What's for breakfast

Or why good South Indian girls should not attempt aloo parathas.

Obviously, I was too bugged even to take a proper picture. I had this brilliant idea of grating the boiled potatoes in the mixer which made them gooey starchy sticky mass totally unwieldy to work with. And then it all oozed out when I was rolling them and stuck to the pin and my hands and I tried to seal holes with patches of dough and that didn't help either. Long story short, we shall stick to those nice frozen ones for the near future.

PS: Inspired the very awesome Indexed and others in the same space.

Why I should not be let loose in universities.

Lots of young (ehm, from my pov i.e) handsome purportedly smart men. And I don't mean the students. I mean them super-eager and enthu untenured Profs.

That's why.

Among other news, I might ..might just ..be over Grey's Anatomy. Enough to hold on till I do a Marathon the spring break. Thus speaks the one who finished watching the 4th season yesterday. But we'll see.

It is a clear indication of senility that I'm repeating stuff in the thingy posts. Or that I've run out of nice stuff to say about Vin!

Yup. I've lost count of how many of those posts are pending but here goes some more..

- I was really ill the last week and that made me realize how much I love Vin fussing over me when I'm sick. And being the hypochondriac that he is, he's super-good at that

- I love the rare occasion when he cooks. I must clarify. Vin isn't even a half decent cook. Fact that he's never had to stay outside of his mom's (and later my sporadic and initially hopeless..) catering has turned him out thus. Which is why I appreciate the rare effort all the more. Unlike me, he is super organized when in the kitchen..kind of like in cookery shows and stuff. And he'd big on presentation. Even if he's just serving cut fruit or chocoloate (or cut fruit and chocolate, which he did serve once and I have a pic somewhere in the drafts of..)

- This is new stuff. I love how he's taken to hunting down deals for things I like. And I don't even have to tell him. Now that's a good thing to have in a man don't you think?

More thingies

I like how Vin gets me stuff (books/water/phone) from across the room or the next room when I'm too lazy to move. What's even sweeter is he is way lazier but he still does it, if I know how to ask :). Also this is a valuable thingie in the context of present sub-zero situation and my propensity towards staying in the snuggie.

I love the rare occasion when he plays cook. He is very elaborate about it and is big on presentation.

Another winter-special is how he wakes up really early (like 7 today..which is like super-duper-early for us) to drop me to class. He does come back and sleep but if the roles were reversed he'd surely be taking public transport.

More thingy catchup..

- I love how Vin smells of vicks when I snuggle up to him. Yeah, I'd have liked for this to have been something sexier like perfume..But the man doesn't care much for perfumes (there's a single bottle of cool water I gifted him wilting off in the wardrobe...That was before I learned my lesson). Anyway, he has this obsession with vicks and I've ended up liking it (Thank God)

- I love how he's a foodie. I'd have hated to end up with someone who thought food was a survival thing. And there are enough of those, respect to them. We're (happily) the kind for whom food is one of the factors that can make or break an experience.

- I also love that he loves to travel. And while this does sound like a painfully obvious duh thing I've seen enough people in my life who hate travel or aren't very excited about it to be thankful for not ending up marrying one of them.

- Vin is the king of surprises and gifting. That is so out of character for anyone who know's him

and I'm sure he'd like to keep it that way but there wouldn't be a point to my blog if I didn't let the world in on all these secrets right?

And while I'm more of a practical gifter and I only get him stuff I know he 'needs', he totally indulges me. And what's not to like about that?

Overdue and current Thingies

Dear one_man_readership_of_the_Blog, Yeah so I'm a little lax about this but that's the best I can do, okay. In fact, I think I deserve credit for persisting beyond the first post.

Things I like about Vin, for the past two days and today:

- That he compensates for my lack of ambition. I'm a positively non-ambitious creature. Or let's say mine are in the direction of warm fuzzy dreams rather than worldly milestones of higher degrees and career advancements. Vin is what kind of pushes me on and delights almost parent-like in my achievements. It's crazy. (It is also a conflict sometimes and I have to tell him off and not "father" me since I already have the best father in the whole world and I'm doing just fine.)

- I like how he gives me arbit hugs all the time and everywhere through the day. Even hauls his lazy ass across the room sometimes for a quick snuggle.

- I admire his way with words. He has it in him to add a fun twist even to a stupid post-it reminder. So also with mundane emails and other form of communication. I'd have to put in effort to do stuff like that, sort of comes naturally to him. He has that magic touch to tweak the smallest things and change sentences into beauties..

Meanwhile, I've taken to threatening the protagonist that I'll post nasty things about him, skip posts or turn it into a 'things I dislike about him' tag to get favors out of him. Threats that predictably fall on deaf ears of a man who cares the least, who reviewed them on the first day and came up with the verdict of 'cheesy drool' or some such. Hmph. (Hint: More credit to me for persisting.)

The thingie tag

Sue started this anniversary series on her blog and by the look of the number of people taking it up it's become something of a tag. Since the DH and I just passed our 5th I'm going to take a shot at it too. So for the next one month I'm going to try really hard to come up with one thingie per day that I like and appreciate about him. As you can see, this is likely going to be largely drool so those of you who aren't game for it should check back after a month when regular programming (meaning none) would resume. On the contrary, I promise there will be enough opportunities for laughs watching me struggle (just as other people who've braved into the tag are wont to do) to come up with kind stuff to say even on days when (read very often) I'm irritated to my wits end with him. I suspect this is going to be a mix of both big ticket lifelong stuff and lot of everyday stuff..

So here's the thing for today:

I like how he's gone from super-possessive boyfriend to mega-trusting spouse, kind of in sync with how I'd have liked him to be at different stages in life.

And here's one for tomo:

I like how he makes tea for me in bed on days after if we made up after a fight the prev night. He likes to serve it in style with biscuit on the side and stuff.

2 down, 28 to go.

A much too overdue post on the move. It's been quite a while since we set foot and the details are rather hazy right now but here goes.

Those of you who know me also know I didn't quite make this move by active choice. The DH wanted the experience of living abroad..So when he set about putting a check against his bucketlist I packed my bag and followed. The awesome thing that happened in parallel was that I applied to grad-school - in a single university for a single course that I liked to the extent of thinking it was designed for me - and made it. I guess I'd have ended up going to school if I was here and sufficiently bored anyway. But that wasn't quite in the plan. (The plan, on the contrary, had vague provisions for cribs and prams and such..). Who was it that said life is what happens when you're busy making other plans..

Anyway, here we where..with the mandatory 4 suitcases, a preeti mixie and pressure cooker among other things. I remember thinking as I set foot in the airport and in the initial weeks about how the whole experience would have been so different for the last generation (I mean the 1990s lot here) of immigrants, even for those friends of ours who moved soon after graduation. Things are so different back home now. No, I'm not going to make the outrageous and obviously inflated claim that life in India can match standards of the most developed country in the world. Nossir. What I'm stating however is that for the present generation immigrant the lure of life-abroad can be much lesser than for his elder siblings and seniors..Especially if he's had taste of what it is like to earn and live well in India. Now that the disclaimer's out of the way lemme not skimp on words..The whole consumerist experience..the brands and the fancy but small conveniences and contrivances of modern life..are pretty much all present in India now. Another reason for staying on abroad - among the seniors as I understand - was that the wives didn't want to go back home and live in with the husband's family. There again, I knew few people of our generation who're doing that or having to do that. Maybe it's just me, but my list has more misses than hits..I had financial independence (big one that), a car, a job..the bestest gang of friends..and all this just a night train away from home. (And a few miles away from the DH's place). The lifestyles and shopperstops and UB Cities can between the match pretty much anything you'd want to buy in the US. And those who complain about pubs shutting down at 11 in Blore should know that a lot of cities in the US are dead by 9. Yes, the traffic sucks but I recommend a week in LA to anyone who complains of it. It's not all hunky dory back there and its definitely not all sad here..I know..For me, the one biggie reason (other than the fact that life is where the pathidev is etc..) that stands out is the education (see how I neatly wove that in inspite of dissing everything else. smart.). It would have been impossible for me to get this kind of a degree anywhere else..even the thought of going back to school at this age (I'm only 28 yet..not thaat old..) would be ridiculous in India, not to forget the really limited options even for those who are brave enough to do it. I, on the other hand, have 2 classmates with 5 and a few month old kids..And yes, there is money to be made on the exchange rate, but explain that to someone who's transferring funds in from India to meet school fees..I know I'm sounding extremely cynical now so lemme hasten to assure you that's not quite the case. I (we) like it here. It is indeed a super-comfortable life, and an opportunity to explore this huge and fantastic country, one that we want to make the most of. But and pause_for_effect_here, not one I want for keeps. I say this fully aware of the fact that everyone that ever set foot here came as nostalgic as me - for the 'round' and jose theatre and the island express from blore to tcr. I also know that while the nostalgia lingers on, it is no match for the lure of a certain green thingie (is it green btw? like really green in color?) I know this from the enthusiasm with which the stages of processing are discussed. And no, I don't judge people that. To each his own ofcourse. And I admire those who have the larger worldview to think of the the whole world as their home while I put myself in little boxes of state/country/culture..In fact, I think of myself as a lot more Indian now that I'm here. By how I often stand out rather than merge in...

Anyway, here it is - I've said it out in print. We are indeed going back. Maybe 3 years, maybe 5. Now you all know when to come back and laugh at me if this blog is still alive then. But while I'm here, I'm surely going to live it up the full deal and have a blast. Some worldy details of how we are going about doing that will follow. Meanwhile, lemme just post this.

PS: As always an un-reread and un-edited post. I've learned long back that it's the only way I'll end up writing anything.