.. (which I'm not, btw.. I'm just thrifty.. hehehe fer Russell Peter fans!! :D), its more because I can find a hundred and one more effective ways to spend my time which doesn't involve ineffectual nodding and smiling at blur of colors, all the while thinking about when I can get outta there!!

Anyways.. all this pointless ranting and raving was the result of getting to know that I have to accompany some 'people' on a sari shopping trip in the coming week! Someone just kill me now!!!!

Disclaimer: No offense to the above mentioned 'people' or any of my friends who I have ever gone shopping with! I DID enjoy it then.. seriously!!!

..on a lighter note!! :)

I came across these links when randomly browsing!

• Weird Signposts: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/06/cool-weird-signs.html
• Funny Tombstone writings: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/07/10-funny-tombstone.html
• Hilarious headlines: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/06/35-most-retarded-tabloid-headlines-of.html
• Literal Photos: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/07/most-literal-photos-ever.html

Have fun reading!! :)

Shocked beyond measure.. !!

I was reading the newspaper the other day (Yes!! I've decided to become worldly wise!!) and I came across an article which shocked me to my very core.

It was about this young couple (a Dalit boy and a Muslim girl) in Meerut, India who was murdered because they married outside their communities!! These killings are apparently termed 'honor killings', are pretty common in this part of the country. What is wrong with these people?? Marrying outside their respective castes maybe wrong, but surely, the crime isn't big enough to deserve death. Why? Why do people kill? Apparently, the locals were heard justifying their actions on television and none of the them showed even the slightest sign of remorse!!

The news article went on to say that though a few people were arrested in this regard, no legal action would be taken against them. The more shocking part is that the Panchayat in these parts do not have much control in the happenings of the village. Instead the village elders control most of what happens around and they in turn chose to ignore it or worse yet, be a part of it. Aren't we still in the 21st century or did I miss something? The article says that this is the aftereffect of decentralization, but can we really place our blame on it? Decentralization was, in the first place, provided as a means for the empowerment of these rural areas and as an answer to local problems.

Isn't it just the sheer illiteracy of people that prompts them to do such monstrosities and believe in mindless superstitions? Or do these people function on some other level which forces them to be indifferent to the basic human values? Well.. I guess we might never know!!

Wilted wishes!!

When I was a kid, I remember desperately wanting to attend weddings. I never quite got the chance to, till I was in 8th grade. Surprising, isn't it? Well, I was one of those NRI kids who came to India every once in two years for two months. Much as I would've loved to attend any of my relatives weddings, I could not possibly insist that they wait till I get to India the next time. What I was left with, was loads of wedding photo albums and cassettes to pour over during my summer hols. And I'd be lying if I said that I did not feel a teeny-weeny bit sad that I could never wear one of those pretty pink/white lacy dresses my cousins wore with cute bouquets in their hands, happily smiling, standing beside the married couple while the photographer clicked away. *sigh*.

Anyway, now that I've grown up(or so I think!!), I still love weddings, but not of relatives. Its nothing to do with them. They are all adorable people and they mean the best for everyone. But the problem lies in me being a 22 year old Keralite girl who has just finished her studies. You see, that kind of a person is the exact prey for all these auntyji types in the wedding to explore their matchmaking skills with the girl in question and the auntyji's neighbor's mother-in-law's brother's daughter's son... You get the drift, right? Its annoying, to the say the least and it also puts unwanted ideas into ur folks minds. Dangerous, I tell you. Very dangerous.

You see, once they do happen to get such ideas in their head, (presuming it wasn't already there in the first place) they'd want to to go ahead, find the 'perfect' match for their daughter and get it finished off as soon as possible. Looking at it from their point of view, I guess its entirely right. But still!!!!!!

Our retorts which may go like "I'm not ready yet!" would mostly earn a reply like, "Your 22. Whaddaya mean ur not ready yet?!? Girls these days!! Your g'mom got married when she was 15 and had her first kid when she was 16. In our culture, girls have to get married before they reach a certain age or they are never going to find a good match and blah blah blah....". If you are a Keralite girl, I'm sure you know the rest.

To lower the percentage of such interactions, I'd say its best to stay away from our khaandan weddings. But, of course, that cannot be helped either. If you do manage to say something like,
"Do we HAVE to go for the wedding? Its a lot of people. I'm sure they won't notice we're not around", and voila, we're definitely in for another round of wisdom-sharing which might go something like this. "Not go for the wedding? Are you out of your mind? and blah blah blah..."

Here we go again!! :|