Alphabe Thursday- B is for Boy
When I was pregnant I had a mother's instinct- it was a boy. I just knew it. And the child would kick like there was a football match. So we looked for boy's names. Arfaz said "We should just keep a girl's name prepared" "No I'm convinced it’s a boy. It’s Mother's Instinct ". When I gave birth I didn't even ask - I knew and I had seen the dangling. Arfaz came in. And the nurse said "It’s a girl.” My jaw dropped. "But the dangly?" "The umblical cord?" Arfaz couldn't resist grinning "Hun, what were u saying about mother's instinct?"
The Royal Wedding
We in the newsroom werent sure how to approach the Royal Wedding for our weekend bulletins (yes, Friday is a weekend in this part of the world)- taking into consideration that we have over 100 nationalities. But then we thought hey, its probably the most talked-about event of all times. So we decided to get in to the royal spirit full on. So here’s Christine turning in to the totally royal Brit. She is attending the Royal Wedding garden party tomorrow and to get in the mood, she has been walking around wearing this tiara (which by the way she borrowed from my 1 year old daughter who won it at a healthy baby contest). She has been addressing us as her subjects, granting us an audience, responding only if called Her Majesty or Queen Mother and is even booked in to do her royal nails this afternoon. Yay to royalty!!!
Office Desk et al.
Ok so starting today, I am doing a little feature in my blog. Every week I will introduce you to the desk of my 8-member news team. I believe that the office desk reveals a lot about the personality of the person. So here we go
Lets start with Christine or Xine as we call her. She is the mother hen of the group and is a total Brit tea lover- you can see her kettle, two mugs, a box of tea bags and a bottle of milk to the left. Her desk is always full of organized clutter and that’s because she has got everything you need. From cash to ketchup bottle, she is the person to go to if you need something but don’t have it. She is a sworn enemy of technology and her biggest achievement is learning how to put hot keys on and turn on the Telly. That’s why the two remote controls. But of late, she has started to try and organize her paperwork a bit. That’s why the organizer.
Lets start with Christine or Xine as we call her. She is the mother hen of the group and is a total Brit tea lover- you can see her kettle, two mugs, a box of tea bags and a bottle of milk to the left. Her desk is always full of organized clutter and that’s because she has got everything you need. From cash to ketchup bottle, she is the person to go to if you need something but don’t have it. She is a sworn enemy of technology and her biggest achievement is learning how to put hot keys on and turn on the Telly. That’s why the two remote controls. But of late, she has started to try and organize her paperwork a bit. That’s why the organizer.
Jenny Matlock's Writing Prompt
Its Easter. The first one without her. Tom looked at his shabby self in the mirror. Life was so much easier when she was around. He went down to fix breakfast and the kids were already there. His heart broke for them- they looked so pale, so terrified . He needed to make this Easter good for them. Reassure them that life was beautiful.
Some time later the kids heard a bang and opened the front door. There he was in that silly blue suit. "I have buried eggs all over the garden" he announced. Two hours later, they were all covered in mud, collected plenty of eggs and had laughed so hard that their tummies ached. Life was beautiful.
Movie Magic
so much for my last blog entry about the ample amount of time that i have…I havent posted anything in a long looooong time. Well so, what do i blog about now? Have done a considerable amount in the past few weeks. Have organized a party, met a few friends, etc., etc. but being in the media field, i am tempted to write about something related to the media. Over the past few days I have seen a few good Malayalam movies and I felt like I had to write about them simply because I’m impressed by the changing trend in movie making and storylines. The first movie is Traffic. I must say there were many moments that made me sniff a bit and there were many scenes where I openly cried. Innovative style of story telling and some great editing really added to the value of the movie. Hats off to Bobby and Sanjay for giving the malayalam movie and TV industry some great scripts. The other movie is Kadha Thudarunnu. It released some time ago. A very realistic story which does not have the tried and tested ‘happy ending’. I hope more such films are made and that the Malayalam industry grows out of its superstar rut.
The Time Machine
Ok, so I have been a terrible procrastinator and not written anything in as long as I can remember. But hey, I have an excuse. In some moment of sheer madness, I agreed to host a DSF-special show on a local channel. In the past 10 days I have asked myself 50 times, “What were you thinking?” I have worked in TV a long long time ago when I was young, unmarried and carefree. And I know how it works- its absolute pandemonium and the most unorganized job in the world. So what exactly was I thinking when I agreed to do this- now that I have a full time job, a husband, and a very very restless child? I don’t know. I guess I was just trying to prove to myself that I can still do whatever I want. Wrong. Because I am about 15 episodes down with 15 more to go and I already find myself counting down the days to when this show will finally wrap up. But I must admit I don’t regret doing this. It has taken me back to my old times and somewhere in between all the madness, I do find it a little therapeutic. Also, you don’t realize how much time you have on your hands until you take up one more thing. I had always been complaining of my lack of time ever since my daughter came along and have wondered many a times what I did with all my time before she was born. But now, I appreciate how much time I had before this whole shooting saga began and am thinking what did I do with all that time? I could have used that time to do all those things that I haven’t been doing because “I didn’t have time”. So now 15 days to go and after that I will
a. clean my cupboard
b. clean my daughter’s cupboard
c. pack away all the extra showpieces I have in my house
d. put up those 5 year old photographs that I have been meaning to on Facebook
e. arrange all my books
f. …
g. …
h. …
I already have a sneaky feeling how this is going to turn out….
a. clean my cupboard
b. clean my daughter’s cupboard
c. pack away all the extra showpieces I have in my house
d. put up those 5 year old photographs that I have been meaning to on Facebook
e. arrange all my books
f. …
g. …
h. …
I already have a sneaky feeling how this is going to turn out….
Memories
got into my car and drove down the familiar road back to my university- I was going for a reunion dinner. As I did so, I began thinking about the two years that had passed since my graduation. So much had changed. Two years ago, I was a student. Today I am a working woman and a mother. Back then my only worry was whether I had finished my assignments and whether my clothes were stylish enough. Today my worries were whether I had changed my 8 month old’s nappy and whether I had packed any breakfast for tomorrow morning. Back then all I had to think about when pulling a late nighter is if I would make it in time for my 8am class knowing that even if I didn’t it didn’t really matter much. Today I wonder if I can reach office in time for my 6am shift knowing that if I didn’t I would get a disciplinary action. How much life had changed. I desperately wanted to go back to those carefree days. I wanted to worry about my clothes. I wanted to laugh about the classroom humor. I wanted to gossip about who was dating whom. I wanted to go to the freshers party. I wanted to discuss about that cute guy sitting next to me in the design class. But time never comes back, does it? And it is one of the harsh realities of life that you never truly appreciate what you have until you lose it. Suddenly I was filled with a sense of sorrow.
Once at university I met my friends and sat around a table with them. We giggled over silly jokes, pulled each others’ legs, went gaga over the food, discussed weddings, break ups, etc. Sitting there on the campus I almost felt like I was back in uni.
While driving back I started thinking about home- when I get back my husband would hug me and listen patiently as I described every minute details of the dinner. My mum would help me pack my breakfast and lunch. My dad would have made the nice hot jeera water that I loved. And then my daughter- she would grin when she saw me. We would then have a playtime before we went in for her bath. She would splash all the water around. I started smiling. My heavy heart lightened. My sorrow dissipated. I realized ‘Yes, I do miss the old times but I have other important things in my life now’.
Life HAS to move on. Your happiness depends on you how gracefully you can take it. There are people who try to cling on to the past and forget to live the present. I didn’t want to be one of them. I got back home realizing that I had a lifetime of memories to be happy about and learning the lesson that life needs to be lived to the fullest every minute so that you dont regret it later
Once at university I met my friends and sat around a table with them. We giggled over silly jokes, pulled each others’ legs, went gaga over the food, discussed weddings, break ups, etc. Sitting there on the campus I almost felt like I was back in uni.
While driving back I started thinking about home- when I get back my husband would hug me and listen patiently as I described every minute details of the dinner. My mum would help me pack my breakfast and lunch. My dad would have made the nice hot jeera water that I loved. And then my daughter- she would grin when she saw me. We would then have a playtime before we went in for her bath. She would splash all the water around. I started smiling. My heavy heart lightened. My sorrow dissipated. I realized ‘Yes, I do miss the old times but I have other important things in my life now’.
Life HAS to move on. Your happiness depends on you how gracefully you can take it. There are people who try to cling on to the past and forget to live the present. I didn’t want to be one of them. I got back home realizing that I had a lifetime of memories to be happy about and learning the lesson that life needs to be lived to the fullest every minute so that you dont regret it later
Cooking Venture
So it was one of those days when I decided to cook and here is what I made
ROAST CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 large onion
1 lemon
2-3 carrots
4-5 potatoes
3 sprigs spring onion
1 green pepper
1 cup chicken broth
Masala ingredients
1tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric
2 tsp Robertson’s chicken spice (optional)
Salt and pepper as required
Method
Mix together the masala ingredients and squeeze the lemon juice to make it a paste. Don’t throw away the lemon peels as you will need them later
Wash the chicken and pat it dry. (Apparently drying it out thoroughly makes the skin more crispy- seemed to work for me) Now make cuts on it rub in the masala. Keep for 15 minutes (My mum says that the longer you keep the masala on the chicken, the better it will taste. I didn’t try it because I didn’t have time but maybe you would like to keep it overnight)
Wash, peel and quarter the potatoes. Wash, peel and cut the carrots into 2-inch pieces. Now put the chicken in a baking dish and scatter the potatoes and carrots in it. Then pour the chicken broth all over the chicken.
Bake the chicken on 200 degree Celcius for 35 minutes.
Take the chicken out, baste it in the juices, add the spring onion and green pepper and bake for another 45 minutes or until done (to test, see if the juices run clear and the breast meat is completely white)
NOTE: To make sure that the chicken stays juicy, baste it very often in the juices. I did it every 15 minutes. You can do it more often. I did find my chicken a tad bit undercooked so I might just steam the chicken a wee bit before putting it in for baking
ROAST CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 large onion
1 lemon
2-3 carrots
4-5 potatoes
3 sprigs spring onion
1 green pepper
1 cup chicken broth
Masala ingredients
1tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric
2 tsp Robertson’s chicken spice (optional)
Salt and pepper as required
Method
Mix together the masala ingredients and squeeze the lemon juice to make it a paste. Don’t throw away the lemon peels as you will need them later
Wash the chicken and pat it dry. (Apparently drying it out thoroughly makes the skin more crispy- seemed to work for me) Now make cuts on it rub in the masala. Keep for 15 minutes (My mum says that the longer you keep the masala on the chicken, the better it will taste. I didn’t try it because I didn’t have time but maybe you would like to keep it overnight)
Wash, peel and quarter the potatoes. Wash, peel and cut the carrots into 2-inch pieces. Now put the chicken in a baking dish and scatter the potatoes and carrots in it. Then pour the chicken broth all over the chicken.
Bake the chicken on 200 degree Celcius for 35 minutes.
Take the chicken out, baste it in the juices, add the spring onion and green pepper and bake for another 45 minutes or until done (to test, see if the juices run clear and the breast meat is completely white)
NOTE: To make sure that the chicken stays juicy, baste it very often in the juices. I did it every 15 minutes. You can do it more often. I did find my chicken a tad bit undercooked so I might just steam the chicken a wee bit before putting it in for baking
Weekends
Weekends are so short that I can almost swear that they never were there. They seem so much shorter than the long, dragging weeks. My husband has a logical reasoning for it: That’s because weekends are shorter than the weeks. But that’s not the point. The point is that two days of the week seem like two years but two days of the weekend seem like two moments. So what did I do this weekend? A bit of shopping, a visit to my aunt and a lunch with my husband’s colleagues. And that’s it. Before I knew it, it was Saturday night when I was frantically trying to pack my husband’s lunchbox, iron my clothes for the next day and get my hyperactive baby to sleep- all at once. Its been years since I have been wanting to tidy out my cupboard, clean my news desk, go on a long drive, watch a movie, read a book, bake bread, make some cookies, etc. , etc.
But I believe in optimism…one such weekend will come when I will get to do at least 1 in the above list. Amen to that
But I believe in optimism…one such weekend will come when I will get to do at least 1 in the above list. Amen to that
Accession Day
With absolutely no fan fare and adulation the accession day of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum on January 4th was a pretty quiet affair. Nothing surprising about it because the accession day is generally a quiet affair. This trait in UAE rulers has never failed to surprise me. In many countries around the world, rulers bask in extravagant and lavish ceremonies for their accession days, birthdays, etc. They use the occasion to pump up their glory. Here all such dates go unnoticed- unless the media brings it up. Here it’s never about the rulers, its always about the country.
This takes me back a few years down the memory lane. It was in 1998. It was the first year of Dubai Shopping Festival. It was about 7 or 8 in the evening. My family and I were walking down the streets near Gold Souq when we saw a few people gathering on the sides of the pavement. The police were clearing the road off. Curious, we also joined the crowd and waited for about 10-15 minutes. Suddenly there was a bit of whispering and everyone turned. There, walking on the pavement with a walking stick in his hand was the then ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum. With him were a few others including HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Photographers and the police rushed to the group. But Sheikh Maktoum just waved them aside with a smile. And his expression was evident- I am just walking through my city. Why are you making a fuss about it. We all just stood there transfixed and amazed. If this had been in India, my homeland, that particular street would have been cordoned off for 5 hours, troubling the people there and causing traffic chaos.
Years have passed. UAE has grown. And living here has almost become a luxury. But the humility still remains. That’s probably why the country has thrived so. Yes, we have had our share of problems…but hey, which country doesn’t. So here’s wishing success to the current rulers and those to come…may the Lord bless you
This takes me back a few years down the memory lane. It was in 1998. It was the first year of Dubai Shopping Festival. It was about 7 or 8 in the evening. My family and I were walking down the streets near Gold Souq when we saw a few people gathering on the sides of the pavement. The police were clearing the road off. Curious, we also joined the crowd and waited for about 10-15 minutes. Suddenly there was a bit of whispering and everyone turned. There, walking on the pavement with a walking stick in his hand was the then ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum. With him were a few others including HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Photographers and the police rushed to the group. But Sheikh Maktoum just waved them aside with a smile. And his expression was evident- I am just walking through my city. Why are you making a fuss about it. We all just stood there transfixed and amazed. If this had been in India, my homeland, that particular street would have been cordoned off for 5 hours, troubling the people there and causing traffic chaos.
Years have passed. UAE has grown. And living here has almost become a luxury. But the humility still remains. That’s probably why the country has thrived so. Yes, we have had our share of problems…but hey, which country doesn’t. So here’s wishing success to the current rulers and those to come…may the Lord bless you
Mehreen's List of Seven Wonders of the World
Its a real pleasure to watch children- especially if they are not yours…coz then you dont have to worry about whether they fall down, start crying or poison themselves. Mine is 8 months old now and she can get interested in the most random things. I have compiled a list which I want to share with you guys…
The Bathtub: Every time she kicks her feet, the water splashes around and she will stare at it for a long time. And then she kicks until the bathroom and I are soaked
The exhaust fan in the bathroom: she can lie for hours on her changing table staring at the exhaust fan turning. Sometimes she even giggles at it
Housefly: Yesterday, she discovered a housefly for the first time. She stared and stared and finally tried to put a finger on it. When she found out that it could fly, she started crying in terror
Wind chimes: she gets a kick out of the jingling sound that the wind chimes make. Every time they pass through the corridor, she will look up at the chimes and want her dad to jingle them
Hands: She doesn’t really care whose hands they are, she will look at them for a really long time and then put them in her mouth. I think she is researching on the tastes of different hands
The Dancing Squirrel: it’s a toy of hers. She loves looking at it and can do so for as long as you want her to…but she will go no where near it.
Paper: Be it the newspaper or a magazine or just about any bits of paper, she has found the joys of tearing it up and stuffing it into her mouth
The Bathtub: Every time she kicks her feet, the water splashes around and she will stare at it for a long time. And then she kicks until the bathroom and I are soaked
The exhaust fan in the bathroom: she can lie for hours on her changing table staring at the exhaust fan turning. Sometimes she even giggles at it
Housefly: Yesterday, she discovered a housefly for the first time. She stared and stared and finally tried to put a finger on it. When she found out that it could fly, she started crying in terror
Wind chimes: she gets a kick out of the jingling sound that the wind chimes make. Every time they pass through the corridor, she will look up at the chimes and want her dad to jingle them
Hands: She doesn’t really care whose hands they are, she will look at them for a really long time and then put them in her mouth. I think she is researching on the tastes of different hands
The Dancing Squirrel: it’s a toy of hers. She loves looking at it and can do so for as long as you want her to…but she will go no where near it.
Paper: Be it the newspaper or a magazine or just about any bits of paper, she has found the joys of tearing it up and stuffing it into her mouth
Hello World
Ok…so this is my umpteenth attempt at blogging. Keeping my fingers crossed that at least this one will work. While listing down my New Year resolutions, of which blogging topped the list, I asked myself why I wanted to blog. And here are the reasons I came up with:
1. I’m 24 and Im juggling a baby, a married life and my job as a journalist. It can get trying at times and I dont get any time for myself. Blogging will keep me sane and give me some time to indulge myself.
2. Blogging will help me socialize with different people (need I say that whie juggling so many things, my social life is next to dead?)
3. I enjoy cooking and try to experiment with recipes every now and then…but since I cannot keep anything safe (my clothes periodically disappear and reappear every 3 months…) I keep losing my recipe books and sheet. This blog will probably help me keep my recipes safe…
4. I just want to see if there is anything in the world that I can do diligently and meticulously…
5. ok…I am running out of reasons.
So, hoping that this will not be my last post…I sign off.
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!
1. I’m 24 and Im juggling a baby, a married life and my job as a journalist. It can get trying at times and I dont get any time for myself. Blogging will keep me sane and give me some time to indulge myself.
2. Blogging will help me socialize with different people (need I say that whie juggling so many things, my social life is next to dead?)
3. I enjoy cooking and try to experiment with recipes every now and then…but since I cannot keep anything safe (my clothes periodically disappear and reappear every 3 months…) I keep losing my recipe books and sheet. This blog will probably help me keep my recipes safe…
4. I just want to see if there is anything in the world that I can do diligently and meticulously…
5. ok…I am running out of reasons.
So, hoping that this will not be my last post…I sign off.
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!