Effects of Recession

- Most boring days at office. Ok, I am lucky that I have a job and all that but with most of the projects closing because clients have no money to give, it gets a tad boring to sit all day in office doing things totally worthless. Self motivation you may say… but you can’t do that every day and every night!

- Even people like P (my husband) have started going by bus to office ditching their beloved car… the sheer look at the credit card bills for fuel expenses must have forced him to do it. He just says it’s less strenuous... I know better! (as always)

- The grocery bills have doubled and the quantity halved. So is any other bill you can think of.

- The malls have a deserted look... whatever happened to the hip and happening crowd?

- The only word I hear everywhere I go is “Cost-cutting”… office, home … so much so even my maid has caught this word!

- I couldn’t believe that for the sankranthi festival people chose to give “one” banana along with yellu and kabbu… generally its two... so there you go!

- People used to leave their newspapers back in the bus after reading them… now I don’t see that happening. Maybe they are collecting them and giving to raddi wala for a few rupees.

- Dogs in my street have a starved look and it’s scary to go out at night. Looks like people are not giving them any leftovers!

I can go on and on… but I am myself depressed by this. Let me stop it here. Will think of something more lively to write next time.

Song Tag

Shruthi tagged me. A song tag. It took me a while to do this because it took me that much time to decide on the "one song" that is "our" song. The catch words here are "one" and "our".
As I have told a million times now (my regular readers will kill me if I say it again... pavan and s.b even have a contract for the same *sigh*) P and I are kind of opposites.
So moral of the story? It's impossible for me and P to have just one song as ours. He has some songs which he feels suits us and I have my own opinion (I try my best not to be partial with SRK songs). Here's the list.

1. The first song which P dedicated to me was Yaroon Dosti Badi Hi Haseen Hain. It was a kind of first date when we went to a small snack counter and he gave me the cassette as a gift. This will definitely be a special song for me and for him too (ah! some similarity...)
2. Khamosh Raat will also be special for the same above said reasons.
3. There is one song which both of like a lot and *surprise* it happens to be a SRK song; And that's none other than Suraj Hua Maddham He likes it so much that it's been his mobile caller tune for almost a year now!
   
4. Both of us love Bryan Adams songs and we play them in full blast when we drive down to Mysore
5. But one song which I can proudly say as our song is the Shaan version of One Love! **I hope P agrees with this though ;-) **

Ok that's it. Let me now get back to listening "my songs" !

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 ;-)

Tit Bit Updates

Its fifteen minutes since I came to the bus stop. Usually there is a bus every 5 minutes, but looks like its holiday for bus drivers... and that too must be a common occasion. Whatever! Finally 2 buses come together to the location and they stop. I walk over and climb the first bus. Some people decide to take the next bus, for whatever reason. One particular girl is still undecided. First or second? She moves two steps towards the first bus and then decides second one is better (maybe there is a window seat available?)
She goes towards the second one, but driver starts off… so she walks back to towards the first one, but by then this driver has also started off. Generally these drivers wait if they a see a person coming and this has happened many times with me only. But for some strange reason he doesn’t want to wait today. He also moves on. This girl has now missed both the buses… For a moment I thought she was waiting for someone… so maybe she didn’t take either of the buses. But guess what? An auto comes to a screeching halt in front of our bus after 3 stops… and who gets out? Lo and behold! The same girl… At last she decided to take the first bus after all! :-)

I arrive at my sil’s(Sister-In-Law) place at 9 in the night. It is almost 2 weeks since I saw her kids. Just as I step into her room, the younger one who is just over 6 months old, starts goo-gooing and smiles heartily at me. I go a little near to him, and he raises his hand as if asking me to pick him up. I oblige… my pleasure sweetheart !:-)
Ah then the display of affection starts… he drools all over me... he holds my hair and brings my face near to him... and starts licking me on my face… oh my!my! cute little darling might have mistook me for his mom… but then the pleasure was all mine!
I had always heard “jealousy thy name is woman”, but it’s different in this case. The elder one who is also a boy is now jealous, that I am holding his brother and so happy with him. He insists on playing with me then and there! Well OK, so the playing starts, he wants to box with me, he wants to show all his toys and I am supposed to play all of them at once ;-) So we start off... he is now super man (equipped with his superman t-shirt and all) and he wants to climb over me! He does it even when his mom is asking him not to. Then it was time for bed, and he insists that I tell him a story… I do and he sleeps with a smile on his face… Ah! The simple pleasures of life…

And most of all P will be back in 3 days time. Yippee! I had never missed him so much before in my life. It was always the other way round ;-) I was out on long onsite trips and he was in India. His trips were always very short; max 3 weeks. But the sad part is he will go back again after 2 weeks for another 3 months. Booo hoooo…..

Last week was emotionally taxing. One of my aunt with whom I thought I was very close with didn’t invite me for a function at her home. I think I know the reason, but I am surprised that strong relationships break for silliest of reasons! People rather prefer to hold grudge that mend the break. I tried my best... but then if people don’t want to hold the tie I am not the one who is going to force it.

Mini-shark (my sister) will be visiting India this month. Awww I have missed her terribly. She will be here just for a week to attend our cousins wedding, but just the thought of seeing her and sharing so many things with her makes me jump with joy. Phone and email just cannot give that personal touch.

Beardy Misery

I am fed up trying to get P shave his beard regularly! What's with you guys? What's so difficult in shaving a simple beard? I have tried every known technique to get him shave his stupid beard regularly, but till now not one has been successful! He shaves only when he wants to!!!

Below are some of our conversations. My "requests" followed by his responses (denials) in italics.

• P, why don't you take a shave today: "No ma, it's not grown enough, I will surely do it tomorrow"
• (Next day) It's already 6:45 we have to leave in another 20 minutes and you have to take a shave P, why don't you get up?: "Oh come on! from when did a shave become more important than my blissful sleep? I need rest, I had a tiring day yesterday."
• (2 days later) P, I think today you HAVE TO take a shave, see I didn't bother you yesterday also... please sweetheart (notice the "maska" words...) do it na : "Dear, tomorrow it's Saturday.. weekend. Who will see me over the weekend except you? So why do you worry.. will do it once and for all on Sunday so that I can go fresh on Monday. Please..."
• (Come Monday again) Will you do it today at least? (no maska now... a little irritated actually) : "Oh! Didn't I tell you? My colleagues told me I look good with a beard, so I have decided I will keep it after all!" (My reaction: what!!! who are those morons who thinks a beard looks anything other than dirty...grrrrr)
• (That evening) You know what P, nothing turns me ON more than a clean shave face.... (This is the max I can do.. hoping for some positive results) : "Why didn't you tell me this before... will surely do it tomorrow **sweet smile**!!" (Ah! you may think I am a very happy woman after that.... fat chance! notice the word "tomorrow"... and tomorrow never comes...!!!)

Yesterday, one of my old friends called after a long time and he suggested we have lunch/dinner sometime together. He is also recently married. I mention this to P, and guess what he says "Ah! That guy, his wife is very beautiful, let me know in advance when we are going out together.. I will take a shave that day." *ahem* well! At least now I know what is the incentive for the much needed shave!!!!!

Marriage and there after...

Marriage

I can hardly feel any difference. This maybe because I know P and his family for quite a long time now. Che! This is the side effect of a love marriage! There is nothing "new".... OK somethings are very new but I will not write about them *ahem*!

Initially my in-laws were supposed to stay with us. But now, my sil has delivered a baby boy and hence they are taking her to Mysore for few months. So I get to stay with P alone for few months and torture him as much as I want to!

Our new house is simply too big for me now! I have to come running from the kitchen every time I hear SRKs voice on the TV to the drawing room... Yes, this will help me loose some weight .. which is the ONLY good thing about it.

For the first time employed a maid for house hold work. She seems to be a little too free around the house. No shying business at all.... should learn to control her a little bit atleast. Any pointers?

Yappa! Reading the above lines, I look like a complete housewife material... oh my God! Somebody find the missing "miss" Shark.... now I can see only "Mrs" P........

Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.

What did you expect? I will write the movie review in between my marital story? No Chance :)

• For the first time got to actually "stay" with P and realised, there is lot more to him than what I have understood in the past 7 years! ufff who can understand men!
• He simply hates Ghee..... and we were in those parts of India where Ghee is the staple diet ;-) So I could see poor P make a poorer face every time we had to have something to eat!
• He is simply overly generous! what with 50 or 100 Rs tips every time we get a room service. Was he trying to show off in front of me of all the people?
• Every time we had to travel to a different place in the car, we invariably had a fight. Why you may ask? I love to sleep while travelling and he obviously hates that. But tell me my dear friends, how long can you keep conversing with a person? I would finish telling my part of the stories for the day and promptly go to sleep.... he would neither tell stories nor let me sleep... isn't this unfair?
• Ah! This is the best part. We were in Shimla, skiing and guess who fell 3 times? That was P!! and I didn't fall even once though this was my first try at it :-D
• I was the better champion in horse riding also... I am not patting my own back, but P was sitting on it as if he was sitting on a bed of thorns.... and after a long ride of 1 and half hours he could barely walk properly!
• But then even though I scored so many points in the other categories, he is simply the best in photography. He took some amazing pictures of me and mother nature and I was at my horrible best while taking pictures of him...
• Come Manali, we were promised the "best" by the travel agent (obviously) but we ended up in a resort which didn't even have a room heater and the temperature was -5 degrees!!!
  
• Agra was a dream. Taj Mahal is simply unbelievable! Even though we were standing right in front of it, we could not believe our own eyes. The beauty of it is simply mind blowing! But unfortunately Agra as a city is at it's dirtiest best! If that this is the way we treat the city which houses one of the 7 wonders of the world, then God only should save us... really!
• World record - We did shopping in Delhi for almost 15 people of both our families in a matter of 3 hours. Wah Shark Wah!

Well, Shark aka Mrs P is now back!!!