Thursday, 30 September 2010



An Oriya love song goes like this .."Kaho lo tu kaho gori, kiye sundara, tu sundara ki mu sundara, kiba toro moro jodi sundara...Kaho lo kaho gori kiye sundara..?

It means "O fair one, tell me, who is more beautiful, is it you or is it me? Or is it the pair of us?



p.s. Sorry,my layout has gone for a toss.

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Sound of Music, nostalgia lane anyone?

There is an SVC connection.

Anywho, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and the 7 "von Trapp" children will be on Oprah on Oct 29th.

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/28/the-sound-of-music-cast-to-reunite-on-oprah/?hpt=Sbin

Wow, its been that long, eh? Hmmm, how soon life fleets by.

Monday, 27 September 2010

Experiments with Water

Probably one day i will get it right...!

RENDEZVOUS AT NAVY LAND

Trrrrrrrrng ! Preferred to keep my mob's tone the vintage Indian Telephone Industries ' hoob-a -hoo. It was Deb on the line !
Deb: Naresh can u come down for a sip at the Eastern Naval Command !
Me: O ya ! sure we mortals would certainly ! To know what exists beyond !
Called up Sushil, who readily agreed to the proposition.
We were off in my ' Khatara' Alto jumping cesspools, road-dividers, meandering thru the serpentine cantonment roads , wary not to disturb the sentries at each imposing entrance.
You have the Krishna gate, the kakatiya gate , the entrance to the Naval dockyard and then ENC.
Huge British Archetypes - the entrance- bathing in halogens. We were standing at the entrance with car parked in no-man's land and knees knocking lest the guards point their AKs' thinking we were a couple of Jihadists reconnoitring at the entrance.
To our relief DEB came waving out and flashed his card to the guards, a crisp salute , and we were inside the bastion !
It was a different world altogether untainted by the pel mel and 'produshan' of the modern world. After coasting thru the backwater docks, squash courts, open lawns for officers we finally settled into for the evening SIP at their officers haunt AND LOST INTO NOSTALGIA !
JAI HIND !

Saturday, 25 September 2010

Friday, 24 September 2010

Photo of the Year Contest

Feels good to share this with you... One of my photograph got selected by Fotoflock.com (an Epson managed site) for the "Photo of the Year 2010" contest. Please visit the website and REMEMBER to VOTE (click on the stars), apart from a comment. Thanx...

This is what the website states: 15,607 entries... 48 stunning photos and one deserving winner...

Go here to vote:

About me:

List of contenders:

Jab We Met Dwiteeye...Tweeteeye...Chautha...Panchum...(haven't kept an account of the number)

When I meet Imtiaz Ali next I'll tell him how indebted we SVC Bloggers are to him for letting us lay claim again and again to the title of his hitt’est’ film. (I'm not phenkoing, he really is related to me). The latest sequel happened when the intelligent Stanley arrived here to offer his training expertise to some dilettantes from Bhubaneswar. Really don't know if those green kids became any wiser with his lectures but by the time Stan left, Sarita, Debu, Shanker and I had got a few lessons in face reading. Actually it doesn’t make sense to take off our ‘Met’ing from mid-runway point so let me begin at the beginning.

I get a call from Sarita that Stanley Babu is in town and wants us to have yet another mini-meet…

’....but this time in a hotel please’…..are both their refrains as they seriously feel that it isn’t fair that I should play host every time. But hey, Stanley is Baby Auntie’s son and if any child of Mummy’s best’est’ friend came and left without paying respects to her, there will be a murder in my house. I tell him that. But they are both insistent and want to pick up something so we can all can have a Guilt Free Pot Luck Meet.

What should I get’ each wants to know.

Really you don’t have to get anything. Shanker will mind and..’….

NO, NO, NO,NO.. we want to

Okay then, just get some rolls or noodles or kababs or something’.

So Sarita arrives with a bagful of chicken rolls enough to feed an entire starving army from Ethiopia. And Stan arrives with noodles. I am inside informing Mom that Baby's Son has finally arrived. Baby's Son probably hands over the bag of noodles to Nargis's Husband.

‘You shouldn’t have bothered’ Husband the perfect host, probably says.

'No problem' the cool dude actually says. Nargis asked me to get them’…..

WHAAAAAAAT??!!!

And my perfect host husband comes in and gives me a how-on-earth-can-you-ASK-the- poor-fellow-to-GET-something kind of demeaning look. As I am unaware of what just happened, I smile. Really don'k know what kind of training Stan dishes out to the kids but I bet there is not a spoonful of tact in it Hmmmmmph!!

And then the fun begins!! Stanley shows off his special face reading skills, which he's just learnt from some especial face reader. He also teaches us mango people (aam aadmi) the finer nuances of this talent. He looks at Shanker.

‘Your nose says that you are a good financial officer’. And we all go WOW!

He looks at me.

- ‘You’ve tampered with your eyebrows (I mean who doesn't Stan??)If not I’d have read what your eyebrows say’. Even as my shy eyebrows recede into my scalp the others go..WOW and nearly give him a BOW!!

Next Sarita and I try out our hand at this unique skill.

‘Your ears say that you are a good quizzer Stan says I.

Your eyes say that you have two lovely daughters Stan’ says Sarita.

'OMG You two sure are fast learners 'says Stan's amazed expression.

And then he reads some more faces and reveals some more interesting facts that nearly starts a spousal battle. Then I relate a script. About Jab I Met Henry- A sure blockbuster if Imtiaz decides to make it. And then we eat. And then we drink. And then we make merry talk. And then we start getting calls. National and International!!

We all wonder how Vimal, Lakshmi, Henry and Sancheyta ring up in succession to find out what is going on in Bhubaneswar. I almost switch on the TV to see if news of the SVC meet is splashed out in the Headlines Today. How could they know? I mean ONLY VIMAL knows. And then we all get Sherlocky and figure out. If ONLY VIMAL knows, the whole of his ‘Postcard’ knows!!

Sorry guys, I'm coming to the blog after a long break and as I scroll down I see lots of Happy Birthdays have gone by. So here's wishing all the Birthday boys and girls many more to come. May you grow younger every day and may you keep blogging :-}

Dalma Thalee - Unglee Lickin' Good!

 
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Sunday, 19 September 2010

That's Enarkay and self at our club on Dolphin's Hill at Vizag, when he came visiting. Got too dark, so couldn't shoot the sea vistas.

LICENSE TO DRILL!



With our daughter on her Grad Day.
She is a full fledged dentist now!
How time flies!!

Friday, 10 September 2010

Sera... My Boxer


Sera... my cute little docile pet... May pounce on you if need be :-)

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

A Billion Plus and Counting...

"All things considered" is not just a phrase

Wow, what a breath of fresh air. Unless, the guy has an agenda (hope he doesn't), he takes open-mindedness to a new level.

Warning: Nothing obscene ;-)

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/07/my-take-jesus-loves-porn-stars/?hpt=C2

In case URL does not work, was on CNN today Sept 7th.

Happy Birthday - Rama Krishna Rao Nabhi

Monday, 6 September 2010

Wohi Hota hai Jo Manjure Khuda Hota Hai

However perfectly we plan our day, week, month, year or our entire life there is always an element of uncertainty. But still we leave no stone unturned for that perfect planning and expect the plan to work perfectly.

My daughter's mom-in-law who is 68 years of age and is having a number of health problems, was all excited about a trip to south where they would visit temples at Kumbhakonam and Tanjore, visit my sister at Vellore and attend a wedding at Bangalore. We would join her at Vellore and from there on would travel together to Bangalore. Everything was perfectly planned. The tickets, the hotels, the site seeing, the food, the gifts etc etc. She planned the sarees she would wear, the people she would meet, the shopping she would do etc etc.

They visited Kumbakonam and Tanjore and reached Vellore. They were all so happy and charged up. Suddenly everything changed in a fraction of a second. She tripped and fell down and she fractured her hip bone and femur. She is is admitted to CMC hospital at Vellore and was operated on 1st Sept. Now she is recovering. I admire her positive thinking. Though in terrible pain she has put a brave front. She says that she is lucky to get treatment in CMC, Vellore which is supposed to be one of the best hospital for orthopaedic treatment.My son-in-law and myself stayed back in Vellore and will be back to Mumbai once she is in a position to be taken there.

I had my own plans. Apart from attending the wedding I had planned to meet some of my office colleagues who are there. I was also excited that I will be able to meet Stanely, Rayla and Shamim miss if it was convenient to them. I took the numbers from Vimal and thot of calling them up once I am at Bangalore. But........

Wohi Hota Hai Jo Manjure Khuda Hota Hai.






Sunday, 5 September 2010

The teacher being taught !

Heya everyone!
Today is "Teacher's Day " in India !!!!
There 's no way I can stay quiet ,can I ?
Happy Teacher's Day to me to us !
To those who taught me and to those who I taught.
Actually, what I wanted to say was that I want to thank
all you who taught me what life was all about!
To my very dear students who taught me how to laugh,
How to be patient......
And especially how to to love unconditionally...
I loved (absolutely!) being ur T.... and right now,
am basking in the glory of those very precious days.
Remember, what we give....comes back to us in more ways than one!!!!!!

Saturday, 4 September 2010

With Love Regards and Respect

It has only been six years after my own schooling and I'm already thinking where have all my schoolmates gone. When Anil bhaiya told me about mummy's school blog, I couldn't help getting excited thinking how it must be to meet, greet and talk to schoolmates you haven't contacted in (gasp) decades. Ever since, I've been keenly following this blog and I am amazed and continuing to be amazed at how 35+ years after finishing school, you've come together to relive those wonderful memories.

If you're wondering who I am, may I introduce myself. I'm Manasa, Lakshmi Patro's niece. It's weird calling myself her niece because I call her "mummy", and rightly so. She's my second mom. I've practically spent half my summer vacations in Mumbai, at mummy's place. And going to Mumbai always means lots and lots and lots of masti. Mummy's now in Vellore, at my place, and right from day 1 of her arrival here, it has been a laugh riot. She has an incredibly amazing talent of having people around her in splits. Now now, this shouldn't be new news to you, is it?Can't help wondering how mummy was while she was a little girl wearing a cute little pinafore hopping along to school.

Four months after following the blog, I now find myself eagerly waiting for Arun Bhatt's giggle inducing posts and comments, Vimal Parmar's amazing photographs, Faiyaz's interesting observations and puns, Ranjana, Nargis, and everybody else's anecdotes, and of course my mummy's posts which is why I'm reading them in the first place. Just wanted to let you all know that you guys are doing a great job keeping those memories alive, making this blog such a fun place to be, hoping that maybe one day, some day, I'll have my school blog reliving memories when I am as old...no, wait... as young as you.

Have fun you guys, and keep this wonderful blog going.

With Love, Regards, Respect (and all the feelings I feel for the contributors to this blog)
Manasa

Wednesday, 1 September 2010

Meeting Ms.Brenda after 34 years...

Miss Brenda was my class teacher. The photgraph on top was taken in 1976. The li'l girl in front is my cousin.
The coloured photograph was taken a few days back outside Mumbai Airport. She was here along with her son Borg for a few days... and I could just manage to catch up with her for an hour or so. She is still the same... So caring and affectionate.
And of course, look at the pictures once again... How time flies...!
I must thank Louis who put in the efforts to locate Ms.Brenda... It took him almost half a day (which included taking inputs from the local post office) to finally zero upon Ms.Brenda's residence in Kerala from where he obtained her current contact details.
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