Bye Blogger!!!!

Friends,

Atlast decided to move to wordpress and the reason for moving are :-

1. Change!!!

2. My old template in Blogger had limited options and i totally screwed it up!!

3. Usage of emoticons in wordpress

4. One of my close friend can pass her valuable comments(she doesnt have access to blogger in her office!) :))

Please update your blogroll with my new Blog address http://blogodyam.wordpress.com/

My first Oil Painting

Among all my siblings, I was the one who is bent more towards creative side. I have a huge collections of different art and craft which I did since childhood at my home… errr… my parents home back in Delhi. But since last 10years I hardly remember doing any such activity. Thanks to one of my neighbourhood friend, the creative mind inside my brain got up again. Here I share my first oil Painting with you all, which I completed recently and I was quite satisfied with the final outcome considering its my first painting.

The love Tag / 20 Questions Tag

Tagged by Reema and Satish

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?

Honestly, would get depressed for few days and then will think its his loss..not mine :)

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?

To own a big house with a pool in it :p

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?

Who ruined my hubby’s career in a certain phase of his life.

4. Why do you blog?

To write down my thoughts when nobody is there to hear it!!

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?

Already did that 6years ago and loving each moment of that till now.

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?

Somebody loves you back only when you are loving to them..so I guess it’s a blessing to be loved by someone.

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?

I wont wait..i will make sure that I get that person soon. ;)

8. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?

Discipline among people and respect for our country’s possessions

9. What takes you down the fastest?

Depression

10. What resurrects you the fastest?

Words of wisdom from my hubby or friends.

11. What’s your strength?

My frankness.

12. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

Two people tagged me with this same tag.

Satish: Never met, but his blog indicates he is very fun-loving and yet a very sensitive person

Reema:I am fan of her blog. Though very younger to me, she is intelligent, articulate and a very sensible person.

13. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?

Richly married!!!!

14. Whats the purpose of such Tags?

As Satish said Piling up posts in blogs and also nice timepass!!!

15. Would you give all in a relationship?

I would give whatever it takes to maintain a relationship ofcourse without compromising other relationships which matters to me.

16. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?

Done many times.

17. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?

Cant imagine a life without relationships!!!

18. How would you see yourself in ten years time?
Probably still in USA, with one kid atleast and I may be working at that time.!!!

19. What’s your fear?
Fear of loosing my loved ones.

20. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Curse the alarm clock!!!!

Tag 6 people.

My list:Amu, Praneetha, Deepthi, Jaya, Usha and Ramya

Movie Logic!

One of my cousin brother used to say with lights switched off in a movie theatre you should switch off your logical mind too while watching a movie otherwise you will never enjoy it. Many a times I try to imply the logic, specially when it’s a total commercial/masala movie. When I hate a movie, I start talking about logics and keep criticizing it. The real trouble starts when I love the movie and get too much involved. Since childhood, I never had control on my tears which I regret and it becomes all the more embarrassing when I cry while watching a movie. When I was newly married I tried my best to hide my tears but then after all these years, my husband perfectly knows when tears will roll out my cheeks!! Ironically I can cry for a scene even when I might have seen that movie a thousand times!! Those are the times when my logical sense totally disappears out of thin air, I just forget that its an enactment not real.

Few months back I saw movie United 93 which most of you might be aware of. The movie was about a Flight United 93 which was supposed to attack White House during Sept 11th but was grounded by the courage of its own passengers. The movie was so beautifully directed that I totally got involved. It brought me goose bumps and body went cold when I saw a scene where passengers of the flight were getting prepared for the worst. Tears rolled out of my eyes when an elderly couple was leaving the message to their son telling password to open their case where their will was there. Each one of the passenger was calling their loved ones for one last time because they already knew what happened at WTC towers. It was too much for me to bear. To imagine that all this actually happened that day made me go emotional. For two days that movie disturbed me and my dreams. It was nerve-wrecking.

Again few days back I saw this movie ‘Rubaru’. Being romantic at heart, it was again my time to cry during the sad climax. Climax of the movie was a shocking one and it takes a moment for us to understand what happened. My husband was not able to approve with the climax and he got all the more annoyed when I started crying. He started talking about the logic which made me go all the more crazy cos I liked the movie as it is! I thought that I was the only one who got affected by the movie, but now I know many friends(all girls) got depressed and sad but yet everybody liked the movie. Today I talked to one of my close friend who has still not come out of the shock after seeing the movie. She couldn’t believe the ending. And she also told me that her hubby argued with the logic behind the climax. Well I guess Boys are Boys and Girls are Girls when it comes to the movies!!!!

Saree – The most feminine dress!

Yesterday in CNBC, they were showing a special program about India and its economic growth. They covered lot of different arenas of Indian Industries including textiles where they specially mentioned that Sarees, the traditional Indian woman dress is still intact even after it is more than 5000 year old style. Isnt it so true, that even after so much of western influence in India, Saree is still close to Indian ladies heart. Saree would be preferred for any traditional functions on top of any given choice by an Indian lady. 90% of Indian brides be it of any caste or religion wear saree on their wedding day. What is intriguing about Saree is that it looks beautifull only on Indian woman or woman having Indian roots. It accentuates the woman’s feminity with such grace that I see no other dresses in world can. Again its mind boggling to see the variety of sarees we have from silk to cotton to georgette to chiffon and so on. Even the style of wearing/draping a traditional saree is different in different states, with every state adding its own touch. After watching movie ‘Devdas’, I became fan of Bengali style draping of saree.

Saree, ofcourse from last 10 years, have become part of get-togethers and functions only for current generation of youngsters including rural India. My mom still wears saree everyday and like her most of the south Indians of my mom’s generation still maintains wearing sarees for day to day wear which seems rewarding to me. Its almost impossible for me to carry on daily chores wearing a saree with speed. My husband teases me whenever we have to attend a party saying ‘Please put an extra hour in mind if you are planning to wear a saree!’. But regardless the pain of draping a saree perfectly I have totally fallen in love with Sarees.

Now a days my favorite time pass is browsing saree shops online though its so expensive to buy saree online. I feel like kicking myself that I didn’t indulge in Saree shopping when in India and now after coming to US, I seem to be attending a function almost every month. Its becomes all the more frustrating to see a dearth of sarees. Next time whenever I go to India, I will make sure that all my clothes shopping will consist of sarees!!!

Gift – A problem in disguise!!

As a kid, every year on my birthday, I eagerly awaited for the gifts from my friends. It used to real fun while opening those gift covers. I used to even save those gift covers for a long time. All was well till I grew up to my teenage life and after that I started seeing the complexities of gifting. Its not as easy as I thought, that you just buy something for a person and give to him or her!! Whenever we used to get gifts for different occasion, my mom used to make a mental note of the value of the gift, so that when the time comes for us to give the gifts to the same person, the value of the gift should not be less(if not more!). My mom used to buy lot of new sarees and stocked it so that if any relative comes home for the first time, she gives the saree as a token of remembrance. It works fine if relatives are understanding enough but lot of time there would be tacky relatives who used to suggest my mom, that they already have that color saree or that the design doesn’t suit them. During those situations, my mom used to show those relatives some more sarees for choice!! If they don’t like any one of those, she used to give equivalent money to them. Then there would be some relatives who would silently take the gift even if they don’t like and later will start blabbering about the distasteful gift, in respect of its value or quality!!!!!

The gifting saga doesn’t end here. There would be some relatives who will demand a particular gift for themselves!!! Indians living abroad face this major problem whenever they plan to make a trip to India. The harmony between husband and wife tumbles when the question of gifting comes to which side of family and for how many members. Generally in Indian society, lot of gifts will go towards boy’s family than girl’s in the above case. Now that is altogether a different problem to discuss but what is irksome is some times some families have to buy gifts not only to their family members back in India, but also the extended family, relatives and neighbors too!!

Some years ago, goods brought from abroad were craze and people used to expect some kind of gift be it a small chocolate from People making their trip to India. But now, there is no difference, whatever we get in abroad is very much available in India too but the habit of expecting gifts hasn’t changed. What is more pinching is with rising cost of living in abroad, buying so many gifts when going to India is a big monetary burden. Generally people back in India think as soon as one steps in foreign land they become super rich (even I used to think so when I was in India!!) but the reality is far from this fact. Though we earn in dollars/pounds/Euros etc but cost of living in India and abroad is almost same, so it isn’t a piece of cake to buy laptops, camera etc for people living abroad. But sadly they don’t have choice because of ultimate relative pressure of expectation!!! If you don’t buy gift, you become a bad person or people will call you “kanjoos”(miser) behind your back.

The literal meaning of a Gift is “something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance”. Hmm but for me meaning of a “Gift” is altogether different.

A Wednesday and A Saturday - One more blast!

Got up in the Saturday morning and as usual checked the news online to see that as usual there were again blasts today in Delhi at four different busy places!!! Made a call to my parents and everybody is safe. But this usual news made me sick today somehow may be because yesterday night before sleeping I watched movie ‘A Wednesday’. How very truly the movie depicted the uncertain life of common man in India. While I was reading the news on rediff.com about the blasts, there was a comment below that article---

“What will happen Next ....

Manmohan singh will release a strong condemn statement against the attack

President will follow him for her part Other state and central politicians will do the same

BJP will blame congress govt

Advani will ask MM singh to resign

CBI will do enquiry, will arrest somebody, finally it will submit report of few hundred pages....

As an extreme counter measure some useless act will come which is of no use..

By the time people will forget all and terrors will be prepared to do next attack..” – By a Rediff Reader

Yeah that’s what is going to happen. Keep waiting to see when there would be blasts again. Why don’t we hear any kind of blasts happening in China. Sometimes I feel, India should have a communist government for few years where people will become more disciplined and may be start fearing to do anything wrong.