Rendezvous with my self..

Small notes I wish to leave at office desks, anonymously :

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Dear guy in white T-shirt,

You are tall. You are good looking. You have an impressive gait and personality. But, why the white T-shirt always..every day since the 4 odd years I have seen you? And the pants..Oh, the pants. Green, red, yellow and orange. Really? I wonder whether you wear the same white top +Color bottom combo at home and during vacations too. Eh?

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Dear girl in velvety pants,

Agreed that you have a good figure and can carry off velvet pants ( in green mostly) quite well. In fact, I was impressed when I saw you for the first time. But, come on! It is done and over now. Give the velvety ones a break. They must also be tired of endowing your butt almost every day.The normal pants will look great too, promise!

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Dear guy in blue formal shirt,

I have never seen you in anything but a blue formal shirt and a black-ish trouser till date. And I have known you for more than 5 years. Smart and talented, but yet so self cautious always! Let go a little and smile heartily sometimes. Maybe that will help you ease up from inside and outsides too ( I hope), with another color for a shirt – white or black, at the least, may be?

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Dear lady in long skirt,

The long skirts are nice. Okay. They are comfortable too. Maybe. But, there are gazillion choices of clothes out there. Do you know? Also, do you know that wearing long skirts with loose mismatched top gives sore eyes. Not to you, but the ones who see you like that every single day.

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Dear girl in party wear,

Where’s the party tonight? No, seriously, that’s my question for you each day. Walking around in chic knee length dresses and perfect pointy heels  at work, I wonder whether you have a party scheduled each and every evening? And how  do you get time to wear so many layers of make up and curl the hair with luminous gel like that every day? Okay, am a little jealous. But, I still wonder..

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Dear guy with the faded look,

You earn more than me. I know since you have a bigger/better title. I can afford an iron box, so I know you can too.  Why don’t you go get one? Coming to work in faded, wrinkled, hapless shirt and pants day after day after day is boring. I agree you have a friendly  ‘Whatsup dude?’ attitude to go with, but wearing those pathetic baggy-type pants with wrinkled shirt even to  corporate presentations ..umm, not really cool dude.

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Dear lady in cute dress,

I recently found out that you are a mother of two teenage boys and I was dumbstruck! You hardly look more than 35 and have a figure to die for. The pencil waist and lustrous skin..sigh! To top that, you have one of the most beautiful dressing sense. Cute little skirts, flowy dresses, superbly paired shirts and pants, unique looking accessories, one-of-a-kind sweaters, comfortable and yet elegant footwear..oh, the list goes on. I envy you.

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Dear guy in  flashy colors,

You are young, well built, muscular , have a handsome face and hairstyle too. You are Indian and I know you secretly plan to run away to Bollywood one day and become a hero. But, spare us your fashion experiments please? I am sure the dress designers in your Bollywood movie will get you enough combinations of flashy yellow and red with sparkly golden shoes to go with. However, in the office, especially at meetings, the blinding colors hurt the eyes sometimes. Yes, they really do.

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[ Disclaimer : All I do is look  at people and judge their dressing sense at the work place you think? Well, no. I look away and do my work too…sometimes ]

Me: Cow Says?

Paapu: Moo Moo

Me: Pig Says?

Paapu: Oink Oink

Me: Sheep Says?

Paapu: Baa Baa

Me: Amma Says?

Paapu: Chittu !   ( one of her favorite  pet names)

Me: Appa Says?

Paapu: Grrrrrr   ( Yes, I try to be a fair when I teach. Ahem)

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Parts of the body, Numbers 1 to 10, The alphabet song, Names of the animals and a dozen rhymes are all told beautifully well.  But, the moment her dad walks in,  the girl jumps up to call him ‘Amma!’ (Mom).

“No, you silly girl. That is Appa”, I say and grin. She is till not sure who is who

Good. Not all is lost..there is hope

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Paapu is now like that little green parrot which repeats all you say and more. Say a word to her and it stays with her. Mostly comes back with added Paapuness

Serious convo with birdies up the sky.

I remember Comfy writing down the Buzz baby words some time back and I had much fun  playing the guessing game. Borrowing the idea from her, I present a sub set of Paapu’s vocabulary here. Guess if you may and then go to the comment section to view the answers.

Do tell me your score, ok? But hey..No Cheating.

1. Shoooshh (English)
2. Thappal (English)
3. Jakkeeet (English)
4. Chako-layit (English)
5. Nanni (Tamil)
6. Boi (English)
7. Annana (English)
8. Oooom (English)
9. Thawbeyi (English)
10. Ottay (Kannada)
11. Gapes (English)
12. Kwillil (English)
13. Fowow (English)
14. Ka (English)
15. Tee (English)

Want a ride home anyone?

I am in grave danger of being smacked in the head for not having posted a thing here since many weeks. Although virtual, sometimes those smacks pain no less . No, really!

So, here are some very random leaves out of the days in my life lately. Bullet points maketh a post too. Yes ?

• The festival season is here! Navarathri, as always, is all about colorful doll displays, dinner invites, pretty sarees and chic jewelry, super yumm sweets ( think Jalebi, Rasmalai, Badam halwa!) and spicy sundal. Navarathri is also about Dandia dancing in gorgeous lehengas. So much of talking and laughing out loud that I recently gave myself a sore throat. The good kind of sore throat

•  I sing Carnatic Classical and I do it decently well, if not exceptionally great. My old, tethered song book with ripped pages and brown edges comes out only during Navarathri. Am just so happy to sing some of my old favorites. But when my memory fails me with some complex compositions, am very much ashamed. I profusely apologize to all music Gods (?) for having failed and for having ignored them all year round. The scenario repeats again the next year anyway, the book having gone back into the rack once again

• My MIL is visiting. She is staying with her daughter (my SIL) who lives 7 miles away. She calls us regularly just to ask “How are you doing?”.She visits us when she wants to play with Paapu. She comes over when I have guests coming over and helps with the cooking. She comes when I am too held up at work and my home needs some care. I am beginning to realize she is one of the best things that happened to me with marriage and I cannot thank my luck enough for that. There are itsy bitsy complaints, but there is a lot of warmth and love too..I can see .

• We have a newborn in the family. Cousin PP, who also lives nearby delivered her second offspring – a bundle of buttery soft, pink cheeked baby boy. The highlight of the news though, was that she had a normal delivery in spite of the C-section during her first delivery 2 years ago. It is called VBAC ( visit link if you need info). Neither many women opt for it nor many doctors agree to go with it. Also, she did it without epidural or pain medication! When I was gushing over how great her achievement was, she calmly tells me “All credit to my husband. He was the one who insisted I should go without epidural. Could not have done without him”. I left my next words float away. How can the husband decide whether the wife should / shouldn’t take pain medication? Isn’t it the sole right of the woman in labor herself? I was told she cried and pleaded for epidural, while the husband stood by his words “No, you can manage without it”. The husband looked at her, beaming with pride. And, I sat there appalled.

•  When you are chasing a deadline at work, when you are clamoring to get things done, when all you  are thinking is work all day and even dream of it in the night ( argh!), when you pay less attention to food and more to your computer, when you feel like you are always running ….a simple “I LOVE YOU” note from the hubby can jolt you back to sense. Especially when it is most unexpected and much needed. Deadlines can wait while I smile and pick the phone to whisper it back to him

•  A nine month old is a baby, but a nineteen month old is NOT a baby. Heck, it is easier to type than to accept. I have just that one nursing at night still going on and I cannot seem to bring myself to wean Paapu off. I still mash food for her sometimes, when I know she can handle normal food perfectly, even without the molars. I get protective when hubby plays rough with her ( read hang her head down holding feet for example) when I know she is laughing and having a good time. I worry incessantly when she skips dinner altogether and just gorges on fruits or cheese once a while. I know and I am still in denial  My baby is no baby anymore. She is a little girl.

•  The wife of a friend has been staying over for few weeks. She moved from east to west coast owing to a job and her husband of 1.5 years is forced to stay alone for the time being. She is a picture of cheerfulness and goes along with everyone like a charm. But, that hint of sadness in her eyes always showed. One fine night, the husband just flew in and surprised the heck out of her! ( yes, we all witnessed the happy tears and jumping). And, the sadness in the eyes vanished, just like that.  Sigh! I love Love

So, what’s been happening on your side ?

Wish you all happy festivities, with Diwali in  tow next !

See you around, k?