Happiness is time spent with Good Friends - Girls Night out in Ras al Khaimah

 

I am just back from our ladies night out trip and still reminiscing in its glory. Felt I should pen down our trip so that when we look back after a long time, we can still go through those same emotions and relive the moments. 

This is our batch of friends from Providence Women’s College, Calicut. Every year, we get together for some alumni meet or other in Dubai. However the get-together we really enjoy is the one that has only our batch mates and most of the time it happens whenever some of our friends from outside UAE visit us. 

Rajeesha/ Bibu/ Vinaya trip was one to start off with, followed by last year with Sajna flying down and we jammed up at Umm al Quwain chalet. And this time, we had postponed it due to various availability factors, kids’ exams, convenient dates etc. At last we finalized the dates to early November and the venue this time was Ras al Khaimah.

There are around 12-14 of us from the same batch in UAE. The more the merrier is our motto, so we make sure to invite all across UAE and also from other parts of the world who wish to join in at that time. This time, the group ultimately formed was 

Sajna – our admin (who makes it a point to fly down from Kuwait anytime we call 😊),

Jiji – who had lost her words in college but discovered them lately amongst us 😊

Shriranjini – who amazingly can be silly, mature and stupid at the same time

Hema  - our new entrepreneur  - can come up with the weirdest jokes ever.

Reshma – our selfie queen – the perfect lady 😊 and

Me – who discovered friendship very late in life, but trust me I’ am making up for it now 😊

The last minute drop out was Leena , who unfortunately had an aunt turn up unexpectedly with a truckload of family problems, which made her decide that , that load was better than this load of friends . 

Friday morning started early for me, getting ready to pick up the gang. Picked up Jiji and then Sajna from her hotel. Jiji’s customary annual hugging ceremony was carried out at the car parking, while I also got down for the same however forgot about it, fortunately or unfortunately didn’t end up hugging either Sajna or the valet person  😊.

Next stop was Mirdiff City centre for lunch, where the entire team landed up at the Food court. Leena joined us for lunch since she didn’t want to miss her darling Sajna, (the rest of us don’t fit in that category ;) Had a good lunch, tried to coerce Leena maximum to join us but then we failed and we let her leave lest we create more family problems for her 😊

The drive to RAK was uneventful and we reached around 4.30 to One to One Clover Suites. We checked in and made ourselves comfortable by having tea etc. This was a beautiful 3 BR Suites with a lovely pool view. We got ready to go to the beach since the private beach would close by 6.30pm. Except for Jiji & Sajna (the new found friends ;)) the rest of us had a great time splashing around in water. Hema with her full swimming gear was just short of the Olympic swimming race. By 6.30pm, we were given a warning signal by a lifeguard who was walking around as if he was one of those Baywatch lifeguards ready to pull us out of the sea if required.  We sat around for another half an hour chatting there and then moved back to the Hotel swimming pool. The Jacuzzi pool was really refreshing. This time Sajna too in her inspiring Fifty Hays T shirt (dedicated to Jiji of course) joined us in the pool. Photo sessions were always a must – whether in the pool, in the beach, near the well or in the room as long as we made sure Reshma’s best angles were always captured.

We strutted back to our rooms, and freshened up for dinner. The main past time and point of interest during that time was the new folks who had come to the pool. The gimmicks were not short of Gymnastics and were a shame it was wasted in the swimming pool rather than the Olympics. We got out to dinner at Nalukettu restaurant and had a stomach full of ravishing stuff. By the time we got out from there it was 11pm and most of the shops were closed. All of a sudden our guest of honour wanted to eat Falooda and we being the benevolent hosts couldn’t say No to her. RAK being a city full of life after 10pm (ironically), it was pretty easy for us to find a cafeteria which served faloodas at 11.30pm. Sajna & Reshma were happy with their Glory and Falooda Spl, though it looked the same to me. We reached back to the hotel by 12 and settled in, not to sleep mind you, but to chat peacefully. 

Jiji who would never see after 10 pm on normal days was straining to keep her eyes open , more on lines with the Tom & Jerry images where Tom puts a matchstick in the eyes to keep it wide open. Hema tired after Olympic swimming stunts, Reshma tired from the selfies and the remaining 3 of us wide awake. People often ask me after the trip, what did you girls do, did you go to some pub, did you have drinking party, adventure sports etc. etc. . . . And when I reply that all that we did do was talk, talk and talk …. They would never believe it. But that’s exactly what we do…we are never short of topics. This time, we started with Reshma running us through her totally ideal routine of managing home, work, kids, social life which left us in awe. We being the idle friends, we are tried our best to deviate her from her picture perfect life lest we be inspired to inculcate her pattern and turn over a new leaf which would leave our partners and kids in shock  😊

Jiji shocked us with her revelations on her friendships and interests during college life (college, tuitions, movies, friendships etc.). Sajna is yet to revive from the shock of these revelations. The normal topics of conversation range from school life, college, teachers, Mrs. Annie’s antics, bunking classes by jumping the backside wall, Commissioner’s bungalow, the various groups in class, rivalries and friendships, gossips of long forgotten boyfriends of self and others, tuition time stories, Senior gals gossips, movies seen after bunking, B-Zone and D-Zone competitions, the hidden talents among us, debate over whose Mother Teresa Collage won the prize, clay modelling stars etc. By 2.30pm, we decided to call it a day and moved to respective bedrooms. But after 10 mins ended up again altogether on 1 bed again. The stories continued with Hema and Reshma half asleep. Once again the stories continued. We didn’t leave a single person in our class or neighboring classes untouched when it came to old stories- warm gratitude for Justina who used to make sure that bags queue to the bus was perfect, Bhuvana / Rhena who used to shout out answers before Ms. Rosa completed the questions, blinking toms like Justina and me who were half way through the question, the remaining 15-20 people who were the least bothered since they had tuition, the new comers in class and the veterans of Provi., funny anecdotes related to marriages of our friends, Apollo 13 stories , WhatsApp group stories and the list was endless.

Once we made sure Hema & Reshma slept soundly, we moved out to the next room wherein Sajna and Jiji (the new found friends 😊) had settled in .Once again the yapping continued and the icing on the cake was to call Leena by 5am to remind here that we missed her 😊 and she should feel jealous that we were still up and talking. The most striking part was that when you look back , so many things, which we carried in our hearts back in school or college days , things we gave undue importance to – be it friendships / rivalries , issues or difficult situations were looking so silly now. And today looking back, all those put together is what makes our memories of the good old times worth remembering.

Around 5.30am we literally called it a day and slept for 2 hours. Once again we dragged everyone out of bed before 8am and went off to the bright and sunny beach for more selfies. The morning sun shining brightly down upon us, Reshma gave us classes on the various poses for photography, the jumping pics etc. which soon made us tired which was compensated by a relishing continental breakfast. We got back to the room and sat around planning when and where the next meet would be 😊and soon got ready to checkout. We checked out by 12.30pm and the drive back, this is one part of the whole trip that I despise. From all the talking, all the fun and noise, going back to reality is the most difficult part for me. Bidding goodbyes was never my forte. Dropped all the girls in their respective places and Sajna to the Airport and then headed back straight home. These trips always leave a special feeling of closeness and warmth in our friendships. WhatsApp group flooded with selfies and videos of the trip, calls to make sure all reached safely etc. leave a feel good factor about the whole trip. These friendships are special in every sense and often I regret that I never made the effort to know it way back but yes, going ahead, I am not going to lose them 😊 for whatever it may be... The hubby and kids of all of them definitely need a word of appreciation for ensuring that we have a good time always. I hope we can keep doing this again at least once a year and that we can have more like minded friends joining in as well. Dedicated to all my friends once again and thank you all for always being there and being special in your own sweet ways!!

 

😄😄

Adieu my Friend .....

This is my story , story of a 10 year old who rose the ladders of fame bringing about a revolution in connecting people… I was named after my Turkish Dad creator, who was so loyal to his company Google , that he gave me up to them to be brought up and they lovingly called me Orkut ..

Like any child , I started on my knees, crawling, trying to find my way and I kinda found it quite fast. I was termed a child prodigy then.. My website was a novel idea basically to revive friendships, bring people closer, connect people and allow them to freely interact and express….. I was witness to so many outbursts of joy and happiness when people found their childhood friends on my platform, when classmates had a great time scrapping messages for all to read, when lovers found a way to express their self privately… Scraps, testimonials, videos and photos… it was a lovely world of glitter for everyone to see….People across the globe loved me…

But just like every coin has 2 sides, some people misused me …they created fake profiles, chatted with many at the same time under different names, made groups on me that insulted the public sentiments of certain groups . Photos and pics were misused and subjected to vulgarity. Users were dragged to several groups even without their knowledge or mine…

USA, India and Brazil loved me , while Iran, UAE , Saudi & Bahrain hated me and banned my presence in the names of national security , ethical issues about dating and matchmaking etc.

I was just a silent spectator to all this abuse. I let myself be carried away in the glory of my fame. Nobody was there to guide me and put me back on track.

During the same time, I noticed a severe competition budding up… new kids on the block were Facebook, Twitter, My Space etc .. And Facebook was the strongest competitor. I should admit, the kid had great looks. He learnt from my mistakes and people love him for the same. He was charming yet private, he was friendly but cautious, he had groups, but had moderators, he had pictures / videos but they were protected. The kid started pumping blood ( hard cash) into the website… marketing campaigns, like groups , internet marketing etc etc.  In 2011, he became a hero by surpassing me ….

My own Dad started praising Facebook, I even hear from private sources that he invested in him. And in 2011 , my Dad himself paved way for my fast death today…he brought in my younger brother Google +. Instead of trying to revive me , bring me back from my rehabilitation , he disowned me ….maybe he was ashamed or maybe he wanted a better son ; a son who would put him back on the charts with his peers.

Today my rehabilitation centre too, has given up on me. I used to get a few loyal visitors every now and then , now they have been strictly prohibited as well. I am confined to this room as in quarantine. In fact the rare visitors and my old friends have been told to take back any of their memories or remnants they have mistakenly left behind with me.

Today I’m just like a brain dead vegetable, people have taken out all the removable parts from my body – my life, my heart, my lungs, my brain and I have been left to die… a silent death… the D Day has been fixed , September 30th is when I shall breathe my last, will the hangman come with his noose or will I be beheaded… don’t know…all that I know is that I have been left to die, unwanted , uncared for …Couldn’t they have been a little more kinder to me than leave me suffering till the D-Day ? Will someone come and release me from this pangs of waiting for death?

With these thoughts, I bid Adieu to you today….

Lovingly ,

Yours Orkut ….

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Going Away.... But I'm here to Stay !!!

It is 6 in the morning …. I have been awake for more than 2 hours now, hearing the ticking clock…awaiting the first buzz of life around me…. Can feel the warmth from my husband, Balu’s forehead on my arm, where he fell asleep last night by my bedside…. His long heaves of breath have always been my solace for the past 30 years of our married life….  This is something or maybe the only thing I will miss after today….

Yes, today is my last day of life….I know it today…though I did not know it 2 months back. All that I remember was being admitted to this hospital for a heartburn or gastric issue for which Balu insisted I needed a checkup. Following that everything happened so quickly , checkup, some heart blockage issues and an unexpected cardiac arrest on the operation table, which left me hooked up to this wonderful machine which hums and ticks and beeps standing like a warrior by my bedside today. Don’t be disillusioned by the  looks of it, Mr. Ventilator is more expensive than he looks, Balu’s bank account will vouch for that , trust me  J !!

Getting back to the story, after 2 months of long struggle, finally the doctors, relatives and my 2 children, Gowri & Shankar have convinced Balu that he should let me go. According to the doctors, in layman’s terms, I am in a vegetative state; don’t know why the word makes me picture myself as a cow or goatJ. Upper portion of the brain is not working, however I am breathing only because of Balu and the 2^nd warrior beeping away by the bedside. They have tried hard to convince Balu that I am not able to hear him that I won’t ever wake up from this coma to nag him again. Gowri & Shankar have also left all their work and been around from then.

The ever cheerful nurse, Malini came in sharp at 6.30 am. Even she looks a little solemn today, or am I seeking sympathy in her eyes? Balu woke up with a start, he always had a sheepish look when he awoke first thing in the morning, which only I was privy to J  . He kissed me on my forehead and nuzzled my nose whispering “Rise & Shine ….” which was a customary tradition to wake me up for the last 30 years.

He quickly freshened up, I heard the voice of Gowri trying to explain on a long distance call to her kids and hubby that she would be coming home soon, but till then to manage to find things by themselves, not fight with each other, listen to Daddy etc.; poor thing, she & Shankar have been a rock of support to Balu throughout. I thank God for giving me such a family….

I can hear the ruffle of the white coats… the doctor is here…along with Shankar, talking in their medical jargon. Balu and Gowri have also huddled up to them. The nurse asks them to step out since she has to get me ready. Do I still need that sponge shower today, I wonder? Is Yamraj particular that his clients should have a shower before they meet Chitragupta to gain entry to the other world? Will make it a point to ask him when I meet him today.

A small tear dropped on my face by Malini, when she finished dressing me, brought me back from thoughts. She was a woman of few words and only duty, she combed my hair and smiled and told me that I was looking pretty and left without turning back.

Gowri & Shankar came in together, sat by my bedside, held my two hands, and bid me silent goodbyes. They have done me proud by being such dutiful children that any parent would die for (no pun intended)!!

Next came in Balu, I heard him tell the doctor that he needed some time with me… Man, wasn’t 30 years enough for you, I wanted to scream J. He came and sat by my bedside, held my hand… and said, “ Bhadra, these white coat idiots say, you can’t hear anything, but I know you can. And again we never needed words to understand, did we?  Except for when you used scream your head off when we had our fights… or my mother had an opinion on your cooking or when I would sit playing cards with my friends or when …..  , he was rambling away all those beautiful moments non-stop. “ I have loved you from the moment you dropped the hot coffee all over me when I first came to see you before marriage at your parents’ house, the day we got married, the day Shanker was born, the day Gowri was born, our home, their marriages, our retirement , grandkids  everything was so beautiful and it still will be… “Slowly he took a bit of kumkum from the bedside and placed a round bindi on my forehead and the remaining in my sindoor. (quite a romantic he was in his times J)

He continued , “ I cannot let you go as they say, but I promise to follow you soon, because as you always said “One should get married, after all happiness is not the only thing in life, is it?” So you may go and get settled down and as soon as things settle down here, will meet you there….could feel him holding back tears behind the old black specs… I still remember my heart swooning for the serious looking Lecturer in his bell bottom pants and so does it even today…

Once again, he kissed me on my forehead, held my hand tightly less it pains me while they switch off the machine. I was happy to go, I was at peace …. My eyes still closed the last sound I heard was Balu’s breathing, while mine went silent eternally.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Beautiful – Malayalam movie – indeed Beautiful …..

I know there are plenty of reviews out there already vouching, endorsing, approving and applauding this Beautiful movie. And this one is no different, couldn't help commenting… yup a movie well done!!

I happened to see the movie last night. We were quite skeptical before going since it was the late night show, and further since the movie had just released and we were unaware of the reviews. Being a weekday, we did not expect a large crowd but to our surprise the theatre did have considerable audience. 

The movie is all about Stephen ( Jayasurya), a paraplegic millionaire or  should rather say a millionaire paraplegic because he doesn’t regard his medical condition to be a disability at all. He looks at life with an undying positive zeal, has a infectious smile on his face and his millionaire eccentricities are beautifully portrayed by Jayasurya. Steps in John ( Anoop Menon), a struggling musician, who aspires to make it big someday through his music, who does all knick knack works to earn money to make his sister a doctor … a very natural portrayal of a commoner , the man next door in our society. John enters Stephen’s world as a companion, singer, friend, aide and much more… Both share a beautiful friendship, which is subtly depicted throughout the movie… Enters a home nurse, Anjali ( Meghna Raj) who comes to take care of Stephen and finds herself the centre of attraction for both the friends….a silent competition to be her aide is also subtly shown. The movie moves on with its twists and tales thereon.

Jayasurya has donned his role amazingly, he is a natural at humor, so he doesn’t need to take any efforts on that. He has managed not to overact the role of a paraplegic since that’s what is normally done when u are depicting such a condition. Anoop Menon, my favorite any day, has put in a wonderful effort as usual, this actor is a sure bet these days. I may be biased , but be it Traffic or Pranayam or Cocktail or Beautiful, he has blended these characters beautifully, and bringing out excellent performances. His natural way of dialogue delivery and acting definitely will take him places soon…Meghna Raj, has done her part well, after all she gets a chance to do some real acting compared to her earlier movies :). Aparna Nair ( Cocktail fame), Jayan, Nandu,Tini Tom, evergreen Thesni Khan form part of the remaining cast, with all of them putting in brilliant efforts.

Anoop Menon has proved his versatility once again by penning the lyrics for the songs in the movie. Mazhaneerthulikkal is a beautiful song, quite a romantic one and of course coupled by Ratheesh Vega music direction and not to forget in Unni Menon’s soulful voice. VK Prakash, a director with a difference ( his Punaradivasam starring Nandita Das & Manoj K Jayan is my all time favorite anyday) has done a great job with the movie. The cinematography is beautiful as well…. :)

What I like about the movie…                

Anoop Menon  :)with his subtle acting, his overwhelming presence definitely a bonus to the movie…brilliant or rather natural acting by the entire cast.A great script and direction, doesn’t give you a moment to feel bored, infact the length of the movie is just right…I love the friendship angle between the guys, doesn’t overdo with any melodrama. And the movie takes certain cracks at the modern morality myths – “ Marriage is the license to have extra marital affairs” , though a taboo subject ,very much prevalent in today’s times.

“Maturity is about losing one’s innocence” is so rightly said… as we mature, we lose our innocence , we become selfish, we become greedy, we turn in ourselves, we care less for others..and at the end of the day , all that matters to us is US.

Kudos to a beautiful team and the entire movie cast & crew for making a good movie. These experiments do give us movie buffs a hope for some intelligent / entertaining genre of new movies.

Happy Teacher’s Day!!!

Yup, it’s the 5^th of September once again..the day celebrated as the World Teacher’s Day across the globe.

Mata Pitah Guru Daivam… from time immemorial we know that our teacher’s place is next to God along with our parents. Teachers have been equally responsible for our development as our parents..infact in our initial years , the main pillars of our lives have always been our parents and teachers coz we spend our maximum time with them…be it at home or school/college etc. In fact at a certain age, our teacher’s words are considered as the ultimate say , the last word in many topics…” My teacher taught me like this. My teacher said its like this, so its like this “is a very common statement we hear from kids even today…. That is the trust that a child places in a teacher, the unconditional, unquestioning belief in their teacher’s words….. and that’s a great responsibility to uphold…

Ok people, this post is not just to enlighten you or take a gyan session on teachers and their importance and to bore you…but just thought will take you down my memory’s road and remember some outstanding teachers who have made a wonderful difference to my life…

Whenever I think of my teachers, the first person I remember is my first Principal, Mr Vaideeswaran when I was in UKG :) (my friends say I have a good memory….. yup an elephant never forgets :)) He was a brilliant person, the fact that he remembered the names of all the students in the KG school i.e. more than 200 students always astonished me.. he always had a personal word for each student and we held him great awe.

Mrs.Merlin(LKG), Mrs.Girija Menon (1^st std), Ms.Priya Nair( 2^nd std), Mrs. Girija Ethirajan (3^rd std), Ms.Regina Daniel, Mrs.Flora Vaz(4^th std), Mrs.Prasanna Rajkumar , Mrs.Susan Kurian (6^th,7^th 8^th), Mrs.Beena Jerome, Mrs.Gopinath, Mr.Sahadevan(9^th), Mr.Tomy George, Sarala Madam (10^th), Ghosh Sir, Mrs.Usha Varkey, Mr.Rajendran(11^th), Mr.Khalid(12^th), Mrs.Beena Kishore, Ms.Anadavally(Bcom), Mrs.Seetha RK, Mr.Mohan, Vasanthi Madam – all these teachers have been a part of my life starting from kindergarten till my Post Graduation J My class teachers are mentioned within the brackets J All these people have touched my life in one way or the other….

Ms.Merlin had real patience and was such a soft spoken teacher whose voice would drive us to do things the right way. Mrs.Girija Menon was a very strict and short tempered teacher, my memories of her is her big bindi and she used to send my maths book flying out of the classroom :) I was an ace in mathematics –then and now..can’t blame her ;) Met her after 15 years when I was in college by chance and it was great ! Ms.Priya Nair & Ms.Regina Daniel were more like friends to us students since they had just graduated and joined teaching and were young a bubbly..Mrs.Susan Kurian was our epitome for patience, discipline and dedication. She made the ever so boring Social Studies interesting..in fact used to study the subject just to impress her ;) Mrs.Beena Jerome combined English classes with fun, still remember the jingle of her key chain which announced her arrival in advance, who used to drill into us thumb rules like  "I before E, except after C", till date she still maintains that fun filled approach to teaching English .Mrs.Usha Varkey, yet another favorite of mine , she had an aura around her, her ways of teaching, her style of dressing etc was always held in awe by us students. Mrs.Beena Kishore, is my most favorite lecturer at college. Her simplicity and dedication to teaching us always made me admire her bcoz in today’s world its hard to come across teachers like her, who are devoted to the cause. Mrs.Seetha, taught me more on life than English I would say. Her selfless nature, die hard optimism, her outlook to life and her undying support & belief in me have drawn me more close to her…she has stood by me more as a friend in those times of need when you just need a shoulder to cry on …

All these teachers of mine have been an integral part of my life… I may not have valued it then but when I look back and also on life’s journey, each one of them in some way or the other have contributed to my personality and yes of course positively… The negative traits are mine alone…no one is to be held responsible for the same ;)  

These days teachers like these are hard to come by, most of them look at teaching more like a profession than passion. I have been lucky to have these brilliant teachers in my life who have selflessly and with dedication devoted their lives to teaching ..to make us better individuals, good human beings….

Teachers are one of the greatest people whom you come across in your life. They are not only the selfless givers but also the mentors of your life. Many a times in life, you feel like thanking your teacher but you do not find a proper occasion. So this Teachers day, this blog post is dedicated to all those wonderful teachers out there and thank you for being a part of my life and touching my life in a wonderful way !!!

Goodbye 2010

New Year is here again and it’s amazing that yet another year has whizzed past before we even realize fully justifying the old quote ‘Time flies’….yours truly back at her scribbling board with my share of reminisces of the year 2010.

At home, we normally welcome the New Year with Amma lighting the lamp at 00.00 hrs and praying for the happiness, prosperity & good health of our entire dear and near ones. Once I hit the bed after the customary calls and wishes, I lie back tracing footsteps back to the past year-it’s fun to think of all the positive things that have happened – fun, jokes, happy times, get-togethers etc. Again I do contemplate on those not so positive incidents – could be anything ranging from small health issues, accidents, heartbreaks, job loss or even loss of life of a dear one. This reinforces the belief that just like a coin has 2 sides, life too has its share of happiness & sorrow. How true when they say one can appreciate light only when one has experienced darkness…. That’s how my year 2010 has been…

I always love to begin a New Year with a lot of positivity, new resolutions, renewed relationships etc. Yup, retaining that spirit throughout the year is a struggle J but it definitely keeps you going. And last year too I started on the same note with a strong resolution to have a zest for life, be more sociable ;) ( which is quite a difficult task for me ), be more health conscious (alternatively do some exercise other than getting into and out of the car :)) & last but not least be more organized with my finances.

Jan 2010 went quite smoothly without any major events. Feb & March had me head over heels with work and office since there was a major restructure happening and we were trying our best to bring up the sinking ship. April brought me sorrow as well as joy and both in the extremes –the biggest loss in this year was my grandmother who passed away on April 29th, she was wonderful woman whom I admire for her determination & undeterred love for her children- she was the pillar of our family who kept the entire joint family united under her wings. April also offered me signs of a renewed hope of love in my life, new hopes; new dreams….I decided to step out of my cocoon where I had buried myself for the past 3 yrs and once again dream of a life.

May 2010 brought about the sad news that our company was closing down and we were all being laid off with 3 months notice time. However, as they say love makes you blind and you are oblivious to the things around you. I was in love, for the first time in my life…. and I was ready to face any situation with this renewed zest to life. Yup, so that’s where my first resolution to bring out the zest to life in me worked.

May also brought about our annual Providence College alumni meet which I hadn’t attended for years, but this year I took my second resolution seriously and ventured out for the first time to a crowd of 56 people and honestly I enjoyed it, made new friends & renewed social ties. And can you believe it that for the year 2011 my batch (tats me and my friends) is going to be organizing the same ;) (he he… sometimes I go overboard being social, don’t I)?

June started off on a good note since after 3 years of dragging at various courts, I won my divorce case and all the paper work was settled and officially I was single again. But once again be it destiny or fate or even luck, life has its strange ways of telling us no happiness is permanent. The biggest shock came to me when I realized that I had built my dreams on an unscrupulous cheat, for whom life was just another big joke and had made a mockery of my feelings. But better late than never, at least I was saved from the clutches of a looming disaster at a very early stage, I told myself… my positivity and zest for life kept me going again.

July & Aug were months spent on serious job hunting and I did pick up my last 2 resolutions during this month... First thing I did was to join a gym for 2 months and neither I nor the trainer there could believe that I was one of the most regular members there – yup, the machines are still intact and in good condition , not to worry ;) but this regular schedule did have its desired effect on my physical and mental health…Wait, don’t go back to look at my photo ;), when I said desired effect , it jus meant toning down or losing a little weight , not that I became a super model (oh pls folks…this is Sajitha that you are talking about ;)) As far as organizing my finances were concerned, sat down on it and cleared up the beautiful mess that had been going about for 2-3 yrs – set off loans, cleared credit cards, sold my car, gave up my flat and yes had a completely clean chit.

Job hunting did not work out well due to recession …and hence decided to relocate back home. Leaving behind Dubai was not so easy, a place I had lived for the past 7 years .It was hard to leave good friends especially Sapna & Amrith who stand as my pillars of friendship any day, Ishan- their son, who is my closest pal and the apple of my eye, and my sister Soumi & Chandru (my bro in law) –always standing beside me with their undeterred support and love.

Sept 2010, I said Goodbye to Dubai and headed back home because firstly I needed a break and secondly or most importantly, my little sister was due with her first baby. The next day after I landed in town, she delivered a baby girl (what a timing eh? ;)) - Ameya, we named her. She is the best thing that happened in 2010 :)… her million dollar smile is something I can die for ;) Sept hence was busy with relatives, guests swarming the house to catch a glimpse of our tiny bundle of joy.

Sept & Oct had me fully occupied with our new star, baby talk, baby rhymes, vaccines L…never knew when the month whizzed by. Oct also had me renewing ties with 2 of my close friends, and we never stop chatting these days, much to the complains of others ;)

November had me doing my normal pilgrimages to all the temples along with Amma trying to bribe and coax the Gods :) ,a beautiful day at Guruvayur topped the list. I love visiting temples and the sanctity and peace drives a new gush of positivity to my soul.

December was a bit lean since I had to undertake some treatment for my hand the whole month, where I was under Ayurvedic treatment for the same. But the end of the month brought about the real joy of meeting old friends from school- a school reunion that I have earlier blogged down. Also caught up with some college friends and had a great time.

So that’s my roller coaster year 2010…. Yes, have been my best with my resolutions in 2010 that I haven’t made any for the year 2011 ;) (there is a saying in Malayalam “ Swaram nannaavumbol paattu nirthanam” – which literally means we should stop singing when the voice is good )

Good friends, supportive family and my bundle of joy has made the year 2010 quite a memorable one – though there have been not so good memories too, all that I am carrying to this new year 2011 are just these – my friends, family & of course my new lil buddy !!

Wish you all a very Happy & Blessed New year and hope your year will be filled with the happiest memorable events in the New Year!!!

Ciao ….

Ode to Friendship

"When old friends get together, everything else fades to insignificance."
The beauty of this old saying was seen in its rainbow colours at our first official get together of KV Malappuram students of 93-95 batch on 26th Dec.2010. This was our first get together after school - after 15 years.

This time on my annual vacation to India, thanks to social networking sites like Facebook & Orkut, I had got some contact details of my old friends from school. The first person I called was Kuriakose Menon, as I lovingly call :) - Vinod, and got a warm welcome from him and wasn’t I surprised when he called me up 2 days later and said that he is in my hometown and wanted to meet me…He came over home and we caught up on old times..underneath the old bubbly, nonsensical friend I was expecting , saw a warm, mature but of course fun loving pal with whom I could connect to without any barriers. He updated me on the details of a lot of our friends since he was in touch with them and gave me all their contact details. He mentioned that a few of them (only the guys gang) meet up quite often over a cuppa coffee (coffee like coloured drink) and keep themselves updated. He left with a suggestion that why don’t we organize some get together with all our friends and since I was jobless and practically doing nothing at home, why don’t I call up a few to check with our old pals ?

Next process of ringing up old friends was an enjoyable task. Initially I was a bit apprehensive as to how many would be interested to actually make time for this but to my surprise, I got a brilliant response – Jasmine & Sreeja topped the list with their enthusiasm, they were ready for anything anytime, from the guys gang Vijesh, Praveen MC & Vinod had already started off with the calls and invitations from their side since they had been planning the same for a long time. Everybody started calling and inviting each other- Kavitha, Sajitha MP,Sumayya,Hani,Babu, Saleel , Deepu, Jolly,Waheeda,Dinesh, Satish, Niju,Santosh,Sachin, Jayaram, Praveen Prakash, Vasanth, Pappiya, Hanas, Devaraj,Bhoopesh, Roopesh,Dinesh, Sajith Kumar , infact everyone we contacted gave us an overwhelming and delightful response. Everybody sincerely wanted it to happen and tried their best to be there….

We did not call this a reunion meet since this was our first get together and further treated this more like a curtain raiser to the many more annual organized reunions we would have in future. Hence for the same reason spouses, kids, family, teachers were not invited, which of course brought about a lot of murmur from our better halves whose egos were shattered at this exclusion.

The small conference room was just perfect for our little crowd. On the D-Day, we had a get together with 19 of our classmates – Vijesh, Vinod, MC,Devarajan,Santosh,Sajith,Hanas, Babu,Niju, SajithaMP,Sreeja, Jasmine, Kavitha, Hani, Sumayya,Roopesh MK,Dinesh, Sanal & yours truly.

The school prayer song and the welcome speech brought out the old warmth and belongingness in us. We didn’t need any ice breakers for this get together-- there was absolutely no formalities or inhibitions. The welcome speech by Vinod was quite enjoyable and brought many a laugh in all of us followed by the intro speech by all just to catch up with all as to what had happened in our lives in these 15 years.

Yes, a long 15 years had passed since many of us had last seen each other.... we had all moved ahead in life from those school days, we had changed in our looks and outlook to life, but one binding factor that still ran through us was the friendship that we still shared …. Yes, the connection was instant….we got along like a house on fire – old jokes, new stories, teacher tales etc… We make friendships in school , college, at work place etc etc, but many a time most uncorrupted or innocent friendships are made during school days because these are built based on the true essence of friendships unlike the latter friendships we make considering selfish interests, status symbols, career demands etc. School friendships and friends have always been simple and lighten the heart …

After a sumptuous lunch buffet, we settled down for some games like Passing the parcel and Bingo and it was just like in old school days… for some time, I am sure all of us were transported years back to our carefree school days without worries or work pressure or family demands etc..

How true when they say “Old friends are like fine wine, they only improve with age…” – we had all matured gracefully over the years, become responsible individuals but had maintained our spirit of friendship and fun in life.

It was unanimously decided that we would make it a point to meet every year henceforth – with/without families /teachers was left for later discussion since many of us couldn’t come to a consensus on that ;) And as responsible human beings we decided that our meeting would support a meaningful cause each year – be it donations to charitable institutions, providing health care to the needy –etc etc, we will soon set up a small account on the same and do our bit for the society that we are a part of – that made us what we are today!!

We parted with rekindled spirit of friendship and joy, lightened hearts and beautiful memories to cherish till the next time. Thanks to each one of you who made an effort to be there and to those who couldn’t make it but made their presence felt through calls, mails, and facebook updates etc.

It brings me great joy to see the facebook group so active and my mail box flooded with comments and counter comments. Hope to see us all active in this friendship now and forever!!

I take leave with this note “"Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life. The better part of one's life consists of his friendships. "

Adieu…