A Date

Birthday, Anniversary, Graduation day, first meeting, first kiss, first look, first car, house warming, fell in love, the break up date, fell in love the second time, the third, the forth, etc, etc, etc. Out of 365 days, at least 300 have some relevance. I don’t know if men will agree, but for women, numbers mean a lot, so what if they’re just in a calendar!

And not only happy dates, sad ones too. A particular day can bring a smile or a tear according to the bearing it holds. Why do we attach such a lot of importance to dates?

I know, to rejoice the occasion. Ask any guy and he will be torn between his loyalty to his girl and how much he dreads the occasion he had almost forgotten. If I tell my husband you missed something important today, he will first recall the date, think if it is some anniversary, obviously won't remember, ask me a million times, and then take a sigh of relief. (Only recently we agreed to celebrate only one day, and I just can’t recall which one we agreed upon.)

It happens with me as well. I will see the date on my phone and think if it’s an important date. I will think of all the people I know and if it’s somebody's birthday. Sometimes I’ll remember the birthday of a girl I knew 15 years back and smile. If I'm in the mood, I'll even say a little prayer to wish her well. Oh, I can be so sweet at times!! And yes, I can be good at some dates too.

I’m not proud of it. We should live in the moment and celebrate each day as it comes. Birthday, Christmas is fine, but remembering the first day you walked hand in hand with a special someone could be traumatizing for that someone!

So, does today leaves you confused about its significance or the lack of it?

2000 - 2010, 18 - 28, a decade well lived!

Just realised - it’s not the end of a year, but an end to a decade, a decade in which I started with 18 and ended on 28. And boy, what a decade it was!

What I remember about the year 2000 is the Internet! I had a crush on every guy I met online, except one – he had a crush on me. Talk about being choosy!

2001 was about entering graduation and marrying off a cousin sister with whom I shared a number of similarities. Graduation was about the new found freedom and everything naughty that comes with it!

2002 was sweet followed by a sweet and sour 2003!

And 2004 was hilarious! This is when my graduation ended and I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I took up an MBA coaching, A freelancing job with the local newspaper and to mess it up further, enrolled for post grad in Economics! If that’s not being confused then what is!?

And it was in this year, in which I decided to marry this cute guy whom I met and now call my husband. I think that ended all my confusion and I knew I can chill in life now!

2005 was awesome. B-school and dating at JIM and IIM, respectively. I really had my hands full!

2006 and 2007 were about a wonderful college life that I miss every now and then. I was a good student, excellent at taking responsibilities and finally a workaholic in a recruitment consultancy that me and my friends started.

But after earning a little bit, 2008 was the BIG year of my wedding. I enjoyed every moment of it like a typical bride-to-be.

2009 and 2010 have been 2 beautiful years of being married and understanding life from a very different point of view. I never imagined myself as a wife and still find it hard to believe that I am one. For me, these years have been like dating a guy without the fear of bumping into a family member. I’ve lived a completely transformed life and have met so many new people in numerous different places.

If I had to choose a year in this decade, I really can't 'cause I loved each and every one of it. I wish the same for the next decade. Considering 18 to 28 never comes back and are certainly the most glorious years of one's life, I'll try to behave like an 18 - 28 in the next decade as well!!
I think it will all be about writing, traveling and continuing the trend of exploring the world with my boyfriend for life! I’m ready for all the challenges and opportunities it will bring and look forward to writing a happy blog post about it in 2020!

Watch this space and wish me luck :)

iBrag

This is in continuation to this post!


So, I thought I'll delete my Orkut profile(Yeah, it's so LS all of a sudden :P). But then I thought about the wonderful testimonials some loved ones had written down. I thought of copying them in a safe folder. What's more safe than my blog... and I get to show them off too!!

Sumit(I never published this testimonial coz he, my husband, thinks his masculinity diminishes if he expresses his love in public!Maybe there is some other reason, but I have not been able to comprehend it. Since there's less public here, I would paste it!)

what do i say abt a girl who has come into my life and changed it in such a way that i just can't remember how my life was without her,and i just cant imagine how can i ever live without her!
all i can say is....
i love you sweetheart,forever!


Prachi(My best friend from school.. can't get enough of her!)

ok now tis girl is weird......she will carry her tiffin to aryans n will eat tat coz she is on a diet...n thn sum othr day will order a family size pizza, garlic bread, pasta n a pitcher of coldrink coz she is reaaalllyyy hungry!!lol....nw tats being wonderfully weird i guess. she is a frnd who'll not console u by sayng evrythng will be alrt...she'll say...stop brooding over it n face it!! she might not always say wat one wants to hear but watevr she'll say will be much more logical n sensible..(i regret of nt listening to her many times ;(... ) she is headstrong yet emotional....kamini yet sweet!! n punjabi evn u r my BESTEST frnd yaaar....n making me realise the diffrnce between having a frnd..n HAVING a frnd!! love u!

Noorien(Testimonial number 1, when you'll read the next one you'll see how much we fell in love after some months!)

well this girls a real granny... what were u talkin abt my scolding dear...talk abt urself.. she ll pass some most ruthless statements so coldly leaving the person wonder... "did i just get nagged???".. now y i call her a granny is bcoz im answerable to her all the time.. if i forget an assignment she ll give those "oh hopeless girl" kinda looks.. if im on an eating binge she ll coldly nod her head in a "no use stopping her " kinda response... but tell u the truth she has made my stay at jaipuria worth it.. i really dont know what would i be doing without her.. you ve been a great support (and terror).. thank you for getting me out of so many messes.. ( by the way you dont know but i have secretly followed a lot of your advices) love u for what u r!!!!!

Noorien(Testimonial number 2 from a girl I met in graduation, didn't like that much, became best friends in MBA, inseparable now)

Well...anyone who meets nisha for the first time wud find her very poised and graceful.. dignified n sensible... but know her more n u ll discover that she is stupid...n silly... n loves to gossip ..n a miser.. n cheerful.. n kind.. n wild....n carefree... n laughs on anything n everything... n loves to party... n loves shopping... n thats the nisha i love... She is a delightful company n a great companion when it comes to shopping... i dont enjoy shopping with anyone as much as i do with her... she is also a great friend.. i cant remember a time when i or any of her friends needed her n she wasnt there... but that doesnt mean she ll stick around all the time.. she gives her friends all the space they need n steps up whenever needed...
As for the bond that we share i think u n i both know...
So dear... here it is... ur testimonial.. finally written n uploaded.. (did i forget smth?? hope i wrote evth u asked me to write...?? )

Megha(my cousin sister and an admirer!!)
nisha...!!
a cool person...spoke to her for da 1st tym...olthough shes my cousin...but earlier she thought dat i ws too small...n mayb quite boring...

but now it seems dat she enjoyd da days spent 2gether...she is very sweet...sometimes she loves to eat and eat and eat till she literally drops...is crazy about FRIENDS...The series… ws damn afraid of havin a ride on a scooty but after tryin it she has started luvin it...a very good writer..(no doubt) has a damn cute smile...a vry good listener(coz she listened to me oll da tym) lolz... is quite intelligent n a good cook(she told me to write dis)..!!!

i thnk dat m olready missin her......!! or am i ??

shes rilli special 2 me... n 2 sum1 else olso...lolz....olthough she loves to say 'i know' but hardly knows nething.... and so i call her ....'aadhi hoshiyaar'..!!

Nitesh Kumar(A dear Bihari friend from Management college)
Hi.

Now I am going to write abt. one of the promoter of my favorite company.
Nissa. Punjabi
I haven’t seen iske jaisa mature person in my life. College ki to baat hi choro..
koi bhi gossip ho chahe apne batch ka ya juniors ka ya phir apne faculty.. ka Isse malum nahi ho? ho hi nahi sakta… she is my Boss in that . nisha ke samne to main 2nd hoon. But she is very very good at heart, she knows kahan per kya baat karni hai. are haan main ye kaise bhool sakta hoon in ka dressing sense best in the college. Very committed to her work Agar madam ne koi kaam than liya to karke rahengi. She is my mentor in decisionmaking . Ab humlog door ho gaye hain bahut door per phir bhi paas hain phone per..she was my first crush in the college (aisa log bolte hain..per aisa kuch nahi hai..) she is my one of the. very very very..best friend.. Be like this .forever. Its very difficult to get friend like you.
I m proud to say everybody that i m a friend of india's one of the Promising writer.

Miss u


Aradhana(A dear friend in Bahrain,and an 'un-loseable' neighbor)

N-nice
I-intelligent
S-stylish
H-humble
A-admirable............ and a lot more adjectives can be added for her.Beauty wid Brains suits her and she likes to read a whole lot of things.

I like her as she is very positive in life and ya she has taught me to be the same.though v belong to the same place but first time I met her in Bahrain. A person who is not biased in telling whatever is in her mind.she loves travelling and wanna go to diff places especially.......

her kababs are just fabb and all of us in the group are crazyyyyy of them :) v loveee them.....

most of the time v r together bt I never feel bored. feel her to b a part of ma family. she is lively and wanna live life to the Best. I wish her all the best things in life, be happy n glowing.


I guess I will keep coming back to this whenever I'm low. Now I know why we need people to comment and testify even if they say good things in person!You know, Personal Appreciation in Public!

Personal appreciation in Public

Everyone loves being complimented. Of course, there is always this uncertainty about the compliment being genuine, deep in our hearts we take it as true and take pride in it.

There was a time when one person in a big group will tell you that you were looking nice. Even if you were looking drop-dead gorgeous, rarely someone would come up and say it on your face. It’s true even today. I would look at her, find her absolutely stunning, admire her dress, wish it were mine and get back to what I was doing glancing at the dress every few minutes. But I will not compliment! Yes, it is a vice and I’m working on it.

And one way is through the ubiquitous social networking. Not only compliment, sometimes I fake compliment too! But that’s not what I want to discuss. I want to talk about another vice – being complimented in front of a crowd.

If your friend calls up and tells that she saw your pictures and that you are looking amazing, you ask her to make a comment! Stooping down to such low levels makes me wonder about networking and everything social about it. Isn't a compliment enough in this day and age that you want her to go through the agony of typing a word that hasn’t been said in the 15 comments above hers!? Does count matter, especially publicly?

I don’t go to many blogs to get hits on mine. I have not shared the link on facebook, twitter or orkut. This is a very personal space and I can only share it with very close people or harmless strangers. My best friends are avid readers of my blog and they compliment me everytime they read a post. Their appreciation is what encourages me to write the next post.

But why do I get this feeling that it would have felt so much better had they written their views in the comments section and not in a personal e-mail!? Recently a friend started reading my blog and I felt exhilarated with her approval. She even discussed it with a few other friends. Yet I miss the written testimony!

What is it about public count that makes us these disgusting people that we are really not?! I am not an insecure person. Not that I don’t need approval from time to time, I don’t crave for it like this. Yet I have this subconscious desire which makes me sound like a complete idiot!

And I know for a fact that you have it too! Ever tried to understand why?

Three cheers to 2010!

Just a fortnight, and 2010 will take its last breath. It’s time to look back and see how the year was, how it changed your life and how you can make the next one even better. Or, wilder!

Yes, that’s how I look at endings. They may be sad alright, but they bring with it a new ray of hope and a feeling that the best is yet to come. So, you might have screwed up a whole lot last year, 2011 is here and you have a chance to undo a few things. Me, I loved 2010 and nothing in this world can change the better 2011 I’m about to see! Oooh, I love the positivity! Here are a few lessons learnt:

Never take hubby to a hill station. He’s annoying without beer and beach!!

Exotic travel destinations like Ladakh are breathtaking. But they don’t relax you like 3 days of fun in Dubai or 10 days of just driving around in Chandigarh.

Gadgets are not just a man’s thing. I felt like a moron while writing about electronics for a while. In the end I was enlightened and in love with them.

When God gives you a pain in the ass, he has a plan. Don’t go to him and weep. Try to look beyond and think what he might be thinking for the betterment of your ass!

Never go to Qatar and Kuwait. A few scattered buildings, extremely rich Sheikhs who make you feel like a person under poverty line and a very boring night life are a few things that make these countries useless.

Never underestimate the power of singers like Atif Aslam. Oh, I had a blast at his show!!
28 is not a year to worry about your skin like that Ponds advert proclaims (the ad is highly offensive). Just the other day a guy in his early 20’s came running after me for my phone number. He even gave me an unforgettable compliment. I would have died had a guard not been around!! Anyway, thank God for such losers!

How I met your mother, Desperate Housewives, Southpark, Family Guy and The Big Bang Theory reduce boredom and fill your life with some good humour. Sex and the City starts and ends with the same thing. Yes, I watched all the seasons of all these serials in 2010. Talk about being idle!

Emailing your friends on a regular basis is the best thing in the world. Me and my friends exchange atleast 2-3 emails every week. We are in 3 different countries yet it feels like college. Open your account and mail your friends right now!

That’s all I can think of at this point. 4 stars to my 2010! If not more, I’ll be giving atleast 4 to my 2011 as well with more travel, writing, partying, learning and much more wisdom!

How many stars will you give to yours?