Housewarming party

Basement setting for the party. Food for the guests.
Final touches being checked by us.
All set.
Mouth-watering, aint they?

Blessing the home

Guests at the formal housewarming ceremony.

3 Achens (Priests) officiating the blessing of our home. This is the formal dining room, one entrance leads to pantry, other to the kitchen/dining/living(great) room.

UP

Very interesting -- you think English is easy???
Read to the end . . . a new twist.
You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car . At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ..
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP ...
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP, so......... it is time for me to shut UP .!
Oh . . . one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning the last thing you do at night? U-P

James at his recital

Fish n'fresh

A new shop in Anna Nagar by the Oceania group, which had a couple of Ministers at the gala inauguration function yesterday. We went some hours later only to find that it quite crowded. It had vegetables and other provisions on the ground floor and varieties of fish and mutton and beef and stuff on sale. There were live lobsters and prawns and freshwater fish for sale.

I havent seen any shops abroad but we got a gut feeling that they shop was trying to have an international flavour in its display and sale. The cash counter seemed a bit disorganised though. Anyway it will give Fisho'fish (a chain of fish shops in the city which sells varieties of fish at decent prices) a run for its money - I think people now want class, even if things are a bit more expensive. They have the money to splurge, so why go to an ordinary cold storage and come away smelling of fish?

The name Fish n'Fresh reminds me of the joke about selling fish. About a guy who sat selling fish with the board "Fresh fish sold here". Some one came and told him that the word 'here' was superfluous, so he struck it off. Next someone else told him that the word 'fresh' was not necessary if the fish looked fresh. So he struck off that too. Next another person told him that it is not necessary to have the word 'fish' as it was obvious. So in the end the board just read: SOLD! And so nobody bought his fish. :)

Chennai news

The Times of India landed in Chennai yesterday. I mean there will be a Chennai edition of it from now on. The Deccan Chronicle has been here for sometime now. Subscribers for a 6-month delivery of copies were given a travel bag as free gift.

Chennai city has become billboard-free. So for a change one can see trees, which were all hidden behind giant hoardings. A Supreme Court order has made the administration take an earnest effort in clearing the city. In fact, those who have been here recently wouldnt recognise Chennai now. I cant believe that most of the hoardings in Chennai were illegal.

Mrs. Jodhaa Akbar

I finally managed to sit through the entire length of a Hindi movie (not counting an off-beat, U-rated one like Taare Zameen Par) - probably because it was historical romance and not modern-day romance. I didnt think I would be able to sit through 3 hours of it, but I did manage to stay up till 2 a.m. to watch it.

There is some debate about how true this bit of history is - whether Akbar really had a Rajput wife called Jodhaa. Some say she was his son Jahangir's wife. I remember stuyding in school that the Mughal emperor had a wife called Jijabai. Anyway Ashutosh Gowariker's portrayal of a war-mongering ruler makes one forget that that he had 300 other wives and concubines!

I would recommend Jodhaa Akbar to any of you interested in a little romance, glitz and glamour. My interest in it had been Aishwarya Rai and all the lovely clothes she was wearing. She definitely looks enchanting but what else can you expect from a former Miss World and one of India's most beautiful faces, masquerading as a princess? I cant say if she has matured as an actress - at least from plastic Barbie-doll like expressions she has progressed to some emotions on her lovely face.

The dark horse of course was Hritik Roshan. He looked authentic as Akbar though I tried not to look pervertly at his two-headed right thumb. There were times when I almost forgot he was acting. He looked truly regal.

The sound quality of the DVD I played was bad, so the conversations didnt make much sense to me. Look out for one with subtitles.

View of the home!

This the drake, duckie having a feed and swim we watched from Formal room window.!
The great room view from the dining/kitchen area.

Maha was tagged!

Instructions: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets?
Family, Friends and work

2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?
Patience is a virtue!

3. If you were to be stranded on a desert island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you?
It depends. I like survivors who fight their way through to get what they want in life without harming others. If you are one of those I will take you with me.

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
My inner world. No one knows where it is except me.

5. If you can have one dream to come true, what would it be?
Be able to see my dad one more time. It is more of a wish than a dream.

6. What are you afraid to lose the most?
My family

7. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?
In an ideal world, give it to authorities. But I would be tempted to keep it.

8.If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
I did. And I am happy that I did.

9. Who is your best friend?
My sister.

10. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Wish he would do exactly what I tell him to. In other words, be my slave.

11. What is your ambition?
Aim to do the right things in life.

12. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?
Gossipping.

13. Revealing one thing about me?
I am a dreamer.

14. Tamil New Year is coming, who do you like to celebrate with?
Friends and Family

15. If you could do one thing different in life, what would it be?
Try and live close to my family. Geographically, I mean.

16. Are you a shopaholic?
Absolutely. Online and in person. If I really want it, I don't even consider the prize. Of course, I know what I can spend.

17. What is your stress buster?
Finding a quite place and taking deep breaths. Watching TV has helped too. Move away from the person who is causing this stress.

18. What should be done to people who make such long tags?
I don't know why you should know so much about me. Really, who cares about me!

19. What are the 2 skills you wish you had or would like to learn?
Math and Music. Thanks to my horrible math teachers I ended up fearing it.

20. Name your favourite recent book.
I finished Jodi Piccoult's My Sisters' Keeper a couple of months ago. It was moving.

Beautiful nature !!!

Is it not beautiful outside? how nice if we can just sit back and enjoy.. and not run to meet deadlines.. or shovel the driveway..?

View from the back deck..!

Now snow is gone..spring is here... its dark and deary.. raining.. can hear the birds chirping.its still light at 7 in the night.

Enjoy nature.!If u can find time.

More of me

These taken in new home, kitchen cum dining, formal/great room etc... UST

 

p.s. Why the deafening silence from all others?

Family time

Some photos taken in India and here... Me and Bejoy with my parents; at the paalu-katchu (milkwarming/ housewarming) of our new house in MI; and my family.
Usha