To Sirs and Madams (Miss’) with Love.

Disclaimer: This post is a little belated. But then as the wise men say “Better late than never!”.

I owe this to my teachers. Its Teachers Day month and it’s only appropriate if I thank each one of them who have touched my life in some way or the other. The list below is in chronological order and not in the order of importance... I would never be able to choose one from other.
This one is going to be a very long one... since there are so many to thank.

1. Amma: Mine and everybody’s first teacher. Our teacher at home. She taught me how to eat, sleep, play, talk... you name it. A BIG thanks to you Amma :-)
   
2. Paati: My grandmother. What my mother didn’t teach me, it was taught by my paati. I love you paati... wherever you are, thank you *hugs*.
   
3. Nandini miss: My kindergarten teacher – I didn’t cry a single day to go to school. She was so motherly and cheerful! She was the one who facilitated my smooth transition from home to school….
   
4. Mani miss: My LKG and UKG teacher. Whenever I think of her, I remember Mother Theresa. She was just like that; so compassionate and caring. She used to roam around the school keeping us (students) in her waist… we used to eagerly wait for our turn to be carried by her around the school….
   
5. Primary School (1st to 4th class)
   
• Shyamala Miss: Not only did she teach us the normal subjects, she encouraged all of us to participate in all extra curricular activities.
  
• Puranthar Miss: She was extremely strict at times.. and yet extremely funny on other occasions. Our favorite past time would be to guess her mood ;-)
  
6. Middle School (5th to 7th class)
• Ramamani Miss: Our class teacher. The best anybody can have. She taught us everything; English, Science, Social Studies and Maths! She made sure we not only just finished our homework, but also understood each and every word of it.
• Skandavalli Miss: Our fashion teacher ;-) She was a fantastic science teacher, at the same time dressed immaculately. We girls used to admire her day in and day out. Our role model for looking good.
  
7. High School (8th to 10th)
   
• Miss Leena: The most beautiful woman I have seen till date. Our English teacher and extremely strict of course! She taught very well but at the same time her tests were very difficult.
  
• Miss Beena: Science teacher. She used to clear all our doubts with enthusiasm. I am sure she will remember me forever as the most doubt-asking girl in class ;-)
  
• Sister Cristella: Her smile, her charm, her energy. I was a kind of teachers-pet with her ;-)
  
• Miss Vasundara: Maths Teacher. Not a fantastic teacher, but a very good human being. We were family friends. Was always ready to help somebody in need.
  
• Miss Chandrika: Science teacher again. Known for her beautiful handwriting. She was kind of monotonous at time. She used to teach in a same leveled tone…. Afternoon classes were a challenge to stay awake ;-)
  
• Miss Sukanya: Taught Hindi. Though I never took Hindi. She was famous for her two plaits. The funniest part was she used to dye her hair only on the top. The line where she used to take the partition to form 2 plaits was still white ;-). The test books which she used to correct was full of red lines… not because the students would have made mistakes.. she used to read the answers by underlining them!
  
• Miss Srimathi: Sanskrit teacher. One of the most wonderful teachers I have had till date. Her lessons were a pleasure. Not one day was boring. Thank you miss! Because of you I am still fascinated by Sanskrit :-)!
  
• Sister Clarabella: Our Headmistress. THE sister! Known for her strictness at the same time fairness in treating her subjects. She managed the school fantastically.
8. P.U.C (11th and 12th):
   
• Sambashivayya Sir: The fantastic physics teacher. Even today his voice rings in my ears. The way he used to teach.. every single concept is in our blood. Seriously! The only danger from him was for the short people (first benchers).. if he got angry with “anybody” he would actually hit the person sitting in the first row! Poor people!
  
• GSS: Maths. Teaching and all was fine. He was good at it. But I remember him for other reasons! His son was in USA… yes THE USA. This son supposedly sent chalk (yes you heard it right! *chalk*) from America for his dear father to boast about it in front of his students! He made it a point that we never forget the generosity of his son and hence repeated it every time he got a new parcel from THE USA! Also he had two pet (I mean very very pet) students in our batch; PP and S. Whatever they said was “fantastic” and he wished they were his children. It simply got funnier by the day when he started taking “permission” from then to rub the board lol!!!!
  
• Sanskrit sir: I am extremely ashamed that I forgot his name. But I have not forgotten his lectures. It was fabulous to say the least. I have heard that people who had taken other languages used to come and sit in his class just to listen to him narrate Kalidasa’s “Abhijnana Sakuntalam “. Ah! Simply superb!
  
9. Engineering
   
   Most of the lecturers were good. But then in engineering colleges I guess friends influence you more than the teachers. I have very fond memories of our outings, group studies, etc etc etc. Will write a separate post on that sometime…

So all in all, Teachers, Thank you… Thank you for making me what I am today!

P.S: People like these really need some good teachers ;-)

1. Somebody please gift her, an Atlas!!

2. Killing is the only solution to all problems

Alliance Invited ...

Disclaimer: I do not mean any offense to anyone. Post to be read on a lighter note.

Came across this “Alliance Invited” ad recently. Some portions of it, which I want to highlight, are here.

The would-be groom…

- Should be Vadama Iyer (preferably from Chennai) – Any area specifications also? I personally don’t like caste based searches, leave alone sub-caste. But then will just give this a go, seeing the ideology behind it being that the girl’s parents hope that even the guy is also born and brought up in a similar environment so that the compatibility is higher. What the heck! will just give in ;-)

- Has to be masters or PHD – In “anything” will do? And how does having degrees qualify the guy to be a good husband material?

- Should be simple caring and jovial kind of guy – Are there any guys at all who are like this?

- Should not have any bad habits. - It is implicit that they mean smoking & drinking. I wonder why they ignored to mention past girlfriends…? I also feel picking your nose in public is also bad habit. So should the guy not do that also?

- Should not be living with Parents – Now what did those poor parents do even before marriage?

- Should not have pets at home – What a dog or a cat (the usual pets) can/will do to the new bride... anyway!

- Annual income should be greater than 6 lakhs – Aww that was very generous and thankfully a comparatively low/feasible expectation.

- Preferably should be the only born. 1 sibling is still OK. – *Ahem*

- Should be willing to relocate to girls' choice of location – I always thought location preferences could be “worked-out”? Quiet a demanding criterion isn’t it?

- Should be fair tall and handsome. – what ever happened to TDH? Specially the “D” part! With all these men’s fairness creams also in the market, I don’t have words for TDHs…

- Should have gone onsite and should have more opportunities in the future – well… this has always been a standard “request” from the brides side huh? “NRI” son-in-law is a matter of pride. Gives ample scope for show-off in front of neighbors!

Pheee Pheee Stop Stop!

I got a speeding ticket in India. In Bangalore (OK near Bangalore)... can you believe this?

It happened 2 weeks back. I was driving down to Mysore from Bangalore and bhang! in the middle of the road I am stopped by a cop with a cane ready to hit my car!

I get down to see if they are stopping me for some drug trafficking or something (exaggeration huh?)...

But alas! he says "madam neevu thumba fast aagi oodistheera!".. Well 65kmph is "very fast" in India (at least in Karnataka). The speed limit was 50kmph on a state highway :((( There was a board it seems .. I didn't even see that!

I made it a point to see that while coming back.. and believe me it was half worn out already.. couldn't even make out the lettering.

There goes 300rs. BUT I was happy :) no shark has not gone crazy.. I was happy the police had speed guns and stuff.. that they could "record" who went at what speed and also their number plates and stuff. They didn't give a sheepish smile and ask for 200rs without bill. I got a proper bill. I was let out in 5 mins without any hassles. India is progressing after all....

Milestone reached.

And that was my 100th post! Congrats shark.. you made it! You made it!
OK enough of exaggeration. I know it’s not a big thing. But I have seen bloggers write such kind of self congratulatory posts … so I guess it’s the in-thing now.
I have also made my point.

Thank you readers, for reading my blog… not so thanks to those who read but don’t comment on my posts :P. No thanks at all for those who don’t read my blog! (hah! As if they will come to know about this… anyways!). Lots of thanks to those who regularly visit my blog and also comment on every post… thanku thanku *bows*.

Illige blogprachaaravu mukthaayavaayithu. Namaskara!

Law Lessons

So when did shark get an L.L.B you might be wondering after seeing the title..? Let me correct it. Its in-law lessons :-)! After 7 months of marriage and living with in-laws here’s some Gyan for future daughter in-laws…

• Mothers are simply blindly in love with their sons ;-) The sooner you accept it the better marital life you will have. Whatever the son asks for he gets it. If P asks for coffee/tea even 100 times in a day, his mom will make it for him... and that too with a smile on her face :-) I wonder if I will do that even for my son without cribbing about it :-/. Sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable seeing a grown up man being pampered that way :P I wonder why mothers don’t do the same for their daughters? My SILs come to our house... but they cook and clean and help… never have I seen them being pampered by my mil ;-)
• Never display your love for your husband in front of them physically. First of all they are older generation people and don’t approve of physical display of affection even inside the house. Second of all, such gestures cause instant insecurity that the other woman enjoys more closeness with my son types.
• Accept it. She knows the best about her son. What he likes to eat, when he wants to go out etc.., as wives, we naturally tend to force our taste on our husbands. I mean, I like having healthy breakfast... like cornflakes and fruit... things like that. But P is not brought up that way; he likes to have rice (lemon rice, puliyogare etc) for breakfast, which I consider very heavy. When we were living together without our in-laws I used to force my “health-food” on him… poor P. But now his mom just knows what to make for him and makes it... and of course scores 100s of brownie points ;-)
• Never “tell” what your husband has asked for you to do. Simply do it. Else it will get done faster by your mil... and more points for her :P. Just to cite an example, last Sunday P wanted to have oil bath and asked me to massage his hair with oil. I kept the oil on the stove for warming and told my mil to switch it off in 2 mins, as I had to use the bathroom. By the time I came back she had already started massaging. There goes my much-dreamed-about romantic oil massage experience ;-).
• Praise her as much as possible. My mil is a fantastic cook... I simply adore her cooking. But she can’t make north Indian dishes... that’s my forte *ahem*. But the moment I make something different, she says “Oh this is very easy, I can also make it from next time”… So I tell her, “No amma, I will only make these things. If you make these things also fantastically, then I will be left with nothing to be called my own”... she is very happy that I have accepted her as the Mistress of the Kitchen :)
• They will and always will talk about children. Listen to them, smile and say yes. That’s it. Even if you have other plans. It was just 3 months since we were married, but the whole family (including my side) couldn’t stop asking “so when will the good news come”.. I am like aaaarrrrgggghh! Why can’t it be left to us to decide? Is having a child the very next step after marriage?
• Most of all set the expectations right the first time. No need to go on an impressing spree in the beginning and then start cribbing that you can’t live up to it. Every small thing matters.
• Wearing slippers at home. Not many elders approve of it, but I get cracked feet if I don’t… so I made it clear in the beginning that they will have to please excuse me for this.
• I don’t wake up “early” on weekends. I am totally zapped by the end of the week... (You have seen my schedule here!) I need to catch up on sleep over the weekends. Now everybody at home have late breakfast on weekends (Since it’s my cooking time over the weekends :-))
• Cooking: I offered to cook, but I can cook only in the night as that’s when I get time. But since my mil stays at home, she prefers to make fresh food in the morning... which is fine with me. But then I can’t help her in the kitchen... and this she knows.
• Make your priorities clear: Like, I give lot of importance to my career. Just make it clear to them, lest they expect something which you won’t be able to fulfill.

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• Last but not the least, treat them just like your parents. After all, you don’t agree with everything what your parents say... but you still live with them lovingly. It’s the same way here; just that there are little more differences because of obviously different upbringing. The key is, just say yes the first time, then make your point and say no if you feel like. They will always take it better than a big no in the beginning itself.

Happy wooing your in-laws ;-)