Power of estimation

Its a knack, I tell you. Estimation, that is! Or, maybe its there somewhere in your chromosomes. Cos I never seem to be getting it right. Try as I might, this estimation thing gives me a slip almost always.
I remember this game in one of the stalls in the school fairs (which were quite common in Delhi, in 80s). Guess the weight of a cake kept there right and, you win some good gift. Did I ever try it? No way. For one thing, I never went near the weights except to weigh myself. And two, I had full faith on my guessing power. I knew I would be way too ahead or way too back.
There was a time, not so long ago, when I used to shop for my kids clothes. My shopping spree generally took over on my way back home from the office since there was no time or patience to load the kids into the car and go back to shop. And Sunday shopping is something I hate from the bottom of my heart. I hate the rush, the search for free parking space, the madness at billing, the wait at trial rooms and so on and so forth. Sunday shopping is just not for me!
Oh I digress...so, where was I? Yes, so I used to shop for my kids and invariably ended up buying a size smaller for them. And almost always, I had to revisit the shop to exchange. I kept blaming this on my motherliness, which refuses to accept that my child is growing.
But then this same thing happens when I cook. My mother in law is a bit stingy when it comes to cooking. She believes that cooking in small quantities makes for a better taste. Maybe she is right, I will not deny it since she IS a good cook. But it is also a fact that many a times; she has underestimated and cooked less; ultimately having people waiting for food literally. During my early days of marriage, this used to get on my nerves and put both of us in many an embarrassing situation. This has instilled a sense of fear in me that I always need to be prepared with more than required. That I should not have guests and end up with less food. And so, I always keep a buffer when I cook, but which sometimes leads to too-much. And then this too-much-food gets carried forward for days. At this point in time, I must prostrate on the ground in gratitude to the person who invented Refrigerator. If you ask me there is no better invention than this! I wonder how they prevented food from getting spoilt in earlier days. Oops, I meander again.

I have a friend who loves to cook and invites us quite often. Every time I go to her place and take a peek at what she has cooked, I immediately get worried, if it would be enough. But voila, we all finish and there is still some left over. I really wonder how she does that.

I have problems even getting the recipes right. In the recipe, when it is mentioned 3 whistles, and I let the cooker blow out 3 whistles, invariably, the rice is undercooked; and in fear when I wait for 5 whistles, the rice becomes pudding!

So, this post was the outcome of the too-much-sevai I cooked today morning; half of which lies in my sweet refri. My hubby had a nice time teasing me about my ability to judge the required quantity till I reminded him that he is the one who is going to eat the extra tonight. That sent him brooding.

But there is one are where over estimation actually helps. In office! I always bargain for the maximum time for any project and end up finishing much before time. So, I guess it is not all that bad.

And yet it is never too late. I need tips and tricks. How do I judge the how much part? 

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On the book front, I just finished The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and I have been eating my words back. I had half thought of dumping the book after reading first few pages. I kept arguing with Smita on how this book could have made to the top bestseller. I thankfully, continued reading, and here I am in love with the book. The recent book to have moved me this much was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Simply awesome!

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Aura of Aurangabad

Well, trying to post this using the email option. Let me see if this works. If it does, it surely means a lottery to me, if not for the readers. ;)

Let me first test the image by adding this. A small rangoli I made for Diwali given the shortage of time since we were leaving for Aurangabad right after the morning oil bath and the rituals.


Post Diwali, we had a nice 4-day trip to the city of Aurangabad (of which 2 was spent in driving to and fro).
It took us 6 hrs drive from Mumbai to Aurangabad via the Pune route. We reached in the evening and just chilled out at the hotel. I must add that the Lemon Tree hotel where we were put up is fantastic. For the price of 2750 per night, they serve buffet breakfast as well and allow the usage of the swimming pool. The speciality of Lemon Tree Hotel is the fresh lemon fragrance that lingers always. They also have a uniqueness that there are almost 2000 jokes printed and framed onto the walls across the hotel. It was fun reading some weird ones.
Day 1 we covered Ajanta and Bibi Ka Maqbara. Ajanta needs no introduction. I was in awe looking at the Ajanta Ellora caves though they were in sorry state. I only wish our government was more serious in preserving the national heritage. One of the world heritage, the paintings and sculptures easily can be called the zenith in arts of all times. Maybe we, with our crumbling houses and dull paintings should look back and learn a thing or two. The 30 caves kept us busy for 2 hrs.
Bibi ka maqbara - the poor imitation of Taj was a case study of its own kind. The similarity and differences between the two were striking out. Heres a snap taken by my hubby! He was so engrossed in focussing on the tip of the maqbara that he missed the top of my poor girl !!!! Here she stands headless.

Day 2 found us in Ellora. Again the caves are too good to be missed. Divided into the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves, these mainly comprise of a more developed form of sculpture as compared to Ajanta. Kailash temple in cave no 16 is the highlight.
We missed going to Daulatabad fort. Oct heat was the deterrent. But people planning to visit Aurangabad must go there.
We also visited Panchakki - the water mill ( I did not find it impressive). We tried rushing to Paithan to see the silk weavers at work but alas, the factories close by 3 it seems. So, we had to return all the way back.
Even though the mornings and noons were packed, evenings gave us some relaxing times and left us with nothing much to do. Luckily, there was Fame multiplex right next to the hotel and yes, you guessed right. We saw 1 film each on both the free evenings ;) - Blue and All the best. Blue was a huge disappointment while All the best was too good and a riot! My tummy ached with too much laughter.
On the whole, a good break it was. And here I am, back to waiting for the next one :(

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Navratri Picture session!

Heres why I love this festival. I have already written about it earlier here. Here are the pics of my this years Golu

The 5 steps

Tried to make a hill temple!

The Ragi seeds refused to grow... truly failed rains this time :(

Attempted rangoli on top of water!! But the moment fan was switched on, the colours ran helter-skelter ;) ( CP, I will reply to your mail on this!)

Paper bags I made to give the haldi kumkum in.

Hope you all had a great navratri and heres wishing you happy Deepavali in advance. I love this festive season.

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Whats in a surname

Let me on the onset admit that this is not a review of any movie but the fact is that I saw Kaminey last week and loved it to the core. It’s THE movie of recent times for sure. It had just the right combination of everything and made a perfect treat for hungry eyes, ears and minds.
A fistful of darkness
Liberal sprinkle of humor
Loads of guffaws
Earful of lovely music
Mouthful of awesome lyrics
2 hours of hot masala
And Tears to taste (for insane people like me, who can cry seeing a cute hero getting beaten up!)
All these made to simmer over brilliant direction made for something not to be missed.
But then this dish is like the continental and exotic serve. Either you have the taste for it and will love it. Or you will not! Simple. There have been a couple of my friends who have felt let down and have been found exclaiming “paisa bhi hum kharch karein aur bheja bhi? “ (Meaning why should we spend money as well as brains? ;) You get the drift!
I will not go into the storyline or a review here since I feel too inadequate for that. I am not one of those who can observe and comment on the nuances. You can read many of the brilliant posts already published.
The point of the post here is one among the many points which was raised in the movie- that of division on the basis of region.
I have already written once against the anti-north-indian attitude of certain politicians in Maharashtra. This movie beautifully brings forth the issue without dwelling too much upon it and yet making sure that it makes its presence felt.
But isn’t it true in our everyday affairs to categorize a person solely based on his surname and/or region, especially so in India. This categorization is not on the basis of external characteristics but more on traits.
I remember my growing up years in Delhi. My father had a shrewd, calculating, bully of a colleague who also happened to be a Sindhi. Needless to say, one of the favorite dialogues mouthed by my father was “trust a snake, but never trust a Sindhi” while I listened attentively and processed the information for future usage!
My father being a Palakkad Iyer, obviously has good words for his brethren. Oh, they are the neatest lot and the most hardworking at that.
After shifting to Mumbai, I started attending my PG classes. During one of the classes the Maharashtrian teached started rattling off in Marathi in answer to a query from a student. He did not even bother to notice that a few of us could hardly make head or tail of the conversation! Irked by this, one of my Tamil friends remarked “These marathi people are just so ill mannered. They start chattering in their language irrespective of other people around”.
It was quite ironic that years later, another of my juniors, who happened to be a Marathi, and working in Chennai, called me up and started complaining over the same issue- that in meetings, everyone starts speaking in Tamil while she has to look around clueless!
How can I forget to mention Gujjus. When I got to stay in Gujarat, there were ofcourse the typical statements like “oh these lazy gujjus. They sleep all through the afternoon!” Or, “These people live to eat”.
Ever wondered why is it that certain traits are attributed to regions?
Why is it that Maths teachers are generally Tamilians? Why are nurses and stenos from Kerala? Why are the most famous singers of Bollywood from Bengal? Why are most of the successful businessmen from Gujarat? Why are many of the soldiers from Gurkhaland?
Maybe regions do have an effect on the nature. Could it be that climatic conditions play a role in conditioning all this? Or is it the food habits that have been passed from generation to generation? Is it the traditions, the customs behind the display of such typical characteristics?
Here is the summary of various tidbits I collected based partly on hearsay and partly by observation.
1. Punjabi (Punjus)
Loving, believe in PDA (public display of affection), exhibitionists, Spend more than they can afford (you can see from their grand marriages)
2. Biharis
Polite Hindi speaking, more inclined towards public services and politics, hardworking.
3. Malayalees ( Mallus)
Systematic, Neat, Short-tempered, would readily help other mallus, a clos community.
4. Maharashtrians (Marathis)
Culture loving, fanatics (for good and for bad), extremely loyal to their state.
5. Bengalis (Bongs)
Like Marathis, these people love their state, language and culture, artistically oriented, a bit loud, believe-in-me-first, again a close community
6. Gujratis (Gujjus)
Laid back, great business mind, live-to-eat, loud
7. Tamilians (madrasi)
Religious, artistically inclined, good sloggers, timid (save a few politicians), too rigid, less tolerant.
There are exceptions to the rules but I feel that nature of a person is the resultant of the environment he is growing up in and that very well constitutes the region.
But having said all the above, the fact remains that India of today is changing for sure. There are people like me who are basically metro-born-and bred, who have mixture of habits borrowed from all around. So, this hybrid breed is surely breaking all the rules that have no basis. And till such time, this hybrid breed takes over India, we will keep having fight between states and our neighbours would keep using such differences as a weapon against us!
Jai Ho!
Take a look at this for a hilarious note on mallu habits
As for Bongs, read this for a good laugh

p.s. the mudra on the header is mine... some 20 years back. Gosh, even I cant believe it!

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This and That : When swine flew!

The alarm clock started singing mauja hi mauja. I hit it hard on its head and went back to sleep. And down went my walking plans for the nth time! So there! This is what happens if I let a little break creep into my nicely laid out routine life…and then the break becomes my routine. You get the drift. Yeah I am a routine freak. Newton would have loved to have me as a sample – a creature who loves to be in the state of whatever-state-she-is-in! But one fine day it dawned upon me that I have this tiny whiny cyberspace. So, now I just need to break this state of laziness; of setting-alarm-and-shutting-it-up-and-sleeping-back, carting-myself-to-work-to-get-bored, back-home-and-ofcos-sleep-again with nothing in between. And what could be better than scribbling on my blog.

Well, where do I begin? OK, I want to confess that I am one of those who got into panic due to recent flu in the town. But, it was certainly not on the day I read about the poor young little girl Reida, who was the first (recorded) victim of this swinest swine flu. Pune still seemed quite far off from Mumbai. But, the day I got to know that a class 12th student in the very school my kids go to, has contacted this virus and has been rushed to Kasturba hospital, thats the day I got my first panic attack. Somehow, it felt too close now. I admit, that I was one of those who paid an exorbitant 25 rs for masks which actually are worth only 5-10. But ofcourse, now I am recovering from the panic attack. I am seeing to it that hands are washed often with soap and water, lots of fluid intake is happening and overall hygiene s maintained in the household. Besides that certain herbs like turmeric and tulsi are being used more! I guess, awareness is the key. And here goes my prayer to the Almighty to cause no more deaths due to this viral attack.

That brings me to another point. I wanted to see Kaminey so very badly! But it will release in Mumbai only on monday. Sigh! Let me see if I can catch hold of tickets for monday then.

BTW, to all those who kept banging the doors of this sleeping blog to check if I am fine, you people are a sweetheart and hopefully I will be more regular now. To all those who tagged me, you people are also sweethearts for still having hopes on me :-), I will do them soon!

Oh yeah, and I bought a treadmill. Hopefully walking will happen more often now. and hope the same for blogging ;)

Heres wishing all a very happy independance day. Lets hope we learn to become more responsible citizens and India shines in the real sense of the word.

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Seeking 25 random secrets!

“Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” as quoted by Benjamin Franklin.

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Since I have been tagged by Spike and Ava for 25 random things about me and then by Udtahaathi for 25 secrets, let me just scratch the surface and give you some not-so-dark-and yet-random secrets of my life.
1. I was a NAGIN in my previous birth. I do believe in reincarnation.
2. I have 184320 hair on my head out of which 164312 are grey.

3. I am size 0 beneath all these layers of fat.
4. I am a drunkard. I consume 1.153 litres of water every day.
5. I once finished 4th in a running race and there were only 4 runners.
6. I have never been to a pub or a discotheque ever.
7. While in confines of the loo, my mind is at its sharpest! I remember all the bill due-dates, the pending phone calls and the unanswered mails. The moment I step out, I forget.
8. I have not visited Kashmir even once even though I was in Delhi all through the 70s and 80s
9. I still bite my nails at times. Sometimes I end up eating the skin around too :(
10. I cant sleep in a completely quiet surrounding. I need a fan whirring or a snore or even some light music.
11. I am scared of sleeping alone in an empty house. I switch my living room lights on in such cases.

12. The 15-year old tomboy is still alive inside me and surfaces every now and then to my utter horror.
13. Some days I crave for sweets so much, I eat spoonful of sugar… and hold on I am not pregnant!
14. I cry easily when I sense a situation getting out of control. Once I cried after an altercation with boss while my poor colleague didn’t know where to hide!
15. I once got caught by a bus conductor when I was travelling without ticket in a bus. I escaped using the famous girl-smiles-heart-melts technique
16. I can whistle with or without my fingers. Ha!

17. Deep down I am basically a KANJOOS, a hoarder who spends and then feels guilty.
18. I managed to burn fast-to-cook-good-to-eat-Maggie once! Last Sunday I successfully burnt the outside of my cake while the insides were still raw.
19. I used to love biting my hair when young. Even now, I fiddle with my hair when in deep thoughts.
20. During my teen years, while taking the national pledge “India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters”, I used to skip the brothers part.
21. I am superstitious about auspicious-days and number 13
22. I can be quick witted at rare times and “duh” most of the times making me wonder if I am a case of multiple-personality-disorder.
23. I once was an avid collector of match-box covers!
24. The only subject I ever failed in my school times was Drawing and Arts thanks to a too-perfect teacher
25. I am not on Facebook or Hi-5 or Tagged or any such. I only exist in Orkut in a completely unknown avtar which is also sleeping since a long time.
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As per answers.com open secret means
An *open secret* is a concept or idea that is "officially" secret or restricted in knowledge, but is actually widely known; or refers to something which is widely known to be true, but which none of the people most intimately concerned is willing to categorically acknowledge in public.

P.S. My friend Vee has come up with our very own, common man's MovieManiax Awards 2008. With the heavy politics taking away the very meaning of awards, we sure need to voice our opinion and give credit where its due. Please do visit and vote.

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Tag Time!

Being a lazy bone to the core, I know I have missed to do many tags in the past. I am really and sincerely sorry to all those sweet friends of mine who tagged me and got disappointed by the procrastination. I promise to be more sincere henceforth. Spike, its yours next OK! :)
Just like forwarded mails, I feel that tags are ways of reminding people that we are thinking of them. Thanks Abha and Monika, for not losing out on me and this tag they passed on to me is pretty simple since its Q&A only! So here I go.
1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nopes. But I made it a point not to live upto it!
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
When I was peeling onions today morning!
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I dont like small insects crawling… there I answered it!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Ram ram ram! :P
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Yeah but I am wondering why this question should be a part of this questionnaire. I need to find the person who started this!
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
“Main apni sabse favourite hoon” courtesy Kareena in Jab We met ;) For the uninitiated that statement means “I am my most favourite person”. So obviously I would love to MY friend!
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
As long as people can laugh it off !
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
I never had one. Am I considered normal now?
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Oh YES YES YES!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL
Kellogs!
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Dint you know LAZINESS is my middle name?
12. IF YOU WERE TO PICK YOU OWN FIRST NAME, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
This question comes a little late in my life nevertheless I had a fascination for Hema once. Talk about influence of cine world on common man!
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Butterscotch /Mango.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
The dress, the smile!
15. RED OR PINK?
Red is HOT!
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF
I am short of temper! How do I buy it?
17. WHOM DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Somehow I adapt pretty fast and so at this moment am not missing anyone!
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
What list? Duh me!
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
pastel green chudidaar and metro chappals (I added metro to make it sound hip :P)
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
My neighbours blabbering about some website development.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Blue?
23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Mehndi, coffee, wet earth, Johnsons baby powder!
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
A friend- casual daily stuffs!
25. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU
I met Abha through a site where we used to write earlier and am I glad I bumped into her. And I came to know Monika after I started blogging. I really really hope we meet someday soon :)
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Cricket
27. HAIR COLOR?
Mixture of grey/black/brown!
28. EYE COLOR?
Brown.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No. and no glasses either
30. FAVORITE FOODS?
mmmmmm Italian – Pasta, Pizza
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings no doubt! Enough of things to be scared of in real life J
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Slumdog and liked it for sure
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
pastel green kurta
34.SUMMER OR WINTER
Winter anytime!
35. HUGS OR KISSES
Hugs, hugs! Kisses are a little too personal for me to share with all J
36. DESCRIBE YOUR PENCIL CUP
whats that? L
38. FAVORITE ARTIST(s)?
I presume this goes for all fine arts and so it is some Bharatanatyam dancers – Vyjayanti Mala, Hema Malini, Alamelu Valli, Chitra Visweswaran, Rama Vaidyanathan to name a few
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Marrying Anita by Anita Jain
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
nothing cos I don’t have one. Someone please buy me one!
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Some stupid Tamil serial… I think it was Kolangal which is the fav of my inlaws..grrrr
42. FAVORITE SOUND(S).
A fan whirring in a quiet room. That’s soporific!!!!
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles but I am more of Indian Music lover
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
US of A!
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can touch my nose with my tongue! OK That was a lie but my hubby can do that.
46. WHERE WERE U BORN?
Tamilnadu.
47. FAVORITE PIECE OF JEWELRY?
Junk dangling earrings.
48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
Well, I was just about to do the seven pheras with someone when he came galloping on a white horse and swept me off my feet and we got married! Please believe me :P
49. FAVORITE SONG?
Lots actually. Among the new bolly songs I am loving Mar jaawaan from Fashion!
50.Favorite Musical?
A Tamil movie called Sankarabharanam. This movie gets my personal oscar every year :)

Tags are good way to know new friends. So, passing it to some friends here I would love to know more about.
Verbivore, Kanagu, Girl-next-door, Workhard, and all of you who wish to take it up.

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I for Inkpot

Its been sometime now since my younger daughter has taken to writing with pen in school. And yesterday while I was buying refills for her gel-pens for the 138th time this year, I suddenly got nostalgic!!!

I still remember my first day in Class 6 which was filled with apprehension, fear, anxiety that catches hold of you when you are suddenly going to be officially declared as senior! But then, it was this excitement of starting to write with pen which masked all the other feelings. Somehow, the 3 letter P, E and N was the passport to adulthood, to maturity, to seniority. It marked the end of kiddish era of PENCILs. PENs meant that finally we have arrived (though WHERE noone would know). We were not allowed to write with ball-point pens and so fountain pen it was. I can proudly say that my first ever PEN gifted to me by my father stood by me for 7 years till the end of my school education.
It used to be quite a ritual no less than the famed tea ceremony, this art of filling ink in the fountain pen. There were many ways of doing the needful. You had cylindrical storage type pen where you just needed to fill the ink and the ink would trickle to the nib enabling you to write. Then there was this pump type where you had to dip the nib of the pen just enough into the Camlin’s ink-pot (I wonder if the kids of today know the meaning of this word) holding a valve tight and on release of the valve, the ink would be sucked into the pen.
I would dutifully keep a duster by my side during this ritual of ink-filling since it would invariably lead to ink-baths everywhere. A piece of chalk would also be kept handy, since chalk absorbs ink fast. After filling the pen, the tips of my fingers would attain a dark blue hue and somehow it gave me a feeling of what a hard-working student I was!
The ink-pens were also source of mucho joy in school though looking back I find the acts pretty wrong. But when you are young, there is nothing called wrong when it comes to times you are having a good laugh. All the bothersome and unpopular teachers would find ink stains on their sarees or shirts or trousers. And ink being ink, would not be scrubbed off easily! I had many lasting ink stains on my uniform too, not that it ever bothered me. As an aside, I have been told that blue ink has anti-inflammatory property and soothes a burn. Never tried it but have heard my grandparents vouch for it.

Coming back to pen, the nibs of the pen were the most delicate parts. One hard push and phooosh! They were gone. Oh and let me at this stage, confess that inspired by Ved Vyas of Mahabharatha and all those classic mythological serials and movies, I did try to quill-write using the feathers of pigeon ( I could not find one of the peacock) but dipping in the inkpot for every second word was something which was testing my already low patience and hence the idea was discarded.
Exam times saw me packing 5-6 extra pens and ofcourse the ink pot.
Gone are the days! Today is the world of Gel-pens and Reynolds. My daughter tells me that for her boards its mandatory to use ball pen and not ink or gel-pen! Times surely have changed. So, with the advancement in technology, there is a price tag attached and lets accept it with grace. Though we have less time on our hands to fill ink in the pens, we have electronic medias like these where we can get outright nostalgic. Years later, when my kid’s kids will grow, maybe gel-pens will be out and some silicon-pen will be in and then my kids will update their blogs something on these lines :)
So, now when I need to rush to that book store for buying assortment of refills for the gel-pens of my kids, I try to think of the plus. Atleast they don’t get their hands stained like we did and atleast their teachers sarees and dresses are safe!!!

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10 reasons why I walk early in the morning

Oh guess WHAT! I started walking once again and I am trying to keep myself motivated to go on and on and on and on.. OK Stop! The usual trend is for me to start something and leave it halfway through. I think I must have attempted walking 563 times till now and successfully left it on some or the other pretext. But this time I will make sure to make it a lifelong habit. And so I present to myself 10 reasons why I should walk early in the morning (just around dawn):
1. I get to see the sunrise and save 20,000 rs. How? Well, I have seen people spend that much on a trip to Goa and then come back with pictures of sunrise. Ah, dont mind me. I am just being plain jealous you see!

2. I get a chance to be philosophical and come up with phrases like “The light sweeping the dark night away” / “The nature tosses its orange ball yet again”!

3. If I end up with a group walk, then I catch up on the latest buzz of the town before the broadcast by my maid servant!

4. I have a reason to buy new clothes and new shoes.

5. My bonding with sleep increases; I mean I start valuing and loving and appreciating the art of sleeping more and more. So, I make up for the lost sleep on sunday afternoons and its bliss!

6. I can escape the task of making dinner with the excuse that I got up early, you see. Please have this rice with sambhar, I am sooooooo tired! Same reason if I am caught napping in office.

7. I can catch the worm I can pick flowers for the daily pooja.

8. People listen to music while they walk but I practice my vocal skills without fear of people shushing me! So, its me, my tanhai, my Ragams and with the accompaniments of birds, and ofcourse occasional dog barks!!!

9. One of my favouritest pastime is to observe the lights in the various flats of my colony; and wonder what the person would be cooking, whether that kid would be up and getting ready for school, whether that couple is getting late and rushing to catch 7:09 local! Oh, I have an alternate profession in hand, just in case!

10. I can give a competition to Kareena… OK OK if not Kareena, her mom?? OK OK Her grandmom? See how goalpost keeps shifting!

Ah and the main reason is that I have been advised jogging or fast walks in the morning to control my borderline eye pressure which cannot be prevented but can be kept from causing further damage to the eyes. Glaucoma, they call it. Got to go for checkup again this monthend. Wish me luck, friends :)

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