This and that

I discovered a few days ago, that Christ Church's famous hand made fudge doesn't beat apna Jaswant's milk cake or peda!! Yaaaa...fudge is like peda..well a smoother consistency, but just as hard.
Well, Abhay had received this X-mas goodies hamper in office and he actually got it and gave it to me..So I opened it and there were these amazing little things.The pic is self explanatory.
I got my new cell no yesterday. Felt strange to change my India Vodafone sim to the NZ Vodafone sim card. Yes, i am a sucker for such things.

Also, my hard attempts at germinating stuff yday paid off, after I placed them in the microwave, all cooped up and what do I see this morning.. Sweet shendis of the matki..Ahhhh..so tomorrow is matki ka usal on the menu..So aai, are u coming for lunch?!?!?! :)))


P.S: tried uploading the pix..not happening..wl try again..

Our ramblings..

Saturday, Satyu surprised me by coming home early..He was home by 6 and he herded me out to the car saying, we are going to One tree hill.

It was a beautiful scenic place on top of a hill and had the monument of John Campbell. For more details follow this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Tree_Hill,_New_Zealand

The sky was amazingly beautiful and the weather was a perfect melange of wind and chills and the sunlight's warmth..

On Sunday we went to Mission bay.. A beautiful beach area with clean blue waters and white sands.. A variety of people.. dark islanders with rippling muscles, to young girls clad in the tiniest imaginable bikinis, to young boys on skateboards, to hot moms to pregnant women, to gujju aunties to lovey dovey couples..to dogs..

It was like, my mind clicked a thousand pictures yday, which will stay with me, the colorful scenes, the white sands, the blue skies dotted with powderpuff white..

There was a green lawn adjacent to the beach where families were seen picknicking..with food, beach balls and dogs..

Though, I had a bad throat, we ate amazing ice cream at Movenpic.
It seemed like all the people had descended to this beach to make the most of the summer..

Me and Satyu sat there for about an hour, not talking much to each other. Simply absorbing all the sights and sounds around us. like he said later, this was the good side of NZ. Though I dont know what it means..I would like to remember it as a good place where I am sure, i am going to return and participate and not be only a silent observer again!!

Its raining

Saturday a'noon in December..1240hrs: NZ time, 0502 hrs: India time

And its my first rain in NZ..yes, its summer and its raining here..It kind of makes me feel gloomy...Well, I am quite looking forward to this weekend, since Satyu has got an off tomorrow, and he has made plans for us to go out.
So more details and pictures tomorrow..

Abhay, my saviour..

Hahhahahaa..Didnt I just say, it felt like I am in a movie!! Imagine.i got locked out and all..and just blogged abt it.. Well, Abhay , Satyu's roomie, just walked in. And when I told him my plight, he readily volunteered to see what he could do to get me sorted..
ANd wonder of wonder, with the help of a chair this guy, simply jumped inside the room, head first!!! and Voila..the door opens!! It was a historical moment and I am sorry I couldnt capture the moment on camera..since my cam was in the room!!!

Yayyayayyyeyeeee...my room is unlocked now!!!

Turns out, my knight in shining armour is Abhay.. :))


Three cheers to him!!

Day 3: Crisis hits again

It feels like I am in a movie..I m locked outta my own bedroom. I came up to make dinner and then after, when I went to the room, it was frigging closed.Bam..just like tht.I almost feel homeless, coz thts my comfort zone.Well, i dont want to crib, since the best thing that happened was, I have access to the kitchen, the loo..I cant imagine otherwise..I m waiting for hubby dear, my knight in shining armour to come and do the needful.
I was a bit under the weather today, so my aspiration of wallowing in bed under the blanket has gone down the drain!!!
But I am going to take this opportunity and make the most of it and read the newspaper online just to get in touch with reality!!
Nothing much happened today..I went and got an a/c opened..which was piece of cake!!
So tht is tht..I hope tomorrow's day goes uneventful!!

Hmm..I hate pressure cookers

Have u ever feared something so much that u get recurrent nightmares about it..Or maybe some premonition tht what u fear might just come true one day!!
Well i am one of the lucky ones, which live the nightmare to tell the story.
I always , i mean i always had this strong almost maniacal fear (among others), about a mishap with the mighty pressure cooker. Have heard many tales about it and have always cautioned people about it!!
This morning, I woke up, and like any dutiful wife, was preparing breakfast. And decided to cut time and cook some dal for lunch. Little did I know what was in store for me..The cooker was a bit funny. For starters, the damn thing didnt have a handle. The "washer" was slimy and a bit wobbly..well anyway, to cut a long story short, the damn thing just blew up..and i was covered with dal, the carpet, the fridge, the walls, the chair, the damn kande poha ka saucepan, the rice cooker..everything got a whiff of the dal..Hahahhaa..It was hilarious and scary at the same time..I mean, its my 2nd day in Kiwiland and this..I ran down to get Satyu, who was blissfully sleeping his way thru tht bursting sound..He didnt register any shock when I told him what happend.. Even me covered from head to toe with the dal didnt unsettle him. He looked as if I had dal stuck to my hair everyday..I ran into the bath and poor husband vacuumed the carpet..
Well lot of stuff happened after that..I mean just the boring, cleaning and all that...
We went to the P.O after that to get my IRD..And after that Satyu took me to the community library which is a stone's throw away from where we live. Oh it was magnificent..so many books..it was as big as the British council library or bigger..Hmmmmnnnnnn..it felt amazing to be surrounded by so many books.
So after tomorrow, u know where to find me if I m not around..
They had free internet access as well..so maybe i will next connect from there :))
Yday, i forgot to mention , we went to a coin operated car wash..it was fun..U put in a coin, and use the hose and manually select the prog: like a rinse/foam.wax/high pressure water/low pressure/enginewash/tire wash..and u simply drive away with ur dripping car and let the natural forces to do the drying bit..
Well that is that for today..I was a bit shaken up this morning due to the killer cooker..But hell no, i m not taking this sitting down!! :)))
The accomapnying pix are of the accident , post accident and the victim's photo and also the offender's pic!!
I have also put up some home pix for u guys to see!!
And yes, Gauri, this is irony for u..I have cooked my entire life and got attacked by this disabled cooker. And satyu who has just started to cook was working with this cooker for the past year or so, and nothing went wrong with him!!!

My first day in Kiwiland..

I still cannot believe it..I am finally living with Satyu in our rented unit in Auckland. After almost a year of marital life spent with lots of ups and downs, thanx to Skype, in 2 seperate countries, me in India and he here, it feels s wee bit strange to live together..I knw, its uncanny.. The flight to Auckland was quite unincidental, and also the Immigration thingie at the arrival, despite Satyu warning me with stuff like, they bombard u with questions etc. He strongly felt that I looked like a tourist and also looked raw so I was going to be picked on by the officals..Luckily nothing happened and since we had no food stuff to declare, we sailed outta the airport within a few minutes. Of course, Satyu was stopped by one offical who was conducting random PP checks.I guess he looked raw and new and not me..Well to my utter delight, Satyu was questioned and not me.. ;)
After being picked up by a couple of his friends, we arrived in the new house (new for me, not for him) in a quaint neighbourhood.
There were many strange things that struck me, especially after spending every breathing moment of my life in Mumbai...One such thing was, the cars on the roads dont honk at all..Not at all..I mean, hellooo, dont we horn back home for everything, from grabbing someone's attention to kinda abuse or yell at some idiotic driver who has managed to annoy us.. Looks like the cars here arent fitted with horns..
The other strange bit was, that, when u look in any given direction, and if u see 10 human beings, outta them, 8 are asians (either Indian, Chinese, Japanese or maybe even Koreans) and the 2 remaining are some westerners..
The other strange thing was the sunlight.At 8.30 pm, 20.30 hours..the sun was shining down brightly at us..It was un nerving. I had a similar experience in the UK, in the past, but I had forgotten the feeling..I mean can u fathom that u have to squint out at the sun at 7 in the eveing. Or that we were using our sun glasses at * on the evebning. And it was so chilly..I was feeling cold, and I still am..I am constantly in Satyu's jacket and they it is Summer. Siiighhh I am awaiting the Winter..yaayyyeee..no no...i wish it was summer the entire year..
Satyu took me around to a place (it was a mix of a store and a mini mall), something like spencer or food bazaar in the evening, since we needed some knick knacks..And I played the awed foreigner and felt like one of the kids who was selected for a visit to Charlie's factory in the Wonka movie..Man..the variety of meats, cheeses, drinks, and what not.U name it and there were at least 20 options available. I mean, i know we have got Our Inorbits and Hypercities and Big Bazaars, but really, u had to see this store to believe me.I had to fight solid urges to buy some really redundant things, which I thought were very important to me. But Satyu, my saviour strongly restrained me and so we ended up buying stuff tht was really needed.
We had a coupla beers once we got back home and some chicken that his friend had cooked for us..Dont want to sound biased but the Carlsberg tasted awesome..Not something like what I had consumed in India..
When we hit the bed, I dont know what hit me and we slept staright thru the night and woke up at 6.30 am. After making calls back home, I decided to dish up some nice 's breakfast. To my horror, Satyu's ill equipped kitchen and "flat jada" pohas (with which he expected me to make "kande pohe") were a dampener.But we didnt let tht come our way and I made cheese omelets after battling with the flat plate cooking range. It just shows how u need to be versatile and that kitchen gadgets need to be mastered desptie the face tht u have cooked in ur entire life almost every day. I was almost ready to throw a tantrum when i couldnt fathom the range.But I managed somehow and after a hurried b/f, went to the market.

Satyu was quite eager to show me the St.Luke's mall which is like "the" happening place here in Sandringham. It was impressive with so many shops and what not. I mean, its like walking thru Inorbit, u knw, but it felt good to be surrounded by the festive season preps.. We walked into the post office (ya ya..the P.O. was inisde the mall). It was a neat place and I was completely bowled over by it. There was a neat display of all sizes and shapes of envelopes with bubble wrap and simple envelopes and envelopes with return confirmation and big ones and small ones..u name it..u think of sending something, and bam..there it was the ebnvelope.. Its funny the things we sometimes take for granted..Back home, we have standard shpaes and sizes for eveyrthing..I am not in the comparison mode here,,just observations..
Also, in neat displays were forms of all kinds .The offical bits..Like we had gone to get the REGO (the registration of Satyu's car), which has to be updated bi annually, I think..And all u have to do is pick out the form u require, stand in the queue and await ur turn and simply hand it over and u r sorted. When it was our turn, Aashoo (the attendant) informed us, that the WOF (warrant of fitness) had also expired. She informed us that the REGO clndt be processed of we didnt get our WOF updated. She was sweet and she asked us to get it done, and when we would return, she asked us to skip the queue and heaqd staright to her at the windiow. We went to get the WOF done at some place in Richardson street at an Indian garage.
When we gto back to the P.O., there was another long queue, bieng the weeks leading to Christmas..and no Aashoo at any window. Ironically, when it was our turn, Aashoo returned from her break and was our attendant again.
The experience was super. Maybe the warmth which she spoke to us or the amazing customer service they oofered. I mean can u imagine walking into any of our P.Os? They are so dinghy and damp and the emplyoees dont smile at all and make u feel that they were God's best creations and make u regret because u sort of irked them by asking about the shipping charges or whatevr,..
Its 7.30 pm now..the sun is causing the shadows to play with the curtains in the room. The clock on Satyu's laptop is set to Indian toime and it feels real starnge to see 1124 am there and leaqves me wondering what everyone is doing back home..
I m missing everything down to the packed straight lane to the higway, from the fish makrte smells to the old maids sitting at the katta to Mayuri to Leela bai to Naala to the walks in the society to Athaan's playful shrieks, to Aaai baba's regular debates (i m being politically correct ;)) to my Saurabh's whistle to Tejas's loud horn and firing of his bike to Vidya's phone calls to the random discussions we used to have (me and Gauri) to Tanvi, Tejas and Neem and Manu's tea and Maithu's nautankis to the gym and the swimming pool and parle markets to the trains and to Dad's ring toner and caller tune and of course... ;)))
Well having said all of this, I feel, that I have finally come home. where my partner is and our small home is..trying to 'play" house with Satyu..
I can rightly say, the game has begun..Our very own 'bhatuklee'...

Enjoy enjoy enoy enjoy!!!!!!!!

Flu flies to a farm

Since last week or more than that I think, Mumbai is overcome with waves of panic caused due to a tiny virus leading to swine flu... I sort of somehow, got caught up by this virus's subordinate and was down with the chills, body ache etc..After attending Krishna's birthday party (which my dad and other family members celebrate every year since I remember) I came home and realized that something was wrong with me. Thats when it struck me that the wisest thing to do was stay put in bed with some antibiotic in my bloodstream. It was so bad, that I couldnt do something simple like "reading" too without feeling fatigued.Then I tried watching a movie..Only the presence of Johnny Depp in it (Sweeney Todd) gave me the strength to watch it till the end...Restless that I am, I went online and after re reading all emails and updates (from FB to Yahoo), I saw an update from a friend asking me to join some sort of a game on FB.Usually, I downright ignore all such requests..But somehow ( i wd call it Providence, I just finished reading Agatha Christie, hence the word :), I ended up on that particular page and I was intrigued by the content and the rest of the stuff that was in it.
At the onset, I thought it quite silly..Humbug..actually. But as I explored it, the more fascinated I got with it.
Its very simple. You role play a farmer, build your own farm, grow ur animals. Harvest crops. And all the stuff that comes along with farming..Its simply fannntttttabuuulloousss.
Its like living a double life, you know, the real one, in the city with all the problems of life and the society and another virtual life, where your worry is weeds, dry leaves and crows. I never thought that mulching cows, bleating sheep, whinnying horses, clucking hens, ripe strawberries and pumpkins and the fruit trees would give me so much joy. :)
I asked vidya, neem and Satyu to participate..and now at this minute, I am a proud farmer and own 3 sheep, 6 cows, one pig, 2 rabbits and now am eagerly waiting for my pumpkins to grow and yes, I have got to go to the market to buy seeds for rice..and sigh have to utilize my cash to expand my farm, since its growing by leaps and bounds..
And O what joy, to worry and fret about which crop to farm and harvest... :)))
A happy-modern-altruistic-young-city bred farmer...
Oh yes, the name of the game is "farm ville"....