Cousin Connection

Recently one of my cousin sisters sent this message which read -

This message just struck me like a lightning bolt! "So true!" I exclaimed. I have grown up with my cousin sisters around me (especially mom's side family). We used to stay in close vicinity and would spend an entire weekend at each other's place doing nothing! Back then, we (luckily) fitted into each other’s clothes and would shamelessly dig into each other's closet. There have been numerous occasions where we have confused our parents as we would look identical in each other’s clothes. Well, we don’t do this anymore; we neither stay in close vicinity nor do we fit into each other’s clothes ;)

Coming to think of it, my cousin sisters and I share many similarities. Some of them are because these traits are running in the veins and arteries of the family tree
>We are totally self-obsessed; we get ready and stare at the mirror until we impress ourselves!
> We love posing for pictures and clicking millions of self-photos (in the 5 star hotel loo of course)
> We love food - one likes to cook, the other likes to take a pic of it and the other likes to eat. Well the love for food from different angles! (HEHE..keep guessing who is who ;)..)
> We LOVE HANDBAGS - I don’t think we have realized this as a group of cousins, but each of us separately drool over handbags and long for having a cupboard full of it!
> If you haven’t guessed this one already, we can oscillate between being "Gaandi" (Mad) to "dhai deekri" (obedient/silent/calm gal)
> We love giving "dhamki" - well not in the serious way of course, this is a bi-product of our nautanki character ;)

This list goes on-and-on. So, while I sit and figure out this list, why don’t you go ahead and probably send the same message to your long lost cousin :)

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 :)

Trip to the Petrol bunk

Driving back from work today, all my mind could think of was how eventful, hectic and tiring this week was (if you were following my Facebook posts you would know why ;) ). It suddenly struck me that I hadn't blogged for a very long time and feared that I had lost touch! So, just to let go of that fear, here I am with yet another set of thoughts penned down for you.

Hubby and I headed out today for a short drive to the petrol bunk and just as luck would have it we got stuck in very bad traffic. On a road which hardly qualifies as 2 lane, we had an auto rickshaw, a bus and a car all in parallel fighting to get ahead of the other without giving space to onward traffic. Where were we? We were sitting in the car behind the bus with a SWIFT Dezire on a 45 degrees angle between me and the bus. Not to mention, all the bikes in different colors and sizes occupying every spot between the vehicles.

Suddenly, the bus moves forward and the Dezire cuts in. I shout "What an ass?!!" and my hubby humbly answered "Comes with the car, Swift with an ass". "Well said" I thought. As if one was not enough, another Swift with an ass followed him and did the exact same thing! And I was like "Is it just a coincidences or everybody who owns this car is the same??!!:-S" Nevermind!

I continued to drive (inch by inch) until another "villain" showed up! A big Fortuner behind us on high beam killing my eyesight. I suddenly felt like being part of the Transformers movie where the Decepticon (SUV) is fighting against the Autobot (me) to destroy the Earth! If you have been driving, you would totally understand this description! Every such SUV thinks they rule the road and can honk and intimidate every vehicle passing by. I chose not to get affected and ignored the monster behind me!

We finally made it to the petrol bunk and spent a fortune. On the way back, just when we thought that we found a free road, we were surrounded by a bunch of bees buzzing in different directions! Didn't get it? These bees are the most annoying 2 wheel motor cycles! These bikers were as random as they could get, a guy with left indicator going right, a guy with no headlight overtaking a bus on the opposite side and the best of the lot, a  guy showing signal with his hands which I could hardly see in the dark background. I guess Size does not matter when it comes to being an annoyance to others.

Oh BTW, I almost forgot to mention the brilliant black and yellow auto 3 wheelers! They come from a different world altogether! From the time Rajni acted as an Auto-kaaran, all of them on the road think they are super stars (literally). They can fly, they can swing, they can twist and they can take their passengers any where any time in no time! Rascalas :P

Now that I am done scolding swearing and venting at every vehicle which came my way, I must confess that in spite of all that, I enjoyed this not-so-long drive. Just for the sheer entertainment and the small but good distraction from work it gave me ;)