Thursday 2 April 2009

Me too!! I'm off too!

Inspired by Indyeah and Dhiren, I am taking the plunge too! Moving to wordpress! After lots of analyzing and hoping that Google will probably bring all the wordpress advantages to Blogger - I've decided - no more thinking! Time to move!



I can always import it all back if Google does improve blogger :)



I have no idea how it all works - its all a blank page as of now - but am I excited!!! Wordpress certainly does look like it has a lot of features.. Lets see how it all works out!



So please do add my new address to your blogrolls!



You can find me here at



http://wordsndreamz.wordpress.com/



and my feed at



http://wordsndreamz.wordpress.com/feed



See you all there!!!

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Trip to India - Photo post

This is a long overdue post.. that had been languishing in my drafts, incomplete, thanks to my to laziness and daughter's refusal to let me sit at the laptop...Anyways, finally, here it is..


I had to do a travelogue of my vacation.. Thought it would be fun to do a photo post, given the fact we actually travelled across India - even though we did not do too much of sightseeing - it was a very family affair :)


We started off from Mumbai. We had just a day there but we did manage to go around. One of the places we went to was the Powai Lake.. Some shots of Bombay's roads, no doubt, this deserted as it was a Sunday and the Powai Lake..


The next stop was Harda, MP. The day we reached was a special day - I forgot what exactly it was and there was a place on the banks of the River Narmada, where people came from all over for a dip. Here is the scene from there.. It was the first time that I had been to a place like this.. It was a totally different experience for me.. So many people, all excited at the just the thought having a dip in the holy river.. Though I found it very difficult to identify with, it was a revelation, to see how many people believe in these things so strongly.. There was also a very old and very beautiful temple on the banks of the river and people were going in there to pay their respects after bathing in the river.




The next place we went to was a village where another of my husband's Buaji lives..It was a little village an hour's drive from Harda. We went to a 'khet' there. It was very, very pretty.. The weather was wonderfully mild, not cold, not hot..just perfect for a picnic - if only we did not have to rush back. I had a tough time getting snaps without people! We all wanted to pose out there :)



The next stop was Bhopal where my in-laws live.. It was just some time to relax, after all the running around earlier...I really wanted to eat some chat.. which ever since my parents left Jamshedpur - I never seem to be able to get. We did have chat - but sadly fell short of my expectations :( Now I have decided to stick to homemade ones - I seem to enjoy them far more!

We did not get a chance to take too many snaps here.. Just a few snaps on our way to Bhopal and the last 2 are of the view from the terrace of my in-laws' place.



From Bhopal, off we went to Bangalore, with a hop at Mumbai.. We were pleasantly surprised to see that Mumbai Domestic Airport had been majorly revamped from the last time we had been there.. All swish and swanky.. especially in coomparison to the International Arrivals...


Bangalore, sweet Bangalore.. For some reason, Bangalore feels like home, even though we've lived in London, longer than we did in Bangalore.. Is it because we started off our married life here? Not sure, but I just love Bangalore.. We stayed at my Aunt's place, met a bunch of friends, including a newborn daughter of a dear friend and had a wonderful time.. The snap below is of the new road from the Bangalore International Airport - looked wonderful, until we reached the city :) And a pic from some tree-lined streets in Bangalore.. We always used to find the amount of colour on the streets amazing... There are always pink, orange, and red flowers blooming on the streets of Bangalore....



Final Stop - Wayanad.. My parent's place... A place where I can relax, hand over my daughter to her grandparents and be sure that I don't need to spare a thought for her:) My husband had just a week there - he still has a job :) So we did some marathon sightseeing, before he left..
The pictures are from a few places we went to in Wayanad.. I have been going to Wayanad every year, since I was little and we had never really done any sightseeing.. in the same way, that after living in London for 4years, we never went to St Paul's Cathedral... Now that we moved out of London - I wish we had...




And then, before we knew it, it was time for my husband to return, so we went to Kozhikode to see him off. Going to Kozhikode meant that he had to go to the beach, so off we went. So here's some snaps on our journey down the ghats and daddy and daughter enjoying on the beach.





After Husband dear left, it was more of a stay at home and relax kind of vacation, with the only place we went to being the Mookambika Temple in Karnataka for my daughter's vidyarambham (initiation of education). It was a 10 hour car drive, through some beautiful places, through Kannur, Mangalore and Udupi.. Very picturesque. I didnot click too many though, the 10 hour drive was enough to drain all my enery. The last snap is a pond at a temple, we visited on our way back.. There was something very amazing about it.. I could not capture the true beauty of it...


After all that fun, it still felt that the vacations were too short.. Guess it will always feel that way :) Now we're waiting for the Easter long weekend - when we are off to Wales!

Monday 30 March 2009

Just in case anybody is in any doubt...

This is what our future(possibly) MP has to say....

In an interview with the Hindustan Times... Sanjay Dutt had this to say...

Did your wife convince you to get into politics?

Manyataji takes the decisions in the kitchen.. aaj biryani banegi ya phir kabab or chicken. That’s where she rules. In other matters I decide what’s to be done. Yes, she’s my wife, so it’s obvious that I’ll always discuss everything with her.. like every other husband and wife.

Full Interview here.

I know a lot of you will probably ask me, why Sanjay Dutt again? Well, no reason, just saw this and felt like sharing, for a laugh! Ekta Kapoor must be clapping!

UP - A Haven for crooks?

I have been following the election drama in the news channels and all possible online newspapers and am seeing a pattern here..

Every crook that is entering politics seems to be getting a ticket from UP! Thank about it, Sanjay Dutt, who has lived all his life in Mumbai, suddenly realizes that he has 'roots' in Lucknow, calls it his 'second home'????



Azharuddin, somebody who could not even play sports with honesty has jumped in the fray - originally from Hyderabad, is now going to contest from Moradabad, UP! Wonder what roots he found there? I am sure they will think up something!!



And not to mention, Varun Gandhi - he probably has more of 'roots' in Pilibhit, as that was his mother's constituency.. As for whether, there is any other reason, he could be allotted that constituency - is anybody's guess!!


So what is it about UP, that seems to be attract every crook in town? Is it because the masses have been kept mired in illiteracy, casteism and regressive traditions, to ensure that they are easily swayed by our 'leaders'?? While I am not denying that every region has it's share of crooked politicians, I just wonder if it would have been so easy for Sanjay Dutt to go and contest in a place like, say, Bengal?

Isn't it, also not more than a little ironic, that the 2 states that send the maximum number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, seems to have the dirtiest politicians??

Friday 27 March 2009

Blog Magic

I keep telling my husband how I just do not seem to be able to catch up on my blog reading - my Google reader has 1000 + unread posts and that figure is just not changing! Not surprising is it, when I keep adding at least 5 new blogs to my reader everyday!



It just amazes me to see the amount of fantastic reading, out here in the blog world.. And this is all just Indian blogs(mainly)! What a huge amount of talent.. Some of the blogs simply blow my mind away, with their words, their simplicity and their ideas! I can read and read and never get enough of it. I wait for my favourite bloggers to do their next post. I check my reader, almost constantly, to see if there have been any new posts..

And to think, that for so many years, before blogs came about, these skills and those of previous generations were lying dormant or at least very private. The beauty, I think, is in the way that you can participate.. Unlike TV or movies, where we could vicariously enjoy another's creations, here we can join in, however good or bad you are!


Just wanted to say thank you - to whoever thought up the concept of blogs!!!

By the way, from the time I started this blog, I have managed to cross the magic 1000 mark, my unread posts now stand at 998 - I have been doing a lot of reading today :)

Inspired by Solilio, Ajit and many others...

'Oh the post is here!! Hope its that 'little something', he had promised me', she thought as she ran down the stairs to pick up her post.

'Well, it's certainly isn't a dress, may be it's a voucher', she thought ,tearing open the little brown envelope only to burst into tears - a speeding ticket!



PS : My very first try and was even more difficult that I had thought!

Wednesday 25 March 2009

Women bloggers face sexist atmosphere online

Just came across this article.. Apparently, women bloggers face 'sexist atmosphere online' .

What do you think? Do you agree? Do you think that as a woman, the way fellow bloggers treat you, is different? Or is this just a western phenomenon?

From my perspective, to be honest, I have not really faced anything like this. But that might be because my blogging circle so far, has been full extremely polite, well behaved individuals..

I would love to hear from all of you... Have you had such experiences? Men, bloggers - would love to hear your perspective too...

Edited to add : I just found this online.. Looks like this is not so uncommon a problem...

This is what Vimmuuu had to say 'I have come across one blogger who was abused to the core. I had written a post on it last year, after another blogger Poonam had mentioned it. check it out, theres a link at the end of the post, you would be blown away reading all the abuses she had to go through : http://vimalsparadise.blogspot.com/2008/06/incident-of-web-abuse.html'