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~.

It has been raining off and on out here. And it's wonderful. Sitting at home is the worst thing to do after exams. I have no clue what to do...My painting book also got over and I have nothing to paint now. Nor do I have any books to read. Coz I didn't bother getting any books from duty free coz of my great camel shopping. So was glued to T.V. last night. Surprisingly I didn't know much about Aarushi murder case coz that was the time I was busy with the Rajanigandha show. Later on when I noticed all the commotion created I realised it must be something huge. A day before leaving for India, my parents had to attend a farewell party and the renowned topic of the night was this. It seems too sad. But what's exactly with the case? It still confuses me. It is the mom or the dad that was having an affair? As of now I think the dad is arrested and taken to some place that is obscure.

There are hardly any good movies to watch. I was watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S again and again, the 10th season that is. Too good. That's what I call comedy. Friends reminds me of this article I read in the newspaper yesterday. It was written on the English spoken by British children. They are so bad at spellings..some still get confused while spelling friends, embarrassed, accommodation, relief, etc. Apparently the reason for such a botch is coz of the lack of attention the syllabus gives to grammer and communicative English. And the sudden rise in the application of the e-lang and the sms libi has definitely made it more convenient to make grammatical errors. The usage of 'u' instead of 'you' and 'gr8' instead of 'great' had made written language a lot more unscrupulous. Nay, that's too harsh. Maybe a little daffy, insignificant and obstinate.

I got to see some blog rating at g-man's . So checked mine and got some clean ratings. All my three blogs are rated

:) You can also check your's HERE.

Examsssss overrrr !!

Done with all of them. Now I am a second year. Hopefully shall retain that qualification after getting my results too :D Right now I am trying to think for a suitable name for baby and dada camel. I am thinking of an Arabic name since I got it from ~Arabia~ . Usually during the Muscat Festival we get to hear sooo much of Turkish music. All of similiar kinds with excessive beats. You feel like doing Shakira right there. And for food we usually never go into the Indian side and instead dig into some shormas and tandoori stuff. My god they are heaven!!! You need to handle them correctly as they serve the chicken pieces like marshmallows. And you need to dip them in the garlic paste for the Arabic touch. Life was fun. This time also when I had gone to Oman, we went to this Turkish food outlet called Istanbulli. And you get amazing shormas there. Sadly I am not a hardcore meat eater nor am I fond of sea food so didn't try out the mixed bowl which contains all kinds of meat (almost) and sea food. Although it looked delicious. We ended the session with a glass laban. Laban is one of the most famous and favourite non-alcoholic drink. Some sort of sweet and sour butter milk. It's not as sweet as lassi nor as salty as lime soda. But it's unique.

Most of the people in India think that Arabic food is at it's best in meat. But that's so not true. The Kargeen Cafe is again an Arabic food eatout where we had a ladies night out. We had only vegetarian food coz apparently most of the chicken had a tinge of meat flavour. So to be on the safer sides ,we sticked to breads in baked style. There was this one girl from our group who had Pinnacoloda which is Pineapple mixed with coconut water served inside the coconut shell. I ordered my usual mocha. For desert we had brownie which was amazingly big, mouth watering and too filling ! Eventually I left it half way unable to reach my target. The ambience of the place is also good. It has a roof made of wood which as cross shaped giving space for the sunlight and the moon. They don't have a concrete base, it's hard rock with carpets layed on them. And we are seated on chairs made from bamboo.. or sofa's with embellished covers which have typical Arabic work done on them. You can even do Sheesha in various flavours. A man sitting on the table next to mine was smelling of grape. I really didn't know that Sheesha /hooka had so many flavours including strawberry and vanilla ! I never tried one, not coz I never got a chance to but cos I saw my friend doing it and she got choked. So no playing around with my voice :)

Another place I luv is the Starbucks right across the Shatti beach. Sunset there is too good. Most of the time we used to celebrate there. After exam parties or break-from-study-parties and even Birthday parties. Though most of the Birthday parties used to be celebrated in Pizza Hut or Mc D. Since I had a lot of spicy masala type food this time (was making the most out of it). I am craving for idiappams and dosas and istu. The mixer had to go off at the right time knowing that I am coming for some food which requires grinding. So for two more days will have to do with 2 minutes maggieeeee... That's making me hungry..ok catch ya after maggieee-fyinggg

Back Home

Finally.... did some serious duty free shopping!! And don't laugh , I know I am still a teen and way old for all these things...I got a soft toy.. a CAMEL !! Baby camel and daddy camel. By the time mummy camel came it was way too pricy!! and it had worn pink lipstick (yuck). So I thought I'll nurture the toy and be it's mummy. So I am big time name-hunting for both the toy camels. Any brilliant ideas??? Please do drop in... coz I really need them. From quite a young age I was fascinated and excited about naming my toys. Not all of them literally but I used to get so many kinds of dolls. Some were bald headed and some I got as a set with the mirror, hairbrush and even a makeup set. I never liked changing names of dolls who already had a name inscribed inside the cover. The only problem was two or three of them would be similiar cos most of them had names like Sally, Polly, Solly, Sarah. I used to even take care of my doll's hair more than mine. Till date :) Serious naming happened when I got my first pet, my 17th birthday gift, a fish! I named it Bangudai which means blue pearl, I think, in Chinese *giggle*.It was blue in colour and a fighter like me. Such fishes are usually isolated coz they can't live without quarelling physically, I guess. And when it died on Feb 27th, I was too scared to even look at it. Aaaaahh.....I am giving my self some time to still recover from that tragedy. So the end of the story is that I got the camel soft toy cos I was brought up in a desert and felt that it is my duty to get something that represents a desert and hence *tan ta daaa* the camel. So please suggest some cute names.

Since dad is quitting after his 28 years of service we had to cancel off our family visa and resident cards. It felt as though a baby is cutting it's ambilical chord from that of it's mother. But here I am not potraying the freedom the baby gets out of that , it's the detachment it goes through after having survived nine months in the stomach which gave it routes, breathed in life ,circulated the blood and got it prepared for the big battle to venture life with it's first cry. The pain of leaving that warmth, that secured feeling, that 'apartment' !! That's exactly how I felt when the counter guy was cancelling things on his system and he just threw my resident card away. Now if I ever go back it will be as a guest not as a home person *sigh*

The flight was good after all Jet Airways has just started it's fly to Cochin recently. Watched Aaja Nachle and the 'coconut flavoured sweet with a mango tinge' a.k.a. parippu payasam was bad!! While landing we were going through unfavourable weather conditions and alerted us to put on our seat belts. As I shelved up the window board we were flying right through the clouds. Clouds were looking like a cotton candy. Everytime we get into a biiig cloud the whole plane would start shaking. As we neared the land the whole journey from the white cotton candies to the lagoons.. WHATTAA SIGHT !! I started of seeing bald mountains and sandy deserts and landed seeing green cultivation. What a transformation! One cultivation was even shaped like an 'WA'...not a W and an A but something like a V and another V that makes a W and curves down to to make an A. It even had the line between the two lines that form an A. Now that's beautiful nature !

After landing ,our driver took us to Trivandrum straight where I was trying to prepare for my English exam- Novel and communicative English. So much for street lights!! I thought I would crash as soon as I reach home but Brunie's barking woke me up from my dreamy world and there I went off like a non stop radio till twelve or so. With a lot of compulsion and pleading they changed my FM Station to off mode and there I was sleeping like a baby.

Exam was good today except for the Phonetics. I guess I created my own symbols *lol* Next is Sanskrit, on 29th. Abhigyana Shakuntalam and Keralodayam. From the luring tales of the sparkling romance between King Dushyanth and Shakuntala to the manliness of Parasuramam. I have no clue how I am going to finish learning the foursectioned drama and the Mahakavyam of 1oo slokas. So until next post 'Jai Sanskrit!'

I got blasted by Nital for not meeting any of them who are on a vacation here. Everday I meet a couple of them online and I keep arguing about why I can't meet them cos of my rehearsal schedule and shopping and dinners ,etc. But yesterday she lost it. She was yelling at me. I don't care, I don't call, I don't want to meet any of them, I'm lazy and blah blah. So finally I decided if it's not now then never. Called them over though they could hardly spend 60 minutes ,it was worth it. We all were sharing our ragging experiences. And Kami was more interested about what kind of subjects they teach for my music course. There is an alumini party in school on the 1st of June but sadly won't be able to make it cos I'll be in God's own country tomorrow. Not even in a mood to study. God knows what am I going to pen down for my English and Sanskrit exam. I wish I were in school. Maybe kindergarden. Just finished the packing and if my exams weren't advanced then I would be coming with dad a week later. A week is like ages. So much more get togethers, more shopping, more singing, and more of sight seeing. But destiny is rather mean to me. I am not a shopaholic. I can spend time on getting clothes but otherwise I am extremely impatient. But I love talking. Talking about anythings and that's why I love holding get togethers and meetings. Not a party person so prefer small parties of suttle nature. More of food and talking. Sheeeeesh I am just going to miss everything all over again. Oh ya... the Gonu rumours are just rumours according to today's edition. Me of to some last minute packing and some serious sleep cos I'll be travelling all day long. From Muscat to Cochin and then to Trivandrum .

As of now all *GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Pizza Hut party, Cyclone Gonu

The final closing party of the Rajanigandha team, 2008 was held at Pizza Hut, Qurum. I was the first one to reach with Johnson sir. Initially I had thought that the party would be held at the conference room which has been beautifully designed by the architect. But the party hall was opposite it. Much to my dismay we ventured the big hall and the first thing I asked them to do was to switch of two split A/Cs out of the four.Firstly, cos dad was unwell and secondly cos I couldn't sit with that kind of temperature. Before the Pizzas came we had a small lecture demonstration done by Johnson sir on falseto and fixing the swarasthanas in our mind. He has his way with the guitar. He was demonstrating it in Hamsadhwani ragam. Then he was quizzing us on various aspects of Music and even asked few of us to sing. When the pizzas arrived all were feasting their eyes as he was still explaining . But once the control was lost, there were shortage of pizzas and garlic bread. There were quite a few left overs and picked some of them for breakfast. All's well that end's well. And as we bid him a good bye it was farewell time for me as I will be air borne in a day. Exchanging some pj's and email ids I promised to meet up with them when they come over to India for their summer vacation. There ends the 2nd season of Rajanigandha, 2008.



Today did some minor last minute shopping. And it's time to say goodbye to my second home. I really couldn't take pics of the bald mountains cos I really didn't do any sight seeing. But someday I'll definately comeback and get some real desert pics and show you what the real Oman is all about i.e. if it is still there. There are rumours of another Cyclone Gonu attack on the 29th. Apparently temperature could rise upto 60 degree and a/c s would drip off and the petrol pumps could burst, and etc. Warnings will be given just like last year via mobile networks. Last time it was quite an experience and I am still surprised on being alive. Hopefully this place shouldn't get washed away as the rumours predict. To read more about last year's Cyclone Gonu effect check this POST and THIS from my blog.

Rajanigandha, 2008 Concert details

Concert pics available HERE.

Today's fortune: The luck that is ordained for you will be coveted by others.
So true. Though the show was delayed by 15 minutes the crowd was jam packed. The show commenced with the 8 singers lined with diyas lit. One by one with the prayer song satya soundaryme playing in the background, we lit the traditional lamp which is an unusual sight. Coz as far as I know in most of them it's the chief guest's duty to light the lamp. Then we had a string of short speeches and finally the show commenced. Mine was 5th in the song sequence list. And I was all excited coz my opening song would be with Srini sir. Brahmakamalam, Arivin nilave, Nila Kaygiradhu were the first few songs after which Srini sir sang Vennila thumbile. Then came Minsarakanna and we had a blast doing it together. He did a lot of extra fittings to the song that I was stunned and was probably left open mouthed. But the distinct part was the last three aalaps I had to do. The day before when I took him to check out the cornish he had asked me if I will be doing any songs with him and when I told him I would be dpoing this one, all he said was "Nityashree has sung it so well and it's a pretty hard one. Have you practiced?" All I could do was nod. So on stage when I gave my best shot I was hoping that he should think that I have done justice to the number. Which I understood when he acknowledged me as a fantastic singer :) The other songs were Rajahamsame, Manyu pole, Thumbi vaa, Barso re, Kanampoochi, Yeh ishq Hai, Ajab si, Pinayum pinayum, etc. Srini sir's best song was Kaisi hai yeh from Dil Chahta Hai. Johnson sir was the chief guest and so after he did the opening song he was relaxing in his couch. The concert was ended with Oh lalala . As planned portions of the song was distributed among the singers. And I was asked to do the hindi version of Maetachalayile (which is originally sung by Unni Menon). Srini sir took over from the second Manamadhura for which Johnson sir supported him with his guitar. After the finishing song he had to run off to catch his plane. So with a lot of thank yous and good byes he was gone. With him off Johnson sir was hogging all the limelight and boy! he can talk forever. He's quite a jovial person.

After all the photo session and talking we headed off straight to Restaurant Divine where the after-show party was organised. Was too tired to even eat but managed to get something into my growling tummy. Crashed when I saw the bed.