I Believe...

A rose dreamed day and night about bees, but no bee ever landed on her petals.



The flower, however, continued to dream. During the long nights, she imagined a heaven full of bees, which flew down to bestow fond kisses on her. By doing this, she was able to last until the next day, when she opened again to the light of the sun.


One night, the moon, who knew of the rose's loneliness, asked : 'Aren't you tired of waiting?'


'Possibly, but I have to keep trying.'



'Why?'


'Because if I don't remain open, I will simply fade away.'


At times, when loneliness seems to crush all beauty, the only way to resist is to remain open.


-- A Story From 'Like A Flowing River -- Paulo Coelho'


Something which I feel makes a lot of sense even if it's just a story. If you ever feel lonely, I guess this should be the story that you must read over and over again!

To My Sister, With Love...

Dear S,

You’re 30 years young as of today. How does it feel? Does your body ache? Do you need a walking stick now? *Wink wink* Ok, don’t lose your temper. I know 30 isn’t old at all. That’s why I said 30 years ‘young’, you see?

I just want to tell you, you’re the craziest and the funniest sister ever. Not to forget loving and caring (yes yes, you’re all that!). I love to see all the childhood videos again and again just to see the cute side of you.

Remember the swimming pool party we attended years ago? I was dead scared swimming in a pool that was so deep and you were there with me throughout just to make sure I was okay. You even did some funny moves in the water just to entertain me. I love rewinding and watching that part of the childhood video again and again. It’s so cute. It’s so you!

Remember whenever I used to fight with mom, you always used to rush to me, wipe away my tears and comfort me with a repeated ‘It’s okay. Just let it go!’? You used to have this screwed up face which hinted that if I cried any further you would end up crying too!

Remember how you used to make me and my cousins sit around you and feed us rice (made into small round balls) dipped in curry and we used to go ‘mmmmm’ each time we finished them?

Remember the number of times when the guys in your class used to come up to me and say ‘Your sis is so pretty and smart. I want to marry her!’? I am sorry I had to report those instances to mom, but that just made life more entertaining, don’t you think? ;)

Remember those times at school whenever you saw me out in the corridor, you used to yell out ‘dhannnuuuu’ and then turn to look at your friends, point to me and say ‘That’s my sister… isn’t she cute?’.

Remember those times when our school timings were different (mine used to finish earlier than yours till 3rd or 4th standard) but you always made sure you were there by my side when my classes finished and led me hand in hand to my school bus?

Remember those times whenever I started craving for carrot halwa, you would end up making me a whole BIG container of it that would never ever seem to finish even if I ate it two-three times a day?

Remember how I told you I didn’t want you to send across anything from Dubai through your husband when he came earlier this year, but you actually sent a HUGE box of stuff that I actually needed? Telepathy is it? :)

You’re an awesome sister, and I am sorry if I have not been as good a sister as you are. But you know how younger sisters can be right? Spoilt, pampered and arrogant! You’re responsible for this in a way too, you know! :D I can be rude, moody and can even act indifferent sometimes -- but you have accepted me for the way I am and still continue to pamper me. East or West, you're simply the best! (Yeah, I am saying this coz it's your birthday... after this it's back to square one -- back to meaningless fights, that is :P)

Happy happy birthday chechiiiiii! You’re the best ever! :*

With lots and lots of love, hugs and muahs
Dhans

The Day We Went Fishing...

This was supposed to be posted few months back when my niece was here. She’s back in Dubai now and I had completely forgotten about this very whole incident. It was only when I was browsing through the pics in my laptop that everything came back with a bang. Pictures bring back so many memories, don't they?

We – Pri (my cousin), I and Naksh (my niece) – decided to go fishing (not for eating of course) in an old fashioned manner! We headed towards the pond at our place and stepped into the water. It wasn’t difficult to get those tiny fishes to come near us. They seemed to like the dead skin on our feet quite a bit ;) Parlours in the U.S have started a form of pedicure wherein a huge tank is kept filled with carps for this exact same purpose – to eat the dead cells off from your legs. Yup, it seems these tiny fishes can perform the best pedicures which is why I keep telling Pri we should be opening up our own very pedicure parlour in God’s own country at our place and capitalize on something which is so readily available to us.

Getting back to our fishing story – we took a couple of leaves first and decided to swoop them into the water and get hold of some fishes this way.

*First swoop*
*Looks into leaf expectantly*
*Finds nothing*
*Second swoop*
*Looks into leaf expectantly*
*Nothing*
*Third swoop*
*Looks into leaf expectantly*
*Still nothing*

We (Pri and I especially) always believe in taking three chances… and giving up after that! So give up we did and we decided to try our luck with gifts that God has bestowed upon us – our hands. Now some of you may go ewww and yuck here but trust me, it ain’t so bad.

Our hands worked well. They did us proud. We caught our first fish this way.

Pri (Looking happy and all relieved) – I caught one! Look!

*Comes towards me to show the lil teeny weeny fish*
*Fish jumps out from hands straight into the water*
*Both of us look at each other dejected*



Naksh was there silently watching us in her raincoat. She’s always expecting it to rain in Kerala that’s why you always find her in a raincoat when she’s here. After our numerous failed attempts at using different methods to catch a fish she just gave her first and last dialogue that prompted to us to stop trying any further and head back home –

“You both suck!”

P.S : A special thanks to all my followers and people who take time out to read this little space of mine. If you check that tiny box on the side, you will see that this blog has over 100 followers now. I didn't even see it until someone pointed it out to me. Thanks Pulkit! And thanks to all of you for making blogging such a wonderful experience for me! :)

Mind Your Language

I met P few months back. She’s a 12 year old who loves to sing and who is a die-hard M.S Dhoni fan. I saw her after many years actually. She’s my cousin’s daughter who is studying in Bangalore. Chances of us meeting were limited coz I too was away from Kerala most of the time.

Apparently she thought I would be a snob who would only talk in English and show nakhras all the time at home considering I was born and brought up abroad.

“DC (Dhanya Chechi. Chechi means elder sister in Malayalam. Yeah, she calls me DC coz she finds it easier)… you’re not a snob at all! You’re actually quite funny! And you speak Malayalam quite well too. I didn’t expect all that from you to tell you the truth!”

I take pride in telling people that I know how to write and read Malayalam fluently. Especially those people who have formed their opinion about me beforehand, just like P. Maybe it’s coz of this very reason, I get turned off when people tell me they don’t know their mother tongue.

I have met dozens of Keralites who tell me shamelessly that they dunno Malayalam at all. Is this something to be proud of?

I prefer to talk to Malayalees only in Malayalam be it at get togethers, parties or through the phone. I hate it when people (youngsters especially) who are actually fluent in the language start talking in English to their elders who have little or no comprehension of the language whatsoever. Is talking in your mother tongue considered passe nowadays? Even if you’re not comfortable with the language shouldn’t you be making an effort at least with the elderly folk?

P hardly talks in Malayalam which was why she was surprised when I said I knew the language. She said she didn’t know much coz her parents spoke only English at home. Her parents both are fluent in Malayalam by the way. Should you avoid teaching your kids your mother tongue thinking that it would be of no use when you go to school or anywhere outside your household?

If this is the case, should we actually be scared that a time will come when the future Indian generation will only know English?

P.S : In no way I am trying to hurt the sentiments of those people who don’t know their mother tongue. This is just something I feel strongly about.

Mad's Mad Mess!

One of the best things that happened to me in the blogger world would mainly have to be meeting this cute, hot n sexy (last two words added to generate interest among the male readers coz just before writing this post she told me she's of 'marriageable' age. Dunno if this was a hint of sorts. Anyway, Mads... I did mention em all ;)) 20 year old girl named Madhuri Iyer. I call her Madsy, Bambee, and a lot of other censored stuff which will remain censored coz as most of you’ll know – my blog is family oriented! ;)

She’s hyper, funny and CRAZY! I call her my little secret box. There’s nothing she doesn’t know about me - my soul sister! A person who seems to be hell bent on teaching me all the Yahoo emoticons. I have been using them so much lately with her, that they are now slowly finding their way into my online conversation with other people too. Some of the favorite ones include –

\:D/ - “Dancing” Smiley
:-w – “Waiting” Smiley
:-h – “Waving” Smiley
>:D< - “Hugging” Smiley
:O – “Surprised” Smiley

And something which we both have created exclusively –

\B/ - “A Person With A Big Bum Is Dancing” Smiley (Feel Free to use this! Deposit 10 dollars to my PayPal account first please. Yes, Mads... I will share with you!)

Madhuri Iyer cracks some of the most rib tickling dialogues ever possible. I dedicate this post to her particularly…and her Mads-isms.

Mad's Mads-isms

Madhuri Iyer’s GTalk Status – “Madhuri Is A Lamp”

me : :O
why a lamp?
please dont be a lamp

Madhuri : :P

me : how can i chat with a lamp

Madhuri : i got a table lamp for my table fitted now \:D/
hehe
ur so dim, u need to chat with a lamp!!

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me: i want a picture of urs to use for my blog post

Madhuri : scared
don’t use any pic
they will pornoph it :-w
porn plus morph :-w

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Madhuri : banking regulation act ka short form is BRA u knew that? :-w

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Madhuri : im off now deedee dudeni :-w

me: ohkay dudeni :-w :D
from where u come up with such words

Madhuri : its all in the mads dick...tionary
:-w

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Madhuri: :-w
me: :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
Madhuri: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w
me: :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w :-w


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Madhuri : watt is similiarity between Indian cricket team and farmers?

me : give up :-w

Madhuri : answer is both heave a sigh of relief when it rains

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me : kitniii der tak tum baatein karogiii film-on kiii or falsafon kiiii

Madhuri : *holds fingers in ears*

Madhuri : wake me up when kitni der tak ends

me : :P
its over madsy...
how was it ?

Madhuri : *applauds*
*gives u lifetime achievement award*

me : thank u :D

Madhuri : *says u hv achieved a lot and ur life is over if u sing more*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

me: *hugzzzz u* :D
*bear hug* :D :D

Madhuri : :D *madhuri hug*
why is bear coming in between both of us? :-w

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*While playing Scrabble*

Madhuri : once we have to form "sex" on the tiles... okay deedee?

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me: what u playing? !!

Madhuri: with ur heart
:-w

me: haww

Madhuri: i wont let others play [-(
with ur heart
<3

me : *hears heart breaking*

Madhuri : arre u dont hv a heart

me : LOL

Madhuri : ur heart and my heart are playing kabaddi inside me :-w

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PS : Yes. We both are nuts.

Disclaimer - No Madsies were hurt during the making of this post.

When Jealousy Creeps In...

Love is in the air. Anyone and almost everyone seems to be falling for someone or the other. Now before you get the wrong idea, let me clarify – No! I am not in love. Yes, I put up mushy lovey dovey status messages now and then and confusing blog posts which intrigue the readers even more. Guess it’s just the age I am in where everything I do gets automatically misinterpreted as to being in love.

So like I was telling (and before I go off topic again), love is definitely in the air. Everywhere I go I see young couples hanging around – at restaurants, at shopping malls, at theatres – with a glow on their faces and a spring in their steps. I admire them for a second or two, go awwww within self and then all of a sudden jealousy hits. I mean how dare they fall in love, when yours truly hasn’t found a partner for herself as of yet? I give them some unnoticed glares and leave it at that.

It was during one of these lovey dovey days that I decided to go shop. I landed at a counter inside the shop which was showcasing some very nice collection of earrings. The only hindrance for me - a young and good looking couple. Hmmm, actually only the girl was good looking, the guy was just ohhh-kay. So there they were (mostly him), blocking the already small counter and I wasn’t able to admire properly or check out a pearly set which I had set my eyes on.

The boy looked more obsessed, besotted, ‘in love’ with the girl than vice versa.

*Girl tries on a pair of earrings*

BF : Ohhhhhh! You look SO fab! LOVELY!

GF (admiring herself on the mirror) : Yeah, no? Even I think so too. Looks awesome on me!!!

*Girl tries on another pair*

BF (eyes all dazed) : Wooowwww! Just look at you! So pretty.

GF (still admiring herself on the mirror) : Yeah no?!! Wow!! Just wow!

This complimenting from both sides (boy to girl, and girl to herself) went on for a good 5 minutes. I was there behind them admiring the scene, observing, taking it all in. Then.. yes… I hate to admit it… jealousy crept in. I decided enough was enough. I tapped the guy on his shoulders and asked in an irritated tone–

“So did you find anything good for yourself?”

The sales lady figured out what was going on and ushered the guy away much to his embarrassment. Though the funny part is that the girl hardly noticed he was gone and she went on admiring herself in the mirror.

Oh well. It’s fun to be jealous sometimes! ;)

Check The Stats, Pleez!

I was bored out of my wits (yes, yet again) until I started reading this survey which was conducted by Femina. Very engrossing, to say the least. Here are some of the questions and their results.

Could You Be With A Man Who Earns Less Than You?

• 36% - Only if I make enough.
• 33% - Yes.
• 30% - No.
• 1% - Can't say.

Not much of a stunner here coz times are changing. But how about the man in the relationship? Will it hurt his ego to know more that his girl is earning more than him?

What Turns You On?

• 61% - Good looks.
• 52% - Nice smile.
• 34% - Broad Shoulders.
• 32% - Sexy Voice.
• 22% - Machoness.
• 20% - Cute Butt. (:D)
• 19% - Athletic Build.

Pooja in K3G was just voicing what Indian women felt when she said she wanted 'Good looks, good looks and only good looks' in a man! ;) By the way, the stats also show that more women in Chennai lust after Vishwanathan Anand whereas in Kolkata, the ladies find Mr. Dhoni irresistible!

At What Age Did You Lose Your Virginity?

• 47% - Between 19 and 24 years.
• 40% - Between 25 and 38 years.
• 5% - Before 18 years.
• 8% - Can't say.

12% in Kolkata have had sex before turning 18! More as compared to major Indian cities. Shocking, ain't it?

Stats Across Cities

37% feel every relationship ends in a heartache.

49% think long distance relationships do not work. (Sad! Distance shouldn't be much of a problem if you truly love someone. There are so many ways to keep in touch. Where there's a will, there's a way right? But looks like almost half of the women population disagree.)

47% agree that a woman can be friends with her ex. (I am not among the 47% for sure.)

31% think it's possible for a woman to love two men at the same time. (NOT happening!)

57% are against the idea of pre-marital sex.

P.S : Left out some VERY interesting questions coz my lil blog is family oriented. ;)

If You're Happy And You Know It.....

.... Then have an expression that goes like this -

Like minded people are hard to find. And what’s more tough is finding people who you feel really connected to. I’m glad those very people have landed from miles away to visit this September. Some more are still to come.

Yes, even 'You' has landed. It feels really nice to be able to see him again. My childhood buddy. The person who has tolerated me the most in life. The person who has pissed me off so much that I have kicked him off from my FB and Orkut list the MOST number of times. He still suffers me and is downright sweet regardless of my immature self.

My chuddy buddy rocks even if he’s an idiot.

May this friendship last forever…

P.S : Posts are going to be short this month. Not having much patience.

Monday...

... is going to mark the end of a long started countdown.

:-)

Blogger's Digest

I have been an avid blogger since 2005. It was love at first write. When my blog started off, I was still at college. It had a girly pink template with no widgets at all. ‘My Own Little World’ was open to only a few close friends. Now, it’s almost the end of 2009, and this lil space of mine has come a long way.

Thought of dedicating this post to all those blogs that have inspired me to keep writing till now. I won’t be mentioning any of the blogs on which I regularly leave a comment behind coz I love reading all of your blogs equally and I don't intend on being partial.

The following are the ones that I read just for pleasure. The blogs where I leave behind a comment only when it’s an extra special day for them and in that one comment I compliment them on how wonderful their blog is and how I have been their loyal reader for a long time.

Coconut Chutney – View Blog

The blog name sounds yummy and it actually is. This humor blog is so enjoyable and is so well written that some of her posts have been lifted and copied into local mags (along with her photos) without her permission! She uses a bit of Tamil here and there, but that doesn’t seem to act as a hindrance for me.

Winkie’s Way – View Blog

Can you keep a lil secret? I want to start a blog like this for my kids in the future including copying the whole idea of having a header like the one shown in the blog. The whole blog is oh-so-cute and so well organized. I love the feel of the blog and the warmth it exudes. It feels like I am entering Tharini’s place and enjoying the experience she shares with her kids. Truly adorable!

Random Thoughts Of A Demented Mind – View Blog

This Bong is hilarious! His movie reviews are absolutely unique and refreshing (and can sometimes be a lil vulgar too!).

Confoundedness… along the long widening road – View Blog

Can you imagine my surprise when I stumbled across my ex-classmate’s space when I was blog hopping one fine day? But chances of her remembering me was less coz she had left ISB earlier than rest of us to pursue studies back in India. It was during one of those “special” days that I decided to leave behind a comment and was pleasantly surprised to see her mail the very same day – “Dhanya? You studied with me right? Fair? Thin? Specs?”. Her’s too is mostly a humour blog but after her marriage she hardly gets much time to blog. Check out her earlier posts. Truly worth a laugh.

eM’s blog – View Blog

This is the most famous of the lot mostly thanks to the blogger’s bold attitude. The only thing I find it a lil irritating is the way she keeps telling ‘I’m not Mallu, I am from Delhi’ in all her interviews. One parent is from Kerala, so that would make her a half-Mallu right? Anyway, other than that the person is living a very interesting lifestyle that is very now, very modern! She drinks hard, parties hard, and works hard. Her relationship posts get a lot of unnecessary comments but that’s what happens when one decides to blog about every single detail of their life, including the ones which are best kept as a secret. Entertainment guaranteed.

>>> So, this is my list. Which are your favorite ones? The blogs you read just for pleasure, not with the intension of leaving a comment behind? Let me know so that I know what to read during my spare time! TIA! :) <<<