Wisdom lost and gained!

Ok, don't be aghast! That title was to add shock value (and gain a few pageviews I suppose :P).

I am talking about my visit to the dentist few months ago when I had my wisdom teeth extraction. The poor teeth had given up all hope of me taking good care of them and had spoiled beyond all redemption and rescue. Blame it on my incorrigible liking for chocolates and sweets but stubborn that I am, I will definitely not give up the habit!:) Or it could be because they are located so far behind in a weird position, what is my toothbrush to do? Of course, I definitely prefer removal of unused (respect the dead/lost; lets not call them "useless"!), crooked and nearly invisible wisdom teeth to losing my canines and looking like a "postbox"(the term used in school to tease you when you lost your baby teeth:)).

So, anyway, after about a week of slight nagging pain and one night of unbearable pain, I decided it was high time and visited the "feared" dental clinic. Ok, fear is a strong word. Lets say, I blame much of my discomfort to having had RCTs ("Root Canal Treatment" for the uninitiated. I learned this was a way of sounding cool from the junior doc at the clinic :)) way back in school and some weird but bang-on and memorable poems from school-http://www.ee.nus.edu.sg/~teokh/dentist.html

So, there I was, staring at the X-ray while the junior doc made a long list of issues and consequently, treatments needed to correct them while I was just hoping their "special offers for Women's Month" would help me salvage the upcoming hole in my pocket!

After deciding that extraction was inevitable, it was scheduled for late evening. I grudgingly agreed after being told that the surgeon had his day full and couldn't make it before then. So, then, after enduring pain all day and having a really early dinner, I drove down at the appointed hour only to be told that the doc would be a few minutes late. Sometime later, I was guided to the operating room, done up in an interesting shade of pink and was told to be seated at the semi-reclining operating chair and given a disposable apron to wear on top of my clothes lest saliva, blood or whatever else spilt on them. As I was sitting there for a few minutes twiddling my thumbs, in walked Dr.Goodlooking :) To add to the good looks, he was also polite and charming contrary to the bossy, I-am-too-busy-and-important kind I was expecting. Then comes the start of the "zor ka jhatka dheere se laga" series that my newly awakened college-girl drooling avatar would endure during the evening:) Doc PR (initials only for fear that someone chances upon this post; it is a small world after all) held up an annoying concave mirror and there, in enlarged focus were my wisdom teeth in totally decayed condition. I still can't believe they had turned brownish black!:( There goes all the impression I tried to create. Dr.PR was playing the perfect chivalrous gentleman that evening. This put me at ease and I didn't die of shame. But one weird thought did cross my mind. When an engineer or architect dates or marries, he or she isn't actually going to gauge the prospective spouse or date's knowledge or skills. But isn't it an entirely different ballgame for doctors? Take Dr.PR for instance. If he is considering an alliance or date, would the thought cross his mind on how much care does the dame bestow on her pearly whites? Would the condition of the teeth help him gauge the girl's personality or character?If he does take these factors into consideration, I pity him because it is really rare to find a set of perfect pearly whites and if he does, will the rest of the person be as adorable? That is a remote possibility.
Anyway, back to the dentist's operating table, Dr.PR took a long while; maybe he wasn't as skilled as he was handsome. :P As I mentioned earlier, my wisdom teeth were in a weird twisted position. So, he had to drill my teeth into little pieces and take them out. By the end of it, I was totally in discomfort what with cottony mouth and increasing awareness of pain as the anesthesia effect started to gradually wear away. That probably explains my faux pas-when the exhausted Dr.PR said, "It was a pleasure operating on you", I was convinced he was being insincere or sarcastic or both and retorted, "I am not sure I can say the same". After all, dude, what pleasure could you have possibly derived from operating on a behenji with dreadful teeth? Thankfully, Dr.PR ignored or maybe pretended not to hear my retort and walked away-God bless him! The teeth did put up a hard fight for the week thereafter too with swelling and pain but anyway, that's a story for another day. Good luck, Dr.PR with your soulmate-beautiful teeth, looks, heart and all!

The death of the Hanky

The other day, my son's teacher asked us to send a handkerchief with him to school everyday. As I hunted in vain around the house for the non-existent entity, I could not help but wonder how times have changed.

Gone are the days when Mommy neatly folded a square-shaped handkerchief, or hanky as we liked to call it, into a triangle and pinned it up alongwith with the nameplate/id on the shirt or uniform. The faithful hanky stood by you through thick and thin, whether it was wiping your dripping nose and cleaning your messy mouth after those counteless "pepsies" (not the drink, the ice-lolly's ancestor I mean) and at the end of the day, it helped mommy piece together the puzzle of what you had been upto all day in school! At the movies, the handkerchief also helped many-a-desperate loverboys break the ice with the pretty women they were pursuing by subtly falling down when the woman walked past her silent admirer prompting him to be gallant and giving him courage," Maaf kijiye, yeh... shaayad aapka rumaal wahaan gir gaya..."/"Excuse me, I think you dropped your handkerchief"! Aww...how simple were those days when just picking up books that fell when you bumped into each other or returning the carelessly-dropped handkerchief was enough to kindle the romance! So many songs inspired by the "rumaal"-"sir par topi lal haath mein resham ka rumaal haaye tere kya kehna!", the most cheesy one being "Haathon mein aa gaya jo kal rumaal aapka". And then, it was also mommy's tool to teach her little girl the fine art of embroidery! Generations of girls have made a start with embroidering pretty summer dahlias, orchids and roses on their handkerchiefs. You could also add on your initials to proclaim that it was your custom-made kerchief and also to help future beaus guess your name :p Better still, a few drops of your favorite perfume and you have your guy hooked for life (gross :P)

Cut to recent and present times, "rumaal" and hanky are old school, use a tissue, you fool! Oh,ya, no headache of washing for reuse. Use it and throw it. No regrets of losing a pretty embroidered one, supposedly better hygiene IFF you dispose of the tissue appropriately. At present, a girl with an embroidered handkerchief is not hep or cool enough. She could be the demure, clingy damsel-in-distress material if you are contemplating matrimony but seriously, even then, wouldn't you rather prefer a glam girl capable of later becoming a "yummy mommy"?

All said and done, personally, yes, the tissue is practical but oh! I miss the cuteness of the pinned square hanky and romance of the rumaal! sigh...:)

Dilli!

Revisited the capital of India after 5 years and came away with a very good opinion. Here are a few good things:

Metro: best thing to happen to the city. The roads (good at a few places; quite bad at a few others) are at last relieved of so much pressure. Found the Metro very efficient-quick, clean, economical, scaleable. Hats off really! Waiting for the time when the metro will be completed and running in my city:( Of course, how the amazing Sridharan sir managed to get the project completed in time in the land of babus is the stuff worthy of legends!

Akshardham: The history of the Guru Gujaratis revere notwithstanding, one important takeaway was the showcase of our glorious past and the encouragement to carry on the legacy and create history that we can be proud of. Also found the security, cleanliness and crowd management quite efficient. I really wonder how terrorists could even manage to sneak in a bomb at this place. Heck, my son's Rs.5 toy car was not allowed in! How I managed to convince the kind security ladies to keep it safe until we returned from inside Akshardham is another story.

Kingdom of Dreams and Zangoora, the Gypsy Prince: Very interesting concept, quintessential Bollywood, superb execution, brilliant set design (trademark Omung Kumar) and of course, Hussain (aww...). Kind of an Indianised Broadway show. Heard they are heading to Vegas soon. Good luck!

The Culture Galli concept is good though there is some room for improvement of the inventory.

All in all, India is definitely learning the ropes of marketing well. Great attempt at showcasing India and hope to see it evolving much more. Zangoora & the Kingdom of Dreams, take a bow:)

Where am I heading?

It has been a long day

Let me rest awhile

To prepare for another day

And face it with a smile.

Years pass by in a blur

Where did they go, I wonder.

In the pursuit of living,

Just didn't notice life leaving.

People and places

Known,unknown faces

Betrayal, friendship

Happiness, hardship

Agony, epiphany

Twists and turns so many!

I will carry on

In the quest for the elusive

Blurring the lines

Between real and delusive

Till one day

When it will all end.

I will carry on,

Carry on to that end.

--------------------

Before it gets lost, preserving for posterity, a reply in verse from a friend-thanks a ton, AC!

life may've gone unnoticed
but now is your chance
read through all those skipped pages
and re-write your plans

at times you may regret
what all you've lost
but believe me when i say
some things are better in the past

sometimes you may be astonished
what all you've achieved
how little you've asked for
and how much you've received

pick all the gems
your friends and relation
for you must go on
and they'll be your motivation

don’t hold it tight
let it pass as sand
embrace the life waiting
smiling on the other end

What I want in 2010

I wont put these down as resolutions cos resolutions are made to be broken. So, these are the things I want. Will how much of it turns into reality:

• More love and patience in caring for my child. I hate the times I yell at him. I hate the times he has to adjust so much for me. My child, I want to be a better mother to you
• A more healthy me:less junk food,more fruits, more exercise...sigh
• Good news- for my dad, my son,my hubby and me for different reasons(promotion,school,etc.). if possible, good news for everyone-may all our good wishes come true
  
• Return to some good hobbies-singing, reading, old friends (and new)
  

That's it for now. will probably return to add more

Retrospect 2009

A fond adieu to 2009. Some of the good things that happened this year:

• hubby finally got thru the entrance to his dream course. tough years during the course but all in the game
• little one learnt to speak, picked up so many rhymes and words, has been potty-trained, has nearly outgrown his bottle, loves me in the way that only children can and that, more than anything, is enough for me in life
• finally got a team-change...letting go of my baby-the previous project and a tl position to get back to development was a huge emotional upheaval but getting out of the comfort zone has turned out for the good so far
• had good breaks this year-coorg in april, mumbai in june, home for diwali for a nice big family reunion(i'l never forget the treasure hunt bro and i set up :)), lovely driving and shopping in pondy...i'm loving it
• finally got a new car-the fiat grande punto. lovely so far but havent yet tried MS's Blue and Me

Hoping the new year turns out to be a happy, peaceful, green, healthy and prosperous one for everyone. God bless!

Knowledge is free

Today, I did something that made me feel good. In that sense, I have been selfish for, I did it to make myself happy. I could also be counted as a bragger for gloating about it here. But the reason I am putting it here because I want more of us to realise the value we can add and make a conscious contribution.

There is a different kind of discrimination that people cutting across countries, religions, castes and creeds practise today and that is based on knowledge. As with other powers, there are people who have the power of knowledge and those who do not. People who have it sometimes abuse the power in oneupmanship over the have-nots. They may either make gains or withhold the knowledge which may otherwise have put everyone on an even keel. Some others may distort or misuse the knowledge to bring about harm. Wouldn't it be nice to stop this abuse if all of us had easy and equal access to all the knowledge and information around and the only way someone would fall back would probably be because of their laziness around not gaining that power? I look forward to such a world where knowledge flows freely without fear or insecurity.

There are so many people around trying to bring about that change. Like, for example, the man who is trying to set up computers in the remotest villages of Asian countries so that children can freely access the tonnes of information online and learn more than they ever possibly could from simplistic schoolbooks. I was initially skeptical about this idea assuming vandalism and porn access but surprising statistics reveal the former was in a miniscule (less than 10 I think) percentage of cases and there was no occurrence of the latter. Think about the impact this one man has the potential of creating-children from rural areas will be on an even footing with the urban kids when it comes to exposure (in a positive sense) and of course, knowledge. They (rural kids) will not lose out on opportunities just because they (rather their parents) chose to create their home outside noisy, polluted, overcrowded but busy, cosmopolitan, trendy cities.

Then there is also the man who is collecting , repairing and donating cycles to kids in remote villages in India so that they can commute to schools which may be miles away from home. In most cases, the people in towns and cities no longer had use for the cycles and they were simply lying around. This kind gentleman collected such cycles, got them repaired (change of tyres, seats,chain and painting probably) and donated them to children for whom the nearest school was probably atleast 10 kilometres away. Now, the children need not remain uneducated just because they had no means of commuting to school.

A salute to such people who are going out of their way to remove the discrimination based on the power of knowledge. I added my own miniscule drop to the sea of efforts today but there is room for doing so much more. Go on, help spread knowledge. Happy holidays!

Des Parfums

There was a time when we had not heard of the concept of deos (deodorants for the uninitiated). Yes, yes, makes it sound like I'm an old hag, ain't I? To tell you the truth, maybe I am but lets not deviate from the topic. This is about my tryst with the mysterious world of perfumes. I am a complete ignoramus when it comes to perfumes and my taste(?) of fragrances is about as developed as a donkey(for want of a better comparison. No offence intended, all ye animal activists out there). So, there was a time when we made do with Hamam soap and Ponds powder and temperatures had not soared due to global warming. Yes, summer temperatures were mid-30s but lets save global warming for another day. So, we saved up the rare bottles of Impulse and Fa that uncle got us from USA during his semester holidays(another typical TamBram phenomenon of the time-children finish B.E. and go abroad to do M.S.) for the special occasions like the New Year's Eve party. Then came Rexona with the first deo in India-a small rollon at a tempting inaugural price. We got totally hooked. After ensuring that everyone was totally addicted to the concept of daily deo use, Rexona started its exponential inflation of price but people could not retreat. Cut to the past few years... There are so many brands of deo in the market-Fa, Implulse, Rexona, Spinz, Nivea, Yardley, Enchanteur...I could go on, not discounting the men brands like Axe(!), Brut, etcetra, etcetra. Don't judge me by all the names I know(:-P)

My brother and I are polar opposites when it comes to the world of perfumes. His idea of a perfect gift for someone special is an expensive bottle of specially chosen perfume while I grab for the first bottle in the closet every morning, not caring whether it is a perfume deo spray or my husband's after-shave! Yes, I still can't understand how my brother could even dream splurging $50 on a bottle of perfume for my mother on one of his annual trips home from US. And I definitely do not understand him regretting he got me the 'Jennifer Lopez' perfume as he would now not be able to buy the same for his wife. Heck, is it a life-threatening issue if two people end up smelling the same? The probability is even more less because my sis-in-law, my brother and I are at the same place (same house to be more specific if you will) less than a week per year. So, what's the chance of me wearing the JLo at that particular time considering that I have about 7 bottles of perfume (not counting the deo sprays) collected(rather gifted to me) over the years? I don't even wear perfume everyday!

Anyway, the clincher that ultimately made me give up trying to understand the mystery world of perfumes was when my sis-in-law's brother(!) and I were both in London on office assignments and we decided to go shopping for gifts for the family. Some well-meaning (!) lady in my office suggested Selfridges(If you have ever been somewhere there, I can see you rolling your eyes:)). Now that I look back, I realise I had asked my client for suggestions and though she would deny it, I'm sure she hated me:). Anyway, so, Selfridges it was and man! I must deviate at this point to say a word or two about the shop (that's an understatement but anyway). It was probably my first window to the world of high fashion and top class brands! CK, YSL, TH, D&G, Gucci and many more that I don't even know and appreciate! I was overwhelmed. I suspect so was B (my sis-in-law's brother). So, what did we do? We went and got my brother a C&K kit and a my sis-in-law the latest YSL summer make up collection. And I will not put the price down here for fear of sending the weak-hearted into cardiac arrest. To say that it burned a hole in our pockets is an understatement. Lets say it was more like burning the whole b****y pocket! Now I wont deny that my sweet sibling and sis-in-law are every bit worth those gifts but forgive my modest upbringing-I do not appreciate splurging a fortune on a bottle. And I don't care even if it smells like God himself (or herself)!

My sweet big brother has also given up trying to educate this bumpkin on the sophistication of perfume choice. He says girls should choose more flowery or fruity smells while guys go for the serious deep aromas. Heck, I DON'T LIKE flowery fruity smells (except for the CK rose perfume in my closet) ! Why is it or rather, is it really a cardinal sin to like something that does not fit inside the frame of so-called sophistication? You may be wondering why I am ranting about this so much. Because I have a confession to make-brother, dont read this-I wear the Axe Below Zero(blue bottle-special edition last summer) deo everyday ;-P