What do I want?

These days work is making me take lot of trips and that too long ones ranging from 1 week to 2 weeks. And its taking its toll on the family life.

I enjoy the work I'm doing and personally would like to continue it. But its not working out from family perspective. From children's perspective. Nishka is too small and misses me badly.

I think of taking a job which is less challenging and less time/effort demanding just for the sake of kids and to be able to be with them. But that also means less money. But more than anything else I'm unable to convince myself to do something which may not interest me as much as this job does. What do I do?

I'm so confused. So torn...

I agree

Yes. I so agree with what this article says - http://www.fakingnews.com/2012/07/molesters-asked-to-dress-appropriately-say-like-shakti-kapoor/

Do you agree too? :)

Sacrifice & Adjustment

I've often seen and felt that how these two words are used interchangeably based on the position of the person with respect to the other person in a situation where two or more people are involved.


If one person is senior/older then its called 'sacrifice' while with the younger generation its termed as 'adjustment'. While 'sacrifice' has value attributed to it, 'adjustment' is expected as a duty.


Why is anything foregone by the younger generation not treated as sacrifice and valued or appreciated? What is your opinion on this? I would like to hear views on this from as many people as possible.


P.S. To clarify, this may not apply to each and every person but this is a general view that I've experienced.

Andh-vishwas or Superstitions or illogical customs

Lot of us laugh talking about the so called superstitions from the yesteryear's. But has anybody given it a thought that there could be some logical reason behind them? I have. And after pondering over them I've realised that its us who are to be blamed and not the people from the bygone era who made these superstitions. I actually won't even want to call them 'superstition'. For me they were just the means of getting the others do something correctly. Since we all know common sense is not so common, people needed someone to guide them on the road to the common sense.

At the same time I don't agree with all of them. But again that could be because I do not know the real reason behind them.

Lets take the statement which directed not to broom after dusk else you will have theft in the house. For me there is no andh-vishwas in this. The statement was very much valid for the era when this would have originated. Those days when the source of lighting in the house was just a oil lamp, if you have dropped something on the floor and broom away, you will end up throwing it out without even realising. And then you would think there was a theft. Makes sense?

Now lets talk about a custom which is followed blindly at many households. A woman who was menstruating was not supposed to enter the kitchen or do any housework. She was just supposed to stay put in her room. People go on and lambast at whosoever created this custom. But I think it should be the people who follow it should be lambasted at instead. It made sense to me for having such a custom in those days because there was a lack of good sanitary options for a woman. There was a hygiene issue. I don't think I need to explain the hygiene issues involved here as I think I can safely presume and expect that the people who would be reading this would know the details. But now when we have so much at our disposal and when hygiene is not an issue, we are still following these customs blindly.

I can go on and on about such statements and customs but as they say "Buddhiman ke liye ishara kaafi hai". :D

So tell me know. Who do you think is to blame? Where is the fault? Times are changing and so should we. The problem is with US who do not want to look beyond, Who do know try to evaluate or analyse, who do not look at a problem in light with the current situation.

In the end all I would like to say "Nakal ke liye bhi akal chahiye".

P.S. I had been thinking of doing a post on this since long but reading this post by Cuckoo gave me the final push to go ahead.

Handicapped..who?

Two days ago as I was watching this video of Jessica Cox, Betu came over to my side to see what I was watching. He asked me who is this person. I told him this girl doesn't have any hands and can still fly a plane. I showed him how she uses her legs deftly and manouvers the airplane so beautifully. He kept watching and when she started to play piano with her legs he asked me why she was playing with her legs. I again reminded him that she doesn't have hands. He then asked me "par woh apne pair se kyun kar rahi hai? Pair nahi lagate na? Gandi baat hoti hai na?" I knew where this came from. I always tell him not to step on books and toys and he was repeating what I have been telling him. I tried to explain and reason but he was not convinced. I knew it would be difficult to explain.

He continued to ask me questions about her and how she does things and I tried to answer as best as I could. During the conversation I asked him to thank God for making us healthy. The moment I said that I felt my statement was wrong. Having 2 eyes, 2 ears, one mouth, 2 hands and 2 legs doesn't make us healthy. Its your heart, mind and your physical abilities in totality that make us 'healthy'. Even if one bit is missing, it will be a state of unhealthiness.

And just because we cannot think of suriving and doing things without our hands or without legs, we call others as handicapped or as disabled? Isn't the other way round? Aren't we the ones who are handicapped?

My discussion with Betu left me pondering for long on the whole aspect of our being and calling us abled. The impact the video had on Anirudh, I realised only the next day morning. After he had woken up and was snuggling with me, he asked me again about the video and the 'girl' in the video. His questions were endless - "How she would brush her teeth? How would she drink her duddhu? How would she take her bath? How would she wear her clothes? How would she wear her shoes?" and it went on and on. I again tried to answer to my best and in the end told him "Betu, agar aap try karoge to sab ho jaata hai.".

And I closed the topic at that. I felt it was enough for him at such a young age. But it sure is a topic which we grownups should think and do something to change our attitude towards life.

It has been a long debated topic

and still it never ends. The topic in question is about women and treating women well if not equally.

My thoughts on this were triggered by a post that I read recently where they had shown this label:

As I said lot has been talked about and debated on this topic and I've nothing more to add. But it always makes me wonder how long will this continue? When will the people actually think maturely?

Like the author I didn't know whether to get angry or laugh at it. I just rolled my eyes and left it at that.

Public etiquettes

What do you do when you see someone throwing trash out of their car windows on the roads?

There are times when I do nothing and there are times when I tell them upfront.

Yesterday while I was waiting at a traffic signal, the lady in the car next to me threw the wrapper for biscuits on the road. I waited for her to look in my direction and when she did I pointed at the trash she had thrown and then shook my head showing my disagreement with her action. She looked at me and then I could see a sense of embarrassment on her face. I felt my part was done in making her aware that she did something wrong. And then I looked away. Didn't want to lose on the impact you see :)

But while I drove on I was wondering if she would remember this and not do such things again or would she pass it off as just any incident. I wonder...

Learning to "let go"!

What is exactly the meaning of "let go"? If we go by the definition of a dictionary, it says "Release, as from one's grip" and another one says "Be relaxed". In the context that I'm writing this post, both these definitions go hand in hand.

I feel we have to learn to "let go" at every stage of life. Its much easier to "let go" till we are kids, a tad bit difficult to as we are in out late teens and a lot more difficult when we are adults and/or parents. And the toughest is when your kids are adults themselves.

For some it comes with no effort, for some with a bit of effort and for some lot of effort. And yeah, then there is this other category for whom the words "let go" don't even exist. Because they do not believe in such a concept. The last category of people who can never "let go" will be the subject matter of this post.

I've written once about my personal experience with a colleague in my previous company.

I think the worst situations that I have personally seen are with parents not letting go when their children are adults themselves and even when their kids have become parents too! Just because they have given birth to their child, it doesn't mean that they will 'OWN' them all their life.

And it can be really frustrating for the people to handle such parents who are just not willing to let go. Who want to keep the remote control of their children's lives in their own hands. Despite the fact that they are living in two separate cities. They are the parents who want that their children should consult them even if they are planing to buy something as simple as TV.

And then there are parents who expect that their children should respect them. Why do they get offended if their children eat their dinner by 9 PM and not wait for them till 12 AM when they are coming from a different city? It is taken as being disrespectful.

Why is it taken in the wrong sense if their children decide the menu of a party, without 'consulting' them, which their children are throwing for their friends, where they will not be even present?

I feel in such situations even close relationships start to feel like a burden. You can feel the strain in the relationship which is so very unhealthy. And I wonder is it really that hard to let go? I, as a parent, would never want to be like the parents I talked about above. I'm sure no one would like to be - intentionally or unintentionally.

We all should learn to become unrestrained and be relaxed about it too. Coz if we do not learn to relax after letting go, the whole purpose is defeated.

A while ago I read a post from Sunita where she has also written about this parent-child relationship and how the parents do not accept decisions taken by their own children. They take it as their children have disobeyed them.

I've read and heard of so many cases when parents do not let go of their angst against their children who have taken decisions of choosing their life partners without the consent of their parents. Not even after so many years when they see that the decision their child has taken was so right. And the only reason I can attribute to such behaviours is 'ego'.

Second child...the dilemma continues...

Almost about an year ago I wrote about the dilemma of having a second child or not. And early this year, somehow me and DH decided that we shall not have another child. We discussed and talked for long before arriving at this decision. With both of us working, we are giving practically next to no time to Anirudh during weekdays. And having another child meant further division of such measly time between the two of them. Which we both felt was not a wise idea.

The option of me staying back home was ruled out completely looking at how irritated and frustrated I felt when I was home for 4-5 months last year. I had initially thought that I would make good use of this break from work but I realised I'm not cut out for being a home maker. House chores bore me way too much! I wanted to get back to work ASAP. I wanted to go out of the house and feel contented when I would step back into the house again. Well, there were days when I would feel happy after coming back home but that was only after a shopping spree :D

There were days when I would be all happy and chirpy in the morning when I would wake up but the moment I would see hubby and Betu leave for office and school respectively, I would start feeling depressed. My moods kept going through this off and on phase for months altogether. And I guess Betu and hubby had to bear the brunt of that. Sorry guys! It was not intentional.

Besides work related stuff, we both felt that I was losing my patience over little little things that Anirudh would do. And if we thought of having another baby, patience would be the first thing that I would definitely need to have.

So after looking and discussing every aspect, we both decided against the second child idea. After lingering on the thoughts for another few weeks finally I decided and gave away all of betu's old clothes away. Some to the child of the guard at his school/daycare and some to an NGO called Goonj which works with and for the poor and the deprived.

Once I had given away the stuff I felt kind of relieved. Partly because I had finally reached a decision and partly because I had less clutter at the house now :)

But why am I talking about all these things which happened more than 4 months ago? Because of an incident that happened last week, a feeling that I went through because of that incident. A thought that crossed my mind and hubby's too when I told him about my feelings. I saw Betu walking towards the house along with his dad last week from a distance. And I kind of felt a sudden lump in my throat. Because my baby did not seem like a baby anymore. He was looking like such a big boy. A really grown up boy. And damn, I missed the baby factor in him. And I thought to myself, we need to get another baby in the house :)

I spoke to hubby again that night about the second child and he agreed that there are times when he wants to have another baby too! In fact about 2 months ago even Betu had shown the desire of having a little baby in the house which will stay with us and not go away as he had seen with little babies visiting us. He would be so so heart broken whenever they would go back with their parents. He would cry and plead for them to stay back with us. And despite us trying to tell him that the baby needs to go back with his/her parents like he stays with his, he just would not listen to us and continue to wail.

So now again we are in a dilemma about the second child. However, there is a difference from the last time. Last time the dilemma was to have a second child or not. But this time we know we SHALL have a second child and the dilemma is WHEN?

Since I've recently gotten back to job, I know I don't want to get pregnant for another 5-6 months. Plus I joke with hubby that my expiry date is nearing, since I'm going to be 33 this year, so we need to decide fast :D

But I am sure that next year will see a new baby in our house :)

My contribution..

..towards global warming..err..I mean to minimize it have so far been:

At work:

1. Switching off monitor when going for lunch. 30 min of saving is good..right?
2. Always switching off my system the end of the day when I go back home.

At home:

1. Switching on lights only where we are sitting.
   
2. Lesser usage of tissue. I have this REALLY bad habit of using lots of tissue!
3. We use not more than 1-2 hours of A/C at home at night, so no scope of reduction possible there.
   

General:

1. No switching on of car A/C during mornings when I go to drop Betu to school and to drive back to work. Its around 8:30 Am and its pretty warm but then its not scorching.
   
2. And no A/C in evenings as well when I leave office around 6 PM. Its pretty hot by then and me and Betu both end up in lots of sweat by the time we reach home but then its fine.
   

Its been 10 days since I have been at it and have been successful so far. Have you thought about changing some bits of your lifestyle towards this thought? If yes, what have they been? If not, think about it and watch the documentary by Al Gore "An Inconvenient Truth". I wrote about it here.

There has to be a conscious thought towards this or else it will not happen. And slowly this conscious effort will become a habit and everything will seem so easy.

Gurgaon Toll Plaza Jams

The Gurgaon toll plaza is in the news spotlight these days but sadly not for the good reasons.

A 32 lane toll plaza that was supposed to help ease out the commute from Delhi to Gurgaon has in fact become a big hurdle these days where one can be stuck in a jam for about 1.5 hours or so.

Ever since it was inaugurated, there has been a huge rush of people to start using it and the systems are unable to handle the rush at all.

Bhuwan has done an elaborate post on it already. Despite being in construction for so long, they probably didn't do much planning regarding these toll booths. And to some extent the commuters are also to blame. Yesterday when my in-laws were coming down from Jaipur, where luckily there wait was for ONLY 45 minutes there, they noticed there are people giving 500 rupee notes just because they would get loose change even when they had loose change with them. Can you just imagine?? *rolling my eyes*

So giving out balance for such high value notes was again something which was increasing the amount of time each booth was taking to process one vehicle. How can people act so stupid and just so immature?? Its just beyond me.

And today while driving down to work, listening to Red FM's approach on this whole Gurgaon jam made me laugh. A real big hearty laugh. They are distributing Ludo games to people going on the Gurgaon expressway for entertaining themselves in case they get stuck in the jam too. Funny isn't it? :D

The plunge!

I have already talked about the dilemma in my earlier post and so many of you have come up with your viewpoints which I've read and re-read many a times.

And despite the dilemma I've taken the plunge. I told the first company I will be joining them from Monday. Well, probably since the second company has still not come up with the final figure that they are going to offer me, I guess it was a no-choice scenario.

Everyone has been telling me to go for the first offer and not to worry about Anirudh as he is not that small a child anymore. And I wonder when will he really not be small enough in my eyes. I guess till he is in his teens. Probably not even then. Who knows...

My parent-in-laws, hubby's younger brother and my Appa, all have been pro the first offer because its such a renowned company. Although me and hubby also feel more pro to this company because of the profile being offered. It will be a good career boost for me. However, we still are rather I am still so apprehensive about Betu.

Its a situation where mind says "Go for it!" and heart says "Hold it!". Ever since Thursday thats what I've been thinking all the time. And hubby can make out from my expressions and behaviour that this dilemma is taking a toll on me. So after thinking, and thinking and some more thinking I decided to go for it looking at everyone's positive outlook towards this opening.

And today, about 30 mins ago I told the Senior HR person that I will join them on Monday, Jan 14, 2008.

So the plunge has been taken and I am just praying hard that everything goes smooth and that I am able to do justice to the job and to home and to Anirudh!


The mind won over the heart this time...

Sent on my BlackBerry® from Hutch

Dilemma

I had quit my earlier job in August 2007. And I've been at home since almost 4.5 months now. I started searching again for one after about 2 months of being home. That is serious searching. And today suddenly I've two options that I've to decide between. One is from a renowned and a large company from the same field but the profile is larger than what I've been doing so far. The other is from again a renowned company in its field but the role is different than what I've been doing so far.

The first one requires on and off traveling out of India varying from a week to a month. This is something I've never done. Before we had Betu or even after that. I and Hubby were open to traveling before we had Betu. But now leaving Betu for so long is giving me shivers. At the most I've left him with his Dad for 2 days, 1 night when I had to go for a training in Manesar. I left at 8 AM on day 1 and was back home the next day by 7 PM.

And Betu is the biggest concern in all this. Will he manage without me for so long? How will Hubby manage taking care of him on his own? Even if we call his Dada-Dadi (paternal grandparents) will he be fine? Or will I be fine staying away from him so long? I've never stayed away from Hubby for more than 10 days. Or for that matter I've never stayed away from family minus the Manesar training. I wonder if its about Betu managing it fine without me or is it really about me managing to be fine without him? He is a kid and can be distracted with things but what about me? I guess the question is all about us being stronger emotionally rather than thinking if he will be fine or not.

I'm sure he will miss me initially and may make a ruckus but I've a feeling he will be fine over the time.

If we minus the traveling-concerns bit, its a great opportunity. It will give me international exposure which will definitely help me in future career wise.

Talking about the second one, this one is in Gurgaon, which means traveling about 1.25 hours each way, every day. What entices me to this option is that its in a field that I've never dabbled with before. Media. Advertising media, mobile media etc. So it gives me a new domain to learn and grow in. Here, I will in fact be leading a new initiative in the company. They had been thinking of starting this initiative for long but somehow it didn't materialise. And when I met them, they felt that probably I can lead it. So again its a job with great responsibility with a varied role and into a totally different domain. And doing something different is what I love.

So now I'm thoroughly confused what to do. I'm discussing it with family and lets see how we move forward as their views will help me and hubby decide on a choice. And then whatever decision we take, I will take it as whatever happens, happens for good :)

Demolition man err men!!

Today when I returned from some tid bit of chores in the nearby market, I saw a big crowd at one of the gates of our society. I wondered. Then as I went a little ahead I saw a 'scoop' from 'Bob the Builder' as betu called it :D It was basically a earth moving machine and then I recalled someone mentioning that unauthorised construction will be demolished by the municipal authorities in the society soon.

And as I approached the entry gate I use I saw the security hut had been demolished. I was shocked and angry.

Shocked because about an hour ago it was intact. And now it was in complete shambles. Angry because the municipal authority decided to leave the houses intact who had violated construction guidelines but decided to break the place where the watchmen sit to save them from sun, rain and cold winter days or shall I say nights? I agree the construction of that security hut was also unauthorised but it was made for the security of the society. It was not hurting anybody but for the help of the society members.

There are tonnes of people who have extended or made unauthorised construction which actually bother the neighbours. Why leave them and target the security hut?

But why should the municipal authority be concerned about the society's security. It's the headache of the police department. Right?

Probably they thought let's not go empty handed since they had come all the way and atleast demolish something.

Sigh...


Sent on my BlackBerry® from Hutch

Ig Nobel Awards : Vanilla Fragrance from cow dung?

Ewww...this is the first word that came to my mind when I read this news article. Extracting vanilla essence and flavour from cow dung..ugghh....who would even thinking of trying to research on something like this? Oh well someone did and actually won an Ig Nobel award for it too! Geez..don't people have anything interesting to do?

Just an hour ago I read Swati's post on food with lovely picture of an ice cream sundae and was drooling all over it. And now I get to read this article on this stupid, idiotic discovery by some Japanese person..

On 4^th October the Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize was awarded to Mayu Yamamoto, a former researcher at the International Medical Centre of Japan. Yamamoto earned herself the prestigious prize by developing a way to extract a vanilla fragrance and flavour from cow dung – a creation she named vanillin. As a bonus to the prize, Toscanini’s Ice Cream, based in Massachusetts, invented a new flavour to honour her – Yum-A-Moto Vanilla Twist.

Yikes! I will definitely never eat an ice cream in Japan. I know there's simply no chance of me ever going but still writing it out will make the ugghness out of my mind go away to some extent. I just hope no one gets adventurous in India and starts making this so called vanilla essence here knowing the free availability of cow dung from our very own "Gau maata!"

Everything has to go wrong all at the same time!

Have you noticed or has it ever happened with you that when one thing goes wrong, every other things also decides to go wrong at the same time?

Its been happening with us since the past 3 months. And its still going on...sigh...

It first started with our fridge conking off and the company took almost 2 months to get it up and running. First they said, gas is over and it requires refilling. Even after 3 refillings, it wasn't working properly, so we were told its the timer that's not working. Fine, got it changed but to no avail. It still wasn't cooling fine. It would work for an hour and the next 2 hours it would stop working and then would start cooling again. So the next thing we are told the compressor has conked off. I literally bashed them asking them to decide on one thing as to whats wrong with it. And to stop trying to do the trial and error way of rectifying things. This time it worked and touch wood its still working.

And when the fridge was still not up our washing machine started giving trouble. And were we glad we had taken the annual maintenance plan just a week before it started giving trouble. Otherwise we would have already shelled out almost 7 grands on the PCB board and then on the shockers and some other tidbits.

Then came the turn of the PC. As I said it was like a chain movement which seemed like all these household appliances had planned between themselves. So it took us almost 2 weeks to get it up and running and then after working fine for 2 weeks the Internet stopped working. We tried this and that and then the ISP guy asked us to try and change the network card as that could be the issue. Fine..got a new one and changed it and bingo! It started working fine!

It had been just about a fortnight when the PC started giving trouble again..this was last weekend. The monitor was giving trouble. At least that's what we thought because when we got our neighbours monitor and plugged it into the system, the system booted on just fine. So when the repair engineer came, and tried to hook on our original monitor with the system, not even once did he face any issue. The problem just refused to come up again! He tried many a things so that he can reproduce the same problem that we were facing but it just wouldn't come! I was so shocked and angry that I can't describe in words. And then I remembered the old Hindi saying "Doctor ko dekh kar mareez theek ho jaata hai" (The best English translation that I can think of which describes the meaning of this phrase is "The patient gets fine on just looking at the doctor")

So that was that 2 days ago. And about half an hour ago I thought let me switch on the TV and what do I see..it doesn't switch on? Its not getting any power. I tried changing various plug points where some other appliance was working fine but nopes..nothing happened!

So you see..from Fridge to Washing Machine to PC and now the TV! Uff...when will this come to an end?

Prashant should not be the Indian Idol

I've not been an avid viewer of the singing talent show Indian Idol on Sony TV and have never watched the performances from the beginning except for a few episodes here and there. And whatever episodes I watched were more towards the end when only 4-5 contestants were left out.

Prashant sings well but still he should not be the Indian Idol. Because if you have ever heard his comments, he always, mark that ALWAYS calls himself a 'Nepali'. So if he is a 'Nepali', what is is he doing on INDIAN Idol. If he doesn't even once call himself 'Indian' why the hell should he be even part of this show.

He may be a good singer, the best of the lot but still he doesn't deserve to be on this show lest be crowned as the Indian Idol if he doesn't think of himself as 'Indian'.

Ganesh Chaturthi ... the sad end!

I've always heard or seen people talking in excitement about Ganesh Chaturthi and what all they do to celebrate it. However I never felt any special feelings arising inside me for this festival. Not that I'm an atheist. I very much believe in God despite the fact I don't pray everyday.

And to be truthful, its not about feeling anything special but about the fact that I somehow feel aversion for two festivals one of them being Ganesh Chaturthi and the the other Durga Puja. The aversion is not towards the prayers or the celebrations. Its the end which bothers me. Makes me feel sad not for Ganeshji or for Durgaji but for the people who do not see how they are totally disrespecting them in the end. And it seems like a total sham to me.

I know there are tons of people who will scorn at me for writing such words but this is the truth..the truth about how I feel.

And why do I feel so? Look at these pictures and they will say it all without any further explanation required from me.





Do you feel happy to see such treatment meted out to the God who was being celebrated few hours ago? I certainly don't.

Do you think our Gods deserve this kind of treatment towards the end after days of celebrating them? Definitely not!

Do you think Ganeshji would be happy to see himself lying amidst the filth on the beach? Never!!

So why are we doing this? What for? Few days we keep them on the pedestal and then they end up lying on the beach with broken arms, covered in filth being trampled upon by the cleaning machines. And this is the time when it makes me feel its all a sham!

And its not just about Ganesh Chaturthi. I feel the same for Durga Puja and the visarjan at the end of it too.

This is the same reason why I refuse to take wall or pocket calendars with any of the Gods pictures on it because I get concerned that once the year is over, how do I dispose the calendar off? I just do not like throwing it in the dustbin. For Gods sake it has the picture of the god whom we respect and look up to.

I can go on and on about it but I guess I've got my point conveyed. And when I read Rarely There, I was glad I'm not alone in how I feel.

I always wonder, why do we need to do the visarjan? Why can't we keep the god with us, in our homes after the celebrations? Do we need to follow a ritual which was made eons ago? But I also know for the fact that earlier there were not such small small groups celebrating separately. Maybe its become more of a status symbol to be sponsoring such celebrations! Why can't the whole city unite and celebrate together?

I hope soon the people realise what they are doing and how its ending. I really hope so..

Thank you my blogger friends!

Exactly a month ago I had written a post about blogging and commenting and how it has become such an integral part of my day to day life. How I feel the ups and downs of the bloggers whom I read regularly, the sadness and happiness affect me as they affect them, I also feel proud as the other blogging mother's raving about their kids activities.

But in the last 2 weeks, when I went MIA (Missing In Action) I realised its not just me who feels this way. Its them bloggers also who feel this way too. When I got messages from Stone, Kodi's Mom, Mystic Margarita, JLT, Whats in a Name, moppets mom asking me about my whereabouts and why I had not been posting all this long that it brought a smile to my face. A smile because it dawned on me that my feelings towards other bloggers are reciprocated equally. The bond I felt with them, they felt the same too - towards me! And that really felt nice and heart warming. Even if its a virtual bonding, there IS a bonding!

And all I want to say now is "Thank you my blogger friends! Thank you for thinking about me!"

Me & My Blackberry!

And ever since I got my Blackberry - thanks to my eldest Jijaji and got the services enabled, life's been so different. I can be lying on my bed at night and can catch up with my sisters in US or a friend through either GoogleTalk or Yahoo!IM. I can write and reply to mails using it - whether personal or official. I can browse the web and read the blogs - YES!...all through my Blackberry! Its a BlackBerry 7100g model - an old but good enough for my requirements!

Whatever part of the country I'm, I'm connected to the Internet. Who needs to carry a heavy laptop just for the net connection now! :D It reminds me of the time when we were travelling to UP in mid of May for a cousins' wedding, I was almost giving hour to hour updates to my SIL/BIL/MIL via chat. :D They were quite excited about the wedding but due to some constraints weren't able to make it for the wedding.

And it turned out so much cheaper too since there's no extra charge on Internet connectivity on roaming but a lot if you SMS or call. So worked out great for all of us. :D

And when I don't want to use the Internet, I've my default game that comes with it 'Brickbreaker' to the rescue. Its an age old game but I really love it. Have been playing for almost a year now and am still not bored of it. Now DH is also addicted to that game.

So to summarise.. I LOVE MY BLACKBERRY! And THANK YOU Jijaji!