At last !!! I finally get to blog!!! Man I was so desperate….. and it was about time!!! First good news I had been HOME!!! yes to PUNE !!! beloved Pune !!! beautiful Pune !!! I have already started missing it….. that means today the salt in the stuff I cook will be more than normal!!!

In the two days that I was there I managed to make dad very uncomfortable and as promised completely ruined his peace. I know that sounds blasphemous to you but believe me that is the only way you deal with the men folk in my home. He has lost three kilos which is totally mind boggling because after working out for two hours everyday for a month, not to mention all those motivational posters of body builders I have not been able to lose even one gram, rather put on two kilos. He is not feeling well!!! so I have coaxed and threatened and I would like to believe that I managed to put some fear in his heart which I hope will take him to the doctor…… at least he is talking things lightly right now…… which is accomplishment indeed for me.

I spent a long time with Ma….. guess what it was her birthday so I landed at home with a HUGE bunch of roses and a cake!!! It was a total surprise to her as she never celebrated her birthday before and let me tell you she totally enjoyed it. Of course it was heightened with the presence of my two beloved nieces.

The surprise party for her was a blast!!! She put on a new sari and dressed up in her finery and smiled for me to take lots of pics…… (Well I forgot to take my camera along but koi gal nahi….. mobile phone hai na…. though I am having a bad time sending all the pics to my mail id via gprs)She even cut the cake and blew the candle while we sang the traditional “happy birthday to you“!!! It was fun because for years she did just that for all of us. Dad was the one cribbing and telling us “You did not celebrate my birthday!!!” So this time I promised myself that I will celebrate all the birthdays and anniversaries!!! They can refuse me but I usually put the bandook on my little niece’s shoulders and shoot and they cant refuse her. Yes !!! along with being a person with anger management problems I also have a manipulating streak….. but as Lord Krishna said in Geeta (I hope he said that….. atleast that’s what I think I heard Ma say he said or was it shakespeare!!!) the end justifies the means !!!

By the way I have this on authority from Ma in one of my conversations with her that my grandma said that all the people from my family with anger management problems (100% of the members) are justified because they come from FAMILY OF ANGER (literal translation of the bengali phrase “raager barir maiyya”….. sounds weird) which in turn nullifies all the accusations of people who have in the past accused me of being a bad person because I lost my temper…… are you listening M??? I mean you…… especially you alongwith lots of others of course. I know you never read my blog all the more reason I can say what I feel but who cares I can say what I please…. atleast I am not maligning anybody!!!

Another very interesting conversation that I had with Ma was the about the arranged marriage business…… yes I say business because that is what it is…… negotiations, bargains, just like cutting any other deal….. well I will have to devote a whole post to it…… OK as I was saying the discussion was about the arranged marriage scenario then and now…… quite a thing actually, quite hilarious as well….. some of the stories had me, sisters and hubs in splits!!! I miss ma so much I wish I lived close-by then I would be able to spend more time with her.

I could see the whole thing was already affecting dad and ma’s mood and they were actually even being social with each other considering they had a terrible tiff some days back and don’t like each other very much at the moment but then I thought that if I make the effort I can make this a very routine affair after all within the family we have 14 occasions which include birthdays and anniversaries and if I club in festivals I can definitely hit a bingo of at least one a month!!! that should lift everybody’s spirits and get the family together more often….. not to mention my own selfish reason of having a legitimate reason to go to Pune every month. In any case if I can bring together 30 different people from different parts of the world and hold reunions why cant I do it within my own family where I get the added bonus of screaming, raving, ranting…… not to mention feeling grossly important and guess what getting away with it…..

For now I am in deep pits with Mumbai heat and load shedding and with the MTNL guys giving me grief over broadband and also the research proposal I am STILL working on also the research paper….. It will end someday!!! I am patient and trying to be optimistic….. something like touching the end of the rainbow….. who knows I might just be able to do it….. Fingers crossed!!! Amen!!!

guys don’t miss the arranged marriage post I cant promise it being fun but the way I heard it….. it was real fun!!! I hope I can reproduce it just the way I heard it!!!

You Take care till then
and have a wonderful weekend
see ya
Ranu