and its done!

Cant believe how fast time flies!

I have already come to the end of my B.Ed.... keep thinking this is a dream, and I'm going to wake up and it will be time to go for the inauguration ceremony...

As I sit in my sari, waiting to leave, this past year has been filled up highs and lows, laughter and tears and everything else which comes as a side order with LIFE!

Today is the Valedictory ceremony, we dint take part in the official college convocation ceremony because our semester started later. So next year May if I'm still in Bangalore, I will do the walk, with the whole gown hat etc.

But for now this is my graduation!!!! I know I still have my exams left, but this a big deal! I did it!

Survived!!!!

Christ University is interesting to say the least. It was hard to get back to the whole being a student thing and especially in a place which is such a stickler for rules and regulations..

Looking back at my blog, I realize I never really did a post on college life etc.

Well here goes :)

Being a student was fun again, but honestly I like being on the other side of the table. And now my degree allows me to do that! Can you say Teacher aunty?

I took part in my fair share of events in college - Mono Act, Dumb Charades (yes I am the drama diva)

I became the official designer for the department, worked on the newsletters, brochures, posters etc for the School of Education.

Thanks to all my experience in Kodai and BY's amazing design skills I did learn some thing...

We went on trips, we attended classes, we bunked classes, we submitted assignments (late but never the less), went to the library, googled every thing!

Made friends with people I never expected to do!

All in all, apart from what I was taught in class I learnt a lot...

learnt how to use the Indian loo! (seriously major accomplishment!)

learnt how to wear a sari (properly and now can say I can put on a sari in 8 minutes!)

felt domesticated at times - making my lunch, packing it, watering the plants all in a sari...

felt like crap at times

Frustrated at times...

But overall I'm happy its done!

Dee, Pinks, WC and N came for the function! Surrounded my friends and family I am happy.

While every one else brought one or two guests I came with my whole posse and as one of the teachers very politely put it "They are quite the lively bunch aren't they?"

From taking a million pictures to hooting every time my picture came up on the screen, it was a fun day..

After which we went to our favourite watering hole, High Note for a lovely lunch.

The party continued on at WC's place in the evening, going into the early hours of the morning (as usual :))

I finally came home today 5 days later, after hours of WII and cooking for the boys, the past week has been a blast..

Toodles from the graduate

Happy Tuesday

Celebratory lunch at High Note

Bring on the drinks :)

Lookie here, I won some thing :)

Student teachers of Mary Immaculate School

Teaching aids, a teachers best friend!

and what a weekend it was...

Ah Monday nights, enjoying some down time, with Chinese food, chilled beer at home... this weekend has been packed to say the least!

Friday night, I was official baby sitter for Akku and we had quite the blast. Watched a movie, made Dee's birthday cake and chilled :) I got done with that at 11 and headed to WC's house for what I thought was a quiet evening of poker with the

guys... Walked in the house to find 25 people there and the party in full swing.

Lots of laughter, poker and drinks later, the party finally ended at 9am. Breakfast, movies and

some Xbox later, finally managed to get some sleep at 3pm... only to be woken up at 5 for the next party.

And while I slept the boys played cricket on the xbox... will the fascination for cricket never stop. From playing on the roads, to the comfort of thy home. Technology never ceases to amaze me.

Saturday was Dee's birthday and we had the first official Above The Knee's Party at our place. The party was destined to be great, because I found two day

s earlier I had won a radio competition (yes I do take part in them a lot!)

And what did I win, the alcohol being sponsored for the party!

I do love Radio Indigo... so we were all set for the party...

It was a blast, expected! And around 10pm, in walked in Kenny Jones and SriRam with our goodies...drum roll please...

3 bottles of whiskey

3 bottles of rum

3 bottles of vodka

1 crate beer

1 crate energy drinks

2 hard rock tshirts

2 CD's

and other indigo goodies!!!

Now we were set to Partaaay!!!

Had a blast with the radio indigo RJ's and after a whole lot of drinks, jokes and laughter it was time to bring in the Birthday girls birthday!

The party finally wound up at 3am and I headed back to Ian's with the gang...

Finally some sleep at 5am, after making Maggie and peanut butter sandwiches for all LOL

Sunday was relaxed, waking up at 2 and then spending the rest of the day in bed watching random stuff on TV... just what the doctor ordered.

And the week begins again, my last week in Christ Univers

ity. Graduation is on Friday! WOHOO

Off to bed now at a reasonable hour for once!

And here some pictures from the Winner of the first Radio Indigo Party Patrol :):)

My pretty flat mates!

SriRam, Shreya, Stanley and Kenny

With the boys :)

With the girls!

The gang with the goodies

I heart Bangalore

So when I first shifted to Blore I hated it, well hate is a pretty strong word, I guess I just found it hard to adjust after Kodai. Dint have too many friends, my house was not a home and all in all I just felt out of place.

But 236 days later - I have to admit I love Bangalore.

I have friends and am constantly make new ones. I love meeting new people, new ideas, thoughts, views and just in general hanging with different people.

I am also fortunate to have great room mates as well. Another 'delhi-ite'! Isnt it weird that I have met nicer delhites in blore than I have in Delhi!!!

But what I love about Blore in the culture... even tho things close by 11:30 here, there is still so much to do! Good music, great places to go dancing, decent food (nothing compared to delhi, but cant complain :))

Today was beady's birthday - she has this wonderful 1BHK, well set up. Met loads of her friends, lots of drinking (the rum punch was potent!), lots of dancing (so nice to jive!!!) and a whole lot of laughter!

Came home and made dinner - while laughing hysterically and managed to cut my thumb and drop red chilly powder over it! Yeah I am THAT clumsy!

But all in all - a great day!

Ciao for now

Shreez

Naughty blogger

Yeah I know, its been too long... as IBM-boy said, What happened to your blog?? The last update was in Aug 2009? What happened after that? Grew out of it (no pun intended swthrt) or some thing (or someone) caged the Shreez's spirit?

So here go's my first blog for the year 2010...

I am loving Bangalore.. I have a new house, which is absolutely amazing! Own bedroom and bathroom and no dirty smelly undies around!

I also have an awesome kitchen in which I've been doing loads of cooking. Getting my Indian cooking skills up - now all I need to learn is how to make chappati's and I am good to get married :)

Convent Educated / teacher / Can cook / good family

see the ad is waiting to be written!

This year has been a good year for visitors, first aussie chick, then wiggles and soon ala-bama... people are sick of all the count downs on my fb status, but what can I say, am always excited to see my friends..

So back to my new house, we have friends who live upstairs and the rest of the building is filled with young single working people. So all izz well...

This post will be quite random, but honestly I am at a lost on what to blog about. I read my previous posts, and quite shamelessly I can admit that some posts were quite good. Looks like Kodai brought out my creative side.

Bullet points will have to suffice:

• Love my new house as I have mentioned earlier
• College going well - few weeks left and then a month off
• Become the official designer for my course - designed a newsletter and brochure till date, I miss working with photoshop, but have to be happy with publisher
• I am a text-aholic :)
• Looking for a job, the reality of the real world awaits sigh!

Men's Health

I am a cosmo girl. I love that magazine and actually any girly magazine. And you always read about men who happened to pick up one of these magazines and fall in love with it. I happened to pick up “Men’s Health” a self proclaimed mans magazine while waiting at the dentists. And it was quite the read, some of the stuff cracked me up and I just had to share it with you.

Page 1
A man does not have to perform several times on one night to prove his virility. It’s the quality not the quantity!
Uplifting men’s spirits everywhere. Pun intended.

And the question every man is dying to ask but too afraid to ask!
How do you keep your skin glowing?
How do you side step the hangover look?
What is the deciding factor in changing your look?

If a woman flirts with me via email does she want me to ask her out?
If ones single, your age and you’ve met before and had a good time together, then yes! Trading emails is different from telephone conversations, sexual innuendoes and coy remarks just don’t slip out, they are crafted carefully. (true!) A lot of women send friends barely flirtatious email drafts to ask if this sounds to desperate.(so true!) So if you get the impression that she’s flirting, she probably is and you should ask her out. (damn right!)
If a man starts to flirt too much via email, they get paranoid that they are dealing with a cyber pervert.

What mans magazine would be complete without convincing every beer guzzling male that beer is actually good for you. From a beer lover herself, I like this article!
Beer has a lower risk of causing heart attacks and gallstones
Beer is better than
Orange juice 45 calories / 100gms
Beer 39 calories / 100gms
Soy milk 55mg / 100gms – sodium
Beer 4mg / 100gms

Well if your going to be going to a stripper – you need to know strip etiquette!
*Use the term dancer not stripper (true!)
*Never tip with coins – that is just cheap (and uncomfortable!)
*Just because she is a stripper does not mean she is a whore (agreed)
*Avoid boxers and wear tight briefs. The only tent she wants to see is at a camp site! (hahahaha)

A small penis is not a sign of inadequacy. Most penises large, medium or small are the same size when erect.
…so why classify them into small, medium or large?

And last but not least
Thank you for your feature on Gyneasmastia (June 09) I’ve lived in shame for several years but now I know I am not a woman just an oddly shaped man.
(uuurrrmmm yeah.. ok then!)

So the man’s magazine is interesting to say the least, but this girl prefers her cosmo any day.

VOTE!

A blatant form of advertising for a good friend.

Papa Romero and his lovely wife need some help. They are applying for a reality show in India. And the couple with the maximum votes gets a chance to go on the show. All it takes is to go to the following website
http://www.greatdrivingchallenge.com/application/Vani/

Put in a valid email id, click vote and then click the verification email. It will take 5 minutes top. They would appreciate all the help they can get.
Pass on the message. Deadline is quickly coming up.
Chocolate is promised to all those who vote.
Thanks a ton!!!
♥ Me

Passing thoughts.

I just watched a show on national geographic - hostage abroad. They focused on the 1994 kidnapping of 3 british tourists along with 1 american tourist - in return for the release of 10 Kashmiri militants.

I was 10 when this happened, but hearing about it today, evoked a strong emotional reaction. To imagine the terror what these tourists when too. I have friends around the world, friends like these tourists who see India as a top choice for the backpacking traveller.

That mystical place called India.

These tourists were kept prisioners for 32 days. Befriended by an 'indian' but actually Omar Saeed Sheikh, they were invited to visit a typical indian village but instead were kept hostage for a month.

The ol indian hospitality, turned on its head.



Watching this show, I sat back and saw a bit of my friends in those 4 travellers. Wanting to experience something. Trusting people. It scared me. What if that was W, M, A, V, K or someone else.



I went on to do some more research on this, and found out that the hijakking in 1999 of the indian airlines flight was so that the militants could free Omar Saeed Sheikh in turn for the 180 passangers. He then went on to behead Daniel Pearl (American journalist, beheaded in Pakistan - 2002) He is currently in jail awaiting a death sentence. Will it happen. I highly doubt it.



Why am I writing about this? I honestly dont know. On one hand its a warning to the travellers coming to experience 'india' . With the amount of radical fanatics out there, the possibility of this happening again it high.



I watched the final video of Daniel Pearl. What causes one human being to torture and kill another. To have the blood of another man on oneself. I have never seen a gun in real life. Violence like this does not touch my life. Though there is no guarantee that it will remain that way. Every day we live with the hope that nothing will happen.

That the malls we walk in, wont be blown away
That the airports we go through, wont be blown away
That the flights we take wont be flown into buildings
That the person who walks into a busy building wont take out a gun and shot anything in sight.


Do we really have any guarantees in this world?

Erh Eh and all that!

It’s been too long! And with so much happening, I am going to have to resort to photographs and bulleted points to cover the last few weeks or so…
*THE EUCY IS DONE. Its at the printers as I type J gets back in 3 weeks and the fruits of my labour shall be seen
*Impromptu get together’s at my house. Wine, tequila and gin involved
*Just chatting about random things till one in the morning
*Hiding eggs, bread and sprite in a bullet
*Watching movies with really bad acting
*That’s what she said!
*The all school play is DONE. Was in charge of make up. Good fun! Always a blast hanging out back stage. Just let’s say some of the videos are hilarious!!!
*Waking up at 5am to go for sunrise service on Easter morning, then deciding it was going to rain, so instead dropped other people off. Leaving the house in my pajamas and hair a complete mess, and going for a drive around the lake with hoops and then stopping off At a dhaba and getting chai. I love moments like that
*Watching a movie with male frontal nudity for the first time. Yeah forgetting sarah marshal isn’t that great!
*Making a rock garden
*Having a rock dropped on my finger
*Realizing that every finger on my hand is injured in some way or the other.
*Realizing that I have really weird fingers
*KFCc
*FML

*WC
*Am back to crocheting. Yay me! Did 4 hats in 4 days.
*Am now god mother again. Looks like I am headed to Hyderabad for the christening next week
*Laughing hysterically in the staff lounge
*Going crazy on coffee highs (note to self, no more days of 8 cups of coffee and no food!)
*“Can you say Cat Face”
*“Wiggles have you arisen?”
*CSC
*Crazy nights at the golf course
*Ali baba pants
*Coffee at quicky’s

*Long weekend in Bangalore. The most relaxing holiday ever. Thank you Rays for making it an amazing weekend!!
*Nervous about the future
*Emotional about the past
*Trying to take in every thing of the present

"Spicy Goat"

"Thats all!"

I talk - U talk - GTALK!~

5:21 PM me: not helping! lol

Mydhili: hehehhe

5:22 PM me: i am getting screwed here!

5:23 PM Mydhili: what! I am just keeping the humor for you! sheesh no one appreciates help only these days I tell you

me: oh i'll appreciate your help shakes her fist at you

5:24 PM Mydhili: runs

me: come on.. think creative :p

Mydhili: i am! I did in fact :P

me: interesting :)

5:25 PM Mydhili: i know! seeeee and btw ppl hate long emails :P (#Tip) :P :D

me: hahahaha well i had to give some information...the people i emailed will read it tho... cos i only email the smart ppl lol

Mydhili: smart = jobless ppl who have time to read a long email? For instance, yours truly :

P5:27 PM me: jobless=one who either finishes work super fast or palms it off to others = smart

5:28 PM Mydhili: joless also = ppl who cant find projects and still get an awesome review and therefore cant complain about it >( ok work issues never mind :D

me: thus jobless=smart!!! we have just revolutionalized logic

Mydhili: jobless = frustrated

me: ah!

Mydhili: but if jobless = smart frustrated = smart ?I just turned it around! world is back to normal again :P

me: but bring frustrated about being jobless makes you a cut above the losers who rather be jobless and get paid than actually working... so does that make u smart or stupid?

jobless = frustrated = not smart

jobless = enjoying it = smart

hhmm two very interesting theories...

5:32 PM Mydhili: jobless = discussing its logic with other jobless ppl = boss knowing this yet still paying you = dream job on earth

me: FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC5:33 PM

Mydhili: and thus she marked the end of the logic that redefined the word "work" forever!

me: i think should just copy this conversation into a blog post

Mydhili: well unless they're from the 60's(read high on crack) or drunk ... no one wld get it

me: as if many of my posts people get?

Mydhili: thaaaat is correct

me: ouch lol

Mydhili: hit you where it hurts the most! za blog... evil laughter

me: your cruel!

Mydhili: i take that to be my compliment for the week!

me: blog about it lol

The year that was

As usual this post is a wee bit late.. but better late than never right ?
So 2008 - this year did go by really quick. It was filled with lots of ups and downs, like any year usually is. But on the whole the year was good.

~I had my health (with a few injuries thrown in here and there)
~I had my family (and through all the trials, love underlines everything we do)
~I met new people (and made good friends)
~I let go of the past (both people and situations)
~I went through the tears (from the sad moments, the frustrating moments and the funniest times where you laugh so much you have to cry)
~I discovered more of me
~I travelled (alot!)
Delhi .. I consider it travelling as now Kodai is my home
Goa - absolutely fantastic! long way to travel just for 2 days but totally worth it. Beach..sun...friends..bonding..partying..and the other 'interesting' aspects of the trip
Bangalore .. meeting with family and friends all in the span of 36 hours, because I live on top of a mountain and we travel 12 hours one way to get to a decent city
Chennai .. same as above
Turkey - an amazing place. I loved it. Hot air ballooning was the highlight of the trip
Chidambram - this time it was much better..knew what to expect and having friends around always helped
Pondi - one of my fav places in south india. This place is gorgeous. Paper factory is a must along with satsanga (fantastic little restaraunt)
Madurai - for my exams. Thanks to JP and Hoops I made it through those days
Kerela - canoeing on the backwaters of kerela for 6 days. Fan-bloody-tastic. 65kms baby!
Thekkady - you got to love friends who take you for a holiday when the know your down. Added bonus was staying in a fantastic resort. Chilling near the pool, drinking beer, hiking in the forest, dealing with leeches. Got to love A&A
Varanasi - the interview with the people from the leprosary colony was an eye opening experience towards understanding human nature and ability to deal with adversities

~Visitors to Kodai included my bro and then my dad surprising me on my birthday
~Best moment - dad walking in on the birthday song
~Work..goes on. Now incharge of the yearbook and looking forward to learning why I try to lead.

~Technological advancements
Getting my laptop
Learning how to hook up my laptop to my TV
Harddrive :)
Swapping software with J3
Getting itunes and finally putting music and pictures on my ipod by myself

~Technological boo boos
Deleting my recovery folder from the D drive (luckily I dint delete it from the recycle bin, its now back to my D drive)

~Crazy moments
Sneaking out a swan paddle boat at 4am and going around the lake with C
The week of Yaka in May
Categories
Pen 15 club
Cafe Mondys
TGIF and ultimate margaritas
Bad Jokes R US
Laughing till I fall over and cant breathe
TC ... just call me the wing man
...and so many more

~Beauty & Styles
My hair has been cut, coloured, straightened, braided, conditioned with avacado and egg
Pushed my limits (and it dint hurt as much as I thought it would)
Pierced my ears again (and this time he said my ears have lost weight)

I love
.my family
.my nephews
.my friends
.crocheting
.cooking
.hosting parties
.being me

and that was 2008 ladies and gentlemen
To the new year
I look forward to change and new opportunities
Raise my glass and wish you all a wonderful 365 days ahead!

Quick as a wink

I know I know, it has been AGES!!!

I apologize profusely.. so much has been happening and I keep starting a post and then delete it because I am not happy with it.

So enough, today I finish one of the many posts, before I head for a well needed nap!

Am in Delhi right now and with the christmas madness finally over, now begins my vacation. The first 10 days in delhi was spent making cheese biscuits, kul kuls, fudge and all the other christmas goodies.

As Wiggles puts it "jeez shreez you stink of fudge"

Anyhoo christmas was lovely. Small affair this time, with just the family. Wiggles spent christmas with us. Very nice :)

Its so easy when you have people who are so easy and laid back, hit it off with all my friends so that was nice.

Last night a few of us went to the new TC in VV. Quite nice, dint have the old TC charm but yeah... bartenders were good..extremely good, looking at our states today!

Good retro music, some dancing, good friends, good fun...

got home at 2 am and was up early to take W to the airport.

talking about the airport imagine this is you please... Me standing infront of the departure gate, in trackies, oversized sweatshirt, uncombed hair, glasses and fluffy gorilla slippers...

DO YOU KNOW THE NUMBER OF DOUBLE TAKES I GOT!!!!

only me... and the best part, this was the third time I was doing it. Went to the airport twice yesterday the same way.

Off to see Ghajini today...seems like an interesting movie.. need to find a copy with english subtitles..

Went to varanasi for a few days with aussie girl, YP, W and some other friends. It was really nice..

W had to do an interview on the leprosy colony and I was the official translater. Yeah yeah dont choke on your drink. I did the job perfectly fine thank you very much.

More on that in another post.

The funniest part of the trip... 8 people in one auto, singing christmas carols on the top of our voices and having the cops stare at us..

Yes you heard me right, 8 people in one auto. We took the backrest out, and two girls sat facing the other direction, the other 3 girls sat on the seat. W, me and the driver shared the front seat.

As Pappu our driver said - one on the left and the other on the right

I hung on for dear life and spent the entire trip propping my self up.

This was the case for the 2 days we were there and the average time for our journeys were 40 minutes.

Ok so thats a pretty decent post on the past few days. I now bid farewell, my pillow beckons me.

PS - have cut my hair super short.

Done it, said it, noted, quoted

So I have a major presentation due at the end of the week but as you can see I am being quite good at procrastinating. So let’s get on with what’s been happening in my life!

Trampolines
Now you’ll probably know about my previous trampoline incident. Well I went on it with dreads and spent most of the time on my butt laughing while he kept jumping up and down and I rolled from side to side.
Well come on give me a break it was my first time on the trampoline!

Carnival 2008 saw me on the trampoline again. This time with Ficus. I was on my feet longer that the previous time but majority of the time spent was on my butt. I was laughing my head off at my ridiculous efforts at the trampoline and so was everybody else!

My legs did not cooperate with me like they do most of the time. And I did a couple of interesting falls. You know what the sad part is, I do the exact same falls while walking on solid ground! Remember the 3Bs

So that was fun!

Sick days
Woke up on Friday morning feeling absolutely horrible. I called in sick and went back to bed. Spent most of the day in bed fighting a fever and body ache. Finally got around to going to the doctor on Saturday (see told you I was a procrastinator) and found out that I have infected tonsils and that is what is causing the low grade fever, body ache etc.

You miss home and family tremendously when you are sick. When I went to the clinic on Saturday and while I was getting my temperature taken and telling the nurse what’s wrong, I just broke down into tears. Don’t know why, I was not that sick. But I just felt like crap and all I wanted was my mom to feel my forehead, kiss me on the cheek and tell me to go to bed.

I miss home!

New hobby
In the words of my teacher (aka hiccups) “oh no I created a monster”
So I have picked up a new hobby, crocheting and I have been on quite the roll. Have already done 6 beanies, 1 scarf, 1 slipper (am working on the other one now) and future projects include mittens.
Yes I am quite obsessed with it. The fact that H put an album up on facebook and in every picture there is me in the background crocheting.
So guess what your getting for Christmas!

Injuries
None so far for this week, well apart from the muscles in my gluteus maximus which are complaining after my disastrous attempt on the trampoline. However I did play an entire game of Frisbee without falling. Now that’s an achievement.

Books
The Other Boylen Girl – good history / fiction. Worth a read
You are here – quick read, not what I was expecting
My sisters keeper – have just started this one. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another?

Movies
Elizabethtown – all is can say is Orlando Bloom – glazed eyes..drool….yummy. Ok now that I am done with that, it’s a cute movie. Good cast, decent story line. Worth watching.

Fools gold – Mathew McConaughey – glazed eyes…drool..yummy.. another nice movie. Involves scuba diving, treasure hunting, ships and sex in the church. Worth a watch!

Sound of music – so I have never watched this movie before (yeah I know I suck!) finally got to watch this one. Love it. We all sang along and ate quesadillas. Good Sunday evening!

Other movies watched include – little mermaid, mean girls and other random stuff on TV.

Music
Got loads of new stuff from Aussie Girl and wiggles. On the top of my list for the week
Are you going to be my girl – Jet
Disturbia – Rhianna
Your so vain – Carly Simon
Thunderstruck – AC/DC
Have a nice day – Bon Jovi
Free Fallin – Tom Petty

FYI - my presentation is done !

Tears of happiness and sadness and other things happening

So I have not done a post in ages, forgive me oh loyal reader. Life has been interesting as usual. My internet at home is finally working *yay for me*
And while I work on this post, I hear the resident shrew rummaging around my kitchen and I have just shut the door and hoped it will go away.

This is the same shrew which tried nibbling my toe while I was washing my dishes, which lead to me screaming hysterically while I was on the phone with mom. Ah the joys of Kodai.

Ala-bama left on sunday. Miss her terribly!

Have learnt how to crochet. Made my first beanie. :) Its loads of fun to do and quite addictive.
Am now in the process of making christmas gifts for every one.

Semester is coming to an end really soon. Work has been going good. A couple of busy days ahead. I had gone down to chennai last weekend to do the voice over for the alumni film. The editing has been done and we should get the final copy in a day or two. Its going to be weird hearing my own voice. FYI realized I have a slight lisp. This realization came when I needed to say the word 'interest' for the voice over. Took about 10 takes to get it.

Looking forward to the Halloween party this friday. Any suggestions for a costume will be highly appreciated.

Laughter has been the theme for the past week. With random conversations in the staff lounge, impromtu dance parties which include wild random moves by moi, sexual connotations in conversations and chilling with the BW boys.. my stomach hurts with all the giggles.

Well that was a pretty random post. Hopefully will have some interesting posts soon.

Last movie watched: Waitress - quite random
New fav song: Long jacket short skirt by Cake
Food: whole wheat banana apple pancakes
Drink: freshly made grape juice

Canoeing in the backwaters of Kerela

So am back from a week in Kerela, which was absolutely fantastic!
We left Kodai on 14th morning by bus and drove down to Alleppy. We stopped at Thekadi for lunch and started our first of many Kerela meals. Kerela rice, spicy fish curry, fried beef and chicken curry. Delicious!

We got into Alleppy at 7 and went straight to the orphanage where we were doing some SoEx work. It was an all boys orphanage and we had planned different activities for them – art, games, story telling / skit and dance. It was really nice hanging out with the kids and they were so appreciative of the things we did for them. We had dinner with them and then went back to the hotel. Hotel Raiban was not the greatest hotel but we were so tired every one just crashed.

An early start the next day, we went to the canal, unloaded all the canoes. There were 6 ‘mad river’ canoes – fibre glass canoes and three country canoes which is the local canoes and can take up to 6 people.

Day one I was in a country canoe with three other students and the gang was off. We rowed 12 kms in the morning, starting from Alleppy and going across Vembanad lake. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant on the backwaters itself. Fresh prawns and fish. We got to swim before lunch. Back onto the canoes after lunch and rowed 10 more kms to Kavalam where we stayed the night.

At Kavalam we had a home stay and some kids stayed in the house while a group of us spent the night on the boat. It was so much fun, sleeping under the stars and the bright moon. The mosquito’s weren’t too bad and I guess we all were so tired that sleep came pretty quick. Around 5 it started to drizzle a bit but we decided to sleep through it and were up at 6am to get ready for another day of canoeing.

Day 2 I was in the mad river canoe with uncle Dan and it was a blast, though it did take us some time to figure out how to go straight J
Another 12 kms later we arrived for lunch, tired, sun burnt and extremely hungry.
After lunch the boat took us to a nice swimming spot and we spend the afternoon swimming in the backwaters not trying to think about the gunk which goes into the water. Jumping of the roof of the boat into the water – lots of fun.

We then had another 8 kms to row and Azra and I were on a canoe together and we kicked ass and reached our destination first! I know I know I am competitive!

The tourist lodge in Neerettupuram we stayed in was not that great but one has got to rough it out. We finally got a break from rice (which we had had for the past 5 meals!) and had some Kerela parottas and chicken curry. Yummy. There is a temple right next to the hotel so wiggles and I got a chance to go and check it out. Fantastic thing – multiculturalism is, I learnt about Hindu rituals from an American, along with some tamil phrases and how to tie a lungi! Who would have thunk it!

The next morning we got off to a late start, due to some missing oars and by the time we got going it was so hot. Got some more color on me J Day 3 – back in the country canoe with 5 students. We kept pretty good pace and some good team work was the reason.

We stopped for lunch at Edathua and then there was no rowing that afternoon. Since the roof of the boat had been removed (we were going under some low bridges) us girls were innovative measured the speed and direction of wind and tied up some lungis and had a made shift cover which stayed up thanks to the wind.

Our destination for the night - Chambakulam was this really nice resort, which had a proper bathroom. Oh what a relief. A long shower – washing my hair, bliss!
We then walked around town for a bit and did a bit of shopping. My first trip where I dint buy any shoes!

Dinner was fantastic and included prawns and squid. I am really glad I am getting over my issues of eating sea food. This trip made me appreciate well cooked fish / prawns and squid. Yummy.

After dinner our guides said they had a surprise for us and we went out into the patio and they gave us fire crackers to burn. It was really thoughtful of them to do that for us.
Wiggles then found some tamil music CDs and we had a dance off with all the students.

Last day of canoeing and it was a mad dash towards the finish line and kudos to the country canoe super team who beat out all the mad river canoes.

We stopped for lunch at this house which overlooked the backwaters and the backyard was a huge paddy field. It was such a serene place. While we waited for lunch, Benny our guide climbed up a coconut tree to get us tender coconut. This meal was the best of the trip. Typical Kerela food and absolutely delicious.

After lunch we got onto the boat and headed back to Alleppy. The last 5 kms we got back into the canoes for the victory lap. As we came to our finish point we saw a whole load of people waiting for us including a bunch of reporters and TV crew. KP our translator gave the interview and the next day there was an article in the Malyalam Manorama along with a picture.

Our last night we stayed in a 3 star hotel which was really nice. The hotel must have been shocked when they saw us walk in. 28 people – haggared and in lungis. We checked in and then went to the beach. I must say the beach in alleppy is the cleanest beach I have seen in India – apart from Lakshwadeep that is.
We got back to the hotel and jumped into the pool. The pool was tiny and by the time we all got in we barely had space to swim. But I was fun.

The next day we headed back to Kodai – tired, burnt but immensely happy about the fantastic trip.

Extra extra read all about it...

Students of Kodaikanal International School in the Backwaters of Alleppy
The locals watched with great delight as the group of international students who rowed their canoes through the backwaters of Alleppy. The beauty of the place and the activities gave the students a memorable experience which they would cherish.

A group of 28, comprising of grade 11 and 12 students from Kodaikanal International School came to Alleppy for canoeing as part of their social experience, which is an essential part of their curriculum. There were 18 boys and 6 girls. The group was led by the Vice Principal of the school, Mr Faddeggon and three other staff members.

The group went through R Block, Kavaalam, Kidangara, Neerettupuram, Edathva, Chembakulam, Nedumudi and Chendangani to cover a total distance of 80 kms. They also visited St Anthony’s Orphanage in Alleppy and spent time with the children singing and dancing. The staff Neil Hutton, Dan Winfred and Shreya DeMonte said that the interaction with the children was an enjoyable experience.

They chose this place for the field trip as they had heard about the scenice beauty of the backwaters. In the group was a Keralite from Calicut, US, Japan and New Zealand in the group. The tour was organized by ‘Alleppy Backwaters’

*The post on the trip will be up soon, but this article came out in the Malyalam Manaroma on 19 Sept 2008. And yes the trip was fantastic!

Inspiration or plagarism

India churns out highest number of movies every year in the whole world. However most of them are blatantly copied from other movies. Some of them just take some inspiration and some of them are simply a remake and some even go to the extent of copying the original movie scene-by-scene.

Is being a director in India a tough job, hell no - just watch an english movie, convert it into hindi, add some music and you have got yourself a movie.

These people need to be sued. A couple of cases have been taken up but to my knowledge nothing really has happen. Sony is currently in the process of sueing Ero's for plagarizing the movie hitch (the hindi remake was - Partner)

So next time you are watching a hindi flick, you probably have paid to watch a film you have already seen.
Hindi movie ...........English movie it is based on
Naksha.......... The Rundown
The Killer....... Collateral
Krrish.......... Paycheck
Mr Ya Miss ............Hot Chick
Sauda - The Deal............. Indecent Proposal
Salaam Namaste............... Nine Months
Koi... Mil Gaya.............. E.T. & Forrest Gump
Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai........... My Best Friends Wedding
Hari Puttar ......................Home alone (you thought Harry Potter dint you!)

A turkish bath

The Turkish bath is the Middle Eastern variant of a steam bath, which can be categorized as a wet relative of the sauna. They have played an important role in cultures of the Middle-East, serving as places of social gathering, ritual cleansing, and as architectural structures, institutions, and (later) elements with special customs attached to them.


The Turkish bath as a method of cleansing the body and relaxation was particularly popular during the Victorian era.


A person taking a Turkish bath first relaxes in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot, dry air allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room (known as the hot room) before splashing themselves with cold water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.


Seems pretty harmless when one reads it on wikipedia, well its not! When I first heard I was going to Turkey and for a turkish bath I was pretty excited, until Hoops and Aussie girl said that it would be in front of other woman I dint belive them. Uuummm big mistake.



So we land in Turkey, after not sleeping for 48 hours Mum and I walked into the Turkish bath ready for some R and R. We enter the cool room and are directed to our cubicles. The lady incharge goes "Here is your towel, you can change in there. Take of every thing and then follow me"

Shreez: "Every thing???"

Lady: "Yes! every thing" (quite impatiently)

I look at mom quite lost and then quietly goes to her cubicle to change.

We come out with all wrapped up and follow the lady to the cool room. As I turn the corner a biggish lady just drops her towel and walks out. Totally naked!


I at this point of time am flabbergasted and am getting quite uncomfortable as the minutes pass by. I whisper to my mom - "ma... why are people naked" Mom: " well obviously how else are you going to go have the bath"


uuuummmm.... ok


We walk into the steam room, and there are about 20 women all naked and getting thier massage etc. We sit in the steam room for about 20 minutes while our pores open. As we are waiting a big turkish lady rumbles in and begins to scream at the other ladies in turkish. The thought which instantly runs thru my mind is I really hope that she isnt the one who does my massage etc.


5 minutes later she walks in and smiles at me and goes "ready for your massage" Shreez gives a weak smile and once again thinks what in the world am I doing here.
While my mind is still trying to grasp the thought of this woman giving me a massage, she proceeds to remove her swimming costume (the ladies who work there, wear bathing suits) and throws some water on her self (they do that between every client, at least they are hygenic *shrug*) This by the way is done right in front of me.. shudder shudder

I am then taken to the centre bit of the room where the massages are given and am asked to lie down and she proceeds to give me a massage (which was quite relaxing, though it did not take away from the akwardness of the situation) and then scrub me down and remove all dead skin cells and dirt (which was quite a lot even after having a shower upon arriving in Turkey)

I then get a bath, a lot of water poured over me, while I try to grab some quick breaths between mugs of water.

You are then expected to walk from this room to the other room, where the fresh towels are kept (again naked!) and wrap your self up nice and snug and head back to the cool room, where you can order some fresh juice, turkish coffee (which is fantastic) or turkish tea (which is also fantastic)

When you go back to your cubicle, you are given a little bag, with a fresh pair of undies and a comb. (how thoughful ;) )

The experience was quite unnerving, but you skin feels great after it. And I can now cross of one thing of the 1000 things to do / places to see before you die

Oh yeah, in olden times, the hamam was a place where women gathered to gossip and mothes looked out for potential brides for thier sons. To make sure the woman in question had no unsightly scars or disfigurements. And they say people dont look. Bah!

And that ladies and gentlemen was my experience at the turkish bath!

Therapy session 1

You know what the best thing about being a psychology major is? The fact that you have other friends who are psych majors as well. And thanks to this fact I have saved my self a whole lot of cash on a therapist and instead use IG’s services free of charge!

Anyhoo had an extremely weird dream last night and have had various interoperations. Any comments are more than welcomed.

The dream started off with me and some one (can’t remember who – though it was not a family member) walking into the cemetery where my grand ma is buried. (The place was exactly what it looks like in real life)
I walk in, go pay my respects at my grandmother’s grave and start to look for another grave. At this point of time I realize that some of the graves have been moved around and the grave I am looking for is not in its original position.

Slightly frantic I begin to search until some one point’s out one grave. Its black granite and very well decorated but there is no name on it. Yet I know this is the one I am searching for. The people next to be say they need to open the grave to confirm the person’s identity.
They open the grave and inside is my grandfather – perfectly preserved.

I see this and sit down next to the open casket and bawl hysterically.

That was pretty much the dream. I have never met my grandfather – well I probably was just a couple of months old when he passed away.
When I was telling my dad my dream I described what my grand dad was wearing. Although hazy I knew he was wearing a suit, and the colors black, grey and red were present. According to my dad that is exactly what he was buried in.

My interpretation: an unconscious desire for me to know more about the family history and learn about my grandparents.

My dad’s view was that my grandfather was reaching out to me and he needs prayers.

IG’s view: (in her words)
Well, first thoughts (and this is largely guess work and likely to not be entirely accurate)
Your hysteria at the grave not being there suggests some anxiety about something being lost- perhaps at your current insecurity about a certain friendship?? And something changing suggested by renovation (in your dream) you obviously don’t want it to change
Black granite- my associations are of something strong and solid
What’s the association to there being "no name"? What is YOUR association to namelessness?

Shreez: well some times I feel like I am a nameless person, like people just kind off forget about me.

IG: hhmmm, back to the dream, did you not want them to open the coffin

Shreez: I don’t remember exactly. I think I was not opposed to it - it was more for their satisfaction that they needed to now if it was the right grave but I knew it was the right one

IG: Okay. Listen. Some strong association and meaning just struck me. The body in the grave is a split part of you. As a result of this change, while one part is convinced of its own strength and stability, confident (body in grave) the other part; outside is hysterical and wants to cry
You don’t need them to open it up, yet for THEIR satisfaction they do. It’s like a test of your character strength perhaps
Nothing comes to me with respect to the no name thing. Something to do perhaps wit losing yourself as a result of all this splitting
Plus, the fact that you chose your grand father (a Lieutenant General) as a symbol suggests a desire to have that strength. Generals are strong and commanding figures

Shreez: well its weird u say that - because my thoughts lately have been that I show case my self to be a strong person - but with my insecurities with this certain friendship I have my self realized what an insecure, over analyzing, blowing things out of proportion in my mind person I can be

IG: Dream interpretation is like peeling an onion. Multilayered meanings as one uncovers the latent content from the manifest content, while the religious one doesn’t enter the picture for you or me. The other two- mine and your family interpretation are both making sense to you and therefore likely to be correct but, I think the family one is less deeper than the one that related to your own psychic processes

See that’s why it’s great having friends who are psychologists!

PS – any other views??

Only me !

I was in London over the summer and went to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory... (Loved it)
Free chocolate been given out, along with the smells - it was girl heaven.
Glazed look, drool ... mmmmm

Ok wait.. coming back to the point of the post...
While I was on the tour, I started chatting with this bloke, who was kinda cute and reminded me of one of the Wayne brothers. Funny guy and enjoyed chatting to him. He was then joined by another friend of his. Who was kinda obnoxious and as much as I love the British accent (which I do very much) his was not on my list of likes. He was the typical innt it boys...

The "innt it" boys and girls for that fact are the indians/pakistanis/sri lankan/ other brown people (as my very much white friend stated). These kids (any one below the age of 30) who are trying so hard to be British and getting very lost and confused in the way. And now have formed their own culture in the British world.

And there favorite line is "innt it". Every sentence, question, response, curse and compliment ends with innt it'. What they are trying to say is "Isn’t it?"
Difficult to explain how they say it exactly but the words all jumble into one to be pronounced as "innit"
But yup, that’s the 'Aint it" boys and girls...
‘We go to the pub innt it?"
"She's a bitch iint it"
"I’m coming iint it"

Coming back to the point of the boys I met at the factory. The other guy lets call him 'Y' was monopolizing the conversation and insisted I must be American because I don’t sound like an Indian.
This is what really bugs me, the fact that people just don’t believe that Indians can be quite articulate and speak better queens English, than the dam queen!

Off the point again.. any hoo.. we I finally managed to tell him that I was from India.. he with great amount of authority began to tell me, that i should never fly quatar airways. Really crappy service and no safely regulations etc.
To which I pointedly responded
"I actually flew Qatar ways"
Y turns red
"and my brother works for Qatar"
Y now completely red
"And I have done quite a bit of traveling and compared to most airlines, I was most impressed. The staff has an international blend, polite, and respect the customer. The flight was exceptional, the food delicious and the air craft clean and impeccable"
Y finally shuts up

Cute boy asks for my number, I give it to him, thinking there is absolutely no way, he is going to be calling me India so no harm.

Guess who called at 10:52 am on the 28 of Sept 2007...
.
.
.
.
Y

Can you believe it... he actually called me from the UK. Why do you ask? I don’t know... well he called to congratulate me for India's win over Pakistan. Weirdo!
Any way its 6 am in the UK and he calls me to congratulate me, after a week of the game...
I don’t get it...
I really know how to attract them don’t I.

* Talking about cricket read IG's posts.. well articulated http://chewinghercud.blogspot.com/

For a grand total of... drum rolls please.

I decided to do a stock analysis of items in my bathroom and on my dressing table. And the numbers say it all

4 facepacks
3 face wash
4 body wash
2 body scrubs
1 face scrub
5 shampoos
4 conditioners
1 toothpaste
2 toothbrushes
1 razor
2 hair moisturizing pack
2 hair brushes
7 lipsticks
6 deos
8 perfumes
2 body sprays
3 face creams
6 body creams
2 kajals
4 eye shadows (each with 10 different shades)
1 blusher
6 nail polishes

For a grand total of... drum rolls please...
.
.
.
wait for it
.
.
.
76 items for one girl

Is that why pilot called me high maintenance ?