CTT: Happy Father's Day, Appa

He cried when I cried

He stayed up all night to play with me, and went to work next morning while I slept peacefully

He got himself no new shirt, but brought me three new dresses instead

He taught me to make soap bubbles, He did it to make me smile

He stood in a long queue even while his legs ached to get me in a good school

We grew up together.

I turned rebellious, He turned more understanding

I screamed, He listened

I cried, He hugged

I left him & went with my friends while he sat home alone

We grew up more

A very old picture 

I started to go to work, while he ended his tenure

I had problems, he gave me all his support

I was anxious, he taught me patience

We grew up some more

He found someone who would love me more

I was time for me to go and he cried more

Guess we never grew up

He still calls me "Child"

He still worries for me

His little girl, I will always be, lucky I am to have you around me

Appa, I love you, I always do, for everything you have done. Thank you

Happy Father's Day Appa. 

CTT: Most Confusing Question in my life

Bangalore is one of the most versatile city I have been in. People from all over the country are here.

So, its very normal for people to ask "Whats your native?"

And that is the most confusing question of my life.

Why?

Well, I am born and brought up in Mumbai so I am a Maharastrian . I am an Iyer. My mother and father are from Kumbakonam & Pallakad respectively so I am partly from Tamil Nadu & Kerala. I am married to a guy from Chennai, so I am a Chennaite and I stay in Bangalore, so that makes me a bit of Kannadiga.

I can speak Marathi, Hindi, Iyer Tamil. I can speak not-so-fluent Chennai Tamil and Gujarati (staying in Mulund among Gujaratis helped). I can understand Malayalam & Kannada but cant speak both.

So, I just say I am a Cocktail.

Where are you from and Whats your native is not always an easy question to answer.

#DAshTalks Hair Color

I was super excited this Sunday. I have been thinking of getting a highlight on my hair for a while now and today I really got it done.
I was super scared, apprehensive & thought about going grey & bald, but when I saw the results I was dancing inside my head
I rushed home to surprise the husband

Me: Do I look different?

Awin: of course, your expensive facial is making your face glow

Me: Anything else?

Awin *blank look*

Me: Hint. Hair

Awin: oh, there is something on your hair

Me: DO. I. LOOK. DIFFERENT?

Awin *Blank look*

Me *resigned* I colored my hair

Awin: Oh, I thought the guy painting near the elevator dropped some paint on your hair. I was going to ask you to wash it off. Seriously

Me *raised hands* why did I even ask?

Story Story 6: Birthday

"I miss you" came the sms on his phone after three years.

Should I reply? Should I not?
Does she really miss me?
these were the thoughts that were running in his mind.

He missed her every single day. He missed her smile. He missed holding her hand and walking with her.
He was badly hurt the day she went away with that man. That day he promised that she would never talk to her or see her face ever again but he never stopped loving her.

*Ping* chimed his phone again

It was her name on the mobile phone screen again,.
"Happy Birthday" was the sms this time.

He held the phone so tight, that his palms turn red, any more pressure and the screen would have cracked.
With a small whisper he said to himself "She remembers"

In heart of hearts, he knew that he would gladly accept her back, but was a bit egoistic to make the first move.

The door bell rang with a shrill that resonated all over the house.

Slowly, he got up from his chair, with his head filled with her thoughts and opened the door to find her there with a cake and a little girl in her arms and tears in her eyes.

He was stunned, happy, confused. He didn't know how to react. She smiled and said

"Happy Birthday Dad"

And the little girl with her echoed "Happy Birthday Grandpa"

A young man stepped from behind her "Happy Birthday Dad"

On his 75th birthday, he got a the most precious gift. He got his daughter back. He got his family back

#DAshTalks His Phone My Answer

Awin, the husband has been bit with the "Elementary" series bug and has downloaded all the episodes and diligently watches them almost every evening.

So, seeing him with the laptop & earphone stuck to his ears & eyes glues to the screen is very normal.
Whenever, I want to talk to him, I pull off one of the earphones from his ear, say what I want to and plug it back into his ear

Me: Dinner at 9pm ok?

Awin: Sure

Me: I have made malai kofta and roti

Awin: Sure

Me: Let's go for that Batman movie this weekend

Awin: Sure

Me: The nuclear missile is standing in our balcony

Awin: Sure

Me: I flushed your phone

Awin: What the..? Did you? I know you are capable of it? but did you? 

His phone is the answer to all my pray-ears

CTT: Car-fidence Gone

PC: Me @Sakleshpur Taken with Samsung S6

I got my driving license about a year back (Don't ask me how)
But, I can't drive

Well, I went to the driving classes, drove around empty roads when everyone is sleeping in their houses & thought that now I am a good driver.

How wrong I was when I was put in a real life traffic situation.

Scene 1

Very enthusiastically, I asked my husband that I wanted to drive in pitch Bangalore traffic.

I drove nicely, slowly on the extreme left of the road. At one point, near a tech park which is also a very heavy vehicular & traffic zone and also had a bus-stop..Guess where? On the extreme left, the left where I am supposed to be driving.

So, there is a traffic cop, he stopped the traffic, I braked the car in between two buses.

Buses honking, traffic cop screaming, walking people screaming, other vehicles honking. My husband who was in the passenger seat couldn't get out, because the bus was so close to my car that the door wont open.

There I was with cold hands and feet, a stalled car, honking people and big tears in my eyes. I think I started crying so bad that the cop might have actually pitied my poor embarrassed husband.

That day I lost a part of my confidence.

Scene 2

Weekend. Wide roads. Thin traffic. Sounds ideal for a rookie driver.
Well, it was ideal until we hit the red signal. I braked and stopped nicely at the red signal. But, I couldn't get my car started again.
The signal changed to Green 5 times, and I was still there.

Again my limbs ran cold, my eyes started tearing up, my husband beside me came in his consoling mode.

After a point, the other drivers realized that a no-good driver is sitting in the red car.

That day, I almost lost all of my confidence.

Scene 3

I wanted to boast my driving skills to daddy dearest. I took the car out in Mumbai, with husband next to me & Dad on the back seat. Again I stalled the car at a crucial turn, creating a choc-o-block. Though I managed to get my car started, after a million abuses.
On the rear view mirror, I saw my Dad terrified and clutching the seat covers so hard that I am sure his nails would have bore holes in that cover.

Scene 4

My car was parked on an incline, I wanted to take it to my husband so that he could avoid walking in the sun. I tried to reverse it with textbook technique, no one told me that I have to put extra accelerator on the incline. So, instead of going back my car went forward stood tilted like a peeing dog on the flower bed of my building. When my husband came back, he saw the car standing on three wheels with a scratch on the left head light.

Moral of the Scenes are; basically, I have lost my confidence in driving, and every time my husband urges me to drive, I make excuses and avoid it.
I so, want to drive. I seriously do. But, I can't gather guts to sit on the driver seat anymore.

God Help Me, Amen!

A-Z: Survivor's Reflections

This was my first A to Z Challenge and I immensely enjoyed writing every post.
The theme I chose for this was Colors.
I used to research every evening for the color I plan to write the next day & writing the post & publishing them on the social networks was super exciting.
I wrote every post on my way to work and posted it between 7.45 am and 9 am IST.

What I learnt?

Colors is not as easy as I thought it would be

Every shade of the combination of Red, Green & Blue have a name

Even the shades of Red, Green & Blue have names

Some similar looking colors with very minute shade variations have a different name

Researching gave me the origination, reason, meaning of the color

I am good at short poems

The readers around the world, the people who comment are the biggest encouragement to write more a better

All in all, I loved the concept & if all goes well, I look forward to participate again next year too.

I am a punctual A-Z Survivor.

A-Z: Zomp

Zomp
PC: colorfinddata

This is the last day of the A-Z Challenge & I wanted to finish is with a different color & I am finishing this challenge with a 'Zomp'

Well, Zomp is a color from the Spring Green family. Its a shade of Cyan. Its 66% saturated & 65% bright. It was formed in 2007. (Baby color)

Poem

Its not the color that is fascinating
But, the name Zomp that is amazing

Zomp, the baby color, 2007 born has a zing to it
For the new age, it is a perfect fit

If ever, I have pets in life
I am going to name then Cyan & Zomp

This post is written for A-Z Challenge - April 30th - Color Zomp

A-Z: Yellow

PC: My house & my hand made crochet wind-chime

Summer is here

With happiness and cheer

Color for my house was looking so boring 

So, I added a little yellow & orange to do a little cheering

Pretty yellow curtains & orange side lamp

A cute hand made, crochet chime, up the ramp

Airy balcony & beautiful sunshine

All the revamping effort is mine

While I stand here and admire my house

"Awesome work" says my spouse

This post is written for A-Z: 29th April: (Color Yellow)

Short Story: Interview with the Ex - Part 2

In part 1, she gets a call from the old company for an interview again with the same department and the same boss who was never very nice with her.

Part 2 is about the day of the interview

She slept, that night with the interview call and the dialogues in her head. She carefully chose her best silk blouse and a smart expensive pant suit for the interview, with her diamond stud earrings.

She lay on her bed and said This time I am going to kill it

The next morn, she took her car to the interview and in her head she thought. A year back, I used to take the bus and reach all tired and sweaty This little thought made her chuckle.

Tee Infotech' the board stared in front of her face. The logo of the company had changed. She had liked the classy black logo with a Serif font. This one screamed 'desperate' on its face. She didn't like the new orange & green font at all. Hell, it was Tee Infotech not a Tutti Fruitti ice cream company. But why should she care. She is no longer working over here. Her current business card read 'Head of Marketing, Datasyst'. Had it not been the urge to meet her ex-boss... the chance to see him just once more... she wouldn't have thought of coming over here.

The security of the office recognized her. She was the only employee who used to speak to every person in the office.

Everything in this office still looked the same. She entered the office to see a new receptionist.

Her: I am here to meet Mr. Shateer Neygi

Here she was rehearsed thinking what she would say as soon as she met him... and this unknown lady was making her wait for 600 odd seconds. Great!

While she was lost in her thoughts, the receptionist hung up her intercom and said, Mr. Neygi will see you now.

She knew the way to Shateer Neygi's cabin. She had spent hours inside that room in the past. And even the uninitiated could read those block letters on the door of his cabin. She knocked the door

Come in, said the familiar voice with a deep baritone

In barely a few seconds minutes, she was ushered into the ex-boss's office. The boss shot an appreciative look towards her.

Boss: Hi, nice to see you again

Mr. Neygi was a huge man by stature and a very powerful man in this field. His presence made her feel so small and the voice just vanishes. She could never call him by his name. She always addressed him as "sir" then. She gathers her fallen confidence and voice and says

Her: Good to see you too

Boss; So, I am looking out for a marketing assistant. Its a similar role you were doing a year back.

Her: Do you need a person as senior as me to do that job?

Boss: You were good at it

The conversation was going exactly as she had imagined in her head all this while, she thought about her achievements of this one year and her confidence shot up

Her: I am not good at it anymore, I am the best in this. She said with a satisfied smile

The boss had not expected this reply from this one time timid boring looking girl

Her: You see, after going from here, I worked with companies that have their policies in place. They treated me like I should be. My opinions were respected, I was in real the part of a team. It made me feel good and showed in my performance

Boss: You were getting paid 30000 per month when you left. I will give you 70 and a good joining bonus with it

In her head she thought, now, now I use my trump card dialogue.

Her *smiles triumphantly* I was earning 30000 per month when I left. Now, add one more zero after the last zero of 30000 is what I get now. I don't think this company can afford me any more.
Anyways, it was nice meeting you again Shateer. This might be the first time that she actually addressed him by his name.

*the girl in her head punched the air* shook his hand and walked away with wide smile.

A-Z: Xanadu

This is the color Xanadu
PC; colorcombos

Did you know that a color named Xanadu existed?
Well, I didn't

What is Xanadu?
It belongs to the green-grey family.

Where did the name come from?
Xanadu is a green-gray color that comes from a plant known as the Philodendron. The plant leaves are generally a green color with a tint of gray. This plant is widely seen in Australia, but it is said that the plant got its name from Xanadu, which was an ancient city located in Inner Mongolia, China.

What does Xanadu say about itself?

I am on of those rare ones who start with X

I am unique but look dull, like the suits of the execs

I am sold outside with a fancy name like gun metal

But, I am Xanadu in real

This post is written for A-Z April 28th (X for Xanadu)

A-Z: White

PC: Flickr

White was the winter
Cold was the snow
That day you promised me love

White was wedding gown
White was our honeymoon town
That day we made love

White was the diamond ring
White were the sheets, on the day of spring
That day our baby was born

White were the lies people said
White was the car hit, on the white seat we bled
That day was when I saw my life in a flash

White was the winter again
Cold was the snow again
Just like the day you promised love, we now lay buried 6 feet under the ground

This post is written for A-Z: April 27th (Color: White)

A-Z: Vermilion

PC: wikipedia

This post, this color holds an emotional value to me. It is a shade of red, and also the color of "Sindoor"

Sindoor is  is traditionally applied at the beginning or completely along the center parting-line of a woman’s head or as a dot on the forehead. Sindoor is the mark of a married woman in Hinduism. 

The sindoor is first applied to the woman by her husband on the day of her wedding.

Fun fact about sindoor: In hindi movies, when a man applies the sindoor on the girl's head she becomes his wife.

Sindoor is normally Vermilion in color.

Like every girl I had a dream of getting married someday
Like every girl I loved the moment when the groom put the vermilion kumkum on the bride's head, while the holy music play

Then came that moment, when I had tears in my eyes, when you put that vermilion on my forehead 
Promising love, in that moment, all unsaid

One of the few moments that I will cherish all my life
It is the day, when I became your wife

This post is written for A-Z: April 26th (Color: Verimilion)

CTT: My Make-up kit

This Sunday, after a many weekends I was at home relaxing, nothing to do. The idiot box had nothing to watch. The afternoon was too hot to go out. So I decided to browse some girly, make-up videos on youtube.

I realized a few things,

1. I do not own or know the names of half the things

2. I do not own a lip pencil or a liquid lipstick, in fact I do not own a decent lipstick apart from the one I got during my wedding

3. I do not know or have an eyebrow plucker

4. I didn't know that there is something called as a fake eyelash.

5. My mascara is as old as my mother and I threw it. I didn't know that mascara is supposed to have different brushes

6. My make up collection is humble kohl, eyeliner, and a fruity shine gloss

Me: I don't own half of these make-up thingys

Awin: Really? Then what takes you so long to get ready every morning

Me: I sleep in the bathroom

Awin: Ahh, the secret is out now

Me: Aren't you supposed to say, I don't need these because I look pretty and something like that

Awin *in a fake monotone*: Ok, You don't need all these, you look pretty. Happy?

Me *sighs, shuts the laptop* Ok I give up, Want to watch a movie?

A-Z: Ultramarine

So, I did not know colors from U. So obviously, I hit Google, searched and I realized something. Every shade of every combination of Red, Blue, and Green has a name.

PC: colornamefacts

The color that I have chosen is "Ultramarine" 

It is a deep, beautiful, brilliant shade of blue that I was referring to all these days as "That pretty blue"

Since it is a shade of Blue - The quantity of Blue is maximum than red and green which are more or less under the 20's

What I remember when I see this color?

I remember the day my eyes fell on it

Lovely blue,flowy and so beautiful with little twinkles on it

It was like, the color had the voice of it own

It was seducing to the core

It was calling me, to try it on

It was wanting me to feel it

I knew, by hook or by crook I had to own it

I opened my purse, so see cobwebs formed in them

It was heartbreaking to leave and go

I reached home with a heavy heart

A wrapped gift  with a white ribbon was sitting on my couch

It was from Mom 

I opened the gift to find the same pretty blue saree

With loud cheer, a jump in the air and a tear of happiness 

I ran to Mom and said "You are God, Aren't you?"

This post is written for A-Z: April 25th (Color: Ultramarine)

A-Z: Teal

PC: miriadna

Teal: It is a deep; blue green color

Fun fact about Teal: The name of this color is derived from the color of the eyes of the common teal from the duck family

Early this morning, with the teal color sky
Fluffy cotton clouds flying by
I sit on the rock near the pond and sigh
I see colorful ducks and a crane fly
I wonder, if these ducks know that the color of the sky is similar to their eyes

This post is written for A-Z: April 23rd (Color Teal)

A-Z: Saffron

PC: yming

This is the color I have been waiting to write. 

I am an Indian & proud to be one
Saffron, White and Green is my pride

I keep my hand on my heart when I sing my national anthem
It is to show that my heart belongs to them

I am proud of our soldiers
I am proud of my engineers here & abroad

I am proud of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai
Though I preferred their names to be Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras

India is the only country that is referred as "Her"
She is mother, She is forever

The saffron on my flag represents strength and courage
Today, I want to thank every Indian, of every age

This post is written for A-Z: April 22nd (Color Saffron)

A-Z: Red

PC: Pintrest

Red is the color of love
Red is the color for passion
Red is the color for seduction

Red is the color of blood
Red is the color of danger
Red is the color of Satan

The color of red that I prefer, is the mark of the red lipstick
On the rim of the red wine

This post is written for A-Z: April 21st (Color Red)

Story Story: Interview with the Ex - Part 1

Her Samsung S7 Edge phone chimes inside her Michael Kors bag and her Samsung android watch says that it is an unknown number calling. But, that number looked very familiar. She plugs in her bluetooth headset and

Her: Hello

Caller: Hi, I am calling from Tee Infotech, you were working here right? We have an opening and thought, that you might be suitable for the role in the Marketing.  Can you come down for an interview?

She was not looking for a change, but the prospect of going back to that company, seeing her old boss & old colleagues was exciting though.

It has been more than a year that she quit, on good terms. 

And she had grown well in her career in that one year, earning six times more than what she was paid there, buying brands that she would have never dreamt of while working there.

It was a nice work place, the work was good, the people were fine, she made a lot of friends. But, her boss was somewhat aloof, her colleagues there did not include her in activities in spite of her friendly attitude..

She has had dialogues in her head with that boss a million times. 

After a long pause and a small sigh

Her: Ok, when?

Caller: At 10 am tomorrow, the same office, so you want me to sms you the address?

Her: No, I know the place 

Maybe this time, I can say those rehearsed dialogues loud

To Be Continued on Friday...

In the next part, she will go to the interview & we will see if she can actually voice out her dialogues

A-Z: Quartz Grey

Did you know that there is a color called Quartz Grey?

All I knew was Quartz being a rock, a colorless one. I did have to do some search on colors with Q since it is a very stupid alphabet that hardly has any known words starting with it.

Well, then I realized, the color Quartz is associated with Grey, Quartz Grey. It comes from the Grey family

The color Quartz Grey is similar to silver but with a tinge to it.

I also realized, that I keep seeing this color almost everyday, so many cars out there are Quartz Grey

Here is more information on this unique color that I came to know through A-Z Challenge. Thank you for enlightening me you A-Z Challenge guys

Quartz Grey

Car with Quartz Grey Exteriors
PC: sense the car

This post is written for A-Z: April 20th (Color: Quartz Grey)