Being a mother

It all started with two thin lines on the pregnancy test kit. I was happily looking forward to being a mother, though I had no clue on what I was signing up for. I enjoyed all the pampering and priviledges all through the 9 months of my pregnancy.  Then came the pain..

It was on a Sunday night that I felt mild contractions. My husband and I rushed to the hospital only to await 24 hours for the cervix to dilate. On Tuesday morning around 4 am, my doctor's pleasant smile slowly disappeared as she tested me again and again - "Your pelvic bones are not obliging , cervix has not dilated much and the baby has changed it's position. Looks like we will have to go for an emergency c-section" , she said.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in the operation theater surrounded by doctors and nurses. I was shivering. The contractions were at an all time high and the epidural had almost worn off by then , leaving me in unbearable pain. Thanks to the anesthetist , he quickly gave me a top up and the pain was bearable again. As my doctor was very slowly cutting open my abdomen, I felt a little pain and told the anesthetist about it. Then I thought I died.  In a few minutes, all I could see were white pillars and something like a maze.

Someone gently tapped my cheek and said "Wake up. You just had a boy baby!" . I was then taken to the normal ward where I could hear my husband, parents and in-laws talking. The nurses then brought a tiny baby wrapped in a big blanket. There he was - Rishi Vivek, son of Divya.

Was it love at first sight? Not at all . The love came much later, after a month of recovery. It was a sunny morning and I was breast feeding him when he stopped suckling, rolled his tiny eyes and looked up at me. I wished that time would freeze there. A few days later , came the smile - a beautiful, innocent and priceless smile all over his face.

I now know that I have signed up for the biggest project of my life. Parenting is a big responsibility. Yet, it brings along so many lovely memories, precious moments and unconditional love - all of which have given my life a new direction. It looks like I will have to be more courageous, happy and wise, because,  my son is going to roll his tiny eyes and look up at me in a lot many situations going forward. I am enjoying every bit of it.

Travel and Tortures

Well, Mrs. Vivek it is, from here on!
 I finally managed to find a Mr.Divya who patiently listens to whatever I blabber.

Post marriage, I have become one among the many thousand victims of everyday public travel in Chennai.
I travel by shared auto till Pallavaram station, a train from there till Guindy, a shared auto till Madya Kailash and again a shared auto till Taramani where I work.Few of the everyday travels are enjoyable, most of them are nail biting experiences and some of them even go to an extent where I feel like biting the auto drivers, instead of my nail!

1.Train, Train go away
One good thing about the Guindy train service is that the trains are frequent, so you dont have to worry much if you miss a train. The trains are way too crowded in the mornings, so I get myself a first class pass and manage with a lesser crowd.

2.Jam outside, Jam inside
As beautiful as it is, the city also hosts many narrow roads. Every person who goes to work in the morning, has to honk his way through miles of traffic.Everyday, I witness hundreds of vehicles, all trapped in a traffic jam. The sad part is, I witness all these sitting in a shared auto, that is jammed with too many people.
The auto drivers do not start the vehicle till their auto is overflowing with men and women.One good thing is, I am now able to sit in anybody's chair/sofa/car seat by using up as little space as possible :)

3.Shake me baby autos
Yes, you read the heading right. That is the name I have given to shared autos that follow only one rule on earth - gravitation. The drivers dont pay heed to any of the traffic rules, and they drive at unimaginable speeds. The auto then lands on a pit or a speed breaker, it hangs in the air for a few microseconds, and before you know it, it is back on the road, again at high speed. All this happens while an elderly lady passenger is having her breakfast/ when a school kid is tying up his shoe lace.The lady misses a day's meal and the boy is sure to have hurt some part of his body.

It is probably high time that the services of buses and trains in Chennai were increased. If people can rely on public transport, the number of cars and bikes will reduce gradually. That in turn, will reduce all that traffic and pollution. All we need is more buses, more trains and less crowd per bus/train.

The discount mania !

What do you do when your kid refuses to go to school ? Promise him a chocolate when he returns.

The Aadi season was traditionally considered inauspicious. No marriages, no betrothals and no other couple mingling events. That, brought a big loss to the textile industry. After all South Indians, save every paisa they have for years together and spend every one of it for the D day. So the bulk shopping for marriages went down during Aadi.

Some manager who probably had a kid who refused to go to school, spitted out this incredible business technique at work .Thanks to him , today our televisions are all busy showcasing advertisements about Aadi discounts !

My oh my ! People flock the shops like crazy and buy everything they can. On the price tags of the goods, there are two prices , 'before discount' and 'after discount'. In most cases, the expensive 'before discount' prices will be marked with an 'X' mark so as to reiterate how generous the company is. The cheaper 'after discount' prices will be in bold.

Oh yes, they also take all the effort in the world to hire beautiful models and show off how benevolent they are - Such lovely saris at such low prices ! No matter what the model wears, she looks good. Its the combined work of her beautician, her tailor and her cameraman. Once I tried on a pink salwar kameez that I saw on a magazine ad. I looked like a blown up cotton candy.

The Aadi craziness has spread to the electronics and real estate industry as well. So are we really being fooled by all the industries ? Not really, it seems to benefit those who are not very keen on quality. However, you need to be patient to dig in deep and pick out the best of the worst. And don't forget, the early bird always gets a pretty worm.

 I better sleep early tonight, have some wedding shopping to do tomorrow and mom says T.Nagar is not very crowded in the early mornings. Tata!

P.S: I never liked going to school but always fell for mom's chocolates :(

Bad and Beautiful !

Beautiful Bengaluru :)

Bangalore is a beautiful city indeed ! Be it the cool climate or the neatly maintained parks that one finds in every street, this city rocks.People seem honest and friendly, young chaps dress up like they are walking the ramp everyday and you get tasty food everywhere !

Bad/Bongu Bengaluru :/

When I was just about to make up my mind that Bangalore is the best city in India(second only to my dear Chennai) , I started boarding the city buses and that changed my entire opinion about the city.

Reason 1:
People living here seem to have misunderstood the "We two.Ours One" slogan. I see that every family proudly maintains a car . By "family", I mean husband and wife. This means the son/daughter gets to contribute his/her own share to the exponentially increasing pollution. So how does this affect a poor girl who travels by bus everyday ? Traffic !! Grrr... Especially on Friday nights when you have a train to catch in half an hour . Thank God.I am not Kareena Kapoor of Jab We Met .I dint miss any train yet ;)

Reason 2:
Another thing that makes my bus travel memorable is the funny and cunning attitude of bus conductors here !! They are so generous ... They give you a small concession of Rs.2 or 3 per ticket and when you are just wondering whether he is Kuberan-II, he gives a sheepish smile and walks away without giving you the ticket !! My friends and I did not understand what's happening for two days. The third day we found out ... he is making money and we are the ones taking all the risk in the world by travelling ticketless !!

There is one particular conductor whom we fought with .We refused to give money without receiving the ticket. Alas, we lost the well fought battle. He dodged us well , so when we gave the money,he gave the familiar sheepish smile and walked away !!! Since that day, whenever we board his bus, we throw an angry glance and he returns it with a "I dont care" smile. However, nowadays, we make sure we receive the ticket and only then do we open our purses !

P.S: None of the women conductors we saw so far were mysterious/funny like these men conductors.

Food

"Belly rules the mind !" says a Spanish proverb. I do not know if this applies to everyone but it sure suits me ! Indecisiveness seems to be my problem in every aspect of life...I never know whether to choose plan A or plan B and end up choosing an entirely different plan C...However, when it comes to food, my taste buds know what they want at the right time ! I am never confused with deciding whether or not I want to taste something :) That is because I am ready to taste anything that is vegetarian.

Listed below are a few of my favorite dishes.
1) Pani poori
Who can say no to the tempting taste of small round pooris stuffed with potato,onions,channa served together with the spicy "pani" ? I love the way we eat pani poori...How many nations have innovative eating methods like ours ? If you have never eaten a pani poori before, you are not fit to be an Indian !

2) Chole Batura
Mouth watering ?? Aint it ? Though all of us know it is full of fat and oil, we can never resist the temptation to munch away alteast one half of the batura...

3) Gobi-Manchurian
Perfect thing to eat on a rainy day . Also, Gobi 65 makes an awesome starter !

4)Vegetable Pulao

A perfectly healthy and tasty dish and tastes best when served with onion raitha :) My mom's an expert in this !! Is there anyone who can hate peas pulao ?

5) Rasam rice with lady's finger poriyal
Nothing comes like home made rasam mixed with those delicate boiled rice grains. Add some lady's finger poriyal for taste ....and wow ! It's a bliss :)

6) Aapam
I do not know if many people like this particular dish...It tastes best at Hotel Saravana Bhavan. It looks like a "U" shaped dosa :) The taste is different and can be served with coconut milk. It looks like a dosa, but is made like an idli !! So it is completely fat free and healthy too !

7) Sandwich
The easiest to make and healthiest stuff I have ever known...No matter how many times I eat it, I never get bored. I do not think my taste buds will ever say no to a sandwich as long as I live.

8) Curd Rice with mango pickle
Yummy !! My all time favorite :)

9) Strawberry/ Sappota(Chiku) Shakes
Shake Shake Shake !!

10) ICE CREAM !!!!!!
Ice Cream?? Where is it served ?? Am I allowed extra scoops??

P.S : I listed only ten of my favorites because one blog will not suffice to even mention everything !! If you are a food lover too, please mention your favorite dishes as well :)

Famous Failures

Aadhavan !

What a movie ! There are two things you cannot resist while watching it....The first one is blaming yourself for wasting money and the next is waiting for the movie to get over ! The story (if you are able to search and find) spins around an assassin hero, who was misunderstood by his dad during his childhood and shows how he gets back to his family. It looks like the director K.S.Ravikumar spent all his energy directing his previous film that he decided to do this movie to take a break from thinking.It is true that a film with proper logic can impress the audience..However, this film tries to bring in logic only in places where it is absolutely unnecessary and ends up testing our patience !

Surya has done his best, yet again , at some places he has done more than what is necessary ... May be their policy was "Do more ! " . The usage of morphing to show Surya as a 10 year old kid is a good attempt. Vadivelu helps you chuckle in some scenes. Nayanthara is portrayed as a pretty lady. Saroja Devi (Nayanthara's grandmom) delivers her dialog in the same old fashion. The late actor Murali who plays the role of a father has done a neat job. "Hasile fisile" is pleasing to the ear. However, the picturisation of the songs could have been made in a better way. The BGM is good to hear, but does not go well with the movie.

On the whole, Aadhavan is a signature K.S.Ravikumar movie. But somehow, the magic that many of his previous films created, seems to have vanished here ! The producer Udhayanidhi Stalin shows up at the last scene. You know friends, it sometimes helps to know the man who took pains to sponsor two and a half hours of "we are trying to impress you ? got it ?" trials.