Q and A!

If you were that lizard/spider on my wall, chances are you would have heard these gems from my pre-teen...

Amma, i can't kneel down, my patella hurts!

My eye is red, it itches too, i think i have hindivitis! (after 30 minutes of studying Hindi)

It's that time of the month yet again. Time for glares, suspicious headaches, frequent parched throats and wrist pain. The too informed preteen helpfully tells me that he suffers from the carpal tunnel syndrome!!!! or that his pivot joints hurt.

Yes, the final assessments are upon us! and my cerebrum hurts too!

Since i'm so in the exam mood, I might as well do abha's tag.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
no.... just after myself!

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
you mean...the tears of frustration? sigh..yesterday

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
When i manage to read it, yes..(*am I glad that the question wasn't "can you read your handwriting?")

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
what's that?

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Yes!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Hmmmm, what if i don't want to be friends with this other person i'm supposed to be...

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
i practice it on the hubby now and then, but kuch asar hi nahi hota!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

Yes, i think so

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Not unless someone pushes me off the bridge! *gulp

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL
Meusli cereal

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No

12. IF YOU WERE TO PICK YOU OWN FIRST NAME, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I like my name, It is short and sweet...though many seem to think its an abbreviated form of a longer name. You really can't please everyone, can you?

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
not very fond of icecream, but perhaps, vanilla with hot chocolate sauce,

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
the warmth of their Smile,

15. RED OR PINK?
just because everyone's saying red! i say pink in roses and nailpaint

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF
high on temper and low on patience...

17. WHOM DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
everyone at some point of time..it could be kids, my granpa, my parents, my sisters...

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
they better, varna ___________

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
blue jeans

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
pitter patter of raindrops

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
green? blue? sigh... multicolored...my son has those crayons...:)

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
wet mud, shampooed hair, perfume

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
a friend

25. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU
as the owner of a warm smile and the mother of the cuddable 'cubby'r. A virtual hug to you, abha.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
when not being forced to watch soccer or cricket, then tennis.

27. HAIR COLOR?
brown? black? grey!

28. EYE COLOR?
light Brown. (*sigh...only 28 questions answered, now i know how my son feels...)

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

No.

30. FAVORITE FOODS?
chocolate cake, quesadillas, grilled sandwiches, Chaat...slurp

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
comedies.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Wednesday...that too on DVD, sigh

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
a red tee.

34.SUMMER OR WINTER
I'm spoilt...can i have a bit of both?

35. HUGS OR KISSES
warm smiles, keep them coming

36. DESCRIBE YOUR PENCIL CUP
if you mean those things in which i hoard my pens, a small carved pot, and funny mugs

38. FAVORITE ARTIST(s)?

a whole range of them

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
plodding through "snow by orhan pamuk", and also reading "Jigs and reels' by Joanne Harris

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Gotcha! I don't have one

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?

Quarter part of the movie, "Namaste London'

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S).
currently, the whirr of the fan, the creaking chair, the click clack of the keys on the keyboard, the water fall in the pool below, the bus from far beyond, the rattle of the mrt train nearby...its amazing how many things you hear when you are alone...after the lungpower displayed during the weekend, i love this quiet time....

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?

A R Rahman!

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

Home is where the heart! Physically? Sydney

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Of a wandering mind, which lands me in trouble when someone's talking to me...

46. WHERE WERE U BORN?

Bangalore.

47. FAVORITE PIECE OF JEWELRY?

earrings to dangle and a bracelet for a bangle

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?

At my sister's wedding!

49. FAVORITE SONG?

so many of them... one for each mood...

50.Favorite Musical?

My fair lady and Mamma Mia, the movie

____________________________________

yay! I've done it! Now for the great reward...

The first five to comment, you are tagged...(*okay, okay...only if you want to)

:D

What's on my fridge?

"What's on your fridge?" asked Preeti, who is just a mother of two. :)


'A few somethings", i wish i could have answered, few being the keyword here, but ...take a peek

My fridge surface continually changes. In Delhi it looked a whole different than it does now. Besides, the arrangement keeps varying. My boys keep moving it all over the fridge surface.

There are 15 magnets, out of which a few are of places we have visited together, the rest are put there by G. So much for this place being just my very own.



Most of them have a tale to tell. Some have been with us for ages. The Singapore one was picked up by my eldest boy on our first visit here...it brings back lovely memories of our first trip abroad with the children.





That's the family at the beach and the other was taken with two orangutans in Pattaya. I was quite happy with my resident monkeys and really didn't want these two lesser additions but of course who listens to moms any more?



The picture of the baby is a favorite one...It is of Swaraj when he was @ 4mths. I just LOVE that pic...







There are two tiny Garfield ones (in pink and blue) added here courtesy my boys. i also see a Spider man one very ingeniously taped onto a magnet making its way here. And of course two animal magnets courtesy the zoological park here.



The black magnet with a pouch, has something very important - the white paper consists of lunch and dinner menus for the whole week that G managed the boys when I was in Bangalore - It was mainly followed to the T, even to the no of cookies put in the snack box, barring a call I got from the boys on a paratha dinner day, begging for Maggi noodles. :)


The resident environmentalist (my elder boy) has added his two magnets (the ones in white at the bottom)from the NEA (national environmental agency) . One of them bears the words "Turn me on, FAN my ego' ! (i'm glad that it has a pic of the fan, otherwise we would be giving people ideas, wouldn't we...*wink)


The Santa Claus has been clipped on by my lil one...


And yes, the blue/white background is an old project chart done by Swaraj...Most apartments in Singapore come furnished with basic electrical appliances and amenities (the air con, the washing machine etc). Since the fridge is not my own, that paper is supposed to prevent the magnets from scratching the fridge surface. (That's why it ends up looking neater too)

So what's on my fridge? Mostly fun memories, the current and the old, jostling for space there!

And what story does your fridge tell?

Abha, pink dogwood, ugich, Joy, preethi, rayshma, actually everyone who wants to...its showtime :)

A 'tense' situation!!!

I find myself tensed...Prats and rayshma had tagged me LOOOOOOOOOng back on the past present and the future...and as usual, i errr...ummm...have been a ....bit busy.

its been so long since they've tagged me, that the past has been shifted further back, the present has shifted into the past and the future has become the present....confused?!!! *mission accomplished :)

~ The tag copy ~Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday - Your oldest memory - What were you doing 10 years ago?

Today -Your first thought today morning - If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?

Tomorrow - This year ….What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

~ End Tag details ~

just wondering why 10 yrs back and 14 yrs ahead?!!! not that it makes any difference but....

Yesterday

Your oldest memory: My oldest memory would be a faint one of me singing some song about a cockroach in nursery school!!!

and whaddya know, i found it on youtube...!!!!! and we sang it in English...

And another one where the teacher tied her hanky over my mouth, because I was such a chatter box…(the fact that both my boys have completely taken after me in this respect, was revealed at the recent parent-teachers meeting)

What were you doing 10 years ago?: 10 years ago, I was in Kolkata, with a very busy husband and a dedicated 14 mth old who had trained me well…Life was less complicated then, a new job, a new city, a new role as parents…


Today

Your first thought today morning: Thinking about my 11 yr-old who has gone for his first overnight 5 day camp.

If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?: Is there some way I can pick up all the weeds in the society and zap them back…so that there really will be a future worth waiting for?

Tomorrow

This year ….: It’s been a year in slow motion…sort of makes up for last year which was full of change and just zipped by.

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?: blogging…and ...er more blogging
Wait a minute! 14 yrs from now, did you say….? does some quick calculations…adjusts her retina to peer into the future……..THUD!!!! *faints on not recognizing the images of two strapping 25 yr-old and 20 yr-old hunks towering above her.

and now to exercise the perks of tagging...

gazal, joy, preethi (incessant musings) and pink dogwood...your memories please

My book marks....

Ever since i read that Joy believes in a smack to get things working, i've been in a rush to finish this tag...lest she sends those virtual smacks my way :P

This, Joy, is one affair i would love to remember...:)

1. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

My dad! He would take us to libraries and gift us books…and enid blyton for the simple and fun world she took us to…

2. What are some books you read as a child?

as a young girl, this funny fellow used to be a great favorite.

Aesop’s fables, most books by Enid blyton, most classics – mark twain, charles dickens, jane austen, Emily bronte, daphne du maurier…most comics – mandrake, tintin, asterix, mad, amarchitra katha

3. What is your favorite genre?

Sometimes humor, sometimes satire, sometimes mystery, recently inspirational…haven’t been able to veer towards the science-oriented ones

4. Do you have a favorite novel?

No. Favorites have ranged from Oliver twist to Scarlett Pimpernel to Emma to anne frank to Kite runner…

5. Where do you usually read?

Anytime, anyplace…just give me some peace and quiet…

6. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

Oh Yes! One for every mood!

7. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
No

8. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?

Have done all…it doesn’t matter as long as I get the book… i would prefer to own the books i really liked

9. Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?

Yes.

10. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?

I read somewhere that good children's literature is one which appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child. In my son's case, he’s graduated from Enid blyton to Sherlock holmes, Feluda, oliver twist, roald Dahl…Some were new finds – harry potter, eragon, the septimus heap trilogy, the Narnia chronicles – which we enjoyed together… I’m now waiting for the younger one to join us…

12. What are you reading now?
Does trying to read my boys minds count?!!!

No? Fine then!!! Chowringee, the Blind assassin by margaret Atwood and daughter by asha bandele

13. Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?

A mental list, thanks to all the reviews, and book tags that I read.

14. What books would you like to reread?
Calvin and Hobbes… an instant mood uplifter :)

15. Who are your favorite authors?

Keeps changing. There was a time when Agatha Christie and RK Narayan ruled supreme. It’s been an interesting journey since then.

A day of my choice - tag

One day, Weather girl called me...

Now i like weather girl because she's so fickle minded..she just cannot make up her mind on what weather she wants...One day she decides it’s going to be sunny and bright and just when all those clothes have been aired out to dry, across she sends those angry clouds and watches gleefully as the orchestrated movement starts below...people running helter-skelter, umbrellas being popped open and children being herded indoors... At least that's what happens in Singapore...at the first grumble from the sky, we see maids popping in and out every balcony peering above, and gathering laundry in and out.

Don't you think, the weather is an icebreaker, mood turner and perfect punching bag in addition to being the most overused topic?

And so weather girl said, “today I’m feeling lazy! Can you manage the weather for me today?

"Sure" i said "how do i do that?"

"Take this pencil and draw your weather on this white screen, next point to the globe...it’s that easy...

I looked at the screen and saw a white canvas...begging to be filled...I drew inverted V's for mountains, a semicircle for a cheery sun half hidden behind a cloud, birds in the sky and cottony clouds...I drew light drops of rain…and then I turned the globe and pointed to Singapore…

Okay wake up guys...this was imagination working overtime...let's leave weather girl to her whims and my imagination and get on with the tag, passed on by ~nm...

If i were to be a day, i would go for the one where there is a hint of rain in the clouds, a rainy day where the raindrops fall softly on your cheek and tease you…a day where the kids can splash about without their mothers worrying about them catching cold...

And since I’m greedy, i would also like to be that day in October in Delhi when there is that delicious nip in the air which tells you winter's coming. I really enjoyed my pre-winters in Delhi…(not the bitingly cold one where you wish the toilet seats came pre-warmed and where your words are frozen in your throat).

I miss those women knitting sweaters everywhere you go, people basking in the warm winter sun…the jackets and the shoes, the tip of your nose feeling cold faster than the rest of you, the wonder in your child’s voice when his warm breath creates that little illusion of smoke…the attraction towards heat and warmth in every form…erm...here... i am referring to hot cups of tea ;)

So I’m a sunny day - wanting to be rainy-also wanting it to be nippy - kinda person...(sounds a bit like my moods). now tell me, what season are you?

And since it’s a tag, specifically Sumana, abha, gauri, neera...let's see the seasons in you...

Psst...but guess what, the sky is grumbling, the clouds have gathered...woohoo..so its going to be my kind of day after all...itz chai time here... :D

Adding links to the chain of love

Veenz tagged me with a chain of spreading love... I have alovely circle of blog pals so let me do my bit of spreading cheer.

Once tagged, you have to copy paste the link in this post, add your name and make them grow!

BennyLiew, RamblingMoo, Mum & Kids In Wonderland, Judelittle, Our mini blogsphere, Rooms in My Heart, http://janiceng.blogspot.com/, ChinNee, Jo-N, LadyJava's Lounge, Strange but True, Mariuca's Perfume Gallery,Meet Uncle J-Uncle J, Farah,aNgRiAniWoRLd,How’s Life Bout,The Three Heroes, Ceedy, Veena, Suma...



while i wish love everyone's way, I tag justjen, prats, keshi, romila, sumana, hipgrandma, preethi, koolkat, aarthi, wian

tagging the me-me!!

JLT passed on this tag to me...

Know me better!!!

Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:

Last movie? Jodhaa Akbar!!! Finally something I watched without the children…without G...but ...with my in-laws. (ma-in-law had been wanting to watch and i had heard a lot of the 'abs'solutely fabulous hrithik...) G decided to be the perfect husband and spent an evening with the children, while I brushed up on my Mughal history. Of course, my need to see hrithik was greater than his!! The movie was memorable for two reasons...hrithik was 'abs'olutely droolworthy and my mom-in-law had superb timing…just when the abs scene flashed, she decided to update my knowledge in history...wah!!!

What Book Are You Reading:
Reading Thorn Birds...again...(a visit to the library is due)!!!

Favorite Board Game:
Scrabble. And kaleidoscope…(its actually a puzzle board game and verrrry addictive…)

Favorite Magazine:
everything and nothing in particular…but yes love reading Reader's digest...femina...newsweek...etc

Favorite Smells:
cool rain on scorching earth, the aroma of freshly baked biscuits, the smell of babies, the fragrance of flowers (jasmine)

Favorite Sound:
waves hitting the shore, the sounds of laughter, the word “Amma”, the birds chirping

Worst Feeling In The World:
the feeling of helplessness in situations beyond my control!!!

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake? ::
OMG!!! Is that the time? Already?!!!!

Favorite Fast Food Place::
those serving Chaat…

Future Child's Name:
I’m going to have another child??? when? :D

Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”::
the thing is i'm never going to have a lot of money...both G and i spend too much esp on others...

Do You Drive Fast? ::
I don’t drive :(

Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?::
No!! not unless G counts as one…

Storms-Cool Or Scary? ::
Super cool when inside, safe and sound

What Was Your First Car?
An 118NE

Favourite drink: ::
Water…and masala tea

Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....” ::
Paint, watch a few movies, learn a few skills!!!

Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?::
Yes…yes…and yes!

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice? :: Auburn


Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In.
Delhi, Pune, Chennai ,Bangalore, Indore, Bhopal, Kolkata, Singapore (i had forgotten to add my current place...thanks to shruthi, it is now rectified)

Favorite Sports To Watch:
Tennis, gymanstics

One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
smart and witty …she’s 'just like that'!!! And you cannot help but just ‘like’ her!!


What's Under Your Bed?
My slippery slippers…


Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Definitely!!! With a little more spice and less sugar!!!

Morning Person Or Night Owl?
As long as morning is not before 6’oclock..then yes, a morning person

Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?
Neither.

Favorite Place To Relax:
During vacation time, my bath room…other sane times, the library and my home

Favorite Pie:
apple

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
chocolate chip, and hot chocolate fudge sundae...

Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?
Joy…(*u better not let me down)
Prats, gazal, romila - prove me wrong, will you?


and of course i tagged prats, joy, gazal, romila