Tag time

Howz this for a tagline:

Jab ho dimag ke darwaze band aur blog ho aapka rejected, tab Tag aaye aapke kaam !!

Anyways, with all the work piled up and my brain cells refusing to creating anything for the blog, I saw this tag on dmanji's blog and decided to take it up.

If you read it and like it, take it up.
So Here’s a list of things I did or not do.

1) Graduated high school.

2) Kissed someone.

3) Smoked a cigarette (though I have always wanted to try it at least once.)

4) Got so drunk you passed out. (Naaah... I know .. I am boring)

5) Rode every ride at an amusement park.

6) Collected something stupid: I used to collect kit kat wrappers as souvenioers from my friends

7) Gone to a rock concert.(Naahh.. again refer to point 4)

8) Helped someone.

9) Gone fishing. Never, and I am somehow not interested too

10) Watched four movies in one night. Yes,this I have done and that too with a gang of guys.

11) Lied to someone
12) Snorted cocaine. Noooo

13) Smoked weed. Noooo

14) Failed a subject.(yeah I once flunked my Thermal physics exam in college, because I was watching DDLJ for the 10th time entire night. and then i didn't go and collect my paper from my Professor)

15) Been in a car accident. (On my 3rd day in US, on a busy highway. It left me so scared of driving in US that I was off driving for about 3 years)

16) Been in a tornado. (c'mon I lived in Texas for 3 years; for those who do not know: Texas is called the tornado alley of US)

17) Watched someone die: No and I don't think I could do that.

18) Been to a funeral: Again, no

19) Burned yourself.

20) Run a marathon:Will walking a marathon count?

21) Cried yourself to sleep. So many times

22) Spent over 10,000 bucks in one day: I don't think so and I don't think I can. I think so many times when I have to spend a large amount.

23) Flown on an aeroplane.

24) Cheated on someone.

25) Been cheated on.

26) Written a 10 page letter: I think it was 9 and a half pages.

27) Gone skiing.  (Again see #4)

28) Been sailing.

29) Cut yourself. (Kitchen knives are not my best friend)

30) Had a best friend : Had it and lost the friend somehow.

31) Lost someone you loved.

32) Got into trouble for something you didn’t do. Always, as a kid, I was the leader of trouble making team.

33) Stolen a book from the library.

34) Gone to a different country. : I live in different one.

35) Watched the Harry Potter movies. (Not the complete movie in one sitting)

36) Had an online diary. I hope the blog counts. If not, I had a yahoo account to post my online entries before I had a blog.

37) Fired a gun.

38) Gambled in a casino.

39) Been in a school play.

40) Been fired from a job. Thankfully, no

41) Taken a lie detector test.

42) Swam with dolphins.  I really want to seesome who did it

43) Voted for someone on a reality TV show.   I am not into it.

44) Written poetry. (Wrote a couple of lines when I saw my son for the first time)
45) Read more than 20 books a year. (I used to before I became a mom)

46) Gone to Europe. (Flight layover counts, right?)
47) Loved someone you shouldn’t have. Yes I did !!

48) Used a colouring book over age 12. Yes I do now, with my son.

49) Had a surgery.

50) Had stitches.

51) Taken a Taxi.

52) Had more than 5 IM conversations going on at once. (Oh yes, those were the days)

53) Been in a fist fight. Naaah..

54) Suffered any form of abuse.

55) Had a pet.

56) Petted a wild animal  Am too scared of animals

57) Had your own credit card & bought something with it.

58) Dyed your hair. I do now !!

59) Got a tattoo. I so want to get one !!

60) Had something pierced.

61) Got straight A’s.

62) Known someone personally with HIV or AIDS.

63) Taken pictures with a webcam.

64) Lost something expensive. I am known in my family for losing jwellery.

65) Gone to sleep with music on. Lots of times

Sounds intersting? Pick it up now :-)

My Sins Against Gender-Stereotypes

I saw this tag floating around started by IHM here and decided to tag myself !!

As IHM describes it:
If you are a woman,

Have you ever wanted something that is considered ‘manly’ ? Like a basketball, a cell phone, a dog, a camera or a new laptop? A new car or motor bike? Ever wanted to be a pilot? A doctor or not a nurse? And the manliest want of them all – The remote!

As a kid did you enjoy playing with a bat and a ball?

There was a time when books were considered ‘manly’, women authors had to pretend to be men – would you say books are still rather manly – women should want to embroider and crochet?

If you are a man,

Have you ever wanted something that only women are supposed to want – like bags, shoes, clothes, creams, perfumes, babies, flowers? A peaceful home and a happy family? Have you ever been afraid of the dark or of insects?

As a kid did you ever want to play ‘teacher-teacher’, cooking or did you like playing with a doll? Have you ever enjoyed cooking? Bought something in pink? Loved chocolates?

So, here's my list of what I think I do/love to which doesn't fit my gender stereotypes:


a) I love cars, the bigger the better !! I just love my RAV4 and it makes me sad if I have to trade it with hubby's Corolla for even a day. I just love to crank up the music to maximum volume and speed it on a highway.


b) I cannot stand a kitty parties (or any all-women party) where all they discuss is fashion, husbands, mother in laws and jwellery.


c) Since school days, I have had more male friends than female friends. I just can talk to them more freely than with my firl friends.


d) I cannot talk on the phone for hours with friends. Every once in a while, it can be a short hi-hello but I just cannot do an hour long conversation.


e) I once hugged a male friend of mine, even though I knew it would raise a lot of eyebrows in a small place like Varanasi, in a batch of students having only 4 girls and 33 boys.


f) I can't stand all those saas bahu serials or Bachler types shows showing naked hot boys. I love all those crime serials like CSI, NCIS, 24 and latest the Mentalist.


g) I do not love chocolates, yes I just don't. I can eat once in a while, but I just don't drool/crave or go crazy about it.


h) Among me and my husband, I am the strict parent, in charge of discipline and husband is the one responsible for spoiling and taking sides.


i) I love doing all sorts of work around my house and yard. I recently repainted my kitchen cabinets, my living room, cleared up my back yard and now ready to redo the basement in my house !!


j) I am the one in my house who'll figure out how to import contact from a old cell phone to new one, how to set up the wireless router, find deals on electric gadgets and score the best one.


k) I am the one in charge of all financial accounts/records in the household. Have buried all the passwords/access codes in my head. (See, this way, I can threaten hubby to run away anytime :-)


Phew !! There, got the list.
and yet these things fail to take away my love for my collection of nail polishes and lipsticks
I still love my pearls and rubies.
I still love to pamper myself at a parlour every now and then.
I still love the smell of first rain, reading love stories
Sunsets still make me sad
still confide in my mom and sisters more than anyone else in the world.


If you are reading this and like it, go ahead and tag yourself and do it. it's fun to explore your own self at times !!

Edited: Added my trophy from IHM

8 X 8

• No, no this is not the size of any of the windows in my house :-) This is the tag I got from Nancy. and I was kind of in a rush to get this done, because then I have this big vacation to India coming up !! Yay !! So here, it goes:
  8 TV shows I like to watch
  I hardly get some time to catch up on my favorite shows. But whenever I do , I love these:
• The Metalist: I love Patrick Jane, everything about him.
• The good wife: This one is a new series on CBS and it is about the wife of a politicain who
  gets caught in a sex scandal. Love the wife Alicia Florrick's character.
• Grey's Anatomy: McDreamy and Meredith Grey, what else can I say?
• Desperate housewives: My husband just hates this program and I just love it :-)
• Cold case: I somehow love the the programs involving case investigations and this one is
  a bit different in that sense.
• Friends, Everybody loves Raymond: Although these programs are off the air now, but I love to watch their reruns anytime.
• Test Kitchen: Only when they show some baking recipes or a good vegetarin recipe
• Antique Roadshow: People bring their antiques to appraisers on this show and get the value of their antiques appriased. It is interesting to see the story or the value of some antiques on it. (I searched all my closets to find a worthy "antique" but came up only with old clothes/shoes/bags :-)
  
  
  8 favourite places to eat
• Definitely, the first one would be at my mom's place when all my sisters and brother gather and we all take a seat on the living room floor with our food.
• In my own kitchen, with my son and husband, with my son's jokes and laughter.
• Being a vegatarian, I don't have a whole lot places to eat outside. I love mexican food and
  specially, the Chipotle.
• Among the India resturant in my city, I love "New Krishna" They have lots of variety on their menu and the ambience and taste is too good.
• Back home, I love "paranthe wali gali" in Delhi.All sorts of stuffed paranthe, followed by
  jalebi with rabdi, just yummm
• I love Chinese food too,remember those vans in Delhi. I just love the chowmein, the soup and the manchurian
• I inherited my sweet tooth from my Dad and my craving for chaat papdi from my Mom. So guess which is my favorite place to stop by when going to my mom's place(faridabad)? Yeah Haldiram's on the Delhi Mathura Road.
• I also like south India cuisine and one of my fav places for south indian cusine here is the
  Udipi resturant.
  
  
  8 things I look forward to
• Aayush's voice shouting "Mommy" as soon as I open the door in my house every evening
• A Saturday night when I can be up till late and watch all the TV I want to
• A hot cup of tea early morning on the weekends (Not made by me !!)
• A quiet moment with myself at the end of the day
• A quiet and chore-free holiday
• Change the layout of my house a bit
• Summers, so I can get my lawn back in shape.
  
  
  8 things that happened yesterday
• Paid all my bills online
• Got a call from a friend after a long time, since she was gone to India
• Ate my lunch away from the computer, for a change
• Talked to my mom on the phone for about 25 mins, even though I was late for my work.
• Cleaned up my desk
• Stood in the office parking lot for a few minutes to watch the sun going down
• Made veggie quesadilla for dinner, thinking that would be quick, but then my son demanded aloo paranthas and was back to square one again.
• Went to bed early for a change, to catch on some lost zzzz's
  
  
  8 things I love about winter
• Hot steaming coffee and cappucino
• Enjoying sun on Sunday afternoons
• When all the empty stems of the trees are frozen and they look as if someone put a layer of
  glass on them.
• Garma garam gajar ka halwa!! Yes, it is the season to have it.
• Layering up in jackets and sweaters
• Warm showers
• Holiday shopping, Christmas lights and decorations all around.
• Weeklong shutdown at work(this should have been the first one)
  
  
  8 things on my wishlist
• To find time to read books, just like I used to do it (before my son came along and then I switched to 101 Dalmatians and Barneys)
• To be more regular on my blog
• To reconnect to all my old friends
• To spend more time with Aayush, doing all sorts of activities
• To find time for my creative hobbies
• Go back to India and be with my family and friends
• Start a home based business of my own
• Redo my wardrobe all over.
  
  
  8 things I am passionate about
• Music, and that too Bollywood music
• My car, yeah I love my car !!
• Playing computer gamesd) Google (yeah I google everything and anything !!Wish there was a google for seaches like "I am feeling blue today. why?")
• My family
• My beliefs and my values
• Anything that I want to do.
  
  
  8 words or phrases I use often
• Oh my God
• Are ... lekin..
• Do you love mommy?
• Did you do this?
• It's okay.
• Thank you
• I am going to say this once only.
• Okay, but only 5 more minutes.
  
  
  8 things I learnt from the past
• Think and then speak. Yes, you save a lot of fights that way.
• It is not always necessary to speak the truth. Some times, Somethings are just better left
  unsaid.
• Distances do affect your relationships
• Money is not everything for life, but it is an important thing for life
• Sometimes, just act on your gut feeling instead of trying to logic it out. In most of the
  cases, you will be right.
• Some friends are forever. and you don't even need to talk to them everyday or even everyweek.
• Nothing remains the same in life. Everything changes - Relations, Position, your dreams,
  aspirations, your priorities,your likes, dislikes, everything changes with time.
• In order to achieve something in life, you need to set your priorities right.
  
  
  8 places I would love to go, visit or see
• Kashmir, India
• Goa, India
• Varanasi, India (I spent 3 most wonderful years of my life there, so I want to go back there and try to visualize some of those moments)
• Ranchi, India (I was botn there and grew up in that place, so I want to go back and see the
  changes that city had gone through in all these years)
• Paris - I love shopping, what else can I say !!
• Nightout in Newyork
• A trip to Europe - I looked so magical in DDLJ. Okay, so I know there won'tbe any SRK there but hey, I'd still love the explore the place.
• Mumbai - Yeah, I have never been to this wonderful place and want to experience the magic once
  
  
  8 things I currently need or want
• A nice pair of sandals
• Some music CDs
• Wash my car one of these days
• Find a (shortcut and sure, if possible) way to loose that weight !!
• Meet my old friends, when I am in India.
• Spend lots of time with my brothers and sisters and mom and dad on my trip to India
• Learn to Control my temper/anger
• Take life one day at a time and not be freaked out about tomorrow.
  
  
  As for who I want to tag, I'll let the readers decide for themselves if they want to pick up the tag. Do try it, it is fun and it lets you think about yourself a lot.

Tags and Awards

I am honored, by yet another award. This one came from one of my favorite bloggers Shruti!!Shruti, thank you so much for the award. And as per the rules, here goes the tag.
Wait, first the rules...
“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”
Some rules of the game:

a) Show off your honesty(and modesty) by thanking the person who gave you the award and link to their post.

b) List 10 honest things about yourself, please no cheating here !! that's the fun part.

c) Select 7 other bloggers you think deserve this award and pass it on to them.

d) Notify the bloggers about the award and invite them to be the honest ones next !!

So here, we start...Here are 10 honest things about me.
1) I have a hard time expresssing my real feelings for someone. And saying "No" to anyone is just impossible for me.

2) I still beat up myself quite often to be the reason for my son being born 3 months before his due date !! Specially, when he gets sick for no reason at all !!

3) I still think about the guy I had a crush on long time back and sometimes google him.

4) I am obsessed about being methodical, organised and planning everything.

5) I love having a big family. So if someone can take care of the all the practical hassles for the first 3 years (waking up on night,crying, tantrums, being sick), I would love to have may be .. twin boys and twin girls (What do you say god :-)

6) I tend to live in the past and hang on to a lot of memories from the past. I still have wrappers of chocolates given to me by my friends, torn posters of SRK from my hostel room, my work timesheet for the day I went into labor, reciept of the first B'day cake I got for my son and many many other things!!

7) I do not tend to hate people so easily. I'll try my best to find some thing good or put myself in their shoes. But after a certain limit, I just can't let it go and can never forgive them if they hurt me or anyone close to me.

8) I eat when I am stressed out.

9) I talk to myself and my god when I am really angry or sad or stressed out.

10) And the last one, I did go ahead and change the item I had written previously for item 5.

Phew!! It was hard, for me, but felt a sense of liberating too. Because some of these things I knew about myself but never actually wrote it and acknowledged it.

And now for the list of people whom I want to pass on the award and the tag too !!

Meira : I love her sense of humour,specially the TS-isms

Shilpa: Mid week masala: Super hit !!

Mumbai Diva : I love the simplicity yet the content of her posts.

Reflections:Love her style of writing

Monika: Love her "Lets have fun" and go-getter" attitude.

Bartender Bhai: Her posts make me giggle like anything

Gauri : Makes me think.

Thank you all for making this journey of mine into the blogging world such a pleasant one.

Please accept the award and possibly the tag too. I would love to know more about you.

Dil se...

Tadaa..Tag time again

This time Shilpa tagged me to complete this and here I am on it.
1. What is your current obsession?
Crochet
2. What are you wearing today?
Off white printed top with brown trousers
3. What’s for dinner?
Namkeen chawal with mixed veg raita
4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Set of matching earrings for my fav top
5. What are you listening to right now?
Guy next to me having a low volume arguement with his wife, other guy confirming his daughter's flight and lots of other noises (My office has an open setting and not individual cubicles and headphones are not allowed)
6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
I like her sense of humour and specially love the midweek masala
7. If pigs could fly…complete the sentence?
I would stay indoors most of the time.
8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
A white sheer kurta
9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Faridabad, India
10. What is one thing you want to learn to do?
Swimming
11. What’s your favourite quote?
You don't need to explain to those who understand you.
12. Who do you want to meet right now?
My brother
13. What is your favourite colour?
Blue (that's the color of my car)
14. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?
My blue jeans
15. What is your dream job?
Work from one with one month paid vacation every year to visit India
16. What’s your favourite magazine?
Real and Simple
17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Buy something nice for home decor.
18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Fat women waering a low cut top
19. Who are your style icons?
noone in particular. Anything I see around, which is easily manageable and affordable is my style.
20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
short and easily manageable
21. What are you going to do after this?
Head back home
22. What are your favourite movies?
Rang De Basanti, All SRK movies, old comedies like Golmal, chupke chupke
23. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can’t live without?
Face moisturiser, Lip gloss and mascara
24. What inspires you?
My inner voice
25. What part of life would you chose if you could change/rewind you life, it would be (changed)
My 3 years at BHU, if I could rewind my life, I would want to relive those years(most probably in a little different way now )
26. What do you do when you "have nothing to wear" (even though your closet’s packed)?
Go for my black trousers
27. Coffee or tea?
Nescafe coffee
28. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Listen to music or talk to Mom
29. What is the meaning of your name?
A Flower
30. Which other blogs you love visiting?
All the ones on my blogroll and then on the blogroll of the ones I visit
31. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Suji halwa, with lots of kishmish and badaam
32. Favorite Season ?
Summer.
33. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
If you are coming on such a short notice, then either a quick dhokla or sandwich with tea/coffee (whatever u prefer)
34. What is one book that you would suggest the whole world reads?(new question)
Fountainhead. I got it as a B'day gift and I have read it so many times and still can read it anytime.

Phew !! See, this wasn't bad at all. So here are the official rules of this tag:
Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag eight or ten other new set of people.
I am leaving the people to be tagged open. So take it if you haven't done it yet (or you can just leave the comment and not take it :-)
Dil se..

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP...

I saw this tag on shilpa's blog and decided to take it up. Trying to find various things starting with the first alphabet of my own name... it was fun !!

If you wish to take up the tag, copy the following questions to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag your friends. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real and nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.

So here we go, all P's.......
1. What is your name: Parul
2. A four Letter Word: Piscean (That's what I am, dear)
3. A boy’s Name: Pulkit, Prateek, Pritesh (all are my cousin's names)
4. A girl’s Name: Payal, Pooja, Pallavi (Again all cousins)
5. An occupation: Pediatrician (He's on my speed dial #3)
6. A colour : Purple(I don't like the dark one, but love the lighter shade)
7. Something you wear: PJs at night, Pants at work
8. A food: Pani Puri(any time), Paranthas(any kind)
9. Something found in the bathroom: Pears soap
10. A place: Paris (I want to go on a vacation there once)
11. A reason for being late: parking lot full
12. Something you shout: pikloooooo(that's what I call my kiddoo when he acts cute)
pehle meri baat suno (and that to my hubby when we argue)
13. A movie title: Phir Milenge(I loved Shilpa in the movie)
14. Something you drink: Pepsi, sometimes only. I am not a big fountain drinker
15. A musical group: pink floyd? ( I don't know much about the music groups, just that
this is the name I have heard that starts with my alphabet :-)
16. An animal: Panda
17. A Street name: Peace Road (In Ranchi, that's where I grew up)
18. A type of car: Porche (I would love to have one )
19. A song title: Pyar ke liye char pal kam nahin they, kabhi tum nahin they, kabhi hum
nahin they
20. A verb: parenting, packing
Let's see who all do I want to tag:
Sara
Iya
Meira

And anyone who comments can take up the tag. Com'on folks !! Give it a try. It is fun to explore an alphabet and you'll enjoy it. I know, I did :-)
Dil se..
(Image: Downloaded from http://www.adorableideas.com/product_info.php?products_id=8652)

A B C D.... and more

So I saw this tag on hitch writer's blog and decided to take it up. And this is the first time I am doing a tag, but I must say I enjoyed a lot doing it.
So following the rules he posted:

• I did link his post here
• Rules: Just one rule here: If you post a comment, you are tagged !!

So here goes the ABC's of my life:

• A – Available/Single? I am not single but always available for my friends and family.
  
• B – Best friend? Had a fight and lost the friend. But the person still remains my best friend. Actually, I was told that I am the best friend for that person.
  
• C – Cake or Pie? Bring them both !! Always ready for sweets
• D – Drink of choice? Garma garam chai, with lots of adrak
• E – Essential item you use every day? car, laptop, cell phone
• F – Favorite color? white, green
• G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? ewww... none please
• H – Hometown? Faridabad, Haryana and I so miss the place
• I – Indulgence? lots of them...Music, movies, memories, dreams
• J – January or February? Definitely February because it's my B'day and anniversary month.
  
• K – Kids & their names? Aayush
• L – Life is incomplete without? Love and caring of my near and dear ones
• M – Marriage date? Feb 10, it rained cats and dogs on that day :-)
• N – Number of siblings? 3
• O – Oranges or Apples? None !! I am not a fruit person...shhh don't tell this to Aayush/his dad
• P – Phobias/Fears? Drowning in water and snakes
• Q – Quote for today? I've learnt that when you're in love, it shows.
• R – Reason to smile? Remembering someone special
• S – Season? Definitely spring, when days are long enough and there is a pleasant smell in the air
• T – Tag 3 People? Well, I'll let the people decide on their own to be tagged :-)
• U – Unknown fact about me?Even I don't know
  
• V – Vegetable you don’t like? Actually none.
• W – Worst habit? Staying up till late on Friday and Saturday and hence getting up late on Sat/Sun(This is according to me, ppl who know me may have a long list for this)
  
• X – X-rays you’ve had? Numerous, have lost count now
• Y – Your favorite food? Anything decent and me not cooking.
• Z – Zodiac sign? Cool Piscean

So that's the ABC's of my life. So go ahead, leave your comments and there, you are tagged now !!

Dil se...