Warming the House and Hearts

Veeda katti paaru, kalyaanatha senju paaru!! 

Man I have been saying this oer and oer again and yet I am appalled at that sincerity of the person who coined this adage! Past few months have been super strenuous, trying to work on the house. Calling for Plumbers, electricians, tile layers and what nots. To see that innocently bleak place turn into my home, meine Hause and all that!

Shopping
We went shopping for tiles, at least 3 days. When we finally zeroed in, the stocks bailed out. And day 4, Herr and Madschen were left to choose a different tile altogether! The cost of company tiles, Gujrat tiles, pretty motifs, extremely grandiose motifs, Kitchen concepts – Ask me. Just dial 9884###### and I am all there to help you. Conditions apply… :P

L to R, while Shopping for Hobs, Kitchen Concepts, LCD space minimization(Uncle's hz) and TILES (tres difficile)

Designer lights.

I will not call it chandelier; chandelier is something that was in my Mom’s place… large, regal and all that… but what we chose were “designer lights” as I would coarsely loosely and stoneheartedly put it. Herr was absolutely against crystals chandeliers *glass shattering sound* just broke my bloody heart, left it bleeding and yeah.. sighs.. sometimes you have to put up with the upper hand these men hold *shout outs of women freedom slogans* So then, yeah cutting out that drama – we shopped like MAD crazy twosome, in and along the streets of Teynampet, the light market. Wondrous design, super wholesale prices! Woo hoo! There is light at the end of the tunnel finally amigo!

Left : Simple machine for a preview  Right: Choosing the right Border-tile

Kuthu Vizhakku
Yippe Yippe yay yay *break dance at the fact I am still alive* ALL around the streets of Parry’s corner’s brass bazaar, along with the plumpy darling mumsie, uncle and aunt. I went street after street, shop after shop; much to the dismayal of my aunt. Much to the mounting the anger in my mama’s eyes… gawwwwwd he could have killed me with his glare! Who cared mojos? All I wanted was that right “annam” not some jimpilikaa pilaapi that sits on my Pooja room all right.. :P Flip side for the day – mom had sore feet.. poor sweetums L Positive side forever, the WHOLE of extended family is happy with the Kuthu Vizhakku.. Happy with it! Happy with it! Happy with it! *Walking like an Egyptian...woo hoo!* 

Those beauties adorn my Pooja now!

Paints… call Manoj a killer.. seriously. These men are color blind bats, who just fail to see any other color other than cream. Do bats see cream you ask me? I wonder. So, beiges, mauves and creams it was. And the men once again won it.. Score two all. 

For a person who cooks SO much, the kitchen though not sprawling, was turned into a very pretty lass by two men – dad and hub, meticulous calculations, measurements to for the kitchen sink; that hunt for the right hob that doesn’t exceed 20’’, draft of tile pattern + motifs based on one tiles size. I don’t think anyone (who has bought the house, but not built it) would consider all these! I now not only know where my fennel, custard seeds are, but I also know the width of my granite slab, length of the cupboard ya da ya da… so much to explain “strenuous”  

Invitation selection, printing was nothing, when we knew the larger task of “giving it” was yet to come K There are sure cons of being born in a LARGE family, reader-agha! FIVE DAYS… and more… gawdawfulthing in the Indian custom. Why don’t paatis use emails anymore? (*yeah I am selfish.. is this some of your Eureka moments worsties? Silently sniggers*)

Grahapravesham 6th, February, 2012

Iyer, catering, return gift ideas were initiated by Hema atha (the mom double) and my mom. Extremely long and strong helping hands!  The function so cruelly scheduled between 4.30 and 6.30 AM gave us ample time and room to sleep… yeah that was sarcasm if it didn’t hit you at first.. 

Anddddd the girl-trio decidedly headed to the new home… colors + colors (gals, powder-colors resply) to make this beautiful rangoli. Too many cooks spoil the broth, but this ain’t broth buddy! The house was SO filled with gaiety and I just indulged, danced and dwindled in that gaiety! :)

NO more words guys. Seriously. I aint boring you to death cos if you die, I should again come and visit you. I am already tired.. with post function trauma, packers and movers. So please guys, read no post that can put you to sleep, let alone permanent sleep! Be alive, kicking and happy most of all. Cos, there is gonna be more of me! And its never more of me without you! *senti tears* Kaps!

2011, The Year of the Rabbit (and me)

2011, The Year of the Rabbit (and me)

January brings the snow that
Makes our feet and fingers glow.
Absolutely incredible year start with 1st year Anniversary, some more incredible gifts, even more incredible wishes! Incredulity of one year completion! phew!

February
My best friends' wedding, innumerous OCS chats with miss yous. One lovely wedding at Trivandrum. One tranquil Homenymoon II at Allepey. House boats, backwaters, pulichery. Ah. Can life be good too?? *thinks*

At Allepey, Kerala

March brings breezes sharp and shrill that
Shake the dancing Daffodils
Shift of office premises (tears), shift of house (smiles) and more makeshift appearances. Whew, the cliché nothing is permanent must have been true!

April, May, June
Summer at it's unscrupulous best. Tormenting heat and bouts of rain. A trip to Nagerkovil for his best friend's wedding. Waterfalls, travel and a piece of history? The history amazes me more than the waterfall? The truth I leave it to your guess!

those showers...

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.
Birthday, aging, treats and yawn. Oh my... how excited is everyone about my birthday?? I better wear a smile too!! :/

August
Woo hoo!! Mom dad's wedding day! Party and all that's suave... :)

One of the Mukkani...

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.
Fabulous kolukattais adorn my Pooja room along with a smiling Ganesh - on his birthday!

October
Malaysia, truly Asia! One memorable trip, Tourquoise beaches, snorkelling and you are the KING (read : queen, ahem)

Ahh, truly Asia

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves go whirling past.
Bloody hell... dull november?? that was THE best! A promotion and a silent motion (no, I am not saying what it is) and three baby LhasaApso pups!

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire and Christmas treat.
Aww.. am all waiting for the 20 twelve!
And I hope All Izz Well!! :D

Dear 2011,

You have been a darling in many ways. Taught me to cook those oh so lovely Murukku, Kolukattai, Sweet Pongal...

Made for Two, with love..

Gave me my share los libros buenisimos – The Great Gatsby, Cobra, Only Time will tell, Twilight series, The Kite Runner, Tuesdays with Morrie...

Some not so hallucinating  books – You are here, The life of Pi...

Some oh-I-am-gonna-yawn-nows – Wuthering Heights, The Portrait of an Artist as a Young man. 

Books and what goes along with it..

Some champagne-fizz-dinners at the renowned – Rain Tree, Park, GRT groups and whatnots. 

Some peaceful dinners at my loving aunts, uncles and home. 

Mee Goreng, Malaysian Cusine

Taught me to taste success and failure, former being more than the latter.

And again, you have been the best.

Bear hug

K


Fellow readers, 

Happy New Year!! 
What are you doing this New year? 
Any resolutions up?? 

The new world.

Married life has made me not just see a new world but two worlds.

Friday night

Fridays, I keep awake unwilling to shut my eyes partly because I have want to see "Desperate Housewives" or some equally sod soap, or otherwise cos of the fact I can’t make up my mind on whether or not I would be going to mom’s place. Mom’s place. Ah. Be the little girl you always were. The pattings, why? even the scoldings are great (now). Gone are the days when a reprimand would mean a full fledged tear-filled drama climaxing with abuses to my bro for being their most favorite. Yeah, they. I don’t mean mom alone, dad is equally worse when coming to spoiling him. Friday nights, I would crave to have some seriously super hot homemade curry. Hell, yeah I cook. But homemade to me means mom-made.

The flip side is that I don’t wanna leave home or him either. Yeah, I can hear you say –"Oh, aren’t feeling like leaving the kiddo home?" now, enough and get married to know what I mean! I really really don’t feel like leaving him all by himself though he has been on his own for some happy eight years. I know, he would be even more happy to be on his own for a couple of days more dodging the nag "Manoj, you haven’t made your bed yet.. bah". Skeptical of whether I would miss him or miss yelling at him, I continue to think.

Saturday morning

I bite my teeth. Kiss him goodbye and take the bus. After a long journey amongst arguing passengers, steely smell that makes your teeth tickle, I reach there. Juno runs to greet me and she’s visibly frenzied! It’s hard to tell who’s the most excited amongst us ;-) Quality time with mom, dad. Altercations with bro. Selfless siestas. I’m brought back to my senses, as the Chicken gravy with soy sauce and spring onions – Mom’s guarded secret – tinges my tongue.

Ah, what a way to celebrate a weekend!

Sunday night

I go beak home, tearing myself away from the house I have grown in for 25 long years.

Monday morning

The whizz of my Mobile’s alarm alerts me to another week of running ahead. At a maddening pace, I run ahead to pick a volakku of ponni arisi, wash it, measure water to it and set the rice cooker. It doesn’t end there. I whiz off to the Refrigerator to decide on the pick of the day – ah today, It will be drumstick. Pop goes the paruppu, veggies, chilli powder, dhania powder and a measure of water.

20 mins later.

I tap my Kitchen clock to stop the alarm. Squeeze out the soaked tamarind to the curry and bring it to boil. Crackle spices, curry leaves and asafoetida - top it off to bring out the aroma. Rush up with my bath. Get dressed. Pack his lunch. And breathe.

Hmmmmmpfh.

Now, on the other side his Highness crawls out of the bed and rushes at the shower. Picks up the ironed clothes, buttons up his cuff, settles for the belt. A knight in shining armor eh?

Finally, he makes a pounce at the breakfast.

He eyes me. I have seen this look before. Gleamy and foxy. And yes, that quirky smile along side his lips. He finally takes the plunge and retorts– "My mom’s shambhar is even more spicier"

Bah. Is anyone hearing?

I’m wishing for Friday already.

Irrelevant Sequence

I was angry.
He was busy.
I eased my tension with an sms.
His eyes were intense and calm.
I had butterflies in my stomach.
Wonder what happened there?
I heard laughter.
They had me talking.
I was thinking before I talk.
He had to deliver lines.
There were humorous initiators!
Banquet was laid.
I bade goodbye.
End of Act I

I called up.
He was busy.
He called up.
I spoke it all.
His voice was intense and calm.
End of Act II




The Typical "he"
The Special "he"
The Lovable "he"





signed
07.06.09

How may I help you today?

Amma doesn't go around the world cribbing about the incompetency of her electronic items. If she does, she cribs about it only to the Customer Service.

#1
Amma had a problem with the microwave, which was then sent to the Service center. The person in charge said- "They were of spare-parts and it'd take a week". A week's time turned into three and four, which got mom freaked up. Cos at home, we were almost dependent on Microwave and a month without it was SO though. Mom then called the Cust Service at Delhi and bashed him diplomatically.
In the next three days, we had our MW back home. Mom couldn't contain her surprise and asked em how come SO soon, to which the attendant replied-
"They were asked to replace our faulty MW's part with that of a NEW microwave, as they were still short of spare-parts" :D

#2
The Onida Washing Machine that stepped into my house, replacing the old fourteen year old Onida, was a headache. It posed numerous problems in a matter of 1 year. Mom wrote a LONG letter to the Onida Head Office, explaining how good the old machine was and how she expected the same.
In two weeks we had the Manager with the Sales director at home!! They offered to replace the machine and replaced the same the very week. That was unexpected.
So, that was another story with a Happy ending... hehehe!

I don't know if I have inherited these genes from my mom. But we both have a tendency to file a complaint with the corresponding Customer Service, once we realize the product is faulty.

#1
After having a sumptuous dinner at KFC, which was partially unfulfilling as we had to scream out for sauce. All I could think of the next morning was to find out a way to make a complaint. I finally found out the International online Customer Service forum http://www.kfc.com/contact/
I emailed them.
Hello,
We have had N number of dine-ins and take aways at KFC's. The dine-ins are partially ruined by the way we have to scram out for sauce. What is more irritating is that sauce sachets are handed out, so we end up screaming for scissors.

2 days later, I had a mail from the International Customer Service, directing the Citicentre's KFC outlet to look into this issue.
And thus this email -
Dear Ms.Kappu,
We have received your mail regarding the difficulty you faced to peel the sauce.We appreciate your suggestion for issuing sauce bottle to the customers.We have taken your suggestion to our higher official . I Mr.KS.Manikandan the Manager of KFC Citicentre,would like to invite you and your family for a lunch or dinner, at our restaurant.Please feel free to call me. 9962122***.
Regards
KS.Manikandan
KFC Citicentre

:D what a laugh me and my mom had over this!
Alas, we didn't have the time to lunch. I made Mr. Manikandan a call and refused his offer :|
I still don't know if the sauce sachets have been replaced, that's a different story altogether! :D

#2
After Pretty not being able to send sms, I called up Hutch Care (aka Vodaphone). The IVR was irritating, we did not find any option to contact the Customer Service Executive.
Then I had this message calling for my feedback from 6790,
to which I replied-
"It's horrible. Not pleasing like the Hutch care that was once there.
Pls revert, else it might give Vodaphone a bad image. "

Needless to say, I promptly got a call from them. I explained them saying "All I needed was a PERSON to help me. I couldn't find that option in your menu and it is irritating."
To which Ms. Suganya (the lady who called me) said please try calling us once again and irrespective of the menu, select option #4 (Berserk right? I had an issue with sending and receiving SMS, though I had to selected this option which was meant for Roaming Related services)
Voila, I was attended to by a CS executive and Pretty's issue resolved.


#3
Durable Chrome Factory. Durable? What a name for shoes that don't even last a month. After repeated purchases and disappointments, I persuaded the manager to give me the contact no of the authority in charge for complaints. I am yet to call that man and start off.

Yes. AGAIN :D

On a Temple spree - Part #2

As a matter of fact, this post should be called:
"On a Temple spree - Part #2".
I never knew that a visit to my hometown can be clipped with SO many visits to the nearby temples. The day after Pongal, we were in our Hometown. I was drinking in the beauty and space of our house. Waking myself, filling me with ample memories -
Photos, photos and more photos.

The next morning, we (cat, ma, pa & appatha) left to Palani. To choose "Palani" of all places, that too during "Thai". Phew. But my never-say-die father finally took us there, got us squeezed amongst the thousands of devotees and brought us back safe.

The next two days were to be spent at "Pudur" my gramps birthplace and "Vegupatti" irrefutably appatha's birthplace.
So many relatives, so many feasts and more photos where-ever-I-go.

I chanced upon my forefather's photo, I promptly clicked it up.
Clicked it, not picked it! Thanks to the digicam, of late one doesn't have to steal photos :D

We skipped the trek to "Piranmalai" cos...
(A) it was late & (B) cat was unwell.
On the way back home, we stopped at "Samayapuram" (it was 9.00 p.m. and the temple closes at 9.15 p.m.) and in spite of the plight, we were invited to a good darshan.

At 3.15 a.m. our mpv screeched to a halt at my doorstep.
Later, I had a 12 hour sleep and here I am.
Again, It won't be blinks before I'm off!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

24.11.2008

The Good

A teenie-weenie cyclone that popped out of nowhere was determined to cause more destruction that it actually could. This morning, electricity was suspended. I appreciated my inverter like never before. We decided to stay at low consumption mode (cos of cats' exam), turned off the TV and turned to the books.

Books(!) the best thing after a LONG time. Amma, Appa and I were poring over books like never before. It was bliss. My bro busied himself with books too - well, thanks to the Survey exams. Suddenly he was in high spirits, by high I mean real HIGH. Seems the exams were postponded. Later, we spoke through the night... Cyclone?? The day was simply great.

25.11.2008

The Bad.

The morning was calm as well. More books, more chat. Reality struck me later, out on the roads the water levels were ankle-high and since the rains never stopped, they were obviously expected to rise. The rains were SO heavy and SO continuous . "Chembarambakam" dam reached its' full capacity and its' gates were opened. This plainly meant a mini-flashflood was on its way!

I was getting slightly worried about the floods (and that I had to bunk German class) when I promptly got a call from Max Muller Bhavan saying classes were suspended! Great!

By the evening the inverter quit working. No complaints, it did a great job of sustaining a day and three-fourths. Lanterns, mosquito repellent sprays and slight annoyance in the air.

26.11.2008

The Ugly.

No electricity yet. Worse, my cell had "almost" no charge. As if switching off TV, PC wasn't bad enough, I even had to switch off my mobile. Judicious usage :|

It was then we got to know about the attack in Mumbai. Noone can a thing, but pray. We prayed, hoped. Hoped that the attacks ceased. Hoped for the savior "electricity" to be back. Most of all hoped to catch a glimpse of what happened.

Finally by the night, say 10pm, electricity supply was regained. Horror was splashed on the Television. I just fail to understand, how can so much of brutality be present in a human brain. Plain barbarism, plain stupidity.

The following day, the dead heroes were saluted.

I salute these men who gave their lives for us.

I'd now salute the living heroes, those men whose names I not know of, 

the men whose names will be splashed by the media someday.

P/s My connector was short-circuited. Thanks to the rain.

My eyes are much better today due to the "Lack of internet" so long.