Happy Vishu!

Vishu is always celebrated the same way whether it was in Oman or in Kerala... but the feel with which we celebrate and the enthusiasm is what varies.. Back in Oman we are so excited to celebrate any kind of festival including those belonging to the North or another state. For Vishu Mom and Dad will be shopping on the eve and then would decorate for the morning kani.. I and Nisha would be sent early to bed and would be woken up around 4:30 blindfolded ...The best part would be kaineetam...No marks for guessing!! We would usually hold a sadya at home and invite all our friends for lunch.. It makes us homesick and also makes us feel at home...



Two years back when I shifted to Kerala.. I celebrated my first Indian Vishu in Trissur.. It was great fun with crackers and all the customs with more guests, etc. But this year we decided to celebrate in Trivandrum itself. I found the enthusiasm less over here... no crackers or noise... in fact people were preparing Non-vegetarian dishes and there were very few people who actually decorated for kani...so the hype here was low and so was it at our home too. Very few relatives came over... it was more like a formality to be done rather than celebrating the fact that it is a new year... I came up with crankiest happy vishu messages sending it to everyone in my mobile list... out of which very few bothered wishing me back :D (I guess it was cos of the P.S. which spoke of mandatory kaineetam *tee hee*)

I would like to wish everyone a HAPPY VISHU! And a great year full of joy and happiness and if any grievances... then the strength to overcome it...


"Follow your bliss
And the universe
Will open doors for you
Where there were
only walls"

- Joseph Campbell

Athirapilly Waterfalls

Waterfalls are something I thought would be fun and something liquid. But who in the world would know that it is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l !! I always wanted to watch the Niagara Falls but Athirapilly is quite a temporary substitute. After parking our cars, all my cousins were discussing about Aishwarya Rai's shoot here and blah blah..It was interesting until we reached the commencing point. Then all mouths shut and not even an A was uttered of the Aish....

The journey is loooong but since we need to move downwards it wasn't too stressful. Also the scorching heat was not felt cos of the cooling effect of the waters. I don't know how to describe the falls and the beautiful nature embracing it but I can express them through some photos I took. There was a thin rainbow but couldn't take any pics of that cos my cam had undergone a water ride and the lens were adamant about doing any work at all...

You can check the pics out HERE.


*** MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL ***

Happy Onam

The Trikaakarappan




*WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY ONAM :) *

Buddha's footage by News X

Me, mom and Nish were lunching at Buddhas after some hardcore shopping. We go there only for the Tofu which is seldom found in Indo-Chino cuisine. I think they are found in B'lore but it's white in colour. This is the first Chinese outlet which I have seen that is Vegetarian. It serves food that is full of greens but surprisingly tastes like chicken. More like the soya chunks. We usually start of with the juices and Tofu and then onto the main course. Actually the Tofu we order is a 'chef's speciality' in the menu. Whilst all the hogging we noticed a little hustle bustle outside the restaurant. There were cameras being fixed with a short and stout man checking the mic. There were couple of others who were busy taking snaps from different angles .By then we had gone onto the deserts and I ordered a Mango mousse cake and sis ordered a Date pancake. When I savoured my first bite of the desert I realised that the cake was decorated with ice cream and not cream icing. Since I have stopped ice creams due to personal reasons, I exchanged my desert with my sis and continued with our business.

Meanwhile the media people entered the restaurant and was doing some kind of an enquiry with the main guy there. After which we were asked if we could lend a few words about this place. As we agreed ,cameras were focussed and sis was asked to do the talking first. Later I was asked and I told that I luuuuuuv the food out here and it's a good way of letting the Vegetarians know what Non-veg is like.BTW me a non-veg :) Then mom was asked on the usual cooking stuff and that she is the best person to judge such things where she is the master. This was covered by News X which is a 24/7 news channel. It's subordinate channels are 9X (for music) and some other for sports. It should be telecasted tomorrow by 3 p.m. or so. The news is available in ACV too. So do check out. I don't exactly know what's it all about but it should be a part of the entertainment plus wherein they do a small footage on the food outlets here. The channel is actually from Calcutta. So hopefully I shall be seen on the 'idiot box' for a different reason tomorrow..at Humpty dumpty THREE. Ciaaaaaaaaaaaaao

My sister...

Once Nish starting working life became different. Getting used to not fighting with her and watching a movie without here, eating pizzas without her and faking a laugh at slapstick comedy in her absence are some of the worst and compelled things I had to go through. But I never missed her. We miss people we forget. She used to comeover for Onam, X'mas and Vishu. And we never got along when we used to live together, even if it was for a couple of days. I want my things to be put back from where they are taken. And she hardly cares. Not deliberately. She does that with her things too. So we kept quarrelling and having verbal fights. Verbal to the extent of calling each other donkey, monkey, ox, buffalo and would multiply into infinite times. People used to look at us as though we are doing the circus. We could fight just anywhere. At the middle of a shopping mall, at an restaurant, at home (obviously), at a friend's place and even at a party. 24/7 she kept bragging about her work at Infosys and her badge which peobably was a proof that she worked there. And oh sorry! there's an error that I made here. She would go yapping about not her work but the canteens (which owe 50% of the profits to her ) and the romantic storied that commenced from the green plains of Infy. But the day she used to leave to get back to work, I was totally irritated. Maybe coz I couldn't get sleep without abusing her atleast once a day. Old habits die hard. Today she called and told me she had fever. She asked me to put her to sleep. She is a fragile girl. Emotional and has mastered the art of crying crocodile tears. She fakes it half the time. She can just get anyone to fall for it. And she is good. Coz she got a hard hearted person like me to fall for it several times. I sang for her maa from TZP then Thode Badmash from Saawariya and Yu Saja Chand, a Ghulam Ali ghazal. She still didn't fall asleep coz the sing-in-phone-in session was interrupted by a stupid caller. All I want to convey is ~I Luv u Nisha~.