Trip to Vancouver, Canada

It might sound cliched, but getting away for a while regenerates the mind and body alike.Though the trip was short, it was sweet,surprising as it may seem that we went at the wrong time and didn't get to see much.

We took a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, the vessel carrying us and the car too. With a lot of enthusiasm we went to see the Bucherts garden which is supposed to be filled with different flowers but was all green with no colours at all... all saplings yet to grow and bloom flowers for the spring season. How very misinformed we were from the site which said that it was open throughout the year not mentioning at the slightest that flowering time is not throughout the year.

But I must say that the IMAX experience was fantastic. We watched a documentary movie which was called Extremes and my gosh!! it was mind-blowing. They showed all extreme hobbies that Americans have like water skiing, snow boarding, wind surfing.... It brought goosebumps to my body as we saw the scary things they did. The best was of a couple in Antartica who were 'ice' climbing. Yes, it was a waterfall which was frozen between two mountains and they were climbing the frozen waterfall. Oof!! My heart really missed a beat thinking of them there really doing it.And that too seeing it on a big IMAX screen was like being there seeing it live! Such people lead a life of adventure surely which might seem like eccentricity for others, me being one of them.

I found a picture of a similar one and thought that I must post it to give a clear idea of what really scared me and thrilled me so much.

The rest of the trip, the two nights of stay in the hotel had as usual fabulous nights for me...(wink)... It always helps to be away on a vacation with no thoughts of work to revive romance.The day when my husband had to go for the meetings, me and the kids did some typical girl shopping, in the Claire's. I was more excited than them looking at the different fancy earrings, hair bands, bracelets in the shop and finally spent a $50 in the shop and was still not satisfied.

It brought back a lot of childhood memories when I would go shopping with my mother to a little fancy store in a place called Sunabeda in Orrisa where I grew up and I would atleast get the sanction to buy two earrings, which kept my spirits going till the next time we went to that shop again. Other than artificial jewelry, the only thing that excited me then was Amar chitra katha comics. I would definitely buy two comics per fortnight, one Amar chitra katha and one would either be Chandamama,champak or the indrajal comics which featured either Mandrake or Phantom.My dad encouraged my reading by bringing me back books when he went on a tour, and of course in the summer vacation when we went to my grandparents house, for the train, I always got comics. I still think or rather believe that I was and am my dad's pet!(though I'm very close to my mom now after growing up)

Never a better day!

Looking at the news yesterday, I was with mixed feelings. Seeing the Aircraft accident on Hudson river scared me a little as my husband is forever travelling in flights as he is the Regional Director in his company and he needs to meets his clients. But when I saw the way the people were rescued and the way the flight was brought to shore with the help of two huge ships,I was amazed.Nice work done boys!! The pilot is really a hero for his presence of mind to bring the flight down on the river when the two engines failed. And he was the last one to come out of the water filled sinking aircraft!!It's a miracle that all the 155 passengers came out alive or rather were rescued on time.

My first niece!

It is so good to know that my brother had a baby girl, his first kid on the same day as my first kid though 10 years apart.I was so thrilled when I heard the news. I could hear the happiness in my brother's voice when he called. He wanted a girl first, though the horoscope of my brother predicted boy as his first kid.

It is true that every parent wants a healthy kid and doesn't bother much about the first kid,but it is always nice to have girls as the first kid in the family. I am the first kid, my mom is a first kid too. It does matter!! Girls are more mature than the boys and so understand everything better and have a sense of responsibility towards their younger siblings. Every sister also has a mother's instinct, though to a lesser extent maybe.

My niece is so cute just like how my daughter was and is.

I always had something speacial with this brother. We were in the same school, we were at the same place for college and then when I got married and he got a job,we were in the same city,in Hyderebad, and he came to stay with us .We have a special bonding and our first girls proved us right! We share everything or rather used to share a lot of things, though now after his marriage, he prefers to keep a lot of information from me.

For his marriage, I was the one who took up the responsibility to find a girl for him. All the alliances in the matrimonials were scanned by me and a list of good eligible girls was sent to him after I contacted them and they replied. I don't know how much my sister-in-law knows, but if I didn't like a girl, I didn't send them to him!!! And so she came into the family with my consent first. There was a time when my brother wanted to keep this girl waiting but see more matches to find somebody better still, I said no to him. That was not right. Of course, it goes without saying that she liked him and was just waiting for his 'Yes'.

Oh! why am I always drifting away from the topic. The topic was my niece , not her mom or dad, right? Of course, they are the source; but when I saw her first picture, she sleeping in my mom's arms in a pink sweater, she took my heart away. For a moment, I felt so bad that I was not there to hold her. Being far away in a different country is so bad at times like this. We miss all the good things in life. And seeing my niece, I felt that all good things come in small packages!!!

I am waiting for her to be named. Of course, once again from a list of names that I provided. Didn't I mention that my brother and myself share an unique bonding. I'm sure my younger brother might not like my saying this... hey, I love him too. And that too equally!! But he is 12 years younger than me and he is always a kid to me!Still my little kid brother.

A New Year!

I wanted to start this blog at the beginning of the year, maybe exactly on Jan 1st. But then the New year parties, the planning of my daughter's birthday party, preparation for it, and the party itself, and then the birth of my first niece... one followed another and here I'm late by 15 days. Well better late than never!!

I have never blogged before , no seriously, I've not blogged in the real sense of the word. I have a blog which has my stories, my poems, my recipes(wholly invented and created by me). But this is different. It is like a diary. Should I say, a diary which is for public viewing. The concept is pretty new to me as I always believed that diary is very private.

I used to write a diary each year from , let's see, was it in the 8th or 9th grade?!! It was the 8th grade! I started writing because I had a secret that I had to guard and I couldn't keep it to myself. It so happened that my close friend was kissed by one of the boys in the 11th.she told me and asked for help. Looking back, I think I was very dumb then, as I don't think it is naivity. Both of us were scared that she would get pregnant!!!!! I wrote that in a small pocket diary and hid it under my books in the house. As it always happens, one day my mom while cleaning up the room for me came across this diary.....

Well, well, adults in all ages are the same I believe. She mistook what she read in the book or rather thought that I was lying to myself or rather to the diary and it was not my friend but myself that was kissed. I tried to convince her,I don't know if she was convinced or not, but I was left alone, with a warning to not do what I never did in the first place.

My diary writing started not to end for a long time. From my favourite teacher to my favourite story or poem, everything I liked went into the diary. All adventures I did, all the fun I had, all the mischief I did in class with the students and the teachers, everything was carved into words in it.Nothing was personal though every feeling, every emotional was genuine. I never hid my diay, it was always there with my text books. That way, I knew that nobody would read it as it is human mentality to always want to know what is hidden but never bother to know what is clearly written on the walls for everyone to see. Hey, am I side tracking?

Where were we? With the diary of course. I started to hide the diary again when I fell in love,even though I was not at home but out of the house. I didn't want my friends to know that I was in love. I never believed in making personal things public. But still you see that I am here now writing this blog. I was inspired by some blogs of some friends and so thought of writing one too.I think it is a good exercise for improving writing skills too.

Whatever be the reason, I hope I can continue to write what I started.