Name Calling

There I was at the Seattle Tacoma international airport waiting at the gate for my ride to come and take me home. I settled down in one of the comfy spots and started looking around me. Out of 7 rows of chairs filled with passengers, I spotted way too many Desis and probably 5 Firangs. Thinking about it, The Desis are the Firangs in this country(US) and the so-called Firangs are Desis here. Applying that logic, that place was actually filled with way too many Firangs ;) Never mind.

Ahem! Moving on with my story - I was sitting there making my last few 'Good bye' calls to my friends and suddenly the Emirates announcement starts which went (something like this) - "Hello Emirates blah blah paging Naraaayaanaa, Ramaaaswaaaram".. and a lot more other people. She just killed all the Indian names in the best way possible! I was on the phone with my jiju and both of us just couldn't stop laughing! What started next was a situation story which I had to tell and show off :P So here it goes...

This was my first time ever to the States. I was travelling to NJ via Air France. We were just landing at Paris and my connecting flight to NJ was an hour away. The air hostess on the flight started to announce all the names who had to take the next flight as they had a separate bus arranged to take us to the flight directly. If you don’t know, my full name is SAKINA KHUZEMA ADEEB. Though my first and last names are pretty straight forward, the middle name is complicated.

The air hostess announced a series of random names and amidst those I heard "Kujima Aaadib".  "Damn! it sounds so familiar" I thought. She probably repeated it 5 times before I realized it was me!!  I hastily walked towards her and said "I think that is Khuzema?".  Her face literally glowed in happiness. She smiled at me and said "Finally! Somebody came!". I thought, "Yeah right, if you screw up names nobody will show up". Actually, cant blame her. She was French and English was not even her second language. Her calling out a list of Indian names is like me riding a CBR! Not gonna happen without disastrous results.

I was standing next to her watching her break into a sweat and  read out names in a way I have never ever heard. I took the list from her hand and saw names like "Venkataraman", "Srinivasan", "Ananthamurthy".  I felt sorry for her and offered to help. Without any hesitation she handed over the Mic to me and there I was calling out names as if I knew these guys from childhood. All of them started coming in front and boarded the bus waiting for us. The air hostess was so relieved that she gave me a hug and said "Thank you!!!" (in her French accent of course).  Proud is what I felt!

Ok story vover - now get back to whatever you were doing :P

Flashback!

Merry Christmas peepals! 

6 more days for 2013 and I am still wondering what to do for the New year's. I guess I will eventually land up in some random place either dancing or eating or just wandering!  Right now, I sit here in front of the laptop (on a holiday), listening to a song which annoys my hubby the most, trying to write a plan for a project starting in 2013 and in the midst of all that, trying to write this ;)

BTW this is my 3rd attempt at a blog post this week. I don’t know why (may be I know why) I have just not been able to either turn my thoughts into words, or found time to write, or found the words and the time, but just didn't get enough "meat" to put into a post. Lets just hope I manage to finish this one successfully ;)

For all the "end-of-the-world" hype this year had, we seem to have passed by the "Doomsday" smoother than anticipated. Wonder if the whole 2012 prediction was just another way of getting a new topic to frighten people  or make money! Anyways, for me, I believe this year went really well! "How do you say that?" You may ask. Let me try to answer that as convincingly as I can :)

January - Started the year in a rather boring way (sitting at home). However, managed to reach my 100th blog post on the Newyears'. So proud of me on that one ;). Made my maiden visit to Kolkata and attended Amit n Ruchika's wedding. Enjoyed every moment of their hospitality and made some real witty friends :-))

February - Vishnu and I got famous on our 3rd anniversary :) Our story was featured in Femina February edition.  Haven't read it? See here. We celebrated the "D" day at Masinagudi along with love birds Hussain and Rash. We also signed papers for our new House which is currently under construction :)

March and April: Well, nothing much, first wedding in the team. Padma got into wedlock :) and I managed to save myself from getting fooled :P

May: By far the best-est month of the year :) My first trip to Seattle, loads of re-union, some major bonding with sister. Sky dived from 12,500 feet above sea level (I have a Certificate to prove that ;) ..)  Road trip to 3 states in 2 days - From LA to Grand Canyon to Vegas!  :) Also did a cycle gap visit to Dubai (you know why ;) )

June: Back home and continued normal life ;) Akka and kids visited us :) Urvi found a new baby sitter to cling and climb on :) and Rashi found a new partner in crime ;) In-laws started for their 2.5 months vacation to US.

Team outings, dinners, lunches, treats at its best :) Stephen's first visit to Chennai.

July:  Met Rosy and Mallika after ages! Super surprise planned by both of them :) Spent some very "embracing" moments with Kishen, Ambika and Mariya ;)

August: Best friend Suni got married to her forever friend Kiruba :) Back at work, launched India Kindle Store on Amazon.com

September: Trip to Bangalore, met Phaphda. Took complete pleasure of bugging Prathi :) Streaked my hair Red :) and and and ….Celebrated my Birthday with awesome surprises, loving wishes and cake cutting! Completed 4 years at Amazon :D

October: One day trek to Tada, fun time with team and hubby. Mr. Awesome moved to Bangalore (sad and happy for him). Gangnam style outing at Raddison Blu (Mahabs). Found new girls gumbal at work to jabber with :) We also bid farewell to Zenab, she left Chennai to pursue her PhD, may God bless you and the phD ;)

November: First road trip as a couple from Chennai to Kodai. Adventure time at Elephant Valley on the Tree house ;) A good eco-friendly birthday for hubby;)

December: Numerous project launches at work (team is super proud of their work). In the midst of all that attended half a dozen weddings, practically every close friend of mine got married this month. Laughter filled trip to Dharmapuri and Hoganakkel.

So, "Bhaisaab aap convince ho gaye ya mein aur bolu??" - Hope you had an awesome 2012 too. Looking forward to New year party (wherever that is) and 2013 :)

Gujju Randomness

I was randomly listening to this song and without my knowledge started singing the words in Gujurati. My hubby couldn't stop laughing and then suggested I actually post the Gujju version on my blog.
So here it is, my attempt at so called "Patel Rap". You're welcome to all the hearty laughs ;)

aa su thai gayu che,aa su thai gayu che
aa su thai gayu che,aa su thai gayu che

Hooooooo
avi ja mara bahon ma avijaaaa

Mari hungg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che
Mari hungg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che

o Yaara, Avija mara bahon ma avija
o Yaara, Avija mara bahon ma avija

Mari hungg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che

Mhane aas thayi gayi che, thane paas me kari levu
Tari har adaa ne samjhi ane chahat ma bhari levu
Mhane aas thayi gayi che, thane paas me kari levu
Tari har adaa ne samjhi ane chahat ma bhari levu
ek ajnabee see jaanu tu mhari khaas thayi gayi che
tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che

o Yaara, Avija mara bahon ma avija
o Yaara, Avija mara bahon ma avija
Mari hungg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che
Mari hunngg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che

Tari nematon na khatir mari khushi thane aapi devu
Tu ek isharo kari dayi toh mari zindagi tane aapi devu
Tari nematon na khatir mari khushi thane aapi devu
Tu ek isharo kari dayi toh mari zindagi tane aapi devu
Tu ajh mari zindagi che mane vishwas thayi gayo che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che

o Yaara, Avija mara bahon ma avija
o Yaara, Avija mara bahon ma avija
Mari hungg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che
Mari hunngg udi gayi che
Maru chen khovai gayu che
Tara pyaar ma mari jaan aa su thayi gayu che
aa su thai gayu che,
aa su thai gayu che
Mari hunnggggg

Dude! That was lame!

It was a Friday morning and I was sitting at work all alone trying to catch up with e-mails and preparing my list of "to-do". In sometime, my team mate silently comes and gives a wicked smile. Not knowing why, I kept talking to him normally (Hi, Hello, How are you, How come early, blah blah). He just kept staring at me expecting something different from me. I couldnt understand why the look and asked him "what's up?". He asked, "Aren't you surprised?". I said, "Huh. Oh I need to say Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii how are you, good to see you, what a pleasant surprise that you came in early!!" animatedly. He looked surprised (of course) but had the same grin on his face with the same stare. I had no clue what he was up to, he said "Haven't you read my e-mail as yet?". I quickly turn back to my laptop and hunt for his email and this is what I see:


From: Team mate
To: Sakina Adeeb
Date Sent: Fri 4/1/2011 9:26 AM
Subject: Will be OOTO for a month

Hi Sakina,

I wish to inform that due to a personal emergency I’m flying to Canada today in a few hours. I would be OOTO for close to a month. Don’t really have time to give a call and explain, but will do so once I reach Canada. Please inform the team on the same.

Thanks,
Team Mate

I burst into uncontrollable laughter and almost fell off the chair. I told him "Dude, didn't you get a better idea to fool me? How lame of you. You actually wanted me to believe that you have relatives in Canada which can cause a personal emergancy, and you already have the flight tickets to go there in a few hours?"

This was one of the lamest ways somebody has tried to fool me on April Fool's Day.
Accept it dude, that was a sad attempt! Lol

Silence! I KillYou!

If you are thinking that I am frustrated about something and am about to kill you, let me tell you, you are WRONG! I have cultivated this attraction to this new guy who is probably dead, looks like a Halloween decoration, has a huge skull and is also a terrifying terrorist :)
Didn't get it? Check this video out and you will know why the attraction ;)



Hope you enjoyed his jokhhhes ;)